沛齊 (PAYX) 2025 Q4 法說會逐字稿

To all sides on hold, we appreciate your patience, and we ask that you please continue to stand by. To all sides on hold, we appreciate your patience, and we ask that you please continue to stand by.

對於所有等待的一方，我們感謝您的耐心等待，並請您繼續等待。對於所有等待的一方，我們感謝您的耐心等待，並請您繼續等待。

Good morning, and welcome to Paychex' fourth-quarter fiscal 2025 earnings call. Participating on the call today are John Gibson and Bob Schrader. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded, and your participation implies consent to our recording of this call.

早安，歡迎參加 Paychex 2025 財年第四季財報電話會議。今天參加電話會議的有 John Gibson 和 Bob Schrader。（操作員指示）提醒一下，本次會議正在錄音，您的參與意味著同意我們錄音本次通話。

I would now like to turn the call over to Bob Schrader, Paychex' Chief Financial Officer.

現在我想將電話轉給 Paychex 財務長 Bob Schrader。

Thank you for joining us to discuss Paychex fourth quarter and fiscal year 2025 performance. This morning, we released our financial results for the quarter ended May 31, 2025. You can access our earnings release and presentation on our Investor Relations website. We anticipate our Form 10-K will be filed with the SEC before the end of July. This teleconference is being webcast and will be archived on our website for approximately 90 days.

感謝您加入我們討論 Paychex 第四季和 2025 財年的業績。今天上午，我們發布了截至 2025 年 5 月 31 日的季度財務業績。您可以在我們的投資者關係網站上存取我們的收益報告和簡報。我們預計我們的 10-K 表格將於 7 月底前提交給美國證券交易委員會 (SEC)。本次電話會議將進行網路直播，並將在我們的網站上存檔約 90 天。

Today's call includes forward-looking statements that refer to future events and involve some risks. We encourage you to review our filings with the SEC for additional information on factors that could cause actual results to differ from our current expectations. We will also reference non-GAAP financial measures. A description of these items along with a reconciliation of the non-GAAP measures can be found in our earnings release.

今天的電話會議包含涉及未來事件並涉及一些風險的前瞻性陳述。我們鼓勵您查看我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，以獲取有關可能導致實際結果與我們當前預期不同的因素的更多資訊。我們也將參考非公認會計準則財務指標。您可以在我們的收益報告中找到這些項目的描述以及非公認會計準則指標的對帳。

I would now like to turn the call over to John Gibson, Paychex President and CEO.

現在我想將電話轉給 Paychex 總裁兼執行長約翰·吉布森 (John Gibson)。

Thanks, Bob. I will start the call today by sharing key business highlights for the fourth quarter and fiscal year, and then Bob will discuss our financial results and outlook. We will then, of course, open it up for your questions. Given that the Paycor acquisition has closed and we have completed key integration activities to bring the two companies together, we are now operating as one Paychex and not two different companies. Our comments today will reflect that fact.

謝謝，鮑伯。今天我將在電話會議上首先分享第四季度和財年的主要業務亮點，然後鮑勃將討論我們的財務表現和前景。當然，我們會回答你們的問題。鑑於 Paycor 收購已經完成，並且我們已完成將兩家公司合併的關鍵整合活動，我們現在作為一家 Paychex 運營，而不是兩家不同的公司。我們今天的評論將反映這一事實。

Paychex demonstrated solid performance this year against our strategic objectives, underscoring our unique ability to effectively navigate dynamic market conditions while continuing to enhance our customer experience and market position and also maintain our industry-leading operating margins. We delivered 10% revenue growth in the fourth quarter, reflecting continued execution across the business and the addition of Paycor.

Paychex 今年在實現我們的策略目標方面表現穩健，凸顯了我們有效駕馭動態市場條件的獨特能力，同時繼續提升我們的客戶體驗和市場地位，並保持我們行業領先的營業利潤率。我們在第四季度實現了 10% 的營收成長，這反映了整個業務的持續執行以及 Paycor 的加入。

For full fiscal year 2025, we achieved 6% revenue growth and 6% growth in adjusted diluted earnings per share. We also delivered 60 basis points of adjusted operating income margin expansion in the face of significant ERTC headwinds. Our client retention rates increased year-over-year, underscoring the compelling value we provide as a trusted partner in our clients' growth and success.

2025財年全年，我們的營收成長了6%，調整後每股攤薄收益成長了6%。面對巨大的 ERTC 阻力，我們也實現了 60 個基點的調整後營業收入利潤率擴張。我們的客戶保留率逐年增加，凸顯了我們作為客戶成長和成功中值得信賴的合作夥伴所提供的強大價值。

We grew the number of clients we serve to approximately 800,000 and increased the number of HR outsourcing worksite employees to 2.5 million this year. We have made significant progress on the Paycor acquisition, surpassing our expectations and setting a strong foundation for future success.

今年，我們服務的客戶數量成長至約 80 萬，人力資源外包工作現場員工人數增加至 250 萬。我們在 Paycor 收購方面取得了重大進展，超越了我們的預期，並為未來的成功奠定了堅實的基礎。

Based upon our early progress on the integration and our increased understanding of the opportunities we have gained since closing, we are raising our cost synergy expectations to approximately $90 million in fiscal year '26. The actions we have already taken give us high confidence in achieving the synergies. In addition, we have identified a list of additional synergy opportunities that we are actively pursuing.

根據我們在整合方面的早期進展以及我們對自整合以來所獲得的機會的深入了解，我們將 26 財年的成本協同效應預期提高到約 9000 萬美元。我們已經採取的行動使我們對實現協同效應充滿信心。此外，我們也確定了一系列我們正在積極尋求的額外協同機會。

We also believe that there are additional opportunities to invest for future growth, and we will strategically accelerate those investments as the year progresses. We previously outlined to you the business unit structure, leadership continuity and retention of key Paycor talent to mitigate integration risk.

我們也相信，未來將有更多的投資機會來實現成長，隨著時間的推移，我們將策略性地加快這些投資。我們之前向您概述了業務部門結構、領導層的連續性和 Paycor 關鍵人才的保留，以減輕整合風險。

Customers are continuing to utilize their existing platform, minimizing the disruption to our client base. Our retention remains strong, and the reception to the combined offerings has exceeded our expectations in their early days. I'll share some of the recent integration accomplishments and focus areas for fiscal year '26.

客戶正在繼續利用他們現有的平台，最大限度地減少對我們客戶群的干擾。我們的保留率仍然很高，合併後的產品的接受度已經超出了我們早期的預期。我將分享 26 財年的一些最新整合成果和重點領域。

During the quarter, we defined how our HCM platforms will generally serve our market segments moving forward. Paychex Flex will focus on companies with up to 99 employees, and the Paycor platform will target the upmarket enterprise segment above 100 employees. SurePayroll will continue to serve the small business do-it-yourself marketplace.

在本季度，我們定義了我們的 HCM 平台將如何服務我們未來的細分市場。Paychex Flex 將專注於擁有最多 99 名員工的公司，而 Paycor 平台將瞄準擁有 100 名以上員工的高端企業市場。SurePayroll 將繼續為小型企業 DIY 市場提供服務。

This approach provides the market with the most comprehensive, flexible and innovative HCM solutions for organizations of all sizes and needs. We also completed a comprehensive territory assessment and reassignment review across the sales teams that aligns to these market segments.

這種方法為市場提供了最全面、最靈活、最具創新性的 HCM 解決方案，適用於各種規模和需求的組織。我們也對符合這些細分市場的銷售團隊進行了全面的區域評估和重新分配審查。

We have expanded and optimized our sales coverage nationwide in the fourth quarter. Sales representatives who transition territories received comprehensive training on the complete suite of HCM solutions they can now offer. We are encouraged by how sales hiring, retention and tenure developments are trending going into the fiscal year.

我們在第四季度擴大並優化了全國範圍內的銷售覆蓋範圍。轉換地區的銷售代表接受了有關他們現在可以提供的全套 HCM 解決方案的全面培訓。進入本財政年度，銷售人員的招募、留任和任期發展趨勢令我們感到鼓舞。

While all of these changes did create some internal disruption and took many of our sales resources out of the field for a portion of the fourth quarter, we believe now is the time to make these changes to best position us to win in the marketplace. With newly trained sales reps on our broad set of capabilities and solutions, realigned territories and a fully staffed sales team, we believe we are well positioned entering the new fiscal year.

雖然所有這些變化確實造成了一些內部混亂，並在第四季度的部分時間內佔用了我們的許多銷售資源，但我們相信現在是進行這些變化的時候了，這樣我們才能在市場上佔據最佳優勢。透過對銷售代表進行廣泛的能力和解決方案培訓、重新調整的區域和人員齊全的銷售團隊，我們相信我們已經為進入新的財政年度做好了準備。

While we have made significant strides in integrating the teams, optimizing our go-to-market approach and capturing cost synergies, we're most enthusiastic about the opportunities for revenue synergies. While we expect to realize revenue synergies over the next several years, I'm pleased we have already secured our first Paycor customers on our ASO and PEO and are seeing promising growth in our pipeline.

雖然我們在整合團隊、優化市場進入方式和實現成本協同效應方面取得了重大進展，但我們對收入協同效應的機會最為熱衷。雖然我們預計在未來幾年內實現收入協同效應，但我很高興我們已經在 ASO 和 PEO 上獲得了第一批 Paycor 客戶，並且看到了我們管道中的可觀增長。

Notably, the PEO sale was referred by a Paycor broker, and this was even before we officially launched the product into the client base. We continue to believe the biggest opportunity is the cross-sell of Paychex retirement, ASO and PEO solutions into the Paycor base of more than 50,000 clients.

值得注意的是，PEO 銷售是由 Paycor 經紀人推薦的，這甚至是在我們正式向客戶群推出產品之前。我們仍然相信，最大的機會是將 Paychex 退休、ASO 和 PEO 解決方案交叉銷售給 Paycor 超過 50,000 名客戶。

We also believe there are opportunities to take Paycor's capabilities into the Paychex client base in the years ahead. We are pleased at how quickly our teams were able to complete the bulk of the backing integrations required to cross-sell into Paycor's base and realize these revenue synergies.

我們也相信，未來幾年有機會將 Paycor 的功能帶入 Paychex 客戶群。我們很高興看到我們的團隊能夠如此迅速地完成向 Paycor 基地交叉銷售所需的大部分支援整合並實現這些收入協同效應。

We also remain excited about Paycor's embedded solution, which enables seamless integration of our payroll and HR technology stack into our partners' platforms. With thousands of potential partners, we are early in executing against this revenue opportunity and are actively scaling and investing in it.

我們也對 Paycor 的嵌入式解決方案感到興奮，它能夠將我們的工資和人力資源技術堆疊無縫整合到我們合作夥伴的平台中。我們擁有數千個潛在合作夥伴，正在儘早抓住這項創收機會，並積極擴大規模和進行投資。

We believe the synergies between the companies, coupled with our mutual focus on innovation and customer-centric solutions, position us to continue to deliver strong returns and drive long-term shareholder return. A core component of our go-to-market strategy involves cultivating long-standing relationships with channel partners such as brokers, CPAs and banks, just to name a few. More than half of our new business originates from channel partner referrals.

我們相信，兩家公司之間的協同作用，加上我們對創新和以客戶為中心的解決方案的共同關注，使我們能夠繼續提供強勁的回報並推動長期股東回報。我們的行銷策略的核心部分是與經紀人、註冊會計師和銀行等通路合作夥伴建立長期關係，僅舉幾例。我們一半以上的新業務來自通路合作夥伴的推薦。

Following the acquisitions, we introduced the Paychex Partner Plus program to brokers to foster relationships and drive mutual growth. Together, we now have a broader suite of solutions to offer brokers, which can supplement their offerings to clients and the Partner Plus program provides a structured framework designed to safeguard mutual clients from competing products.

