MasTec Inc (MTZ) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to MasTec's Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call initially broadcast on November 1, 2023. Let me remind the participants that today's call is being recorded.

歡迎參加 MasTec 於 2023 年 11 月 1 日首次播出的 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。讓我提醒與會者，今天的電話會議正在錄音。

At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Marc Lewis, MasTec's Vice President of Investor Relations. Marc?

這次，我想將會議交給 MasTec 投資者關係副總裁 Marc Lewis。馬克？

Thanks, Elaine, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to MasTec's third quarter call. The following statement is made pursuant to the safe harbor for forward-looking statements described in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In these communications, we may make certain statements that are forward-looking, such as statements regarding MasTec's future results, plans and anticipated trends in the industries where we operate. These forward-looking statements are the company's expectations on the day of the initial broadcast of this conference call, and the company does not undertake to update these expectations based on subsequent event or knowledge.

謝謝伊萊恩，大家早安。歡迎參加 MasTec 第三季的電話會議。以下聲明是根據 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》中描述的前瞻性聲明的安全港作出的。在這些通訊中，我們可能會做出某些前瞻性聲明，例如有關 MasTec 未來業績、計劃的聲明以及我們所在產業的預期趨勢。這些前瞻性陳述是公司在本次電話會議首次播出當天的預期，本公司不承諾根據後續事件或知識更新這些預期。

Various risks, uncertainties and assumptions are detailed in our press releases and filings with the SEC. Should one or more of our -- these risks or uncertainties materialize or should any of our underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may differ significantly from results expressed or implied in today's call.

我們的新聞稿和向 SEC 提交的文件中詳細介紹了各種風險、不確定性和假設。如果我們的一個或多個風險或不確定性成為現實，或者我們的任何基本假設被證明是不正確的，實際結果可能與今天的電話會議中明示或暗示的結果有很大差異。

In today's remarks by management, we will be discussing adjusted financial metrics reconciled in yesterday's press release and supporting schedules. In addition, we may use certain non-GAAP financial measures in this call. A reconciliation of any non-GAAP financial measures not reconciled in these comments to the most comparable GAAP financial measure can be found in our earnings press release.

在管理層今天的演講中，我們將討論在昨天的新聞稿和支援計劃中協調的調整後的財務指標。此外，我們可能會在本次電話會議中使用某些非公認會計準則財務指標。這些評論中未調節的任何非公認會計準則財務指標與最具可比性的公認會計準則財務指標的調節可以在我們的收益新聞稿中找到。

Please note that we have 2 documents associated with today's webcast on the Investors and Events and Presentations page of our website at mastec.com. There is a companion document with information and analytics on the quarter just ended and a guided summary to assist in developing your financial models going forward. Both PDF files are available for immediate download.

請注意，我們在 mastec.com 網站的投資者、活動和演示頁面上有 2 份與今天網路廣播相關的文件。還有一份配套文件，其中包含剛結束的季度的資訊和分析以及指導性摘要，可幫助您開發未來的財務模型。兩份 PDF 檔案均可立即下載。

With us today, we have Jose Mas, our CEO; and Paul Dimarco, our EVP and Chief Financial Officer. The format of the call will be opening remarks announcement by Jose, followed by a financial review from Paul. These discussions will be followed by a Q&A period, and we expect the call to last about 60 minutes. We have a lot of important things to talk about today, so I'll now turn it over to Jose so we can get going. Jose?

今天與我們在一起的有我們的執行長何塞·馬斯 (Jose Mas)；以及我們的執行副總裁兼財務長 Paul Dimarco。電話會議的形式是由 Jose 宣布開場白，然後由 Paul 進行財務審查。這些討論之後將是問答期，我們預計電話會議將持續約 60 分鐘。今天我們有很多重要的事情要討論，所以我現在將其交給何塞，以便我們可以開始。何塞？

Thanks, Marc. Good morning, and welcome to MasTec's 2023 Third Quarter Call. Today, I'll be reviewing our third quarter results as well as providing my outlook for the markets we serve. As you all know, we moved up our earnings release in this call by 2 days from our normal cadence. As we went through our quarter close process, given the preliminary results we were seeing for the third quarter relative to our prior guidance and the forward information we are receiving from some of our segments, we determined that it was important to get our earnings release out to the market as soon as our procedures had reached the point that we had sufficient clarity on the data. We appreciate everyone adapting your schedules so that you could join us on this call today. Thank you.

謝謝，馬克。早上好，歡迎參加 MasTec 2023 年第三季電話會議。今天，我將回顧我們第三季的業績，並提供我對我們所服務的市場的展望。眾所周知，我們在本次電話會議中將收益發佈時間比正常節奏提前了 2 天。在我們完成季度結算流程時，考慮到我們看到的第三季度的初步結果（相對於我們之前的指導）以及我們從某些部門收到的前瞻性信息，我們認為發布收益報告非常重要一旦我們的程序達到了我們對數據足夠清晰的程度，就將其推向市場。我們感謝大家調整您的日程安排，以便您今天能夠參加我們的電話會議。謝謝。

Now some third quarter highlights. Revenue for the quarter was $3.257 billion, a 30% year-over-year increase, organic growth of roughly 10% and a 13% sequential increase but well below our previous guidance. Adjusted EBITDA was $271 million, a 10% increase over last year, but again, well below our previous estimate. Adjusted earnings per share was $0.95. Cash flow from operations generated during the quarter was $294 million, with a $213 million reduction of net debt during the quarter. We expect further cash flow strength during the fourth quarter and the first quarter of 2024, which Paul will cover later. And finally, backlog at quarter end was $12.5 billion.

現在一些第三季的亮點。本季營收為 32.57 億美元，年成長 30%，有機成長約 10%，環比成長 13%，但遠低於我們先前的指引。調整後 EBITDA 為 2.71 億美元，比去年增長 10%，但仍遠低於我們先前的預期。調整後每股收益為 0.95 美元。本季營運產生的現金流為 2.94 億美元，淨債務減少 2.13 億美元。我們預計 2024 年第四季和第一季的現金流將進一步強勁，保羅將在稍後介紹。最後，季末的積壓訂單為 125 億美元。

In summary, we continue to face challenges this year. We now expect full year revenue to be about $1 billion or 7% below our previous estimates. This revenue shortfall is primarily related to the continued challenges in our Clean Energy business, where full year revenues were up about $900 million versus our initial expectations. The bulk of that shortfall occurred at IEA, which we acquired late last year. As a reminder, IEA generated approximately $2.4 billion in revenue in 2022.

綜上所述，今年我們仍面臨挑戰。我們現在預計全年收入約為 10 億美元，比我們之前的預期低 7%。這種收入短缺主要與我們清潔能源業務的持續挑戰有關，該業務全年收入比我們最初的預期增加了約 9 億美元。大部分缺口發生在我們去年底收購的 IEA。需要提醒的是，IEA 2022 年的營收約為 24 億美元。

While we knew the wind market would be challenged this year, we expected the solar market to allow them to achieve revenue growth in 2023. We now expect revenues for IEA in 2023 to be approximately $1.7 billion.

雖然我們知道今年風能市場將面臨挑戰，但我們預計太陽能市場將讓他們在 2023 年實現收入成長。我們現在預計 IEA 2023 年的收入約為 17 億美元。

While there is no question we are disappointed in our ability to understand forecasting risk based on project timing, there have been a number of market factors that have an outsized negative impact on IEA. IEA to a greater degree than MasTec's legacy renewable business had a customer base that was more dependent on using tax equity to help finance projects.

毫無疑問，我們對根據專案時間了解預測風險的能力感到失望，但有許多市場因素對 IEA 產生了巨大的負面影響。與 MasTec 的傳統再生能源業務相比，IEA 的客戶群更依賴利用稅收公平來幫助專案融資。

While the inflation Reduction Act has created significant tax incentives that are expected to have a materially positive impact on the solar industry and our business, the delay on clear defining the specifics of the law, for example, domestic content has created a significant delay to certain customers' ability to access tax equity.

雖然《通貨膨脹減少法案》制定了重大的稅收激勵措施，預計將對太陽能產業和我們的業務產生重大積極影響，但由於未能明確定義法律的具體細節，例如國內內容，導致某些方面的重大延遲客戶獲得稅收公平的能力。

While this delay has impacted our ability to achieve our projected revenue, I'd like to make clear that these projects haven't been canceled, but rather delayed. And while there has been some negative commentary on the solar market in general lately, we continue to experience significant demand for our renewable services.

雖然這種延遲影響了我們實現預期收入的能力，但我想澄清的是，這些項目並沒有被取消，而是被推遲了。儘管最近太陽能市場總體上出現了一些負面評論，但我們的再生能源服務仍存在巨大需求。

While we have started a number of new projects in the second half of 2023, our fourth quarter guidance does not assume new project starts after October. So our fourth quarter guidance is made up of projects we are currently working on. We also believe this to be prudent. It's taken us time to get to know the IEA customer base, and we believe we are bringing the right scrutiny to both our legacy and IEA projects as we fill our 2024 pipeline and believe we will be much more consistent in our ability to forecast this segment's revenue. We are disappointed with the forecasting assumptions we made in 2023 and our understanding of projects risks and our revenue assumptions. We have made significant changes on how we go to market and how we assess projects and risks.

雖然我們在 2023 年下半年啟動了許多新項目，但我們的第四季度指導並不假設新項目在 10 月之後啟動。因此，我們在第四季度的指導是由我們目前正在進行的項目組成的。我們也認為這是謹慎的做法。我們花了一些時間來了解 IEA 客戶群，我們相信，在填補 2024 年管道時，我們將對我們的傳統項目和 IEA 項目進行正確的審查，並相信我們預測該細分市場的能力將更加一致收入。我們對 2023 年所做的預測假設以及我們對專案風險和收入假設的理解感到失望。我們對進入市場的方式以及評估專案和風險的方式做出了重大改變。

While we're incredibly disappointed about our performance this year, we are still very bullish on our future. The level of interaction we are having with our customers around projects and timing today is as good as we've ever had in our business. We have a level of verbal and expected awards that gives us an opportunity to significantly grow our Clean Energy business.

