ePlus inc (PLUS) 2026 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the ePlus first quarter 2026 earnings results conference call. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded.

女士們、先生們，大家好。歡迎參加 ePlus 2026 年第一季財報業績電話會議。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. Kley Parkhurst, Senior Vice President. Sir, you may begin.

我想向大家介紹今天會議的主持人，資深副總裁 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; Darren Raguell, COO and President of ePlus Technology; Elaine Marion, CFO; and Erica Stoker, General Counsel.

感謝您今天加入我們。參加電話會議的有執行長兼總裁 Mark Marron、ePlus Technology 營運長兼總裁 Darren Raguell、財務長 Elaine Marion 和總法律顧問 Erica Stoker。

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.

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 that 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.

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。

In addition, we will be using certain non-GAAP measurements 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，我們將在通話期間使用某些非 GAAP 衡量指標。我們在收益報告中加入了 GAAP 財務對帳表，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 Marron. Mark?

現在我想把電話轉給馬克馬龍。標記？

Thank you, Kley. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining our first quarter fiscal 2026 earnings call.

謝謝你，克萊。大家下午好，感謝您參加我們的 2026 財年第一季財報電話會議。

Our results for the first quarter highlight the strength of the business we have built even in an uncertain economic environment. We believe this is a testament to the need for our solutions and services and our diverse customer industry segments. In addition to our strong results, we advanced on some major strategic initiatives during the first quarter.

我們第一季的業績凸顯了即使在不確定的經濟環境下我們仍建立的業務實力。我們相信，這證明了我們的解決方案和服務以及多樣化客戶行業領域的需求。除了取得強勁業績外，我們在第一季也推進了一些重大策略舉措。

So before discussing our financial and operating results, I want to start with four key messages. First, the first-quarter results reflect the importance of our strategic initiatives over the past few years and the momentum across our business.

因此，在討論我們的財務和經營業績之前，我想先講四個關鍵資訊。首先，第一季的業績反映了我們過去幾年策略舉措的重要性以及整個業務的發展勢頭。

Second, with the sale of our domestic finance business, we are now a pure-play technology services provider. And we believe we are better positioned for long-term growth.

其次，隨著國內金融業務的出售，我們現在成為純粹的技術服務提供者。我們相信，我們已為長期成長做好了更充分的準備。

Third, our strategy remains centered around delivering integrated service-rich solutions with an emphasis on AI, security, data center, cloud, and networking. This approach, coupled with our agile operating model, allows us to rapidly respond to market needs and continue gaining market share while supporting our customers with the products and services they need.

第三，我們的策略仍然圍繞著提供整合的豐富服務解決方案，重點關注人工智慧、安全、資料中心、雲端和網路。這種方法加上我們敏捷的營運模式，使我們能夠快速回應市場需求並繼續獲得市場份額，同時為客戶提供所需的產品和服務。

And then fourth, our healthy balance sheet with the largest cash position in our history. It provides flexibility to support our growth initiatives as well as return capital to shareholders. To that end, we are initiating our first quarterly dividend and announcing a new stock buyback program.

第四，我們的資產負債表很健康，擁有史上最大的現金部位。它提供了靈活性來支持我們的成長計劃以及向股東返還資本。為此，我們將開始發放第一季股利並宣布新的股票回購計畫。

Now let's discuss the highlights of our financial results. The results I'm about to discuss include our continuing operations and exclude the domestic financing business, which we divested on June 30 and is accounted for as discontinued operations in the quarter and retrospectively in prior periods. Elaine will discuss this in more detail in her presentation.

現在讓我們討論一下我們的財務表現的亮點。我即將討論的結果包括我們的持續經營業務，但不包括國內融資業務，該業務我們於 6 月 30 日剝離，並在本季度和前期追溯核算為已終止經營業務。Elaine 將在她的演講中更詳細地討論這一點。

We are pleased with the strong start to the year with a solid first-quarter performance across key financial metrics. We delivered double-digit increases in net sales, gross profit, adjusted EBITDA, driven by our core solutions in data center, cloud, and security and the resumption of purchasing by some large enterprise customers. We achieved our highest ever quarterly results in gross billings and net sales, underscoring the strength and resilience of our strategy, execution, and business model.

