ePlus inc (PLUS) 2025 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the ePlus fourth quarter and full year 2025 earnings results conference call. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) And I would now like to introduce your host for today's conference, Mr. Kley Parkhurst, Senior Vice President. Sir, you may begin.

女士們、先生們，大家好。歡迎參加 ePlus 第四季和 2025 年全年收益業績電話會議。提醒一下，本次電話會議正在錄音。（操作員指示）現在，我想介紹今天會議的主持人，高級副總裁 Kley Parkhurst 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; Elaine Marion, CFO; and Erica Stoecker, General Counsel. 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.

感謝您今天加入我們。參加電話會議的有執行長兼總裁馬克·馬龍 (Mark Marron)、首席財務官伊萊恩·馬里恩 (Elaine Marion) 和總法律顧問埃里卡·斯托克 (Erica Stoecker)。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。

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 in other documents we may file with the SEC.

由於我們今天下午發布的收益報告和我們定期向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件（包括我們最近的 10-K 表年度報告、10-Q 表季度報告以及我們可能向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他文件）中詳細說明的某些風險和不確定性，實際和預期的未來結果可能會有重大差異。

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

任何前瞻性陳述僅代表陳述作出之日的觀點，本公司不承擔根據新資訊、未來事件或其他情況更新任何前瞻性陳述的責任。此外，我們將在電話會議中使用某些非 GAAP 指標，並且我們在收益報告中加入了 GAAP 財務對賬，該報告發佈在我們的網站 www.eplus.com 的投資者資訊部分。

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

現在我想把電話轉給馬克。標記？

Thank you, Kley. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining our fourth quarter and fiscal year 2025 earnings call. Our financial results continue to reflect the ongoing industry-wide shift towards ratable and subscription-based revenue models, which impacts how we recognize product revenue. In fiscal year 2025, we delivered higher gross profitability and margin expansion on lower net sales and gross billings. In our fourth quarter, operating metrics were strong with double-digit increases in gross profit, operating income, adjusted EBITDA and diluted earnings per share.

謝謝你，克萊。大家下午好，感謝大家參加我們的第四季和 2025 財年財年財報電話會議。我們的財務表現繼續反映出整個行業正在朝著按比例和基於訂閱的收入模式轉變，這影響著我們確認產品收入的方式。在 2025 財年，我們在較低的淨銷售額和總開票額的情況下實現了更高的毛獲利能力和利潤率擴張。在我們的第四季度，營運指標表現強勁，毛利、營業收入、調整後 EBITDA 和每股攤薄收益均達到兩位數成長。

We also saw continued improvement in our gross margin, which increased 270 basis points since fiscal year 2024. During the quarter, we believe sales were slightly impacted by business uncertainty surrounding the tariffs and government spending. With our strong focus on services-led solutions, continuing to build out our security and AI capabilities that are in high demand by our customers and holding the line on expenses, we believe we are well positioned for future growth. Q4 net sales declined 10.2% year-over-year, driven primarily by a reduction in product sales due in part to economic uncertainty as well as a tough compared to the prior year when Q4 last year benefited from supply chain easing of networking product orders.

我們的毛利率也持續改善，自 2024 財年以來增加了 270 個基點。我們認為，在本季度，銷售額受到關稅和政府支出相關的商業不確定性的輕微影響。我們高度重視服務主導的解決方案，繼續建立客戶高度需求的安全和人工智慧能力，並控制開支，我們相信我們已為未來的成長做好了準備。第四季淨銷售額年減 10.2%，主要原因是由於經濟不確定性導致產品銷售額下降，以及與上年相比情況艱難（去年第四季受益於網路產品訂單的供應鏈放鬆）。

Despite an increased gross to net adjustment caused by the industry-wide shift towards ratable and subscription-based revenue models, we saw strength in several areas. Gross profit rose by nearly 12% and gross margin expanded 580 basis points year-over-year to 29.3% in the fourth quarter due to a more profitable business mix between product and services and a higher proportion of netted down revenue. Gross profit increased and margin expanded in the full year for the same reasons. Our services revenue continued its rapid growth, increasing 33% in the quarter and 37% for the year.

