Paymentus Holdings Inc (PAY) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

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(Operator Instructions)

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At this time, I will now turn the call over to David Hanover, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在，我將把電話轉給投資者關係部的 David Hanover。請繼續。

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon. Welcome, and thank you for joining the webcast to review our fourth-quarter 2024 results. Our earnings release documents are available on the Investor Relations section of the paymentus.com website. They include the earnings presentation that will make reference during this webcast. I hope everyone's had a chance to review those documents.

謝謝您，接線生。午安.歡迎，感謝您參加網路直播來回顧我們 2024 年第四季的業績。我們的收益發布文件可在 paymentus.com 網站的投資者關係部分找到。其中包括本次網絡廣播中將參考的收益報告。我希望每個人都有機會審閱這些文件。

Our Founder and CEO, Dushyant Sharma, we'll make some opening comments before Sanjay Kalra, our CFO, discusses the details of the fourth-quarter and full-year and our guidance. Following our prepared remarks, we'll take questions.

我們的創辦人兼執行長 Dushyant Sharma 將發表一些開場白，之後我們的財務長 Sanjay Kalra 將討論第四季度和全年的細節以及我們的指導。在我們準備好發言之後，我們將回答問題。

Let me just remind you that we may make forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and we refer to non-GAAP financial measures during the website. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties.

我只想提醒您，我們可能會根據 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》做出前瞻性陳述，並且我們在網站中引用了非 GAAP 財務指標。前瞻性陳述是基於管理階層目前的預期和假設，這些預期和假設受風險和不確定性的影響。

Factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from expectations are detailed in our earnings material and our SEC filings that are available on both the SEC's and our websites Information about non-GAAP financial measures, including reconciliations to US GAAP, can also be found in our earnings materials that are available on the website.

可能導致我們的實際結果與預期產生重大差異的因素已在我們的收益資料和 SEC 文件中詳細說明，這些文件可在美國證券交易委員會和我們的網站上查閱。有關非 GAAP 財務指標的資訊（包括與美國 GAAP 的對帳）也可在我們網站上提供的收益資料中找到。

With that, I'd like to turn the webcast over to Dushyant Sharma. Dushyant.

現在，我想將網路直播交給 Dushyant Sharma。杜尚特。

Thanks, David. 2024 was an outstanding year for Paymentus. And based on the vast stem of nondiscretionary bills and our continued market momentum, we believe our best is yet to come, and we are just getting started. As I've shared in the past, we operate our business on a two-year horizon. And it is quite satisfying to see how well we have executed our -- over the last two years.

謝謝，大衛。 2024 年對 Paymentus 來說是傑出的一年。基於大量的非自由支配票據和持續的市場勢頭，我們相信最好的時刻尚未到來，而我們才剛剛開始。正如我過去所分享的，我們的業務營運期限為兩年。看到我們在過去兩年中表現如此出色，我感到非常滿意。

Mike was were just as excited about our next year horizon and beyond. And this view is based on five factors: first, our continued sales momentum; second, our strong bookings in 2024; third, our significant exit backlog net of large client launches in the third quarter; fourth, our continued onboarding success; and fifth, our phenomenal innovation framework that will continue to be disruptive in the broader fintech market.

麥克對我們明年及以後的前景同樣感到興奮。這個觀點基於五個因素：第一，我們持續的銷售動能；第二，我們 2024 年的預訂量強勁；第三，我們在第三季度推出了大量退出積壓的大客戶；第四，我們持續的入職培訓成功；第五，我們非凡的創新框架將繼續在更廣泛的金融科技市場中產生顛覆性的影響。

Despite our 2024 outperformance, we remain committed to our CAGR model of 20% top line and 20% to 30% adjusted EBITDA growth for 2025. And based on our guidance philosophy that has served us very well over the last couple of years, I'm pleased to report that we believe we can deliver the top end of our 2025 guidance that Sanjay will cover shortly without signing any new clients provided, of course, we deliver implementations as planned.

儘管我們 2024 年的業績表現出色，但我們仍致力於實現 2025 年 20% 的營收複合年增長率和 20% 至 30% 的調整後 EBITDA 增長率。基於過去幾年來對我們非常有益的指導理念，我很高興地報告，我們相信我們可以實現桑傑即將提出的 2025 年指導的最高目標，而無需簽署任何新客戶，當然，我們會按計劃實施。

With that context, let me now discuss our fourth quarter and full year 2024 results. We ended the year on a strong note with fourth quarter results that exceeded our expectations across all areas of our business. Fourth quarter 2024 revenue was a record $257.9 million, up 56.5% year over year.

基於此背景，現在讓我來討論我們 2024 年第四季和全年的業績。我們以強勁的業績結束了這一財年，第四季度的業績超出了我們所有業務領域的預期。2024 年第四季營收創紀錄達到 2.579 億美元，年增 56.5%。

Fourth quarter contribution profit was $86.2 million, up 30% year over year. Our adjusted EBITDA, which as many of you know, is a significant financial metric for us was $27.3 million for the quarter, up 36.9% year over year.

第四季貢獻利潤為8,620萬美元，較去年同期成長30%。眾所周知，我們的調整後 EBITDA 對我們來說是一個重要的財務指標，本季為 2,730 萬美元，年成長 36.9%。

And on a Rule of 40 scale, we saw a sequential increase in the quarter to 62%. For the full year 2024, revenue increased 41.9% over last year to $871.7 million, far exceeding our long-term target of 20% top-line growth. Adjusted EBITDA increased 62.2% for the year to $94.2 million once again, well ahead of our long-term target of 20% to 30% growth.

以 40 法則衡量，我們發現本季環比成長至 62%。2024 年全年營收較去年成長 41.9%，達到 8.717 億美元，遠遠超過我們 20% 的長期營收成長目標。調整後的 EBITDA 全年再次成長 62.2%，達到 9,420 萬美元，遠高於我們 20% 至 30% 的長期成長目標。

Contribution profit for 2024 was $312.1 million, growing 29.5% annually. We also saw a great year for bookings in 2024. The multiyear commitments under our typical agreements from these bookings gives us a lot of confidence in our ability to achieve our CAGR model.

2024 年貢獻獲利為 3.121 億美元，年增 29.5%。我們也看到 2024 年的預訂量十分可觀。這些訂單的典型協議下的多年承諾讓我們對實現複合年增長率模型的能力充滿信心。

As a reminder, our CAGR model is for our primary metrics of revenue and adjusted EBITDA only and should not be confused with secondary metrics such as contribution profit and OpEx. As we have done very effectively so far, we will continue to use our strong operating leverage to calibrate contribution profit and OpEx as necessary to achieve these targets.

提醒一下，我們的 CAGR 模型僅針對收入和調整後的 EBITDA 的主要指標，不應與貢獻利潤和營運支出等次要指標混淆。正如我們迄今為止所做的那樣，我們將繼續利用強大的營運槓桿來根據需要調整貢獻利潤和營運支出，以實現這些目標。

In addition to the numbers we reported today, as noted on our last earnings call, there is a specific business strategy in play here. While today, Interchange only serves as a cost center for us, over time, our strategy is to have the interchange economy and associated life cycle flow through our P&L as we capture more market share.

除了我們今天報告的數字之外，正如我們上次收益電話會議所指出的，這裡還有一項具體的商業策略正在實施中。雖然今天，交換只是我們的成本中心，但隨著時間的推移，我們的策略是讓交換經濟和相關的生命週期流入我們的損益表，同時我們佔領更多的市場份額。

This will increase our scale, which also creates tremendous opportunities for modernization and cost reductions. So longer term, we will work to expand our margins by pursuing products and solutions that offer the ability to convert part of the interchange from a cost center to a revenue center.

