Powell Industries Inc (POWL) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Powell Industries fiscal third-quarter 2024 results conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded.

美好的一天，歡迎參加鮑威爾工業 2024 年第三季業績電話會議。（操作員說明）請注意，正在記錄此事件。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Ryan Coleman with Alpha IR. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議交給 Alpha IR 的 Ryan Coleman。請繼續。

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for Powell Industries' conference call today to review fiscal year 2024 third-quarter results. With me on the call are Brett Cope, Powell's Chairman and CEO; and Mike Metcalf, Powell's CFO.

謝謝大家，大家早安。感謝您今天參加 Powell Industries 的電話會議，回顧 2024 財年第三季業績。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。

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 August 7. The information on how to access the replay was provided in yesterday's earnings release.

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 進行網路廣播，也可以在 8 月 7 日之前進行電話重播。昨天的財報中提供了有關如何存取重播的資訊。

Please note that information reported on this call speaks only as of today, July 31, 2024. And therefore, you are advised that any time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate at the time of replay listening or transcript reading.

請注意，本次電話會議報告的資訊僅截至今天（2024 年 7 月 31 日）。因此，建議您重播或閱讀文字記錄時，任何時間敏感的資訊可能不再準確。

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 future results may differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements.

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。請投資人注意，此類前瞻性陳述涉及風險和不確定性，未來實際結果可能與這些前瞻性陳述中的預測有重大差異。

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.

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、原材料的可用性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。

With that, I'll now turn the call over to Brett.

這樣，我現在將把電話轉給布雷特。

Thank you, Ryan, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to review Powell's fiscal 2024 third-quarter results.

謝謝瑞安，大家早安。感謝您今天與我們一起回顧鮑威爾 2024 財年第三季業績。

Before we get started, I'd like to take a moment to recognize the devastating effect at Hurricane Beryl has had on the Greater Houston area and most importantly, the effect it has had on our Powell team members, many of whom were impacted by the storm's initial hit to the city as well as the well documented and lengthy impact of power availability in the Houston region, which is home to our company and so many of our employees.

在我們開始之前，我想花點時間認識颶風貝裡爾對大休斯頓地區造成的破壞性影響，最重要的是，它對我們的鮑威爾團隊成員產生的影響，其中許多人都受到了颶風貝裡爾的影響。

Our concern for the safety and well-being of our employees is not only our number one priority, but also extends beyond the job site and the time they spend here at our facilities. They have shown incredible resolve dealing with the adversity of the past month, and each of them have Powell's full support as the Houston area returns to normalcy.

我們對員工安全和福祉的關注不僅是我們的首要任務，而且還超越了工作現場和他們在我們工廠度過的時間。他們在應對過去一個月的逆境中表現出了令人難以置信的決心，隨著休士頓地區恢復正常，他們每個人都得到了鮑威爾的全力支持。

Operationally, our facilities here in Houston were without power for varied lengths of time, the longest impact was nearly five working days. We are working with our clients to minimize any subsequent impact on production schedules and do not expect a material impact on our revenue outlook for the fiscal fourth quarter.

在營運方面，我們休士頓的設施停電的時間長短不一，最長的影響接近五個工作天。我們正在與客戶合作，盡量減少對生產計劃的任何後續影響，預計不會對我們第四財季的收入前景產生重大影響。

With that, let's review our quarterly results. Our fiscal third quarter reflects the strong operational execution the Powell team continues to deliver and further validates our strategy as well as our unique market position as an integrator of complex engineer-to-order electrical solutions.

接下來，讓我們回顧一下我們的季度業績。我們的第三財季反映了鮑威爾團隊繼續提供的強大營運執行力，並進一步驗證了我們的策略以及我們作為複雜的按訂單設計電氣解決方案整合商的獨特市場地位。

Revenues in the quarter were 50% higher than the prior year as we saw strength across nearly all of the market sectors we serve. The revenue growth was driven by our core industrial end markets as oil and gas and petrochemical revenues grew 56% and 158%, respectively.

本季的營收比上年增長 50%，因為我們看到了我們所服務的幾乎所有市場領域的實力。收入成長是由我們的核心工業終端市場推動的，石油和天然氣以及石化收入分別成長了 56% 和 158%。

Our utility sector also delivered a strong performance. Mike will provide further detail on our results by sector in a moment.

我們的公用事業板塊也表現強勁。麥克稍後將按部門提供有關我們結果的更多詳細資訊。

We booked $356 million of new orders in the quarter, the highest quarterly total of fiscal 2024, and orders were spread broadly across our key end markets. We saw a significant increase driven by our electric utility sector, further underscoring the strength we are seeing in that market, while we were also awarded a notable petrochemical order for a greenfield project to be located in North America.

我們在本季預訂了 3.56 億美元的新訂單，這是 2024 財年最高的季度總額，訂單廣泛分佈在我們的主要終端市場。我們看到電力公用事業部門推動了顯著成長，進一步凸顯了我們在該市場的實力，同時我們也獲得了位於北美的綠地項目的重要石化訂單。

In addition to the higher revenues, our focus on project execution and operational efficiency continued to support improved gross margins. Our gross profit in the quarter nearly doubled versus the same period in fiscal 2023, achieving a gross margin of 28.4% of revenue. This is an improvement of 620 basis points compared to the same period in fiscal 2023 and is the highest quarterly gross margin Powell has recorded in over a decade.

