Paycom Software Inc (PAYC) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon. My name is Lauren, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Paycom's first quarter 2025 financial results conference Call. (Operator Instructions)

午安.我叫勞倫，今天我將擔任您的會議主持人。現在，我歡迎大家參加 Paycom 2025 年第一季財務業績電話會議。（操作員指示）

I will now turn the call over to James Samford, Head of Investor Relations. You may begin.

現在我將把電話轉給投資者關係主管詹姆斯·薩姆福德 (James Samford)。你可以開始了。

Thank you, and welcome to Paycom's earnings conference call for the first quarter of 2025. Certain statements made on this call that are not historical facts, including those related to our future plans, objectives, and expected performance, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

謝謝，歡迎參加 Paycom 2025 年第一季財報電話會議。本次電話會議中所做的某些非歷史事實的陳述，包括與我們未來計畫、目標和預期績效相關的陳述，均屬於《1995 年私人證券訴訟改革法案》所定義的前瞻性陳述。

These forward-looking statements represent our outlook only as of the date of this conference call. While we believe any forward-looking statements made on this call are reasonable, actual results may differ materially because the statements are based on our current expectations and subject to risks and uncertainties.

這些前瞻性陳述僅代表我們截至本次電話會議召開之日的展望。雖然我們認為本次電話會議中所做的任何前瞻性陳述都是合理的，但實際結果可能存在重大差異，因為這些陳述是基於我們目前的預期，並受風險和不確定性的影響。

These risks and uncertainties are discussed in our filings with the SEC, including our most recent annual report on Form 10-K. You should refer to and consider these factors when relying on such forward-looking information.

這些風險和不確定性在我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中進行了討論，包括我們最近的 10-K 表年度報告。當您依賴此類前瞻性資訊時，您應該參考並考慮這些因素。

Any forward-looking statement made speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and we do not undertake and expressly disclaim any obligation to update or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

任何前瞻性陳述僅代表其作出之日的觀點，我們不承擔並明確否認任何更新或修改前瞻性陳述的義務，無論是由於新資訊、未來事件或其他原因，除非適用法律要求。

Also during today's call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP net income and certain adjusted expenses. We use these non-GAAP financial measures to review and assess our performance and for planning purposes. A reconciliation schedule showing GAAP versus non-GAAP results is included in the press release that we issued after the close of the market today, and is available on our website at investors.paycom.com.

此外，在今天的電話會議中，我們將參考某些非公認會計準則財務指標，包括調整後的 EBITDA、非公認會計準則淨收入和某些調整後的費用。我們使用這些非公認會計準則財務指標來審查和評估我們的績效並用於規劃目的。我們在今天市場收盤後發布的新聞稿中包含了顯示 GAAP 與非 GAAP 結果的調整表，您可以在我們的網站 investors.paycom.com 上查閱。

I will now turn the call over to Chad Richison, Paycom's CEO and President. Chad?

現在我將把電話轉給 Paycom 的執行長兼總裁 Chad Richison。查德?

Thanks, James, and thank you to everyone joining our call today. I'll focus my comments on some of our achievements in the first quarter and the progress we've made executing on our 2025 plan.

謝謝，詹姆斯，也感謝今天參加我們電話會議的所有人。我的評論將重點放在我們在第一季取得的一些成就以及我們在執行 2025 年計劃方面取得的進展。

I'll then turn it over to Bob for a review of our first-quarter results and an update of our full-year guidance. We will then take questions. With that, let's get started.

然後，我將把它交給鮑勃來審查我們的第一季業績並更新我們的全年指引。然後我們將回答問題。有了它，我們就開始吧。

We are executing very well in delivering strong ROI for our clients as they are experiencing the benefits of our full solution automation strategy. Recent product enhancements and client-focused initiatives are driving positive trends across our client usage metrics, and our Net Promoter Score increased another 16 points year-over-year.

我們在為客戶提供強勁的投資回報率方面表現非常出色，因為他們正在體驗我們全套解決方案自動化策略帶來的好處。最近的產品改進和以客戶為中心的舉措正在推動我們的客戶使用指標呈現正面趨勢，我們的淨推薦值比去年同期又增加了 16 個百分點。

We have the most automated solution in the industry and our clients routinely attested this. Our award-winning solution, GONE, is a perfect example of how Paycom simplifies tests through automation and AI.

我們擁有業界最自動化的解決方案，我們的客戶也經常證明這一點。我們屢獲殊榮的解決方案 GONE 是 Paycom 如何透過自動化和人工智慧簡化測試的完美範例。

GONE is the industry's first fully automated time-off solution that decisions all time-off requests based on customizable guidelines set by the company's time-off rules. Before GONE, 10% of an organization's labor cost went substantially unmanaged, creating scheduling errors, increased cost from overpayments, staffing shortages and employee uncertainty over pending time-off requests.

GONE 是業界第一個全自動休假解決方案，它根據公司休假規則設定的可自訂指南來決定所有休假請求。在實施 GONE 之前，組織 10% 的勞動力成本基本上無法管理，從而造成排班錯誤、多付款導致的成本增加、人員短缺以及員工對待處理的休假請求的不確定性。

According to a Forrester study, GONE's automation delivers an ROI of up to 800% for clients. GONE continues to receive recognition. Most recently, Fast Company magazine named Paycom, one of the world's most innovative companies for a second time. This honor specifically recognized GONE and is a testament to how Paycom is shaping our industry by setting new standards for automation across the globe.

根據 Forrester 的一項研究，GONE 的自動化為客戶帶來了高達 800% 的投資報酬率。GONE 繼續獲得認可。最近，《Fast Company》雜誌第二次將 Paycom 評為全球最具創新力的公司之一。此項榮譽特別表彰了 GONE，並證明了 Paycom 如何透過為全球自動化設定新標準來塑造我們的產業。

Another example of automation that is changing our industry is Beti. Our award-winning payroll solution continues to be a major selling point. Organizations looking to reduce the labor needed to process payroll by up to 90% and also cut the time spent correcting payroll errors by up to 85%.