儘管由於整個行業向按比例和基於訂閱的收入模式轉變，導致總額與淨額的調整有所增加，但我們仍看到了幾個領域的實力。由於產品和服務之間的業務組合利潤更高以及淨收入比例更高，第四季度毛利潤增長近 12%，毛利率同比擴大 580 個基點至 29.3%。由於同樣的原因，全年毛利增加，利潤率擴大。我們的服務收入持續快速成長，本季成長33%，全年成長37%。

This is a key component of our trusted adviser status to our customers, which deepens the relationship and results in long-term customer loyalty. Our managed services continue to grow nicely, up 16.6% for the quarter and 24.6% in the year, which provides predictable long-term revenue and profitability. Let me take a moment to discuss our long-term strategy, which is centered on delivering solutions across 4 key growth focus areas: AI, cloud, security and networking, of which we expect to drive related consultative, professional and managed services growth.

這是我們作為客戶值得信賴的顧問地位的關鍵組成部分，它加深了我們之間的關係並帶來了長期的客戶忠誠度。我們的託管服務持續保持良好成長，本季成長 16.6%，全年成長 24.6%，這提供了可預測的長期收入和獲利能力。讓我花點時間討論一下我們的長期策略，該策略以在四個關鍵成長重點領域提供解決方案為中心：人工智慧、雲端、安全性和網絡，我們希望推動相關的諮詢、專業和託管服務的成長。

We are making strategic investments in the most promising opportunities, both organic and inorganic to expand our capabilities and meet evolving customer needs. AI adoption continues to be a significant potential business driver, and we are particularly well positioned to capitalize on its transformative growth across our expanding suite of products. Throughout the past year, we have discussed the positive reception from our customers of our AI Ignite workshops and Envisioning sessions.

我們正在對最有前景的機會進行策略性投資，包括有機和無機投資，以擴大我們的能力並滿足不斷變化的客戶需求。人工智慧的應用仍然是一個重要的潛在業務驅動力，我們特別適合利用其在我們不斷擴展的產品套件中的變革性成長。在過去的一年裡，我們討論了客戶對我們的 AI Ignite 研討會和 Envisioning 會議的正面回應。

These are designed to share the latest AI trends and insights and demonstrate how this revolutionary technology can empower our customers' businesses. We combine these AI Ignite offerings with our AI Experience Center and our Generative AI Accelerator solution that helps customers navigate and rapidly test use cases in a secure private instance. We also believe ePlus is the only NVIDIA partner in North America that has achieved both the NVIDIA DGX ready SuperPOD specialization and DGX ready Managed Service Provider specializations. This achievement demonstrates our engineering expertise for enterprise-grade AI infrastructure deployments and capabilities to provide end-to-end life cycle services from initial design through implementation and management of AI workloads.

這些旨在分享最新的人工智慧趨勢和見解，並展示這項革命性的技術如何增強我們客戶的業務。我們將這些 AI Ignite 產品與我們的 AI 體驗中心和生成式 AI 加速器解決方案結合，幫助客戶在安全的私有實例中導航和快速測試用例。我們也相信，ePlus 是北美唯一同時獲得 NVIDIA DGX 就緒 SuperPOD 專業化和 DGX 就緒託管服務提供者專業化的 NVIDIA 合作夥伴。這項成就證明了我們在企業級人工智慧基礎設施部署方面的工程專業知識，以及從初始設計到人工智慧工作負載的實施和管理提供端到端生命週期服務的能力。

And finally, as the capabilities and benefits of AI become more clear, we have stepped up our AI investments to meet our internal business needs as well. We have seen how AI can support our customers better, automate some internal processes and provide real-time information for our sales teams to leverage and provide value to their customers. Security remains a standout for ePlus. On a trailing 12-month basis, it now represents 22% of gross billings, underscoring our success in aligning with enterprise priorities around digital risk mitigation and will only be more relevant as AI becomes more prevalent in the market.

