Priority Technology Holdings Inc (PRTH) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Priority Technology Holdings fourth-quarter and 2023 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded.

美好的一天，歡迎參加優先科技控股公司第四季和 2023 年收益電話會議。（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 Mr. Chris Kettmann. Please go ahead, sir.

我現在想把會議交給克里斯凱特曼先生。請繼續，先生。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. With me today are Tom Priore, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Priority Technology Holdings; and Tim O'Leary, Chief Financial Officer.

早安，感謝您加入我們。今天與我在一起的有 Priority Technology Holdings 董事長兼執行長 Tom Priore；歐利裡（Tim O'Leary），財務長。

Before giving our prepared remarks, I would like to remind all participants that our comments today will include forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from our forward-looking statements. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. We provide a detailed discussion of the various risk factors in our SEC filings, and we encourage you to review these filings.

在發表我們準備好的演講之前，我想提醒所有參與者，我們今天的評論將包括前瞻性陳述，其中涉及許多風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與我們的前瞻性陳述有重大差異。本公司不承擔更新或修改前瞻性陳述的義務，無論是由於新資訊、未來事件或其他原因。我們在 SEC 文件中詳細討論了各種風險因素，並鼓勵您查看這些文件。

Additionally, we may refer to non-GAAP measures, including but not limited to EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA during the call. Reconciliations of our non-GAAP performance and liquidity measures to the appropriate GAAP measures can be found in our press release and SEC filings available in the Investors section of our website.

此外，我們可能會在電話會議期間提及非 GAAP 衡量標準，包括但不限於 EBITDA 和調整後 EBITDA。我們的非 GAAP 業績和流動性指標與相應 GAAP 指標的調整可在我們網站投資者部分提供的新聞稿和 SEC 文件中找到。

With that, I would like to turn the call over to our Chairman and CEO, Tom Priore.

說到這裡，我想將電話轉給我們的董事長兼執行長 Tom Priore。

Thank you, Chris, and thanks, everyone, for joining us for our fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 earnings call. I'd like to start today by discussing the continued positive trends we're currently seeing in the business as well as several important developments at Priority, including the successful integration process of our August acquisition of Plastiq. As a result of these trends and developments, we're excited to report the strongest results in our history, and we are well positioned to perform even better in 2024 and beyond.

謝謝克里斯，也謝謝大家參加我們的 2023 年第四季和全年財報電話會議。我想先討論我們目前在業務中看到的持續積極趨勢以及 Priority 的幾個重要發展，包括我們 8 月收購 Plastiq 的成功整合過程。由於這些趨勢和發展，我們很高興能夠報告我們歷史上最強勁的業績，並且我們有能力在 2024 年及以後表現得更好。

Consistent with what we saw through the first nine months of the year, during the fourth quarter, we delivered strong results in SMB, acquiring B2B payables and enterprise payments. We remain convinced in the potential of our unified commerce vision, combining payments and banking functionality on a single platform accelerated by the strength of our diverse business lines that we're positioned to benefit from higher interest rates and to perform in a variety of macroeconomic environments, including the one we're experiencing today.

與我們今年前九個月的情況一致，第四季度我們在中小企業、收購 B2B 應付帳款和企業支付方面取得了強勁的業績。我們仍然相信我們統一的商業願景的潛力，將支付和銀行功能結合在一個平台上，並透過我們多元化業務線的實力加速，我們定位於從更高的利率中受益並在各種宏觀經濟環境中表現出色，包括我們今天所經歷的。

Total customer accounts operating on our commerce platform now exceed 860,000 as we processed approximately $120 billion in transaction volume during 2023, while administering $900 million in deposits at the end of 2023.

我們的商務平台上營運的客戶帳戶總數現已超過 86 萬個，2023 年我們處理了約 1,200 億美元的交易量，同時到 2023 年底管理著 9 億美元的存款。

Looking at our financials, we maintained our positive momentum with strong results in the fourth quarter. Our Q4 revenue of $199.3 million increased over 12% from the prior year. This led to a 20% increase in adjusted gross profit, $72.9 million, and a 12% improvement in adjusted EBITDA to $44.6 million. Adjusted gross profit margin of 36.6% increased 230 basis points from the prior-year quarter, highlighting the strong operating leverage of our purpose-built platform.

從我們的財務狀況來看，我們在第四季度保持了積極的勢頭，並取得了強勁的業績。我們第四季的營收為 1.993 億美元，比上年成長 12% 以上。這導致調整後毛利成長 20%，達到 7,290 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 成長 12%，達到 4,460 萬美元。調整後毛利率為 36.6%，較上年同期成長 230 個基點，凸顯了我們專用平台的強勁營運槓桿。

For the full-year 2023, revenue increased 14% to $755.6 million, leading to a 21% gain in adjusted gross profit to $275.3 million. Combined with a 220-basis-point increase in adjusted gross profit margin during 2023 to 36.4%, we generated a 20% increase in adjusted EBITDA over the prior year.

2023 年全年營收成長 14% 至 7.556 億美元，調整後毛利成長 21% 至 2.753 億美元。加上 2023 年調整後毛利率成長 220 個基點至 36.4%，我們的調整後 EBITDA 比前一年成長了 20%。

As you can see from our results and the strong guidance we put out this morning, not only did we outperform expectations in 2023, but we also expect strong growth in margin trends in our business channels to continue in the year ahead. We project to deliver full-year revenue of $875 million to $890 million, an increase of approximately 16% to 18% over 2023. In addition, we expect to generate full-year adjusted EBITDA of $193 million to $198 million, a 15% to 18% increase over 2023.

從我們的業績和今天早上發布的強有力指引中可以看出，我們不僅在 2023 年的表現超出了預期，而且我們還預計未來一年我們業務渠道的利潤率趨勢將繼續強勁增長。我們預計全年營收將達到 8.75 億至 8.9 億美元，比 2023 年成長約 16% 至 18%。此外，我們預計全年調整後 EBITDA 為 1.93 億至 1.98 億美元，比 2023 年成長 15% 至 18%。

Our confidence reflects the value our customers see in our product and technology offerings, the strength of our diverse sales channel performance, and the efficiency of our operating team to continue to deliver. Fueling our strong outlook, we expect the Plastiq B2B channel to be an important growth driver in the business, as demonstrated by the success we're seeing so far.

我們的信心反映了客戶在我們的產品和技術產品中看到的價值、我們多元化銷售通路績效的實力以及我們營運團隊持續交付的效率。我們預計 Plastiq B2B 通路將成為業務的重要成長動力，這推動了我們強勁的前景，正如我們迄今為止所看到的成功所證明的那樣。

Since closing on August 1, our teams have focused on synergizing operations and embracing revenue growth initiatives, mitigating drag on EBITDA from the acquisition and demonstrating once again that we are uniquely built to systemically absorb and operate software and payment assets to quickly drive profits.

自8 月1 日交易結束以來，我們的團隊一直專注於協同運營和實施收入增長計劃，減輕收購對EBITDA 的拖累，並再次證明我們具有獨特的能力，可以系統地吸收和運營軟體和支付資產，以快速提高利潤。

For those of you who are new to the company, slide 6 highlights the architecture of our proprietary unified commerce platform that is purpose-built to collect, store, lend, and send money, combining robust payments and banking functionality to monetize the commerce networks we serve.