雖然我們對今年的表現感到非常失望，但我們仍然對未來感到非常樂觀。今天，我們與客戶圍繞專案和時間安排的互動程度是我們業務中從未有過的。我們有一定程度的口頭和預期獎勵，這使我們有機會顯著發展我們的清潔能源業務。

While we need to be prudent on timing and understand the risks associated around financing, interest rates and interconnect agreements, our long-term outlook for this market is unchanged. We expect considerable backlog growth, both by year-end and into 2024. And while again, I'm very disappointed with our 2023 results, I truly believe that the combination of IEA and our legacy Clean Energy business will end up being a great acquisition for MasTec and our shareholders. We will appropriately manage expectations and risks going into 2024 and make conservative revenue assumptions until the market stabilizes.

雖然我們需要謹慎選擇時機並了解與融資、利率和互聯協議相關的風險，但我們對該市場的長期前景並沒有改變。我們預計到年底和 2024 年，積壓訂單都會大幅增長。雖然我對 2023 年的業績再次感到非常失望，但我堅信 IEA 和我們傳統清潔能源業務的結合最終將是一次偉大的收購為了MasTec 和我們的股東。我們將適當管理進入 2024 年的預期和風險，並做出保守的收入假設，直到市場穩定。

With that said, we expect strong double-digit growth revenue in 2024 in our Clean Energy segment.

儘管如此，我們預計清潔能源領域的營收到 2024 年將實現兩位數的強勁成長。

In our Oil and Gas segment, revenues were below our previous estimate as our ramp on the MVP project took longer than expected. Despite this, our full year revenue target of $2 billion is unchanged with more activity expected in the fourth quarter than we originally expected. We now expect the MVP project to extend through the first half of the year. We expect 2024 revenue new levels in our Oil and Gas segment to be slightly lower than 2023, but with slightly better margins as we expect there will be less cost-plus work versus this year.

在我們的石油和天然氣部門，收入低於我們先前的估計，因為 MVP 專案的提升時間比預期長。儘管如此，我們 20 億美元的全年營收目標保持不變，預計第四季的活動將比我們最初預期的更多。我們現在預計 MVP 計畫將延續到今年上半年。我們預計 2024 年石油和天然氣部門的收入新水準將略低於 2023 年，但利潤率將略有提高，因為我們預計成本加成工作量將比今年減少。

In our Communications segment, revenue fell short of expectations primarily related to a slowdown in wireless spend. For the full year, we expect revenue from our 3 primary wireless customers, AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile to be down about 14% year-over-year. We expect this to be offset by strong growth from our wireline customers. As we look ahead to 2024, post quarter end, we won a significant maintenance contract for our largest communications customer for services we weren't previously providing. This program should be fully ramped by the second quarter of next year, and we expect over $100 million a year in annual revenues.

在我們的通訊部門，收入低於預期主要與無線支出放緩有關。我們預計全年來自 3 個主要無線客戶 AT&T、Verizon 和 T-Mobile 的營收將年減約 14%。我們預計這將被有線客戶的強勁成長所抵消。展望 2024 年，季度末後，我們為最大的通訊客戶贏得了一份重要的維護合同，獲得了我們之前未提供的服務。該計劃應在明年第二季全面啟動，我們預計每年的收入將超過 1 億美元。

This award, combined with a number of large wireline program awards under which we are currently performing engineering services that we expect will convert into construction in the first half of next year gives us confidence in our ability to grow our communications revenue in the high single digits for 2024 despite some continued CapEx weakness as some of our customers manage through higher cost of capital.

該獎項與我們目前正在提供的工程服務（預計將在明年上半年轉化為施工）的一些大型有線項目獎項相結合，使我們對我們的通信收入以高個位數增長的能力充滿信心儘管由於我們的一些客戶透過較高的資本成本進行管理，資本支出持續疲軟，但預計到2024 年。

In our Power Delivery segment, revenue fell short of expectations as we had a significant year-over-year decline in storm revenue, which also impacted year-over-year margins, along with a number of utilities moderating their spending plans as they deal with the changing interest rate environment. Margins were up sequentially, and we expect similar performance in both revenues and margins in the fourth quarter.

在我們的電力傳輸部門，收入低於預期，因為我們的風暴收入同比大幅下降，這也影響了同比利潤率，而且許多公用事業公司在應對氣候變遷時調整了支出計畫不斷變化的利率環境。利潤率連續上升，我們預計第四季的營收和利潤率將表現相似。

Over the course of the last few months, we have seen a number of utilities begin vendor consolidation efforts. We've had a very good quarter, increasing our market share, having been awarded increased scope for 2024. Post quarter award activity has been strong, and while we've seen some short-term fluctuations in capital spend, we believe the long-term fundamentals of the business has only improved. We expect some continued capital discipline on behalf of the utilities offset by growth associated with transmission and substation work, leading to expectations of single-digit revenue growth in 2024 with modest margin expansion.

在過去的幾個月裡，我們看到許多公用事業公司開始進行供應商整合工作。我們度過了一個非常好的季度，增加了我們的市場份額，並獲得了2024 年更大範圍的獎勵。季度後獎勵活動一直很強勁，雖然我們看到資本支出出現一些短期波動，但我們相信長期-長期來看，業務基本面只會有所改善。我們預計公用事業公司的一些持續的資本紀律將被輸電和變電站工程相關的成長所抵消，從而預計 2024 年收入將實現個位數成長，利潤率將適度擴張。

Before turning the call over to Paul, I'd like to reflect on where we are today. Post pandemic, we took steps to fundamentally transform MasTec. In the 3 to 4 years since, we've more than doubled the revenue of the business despite seeing a significant drop in our Oil and Gas pipeline revenues. We believe that our transformation, which has seen us significantly increase our presence in power delivery and Clean Energy positions this company better than at any point in our history.

在將電話轉給保羅之前，我想反思一下我們今天的處境。在疫情大流行後，我們採取措施從根本上改造 MasTec。此後的三到四年裡，儘管我們的石油和天然氣管道收入大幅下降，但我們的業務收入卻增加了一倍以上。我們相信，我們的轉型使我們在電力傳輸和清潔能源領域的業務顯著增加，使我們公司的地位比歷史上的任何時候都更好。

But this transition has been much more difficult than we expected. The 2 power delivery acquisitions we made in 2021 are performing well and have strategically positioned us with significant expansion opportunities for future growth. However, they came with their sets of challenges and setbacks and took a lot of effort and time as we integrated them in 2022. Much more difficult has been the combination of IEA as our full year performance and revenue deterioration have been difficult to manage and put stress on the organization.

但這種轉變比我們預期的困難得多。我們在 2021 年進行的兩項電力傳輸收購表現良好，並為我們在策略上為未來的成長提供了重要的擴張機會。然而，它們帶來了一系列的挑戰和挫折，我們在 2022 年整合它們時花費了大量的精力和時間。IEA 的合併更加困難，因為我們的全年業績和收入惡化難以管理和解決給組織帶來壓力。

While again, not pleased with our performance, I think we have created an optimal structure as we look to effectively grow and manage this business. Our market strategy has been well received by our customers and the relationships we've created, solidified and grown over the last year gives us great confidence regarding our future in Clean Energy and the market-leading position we believe we can capture.

雖然我們對我們的表現並不滿意，但我認為我們已經創建了一個最佳結構，因為我們希望有效地發展和管理這項業務。我們的市場策略得到了客戶的好評，我們在過去一年中建立、鞏固和發展的關係使我們對清潔能源的未來以及我們相信我們能夠佔據的市場領先地位充滿信心。

Exiting 2023, we are keenly focused on growing and effectively managing our business for growth, strong margins and cash flow. For the first time in a few years, we have no new acquisitions to integrate, which will allow us to fully focus on the areas that we need to improve.

2023 年結束後，我們將專注於發展和有效管理我們的業務，以實現成長、強勁的利潤和現金流。幾年來第一次，我們沒有新的收購需要整合，這將使我們能夠完全專注於需要改進的領域。

For those of you new to MasTec, this is my 16th year as CEO. Our revenue for my first year as CEO was around $900 million and EBITDA was less than $50 million. Those of you that know me, know how competitive I am and how I always want to succeed and perform. This has been a challenging year, but understand, I'm as motivated and determined as ever to make sure MasTec reaches its full potential. My family is the largest single shareholder in MasTec and our interests are aligned with all shareholders. I bear a great sense of responsibility and knowing that our shareholders have made an investment with their hard-earned dollars in MasTec. I do not take that for granted. I can also say, and I know actions speak a lot louder than words, that I believe we are better positioned today than at any point in our history. The long-term opportunities in our segments are better than I think people realize.

對於剛加入 MasTec 的人來說，這是我擔任執行長的第 16 年。我擔任執行長的第一年我們的收入約為 9 億美元，而 EBITDA 不到 5000 萬美元。認識我的人都知道我有多有競爭力，也知道我總是渴望成功和表現。這是充滿挑戰的一年，但請理解，我一如既往地充滿動力和決心，確保 MasTec 充分發揮其潛力。我的家族是 MasTec 最大的單一股東，我們的利益與所有股東一致。我肩負著巨大的責任感，我知道我們的股東用他們辛苦賺來的錢對 MasTec 進行了投資。我並不認為這是理所當然的。我還可以說，我知道行動勝於雄辯，我相信我們今天的處境比歷史上的任何時候都更好。我們細分市場的長期機會比我認為人們意識到的要好。

Despite the short-term challenges, our long-term outlook is intact. Our communications, power delivery and Clean Energy segments give us not only strong revenue growth opportunities but each segment has the ability for margin improvement. Our long-term margin goals are unchanged and have been more impacted not by pricing, but by volume and our ability to absorb costs on higher revenue levels. We look forward to delivering on these expectations and regaining the confidence of the investment community.