除了收入增加之外，我們對專案執行和營運效率的關注繼續支持毛利率的提高。我們本季的毛利與 2023 財年同期相比幾乎翻了一番，毛利率達到營收的 28.4%。與 2023 財年同期相比，這一數字提高了 620 個基點，也是鮑威爾十多年來創下的最高季度毛利率。

Another encouraging dynamic we are observing is the improvement in gross margins across the whole of our business, including many of our nonindustrial markets. Historically, projects in these markets tend to carry a slightly lower average gross margin than highly complex electrical solutions. However, we are now seeing that gap narrow as the economics of these nonindustrial markets are improving, and Powell becomes more effective in our manufacturing and delivery process.

我們觀察到的另一個令人鼓舞的動態是我們整個業務（包括許多非工業市場）毛利率的改善。從歷史上看，這些市場中的項目的平均毛利率往往略低於高度複雜的電氣解決方案。然而，我們現在看到，隨著這些非工業市場的經濟狀況不斷改善，而鮑威爾在我們的製造和交付過程中變得更加有效，差距正在縮小。

Our backlog was effectively unchanged sequentially at $1.3 billion and remains the highest in Powell's history. We continue to be very pleased with the overall composition of our backlog as well as the timelines and margin profile of the projects that constitute our order book.

我們的積壓訂單實際上與上一季持平，為 13 億美元，仍然是鮑威爾歷史上最高的。我們仍然對我們的積壓訂單的整體組成以及構成我們訂單的項目的時間表和利潤狀況感到非常滿意。

On the bottom line, we recorded net income of $46.2 million or $3.79 per diluted share which was more than double the $18.5 million or $1.52 per share in the prior period. Our capacity initiatives continue to move along as planned to help further facilitate the execution of our current backlog as well as plan for modest volume growth going forward.

就淨利潤而言，我們錄得淨利潤 4,620 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 3.79 美元，是上一期淨利潤 1,850 萬美元，即每股 1.52 美元的兩倍多。我們的產能計劃繼續按計劃進行，以幫助進一步促進當前積壓訂單的執行以及未來產量適度增長的計劃。

Last year, we completed the expansion of our Houston facility on the Gulf Coast, which is providing us with incremental fabrication and integration support for large power control rooms especially for projects that support delivery and transport by water access.

去年，我們完成了墨西哥灣沿岸休士頓工廠的擴建，這為我們提供了大型電力控制室的增量製造和整合支持，特別是支持透過水路輸送和運輸的項目。

The previously announced expansion of our electrical products factory in Houston is also progressing as planned. This $11 million factory addition is expected to be completed in the middle of fiscal 2025 and coincides with our initiative to release new products in support of our future growth across the customers and markets we serve.

先前宣布的休士頓電氣產品工廠擴建計畫也正在按計劃進行。這座耗資 1,100 萬美元的工廠擴建預計將於 2025 財年中期完成，同時我們也計劃發布新產品，以支持我們所服務的客戶和市場的未來成長。

Most recently, in early July, we acquired 9 acres of property neighboring our Houston headquarters location for a total consideration of $5.5 million. We are currently undertaking some minor remediation work to get the space prepared for productive use, and we expect this additional property to contribute incremental revenue in fiscal 2025.

最近，也就是 7 月初，我們以 550 萬美元的總價收購了休士頓總部附近的 9 英畝土地。我們目前正在進行一些小型修復工作，以便為生產性用途做好準備，我們預計這筆額外財產將在 2025 財年貢獻增量收入。

Year to date, our R&D spend is up 49% as we advance our innovation initiatives to develop new technologies and broaden our product portfolio. We remain comfortable with our current staffing levels and are confident that we have the right people in place to meet the demanding project schedules of our backlog.

今年迄今為止，我們的研發支出成長了 49%，因為我們不斷推動創新舉措，開發新技術並擴大我們的產品組合。我們對目前的人員配置水準感到滿意，並相信我們有合適的人員來滿足我們積壓的嚴格專案時間表。

However, as we've stated before, a critical area of focus for Powell remains the acquisition of talent at all levels to support Powell's long-term growth strategy along with opportunities we see across most of our key markets. Looking forward, expectations for project activity and new orders across our markets are relatively unchanged. Overall, quoting activity remains very healthy and balanced.

然而，正如我們之前所說，鮑威爾的一個關鍵關注領域仍然是收購各級人才，以支持鮑威爾的長期成長策略以及我們在大多數關鍵市場看到的機會。展望未來，我們市場對專案活動和新訂單的預期相對不變。總體而言，報價活動仍然非常健康和平衡。

Within the oil and gas LNG market, the fundamentals of the US natural gas market remain favorable and support many global economic and environmental goals over a long-term horizon. Natural gas price spreads across global markets remain conducive to US export activity.

在石油和天然氣液化天然氣市場中，美國天然氣市場的基本面仍然有利，並支持許多長期的全球經濟和環境目標。全球市場的天然氣價差仍有利於美國的出口活動。

Near-term activity remains subdued as a result of the US Department of Energy policy regarding LNG export permitting. However, we have not altered our long-term planning for this market.

由於美國能源部有關液化天然氣出口許可的政策，近期活動仍然低迷。但是，我們並沒有改變對這個市場的長期規劃。

The fundamentals for our oil and gas and petrochemical markets continue to support our expectation for continued strength for these sectors. This sector includes energy transition projects, such as biofuels, carbon capture and hydrogen, areas where Powell has not historically participated, but where we are seeing a substantially higher volume of project activity.

我們的石油、天然氣和石化市場的基本面繼續支持我們對這些產業持續走強的預期。該部門包括能源轉型項目，例如生物燃料、碳捕獲和氫，鮑威爾歷史上從未參與過這些領域，但我們看到專案活動量大幅增加。

Activity within our commercial and other industrial market also remains attractive, which includes activity within the data center market. As we outlined on our second quarter call, we believe the strong growth that we have seen so far in this market for Powell has a larger potential as we continue to qualify more of our products and services for the future of this important end market.