對於剛接觸公司的人來說，幻燈片6 重點介紹了我們專有的統一商務平台的架構，該平台專為收款、存儲、借貸和匯款而構建，結合強大的支付和銀行功能，使我們的商務網路貨幣化。

Our customers and current market conditions continue to reinforce our belief that systems combining features of both payments and banking to distribute funds in multi-party environments will be critical as businesses put greater demands on software and payments solution providers to accelerate cash flow and optimize working capital.

我們的客戶和當前的市場狀況繼續強化了我們的信念，即結合支付和銀行功能以在多方環境中分配資金的系統將至關重要，因為企業對軟體和支付解決方案提供者提出了更高的要求，以加速現金流和優化營運資本。

We're committed to meeting our customers' expectations by refining the experience of our partners to make working with Priority as seamless and simple as we can. Our performance illustrates that partners consistently choose the unified commerce applications in the SMB, B2B payables, and enterprise segments that best fit their business; adopt for Passport Financial tools that meet their needs; and move their money with priority.

我們致力於透過完善合作夥伴的體驗來滿足客戶的期望，使與 Priority 的合作盡可能無縫且簡單。我們的業績表明，合作夥伴始終在中小企業、B2B 應付帳款和企業細分市場中選擇最適合其業務的統一商務應用程式；採用滿足其需求的 Passport Financial 工具；並優先轉移資金。

We are highly focused on the continued innovation of our SaaS payments suite of services and the path forward commerce engine and are eager to meet the evolving needs of our growing portfolio of customers.

我們高度關注 SaaS 支付服務套件的持續創新和商業引擎的前進道路，並渴望滿足我們不斷增長的客戶組合不斷變化的需求。

At this point, I'd like to hand over to Tim, who will continue to provide further insights into our segment-level performance during the quarter and the year, along with current trends in each that factored into our guidance for the full-year 2024.

在這一點上，我想把時間交給蒂姆，他將繼續提供有關我們本季和本年度各細分市場績效的進一步見解，以及我們全年指導中所考慮的每個細分市場的當前趨勢2024 年。

Thank you, Tom, and good morning, everyone. As I review the results, please refer to supplemental slides for the MD&A for further details. Our MD&A is included in the Form 10-K that was filed with the SEC this morning and provides a discussion of our comparative fourth-quarter and full-year results. A link to that filing can also be found on our website.

謝謝你，湯姆，大家早安。在我審查結果時，請參閱 MD&A 的補充幻燈片以了解更多詳細資訊。我們的 MD&A 包含在今天早上向 SEC 提交的 10-K 表格中，並討論了我們第四季度和全年的業績比較。該文件的連結也可以在我們的網站上找到。

As Tom mentioned, we had strong financial performance across the business in the fourth quarter and for the full year. I won't repeat the highlights already referenced, but before I go into segment-level results for the fourth quarter, I do want to mention a few other key metrics as it relates to some of the discussion we had on our Q3 earnings call.

正如湯姆所提到的，我們在第四季度和全年的整個業務中都取得了強勁的財務業績。我不會重複已經提到的要點，但在討論第四季度的細分市場業績之前，我確實想提一下其他一些關鍵指標，因為它與我們在第三季度收益電話會議上進行的一些討論有關。

For the full year, adjusted gross profit from our B2B and enterprise segments represented over 50% of total; while for the fourth quarter, that same figure was 57% as we continued to experience higher growth in our higher-margin operating segments. Recall that Q3 was the first quarter where the combined profitability of B2B and enterprise exceeded SMB.

全年B2B及企業板塊調整後毛利佔比超過50%；而第四季度，這一數字為 57%，因為我們的高利潤營運部門持續實現更高的成長。回想一下，第三季是 B2B 和企業綜合獲利能力超過 SMB 的第一個季度。

In addition, the highly visible and recurring nature of our business model continues to gain momentum has over 58% of adjusted gross profit in Q4 came from monthly fees or revenues that are not dependent on transactions or bankcard volume.

此外，我們業務模式的高度可見性和經常性繼續獲得動力，第四季度超過 58% 的調整後毛利來自不依賴交易或銀行卡交易量的月費或收入。

Moving now to the segment-level results and starting with the SMB segment on slide 8, SMB generated Q4 revenue of $139.9 million, which is $9.9 million or 7% lower than the prior year's fourth quarter. As discussed on prior calls, a large reseller partner started to diversify their activity, and we expected that diversification strategy to continue throughout 2023. If you look at the year-over-year impact of that shift on the Q4 results, it was an almost $18 million headwind to revenue.

現在轉向細分市場層面的業績，從幻燈片 8 中的 SMB 細分市場開始，SMB 第四季營收為 1.399 億美元，比去年第四季減少 990 萬美元，即 7%。正如先前電話會議中所討論的，一家大型經銷商合作夥伴開始實現業務多元化，我們預計這項多元化策略將在 2023 年持續下去。如果你看看這一轉變對第四季業績的年比影響，你會發現這對收入造成了近 1800 萬美元的阻力。

Excluding that impact, the SMB business experienced over 5% revenue growth. Bankcard dollar volume in SMB was $14.6 billion for the quarter, which is down 2% from $14.9 billion in the prior year. However, adjusted for the aforementioned reseller, bankcard dollar volume increased 7% in the quarter compared to the prior year.

排除此影響，中小企業業務的收入成長超過 5%。本季中小企業銀行卡金額為 146 億美元，比上年同期的 149 億美元下降 2%。然而，根據上述經銷商的調整後，本季銀行卡美元交易量比去年同期成長了 7%。

From a merchant standpoint, we averaged over 205,000 accounts during the quarter, lower than the 257,000 average in Q4 of 2022, and new merchant boards averaged 3,700 per month during the quarter compared to an average of 4,600 per month in last year's fourth quarter. Adjusting for the impact of a large reseller, the average number of merchant accounts during the quarter improved by 4,300, and the average number of new merchant boards increased by 300 per month.

從商家的角度來看，我們本季平均有超過205,000 個帳戶，低於2022 年第四季的257,000 個平均帳戶，本季新商家平台平均每月有3,700 個帳戶，而去年第四季的平均每月有4,600 個。在調整大型經銷商的​​影響後，本季商家帳戶平均數量增加了 4,300 個，新商家板塊的平均數量每月增加 300 個。

As a last point on this topic, I would highlight that the diversification activity with a large reseller concluded in Q4. So while we expect a related year-over-year impact in Q1 and Q2 of 2024 as we anniversary that change, the sequential quarters should not see a comparative headwind.

作為這個主題的最後一點，我要強調的是，與大型經銷商的​​多元化活動已於第四季結束。因此，儘管我們預計 2024 年第一季和第二季在這項變更週年紀念日時會產生相關的同比影響，但連續幾季不應出現相對不利的情況。

Adjusted gross profit in SMB for the fourth quarter was $31.6 million, which is $4.4 million lower than last year's fourth quarter. The 12% decline was partially impacted by lower volumes and revenue from a large reseller, but given its lower margin, that resulted in a modest $1 million reduction in gross profit. The quarter is also reflective of a shift in mix of volume, revenue, and related gross profit from our top reselling partners who operate with higher commission rates. Gross margins of 22.6% in the quarter are down from 24% last year for the same reason.

