Powell Industries Inc (POWL) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the Powell Industries Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. (Operator Instructions) After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. (Operator Instructions) Please also note that this event is being recorded. I'd like to turn the conference over to Ryan Coleman, Investor Relations.

歡迎參加鮑威爾工業公司收益電話會議。此時，所有參與者都處於只聽模式。 （操作員說明）今天的演示結束後，將有機會提問。 （操作員說明）另請注意，該事件正在被記錄。我想將會議交給投資者關係部門的 Ryan Coleman。

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for Powell Industries conference call today to review fiscal year 2023 first quarter results. With me on the call are Brett Cope, Powell's Chairman and CEO; and Mike Metcalf, Powell's CFO. There will be a replay of today's call, and it will be available via webcast by going to the company's website, powellind.com, or a telephonic replay will be available until February 8. The information on how to access the replay was provided in yesterday's earnings release. Please note that the information reported on this call speaks only as of today, February 1, 2023, and therefore, you are advised that any time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate at the time of replay listening or transcript reading. This conference call includes certain statements, including statements related to the company's expectations of its future operating results that may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and that actual results may differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: competition and competitive pressures; sensitivity to general economic and industry conditions; international, political and economic risks; availability and price of raw materials, and execution of business strategies. For more information, please refer to the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Brett.

謝謝接線員，大家早安。感謝您今天參加 Powell Industries 的電話會議，回顧 2023 財年第一季業績。與我一起參加電話會議的是鮑威爾董事長兼執行長布雷特·科普 (Brett Cope)；和鮑威爾首席財務官邁克·梅特卡夫。今天的電話會議將進行重播，您可以透過造訪公司網站 powellind.com 透過網路廣播進行重播，或者在 2 月 8 日之前可以進行電話重播。昨天的電話會議中提供了有關如何存取重播的信息。收益發布。請注意，本次電話會議報告的資訊僅截至今天（2023 年 2 月 1 日），因此，請注意，任何時間敏感的資訊在重播收聽或閱讀文字記錄時可能不再準確。本次電話會議包括某些聲明，包括與公司對其未來經營業績的預期相關的聲明，這些聲明可能被視為1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的前瞻性聲明。投資者請注意，此類前瞻性聲明涉及風險和不確定性，實際結果可能與這些前瞻性陳述中的預測有重大差異。這些風險和不確定性包括但不限於：競爭和競爭壓力；對總體經濟和產業狀況的敏感度；國際、政治和經濟風險；原物料的供應和價格，以及業務策略的執行。欲了解更多信息，請參閱該公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件。這樣，我現在將把電話轉給布雷特。

Thanks, Ryan, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to review Powell's fiscal 2023 first quarter results. I will make a few comments and then turn the call over to Mike for more financial commentary before we take your questions. Powell delivered a great start to the fiscal year as the momentum we experienced in the second half of last year from our core oil and gas petrochemical markets carried into the start of 2023 and was further complemented by solid growth within the quarter in our utility and commercial and other industrial markets. These strong results remain the function of the team's commitment to our customers as well as our broader deliberate focus on our strategic initiatives to create a more resilient and diversified Powell that will lead to stronger growth across the economic cycle. Macroeconomic factors such as elevated costs and the global supply chain certainly remain headwinds, but we are very pleased with our execution and the momentum built within the business over the past few quarters.

謝謝瑞安，大家早安。感謝您今天與我們一起回顧鮑威爾 2023 財年第一季的業績。在我們回答您的問題之前，我將發表一些評論，然後將電話轉給麥克以獲取更多財務評論。鮑威爾為本財年帶來了良好的開端，我們去年下半年核心石油和天然氣石化市場的勢頭延續到了 2023 年初，並得到了本季度公用事業和商業領域穩健增長的進一步補充。和其他工業市場。這些強勁的業績仍然體現了團隊對客戶的承諾，以及我們對戰略舉措的更廣泛的刻意關注，以創造一個更具彈性和多元化的鮑威爾，從而在整個經濟週期中帶來更強勁的增長。成本上升和全球供應鏈等宏觀經濟因素無疑仍然是不利因素，但我們對過去幾季的執行力和業務發展勢頭感到非常滿意。

Powell is well positioned to deliver improved revenue growth and profitability in fiscal 2023. Total revenue in the first quarter was $127 million, which was 19% higher than the prior year. By market, revenues in our petrochemical sector were higher by 31%, while the oil and gas sector was roughly flat on a year-over-year basis. Our utility sector saw revenue jump 32% compared to the prior year, while the newly broken out commercial and other industrial sector saw revenue triple. This was partially offset by the traction sector, which declined by 38%, mainly the function of wrapping up a large municipal project in Canada.