我們的商業和其他工業市場內的活動也仍然具有吸引力，其中包括資料中心市場內的活動。正如我們在第二季電話會議中所概述的那樣，我們相信迄今為止在這個市場上看到的強勁成長對鮑威爾來說具有更大的潛力，因為我們將繼續為這個重要終端市場的未來提供更多的產品和服務。

Lastly, the outlook for our utility market remains very positive, supported by our recent return of new-generation work in addition to Powell's leadership and utility distribution substations. We've been very pleased with both the volume of projects coming to market as well as our win rate on the orders we have booked thus far.

最後，除了鮑威爾的領導和公用事業配電變電站之外，我們的公用事業市場的前景仍然非常樂觀，這要歸功於我們最近恢復的新一代工作。我們對進入市場的項目數量以及迄今為止預訂的訂單的獲勝率感到非常滿意。

Overall, we are very happy with our third-quarter performance, and we remain confident in the composition of our current backlog, the near and medium-term outlook for our key end markets, as well as our strong financial position. Altogether, we continue to expect a favorable operating environment for Powell as we focus on successfully delivering the projects in backlog to our customers and advancing our strategy.

總體而言，我們對第三季度的業績感到非常滿意，我們對當前積壓訂單的組成、主要終端市場的近期和中期前景以及我們強勁的財務狀況仍然充滿信心。總而言之，我們繼續期望鮑威爾有一個有利的營運環境，因為我們專注於成功向客戶交付積壓專案並推進我們的策略。

With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Mike to walk us through our financial results in greater detail.

說到這裡，我想把電話轉給麥克，讓他更詳細地向我們介紹我們的財務表現。

Thank you, Brett, and good morning, everyone. As Brett noted, our revenues for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 were $288 million compared to $192 million or 50% higher versus the same period one year ago and higher sequentially by $33 million.

謝謝你，布雷特，大家早安。正如 Brett 指出的那樣，我們 2024 財年第三季的營收為 2.88 億美元，而去年同期為 1.92 億美元，比一年前同期成長了 50%，比上一季成長了 3,300 萬美元。

New orders for the third fiscal quarter were $356 million, $121 million or 51% higher sequentially and $149 million or 30% lower versus the same period one year ago on a challenging comparison as the prior-year period contained two LNG mega project bookings. While there were no similar-sized projects booked in the current quarter, there were a number of significant bookings in the third fiscal quarter as we continue to experience strong demand across most of the end markets and geographies that we compete in.

第三財季的新訂單為3.56 億美元，比上一財季增加1.21 億美元，即51%；與去年同期相比，減少1.49 億美元，即30%，這是一個具有挑戰性的比較，因為去年同期包含兩個液化天然氣大型專案預訂。雖然本季沒有預訂類似規模的項目，但由於我們在大多數終端市場和我們參與競爭的地區持續感受到強勁的需求，因此第三財季有許多重要的預訂。

As our efforts to broaden our penetration into tangential markets outside of our core industrial end markets continues, we experienced order growth sequentially across all market sectors, but most notably in the utility and commercial and other industrial sectors, increasing 77% and 63%, respectively.

隨著我們繼續努力擴大對核心工業終端市場之外的切向市場的滲透，我們在所有市場領域的訂單都出現了連續增長，但最引人注目的是在公用事業、商業和其他工業領域，分別成長了77% 和63% 。

As a result of the sustained strength across all of our market sectors, we recognize a 1.2 times book-to-bill ratio in the third quarter of fiscal 2024, resulting in ending backlog of $1.3 billion, which was flat versus one year ago and higher by $64 million sequentially.

由於我們所有市場領域的持續強勁，我們認識到 2024 財年第三季的訂單出貨比為 1.2 倍，最終積壓金額為 13 億美元，與一年前持平，甚至更高比上一季度增加了6400 萬美元。

Compared to the prior year, domestic revenues improved by 59% to $244 million, while international revenues were 14% higher, driven by increased project volume across both of our international operations in Canada and the United Kingdom. In total, international revenues were up by $5 million to $44 million in the third fiscal quarter.

與前一年相比，國內收入成長了 59%，達到 2.44 億美元，而國際收入成長了 14%，這得益於我們在加拿大和英國的國際業務項目量的增加。第三財季的國際收入總計增加了 500 萬美元，達到 4,400 萬美元。

From a market sector perspective versus the third quarter of fiscal 2023, we experienced healthy growth across the majority of our market sectors. Revenues across our core industrial, oil and gas and petrochemical sectors sustained their positive momentum with the oil and gas sector higher by 56% and the petrochemical sector higher by 158% as we continue to benefit from the revenues exiting the backlog on the large petrochemical order that was booked in fiscal 2023.

從市場領域的角度來看，與 2023 財年第三季相比，我們的大多數市場領域都實現了健康成長。我們的核心工業、油氣和石化行業的收入保持了積極的勢頭，石油和天然氣行業增長了56%，石化行業增長了158%，因為我們繼續受益於大石化訂單積壓的收入。年預訂的。

We also experienced solid growth in both the electric utility and the commercial and other Industrial market sectors, increasing by 30% and 18%, respectively, reflecting our focus on thoughtfully expanding our presence in these markets. The light rail traction power sector was lower by 25% as this continues to be a market sector that we demonstrate discipline and selectivity.