收購之後，我們向經紀人推出了 Paychex Partner Plus 計劃，以促進關係並推動共同成長。總而言之，我們現在可以為經紀商提供更廣泛的解決方案，以補充他們為客戶提供的服務，而 Partner Plus 計劃則提供了一個結構化框架，旨在保護共同客戶免受競爭產品的侵害。

To date, over 1,000 brokers are enrolled in a program, and we are hearing positive feedback, which we believe indicates a strong foundation for retaining and expanding this important referral channel. The share of Paycor field bookings referred by brokers increased this past fiscal year. We are also actively gathering feedback from brokers, CPAs and banks to enhance our loyalty programs, designed to ensure we maintain the strongest partner program in the HCM industry.

到目前為止，已有 1,000 多名經紀人加入了該計劃，我們聽到了積極的反饋，我們相信這表明保留和擴展這一重要推薦管道的堅實基礎。上個財政年度，由經紀人推薦的 Paycor 現場預訂份額增加。我們也積極收集經紀人、註冊會計師和銀行的回饋，以加強我們的忠誠度計劃，旨在確保我們在 HCM 行業中保持最強大的合作夥伴計劃。

We also recently launched Paychex Partner Pro platform, a new portal designed to provide accountants quick access to critical data, reporting and insights for their clients using Paychex Flex. This innovative platform transforms how CPAs manage their portfolios by providing a centralized hub for accessing client payrolls and HR data, resolving issues and identifying missing information.

我們最近也推出了 Paychex Partner Pro 平台，這是一個新門戶，旨在讓會計師使用 Paychex Flex 快速存取客戶的關鍵數據、報告和見解。這個創新平台透過提供一個集中的中心來存取客戶薪資和人力資源數據、解決問題和識別缺失訊息，從而改變了註冊會計師管理其投資組合的方式。

This is empowering them to really operate with greater efficiency and proactively serve their clients. Our PEO business continues to also perform well, achieving solid worksite employee growth this quarter. Similar to what we shared with you last quarter, while the PEO business remains strong and participant levels in our health plans across the country continue to increase, enrollment in our Florida at-risk medical plan did decrease year-over-year.

這使他們能夠真正以更高的效率運作並主動為客戶服務。我們的 PEO 業務持續表現良好，本季實現了穩健的工作現場員工成長。與我們上個季度與您分享的情況類似，雖然 PEO 業務依然強勁，並且我們在全國各地的健康計劃的參與者水平持續上升，但我們佛羅裡達州高風險醫療計劃的註冊人數同比有所下降。

We also continue to see a trend among employees opting for lower-cost health plans to offset the rising health care costs. While these factors continue to pose a pass-through revenue headwind, they do not impact our earnings or our PEO value proposition. One of the benefits of the PEO model is that it empowers small businesses to truly punch above their weight and offer benefits comparable to those of Fortune 500 companies.

我們也繼續看到員工選擇低成本健康計劃來抵消不斷上漲的醫療成本的趨勢。雖然這些因素繼續對轉嫁收入造成阻力，但它們並不影響我們的收益或 PEO 價值主張。PEO 模式的優勢之一是，它能夠幫助小型企業真正超越自身實力，提供與財富 500 強企業相當的福利。

This enables them to attract and retain top talent in today's still very competitive labor market. We remain bullish on the PEO space given our scale and capability in this segment and just how greenfield the opportunity remains, both inside and outside of our client base.

這使他們能夠在當今競爭仍然非常激烈的勞動力市場中吸引和留住頂尖人才。鑑於我們在該領域的規模和能力，以及在我們的客戶群內部和外部仍存在多少新的機遇，我們仍然看好 PEO 領域。

Now turning to the macro environment. We are observing a mix of both optimism and uncertainty within the market and our client base. Many businesses are frozen as they wait for more clarity about a number of macro issues such as tariffs, inflations and taxes. The hard data continues to indicate that small businesses remain fundamentally healthy despite the headlines.

現在轉向宏觀環境。我們觀察到市場和客戶群中既有樂觀情緒，也有不確定性情緒。許多企業處於停滯狀態，等待關稅、通貨膨脹和稅收等一系列宏觀問題的進一步明朗化。硬數據繼續表明，儘管有各種負面新聞，但小型企業的基本面仍然保持健康。

Our small business employment watch revealed stable employment levels with moderation in hourly wage inflation in the recent months. Our data does not currently show any signs of recession. We also see our interactions in the market that the uncertainty is prompting businesses to exercise caution when making decisions and being cautious about how much they are spending on products and services.

我們的小型企業就業觀察顯示，近幾個月來就業水準穩定，時薪漲幅有所緩和。我們的數據目前沒有顯示出任何衰退的跡象。我們在市場互動中也發現，不確定性促使企業在決策時要謹慎，並謹慎考慮在產品和服務上的支出。

We have also seen an increase in bankruptcies and financial distress in the micro end of the market and in our client base in the fourth quarter. Many businesses, I think, on the edge of failure may have decided not to fight that new headwinds they see in front of them. We also saw losses due to increases in business combinations and mergers increase more than typical.

我們也發現第四季微型市場和客戶群的破產和財務困境有所增加。我認為，許多瀕臨失敗的企業可能決定不去應對他們面前的新阻力。我們也發現，由於企業合併和合併增加，損失的增幅超過了正常水準。

Both are signs of businesses making strategic decisions based upon their view of the current and future environment. We will continue to monitor the hard data and trends in the market and take the appropriate steps to position Paychex to win in any market conditions. We will also continue to take the actions needed to protect our long-standing track record of financial strength even in challenging times.

兩者都表明企業根據對當前和未來環境的看法做出戰略決策。我們將繼續監測市場中的硬數據和趨勢，並採取適當的措施，使 Paychex 在任何市場條件下都能獲勝。即使在充滿挑戰的時期，我們也將繼續採取必要措施來保護我們長期以來的財務實力記錄。

I am proud of what the entire team at Paychex and Paycor have accomplished together. I would like to thank our dedicated employees for their hard work and contribution in achieving these many successes. They have accomplished a lot in a very short period of time.

我為 Paychex 和 Paycor 整個團隊共同取得的成就感到自豪。我要感謝我們敬業的員工，感謝他們的辛勤工作和貢獻，取得了這麼多的成功。他們在很短的時間內就取得了許多成就。

There has been a lot of change internally and externally to navigate, and they have shown their dedication and real resiliency to deliver for our clients and for Paychex, and I am internally grateful for that. We are truly better and stronger together as One Paychex, and we believe we are better positioned than ever before to deliver on the future of HCM and help businesses succeed.

內部和外部都發生了很多變化，他們表現出奉獻精神和真正的韌性，為我們的客戶和 Paychex 提供服務，我內心對此心存感激。作為 One Paychex，我們確實變得更好、更強大，我們相信，我們比以往任何時候都更有能力實現 HCM 的未來並幫助企業取得成功。

I'll now turn it over to Bob to provide an update on our financial results and our outlook. Bob?

現在我將把時間交給鮑勃，讓他提供有關我們的財務表現和前景的最新資訊。鮑伯？

Yes. Thank you, John. I'll start with a summary of our fourth quarter and full year financial results, and then I'll share our outlook for fiscal '26. Starting with Q4. Total revenue for the quarter increased 10% to $1.4 billion. Excluding Paycor, total revenue increased 3%. Management Solutions revenue increased 12% to $1 billion for the quarter, driven primarily by the addition of Paycor as well as higher revenue per client from price realization and product penetration.

是的。謝謝你，約翰。我將首先總結我們的第四季和全年財務業績，然後分享我們對 26 財年的展望。從第四季開始。本季總營收成長 10%，達到 14 億美元。不包括 Paycor，總營收成長了 3%。本季管理解決方案營收成長 12%，達到 10 億美元，主要得益於 Paycor 的加入以及價格實現和產品滲透帶來的每位客戶收入增加。

Excluding Paycor, Management Solutions increased 3% in the quarter. PEO and Insurance Solutions revenue increased 4% to $340 million for the quarter, driven primarily by solid growth in the number of average PEO worksite employees. Outside of the at-risk plan headwinds that John discussed, PEO continues to perform well.

不包括 Paycor，管理解決方案本季成長了 3%。本季 PEO 和保險解決方案收入成長 4% 至 3.4 億美元，主要得益於 PEO 工作現場平均員工數量的穩定成長。除了約翰討論的風險計劃阻力之外，PEO 繼續表現良好。

Interest on funds held for clients increased 18% to $45 million for the quarter, primarily driven by the inclusion of Paycor balances. Excluding Paycor, interest on funds held for clients increased 3%. Total expenses for the quarter, excluding the acquisition of Paycor and the prior year cost optimization initiatives, increased 1%.

本季為客戶持有的資金利息增加了 18%，達到 4,500 萬美元，主要得益於 Paycor 餘額的納入。不包括 Paycor，為客戶持有的資金利息增加了 3%。本季總支出（不包括收購 Paycor 和去年的成本優化計劃）增加了 1%。

Operating income margins for the quarter were 30.2% and adjusted operating income margins for the quarter were 40.4%, an increase of approximately 20 basis points driven by increased productivity and cost discipline, offset by the Paycor acquisition. Excluding Paycor, adjusted operating income margins expanded by approximately 110 basis points. Diluted earnings per share decreased 22% to $0.82 per share and adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 6% to $1.19 in the fourth quarter.

本季營業收入利潤率為 30.2%，調整後營業收入利潤率為 40.4%，增長約 20 個基點，這得益於生產力提高和成本控制，但被 Paycor 收購所抵消。不包括 Paycor，調整後的營業收入利潤率擴大了約 110 個基點。第四季每股攤薄收益下降 22% 至每股 0.82 美元，調整後每股攤薄收益成長 6% 至 1.19 美元。

Now let me turn to our results for the full year fiscal 2025. Total revenue grew 6% to $5.6 billion; Management Solutions revenue increased 5% to $4.1 billion; PEO and Insurance Solutions increased 6% to $1.3 billion; and interest on funds held for clients increased 10% to $162 million. Total expenses for the year, excluding the acquisition of Paycor, increased 1%. Operating margins were 39.6%, and that's on a GAAP basis.

現在讓我來談談我們 2025 財年全年的業績。總營收成長 6%，達到 56 億美元；管理解決方案營收成長 5%，達到 41 億美元；PEO 和保險解決方案成長 6%，達到 13 億美元；為客戶持有的資金利息成長 10%，達到 1.62 億美元。不包括收購 Paycor 的費用，全年總支出增加了 1%。根據 GAAP 計算，營業利潤率為 39.6%。

Adjusted operating margins were 42.5%. As the best operators in the business, we are constantly seeking ways to enhance operational efficiency. In fiscal year 2025, we expanded adjusted operating income margins by approximately 250 basis points, excluding the impact of Paycor and the ERTC headwinds.

調整後的營業利益率為42.5%。作為業界最優秀的營運商，我們不斷尋求提高營運效率的方法。在 2025 財年，我們將調整後的營業收入利潤率擴大了約 250 個基點，不包括 Paycor 和 ERTC 不利因素的影響。

Diluted earnings per share decreased 2% to $4.58 a share and adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 6% to $4.98 a share. We continue to exceed the Rule of 50, demonstrating our ability to achieve consistent revenue growth with industry-leading profitability.

稀釋每股收益下降 2% 至每股 4.58 美元，調整後稀釋每股收益成長 6% 至每股 4.98 美元。我們繼續超越“50 規則”，證明我們有能力實現持續的收入成長和領先業界的獲利能力。

Now let me turn to our -- an overview of our financial position. Our financial position remains strong with cash, restricted cash and total corporate investments of $1.7 billion and total borrowings now of approximately $5 billion as of May 31, 2025. Cash flow from operations was $2 billion for the fiscal year, primarily driven by net income.

現在讓我來概述一下我們的財務狀況。我們的財務狀況仍然強勁，截至 2025 年 5 月 31 日，現金、受限現金和企業總投資為 17 億美元，總借款約 50 億美元。本財年的營運現金流為 20 億美元，主要由淨收入推動。

We returned over $1.5 billion to shareholders during the fiscal year in the form of cash dividends and share repurchases, and our annual return on equity remains robust at 42%. As we look ahead to our fiscal 2026 outlook, we assume the current fluid macro environment will persist. We believe we are better positioned than ever before to win in the digital- and AI-driven era of human capital management.