改變我們行業的自動化的另一個例子是 Beti。我們屢獲殊榮的工資解決方案繼續成為主要賣點。組織希望將處理薪資所需的勞動力減少高達 90%，並將糾正薪資錯誤所花費的時間減少高達 85%。

Beti allows clients to focus resources on profit-driving initiatives as it eliminates human involvement in non-revenue-generating tasks like post payroll adjustments, check reversals, voids, ledger corrections and more.

Beti 允許客戶將資源集中在盈利計劃上，因為它消除了人工參與非創收任務，如工資調整、支票逆轉、作廢、分類帳更正等。

Thanks to Beti and the importance of perfect payrolls, we are also successfully getting former clients back onto the Paycom platform. We recently brought back a 500-employee healthcare company, who quickly realized the pain they brought on themselves by switching to another provider.

感謝 Beti 和完美薪資單的重要性，我們也成功地讓以前的客戶重新回到 Paycom 平台。我們最近恢復了一家擁有 500 名員工的醫療保健公司，他們很快就意識到更換供應商會給自己帶來痛苦。

With this other provider, this client lost the transparency and ability to fix errors before they became problems. In fact, their employees were some of the biggest advocates and encourage this client to return to Paycom because they missed having control over the accuracy of their pay.

有了其他提供者，該客戶就失去了透明度和在錯誤變成問題之前修復錯誤的能力。事實上，他們的員工是最大的支持者，並鼓勵該客戶重返 Paycom，因為他們失去了對薪酬準確性的控制。

Once employees experience Beti, they don't want to go backwards in technology. The client returned to us within nine months and went from processing payroll in four days with their previous vendor to 4 hours with Beti.

一旦員工體驗了 Beti，他們就不想在技術上倒退。客戶在九個月內再次與我們聯繫，並使用 Beti 處理薪資單的時間從先前的供應商的四天縮短到 4 小時。

Sales continues to break records, including the first quarter, where we saw a meaningful increase in book sales. We also saw an increase in the number of units sold for the quarter as compared to the same period last year.

銷售額不斷打破紀錄，包括第一季，我們看到圖書銷售額顯著成長。與去年同期相比，我們也看到本季銷售量增加。

One of the new clients we onboarded was a 2,500-employee restaurant group who wanted a single easy-to-use software solution. Working across nearly 80 locations, this group is now utilizing Beti and the rest of the Paycom suite to automate tasks that were previously performed across numerous systems, which created data inconsistencies.

我們接待的新客戶之一是一家擁有 2,500 名員工的餐飲集團，他們想要一個易於使用的軟體解決方案。該團隊在近 80 個地點開展工作，目前利用 Beti 和 Paycom 套件的其他部分來自動執行先前在多個系統中執行的任務，而這些任務會造成數據不一致。

More and more businesses like this one are abandoning disparate decision-making processes for more consistent, scalable and automated solutions. Organizationally, Paycom was named one of America's best large employers by Forbes, and Newsweek ranked us as one of the most trustworthy companies in America for a fourth consecutive year. Both are testaments to the strategy and execution of our organization. I'd like to thank our employees for their hard work and dedication that they demonstrate every day.

越來越多像這樣的企業正在放棄分散的決策流程，轉而採用更一致、可擴展和自動化的解決方案。從組織角度來看，Paycom 被《富比士》評為美國最佳大型雇主之一，《新聞週刊》連續第四年將我們評為美國最值得信賴的公司之一。兩者都證明了我們組織的策略和執行力。我要感謝我們的員工每天表現出的辛勤工作和奉獻精神。

We have a strong balance sheet with high-margin organic growth. We are building on strong momentum, and I'm very pleased with how this is setting us up for even stronger results through the rest of 2025 and beyond.

我們擁有強勁的資產負債表和高利潤率的有機成長。我們正在保持強勁勢頭，我很高興看到這將為我們在 2025 年剩餘時間及以後取得更強勁的業績奠定基礎。

With that, let me turn it over to Bob.

說完這些，讓我把麥克風交給鮑伯。

Thank you, Chad. Before I review our first-quarter 2025 results and our commentary for the remainder of 2025, I'd like to remind everyone that my comments related to certain financial measures will be on a non-GAAP basis.

謝謝你，查德。在我回顧我們 2025 年第一季的業績和 2025 年剩餘時間的評論之前，我想提醒大家，我對某些財務指標的評論將基於非 GAAP 基礎。

We delivered solid first quarter results. Total revenue of $531 million increased 6% over the comparable prior-year period, including a milestone quarter for recurring and other revenue at $500 million, up 7% year-over-year.

我們第一季取得了穩健的業績。總營收 5.31 億美元，較去年同期成長 6%，其中具有里程碑意義的季度經常性收入和其他收入達 5 億美元，較去年同期成長 7%。

As expected, rate cuts in 2024 represented a headwind to interest on funds held for clients, which declined 10% year-over-year to approximately $31 million in the first quarter of 2025. GAAP net income in the quarter was $139 million or $2.48 per diluted share based on approximately 56 million shares.

正如預期的那樣，2024 年的降息對客戶持有的資金利息產生了不利影響，2025 年第一季度，客戶持有的資金利息年減 10% 至約 3,100 萬美元。本季 GAAP 淨收入為 1.39 億美元，或每股攤薄收入 2.48 美元（基於約 5,600 萬股）。

Non-GAAP net income for the first quarter was $158 million, or $2.80 per diluted share. We delivered strong profitability in the first quarter. Adjusted EBITDA of $253 million increased 10% over the prior-year period, representing a 48% margin and a 180-basis point increase over the prior year period.

第一季非公認會計準則淨收入為 1.58 億美元，即每股攤薄收益 2.80 美元。我們在第一季實現了強勁的利潤。調整後的 EBITDA 為 2.53 億美元，較去年同期成長 10%，利潤率為 48%，較去年同期增加 180 個基點。

Margin strength in the quarter was driven by solid revenues and effective spend in sales and marketing and G&A. At the same time, we continue to invest in the areas of AI, product, and R&D.