儘管有短期挑戰，但我們的長期前景完好無損。我們的通訊、電力傳輸和清潔能源領域不僅為我們提供了強勁的收入成長機會，而且每個領域都有提高利潤率的能力。我們的長期利潤目標沒有改變，影響更大的不是定價，而是銷售以及我們在更高收入水平上吸收成本的能力。我們期待實現這些期望並重拾投資界的信心。

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the men and women of MasTec. Men and women of MasTec are committed to the values of safety, environmental stewardship, integrity, honesty and in providing our customers a great-quality project at the best value. I also know how competitive our people are and the desire they have to perform at a very high level. I know they're up for the task. I will now turn the call over to Paul for our financial review. Paul?

我想藉此機會感謝 MasTec 的工作人員。 MasTec 的員工致力於安全、環境管理、正直、誠實的價值觀，並以最佳價值為客戶提供優質的專案。我也知道我們的員工有多麼有競爭力，以及他們必須在很高水準上表現的願望。我知道他們已經做好了迎接任務的準備。我現在將把電話轉給保羅，以進行我們的財務審查。保羅？

Thank you, Jose, and good morning, everyone. First off, I wanted to echo Jose's comments, and thank you for the flexibility and accommodating the change to our earnings call schedule. We hope the earlier visibility into our results and outlook will provide some value. We are committed to providing clear and accurate visibility into our performance and strategy, and we'll continue to work towards that goal.

謝謝你，何塞，大家早安。首先，我想回應何塞的評論，並感謝您的靈活性和對我們財報電話會議時間表的改變的適應。我們希望儘早了解我們的結果和前景能夠提供一些價值。我們致力於為我們的績效和策略提供清晰、準確的可見性，我們將繼續努力實現這一目標。

Turning to our third quarter results. MasTec generated consolidated revenue of $3.26 billion, up 30% year-over-year and 13% sequentially, but below guidance by approximately 13%. We had lower-than-anticipated activity versus our expectations in each segment, which I will cover in more detail later.

轉向我們第三季的業績。 MasTec 的綜合收入為 32.6 億美元，年增 30%，季增 13%，但低於指導值約 13%。我們在每個細分市場的活動低於預期，我將在稍後詳細介紹。

Adjusted EBITDA at $271 million missed our guidance by $90 million, driven by decreased operating leverage associated with lower volume, unabsorbed costs due to ongoing project delays and execution challenges on certain legacy projects. Lower-than-expected adjusted EBITDA also drove performance and adjusted earnings per share of $0.95.

調整後的 EBITDA 為 2.71 億美元，比我們的指導值低了 9,000 萬美元，原因是業務量下降、專案持續延誤和某些遺留專案執行挑戰導致未吸收成本導致營運槓桿下降。低於預期的調整後 EBITDA 也推動了業績成長，調整後每股收益為 0.95 美元。

Overall, it was a very disappointing quarter, where we faced a number of challenging developments. We took a hard look at the business and our prospects for the balance of the year, and we believe our outlook appropriately captures the closeout risks in projects that have challenged us this year and the anticipated lower activity with certain customers.

總的來說，這是一個非常令人失望的季度，我們面臨著許多具有挑戰性的發展。我們認真審視了今年剩餘時間的業務和前景，我們相信我們的前景適當地反映了今年對我們構成挑戰的項目的收尾風險以及預期某些客戶的活動減少。

Despite these challenges, we are pleased with the $294 million of cash flow generated by operations during the quarter and the corresponding $230 million of net debt reduction.

儘管面臨這些挑戰，我們對本季營運產生的 2.94 億美元現金流以及相應的 2.3 億美元淨債務減少感到滿意。

Turning to some segment details. Third quarter Clean Energy revenue was $1.1 billion, and adjusted EBITDA was $58 million or 5.2% of revenue. While we did achieve 12% year-over-year organic revenue growth in the quarter, revenue and adjusted EBITDA were both well below expectations, driven by delays in execution of certain contracts and performance challenges on certain legacy projects.

轉向一些細分細節。第三季清潔能源收入為 11 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 5,800 萬美元，佔營收的 5.2%。雖然本季我們確實實現了 12% 的同比有機收入成長，但由於某些合約執行延遲和某些遺留項目的績效挑戰，收入和調整後 EBITDA 均遠低於預期。

While margins held flat with the second quarter, margins were almost 100 basis points below expectations due to lower fixed cost absorption. We also incurred additional costs on the legacy industrial project that reduced margins by almost 100 basis points. This project has been challenging to close out for the past few quarters but we expect to be off-site in Q4 and believe that we have appropriately accounted for potential risks in our guidance.

雖然利潤率與第二季持平，但由於固定成本吸收降低，利潤率比預期低近 100 個基點。我們還在遺留工業項目上產生了額外成本，導致利潤率降低了近 100 個基點。在過去的幾個季度中，該專案的完成一直面臨挑戰，但我們預計將在第四季度關閉，並相信我們已在指導中適當考慮了潛在風險。

Our Oil and Gas segment generated revenue of $672 million in Q3, a year-over-year increase of 79%, but approximately 20% below our expectations, as we saw a slower ramp than anticipated on the Mountain Valley Pipeline. As a reminder, we had to mobilize almost 3,700 crew members to the site. We encountered some delays due to the ongoing legal challenges the project faced even after receiving approval under the debt ceiling relief bill passed over the summer. Adjusted EBITDA was $97 million, in line from our rate expectation at 14.5%, but lower than guidance, commensurate with the revenue shortfall. We are now fully ramped in the project and expect construction to be completed in the first half of 2024.

我們的石油和天然氣部門第三季營收為 6.72 億美元，年成長 79%，但比我們的預期低約 20%，因為我們發現 Mountain Valley 管道的成長速度比預期要慢。提醒一下，我們必須動員近 3,700 名船員前往現場。即使在夏季通過的債務上限減免法案獲得批准後，由於該項目仍面臨持續的法律挑戰，我們遇到了一些延誤。調整後 EBITDA 為 9,700 萬美元，符合我們 14.5% 的預期，但低於指導值，與收入缺口相稱。目前，該計畫已全面啟動，預計將於 2024 年上半年竣工。

Our Communications segment also had less activity than expected with revenue of $824 million, $76 million below forecast. We saw continued pullback from our wireless customers in excess of previous expectations, and we also experienced moderated fiber spending late in the quarter, which we expect to continue through year-end. Adjusted EBITDA was $78 million for Q3 or 9.5% of revenue. Lower volume in the quarter impacted absorption of our indirect expenses, lowering margins by approximately 200 basis points versus guidance.

我們的通訊部門的活動也低於預期，收入為 8.24 億美元，比預期低 7,600 萬美元。我們看到無線客戶的持續縮減超出了先前的預期，而且我們在本季末也經歷了光纖支出的放緩，我們預計這種情況將持續到年底。第三季調整後 EBITDA 為 7,800 萬美元，佔營收的 9.5%。本季銷售下降影響了我們間接費用的吸收，使利潤率比指導值降低了約 200 個基點。

Lastly, our Power Delivery segment had Q3 revenue of $665 million, $85 million below guidance and adjusted EBITDA of $57 million or 8.6% of revenue.

最後，我們的電力傳輸部門第三季營收為 6.65 億美元，比指導值低 8,500 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 5,700 萬美元，佔營收的 8.6%。

While margins were up 40 basis points from Q2, we fell short of our guidance due to lower utilization of our crews and equipment. Several of our utility customers have indicated their spending will slow down for the balance of the year as they manage annual capital budgets and this higher cost of capital. We began to see pullback late in the third quarter, but we expect this to be a short-term trend that will be alleviated as we move into 2024 and annual budgets are replenished. Emergency restoration services also trended below our expectations and very little activity is expected in the fourth quarter. Backlog as of the third quarter was $12.5 billion, reflecting a 7% decline versus the second quarter. The decline was driven by lower near-term activity expected in our communication and power delivery MSA work, the significant Q3 revenue burn in Oil and Gas and timing of contract executions in our Clean Energy segment.

雖然利潤率比第二季度增長了 40 個基點，但由於員工和設備利用率較低，我們未達到預期目標。我們的一些公用事業客戶表示，由於他們管理年度資本預算和較高的資本成本，他們的支出將在今年剩餘時間內放緩。我們在第三季末開始看到回落，但我們預計這將是一種短期趨勢，隨著進入 2024 年和年度預算的補充，這種趨勢將會得到緩解。緊急恢復服務的趨勢也低於我們的預期，預計第四季度的活動很少。截至第三季度，積壓訂單為 125 億美元，較第二季下降 7%。這一下降的原因是我們的通訊和電力傳輸 MSA 工作預計近期活動減少、石油和天然氣領域第三季度收入大幅消耗以及我們清潔能源部門的合約執行時間。

For some additional color, we signed over $500 million of contracts in Clean Energy alone since September 30, that are not included in Q3 backlog. Additionally, after these contract signings, we continue to work on projects under a limited notice to proceed that of approximately $2 billion of contract value. Per our policy, these contracts will be included in backlog once fully executed. We have also signed or received verbal awards totaling over $300 million for both the Communication and Power Delivery segments. These awards are related to work for new customers, geographic expansion or new services with existing clients.

值得一提的是，自 9 月 30 日以來，我們僅在清潔能源領域就簽署了超過 5 億美元的合同，這些合同不包括在第三季度的積壓訂單中。此外，在簽署這些合約後，我們將在有限的通知下繼續開展項目，以推進合約價值約 20 億美元的項目。根據我們的政策，一旦完全執行，這些合約將被納入待辦事項中。我們還在通訊和電力傳輸領域簽署或獲得了總額超過 3 億美元的口頭獎勵。這些獎項與新客戶的工作、地理擴張或現有客戶的新服務有關。

Q3 cash flow generated by operations was $294 million, reducing our net debt by $213 million to about $3 billion. The cash flow was driven by improved working capital metrics with DSO and DPO, both improving and now in line with historical levels. DSO improved to 85 days, down from 90 days at Q2 and we expect further improvement in subsequent quarters.