最後，隨著人工智慧的能力和優勢變得越來越清晰，我們也增加了對人工智慧的投資，以滿足我們的內部業務需求。我們已經看到人工智慧如何更好地支援我們的客戶，自動化一些內部流程，並為我們的銷售團隊提供即時訊息，以便他們利用這些資訊為他們的客戶提供價值。安全性仍然是 ePlus 的一大亮點。在過去 12 個月中，它現在佔總營業額的 22%，這突顯了我們在與企業在數位風險緩解方面的優先事項保持一致方面取得的成功，並且隨著人工智慧在市場上變得越來越普遍，它將變得更加重要。

In conclusion, we have a very strong balance sheet, which gives us the opportunity to make strategic investments, both organically and through acquisitions. We exited the year with a record cash position of approximately $389 million. This financial flexibility provides a solid foundation as we navigate macroeconomic uncertainty and supports our growth initiatives. As always, we remain committed to disciplined capital allocation and driving long-term shareholder value.

總之，我們的資產負債表非常強勁，這使我們有機會進行策略性投資，包括內部投資和收購投資。我們以創紀錄的約 3.89 億美元的現金狀況結束了這一財年。這種財務靈活性為我們應對宏觀經濟不確定性提供了堅實的基礎，並支持了我們的成長計畫。像往常一樣，我們仍然致力於嚴格的資本配置和推動長期股東價值。

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

現在我將把電話轉給 Elaine，讓她更詳細地討論我們的財務表現。

Thank you, Mark, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. I will provide additional details about our financial performance in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 and review our full fiscal year results, which ended March 31, 2025. Consolidated net sales in the fiscal 2025 fourth quarter were $498.1 million, down from $554.5 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024. And our consolidated adjusted EBITDA was $43.8 million, up from $36.8 million in the prior year, which exceeded our expectations as we captured increased gross profit from the sales of product.

謝謝馬克，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。我將提供有關我們 2025 財年第四季度財務業績的更多詳細信息，並回顧截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日的整個財年業績。2025 財年第四季的綜合淨銷售額為 4.981 億美元，低於 2024 財年第四季的 5.545 億美元。我們的合併調整後 EBITDA 為 4,380 萬美元，高於上年的 3,680 萬美元，這超出了我們的預期，因為我們從產品銷售中獲得了更高的毛利。

Technology business net sales declined 10.4% year-over-year to $487.2 million, reflecting lower product sales, which continue to be impacted by the industry-wide shift towards ratable and subscription-based services, resulting in more netted down revenues. Product sales also faced a tough year-over-year comparison as the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 benefited from elevated deliveries of networking products. Partially offsetting the decline in product sales with strong demand for our services offerings, which we have strategically emphasized and grown.

科技業務淨銷售額年減 10.4% 至 4.872 億美元，反映出產品銷售額下降，這繼續受到整個行業向按比例和訂閱服務轉變的影響，導致淨收入增加。由於 2024 財年第四季受惠於網路產品交付量的增加，產品銷售也面臨同比困難。我們策略性地強調並發展了服務產品，但服務需求強勁，這部分抵消了產品銷售額的下滑。

ePlus' services-led approach is evident in our results as our service revenues increased 33% year-over-year. Professional services revenues were up 48% as the segment continues to benefit from the Bailiwick acquisition, while revenues for our managed services rose 17%, led by sustained growth in enhanced maintenance support, or EMS, and cloud-managed services. Managed services bookings remain strong, underscoring our confidence in the segment.

ePlus 以服務為主導的方法在我們的業績中得到了充分體現，我們的服務收入同比增長了 33%。專業服務收入成長 48%，因為該部門繼續受益於 Bailiwick 收購，而我們的託管服務收入成長 17%，這主要得益於增強維護支援 (EMS) 和雲端託管服務的持續成長。託管服務預訂量依然強勁，凸顯了我們對該領域的信心。

Technology business gross billings declined 5.4% in the quarter due to softer demand from enterprise customers as well as a challenging comparable in the prior period. Telecom, Media & Entertainment and SLED were our 2 largest customer end markets, accounting for 23% and 17% of technology business net sales on a trailing 12-month basis. Technology, health care and financial services accounted for 15%, 14% and 9%, respectively, with the remaining 22% from other end markets. In our financing segment, net sales rose 4.9% to $10.9 million, primarily due to higher transaction gains and portfolio earnings.