中小企業第四季調整後毛利為 3,160 萬美元，比去年第四季減少 440 萬美元。下降 12% 的部分原因是大型經銷商的​​銷售和收入下降，但考慮到其利潤率較低，導致毛利小幅減少 100 萬美元。本季也反映了我們以較高佣金率營運的頂級經銷合作夥伴的銷售、收入和相關毛利組合的變化。基於同樣的原因，本季毛利率為 22.6%，低於去年的 24%。

Lastly, for SMB, quarterly operating income of $11.1 million represents a $3.8 million decline from $14.9 million in the prior year's fourth quarter. Operating income was negatively impacted by the factors already discussed in gross profit.

最後，對於中小企業來說，季度營業收入為 1,110 萬美元，比去年第四季的 1,490 萬美元減少了 380 萬美元。營業收入受到毛利中已討論的因素的負面影響。

Moving to B2B, revenue of $21.2 million was an increase of $18.4 million from the prior year. Plastiq which joined Priority on August 1, contributed $17.5 million of the increase during the quarter, while CPX grew by $1.4 million or 57% on a year-over-year basis. Those increases were partially offset by a $300,000 reduction in the balance of the B2B business.

B2B 領域的收入為 2,120 萬美元，比前一年增加了 1,840 萬美元。Plastiq 於 8 月 1 日加入 Priority，該季度貢獻了 1750 萬美元的增長，而 CPX 增長了 140 萬美元，同比增長 57%。這些成長被 B2B 業務餘額減少 30 萬美元部分抵銷。

Adjusted gross profit in B2B increased to $5.3 million as a result of the Plastiq acquisition, combined with over 60% growth in gross profit for the CPX business. For the quarter, gross margins were 24.9% compared to 62.1% last year.

收購 Plastiq 後，B2B 調整後毛利增加至 530 萬美元，CPX 業務毛利成長超過 60%。本季毛利率為 24.9%，去年為 62.1%。

But as discussed in our third-quarter earnings call, that decline is fully attributable to the Plastiq acquisition and the related impact of the GAAP reporting requirements for the Plastiq business compared to the balance of the B2B segment, which results in lower reported margins per unit volume. The B2B segment produced a $1.7 million operating loss during the quarter, which was the result of increased operating expenses from Plastiq, including certain non-recurring compensation expense.

但正如我們在第三季財報電話會議中所討論的那樣，這一下降完全歸因於Plastiq 收購以及與B2B 部門的其餘業務相比，Plastiq 業務的GAAP 報告要求的相關影響，這導致報告的單位利潤率較低體積。B2B 部門在本季產生了 170 萬美元的營運虧損，這是由於 Plastiq 營運費用增加，包括某些非經常性補償費用。

Moving to the enterprise segment, Q4 revenue of $38.1 million was an increase of $13.3 million or 53% from $24.9 million in the prior year. Favorable trends from the past several quarters and new monthly enrollments and billed clients, combined with an increase in the number of Passport program managers, growth in deposit balances, and a higher interest rate environment, all contributed to strong revenue growth.

轉向企業部門，第四季營收為 3,810 萬美元，比上一年的 2,490 萬美元增加了 1,330 萬美元，即 53%。過去幾季的有利趨勢、新的每月註冊人數和計費客戶，再加上 Passport 專案經理數量的增加、存款餘額的成長以及更高的利率環境，所有這些都促進了收入的強勁增長。

As a result of those factors, adjusted gross profit for the enterprise segment increased by 55% to $36 million, while adjusted gross profit margins improved to 94.5% in the quarter. Operating income was $23.9 million for the quarter in the enterprise segment.

由於這些因素，本季企業部門的調整後毛利成長了 55%，達到 3,600 萬美元，而調整後毛利率則提高到 94.5%。本季企業部門營業收入為 2,390 萬美元。

Moving to consolidated operating expenses on slide 11, salaries and benefits of $21.7 million increased by $4.8 million or 29% from Q4 of last year, but that was only $1.6 million higher sequentially than Q3 as we continue to focus on maintaining our expense discipline.

轉到幻燈片11 上的綜合營運費用，工資和福利為2,170 萬美元，比去年第四季增加了480 萬美元，即29%，但僅比第三季增加了160 萬美元，因為我們繼續專注於維持我們的費用紀律。

Compared to the Q3 levels, the $1.6 million sequential increase was partially attributable to the full-quarter impact in Q4 of the acquisition of Plastiq, combined with higher bonus and benefit expenses in the quarter. We finished the quarter with approximately 980 employees, which is compared to approximately 870 at the end of 2022 and 990 at the end of Q3 2023.

與第三季水準相比，160 萬美元的環比成長部分歸因於收購 Plastiq 對第四季全季度的影響，以及該季度獎金和福利費用的增加。截至本季度，我們擁有約 980 名員工，而 2022 年底約有 870 名員工，2023 年第三季末約有 990 名員工。

SG&A of $14.1 million increased by $6.1 million from $7.9 million in Q4 2022. The year-over-year increase was due primarily to the acquisition of Plastiq in Q3, combined with non-cash restructuring costs related to discontinued operations for a part of our healthcare payments business, legal fees for certain non-recurring litigation matters, and an increase in third-party software costs. Depreciation and amortization of $15.1 million for the quarter decreased by $2.9 million for the comparable quarter last year.

SG&A 為 1,410 萬美元，比 2022 年第四季的 790 萬美元增加了 610 萬美元。年比成長主要是由於第三季收購 Plastiq，加上與部分醫療保健支付業務已終止業務相關的非現金重組成本、某些非經常性訴訟事項的法律費用以及第三方軟體成本增加。本季折舊和攤提為 1,510 萬美元，比去年同期減少 290 萬美元。

Moving to the next slide, adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $44.6 million, which was an increase of 12% from $39.8 million in Q4 of 2022. Interest expense of $20.6 million for the quarter increased $4.4 million from Q4 2022 levels as a result of acquisition-related debt increases in the quarter combined with the impact of the higher interest rate environment.

轉到下一張投影片，該季度調整後的 EBITDA 為 4,460 萬美元，比 2022 年第四季的 3,980 萬美元成長 12%。由於本季與收購相關的債務增加以及利率上升環境的影響，本季的利息支出為 2,060 萬美元，較 2022 年第四季的水準增加了 440 萬美元。

Moving to the capital structure and liquidity overview on page 13, debt levels during the quarter increased to $654.4 million, which was driven by the issuance of $50 million of incremental term loan borrowings in the quarter. Proceeds from the issuance were used to repay revolver borrowings from the Plastiq acquisition and to put additional cash on the balance sheet for general corporate purposes. Net debt of $614.8 million was higher by $300,000 compared to the balance at the end of Q3.

轉到第 13 頁的資本結構和流動性概述，該季度的債務水平增至 6.544 億美元，這是由於該季度發行了 5000 萬美元增量定期貸款的推動。發行收益用於償還 Plastiq 收購中的循環借款，並在資產負債表上增加額外現金用於一般公司用途。淨債務為 6.148 億美元，比第三季末的餘額增加了 30 萬美元。

From a liquidity standpoint, we ended the quarter with all $65 million of borrowing capacity available under our revolving credit facility and $39.6 million of unrestricted cash on the balance sheet. For the LTM period ended December 31, adjusted EBITDA of $168.3 million represents $4.8 million of sequential quarterly growth from $163.5 million at the end of Q3 and $28 million or 20% growth since the end of 2022.