這將擴大我們的規模，也為現代化和降低成本創造巨大的機會。因此，從長遠來看，我們將致力於透過開發能夠將部分交換從成本中心轉換為收入中心的產品和解決方案來擴大我們的利潤率。

Said differently, we think of interchange as a potential new expansion of the total addressable market for our business. Even though this is a long-term play, we wanted to make sure that investors are aware of this strategy behind our execution.

換句話說，我們認為交換是我們業務整體可尋址市場的一個潛在的新擴展。儘管這是一項長期舉措，但我們仍希望確保投資人了解我們執行背後的這項策略。

Now I'll review some of our key fourth quarter business highlights and accomplishments. As I mentioned earlier, we finished 2024 with a strong backlog and and solid top line growth as a result of our technology platform and our IPN ecosystem.

現在我將回顧我們第四季的一些主要業務亮點和成就。正如我之前提到的，由於我們的技術平台和 IPN 生態系統，我們在 2024 年取得了強勁的積壓訂單和穩健的營收成長。

During the fourth quarter, we signed clients in various industry verticals, including insurance, government agencies, utilities, banking and credit unions, consumer finance organizations and educational institutions among others. We believe this extensive mix of new customers demonstrates the diversity of the businesses and the multiple industry verticals of our platform can support.

在第四季度，我們簽署了各行業的客戶，包括保險、政府機構、公用事業、銀行和信用合作社、消費金融組織和教育機構等。我們相信，如此廣泛的新客戶組合體現了我們平台所能支援的業務多樣性和多個行業垂直領域。

In addition, we signed several new channel partners in various industry verticals to deepen our partner ecosystem. These verticals include government services, utilities, insurance and health care. Our diverse and ever-expanding partner network is an excellent companion to our direct go-to-market strategy.

此外，我們在各個垂直行業中簽署了多家新的通路合作夥伴，以深化我們的合作夥伴生態系統。這些垂直行業包括政府服務、公用事業、保險和醫療保健。我們多元化且不斷擴大的合作夥伴網絡是我們直接進入市場策略的絕佳伴侶。

And in addition to this strategy, we continue to focus on onboarding our strong backlog. Our onboarding enhancements, targeted incremental investments as well as constantly improving face-to-face client engagement continue to be a tailwind for us.

除了這個策略之外，我們還將繼續致力於處理我們強大的積壓訂單。我們的入職改進、有針對性的增量投資以及不斷改善的面對面客戶互動繼續為我們帶來順風。

As part of this effort, like we have mentioned on past calls, we have continued to ramp up hirings in order to support our continued growth. During the quarter, we onboarded clients across multiple verticals, namely insurance, property management government services, utilities, banking and credit unions and telecommunications.

作為這項努力的一部分，正如我們在過去的電話會議中提到的那樣，我們將繼續加強招募力度，以支持我們的持續成長。本季度，我們吸收了多個垂直領域的客戶，包括保險、物業管理、政府服務、公用事業、銀行、信用合作社和電信。

Now let me turn it over to Sanjay to review our financial results in greater detail.

現在，讓我將時間交給桑傑來更詳細地回顧我們的財務結果。

Thanks, Dushyant. And thank you all for joining us today. Before I discuss our quarterly results and outlook, I'd like to remind everyone that the financial results I'll be referring to include non-GAAP financial measures. Our earnings press release and presentation includes reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the corresponding GAAP measures. Both are available on our website.

謝謝，杜尚特。感謝大家今天的到來。在討論我們的季度業績和展望之前，我想提醒大家，我將要提到的財務表現包括非公認會計準則財務指標。我們的收益新聞稿和介紹包括這些非 GAAP 財務指標與相應的 GAAP 指標的對帳。兩者都可以在我們的網站上找到。

Turning to Slide 5. We ended 2024 with another quarter where we exceeded the top end of our guidance range across all our key financial metrics. Our fourth quarter results included record revenue of $257.9 million, up 56.5% year over year, contribution profit of $86.2 million, up 30% and adjusted EBITDA of $27.3 million, up 36.9%.

翻到幻燈片 5。2024 年結束時，我們所有關鍵財務指標都超出了預期範圍的上限。我們第四季的業績包括創紀錄的 2.579 億美元營收，年增 56.5%；貢獻 8,620 萬美元，年增 30%；調整後 EBITDA 2,730 萬美元，年增 36.9%。

On the Rule of 40 basis, we came in at 62%, our highest level to date and our seventh consecutive quarter of exceeding the Rule of 40. During the quarter, we also continued to experience strong customer activity and demand, consistent with what we experienced throughout 2024. This drove robust bookings, and we exited the year with solid momentum and a significant backlog and a greater cash position to support our continued growth strategies in 2025.

按照 40 法則，我們的比率達到了 62%，這是我們迄今為止的最高水平，也是我們連續第七個季度超過 40 法則。在本季度，我們也持續經歷強勁的客戶活動和需求，與我們整個 2024 年的經驗一致。這推動了強勁的預訂量，我們以強勁的發展勢頭、大量積壓訂單和更充裕的現金狀況結束了這一財年，以支持我們 2025 年的持續成長策略。

Now let's review our fourth quarter financials in more detail. As mentioned earlier, fourth quarter revenue grew 56.5% year over year to $257.9 million.

現在讓我們更詳細地回顧一下第四季的財務狀況。如前所述，第四季營收年增 56.5% 至 2.579 億美元。

This higher-than-anticipated growth was driven by two key factors: first, the successful launch of new billers, including the first full quarter benefit from large enterprise customers that launched during the third quarter; and second, increased same-store sales from existing billers. In the fourth quarter, we derive more revenue from these newly launched large enterprise customers with higher average payment amounts contributing to higher revenues.

這高於預期的成長得益於兩個關鍵因素：首先，新帳單的成功推出，包括第三季推出的大型企業客戶帶來的第一個完整季度收益；其次，增加現有收款人的同店銷售額。第四季度，我們從這些新推出的大型企業客戶中獲得了更多的收入，這些客戶的平均支付金額更高，從而帶來了更高的收入。

And while our original fourth quarter guidance contains some upside, we took a prudent approach because at that time, the precise magnitude of this beneficial impact was uncertain.

儘管我們最初的第四季預期包含一些上行空間，但我們採取了謹慎的態度，因為當時這種有利影響的具體幅度尚不確定。

And you can see it was quite substantial. Complementing this, in the fourth quarter, the number of transactions we processed grew to $166 million, up 33% year over year. Our average price per transaction increased during the fourth quarter to $1.55, up over 17% from $1.32 in the prior year period.

您會發現它相當可觀。除此之外，第四季我們處理的交易數量成長至 1.66 億美元，年增 33%。我們第四季每筆交易的平均價格上漲至 1.55 美元，較去年同期的 1.32 美元上漲 17% 以上。

This was mainly due to the better mix or more specifically, the large enterprise billers that launched in the third quarter with higher average payment amounts. Fourth quarter 2024 contribution profit increased 30% year over year to $86.2 million.

這主要是因為產品組合更好，更具體地說，是第三季推出的大型企業付款商的平均付款金額更高。2024 年第四季貢獻獲利年增 30%，達到 8,620 萬美元。

This increase was also higher than expected and reflects increased transactions from existing billers. The launch of new billers and the change in biller mix I mentioned earlier. Contribution margin was 33.4% for the fourth quarter compared to 34.5% last quarter and 40.3% in the prior year period.

這一增幅也高於預期，反映了現有付款人的交易量增加。我之前提到的新收費員的推出和收費員組合的變化。第四季貢獻利潤率為 33.4%，而上一季為 34.5%，去年同期為 40.3%。

The 6.9% contribution margin reduction year over year reflects the continued addition of large high-volume enterprise billers to our growing customer base. This was substantially offset by benefits from the economies of scale and year-over-year reduction in operating expense margin, both of which resulted in an improved adjusted EBITDA margin and a record Rule of 40 at 62.