第三季營運產生的現金流為 2.94 億美元，使我們的淨債務減少 2.13 億美元，達到約 30 億美元。現金流是由 DSO 和 DPO 改進的營運資本指標推動的，兩者均有所改善，目前與歷史水準一致。 DSO 從第二季的 90 天改善至 85 天，我們預計後續季度將進一步改善。

For the third quarter, net debt leverage improved slightly to 3.4x and liquidity also improved to approximately $1.2 billion. Factoring in the developments during Q3, we now expect 2023 revenue to approximate $12 billion with adjusted EBITDA of $850 million or 7.1% of revenue. This reflects a significant reduction from our prior guidance, driven by the near-term developments we are experiencing across the business.

第三季度，淨負債槓桿比率小幅改善至 3.4 倍，流動性也改善至約 12 億美元。考慮到第三季的發展，我們現在預計 2023 年營收約為 120 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 8.5 億美元，佔營收的 7.1%。這反映出我們在整個業務的近期發展的推動下，較先前的指導大幅減少。

While we are disappointed in the 2023 expected results, we feel confident that the outlook is appropriately conservative in light of the current market. From a segment perspective, our Oil and Gas segment full year revenue expectations remain unchanged for 2023 at $2 billion with adjusted EBITDA margins in the mid-teens. For the fourth quarter, we expect revenue of approximately $740 million and adjusted EBITDA margins in the low double digits.

儘管我們對 2023 年的預期結果感到失望，但我們相信，鑑於當前市場，前景適當保守。從分部角度來看，我們的石油和天然氣分部 2023 年全年營收預期保持不變，約 20 億美元，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 10%左右。我們預計第四季度的營收約為 7.4 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為低兩位數。

Full year Clean Energy segment revenue is now expected to be approximately $4 billion with adjusted EBITDA margins in the low to mid-single digits. We have a very strong pipeline of projects and are pleased with the post Q3 project signings but expect specific product start dates to produce some quarter-to-quarter variability. Margins are expected to trend lower than our previous expectations due to the continued costs we are carrying in preparation for significant volume growth.

目前，清潔能源部門全年營收預計約為 40 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率低至中個位數。我們擁有非常強大的專案管道，並對第三季後的專案簽約感到滿意，但預計具體的產品開始日期會產生一些季度與季度的變化。由於我們為大幅成長做準備而持續承擔成本，預計利潤率將低於我們先前的預期。

Fourth quarter expectations are $1.15 billion of revenue with adjusted EBITDA margins similar to the third quarter.

第四季的預期營收為 11.5 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率與第三季相似。

For full year 2023, we expect our Communications segment to generate $3.25 billion of revenue with adjusted EBITDA margins in the high single digits. We anticipate some further margin pressure versus prior guidance due to reduced operating leverage from the lower revenue expectations. Fourth quarter revenue was forecasted at $750 million with adjusted EBITDA margins down slightly from the third quarter.

2023 年全年，我們預計通訊部門將產生 32.5 億美元的收入，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率將達到高個位數。由於收入預期降低導致營運槓桿減少，我們預計與先前的指導相比，利潤率將面臨進一步的壓力。第四季營收預計為 7.5 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率較第三季略有下降。

Looking to 2024, we're having good dialogue with customers on ways to drive further efficiency in their capital spend, something we are well positioned to provide through our industry-leading scale.

展望 2024 年，我們正在與客戶就如何進一步提高資本支出效率進行良好對話，我們有能力透過業界領先的規模來提供這項服務。

Finally, full year 2023 Power Delivery segment revenue is now expected to be $2.7 billion with high single-digit EBITDA margins. Margins are expected to be lower than previous forecast due to reduced operating leverage and the expectation of very little emergency restoration work. Fourth quarter expectations are roughly similar to Q3 performance for both revenue and adjusted EBITDA. We've also revised our full year 2023 adjusted earnings per share guidance to $1.75, driven by lower anticipated earnings, partially offset by a lower expected effective tax rate.

最後，預計 2023 年全年電力傳輸部門收入將達到 27 億美元，EBITDA 利潤率高達個位數。由於營運槓桿下降以及預計緊急復原工作很少，預計利潤率將低於先前的預測。第四季的營收和調整後 EBITDA 的預期與第三季的業績大致相似。我們也將 2023 年全年調整後每股盈餘指引修訂為 1.75 美元，原因是預期收益較低，但預期有效稅率較低部分抵銷了這一影響。

In light of the revised guidance, we now expect to generate cash flow from operations of approximately $500 million for the second half of 2023 and $400 million for the full year. This equates to approximately $200 million of cash flow from operations in Q4. Net debt leverage is expected to remain in the low 3x at year-end, higher than our sustained target of 2.5x but we are committed to return to this level next year, and we believe our 2024 outlook will readily support our leverage objectives. Recall that Q1 is generally our slowest quarter, so our lower working capital requirements should support continued cash flow generation.

根據修訂後的指引，我們現在預計 2023 年下半年的營運現金流將達到約 5 億美元，全年將產生 4 億美元。這相當於第四季營運現金流量約 2 億美元。預計年底淨債務槓桿率將保持在 3 倍的低水平，高於我們 2.5 倍的持續目標，但我們致力於明年恢復到這一水平，我們相信 2024 年的前景將很容易支持我們的槓桿目標。回想一下，第一季通常是我們最慢的季度，因此我們較低的營運資金需求應該會支持持續的現金流產生。

Finally, while we are still early in our 2024 planning process, we felt it was important to provide investors with some preliminary achievable guidance off the disappointing results for 2023. To recap the initial 2024 outlook provided in yesterday's release and expanded on by Jose, we currently expect mid- to high single-digit revenue growth for the company. We expect this growth to be driven by double-digit growth in Clean Energy, mid-single-digit growth in Power Delivery, high single-digit growth in Communications, and a mid-single-digit revenue decline in Oil and Gas. We expect each segment to improve margins in 2024, resulting in total company adjusted EBITDA margins of 7.5% to 8%.

最後，雖然我們仍處於2024 年規劃過程的早期階段，但我們認為，針對2023 年令人失望的結果，為投資者提供一些可實現的初步指導非常重要。為了回顧昨天發布的報告中提供的2024年初步展望，並由Jose 進行了擴展，我們目前預計該公司的收入將實現中高個位數成長。我們預計這一成長將由清潔能源領域的兩位數成長、電力傳輸領域的中個位數成長、通訊領域的高個位數成長以及石油和天然氣領域的中個位數收入下降所推動。我們預計每個部門的利潤率將在 2024 年提高，使公司調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率達到 7.5% 至 8%。

And I'll now turn the call over to the operator for Q&A.

我現在將把電話轉給接線員進行問答。

(Operator Instructions) We will take our first question from Alex Rygiel from B. Riley.

（操作員說明）我們將回答來自 B. Riley 的 Alex Rygiel 的第一個問題。

Clearly, this looks like a kitchen sink quarter and probably no surprise given the macro environment and how cloudy it has gotten out there. But -- how can we be reassured that the reset here sort of reflects your most conservative assumptions given sort of all the cross-currents?

顯然，這看起來像是一個廚房水槽季度，考慮到宏觀環境以及那裡的多雲情況，這可能並不奇怪。但是——我們如何才能放心，這裡的重置在某種程度上反映了您在所有交叉流中最保守的假設？

Well, look, there's no question, Alex, that we struggled in forecasting this year in 2023. Quite frankly, we don't want to miss. I think we spent years beading and raising. We took a lot of pride in that. We've obviously struggled here in the last little bit. So we needed to set a base, this is very early for us providing outlooks for 2024, for sure. But coming off of the results that we were having, we wanted to give people an indication of what we thought would be a base set of earnings for 2024.

好吧，亞歷克斯，毫無疑問，我們在預測 2023 年時遇到了困難。坦白說，我們不想錯過。我想我們花了很多年的時間來串珠和養育。我們對此感到非常自豪。顯然，我們在過去的一段時間裡一直在掙扎。所以我們需要設定一個基礎，這對我們提供 2024 年的展望來說還為時過早。但根據我們現有的結果，我們希望向人們表明我們認為 2024 年的基本獲利情況。

That's helpful. And then can you talk a bit about your backlog and possibly quantify backlog that maybe at risk or cancellation? And also talk about sort of the base level of backlog that you have from MSAs and how stable that is in this economic environment?

這很有幫助。然後您能否談談您的積壓工作，並可能量化可能面臨風險或取消的積壓工作？還要談談您從 MSA 獲得的積壓訂單的基本水平以及在當前經濟環境下的穩定性如何？

Yes. It's a good question, Alex. And I think it's important when you think about our backlog, right, because we go through so much scrutiny in our backlog and what it actually takes to put in backlog that we -- even in 2023, right, we didn't experience a significant amount of -- or any really cancellations or delays based on something once it was in backlog. To make it through backlog, we've got to have a signed contract, in our Clean Energy business, it means it needs to be a finance project. So backlog is generally not fully reflective of the work that we see in front of us. It's usually understated. In our other businesses, it's very heavy MSA driven. Obviously, there's some impact as the MSA, if utilities start to come back a little bit, it impacts your go-forward rate, but it doesn't put work at risk. So we feel really good about at least the initial targets that we set about 2024, we've vetted them with customers, we've vetted them backlog. Again, we think this is really the entry-level base for us as we think about 2024.