我們對今年的強勁開局感到高興，第一季各項主要財務指標均表現穩健。由於我們在資料中心、雲端和安全性領域的核心解決方案以及一些大型企業客戶恢復購買，我們的淨銷售額、毛利和調整後 EBITDA 均實現了兩位數成長。我們在總營業額和淨銷售額方面取得了有史以來最高的季度業績，凸顯了我們的策略、執行和商業模式的實力和彈性。

Looking at some highlights for the quarter. Product sales rose nearly 14%, fueled by continued demand across AI, security, data center, and cloud. We continue to see a sustained industry-wide shift towards ratable and subscription-based models, as you heard me discuss on previous calls.

回顧本季的一些亮點。受人工智慧、安全、資料中心和雲端運算領域持續需求的推動，產品銷售額成長了近 14%。正如您在之前的電話會議中聽到我討論的那樣，我們繼續看到整個行業持續向可評估和基於訂閱的模式轉變。

Gross billings of security products and services remain to stand out with an increase of 24.4% year over year. Security now represents 22.8% of our gross billings on a trailing 12-month basis.

安防產品和服務總營業額持續保持亮點，較去年同期成長24.4%。在過去 12 個月中，安全業務占我們總營業額的 22.8%。

Networking showed sequential improvement, and we expect it to benefit from the broader demand environment driven by AI adoption. Our 2023 acquisition of SPG expanded our high-end networking capabilities to better serve customers investing in AI infrastructure.

網路顯示出連續的改善，我們預計它將受益於人工智慧應用推動的更廣泛的需求環境。我們於 2023 年收購了 SPG，擴展了我們的高端網路能力，以更好地服務投資 AI 基礎設施的客戶。

Service sales were up 49% as our investments in high-growth recurring offerings continue to gain traction as well as the acquisition of Bailiwick. Bailiwick is a great example of our acquisition strategy to broaden our solution set from core to edge, expand our customer base, and add enterprise-level service capabilities.

由於我們對高成長經常性產品的投資持續獲得關注以及對 Bailiwick 的收購，服務銷售額成長了 49%。Bailiwick 是我們收購策略的一個很好的例子，該策略旨在將我們的解決方案從核心擴展到邊緣，擴大我們的客戶群，並增加企業級服務能力。

Let me spend some time now discussing AI. AI continues to be a transformative force and demand driver, particularly for our core products of compute, cloud, security, networking, and our consultative services. Across industries, customers are using AI to enhance decision-making, automate tasks, and drive both growth and efficiency.

現在讓我花點時間討論一下人工智慧。人工智慧持續成為變革力量和需求驅動力，特別是對於我們的核心產品運算、雲端、安全性、網路和諮詢服務。各行各業的客戶都在使用人工智慧來增強決策能力、自動化任務並推動成長和效率。

We have and will continue to invest in AI resources, solutions, and services, including providing bespoke workshops and labs to help our customers find the right AI-driven business outcomes. Through our AI consultative engagements, we are helping our customers define the possible.

我們已經並將繼續投資於人工智慧資源、解決方案和服務，包括提供客製化研討會和實驗室，以幫助我們的客戶找到正確的人工智慧驅動的業務成果。透過我們的人工智慧諮詢活動，我們正在幫助客戶定義可能性。

We believe we are well positioned to provide the infrastructure hardware, software, and services our customers need to power AI use cases, similar to what we did for our customers around converged infrastructure years ago.

我們相信，我們有能力為客戶提供支援人工智慧用例所需的基礎設施硬體、軟體和服務，就像我們多年前在融合基礎設施方面為客戶提供的服務一樣。

The sale of our domestic finance business was a major milestone. It simplifies our business model, reduces earnings volatility from that business, and solidifies our position as a pure-play technology product and services company while providing the flexibility to enhance our solutions and services.

出售我們的國內金融業務是一個重要的里程碑。它簡化了我們的業務模式，降低了該業務的獲利波動，鞏固了我們作為純粹的技術產品和服務公司的地位，同時提供了增強我們的解決方案和服務的靈活性。

We are still able to provide financing and related offerings through a relationship with the buyer. So the sale effectively simplifies our overall pure-play technology business while allowing us to grow our offerings in a more capital-efficient manner.