貢獻利潤率年減 6.9%，反映出我們不斷成長的客戶群中持續增加了大型高交易量企業帳單商。但這一損失被規模經濟效益和營業費用利潤率的同比下降所抵消，這兩項因素均導致調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率有所提高，並創下了 40 比 62 的記錄。

This is consistent with our continued focus on profitability, which I will elaborate on shortly. Contribution profit per transaction for the fourth quarter 2024 was $0.52, similar to $0.53 in the prior year period, demonstrating our ability to expand market share with comparable contribution profit per transaction.

這與我們持續關注獲利能力的理念一致，我將在稍後詳細說明。2024 年第四季每筆交易的貢獻利潤為 0.52 美元，與去年同期的 0.53 美元持平，這表明我們有能力在每筆交易貢獻利潤可比的情況下擴大市場份額。

As we've noted in the past, variables that are outside of our control, such as an increase in the average payment amount or changes in payment mix can affect contribution profit on a quarter-to-quarter basis. And therefore, we treat this as a secondary metric, while our gross revenue and adjusted EBITDA remain primary metrics for us. Fourth quarter adjusted gross profit grew 32.4% year over year to $71.8 million.

正如我們過去所指出的，我們無法控制的變量，例如平均支付金額的增加或支付組合的變化，可能會影響季度間的貢獻利潤。因此，我們將其視為次要指標，而我們的總收入和調整後的 EBITDA 仍然是主要指標。第四季調整後毛利年增32.4%至7,180萬美元。

We experienced adjusted gross profit growth greater than our contribution profit growth. due to the economies of scale we can achieve by reducing other cost of goods sold. Fourth quarter non-GAAP operating expenses were up 28.8% year over year to $47.3 million.

我們的調整後毛利成長高於貢獻利潤成長。由於規模經濟，我們可以透過降低其他銷售商品的成本來實現。第四季非公認會計準則營運費用年增 28.8% 至 4,730 萬美元。

Primarily reflecting higher sales and marketing expenses as well as research and development expenses. These increases were consistent with our expectations and were mainly driven by increased hiring and increased agency fees for businesses from resellers in order for us to convert our strong pipeline into bookings and also to enhance our technical strengths.

主要反映銷售和行銷費用以及研發費用的增加。這些成長符合我們的預期，主要是由於招募增加以及經銷商業務代理費增加，以便我們將強大的通路轉化為預訂，並增強我們的技術實力。

Regarding taxes, we have determined that a non-GAAP tax rate of 25% for the fourth quarter of 2024 is appropriate, based on our current expectation of our long-term projected tax rate. The rate is reflected in our 2025 guidance, which we will cover shortly.

關於稅收，根據我們目前對長期預期稅率的預期，我們確定 2024 年第四季的非 GAAP 稅率為 25% 是合適的。該比率反映在我們的 2025 年指導中，我們將很快介紹。

For competitive purposes, we have recast our fiscal 2024 and 2023 non-GAAP net income to reflect this tax rate. Which is available in the tables included in our earnings release. Please note, this non-GAAP tax rate reflects currently available information and could be subject to change.

出於競爭目的，我們已重算 2024 財年和 2023 財年非 GAAP 淨收入以反映該稅率。您可以在我們的收益報告表格中找到這些資訊。請注意，此非 GAAP 稅率反映的是當前可用的信息，可能會發生變化。

Fourth quarter non-GAAP net income was $16.3 million or $0.13 per share compared to non-GAAP net income of $11.8 million or $0.09 per share in the prior year period. Fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA grew 36.9% to $27.3 million compared to $19.9 million in the prior year period.

第四季非公認會計準則淨收入為 1,630 萬美元或每股 0.13 美元，而去年同期非公認會計準則淨收入為 1,180 萬美元或每股 0.09 美元。第四季調整後 EBITDA 成長 36.9%，達到 2,730 萬美元，去年同期為 1,990 萬美元。

Adjusted EBITDA also represented 31.6% of contribution profit for the quarter compared to 30% in the prior year period. The strong adjusted EBITDA performance was due to the same combination of positive factors I talked about earlier, all of which came together in the quarter. We believe the stronger adjusted EBITDA margin demonstrates the inherent operating leverage we have in the business.

調整後的 EBITDA 也佔本季貢獻利潤的 31.6%，去年同期為 30%。調整後的 EBITDA 表現強勁，這得益於我之前談到的一系列積極因素，所有這些因素都在本季度匯集在一起。我們相信，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率的提高證明了我們在業務中擁有的固有經營槓桿。

Interest income from our bank deposits was $2 million in the fourth quarter, consistent with the prior year period. Related to our performance, as mentioned earlier, we once again exceeded the Rule of 40 for the quarter coming in at 62% compared to 61% last quarter and 53% in the prior year period.

第四季我們銀行存款的利息收入為 200 萬美元，與去年同期持平。關於我們的業績，如前所述，本季我們的業績再次超出 40 法則，達到 62%，而上一季為 61%，去年同期為 53%。

Now turning to Slide 6. I will summarize our full year 2024 financial results, which also came in higher than we originally expected. Revenue for the full year increased 41.9% to $871.7 million, driven by a 30.3% increase in the transactions, primarily from new billers. As well as transaction growth from existing billers. Contribution profit increased 29.5% to $312.1 million, primarily due to increased transactions.

現在翻到幻燈片 6。我將總結我們 2024 年全年的財務業績，該業績也高於我們最初的預期。全年營收成長 41.9%，達到 8.717 億美元，主要得益於交易量成長 30.3%，其中主要來自新出票人。以及現有付款人的交易成長。貢獻利潤成長 29.5% 至 3.121 億美元，主要由於交易量增加。

Lastly, adjusted gross profit increased 30.4% to $259.6 million. Non-GAAP operating expenses increased to $175.9 million. up 17.3% year over year, primarily due to higher sales and marketing expenses as we continue to focus resources on the execution of our go-to-market strategy. Non-GAAP net income was $56.2 million or $0.44 per share compared to non-GAAP net income of $32.2 million or $0.26 per share in the prior year.

最後，調整後的毛利成長 30.4% 至 2.596 億美元。非公認會計準則營運支出增至1.759億美元。年比成長 17.3%，主要原因是我們持續集中資源執行市場進入策略，導致銷售和行銷費用增加。非公認會計準則淨收入為 5,620 萬美元或每股 0.44 美元，而去年的非公認會計準則淨收入為 3,220 萬美元或每股 0.26 美元。

Adjusted EBITDA increased 62.2% to $94.2 million, primarily due to increased adjusted gross profit, net of increased non-GAAP operating expenses. We exceeded the Rule of 40 for the full year coming in at 60% for 2024 compared to 2023 when we ended at 44%.

調整後的 EBITDA 成長 62.2% 至 9,420 萬美元，主要原因是調整後的毛利增加，扣除非 GAAP 營運費用的增加。我們全年超出了 40 法則，2024 年達到 60%，而 2023 年僅為 44%。

We are also proud to report that in fiscal year 2024, $36.1 million of our $71.2 million contribution profit increase flowed through to adjusted EBITDA, representing a 51% incremental adjusted EBITDA margin.

我們也自豪地報告，在 2024 財年，我們 7,120 萬美元的貢獻利潤增長中有 3,610 萬美元流入了調整後的 EBITDA，這意味著調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率增量為 51%。

Now I'll discuss our balance sheet and liquidity position on Slide 7. We ended the fourth quarter 2024 with total cash of $209.4 million compared to $190.8 million at the end of last quarter and $183.2 million in the prior year period.

現在我將在第 7 張投影片上討論我們的資產負債表和流動性狀況。截至 2024 年第四季度，我們的現金總額為 2.094 億美元，而上一季末為 1.908 億美元，去年同期為 1.832 億美元。

The $18.6 million sequential increase is primarily comprised of $27.9 million of cash generated from operations, offset by $9.1 million cash used in investing activities, primarily for capitalized software. The company does not have any debt. The free cash flow generated during the quarter was $19 million.