本季利潤率的強勁成長得益於穩健的收入以及銷售、行銷和一般行政費用方面的有效支出。同時，我們持續在AI、產品、研發等領域投入。

Combining these with efficiencies from internal automation initiatives, we are well positioned to deliver an even stronger full year adjusted EBITDA margin than last year. Our balance sheet is strong. We ended the first quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $521 million and no debt. The average daily balance on funds held for clients was approximately $2.9 billion in the first quarter of 2025.

將這些與內部自動化計劃帶來的效率相結合，我們有能力實現比去年更強勁的全年調整後 EBITDA 利潤率。我們的資產負債表強勁。第一季結束時，我們的現金和現金等價物為 5.21 億美元，沒有債務。2025 年第一季度，為客戶持有的資金平均每日餘額約為 29 億美元。

During the first quarter of 2025, we paid approximately $21 million in cash dividends. Earlier this week, the Board approved our quarterly dividend of $0.375 per share payable in mid-June.

2025 年第一季度，我們支付了約 2,100 萬美元的現金股利。本週早些時候，董事會批准了我們的季度股息，每股 0.375 美元，將於 6 月中旬支付。

We repurchased $5 million of common stock through net downs on vested stock during the first quarter of 2025, and we still have $1.47 billion remaining under our stock repurchase plan.

我們在 2025 年第一季透過淨減已歸屬股票的方式回購了價值 500 萬美元的普通股，我們的股票回購計畫仍有 14.7 億美元剩餘。

As a reminder, our capital allocation strategy includes a disciplined return of capital through our dividend plan and opportunistic repurchases through our buyback authorization.

提醒一下，我們的資本配置策略包括透過股利計畫進行有紀律的資本回報，以及透過回購授權進行機會性回購。

Now let me turn to guidance for 2025. We continue to have success selling and onboarding new logos. Based on our strong Q1 results and outlook for the remainder of the year, we are raising our full-year revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance ranges.

現在讓我來談談2025年的指導。我們繼續成功銷售和引入新標誌。根據我們強勁的第一季業績和今年剩餘時間的展望，我們提高了全年收入和調整後的 EBITDA 指導範圍。

We expect total revenue to be between $2.023 billion and $2.038 billion, up approximately 8% year-over-year at the midpoint of the range. For the full year 2025, we expect recurring and other revenue to be up over 9% year-over-year, including growth of approximately 10% year-over-year for the remainder of 2025 with the highest growth coming in Q4.

我們預計總收入將在 20.23 億美元至 20.38 億美元之間，以中間值計算，年增約 8%。對於 2025 年全年，我們預計經常性收入和其他收入將同比增長 9% 以上，其中 2025 年剩餘時間將同比增長約 10%，其中第四季度增幅最高。

Our expectation for interest on funds held for clients remains unchanged at approximately $110 million in 2025, down 12% year-over-year. Automation of HCM and payroll manual task is driving our own internal efficiencies.

我們預計，到 2025 年，為客戶持有的資金利息將保持不變，約為 1.1 億美元，年減 12%。HCM 和薪資手動任務的自動化正在提高我們自己的內部效率。

Because of the efficiencies we are realizing throughout our business, we are raising our full year adjusted EBITDA guidance range to be between $843 million and $858 million. This represents an expansion of adjusted EBITDA margin to approximately 42% at the midpoint of the range, up 70 basis points compared to 2024.

由於我們在整個業務中實現了效率，我們將全年調整後的 EBITDA 指引範圍上調至 8.43 億美元至 8.58 億美元之間。這意味著調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率將擴大至範圍中點的約 42%，與 2024 年相比上升 70 個基點。

Other forward-looking items include full year GAAP and non-GAAP tax rate of 28% and 27%, respectively, and stock compensation of approximately 8% of revenues. We are pleased to see our teams executing well against our full year plan and the positive response from the market. We will continue to invest in our strategic initiatives focused on world-class service, full solution automation and high client ROI.

其他前瞻性項目包括全年 GAAP 和非 GAAP 稅率分別為 28% 和 27%，以及約佔收入 8% 的股票薪酬。我們很高興看到我們的團隊出色地完成了全年計劃並獲得了市場的積極反響。我們將繼續投資於專注於世界級的服務、全解決方案自動化和高客戶投資回報率的策略計劃。

With that, we will open the line for questions. Operator?

接下來，我們將開放問答熱線。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Raimo Lenschow, Barclays.

（操作員指示）巴克萊銀行的 Raimo Lenschow。

Congrats, great start to the year. Two quick questions, one for Chad. Like at the moment, everyone is obviously worrying about tariffs, volatility. Can you talk a little bit about what you're seeing in your field, I would assume it's not that much, but like what's the feedback from the sales guys, et cetera, on that one?

恭喜，今年有個很好的開始。兩個簡單的問題，一個問查德。就像現在，顯然每個人都在擔心關稅和波動。您能否談談您在您的領域所看到的情況，我認為不會太多，但是銷售人員等等對此的反饋是什麼？

And then one question for Bob. You talked about the efficiency gains that help you on the EBITDA side, like can you maybe give us a couple of examples? And how far can you push that to understand that a little bit better? Thank you.

然後問鮑伯一個問題。您談到了在 EBITDA 方面對您有幫助的效率提升，您能否給我們舉幾個例子？你能在多大程度上推動這一點，以便更好地理解這一點？謝謝。

Yeah, I'll take the tariffs. I mean, I would say it's still early to kind of be able to judge specifically. I would say we don't have much direct exposure to it. We're not over-concentrated down market where you might see more of the maybe mom-and-pop impact a little bit more than what you could from a total employee base impact.

是的，我會承擔關稅。我的意思是，現在做出具體判斷還為時過早。我想說我們對此沒有太多的直接接觸。我們並不是過度集中於低端市場，在低端市場中，你可能會看到更多的小店的影響，而不是整個員工群體的影響。

But ultimately, anything that impacts our clients does impact us. It's just -- we haven't seen anything yet. And -- but it is something that we'll continue to monitor. I would say that it would have to have an impact on employee count and the overall employment, I would say, to really have a meaningful impact on us. But like everyone else, it's something we're monitoring.