我們仍然能夠透過與買家的關係提供融資和相關服務。因此，此次出售有效地簡化了我們的整體純技術業務，同時使我們能夠以更具資本效率的方式擴大我們的產品範圍。

Moving next to capital allocation, where we also made progress on our strategic initiatives. Our balance sheet remains strong, closing the quarter with $480 million in cash and cash equivalents, a record level for us. This financial stability, combined with the consistent free cash flow generation, enables us to invest in the business while also opportunistically returning capital to shareholders.

接下來是資本配置，我們的策略舉措也取得了進展。我們的資產負債表依然強勁，本季末現金和現金等價物為 4.8 億美元，創下歷史新高。這種財務穩定性，加上持續的自由現金流產生，使我們能夠投資於業務，同時也能抓住機會向股東回饋資本。

We will focus our resources on markets and segments where we have the greatest advantage, and we'll continue evaluating strategic acquisitions that align with our growth areas. We are looking to capitalize on the fast-growing segments of AI, data center, cloud, security, networking, and related services.

我們將把資源集中在我們最具優勢的市場和領域，並將繼續評估符合我們成長領域的策略性收購。我們希望利用人工智慧、資料中心、雲端、安全性、網路和相關服務等快速成長的領域。

With our strong cash position, we remain committed to driving shareholder value. To that end, we initiated our first-ever quarterly dividend of $0.25 per common share. The Board also approved a new share repurchase authorization of up to 1.5 million shares.

憑藉強大的現金狀況，我們將持續致力於提升股東價值。為此，我們首次派發每股 0.25 美元的季度股息。董事會也批准了最多 150 萬股的新股票回購授權。

We will continue to review our capital allocation strategy on a periodic basis with an eye towards organic and inorganic growth and enhancing shareholder returns with dividends and share repurchases, which we have opportunistically conducted for more than 20 years.

我們將繼續定期審查我們的資本配置策略，著眼於有機和無機增長，並透過股息和股票回購來提高股東回報，我們已經在 20 多年中抓住機會地進行了這些策略。

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

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。伊萊恩？

Thank you, Mark, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. I am pleased to review our performance in the first quarter of fiscal 2026.

謝謝馬克，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。我很高興回顧我們2026財年第一季的業績。

We had a strong start to fiscal 2026 with double-digit growth in net sales, gross profit, adjusted EBITDA, and diluted earnings per share in a fluid macroeconomic environment. We also achieved gross billings of $953 million, a high for ePlus, underscoring our ability to drive growth, both organically and through strategic acquisitions.

在動盪的宏觀經濟環境下，我們的 2026 財年開局強勁，淨銷售額、毛利、調整後 EBITDA 和每股攤薄收益均達到兩位數成長。我們還實現了 9.53 億美元的總營業額，這是 ePlus 的最高紀錄，凸顯了我們透過有機成長和策略性收購推動成長的能力。

On June 30, 2025, we completed the sale of our domestic financing business for cash proceeds of $180.1 million and recognized a post-closing receivable of $7.8 million and a contingent consideration asset of $13.5 million. Consequently, alongside the results of our continuing operations, we are retrospectively presenting the results of our domestic financing business as discontinued operations for the current period and all prior periods.

2025 年 6 月 30 日，我們完成了國內融資業務的出售，現金收益為 1.801 億美元，並確認了 780 萬美元的收盤後應收款和 1,350 萬美元的或有對價資產。因此，除了持續經營的業績外，我們還將國內融資業務的業績追溯為本期及所有前期的終止經營業務。

First-quarter consolidated net sales increased 19% to $637.3 million, led by strong performance in both our Product and Services segments with broad-based growth across all customer sizes.

第一季綜合淨銷售額成長 19%，達到 6.373 億美元，這得益於產品和服務部門的強勁表現，所有規模的客戶都實現了廣泛成長。

Product sales grew 13.9% to $521 million, driven by continued demand for our data center, cloud, and security offerings. Revenue also benefited from large purchases by certain enterprise customers that were project-specific as well as favorable product mix.

受資料中心、雲端和安全產品持續需求的推動，產品銷售額成長 13.9%，達到 5.21 億美元。收入也受益於某些企業客戶針對特定項目的大量採購以及有利的產品組合。

This dynamic benefited net sales while lowering gross margin. As Mark mentioned, security remains a key growth driver for ePlus, now representing approximately 22.8% of gross billings on a trailing 12-month basis, up from 20.4% in the prior year's comparable period.