我們在本財年以現金股利和股票回購的形式向股東返還了超過 15 億美元，我們的年度股本回報率仍保持 42% 的強勁水平。展望 2026 財年，我們假設當前不穩定的宏觀環境將持續下去。我們相信，在數位化和人工智慧驅動的人力資本管理時代，我們比以往任何時候都更有能力獲勝。

Our solutions are mission-critical, and we have ample opportunity to continue driving sustainable growth and enhanced operational efficiency. Total revenue for fiscal '26 is expected to grow in the range of 16.5% to 18.5%. We expect the recent Paycor acquisition to contribute approximately 12 to 13 points of that growth.

我們的解決方案至關重要，我們有充足的機會繼續推動永續成長並提高營運效率。預計26財年總營收將成長16.5%至18.5%。我們預計最近的 Paycor 收購將為此成長貢獻約 12 至 13 個百分點。

As previously mentioned, we expect revenue synergies to build over the next several years. And in fiscal '26, we expect revenue synergies to contribute 30 to 50 basis points of that growth that I just gave you. Management Solutions is expected to grow in the range of 20% to 22%. PEO and Insurance Solutions is expected to grow in the range of 6% to 8%.

如前所述，我們預期未來幾年收入綜效將會增強。在 26 財年，我們預期收入綜效將為剛才提到的成長貢獻 30 到 50 個基點。管理解決方案預計將成長 20% 至 22%。PEO 和保險解決方案預計將成長 6% 至 8%。

And we would expect revenue to accelerate in the back half of the year for PEO and insurance as we begin to anniversary the at-risk revenue growth headwinds we experienced in the back half of this fiscal year. Interest on funds held for clients is expected to be in the range of $190 million to $200 million, which includes the benefit of approximately $1.1 billion of client fund balances from Paycor.

隨著我們開始回顧本財年下半年所經歷的風險收入成長逆風，我們預計 PEO 和保險的收入將在下半年加速成長。預計為客戶持有的資金利息將在 1.9 億美元至 2 億美元之間，其中包括來自 Paycor 的約 11 億美元客戶基金餘額收益。

These funds are now being managed by the Paychex team and are part of the Paychex portfolio. Adjusted operating income margin is expected to be approximately 43% and our effective income tax rate is expected to be in the range of 24% to 25% and adjusted diluted earnings per share for next year is expected to grow in the range of 8.5% to 10.5%.

這些資金目前由 Paychex 團隊管理，並且是 Paychex 投資組合的一部分。調整後的營業收入利潤率預計約為 43%，我們的有效所得稅率預計在 24% 至 25% 之間，明年調整後的稀釋每股收益預計將增長 8.5% 至 10.5% 之間。

Let me turn to the first quarter. We would anticipate total revenue growth in the first quarter to be between 16% and 17% and adjusted operating income margin to be between 40% and 41%. And of course, all that is based on our current assumptions, which are subject to change.

讓我轉到第一季。我們預計第一季總營收成長率在 16% 至 17% 之間，調整後的營業收入利潤率在 40% 至 41% 之間。當然，所有這些都基於我們當前的假設，這些假設可能會改變。

And with that, I'll now turn the call back over to John.

說完這些，我現在將電話轉回給約翰。

Thank you, Bob. We will now open the call for questions.

謝謝你，鮑伯。我們現在開始提問。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）

Mark Marcon, Baird.

馬克馬孔，貝爾德。

Hey, good morning, John and Bob. I'm wondering, can you talk a little bit more about some of the distractions just in terms of putting together the sales forces, how long you actually ended up taking them out of the field and in production and how that ended up impacting the fourth quarter? That's the first question.

嘿，早上好，約翰和鮑伯。我想知道，您能否再多談一下在組建銷售隊伍方面的一些幹擾，您實際上花了多長時間才將他們從現場帶到生產部門，以及這最終對第四季度產生了什麼影響？這是第一個問題。

And then how much do you expect that to spill over into the first quarter? You're guiding to potentially a lower top end of the range than your full year guidance. So I'm wondering if there's some residual effects from that. And then can you talk a little bit about the areas that you're really excited about with regards to the revenue synergies and the cross-sales? You mentioned the initial success on the ASO, but obviously, that's really early.

那麼，您預計這會對第一季產生多大影響？您給出的最高指導值可能低於全年指導值。所以我想知道這是否會產生一些殘留影響。然後，您能否談談在收入協同效應和交叉銷售方面您真正感興趣的領域？您提到了 ASO 的初步成功，但顯然，這還為時過早。

How do you think that's going to build over the course of the year beyond the comments about the 30 to 50 bps, but just like where it's happening and what you think it's going to end up doing from a longer-term perspective?

除了關於 30 至 50 個基點的評論之外，您認為今年這一情況將如何發展，但就像它在哪裡發生以及您認為從長期角度來看它最終會產生什麼結果一樣？

Thank you.

謝謝。

Yes, Mark, thanks for the question. Yes, I would say relative to the sales transformation that we did and go-to-market changes that we made, as you know, we started planning how we were going to approach this when we announced the deal back in January and have done a lot of work and did a lot of work in preparation and waiting for the close.

是的，馬克，謝謝你的提問。是的，我想說，相對於我們所做的銷售轉型和我們所做的市場變革，正如你所知，我們在一月份宣布這筆交易時就開始計劃如何處理這個問題，並且做了很多準備工作並等待交易完成。

All of the changes that we wanted to make, we made in the fourth quarter. And we made a strategic decision that given the distractions that were already out there with Liberation Day and everything else in the marketplace, that now was the time to go ahead and move as quickly as we could to get everything done.

我們想要做的所有改變都在第四季完成了。我們做出了一項戰略決策，考慮到解放日和市場上的其他一切幹擾，現在是時候繼續前進並儘快完成所有工作了。

We certainly could have done it at a different pace that would have dragged it potentially into the first quarter of this fiscal year, but we made an election to get all of it out of the way. So we've made all of the changes, the teams are in place. They're in their new territories. We've completed all the training.

我們當然可以以不同的速度來完成它，這可能會把它拖到本財年的第一季度，但我們做出了選擇，把這一切都解決了。我們已經做出了所有改變，團隊也已經到位。他們已經到達了他們的新領地。我們已經完成了全部訓練。

We had our kick-off of the first week of June, and they're in the field actively selling the broad set of products and the services that we have. I think that probably what I'm most excited about is the early acceptance and the willingness of the Paycor client base to sit down and have conversations with us about the opportunities.

我們的活動於六月第一週啟動，他們在現場積極銷售我們廣泛的產品和服務。我認為最讓我興奮的是 Paycor 客戶群的早期接受度以及他們願意坐下來與我們討論這些機會。

And a week after the actual announcement of the sale before we had actually began the go-to-market, we got our first PEO referral. We had went down. They had, had a client -- planned client symposium down in Orlando because of the date of the closing, was able to go down in the following week and picked up our first competitive deal, actually, a takeaway from a competitor, a client that was in California.

在我們真正開始進入市場之前，在實際宣佈出售消息一周後，我們獲得了第一個 PEO 推薦。我們已經下去了。他們有一個客戶——由於成交日期的關係，他們計劃在奧蘭多舉行客戶研討會，並能夠在接下來的一周前往那裡並獲得我們的第一筆有競爭力的交易，實際上是從競爭對手，加州的客戶那裡獲得的。

And then after we launched the ASO within a week, we had a 900-employee client sign up for our ASO, our base ASO product to help them support their growth plans. And what I'm most excited, that client is already committed to actually upgrade into our HR Pro package in August because of the support we've given them.

然後，在我們推出 ASO 一周內，就有一位擁有 900 名員工的客戶註冊了我們的 ASO，這是我們的基礎 ASO 產品，可以幫助他們支持他們的成長計劃。最讓我興奮的是，由於我們給予的支持，該客戶已經承諾在 8 月升級到我們的 HR Pro 套餐。

So excited there. I also think there's a lot of opportunity from a technology perspective that we continue to discover. And so like I said, I feel like we're in good shape, and we're well positioned going into this fiscal year.

太興奮了。我也認為，從技術角度來看，我們還在不斷發現很多機會。所以就像我說的，我覺得我們狀況良好，我們已經為進入本財年做好了準備。

Mark, can I just add a couple of comments to that? Just on the spillover, I think, as John mentioned, I think we made a strategic decision to get a lot of that disruption behind us. So we would not expect there to be a lot of spillover in Q1 as it relates to kind of the comment on Q1 being a little bit lower than the full year guide.

馬克，我可以對此補充幾點評論嗎？就外溢效應而言，我認為，正如約翰所提到的，我們做出了一個策略決策，以消除許多幹擾。因此，我們預計第一季不會出現太多溢出效應，因為這與第一季略低於全年指引的評論有關。

A lot of that is going to be -- there's two things driving that. One is going to be on the PEO and insurance side. We would expect the growth in PEO and insurance to be better in the back half than the front half as we anniversary some of those MPP headwinds. And then just as it relates to the disruption in Q4, I would say, yes, there was some disruption there. I don't think that weighed heavily on the financial results that we just released.

其中很大一部分是──有兩件事推動著這項進程。其中一個是 PEO 和保險方面。隨著我們回顧一些 MPP 逆風，我們預計下半年 PEO 和保險的成長將好於上半年。然後，正如它與第四季度的中斷有關一樣，我想說，是的，那裡確實存在一些中斷。我認為這不會對我們剛剛發布的財務業績造成太大影響。

Obviously, the numbers were a bit lower than consensus. And I'd tell you, as John and I sat here last quarter and gave the Q4 guide of 10% to 12%, we had a high degree of confidence that we were going to be closing the Paycor deal probably within the next week. And when we got into the next week, we did not anticipate that the investment-grade bond market would essentially be shut down as a result of Liberation Day.

顯然，這些數字略低於普遍預期。我想告訴你，當約翰和我上個季度坐在這裡並給出第四季度 10% 到 12% 的指導時，我們非常有信心我們將在下週內完成 Paycor 交易。當我們進入下週時，我們沒有預料到投資等級債券市場會因為解放日而基本關閉。

And so we ended up closing on the deal. We had a very successful bond offering. But that whole process pushed out, I'd say, a little over a week later than what we had anticipated. And had we closed the deal when we thought we were going to when we provided the guide, we would have been right in the midpoint of that 10% to 12% range.

最終我們完成了這筆交易。我們的債券發行非常成功。但我想說，整個過程比我們預期的晚了一周多一點。如果我們在提供指南時按照預期完成交易，我們的利潤率就會處於 10% 到 12% 的中間值。

So I just wanted to add that additional color to your question.

所以我只是想為你的問題添加額外的色彩。

That's very helpful. Thank you so much.

這非常有幫助。太感謝了。

Bryan Bergin, TD Cowen.

布萊恩·伯金 (Bryan Bergin)，TD Cowen。

Hi guys, good morning. Thank you. I just want to follow up here, maybe a little bit on the last point you made, Bob, on a 4Q growth bridge from 3Q and maybe the factors going forward. So as we look at the 3% or so organic Management Solutions growth in 4Q, can you just help bridge some of that deceleration from that 4.8%, I believe, in 3Q?

大家好，早安。謝謝。鮑勃，我只是想在這裡跟進一下你提出的最後一點，關於第四季度與第三季度的成長橋樑，以及未來的因素。因此，當我們看一下第四季度 3% 左右的有機管理解決方案成長時，您能否幫助彌補第三季 4.8% 的成長放緩？

Just talk about some of the changes, whether it's underlying demand, checks, retention, pricing. Obviously, you talked about the sales dynamics there, and that sounds transitory, but just trying to think about as we go forward here, what's kind of transitory versus lasting within Management Solutions?