但最終，任何影響我們客戶的事情都會影響我們。只是──我們還沒有看到任何東西。並且——但我們會繼續監控此事。我想說，它必須對員工數量和整體就業產生影響，才能真正對我們產生有意義的影響。但和其他人一樣，這也是我們正在監控的事情。

And Raimo, on the efficiency gains, just like our clients, we use our product -- all of our product suite. And as we continue to see how we can implement and maybe there's somebody that doesn't have to -- that might leave and we don't backfill in a position, let's say, or expense management is a great way where we do some automation around there with our products. So we're seeing the benefits of our full solution automation throughout basically our entire organization.

雷莫，為了提高效率，就像我們的客戶一樣，我們使用我們的產品——我們所有的產品套件。隨著我們繼續觀察如何實施，也許有人不必離開——他們可能會離開，而我們不會填補某個職位，或者說，費用管理是一種很好的方式，我們可以用我們的產品來實現一些自動化。因此，我們基本上在整個組織中都看到了完整解決方案自動化的好處。

We've talked in the past about how we are dealing with less tickets now through automation and our service to provide better service to our clients.

我們過去曾討論過如何透過自動化和服務來處理更少的票據，從而為我們的客戶提供更好的服務。

Samad Samana, Jefferies.

薩瑪德·薩馬納（Samad Samana），傑富瑞集團。

Congrats to the whole organization. Maybe one for you, Chad, and then one follow-up. Just as I think about the new offices. I know that they usually take, let's call it, 18 to 24 months to ramp. I think last quarter, you had mentioned that maybe this go around -- it could be a little bit faster.

向整個組織表示祝賀。也許一個適合你，查德，然後再跟進一個。正如我所想的新辦公室。我知道他們通常需要 18 到 24 個月的時間來提升。我想上個季度您曾提過，也許這次的速度可能會更快一些。

Just are those staffed have you seen in terms of early impact? And then a follow-up on the -- just in terms of the shape of the year, I'll go and ask them at the same time. Any shift in the number of processing days? Like does 4Q have an extra day? Just trying to understand the shape of the year with more context. Thank you both for answering my questions.

就早期影響而言，您是否看過這些人員的配備？然後進行後續跟進——就今年的情況而言，我會同時去問他們。處理天數有任何變化嗎？例如 4Q 是否有額外的一天？只是想透過更多的背景來了解這一年的情況。謝謝你們回答我的問題。

Yeah. So on the new offices, we get better and better as we open offices. And as you know, we didn't open offices for a couple of years there. And so when we did open up those offices, we were better prepared to hit the ground running.

是的。因此，在新辦公室方面，隨著我們開設新辦公室，我們會變得越來越好。正如你所知，我們已經幾年沒有在那裡開設辦事處了。因此，當我們開設這些辦事處時，我們已做好更充分的準備，可以立即開展工作。

They're still going to mature in 24 months. It will still take 24 months before a new office will be carrying the same level of quota of a mature office, but we are getting better as we've opened up offices.

它們還需要 24 個月才能成熟。新辦公室要達到與成熟辦事處相同水平的配額仍需要 24 個月的時間，但隨著辦事處的開設，我們正在變得越來越好。

As far as processing days, any given year, you're going to have a little bit here and there. We have -- we did kind of discuss it a little bit last quarter. And then any impact from either additional or less is included in our current guide.

就處理天數而言，任何一年中，您都會遇到一些這樣的情況。我們上個季度確實討論過這個問題。然後，任何額外或更少的影響都包含在我們目前的指南中。

Mark Marcon, Baird.

馬克馬孔，貝爾德。

So two major questions. One, Chad, can you describe a little bit more about what you've done recently in terms of fine-tuning the sales process, both externally as well as in terms of the internal CRR group in terms of how they're approaching clients, and what sort of results you're seeing from that? That's the first question.

所以有兩個主要問題。首先，查德，您能否更詳細地描述您最近在銷售流程微調方面所做的工作，包括外部和內部 CRR 團隊如何接觸客戶，以及您從中看到了什麼樣的結果？這是第一個問題。

And then the second question is just more on the margins. When we think about the Q1 to Q2 transition, obviously, there's going to be some seasonality, and obviously, there's some high-margin work that goes into Q1 and inflated fund balances. Can you give us a little bit of guidance just in terms of thinking through Q2 just in terms of the typical seasonality? Thanks.

第二個問題只是邊緣問題。當我們考慮從第一季到第二季的過渡時，顯然會有一些季節性因素，而且顯然會有一些高利潤的工作進入第一季並導致基金餘額膨脹。您能否從典型的季節性角度為我們提供一些關於第二季度的指導？謝謝。

Yeah. So well, first on the sell side, I would say that we've been continuing to get better and better in sales. I do believe that our sales staff is the best in the world at what they do. And we did have a reconstitution, if you will, of training early part of last year, as Amy kind of took over the group to get back to the normal blocking and tackling that we've always done here at Paycom.

是的。那麼，首先從銷售方面來說，我想說我們的銷售業績一直在持續變得越來越好。我確實相信我們的銷售人員是世界上最好的。如果你願意的話，我們確實在去年年初重組了培訓，因為艾米接管了這個團隊，以恢復我們在 Paycom 一直進行的正常阻止和處理工作。

That resulted in increased sales, especially as well as increased units, new logo adds. Obviously, those came on throughout the year and most would have all started by now. And then as we turned into first quarter, we saw a continuation of the same, up meaningfully in both book sales and units. And so activity matters in sales.

這不僅增加了銷量，還增加了銷量和新標誌。顯然，這些事情全年都在發生，而且大多數現在都已經開始了。然後，當我們進入第一季時，我們看到同樣的趨勢持續，圖書銷售和銷售量都大幅上升。因此，活動對於銷售來說很重要。

And then, of course, having a product that's getting better and better and better as we go to market, removing barriers of usage. And then as far as the -- on the efficiency side, we're automating our product for the client -- we're automating our product for the client, and we're also automating things internally.

