ePlus inc (PLUS) 2025 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the ePlus earnings results conference call. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded.

美好的一天，女士們先生們。歡迎參加 ePlus 收益電話會議。提醒一下，本次電話會議正在錄音。

I would like to introduce your host for today's conference, Mr. Kleyton Parkhurst, Senior Vice President. Sir, you may begin.

我想介紹一下今天會議的主持人，高級副總裁克萊頓·帕克赫斯特先生。先生，您可以開始了。

Thank you for joining us today. On the call is Mark Marron, CEO and President; Darren Raiguel, COO and President of ePlus Technology; Elaine Marion, CFO; and Erica Stoecker, General Counsel.

感謝您今天加入我們。執行長兼總裁 Mark Marron 參加了電話會議； Darren Raiguel，ePlus Technology 營運長兼總裁；伊萊恩‧馬里昂，財務長；和總法律顧問艾麗卡·斯托克 (Erica Stoecker)。

I want to take a moment to remind you that the statements we make this afternoon that are not historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements and are based on management's current plans, estimates and projections. Actual and anticipated future results may vary materially due to certain risks and uncertainties detailed in the earnings release we issued this afternoon and our periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other documents we may file with the SEC.

我想花點時間提醒您，我們今天下午做出的非歷史事實的陳述可能被視為前瞻性陳述，並且基於管理層當前的計劃、估計和預測。由於我們今天下午發布的收益報告以及我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的定期文件（包括我們最新的10-K 表格年度報告、10-K 表格季度報告）中詳述的某些風險和不確定性，實際和預期的未來結果可能會存在重大差異。

Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of which the statement is made, and the company undertakes no responsibility to update any of these forward-looking statements in light of new information, future events or otherwise.

任何前瞻性聲明僅代表聲明發布之日的情況，本公司不承擔根據新資訊、未來事件或其他情況更新任何這些前瞻性聲明的責任。

In addition, we will be using certain non-GAAP measures during the call. We've included a GAAP financial reconciliation in our earnings release, which is posted on the Investor Information section of our website at www.eplus.com.

此外，我們將在電話會議期間使用某些非公認會計準則衡量標準。我們在收益報告中納入了 GAAP 財務調節表，該資訊發佈在我們網站 www.eplus.com 的投資者資訊部分。

I'd now like to turn the call over to Mark Marron. Mark?

我現在想把電話轉給馬克馬龍。標記？

Thank you, Kley, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us to discuss our fiscal second quarter 2025 results. I will recap our second quarter highlights and provide an update on our business, then Elaine will discuss our financial results in more detail. I will conclude our prepared remarks with a discussion on our outlook. After that, we'll open the call to your questions.

謝謝你，克萊，大家下午好。感謝您與我們一起討論我們 2025 年第二季的業績。我將回顧我們第二季度的亮點並提供我們業務的最新情況，然後伊萊恩將更詳細地討論我們的財務表現。我將透過討論我們的前景來結束我們準備好的發言。之後，我們將開始回答您的問題。

We continue to expand our solution and service offerings with the acquisition of Bailiwick. This, along with our strategic initiatives focusing on AI, cloud, networking, data and security has allowed us to build on our strong customer relationships, which was reflected in our year-over-year increases in gross profit and gross margin expansion.

透過收購 Bailiwick，我們繼續擴大我們的解決方案和服務範圍。再加上我們專注於人工智慧、雲端、網路、數據和安全的策略性舉措，使我們能夠建立強大的客戶關係，這反映在我們毛利和毛利率擴張的同比增長上。

As we've noted before, the overall IT market is transforming, and we are transitioning with it. More specifically, our revenue in the quarter reflects the ongoing evolution of the industry towards ratable revenue models, netted down revenues and the continued high growth of our services business, along with an overall softening in the demand in the market currently.

正如我們之前指出的，整個 IT 市場正在發生變化，我們也正在隨之轉型。更具體地說，我們本季的營收反映了產業向可評級收入模式的持續演變、淨收入下降和我們服務業務的持續高成長，以及當前市場需求的整體疲軟。

On a consolidated basis, total net sales were down 12.3% as a decline in product sales offset the strong growth in higher-margin services revenues. The decline is attributable to a few things: a tough compare as last year benefited from an easing supply chain, especially in networking. To put this in perspective, product sales in our technology business last year were up 23.3% in our second quarter and up 26.2% in the first half.