我們在電力公用事業以及商業和其他工業市場領域也實現了穩健成長，分別成長了 30% 和 18%，這反映出我們致力於深思熟慮地擴大我們在這些市場的影響力。輕軌牽引電力產業下降了 25%，因為這仍然是我們表現出紀律性和選擇性的市場產業。

Gross profit in the third quarter of fiscal 2024 increased by $39 million to $82 million versus the same period one year ago. Gross profit as a percentage of revenue increased by 620 basis points to 28.4% versus the same period a year ago and was 380 basis points higher sequentially.

2024財年第三季毛利較上年同期成長3,900萬美元，達8,200萬美元。毛利佔營收的百分比較去年同期成長 620 個基點，達到 28.4%，較上季成長 380 個基點。

The current quarter margin rates all across our business benefited from a higher volume of project closeouts, strong project execution, and operational leverage. We have also been steadily building a healthy order book in geographies and market sectors that historically carry lower margin rates but today are adding to the overall margin story as they exit the backlog.

我們整個業務目前季度的利潤率得益於專案清倉量的增加、強勁的專案執行和營運槓桿。我們也一直在歷史上保證金率較低的地區和市場領域穩步建立健康的訂單簿，但今天隨著它們退出積壓訂單，整體保證金情況有所增加。

Selling, general, and administrative expenses were $22 million in the current period, higher by $2 million as we had higher spending and infrastructure improvements this quarter versus the same period a year ago. SG&A as a percentage of revenue decreased 260 basis points to 7.6% in the current fiscal quarter on the higher revenue base.

本季的銷售、一般和管理費用為 2,200 萬美元，增加了 200 萬美元，因為本季我們的支出和基礎設施改善與去年同期相比有所增加。由於收入基礎較高，本財季銷售、管理及行政費用 (SG&A) 佔收入的百分比下降了 260 個基點至 7.6%。

In the third quarter of fiscal 2024, we reported net income of $46.2 million, generating $3.79 per diluted share compared to a net income of $18.5 million or $1.52 per diluted share in the third quarter of fiscal 2023. During the third quarter of fiscal 2024, we generated $13.8 million of operating cash flow driven by higher earnings generated in the quarter, partially offset by an increase in working capital as we allocate capital to the projects in the order book.

2024 財年第三季度，我們報告的淨利潤為 4,620 萬美元，稀釋後每股收益為 3.79 美元，而 2023 財年第三季的淨利潤為 1,850 萬美元，稀釋後每股收益為 1.52 美元。在 2024 財年第三季度，由於本季度產生的收益增加，我們產生了 1,380 萬美元的營運現金流，但由於我們向訂單簿中的項目分配資本，營運資金的增加部分抵消了這一增長。

Investments in property, plant, and equipment in the fiscal third quarter totaled $1.4 million. At June 30, 2024, we had cash and short-term investments of $374 million compared to $279 million at September 30, 2023, and $365 million at March 31, 2024. The company does not hold any debt.

第三財季的不動產、廠房及設備投資總額為 140 萬美元。截至2024年6月30日，我們的現金和短期投資為3.74億美元，而2023年9月30日為2.79億美元，2024年3月31日為3.65億美元。公司不持有任何債務。

Looking forward, we remain very encouraged with where Powell is positioned as we enter the last quarter of fiscal 2024. Commercial activity across most of our market sectors remains strong, providing a tailwind as we close out the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 and prepare for fiscal 2025.

展望未來，當我們進入 2024 財年最後一個季度時，我們對鮑威爾的立場仍然感到非常鼓舞。我們大多數市場領域的商業活動仍然強勁，為我們結束 2024 財年第四季並為 2025 財年做準備提供了動力。

Operationally, we are confident that we have the necessary infrastructure and resources to execute our growing backlog while also continuing to progress our plans to thoughtfully expand our capabilities.

在營運方面，我們相信我們擁有必要的基礎設施和資源來執行不斷增長的積壓工作，同時繼續推進我們的計劃，以深思熟慮地擴展我們的能力。

Notwithstanding the typical challenges associated with a projects-based business, based upon the quality of our backlog and our liquidity position, we are well positioned to sustain the year-to-date financial performance through the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 while also providing a strong entry point as we look forward to fiscal 2025.

儘管面臨與基於專案的業務相關的典型挑戰，但根據我們的積壓訂單品質和流動性狀況，我們有能力在 2024 財年第四季度維持年初至今的財務業績，同時也提供強勁的我們展望2025 財年的切入點。

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

此時，我們很樂意回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) John Franzreb, Sidoti & Company.

（操作員說明）John Franzreb，Sidoti & Company。

Good morning, Brett and Mike, and congratulations on another stellar operating results in the quarter. I'd like to start with -- in the second quarter, you seem to suggest that you are at max capacity. However, revenue exceeded that threshold. How should we reset our expectations of what max capacity really is?

早安，布雷特和麥克，恭喜本季再次取得出色的經營業績。我想從第二季開始，您似乎表明您已達到最大容量。然而，收入超過了這個門檻。我們該如何重新設定對最大容量的期望？

So we are definitely coming up against limits. I mean there are still capacity initiatives as we shared in the prepared comments today, John. And still if you think back in time, some of the facility investments we did over a decade ago provides a different profile when you kind of build the model looking back over time.

所以我們一定會遇到限制。我的意思是，正如我們今天在準備好的評論中所分享的那樣，仍然存在容量舉措，約翰。不過，如果你回顧過去，當你建立模型回顧過去時，我們十多年前所做的一些設施投資會提供不同的概況。

But in Q3, being a projects business, there were some really healthy closeouts. There were some timing effects, given the wide breadth of project and the size of the backlog. There's always an element of buyout timing when we hit the POC accounting. So little choppiness, I think, in the Q3 sort of hit on the top side.