鮑威爾有能力在 2023 財年實現收入成長和獲利能力的改善。第一季總收入為 1.27 億美元，比上年增長 19%。按市場劃分，石化產業營收年增 31%，而石油和天然氣產業則基本持平。我們的公用事業部門的收入比去年增加了 32%，而新突破的商業和其他工業部門的收入則增加了兩倍。這被牽引部門部分抵消，牽引部門下降了 38%，主要是由於加拿大一個大型市政項目的結束。

Order activity in the quarter was very strong as we secured $212 million in new bookings. This is the best first fiscal quarter of bookings Powell has had since Q1 of fiscal 2013. Our book-to-bill ratio in the quarter of 1.7x was equally strong and was the fifth straight quarter with a book-to-bill over 1.

本季的訂單活動非常強勁，我們獲得了 2.12 億美元的新訂單。這是鮑威爾自 2013 財年第一季以來預訂量最好的第一財季。我們本季的預訂出貨比為 1.7 倍，同樣強勁，並且是連續第五個季度訂單出貨比超過 1。

I'm also pleased to report that for a second consecutive quarter, we were fortunate to book another significant industrial order to support the production of liquefied natural gas as we continue to see favorable opportunities within LNG, gas pipeline and gas-to-chemical sectors. Overall, activity in our core oil, gas and petrochemical markets continues to improve as bookings in these markets nearly tripled compared to the prior year. Meanwhile, project activity and associated work on new bids across our utility, traction and commercial and other industrial sectors remain favorable. Each of these sectors experienced a year-over-year growth in bookings and are largely supported by a steady volume of small to midsized project activity. Our teams delivered a gross margin in the quarter of 15.3%, which increased 270 basis points compared to the same period in the prior year. Strong project execution, favorable services mix and positive closeouts helped to deliver the underlying margin growth.

我還很高興地報告，由於我們繼續看到液化天然氣、天然氣管道和天然氣化學領域的有利機會，我們有幸連續第二個季度預訂了另一個重要的工業訂單來支持液化天然氣的生產。總體而言，我們的核心石油、天然氣和石化市場的活動持續改善，這些市場的預訂量與前一年相比幾乎增加了兩倍。同時，我們的公用事業、牽引、商業和其他工業領域的專案活動和新投標的相關工作仍然有利。這些行業的預訂量均較去年同期成長，並在很大程度上受到中小型專案活動數量穩定的支持。我們團隊本季的毛利率為 15.3%，與去年同期相比增加了 270 個基點。強大的專案執行力、有利的服務組合和積極的收尾有助於實現潛在的利潤成長。

Moving to the bottom line. We reported net income of $1.2 million in the quarter or $0.10 per diluted share compared to a net loss of $2.8 million or a loss of $0.24 per diluted share in the prior year.

移動到底線。我們報告本季淨利潤為 120 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 0.10 美元，而上一年淨虧損為 280 萬美元，即稀釋後每股虧損 0.24 美元。

Lastly, we ended the quarter with a total backlog of $680 million. This is the second consecutive quarter that we have recorded the highest backlog in Powell's history and represents sequential growth of 15% and is 63% higher than the end of Q1 last year. The significant increase in our backlog volume provides an extended runway for Powell sustain improved revenue growth for the next few years as we are beginning to book projects into fiscal 2025. Importantly, our project backlog remains well balanced across our 7 manufacturing facilities and across the markets that we serve. Overall, from a commercial standpoint, the quarter was another step in the right direction and marked the continued return of our key end markets. We are encouraged by the current demand environment and are comfortable with our capacity to execute on our order book efficiently and on time. It is also worth noting that these solid financial results came in what is typically a softer quarter due to seasonality effects and is our best first fiscal quarter financial performance in recent years.

最後，本季結束時，我們的積壓總額為 6.8 億美元。這是我們連續第二季創下鮑威爾史上最高的積壓量，季增 15%，比去年第一季末高出 63%。隨著我們開始預訂2025 財年的項目，我們的積壓訂單數量大幅增加，為鮑威爾在未來幾年維持收入增長提供了廣闊的空間。重要的是，我們的7 個製造工廠和各個市場的積壓項目保持良好平衡我們所服務的。總體而言，從商業角度來看，本季是朝著正確方向邁出的又一步，標誌著我們關鍵終端市場的持續回歸。我們對當前的需求環境感到鼓舞，並對我們高效、按時執行訂單的能力感到滿意。另外值得注意的是，這些穩健的財務表現出現在由於季節性影響而通常較為疲軟的季度，並且是我們近年來最好的第一財季財務業績。

Turning to our operational performance, we continue working diligently to mitigate the effects of the higher cost environment. Price and availability of key engineered components remain material headwinds, and we are closely watching the price action for key commodities such as steel and copper. Our teams are working hard to identify and address these price increases early enough to factor them into our bidding process and ensure they do not create significant cost overruns on current and future project activity. We also maintain and emphasize an extremely strong focus on productivity and strong project closeouts to protect our merchants. Further, we continue to implement pricing initiatives to align projects to the current cost environment, where and when possible.