綜合來看，由於產品銷售的下降抵消了利潤率較高的服務收入的強勁增長，總淨銷售額下降了 12.3%。下降的原因有幾個：與去年相比，供應鏈的寬鬆得益於供應鏈的艱難，尤其是在網路領域。從這個角度來看，去年我們科技業務的產品銷售額第二季成長了 23.3%，上半年成長了 26.2%。

We also had a higher proportion of netted down revenues in our product sales segment. The gross to net adjustment for product billings was up 940 basis points. As discussed on our last call, we continue to see a shift towards services contracts and more software subscription sales versus prior years, and these are often recognized ratably and can increase the proportion of revenue recognized on a net basis.

我們的產品銷售部門的淨收入下降比例也較高。產品帳單的毛淨調整增加了 940 個基點。正如我們在上次電話會議中所討論的那樣，與前幾年相比，我們繼續看到服務合約和更多軟體訂閱銷售的轉變，這些通常會得到相應的確認，並且可以增加按淨額確認的收入比例。

Gross profit outperformed sales, increasing 2.5%, while our gross margins increased 410 basis points, driven by continued strength in services, higher product margins as well as a solid contribution from the financing segment. SG&A expenses were higher year on year, primarily due to increased headcount from the Bailiwick and PEAK acquisitions as well as increased acquisition-related costs.

毛利超過銷售額，成長 2.5%，而毛利率則成長 410 個基點，主要得益於服務的持續強勁、產品利潤率的提高以及融資部門的強勁貢獻。SG&A 費用年增，主要是由於 Bailiwick 和 PEAK 收購導致員工人數增加以及收購相關成本增加。

In our technology business, reflecting on the tough comp, we saw softer-than-expected hardware product sales overall and lower demand from certain enterprise customers as they continue to digest purchases from last year's flush. As a result, we have seen a delay or pause in rolling out new technologies for these customers.

在我們的技術業務中，考慮到嚴峻的競爭，我們看到整體硬體產品銷售低於預期，並且某些企業客戶的需求下降，因為他們繼續消化去年的採購。因此，我們看到為這些客戶推出新技術的時間被推遲或暫停。

Our service revenues continue to deliver strong growth, increasing 46% year on year and reaching a new high of $104 million in the quarter, which included contribution from Bailiwick. Managed services revenue continued to grow nicely, up 28% year over year, all organically, and total managed service bookings are up 48% over the trailing 12 months. This bodes well for ePlus by helping to create predictable, profitable and more consistent revenue streams.

我們的服務收入持續強勁成長，年增 46%，本季達到 1.04 億美元的新高，其中包括 Bailiwick 的貢獻。託管服務收入持續保持良好成長，年增 28%，全部自然成長，過去 12 個月託管服務預訂總量成長了 48%。這對 ePlus 來說是個好兆頭，因為它有助於創造可預測、有利可圖且更穩定的收入流。

Our finance business delivered a solid quarter with higher transactional gains benefiting from some large deals and portfolio gains. An important accomplishment in the quarter was the acquisition of Bailiwick, a provider of outsourced IT integration and deployment services across North America. Bailiwick has expanded our IT integration services to focus on AI, digital signage and EV charging for clients in retail, finance and hospitality. Although Bailiwick was a small contributor during the quarter as the company was acquired at the end of August, it further broadens our portfolio to meet evolving customer demand.

我們的金融業務季度表現穩健，受益於一些大型交易和投資組合收益，交易收益更高。本季度的一項重要成就是收購了 Bailiwick，這是一家北美外包 IT 整合和部署服務供應商。Bailiwick 擴展了我們的 IT 整合服務，專注於為零售、金融和旅館業客戶提供人工智慧、數位看板和電動車充電服務。儘管 Bailiwick 在本季度貢獻不大，因為該公司於 8 月底被收購，但它進一步擴大了我們的產品組合，以滿足不斷變化的客戶需求。

Importantly, it also expands our footprint in North America and our customer base, offering enhanced digital transformation capabilities into additional verticals, particularly in the enterprise segment. Bailiwick also has some additional capabilities leveraging AI to streamline operations through intelligent video surveillance with a strong focus on loss prevention solutions in the retail space as well as digital lock solutions, which uses AI to analyze live video feeds to generate actionable recommendations. We are encouraged by the progress we have made against our artificial intelligence initiatives and the interest we are seeing from customers for our AI Ignite program.

重要的是，它還擴大了我們在北美的足跡和客戶群，為其他垂直領域（特別是企業領域）提供增強的數位轉型能力。Bailiwick 還擁有一些利用人工智慧透過智慧視訊監控簡化營運的附加功能，重點關注零售領域的防損解決方案以及數位鎖定解決方案，該解決方案使用人工智慧分析即時視訊來源以產生可行的建議。我們對人工智慧計畫所取得的進展以及客戶對 AI Ignite 計畫的興趣感到鼓舞。

While we are excited about the promise of AI, we believe it has elongated some sales cycles. To better position ePlus for the AI market opportunity, we have trained our entire sales teams on our AI solutions and services. We also just launched our AI Experience Center with Digital Realty. This cutting-edge technology center will demonstrate to customers the building and consuming of AI use cases. It is designed to help accelerate an organization's AI journey.