但在第三季度，作為一個專案業務，出現了一些非常健康的清倉。考慮到專案的廣度和積壓的規模，存在一些時間效應。當我們進行 POC 會計時，總會有一個收購時機的因素。我認為，第三季度的波動很小，有點擊中了頂部。

How much do we have in project closeout revenue in the quarter?

本季我們的專案收尾收入有多少？

Yeah, John, I would, given this is a projects-based business to -- kind of tag on to what Brett said. It's not unusual for us to experience choppiness across the quarterly landscape, project closeouts, buyouts, things of that nature making their way through the system.

是的，約翰，我會的，因為這是一個基於專案的業務——有點像布雷特所說的那樣。對我們來說，季度環境的波動、項目清倉、收購以及系統中出現的類似情況並不罕見。

And with this in mind, we exited the third quarter on a year-to-date basis at 26.1% gross profit which is probably the appropriate parameter as we calibrate what's exiting backlog. With respect to precisely the amount in the discrete 3Q that was accretive to that base margin rate, it's probably roughly 150 to 200 basis points.

考慮到這一點，我們以年初至今的毛利 26.1% 結束第三季度，這可能是我們校準現有積壓訂單的合適參數。就離散的第三季增加基本利潤率的具體金額而言，可能大約為 150 到 200 個基點。

Got it. That's very helpful, Mike. And then regarding the gross margin, the new bookings, is it fair to assume that there are higher margin than bookings that you've taken in a year ago?

知道了。這非常有幫助，麥克。然後關於毛利率，新的預訂，假設毛利率比一年前的預訂更高，是否公平？

I wouldn't say that. I'd say that coming out as we ramped up last year with the two big quarters and then sort of stabilized in the latter part of the calendar year and into this year from even previous quarters. It's continued to hold pretty constant, John, on the market pricing.

我不會這麼說。我想說的是，去年我們在兩個大季度中取得了成長，然後在今年下半年穩定下來，甚至從前幾季進入今年。約翰，市場定價仍保持相當穩定。

And if anything, we've shifted our outlook to cracks in the story. And through this quarter and the last quarter, as we noted, haven't seen them. But we do have our radar up for changes in the markets where we are competing.

如果有什麼不同的話，那就是我們已經將視角轉向了故事中的裂縫。正如我們所指出的，在本季和上個季度，還沒有看到它們。但我們確實對我們所競爭的市場的變化做好了準備。

Okay. Just -- Brett, it sounds like you're more constructive on the utility market than you were, say, six months ago. Can you talk a little bit about what's going on there? And what's the opportunity profile as you see it?

好的。只是——布雷特，聽起來你對公用事業市場的看法比六個月前更有建設性。你能談談那裡發生的事情嗎？您認為機會是什麼？

Yes. I did -- you're absolutely spot on. I appreciate the question, John. The utility market, as you know, over the last -- over the long haul, we've intentionally built a strategy, especially on the distribution side with the infrastructure spend and the hardening, if you will, and the resilience that the utilities are building in US, Canada, UK specifically, where we're really focused.

是的。我做到了——你絕對是對的。我很欣賞這個問題，約翰。如您所知，公用事業市場在過去 - 從長遠來看，我們有意制定了一項策略，特別是在配電方面，包括基礎設施支出和硬化（如果您願意的話）以及公用事業公司的彈性特別是在我們真正關注的美國、加拿大和英國進行建設。

There's some international there, but that's the bulk of our core market. More recently, we are seeing some new generation of market. I won't say it sort of went away, but it's coming back a little stronger. And then our participation rate is stronger.

那裡有一些國際市場，但那是我們核心市場的大部分。最近，我們看到了一些新一代的市場。我不會說它已經消失了，但它又回來了，變得更強大了。然後我們的參與率就更強了。

And so thus in the prepared comments about our increased win percentage. There seems to be a little bit longer profile with some of the -- whether it's an IOU or a public or a co-op outlook and how they're planning for the future. And it's kind of brought Powell back into the mix on some of these discussions, and very healthy chats, and we're pretty excited by the resurgence.

因此，在準備好的關於我們增加勝率的評論中。有些人的簡介似乎有點長——無論是藉條、公眾或合作社的前景，以及他們如何規劃未來。這讓鮑威爾重新參與了其中一些討論，以及非常健康的聊天，我們對這種復甦感到非常興奮。

Okay. And one last question, I'll get back into queue. It's hard to ignore how quickly cash is building. Historically, there was a use of cash during times of large project work, but it doesn't seem that the same magnitude seems to be playing out in the current results.

好的。最後一個問題，我將回到隊列中。很難忽視現金累積的速度。從歷史上看，大型專案工作期間曾使用過現金，但目前的結果似乎並未發揮同樣的作用。

Can you talk a little bit about use of cash? How should we think about the cash flow going forward? Any additional color there would be really helpful. Thank you.

能談談現金的使用嗎？我們該如何看待未來的現金流？任何額外的顏色都會非常有幫助。謝謝。

Yeah. I'll start there, and I'll let Mike jump in. So on the cash, I mean, you raised a good point. We do expect the working capital part to grow, and Mike will provide some color there.

是的。我將從這裡開始，然後讓麥克介入。所以關於現金，我的意思是，你提出了一個很好的觀點。我們確實預計營運資金部分會成長，麥克將在那裡提供一些色彩。

When we have a nice quarter like we did in Q3 with the bookings, the payment milestones will help buoy that until that gets put to work in a later period. So that is sort of raising the overall profile of cash and certainly providing good free cash flow quarter over quarter.