1,860 萬美元的環比成長主要包括經營活動產生的 2,790 萬美元現金，抵銷了投資活動所使用的 910 萬美元現金，主要用於資本化軟體。該公司沒有任何債務。本季產生的自由現金流為 1,900 萬美元。

For the full year 2024, we invested $36 million in capitalized software and $26 million in working capital as we scale the business. We paid $14.4 million in income taxes as we are now profitable. and also generated $8.7 million from interest income.

2024 年全年，隨著業務規模的擴大，我們投資了 3,600 萬美元用於資本化軟體，投資了 2,600 萬美元用於營運資金。由於我們現在已經獲利，因此繳納了 1,440 萬美元的所得稅。並產生了870萬美元的利息收入。

In 2025, our cash deployment priorities are unchanged. Driving organic growth remains our primary focus. Our strong cash position enables us to maintain financial flexibility to keep room for working capital investments as we scale. Additionally, our strong balance sheet enables us to explore attractive M&A opportunities that may arise in order to further increase our growth prospects. Our days sales is outstanding.

2025年，我們的現金部署重點保持不變。推動有機成長仍然是我們的首要關注點。我們強大的現金狀況使我們能夠保持財務靈活性，以便在擴大規模的同時保留營運資金投資的空間。此外，我們強勁的資產負債表使我們能夠探索可能出現的有吸引力的併購機會，以進一步提高我們的成長前景。我們的日銷售額非常出色。

At the end of fourth quarter was 43 days compared to 44 days last quarter. We had 128.7 million diluted shares outstanding during the fourth quarter compared to 127.6 million diluted shares outstanding during the third quarter.

第四季末為 43 天，而上一季末為 44 天。第四季度，我們的流通股為 1.287 億股稀釋股份，而第三季的流通股數為 1.276 億股稀釋股份。

Now I'll turn to our non-GAAP guidance for the first quarter and full year 2025 on Slide 8. Before discussing our 2025 guidance in detail. As mentioned on our last earnings call, we are continuing to follow the same prudent approach to first quarter and full year guidance that we followed when we provided our initial 2024 guidance around the same time last year, which I believe has served us quite well.

現在，我將轉到第 8 張投影片上關於 2025 年第一季和全年的非 GAAP 指引。在詳細討論我們的 2025 年指導之前。正如我們在上次財報電話會議上提到的那樣，我們將繼續採取與去年同期提供 2024 年初步指引時相同的審慎態度來製定第一季和全年指引，我相信這對我們非常有幫助。

Turning now to details for the first quarter 2025. We expect revenues to be in the range of $241 million to $249 million, representing a 32.5% year-over-year growth at the midpoint and 34.7% at the high end. This growth rate range is an improvement from prior year's first quarter growth rate of 24.6%.

現在來看看 2025 年第一季的詳細資訊。我們預計營收將在 2.41 億美元至 2.49 億美元之間，中間值年增 32.5%，高端成長 34.7%。這一成長率較去年第一季24.6%的成長率有所提高。

Contribution profit to range from $84 million to $86 million. Which represents 22.5% year-over-year growth at the midpoint and 23.9% at the high end compared to the prior year's first quarter growth rate of 29.6%. This year-over-year change reflects our expanding market share and a more diversified customer base, which includes a growing number of large enterprise customers.

貢獻利潤在8400萬美元至8600萬美元之間。與去年第一季 29.6% 的成長率相比，中位數為年增 22.5%，高端值為年增 23.9%。這一同比變化反映了我們不斷擴大的市場份額和更多樣化的客戶群，其中包括越來越多的大型企業客戶。

Adjusted EBITDA of $24 million to $26 million, representing growth of 26.3% year over year at the midpoint and 31.3% at the high end. This represents a 29.4% margin at midpoint and 30.2% margin at the high end, an improvement to the prior year's first quarter adjusted EBITDA margin of 28.6%.

調整後的 EBITDA 為 2,400 萬美元至 2,600 萬美元，中間值年增 26.3%，高階成長 31.3%。這意味著中間利潤率為 29.4%，高端利潤率為 30.2%，高於去年第一季調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率 28.6%。

On the Rule of 40 basis for the first quarter of 2025, our guidance implies a range of 50% to 54%. Before moving to the details for our full year guidance, I want to provide further insight into our outlook for contribution profit growth rates and adjusted EBITDA margin. As our business continues to grow, we are receiving more inbound inquiries from large enterprise customers. As we've mentioned on prior calls, as expected, these customers often request volume discounts.

根據 2025 年第一季的 40 法則，我們的指導範圍是 50% 至 54%。在介紹我們全年指引的細節之前，我想進一步了解我們對貢獻利潤增長率和調整後 EBITDA 利潤率的展望。隨著我們業務的不斷成長，我們收到越來越多來自大型企業客戶的諮詢。正如我們在之前的電話中提到的那樣，正如預期的那樣，這些客戶經常要求批量折扣。

This is standard within our industry, and we are open to this where the deal economics support it. Our tremendous operating leverage allows us to do this as volume discounts for larger customers are typically more than offset by strong incremental adjusted EBITDA.

這是我們行業的標準，只要交易經濟條件支持，我們對此持開放態度。我們龐大的營運槓桿使我們能夠做到這一點，因為大客戶的批量折扣通常可以被強勁的增量調整後 EBITDA 所抵消。

We saw this in the second half of 2024. This increases our efficiency as our onboarding time per biller is declining, while our average customer size is simultaneously increasing. Furthermore, our operating model enables us to recalibrate OpEx spending relative to contribution profit in order to reach a desired adjusted EBITDA.

我們在 2024 年下半年看到了這一點。這提高了我們的效率，因為我們每位收款人的入職時間正在減少，而我們的平均客戶規模卻同時增加。此外，我們的營運模式使我們能夠重新調整相對於貢獻利潤的營運支出，以達到理想的調整後 EBITDA。

For reference, our incremental adjusted EBITDA margin for the fourth quarter 2024 was 37%, relative to adjusted EBITDA margin of 31.6%.

作為參考，我們 2024 年第四季的增量調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 37%，而調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 31.6%。

Turning now to specific details for the full year 2025. We now expect revenue in the range of $1.04 billion to $1.06 billion. Which represents 20.4% growth from the prior year at the midpoint and 21.6% growth at the high end. This top line growth at the midpoint is higher than the initial top line growth guidance we provided for 2024 around the same time last year. Contribution profit in the range of $358 million to $366 million.

現在來談談 2025 年全年的具體細節。我們現在預計收入在 10.4 億美元至 10.6 億美元之間。這意味著比上年同期增長 20.4%（中間值），增長 21.6%（高端值）。這一中間值營收成長高於我們去年同期為 2024 年提供的初始營收成長預期。貢獻利潤在3.58億美元至3.66億美元之間。

This guidance represents 16% year-over-year growth at the midpoint and 17.3% at the high end. It also reflects the same factors I mentioned earlier when discussing our first quarter 2025 guidance, such as the increasing number of large enterprise customers in our client base, favorable deal economics and our substantial operating leverage.

該預期中位數為年增 16%，高端值為年增 17.3%。它也反映了我在討論 2025 年第一季指引時提到的相同因素，例如我們客戶群中大型企業客戶數量的增加、有利的交易經濟效益以及我們可觀的經營槓桿。

Our expected 2025 contribution profit growth at midpoint is consistent with what we initially guided for 2024 contribution profit growth around the same time last year. Adjusted EBITDA to range from $112 million to $116 million.

我們預期的 2025 年貢獻獲利成長中位數與我們去年同期最初預測的 2024 年貢獻獲利成長一致。調整後的 EBITDA 範圍為 1.12 億美元至 1.16 億美元。

This guidance represents 21% year-over-year growth at the midpoint. And 23.2% at the high end, an increase versus the initial adjusted EBITDA growth guidance we provided for 2024 at midpoint around the same time last year. This guidance also represents a 31.5% margin on contribution profit at midpoint.