是的。這是個好問題，亞歷克斯。我認為，當你考慮我們的積壓工作時，這一點很重要，對吧，因為我們對積壓工作進行瞭如此多的審查，以及到底需要什麼才能積壓工作，即使在2023 年，我們也沒有經歷重大的變化。數量－或任何因積壓而導致的實際取消或延遲。為了完成積壓工作，我們必須簽署合同，在我們的清潔能源業務中，這意味著它需要是一個融資項目。因此，積壓工作通常無法完全反映我們眼前的工作。它通常是低調的。在我們的其他業務中，它是由 MSA 驅動的。顯然，MSA 會產生一些影響，如果公用事業開始稍微恢復，它會影響您的進度，但不會使工作面臨風險。因此，我們至少對 2024 年設定的初始目標感到非常滿意，我們已經與客戶一起審查了這些目標，我們也審查了他們的積壓工作。同樣，我們認為這確實是我們展望 2024 年的入門基礎。

(Operator Instructions) We will take our next question from Andy Kaplowitz from Citigroup.

（操作員說明）我們將接受來自花旗集團的 Andy Kaplowitz 的下一個問題。

Can you give us some more color into your Power Delivery business? I know you said that several customers push CapEx into next year. But Power Delivery, I think, is supposed to be more long cycle. And if anything, higher rates would seemingly impact Q4 versus Q3. So was it more a couple of big projects moving to the right? Was it broad-based delays? And then how are you thinking about the longer-term growth profile in that business and your confidence level of reaching a growth target for 2024?

您能為我們介紹一下您的電力傳輸業務嗎？我知道您說過一些客戶將資本支出推遲到明年。但我認為電力傳輸應該是更長的周期。如果有的話，更高的利率似乎會影響第四季與第三季的影響。那麼，更多的是一些大型專案向右移動嗎？是廣泛的延誤嗎？那麼您如何看待該業務的長期成長狀況以及您對實現 2024 年成長目標的信心程度？

Yes. Andy. So I'd kind of break the business up in 2, right? One is comparing to last year, on a full year-over-year comparison. One of the biggest challenges we had, especially from a margin perspective was the lack of storm work in Q3. So we probably had a $50 million decline in storm work on a year-over-year basis, which impacted, again, not just margins, that impacted revenues as well. So I think when you're comparing last year to this year, that was probably the biggest driver of what you see in Power Delivery. When you compare it sequentially with Q2, right, we were still down. We were down about $35 million in revenue from Q2 to Q3. Some of that was just the transition of projects. We finished some projects. We're starting others. We probably didn't get as quick of a start on some of those projects. Some of that comes back.

是的。安迪.所以我會把業務分成兩個部分，對嗎？一個是與去年進行比較，進行全面的同比比較。我們面臨的最大挑戰之一，特別是從利潤角度來看，是第三季缺乏風暴工作。因此，我們的風暴工作量可能比去年同期減少了 5,000 萬美元，這再次影響的不僅是利潤率，也影響了收入。因此，我認為當您將去年與今年進行比較時，這可能是您在電力傳輸中看到的最大驅動力。當你將其與第二季度進行連續比較時，對吧，我們仍然處於下滑狀態。從第二季到第三季度，我們的收入減少了約 3500 萬美元。其中一些只是項目的過渡。我們完成了一些項目。我們正在啟動其他人。其中一些項目我們可能沒有那麼快開始。其中一些會回來。

And then I think that the balance of that, which is probably $10 million to $15 million or so was really the beginning of what we saw was some pullbacks in utilities. So it wasn't a huge number, but it was significant. It will continue into Q4 to some extent. And then we think that, again, we talked about these vendor consolidation efforts, which, again, we think we've actually fared really well in and position us well going into next year.

然後我認為，這可能是 1000 萬至 1500 萬美元左右的餘額，這實際上是我們看到公用事業出現一些回調的開始。所以這不是一個巨大的數字，但意義重大。這種情況將在某種程度上持續到第四季。然後我們認為，我們再次討論了這些供應商整合工作，我們再次認為我們實際上做得很好，並為我們進入明年做好了準備。

So as we think about it, right, we'll grow revenue slightly in '23 versus '22. We've talked in previous calls about some of the contracts that we kind of got out of late last year, early this year that impacted revenue on a full year basis, especially from some of the acquisition activity that we had previously made. So I think it really sets up the year nicely for us in '24. We've come out with an initial guide of mid-single digits in growth. We're hoping that, that tends to be conservative. There's a ton of activity out there in transmission and substation and it's an area that we've really focused on. So lots of opportunities for us. But again, really early, we're still in October. So we feel really comfortable that we can achieve that just based on the MSA contracts that we have, the awards that we've been given and what we're expecting from our client base predominantly in our distribution work.

因此，正如我們所考慮的那樣，與 22 年相比，我們 23 年的收入將略有增長。我們在之前的電話會議中談到了去年年底、今年年初我們退出的一些合同，這些合同影響了全年的收入，特別是我們之前進行的一些收購活動。所以我認為這確實為我們 24 年奠定了良好的基礎。我們已經推出了中個位數成長的初步指南。我們希望，這往往是保守的。輸電和變電站中有大量活動，這是我們真正關注的領域。我們有很多機會。但再說一遍，真的很早，我們還在十月。因此，我們感到非常放心，我們可以根據我們擁有的 MSA 合約、我們獲得的獎項以及我們對客戶群（主要是我們的分銷工作）的期望來實現這一目標。

Very helpful, Jose. And then maybe just can you give us a little more color into how you're thinking about Clean Energy at this point and the quality of your customer base, particularly at IEA. What's the risk that you announced in such as the recent announcement in front of one of your customers to pause their construction are not just one-off but are a function of some more challenging customers? And how do you scrub your backlog to make sure you aren't surprised again by the type of announcement you disclosed from that customer?

非常有幫助，何塞。然後，也許您可以給我們更多的信息，告訴我們您目前對清潔能源的看法以及您的客戶群的質量，特別是 IEA 的客戶群的質量。您宣布的風險是什麼，例如最近在一位客戶面前宣布暫停施工，這不僅僅是一次性的，而是一些更具挑戰性的客戶的功能？您如何清理積壓的訂單，以確保您不會再次對該客戶披露的公告類型感到驚訝？

Yes. So I mean one of the things I want to be really clear about because one of the questions we had to ask ourselves over the course of the last few months is, I mean, did we buy an inferior customer base with the acquisition of IEA? And I think the flat I'd answer to that is no, we did not. I think we have a great customer base at IEA, our customers have lots of history, lots of installed capacity. They know exactly what they're doing, their customers that in some cases, we're more dependent on different financing strategies. It doesn't make them better or worse. It just made them different this year.

是的。所以我的意思是我想真正弄清楚的一件事是，因為在過去幾個月裡我們不得不問自己的問題之一是，我的意思是，我們是否透過收購IEA 購買了劣質的客戶群？我想我的回答是否定的，我們沒有。我認為我們在國際能源總署擁有龐大的客戶群，我們的客戶擁有悠久的歷史和大量的裝置容量。他們確切地知道自己在做什麼，他們的客戶知道在某些情況下，我們更依賴不同的融資策略。它不會使它們變得更好或更糟。這讓他們今年變得不同。

So I think when we think about the challenges that we had in '23, obviously, I do think we should have better understood the risk and position the opportunities in the business to be more broad-based with different types of clients, and that's exactly what we're doing for 2024. So we've spent months going through every possible project that exists, every project that we're being asked to participate in. We're prioritizing those that we think have a really high degree and level of confidence that are going to absolutely happen in 2024, and that's how we're building our 2024 plan.

因此，我認為，當我們考慮 23 年所面臨的挑戰時，顯然，我確實認為我們應該更好地理解風險，並將業務機會定位為更廣泛地面向不同類型的客戶，這正是我們在2024年要做的事情。因此，我們花了幾個月的時間來審查現有的每一個可能的項目，以及我們被要求參與的每一個項目。我們正在優先考慮那些我們認為具有非常高的程度和水平的項目我們相信這絕對會在 2024 年實現，這就是我們制定 2024 年計劃的方式。

I mean what really changes is if the market improves, right? If -- once tax equity gets behind us, which we expect to happen by year-end, and people get to start financing projects in multiple ways, we think that's going to create a huge catalyst of new projects of which many we're going to be involved with. And we think that will be a big catalyst of the business. We're not really including a lot of that as we think about 2024 because we're not 100% sure of the timing. So again, we're hoping that as the year starts, we've built our plan with a very solid customer base, and then we can grow that based on some of the opportunities that are going to come as the year progresses.

我的意思是，真正改變的是市場好轉，對嗎？如果——一旦稅收公平得到支持（我們預計這將在年底實現），人們開始以多種方式為項目融資，我們認為這將成為新項目的巨大催化劑，其中許多項目我們正在進行參與。我們認為這將成為業務的重要催化劑。當我們考慮 2024 年時，我們並沒有真正包括很多內容，因為我們不能 100% 確定時間。因此，我們再次希望，在今年開始時，我們已經建立了擁有非常堅實的客戶群的計劃，然後我們可以根據隨著時間的推移將出現的一些機會來擴大這一計劃。

We will take our next question from Steven Fisher from UBS.

我們將回答瑞銀的史蒂文費雪的下一個問題。

I wanted to focus on the cash flow a little bit, specifically in terms of the timing. I think you may have mentioned that the positive cash flow will continue into Q1 of next year? And I'm really just kind of curious about the cadence of how that cash flow will develop next year? Is it positive, you're saying in Q1 and Q2 is maybe a little weaker than Q3, Q4, again, just kind of curious how the debt reduction might go over the course of the year?

我想稍微關心一下現金流，特別是時間方面。我想您可能已經提到正現金流將持續到明年第一季？我真的只是好奇明年現金流如何發展？您說第一季和第二季可能比第三季、第四季稍弱一些，這是正面的嗎？再一次，只是有點好奇債務削減在一年中會如何進行？

Yes, Steven, this is Paul. So I think it should be a similar cadence to the year. We haven't laid out each quarter yet. But we do expect Q1 because of weather and normal seasonal challenges to be a lower volume quarter, so that should facilitate less working capital requirement. And then you're right, as we ramp through the middle of the year, we'd expect some investment there that hopefully can largely offset with stronger earnings, but we'd be less cash flow generation in the middle of the year and there's some ability to reduce debt going into Q4.