當我們像第三季一樣有一個不錯的季度預訂時，付款里程碑將有助於提振這一點，直到稍後階段投入使用。因此，這在某種程度上提高了現金的整體狀況，並且肯定會逐季提供良好的自由現金流。

As we look forward, if you look at the capital side, it is ramping '22 to '23 to '24. I think when we get through Q4, you'll see the land that we just shared that we acquired, that will hit. So capital spend along with equipment will continue to rise in the coming quarters.

展望未來，如果你看看資本方面，你會發現它正在從 22 年到 23 年再到 24 年加速成長。我認為當我們度過第四季度時，你會看到我們剛剛分享的、我們獲得的土地將會受到衝擊。因此，未來幾季的資本支出和設備支出將繼續增加。

The R&D spend, I believe, is up 50% from our prepared remarks. That will continue to rise incrementally. And then we talked a lot about last couple of years on the M&A side, that continues in earnest.

我相信，研發支出比我們準備好的言論增加了 50%。這一數字將繼續逐步上升。然後我們在併購方面談論了很多過去幾年的事情，這一點仍在認真地繼續。

And while there's nothing that we're announcing today, there's a number of active areas out in the world that we're looking at to figure out if and how they fit into the portfolio and what that means for the future. So it's a pretty active area. And we're hopeful that in the next 12 to 24 months, that will chew up some of that cash.

雖然我們今天沒有宣布任何內容，但我們正在研究世界上許多活躍的領域，以確定它們是否以及如何融入投資組合以及這對未來意味著什麼。所以這是一個非常活躍的領域。我們希望在未來 12 到 24 個月內，這將消耗掉部分現金。

And then also the continuing discussion on increasing the dividend. That's an active discussion every quarter with the Board.

然後還有關於增加股息的持續討論。每個季度都會與董事會進行積極的討論。

Yes. And to follow on, John, you are absolutely right. Traditionally, this business, as you win big projects, you've got a lot going on in the shop. We do chew up a lot of the cash with working capital, which is happening today.

是的。繼續說下去，約翰，你絕對是對的。傳統上，在這個行業，當你贏得大項目時，你就會在商店裡發生很多事情。我們確實用營運資金消耗了大量現金，而這就是今天發生的情況。

But as you see from our current discrete 3Q results, a book-to-bill ratio of 1.2, we stay at that 1, 1-plus book-to-bill ratio, the -- you kind of stay ahead of the curve from a cash inflow perspective. And keep in mind that of the $374 million of cash balance, roughly $175 million of that, so just under half of it will be deployed at some point in time to support the execution of these projects.

但正如您從我們目前的離散第三季業績中看到的那樣，訂單出貨比為 1.2，我們保持在 1、1+ 的訂單出貨比，您可以從現金流入角度。請記住，在 3.74 億美元的現金餘額中，大約有 1.75 億美元，因此其中不到一半將在某個時間點用於支援這些專案的執行。

Great. Thanks, Mike. Thanks, Brett. I'm going back to queue.

偉大的。謝謝，麥克。謝謝，布雷特。我要回去排隊了。

Thanks, John.

謝謝，約翰。

Jon Braatz, Kansas City Capital.

喬恩‧布拉茨 (Jon Braatz)，堪薩斯市首府。

Good morning, Brett, hi. Brett, you mentioned a couple of times in your commentary that your win rates are improving. And you compete against a lot of big guys. And I guess my question is, specifically, what do you ascribe to that your win rates are getting better. You're taking share. What can you pinpoint that improve win rate to?

早安，布雷特，嗨。布雷特，你在評論中多次提到你的勝率正在提高。而且你要跟很多大人物競爭。我想我的問題是，具體來說，你認為你的勝率變得更好是因為什麼。你正在分享份額。您能指出什麼可以提高勝率？

Well, I'll go back to -- let's start with utility, Jon. The intentionality on the distribution side has been going for 10-years plus.

好吧，我要回到——讓我們從實用性開始，喬恩。分銷方面的意向已經持續了十多年。

As a lot of the infrastructure in the US, Canada, and UK has come up for renewal, and they're looking at the longer-term reliability, we've been there with the enclosed PCR power control room solution, and of course, Powell's breakers, the suite the power/vac and the PowlVac as the core value proposition.

由於美國、加拿大和英國的許多基礎設施都需要更新，並且他們正在考慮長期可靠性，因此我們已經提供了封閉式 PCR 電源控制室解決方案，當然， Powell 斷路器、power/vac 套件和PowlVac 作為核心價值主張。

And that's working really well for 10, 12 years as the -- the generation has historically been a very, very tough area to compete in. It became -- fewer and fewer engineering firms that were competing. The price point really changed. It does seem to have changed a little bit here. It isn't all just what I'll call traditional generation.

這在 10 年、12 年裡都非常有效，因為這一代人一直以來都是一個非常非常難以競爭的領域。參與競爭的工程公司越來越少。價格點確實發生了變化。這裡似乎確實發生了一些變化。這不僅僅是我所說的傳統世代。

There's -- as I look at the numbers, there's a little bit of new transitional. I'm not going to sit here and tell you we're going all out in battery energy storage systems, but I do see it in the numbers. We're winning through different channels as well.

當我查看這些數字時，有一些新的過渡。我不會坐在這裡告訴你我們正在全力以赴開發電池儲能係統，但我確實從數字中看到了這一點。我們也透過不同的管道取得勝利。

We're not maybe always going after the full power control of Powell. We're taking out the best part that makes sense for us and letting others do things in that market that are better than us. And so we're winning the higher quality part that makes sense for the company and the shareholder.

