Progress Software Corp (PRGS) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day and welcome to the Progress Software Corporation Q4 2023 earnings call.

美好的一天，歡迎參加 Progress Software Corporation 2023 年第四季財報電話會議。

At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode.

此時，所有參與者都處於只聽模式。

After the speaker presentation, there will be a question.

演講者演講結束後，將有一個問題。

During the session you will need to press star one on your telephone.

在會議期間，您需要按電話上的星號一。

You will then hear an automated message advising your handouts.

然後，您將聽到一條自動訊息，建議您分發講義。

To withdraw your question, press star one advise that today's conference is being recorded.

要撤回您的問題，新聞明星一建議今天的會議正在錄製。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker, Mr. Mike Mitchell, K. Senior Vice President of Investor Relations go ahead, sir.

現在我想將會議交給您的發言人 Mike Mitchell, K 先生。請繼續，先生，投資者關係高級副總裁。

Okay.

好的。

Thank you, Sherri.

謝謝你，雪莉。

It's nice to have you with us again.

很高興再次與我們在一起。

Good afternoon, everybody, and thanks for joining us for Progress Software's Fourth Fiscal Quarter 2023 financial results conference call.

大家下午好，感謝您參加 Progress Software 2023 年第四財季財務業績電話會議。

On the line with me this afternoon are Yogesh Gupta, President and CEO, and Anthony Folger, our Chief Financial Officer.

今天下午與我通話的是總裁兼執行長 Yogesh Gupta 和財務長 Anthony Folger。

Before we get started, let's go over our state Safe Harbor statements.

在開始之前，讓我們先回顧一下我們州的安全港聲明。

During this call, we will discuss our outlook for future financial and operating performance, corporate strategies, product plans, cost initiatives, and other information that might be considered forward looking such forward-looking information represents Progress Software's outlook and guidance only as of today and is subject to risks and uncertainties for a description of the risk factors that may affect our results, please refer to the risk factors in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

在本次電話會議中，我們將討論對未來財務和營運業績、公司策略、產品計劃、成本計劃以及其他可能被視為前瞻性的資訊的展望，此類前瞻性資訊僅代表Progress Software 截至今天和未來的展望和指導。面臨風險和不確定性，有關可能影響我們結果的風險因素的描述，請參閱我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中的風險因素。

Progress Software assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements included in this call and Additionally, please note that all the financial figures or figures referenced on this call are non-GAAP measures.

Progress Software 不承擔更新本次電話會議中包含的前瞻性聲明的義務。此外，請注意，本次電話會議中引用的所有財務數據或數據均為非 GAAP 衡量標準。

Unless otherwise indicate indicated, you can find a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP figures in our financial results press release, which was issued after the market close today and is on our website.

除非另有說明，否則您可以在我們的財務業績新聞稿中找到這些非 GAAP 財務指標與最直接可比較的 GAAP 數據的調整表，該新聞稿於今天收盤後發布並在我們的網站上發布。

This document contains additional information related to our financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023, and I recommend that you reference it for specific details, but we've also prepared a presentation that contains supplemental data for our fourth quarter 2023 results providing highlights and additional financial metric.

本文件包含與我們2023 財年第四季度財務業績相關的其他信息，我建議您參考它以了解具體細節，但我們還準備了一份演示文稿，其中包含2023 年第四季度業績的補充數據，提供了重點和內容額外的財務指標。

As I mentioned, both the earnings release and the supplemental presentation are available on the Investor Relations section of our website at investors dot progress.com. Also today's conference call will be recorded in its entirety and will be available via replay on the Investor Relations section of our website.

正如我所提到的，收益發布和補充簡報均可在我們網站的投資者關係部分獲取，網址為 Investors dot Progress.com。此外，今天的電話會議將被完整記錄，並將透過我們網站的投資者關係部分重播。

So with that, with that out of the way, Yogesh, I will turn it over to you.

所以，既然如此，Yogesh，我就把它交給你了。

Thank you, Mike, and good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining our Q4 '23 financial results conference call for fiscal '23 was another great year for progress.

謝謝麥克，大家下午好，感謝您參加我們的 23 年第 4 季財務業績電話會議，因為 23 財年又是取得重大進展的一年。

I'm extremely proud of everything we accomplished and how all our teams performed.

我對我們所取得的一切以及我們所有團隊的表現感到非常自豪。

I'll quickly take you through some highlights from the past year and then provide a look at the year to come.

我將快速帶您回顧過去一年的一些亮點，然後展望未來一年。

The fourth quarter was another strong one marked by ongoing stable demand for many of our products, especially OpenEdge, DataDirect and Sitefinity.

第四季是另一個強勁的季度，我們的許多產品（尤其是 OpenEdge、DataDirect 和 Sitefinity）的需求持續穩定。

Top line revenues of $178 million remained robust.

1.78 億美元的營收依然強勁。

ARR grew 17% year over year.

ARR 年成長 17%。

Our net retention rate was a solid 100% and operating margins were well above our expectations.

我們的淨保留率為 100%，營業利益率遠高於我們的預期。

For the year, we generated over $175 million of adjusted free cash flow on revenue of $698 million and finished the full year with operating margins of 39%.

今年，我們產生了超過 1.75 億美元的調整後自由現金流，營收為 6.98 億美元，全年營業利潤率為 39%。

Perfect.

完美的。

As you recall, we began 2023 with the announcement in January of Tamar QLogic acquisition.

您還記得，我們​​從 1 月宣布收購 Tamar QLogic 開始了 2023 年。

At that time, we said that the mark Logic acquisition would add over $100 million in annual revenue and would take about a year to fully integrate.

當時，我們表示收購Mark Logic將增加年收入超過1億美元，並且需要大約一年的時間才能完全整合。

I'm delighted to share that virtually every milestone for the month logic integration was completed before the end of fiscal 2023.

我很高興地告訴大家，本月邏輯整合的幾乎每個里程碑都在 2023 財年結束前完成。

This faster integration was a direct result of the continuous improvements we have made in our integration costs.

這種更快的整合是我們不斷改進整合成本的直接結果。

As always, we gained new learnings from the mark Logic acquisition that will help us further improve for the future for instance, we have to maintain a separate entity to accommodate the unique requirements of the various US federal agencies, who are our customers.

像往常一樣，我們從 Mark Logic 收購中獲得了新的經驗，這將幫助我們進一步改進未來，例如，我們必須維持一個單獨的實體，以適應我們的客戶、美國各個聯邦機構的獨特要求。

Now that we have this entity, we see it as a vehicle not only to serve these existing customers, but to expand our relationships by addressing a wider set of their needs through our broader product portfolio.

現在我們擁有了這個實體，我們不僅將其視為服務這些現有客戶的工具，而且還透過我們更廣泛的產品組合滿足更廣泛的客戶需求來擴大我們的關係。

In addition to our M&A efforts in FY23.

除了我們在 2023 財年的併購工作之外。

We also executed well on the other two pillars of our total growth strategy, which are sustained innovation and an unrelenting focus on customer success.

我們在整體成長策略的另外兩個支柱上也表現出色，即持續創新和對客戶成功的不懈關注。

So turning to product innovation and FY23, we added AI capabilities to our products, improve the time to value for our customers and made our products even more easy to use.

因此，轉向產品創新和 2023 財年，我們在產品中添加了人工智慧功能，縮短了客戶的價值實現時間，並使我們的產品更加易於使用。

For example, we incorporated Gemini indoor Sitefinity product to enable content creators to rapidly scale content production and to improve targeted marketing by personalizing content to suit the needs of various personas.

例如，我們整合了Gemini室內Sitefinity產品，使內容創作者能夠快速擴大內容生產規模，並透過個人化內容來滿足不同角色的需求，從而改善有針對性的行銷。

We deliver the high-power contextual Ventana image analysis in the latest release of our flow manpower, which provides our customers faster, automatic meaningful insight into possible malicious network activity.