這種動態有利於淨銷售額，但降低了毛利率。正如馬克所提到的，安全仍然是 ePlus 的主要成長動力，目前佔過去 12 個月總營業額的約 22.8%，高於去年同期的 20.4%。

Our Service segments continue to be standout performers with revenue up nearly 50% year over year. Growth in the Professional Services segment was led by the acquisition of Bailiwick, which occurred on August 19, 2024, while continued demand for enhanced maintenance services and cloud offerings drove managed services growth.

我們的服務部門持續表現出色，營收年增近 50%。專業服務部門的成長得益於 2024 年 8 月 19 日收購 Bailiwick，而對增強維護服務和雲端產品的持續需求推動了託管服務的成長。

Moving on to our customer verticals. Telecom, media, and entertainment; and SLED are our two largest end markets, representing 25% and 16% of net sales, respectively, on a trailing 12-month basis. Health care, technology, and financial services accounted for 14%, 13%, and 8%, respectively, with the remaining 24% divided among other verticals.

繼續討論我們的客戶垂直領域。電信、媒體和娛樂；以及 SLED 是我們最大的兩個終端市場，以過去 12 個月計算，分別佔淨銷售額的 25% 和 16%。醫療保健、科技和金融服務分別佔 14%、13% 和 8%，其餘 24% 則分佈在其他垂直行業。

Consolidated gross profit was $148.2 million, up 16.8% from the prior year quarter as higher product and services net sales were partially offset by lower margins. Gross margin was 23.3%, down 40 basis points from the first quarter of fiscal 2025, primarily driven by lower product margins of 20.4% compared to 21.6% a year ago.

綜合毛利潤為 1.482 億美元，較去年同期成長 16.8%，原因是產品和服務淨銷售額的增加被利潤率的下降部分抵消。毛利率為 23.3%，較 2025 財年第一季下降 40 個基點，主要原因是產品利潤率從去年同期的 21.6% 下降至 20.4%。

As I mentioned before, this reflects the outsized proportion of sales to certain enterprise customers at lower margins as well as a lower proportion of sales of third-party maintenance and subscriptions, which are recognized on a net basis. These factors resulted in a gross to net adjustment of 33.8% of gross billings compared to 34.6% in the prior year quarter.

正如我之前提到的，這反映了對某些利潤率較低的企業客戶的銷售額佔比過大，以及第三方維護和訂閱的銷售額佔比較低，這些銷售額是按淨額確認的。這些因素導致總營業額與淨營業額的調整為 33.8%，而去年同期為 34.6%。

Gross margin in our Professional Services segment was 39.2% compared to 41.5% a year ago due to the acquisition of Bailiwick, which generally provides services with a lower gross margin than core professional services offerings. Managed Services gross margin was 30.4% compared to 31.4% in the first quarter of fiscal 2025.

由於收購了 Bailiwick，我們專業服務部門的毛利率為 39.2%，而去年同期為 41.5%，而 Bailiwick 提供的服務毛利率通常低於核心專業服務產品。託管服務毛利率為 30.4%，而 2025 財年第一季為 31.4%。

Consolidated operating expenses increased 17.4% to $112 million, primarily reflecting acquisition-related amortization and increased headcount from the Bailiwick acquisition. Headcount increased by 275 employees from the first quarter of fiscal 2025, which includes the addition of 377 employees from Bailiwick at June 30 with some offset. On July 1, 2025, 45 employees moved with the sale of the financing business.

綜合營運費用成長 17.4% 至 1.12 億美元，主要反映了與收購相關的攤銷以及 Bailiwick 收購帶來的員工人數增加。與 2025 財年第一季相比，員工總數增加了 275 名，其中包括 6 月 30 日從 Bailiwick 增加的 377 名員工（有一些抵消）。2025年7月1日，隨著融資業務的出售，45名員工搬遷。

Operating income was $36.2 million and earnings before taxes were $36.8 million from continuing operations, representing increases of 15.1% and 11%, respectively, compared to the prior year period. Other income was $600,000, which includes $2.1 million in interest income, partially offset by $1.5 million of foreign currency translation losses.

營業收入為 3,620 萬美元，持續經營稅前利潤為 3,680 萬美元，分別較去年同期成長 15.1% 及 11%。其他收入為 60 萬美元，其中包括 210 萬美元的利息收入，部分被 150 萬美元的外幣折算損失所抵銷。

Our effective tax rate was 26.3%, below the 27.1%, as recast for continuing operations for the last year's period. Net earnings from continuing operations amounted to $27.1 million or $1.03 per diluted share, above the $24.2 million or $0.90 per diluted share in the year ago quarter, which was recast for discontinued operations.