談到我們的營運績效，我們繼續努力工作，以減輕較高成本環境的影響。關鍵工程部件的價格和可用性仍然是重大阻力，我們正在密切關注鋼鐵和銅等關鍵商品的價格趨勢。我們的團隊正在努力儘早識別和解決這些價格上漲問題，以便將其納入我們的投標流程，並確保它們不會對當前和未來的專案活動造成嚴重的成本超支。我們也保持並強調對生產力和強有力的專案收尾的高度關注，以保護我們的商家。此外，我們將繼續實施定價舉措，使專案盡可能適應當前的成本環境。

Labor also remains a challenging area to navigate. We closely monitor the cost of labor and our level of staffing across the business as we work to support the growth and timing of execution of our improved backlog. Similar to past quarters, labor issues have not yet presented material headwinds, but we remain attentive to our current capacity levels as our backlog grows to record levels. Our human resources team has been working extremely hard over the last several quarters and have facilitated our ability to effectively navigate the difficult labor environment thus far.

勞工也仍然是一個充滿挑戰的領域。在我們努力支持改進後的積壓工作的成長和執行時間的同時，我們密切監控整個企業的勞動成本和人員配備水準。與過去幾季類似，勞工問題尚未帶來實質阻力，但隨著我們的積壓訂單增長至創紀錄水平，我們仍然關注當前的產能水平。我們的人力資源團隊在過去幾季一直非常努力地工作，並提高了我們有效應對迄今為止困難的勞動力環境的能力。

I also wanted to take a moment to call out that yesterday afternoon, we announced that the Board has approved a 1% increase to our common stock dividend. This is an important step for Powell and underscores our growing confidence, our long-term strategic direction, as well as our commitment to delivering value for our shareholders. The fundamentals and outlook for our business are improving, and our strong balance sheet leaves us in a very solid financial position. We remain acutely focused on executing against each of our strategic initiatives in fiscal 2023, which include growing our electrical automation platform, expanding our existing services franchise, and diversifying our product portfolio through both targeting tangential applications that complement our existing product offerings, as well as expanding the scope of our product catalog in the new electrical technologies. We are already seeing the impact of these initiatives in our financial results, and we'll continue to share examples of our progress as appropriate.

我還想花點時間指出，昨天下午，我們宣布董事會已批准將我們的普通股股息增加 1%。這對鮑威爾來說是重要的一步，突顯了我們不斷增長的信心、我們的長期策略方向以及我們為股東創造價值的承諾。我們業務的基本面和前景正在改善，強勁的資產負債表使我們的財務狀況非常穩健。我們仍然高度專注於執行 2023 財年的每項策略舉措，其中包括發展我們的電氣自動化平台、擴大我們現有的服務特許經營權，以及透過瞄準補充我們現有產品的切向應用程式以及擴大了我們在新電氣技術領域的產品目錄範圍。我們已經看到這些舉措對我們的財務表現產生的影響，我們將繼續酌情分享我們的進展範例。

Overall, we are confident that the positive transformational steps being taken internally at the company supported by improving conditions across our core end markets will drive another strong year for Powell. With that, I'll turn the call over to Mike to provide more detail around our financial results.

總體而言，我們相信，在核心終端市場狀況改善的支持下，公司內部採取的積極轉型措施將為鮑威爾帶來另一個強勁的一年。這樣，我會將電話轉給麥克，以提供有關我們財務業績的更多詳細資訊。

Thank you, Brett, and good morning, everyone. In the first quarter of fiscal 2023, we reported net revenue of $127 million compared to $107 million or 19% higher versus the same period in the prior year. New orders booked in the first fiscal quarter of 2023 were $212 million, which included one large domestic liquefied natural gas project order. This improved orders cadence is generally favorable across most of our reported market sectors. However, it was driven in large part this past quarter by the gas markets within the industrial sector, driving the total reported bookings for the first fiscal quarter to nearly a twofold increase or $104 million higher versus the same period 1 year ago. As a result, our book-to-bill ratio was 1.7x in the period, with a record $680 million of backlog at the end of the first fiscal quarter, which was $264 million higher versus 1 year ago and $88 million higher sequentially. Compared to 1 year ago, domestic revenues were higher by 22% versus the prior year to $100 million, while international revenues were 10% higher compared to the prior year, driven by higher project volume in our Canadian facility. In total, international revenues were up by $2 million to $27 million in the first fiscal quarter. From a market sector perspective versus the prior year, revenues across our petrochemical sector were higher by 31%, while the oil and gas sector was essentially flat on a year-over-year basis. In addition to this, we experienced year-over-year increases in both the utility and the commercial and other industrial sectors, increasing by 32% and 202%, respectively. Finally, the traction sector was lower versus the first fiscal quarter of 2022 by 38% as we wrap up a large municipal project in Canada.