由於企業客戶需求疲軟以及上一季的可比性挑戰，科技業務總營業額在本季下降了 5.4%。電信、媒體和娛樂以及 SLED 是我們最大的兩個客戶終端市場，佔過去 12 個月技術業務淨銷售額的 23% 和 17%。科技、醫療保健和金融服務分別佔 15%、14% 和 9%，其餘 22% 來自其他終端市場。在我們的融資部門，淨銷售額成長 4.9% 至 1,090 萬美元，主要原因是交易收益和投資組合收益增加。

Fourth quarter 2025 consolidated gross profit increased 11.8% to $145.8 million, representing a gross margin of 29.3%, comparing favorably to gross profit of $130.3 million and gross margin of 23.5% in the prior year fourth quarter. The increase in gross margin was led by our technology business, which saw product margin expand from 19.3% to 26.6%, reflecting more profitable mix and a larger proportion of sales of product that were recognized on a net basis as well as additional gross profit from our services business.

2025 年第四季綜合毛利潤成長 11.8% 至 1.458 億美元，毛利率為 29.3%，較去年同期的 1.303 億美元毛利和 23.5% 毛利率有所提高。毛利率的成長主要得益於我們的技術業務，其產品利潤率從 19.3% 擴大至 26.6%，這反映了盈利組合的增加、以淨額確認的產品銷售額佔比的增加以及服務業務帶來的額外毛利潤。

In our services business, professional services gross margin was 35.9% versus 50% in the comparable prior year period. Bailiwick, which we acquired in August of 2024, has lower professional services gross margin due to a higher concentration of third-party costs in the business model, contributing to the year-over-year decline. Managed services gross margin of 29.1% declined modestly from the 30.5% reported in the prior year due to an expanded mix of services provided. Fourth quarter 2025 operating expenses of $111 million increased 9.6% from the prior year quarter as we recognized costs related to increased headcount from the Bailiwick acquisition. Our headcount at the end of the quarter increased to 2,199 from 1,900 a year ago, reflecting an increase of 299 employees, of which 272 were customer-facing.

在我們的服務業務中，專業服務毛利率為 35.9%，而去年同期為 50%。我們於 2024 年 8 月收購的 Bailiwick 由於商業模式中第三方成本集中度較高，專業服務毛利率較低，導致其同比下降。由於所提供服務組合的擴大，託管服務毛利率為 29.1%，較前一年的 30.5% 略有下降。2025 年第四季的營運費用為 1.11 億美元，較去年同期成長 9.6%，因為我們確認了與 Bailiwick 收購增加員工人數相關的成本。本季末，我們的員工人數從一年前的 1,900 人增加到 2,199 人，增加了 299 名員工，其中 272 名是面向客戶的。

Sequentially, our headcount decreased from 2,291 at December 31, 2024. Benefiting from our strong margin performance, consolidated operating income and earnings before taxes rose 19.6% and 14.9%, respectively. Other income totaled $1.1 million, driven by interest income of $2 million, partially offset by foreign exchange losses. Our effective tax rate in the fourth quarter was 29.7%, slightly higher than the 29.5% reported in the prior year quarter. Consolidated net earnings were up 14.6% to $25.2 million or $0.95 per diluted share versus net income of $22 million or $0.82 per diluted share a year ago.

截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日，我們的員工人數已從 2,291 人減少。受惠於我們強勁的利潤率表現，合併營業收入和稅前利潤分別成長 19.6% 和 14.9%。其他收入總計 110 萬美元，其中利息收入 200 萬美元，但被外匯損失部分抵銷。我們第四季的有效稅率為 29.7%，略高於去年同期的 29.5%。合併淨收益成長 14.6% 至 2,520 萬美元或每股攤薄收益 0.95 美元，去年同期淨收益為 2,200 萬美元或每股攤薄收益 0.82 美元。

Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share was $1.11, representing an increase of 19.4% year-over-year and weighted average diluted share count decreased slightly from the prior year's fourth quarter. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA increased 19.1% to $43.8 million, with 97% of the increase from our technology business.