從流動性的角度來看，本季結束時，我們的循環信貸安排下有全部 6,500 萬美元的可用借款能力，資產負債表上有 3,960 萬美元的不受限制的現金。截至 12 月 31 日的 LTM 期間，調整後 EBITDA 為 1.683 億美元，較第三季末的 1.635 億美元較上季成長 480 萬美元，自 2022 年底以來成長 2,800 萬美元，即 20%。

Preferred stock on our balance sheet totaled $258.6 million at December 31 and is net of $16.9 million of unaccreted discounts and issuance costs. The fourth-quarter preferred dividend of $12.5 million consists of $7 million paid in cash and $4.6 million of a PICC component. This is supplemented on our income statement with the accretion of discounts and issuance costs of $850,000.

截至 12 月 31 日，我們資產負債表上的優先股總額為 2.586 億美元，扣除 1,690 萬美元的未提列折扣和發行成本。第四季優先股股利為 1,250 萬美元，其中 700 萬美元為現金支付，460 萬美元為人保財險部分。我們的損益表中對此進行了補充，增加了 850,000 美元的折扣和發行成本。

Before turning the call back over to Tom, I wanted to further address our financial guidance for the full-year 2024, which can be found on slide 14 in the presentation. Based on continued strong growth in trends in the business, we are forecasting 16% to 18% growth in revenue to a range of $875 million to $890 million for the year. Adjusted EBITDA growth is forecast to be 15% to 18%, which would result in a range of $193 million to $198 million for the full year.

在將電話轉回給 Tom 之前，我想進一步討論我們 2024 年全年的財務指引，該指引可在簡報的幻燈片 14 中找到。基於業務趨勢的持續強勁成長，我們預計今年營收將成長 16% 至 18%，達到 8.75 億美元至 8.90 億美元。調整後的 EBITDA 成長率預計為 15% 至 18%，全年營收將達到 1.93 億美元至 1.98 億美元。

Given our prior comments on the margin variances in certain segments and even specific partnerships within the consolidated business, this year, we're also providing a guidance for adjusted gross profit, which we view as an important metric for measuring overall performance of the business since not all revenue is created equal. For the full year, we are forecasting 18% to 22% growth in adjusted gross profit, which will result in a range of $325 million to $335 million.

鑑於我們先前對某些細分市場甚至合併業務中特定合作夥伴關係的利潤率差異的評論，今年我們還提供了調整後毛利的指導，我們認為這是衡量業務整體績效的重要指標，因為並非所有收入都是平等產生的。我們預計全年調整後毛利將成長 18% 至 22%，即 3.25 億美元至 3.35 億美元。

To provide some color on the guidance by segment, we're forecasting mid single-digit growth in revenues from SMB as we anniversary the impact of the large resellers' diversification. If you adjust for that impact, we are forecasting low double-digit revenue growth in SMB.

為了給予細分市場的指引一些色彩，我們預測在大型經銷商多元化影響週年之際，中小型企業的收入將實現中等個位數成長。如果您根據這種影響進行調整，我們預計中小企業的收入將出現兩位數的低成長。

B2B top-line growth will be skewed by the full-year effect of Plastiq, which only had five months of results in 2023, but we also expect CPX to show continued growth, over 20%, on a year-over-year basis.

B2B 營收成長將受到 Plastiq 全年影響的影響，該公司 2023 年僅公佈了 5 個月的業績，但我們也預計 CPX 將持續成長，年成長超過 20%。

And lastly, enterprise is forecast to continue its momentum, although we have moderated growth expectations in 2024 to account for the strong growth already experienced in 2022 and 2023.

最後，儘管考慮到 2022 年和 2023 年已經經歷的強勁成長，我們下調了 2024 年的成長預期，但預計企業將繼續保持成長勢頭。

With that, I'll now turn the call back over to Tom for his closing comments.

現在，我將把電話轉回給湯姆，讓他發表結束語。

Thank you, Tim. Before wrapping up, I'd like to take a minute to discuss where Priority is in our journey. Everything we've done over the past several years, from the significant early investment in our technology infrastructure to our focus on diversifying our offering with counter-cyclical assets, to our acquisition of Plastiq was done with intention and purpose to provide our customers with an elegant, unified commerce experience, combining our pillars in acquiring payables and banking on a single platform.

謝謝你，提姆。在結束之前，我想花一點時間討論優先順序在我們的旅程中的位置。在過去幾年中，我們所做的一切，從對技術基礎設施的大量早期投資，到我們專注於透過反週期資產實現產品多元化，再到我們收購 Plastiq，都是為了向我們的客戶提供優雅、統一的商務體驗，將我們在收購應付帳款和銀行業務的支柱結合在一個平台上。

Our results are demonstrating we're achieving that goal. Priority has made the turn to delivering tech-enabled services that accelerate cash flow and optimize working capital through a powerful commerce platform to collect, store, lend, and send money, allowing us to approach the marketplace in acquiring payables and banking solutions in a very unique way.

我們的結果表明我們正在實現這一目標。Priority 已轉向提供技術支援的服務，透過強大的商業平台來收款、儲存、借貸和匯款，加速現金流並優化營運資金，使我們能夠以非常快速的方式進入市場獲取應付帳款和銀行解決方案。

The success of our offering is evident not only in our growth numbers and margins, but also when talking to our customers and partners. While we are outperforming our peers in today's market, most importantly, the clear advantage we've created through our unique capabilities and style of engagement provides a long-term runway with enormous upside.

我們產品的成功不僅體現在我們的成長數量和利潤上，而且還體現在與我們的客戶和合作夥伴的對話中。雖然我們在當今市場上的表現優於同行，但最重要的是，我們透過獨特的能力和參與方式創造的明顯優勢提供了一條具有巨大優勢的長期跑道。

Let me share one of the ways we've separated ourselves. On slide 6, we've included a link to a video highlighting Priority's Passport product for the SMB and ISV acquiring channel. I highly encourage you to watch the two-minute video when you have a chance as it showcases how our commerce API can embed cutting-edge finance applications that optimize our customers' cash flow, streamline transaction reconciliation, and optimize working capital.

讓我分享一下我們分開的方式之一。在幻燈片 6 中，我們添加了一個視頻鏈接，重點介紹了 Priority 面向 SMB 和 ISV 獲取渠道的 Passport 產品。我強烈建議您有機會觀看這個兩分鐘的視頻，因為它展示了我們的商務 API 如何嵌入尖端的財務應用程序，從而優化客戶的現金流、簡化交易對帳並優化營運資金。

Through Passport's link to our MX Merchant acquiring tools, customers can have access to their funds in minutes of their batch closures, even on weekends and holidays. They can access bill payment tools that earn them cashback as they pay their bills, utilize embedded lines of credit as they need them, and even invest their surplus cash in money market, treasury bill, and core bond funds.

透過 Passport 與我們的 MX 商家收單工具的鏈接，即使在周末和假日，客戶也可以在批次關閉後幾分鐘內獲取資金。他們可以使用帳單支付工具，在支付帳單時賺取現金回饋，根據需要利用嵌入式信貸額度，甚至將剩餘現金投資於貨幣市場、國庫券和核心債券基金。

While the short video primarily highlights the SMB use case, it is just one monetization opportunity. Our technology is transferable across our current payable business lines and our growing list of enterprise verticals like construction, investment management, lending, healthcare, sports and entertainment, and insurance, among others.