只談論一些變化，無論是潛在需求、檢查、保留還是定價。顯然，您談到了那裡的銷售動態，這聽起來是暫時的，但只是想讓我們思考一下，隨著我們繼續前進，管理解決方案中的暫時性和持久性是什麼？

Yes. So a few things. Maybe I'll talk a little bit about Q4 -- Q3 to Q4 and then just looking at that Q4 rate alone. Certainly, I would say checks were a bit softer in Q4. We expected that. I would say they did come in a little bit softer in Q4 than what we expected. We've done some work around that. A lot of that looks to be more of a mix issue, maybe a little bit smaller client size. You continue to have the MPP enrollment headwind in Q4, that was a bit more than it was in Q3.

是的。有幾件事。也許我會稍微談論一下第四季——從第三季到第四季度，然後只看一下第四季的利率。當然，我想說第四季的支票額度會稍微低一點。我們預料到了這一點。我想說的是，第四季的表現確實比我們預期的要弱一些。我們已經針對此做了一些工作。其中很多看起來更像是混合問題，可能客戶規模有點小。第四季 MPP 入學逆風持續存在，比第三季稍微嚴重一些。

On the retirement asset side, we've talked a lot about the strength of our retirement business this year. It's been a mid-teen grower. And I would tell you, we're still a strong grower in Q4, certainly close to double digits, but it wasn't growing at the same rate it did in the first three quarters because of where the market was. I mean the S&P was down about 6% on average in Q4 versus Q3, so we didn't have as much growth there. And so those are probably some of the bigger ones.

在退休資產方面，我們已經多次談論了我們今年退休業務的實力。它已經長到十幾歲了。我想告訴你，我們在第四季仍然保持強勁成長，增幅接近兩位數，但由於市場狀況，成長速度不如前三個季度。我的意思是，標準普爾指數在第四季相對於第三季平均下跌了約 6%，所以我們的成長幅度沒有那麼大。所以這些可能是一些較大的問題。

And I talked to you guys before that we had a little bit stronger price realization in Q3 with some of our year-end processing. So that kind of bridges you from Q4 to Q3. When we take a step back and we look at the 3%, I think there's a couple of things that we need to kind of adjust for. One, Q4 was a tougher compare. When we look at kind of the timing of our annual price increase, that moves around. It's not the exact same time every year. It moves from different months.

我之前和你們說過，透過一些年終處理，我們在第三季實現了更強勁的價格。因此，這就為你從 Q4 過渡到了 Q3。當我們退一步看看 3% 時，我認為有幾件事我們需要進行調整。首先，第四季的比較更為艱難。當我們觀察每年價格上漲的時間時，它會改變。每年的時間並不完全相同。它從不同的月份開始移動。

And if we went back and looked at last year, we actually picked up, I would say, a little bit of extra based on the timing of the price increase last year relative to where it was the year before. This year was an apples-to-apples comparison, so the price increase timing this year is the same as last year. So we didn't get that benefit. It ends up being a headwind and then we have the MPP enrollment.

如果我們回顧去年的情況，我們會發現，與前年相比，我們實際上獲得了一些額外的收益，這是基於去年價格上漲的時間安排。今年是同類比較，因此今年的漲價時機與去年相同。所以我們沒有得到那種好處。它最終成為一種逆風，然後我們就有了 MPP 的註冊。

And so when you adjust those things in Q4, you basically get a Q4 exit rate that is right spot in the range of what was implied in the guidance that I just provided on a full year basis for the organic business. So we feel comfortable about the guide. And when you adjust for Q4, that exit rate is in line with what we're expecting from an organic standpoint next year.

因此，當您在第四季度調整這些因素時，您基本上會得到一個第四季度的退出率，該退出率正好處於我剛剛為全年有機業務提供的指導中所暗示的範圍內。因此我們對該指南感到很放心。當你根據第四季進行調整時，該退出率與我們明年從有機角度所預期的一致。

Okay. That's helpful. And then as we think about kind of 2026 and beyond and your client, your go-to-market focus, can you comment on plans as it relates to trying to reaccelerate organic net client growth versus kind of cross-selling emphasis now in the base of clients you've acquired?

好的。這很有幫助。然後，當我們考慮 2026 年及以後以及您的客戶、您的市場重點時，您能否評論一下與嘗試重新加速有機淨客戶增長相關的計劃，而不是現在在您已獲得的客戶群中強調交叉銷售？

You mentioned strong client retention year-over-year. But when we just do some of the math on the client count year-over-year and make some assumptions on the Paycor component, just curious how you're thinking about reaccelerating organic Paychex client growth.

您提到客戶保留率逐年提高。但是，當我們對客戶數量進行逐年統計並對 Paycor 組件做出一些假設時，我只是好奇您是如何考慮重新加速 Paychex 客戶的有機增長的。

Yes, Brian. I don't -- I think that we're going to continue to focus on our growth formula as a company, which includes 1% to 3% organic client growth across the combined businesses. We're going to continue to focus on driving product penetration. We think that's continued -- a big opportunity. And I think that will be a bigger part of the opportunity as we go forward and look at our midterm guidance where we see a lot of opportunity.

是的，布萊恩。我不這麼認為——我認為我們將繼續專注於我們作為一家公司的成長模式，其中包括合併後業務中 1% 至 3% 的有機客戶成長。我們將繼續致力於推動產品滲透。我們認為這是一個持續的巨大機會。我認為，隨著我們繼續前進並回顧我們的中期指導，這將是更大的機遇，我們看到了很多機會。

And we're going to continue to exercise the pricing strength that we have, the value, the ability for us to pass value on to our customers as well. Those have been kind of the key components of our growth strategy. I don't think anything has really changed there.

我們將繼續發揮我們擁有的定價優勢、價值以及將價值傳遞給客戶的能力。這些是我們成長策略的關鍵組成部分。我認為那裡並沒有什麼真正改變。

I would say that, and I've said it multiple times, we're going to continue to be disciplined about growth. That client number can be whatever you want it to be if you're willing to spend more than the lifetime value of the customer to acquire the customer. And we're not going to go crazy with promotions.

我想說的是，而且我已經說過多次了，我們將繼續嚴格控製成長。如果您願意花費超過客戶終身價值的金額來獲取客戶，那麼客戶數量可以是任意的。我們不會瘋狂地進行促銷。

We're not going to give away toasters and other gadgets to try to accelerate a number that you're going to add a client that you have to service and take care of and you're never going to make profit on it. So we continue to look at that in the marketplace.

我們不會免費提供烤麵包機和其他小工具來試圖加速增加客戶數量，因為您必須服務和照顧這些客戶，而且您永遠不會從中獲利。因此，我們會繼續關注市場情況。

We're going to continue to be aggressive in driving client growth, but we're going to continue to also be Paychex, which we're looking for profitable growth in areas where we can add value to our customers over the long term, have a long-term relationship. So I hope that helps.

我們將繼續積極推動客戶成長，但我們也將繼續作為 Paychex，我們尋求在能夠長期為客戶增加價值的領域實現獲利成長，並建立長期合作關係。我希望這會有所幫助。

I think look, it's -- the demand is out there. We feel good about where we're positioned. I think the way we've positioned the go-to market is going to give us a competitive advantage across each of the segments now that we're now focused on.

我認為，需求就在那裡。我們對自己所處的位置感到滿意。我認為，我們對目標市場的定位將使我們在目前關注的每個細分市場中獲得競爭優勢。

When I look at the investments that we're making, one of the things that's probably not really here is not only have we committed to exceeding the cost synergies that we discussed before, but we've actually identified other opportunities, particularly in back-office efficiencies that we have over what Paycor had that we think we can take, but we're also going to continue to invest. So some of the things we did in the quarter.

當我審視我們正在進行的投資時，我發現我們不僅致力於超越之前討論過的成本協同效應，而且我們實際上還發現了其他機會，特別是在後台效率方面，我們比 Paycor 擁有更高的效率，我們認為我們可以利用這些機會，但我們也將繼續投資。這是我們在本季做的一些事情。

We've made a decision we're fully investing in the Paycor road map. We're fully investing in the Flex road map this year. We're going to actually invest more in the SurePayroll platform. You'll be hearing more about that as the year. So we've looked at opportunities when we put the investments together.

我們決定全力投資 Paycor 路線圖。我們今年將全力投資 Flex 路線圖。我們實際上將在 SurePayroll 平台上投入更多資金。隨著時間的推移，您將聽到更多有關此內容的消息。因此，我們在進行投資時會尋找機會。

We're investing and accelerating some investments in the Paycor embedded product, which we think has a lot of opportunities in our partner network as well. So embedded in this is some additional investments that we'll be capitalizing on in '26 as well. So it just gives you a little more color on how we're thinking about '26.

我們正在對 Paycor 嵌入式產品進行投資並加速一些投資，我們認為該產品在我們的合作夥伴網路中也有很多機會。因此，這其中還包含一些額外的投資，我們也將在 26 年利用這些投資。所以這只是讓你更了解我們對 26 年的看法。

All right, very clear. Thank you very much.

好的，很清楚。非常感謝。

Samad Samana, Jefferies.

薩瑪德·薩馬納（Samad Samana），傑富瑞集團。

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Maybe the first one, just on Paycor and some of the assumptions and admittedly, I'm doing some back-of-the-envelope math on the fly here. But the 12% to 13% contribution for fiscal '26 implies kind of around $700 million at the midpoint for Management Solutions contribution.

嗨，早安。感謝您回答我的問題。也許是第一個，只是關於 Paycor 和一些假設，不可否認，我在這裡即時做了一些粗略的數學計算。但 26 財年的 12% 至 13% 的貢獻意味著管理解決方案貢獻的中點約為 7 億美元。

And then if I think about what Paycor was on track to do in terms of recurring revenue when it was still public, let's call it, a shade under $700 million. So it's not implying a lot of growth for Paycor in fiscal '26. And I'm trying to understand, are you assuming -- is that conservatism? Is there some assumption around churn? And again, I understand I'm doing the numbers on the fly but just help us reconcile what Paycor was growing versus what you're assuming for Paycor's growth.

然後，如果我考慮一下 Paycor 在上市時在經常性收入方面的預期，我們稱之為略低於 7 億美元。因此，這並不意味著 Paycor 在 26 財年會大幅成長。我想了解的是，您是否認為──這是保守主義？關於客戶流失是否存在一些假設？再說一次，我知道我正在即時計算數字，但請幫助我們協調 Paycor 的實際成長以及您對 Paycor 成長的假設。

Yes. I mean we're still assuming that Paychex is going to -- or Paycor is going to be a strong double-digit grower business. I mean certainly, there's an element of conservatism, I would say, overall, in the guide, Samad. We're in the beginning of the year, and we want to make sure that we can put forward guidance that we're going to be able to come out and deliver.

是的。我的意思是，我們仍然假設 Paychex 或 Paycor 將成為一家強勁的兩位數成長企業。我的意思是，我認為，總體而言，薩馬德的指南中確實存在著保守主義的元素。今年是新年伊始，我們希望確保能夠提出並且能兌現的指導。

So there's certainly some conservatism over there, but we would expect -- I don't have the exact math in front of me, but certainly, Paycor would be a double-digit grower next year in this plan.

因此，那裡肯定存在一些保守主義，但我們預計——我沒有確切的數學計算，但可以肯定的是，按照這個計劃，Paycor 明年將實現兩位數的增長。

Understood. And then as I think about the integration of the sales teams, any insights you can provide on maybe what percentage of Paycor's sales and marketing organization you guys were able to retain versus are you thinking more about hiring on that side?

明白了。然後，當我考慮銷售團隊的整合時，您能否提供一些見解，例如您能夠保留 Paycor 銷售和行銷組織的多少百分比，或者您是否更多地考慮在這方面進行招聘？

Or just help us understand how you're thinking about what those changes now look like between the two organizations? And maybe where there is some pruning and where there will be additions going forward?

或只是幫助我們了解您如何看待這兩個組織之間現在發生的變化？也許有些地方需要修剪，而有些地方則需要添加？

Yes. So let me take that. And again, I'll step back. We stepped back and looked jointly across the entire go-to-market from a sales and market perspective. We had segmentation already built into our go-to-market strategy, salespeople that we're focused in different segments as did Paycor.