雖然我們對人工智慧的前景感到興奮，但我們相信它延長了一些銷售週期。為了更好地定位 ePlus 抓住人工智慧市場機會，我們對整個銷售團隊進行了有關人工智慧解決方案和服務的培訓。我們也剛與 Digital Realty 合作推出了人工智慧體驗中心。這個尖端技術中心將向客戶展示人工智慧用例的建置和使用。它旨在幫助加速組織的人工智慧之旅。

In addition to the technology demonstrations, customers can also take advantage of the suite of ePlus Ignite assessments and workshops. These are designed to help them understand their level of AI maturity and what solutions best match their goals. This can include helping to identify use cases, define success criteria, access their AI preparedness and rapidly deploy proof of concepts to ultimately help our customers make informed decisions on their AI investments and unlock maximum value from their data. We continue to see growth in our security practice. Our security gross billings were up 15.8% for the quarter and is now 21.4% of our trailing 12 months gross billings. We would expect customers to continue to invest in data security and governance, risk initiatives related to AI.

除了技術演示之外，客戶還可以利用 ePlus Ignite 評估和研討會套件。這些旨在幫助他們了解自己的人工智慧成熟度以及哪些解決方案最符合他們的目標。這可以包括幫助識別用例、定義成功標準、了解他們的人工智慧準備情況並快速部署概念驗證，以最終幫助我們的客戶對其人工智慧投資做出明智的決策，並從他們的數據中釋放最大價值。我們的安全實踐持續成長。本季我們的安全總帳單成長了 15.8%，目前佔過去 12 個月總帳單的 21.4%。我們希望客戶繼續投資於資料安全和治理以及與人工智慧相關的風險措施。

Overall, our balance sheet and cash position provides financial flexibility to support future growth initiatives. Our capital allocation priorities remain funding investments to drive organic and inorganic growth and opportunistically repurchase shares to provide value to our shareholders.

總體而言，我們的資產負債表和現金狀況提供了財務靈活性，以支持未來的成長計畫。我們的資本配置重點仍然是為投資提供資金，以推動有機和無機成長，並伺機回購股票，為股東提供價值。

I will now turn the call over to Elaine to discuss our financial results in more detail. Elaine?

我現在將把電話轉給伊萊恩，更詳細地討論我們的財務表現。伊萊恩？

Thank you, Mark, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. I will review our financial performance in the second quarter of fiscal 2025. Our consolidated net sales were $515.2 million compared to $587.6 million in the second quarter of fiscal '24. Net sales in our technology business were $493.3 million versus $571.9 million in the same period of the prior year.

謝謝馬克，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。我將回顧我們 2025 財年第二季的財務表現。我們的綜合淨銷售額為 5.152 億美元，而 2024 財年第二季為 5.876 億美元。我們技術業務的淨銷售額為 4.933 億美元，而去年同期為 5.719 億美元。

Gross billings declined at a more modest pace of 5.6%, evidencing the effect of a larger proportion of netted down revenues in the quarter. The year-over-year declines primarily reflects lower product sales in the technology business. Product sales faced a tough comparison against the prior year as results in the second quarter of the last year saw outsized benefits from an easing supply chain, particularly in networking products.

總收入以 5.6% 的較溫和速度下降，證明了本季較大比例淨收入下降的影響。年比下降主要反映了技術業務產品銷售的下降。產品銷售與前一年相比面臨嚴峻的挑戰，因為去年第二季的業績因供應鏈的寬鬆而帶來了巨大的好處，特別是在網路產品方面。

We saw lower demand from enterprise customers as they continue to digest products we delivered as part of last year's supply chain flush, as Mark mentioned. Service revenue grew 46% in the quarter, driven by both professional and managed services. Professional services benefited from our acquisition of Bailiwick as well as an increase in organic demand, while our managed services business saw continued momentum in enhanced maintenance support and cloud services.