我們在最新版本的流程人力中提供高功率上下文 Ventana 影像分析，使我們的客戶能夠更快、自動、有意義地洞察可能的惡意網路活動。

We launched Shell SaaS, which enables DevOps and SecOps to rapidly realize value.

我們推出了Shell SaaS，使DevOps和SecOps能夠快速實現價值。

And we have received very positive reaction from our early customers.

我們從早期客戶那裡得到了非常積極的反應。

We launched loan master 360, which provides administrators the ability to manage the performance and availability of their entire environment from a single user interface.

我們推出了貸款大師 360，它使管理員能夠透過單一使用者介面管理整個環境的效能和可用性。

And we released new and updated versions of our desktop products with a whole host of new capabilities.

我們發布了桌面產品的新版本和更新版本，具有大量新功能。

These include new components to rapidly build embedded data driven applications and the support for new accessibility standards.

其中包括快速建立嵌入式資料驅動應用程式的新元件以及對新輔助功能標準的支援。

Among other features, some have more and more sequel database products.

除此之外，有些還有越來越多的後續資料庫產品。

We acquired with Mark logic, our leading product for semantic metadata analysis and for making sense out of structured and unstructured data as organizations embrace all kinds of AI exponentially, expanding the sources and scale of data necessary for RBS is now better positioned to help them develop and deploy their mission critical applications and experiences as well as effectively manage their data platforms, cloud and IT infrastructure in addition to M&A and innovation.

我們收購了Marklogic，這是我們的領先產品，用於語義元數據分析以及隨著組織呈指數級採用各種人工智能而理解結構化和非結構化數據，擴大蘇格蘭皇家銀行所需的數據來源和規模現在可以更好地幫助他們發展部署其關鍵任務應用程式和體驗，並有效管理其資料平台、雲端和 IT 基礎架構以及併購和創新。

The third pillar of our total growth strategy is an unrelenting focus on customer success in FY23 after a couple of years of slow in-person activities, we hosted numerous live in-person customer events.

我們整體成長策略的第三個支柱是在 2023 財年堅持不懈地關注客戶的成功，經過幾年緩慢的現場活動，我們舉辦了許多現場現場客戶活動。

These included more than 20 local engagement events across the globe for our OpenEdge customers called the OpenEdge World Tour well over 3,000 attendees joined us to hear what was new in our portfolio and how the OpenEdge platform and the broader product portfolio is continuing to deliver increasing value to help propel that business forward.

其中包括在全球範圍內為OpenEdge 客戶舉辦的20 多場本地參與活動，稱為OpenEdge 世界巡演，超過3,000 名與會者與我們一起聆聽我們的產品組合中的新增內容，以及OpenEdge 平台和更廣泛的產品組合如何繼續提供不斷增長的價值來幫助推動該業務向前發展。

We also held well attended conferences for our debt to essential customers.

我們也針對我們對重要客戶的債務舉辦了出席人數眾多的會議。

We have promise and the user community shared innovative ideas and best practices in rapidly developing engaging digital experiences and efficiently scaling DevOps and SecOps efforts across on-prem, hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

我們承諾與使用者社群分享創新理念和最佳實踐，快速開發引人入勝的數位體驗，並在本地、混合和多雲環境中有效擴展 DevOps 和 SecOps 工作。

In 2023, we also dealt with the sophisticated multi-stage attacks on our customers' move IT environments by a cyber criminal group.

2023 年，我們也處理了網路犯罪集團對客戶行動 IT 環境進行複雜的多階段攻擊。

We issued a match within 48 hours of discovering the zero day vulnerability in molded and proactively engaged with our customers to help them hard and they are moving environments.

我們在發現模壓中的零日漏洞後 48 小時內發布了匹配信息，並積極與客戶合作，為他們提供幫助，並在他們正在移動的環境中提供幫助。

We continue to cooperate with regulatory authorities who are investigating the attacks, and we'll provide updates regarding the impact of the movement incident on our business and operations in our upcoming Form 10-K.

我們將繼續與正在調查攻擊的監管機構合作，並將在即將發布的 10-K 表格中提供有關移動事件對我們業務和營運影響的最新資訊。

And I want to thank the teams across our business for the amazing way.

我要感謝我們整個業務團隊提供的令人驚嘆的方式。

They have come together to help our customers and to continue to move our business forward.

他們齊心協力幫助我們的客戶並繼續推動我們的業務向前發展。

Because of our employees' hard work and dedication, our customers have remained incredibly loyal and continue to work closely with them.

由於我們員工的辛勤工作和奉獻精神，我們的客戶一直保持著難以置信的忠誠度，並繼續與他們密切合作。

Our employees are at the center of everything we do, they build our products, sales service and support our customers and run our operations in 2023.

我們的員工是我們一切工作的核心，他們打造我們的產品、銷售服務、支援我們的客戶並在 2023 年經營我們的營運。

We continue to sustain a thriving employee culture evidenced by our employee Net Promoter Score or NPS, which is in the mid 30s for by the way, this is in the same league as Microsoft and Google, once again, employee turnover process for the industrials hitting mid-single-digits in the second half of the year.

我們繼續維持蓬勃發展的員工文化，這從我們的員工淨推薦值（NPS）中可以看出，該值在30 多歲左右，順便說一句，這與微軟和谷歌處於同一水平，工業行業的員工流動率再次受到打擊下半年將達到中個位數。

Our employees are energized by our mission, vision and values, and they continue to share that with the world, helping us win numerous awards for being the best place to work.

我們的員工因我們的使命、願景和價值觀而充滿活力，他們繼續與世界分享這些，幫助我們贏得了無數最佳工作場所獎項。

For example, Boston Globe again selected Provost as one of the top places to work in Massachusetts.

例如，《波士頓環球報》再次將教務長選為麻薩諸塞州最佳工作地點之一。

This time 3rd year in a row, we ranked number six for 2023, moving up five spots from '22 and now the highest ranking software company on the list, I am delighted that we accomplished.

這次，我們在 2023 年連續第三年排名第六，比 22 年上升了 5 位，現在是榜單上排名最高的軟體公司，我很高興我們取得了這樣的成績。

All this continue to improve our internal processes and systems to become even more efficient, integrated our largest acquisition to date and delivered outstanding results for 2023 now looking forward towards FY24, I'm incredibly excited about what lies ahead.

所有這些都將繼續改進我們的內部流程和系統，使其變得更加高效，整合我們迄今為止最大的收購，並在 2023 年取得出色的業績，現在展望 24 財年，我對未來感到非常興奮。

We foresee sustainable demand for our products in FY24, and it will be the first full fiscal year of revenue contribution from MarketWatch.

我們預計 2024 財年對我們產品的可持續需求，這將是 MarketWatch 貢獻收入的第一個完整財年。

As Anthony will explain in his guidance, we expected to propel us to over $7.5 million in revenue and to also help expand our operating margin.

正如安東尼將在他的指導中解釋的那樣，我們預計將推動我們的收入超過 750 萬美元，並幫助擴大我們的營業利潤率。

We remain focused on our proven total growth strategy to create shareholder value the same way we have for the last several years.

我們仍然專注於我們經過驗證的整體成長策略，以與過去幾年相同的方式創造股東價值。

Our capital allocation policy continues to prioritize M&A because we see it as the best way to generate sustained shareholder return for our investors.

我們的資本配置政策繼續優先考慮併購，因為我們認為這是為投資者創造持續股東回報的最佳方式。

We are, therefore, extremely active in the M&A market.

因此，我們在併購市場上非常活躍。

And as we have previously noted, market factors continue to shift and often competitively and financially, we are as well positioned for M&A as we have ever been.

正如我們之前指出的，市場因素不斷變化，在競爭和財務方面，我們一如既往地處於併購的有利地位。

And our reputation as an acquirer of choice among the sellers continues to grow.

我們作為賣方首選收購方的聲譽不斷提高。

I also want to reiterate that we are unwavering in our strict discipline when it comes to M&A.