是的。所以讓我來接受這一點。再次，我將退後一步。我們退一步，從銷售和市場的角度共同檢視整個上市過程。我們的行銷策略中已經融入了細分，我們像 Paycor 一樣，將銷售人員的注意力集中在不同的細分市場中。

And what we wanted to do is we wanted to build the best team in the industry, and we want to support that team with the best tools and the best marketing support. So in the quarter, this is what's important. And as Bob said, it was delayed. So there was a lot of conversation about how much could we get done in a short period of time.

我們想要做的是打造業內最好的團隊，並希望用最好的工具和最好的行銷支援來支持這個團隊。因此在本季度，這才是最重要的。正如鮑勃所說，它被推遲了。因此，我們討論了很多關於我們能在短時間內完成多少工作的問題。

We combined both marketing organizations and built a world-class marketing organization HCM, combined Paycor and Paycom. We then -- and Paycor. We put together each one of our market teams, relooked at the territories to make sure we were maximizing where we thought territories where we could have the greatest opportunity going to '26. And we took the best of Paychex and the best of Paycor and put them together.

我們將兩個行銷組織合併起來，建立了一個世界級的行銷組織 HCM，合併了 Paycor 和 Paycom。然後我們——還有 Paycor。我們組建了各個市場團隊，重新審視了各個市場區域，以確保我們能夠最大限度地發揮我們認為在 26 年能夠擁有最大機會的市場區域的優勢。我們將 Paychex 和 Paycor 的優點結合在一起。

At the same time, we increased the head count in sales. So we're fully staffed, and we intend to continue to invest in sales. As we talked about as part of the thesis here, we anticipate growing the sales force at a rate that's higher than historically Paychex has. So in the course of a very short period of time, about six weeks, we had all the plans put in place.

同時，我們增加了銷售人員的數量。因此，我們的人員配備齊全，我們打算繼續投資銷售。正如我們在本文的論文中提到的那樣，我們預計銷售隊伍的成長速度將高於 Paychex 的歷史水準。因此，在很短的時間內（大約六週），我們就制定了所有計劃。

We went through the change management, went through the training. So we now have segmented sales teams in new territories with new marketing support ready to go. So quite a bit has been accomplished in a short period of time.

我們經歷了變革管理，經歷了訓練。因此，我們現在在新的地區設立了銷售團隊，並準備好提供新的行銷支援。因此，在短時間內我們已經取得了相當多的成就。

Understood. Thank you so much for taking my questions. I appreciate it.

明白了。非常感謝您回答我的問題。我很感激。

Tien-Tsin Huang, JP Morgan.

黃天進，摩根大通。

Hey, thanks. It's nice to talk to you guys. Just want to clarify the impact of the sales disruption and then the comments on the higher bankruptcy and the mergers on the very low end. It sounded like those relatively small and perhaps you would have hit the high end of your guide if it wasn't for the delay in closing of Paycor. I just wanted to make sure I caught all of that.

嘿，謝謝。很高興和你們交談。只是想澄清銷售中斷的影響，然後對更高破產和最低端合併的評論。聽起來這些數字相對較小，如果不是因為 Paycor 關閉延遲，也許你會達到指南的高端。我只是想確保我掌握了所有這些。

I think you got it about right. And what I would say relative to the bankruptcies and kind of financial distress type of losses, I would not call those. Again, it's very micro end of it. When we lapped the selling season, we improved retention, client retention year-over-year. So we had a good year of retention.

我認為你的理解基本上已經正確。而我想說的是，相對於破產和財務困境類型的損失，我不會稱之為損失。再次強調，這是非常微觀的。當我們度過銷售旺季時，我們的保留率、客戶保留率比去年同期有所提高。因此，我們度過了保留率很好的一年。

We probably would have been talking about much, much stronger numbers if we hadn't seen what we saw in the fourth quarter. I would also say it's not unusual. And what I say by that, when you have some sort of external shock event, you go back to the financial crisis, you go back to other models that we would look like.

如果我們沒有看到第四季度的情況，我們可能會談論更強勁的數據。我也想說這並不罕見。我的意思是，當遇到某種外在衝擊事件時，你會回到金融危機，回到我們所看到的其他模型。

When something externally shocks the system, people that were on the edge of saying, do I want to stick it out, sometimes throw in the towel. That's just my view of what you see because it's interesting when you see these types of external shocks where there's a high degree of uncertainty and the outlook in the future, you see an acceleration or pull forward. You also saw that in general bankruptcies.

當外在因素對系統造成衝擊時，那些原本想說「我還要堅持下去嗎」的人有時會放棄。這只是我對您所看到的情況的看法，因為有趣的是，當您看到這些類型的外部衝擊時，存在高度的不確定性和未來的前景，您會看到加速或向前拉動。您也會在普遍的破產中看到這種情況。

I think if you go back and look at what happened in the fourth quarter, those were up as well through all the government reports as well. But again, very micro and not significant impact to revenue because it's on the lower end of the -- of our client base. And then as I said, even with that slight acceleration in the fourth quarter, we still ended with better retention than we had the year prior, which was very strong, as you know.

我認為，如果你回顧一下第四季發生的事情，你會發現所有政府報告的數據也都出現了上漲。但同樣，這對收入的影響非常微小，並不顯著，因為它處於我們客戶群的低端。正如我所說，即使第四季略有加速，我們的保留率仍然比去年同期更高，正如你所知，這是非常強勁的。

Yes, for sure. That makes sense. That's good color, John. Just on the -- just quickly then, just now that you've owned the asset and the cost synergies that you're talking about here, where was that last little bit of cost synergy coming from? I'm just curious if we're trying to collect a list of things that you've talked about in the past. What's been the final piece of the synergies? Where is that coming from?

是的，當然。這很有道理。約翰，顏色真好看。那麼，剛才您已經擁有了資產和您在這裡談論的成本協同效應，那麼最後一點成本協同效應是從哪裡來的呢？我只是好奇我們是否想收集一份您過去談論過的事情的清單。綜效的最終成果是什麼？這是從哪裡來的？

Yes, Tien-Tsin, I wouldn't say there's anything specific to call out. Obviously, when we started looking at it, we were conservative. We knew the areas that we were going after. I would say that those areas are the same. We were just able to capture some of that sooner than what we expected, and it's really just kind of the math that gives you a bigger number than what we originally thought it was going to be.

是的，Tien-Tsin，我不會說有什麼特別需要指出的。顯然，當我們開始研究這個問題時，我們是保守的。我們知道我們要去的領域。我想說這些領域是相同的。我們只是能夠比預期更快地捕獲其中的一些數據，這實際上只是一種數學運算，它給出了一個比我們最初想像的更大的數字。

And then I would say, as John mentioned in the prepared remarks, we've identified a number of other areas that we're still looking at kicking the tires on, and we think there's additional opportunities as we move forward. We'll update you guys as we move through the year. We're hoping to beat that target, but at the same time, we're going to look to potentially balance that with reinvestment in the business.

然後我想說，正如約翰在準備好的發言中提到的那樣，我們已經確定了一些其他領域，我們仍在研究這些領域，我們認為隨著我們前進，還會有更多的機會。隨著時間的流逝，我們會向大家通報最新情況。我們希望超越這一目標，但同時，我們也將尋求透過對業務的再投資來實現平衡。

As we've talked about, this is a growth story for us. We didn't do this deal for the cost synergies. We did this to provide an enhanced runway for the -- of growth for the company as we move forward, and we think that we've done that. And so we're going to balance that additional cost synergies with investments as we move forward.

正如我們所討論的，這對我們來說是一個成長故事。我們做這筆交易並不是為了成本綜效。我們這樣做是為了為公司未來的發展提供更好的發展平台，我們認為我們已經做到了這一點。因此，我們將在未來的過程中平衡額外的成本協同效應和投資。

Okay, thank you so much.

好的，非常感謝。

James Faucette, Morgan Stanley.

摩根士丹利的詹姆斯·福塞特。

Great, thank you so much. I appreciate all the comments this morning. I want to go quickly to your capital allocation plans. And now that you've got the deal closed with Paycor, how should we think about mix between return to investors via incremental buybacks versus reduction in debt leverage, et cetera, and just how you're prioritizing that right now?

太好了，非常感謝。我感謝今天上午的所有評論。我想快速了解一下你的資本配置計畫。現在您已經與 Paycor 達成了交易，我們應該如何考慮透過增量回購向投資者提供回報與降低債務槓桿等方式的組合，您現在如何優先考慮這些方式？

Yes. I would say no significant changes in our capital allocation strategy. I think we've been pretty transparent on that. Certainly, we feel like we're well positioned to continue to maintain our dividend policy. Certainly, our number one focus is investing into the business.

是的。我想說我們的資本配置策略沒有重大改變。我認為我們對此一直非常透明。當然，我們覺得我們有能力繼續維持我們的股利政策。當然，我們的首要重點是業務投資。

We're going to continue to do that. And to the extent that we have excess cash, our primary way to return that to shareholders is through dividend versus share buybacks. I see no change in our philosophy there. We do, do some share buybacks, and that's primarily just to offset dilution. And so I wouldn't say any significant change there.

我們將繼續這樣做。如果我們擁有過剩現金，我們將其返還給股東的主要方式是透過股利而不是股票回購。我認為我們的理念沒有改變。我們確實進行了一些股票回購，主要是為了抵消稀釋。所以我不會說那裡有任何重大變化。

We would expect to have the ability to -- it's certainly an area of focus for me. Not that this transaction creates a lot of leverage for the company, but we -- certainly more leveraged than what we've historically had. And so we'll certainly look to deleverage, and I think that will come fairly quickly, really coming from two main areas.

我們希望擁有這樣的能力──這當然是我關注的領域。並不是說這筆交易會為公司創造很多槓桿，但我們的槓桿率肯定比歷史上任何時候都要高。因此，我們肯定會尋求去槓桿，而且我認為這將很快實現，主要從兩個方面實現。

One, obviously, the incremental EBITDA that we're going to be able to generate from this transaction through the synergies. And then we do not have -- if you look at the balance sheet, you'll see there is a current portion of long-term debt.

首先，顯然，我們將能夠透過協同效應從這筆交易中產生增量 EBITDA。然後我們沒有——如果你看一下資產負債表，你會發現其中有一部分是長期債務。

We do have some of our long-term debt coming due within the next 12 months, and we would look to pay that down. So the combination of those two things over the next 12 months will deleverage the balance sheet.

我們確實有一些長期債務將在未來 12 個月內到期，我們希望償還這些債務。因此，未來 12 個月內這兩件事的結合將使資產負債表去槓桿化。

Great. And then I wanted to ask just back on the macro. I understand kind of how you're characterizing the increases in kind of micro businesses, bankruptcies and some strategic decision-making. Is that a trend that you've seen persist so far in the beginning of your fiscal year? And is that at all -- like it seems like it's small, but I just want to make sure if it is persisting, if it's impacting the way that you're formulating your outlook at all?

偉大的。然後我想問一下有關巨集的問題。我有點明白您是如何描述微型企業、破產和一些策略決策的成長的。您是否發現這種趨勢在財政年度開始時就持續存在？這真的嗎——雖然它看起來很小，但我只是想確定它是否會持續存在，是否會影響你形成觀點的方式？

No, I would say not at all. In fact, as we talked about in the third quarter, we were well ahead of our expectations in terms of both client and revenue retention. And as I said, I think when you went into the Liberation Day kind of happens. And if you look at that period of time, there's six to eight weeks after that, that's where we saw some of this activity that was going on.

不，我認為完全不是。事實上，正如我們在第三季所討論的那樣，我們在客戶和收入保留方面都遠遠超出了我們的預期。正如我所說的，我認為當你進入解放日時就會發生這樣的事情。如果你看一下那段時間，你會發現在那之後的六到八週內，我們就能看到一些正在發生的活動。

So again, we've seen this type of shock type of things before. Again, I'm speculating on some of the psychology of what's in a business owner's head. But again, you're talking about sole proprietary, you're talking the lower end of the market is kind of where we saw this issue.