正如馬克所提到的，我們看到企業客戶的需求下降，因為他們繼續消化我們作為去年供應鏈刷新的一部分提供的產品。在專業服務和託管服務的推動下，本季服務收入成長了 46%。專業服務受益於我們對 Bailiwick 的收購以及有機需求的成長，而我們的託管服務業務在增強的維護支援和雲端服務方面看到了持續的勢頭。

Shifting to our customer verticals. Sales within our technology business remained broad-based. Telecom, media and entertainment and technology, our two largest verticals represented 25% and 18%, respectively, of our technology business net sales on a trailing 12-month basis. SLED, Healthcare and Financial Services accounted for 15%, 13% and 9%, respectively, with the remaining 20% divided among other end markets.

轉向我們的客戶垂直領域。我們技術業務的銷售仍然基礎廣泛。電信、媒體、娛樂和科技是我們最大的兩個垂直產業，過去 12 個月分別占我們科技業務淨銷售額的 25% 和 18%。SLED、醫療保健和金融服務分別佔15%、13%和9%，其餘20%則分佈在其他終端市場。

Financing segment net sales were $21.9 million, up from $15.7 million in the prior year quarter, primarily due to higher transactional gains as we benefited from several large transactions. Despite the decline in consolidated net sales, gross profit grew 2.5% year over year to $148 million, led by a solid quarter from our financing segment and supported by continued strength in services. As Mark noted, our revenue mix shifted towards third-party maintenance and subscription sales in the quarter, which are recognized on a net basis. This increased our gross margin, while negatively impacting product revenue.

融資部門淨銷售額為 2,190 萬美元，高於去年同期的 1,570 萬美元，主要是由於我們從幾筆大型交易中受益，交易收益增加。儘管綜合淨銷售額下降，毛利潤年增 2.5% 至 1.48 億美元，這得益於我們融資部門強勁的季度表現以及服務持續強勁的支持。正如馬克指出的那樣，我們的收入結構在本季度轉向第三方維護和訂閱銷售，這些收入按淨額確認。這增加了我們的毛利率，同時對產品收入產生了負面影響。

Product gross margin from the technology business expanded 200 basis points, contributing to a consolidated gross margin of 28.7%, up from 24.6% in the prior year. Professional services gross margin remained consistent at 41.3%, while managed services gross margin declined to 29.5% from 31.1% due to higher third-party costs. Consolidated operating expenses of $105.3 million rose 5.8% year over year, primarily due to increased headcount as a result of the Bailiwick and PEAK Resources acquisitions as well as increases in acquisition-related expenses.

科技業務的產品毛利率擴大了 200 個基點，綜合毛利率達到 28.7%，高於去年的 24.6%。專業服務毛利率維持在 41.3% 不變，而由於第三方成本上升，託管服務毛利率從 31.1% 下降至 29.5%。綜合營運費用為 1.053 億美元，年增 5.8%，主要是由於收購 Bailiwick 和 PEAK Resources 導致員工人數增加以及收購相關費用的增加。

At the end of the quarter, our headcount was 2,323, up 446 from a year ago, including 441 employees from our acquisition of Bailiwick and 24 from our acquisition of PEAK Resources. Other income increased to $600,000 as higher interest income of $2.4 million was offset by foreign exchange losses of $1.8 million.

截至本季末，我們的員工人數為 2,323 人，比去年同期增加 446 人，其中收購 Bailiwick 員工 441 人，收購 PEAK Resources 員工 24 人。其他收入增加至 60 萬美元，因為 240 萬美元的利息收入增加被 180 萬美元的外匯損失所抵消。

Operating income decreased 4.8% to $42.7 million and earnings before taxes decreased 3.7% to $43.3 million. Our effective tax rate was 27.7%, similar to 27.4% a year ago. Consolidated net earnings were $31.3 million or $1.17 per share, representing a decrease of 4.1% from the prior year quarter.

營業收入下降 4.8% 至 4,270 萬美元，稅前利潤下降 3.7% 至 4,330 萬美元。我們的有效稅率為 27.7%，與一年前的 27.4% 相似。合併淨利為 3,130 萬美元，即每股 1.17 美元，比去年同期下降 4.1%。

Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share decreased 2.9% to $1.36. Our diluted share count at the end of the quarter was 26.7 million, unchanged from the prior year. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA totaled $52.1 million, down from $53.6 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2024.

非 GAAP 攤薄每股收益下降 2.9% 至 1.36 美元。本季末我們的稀釋後股票數量為 2,670 萬股，與上年持平。合併調整後 EBITDA 總計 5,210 萬美元，低於 2024 財年第二季的 5,360 萬美元。

Moving to our consolidated results for the six months ended September 30, 2024. Consolidated net sales were $1.06 billion compared to $1.16 billion in the prior year. The increase in netted down revenues was responsible for about half of the decrease in the net sales on a year-to-date basis.