我們也許並不總是追求鮑威爾的全面權力控制。我們正在拿出對我們有意義的最好的部分，並讓其他人在那個市場上做比我們更好的事情。因此，我們贏得了對公司和股東都有意義的更高品質的部分。

So there's a little bit of that mixed there as well. When I look at the other segments, as LNG came back, post-pandemic, yeah, I think we did very well. I think it's sort of moderated now to more of a run rate on that market.

所以那裡也有一些混合的東西。當我看看其他領域時，隨著液化天然氣在大流行後的回歸，是的，我認為我們做得很好。我認為現在該市場的運作率已經有所緩和。

And then our traditional customers, very big focus of Powell as I talk about executing and meeting our dates, just something that we can't ever take our eye off. It is one of the value differentiators at Powell versus other models that don't have the under one roof approach that Powell have.

然後是我們的傳統客戶，當我談到執行和滿足我們的日期時，鮑威爾非常關注，這是我們永遠無法移開目光的事情。這是鮑威爾與其他沒有鮑威爾同一屋簷下方法的模型的價值差異之一。

And when customers need something under a critical time element, that's an area that we are -- I just -- I don't intend losing that argument. We're going to go hard at that and ensure that if the client needs it, when they say they need it, we're the best option in the market.

當客戶在關鍵時間要素下需要某些東西時，這就是我們的領域 - 我只是 - 我不打算失去這個論點。我們將努力做到這一點，並確保如果客戶需要它，當他們說他們需要它時，我們是市場上的最佳選擇。

Okay. All right. Thank you. And Mike, your backlog was flat year over year, but your rates, you had a book bill 1.2. Can you talk a little bit about your sort of your book-to-burn business during the quarter?

好的。好的。謝謝。麥克，你的積壓量與去年同期持平，但你的書費是 1.2。您能談談本季的圖書銷毀業務嗎？

I think we've, in the past, sort of thought it was sort of like $40 million or $35 million per quarter, seems like it must be better than that. What can you tell us about that?

我想我們過去認為每季大概是 4000 萬美元或 3500 萬美元，但現在看起來肯定比這更好。對此您能告訴我們什麼嗎？

No. Really roughly, that hasn't changed substantially, Jon. What has changed in what you're seeing elevating the revenue is the convertibility aspect of our other backlog.

不。粗略地說，這並沒有實質改變，喬恩。您所看到的收入增加的變化是我們其他積壓訂單的可兌換性方面。

Last quarter, if you looked at the $1.3 billion of backlog, the convertibility over the next 12 months was in the mid-50% range. This quarter, as you'll see in the Q, when we publish it right after this call, that's up in the 60 percentage range.

上個季度，如果您查看 13 億美元的積壓訂單，您會發現未來 12 個月的可兌換性在 50% 左右。本季度，正如您在 Q 中看到的那樣，當我們在這次電話會議之後立即發布它時，這一數字上升了 60%。

So we're getting a little bit more out the door from our backlog, and that's helping elevate the revenue level as well.

因此，我們從積壓的訂單中獲得了更多的資金，這也有助於提高收入水準。

Okay. Okay. All right. And one final question, you've ramped up your R&D spending. What can you tell me, like what might be in your R&D portfolio and what the what might be the expectations of that investment in the next two, three years. Can you give us an idea of what you're working on and the potential impact?

好的。好的。好的。最後一個問題是，你們增加了研發支出。你能告訴我什麼，例如你的研發投資組合中可能有什麼，以及未來兩三年內該投資的預期是什麼。您能為我們介紹一下您正在做什麼以及潛在的影響嗎？

So the first -- new development just rolled out this year, Jon, just to give you an example. It's a station breaker product. It's targeted to the utility renewable market. It's not new technology. There are many folks out there that make a station breaker.

所以，第一個——今年剛推出的新開發項目，喬恩，只是給你舉個例子。這是一個車站斷路器產品。它針對公用事業可再生能源市場。這不是新技術。那裡有很多人製作車站斷路器。

We think we've got some unique value proposition in what we've come up with. We've targeted the higher end of the Powell strategy of the 38 kV, so a very robust design for the high end of the curve on the voltage.

我們認為我們所提出的產品具有一些獨特的價值主張。我們的目標是鮑威爾策略的高階 38 kV，因此針對電壓曲線的高階進行了非常穩健的設計。

So if you then look at all the segments, that's kind of what we're looking at is what's out there is a problem that needs to be solved. I think Marshall and his team are doing a great job on working with product management and sales and helping us figure out that road map.

因此，如果您查看所有細分市場，您會發現我們正在關注的是需要解決的問題。我認為馬歇爾和他的團隊在產品管理和銷售方面做得很好，並幫助我們制定了路線圖。

And so subsequent quarters in the next year, you'll see things that are very electrically centric on the switchgear side, product based, supporting not only in the projects business, but also supporting a product strategy through other channels into the market.

因此，在明年的後續幾個季度，您將看到以開關設備方面以電氣為中心、基於產品的事物，不僅支援專案業務，還支援透過其他管道進入市場的產品策略。

So as I noted on some of the win rate stuff, where can we help all parts of the strategy of the business. So the market sectors as well as the channels to fulfill our goal of getting back to our electrical roots and being a go-to supplier for solving that distribution need.

正如我在一些獲勝率問題上指出的那樣，我們可以在哪些方面為業務策略的各個部分提供幫助。因此，市場部門以及通路可以實現我們回歸電氣根源並成為解決分銷需求的首選供應商的目標。

Okay. All right. Thank you a bunch.