是的，史蒂文，這是保羅。所以我認為今年的節奏應該跟今年相似。我們還沒有列出每個季度的情況。但我們確實預計，由於天氣和正常的季節性挑戰，第一季的銷售量將會較低，因此這應該會減少營運資金需求。然後你是對的，隨著我們在年中的成長，我們預計那裡會有一些投資，希望能在很大程度上抵消更強勁的收益，但我們在年中產生的現金流量會減少，而且進入第四季有一定的減少債務的能力。

Okay. That's helpful. And then just on the communication side of things for next year. I think you said high single digits. Maybe you can just clarify that? And within that, I guess I'm curious -- and that's the growth. If there's any color you can give on a breakout between wireless and fiber because it sounds like you are experiencing a bit of a slowdown in fiber as you go into Q4 here. What have you assumed on some of those trends for next year? Just to kind of gauging the comfort of getting to what looks like a pretty robust growth number and estimate given some of the overhangs of what we're experiencing right now from some of these telecom companies?

好的。這很有幫助。然後是明年的溝通方面。我認為你說的是高個位數。也許你可以澄清一下？在這之中，我想我很好奇——這就是成長。如果您可以對無線和光纖之間的突破給出任何顏色，因為聽起來您在進入第四季度時正在經歷光纖的放緩。您對明年的一些趨勢有何看法？只是為了衡量一下獲得看起來相當強勁的成長數字的舒適度，並考慮到我們目前正在經歷的一些電信公司的一些懸而未決的問題？

Yes, Steve. So it's Jose. I'd say a couple of things, right? I think this year, we were obviously impacted by the slowdown in wireless. I think our wireline business is up strong for the full year, will be strong for the full year as we close the year out. A little bit of a slowdown in the second half of the year that we were hoping wouldn't happen, and I think that is some management of CapEx. And obviously, as the credit environment changes, we've had different customers do different pullbacks.

是的，史蒂夫。所以是何塞。我想說幾句，對嗎？我認為今年，我們顯然受到了無線業務放緩的影響。我認為我們的有線業務全年強勁成長，隨著年底的到來，全年也將強勁。我們希望下半年不會發生一些放緩，我認為這是資本支出的一些管理。顯然，隨著信貸環境的變化，我們讓不同的客戶進行了不同的回檔。

With that said, we've got a bunch of awards during this year in 2023 that didn't have a lot of volume, that had a lot of engineering associated with the projects that we knew the volume would kick in 2024, and these are a lot of the government RDOF-funded projects where that initial activity in engineering is really important, but it's low dollar. And once it turns in construction, it has a meaningful impact. And we have a number of those that starting late Q1, early Q2 going to construction, which are going to have a significant amount of increased revenue in '24 versus '23.

話雖如此，我們在 2023 年獲得了很多獎項，這些獎項的數量並不多，但有很多與我們知道數量將在 2024 年啟動的項目相關的工程，這些是在許多政府RDOF 資助的項目中，最初的工程活動非常重要，但費用較低。一旦投入建設，就會產生有意義的影響。我們有許多項目從第一季末、第二季初開始建設，與 23 年相比，24 年收入將大幅增加。

So as we planned out '24, and again, we're really early, we took a very conservative assumption on where wireless goes from here based on the conversations we've had with our customers. And we've kind of built the balance in that growth plan based on really project activity awards from '23 without making much assumption for new things going into '24, even though there are some opportunities.

因此，當我們計劃 24 年時，我們確實還很早，根據我們與客戶的對話，我們對無線技術的發展方向採取了非常保守的假設。我們根據 23 年以來的實際專案活動獎勵在成長計劃中建立了平衡，而沒有對 24 年的新事物做出太多假設，儘管存在一些機會。

Again, it's important to talk about bead funding, which we really don't even see impacting the business until '25 because a lot of that is going to be awarded in '24. So we feel good about our ability to grow that business in '24 just based on the awards that we've had here in the last few months, we think that's important. We've taken a very conservative approach to how we think our customers will guide CapEx based on recent commentary. And again, any improvements to that should actually allow us to improve on the numbers that we've talked about today.

再說一遍，談論珠子資金很重要，我們直到 25 年才真正看到它對業務的影響，因為其中許多資金將在 24 年授予。因此，僅根據過去幾個月我們在這裡獲得的獎項，我們對 24 年發展業務的能力感到滿意，我們認為這很重要。根據最近的評論，我們對客戶如何指導資本支出採取了非常保守的方法。再說一遍，對此的任何改進實際上都應該使我們能夠改進我們今天討論的數字。

But just to clarify, so are you assuming the wireless business is actually up next year?

但澄清一下，您是否認為無線業務明年實際上會成長？

We are not making that assumption. We're assuming that it's flat.

我們並沒有做出這樣的假設。我們假設它是平坦的。

We will now move to our next question from Justin Hauke from Baird.

現在我們將轉向貝爾德 (Baird) 的賈斯汀·豪克 (Justin Hauke) 提出的下一個問題。

A lot of my questions have been answered here. But I wanted to ask I guess the risk profile of just cost overruns on some of the fixed price contracts at IEA, you guys, at least as of the last 10-Q, we don't have the one from the quarter, but the revenue on unapproved change orders has kind of moved materially higher over the last 1.5 years. And just as we go into 4Q and kind of the annual close out the resolution on some of those unapproved change orders, you talked about a legacy industrial project. I mean just can you give us some context about what's been driving that balance increasing?

我的很多問題都在這裡得到了解答。但我想問一下，我猜 IEA 的一些固定價格合同的成本超支的風險狀況，你們，至少截至過去 10 個季度，我們沒有本季度的合同，但過去1.5 年來，未經批准的變更訂單帶來的收入大幅增長。正當我們進入第四季度並年度結束對一些未經批准的變更訂單的決議時，您談到了一個遺留工業項目。我的意思是，您能給我們一些背景信息，說明是什麼推動了這種平衡的增加嗎？

Yes. So we do -- we should see a slight reduction when the Q3 numbers come out, but a lot of it is with the legacy industrial projects that we had challenges on in '22 and the early part of this year. Some of them were resolved in the ordinary course in Q4 and some we work with the customers on we think our contractual obligations that they've made under the contracts. And we obviously have a very robust process for reporting those. We have a very strong track record of realizing those change orders, and we really don't expect any different in the environment today.

是的。所以，當第三季的數據公佈時，我們應該會看到略有減少，但其中很大一部分是我們在 22 年和今年年初遇到挑戰的遺留工業項目。其中一些問題在第四季度的正常過程中得到了解決，有些問題我們與客戶合作，我們認為他們根據合約承擔了我們的合約義務。顯然，我們有一個非常健全的報告流程。我們在實現這些變更訂單方面擁有非常良好的記錄，我們真的不希望今天的環境有任何不同。

Okay. And then just because it is a high visibility project, can you quantify the MVP revenue contribution that you're assuming in 4Q? And then how much will be there in the first half of '24? I know they've disclosed that the cost estimate for the project is higher, just kind of giving some context to help us understand how much that's contributing?

好的。然後，僅僅因為它是一個高知名度的項目，您能否量化您在第四季度假設的 MVP 收入貢獻？那麼24年上半年會有多少呢？我知道他們已經透露該專案的成本估算較高，只是提供一些背景資訊來幫助我們了解其貢獻有多大？

Yes. Look, I think it's unchanged for the full year in '23. It's just -- it's heavier in the fourth quarter than it was in the third quarter because of the delays. Remember, we started ramping that project in September. We had to get roughly 3,700 people with some of the delays in early on in that project, there was a lot of delays just in terms of fully understanding what was going to be allowed and not allowed. We got to that full ramp towards the latter half of the quarter, so we moved some revenue into Q4. And I'd say we're probably at this point -- I don't know what they've said publicly, so I don't really want to give a revenue number for 2024. But for us, it will be in the hundreds of millions.

是的。看，我認為 23 年全年沒有變化。只是由於延誤，第四季的情況比第三季更嚴重。請記住，我們從 9 月開始推進該專案。我們必須讓大約 3,700 人參與該項目，但在該項目的早期階段出現了一些延誤，只是在充分了解什麼是允許的、什麼是不允許的方面出現了很多延誤。我們在本季後半段達到了全面成長，因此我們將一些收入轉移到了第四季度。我想說，我們可能正處於這個階段——我不知道他們公開說過什麼，所以我真的不想給出 2024 年的收入數字。但對我們來說，它將在數億。

We will take our next question from Neil Mehta from Goldman Sachs.

我們將回答高盛尼爾梅塔的下一個問題。

Good morning, Jose, Paul, I wanted to start off on tax (technical difficulty) has been a big driver of some -- can you hear me okay, Jose? Sorry.

早安，何塞，保羅，我想從稅收（技術難度）開始，這一直是一些人的一大推動因素——你能聽到我說話嗎，何塞？對不起。

Yes. Go ahead, Neil.

是的。繼續吧，尼爾。

Okay. I think some of the concerns to your point, have been around tax equity and that's created a lot of the volatility in the Clean Energy segment. And you had made a comment that you expect to get a little bit more clarity by the end of this year around that. So can you talk about what gives you confidence on that? And do you think that's going to translate into greater activity from the customer base?