我們來看看截至 2024 年 9 月 30 日止六個月的綜合表現。合併淨銷售額為 10.6 億美元，前一年為 11.6 億美元。淨銷售額下降約一半是由淨收入下降造成的。

Technology business net sales were $1.03 billion for the first six months of fiscal 2025, down from $1.14 billion in the same period last year. Gross billings in the Technology segment declined 3.3% to $1.64 billion. Consolidated gross profit was $282.5 million, below the $286.6 million reported in the first half of fiscal 2024. Consolidated gross margin increased 200 basis points to 26.7%, led by a favorable mix in the product segment and increased services revenue.

2025 財年前六個月，科技業務淨銷售額為 10.3 億美元，低於去年同期的 11.4 億美元。技術部門的總營收下降 3.3%，至 16.4 億美元。綜合毛利為 2.825 億美元，低於 2024 財年上半年報告的 2.866 億美元。由於產品領域的有利組合和服務收入的增加，綜合毛利率增加了 200 個基點，達到 26.7%。

Consolidated net earnings were $58.6 million or $2.19 per diluted share compared to $66.5 million or $2.49 per diluted share. Non-GAAP earnings per share were $2.50 versus $2.81 in the comparable period last year. Adjusted EBITDA was $95.3 million, down from $107.4 million.

合併淨利潤為 5,860 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 2.19 美元，而同期淨利潤為 6,650 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 2.49 美元。非 GAAP 每股收益為 2.50 美元，去年同期為 2.81 美元。調整後 EBITDA 為 9,530 萬美元，低於 1.074 億美元。

Taking a look at our balance sheet. Cash and cash equivalents totaled $187.5 million at the end of the quarter compared to $253 million at March 31, 2024. The decline reflects working capital needs, the Bailiwick acquisition and the repurchase of common stock. Operating cash flow for the first half of the year was $75.5 million compared to $10.3 million in the last year.

看看我們的資產負債表。截至本季末，現金及現金等價物總額為 1.875 億美元，而截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日為 2.53 億美元。這一下降反映了營運資金需求、Bailiwick 收購和普通股回購。上半年營運現金流為 7,550 萬美元，去年同期為 1,030 萬美元。

We ended the quarter with $93.9 million in inventory, down from $139.7 million at the end of fiscal 2024. Inventory turns were 12 days, down from 14 days in the prior sequential quarter and 29 days in the prior year. This improvement helped reduce our cash conversion cycle to 32 days compared to 51 days in the prior year.

截至本季末，我們的庫存為 9,390 萬美元，低於 2024 財年末的 1.397 億美元。庫存週轉時間為 12 天，低於上一季的 14 天和去年的 29 天。這項改進幫助我們將現金週轉週期從去年的 51 天縮短至 32 天。

During the first half of the fiscal year, we repurchased 250,234 shares under our repurchase plan at a cost of $19.8 million. It's important to note for modeling purposes, our acquisition of Bailiwick will primarily contribute to professional services revenue, not product sales, and will also increase acquisition-related amortization expense for the second half of the fiscal year.

在本財年上半年，我們根據回購計畫回購了 250,234 股股票，成本為 1,980 萬美元。出於建模目的，值得注意的是，我們對 Bailiwick 的收購將主要貢獻專業服務收入，而不是產品銷售，並且還將增加本財年下半年與收購相關的攤銷費用。

As a result, we expect the bottom line contribution on a GAAP basis to be minimal for this initial period. Overall, we remain committed to executing on our core priorities, investing in organic growth initiatives, expanding through accretive acquisitions and delivering shareholder returns through our repurchase program.

因此，我們預期初始階段以公認會計準則計算的淨利貢獻將很小。總體而言，我們仍然致力於執行我們的核心優先事項，投資於有機成長計劃，透過增值收購進行擴張，並透過我們的回購計劃為股東帶來回報。

With that, I will turn the call back over to Mark. Mark?

這樣，我會將電話轉回馬克。標記？

Thank you, Elaine. We are encouraged by the growth that we are experiencing in our services segment, including our managed service bookings, which bodes well for longer-term growth, profitability and visibility of the business. Our future investments will continue to be targeted towards faster-growing markets, including AI, security and related software and services. Some of these solutions are still in the early stages with exciting growth opportunities ahead.