當然，隨著我們進入市場，產品會變得越來越好，使用障礙也隨之消除。就效率方面而言，我們正在為客戶實現產品自動化——我們正在為客戶實現產品自動化，我們也在內部實現產品自動化。

There are several tasks that we have to perform on the back end that we've been able to automate, and that has an impact on our adjusted EBITDA across the board, but it also has an impact on the client experience. And that's really why we're doing a lot of the things that we're doing through automation.

我們必須在後端執行幾個能夠自動化的任務，這對我們整體的調整後 EBITDA 產生了影響，但也對客戶體驗產生了影響。這就是我們透過自動化來完成許多工作的原因。

I'd like to say the only reason a client even calls us is due to the deficiency in the software that we create. And so a lot of our focus has been removing impediments, removing clicks and really focusing on allowing the client to have a full solution -- fully solution automated product. And so that's been impacting our margins, and that's been impacting our sales.

我想說，客戶打電話給我們的唯一原因是我們所開發的軟體有缺陷。因此，我們的重點是消除障礙、消除點擊，並真正專注於讓客戶擁有完整的解決方案——完全解決方案自動化的產品。這影響了我們的利潤，也影響了我們的銷售額。

Steve Enders, Citi.

花旗銀行的史蒂夫恩德斯。

I guess -- sorry, I want to ask on, I guess, the kind of free cash flow dynamics was pretty solid here. Is there anything that we should be kind of keeping into account for timing impacts or how we should be thinking about how that maybe compares to the EBITDA progression for the year?

我想——抱歉，我想問一下，這裡的自由現金流動態相當穩定。我們是否應該考慮時間影響，或者我們應該如何考慮將其與當年的 EBITDA 進展進行比較？

And then secondarily, just on the mid-market opportunity, it seems like there was good traction there last quarter. And just wanting to see how that's maybe tracking comparatively from what you saw in 1Q here?

其次，僅就中階市場機會而言，上個季度似乎表現出良好的發展動能。只是想看看這與您在第一季看到的情況相比有何不同？

Yeah. I mean, the mid-market opportunity, I mean, I would say everywhere for us is going very well. I mean, we're not seeing any changes to demand. If anything, I've always kind of said we also create demand ourselves by the work we do.

是的。我的意思是，我想說，對我們來說，中端市場的機會各方面都進展順利。我的意思是，我們沒有看到需求有任何改變。如果有什麼不同的話，我總是說，我們自己也透過所做的工作創造了需求。

And as I just talked about, first quarter was up meaningfully for both revenue from a book sales perspective as well as for units.

正如我剛才所說，第一季的圖書銷售收入和銷售量都有顯著成長。

As far as the free cash flow conversion, we did talk about how we've substantially finished out the completion of our facilities. I think we've got a parking garage and something else that will be coming online.

就自由現金流轉換而言，我們確實談到了我們如何基本完成設施的建設。我認為我們已經有一個停車場和其他一些即將上線的東西。

I will say this, though, we are very ambitious with what we do with our technology and what we're doing in the ways of the AI and other. And over time, I would think that some of that spend that we spend on facilities, I think you would see some of that transfer to those technological assets that are required to really run a full-scale fully automated product.

不過，我要說的是，我們對我們的技術以及我們在人工智慧和其他領域所做的事情非常有雄心。隨著時間的推移，我認為我們在設施上花費的部分資金，將轉移到真正運行全面自動化產品所需的技術資產。

But we don't guide to free cash flow. It has been a focus of ours to be able to improve that. And I think you've seen a little bit of that recently.

但我們並不指導自由現金流。我們一直致力於改善這一點。我想您最近已經看到了一些這樣的情況。

Jason Celino, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

KeyBanc 資本市場 Jason Celino。

I'm just trying to decipher some of the subtleties in kind of the script language today. I think, Bob, in your section, you mentioned the recurring revenue growth being up over 9% this year. I think before it was technically approximately. And then I think you also said that it would be up 10% for the remainder of the year. Is that like an average? Or is that kind of like each quarter? Just curious there.

我今天只是想解讀腳本語言中的一些微妙之處。鮑勃，我想，在你的部分中，你提到今年經常性收入成長率超過了 9%。我認為以前從技術上來說它是近似的。然後我想您也說過今年剩餘時間內它將上漲 10%。這就像平均值嗎？或者每季都這樣？只是好奇。

Yeah, Jason, we've talked about being consistent for the Q2, Q3, and Q4 with a little acceleration in Q4 on recurring revenue. That's how we're looking at that.

是的，傑森，我們已經討論過第二季、第三季和第四季的持續收入保持一致，而第四季的經常性收入會略有加速。我們就是這樣看待這個問題的。

Okay. Perfect. Thanks for that. And then changing topics a little bit. I think in the quarter, there was a press release saying that you received authorization as a payment institution from the Central Bank of Ireland. Curious what this means for the business and the international part of the story.

好的。完美的。謝謝。然後稍微改一下話題。我認為在本季度，有一份新聞稿稱您已獲得愛爾蘭中央銀行的支付機構授權。好奇這對商業和國際部分意味著什麼。

Yeah. So Ireland and being there allows us to get to the rest of Europe from there. And we've been focused on continuing to build out our product. I mentioned global HCM that works for all countries. We continue to onboard for that.

是的。因此，透過愛爾蘭我們可以到達歐洲其他地區。我們一直致力於繼續打造我們的產品。我提到了適用於所有國家的全球 HCM。我們將繼續為此努力。

We actually process native payroll in for other countries other than the US, which includes the banking side of it. And so we're continuing to do that. And this was one of the steps that you take to be able to continue to move further into Europe.

實際上，我們也為美國以外的其他國家處理本地薪資單，其中包括銀行業務。因此我們會繼續這樣做。這是你們為了進一步深入歐洲而採取的措施之一。

Daniel Jester, BMO Capital Market.