我還想重申，我們在併購方面的嚴格紀律是堅定不移的。

First, we will continue to pursue companies that are good fit in terms of technology, size and culture.

首先，我們將繼續尋找技術、規模、文化上合適的企業。

We're looking for companies with great products and customers, high recurring revenues and retention rates.

我們正在尋找擁有優質產品和客戶、高經常性收入和保留率的公司。

As I like to say, well, I'm not looking for unicorns, they're looking to buy great workforce.

正如我想說的，我不是在尋找獨角獸，而是他們在尋找優秀的勞動力。

Second, we will be extremely disciplined about what we pay for these businesses and how we finance it to ensure that we create meaningful shareholder value.

其次，我們將嚴格遵守為這些業務支付的費用以及融資方式，以確保我們創造有意義的股東價值。

And lastly, as we have repeatedly demonstrated, we will rapidly integrate acquired companies using the knowledge experience and best practices we have accumulated and drive higher margin during the year, we expect to use excess cash flow to repay debt whenever possible, and we will continue to repurchase shares to offset dilution from our equity programs under our existing share repurchase authorization.

最後，正如我們一再證明的那樣，我們將利用我們累積的知識經驗和最佳實踐快速整合被收購的公司，並在年內推動更高的利潤率，我們希望盡可能利用多餘的現金流來償還債務，我們將繼續根據我們現有的股票回購授權，回購股票以抵消我們股權計劃的稀釋。

In addition to our efforts around M&A, we will also continue to execute on the other two pillars of our total growth strategy, innovation and customer success through investment in innovation and customer success.

除了在併購方面的努力外，我們還將透過對創新和客戶成功的投資，繼續執行我們整體成長策略的另外兩個支柱，即創新和客戶成功。

We will continue to drive strong operating margins, higher ARR and high retention rates.

我們將繼續推動強勁的營業利潤率、更高的 ARR 和高保留率。

To conclude, I am extremely pleased with our FY performance, and I'm even more excited about what is to come in FY24.

總而言之，我對我們 2024 財年的表現非常滿意，對 2024 財年的表現更加興奮。

With that, I'll turn it over to Anthony to provide additional details around our results and guidance.

這樣，我會將其交給安東尼，以提供有關我們的結果和指導的更多詳細資訊。

Anthony?

安東尼？

Thanks, Yogesh, and good afternoon, everyone.

謝謝 Yogesh，大家下午好。

Thanks for joining our call.

感謝您加入我們的通話。

As Yogesh mentioned, our Q4 results were strong across almost every metric, and we're very pleased to deliver such a strong close to fiscal 2023 diving right into the numbers.

正如 Yogesh 所提到的，我們第四季的業績幾乎在所有指標上都很強勁，我們很高興能夠在 2023 財年臨近時提供如此強勁的數據。

I'd like to start with ARR, which we believe provides the best view into our underlying performance.

我想從 ARR 開始，我們相信它可以最好地了解我們的基本績效。

We closed Q4 with ARR of $574 million, which represents approximately 17% growth on a year-over-year basis and 1% pro forma growth on a year-over-year basis.

截至第四季度，我們的 ARR 為 5.74 億美元，年增約 17%，預計年增 1%。

To be clear, the pro forma results include mark logic in both periods.

需要明確的是，預期結果包括兩個時期的評分邏輯。

The growth in ARR was driven by multiple products, including OpenEdge, Mark logic, Sitefinity, our DevTools products and move it.

ARR 的成長是由多種產品推動的，包括 OpenEdge、Marklogic、Sitefinity、我們的 DevTools 產品和 move it。

And ARR was again bolstered by strong net retention rates of 100%.

100% 的強勁淨保留率再次提振了 ARR。

In addition to the strength in ARR, revenue for the quarter of $178 million was just above the high end of the Q4 guidance range we provided back in September and represents approximately 12% growth on a year-over-year basis.

除了 ARR 的強勁表​​現外，本季營收為 1.78 億美元，略高於我們 9 月提供的第四季度指導範圍的上限，年增約 12%。

Our strong revenue performance in the quarter was driven by multiple products led by OpenEdge, which continues to outperform our expectations.

我們本季強勁的營收表現是由 OpenEdge 主導的多種產品推動的，該產品繼續超越我們的預期。

For the full year, revenue of $698 million grew by $88 million and represents 14% growth over the prior year.

全年營收為 6.98 億美元，成長 8,800 萬美元，比上年成長 14%。

This growth was driven by Mark Logic's top line contribution combined with growth across multiple other products, most notably OpenEdge load Master, Sitefinity Moovit and our dev tools products with customer retention rates remaining strong throughout 2023 and a strong demand environment fueling growth for a number of our products.

這一成長是由Mark Logic 的營收貢獻以及多個其他產品的成長所推動的，其中最著名的是OpenEdge load Master、Sitefinity Moovit 和我們的開發工具產品，客戶保留率在2023 年保持強勁，強勁的需求環境推動了許多產品的成長我們的產品。

We're thrilled with our top line results for the year.

我們對今年的營收結果感到非常興奮。

Turning now to expenses.

現在轉向費用。

Our total costs and operating expenses were $115 million for the quarter, up 18% over the year ago quarter and $428 million for the full year, up 16% compared to fiscal 2022.

本季我們的總成本和營運支出為 1.15 億美元，比去年同期成長 18%；全年總成本和營運支出為 4.28 億美元，比 2022 財年成長 16%。

The year-over-year increase in expenses for both the quarter and the full year was driven almost entirely by the addition of Mark logic to our business.

本季度和全年費用的同比增長幾乎完全是由馬克邏輯添加到我們的業務中推動的。

Operating income for the quarter was $63 million for an operating margin of 35%, handily exceeding our internal expectations the better than expected operating performance was the result of overperforming on the top line while managing our expenses to plan on the bottom line, our earnings per share of $1.2 for the quarter were $0.09 ahead of the high end of our guidance range.

本季的營業收入為6,300 萬美元，營業利潤率為35%，輕鬆超出了我們的內部預期，好於預期的營業業績是由於我們在營收方面表現出色，同時管理我們的支出以計劃利潤，我們的每季收益本季 1.2 美元的份額比我們指導範圍的上限高出 0.09 美元。

This overperformance relative to expectations was again driven by strong top line performance, coupled with solid cost management across the business with virtually all planned synergies achieved on the integration of mark logic during fiscal 2023.

這種相對於預期的超額表現再次受到強勁的營收業績的推動，加上整個業務的可靠成本管理，以及 2023 財年在標記邏輯整合上實現的幾乎所有計劃協同效應。

Our Q4 results position us very well for the upcoming year.

我們第四季的業績為我們來年奠定了良好的基礎。

Moving on to a few balance sheet and cash flow metrics.

接下來討論一些資產負債表和現金流量指標。

We ended the quarter with cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $127 million and debt of $731 million for a net debt position of $604 million.

截至本季末，我們的現金、現金等價物和短期投資為 1.27 億美元，債務為 7.31 億美元，淨負債部位為 6.04 億美元。

This represents net leverage of approximately 2.2 times on a trailing 12 month EBITDA basis.

這相當於過去 12 個月 EBITDA 基礎上的淨槓桿率約為 2.2 倍。

I'd also like to highlight that during the fourth quarter, we again paid down $30 million against the revolving line of credit that we used to partially fund the acquisition of mark logic, bringing the outstanding balance on that revolving line of credit, $110 million at the end of the fiscal year.

我還想強調的是，在第四季度，我們再次支付了 3000 萬美元的循環信貸額度，用於部分資助收購 marklogic，使該循環信貸額度的未償餘額為 1.1 億美元在財政年度結束時。

Dso for the quarter was 62 days or flat compared to the year ago quarter.

本季的 DSO 為 62 天，與去年同期持平。

However, it was well above the 49 days we reported in Q3 of 2023 The reason for this sequential increase in DSO is the timing of our bookings and billings in the quarter with a significant portion coming later in the quarter and pushing the related cash collection into early 2024.