該指引代表中期年增 21%。最高可達 23.2%，與我們去年同期提供的 2024 年初始調整後 EBITDA 成長指引相比有所增長。該指引也代表了中點貢獻利潤率 31.5%。

A non-GAAP tax rate of 25%. And on a Rule of 40 basis, for the full year 2025, our guidance implies a range of 46% to 49% higher than the implied Rule of 40 initial guide we provided for 2024 around the same time last year. We believe based on the strong exit backlog and solid sales momentum, we have considerable visibility and we are well positioned to deliver solid growth in 2025. Our business continues to run on all cylinders.

非公認會計準則稅率為25%。依照 40 法則，對於 2025 年全年，我們的指導範圍比我們去年同期為 2024 年提供的 40 規則初始指導範圍高出 46% 至 49%。我們相信，基於強勁的退出積壓和穩健的銷售勢頭，我們擁有相當的知名度，並且已準備好在 2025 年實現穩健的成長。我們的業務繼續全速運轉。

Lastly, I am pleased to report, we significantly improved our internal controls over financial reporting during 2024, resulting in the remediation of the material weaknesses we previously reported in our SEC filings. And I would like to thank the team members that made it possible to accomplish that important objective.

最後，我很高興地報告，我們在 2024 年顯著改善了財務報告的內部控制，從而糾正了我們先前在 SEC 文件中報告的重大缺陷。我要感謝團隊成員，是他們讓我們能夠實現這個重要目標。

Thank you, everyone, and I will turn it back to Dushyant.

謝謝大家，我會把話題轉回給杜象特。

Thanks, Sanjay. In closing, we are very proud of our fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 results, which were ahead of our original expectations. We ended the year with a strong backlog which gives us confidence in our 2025 guidance. And of course, we intend to remain focused and disciplined in onboarding our strong backlog, which we expect to keep fueling our growth. What also gives us confidence is our track record of performance.

謝謝，桑傑。最後，我們對第四季和 2024 年全年的業績感到非常自豪，這些業績超出了我們最初的預期。我們以強勁的積壓訂單結束了這一財年，這讓我們對 2025 年的預期充滿信心。當然，我們打算繼續集中精力、嚴格自律地處理我們強大的積壓訂單，我們希望這將繼續推動我們的成長。我們的業績記錄也讓我們充滿信心。

In the three years since our IPO, we have more than doubled our revenues and more than tripled our adjusted EBITDA. As you may know, our performance even prior to IPO is also very exciting. We believe this performance illustrates the strength of our operating model and the historical resilience of our business and our ability to respond to macroeconomic headwinds and recessionary pressures.

自首次公開募股以來的三年裡，我們的收入成長了一倍多，調整後的 EBITDA 成長了兩倍多。大家可能知道，我們在IPO之前的表現就已經非常令人興奮。我們相信，這項業績體現了我們營運模式的實力、我們業務的歷史韌性以及我們應對宏觀經濟逆風和衰退壓力的能力。

On that note, I also want to thank all of my team members for their continued efforts and dedication to Paymentus success.

在此，我還要感謝我的所有團隊成員為 Paymentus 的成功所做的持續努力和奉獻。

That concludes our prepared remarks. I'll now open the line for questions.

我們的準備好的演講到此結束。我現在開始回答問題。

(Operator Instructions) Dave Koning, Baird.

（操作員指示）戴夫·科寧，貝爾德。

Yeah. Hey, guys. Tremendous results again. And I guess my first question, when I look -- I guess I look at Q1 guidance, you're guiding gross revenue down mid-single digits sequentially. Historically, I think the lowest sequential growth we can see in Q1 was up 6% and more quarters like up 12% over 10%, and I'm just wondering, was there anything nonrecurring in some of the large billers that joined that would create a sequential fall off? Or is it just guidance to try to make sure you hit numbers and continue to execute?

是的。嘿，大家好。再次取得了巨大的成果。我的第一個問題是，當我查看第一季指引時，您預計總收入將環比下降中個位數。從歷史上看，我認為我們在第一季看到的最低連續成長率是 6%，而其他季度的成長率則超過 10%，我只是想知道，加入的一些大型帳單機構是否存在一些非經常性因素，從而導致連續下降？或者它只是指導你嘗試確保你達到目標並繼續執行？

Dave, thanks for the question. I appreciate it. Q1, it's interesting. We are in a very similar situation where we were just a quarter ago when we were guiding Q4. Because these new large enterprise customers have just newly been onboarded.

戴夫，謝謝你的提問。我很感激。Q1，很有趣。我們目前的情況與一個季度前我們指導第四季時的情況非常相似。因為這些新的大型企業客戶才剛加入。

It's been like just two quarters. They came in the middle of Q3 and Q4 was the first full quarter. So we still actually have to go through a full cycle, one-year cycle, I would say, to fully understand the trends, before we start baking in the full year or maybe the quarterly guidance. But given Q1 and -- two months are behind us, although the books don't get closed until after a few days, as you will know.

好像才過了兩個季度。他們出現在第三季中期，而第四季是第一個完整季度。因此，在我們開始製定全年或季度指導之前，我們實際上仍然必須經歷一個完整的周期，也就是一年的周期，才能充分了解趨勢。但考慮到第一季——已經過去兩個月了，儘管賬簿要過幾天才會結清，但正如你們所知。

So we've got some visibility into Q1, how they will trend, but we are not being very aggressive in terms of what we saw in Q4, I would say, because that could be just a short period of time to analyze trends.

因此，我們對第一季的趨勢有了一些了解，但就第四季的情況而言，我們不會採取非常激進的行動，因為這可能只是分析趨勢的短暫時期。

So we've taken a prudent view in coming up with the guidance for the full year for sure, especially for these large customers. But even for Q1, we've been -- prudent in terms of how the quarter may shape up. That's the only variability.

因此，我們在製定全年業績指引時肯定會採取謹慎的態度，尤其是針對這些大客戶。但即使是第一季度，我們對本季的走勢也一直持謹慎態度。這是唯一的改變。

And other than that, I would say the business is doing great. Our sales momentum is is going really well. Our exit backlog is strong. The pipeline actually is also pretty strong. And more large customers are also there in the pipeline. So the trends could vary year over year and quarter over quarter as we ramp and as we scale.

除此之外，我想說業務進展順利。我們的銷售動能非常好。我們的退出積壓情況很嚴重。該管道實際上也相當強大。而且還有更多大客戶正在籌備中。因此，隨著我們不斷擴大規模，趨勢可能會逐年、逐季改變。

But overall, I would say gross margin is one metric is not the only one. Whether you can count gross margin or contribution profit, they all have to be considered together with the operating leverage we have in the business. At the end of the day, our adjusted EBITDA should be better year over year.

但總的來說，我認為毛利率是一個指標，但不是唯一的指標。無論您計算毛利率還是貢獻利潤，都必須將它們與我們在業務中擁有的經營槓桿一起考慮。最終，我們的調整後 EBITDA 應該會比去年同期更好。

And I'll not go more on this. I think it's a long-winded answer to your question, but we exited the year with 30.2%, for the full year adjusted EBITDA margin and our next year guidance itself is 31.5% at midpoint. So even in this prudent guidance, we've taken a step ahead on improving the adjusted EBITDA margin.

我不會再詳細談論這一點。我認為這對你的問題來說是一個冗長的回答，但我們今年的全年調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 30.2%，而我們明年的預期中位數為 31.5%。因此，即使在這項審慎的指導下，我們也在提高調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率方面邁出了一步。

Yeah. No, that's great. And I guess, secondly, just macro sensitivity. I mean, we're looking at a lot of potential, I guess, volatility in the macro. How resilient is your consumer base? I mean it seems like utility payments, all the monthly bills.