丹尼爾‧傑斯特 (Daniel Jester)，BMO 資本市場。

Maybe just another one on the product side. You also talked this quarter about, I think some credentialing on the background screening side. I guess, is that an incremental revenue opportunity? Or how should we be thinking about that?

也許只是產品方面的另一個。本季您也談到了背景篩選方面的一些資格認證。我猜，這是一個增加收入的機會嗎？或者我們應該如何思考這個問題？

Yeah. So we've been in pre-employment services for a while now. In fact, I think we're -- from a size perspective, we're one of the largest out there right now. And so that's been a part of our business for a while.

是的。我們已經從事就業前服務有一段時間了。事實上，我認為從規模角度來看，我們是目前最大的公司之一。這已經成為我們業務的一部分了。

We've continued to get more and more of our clients on that. I would say that I don't know of a better preemployment service than Paycom's as far as a quick return and its accuracy.

我們已持續獲得越來越多的客戶支援。我想說，就快速回報和準確性而言，我不知道有比 Paycom 更好的就業前服務。

So that was confirmed, obviously, by receiving this accreditation. And that's just something that allows us to have a proved source for how well our product is doing for our clients, but also as we move forward and sell other clients, there's no reason for them not to switch preemployment over to Paycom as well.

因此，獲得這項認證顯然證實了這一點。這不僅讓我們能夠證明我們的產品對客戶的服務有多好，而且隨著我們不斷前進並向其他客戶銷售產品，他們沒有理由不在就業前階段轉向 Paycom。

That's great. Thank you. And then in the script, you talked about a boomerang client who left and came back. I guess, do you have specific programs targeting some of those customers that may have churned over the past few years?

那太棒了。謝謝。然後在劇本中，你談到了一位離開又回來的迴力鏢客戶。我想，您是否有針對過去幾年可能流失的部分客戶的具體計畫？

Our best prospects sometimes are clients that left because they didn't solve the problem. It's oftentimes just the thorns pulled out of the paw and it didn't really come with a full solution.

我們最好的潛在客戶有時是那些因為沒有解決問題而離開的客戶。通常情況下，這只是把爪子上的刺拔掉，並沒有帶來完整的解決方案。

And I mean at the end of the day, clients of ours who are using our products as they leave and try to go to other companies or maybe they got sold something shiny or maybe it's a cost type thing.

我的意思是，到最後，我們的客戶在使用我們的產品後會離開並嘗試去其他公司，或者他們可能會買到一些閃亮的東西，或者這可能是一種成本類型的東西。

At the end of the day, when you look at total cost of a system, you have to include both what you're paying as well as the ROI that it delivers to you and the value that you're achieving. And when that's real, and you leave and it doesn't work out, you look to come back.

歸根結底，當您查看系統的總成本時，您必須包括您支付的費用以及它為您帶來的投資回報率和您實現的價值。當這是真的，當你離開並且沒有成功時，你會希望回來。

We're also focused on that. We want every client to come back. I mean, there's no questions asked on our part, let's get going. And so we do have a strategy to get clients that have left back. We also have a strategy to make sure that clients are receiving the value so that they don't have to go through that pain of a conversion to just to turn around and come back to us. And so that remains a part of our overall strategy. It has, and we're having a lot of success with that.

我們也關注這一點。我們希望每一位顧客都回來。我的意思是，我們沒有任何疑問，讓我們開始吧。因此，我們確實有一個策略來讓已經離開的客戶回來。我們還有一個策略來確保客戶獲得價值，這樣他們就不必經歷轉換的痛苦，只需轉身回到我們身邊。因此，這仍然是我們整體策略的一部分。確實如此，而且我們在這方面取得了很大成功。

Jared Levine, TD Cowen.

賈里德·萊文 (Jared Levine)，TD Cowen。

Adjusted S&M had limited sequential growth relative to recent years and haven't really seen too many TV commercials in recent months. Can you talk about how advertising spend is expected to impact FY25 margins? And is there any new strategy surrounding advertising spend right now?

調整後的 S&M 與近年來相比連續成長有限，而且近幾個月來並沒有看到太多的電視廣告。能談談廣告支出預計如何影響 25 財年的利潤率嗎？目前在廣告支出有什麼新策略嗎？

Yes. I mean, we are still continuing to spend brand advertising, which is more what you're talking about with commercials and things on TV. We're also doing a lot more direct as we continue to move people down the funnel. We have deployed different initiatives through marketing and advertising that we have not done previously that we're having more success with as well.

是的。我的意思是，我們仍在繼續花費品牌廣告，這更像是你所說的商業廣告和電視廣告。隨著我們繼續引導人們進入漏斗底部，我們也在做更多直接的事情。我們透過行銷和廣告部署了以前從未做過的不同舉措，並且也取得了更大的成功。

But I mean, to the extent we were a little light in first quarter on marketing spend, it will be up more in subsequent quarters before as well. We're not reducing what we're doing in marketing and advertising, but you will have some timing here and there based on the spend, especially now that we're doing more direct than what we have been doing in the past.

但我的意思是，如果第一季我們的行銷支出較少，那麼接下來幾季的行銷支出也會增加。我們不會減少在行銷和廣告方面的投入，但根據支出情況，您需要在這裡和那裡安排一些時間，尤其是現在我們比過去做得更直接。

Got it. And then just wanted to clarify in terms of Xflow growth cadance for the year. Can you dig into why the 4Q Xflow growth would be the highest for the year?

知道了。然後只是想澄清一下今年 Xflow 的成長節奏。您能否深入解釋為什麼第四季 Xflow 的成長是今年最高的？

Yeah. I mean, as we continue to go through the year, fourth quarter has always kind of had that opportunity with your additional payroll runs, which, again, are hard for us to necessarily forecast right now, but we do have placeholders for that.