我們的有效稅率為 26.3%，低於去年同期持續經營業務調整後的有效稅率 27.1%。持續經營淨利為 2,710 萬美元，即每股攤薄收益 1.03 美元，高於去年同期的 2,420 萬美元，即每股攤薄收益 0.90 美元（已根據已終止經營業務進行調整）。

Non-GAAP EPS from continuing operations was $1.26 versus $1.01 in the prior year, and weighted average diluted shares outstanding decreased slightly to 26.4 million. Discontinued operations earnings before tax was $14.6 million, up from $4.4 million in last year's quarter and comprised of earnings before tax of $10.2 million and a gain on the sale of the financing business before tax of $4.4 million. Diluted EPS from discontinued operations was $0.40 compared with $0.12 last year.

非公認會計準則持續經營每股收益為 1.26 美元，去年同期為 1.01 美元，加權平均稀釋流通股數略有減少，至 2,640 萬股。終止經營業務的稅前利潤為 1,460 萬美元，高於去年同期的 440 萬美元，其中包括稅前利潤 1,020 萬美元以及融資業務出售收益 440 萬美元的稅前利潤。已終止經營業務的稀釋每股收益為 0.40 美元，而去年同期為 0.12 美元。

Moving on to our balance sheet. Cash and cash equivalents were $480.2 million at the end of the quarter, up sequentially from $389.4 million, driven by cash proceeds from the sale of the financing business, offset by changes in working capital. Inventory was $101.1 million, down from $120.4 million at the end of fiscal 2025, while inventory days outstanding of 14 remained stable.

繼續我們的資產負債表。本季末的現金和現金等價物為 4.802 億美元，比上一季的 3.894 億美元有所增長，這主要得益於出售融資業務所得的現金，但被營運資本的變化所抵消。庫存為 1.011 億美元，低於 2025 財年末的 1.204 億美元，而庫存未償付天數為 14 天，保持穩定。

Our cash conversion was 26 days, down from 29 days in the prior sequential period and 37 days a year ago. Our capital allocation strategy is centered on four pillars. First, we continue to evaluate strategic acquisitions that expand our geographic footprint and complement our core offerings.

我們的現金轉換時間為 26 天，低於上一季的 29 天和去年的 37 天。我們的資本配置策略以四大支柱為中心。首先，我們繼續評估擴大我們的地理覆蓋範圍和補充我們的核心產品的策略性收購。

Second, we continue to invest in organic growth opportunities across the business. We are focused on improving shareholder returns. As such, our third priority is to return capital via quarterly dividends, while our fourth is to return capital via a share repurchase program.

其次，我們持續投資於整個業務的有機成長機會。我們專注於提高股東回報。因此，我們的第三要務是透過季度股利返還資本，而第四要務是透過股票回購計畫返還資本。

Ultimately, our balanced approach allows us to continue investing for growth while simultaneously allocating capital to other initiatives like acquisitions, dividends, and share repurchases. To that end, we are pleased to announce the first quarterly dividend in ePlus's history of $0.25 per common share payable on September 17, 2025, to shareholders of record on August 26, 2025, reflecting our commitment to delivering consistent long-term value to shareholders.

最終，我們平衡的方法使我們能夠繼續投資於成長，同時將資本分配給收購、股息和股票回購等其他計劃。為此，我們很高興地宣布，ePlus 歷史上首次季度股息為每股 0.25 美元，將於 2025 年 9 月 17 日支付給 2025 年 8 月 26 日登記在冊的股東，這反映了我們致力於為股東提供持續的長期價值的承諾。

In addition, our Board has authorized a new 12-month share repurchase program of up to 1.5 million shares beginning August 11, 2025, underscoring our confidence in our long-term prospects.