好的。好的。謝謝你們。

John Franzreb, Sidoti & Company.

約翰‧弗蘭茲雷布 (John Franzreb)，西多蒂公司 (Sidoti & Company)。

Thanks for taking the follow-up, guys. I'm actually curious about the 9 acres of property that you purchased.

謝謝你們的跟進，夥計們。我其實對你買的那塊9英畝的土地很好奇。

I mean put it in terms of acreage, is there a facility located on that you convert? Are you going to greenfield something. What's your intended use and capital outlay that you're thinking about in addition to the property purchase?

我的意思是，就面積而言，您可以轉換的設施位於其上嗎？你要去綠地做什麼嗎？除了購買房產之外，您還考慮什麼用途和資本支出？

Yeah. So that was an opportunity that came along. We were out in the market, John, looking at some warehousing options short term initially, really to how some of the material that comes into Powell, the engineered -- especially the engineered equipment that we spec and acquire that goes into the integrated offering.

是的。所以這是一個機會。約翰，我們在市場上最初考慮了一些短期倉儲選項，實際上是為了了解鮑威爾的一些材料如何設計，特別是我們指定和購買的工程設備，進入整合產品。

And so it was just an opportunity that when it came open right behind our main facility, our largest facility of the seven here in Houston. We looked at it, had good chats over almost two quarters worth of back and forth, and did it really make sense.

因此，當它在我們的主要設施後面開放時，這只是一個機會，這是我們休士頓七個設施中最大的設施。我們看了它，在近兩個季度的來回中進行了愉快的交談，並且它確實有意義。

And so as we look forward, it needs a little bit of work. It's quite a bit of land. There are several office buildings. There is some warehousing capability there that we'll use immediately, where we can offload some of the some of the third-party kit that's sitting in and around a couple of our factory locations in here. So that will give us the ability to free up and do some productive work in the existing facilities by just getting some of the clutter better organized.

因此，當我們展望未來時，還需要做一些工作。這是相當大的一塊土地。有幾棟辦公大樓。那裡有一些我們將立即使用的倉儲功能，我們可以在這裡卸載我們幾個工廠所在地及其周圍的一些第三方套件。因此，這將使我們能夠透過更好地整理一些雜亂的東西，在現有設施中騰出空間並做一些富有成效的工作。

And then, yeah, longer term, we have some ideation going on about expanded capacity and lines we could move over there to build. You could move one of our gear lineups over there, start staffing it. It's about -- it's across the street, so it's not contiguous, but it is immediately behind the facility.

然後，是的，從長遠來看，我們正在考慮擴大產能和我們可以搬到那裡建造的線路。你可以把我們的一組裝備移到那裡，開始為其配備人員。它位於街對面，所以不是連續的，但它就在設施後面。

And then as we think about the previous question from Jon Braatz, what others coming down the pipeline that we might be able to put there or even rationalize it in other parts of our footprint.

然後，當我們思考喬恩·布拉茨 (Jon Braatz) 提出的上一個問題時，我們可能能夠將其他哪些內容放在那裡，甚至在我們足蹟的其他部分中合理化它。

So no more equipment in the parking lot. Is that what you're telling me?

所以停車場裡沒有更多的設備了。這就是你告訴我的嗎？

Well, we're pretty full in the parking lot if you come here today, but we are definitely going to try use that a little bit.

好吧，如果你今天來這裡的話，我們的停車場已經滿了，但我們肯定會嘗試使用。

Okay. You don't want to put a number on how much additional CapEx it would take to get everything up to the way you want it?

好的。您不想計算需要多少額外資本支出才能讓一切達到您想要的方式嗎？

I think less than $1 million. I mean we spent a lot in diligence. It will come out in Q4. It will be a little higher than [5.5]. And then to get it up and going productively, the warehousing side will be pretty quick.

我認為不到100萬美元。我的意思是我們在勤奮上花了很多錢。它將在第四季度發布。會比稍微高一點[5.5]。然後為了有效率地啟動並運行，倉儲方面的速度將會非常快。

If we start to invest and actually add fabrication or, say, some assembly windup material, that would be something we'll share with you and the shareholders in the coming calls. But that would be a minor capital increase unless we actually go into fabrication and expand beyond Mosley to put it over there.

如果我們開始投資並實際增加製造，或者說一些組裝結束材料，我們將在接下來的電話會議中與您和股東分享。但這只是小的資本增加，除非我們真正進入製造領域並擴展到莫斯利以外的地方，將其放置在那裡。

Got it. Got it. Understood. Thank you for taking my follow-up. Congratulations again.

知道了。知道了。明白了。感謝您接受我的跟進。再次恭喜。

Thanks.

謝謝。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Brett Cope for any closing remarks.

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。

Thank you, David. Overall, it was a solid third quarter, and I am very proud of every one of our 3,100 employees. Thank you for your hard work and quality execution and for your exceptional commitment to the success of our customers.

謝謝你，大衛。總體而言，第三季表現出色，我為我們 3,100 名員工中的每一位員工感到非常自豪。感謝您的辛勤工作和優質執行，以及您對客戶成功的卓越承諾。

Our current backlog, combined with the broad market activity we continue to experience across most of our market sectors provides us excellent momentum as we plan fiscal 2025. Thank you all for your participation. We appreciate your continued interest in Powell and look forward to speaking with you next quarter.

我們目前的積壓訂單，加上我們在大多數市場領域繼續經歷的廣泛市場活動，為我們制定 2025 財年計劃提供了良好的動力。感謝大家的參與。我們感謝您對鮑威爾的持續關注，並期待下個季度與您交談。

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

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。