是的。我的意思是，隨著我們繼續度過這一年，第四季度總是有這樣的機會，即您有額外的工資發放，這對我們來說現在很難預測，但我們確實有佔位符。

I think you saw fourth quarter last year was also one of our largest growth quarters. And so -- and also, I would say, traditionally, first quarter has been -- was like that for quite a long time, but with our first quarter forms business, it just doesn't grow at the same level with the rest of our business. Meaning at the end of the year, we've pretty much done ACA, W2s, and 1099s for about 10 years now, we haven't added any additional annual services to that.

我認為去年第四季也是我們成長最快的季度之一。所以 — — 而且我想說，傳統上，第一季 — — 很長一段時間都是這樣的，但是我們第一季的表格業務並沒有與我們其他業務保持同一水平的增長。這意味著到年底，我們已經完成了大約 10 年的 ACA、W2 和 1099，我們沒有添加任何額外的年度服務。

I believe the fees are the exact same that they were 10 years ago still. And so meanwhile, the rest of our business with the products that we make and sell. It continues to grow disproportionately to those forms of business in the first quarter.

我相信費用與十年前完全相同。同時，我們的其他業務與我們生產和銷售的產品有關。第一季度，它繼續以與這些業務形式不成比例的速度成長。

And so you've been kind of seeing a little bit of a trend of that in regards to fourth quarter because of those additional payroll runs.

因此，由於這些額外的工資發放，您在第四季度就可以看到這種趨勢。

Bhavin Shah, Deutsche Bank.

德意志銀行的 Bhavin Shah。

Chad, just back to the authorization you received be a payment institution in Europe. But what are the next steps that you're looking to accomplish to go further into that region? And then how are you kind of thinking about your go-to-market strategy, your product strategy internationally as you progress kind of down the path?

查德，剛才提到您收到的作為歐洲支付機構的授權。但是，為了進一步深入該地區，您希望採取哪些下一步措施？那麼，隨著您不斷前進，您如何考慮您的市場進入策略和國際產品策略？

In our global market strategy right now is focused on US-based companies that have locations, employees and operations in other countries, as we continue to build out our systems and as it makes sense for us to go in country to make sales locally to those, that's something that will be deploying at the right time for now.

我們目前的全球市場策略重點是那些在其他國家設有辦事處、員工和業務的美國公司，隨著我們繼續建立我們的系統，並且進入這些國家進行本地銷售對我們來說是有意義的，這是我們現在在正確時機部署的。

This allows us to move money throughout Europe. The last yard of a payroll is actually getting it into the employee's account correctly. And if you do everything else right, you don't do that part, you kind of did nothing. So for us to make sure that we ensure the highest quality for all of our clients, we like to keep the ball in our hand, and this is something that's required to do that.

這使我們能夠在整個歐洲轉移資金。薪資的最後一步實際上是將其正確地儲存在員工的帳戶中。如果你把其他事情都做對了，但你不做那部分，你就等於什麼都沒做。因此，為了確保為所有客戶提供最高的質量，我們希望掌控全局，而這是必須的。

That's helpful there. Just one quick follow-up for Bob. Just on the flow guidance, can you just remind us what's embedded in terms of rate cut expectations?

這很有幫助。對鮑伯來說這只是一個快速的後續問題。就流量指導而言，您能否提醒我們降息預期包含哪些內容？

Yes. We had two rate cuts embedded in the guidance, one in June and one in December.

是的。我們的指引中包含了兩次降息，一次是在六月，一次是在十二月。

Joshua Reilly, Needham & Company.

約書亞·賴利（Joshua Reilly），Needham & Company。

Hi, this is Ian Black on for Joshua Riley. Thanks for taking my question. How is gross retention trending given the improving customer satisfaction and the lapping of any churn on the shift to Beti?

大家好，我是 Joshua Riley 的 Ian Black。感謝您回答我的問題。鑑於客戶滿意度不斷提高以及客戶流失率隨著轉向 Beti 而下降，總留存趨勢如何？

Yeah. So we do report retention once a year. Obviously, it's reflected. The net of it is reflected in both of our current quarter achievements as well as any future guidance.

是的。因此我們每年都會報告一次保留情況。顯然，它已經反映出來了。其淨額反映在我們本季的業績以及未來的指引中。

We did talk about on the call how our Net Promoter continues to go up, and also that we are continuing to see more utilization of all of our products as we've removed more and more impediments to good usage.

我們確實在電話會議上談到了我們的淨推薦值如何持續上升，而且隨著我們消除了越來越多阻礙良好使用的障礙，我們所有產品的利用率也在不斷提高。

All of that is meant to have a positive impact on our retention. So those are all early indicators of things that we would expect to be reporting at the end of the year.

所有這些都是為了對我們的保留產生積極的影響。這些都是我們預計在年底報告的早期指標。

Siti Panigrahi, Mizuho.

瑞穗的 Siti Panigrahi。

Hey, it's Phil on for Siti. Just a quick one for me. Are you guys seeing any shifts in how your competitors are positioning on price or discounting in the market?

嘿，菲爾 (Phil) 代替西蒂 (Siti)。對我來說只是一個快速的步驟。你們是否看到競爭對手在市場價格或折扣方面的定位發生了任何變化？

Nothing really different than anything we've seen in the past.

與我們過去所見的任何東西都沒什麼不同。

Brian Schwartz, Oppenheimer.

布萊恩·施瓦茨，奧本海默。

A nice start to the year. Chad, in terms of maybe more of a real-time question on what you're seeing in terms of demand. Clearly, the macro pressures did not impact the business at all in 1Q. But how is the business faring in April when those macro pressures intensified? And I have a follow-up for Bob.

新的一年有一個美好的開始。查德，也許更確切地說是一個即時問題，關於您所看到的需求。顯然，宏觀壓力對第一季的業務並沒有產生任何影響。但當宏觀壓力加劇時，4月業務表現如何？我還想跟進一下鮑伯的狀況。

Yeah. I mean, we're just not seeing it right now. I mean, again, I wouldn't say we're overexposed to any one industry or any one employee size necessarily. We don't -- definitely don't have overexposure to the small business side.