雖然短視頻主要強調中小企業用例，但這只是一種盈利機會。我們的技術可在我們目前的應付業務線以及建築、投資管理、貸款、醫療保健、體育和娛樂以及保險等不斷增長的企業垂直領域進行轉移。

Our decision in late 2022 to accelerate investment in Passport is paying significant dividends, especially given the continued struggle of the banking sector and the general frustration in banks among businesses of all sizes.

我們在 2022 年底決定加速對 Passport 的投資，這項決定正在帶來巨大的回報，特別是考慮到銀行業的持續困境以及各種規模企業對銀行的普遍不滿。

Our systems are built for the future and are proving ready for the current tests under fire. We're confident our future results will demonstrate how we've taken unified commerce to the next level by meeting the demands of modern business and empowering our customers to thrive in a real-time economy through unmatched speed and transparency to their cash flow. We're delivering this message as we broaden the unified commerce conversation, and it resonates with our current customers and prospective customers alike.

我們的系統是為未來而建造的，並且已經證明已經為當前的測試做好了準備。我們相信，我們未來的成果將展示我們如何透過滿足現代商業的需求，並透過無與倫比的速度和現金流透明度，幫助我們的客戶在即時經濟中蓬勃發展，從而將統一商務提升到一個新的水平。我們在擴大統一商務對話時傳遞了這個訊息，它引起了我們當前客戶和潛在客戶的共鳴。

In closing, I want to thank all of my colleagues at Priority who not only delivered an excellent year of growth and success in 2023 but entered 2024 more committed than ever to our mission. Thank you for your continued dedication and the exceptional work you do every day. And lastly, we appreciate you all taking the time to participate in today's call and the ongoing support of our investors and analysts.

最後，我要感謝 Priority 的所有同事，他們不僅在 2023 年實現了出色的成長和成功，而且在進入 2024 年時比以往任何時候都更加致力於我們的使命。感謝您持續的奉獻和每天所做的出色工作。最後，我們感謝大家花時間參加今天的電話會議以及我們的投資者和分析師的持續支持。

Operator, we'd now like to open up the call for questions.

接線員，我們現在要開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) Jacob Stephan, Lake Street Capital Markets.

（操作員說明）Jacob Stephan，湖街資本市場。

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. I know you kind of touched on the reseller diversification concluding here in Q4, but maybe you could just kind of walk us through how you're thinking about verticals within SMB that you're primarily targeting here?

大家好。感謝您回答我的問題。我知道您在第四季度談到了經銷商多元化，但也許您可以向我們介紹一下您如何考慮您主要針對的中小型企業中的垂直行業？

Yes, I'll just -- I don't think it's going to be really a departure from what we've done historically. We've got a very diverse group of resellers that some of whom are, I'll call them, horizontal sales networks. Others are more vertically based, so some in professional services or in wholesale trade or those I'll call recurring billing.

是的，我只是——我認為這不會真正背離我們歷史上所做的事情。我們有一個非常多元化的經銷商群體，其中一些是我稱之為橫向銷售網絡。其他人則更加垂直，因此有些在專業服務或批發貿易或我稱之為定期計費的領域。

So some of them have unique areas of expertise, and they really blend together in a framework that you see across our portfolio that we don't expect that mix to meaningfully change. I'll tell you, there are some areas where we're adding renewed dedication that we think will increase proportionally over time. They really mesh with our -- with some of our ISV investments, the construction space most certainly. We built some unique tools that we'll be rolling out across our distribution in the second quarter.

因此，他們中的一些人擁有獨特的專業領域，並且他們確實融合在一個框架中，您可以在我們的產品組合中看到這一框架，我們預計這種組合不會發生有意義的改變。我會告訴你，我們正在某些領域增加新的奉獻精神，我們認為隨著時間的推移，這些奉獻精神會成比例地增加。它們確實與我們的一些 ISV 投資（尤其是建築空間）相吻合。我們建立了一些獨特的工具，我們將在第二季在我們的發行版中推廣這些工具。

Healthcare is another that we'll proportionally seek to increase. Say, if there's a dynamic, in particular, really driving the future of acquiring is it's -- it will be less so segment driven and more so the implementation of -- you could think of it as adjacent or bundled services to get a chance to, for instance -- just watch that video. It's picking up all of the other areas of expense that small businesses have that they're frustrated with.

醫療保健是我們將按比例尋求增加的另一個領域。比如說，如果有一種動態，特別是真正推動收購的未來，那麼它會更少地受細分市場驅動，而更多地是實施——你可以將其視為相鄰或捆綁的服務，以便有機會，例如 - 只需觀看該視頻即可。它正在承擔小型企業感到沮喪的所有其他費用領域。

They're frustrated with their bank. They're frustrated with the way they pay bills and the way cash flow moves through their business. So we think providing tailored or curated point of sale on the front end, and banking and payables products that work seamlessly with that experience, that's the focal point at this point. And we have very high expectations of that strategy. And the beautiful thing, I think, is the way we've built it. Our ability to deploy it does not come at any incremental cost, so it's very high margin to our performance.

他們對銀行感到失望。他們對支付帳單的方式和現金流在業務中的流動方式感到沮喪。因此，我們認為在前端提供定製或策劃的銷售點，以及與這種體驗無縫協作的銀行和應付帳款產品，這是目前的焦點。我們對該策略抱有很高的期望。我認為最美妙的事情就是我們建構它的方式。我們部署它的能力不會帶來任何增量成本，因此它對我們的性能有非常高的利潤。

Okay. Got it. That's helpful. And then maybe just last one for me here, the restructuring charges on the healthcare payments business that you referenced, do you expect any kind of lingering impacts in Q1? Any kind of elevated non-cash charges as we look at our models?

好的。知道了。這很有幫助。然後，也許只是我在這裡的最後一個問題，即您提到的醫療保健支付業務的重組費用，您預計第一季會產生任何揮之不去的影響嗎？當我們審視我們的模型時，是否會出現任何形式的非現金費用上漲？

No, we don't expect any lingering charges there. We went ahead and took the restructuring charge in the fourth quarter. And it won't have much of an impact on the numbers either going forward. It's already been baked into our guidance.

不，我們預計不會有任何揮之不去的費用。我們在第四季繼續進行重組。而且它也不會對未來的數字產生太大影響。它已經被納入我們的指導中。

Okay, got it. Thanks. I'll turn it over.

好，知道了。謝謝。我會把它翻過來。

Tim Switzer, KBW.

蒂姆·斯維策，KBW。

Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. I appreciate all the color on the guide, and you guys touched on it real quick. But on the expense outlook, could you guys talk about where you expect expenses to trend over the course of 2024 and then particularly the cost of revenue trends and how you guys would like to direct your investments going forward next year?

早安.感謝您回答我的問題。我很欣賞指南上的所有顏色，你們很快就接觸到了它。但在支出前景方面，你們能談談你們預計 2024 年支出趨勢如何，特別是收入成本趨勢，以及你們希望如何指導明年的投資？

Sure, yes. I think from an overall guide standpoint on the expenses, as you could tell, sequentially, going from Q3 to Q4, we continue to maintain good discipline on the salary and benefits side and really try to gain efficiencies across the business as we think about the grow-over from what we had in '22, where we did invest a lot in the business from a personnel and technology standpoint. So I think you'll continue to see that discipline deployed throughout the balance of 2024.