所以，我們以前也見過這種令人震驚的事情。再次，我推測了企業主的一些心理想法。但是，您再次談論獨資經營，您談論的是低端市場，這正是我們看到的這個問題。

We did see some of the, what I would call, a combination, what I call business combinations, more in the upper end of the mid-market. And again, a lot of that just has to do with, I think, people when they're looking at the macro, looking for opportunities to scale and get larger to be able to be prepared for any future.

我們確實看到了一些我稱之為組合、我稱之為業務組合的現象，更多的出現在中端市場的高端。而且，我認為，這在很大程度上與人們從宏觀角度看待問題有關，他們尋找擴大規模和做大的機會，以便為未來做好準備。

But we're not -- you go back and look at the hard data in terms of our index. We continue to see moderate growth in small business hiring. I think, as Bob pointed out, we probably saw slower growth than we would have expected in the mid-market, but it wasn't astronomical.

但我們不是——你回頭看看我們指數的硬數據。我們繼續看到小型企業招募人數適度成長。我認為，正如鮑勃指出的那樣，我們在中端市場可能看到的成長速度比我們預期的要慢，但也不是天文數字。

It wasn't recessionary and we've really not seen any signs of recession. I would say there's just -- as we all -- anywhere you turn on, you can talk to anybody, there's a high degree of uncertainty, and I think a lot of people are frozen right now. And I think what we need to see is more clarity coming out on what's going to happen with the tax bill, what's going to happen relative to tariffs and how that's going to sell.

這不是經濟衰退，我們確實沒有看到任何經濟衰退的跡象。我想說的是——就像我們所有人一樣——無論你在哪裡，你可以和任何人交談，都存在高度的不確定性，我認為現在很多人感到不知所措。我認為，我們需要看到稅收法案將會發生什麼、關稅將會發生什麼以及如何銷售的更清晰的訊息。

Hopefully, the world conflicts begin to settle down as well. And eventually, we'll probably start turning our focus to the Fed and seeing what the Fed is going to do on interest rates.

希望世界衝突也能開始平息。最終，我們可能會開始將注意力轉向聯準會，看看聯準會將如何調整利率。

Great. Thanks for that color.

偉大的。謝謝你這個顏色。

Andrew Nicholas, William Blair.

安德魯尼古拉斯、威廉布萊爾。

Hi, good morning, thanks for taking my questions. Just wanted to ask a few on synergies. I guess first, in terms of top line synergies, can you speak to maybe what's embedded in your outlook for '26? It sounds like you've already had some indications of cross-sell opportunity and cross-sell success into the PEO and ASO model. Is that something that you're assuming continues in '26? Is there anything that you could kind of quantify there? Or would momentum there be upside to what you've guided?

嗨，早上好，感謝您回答我的問題。只是想問一些有關協同作用的問題。我想首先，就營收綜效而言，您能否談談對 26 年的展望？聽起來您已經看到了一些跡象，表明 PEO 和 ASO 模型中存在交叉銷售機會和交叉銷售成功。您認為這種情況在 26 年還會持續嗎？那裡有什麼東西是你可以量化的嗎？或者那裡的勢頭會比你所指導的有上升空間嗎？

Yes. Andrew, you maybe you missed it in the prepared remarks. And when I gave the outlook, we said we would expect revenue synergies that contribute 30 to 50 basis points of growth next year. Obviously, I mean, that's where we see the -- I would say, the value creation opportunity here with this transaction is the ability to cross-sell into their client base and vice versa.

是的。安德魯，你可能在準備好的發言中錯過了這一點。當我給出展望時，我們表示，預計明年的收入綜效將貢獻 30 至 50 個基點的成長。顯然，我的意思是，這就是我們看到的——我想說，這筆交易的價值創造機會是能夠向他們的客戶群進行交叉銷售，反之亦然。

As you guys know, if you look at our model and John talked about our growth formula, a significant amount of our growth has come from our ability to monetize our client base and really selling those higher-value solutions, ASO, PEO, retirement services into our client base. And when we sit here even prior to the acquisition, we see a pretty long runway because within our own client base because a lot of those products are relatively underpenetrated within our own client base.

如你所知，如果你看一下我們的模型以及約翰談到的成長公式，你會發現，我們的很大一部分成長來自於我們將客戶群貨幣化的能力以及真正向客戶群銷售那些更高價值的解決方案、ASO、PEO、退休服務。當我們坐在這裡，甚至在收購之前，我們就看到了一條相當長的跑道，因為在我們自己的客戶群中，許多產品在我們自己的客戶群中滲透率相對較低。

And then on day one of this transaction, we just added 50,000 clients into the top of our payroll funnel, if you will. And these are, on average, larger clients. that really are more likely to have some of the needs that some of these solutions meet like ASO and PEO in retirement. So that we're really excited about that opportunity.

然後，在這筆交易的第一天，我們就將 50,000 名客戶加入我們的薪資漏斗頂部，如果你願意的話。平均而言，這些都是較大的客戶。他們更有可能擁有一些這些解決方案能夠滿足的需求，例如退休時的 ASO 和 PEO。所以我們對這個機會感到非常興奮。

Obviously, that takes time. You're not going to get all that on day one. We're being conservative. That builds, I would say, over a few years. I'd say we're being a little bit conservative in what we think we can achieve in year one, but that's not stopping us from going -- having our foot on the pedal and really going after that opportunity as quickly as we can.

顯然，這需要時間。你不可能在第一天就得到所有這些。我們很保守。我想說，這需要幾年的時間才能完成。我想說，我們對第一年能取得的成就有些保守，但這並沒有阻止我們繼續前進——腳踩油門，盡快抓住機會。

And as John mentioned, we've had some early success just in the first few weeks of owning the asset with not a lot of efforts. So we're excited about that opportunity longer term.

正如約翰所提到的，我們在擁有該資產的最初幾週內，並沒有付出太多努力，就取得了一些早期的成功。因此，我們對這個長期機會感到興奮。

Perfect. And yes, I missed that in the prepared remarks, so I appreciate it. And then maybe relatedly, just in terms of cadence of cost synergy realization, you've updated the number, $90 million in fiscal '26. Is there anything you could say about how much of that is front-end loaded? Or is there a steady ramp in terms of realized cost synergies throughout fiscal '26 that [we would model?]

完美的。是的，我在準備好的發言中遺漏了這一點，所以我很感激。然後也許相關的是，就成本協同效應實現的節奏而言，您已經更新了數字，26 財年為 9000 萬美元。您能說說其中有多少是前端加載的嗎？或者整個 26 財年實現的成本綜效是否會穩定上升，[我們會當模特兒嗎？ ]

Yes. I would say that -- yes, sorry. I would say that most of the actions required to realize those cost synergies have been taken as it shows up in the P&L that builds throughout the year because you have some transition resources that are here for a period of time.

是的。我想說的是——是的，很抱歉。我想說的是，實現這些成本協同效應所需的大多數行動都已經採取，因為它體現在全年的損益表中，因為你擁有一些在一段時間內存在的一些過渡資源。

And some of those benefits build as you move through the year, but the actual actions to realize those have already been taken. And that's why we have a high degree of confidence in raising the number.

其中一些好處是隨著時間的推移逐漸累積起來的，但實現這些好處的實際行動已經採取了。這就是為什麼我們對於提高這個數字充滿信心。

And again, we're not stopping. We see other opportunities. There's probably some procurement opportunities that we didn't -- that we haven't kicked the tires on hard enough. There's other areas that we're going to now go after now that we've gotten the initial actions behind us.

再說一次，我們不會停下來。我們看到了其他機會。可能還有一些採購機會我們還沒充分考慮。既然我們已經採取了初步行動，現在我們將轉向其他領域。

Yes. And I just want to put it in the context of a decision that we made, which I think is the right decision for the long term and the short term. One of the things that became very clear to us early on was how well our teams were working together to solve problems and look for opportunities. So even when we started the early stages of the planning, I was feeling better and better about how the cultural fit was happening, how the teams were coming together and working together.

是的。我只是想把它放在我們所做決定的背景下，我認為這對長期和短期來說都是正確的決定。我們很早就清楚的一件事是，我們的團隊如何很好地合作解決問題並尋找機會。因此，即使在我們開始規劃的早期階段，我對文化契合度、團隊如何凝聚和合作的感覺也越來越好。

And as you know, we made -- in the prior quarter call, we talked about some of the additions to our leadership team that we brought on board. That gave us a calculated risk we had to make relative to our ability to lead the organization through how much change, how fast, right? That's a key point.

如您所知，在上一季的電話會議上，我們討論了我們領導團隊的一些新成員。這給了我們一個經過計算的風險，我們必須根據我們帶領組織經歷多大程度的變革、以多快的速度進行變革的能力來承擔風險，對嗎？這是關鍵點。

And the real feeling was, particularly when you added on top of that a high degree of external disruption and unknowns, we felt it important to bring clarity to our clients, to our partners, to our employees about what was going to happen. So we accelerated both, making sure we made employees know what it meant to them, letting clients know they don't have to migrate, letting our partners know that this is going to be a win-win for them as well.

我們的真實感受是，特別是當你再加上高度的外部幹擾和未知因素時，我們覺得有必要讓我們的客戶、合作夥伴和員工清楚地了解即將發生的事情。因此，我們加快了這兩方面的進程，確保讓員工知道這對他們意味著什麼，讓客戶知道他們不必遷移，讓我們的合作夥伴知道這對他們來說也將是雙贏的。

And we've really focused on doing as much of this as fast as we could, so we don't have additional distractions going into the fiscal year. So when I look at it, what the team accomplished in the fourth quarter was a lot and we executed the synergy plans, exceeding the expectations.

我們確實致力於盡快完成盡可能多的工作，這樣我們在進入財政年度時就不會受到額外的干擾。所以我認為，球隊在第四季度取得了很多成就，我們執行了協同計劃，超出了預期。

We made decisions to fully invest in both the Paycor, the Flex road map. We made a decision to invest in the SurePayroll platform. More about that later. We expanded the sales teams. We reset the territories across all the market segments. We launched a new sales technology stack and the new market data and AI tool to all the sales teams.

我們決定全力投資 Paycor 和 Flex 路線圖。我們決定投資 SurePayroll 平台。稍後會詳細介紹。我們擴大了銷售團隊。我們重新設定了所有細分市場的領土。我們向所有銷售團隊推出了新的銷售技術堆疊以及新的市場數據和人工智慧工具。

We launched the Paychex Partner Pro platform. We launched our Partner Plus platform program for the brokers. So then -- and we integrated all the marketing organizations, all that in about six to eight weeks, and we delivered these results. And now we're sitting here going into '26 better positioned than we ever are.

我們推出了 Paychex Partner Pro 平台。我們為經紀人推出了 Partner Plus 平台計劃。那麼——我們整合了所有的行銷組織，所有這些都在大約六到八週內完成，並且取得了這些成果。現在，我們正以比以往任何時候都更好的姿態邁入26年。

And we don't -- now we're talking about procurement. We're talking about vendor negotiations. We're talking about other things that are going to be less disruptive to the company. So that was a decision that we thought we could pull off because of the synergy we were filling amongst the leadership between the two organizations and the commitment that we had from both the Paycor leadership and the Paychex leadership to lead the teams through that kind of change at that kind of pace.

而我們並沒有——現在我們正在談論採購。我們正在討論供應商談判。我們正在討論其他對公司影響較小的事情。因此，我們認為我們可以實現這一決定，因為我們正在兩個組織領導層之間發揮協同作用，而 Paycor 領導層和 Paychex 領導層都承諾帶領團隊以這樣的速度完成這種變革。

So I'm extremely proud and appreciative of all the hard work that everyone in the organization has done. And hopefully, you guys understand that was a lot to get done in a short period of time.

因此，我為組織中每個人所做的一切努力感到非常自豪和感激。希望你們能夠理解，在短時間內有很多事情要做。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Yeah, thank you.