然而，該天數遠高於我們在2023 年第三季報告的49 天。DSO 連續增加的原因是我們在本季度進行預訂和開票的時間，其中很大一部分是在本季度晚些時候進行的，並將相關現金收款推入2024 年初。

Deferred revenue was $295 million at the end of the fourth quarter, up by approximately $15 million on a sequential basis reflecting our strong top line performance in the fourth quarter.

截至第四季末，遞延營收為 2.95 億美元，季增約 1,500 萬美元，反映出我們第四季強勁的營收表現。

Adjusted free cash flow was $33 million for the quarter, which was slightly less than we expected, but was entirely driven by the timing of billings.

本季調整後的自由現金流為 3,300 萬美元，略低於我們的預期，但這完全是由帳單時間驅動的。

As I mentioned in my discussion on DSL, during the fourth quarter, we repurchased $4 million of progress stock, bringing our annual total to $34 million and ending our fiscal year with $194 million remaining under our current share repurchase authorization.

正如我在關於DSL 的討論中提到的，在第四季度，我們回購了400 萬美元的進度股票，使我們的年度總額達到3400 萬美元，並在本財年結束時，我們當前的股票回購授權剩餘1.94 億美元。

Okay.

好的。

Now I will turn to the outlook and when considering our outlook for 2024.

現在我將談談展望以及考慮我們對 2024 年的展望。

It's important to keep in mind the following first, 2023 was a year of top-line growth across many of our product lines in 2024, we expect the demand environment for our products to remain stable.

首先要記住以下幾點，2023 年是我們許多產品線收入成長的一年，2024 年我們預期我們產品的需求環境將保持穩定。

Next, Mark logic contributed to our 2023 results for approximately 10 months.

接下來，馬克邏輯為我們 2023 年的表現做出了約 10 個月的貢獻。

However, due to the seasonality in the market logic business, that 10 month contribution represented roughly 70% of mark LOGICS annual top line in 2024.

然而，由於市場邏輯業務的季節性，這 10 個月的貢獻約佔 Mark LOGICS 2024 年年度營收的 70%。

We expect the incremental contribution from our logic that 30%.

我們預期我們的邏輯增量貢獻為 30%。

We didn't see in 2023 to occur in our first fiscal quarter and to a lesser extent in our second fiscal quarter.

我們預計 2023 年這種情況不會發生在我們的第一財季，第二財季也不會發生。

Also, Mark Logic's revenue model is comprised mostly of term-based licenses when combined with some of our other products, which employ a similar revenue model, most notably Chef & Data Direct, it's fair to say that approximately one-third of our product revenue will be recognized under an on-prem term-based license model.

此外，Mark Logic 的收入模式主要由基於期限的許可組成，與我們的一些其他產品相結合，這些產品採用類似的收入模式，最引人注目的是Chef 和Data Direct，公平地說，大約佔我們產品收入的三分之一將在本地基於期限的授權模式下得到認可。

As a result, the timing of contract renewals, especially multi-year contracts, will have a more significant impact on our revenue in any given quarter and could skew results higher or lower.

因此，合約續約的時間，特別是多年期合約，將對我們在任何特定季度的收入產生更重大的影響，並可能使結果出現更高或更低的偏差。

We will therefore continue to focus on ARR as a way to cut through the noise in 2024 and we expect ARR will continue to grow at a level that's generally consistent with 2023.

因此，我們將繼續關注 ARR，以此作為消除 2024 年噪音的一種方式，我們預計 ARR 將繼續以與 2023 年基本一致的水平增長。

The final point I'd like to highlight is that absent any acquisitions we anticipate we'll continue to aggressively repay the revolving line of credit that was used to partially finance the MARC Logic acquisition.

我想強調的最後一點是，如果沒有任何收購，我們預計我們將繼續積極償還部分資助 MARC Logic 收購的循環信貸額度。

And by the end of fiscal 2024, we expect that we will fully repay that revolving line of credit, driving our net leverage ratio down to approximately 1.5 times.

到 2024 財年末，我們預計將全額償還循環信貸額度，從而將我們的淨槓桿率降至約 1.5 倍。

With all that said, for the first quarter of 2024 we expect revenue between $180 million and $184 million and earnings per share of between $1.12 and $1.16 for the full year, we expect revenue of between $722 million and $732 million, representing between 3% and 5% growth over 2023.

話雖如此，我們預計2024 年第一季的營收將在1.8 億美元至1.84 億美元之間，全年每股收益將在1.12 美元至1.16 美元之間，我們預計營收將在7.22 億美元至7.32億美元之間，佔3% 至3% 之間。比 2023 年成長 5%。

We anticipate an operating margin for the year of 39% to 40%.

我們預計今年的營業利潤率為 39% 至 40%。

We are projecting adjusted free cash flow of between $202 million and $212 million and we expect earnings per share to be between $4.58 and $4.68. Our guidance for the full year EPS assumes a tax rate of 20%, the repurchase of 45 million in progress shares and approximately 45 million shares outstanding.

我們預計調整後自由現金流將在 2.02 億美元至 2.12 億美元之間，每股收益將在 4.58 美元至 4.68 美元之間。我們對全年每股盈餘的指導假設稅率為 20%，回購 4,500 萬股進行中股票和約 4,500 萬股已發行股票。

Our share buyback and activity in 2024 is meant to address potential dilution from our equity plans.

我們 2024 年的股票回購和活動旨在解決我們的股權計畫潛在的稀釋問題。

And while we believe that share buybacks and dividends can provide shareholders with a good return, our M&A track record over the past three years has delivered superior returns for our shareholders.

雖然我們相信股票回購和股利可以為股東帶來良好的回報，但我們過去三年的併購記錄為股東帶來了豐厚的回報。

And for that reason, disciplined accretive M&A will continue to be the top capital allocation priority of our total growth strategy.

因此，有紀律的增值併購將繼續成為我們整體成長策略的首要資本配置優先事項。

In closing, we're excited to deliver strong financial results across the board in the fourth quarter, a continuation of the trend we saw for all of 2023.

最後，我們很高興能夠在第四季度全面實現強勁的財務業績，這是我們在 2023 年全年看到的趨勢的延續。

We're thrilled with the integration of mark logic and how it positions us for the future, and we believe we're on track to deliver a great 2024 and beyond.

我們對標記邏輯的整合以及它如何為我們的未來定位感到興奮，我們相信我們有望在 2024 年及以後實現輝煌的業績。

With that, I'd like to open the call for questions.

至此，我想開始提問。

Thank you.

謝謝。

As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name.

提醒一下，要提問，請按電話上的星號一並等待您的名字。

To be withdraw your question, press star one and restraints we ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up question.

要撤回您的問題，請按星號 1 並限制我們要求您將自己限制在一個問題和一個後續問題上。

You may then return to the queue.

然後您可以返回隊列。

Please standby while compile the Q&A.

撰寫問答時請稍候。

First question will come from the line of Pinjalim Bora, JPMorgan.

第一個問題來自摩根大通的 Pinjalim Bora。

Your line is open.

您的線路已開通。

Great, guys.

太棒了，夥計們。

Congrats on the quarter on the Q, but I wanted I wanted to ask you on Mark logic now that you have integrated mark logic.

恭喜 Q 季度，但我想問你關於標記邏輯的問題，因為你已經整合了標記邏輯。

What are you hearing from the mark logic customer base in terms of innovation that they would like to see?

您從 Marklogic 客戶群聽到了他們希望看到的創新方面的哪些訊息？

And I know you don't focus on cross sell as much, but is there any opportunity for cross-sell that you're seeing in that base?

我知道您不太關注交叉銷售，但是您在該基地中看到了交叉銷售的機會嗎？

And one for Anthony, what is the dollar contribution from our QLogic business?

安東尼問，我們 QLogic 業務的美元貢獻是多少？

Yes, for the full year.