是的。我的意思是，我們現在還沒有看到它。我的意思是，我再次強調，我並不一定說我們過度關注某個產業或某個員工規模。我們絕對不會過度關注小企業方面。

I will just say, I think there's a lot of different movements. And I think as you have different tariffs and what have you. businesses will maneuver and to maneuver to what makes sense for them. And so I think there'll be a lot of that at play as we move on.

我只想說，我認為有很多不同的運動。我認為你們有不同的關稅等等。企業將會採取各種行動，以達到對他們來說更有意義的目的。所以我認為，隨著我們不斷前進，很多這樣的情況都會發生。

I think it's important to keep in mind, although our direct exposure is low, and we're not seeing anything. I mean, we're not seeing anything. Anything that impacts our clients, I mean it will eventually impact us, but that would have to be somewhat reflected through reduction in force. And so I think you would have some leading indicators to that. And right now, we just -- we don't have anything to call out.

我認為，重要的是要記住，儘管我們的直接接觸很少，但我們什麼也沒看到。我的意思是，我們什麼也沒看到。任何影響我們客戶的事情最終都會影響到我們，但這必須透過裁員來反映出來。所以我認為你會有一些領先指標。而現在，我們只是──我們沒有什麼好說的。

My follow-up question for Bob, given the greater operating efficiencies that you're realizing internally from AI, has that made you change the hiring plan for the year?

我對鮑伯的後續問題是，鑑於您透過人工智慧在內部實現了更高的營運效率，這是否促使您改變了今年的招募計畫？

No, we've had an AI plan and a full automation plan for a little bit now. And so our hiring plans did change, but not for what our expectations were this year. We've been able to repurpose people in different areas. I do always want to -- I do want to make a point on this, though.

不，我們現在已經有了一個人工智慧計劃和一個全面自動化計劃。因此，我們的招聘計劃確實發生了變化，但與今年的預期不同。我們已經能夠重新調動不同領域的人才。我確實一直想──不過我確實想就此闡明一點。

With all the automations that we've done on the back end, we will always have a high-touch service model. We do have a high-touch service model. And we're putting a lot of resources into our people to make it easier for them to service our clients as well as allow the clients to get more value out of the product without having to crawl through something to get it. And so we've been very focused on that.

透過我們在後端完成的所有自動化，我們將始終擁有高接觸服務模式。我們確實有一個高接觸服務模式。我們為員工投入了大量的資源，使他們能夠更輕鬆地為客戶提供服務，同時讓客戶能夠從產品中獲得更多價值，而無需費力地獲取它。因此我們一直非常關注這一點。

With greater automation, obviously, we can do things quicker, and it doesn't require the same type of labor commitment to it. That said, when you have great people and you do have an opportunity to put them in places that can make impacts, we look to do that.

顯然，隨著自動化程度的提高，我們可以更快地完成工作，並且不需要投入相同類型的勞動力。也就是說，當你擁有優秀的人才，並且有機會將他們安排在能夠產生影響力的地方時，我們就會期待這樣做。

So oftentimes, to Bob's point, Bob made the point early in this call. It's oftentimes where we just don't need to hire as many people in certain areas.

因此，很多時候，對於鮑伯的觀點，鮑伯在這通電話的早期就提出了這個觀點。很多時候，我們不需要在某些領域僱用那麼多人。

There are areas within Paycom that continues to grow at a rate equal to or larger than it has in the past when you're looking at areas like sales, you're looking at areas like software development and those types of areas. And so -- and then there's other areas which were more administrative on the back end, which are -- those are being automated.

Paycom 內部的一些領域正在以與過去相同或更高的速度成長，例如銷售、軟體開發等領域。因此 — — 然後還有其他更具後端管理性的領域 — — 這些都正在自動化。

I mean, I'm telling people. I mean, if you're inputting something into spreadsheets and out of spreadsheets and all that, I mean, that's going away. It's going away, and it will end up going away everywhere. So get a skill set that's not that. And that's what we're focused on.

我的意思是，我正在告訴人們。我的意思是，如果你在電子表格中輸入某些內容，然後再從電子表格中輸入，這些都會消失。它正在消失，而且最終所有地方都會消失。因此，獲得一套不是那樣的技能。這正是我們所關注的。

And so we're that type of business, we create value for our clients when we automate, we create value for ourselves when we automate, and that's what we've been focused on for quite some time now, and it's rolling out. It's actually rolling out. It's not just a goal. We're actually achieving it rolling out throughout the product as well as our back end.

所以我們就是這種類型的企業，我們在實現自動化時為客戶創造價值，我們在實現自動化時為自己創造價值，這就是我們長期以來一直關注的重點，並且正在逐步推廣。它實際上正在推出。這不僅僅是一個目標。我們實際上正在實現它在整個產品以及後端的推廣。

This completes the question-and-answer portion of today's call. So I will now turn the call back over to Mr. Chad Richison for closing remarks.

今天電話會議的問答部分到此結束。現在我將把電話轉回給查德·里奇森先生，請他作最後發言。

I want to thank everyone for joining our call today, and I want to thank our employees for all their hard work and their commitment to Paycom's success. We'll be participating in several investor events this quarter, including the Needham Virtual Technology and Media Conference on May 12.

我要感謝今天參加我們電話會議的所有人，我要感謝我們的員工為 Paycom 的成功所做的一切努力和承諾。本季我們將參加幾場投資者活動，包括 5 月 12 日的 Needham 虛擬技術和媒體會議。

Then on May 28, Bob and James will be attending the Jefferies Software Conference in Newport. And finally, on June 3, we'll be presenting at Baird's Global CTS Conference in New York City. Thanks for your interest in Paycom. And operator, you may disconnect.

然後，5 月 28 日，鮑勃和詹姆斯將參加在紐波特舉行的 Jefferies 軟體會議。最後，6 月 3 日，我們將在紐約舉行的 Baird 全球 CTS 會議上發表演講。感謝您對 Paycom 的關注。接線員，您可以斷開連接了。

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線。