當然，是的。我認為，從支出的整體指導角度來看，正如您可以看出的那樣，從第三季度到第四季度，我們繼續在工資和福利方面保持良好的紀律，並在考慮到整個業務時真正努力提高整個業務的效率。因此，我認為您將在 2024 年餘下時間繼續看到這種紀律的實施。

Within the various segments, I think our faster-growing parts of SMB are the larger resellers. So I think we'll continue to see some compression there in the core gross margins. But as Tom mentioning a second ago, a lot of the ancillary products we can sell into that SMB customer base are going to margin-enhancing events. So I think we're optimistic that we'll be able to hold and expand margins in SMB overall despite some of the natural headwinds you have there as the larger resellers grow faster.

在各個細分市場中，我認為中小型企業成長較快的部分是較大的經銷商。因此，我認為我們將繼續看到核心毛利率受到一些壓縮。但正如湯姆剛才提到的，我們可以向中小企業客戶群銷售的許多輔助產品都將用於提高利潤的活動。因此，我認為我們樂觀地認為，我們將能夠保持並擴大中小型企業的整體利潤率，儘管隨著大型經銷商成長更快，您會遇到一些自然阻力。

And then in enterprise and B2B, we'll continue to see margin expansion or at least consistency, right? I think you'll see some potential flattening in enterprises, given where it's already operating, at 94% plus gross margins.

然後在企業和 B2B 領域，我們將繼續看到利潤率擴張或至少保持一致性，對嗎？我認為，鑑於企業已經在運營，毛利率高達 94% 以上，您會看到企業可能會出現一些潛在的趨平。

And then within B2B, as we continue to see Plastiq expands -- we only had five months of revenue in 2023 from Plastiq. As we get a full-year effect in '24, that may put some overall pressure on gross margins in B2B, but that's really just because of the accounting treatments. That business is performing well. It's ahead of expectations from originally how we made the acquisition, and we're optimistic that that will continue in '24.

然後在 B2B 領域，隨著我們繼續看到 Plastiq 的擴張，2023 年我們只從 Plastiq 獲得了五個月的收入。當我們在 24 年獲得全年影響時，這可能會對 B2B 的毛利率造成一些整體壓力，但這實際上只是因為會計處理。該業務表現良好。這超出了我們最初收購方式的預期，我們樂觀地認為這種情況將在 24 年繼續下去。

Great. Yes, that's helpful. And for the rest of the guidance that you guys gave, could you talk about the different factors, whether it's macro or customer trends that could maybe drive upside or downside from the high end and low end of the guidance?

偉大的。是的，這很有幫助。對於您們提供的其餘指導，您能否談談不同的因素，無論是宏觀趨勢還是客戶趨勢，都可能推動指導的高端和低端的上行或下行？

So I'd say -- look, first off, the macroenvironment will always have some influence. We've -- I think we would submit that we've been very thoughtful in the way we've constructed the diversification of our business lines where there'll be instances in a downward economic environment where you'll see the consumer slowdown, which is a natural headwind to payment processing and acquiring.

所以我想說──首先，宏觀環境總是會產生一些影響。我們——我想我們會說，我們在建立業務線多元化的方式上非常深思熟慮，在經濟下行的環境中，你會看到消費者放緩的情況，這是支付處理和收單的自然阻力。

Historically, we have offsets to that on the enterprise side that do very, very well when consumers need assistance with debt resolution or, I'll call it, consumer wellness strategies that benefit many of the areas that we operate. The other thing, of course, is B2B, tends to do well when interest rates are higher. And there is a focus on new sources of revenue in business as economies slow because it does provide a unique source of revenue for more efficient supply chain management and working capital optimization.

從歷史上看，當消費者需要解決債務問題或我稱之為消費者健康策略的幫助時，我們對企業方面的補償做得非常非常好，這有利於我們經營的許多領域。當然，另一件事是 B2B，當利率較高時往往表現良好。隨著經濟放緩，人們開始關注新的業務收入來源，因為它確實為更有效率的供應鏈管理和營運資本優化提供了獨特的收入來源。

So having tools that bring those to bear with customers as they're ready to adopt has accrued to our benefit. So we feel really good about the -- I'll call it the cyclicality that could present -- look, the biggest opportunity we have, and we've been very, very modest in our assumptions, is really the adoption of banking and payables as an adjacency to our customers who are using us for acquiring and other really other, I'll call it, vertical solutions, right? They're being now exposed to a toolset that gives them simplicity to do things that they want to do every day in their business, but their current solutions don't provide them.

因此，擁有能夠讓客戶在準備這些工具時接受這些工具已經為我們帶來了好處。因此，我們對——我稱之為可能呈現的周期性——看，我們擁有的最大機會感到非常好，而且我們的假設非常非常謙虛，實際上是銀行和應付賬款的採用作為與我們的客戶的鄰接，他們使用我們來獲取和其他真正的其他，我稱之為垂直解決方案，對嗎？他們現在接觸到的工具集使他們可以輕鬆完成他們每天在業務中想做的事情，但他們目前的解決方案無法提供這些服務。

A good example is -- let's take two quick examples. This is why we sent that video out so you could see it. As they say, a picture is worth 1,000 words. If I'm an SMB, right, hey, I want to get my money fast. Well, when you're using our Banking-as-a-Service product alongside MX Merchant, that money shows up within minutes of your batch closure, even on a holiday or a weekend.

一個很好的例子是──讓我們舉兩個簡單的例子。這就是我們發送該視頻以便您可以看到的原因。正如他們所說，一張圖片勝過 1000 個單字。如果我是中小型企業，對吧，嘿，我想快速拿到錢。那麼，當您將我們的銀行即服務產品與 MX Merchant 一起使用時，即使在假日或週末，這筆錢也會在批次關閉後幾分鐘內出現。

That doesn't happen with any other provider in our space. From a restaurant, that's gold to me. I'm getting my money on a Saturday, a Friday night, or a Saturday, or a Sunday, or a holiday. And I can then utilize that cash flow to pay vendors using my debit card that's attached to that account or perhaps a virtual card that allows me to receive cash back because my vendor will accept virtual card.

我們領域的任何其他提供者都不會發生這種情況。來自餐廳，這對我來說就是黃金。我會在星期六、星期五晚上、星期六、星期日或假日收到我的錢。然後，我可以利用該現金流透過附加到該帳戶的借記卡或虛擬卡向供應商付款，該虛擬卡允許我收到現金返還，因為我的供應商將接受虛擬卡。

Or perhaps they won't, and I want to extend my receivable. I can use Plastiq, use my own credit card to pay my vendor. They'll get an ACH next day and perhaps I get an early pay discount. I pay the fee to Plastiq, which of course is a Priority entity, and I don't have to pay my credit card bill for, on average, 55 to 60 days. There's a typical delay between making a purchase and when your credit card bill is due.

也許他們不會，而我想延長我的應收帳款。我可以使用 Plastiq，使用我自己的信用卡向我的供應商付款。他們第二天就會收到 ACH，也許我會得到提前工資折扣。我向 Plastiq 支付費用，這當然是一個 Priority 實體，平均 55 到 60 天我不需要支付信用卡帳單。從購買到信用卡帳單到期之間通常會有一段延遲。

So these are very elegant tools that all work in harmony, and it's really just educating their use case in our existing customer base. We don't need to sell more customers. We just need to have them adopt tools that are good for their business. That's one such use case.