是的，全年。

So I'll take the first part and then Anthony can talk about the revenue contribution in FY23.

所以我將討論第一部分，然後安東尼可以談論 2023 財年的收入貢獻。

So our opinion at a couple of interesting things.

我們對一些有趣的事情的看法。

One that has come out loud and clear is that the mark logic product and by QLogic and some of our combine, it's really designed as a underlying database system and it really requires a fair bit of it was to start getting value out of it.

一個已經大聲而明確地表明的是，QLogic 和我們的一些組合的標記邏輯產品，它實際上被設計為一個底層資料庫系統，並且它確實需要相當多的一部分才能開始從中獲取價值。

The time to value is a bit longer than we would like to see.

實現價值的時間比我們希望看到的要長一些。

So we've actually been working on throughout this past year and the team has been and we've just sort of in the process of coming out with a fast-track option as an add-on to the product to really accelerate the ability for folks to add be able to create a data driven applications rather than start from scratch.

因此，我們實際上在過去的一年裡一直在努力，我們的團隊一直在努力，我們剛剛推出了一個快速通道選項，作為產品的附加組件，以真正加速以下能力：人們可以添加能夠創建數據驅動的應用程序，而不是從頭開始。

So that's something that we're tremendously excited about in terms of the type of innovation, the other type of innovation that they request that we have gotten that we're actually already addressed was how can they use more logic and some of the Board to take their existing data and potentially augment.

因此，就創新類型而言，我們感到非常興奮，他們要求我們獲得的另一種類型的創新實際上已經解決了，那就是他們如何使用更多的邏輯和一些董事會來獲取他們現有的數據並進行潛在的擴充。

And to be honest, you know, maybe gentlemen may I answer strong standard of generative AI tools that are out there to be specific to their business, how do they make it without having that data go out of their environment.

說實話，您知道，也許先生們我可以回答針對其業務的生成式人工智慧工具的強大標準，他們如何在不讓資料脫離其環境的情況下實現這一目標。

And so we have created sort of additional offerings around that to make it easy for folks to leverage their internal data and therefore create in context of relevant to their business.

因此，我們圍繞著創建了一些額外的產品，以便人們可以輕鬆地利用其內部數據，從而在與其業務相關的環境中進行創建。

Our non-exclusive journey at JGPT. type of answers.

我們在 JGPT 的非獨家之旅。答案類型。

So that that is those are two of the things that we've already done in terms of cross-sell, Benjamin, you know, as you know, when we build our business model for these things we do not take into account a cross-sell because we want to make sure that the business we will be able to generate shareholder value without relying on that.

這就是我們在交叉銷售方面已經做過的兩件事，本傑明，你知道，正如你所知，當我們為這些事情構建業務模型時，我們沒有考慮到交叉銷售。出售是因為我們希望確保我們能夠在不依賴該業務的情況下為股東創造價值。

That said, we do see cross-sell opportunities.

也就是說，我們確實看到了交叉銷售機會。

I think that, you know, our digital experience products can truly help, but logic customers a better job of presenting the information and creating data-driven applications much more easily are, in fact, a fast-track offering leverages some of those some of the others.

我認為，您知道，我們的數位體驗產品確實可以提供幫助，但邏輯客戶可以更好地呈現資訊並更輕鬆地創建數據驅動的應用程序，事實上，快速通道產品利用了其中的一些其他。

In addition to that, we see opportunities for these environments, which are large-scale environments and these applications that are complex applications to have in our dev ops and tech ops capabilities from partners like Chef.

除此之外，我們還看到了這些環境的機會，這些環境是大規模環境，而這些應用程式是複雜的應用程序，可以在我們的開發營運和技術運營能力中從 Chef 等合作夥伴那裡獲得。

We also see a product like Corticon, which is our decisioning engine that can also be used by these companies and these organizations to further augment the kind of business logic that they need to apply.

我們也看到像 Corticon 這樣的產品，它是我們的決策引擎，這些公司和組織也可以使用它來進一步增強他們需要應用的商業邏輯類型。

So they are not logic data.

所以它們不是邏輯資料。

So there are some opportunities.

所以有一些機會。

But the pendulum I want to sort of be a bit careful.

但我想稍微小心一下鐘擺。

We are just starting that effort of going, I know going into that customer base and offering that those will also have just started bringing the value of HeartLogic and some of our to our other customers.

我們剛開始努力，我知道進入該客戶群並提供這些服務也剛開始將 HeartLogic 和我們的一些價值帶給我們的其他客戶。

I think 2024 will be a year for us to see those cross-sell opportunities materialize in something that is worth talking about on this call.

我認為 2024 年我們將看到這些交叉銷售機會在本次電話會議上值得討論的事情中實現。

So up.

湯。

So we are early in the time.

所以我們還很早。

And to take the second question, Pinjalim, when we acquired mark logic, we had mentioned that it was roughly $100 million business, maybe a little bit more on and we thought they would do probably $70 million for the year in 2023 and the business came in just slightly ahead of that.

回答第二個問題，Pinjalim，當我們收購Marklogic 時，我們曾提到這是大約1 億美元的業務，也許更多一點，我們認為他們在2023 年的業績可能會達到7000 萬美元，而且業務來了稍微領先一點。

So just north of $70 million in fiscal '23 was the number.

因此，23 財年的數字略高於 7,000 萬美元。

Got it.

知道了。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

One moment, Brian question and that will come from the line of Ittai Kidron with us.

一會兒，布萊恩提出了一個問題，這將來自我們的 Ittai Kidron 線路。

Oppenheimer.

奧本海默。

Your line is open.

您的線路已開通。

Thanks, guys.

多謝你們。

Maybe I saw a few Yogesh, our next call, you sounded very upbeat on the potential for M&A.

也許我看到了一些 Yogesh，我們的下一個電話，你聽起來對併購的潛力非常樂觀。

Sounds like that valuations are finally starting to come in the direction you want them to come and we're now nearly a year since Mark logic, maybe you can give us an update on what you see out there and how would you rate the odds of a nother acquisition in in '24.

聽起來估值終於開始朝著你希望的方向發展，距離馬克邏輯已經過去近一年了，也許你可以向我們提供你所看到的最新情況以及你如何評價可能性24 年的另一次收購。

So you're right, you're absolutely right.

所以你是對的，你絕對是對的。

We have been very active in the M&A on space.

我們在太空領域的併購方面一直非常活躍。

We are we are we are looking at companies, we are competing for them.

我們正在尋找公司，我們正在與他們競爭。

We're actually, interestingly enough, we have said no to a lot of them because we felt that it just did not meet our criteria of being really solid businesses that we wanted to own at any price, to be honest.

事實上，有趣的是，我們已經對其中的許多人說不，因為我們覺得它不符合我們的標準，也就是我們希望以任何價格擁有的真正可靠的企業，說實話。

And given where we are and given what we are seeing, I feel truly confident that we will do an acquisition in FY24 now lead with that.

考慮到我們目前的處境和所看到的情況，我非常有信心我們將在 2024 財年進行收購，現在以此為主導。

I also want to make sure people do understand that, you know, it takes two to tango as they say, right?

我還想確保人們確實明白，正如他們所說，探戈需要兩個人，對嗎？

And so the sellers have to align with us as well.

因此賣家也必須與我們保持一致。

But yes, we feel good.

但是，是的，我們感覺很好。

We feel really good about the pipeline.

我們對管道感覺非常好。

We feel really good about the activity.

我們對這項活動感覺非常好。

We feel really good about the conversations we've had over the last second half of FY23 to feel that, you know, whenever we have engaged, they have been meaningful and they have been something that that we've been to the middle of and think of things.

我們對 2023 財年下半年進行的對話感覺非常好，無論何時我們參與，它們都是有意義的，並且是我們一直在做的事情。想想事情。

So, you know, I am confident that we will do something in FY20.

所以，我相信我們會在 2020 財年有所作為。

Okay.