此外，我們的董事會已批准一項新的 12 個月股票回購計劃，從 2025 年 8 月 11 日開始，回購股票數量最多為 150 萬股，這突顯了我們對長期前景的信心。

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？

ePlus currently has the strongest financial foundation in our history. The first quarter saw significant transformational advancement in our strategic initiatives with the sale of our domestic financing business and the initiation of a quarterly dividend.

ePlus 目前擁有史上最強勁的財務基礎。第一季度，我們的策略性舉措取得了重大的轉型進展，出售了國內融資業務並開始派發季度股利。

Coupled with our strong organic performance, we are adjusting our fiscal 2026 guidance. Additionally, we continue to believe that the breadth and scale of our customer base provides a solid foundation for continued growth.

加上我們強勁的有機業績，我們正在調整 2026 財年的業績指引。此外，我們始終相信，我們客戶群的廣度和規模為持續成長提供了堅實的基礎。

For fiscal 2026, we are increasing our net sales, gross profit, and adjusted EBITDA forecast. We now expect net sales growth in the upper single-digit range above fiscal year 2025's $2.01 billion from continuing operations and gross profit growth in the upper single-digit range from fiscal year 2025's $515.5 million from continuing operations.

對於 2026 財年，我們將提高淨銷售額、毛利和調整後 EBITDA 預測。我們現在預計，2025 財年持續經營業務的淨銷售額將成長至高於 20.1 億美元的高個位數，而毛利將成長至高於 2025 財年持續經營業務的 5.155 億美元的高個位數。

For adjusted EBITDA, we now forecast growth in the mid-teens over fiscal year 2025's $141 million from continuing operations. Our previous guidance was for low single-digit net sales growth accompanied by mid-single-digit gross profit and adjusted EBITDA growth. The strong increase reflects our first-quarter outperformance as well as our strong pipeline and outlook.

對於調整後的 EBITDA，我們現在預測將比 2025 財年的持續經營業務 1.41 億美元成長 15% 左右。我們先前的預期是淨銷售額實現低個位數成長，同時毛利和調整後 EBITDA 實現中等個位數成長。強勁的成長反映了我們第一季的優異表現以及我們強勁的產品線和前景。

We remain committed to driving expansion in complementary product categories and executing our disciplined approach on M&A to drive additional scale in our business, grow our addressable market, and stay focused on the areas that add value in the long term.

我們將繼續致力於推動互補產品類別的擴張，並在併購方面採取嚴謹的方法，以擴大業務規模，擴大潛在市場，並專注於長期增值的領域。

In conclusion, we have reached an important inflection point in our business as evidenced by the progress and strategies discussed today. We have built a solid foundation for future expansion, and we remain confident in our ability to build on our strength while capitalizing on meaningful growth opportunities ahead.

總之，我們今天討論的進展和策略就證明了我們的業務已經到達了一個重要的轉折點。我們已經為未來的擴張奠定了堅實的基礎，我們仍然有信心，我們有能力鞏固我們的優勢，同時利用未來有意義的成長機會。

Thank you for joining us today. We will now open for questions.

感謝您今天加入我們。我們現在開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) Maggie Nolan, William Blair.

（操作員指示）瑪吉·諾蘭，威廉·布萊爾。

I'm wondering if you can be a bit more granular on the drivers behind the increase in your adjusted EBITDA growth guidance in particular.

我想知道您是否可以更詳細地說明調整後的 EBITDA 成長指引增加背後的驅動因素。

In the adjusted EBITDA? So a couple of different things, Maggie. One, good hearing from you. I'm glad you're on the call. But a few things. Let me touch on the quarter, and then I'll touch on the adjusted EBITDA.

在調整後的 EBITDA 中？所以有幾件不同的事情，瑪姬。一、很高興收到您的來信。很高興您接聽我的電話。但有幾件事。讓我談談本季度，然後我將談談調整後的 EBITDA。

First, if you looked at our quarter, it was a really solid quarter across a lot of different metrics. Everything was up double digit across the board from net sales, GP, adjusted EBITDA, and so forth. What we're seeing is an uptick -- we saw an uptick in both product and services across all customer size segments.

首先，如果你看一下我們的季度業績，你會發現從許多不同的指標來看，這都是一個十分穩健的季度。從淨銷售額、毛利率到調整後的息稅折舊攤提前利潤等，所有指標均達到了兩位數成長。我們看到的是上升趨勢——我們看到所有客戶規模細分領域的產品和服務都有所上升。

We started to see a more uptick in data center, cloud, and the security business. We also saw some sequential growth in our networking business, which gives us -- keeps us positive of that starting to grow after being down year over year with the supply chain.