因此，這些都是非常優雅的工具，它們可以和諧地工作，實際上只是在我們現有的客戶群中教育它們的用例。我們不需要推銷更多的客戶。我們只需要讓他們採用對其業務有利的工具。這就是這樣一個用例。

Another that we're very focused on is we have lots of consumers who come in to our partners to help them resolve debt issues, particularly in this current environment. Well, adding to that a bank account, it will help them start to go on a consumer wellness journey with that same partner that's helping them out of issues with their debt. That really helps harmonize their financial well-being and their experience in one place.

我們非常關注的另一個問題是，我們有許多消費者向我們的合作夥伴求助，幫助他們解決債務問題，特別是在當前的環境下。好吧，加上銀行帳戶，這將幫助他們開始與幫助他們擺脫債務問題的同一個合作夥伴一起踏上消費者健康之旅。這確實有助於在一個地方協調他們的財務狀況和體驗。

And these are all things that we can offer without any incremental expense at Priority. It's all built. It's just deployment. So we think that's the most powerful advantage we have. And I can tell you, it's winning in the marketplace with a host of ISVs and enterprise customers who are saying, yes, I want to embed those types of solutions in my product experience, in my customer relationship, and we're in an easy place to help them do that.

這些都是我們在 Priority 無需增加任何費用即可提供的服務。都建好了。這只是部署。所以我們認為這是我們擁有的最強大的優勢。我可以告訴你，它在市場上贏得了許多ISV 和企業客戶的青睞，他們說，是的，我想將這些類型的解決方案嵌入到我的產品體驗、客戶關係中，而且我們處於一個輕鬆的狀態。

That's awesome. Really appreciate all the detail. Thank you, guys.

棒極了。真的很欣賞所有的細節。感謝你們。

Thank you for the question.

感謝你的提問。

Brian Kinstlinger, Alliance Global Partners.

Brian Kinstlinger，聯盟全球合作夥伴。

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. I wanted to just discuss the balance sheet and start there. Despite the cash flow, the net debts increased. Can you talk about capital deployment plans in 2024?

嗨，早安。感謝您回答我的問題。我只想討論資產負債表並從這裡開始。儘管有現金流，淨債務卻增加了。能談談2024年的資本部署計畫嗎？

And related to this, in the past, you made some strategic divestitures where it made sense that it would create shareholder value. Do you see any of these opportunities -- and I'm only throwing it out there. It's probably not it, but CPX, it's about 1% revenue contribution, although it fits well in your flywheel of money movement. There's been some great valuations in M&A. I'm just curious, high level, about some of those things.

與此相關的是，過去，您進行了一些策略性剝離，這可以創造股東價值。你看到這些機會了嗎——我只是把它扔在那裡。可能不是它，而是 CPX，它大約貢獻了 1% 的收入，儘管它非常適合您的貨幣運動飛輪。併購領域的估值很高。我只是對其中一些事情感到好奇。

Hey, Brian. It's Tim. Thanks for the question. Yes, looking at the balance sheet, obviously, the debt from a gross standpoint did increase from Q3 to Q4, right? That was largely driven by the Plastiq acquisition.

嘿，布萊恩。是蒂姆。謝謝你的提問。是的，看看資產負債表，顯然，從總的角度來看，債務確實從第三季到第四季有所增加，對吧？這主要是由 Plastiq 收購推動的。

We had financed that acquisition under the revolver. And then, as the broader debt markets improved, we went to the term loan market, upsized our existing term loan, and paid off the revolver. Given some of the demand, we actually upsized the term loan and put a little cash on the balance sheet. So from a net debt standpoint, it was neutral. So it was a leverage-neutral transaction if you think about it that way.

我們透過左輪手槍為這次收購提供了資金。然後，隨著更廣泛的債務市場的改善，我們進入了定期貸款市場，擴大了現有的定期貸款，並還清了左輪手槍。考慮到一些需求，我們實際上增加了定期貸款，並在資產負債表上投入了少量現金。因此，從淨債務的角度來看，它是中性的。所以如果你這樣想的話，這是一筆槓桿中性交易。

So the net debt at $614 million, we continue to de-lever from a multiple standpoint as EBITDA grows. So we finished the quarter with 3.6 times net leverage on the senior debt. If you include the preferred equity, it would be at 5.2. But those numbers continue to come down.

因此，隨著 EBITDA 的成長，我們將繼續從多重角度去槓桿化，淨債務為 6.14 億美元。因此，本季末我們的優先債務淨槓桿率為 3.6 倍。如果算上優先股，則為 5.2。但這些數字仍在持續下降。

And if you think about the balance of the year, even if you don't assume a debt paydown, which obviously is not our assumption -- but even if you don't assume a debt paydown, you just look at the EBITDA guidance we have out there, you'll have another half turn de-leveraging throughout the year just from growth in cashflow in the business at the EBITDA level.

如果你考慮今年的餘額，即使你不假設債務償還，這顯然不是我們的假設 - 但即使你不假設債務償還，你只需看看我們的 EBITDA 指導。 EBITDA 水準的業務現金流成長再進行一半的去槓桿化。

So I think we're optimistic about the balance sheet and our ability to manage that. We're constantly thinking about capital deployment and whether it's acquisitions versus debt paydown versus other investments we can make to drive further revenue growth and margin enhancements and overall increased shareholder value.

因此，我認為我們對資產負債表及其管理能力持樂觀態度。我們不斷考慮資本部署，以及收購、債務償還還是我們可以進行的其他投資，以推動進一步的收入成長和利潤率提高以及整體股東價值的提高。

So that's a constant conversation we have as well as looking at the portfolio of assets we have, right? You've seen us do that in the past. I'm not going to front run anything that we may or may not have in the works, but we've always looked at the portfolio and thought about value creation and thinking about how can we best monetize assets and drive shareholder value. And that won't stop.

所以這是我們不斷進行的對話，同時也在檢視我們擁有的資產組合，對吧？您過去曾見過我們這樣做。我不會搶先進行任何我們可能會或可能不會進行的工作，但我們一直在關注投資組合併思考價值創造，並思考如何最好地利用資產貨幣化並提高股東價值。這不會停止。

And Brian, if I can add a thought on that, just -- I appreciate the perspective on it. In some regard -- in fact, I would submit to you, given -- the stock is clearly undervalued relative to our peers. Our growth rate is substantially higher. Our multiple is much lower. Reconciling, utilizing equity for some of these acquisitions, it's hard to justify that that's actually going to create shareholder value, particularly when you look at how quickly we get assets performing.

布萊恩，如果我能對此補充一點想法，我很欣賞對此的看法。在某些方面——事實上，我會​​向你提出——鑑於——該股票相對於我們的同行顯然被低估了。我們的成長率要高得多。我們的倍數要低得多。調和，利用股權進行其中一些收購，很難證明這實際上會創造股東價值，特別是當你看看我們獲得資產表現的速度有多快時。

Take Plastiq as a good example. As a business, when we acquired it, it was losing -- conservatively, it was burning $20 million of cash. That business, in our hands, is cash flow positive. It is on a phenomenal trajectory.

以 Plastiq 為例。作為一家企業，當我們收購它時，它正在虧損——保守地說，它燒掉了 2000 萬美元的現金。我們手中的這項業務現金流為正。它正處於驚人的軌道上。

So at the appropriate time, when we feel like we've maximized its value within our platform or even other things we have, will we find other partnerships? Will we consider other ways to monetize our portfolio of assets? Certainly, knowing that in doing it the way we have, we will have created outsized returns for shareholders.