非公認會計準則稀釋每股收益為 1.11 美元，年增 19.4%，加權平均稀釋股數較去年同期第四季略有下降。合併調整後 EBITDA 成長 19.1% 至 4,380 萬美元，其中 97% 的成長來自我們的技術業務。

Moving on to our results for the full year of fiscal 2025. Consolidated net sales for the fiscal year were $2.07 billion, down from $2.23 billion in fiscal 2024. The decline was driven by a 13.7% decline in product sales, partially offset by 37.1% growth in services and strong performance in the financing segment. Technology business gross billings of $3.3 billion were down slightly year-over-year. Fiscal 2025 consolidated gross profit rose 3.3% to $569.1 million, led by growth in both the technology business and financing segment.

接下來是 2025 財年全年業績。本財年的綜合淨銷售額為 20.7 億美元，低於 2024 財年的 22.3 億美元。下降的原因是產品銷售額下降了 13.7%，但服務銷售額成長了 37.1%，融資部門的強勁表現部分抵消了下降。科技業務總營業額為 33 億美元，較去年同期略有下降。2025 財年綜合毛利成長 3.3% 至 5.691 億美元，主要得益於技術業務和融資部門的成長。

Gross margin expanded 270 basis points to 27.5%, reflecting favorable product mix, a larger proportion of netted down revenues and additional services revenue in the technology business.

毛利率擴大 270 個基點至 27.5%，反映出良好的產品組合、更大比例的淨收入以及技術業務的額外服務收入。

Operating income was $141.4 million versus $158.3 million a year ago. The decline was primarily a function of lower product sales and increased operating expenses, which rose 9% year-over-year due to the Bailiwick and PEAK acquisitions as well as continued investments in technology and customer-facing headcount. Our effective tax rate for the full year was 27.5% below the 28.1% reported in the prior year due to lower state taxes. Consolidated net earnings were $108 million or $4.05 per diluted share in fiscal 2025, this compares to $115.8 million or $4.33 per diluted share in the year ago period.

營業收入為 1.414 億美元，去年同期為 1.583 億美元。下降的主要原因是產品銷售額下降和營運費用增加，由於 Bailiwick 和 PEAK 的收購以及對技術和麵向客戶的員工數量的持續投資，營運費用同比增長 9%。由於州稅較低，我們全年有效稅率為 27.5%，低於前一年的 28.1%。2025 財年的綜合淨收益為 1.08 億美元或每股攤薄收益 4.05 美元，去年同期為 1.158 億美元或每股攤薄收益 4.33 美元。

Non-GAAP diluted EPS amounted to $4.67 per share, down from $4.92. Fiscal 2025 adjusted EBITDA decreased 6.4% to $178.2 million. Our balance sheet remains solid with assets over $1.8 billion, highlighted by our cash position of $389.4 million at the end of fiscal 2025, well above $253 million at the end of fiscal 2024, reflecting strong operating cash flows of $302.1 million compared to $248.4 million in fiscal 2024. As of March 31, 2025, our inventories were $120.4 million. While inventories were higher sequentially, they were below $139.7 million reported at the end of fiscal 2024.

非公認會計準則 (Non-GAAP) 稀釋每股收益為 4.67 美元，低於 4.92 美元。 2025 財年調整後息稅折舊攤提前利潤 (EBITDA) 下降 6.4% 至 1.782 億美元。我們的資產負債表依然穩健，資產超過 18 億美元，其中，2025 財年末的現金狀況為 3.894 億美元，遠高於 2024 財年末的 2.53 億美元，反映出強勁的經營現金流，為 3.021 億美元，而 2024 財年為 2.484 億美元。截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日，我們的庫存為 1.204 億美元。儘管庫存較上月增加，但仍低於 2024 財年末報告的 1.397 億美元。

Stockholders' equity was $977.6 million compared to $901.8 million at the end of fiscal 2024. During fiscal 2025, we repurchased more than 557,000 shares under our repurchase program, leaving 26.5 million shares outstanding at March 31, 2025. Our cash conversion cycle was 29 days compared to 46 days a year ago as inventory days outstanding declined from 23 days in fiscal 2024 to 14 days at the end of March 2025, highlighting a more normalized supply chain. Our strategy of focusing on high-growth areas and anticipating our customers' needs continues to position us well for the future. We remain focused on strategic capital allocation with an eye toward organic and inorganic investments in an effort to add geographies and increase our service offerings.