好的。

And then on the financial side, Adam, you gave a quite interesting review on the enhancements you've made to the portfolio, but tying this to Anthony's comments on the year, it sounds like there's literally zero core growth that you're expecting with the business outside of the incremental contribution from our QLogic that Dan was not caught in '23.

然後在財務方面，亞當，您對您對投資組合所做的增強進行了非常有趣的評論，但將其與安東尼今年的評論聯繫起來，聽起來您所期望的核心增長實際上為零除了我們QLogic的增量貢獻之外，Dan 並沒有在23 年陷入困境。

So sort of the guide me to we really assumes zero growth in the core I'm just trying to think why with all the changes in the portfolio, there's no better opportunities for you to monetize these.

因此，在某種程度上，我們確實假設核心業務成長為零，我只是想思考為什麼隨著投資組合的所有變化，您沒有更好的機會將這些貨幣化。

Maybe going back to the first question, I'll degenerative VI. enhancements are none of them revenue-generating cardiologist experience enhancing?

也許回到第一個問題，我會退化VI。這些改進都沒有增加創收心臟科醫生的經驗嗎？

Is there no better way to squeeze a little bit more out of this?

難道沒有更好的方法可以從中多榨一點錢嗎？

Yes, hi, it's Anthony.

是的，嗨，我是安東尼。

And it's a good question.

這是一個好問題。

Part of this really is and I mentioned a little bit the timing of contract renewals within the business and '24 on.

其中一部分確實是，我提到了一點業務內合約續約的時間以及「24 日」。

We do have a lot more term based sort of the on-prem term-based subscription model.

我們確實有更多基於期限的本地基於期限的訂閱模型。

And so the timing of when those contracts renew or when they're set to renew will influence the revenue quarter to quarter on.

因此，這些合約續約或準備續約的時間將逐季影響收入。

But again, I also alluded to the fact that we had pretty good ARR growth last year.

但我還再次提到，去年我們的 ARR 成長相當不錯。

Multiple products contributed to that growth, and we expect stability in the demand environment.

多種產品推動了這一成長，我們預計需求環境將保持穩定。

So you know, again, quarter to quarter, things may move a little bit, but over the course of the year, I would expect to see ARR growth that's relatively consistent with '23.

所以你知道，每個季度情況可能會略有變化，但在這一年中，我預計 ARR 成長與 23 年相對一致。

Very good.

非常好。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Good luck.

祝你好運。

Thank you enough.

謝謝你就夠了。

Thank you.

謝謝。

One moment for our next question will come from the line of Fatima Boolani.

我們的下一個問題將由法蒂瑪·布爾尼 (Fatima Boolani) 提出。

Sidney, your line is open.

西德尼，您的電話接通了。

Good evening, gentlemen.

晚上好，先生們。

And thank you for taking my questions.

感謝您回答我的問題。

Either for Anthony or Yogesh.

無論是安東尼還是尤格甚。

It was interesting from the here that move it had a strong performance in the quarter was enough for you to call it out in your prepared remarks and appreciating that it was an incident for the business.

有趣的是，它在本季表現強勁，足以讓您在準備好的演講中指出這一點，並認識到這是企業的一個事件。

I'm very curious as to on how customers have responded.

我很好奇顧客的反應如何。

I mean, it seems almost counterintuitive that the contributing factor to some of the strength you saw.

我的意思是，你所看到的一些力量的促成因素似乎幾乎違反直覺。

So I just wanted to unpack that a little bit because it seems counterintuitive on the surface and then I have a follow-up, please.

所以我只是想稍微解釋一下，因為它表面上看起來違反直覺，然後我有一個後續行動，請。

So well, you know, it was good to hear from you, Fatima.

好吧，你知道，很高興收到你的來信，法蒂瑪。

I'll answer part of it.

我來回答一部分吧

Maybe Anthony can add as well.

也許安東尼也可以補充。

You know, from my perspective, right?

你知道，從我的角度來看，對吧？

We have actually done everything in our power to help our customers hard in that environment deemed with the incident that they faced and move forward.

實際上，我們已盡一切努力幫助我們的客戶在他們所面臨的事件的環境中努力並繼續前進。

And we continue to do.

我們將繼續這樣做。

So, you know, I am really proud of what the team has done, and we're really proud of being able to keep our customers and the customers have been loyal to us and it's been and it's been a really wonderfully positive set of outcomes.

所以，你知道，我對團隊所做的事情感到非常自豪，我們非常自豪能夠留住我們的客戶，而且客戶一直對我們忠誠，而且一直以來都是非常積極的成果。

Obviously, your challenge and it's still a lot of in all unresolved legal issues and deliberations.

顯然，您的挑戰在所有未解決的法律問題和審議中仍然存在很多。

But from a customer perspective, we continue to be very positive about move it on.

但從客戶的角度來看，我們仍然對繼續前進持非常積極的態度。

Anthony, you want to ask that?

安東尼，你想問這個嗎？

So I would agree.

所以我會同意。

I think there's a movie performed well, certainly in the first half of '23 arm and it held up in the second half of '23.

我認為有一部電影表現出色，當然在 23 年上半年表現出色，而且在 23 年下半年也表現出色。

I would say on we keep an eye on the pipeline Com and we want to make sure that we can continue to close deals on and retention rates of have, I think, remained fairly strong, but we'll measure that over the course of a year right.

我想說的是，我們會密切關注管道 Com，我們希望確保我們能夠繼續完成交易，並且我認為保留率仍然相當強勁，但我們將在一段時間內衡量這一點年對了。

And we want to we want to see how the retention plays out over time.

我們想看看隨著時間的推移，留存率會如何發揮。

So all in all, dialed back, Yogesh a little bit.

總而言之，Yogesh 回撥了一點。

I'll be I'll be the conservative one to say, yes, it was a very good year, and I think we're very pleased with the outcome and the top line.

我會保守地說，是的，這是非常好的一年，我認為我們對結果和收入非常滿意。

But we're still cautious and we're still I would say, very focused on where our customers are at and wanting to understand renewal trends and also wanting to make sure that we can continue to build the pipeline.

但我們仍然持謹慎態度，我想說，我們仍然非常關注我們的客戶所處的位置，想要了解更新趨勢，也希望確保我們能夠繼續建造管道。

So I think it's a it held up well, for sure.

所以我認為這肯定是一個很好的例子。

Yes.

是的。

Okay.

好的。

Okay.

好的。

That's helpful.

這很有幫助。

And I'm since you brought up retention rates, good data segue into my question around what you're thinking about net retention rates are underneath the hood.

自從您提出保留率以來，良好的數據就引出了我的問題，即您對幕後淨保留率的看法。

As you tell us and talk to us about consistent, they are your ARR growth trends consistent with this year and the spirit of the question really is we did see that retention rate this quarter dipped about 100 basis points.

正如您告訴我們並與我們談論的一致，它們是您的 ARR 成長趨勢與今年一致，問題的實質是我們確實看到本季度的保留率下降了約 100 個基點。

So it's not dramatic.

所以這並不戲劇性。

I think you've been operating 1 to one oh two zip code pretty consistently.

我認為您一直在相當一致地操作一對一或二個郵遞區號。

So maybe to ask the prior different lens, we expect some of those innovations in the portfolio and pull up the stock, so to speak on net retention rate or any of our commentary you might be able to share as you think about net retention rate trajectory in 2024?

因此，也許要問之前的不同視角，我們預計投資組合中會有一些創新併拉升股票，可以說淨保留率或我們在考慮淨保留率軌跡時可能分享的任何評論2024年？

Yes, sure, Tim.

是的，當然，提姆。

I can I can take that I think I think in the back half of '23, we do have churn from time to time.

我可以接受，我認為在 23 年下半年，我們確實會不時出現客戶流失。

And I think Yogesh has mentioned this before.

我想 Yogesh 之前已經提到過這一點。

Sometimes it's factors that are outside of our control, like M&A.