我們開始看到資料中心、雲端和安全業務的進一步成長。我們的網路業務也出現了一些連續成長，這讓我們對網路業務在供應鏈逐年下滑之後開始成長保持樂觀。

As it relates to adjusted EBITDA, the other quick thing -- sorry, just real quick. In terms of -- we saw some really nice growth in our services business that we think can continue, right? And security continues to be a top performer being up 24.4%.

因為它與調整後的 EBITDA 有關，另一件快事——抱歉，只是很快。就此而言——我們看到我們的服務業務確實出現了一些良好的成長，我們認為這種成長可以持續下去，對嗎？安全領域持續表現最佳，漲幅達 24.4%。

We're also seeing the early innings of some AI traction. So we feel we're pretty well positioned in that space based on what we've done traditionally with infrastructure across compute and storage and networking and all the security and services related.

我們也看到了人工智慧發展初期的一些跡象。因此，我們認為，基於我們在計算、儲存、網路以及所有相關的安全和服務基礎設施方面所做的傳統工作，我們在該領域處於相當有利的地位。

Even though it's early innings, we are starting to see some wins in what we call the plumbing, both the service opportunities as well as storage and networking that's starting to come out of that.

儘管還處於初期階段，但我們開始看到所謂的管道方面取得一些進展，包括服務機會以及開始出現的儲存和網路。

With that said, related to the adjusted EBITDA, there are some moves that we've made across OpEx and some other things over the past few quarters that will lead to the adjusted EBITDA being up a little bit more than the top line sales and gross profit. That was long-winded, Maggie. Hopefully, that answered it.

話雖如此，與調整後的 EBITDA 相關，過去幾季我們在營運支出和其他一些方面採取了一些舉措，這將導致調整後的 EBITDA 比頂線銷售額和毛利略有上升。真是冗長啊，瑪吉。希望這能解答您的疑問。

That did. And then for my next question, the resumption of purchasing by some large enterprise customers, are they back to normal spending levels? Or from a modeling perspective, should we consider this to be project-based revenue that wouldn't necessarily repeat in subsequent quarters? Just, can you elaborate a little bit on what this means from a growth perspective going forward?

確實如此。然後我的下一個問題是，一些大型企業客戶恢復採購後，他們的支出水準是否恢復正常了？或者從建模的角度來看，我們是否應該將其視為基於專案的收入，而這些收入在隨後的幾個季度中不一定會出現？只是，您能否從未來的成長角度詳細闡述這意味著什麼？

Yeah, we started -- we had a nice quarter with our enterprise customers. And I think that is the resumption with a couple of large customers that have slowed down in terms of implementing some of the technology that they have bought in prior quarters.

是的，我們開始了——我們與企業客戶度過了一個愉快的季度。我認為，這是因為一些大客戶在實施前幾季購買的一些技術方面已經放慢了速度。

I still think it's project-based. So I'm not so sure yet that it's a trend that will continue throughout the year. But we had some real nice enterprise wins across the board overall.

我仍然認為它是基於項目的。所以我還不太確定這個趨勢是否會持續一整年。但總體而言，我們在企業領域確實取得了一些不錯的勝利。

And then the other thing that comes into play for us as it relates is you had some seasonality with Cisco and Palo Alto to our bigger vendors that affect the quarter at some point.

與我們相關的另一件事是，思科和 Palo Alto 與我們較大的供應商之間存在一定的季節性，這在某種程度上會影響本季。

Greg Burns, Sidoti.

格雷格·伯恩斯，西多蒂。

Congrats on the solid quarter. I just want to maybe get your view on why was now the right time to divest the financing business as opposed to maybe some time in the past.

恭喜本季業績穩健。我只是想聽聽你的看法，為什麼現在是剝離融資業務的最佳時機，而不是過去的某個時候。

So first off, it's been on our radar for a while. We've explored it as a management team for years.

首先，它已經進入我們的視線有一段時間了。我們作為管理團隊已經探索這個問題很多年了。

I think really, what it came down to is we started seeing what's happening in the market around AI and cyber and all the things as services that are needed, and we thought it was the right time. So we went through a full process with the third party.

我認為，實際上，我們開始看到市場上圍繞著人工智慧和網路以及所有需要的服務發生的事情，我們認為這是正確的時機。因此我們與第三方經歷了一個完整的過程。

What we think it does, it really helps us become a pure technology play. So it simplifies our business model, if you think about it, right? It frees up significant cash, right? So that gives us the flexibility we need to make moves to expand our footprint and customer base as AI and other things start to take off.