是的。不，那太好了。其次，我想，只是宏觀敏感度。我的意思是，我想我們正在關注宏觀上的許多潛在波動。您的消費者群體的適應力如何？我的意思是，這看起來像是水電費，所有每月的帳單。

It seems very recurring. Could you -- if we go into macro like slowdown, could you even benefit if gas prices like basically utility prices came down at the same time as your payment streams were stable, it would actually be a net benefit potentially, but maybe walk through your macro sensitivity.

它似乎非常頻繁地出現。如果我們進入宏觀層面，例如經濟放緩，如果天然氣價格（例如公用事業價格）下降，同時您的支付流保持穩定，您是否能從中受益，這實際上可能是一個淨收益，但也許要考慮您的宏觀敏感性。

Yeah. Actually, thank you, David. That's one of the reasons why we actually wanted to call out our historical resilience of our business relative to macroeconomic headwinds as well as recessionary pressures. We have been operating the business for quite some time, and we have dealt with different headwinds.

是的。事實上，謝謝你，大衛。這就是我們實際上想要強調我們的業務相對於宏觀經濟逆風和衰退壓力的歷史韌性的原因之一。我們已經經營這項業務很長一段時間了，也應對過不同的阻力。

And frankly, in each of those, even though each macroeconomic environment or event has its own personality, but we have been able to grow the business during each of those, primarily because of the nondiscretionary nature of the household bills.

坦白說，儘管每個宏觀經濟環境或事件都有其自身的特點，但我們能夠在每個時期實現業務成長，這主要是因為家庭帳單的非自由支配性質。

Every industry we are operating in has nondiscretionary part of the household economy involved. In terms of your question, there are certain scenarios where your question related to the benefits -- there are certain scenarios we could see some benefit. Of course, if consumers start making payments which are smaller but more frequently, that changes the dynamic for us.

我們經營的每個產業都涉及家庭經濟的非自由支配部分。就您的問題而言，在某些情況下，您的問題與好處有關——在某些情況下，我們可以看到一些好處。當然，如果消費者開始支付金額較小但頻率更高，我們的情況就會改變。

But we're not factoring any of that in. We are simply focused on trying to make sure our investors understand that you're investing and you have invested in a business that is dealing with nondiscretionary household bills.

但我們並沒有將其中任何因素考慮進去。我們只是專注於確保我們的投資者了解您正在投資並且您已經投資了一家處理非自由支配家庭帳單的企業。

People still need to have a roof on their -- over their heads. They still need to use electricity, water, gas to prepare food and so on or go to work in the car, et cetera. So all of that nondiscretionary side of the economy, it still needs to continue on regardless of what's happening in the macroeconomic environment.

人們仍然需要有個棲身之所。他們仍然需要使用電力、水、瓦斯來準備食物等，或開車去上班等等。因此，無論宏觀經濟環境如何變化，經濟中所有非自由支配的部分仍需繼續運作。

Yeah. Thank you, guys. Good job.

是的。謝謝你們。好工作。

Thank you, David.

謝謝你，大衛。

Tien-Tsin Huang, JPMorgan.

摩根大通的黃天津。

Thank you so much. Terrific results. I want to ask for both of you, just thinking about the comment of your confidence to grow without new sales. Is that comment more from the strong backlog that you have and confidence in converting the backlog? Or are you also seeing higher penetration of on-network e-payments. Is that part of the equation as well? Just trying to better understand what's evolving?

太感謝了。非常好的結果。我想問你們兩個，只是想問你們對在沒有新銷售的情況下增長的信心的評論。這個評論是否更多地來自於您擁有的大量積壓訂單以及對轉換積壓訂單的信心？或者您是否也看到了網路電子支付的更高滲透率。這也是等式的一部分嗎？只是想更了解正在發生的事情？

It's a combination of both. It's a combination of both the same-store sales as well as the backlog. And as we pointed out, actually, we are very proud of the year we have had in 2024, because of the foundation it sets not only for what we were able to achieve in 2024, but frankly, our next to your horizon. So we are very excited about that. And the strong backlog, which was net off the billers, which went live in the 3Q also gives us tremendous confidence.

這是兩者的結合。它是同店銷售額和積壓訂單的結合。正如我們所指出的，實際上，我們對 2024 年感到非常自豪，因為它不僅為我們在 2024 年能夠取得的成就奠定了基礎，而且坦率地說，也為我們未來的發展奠定了基礎。因此我們對此感到非常興奮。第三季開始的強勁積壓訂單（扣除帳單淨額）也給了我們極大的信心。

So we just wanted to make sure that we follow the same prudent, same grounded guidance methodology, which has served us very well, that we want to be able to give the view to our investors that we can deliver the top end of our guidance without signing a new client. And obviously, provided we implement, we continue to onboard our backlog and so on. Sanjay you want to add?

因此，我們只是想確保我們遵循同樣審慎、同樣紮實的指導方法，這種方法對我們非常有效，我們希望能夠讓我們的投資者相信，我們可以在不簽署新客戶的情況下提供最高水準的指導。顯然，只要我們實施，我們就會繼續處理我們的積壓工作等等。Sanjay 你想添加嗎？

If I may just add together with the backlog and the same-store sales, I would also say our pipeline, we see that very strong. and the pace at which we have seen the pipeline converting to backlog over the past 1 year has been moving at a very, very good pace. And assuming those trends continue, we will be in a good shape. I think we are confident because of all these factors.

如果我可以把積壓訂單和同店銷售額加在一起，我也會說我們的通路非常強勁。我們看到，過去一年來，管道轉為積壓的速度非常快。假設這些趨勢持續下去，我們就會處於良好的狀態。我認為，由於所有這些因素，我們都很有信心。

Yeah. And just client decision-making on the biller side. Chip board in a timely way. I know the stock market is obviously generating a lot here. Is there any influence? Or does it help hurt? It doesn't sound like you're seeing any change in decision making, but just wanted to check up on the sensitivity there?

是的。並且僅由付款方進行客戶決策。及時提供刨花板。我知道股市顯然在這裡創造了很多收益。有沒有影響？或者它有助於傷害嗎？聽起來你沒有看到決策有任何變化，只是想檢查那裡的敏感度？

We are not seeing anything in that regard. Sometimes, it can be actually -- these type of uncertain times could be beneficial because people are looking for efficient workflows and modernization to be able to bring about more efficiencies and reduce their cost to serve their customers while also improving their customer experience.

我們沒有看到這方面的任何情況。有時，實際上——這種不確定的時期可能是有益的，因為人們正在尋找高效的工作流程和現代化，以便能夠提高效率並降低為客戶服務的成本，同時改善客戶體驗。

Thank you, Dushyant. Thank you.

謝謝你，杜尚特。謝謝。

Thank you, Tien.

謝謝你，Tien。

John Davis, Raymond James.

約翰戴維斯、雷蒙詹姆斯。

Hey. Good afternoon, guys. Sanjay, and Dushyant, it looks like there's been a pretty big step function change and your success with large enterprise builders over the last couple of quarters. So just curious what you guys think have driven that? Is that an industry change? Is that something you guys are doing? And then maybe highlight what verticals you're having success on the enterprise side?

嘿。大家下午好。Sanjay 和 Dushyant，看起來在過去的幾個季度中，你們在大型企業建設者方面取得了相當大的成功。所以我很好奇你們認為是什麼原因導致了這種情況？這是產業變革嗎？這是你們正在做的事情嗎？然後也許可以強調一下您在企業方面取得的成功垂直領域是什麼？

Thank you, John. I think the main thing I would say is that what -- what's transpiring right now is that the level of advancements that are taking place or the level of sophistication of the workflows that clients need to automate. What's happening is they're not able to do that in-house.