股東權益為 9.776 億美元，而 2024 財年末為 9.018 億美元。在 2025 財年，我們根據回購計畫回購了超過 557,000 股股票，截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日，流通股數為 2,650 萬股。我們的現金轉換週期為 29 天，而一年前為 46 天，因為庫存未清償天數從 2024 財年的 23 天下降到 2025 年 3 月底的 14 天，突顯了更規範的供應鏈。我們的策略專注於高成長領域並預測客戶的需求，這將繼續為我們的未來奠定良好的基礎。我們繼續專注於策略資本配置，著眼於有機和無機投資，以擴大地域範圍並增加我們的服務產品。

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

說完這些，我會把電話轉回給馬克。標記？

Thank you, Elaine. Our core business is solid, and our team is executing well. This is reflected in our financial results with solid gross profit growth and margin expansion. We continue to review our portfolio of products and services, identifying new sources of growth in our core markets. Our strong balance sheet provides us the opportunity to invest organically and make acquisitions when the right opportunity comes along.

謝謝你，伊萊恩。我們的核心業務穩固，我們的團隊表現良好。這反映在我們的財務表現上，即毛利穩健成長且利潤率擴大。我們繼續檢視我們的產品和服務組合，尋找核心市場的新成長源。我們強勁的資產負債表為我們提供了在合適的機會時進行有機投資和收購的機會。

As always, we will continue to take a balanced and disciplined approach to building our company and evolving our business model for the future.

像往常一樣，我們將繼續採取平衡、嚴謹的方式來建立我們的公司並改善我們未來的商業模式。

Moving next to a comment about guidance. We are cautiously optimistic as we head into fiscal year 2026 but want to be prudent when considering the entire year and the trends we are experiencing with regard to ratable and netted down revenue. Today, we are initiating fiscal year 2026 guidance for net sales growth of low single digits, while we expect gross profit and adjusted EBITDA to grow at mid-single digits over the prior fiscal year. This guidance assumes some level of impact from economic uncertainty but does not factor in recessionary conditions or other unexpected developments.

接下來是有關指導的評論。在進入 2026 財年之際，我們持謹慎樂觀的態度，但在考慮全年情況以及我們在應稅收入和淨收入方面所經歷的趨勢時，我們希望保持謹慎。今天，我們開始預期 2026 財年的淨銷售額成長率將達到低個位數，同時我們預期毛利和調整後的 EBITDA 將比上一財年實現中等個位數成長。該指南假設經濟不確定性會產生一定程度的影響，但並未考慮經濟衰退狀況或其他意外發展。

To sum up, our strategic pivot towards services, subscriptions and high-growth technology areas is gaining traction. We believe these foundations, combined with our financial strength and customer-first approach position us well to support our customers' evolving and growing business needs. We believe we are well positioned for the opportunities ahead and remain committed to delivering value for all of our shareholders.

總而言之，我們向服務、訂閱和高成長技術領域的策略重點正在獲得發展動力。我們相信，這些基礎加上我們的財務實力和客戶至上的理念，使我們能夠很好地支持客戶不斷發展和成長的業務需求。我們相信，我們已做好準備迎接未來的機遇，並將繼續致力於為所有股東創造價值。

Operator, please open the call for questions. Thank you.

接線員，請打開電話詢問。謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) Greg Burns, Sidoti & Company.

（操作員指示）Greg Burns，Sidoti & Company。

Where do you -- where is the demand environment currently? Like did you see any improvement throughout the quarter? Are you still seeing soft demand on the product side of the business. Can you just maybe give us an update on what you saw during the quarter, how it evolved and kind of where we are currently?

您認為目前的需求環境如何？整個季度你看到任何改善了嗎？產品方面的需求仍然疲軟嗎？您能否向我們介紹本季的情況、發展情況以及我們目前的狀況？

Greg, a couple of different things we're seeing in the market. We are seeing pickup in the data center, cloud and security space. That's not surprising. When you think about some of the AI initiatives that are going on, some of the things that folks have to think through is security in terms of governance and risk, data readiness and things along those lines.