是的，謝謝。

Ashish Sabadra, RBC Capital Markets.

加拿大皇家銀行資本市場 (RBC Capital Markets) 的 Ashish Sabadra。

Thanks for taking my question. I was just wondering if you can comment on checks per client, how that trended in 4Q, but also what your expectations are for fiscal year '26? And have you seen any impact from some of the things going on, on the immigration crackdown.

感謝您回答我的問題。我只是想知道您是否可以評論一下每個客戶的支票情況，第四季度的趨勢如何，以及您對 26 財年的預期是什麼？您是否看到一些正在發生的事情對移民打擊行動產生了影響？

Yes. I mean checks -- as I mentioned, Ashish, checks per client definitely trended a little bit softer in Q4. I mean if we go back and kind of look at the year, checks per client were actually up a little bit in the first half of the year. We started to see that come down a little bit in Q3. And we factored some of that into the forecast, but Q4 ended up being a little bit softer than we expected.

是的。我的意思是支票——正如我所提到的，Ashish，第四季度每位客戶的支票金額肯定呈現略微下降的趨勢。我的意思是，如果我們回顧今年的情況，就會發現上半年每位客戶的支票金額實際上有所增加。我們開始看到這一數字在第三季有所下降。我們已將部分因素納入預測，但第四季的表現最終比我們預期的要弱一些。

And we have kind of factored that into our guidance and our plan for next year. So we have checks per client down, I would say, next year in the plan. And so, we've kind of -- we've seen some of those trends, and we factored that into the guide.

我們已經將其納入明年的指導和計劃中。因此，我想說，明年我們的計劃是降低每位客戶的支票金額。因此，我們已經看到了其中的一些趨勢，並將其納入指南中。

That's helpful color. And maybe just a bookkeeping question. How should we think about the restructuring expenses impacting cash flow next year? Or is there a way to think about free cash flow growth in fiscal year '26?

這是很有幫助的顏色。也許只是一個簿記問題。我們該如何看待重組費用對明年現金流的影響？或者有沒有辦法考慮 26 財年的自由現金流成長？

Yes. I mean a lot of the restructuring stuff, to be honest with you, is behind us. We got a lot of that behind us, a lot of the onetime costs related to the transaction. All that is behind us. When you look at kind of the adjustments going forward, they're mostly noncash related.

是的。我的意思是，老實說，許多重組工作已經過去了。我們已經解決了許多與交易相關的一次性成本。這一切都已成為過去。當你觀察未來的調整時，你會發現它們大多與現金無關。

You have the amortization of the intangibles and you have some of the rollover equity. That's what you're going to see mainly going forward. So it really shouldn't have an impact to free cash flow, and we'll get back to a point where we see free cash flows growing in line with our earnings.

您擁有無形資產的攤銷，並且擁有部分展覽權益。這就是你們未來將會看到的主要內容。因此，它實際上不應該對自由現金流產生影響，我們將回到自由現金流與收益同步成長的水平。

Thank you. Thanks.

謝謝。謝謝。

Kartik Mehta, Northcoast Research.

Kartik Mehta，Northcoast Research。

Hey, good morning, Bob and John. John, I know you talked a little bit about pricing and adding value, obviously, for clients. And pre-COVID, we were at a certain level for price. And obviously, a little bit after COVID, you're able to get better pricing than you were historically.

嘿，早上好，鮑伯和約翰。約翰，我知道你談到了定價和增加價值，顯然是為了客戶。在疫情之前，我們的價格處於一定的水平。顯然，在新冠疫情過後不久，你就可以獲得比以往更好的價格。

As we move forward, where do you think you are on that price kind of realization? Do you think it's higher than it was pre-COVID? Or are you -- do you think you'll be at the same level?

隨著我們繼續前進，您認為您對這種價格的認識處於什麼水平？您認為它比新冠疫情前更高嗎？或者你——你認為你會處於同一水平嗎？

Yes, Kartik, what I would say is that I think of it as value, our ability to, as you talked about, bring in a client. Likely in this competitive environment, you're providing them a discount or some sort of incentive to make the move. And then the question is how good a job do you do that when that discount kind of expires because it's generally promotional, how much of that discount can you get back to retail price?

是的，卡蒂克，我想說的是，我認為這是一種價值，就像您說的，我們有能力吸引客戶。很可能在這種競爭環境中，您會向他們提供折扣或某種激勵措施來促使他們採取行動。那麼問題是，當折扣到期時，你能做得有多好？因為這通常是促銷活動，你能將多少折扣恢復到零售價？

And then how much can you upsell to that client long term? And that goes back to the conversation we had before in terms of the science of picking the type of client you bring in. If you bring in a client on the cheap that you're never going to make money on and all they want is cheap, they're going to be hard to sell anything to.

那麼，長期來看你能向該客戶追加銷售多少產品呢？這又回到了我們之前關於選擇客戶類型的科學問題的討論。如果你以低價引進一個你永遠賺不到錢的客戶，而他們只想要便宜的東西，那麼你將很難向他們推銷任何東西。

And then you're not going to be able to raise prices, you're not going to be able to sell them anything extra. And so then you're just stuck with a client that you're losing money on and you can't really monetize. We've been very scientific in terms of our risk profiling, our profiling and marketing to understand that.

然後你就不能提高價格，也不能向他們出售任何額外的東西。這樣，你就只能和一個正在賠錢的客戶打交道，而你又無法真正從中獲利。為了理解這一點，我們在風險分析、分析和行銷方面一直非常科學。

And so when I look at what we realize in terms of generating value in our client base, we're doing better than we were doing before the pandemic. And you look back historically, we're still in the higher end of the range that we have historically done as part of our growth formula.

因此，當我回顧我們在為客戶群創造價值方面所取得的成就時，我發現我們做得比疫情之前更好。回顧歷史，我們仍然處於歷史成長公式的高端。

It goes back to what Bob said, we continue to believe in the midterm that both value realization and the ability to drive product penetration will continue to be a significant part of our growth formula in the years ahead.

正如鮑伯所說，我們仍然相信，從中期來看，價值實現和推動產品滲透的能力將繼續成為未來幾年成長公式的重要組成部分。

And just, Bob, on float, as you move forward in FY26, anything different you're going to do on float? There's a conversation about rates going down, conversation about rates going up. And it seems all very confusing, obviously. But I'm wondering if you're changing your strategy at all on the float portfolio.

鮑勃，關於浮動資金，隨著 2026 財年的推進，您將對浮動資金採取什麼不同措施？有關於利率下降的討論，也有利率上升的討論。顯然，這一切看起來都非常令人困惑。但我想知道您是否會改變浮動投資組合的策略。

I mean we're constantly looking at it, Kartik. Obviously, we do have some short-term rate decreases assumed in the plan, pretty much aligned with the Fed dot plot. But the client funds portfolio is largely invested long. We did just recently take over Paycor's client fund that was a little over $1 billion. And they were probably just the opposite of us.

我的意思是我們一直在關注它，卡蒂克。顯然，我們的計劃中確實假設了一些短期利率下降，這與聯準會點圖基本一致。但客戶資金組合大部分是長期投資。我們最近確實接管了 Paycor 的客戶基金，金額略高於 10 億美元。他們可能與我們恰恰相反。

They were largely invested short. And I just -- given our financial strength and our liquidity, we're able to put those funds to work and probably lock in some of those balances to rates where they are currently. And so I wouldn't say anything significantly different just kind of taking over their funds, managing that in line with how we manage our funds.

他們大多投資不足。我只是——鑑於我們的財務實力和流動性，我們能夠將這些資金投入使用，並可能將其中一些餘額鎖定在當前的利率水平。因此，我不會說什麼有太大不同，只是接管他們的資金，按照我們管理資金的方式來管理。

And then the yield curve is relatively flat. We are reinvesting at a rate higher than what things are, securities are currently rolling off the portfolio, and we'll kind of look at -- the team looks at kind of the shape of the yield curve at that point in time when things roll off and make decisions on how to optimize yield there. But I wouldn't say anything significantly different there.

殖利率曲線相對平坦。我們正在以高於實際情況的速度進行再投資，證券目前正在從投資組合中滾出，我們會觀察——團隊會觀察當時殖利率曲線的形狀，並決定如何優化殖利率。但我不會說任何有顯著不同的東西。

Thanks, Bob. I really appreciate it.

謝謝，鮑伯。我真的很感激。

No problem.

沒問題。

Jason Kupferberg, Bank of America.

美國銀行的傑森‧庫普弗伯格（Jason Kupferberg）。

Good morning, guys. Thank you. Can you just clarify what the organic outlook for Management Solutions specifically is in F '26? I mean based on the Paycor numbers you gave, I'm calculating around 4% to 5% organic. So I just wanted to check on that. And if you can also comment on whether or not the revenue synergies are a part of the organic guide.

大家早安。謝謝。您能否明確說明 F'26 中管理解決方案的有機前景具體是什麼？我的意思是，根據您提供的 Paycor 數字，我計算出有機率大約為 4% 到 5%。所以我只是想檢查一下。並且您還可以評論收入協同效應是否屬於有機指南的一部分。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Yes. So a couple of comments related to that, Jason. John talked about in the prepared remarks on how we've segmented this business. And so we already had an upmarket business. And so we spent Q4 kind of combining these businesses.

是的。因此，傑森，有幾個與此相關的評論。約翰在準備好的發言中談到了我們如何細分這項業務。因此，我們已經擁有了高端業務。因此，我們花了第四季的時間來整合這些業務。

We moved Paychex people and clients over to Paycor and vice versa. And it is going to be extremely difficult going forward for us to kind of separate what's Paycor versus Paychex. It was -- what I wanted to do in the guide is to give you a sense on a total revenue basis. And again, most of Paycor falls within Management Solutions or it all does. But I wanted to give you a sense of what it was in total.

我們將 Paychex 的員工和客戶轉移到 Paycor，反之亦然。對我們來說，區分 Paycor 和 Paychex 將會變得極為困難。我希望在指南中讓您了解總收入的基礎。再次強調，Paycor 的大部分業務都屬於管理解決方案範疇，或者全部都屬於。但我想讓你大致了解一下它到底是什麼樣的。

And I was able to do that, to be frank, because we were in the -- we are in the process of building a stand-alone plan. So I kind of knew what my stand-alone plan look like. And so, it's easier for us to say, hey, we had a stand-alone plan. Here's our new plan. Here's the additional contribution that you're getting from Paycor.

坦白說，我之所以能夠做到這一點，是因為我們正在製定一個獨立的計劃。所以我大概知道我的獨立計畫是什麼樣的。因此，我們可以更輕鬆地說，嘿，我們有一個獨立的計劃。這是我們的新計劃。這是您從 Paycor 獲得的額外捐款。

John and I have had a lot of discussions on how we're going to do this going forward as we move throughout the year. And I got to be honest, I haven't really come up with a methodology yet. We'll try to give you guys some sense of what the inorganic contribution is.

約翰和我已經就今年接下來如何進行這項工作進行過多次討論。說實話，我還沒有想出一個真正的方法論。我們將嘗試讓你們了解無機貢獻是什麼。

But it's going to be -- as these businesses get further integrated, it's going to be a lot harder to separate that out. The numbers that you came up with don't seem to be too far off what the organic piece would be on the Management Solutions. And then I would tell you, the revenue synergies are kind of spread a little bit across both because there's opportunities both ways.

但隨著這些業務進一步整合，將其分開將變得更加困難。您得出的數字似乎與管理解決方案中的有機部分的數字相去不遠。然後我會告訴你，收入綜效在兩者之間有所分佈，因為雙方都有機會。

Okay. Understood.

好的。明白了。

Again, I just want to -- Again, I just think it's important to understand -- yes, I just think it's important to understand that we now have Paycor positioned as our 100-plus market segment and platform. And so all the resources we had at Paychex involved in supporting our enterprise business are now part of that business segment in that business unit.