謝謝你，約翰。我認為主要要說的是——現在正在發生的事情是正在發生的進步水平或客戶需要自動化的工作流程的複雜程度。實際情況是他們無法在內部完成這項工作。

Previously, some part of the biller segment, especially on the larger end, was beyond reach for any third-party service provider. And we used to think about legacy providers as the primary go-get for us. And now we are looking at actually legacy infrastructure regardless -- legacy installed base regardless of who it is. It could be in-house. It could be a combination of in-house and other providers.

以前，帳單領域的某些部分，尤其是較大的部分，是任何第三方服務提供者都無法觸及的。我們過去常常認為傳統提供者是我們的主要目標。現在，我們實際上正在研究遺留基礎架構——無論遺留安裝基礎是誰。它可能在內部。它可以是內部供應商和其他供應商的組合。

And what we are seeing is, as a result of that, combining our platform with our IPN ecosystem, it's not easy to create that type of a reach for any company, whether it is a player in a similar space to Paymentus or actually our own potential clients, prospective clients. And that's what we are seeing.

我們看到的是，將我們的平台與 IPN 生態系統結合，對於任何公司來說，創造這種影響力都不是一件容易的事，無論它是與 Paymentus 類似領域的參與者，還是我們自己的潛在客戶。這就是我們所看到的。

And other part, which is also very important is as the digital adoption is taking place and is becoming more and more a bigger part of a given client's payment ecosystem, there is a pressing need to look at the entire efficiency, the workflows and the efficiencies on -- throughout those workflows throughout those organizations. Throughout the organization, whether it's inbound, whether it's outbound flows of payments.

另一部分，同樣非常重要的一點是，隨著數位化應用的進行，並越來越成為特定客戶支付生態系統中更重要的組成部分，迫切需要關注整個組織的整個效率、工作流程和整個工作流程的效率。在整個組織中，無論是入站或出站的付款流。

So all of that combined gives us a pretty strong leg up actually because we start on the revenue side of the house, and then we can also help all of the other workflows. So that is what is causing the shift in how clients feel that they now have a partner who can deliver cost efficiencies through innovation, but also improve the workflow through innovative framework as well.

因此，所有這些結合起來實際上給了我們相當大的優勢，因為我們從收入方面開始，然後我們也可以幫助所有其他工作流程。這就是導致客戶感覺轉變的原因，他們現在有一個合作夥伴，不僅可以透過創新實現成本效益，還可以透過創新框架改善工作流程。

Okay, any color on verticals? Is it broad-based across the board? Or is it like one or two specific verticals where you're having success with enterprises?

好的，垂直方向有顏色嗎？它是全方位的嗎？或者您是否在一兩個特定的垂直領域中與企業合作並取得成功？

Across the board. Actually, all of our verticals are doing very well. We have been -- one of the key decision point we made early on as an organization was that we wanted to design our platform which can scale to any vertical and any size of the biller. And you're seeing a combination of both right now in action, where large -- no biller is too large for us, no company is too small. And no vertical is too far from our ability to implement them.

全面。實際上，我們所有的垂直行業都表現得很好。我們一直以來——作為一個組織，我們早期做出的一個關鍵決策點是，我們希望設計一個可以擴展到任何垂直領域和任何規模的收費員的平台。現在您看到的是兩者的結合，對我們來說，沒有哪個出票者太大，也沒有哪個公司太小。並且沒有任何垂直領域是我們無法實現的。

Okay. Great. And just as a quick follow-up. I think Sanjay mentioned M&A on the prepared remarks. The first time in a while I've heard you guys mentioned M&A, obviously, no debt, $200 plus million of cash on the balance sheet. So maybe just remind us what would make sense, what would you target from an M&A perspective?

好的。偉大的。這只是一次快速的跟進。我認為桑傑在準備好的發言中提到了併購。這是我第一次聽到你們提到併購，顯然，沒有債務，資產負債表上有 2 億多美元的現金。所以也許只是提醒我們什麼是有意義的，從併購的角度來看你的目標是什麼？

Thank you, John. I think that's one of the things. The reason we called out M&A in the opening remarks was that there is just a lot of activity, a lot of books we get to see. And we're in a very fortunate situation that there is no functional gap. There is nothing really we need to go get -- there are no gaps per se.

謝謝你，約翰。我認為這是其中之一。我們在開幕詞中強調併購的原因是我們可以看到很多活動和書籍。我們非常幸運，不存在任何功能差距。我們實際上不需要去獲取任何東西——本質上不存在差距。

And we are also operating with a pretty strong balance sheet and generating cash. So all of those combination actually gives us the ability to be very selective. And one of the things which we are taking a look at is other entities out there which could -- where we could be opportunistic and that are accretive, both on the top line or bottom line or at least one of them, if not immediately, but in a short order. So those are -- that's what we're looking at.

而且我們的資產負債表也相當強勁，並且能夠產生現金。因此，所有這些組合實際上使我們具有很強的選擇性。我們正在關注的事情之一是其他實體，我們可以從中抓住機會，實現增值，無論是在收入還是在利潤，或者至少在其中一個方面，即使不是立即實現，也會在短時間內實現。所以這些就是──我們正在關注的。

Okay. Appreciate it. Thanks, guys.

好的。非常感謝。謝謝大家。

Thank you, John.

謝謝你，約翰。

(Operator Instructions) Andrew Bauch, Wells Fargo.

（操作員指示）富國銀行的安德魯·鮑赫。

Hey, guys. Nice set of results and thanks for taking the question. Sanjay, you guys tease this with the interchange potentially becoming a revenue center. I was hoping you can just expand upon that a little bit more? Is it -- would that come in the form of new products, new partnerships? Is it a restructuring of the existing model is organized today. Just want to better understand your bullishness around interchange?

嘿，大家好。非常好的結果，感謝您提出這個問題。桑傑，你們開玩笑說這座立體交叉有可能成為一個收入中心。我希望您能進一步詳細說明這一點？這會以新產品、新合作關係的形式出現嗎？是不是對今天現有的組織模式進行了重組。只是想更了解您對交換的樂觀態度嗎？

Thank you, Andrew. This is Dushyant. I think the -- the primary reason we wanted to bring this out in the open was we want to make sure our investors have a clear view how we are -- what is the strategy behind our business and why we have chosen the top line and the bottom line as our two primary metrics while OpEx and CP are the secondary.

謝謝你，安德魯。這是杜尚特。我認為——我們想要公開這一點的主要原因是，我們想確保我們的投資者清楚地了解我們——我們的業務背後的策略是什麼，以及為什麼我們選擇頂線和底線作為我們的兩個主要指標，而營運支出和 CP 是次要的。

In addition to that, I think all of the things you highlighted, the production solutions, as we talked about in our opening remarks, we are looking at those -- even though this is an outer year, not immediate opportunity, but we are thinking through what production services and solutions we could be offering that can help monetize interchange.

除此之外，我認為您所強調的所有事項，即我們在開場白中談到的生產解決方案，我們正在研究這些——儘管這是外部年份，不是眼前的機會，但我們正在思考我們可以提供哪些生產服務和解決方案來幫助實現交換貨幣化。

Partnerships is the other angle you talked about, absolutely. And third is the the flows of payments, the outbound payments and even for inbound, are there other opportunities for partnership and frankly, products and solutions. So more to come on that, but that's where we see the opportunity in multiple dimensions.

合作夥伴關係絕對是您談到的另一個角度。第三是支付流程，無論是對外支付還是對內支付，是否有其他合作機會，坦白說，還有產品和解決方案。關於這一點我們還會做更多，但我們從多個維度看到了機會。

Great. And then my follow-up question is, I don't know if we've spoken about this before, but does Dose have any impact on your business? I know that you guys are more exposed on the local level than the federal level, but that again to budgets are being shifted around and moved pretty rapidly. So maybe is there any risk there or isn't there even maybe an opportunity as Elan and the team find government legacy systems that a lot of these agencies are being run on?