格雷格，我們在市場上看到了一些不同的東西。我們看到資料中心、雲端和安全領域正在回升。這並不奇怪。當你考慮正在進行的一些人工智慧計畫時，人們必須考慮的一些事情是治理和風險的安全性、資料準備以及類似的事情。

They also make a lot of times the simple choices to move to the cloud. So we saw some nice pick up there. We did not see a pickup in networking year-over-year. So networking was down pretty big still for us.

他們也經常做出遷移到雲端的簡單選擇。所以我們在那裡看到了一些不錯的收穫。我們沒有看到網路年比有所回升。因此，對我們來說，網路癱瘓的情況仍然相當嚴重。

And then if I look at net sales just overall generically, what we kind of saw was, as we looked over the last couple of years, a few things. For this quarter, it was a big gross to net that affected our net sales. We had a tough compare, no excuses. We were up 12% last year. So that was another -- and we had a few customers that are digesting some of the supply chain, specifically in the networking space.

然後，如果我從總體上看淨銷售額，我們會看到，正如我們回顧過去幾年時發現的，有幾件事。就本季而言，毛利與淨利之間的巨大差異影響了我們的淨銷售額。我們進行了一次艱難的比較，沒有任何藉口。去年我們的成長了 12%。所以這是另一個——我們有幾個客戶正在消化部分供應鏈，特別是在網路領域。

We think they'll start to come back into play in the coming quarters. So overall, data center cloud, security, nice pickup. Networking still needs to improve.

我們認為它們將在未來幾季重新發揮作用。因此整體而言，資料中心雲端、安全性都很不錯。網路仍需改進。

Okay. And then when you look at the AI opportunity, most of the investment has been going into like the hyperscaler data center environment. Where does like enterprise AI adoption, enterprise investment stand? And do you think that -- I guess, maybe in your guidance for next year, does that contemplate any kind of acceleration in maybe AI demand?

好的。然後，當你看到人工智慧機會時，大部分投資都流向了超大規模資料中心環境。企業 AI 採用如何？企業投資情況如何？您是否認為—我想，也許在您對明年的指導中，是否考慮到了人工智慧需求的任何加速？

Yes. Not yet, Greg. Maybe towards the end of the year, beginning of next year. So you're right, most of the spend with NVIDIA and the bigger players is going towards the hyperscalers. What we're seeing is customers are taking advantage of some of our workshops and envisioning sessions.

是的。還沒有，格雷格。可能是今年年底，或是明年年初。所以你是對的，NVIDIA 和大型公司的大部分支出都流向了超大規模企業。我們看到的是，客戶正在利用我們的一些研討會和設想會議。

We've got a hosted proof of concept, basically a private GenAI chatbot that we -- that gives customers the ability to kind of test and play around with their data to come up with use cases. So we think a lot of that will be on the services side that will drive for us, which is a good thing. It's our most profitable business. And then we think the infrastructure stuff will start to pick up. We've made investments with the training of our sales teams. We also just got the NVIDIA SuperPOD specialization, which is their high-end computing. So over time, we think that infrastructure spend will pick up, but it will take a little bit of time.

我們有一個託管的概念驗證，基本上是一個私人的 GenAI 聊天機器人，它使客戶能夠測試和使用他們的資料來提出用例。因此，我們認為其中很大一部分將來自服務方面，這將為我們帶來推動力，這是一件好事。這是我們最賺錢的業務。然後我們認為基礎設施建設將開始好轉。我們對銷售團隊的培訓進行了投資。我們也剛剛獲得了 NVIDIA SuperPOD 專業化，這是他們的高階運算。因此，隨著時間的推移，我們認為基礎設施支出將會增加，但這需要一點時間。

And there are no further questions. So I will now turn the conference back over to Mr. Mark Marron for closing remarks.

除此之外沒有其他問題了。現在我將會議交還給馬克·馬龍先生，請他致閉幕詞。

Okay. Thanks, Abby. Thank you, everyone, for attending our Q4 and full year earnings call. I hope everybody gets to enjoy the long Memorial Day holiday, and we look forward to speaking with you again on our next earnings call. Take care and be safe.

好的。謝謝，艾比。感謝大家參加我們的第四季和全年財報電話會議。我希望大家都能享受漫長的陣亡將士紀念日假期，我們期待在下次財報電話會議上再次與您交談。小心並注意安全。

And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call, and we thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束，感謝你們的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。