我們認為它確實幫助我們成為一家純粹的科技公司。所以如果你仔細想想的話，它簡化了我們的商業模式，對嗎？它釋放了大量現金，對嗎？因此，隨著人工智慧和其他事物開始起飛，這為我們提供了擴大我們的業務範圍和客戶群所需的靈活性。

The other thing it did, if you think about it, it also gives us the ability to provide a dividend to our shareholders with some of the cash that we had tied up. So I don't know if I'd call it a timing thing or something that's been in play or on our radar for a while.

如果你仔細想想，它做的另一件事也使我們能夠利用部分已佔用的現金向股東提供股息。所以我不知道我是否應該稱它為時間問題，或者某種已經發生或在我們的雷達上存在一段時間的事情。

We've always thought about it. And as we see the market really moving towards AI and some other things, we thought this was the right time to take advantage of it.

我們一直在思考這個問題。當我們看到市場真正朝向人工智慧和其他一些領域發展時，我們認為這是利用它的最佳時機。

And then just lastly, in terms of your readiness to capitalize on AI, are there any areas of organic investment or maybe inorganic acquisitions that you might need to do to bolster your AI service offering?

最後，就您利用人工智慧的準備而言，是否有任何有機投資或無機收購領域需要您進行，以增強您的人工智慧服務產品？

Yeah, very much so. I think in the consultative services side would be the first one. We've made a lot of investments in terms of training our sales and service teams. We built up our labs and AI briefing centers and things along those lines. But I do think we probably have to build up our AI consultative service capabilities.

是的，非常如此。我認為諮詢服務方面是第一位的。我們在培訓銷售和服務團隊方面投入了大量資金。我們建立了實驗室、人工智慧簡報中心以及類似設施。但我確實認為我們可能必須建立我們的人工智慧諮詢服務能力。

All the stuff underneath that, Greg, all of what we call the plumbing -- the high-performance computing, the storage, the networking, the security -- we pretty much have done that for years. So we feel we're pretty well positioned. But it's more of that front end, get in front of a customer, help them work through what they want to do with AI, and help them build their use cases and then provide the infrastructure to manage those workloads and things along those lines.

格雷格，所有這下面的內容，所有我們稱之為管道的東西——高效能運算、儲存、網路、安全——我們已經做了好多年了。因此，我們覺得我們的定位非常有利。但它更多的是前端，面對客戶，幫助他們解決他們想用人工智慧做的事情，幫助他們建立他們的用例，然後提供基礎設施來管理這些工作負載和相關的事情。

Here's what we're excited about. It gives us the ability to really take some hard looks at some things that we may have passed -- in the past, we would have passed on. But now we have the ability to take a harder look at it.

這就是令我們興奮的事情。它讓我們有能力認真審視一些我們可能已經錯過的事情——在過去，我們會錯過。但現在我們有能力更深入地審視它。

We're not going to just spend to spend though. So it's going to have to be the right opportunity, but we feel pretty good about how it's positioned us for going forward.

但我們不會只是為了花錢而花錢。所以這必須是一個合適的機會，但我們對它為我們未來發展所做的準備感到非常滿意。

I would now like to turn the call back over to Mark Marron, President, CEO, for closing remarks.

現在，我想將電話轉回給總裁兼執行長馬克馬龍 (Mark Marron) 來做最後發言。

Thanks, Ben. So if I could, I think it was a really solid quarter and start to the fiscal year for ePlus with double-digit growth across all the key metrics. Strategically, we sold finance and instituted a quarterly dividend that, when you think about it, increased our flexibility with our capital allocation plans that I believe positions us really well for growth in the future.

謝謝，本。所以如果可以的話，我認為這是一個非常穩健的季度，並且是 ePlus 財年的開始，所有關鍵指標都實現了兩位數的成長。從策略上講，我們出售了金融產品並設立了季度股息，想想看，這增加了我們資本配置計劃的靈活性，我相信這為我們未來的成長奠定了良好的基礎。

So with that, I want to thank you for joining us today, and have a great day. Take care.

因此，我要感謝你們今天加入我們，並祝福你們有美好的一天。小心。

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。