偉大的。然後我的後續問題是，我不知道我們之前是否談論過這個問題，但是 Dose 對您的業務有影響嗎？我知道你們在地方層級比在聯邦層級受到的關注更多，但預算也在不斷調整，而且變化相當快。那麼，當 Elan 和團隊發現許多機構仍在使用政府遺留系統時，是否有風險，或是否有機會？

Yeah. First of all, there is no risk to us. We don't deal with -- we don't have any contracts with federal government yet. But obviously, there could be opportunities as they look for modern systems versus the legacy solutions they've been operating with. In terms of the local municipalities and so on, which is where our focus has been, we actually are in a pretty unique situation where we are the source of revenues.

是的。首先，對我們來說沒有任何風險。我們還沒有與聯邦政府簽訂任何合約。但顯然，當他們尋找現代系統而不是他們一直在使用的傳統解決方案時，可能會有機會。就地方市政當局等而言，這也是我們一直關注的重點，我們實際上處於一個相當獨特的境地，我們是收入的來源。

For all of these agencies. So we feel very good about which part of the economy we are serving and which part of the workflow we are serving for them. So we feel good about you still have to pay your bills. So whether it is water build or property taxes and so on.

對於所有這些機構來說。因此，我們對於我們為他們服務的經濟部分和工作流程部分感到非常滿意。因此我們很高興看到您仍然需要支付帳單。因此無論是水利建設還是財產稅等等。

Great. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Matt O'Neill, FT Partners.

馬特·奧尼爾（Matt O'Neill），FT Partners。

Yeah. Hi. Good afternoon, gentlemen. Just curious to confirm, I believe the methodology and philosophy around guidance is exactly the same as it's been in prior years, Dushyant, I know you mentioned at the beginning of this call. Before Sanjay, I went through the guide, just that you'd be confident in your ability to hit the top end of the range without any new signings. I believe that's how you guys have contextualized the guide in prior years. If you could just confirm that first?

是的。你好。先生們，下午好。只是好奇地確認一下，我相信指導的方法和理念與前幾年完全相同，Dushyant，我知道您在這次通話開始時提到過。在桑傑之前，我仔細閱讀了指南，只是為了讓你有信心在沒有任何新簽約的情況下達到最高水平。我相信這就是你們前幾年對指南的具體描述。能先確認一下嗎？

Yeah, that's absolutely right, Matt. We are following the very similar guidance, same philosophy of coming with quarter and annual guide as we follow in the prior year. We want to be prudent in our approach. We want to remain grounded and execute well. And with the benefit of hindsight, this approach of guidance has served us well.

是的，完全正確，馬特。我們遵循著與前一年非常相似的指導方針，同樣的理念，即制定季度和年度指南。我們希望採取謹慎的態度。我們希望腳踏實地，執行良好。事後看來，這種指導方式對我們很有幫助。

And when we say top end is achievable. Which means we don't need any new customer bookings to get there. But definitely, we have to continue doing the implementations as planned. So yeah, we remain committed to our CAGR management model, and that's the basis.

當我們說最高境界是可以實現的時候。這意味著我們不需要任何新客戶預訂即可實現這一目標。但毫無疑問，我們必須繼續按計劃實施。是的，我們仍然致力於我們的複合年增長率管理模式，這就是基礎。

Understood. Appreciate that. And just two questions around the evolving mix of the business as it goes into a larger enterprise, and you mentioned in the prepared remarks, larger billers, seeking volume-based discounts. We still saw the observable revenue per transaction tick higher. So is it just that volume-based discounts are being more than offset by a mix of more card-funded payments by consumers at newer partners. I just want to unpack those dynamics.

明白了。非常感謝。我只有兩個問題與業務在進入更大的企業時不斷變化的組合有關，您在準備好的評論中提到，更大的帳單客戶正在尋求基於數量的折扣。我們仍然看到每筆交易的可觀察收入有所上升。那麼，是不是說基於數量的折扣被消費者在新合作夥伴處使用更多信用卡支付的方式所抵消了呢？我只是想解開這些動態。

Yeah, Matt. So what's happening is as we are adding these large enterprise customers, their revenue per transaction is higher than what we had before we started onboarding these large customers. So our average revenue per transaction for the entire company is now increasing, as you saw, it's like $1.55.

是的，馬特。因此，隨著我們增加這些大型企業客戶，他們的每筆交易收入高於我們開始接納這些大客戶先前的收入。因此，我們整個公司每筆交易的平均收入現在正在增加，正如您所看到的，約為 1.55 美元。

Our contribution profit per transaction is very similar, $0.52 per transaction as it came in Q4 versus $0.53 per transaction in the prior year same period. So overall, what we are seeing is we are getting the benefit of volume.

我們每筆交易的貢獻利潤非常相似，第四季每筆交易為 0.52 美元，而去年同期每筆交易為 0.53 美元。所以總體而言，我們看到的是，我們獲得了數量上的好處。

Our profitability is further helping sorry, profitability is growing because the contribution profit per transaction is very similar. And because we have very good operating leverage, we are able to increase our adjusted EBITDA and margins both. So the revenue is higher, maybe you'll say that network fees is also higher, but contribution profit per transaction is coming similar.

我們的獲利能力進一步幫助，抱歉，獲利能力正在成長，因為每筆交易的貢獻利潤非常相似。而且由於我們擁有非常好的經營槓桿，我們能夠提高調整後的 EBITDA 和利潤率。因此收入更高，也許你會說網路費用也更高，但每筆交易的貢獻利潤是相似的。

So this dynamic could change and shift as we'll onboard not only large-sized clients, but midsize and small size. Because we have a large TAM to capture, as Dushyant mentioned in his opening remarks. And on our journey to market capture, we could be getting clients of different sizes, different verticals and they could change our transaction dynamics. And although we think per transaction is more of an output whole model rather than an input, our goal still remains that can we deliver good growth and provide a decent profitability. Rule of 40, which came to a record 62 is indicative of our strategy that the contribution profit is not really meaningful in itself, unless and until it's combined with operating leverage.

因此，這種動態可能會改變和轉變，因為我們不僅會接納大型客戶，還會接納中型和小型客戶。因為我們需要捕捉大量的 TAM，正如 Dushyant 在開場白中提到的那樣。在我們佔領市場的過程中，我們可能會獲得不同規模、不同垂直領域的客戶，他們可能會改變我們的交易動態。儘管我們認為每筆交易更多的是一種輸出整體模型而不是輸入，但我們的目標仍然是實現良好的成長並提供可觀的獲利能力。40 法則達到了創紀錄的 62，這表明我們的策略是，貢獻利潤本身並沒有真正的意義，除非它與經營槓桿相結合。

And that's the message we want to bring home. In the past few quarters, we've tried to do that.

這就是我們想要傳達的訊息。在過去的幾個季度中，我們一直在嘗試這樣做。

We want to make sure that's well understood by the entire investor base that our adjusted EBITDA growth and margin is a mix of contribution profit and operating leverage, which all starts from getting higher revenues. Hence, they are our primary metrics.

我們希望確保全體投資者都能充分理解，我們的調整後 EBITDA 成長和利潤率是貢獻利潤和經營槓桿的混合，而這一切都始於獲得更高的收入。因此，它們是我們的主要指標。

Understood. Thank you for the commentary. Appreciate it.

明白了。感謝您的評論。非常感謝。

Yeah.

是的。

Thank you. There seems to be no questions waiting at this time. So I'll now pass it back over to the management team for any closing remarks.

謝謝。目前似乎沒有其他問題。因此，我現在將其交還給管理團隊，以便他們發表最後的評論。

Thank you, everyone. Have a great day. Thanks. Bye-bye.

謝謝大家。祝你有美好的一天。謝謝。再見。

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

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。現在您可以斷開線路了。