有時這是我們無法控制的因素，例如併購。

And so I think any slight dip we saw in the back half of the year was associated with a very small number of contracts and one in particular, where there was a to two global financial institutions merged and the party that was using our technology did not come out on top in the integration.

因此，我認為我們在今年下半年看到的任何輕微下降都與極少數合約有關，特別是其中一到兩家全球金融機構合併，而使用我們技術的一方沒有合併。在整合中脫穎而出。

And so sometimes those things happen and we measure net retention rates on a trailing 12 month basis.

因此，有時會發生這些情況，我們會根據過去 12 個月的情況來衡量淨保留率。

So, you know, I think as we move through the first half of 2024, we would expect retention rates to be maintained and then start to sort of normalize and improve in the back half of the year.

所以，我認為，隨著 2024 年上半年的到來，我們預期保留率將保持不變，然後在下半年開始趨於正常化和改善。

Again, I think that would be a projection on where the estimate would be there?

再說一次，我認為這將是對估計值的預測？

I don't want to guide to a specific number.

我不想指導具體數字。

We still are happy, not 100% or better for us as great.

我們仍然很高興，但不是 100% 或更好，因為我們一樣偉大。

Um, you know, I still think for the full year of 2024, there can be some improvement there.

嗯，你知道，我仍然認為 2024 年全年可能會有所改善。

Terrific.

了不起。

Thank you so much.

太感謝了。

You one moment for question and that will come from the line of Brent Thill with Jefferies.

請您稍等一下，問題將由布倫特·希爾 (Brent Thill) 和杰弗里斯 (Jefferies) 接聽。

Your line is open.

您的線路已開通。

Thanks, I'm curious if you could just address the demand environment and how you would characterize how customers are fueling today versus six months ago year ago, what are you seeing in terms of their overall attitude to spending, how you're feeling about the pipeline.

謝謝，我很好奇您是否可以解決需求環境問題，以及如何描述客戶今天與一年前六個月前的消費情況，您對他們的整體消費態度有何看法，您的感受如何管道。

But then you know, we continue to see as we even said in our prepared remarks, like sort of stable continued demand, it is it is a we have a product portfolio that is and very much relevant to the businesses even more so today than it was a year ago, which was even more relevant than the year before.

但你知道，正如我們在準備好的演講中所說的那樣，我們繼續看到，就像穩定的持續需求一樣，我們擁有一個與業務密切相關的產品組合，甚至比今天更相關。這是一年前的事了，這比前一年更有意義。

And so on, right, as we pick up these new products that address, as you know, additional areas that we can help them with.

等等，如您所知，當我們選擇這些新產品時，這些新產品可以解決我們可以幫助他們的其他領域。

So demand remains good.

因此需求依然良好。

We are not seeing any sort of meaningful change up or down, right.

我們沒有看到任何有意義的向上或向下的變化，對吧。

I want to be careful about that.

我想對此小心。

I don't think that people are suddenly going all.

我不認為人們會突然全力以赴。

You know, maybe there will be no recession and therefore, let's not spend money like drunken sailors.

你知道，也許不會出現經濟衰退，因此，我們不要像醉酒的水手那樣花錢。

I think we are not we're not seeing that.

我認為我們沒有看到這一點。

We're not expecting that.

我們並不期待這一點。

I think budgets continue to be our watch.

我認為預算仍然是我們的關注點。

I think people are cautious about their spend but because of our product portfolio, which helps people optimize expenses, run things better, improve efficiency of engineering and development organizations, improve IT operations in Q2, improved security, improved the development life cycle, all those things actually play towards there.

我認為人們對支出持謹慎態度，但因為我們的產品組合可以幫助人們優化支出、更好地運行事物、提高工程和開發組織的效率、改善第二季度的IT 運營、提高安全性、改善開發生命週期，所有這些事情實際上朝著那裡發展。

So I think we see more of the same in '24 as we did in 2020 at this point time.

所以我認為我們在 24 年會看到更多與 2020 年此時相同的情況。

And then on M&A and a number of your peers are seeing kind of the same things you're saying.

然後在併購方面，您的許多同行也看到了與您所說的相同的事情。

I'm curious, is there one or two points that you would add to what's enabling this M&A environment to pick back up?

我很好奇，您是否想補充一兩點來幫助這種併購環境回升？

Is it just more reasonable valuation?

只是估值更合理嗎？

Is that, hey, we've had such a stall out for so long that's just kind of natural pent-up demand like what do you think is causing this now?

嘿，我們已經陷入了這麼長時間的停滯，這只是一種自然的被壓抑的需求，就像你認為現在造成這種情況的原因是什麼？

I think, Brent, it's all of the above.

我想，布倫特，以上都是。

I think that, you know, when you look at is one of the examples of VC-backed companies.

我認為，當你看看創投支持的公司的例子之一時，你就知道了。

If you look at VC-backed companies there, I mean our plan is ideal exit rate.

如果你看看那裡有創投支持的公司，我的意思是我們的計畫是理想的退出率。

And you look at enterprise software IPO exits over the last 24 months.

你可以看看過去 24 個月企業軟體 IPO 的退出情況。

And boy, it is sparse, right?

男孩，它很稀疏，對吧？

So if you have a business and you already see and you have a business that is absolutely not a rock star business, you're not thinking IPO in '24, right?

因此，如果你有一家企業，而且你已經看到了，而且你的企業絕對不是搖滾明星企業，那麼你不會考慮在 24 年進行 IPO，對吧？

So the question is, what do you do?

所以問題是，你做什麼？

You've got you've had two years behind you and you know, '22 and '23 were disasters from an IPO perspective.

你已經落後了兩年了，你知道，從 IPO 的角度來看，'22 和 '23 是災難。

Now '24 U.S. looks like it's gone for that kind of a business.

現在，「24 美國」似乎已經不再有這種生意了。

And it's unclear whether a business that is growing, let's say, single digits in revenue is ever going to be able to IPO.

目前還不清楚一家收入正在成長的企業是否能夠進行首次公開發行（IPO）。

So what do you do?

所以你會怎麼做？

I think people are beginning to get there.

我認為人們已經開始實現這一目標。

And I think the founders who work with these leases and these leases work with Founders a slowly sort of saying, look, we really don't want to fund your next ground and those businesses that need to raise around, I think, are potentially out coming to market.

我認為與這些租賃合作的創始人和這些租賃與創始人一起慢慢地說，看，我們真的不想為你的下一個基地提供資金，而那些需要籌集資金的企業，我認為，可能會被淘汰即將上市。

And I think they are they are they are opportunities.

我認為它們是機會。

So that's one category.

這是一類。

And then the other category is even other businesses that have been owned by sponsors or other entities for a significant period and they kind of look at it as a can we get some liquidity.

另一類甚至是贊助商或其他實體在很長一段時間內擁有的其他企業，他們將其視為我們可以獲得一些流動性的方式。

So I think it is a time it is a time issue for the investors after we see that as a matter of focusing on their winners and not worrying too much about this, also Ram's from where is in the case of sponsors, it is still some pressure from LPs around liquidity and so on.

因此，我認為對於投資者來說，這是一個時間問題，因為我們看到，作為專注於獲勝者的問題，而不是過多擔心這一點，而且拉姆的讚助商情況仍然是一些來自LP的流動性壓力等。

So I think those are the pressures that are bringing the size of businesses.

所以我認為這些都是帶來企業規模的壓力。

We are looking at it into the market.

我們正在將其納入市場。

And you know, we're not really looking at extremely large businesses.

你知道，我們並不是真正關注超大型企業。

We look at businesses in general, you know, plus or minus 20% of our size right, we'd ideally 15% to 25% of our sizes.

我們通常會考慮企業規模的正負 20%，理想情況是我們規模的 15% 到 25%。

The sweet spot will go somewhat smaller.

甜蜜點會稍微小一點。

We've got some more bigger, but that's what we like and end up and so that's in that range.