謝謝你，布雷特，大家早安。 2023 財年第一季，我們報告的淨收入為 1.27 億美元，而去年同期為 1.07 億美元，增幅為 19%。 2023年第一財季新簽訂單為2.12億美元，其中包括一項大型國內液化天然氣專案訂單。這種訂單節奏的改善在我們報告的大多數市場領域總體上是有利的。然而，上個季度的成長在很大程度上是由工業部門內的天然氣市場推動的，導致第一財季報告的預訂總額比一年前同期增加了近兩倍，即增加了 1.04 億美元。結果，我們的訂單出貨比在此期間達到了1.7 倍，第一財季末的積壓訂單達到創紀錄的6.8 億美元，比一年前增加了2.64 億美元，比上一季增加了8800 萬美元。與一年前相比，國內收入比上年增長 22%，達到 1 億美元，而國際收入比上年增長 10%，這得益於我們加拿大工廠項目量的增加。第一財季的國際收入總計增加了 200 萬美元，達到 2,700 萬美元。從市場部門的角度來看，與前一年相比，石化部門的收入成長了 31%，而石油和天然氣部門的收入則是同比基本上持平。除此之外，公用事業、商業和其他工業領域的年成長分別為 32% 和 202%。最後，隨著我們完成加拿大的大型市政項目，牽引行業的表現較 2022 年第一財季下降了 38%。

Gross profit in the period increased by $6 million to $20 million in the first fiscal quarter versus the same period 1 year ago. As a percentage of revenue, gross profit increased by 270 basis points to 15.3% versus the same period a year ago, driven largely by improved pricing on projects that are now exiting the backlog as well as strong project execution across most of the Powell manufacturing and service facilities. Selling, general and administrative expenses were $17 million in the current quarter, higher by $1 million versus the same period a year ago on increased variable performance-based compensation based upon the expectation for higher levels of operating performance versus the prior year. SG&A as a percentage of revenue decreased 160 basis points to 13% in the quarter on a higher revenue base.

第一財季的毛利較一年前同期增加了 600 萬美元，達到 2,000 萬美元。毛利佔收入的百分比比去年同期增長了 270 個基點，達到 15.3%，這主要是由於目前正在解決積壓的項目定價提高以及大多數 Powell 製造和項目的強勁項目執行所致。服務設施。本季的銷售、一般和管理費用為 1,700 萬美元，比去年同期增加 100 萬美元，原因是基於對比上一年更高水準的經營業績的預期，增加了基於績效的可變薪酬。由於營收基礎較高，本季 SG&A 佔營收的百分比下降了 160 個基點至 13%。

In the first quarter of fiscal 2023, we reported net income of $1.2 million, generating $0.10 per diluted share compared to a net loss of $2.8 million or a loss of $0.24 per diluted share in the first quarter of fiscal 2022. During the first quarter of fiscal '23, net cash used in operating activities was $549,000 as we continue to build working capital and enhance our capabilities to support our growing backlog of new projects. Investments in property, plant and equipment totaled $2.7 million as we put capital to work, enhancing our fabrication capacity and investing in additional productivity initiatives that will help our operational teams deliver for our customers throughout 2023 and beyond. At December 31, 2022, we had cash and short-term investments of $111 million compared to $117 million at September 30, 2022. The company holds no long-term debt.

在 2023 財年第一季，我們報告的淨利潤為 120 萬美元，攤薄後每股收益 0.10 美元，而 2022 財年第一季淨虧損 280 萬美元，攤薄後每股虧損 0.24 美元。23 財年，隨著我們繼續建立營運資金並增強支持不斷增加的新項目積壓的能力，經營活動中使用的淨現金為549,000 美元。我們對不動產、廠房和設備的投資總額為 270 萬美元，我們投入資金，提高製造能力，並投資於額外的生產力計劃，這將幫助我們的營運團隊在 2023 年及以後為客戶提供服務。截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日，我們的現金和短期投資為 1.11 億美元，而 2022 年 9 月 30 日為 1.17 億美元。該公司沒有長期債務。

Finally, and as Brett noted, yesterday, we announced a 1% increase to our common stock dividend. This incremental step demonstrates both our prudent and conservative approach towards delivering shareholder returns while also ensuring sufficient liquidity to fund our growing working capital requirements as well as balancing our organic and inorganic growth objectives. Looking forward, we remain very encouraged by the continued commercial success that we've experienced across most of our core end markets, specifically in our industrial and utility end markets and are optimistic that this momentum will continue. This, combined with the level and quality of our backlog, our continued focus on accretive margin initiatives as well as the strength of our balance sheet, positions Powell to continue to deliver improved revenue and earnings throughout the remainder of fiscal 2023.

最後，正如 Brett 指出的，昨天我們宣布將普通股股息增加 1%。這一漸進的步驟表明我們在實現股東回報方面採取審慎和保守的態度，同時確保有足夠的流動性來滿足我們不斷增長的營運資本需求，並平衡我們的有機和無機增長目標。展望未來，我們仍然對我們在大多數核心終端市場（特別是工業和公用事業終端市場）所經歷的持續商業成功感到非常鼓舞，並對這種勢頭將持續下去感到樂觀。再加上我們積壓訂單的水平和品質、我們對利潤增值計劃的持續關注以及我們資產負債表的實力，鮑威爾將在 2023 財年剩餘時間內繼續實現收入和收益的改善。

At this point, we'll be happy to answer your questions.

此時，我們很樂意回答您的問題。

We will now begin the question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. The first question today will be from John Franzreb with Sidoti & Company.