謝謝你，伊萊恩。我們對服務領域（包括託管服務預訂）的成長感到鼓舞，這預示著業務的長期成長、獲利能力和知名度。我們未來的投資將繼續瞄準成長更快的市場，包括人工智慧、安全以及相關軟體和服務。其中一些解決方案仍處於早期階段，未來存在令人興奮的成長機會。

Now turning to our fiscal 2025 financial outlook. Overall, for the year, we expect positive comparisons for sales and earnings. Based upon first half results, we are modifying our 2025 guidance to adjusted EBITDA in the range of $195 million to $205 million. We are also tightening our guidance range for net sales to be similar to last fiscal year, which reflects the difficult compare we experienced for product sales, higher gross to net as the industry transitions and economic uncertainty.

現在轉向我們的 2025 財年財務展望。總體而言，我們預計今年的銷售額和收益將出現正面的比較。根據上半年業績，我們正在修改 2025 年指導，調整後 EBITDA 範圍為 1.95 億美元至 2.05 億美元。我們也將淨銷售額的指導範圍收緊，使其與上一財年相似，這反映了我們在產品銷售方面經歷的艱難比較、隨著行業轉型和經濟不確定性而導致的總淨銷售額更高。

Our broadening portfolio of IT products, solutions and services, coupled with our solid backlog and healthy balance sheet will enable us to continue to deploy capital with discipline, focused on delivering long-term sustainable profitable growth, creating value for our shareholders.

我們不斷擴大的IT 產品、解決方案和服務組合，加上我們堅實的積壓訂單和健康的資產負債表，將使我們能夠繼續嚴格地部署資本，專注於實現長期可持續的盈利增長，為股東創造價值。

Operator, let's open the line for questions.

接線員，讓我們打開提問線。

(Operator Instructions) Greg Burns, Sidoti & Company.

（操作員說明）Greg Burns，Sidoti & Company。

Just in terms of the product sale demand or product demand you saw in the quarter, the technology flush that you mentioned last year, it seems like maybe some of your technology partners had already moved past that and maybe this is like a delayed impact on your business. I'm just trying to get a sense of like where we are in terms of that headwind, what your sense is? Is this like a one quarter issue that we move past in the second half? What are you seeing in terms of that impact on demand and maybe just the broader macro environment in terms of enterprise spending?

就您在本季看到的產品銷售需求或產品需求而言，您去年提到的技術潮，看起來也許您的一些技術合作夥伴已經超越了這一點，也許這就像對您的延遲影響商業。我只是想了解我們在逆風方面的處境，你的感覺是什麼？這就像我們在下半年就過去的四分之一問題嗎？您對需求的影響以及企業支出方面更廣泛的宏觀環境有何看法？

Yes. Greg, it's Mark. So a couple of different things. There's still a lot of economic uncertainty going on. The election was one thing, right? If you look at the product or hardware sales that you're talking about, they were definitely softer than expected, and that's been seen kind of across the entire IT market. There were a couple of things that we knew going into this quarter.

是的。格雷格，是馬克。所以有一些不同的事情。經濟方面仍存在著許多不確定性。選舉是一回事，對吧？如果你看看你所談論的產品或硬體銷售，它們肯定比預期要疲軟，整個 IT 市場都出現了這種情況。本季我們知道了一些事情。

One, we knew we had a really tough compare. If you remember, our product sales were up over 23% in Q2 last year and up 26% in the first half last year. So we kind of knew we had the tough compare. The other thing that came into play besides the softer demand on hardware saw a little bit of a pause, if you will, or delay in the enterprise segment. So we think some of that is -- those customers consuming technology. The good news is we didn't lose them. I also have a personal belief that I think AI right now is a little bit of a headwind in that space where a lot of customers are evaluating what to do but haven't made decisions.

第一，我們知道我們的比較非常困難。如果你還記得的話，去年第二季我們的產品銷售額成長了 23% 以上，去年上半年成長了 26%。所以我們知道我們面臨著艱難的比較。除了對硬體的需求疲軟之外，另一件起作用的事情是企業細分市場出現了一些暫停（如果你願意的話）或延遲。所以我們認為其中一些是——那些消費科技的客戶。好消息是我們沒有失去他們。我個人也相信，我認為人工智慧現在在這個領域有點逆風，因為很多客戶正在評估該做什麼，但還沒有做出決定。

And then the last thing related to that, that really was outside our norm, if you will, was the gross to net or netted down revenues on those product sales, which was a difference of about 940 basis points. And that's about rough numbers, about $60 million of product sales difference, Greg. So those would be the different factors for the quarter.

與此相關的最後一件事，如果你願意的話，確實超出了我們的標準，那就是這些產品銷售的總收入與淨收入或淨收入之比，差異約為 940 個基點。這只是粗略的數字，大約有 6000 萬美元的產品銷售額差異，Greg。因此，這些將是本季的不同因素。

Okay. When we look at just the Bailiwick acquisition, how much revenue is that going to contribute for the updated guidance for revenue this year? And maybe if you could just talk about their growth rate and margin profile relative to your own?