我們有一些更大的，但這就是我們喜歡的並且最終的結果，所以它在這個範圍內。

We are seeing quite a bit of activity.

我們看到了相當多的活動。

And then one quick clarification for ANTHONY.

然後向安東尼快速澄清一下。

I mean, your margins the last four or five years have been pretty much a cruising altitude, high, high 30s, low 40s.

我的意思是，過去四五年你的利潤幾乎一直處於巡航高度，高，高 30 多歲，低 40 多歲。

Is that is that still kind of the ranges of how you're thinking about running the business, not maybe not too high so you get growth, is the high 30 low, low 40 kind of the right framework think about the next couple of years?

這仍然是你考慮如何經營業務的範圍，不是太高，這樣你才能獲得成長，高 30 低，低 40 是考慮未來幾年的正確框架嗎？

Yes.

是的。

I mean, we're 39 to 40 for this coming year on, we're not expecting a material change in the margin profile of the business.

我的意思是，明年我們的利潤率將達到 39 到 40，我們預計業務的利潤率不會有重大變化。

We've always said we'll maintain margins better than 35% on I think being in the high 30s is certainly something that is that is manageable for us and it's sort of part of our part of our playbook.

我們一直說我們將保持高於 35% 的利潤率，我認為 30 多歲肯定是我們可以控制的，這也是我們策略的一部分。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

One moment for Quest.

Quest 一會兒。

And that will come from the line of Ray McDaniel with Guggenheim.

這將來自雷·麥克丹尼爾和古根漢的血統。

Your line is <unk>.

您的行是。

Great.

偉大的。

Thanks for taking the question.

感謝您提出問題。

Anthony, you mentioned billings timing was more back-end loaded this quarter.

安東尼，你提到比林斯本季的後端負載更多。

Has that been a trend or was it driven by a few deals in the quarter?

這是一種趨勢還是由本季的幾筆交易推動的？

And how do you think about that in '24 as your business becomes more term license related and more dependent on renewals?

隨著您的業務變得更加與定期許可證相關並且更加依賴續訂，您如何看待 24 年的情況？

Yes, it's a good question, Ray.

是的，這是個好問題，雷。

I think it was more a small number of deals.

我認為更多的是少量交易。

We tend to do.

我們傾向於這樣做。

They're lumpy deals in any given quarter.

在任何特定季度，這些交易都是不穩定的。

And certainly in Q4, I think the Q4 dynamics around the timing of bookings and billings, they usually are different than any other quarter just because it's you know, we've got sales incentives that are that are sort of focused around that Q4 timeframe and a lot of customers in year end are at their Q4 and they're doing a lot of budget work and negotiation around the quarter.

當然，在第四季度，我認為第四季度圍繞預訂和帳單時間的動態，它們通常與其他任何季度都不同，因為你知道，我們有銷售激勵措施，這些激勵措施主要集中在第四季度的時間範圍內，年末的許多客戶正處於第四季度，他們在該季度進行了大量的預算工作和談判。

So I think Q4 tends to be some more challenging just in terms of forecasting the timing of when things are going to come in and we overachieved on the top line, which we're thrilled about.

因此，我認為第四季往往更具挑戰性，只是在預測事情發生的時間方面，我們在營收上取得了超額的成績，對此我們感到很興奮。

It was a little bit later in the quarter.

那是本季晚些時候。

And so that cash pushes into the following year.

這樣現金就會流入下一年。

But I think you're right also that as we go into '24, there's more parts of our business now that are on term base subscriptions from to the extent that that more multiyears come into play or the timing of certain contracts moves from quarter to quarter, it will have an impact on revenue.

但我認為你也是對的，隨著我們進入24 年，我們的業務中有更多部分是定期訂閱的，因為更多的多年期開始發揮作用，或者某些合約的時間從一個季度移動到另一個季度。季度，這將對收入產生影響。

Things may be may be lumpy from quarter to quarter on, I think it will impact cash flow to a lesser extent.

每個季度的情況可能會不穩定，我認為這對現金流的影響較小。

You know, we could have a situation like we had in Q4 where there's a little bit of a timing issue, but I think it's more of a revenue impact.

你知道，我們可能會遇到像第四季度那樣的情況，其中存在一點時間問題，但我認為這更多的是對收入的影響。

The way I think about it pay us some cash flow impact, but probably a little bit less.

我的想法會給我們帶來一些現金流影響，但可能會少一些。

That makes sense.

這就說得通了。

And then maybe another one for Anthony and Yogesh, if you want to comment that would be helpful as well.

然後也許是安東尼和約格甚的另一篇文章，如果你想發表評論，那也會有幫助。

So as we think about just kind of where interest rates have gone and where most, I think are expecting them to go, which is down next year.

因此，當我們考慮利率的走向和大多數利率的走向時，我認為預計利率會下降，明年會下降。

You talked a little bit about absent an acquisition, you'll get your net leverage down to about 1.5 times.

您談到如果不進行收購，您的淨槓桿率將降至 1.5 倍左右。

What do you view as an appropriate level of leverage if you do find the right business and I know it might be deal dependent but just kind of where your guardrails in this interest rate environment around leverage?

如果您確實找到了合適的業務，您認為適當的槓桿水平是多少，我知道這可能取決於交易，但只是您在這種利率環境下圍繞槓桿的護欄？

Yes.

是的。

I think that the interest rates drive a lot in our model, right?

我認為利率在我們的模型中起著很大的推動作用，對吧？

And the leverage levels are sort of the governor on in terms of how fast and how big we can go.

槓桿水平在某種程度上決定了我們的發展速度和規模。

And so I would say in our 3.5 times net income, we can creep a little bit higher than that to get a deal done.

所以我想說，在我們 3.5 倍淨利的基礎上，我們可以稍微高一點來完成交易。

I think we'd be comfortable doing that 3.54. I don't think we'd go much above that.

我想我們會很樂意這樣做 3.54。我認為我們不會超出這個範圍。

And I think if we were to take leverage up that high for the right deal, we would probably the same as we did from arc logic.

我認為，如果我們為了正確的交易而將槓桿提高到那麼高，我們可能會像弧邏輯一樣。

We'd probably start to delever pretty quickly after the deal closed.

交易完成後，我們可能很快就會開始去槓桿化。

If you look back on the mark logic deal, we probably taken more than a half a turn of net leverage this year, and we started paying it back in Q2, right?

如果你回顧一下標記邏輯交易，我們今年可能採取了超過半圈的淨槓桿，並且我們在第二季開始償還，對吧？

We closed it in Q1.

我們在第一季關閉了它。

We started paying down our revolver in Q2.

我們在第二季開始還清左輪手槍的錢。

And by the end of '24, that revolver would be gone.

到 24 年底，那把左輪手槍就會消失。

And I think if we were to take on a little more debt to do our next deal, I think it'd be a similar playbook where we may lever up to that 3.5 times net or a little higher.

我認為，如果我們要承擔更多的債務來完成下一筆交易，我認為這將是一個類似的劇本，我們可能會將槓桿提高到淨值的 3.5 倍或更高一點。

And once the deal closes and the integration starts, we start delevering probably pretty aggressively.

一旦交易完成並開始整合，我們可能會非常積極地開始去槓桿化。

Makes sense.

說得通。

Thanks for taking the questions.

感謝您提出問題。

Thank you.

謝謝。

I'm showing no further questions queue at this time.

目前我沒有顯示任何其他問題隊列。

I would now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Yogesh Gupta for any closing remarks.

現在我想將電話轉回給 Yogesh Gupta 先生，讓他發表結束語。

And thank you, everyone again for joining us, and we look forward to talking to you again soon.

再次感謝大家加入我們，我們期待很快能再次與您交談。

Have a wonderful evening, good night.

祝你有個美好的夜晚，晚安。

Thank you all for participating.

感謝大家的參與。

This concludes today's program.

今天的節目到此結束。

You may now disconnect.

您現在可以斷開連線。