我們現在開始問答環節。 （操作員指示）此時，我們將暫停片刻以集合名單。今天的第一個問題來自 Sidoti & Company 的 John Franzreb。

Brett, I'd like to start with one of your comments in your prepared remarks about your booking projects into fiscal 2025. That made me wonder, what does the timing of revenue recognition kind of look like today on the backlog profile? I mean, what's the bell curve looking at based on your current bookings?

Brett，我想從您準備好的 2025 財年預訂項目的評論中的一條評論開始。這讓我想知道，今天在積壓檔案中的收入確認時間是什麼樣的？我的意思是，根據您目前的預訂，鐘形曲線是什麼樣的？

John, as we look at the growth in the backlog, and as we look out on the time on how we're plotting the revenue, no big spikes. With the recovery in the core market there in the last year, going from last summer -- and we've kind of been plotting this out and we look at how we're managing factory capacity and labor capacity -- we've been able to work effectively with our clients to time it out. These are-- larger projects normally have a longer burn anyway, but I'll just take no big spikes. It's laid out pretty consistently out into time.

約翰，當我們觀察積壓的成長以及我們如何繪製收入的時間時，沒有出現大的峰值。隨著去年核心市場的復甦，從去年夏天開始——我們已經計劃好了這一點，我們研究瞭如何管理工廠產能和勞動力——我們已經能夠與我們的客戶有效合作以解決問題。這些是——無論如何，較大的項目通常需要更長的時間，但我不會採取大的尖峰。它的時間安排非常一致。

Great, and then another thing that you mentioned was about -- and you just mentioned it again -- the labor market. How does your staffing look today, and will you be staffing up at all any time in the near future to kind of capitalize on the jobs that you're winning?

太好了，然後你提到的另一件事是關於——你剛才又提到了——勞動市場。您現在的人員配置如何？您是否會在不久的將來隨時進行人員配置，以充分利用您贏得的工作機會？

Yes, we are. I think we talked a little bit about last quarter, but, if I break it into 2 parts, both the factory support teams and then the front-end part on engineering and project management -- that's kind of the areas we constantly are looking at every week -- it's kind of shifted. A year ago, we had some trouble in various factories with some of the talented folks out in our factories, helping us to produce the goods and get it out to our clients -- that has improved as of last summer. As we build the backlog into the fall, we're out building some of the front-end teams right now, and that's been a little bit more of a challenge, but so far, we've been able to navigate it.

是的我們是。我想我們討論了上個季度的情況，但是，如果我將其分為兩部分，即工廠支援團隊，然後是工程和專案管理的前端部分——這就是我們每週不斷關注的領域——情況都會發生變化。一年前，我們在各個工廠遇到了一些麻煩，工廠裡的一些有才華的人幫助我們生產產品並將其交付給我們的客戶——截至去年夏天，情況有所改善。當我們將積壓工作安排到秋季時，我們現在正在組建一些前端團隊，這是一個更大的挑戰，但到目前為止，我們已經能夠應對它。

(Operator Instructions) The next question is from Jon Braatz from Kansas City Capital.

（操作員說明）下一個問題來自堪薩斯城首都的 Jon Braatz。

Mike, a couple of questions. On the expense ratio, obviously, you're able to leverage off the sale-- the top line. But even if -- and it's even more (inaudible), given the $1 million increase in incentive comp -- how do you see that ratio going forward-- the expense ratio going forward given the leverage that we saw here in the first quarter?

麥克，有幾個問題。顯然，就費用比率而言，你可以利用銷售收入——收入。但即使——甚至更多（聽不清楚），考慮到激勵補償增加了 100 萬美元——考慮到我們在第一季看到的槓桿作用，你如何看待未來的比率——未來的費用比率？

Yes, I think as we navigate through fiscal '23 and into '24, we do expect volume to pick up, and that SG&A bucket -- we manage very, very closely. It's more of a fixed bucket, it's not necessarily got a lot of variability to it. It hurts us when volume is down -- it will bump up to 14-plus percent as a percent of revenue. But as volume picks up, we like to see that in the 13% range.

是的，我認為，當我們度過 23 財年並進入 24 財年時，我們確實預計銷量將會回升，而 SG&A 方面——我們的管理非常非常密切。它更像是一個固定的桶，不一定有很多變化。當銷量下降時，我們會受到傷害——佔收入的比例將上升至 14% 以上。但隨著成交量的增加，我們希望看到這一比例在 13% 的範圍內。

Did you say mid-13?

你說的是13中嗎？

Yes.

是的。

Okay. Secondly, sort of a big picture standpoint -- when you look back at your history-- and I know today is different than what it was back in 2012, '13, '14, when you were hitting on all cylinders and your operating margins were, what, upper single digit? Something like that, and your gross margin was around 20%. When you think about the business today compared to then, structurally and fundamentally, how different is the business today? And is there a capability of being-- of returning to those margins as we move forward here and things begin to pick up on the top line?