好的。當我們只考慮 Bailiwick 收購時，它將為今年更新的收入指引貢獻多少收入？也許您可以談談他們相對於您自己的成長率和利潤狀況？

Yes. So I'll start with the margin profile. The margin profile is in line with ePlus. It's in the range, if you will. It was immaterial in Q2. Looking at the second half, you're looking at approximately $85 million in terms of towards the guidance. Here's what I'd tell you that they bring that we're excited. One is it expands our offerings in the core to edge space.

是的。所以我將從保證金概況開始。保證金狀況與 ePlus 一致。如果你願意的話，它在範圍內。這在第二季並不重要。看看下半年，您會看到大約 8500 萬美元的指導費用。這是我要告訴你的，他們帶來的讓我們感到興奮。一是它將我們的產品從核心擴展到邊緣空間。

And what that means? We're able to go back to our customers in terms of how they communicate data between the stores and the corporate offices. And a lot of companies are trying to push more things out to the edge and closer to the end user. They've got some great enterprise customers that we think we can cross-sell and upsell over time.

這意味著什麼？我們能夠向客戶回饋他們如何在商店和公司辦公室之間傳遞資料。許多公司正在嘗試將更多的東西推向邊緣並更接近最終用戶。他們擁有一些優秀的企業客戶，我們認為隨著時間的推移，我們可以對他們進行交叉銷售和追加銷售。

And also as part of our strategy, it expands our, I'll say, our services and solutions offerings that we can take to market. The one thing I'd put as a little bit of a caveat, Greg, is like any acquisition, it normally takes time for it's early innings on this for them to adjust and get acclimated to ePlus and vice versa.

作為我們策略的一部分，它擴展了我們可以推向市場的服務和解決方案。格雷格，我要提醒的是，就像任何收購一樣，在早期階段，他們通常需要時間來調整並適應 ePlus，反之亦然。

Okay. And then the organic professional services growth this quarter?

好的。那麼本季專業服務的有機成長呢？

I don't know off the top of my head. On professional services, I would say it's in the 6% to 8% range in terms of organic. The rest was Bailiwick. On the annuity services, the managed services side, we were actually up 28% on that, Greg. And what's nice about that when we kind of look at it overall, the trailing 12 months gross billings were up actually 48%. So it bodes well for our business. So annuity continues to thrive. Professional services was in the 6% to 7% range in terms of organic and the rest was Bailiwick.

我根本不知道。在專業服務方面，我想說，就有機而言，它在 6% 到 8% 的範圍內。剩下的就是轄區。在年金服務、託管服務方面，我們實際上成長了 28%，格雷格。當我們整體來看時，我們會發現過去 12 個月的總帳單實際上增加了 48%。所以這對我們的業務來說是個好兆頭。因此年金繼續蓬勃發展。就有機而言，專業服務的比例在 6% 到 7% 之間，其餘的則是 Bailiwick。

Victor Santiago, Stifel.

維克多·聖地亞哥，斯蒂菲爾。

This is Victor on for Matt Sheerin. Maybe real quick just to follow up on the Bailiwick acquisition. How should we think about the OpEx impact kind of going forward? It looks like it ticked up a little bit in the quarter with just over a month of ownership. So hoping to get some color there.

我是維克多 (Victor) 替馬特謝林 (Matt Sheerin) 發言。也許很快就會跟進 Bailiwick 的收購。我們該如何看待未來營運支出的影響？看起來它在本季度略有上升，所有權只有一個多月。所以希望能在那裡得到一些顏色。

Yes. I would -- Victor, it's Mark. I would expect that to uptick in Q3 because you'll have the full quarter of headcount and as well as acquisition-related expenses. So I would expect that to uptick in Q3 for sure.

是的。我會－－維克多，我是馬克。我預計第三季這一數字將會上升，因為您將擁有整個季度的員工人數以及與收購相關的費用。因此，我預計第三季這一數字肯定會上升。

Got it. And then on gross margin, it looks like kind of backing into your guide, it looks like gross margin should take kind of a little bit of a sequential drop down over the next two quarters and should maybe -- it looks like you should see some sequential product sales as well. So is that kind of the right way to think about gross margin, maybe the impact of more hardware kind of weighing down what you saw in Q2 from services?