好的。我認為您的一些擔憂與稅收公平有關，這造成了清潔能源領域的巨大波動。您曾發表評論稱，預計到今年年底，這一點將會更加清晰。那麼您能談談是什麼讓您對此充滿信心嗎？您認為這會轉化為客戶群的更多活動嗎？

So the short answer is absolutely. I think there's been an enormous amount of work that's happened since guidance was released on some of the language in the summer. I think the industry customers are feeling really comfortable and better about the conversations that have been happening with everybody from treasury to energy to commerce. I think the final language will be out by the end of the year, and I think that will spur an enormous amount of activity because it will open up. It will give people the understanding of what it means to hit the bonus tax depreciation opportunities that exist within the bill, which makes tax equity clear, which makes -- then makes it sellable.

所以簡短的回答是絕對的。我認為自從夏天發布一些語言的指南以來，已經進行了大量的工作。我認為行業客戶對與從財政部到能源再到商業的每個人進行的對話感到非常舒適和更好。我認為最終的語言將在今年年底問世，我認為這將刺激大量的活動，因為它將開放。它將讓人們了解法案中存在的紅利稅收折舊機會意味著什麼，這使得稅收公平變得清晰，從而使其變得可銷售。

And we have a lot of customers who -- it significantly changes their capital profile and the return profile and they don't want to give it up, so they don't want to commit to the tax equity today and so they fully understand what all their bonus opportunities are. And I think we're getting very close to that being finalized, which, again, I think adds a tremendous amount of activity to the market. And I think it's important to, again, we're trying to build our '24 plan with projects that aren't super dependent on that and then really use that as potential upside as we think about the year.

我們有很多客戶——這顯著改變了他們的資本狀況和回報狀況，他們不想放棄，所以他們今天不想承諾稅收公平，所以他們完全理解什麼他們所有的獎金機會都是。我認為我們已經非常接近最終確定的目標，我認為這再次為市場增加了大量的活動。我認為重要的是，我們再次嘗試制定我們的“24 小時計劃”，其中的項目並不超級依賴於此，然後在我們考慮這一年時真正將其作為潛在的上行空間。

Yes. And I would just add, Neil, that direct transfer is another provision of the IRA that's starting to become much more prevalent, right? I think there was some uncertainty on the -- how that transaction -- how those transactions would be effectuated early on. But what we're seeing is more and more developers and renewable power generators finding ways to monetize their tax equity through direct transfer, which as long as it becomes efficient from a cost perspective -- from a value perspective, it's a much more efficient from an administrative perspective. So we are positive on developments.

是的。我想補充一點，尼爾，直接轉帳是 IRA 的另一項規定，它開始變得更加普遍，對嗎？我認為關於如何進行交易以及如何儘早完成這些交易存在一些不確定性。但我們看到的是，越來越多的開發商和再生能源發電商正在尋找透過直接轉移將其稅收權益貨幣化的方法，只要從成本角度來看變得高效——從價值角度來看，它的效率要高得多。行政角度。因此，我們對事態發展持積極態度。

Thanks Paul, that's helpful. And then Jose for the follow-up is just on margins. We spend a lot of time on this call talking about the top line, but margins have been a source of volatility over the last couple of years as well. So can you give the market confidence in the way that you're modeling out the margin profile, where do you think the biggest risks are? And where do you think the areas for upside surprise could be?

謝謝保羅，這很有幫助。然後何塞的後續行動也只是邊緣。我們在這次電話會議上花了很多時間討論營收，但利潤率也是過去幾年波動的一個根源。那麼，您能否透過對利潤狀況進行建模的方式為市場帶來信心，您認為最大的風險在哪裡？您認為上行驚喜可能在哪裡？

Sure. Again, as we thought about '24 and then what we're seeing here, I think we took, again, a view as to where we are today and how we're thinking about that with where the revenue is going. We haven't changed our long-term margin profile expectations, which I also think is important. There's nothing that we're seeing in the business that we don't -- that we think doesn't allow us to reach our previous targets. If anything, I think we've said, as we've talked about, the full company margins for the year, I think they're based on very reasonable and conservative assumptions with, quite frankly, upside across the board, right? We're starting the year at mid-teens in oil and gas in a year where there's a lot of new work coming on projects where they've traditionally beat those types of margin returns. We think there's upside there.

當然。再次，當我們思考「24」以及我們在這裡看到的情況時，我認為我們再次對我們今天的處境以及我們如何考慮收入的去向進行了看法。我們沒有改變我們的長期利潤率預期，我也認為這很重要。我們在業務中看到的一切都是我們沒有看到的——我們認為這些不會讓我們實現先前的目標。如果有的話，我認為我們已經說過，正如我們所討論的，公司今年的全部利潤率，我認為它們是基於非常合理和保守的假設，坦率地說，全面上行，對吧？我們在石油和天然氣行業的新年伊始，就出現了許多新的工作，這些項目的利潤回報率傳統上都超過了這些類型。我們認為那裡有好的一面。

On the communications side of the business, obviously, we started the year stronger than we had the previous year. We've had a -- we've taken a step back here in the second half. But when we think about where they were for 2022, there's no reason we shouldn't get back to those levels very soon, which are significantly better than where we'll end the year this year. Our power delivery business, again, this was -- this is really the first post year 1 after acquisition. So I think there's been some noise in and out of the margins, but I think that we're -- our ability to hit double-digit margins there is completely unchanged.

顯然，在業務的通訊方面，我們今年的開局比前一年更加強勁。我們在下半場後退了一步。但當我們考慮 2022 年的情況時，我們沒有理由不盡快回到這些水平，這比我們今年年底的水平要好得多。我們的電力傳輸業務，這確實是收購後第一年的第一個業務。因此，我認為利潤率內外存在一些噪音，但我認為我們實現兩位數利潤率的能力完全沒有改變。

And I think Clean Energy, despite -- even despite all the challenges that we've had, margins have improved on a year-over-year basis and held somewhat steady. And I think that with the volume that we're expecting, margins have an opportunity to really increase. So I feel good about where margins are going to go over time. And again, I think we've set a really conservative base level for '24 that everybody should feel comfortable with. Thanks, Neil.

我認為，儘管我們面臨所有挑戰，但清潔能源的利潤率仍逐年提高，並保持一定程度的穩定。我認為，隨著我們預期的銷量，利潤率有機會真正增加。因此，我對隨著時間的推移利潤率的變化感到滿意。再說一遍，我認為我們為 24 年設定了一個非常保守的基準水平，每個人都應該感到舒適。謝謝，尼爾。

We will take our next question from Marc Bianchi from TD Cowen.

我們將接受 TD Cowen 的 Marc Bianchi 提出的下一個問題。

The first question I had relates to the electric businesses, so Clean Energy and Power Delivery and you had mentioned and I think like the market has been generally concerned with the higher cost of capital that's affecting those businesses. So if you think about project development and higher cost of capital, that's one thing for Clean Energy and then higher cost of capital in the utility sector, and you mentioned some customers slowing spending.

我的第一個問題與電力業務有關，因此您提到了清潔能源和電力輸送，我認為市場普遍擔心影響這些業務的較高資本成本。因此，如果您考慮專案開發和更高的資本成本，這對於清潔能源來說是一回事，然後是公用事業領域更高的資本成本，您提到了一些客戶正在放緩支出。

So that systemic issue seems to be continuing into 2024 but you made the comment that you've got some of the utility customers picking spending back up once they renew their budget. So can you kind of talk about how much of that systemic risk do you think is continuing to overhang the business in 2024 and how much of it is getting cleared up and what the maybe mechanisms are for that?

因此，這個系統性問題似乎會持續到 2024 年，但您評論說，一些公用事業客戶在更新預算後會重新增加支出。那麼，您能否談談您認為到 2024 年，有多少系統性風險將繼續困擾企業，有多少正在解決，以及可能的機制是什麼？

Yes. So I think when we think about planning for '24 and again, we're very early in the cycle, the way we've thought about it is we've had a lot of success in growing our business. So in basically either picking up territory or expansion within existing territories in the last x months, right? And we've done that with major customers, with major utilities on both the East Coast and the West Coast, and we feel really good about that margin expansion. And in a normal typical year where we wouldn't have this overhang of concern relative to what's happening with interest rates and costs, our growth projections just based on that would be dramatically higher than what we laid out today.

是的。因此，我認為，當我們再次考慮制定 24 小時計劃時，我們還處於週期的早期階段，我們的思考方式是我們在業務發展方面取得了巨大成功。那麼，在過去的 X 個月裡，基本上要么是奪取領土，要么是在現有領土內擴張，對吧？我們已經與東海岸和西海岸的主要公用事業公司的主要客戶做到了這一點，我們對利潤率的擴張感到非常滿意。在正常的年份裡，我們不會對利率和成本的變化產生過度的擔憂，我們基於此的成長預測將大大高於我們今天的預測。

So I think we're hedging the opportunities that we're getting from a growth perspective with some of the challenges we think utilities will continue to face. We're hopeful that as the year develops, those utilities will actually perform better or have less issues than what we're projecting, which will allow us the opportunity to grow at a faster rate. For us in our power delivery business to set a mid-single-digit growth rate going into next year is a really low number. It's one that is lower than we would have suspected. And then when you throw on to that some projects that we've won that should help that, I think we're being really conservative as we think about where they are from a capitalization perspective and what they need to do to fund projects. And I'd say it's exactly the same answer on our Clean Energy business as well.

因此，我認為我們正在對沖從成長角度獲得的機會和我們認為公用事業將繼續面臨的一些挑戰。我們希望，隨著時間的推移，這些公用事業實際上會比我們預期的表現更好或問題更少，這將使我們有機會以更快的速度成長。對於我們的電力傳輸業務來說，明年設定中個位數的成長率是一個非常低的數字。它比我們想像的還要低。然後，當你提到我們贏得的一些項目應該會有所幫助時，我認為我們非常保守，因為我們從資本化的角度考慮他們的處境以及他們需要做什麼來資助項目。我想說，這與我們的清潔能源業務的答案完全相同。

Okay. The other 1 I had relates to Oil and Gas. So you've got MVP helping in the first half of '24, but talked about overall revenue decline for the year. So it would look like the second half is quite a bit below sort of the $2 billion run rate that I think you talked about as a steady state level for that business. So can you talk about -- is it in fact that you do see the steady state run rate now quite a bit below $2 billion? Or is that another maybe source of conservatism?