好的。其次，從大局的角度來看，當你回顧你的歷史時，我知道今天與 2012 年、13 年、14 年不同，當時你全力以赴，營運利潤率也很高。是，什麼，大個子位數？類似這樣，你的毛利率約為 20%。當您考慮到今天的業務與當時相比，從結構和根本上看，今天的業務有何不同？當我們向前邁進並且收入開始好轉時，是否有能力回到這些利潤？

Yes, certainly, we aspire to get back to those margin rates, Jon. But, if you look at the business fundamentally, how the business was structured, the footprint of the business back in 2012, 2013 -- it's much different. We have a Canadian presence now, we didn't have one back at that point in time. We've built a sizable breaker facility here in Houston. So, there are some differences, and we divested an automation business sometime back. So, we've changed the mix of the business. So, that's one variable. The other variable is-- the amount of oil and gas volume, particularly offshore, was really quite high back in 2012, 2013. Price was very robust, and that environment hasn't necessarily returned. I don't expect it to return to those levels anytime soon. So, there are some different dynamics when you compare the 2 points in time.

是的，當然，我們渴望回到這些保證金率，喬恩。但是，如果你從根本上看一下業務，看看業務的結構如何，以及 2012 年和 2013 年業務的足跡——那就大不一樣了。我們現在在加拿大有業務，但當時我們還沒回來。我們在休士頓建造了一個相當大的斷路器設施。所以，存在一些差異，我們在某個時候剝離了自動化業務。因此，我們改變了業務組合。所以，這是一個變數。另一個變數是，2012 年和 2013 年的石油和天然氣產量（尤其是海上石油和天然氣產量）確實相當高。價格非常強勁，但這種環境不一定會恢復。我預計它不會很快恢復到這些水平。因此，當你比較這兩個時間點時，會發現一些不同的動態。

Is there anything different on a positive note today, compared to 8 years ago, 9 years, 10 years ago?

與8年前、9年前、10年前相比，今天有什麼正面的改變嗎？

I mean, absolutely. I think our capacity today is very robust -- I mentioned the Canadian facility. We've penetrated the utility markets up in Canada, and doing a lot of work as the oil and gas infrastructure comes back. So, yes, there's a lot of positives with respect to the current structure today.

我的意思是，絕對是。我認為我們今天的產能非常強大——我提到了加拿大的工廠。我們已經滲透到加拿大的公用事業市場，並隨著石油和天然氣基礎設施的恢復做了很多工作。所以，是的，目前的結構有很多正面積極的一面。

(Operator Instructions) The next question is a follow-up from John Franzreb from Sidoti.

（操作員說明）下一個問題是來自 Sidoti 的 John Franzreb 的後續問題。

Yes, I guess, again, going to your prepared remarks -- I think Mike might have mentioned something about utility and the industrial end markets seem to offer the best near-term prospects. I just wanted to get maybe some more color about the overall opportunity pipeline and how it looks today versus 3 to 6 months ago? Any kind of updated color on the puts-and-takes and what's driving the ongoing bidding process in the near term?

是的，我想，再次回到你準備好的演講中——我認為麥克可能提到了一些關於公用事業和工業終端市場的內容，似乎提供了最好的近期前景。我只是想了解更多有關整體機會管道的信息，以及今天與 3 到 6 個月前相比的情況如何？關於看漲期權的任何更新顏色以及近期正在進行的投標過程的推動因素是什麼？

John, I'll take that one, Brett, and Mike can follow up with anything he wants to add here. The core market is -- as we noted also in the December comments -- I think there was a question then about what's the outlook. I think it's going to be robust through the balance of the fiscal year. There's a lot going on. We're-- these are complicated jobs. This is how Apollo was built in the last 75 years. Again, on the industrial front, these things have a life. There's a lot of people lining up. I don't think they're all going to get through over the next 3 to 5 years, but there's a lot of momentum built and we're thinking of things there.

約翰，我會接受那個，布雷特，邁克可以跟進他想在這裡添加的任何內容。正如我們在 12 月評論中指出的那樣，核心市場是——我認為當時存在一個關於前景的問題。我認為在整個財政年度的餘額中它將保持強勁。有很多事情發生。我們——這些都是複雜的工作。這就是阿波羅號在過去 75 年裡的建造過程。再說一次，在工業方面，這些東西都是有生命的。有很多人在排隊。我認為它們不會在未來 3 到 5 年內全部完成，但已經形成了很大的動力，我們正在考慮那裡的事情。

The industrial-- on the utility side, I think the jump in the revenue this past quarter is really looking back in time out of COVID -- sort of the return of a nice cadence of the business and the process that we have built over the last decade. So, that's sort of a methodic return to the utility piece. A little bit more of a variable is this newer sector that we're reporting on now, which probably has some of the best price right now because it's a little faster turn and it's a little more uncertainty on how that factors into the profile of the backlog and turning on the revenue line, the next year to two years -- but it is a market that we've always participated in. It's just become a bigger part of our pie today, and there's still a lot of activity, but I'd say -- higher uncertainty there. But, as of this last quarter, still pretty solid with the revenue line.