再說一次，我只是想——再說一次，我認為理解這一點很重要——是的，我認為理解這一點很重要，我們現在將 Paycor 定位為我們 100 多個細分市場和平台。因此，Paychex 用於支援企業業務的所有資源現在都屬於該業務部門的該業務部門的一部分。

And so what you're going to continue to see is, right, the ability to kind of look at it as two separate. And the same thing, there was downmarket business that Paycor did, and we've moved that over into the Paychex market segment. So again, going forward, that's one of the reasons why we wanted to bring clarity to our organization internally as quickly as we could and not drag this out into multiple fiscal years.

所以，您將繼續看到的是，將其視為兩個獨立事物的能力。同樣，Paycor 從事低端市場業務，我們已將其轉移到 Paychex 市場領域。因此，展望未來，這就是我們希望盡快在組織內部澄清問題而不是將其拖延到多個財政年度的原因之一。

And we wanted that -- we thought we had the opportunity with when the deal closed to get all of this work done so that we could start the fiscal year '26 with everyone being very clear about what they're focused on, what they need to do. So just part of -- it's going to be one of the challenges here.

我們希望——我們認為，當交易完成時，我們有機會完成所有這些工作，以便我們可以在 26 財年開始時，每個人都非常清楚他們關注的重點是什麼，他們需要做什麼。所以這只是其中的一部分——這將是這裡的挑戰之一。

Yes. And just, I guess, as a follow-up, so it sounds like we are talking about some acceleration on the organic part of Management Solutions in F '26 off of the 3% you just had in Q4. Maybe you can just kind of unpack the visibility and the pieces of that.

是的。我想，作為後續行動，這聽起來像是我們在談論 2026 年管理解決方案的有機部分在第四季度 3% 的基礎上有所加速。也許你可以稍微解開一下可見度及其各個部分。

And maybe just talk a little bit more about -- I think you said you're assuming a steady macro, but you've seen some hiccups in client decision-making. Like are you assuming that the worst is over in that regard and you see some normalization/improvement in underlying client decision-making?

也許再多談一點——我想您說過您假設宏觀經濟穩定，但您發現客戶決策中存在一些問題。例如，您是否認為最糟糕的時期已經過去，並且看到客戶決策正常化/改善？

Let me talk about the numbers, and maybe John can get into the macro a little bit. I think when you look at the Management Solutions guide, the front half and back half are very similar. Actually, the back half is a tad lower, particularly in Q4 once we anniversary the Paycor acquisition. One of the comments I made earlier, Jason, was -- and we do this, and I know you guys do this, you look at the exit rate as a proxy of what the organic growth rate is.

讓我來談談數字，也許約翰可以稍微談談宏觀方面。我認為當您查看管理解決方案指南時，前半部分和後半部分非常相似。實際上，後半部分略低，特別是在我們紀念 Paycor 收購週年的第四季度。傑森，我之前發表的評論之一是——我們這樣做，我知道你們也這樣做，你們將退出率視為有機成長率的代表。

And the point I was trying to make and probably didn't do a good job of explaining it is like that 3%, at least from a total revenue or whether you look at Management Solutions, you need to factor in that we had a tough compared to Q4 last year. We had changed some timing related to our price increase last year relative to where it was the year before, and we actually had a little bit of a pickup in pricing last year.

我想表達的觀點是，雖然可能沒有解釋清楚，但至少從總收入來看，或者無論從管理解決方案來看，3% 都是如此，你需要考慮到與去年第四季相比，我們面臨的困難。與前年相比，我們對去年的價格上漲時間做了一些調整，實際上，去年的價格略有回升。

And so when you adjust for that, both on a Management Solutions and if I get the total revenue, some of the MPP enrollment, you're getting to an exit rate in Q4. I know it's a 3%, but it's really not a 3% because we have these headwinds. And when you adjust for that, the exit rate is right in kind of the middle of the implied guide that I gave you on the organic business. So we feel comfortable about that. I know the numbers are a little bit confusing.

因此，當您對此進行調整時，無論是在管理解決方案上，還是如果我獲得總收入，部分 MPP 註冊，您都會在第四季度獲得退出率。我知道這是 3%，但實際上並不是 3%，因為我們面臨這些阻力。當你對此進行調整時，退出率正好處於我在有機業務中給出的隱含指南的中間。因此我們對此感到放心。我知道這些數字有點令人困惑。

The numbers have been really confusing in the last couple of years with the ERTC, without ERTC. But those are two headwinds from a growth standpoint in Q4 that you need to adjust for if you're really trying to get an apples-to-apples comparison and what that means as we exit the year and move into fiscal '26.

過去幾年，當有 ERTC 和沒有 ERTC 時，這些數字確實令人困惑。但從第四季度的成長角度來看，這是兩個不利因素，如果您真的想進行同類比較，並且了解這對我們今年結束並進入 26 財年意味著什麼，那麼您需要對此進行調整。

Yes. And I would just add on -- yes, I'd just add on the macro side. When you look at the data that we have, which I think is directionally very accurate, in our Small Business Index focused on the under 50 segment, we're seeing and continue to see moderate growth in small businesses, and we don't see any signs of recession.

是的。我只是想補充一下——是的，我只是想補充一下宏觀方面的內容。當您查看我們擁有的數據時，我認為這些數據的方向非常準確，在我們的專注於 50 歲以下細分市場的小型企業指數中，我們看到小型企業正在並將繼續保持適度增長，而且我們沒有看到任何衰退的跡象。

When I look at the fourth quarter, what I would say is given the GDP that we had, stability there on the micro side, some people dropping out, maybe throwing in the towel. In the upper market 50-plus, for the GDP numbers we saw and you run our models, you would have said there was more hiring going to happen there than maybe what we saw. So there's a little softness, but there's no like real signs of challenge.

當我回顧第四季時，我想說的是，考慮到我們的 GDP 水準以及微觀層面的穩定性，有些人可能會退出，甚至放棄。在 50 多個高端市場中，根據我們看到的 GDP 數據以及您運行的模型，您可能會說那裡的招聘數量可能比我們看到的要多。因此，雖然有一點軟弱，但並沒有真正的挑戰跡象。

Now what do I assume in the future of the macro environment? Are we going to have a budget bill or not? Probably more like we are next quarter than last quarter. Are we going to have a situation where 20% to 40% tariffs are being thrown out every quarter? I don't know. That's what happened on Liberation. There's been a lot of things hit the market that drive uncertainty in the fourth quarter.

現在我對未來的宏觀環境有何假設？我們是否會有預算法案？可能下個季度的情況比上個季度更類似。我們是否將面臨每季徵收 20% 至 40% 關稅的情況？我不知道。這就是在「解放號」上發生的事情。很多因素影響了市場，導致第四季出現不確定性。

I think we all have been living through that, including global conflicts. Our assumptions is those were unique to that quarter and that we're going to have a more consistent macro environment that we saw in the first three quarters, which was, again, moderate growth in small businesses and a little bit more stable, what I would say environment for businesses to be able to make decisions about future investments in capital, including what do I know about taxes next year?

我想我們都經歷過這樣的事情，包括全球衝突。我們的假設是，這些假設是該季度獨有的，我們將擁有與前三個季度相比更加一致的宏觀環境，也就是小企業再次溫和增長，而且更加穩定，我認為企業能夠就未來資本投資做出決策的環境，包括我對明年的稅收了解多少？

What do I know about where we're going to be with tariffs? So I think we're assuming that some of that is going to get worked out. That's what we've been told out of Washington, and we'll wait to see what happens.

我對於關稅將會達到什麼程度了解多少？所以我認為我們假設其中一些問題將會得到解決。這就是華盛頓告訴我們的，我們將拭目以待。

Understood. Thanks, John. Thanks, Bob.

明白了。謝謝，約翰。謝謝，鮑伯。

Scott Wurtzel, Wolfe Research.

沃澤爾（Scott Wurtzel），沃爾夫研究公司。

Hey, good morning, guys. Thanks for squeezing me in here. I wanted to ask on the PEO side. I know there's a lot of moving parts with the MPP plan and then also thinking about the cross-sell opportunity. But wondering if you can talk about some of the kind of core Paychex PEO trends you saw in the quarter?

嘿，大家早安。謝謝你把我擠到這裡。我想從 PEO 方面詢問。我知道 MPP 計劃有很多活動部分，同時也在考慮交叉銷售機會。但您是否可以談談您在本季看到的一些核心 Paychex PEO 趨勢？

And how you're thinking about that as we move into fiscal '26 and think about that acceleration in the back half of the year once we lap the MPP headwinds?

當我們進入 26 財年時，您如何看待這個問題？一旦我們克服了 MPP 的逆風，您認為下半年的成長會加速嗎？

I can start, and John can add on. I mean I think if you look at the PEO in Q4, I mean, we're very happy with the performance. I think the demand continued to be strong. I mean demand from a sales standpoint was strong double digits in the quarter. We had record worksite employee retention for Q4.

我可以開始，約翰可以補充。我的意思是，如果你看一下第四季的 PEO，你會發現我們對業績非常滿意。我認為需求持續強。我的意思是，從銷售角度來看，本季的需求強勁達到兩位數。我們第四季的工作場所員工留任率創下了紀錄。

So we feel good. I think you see that reflected in the worksite employee number that we provided for the year. That obviously includes our ASO business as well. But those are the areas that we're focused on, both ASO and PEO, those are our higher-value solutions.

所以我們感覺很好。我想您會在我們今年提供的工作場所員工人數中看到這一點。這顯然也包括我們的 ASO 業務。但這些都是我們關注的領域，ASO 和 PEO 都是我們更高價值的解決方案。

And at the end of the day, we're focused on driving worksite employee growth, and I think we delivered that this year in some of the positive, I'll say, outside of the at-risk kind of noise and headwinds that we've talked about, the underlying operating performance of that business all year has been strong and Q4, in particular, was strong both from a demand and retention standpoint.

歸根結底，我們專注於推動工作場所員工的成長，我認為我們今年取得了一些積極的成果，我想說，除了我們談到的風險噪音和逆風之外，該業務全年的基本運營表現一直很強勁，尤其是第四季度，從需求和保留的角度來看都很強勁。

Yes. And I'd echo everything Bob said. And look, on an aggregate basis, the value proposition that the PEO brings to the marketplace has never been in more need. There is a health inflation issue out there, and we have solutions to solve that problem.

是的。我會重複鮑伯說的每一句話。從整體來看，PEO 為市場帶來的價值主張從未像現在這樣受到重視。有健康通膨問題，我們有解決方案。

And when you look at it on the aggregate basis, we increased the number of people participating in our PEO health plans across the country and continue to see strong demand for the product and service with the exception of Florida.

從總體來看，我們在全國範圍內增加了參與 PEO 健康計劃的人數，並且除佛羅裡達州外，繼續看到對該產品和服務的強勁需求。

And because Florida is a unique animal, as we've talked about before, it has an oversized impact on revenue, but again, not on the really operating performance of the business or the profitability of the company.

正如我們之前所討論的，由於佛羅裡達州是一種獨特的動物，它對收入產生了過大的影響，但同樣，它對企業的實際經營業績或公司的盈利能力沒有影響。

Cool, I'll leave it there thanks guys.

太棒了，我會把它留在那裡，謝謝大家。

Thanks Scott.

謝謝斯科特。

Thank you. And at this time, I'd like to turn the call back over to John Gibson for any final or closing remarks.

謝謝。現在，我想將電話轉回給約翰·吉布森 (John Gibson)，請他做最後的演講或結束語。

Okay, Margot, thank you very much. At this point, we will close the call. If you're interested in a replay, the webcast of this conference call will be archived approximately 90 days. Once again, thanks, everyone, for your interest in Paychex, and hope you have a great day and a great 4th of July.

好的，瑪戈特，非常感謝。至此，我們將結束通話。若您有興趣重播，本次電話會議的網路直播將存檔約 90 天。再次感謝大家對 Paychex 的關注，並祝大家有個愉快的一天和 7 月 4 日。

Thanks, Margot.

謝謝，瑪戈特。

Thank you. This does conclude today's program. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect at any time.

謝謝。今天的節目到此結束。感謝您的參與。您可以隨時斷開連線。