知道了。然後在毛利率方面，它看起來像是支持你的指南，看起來毛利率在接下來的兩個季度應該會出現一點點連續下降，也許——看起來你應該看到一些產品的連續銷售也是如此。那麼，這是考慮毛利率的正確方法嗎？

Yes. I think that's probably fair, Victor. If you look at the gross margins, we were up 410 basis points. So it was a pretty big swing, if you will, on this quarter. I would think it's safe to say based on the guidance that both product sales and services would be up in the second half and the margins would be a little bit tighter than what it was this quarter.

是的。我認為這可能是公平的，維克多。如果你看一下毛利率，你會發現我們成長了 410 個基點。所以，如果你願意的話，本季的波動相當大。我認為可以肯定地說，根據指導意見，產品銷售和服務將在下半年有所增長，而利潤率將比本季度收窄一些。

Maggie Nolan, William Blair.

瑪吉諾蘭、威廉布萊爾。

It's Kate Kronstein on for Maggie. Can you guys talk about what assumptions you've made around the macro and the updated outlook and just provide a little bit more detail there?

凱特·克朗斯坦 (Kate Kronstein) 替補瑪吉 (Maggie)。你們能否談談你們對宏觀和更新後的前景所做的假設，並提供更多細節？

Okay. Kate, it's Mark here. So I would think macro, we'd expect some hardware challenges next quarter, meaning Q3, and then it would expect it to pick up. The other thing is we -- for our third quarter, we had a tough compare for our finance. So I'm trying to walk through both the quarter and the year.

好的。凱特，我是馬克。因此，我認為宏觀上，我們預計下個季度（即第三季）會出現一些硬體挑戰，然後預計情況會有所改善。另一件事是，在第三季度，我們對財務狀況進行了艱難的比較。所以我試著回顧季度和年度。

The wildcard is the gross to net, which had a big effect this quarter. I would think when you think about some of the things as it relates to election and stuff, I think it's a little bit early on that in terms of the tariffs and how that may affect things. In the past, we've been able to pass that on to customers. Interest rates, if they're going to be affected or not, could improve buying power and improve growth, if you will.

通配符是毛淨值，這對本季產生了很大影響。我認為，當你考慮到與選舉等相關的一些事情時，我認為就關稅及其可能如何影響事情而言，現在還為時過早。過去，我們已經能夠將這一點傳遞給客戶。如果你願意的話，利率，無論是否會受到影響，都可以提高購買力並促進經濟成長。

Trying to think of what else as it relates to that. I think that's most of it, Kate. Anything I missed or -- yes. AI spending, right now, Kate, it's a headwind. It's an exciting time on AI. We continue to expand our capabilities in that space. We just built out an AI briefing center, but I think it's real early innings there. And over time, we'd expect to see some upside there.

試著思考與此相關的其他內容。我想這就是大部分，凱特。我錯過了什麼或者——是的。凱特，人工智慧支出現在是一個逆風。這是人工智慧激動人心的時刻。我們繼續擴大我們在該領域的能力。我們剛剛建立了一個人工智慧簡報中心，但我認為這還處於真正的早期階段。隨著時間的推移，我們預計會看到一些好處。

Okay. Great. And then just one more question for me. Is there any early client feedback that you've received on the Bailiwick acquisition that you can share?

好的。偉大的。然後還有一個問題想問我。您收到的有關 Bailiwick 收購的早期客戶回饋是否可以分享？

I personally haven't heard anything. I can tell you internally, everybody is excited about the team that we picked up. We feel like they're very -- at the management level, very professional. The offerings and the customer base that they have is pretty significant. So we feel good about everything that we've heard. There's been some deals that they've brought forward that Darren and Elaine have been involved in, in terms of working through the process. But so far, it's been nothing but positive related to Bailiwick.

我個人甚麼也沒聽到。我可以在內部告訴你，每個人都對我們挑選的團隊感到興奮。我們覺得他們在管理層面非常專業。他們擁有的產品和客戶群非常重要。所以我們對所聽到的一切都感覺良好。他們提出了一些達倫和伊萊恩參與的交易，以完成整個過程。但到目前為止，這與拜利威克區只是積極相關。

That concludes our Q&A session. I will now turn the conference back over to Mark Marron, CEO, for closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。現在我將把會議轉回執行長馬克馬龍 (Mark Marron) 致閉幕詞。

Thank you. Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. We appreciate you taking the time to listen to our earnings call. I'd like to make an early announcement to wish everybody a happy and healthy holiday season as well. Thanks for joining us, and we look forward to speaking with you in February. Enjoy the holidays.

謝謝。謝謝大家今天加入我們。我們感謝您抽空收聽我們的財報電話會議。我想提前宣布這項消息，祝大家節日快樂、身體健康。感謝您加入我們，我們期待在二月與您交談。享受假期。

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的加入。您現在可以斷開連線。