工業方面——在公用事業方面，我認為上個季度收入的躍升確實是從新冠疫情中回顧過去的——有點像是業務的良好節奏和我們在過去一段時間內建立的流程的回歸。過去十年。所以，這是對實用性的有條不紊的回歸。一個更大的變數是我們現在正在報導的這個較新的行業，它目前可能擁有一些最好的價格，因為它的轉變速度更快，並且在如何影響該行業的概況方面存在更多的不確定性。未來一年到兩年，積壓訂單並開啟收入線——但這是一個我們一直參與的市場。今天它已經成為我們餡餅中更大的一部分，而且仍然有很多活動，但我會說——那裡的不確定性更高。但是，截至上個季度，營收線仍然相當穩定。

...anything to add?

……有什麼要補充的嗎？

I don't have anything to add. I mean the other-- the commercial and other industrial bucket that went up 202% that I mentioned in my prepared remarks, it's really driven by the items that Brett mentioned -- data centers and things of that nature.

我沒有什麼要補充的。我的意思是另一個——我在準備好的發言中提到的商業和其他工業增長了 202%，它實際上是由布雷特提到的項目驅動的——數據中心和類似性質的東西。

Okay, fair enough, and when you think about the -- maybe this goes back to the gross margin profile. Is it a bigger function of the pricing environment, the competitive landscape, the inflationary environment or the mix that's going to keep you from hitting those higher 19%, 20% gross margins, if you maybe rank them all, just your thoughts about those 3 pieces?

好吧，公平地說，當你想到——也許這可以追溯到毛利率狀況。是定價環境、競爭格局、通貨膨脹環境還是其他因素的更大作用，會阻止您達到更高的19%、20% 毛利率（如果您可能將它們全部排名的話），僅您對這3 個因素的看法件？

That's a good question. It's certainly all three. The price takes time because of the project-- the way we kind of lead off the old revenue and then the phasing of the timing of that revenue. So, it has an impact, and I think at some point, we'll see it. I mean, the pricing environment for all of our sectors is better than it was certainly a couple of years ago. It's not-- but there'll be a limit to that as there always is in a recycle. Mix to me is probably a big issue. But lately, you can't just count the inflation piece. It certainly hit us a year ago in Q1 on the engineer side. The steel index is back up more recently -- something we're really attuned to is watching the incoming steel prices, and how that lays out in the future piece. So, that probably has as much attention for us as anything on the cost side right now. We're heavily bird-dogging the input costs. Mike?

這是個好問題。肯定是三者皆有。由於專案的原因，價格需要時間——我們引導舊收入的方式，然後逐步確定該收入的時間表。所以，它有影響，我想在某個時候，我們會看到它。我的意思是，我們所有行業的定價環境都比幾年前要好。事實並非如此，但它會受到限制，因為回收總是存在的。混合對我來說可能是一個大問題。但最近，你不能只計算通貨膨脹部分。一年前的第一季度，工程師方面確實受到了打擊。鋼鐵指數最近有所回升——我們真正關注的是即將到來的鋼鐵價格，以及未來的趨勢。因此，這對我們來說可能與目前成本方面的任何事情一樣受到關注。我們正在嚴格控制投入成本。麥克風？

Yes, if I could add here, John. I think both the pricing initiatives and the cost management, we've been really focused on that over the last 12, 24 months. Starting to see that exit the backlog now, and if you look at the quality of the backlog with those elements in it, we're really happy with where we are. The other item that can't be discounted as you look across the facilities around the Powell landscape -- most of the plants, if not all the plants, have very healthy backlog. With that increased volume, we expect to see volume leverage, productivity, cost efficiencies come through the system. So, again, we aspire to get up to that 20% level, and those are kind of the levers that we would look to get there.

是的，如果我可以在這裡添加的話，約翰。我認為過去 12、24 個月我們一直非常關注定價措施和成本管理。現在開始看到積壓工作已經退出，如果你看看積壓工作的品質以及其中的這些元素，我們對我們現在的處境非常滿意。當你環顧鮑威爾景觀周圍的設施時，另一個不可忽視的項目是——大多數工廠（如果不是全部工廠）都有非常健康的積壓。隨著銷售量的增加，我們預期系統將提高銷售槓桿率、生產力和成本效率。因此，我們再次渴望達到 20% 的水平，而這些正是我們希望達到的槓桿。

Got it, and I guess one of the parts that may get you there is, maybe, the service side of the business. Just a quick update on what percent of revenue is that kind of coming in at the current quarter? Any thoughts or updated thoughts about how that business is going to play out for the balance of the year?

明白了，我想可能幫助您實現這一目標的部分之一可能是業務的服務方面。快速更新一下當前季度的收入百分比是多少？關於今年剩餘時間該業務將如何發展有什麼想法或最新想法嗎？

Building on the momentum that we kind of talked about last year, the strategic initiative that embodies the service piece -- you have the stuff that tags on to the existing business, which is still the predominant part of the service revenue -- the installation, conditioning the parts -- the short burn stuff. The more strategic stuff is going well, and we hope that in the coming quarters, we'll be able to share more as we feel confident that it sustains. We're still running -- on average, annually -- 15, 20 points against the whole revenue profile, but we're optimistic that, that will sustain -- as we hope, strategically -- and be able to break it out and provide some more color about it. Because there are some things that we've noted throughout last year that-- we're taking some steps on that front, to leverage the engineering fees, to grab more spend with the client and more service capability as well, not just winning the job, but really expanding our ability to provide value to our clients. So, it's going well, and if it continues throughout this year, I think we'll be in a better position towards the end of the fiscal year to really start talking about what, structurally reporting, we can make on a consistent basis going forward, John.