好的。我的另外 1 個與石油和天然氣有關。所以你在 24 年上半年得到了 MVP 的幫助，但談到了今年的整體收入下降。因此，下半年的運行速度似乎遠低於 20 億美元的運行速度，我認為您所說的該業務的穩態水平。那麼您能否談談——事實上您確實看到目前的穩定運行率遠低於 20 億美元嗎？還是這是保守主義的另一個來源？

No. Look, I think we've said for a while that the right level for that business was $1.5 billion to $2 billion. We've been feeling more comfortable that it's going to be closer to the higher end of that. We also knew that MVP would present its own set of challenges in that it would start, it would be a lot of revenue in particular periods, and it would go away. As I think about 2024, obviously, the first half of the year is going to be a little bit stronger because of MVP. We've got a lot of projects that we've previously talked about that are filling in '24. So we actually feel really good about '24. I think the first half will be higher than it was in '23. The second half will be slightly lower. Again, I think that's based on the projects we know today. I think there's some opportunities for some potential pull-in but there's also projects that we know about that are going to start in '25. So I think it's going to be a much more consistent year versus the ebbs and flows that we've had this year or quite frankly, that we had last year as well in that business.

不，我想我們已經說過一段時間了，該業務的正確水平是 15 億至 20 億美元。我們一直感覺更舒服，因為它會更接近高端。我們也知道 MVP 會帶來自己的一系列挑戰，因為它會開始，在特定時期會帶來大量收入，然後就會消失。當我想到 2024 年時，顯然，由於 MVP，今年上半年會變得更強一些。我們之前討論過的許多項目都將在 24 年完成。所以我們實際上對 24 感覺很好。我認為上半年會比23年更高。下半年會稍微低一點。再說一次，我認為這是基於我們今天所知的項目。我認為有一些潛在的吸引機會，但我們知道也有一些計畫將於 25 年啟動。因此，我認為與今年我們經歷的起起落落相比，這將是更加穩定的一年，或者坦白說，與去年我們在該行業經歷的起起落落相比。

We will take our next question from Brent Thielman from D.A. Davidson.

我們將回答來自 D.A. 的 Brent Thielman 的下一個問題。戴維森。

Jose, just 1 more on the Clean Energy margins. I guess the question is, does the profile of the projects in the backlog or under (inaudible) Support the margins you're hoping to eventually achieve for that business once that work gets underway? Or do you need to work through that first before we start to think about something sort of nicely above the mid-single-digit range?

何塞，在清潔能源領域僅再領先 1 名。我想問題是，待辦事項中或（聽不清楚）下的專案概況是否支持您希望在工作開始後最終為該業務實現的利潤？或者，在我們開始考慮遠高於中個位數範圍的某種情況之前，您是否需要先解決這個問題？

If we could hit the volume profiles that we're talking about, the margins associated with our pricing in bids definitely allows us to achieve that, and we actually think it potentially allows us to achieve more. So we don't believe we have a pricing issue. We -- as we look at it on a project-by-project basis as we've been delivering projects this year, project performance at the job level has been good. It's been the absorption of costs that's been more of a problem. So as we get revenue levels to where they need to be, we start getting into the margin profile, not even that we're talking about today, but over time, what we've laid out previously on our longer-term outlook.

如果我們能夠達到我們正在討論的數量概況，那麼與我們的投標定價相關的利潤肯定可以讓我們實現這一目標，而且我們實際上認為這可能使我們能夠實現更多目標。所以我們認為我們不存在定價問題。我們——當我們逐個項目地看待它時，因為我們今年一直在交付項目，所以工作層面的專案績效一直很好。成本的吸收才是更大的問題。因此，當我們的收入水平達到所需的水平時，我們就開始研究利潤率狀況，甚至不是我們今天討論的，而是隨著時間的推移，我們之前對長期前景進行了闡述。

Okay. And I guess I'll ask this question on '24 maybe another way. I mean the preliminary view, sort of mid- to high single-digit growth for next year. To what degree does that included executing on through the renewables projects inherited from IEA that you've seen sort of defer thus far this year?

好的。我想我會在 24 年以另一種方式問這個問題。我的意思是初步的看法，明年將實現中高個位數成長。這在多大程度上包括執行從國際能源總署繼承的可再生能源項目，而您今年迄今為止看到的這些項目有些延遲？

Brian, I missed a slight part of the question after -- can you repeat the question because it cut out for a second?

布萊恩，我錯過了問題的一小部分——你能重複這個問題嗎，因為它停頓了一秒鐘？

Yes, Jose, I guess the question is just as you think about that 2024 preliminary view for growth. To what degree does that include assumptions for the work from IEA that you've seen deferred so far this year?

是的，何塞，我想這個問題正如你思考 2024 年成長的初步觀點。這在多大程度上包括今年迄今為止推遲的 IEA 工作的假設？

Well, what we've done for '24 in Clean Energy is we've kind of gone back to the start, right? And we took every project regardless of where it came from, whether it was IEA or our legacy business, and we've risk-adjusted it, and we're focusing on projects where we think have very little issues to proceed in '24, and that's how we're building our plan. We're not abandoning any projects. We're not abandoning any customers to the extent that we can pull them in, we will obviously do that. But we're really trying to build the plan based on a combined work schedule of jobs that we think have the highest likelihood of going and are performing well.

好吧，我們在 24 世紀清潔能源領域所做的就是回到了起點，對嗎？我們接受了每一個項目，無論它來自哪裡，無論是 IEA 還是我們的遺留業務，我們都對其進行了風險調整，我們重點關注那些我們認為在 24 年沒有什麼問題可以繼續進行的項目，這就是我們制定計劃的方式。我們不會放棄任何項目。只要我們能吸引客戶，我們就不會放棄任何客戶，我們顯然會這麼做。但我們確實試圖根據我們認為最有可能進行且表現良好的工作的綜合工作時間表來製定計劃。

(Operator Instructions) We will take our next question from Adam Thalhimer from Thompson, Davis.

（操作員說明）我們將接受來自戴維斯湯普森的 Adam Thalhimer 的下一個問題。

Jose, to what extent are higher rates and macro uncertainty impacting bidding?

Jose，較高的利率和宏觀不確定性在多大程度上影響了投標？

Well, I don't know that they're impacting bidding as much as they're impacting customers' ability to ultimately perform on projects as a concern in bidding, right? So I think -- what it does to our bidding strategy is it really makes us get a very good understanding of where the customer is, what the potential of that job on a go-forward basis is and their ability to execute. And to the extent that they can meet that from a cost perspective, right, we're building in our current costs as we know them, we're building in whatever we think may change from a labor perspective or materials. A lot of that gets locked in a bid time. So from a pricing mechanism perspective, we're not overly concerned. We're more concerned with making sure that the projects that we're bidding and the time that we're spending bidding on projects is well served relative to the potential of that project moving forward.

好吧，我不知道它們對投標的影響與對客戶最終執行專案的能力的影響一樣大，這是投標中關注的一個問題，對嗎？所以我認為，它對我們的投標策略的作用是，它確實使我們能夠很好地了解客戶的位置、該工作的未來潛力以及他們的執行能力。在某種程度上，他們可以從成本角度滿足這一要求，對吧，我們正在建立我們所知道的當前成本，我們正在建立我們認為從勞動力或材料角度可能發生變化的任何成本。其中許多都被鎖定在競標時間內。因此，從定價機制的角度來看，我們並不過度擔心。我們更關心的是確保我們正在投標的項目以及我們在項目投標上花費的時間相對於該項目前進的潛力得到了很好的服務。

Okay. So, I was kind of more thinking about just the pace of bidding or the flow of bidding or the amount of projects that people are giving to look at for 2024?

好的。所以，我更多考慮的是投標的節奏或投標的流程，或者人們在 2024 年關注的項目數量？

Yes. And that's the issue, right? It's -- I mean the amount of work that is being presented, right, or people ask us to bid on is more than we could ever do. So the challenge isn't providing pricing to everybody, the challenge is making sure that you're down selecting from that list to a list that you think is really doable.

是的。這就是問題所在，對吧？我的意思是，正在展示的工作量，或者人們要求我們投標的工作量超出了我們所能做的範圍。因此，挑戰不是向每個人提供定價，而是確保您從該清單中選擇您認為真正可行的清單。

I want to reiterate this because we tried to say it in different ways, the market is incredibly healthy. There is an enormous amount of pent-up demand in the marketplace relative to projects. You can meet dozens and dozens of customers that have massive portfolios of build plants. The question is how many of those will go forward and when. And I think they will all go forward, quite frankly, or most of them will go forward, but the question is when, and that's what we're really spending a lot of time. So we're not in the same position that we were in '23.

我想重申這一點，因為我們試圖以不同的方式表達這一點，市場非常健康。與專案相關的市場中有大量被壓抑的需求。您可以見到數十個擁有大量建築工廠組合的客戶。問題是其中有多少將繼續進行以及何時進行。坦白說，我認為他們都會繼續前進，或者說大多數人都會繼續前進，但問題是何時，這就是我們真正花費大量時間的事情。所以我們現在的處境與 23 年時有所不同。

It appears there are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the call back over to Jose Mas for any additional or closing remarks.

目前似乎沒有其他問題了。我想將電話轉回何塞·馬斯（Jose Mas），詢問任何補充或結束語。

Yes. So I just want to take this opportunity to thank everybody again. Thank you for changing your schedules, and we look forward to updating you on our fourth quarter call. Thank you.

是的。所以我想藉此機會再次感謝大家。感謝您更改日程安排，我們期待在第四季度電話會議上向您通報最新情況。謝謝。

This concludes today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。