建立在我們去年談到的勢頭的基礎上，體現服務部分的戰略舉措——你擁有貼在現有業務上的東西，這仍然是服務收入的主要部分——安裝，調節零件——短暫燃燒的東西。更具戰略意義的事情進展順利，我們希望在未來幾個季度，我們能夠分享更多，因為我們對它的持續充滿信心。相對於整個收入狀況，我們仍然平均每年增長 15、20 個百分點，但我們樂觀地認為，這將持續下去——正如我們所希望的那樣，戰略上——並且能夠突破它，提供更多關於它的顏色。因為去年我們注意到了一些事情——我們正在這方面採取一些措施，利用工程費用，爭取更多的客戶支出和更多的服務能力，而不僅僅是贏得客戶工作，但真正擴大了我們為客戶提供價值的能力。因此，進展順利，如果這種情況持續到今年，我認為我們將在本財年結束時處於更好的位置，真正開始討論我們可以在一致的基礎上進行結構性報告， 約翰。

If I may, just one last question regarding the uses of cash and potential M&A. Brett, just some updated thoughts on what you're thinking about as far as the M&A market. You did mention you upped the dividend as far as use of cash. But, are you out there aggressively looking? Updated thoughts about maybe the size or the nature of any kind of potential acquisition?

如果可以的話，我想問最後一個關於現金使用和潛在併購的問題。布雷特，只是關於您對併購市場的一些最新想法。您確實提到您提高了現金使用方面的股利。但是，你在外面積極地尋找嗎？關於任何潛在收購的規模或性質的最新想法？

We are out in the market looking on the nonorganic side. Again, our profile at Powell and operationally as well -- as in this process with the Board -- and the conversation will continue to be overly-- or, a conservative bent to our approach. There are things that we want to do, and we think we can add in. There's always the question of availability and affordability, and then, of course, our ability to integrate if we-- when we get to that point. So, we are out looking. Meanwhile, we aren't discounting. I know this has been a question in the past, John, on the CapEx side. We had a little (inaudible) last quarter. We see some opportunity -- productivity-wise, and the teams around the company invested in the business. I feel good about that, that will be really good capital spend for the shareholder. Then, the dividend. I think it's a directional step strategically, as we look forward over the next couple of years to take a step. We've shared that we're going to actively continue looking at that at the Board. So, this is a directional step and we're going to continue to evaluate that in the coming years as we build success behind the strategies and the core business.

我們在市場上關注非有機方面。再說一次，我們在鮑威爾的形象和運作方面——就像在與董事會的這個過程中一樣——對話將繼續過度——或者說，我們的方法有保守傾向。有些事情是我們想做的，我們認為我們可以添加進去。總是存在可用性和負擔能力的問題，當然，還有我們整合的能力——當我們達到這一點時。所以，我們出去尋找。同時，我們不打折。約翰，我知道這在過去一直是資本支出的問題。上個季度我們有一點（聽不清楚）。我們看到了一些機會——在生產力方面，以及公司周圍的團隊對該業務進行了投資。我對此感覺很好，這對股東來說將是非常好的資本支出。然後，股息。我認為這是策略上的一個方向性步驟，因為我們期待在未來幾年內採取這一步驟。我們已經表示，我們將在董事會中積極繼續研究這個問題。因此，這是一個方向性的步驟，隨著我們在策略和核心業務背後取得成功，我們將在未來幾年繼續評估這一步驟。

(Operator Instructions) Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Brett Cope for any closing remarks.

（操作員說明）女士們先生們，我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回布雷特·科普（Brett Cope）發表閉幕詞。

Thanks, Chad. As you've heard from Mike and me this morning, we view our first quarter as a positive indicator for the rest of the fiscal year. The outlook for our core end markets is favorable and improving while the project funnel for our nonindustrial markets remains robust. A special thank you to the Powell team for their hard work, tenacity and incredible resilience. And of course, thank you to our customers for their business and their trust in our company. Thank you for joining us this morning. We appreciate your continued interest in Powell and look forward to updating everyone next quarter.

謝謝，查德。正如您今天早上從麥克和我那裡聽到的那樣，我們將第一季視為本財年剩餘時間的積極指標。我們的核心終端市場的前景良好且正在改善，而我們的非工業市場的專案管道仍然強勁。特別感謝鮑威爾團隊的辛勤工作、堅韌和令人難以置信的韌性。當然，也要感謝我們的客戶的業務以及對我們公司的信任。感謝您今天早上加入我們。我們感謝您對鮑威爾的持續關注，並期待下個季度向大家通報最新情況。

Thank you, sir. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

謝謝你，先生。會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連線。