因此，在適當的時候，當我們覺得我們已經在我們的平台甚至我們擁有的其他東西中最大化了其價值時，我們會找到其他合作夥伴嗎？我們會考慮其他方式將我們的資產組合貨幣化嗎？當然，我們知道，按照我們的方式行事，我們將為股東創造豐厚的回報。

But it's going to take the work of getting assets that were non-performing, performing, which we've proven we're very good at, and then optimizing those at the right time when it's going to benefit long-term shareholder value. And so just to reiterate, that is a focal point. And in some of the current circumstances, while it increases the quantum of debt, we're doing it responsibly where we're actually deleveraging in the process. So the value creation is pretty obvious.

但這需要努力獲得不良資產、績效資產（我們已經證明我們非常擅長），然後在適當的時間優化這些資產，從而有利於長期股東價值。重申一下，這是一個焦點。在目前的某些情況下，雖然它增加了債務規模，但我們實際上是在去槓桿化的過程中負責任地這樣做。所以價值創造是非常明顯的。

Look, I mean, my answer to that would only be creating good returns on acquisitions and growing EBITDA hasn't generated value because of the balance sheet overhang. And so, I would just submit that that has to do with the cheaper valuations, if anything more.

看，我的意思是，我對此的回答只會是透過收購創造良好的回報，而由於資產負債表懸而未決，不斷增長的 EBITDA 並沒有產生價值。因此，我認為這與更便宜的估值有關（如果有的話）。

But anyways, the EBITDA conversion into free cash flow in the last two years has been about 36%. Is there an opportunity to grow that, or is that a good proxy for how we should think about cash flow compared to EBITDA?

但無論如何，過去兩年 EBITDA 轉化為自由現金流的比例約為 36%。是否有機會成長這一點，或者這是否可以很好地代表我們應該如何考慮現金流與 EBITDA 之間的關係？

Yes, I think we will always look at ways to expand that, right, whether it's being more efficient with the balance sheet and thinking about opportunities to lower our cost of capital as markets improve around us. And I think we have seen the capital markets improve, so we're evaluating those opportunities from a cost-of-capital standpoint.

是的，我認為我們將始終尋找擴大這一規模的方法，無論是提高資產負債表效率，還是隨著周圍市場的改善，考慮降低資本成本的機會。我認為我們已經看到資本市場的改善，因此我們正在從資本成本的角度評估這些機會。

We also think about the acquisitions that we look at in the pipeline and the ability to deploy capital more efficiently, potentially offer our own balance sheets, or other partnerships. So I think we're always looking at ways to enhance the free cash flow conversion in the business.

我們還考慮了我們正在考慮的收購以及更有效部署資本的能力，可能提供我們自己的資產負債表或其他合作夥伴關係。因此，我認為我們一直在尋找增強業務自由現金流轉換的方法。

Okay. Lastly, the growth rate -- year-over-year growth rate for accounts build on the enterprise business has accelerated in the last two quarters to about 50%. Is there a large -- law of large numbers we should think about? I guess I'm trying to understand, can you sustain that growth rate for the next couple of quarters? And then which industries are enjoying the best business development trends as it relates to that business?

好的。最後，過去兩個季度，基於企業業務的帳戶年增率加快至 50% 左右。我們是否應該考慮一個大數定律？我想我想知道，你能在接下來的幾季維持這種成長率嗎？那麼哪些產業正享受著與該業務相關的最佳業務發展趨勢呢？

Sure, let me just talk about the -- so the industry sectors, the -- I think we've really successfully taken a simple approach, right? We follow the money, okay? At its heart, we're in payments, right? So you can appreciate the logic of that. We've tried to build tools that particularly work well in -- where there are large pools and there's complexity. And a couple that have caught our eye where we're active and we're winning logos are construction.

當然，讓我談談——所以行業部門——我認為我們確實成功地採取了一種簡單的方法，對嗎？我們追隨金錢，好嗎？從本質上講，我們是在支付，對嗎？所以你可以理解其中的邏輯。我們試圖建構特別適用於有大量池且複雜的情況的工具。建築業是我們活躍且正在贏得勝利的標誌之一。

That is a bit of a quagmire, right? A company that -- it's a sector that needs cash flow acceleration. It is -- has a broad spectrum of participants. It's a multi-trillion-dollar industry in the United States that largely lacks automation. So we've got tools that I'll say are suited for the enterprise segment that we are deploying and are winning. We have those that are for the middle to small market segments that I alluded to. In acquiring that, we've already -- are in beta testing and we'll be going out to the broader community.

這有點陷入泥潭，對吧？一家公司－這是一個需要現金流加速的產業。它有廣泛的參與者。在美國，這是一個價值數兆美元的產業，但很大程度上缺乏自動化。因此，我們擁有適合我們正在部署並贏得勝利的企業細分市場的工具。我們有那些針對我提到的中小型細分市場的產品。為了獲得這一點，我們已經進行了 beta 測試，我們將走向更廣泛的社群。

So that's an area where linking that AR -- so I take in money but then I also have to make payments out, is a natural -- there's a natural solution elegance to that. So that's what we're bringing to market across enterprise and mid-market. Enterprise is more ISV focused. Mid-market to small market is more with our own proprietary technology, it's called MX build. So that would be one example. (Multiple speakers)

因此，在這個領域，連接 AR 是很自然的——所以我收錢，但隨後我也必須付款，這是一個自然的解決方案。這就是我們向企業和中端市場推出的產品。企業更注重 ISV。中小型市場更多的是我們自己的專有技術，這就是所謂的MX構建。這就是一個例子。（多位發言者）

Another is the investment management space, again, very archaic, terrible banking experience. I think if you talk to -- go talk to our debt holders, and they're raising money from LPs, they'll tell you it takes six weeks to set up an account even for an existing LP, terrible experience. We can do that in six minutes because we virtualized all the banking and have already pre-qualified participants for AML, KYC, KYB, OFAC, FinCEN, right? These are modern banking automations that apply very well in industries like that.

另一個是投資管理領域，同樣是非常陳舊、糟糕的銀行業務經驗。我認為，如果你與我們的債務持有人交談，他們正在從有限合夥人那裡籌集資金，他們會告訴你，即使是現有的有限合夥人，也需要六週的時間才能建立一個帳戶，這是可怕的經驗。我們可以在六分鐘內做到這一點，因為我們虛擬化了所有銀行業務，並且已經對 AML、KYC、KYB、OFAC、FinCEN 的參與者進行了資格預審，對嗎？這些是現代銀行自動化，非常適用於此類行業。

So those are two of the more substantial that we already have customers on platform. We are learning more and more, and we see tremendous opportunity. And then, I'll mention another that's been a mainstay for us is in real estate.

這是我們平台上已經擁有的兩個更重要的客戶。我們正在學習越來越多的知識，我們看到了巨大的機會。然後，我要提到另一個對我們至關重要的支柱是房地產。

That whole segment in the way transactions occur through real estate, everything from escrow and how closings and broker fees occur to the renter experience and how that's transforming through the property management and this idea of being able to manage cash flow at a property level through AR and AP solutions that persist at a property level, all of that requires a meshing of payments and banking.

整個部分涉及透過房地產進行交易的方式，從託管、交割和經紀人費用如何發生到租戶體驗，以及如何透過物業管理進行轉變，以及透過 AR 管理物業層面的現金流的想法以及在財產層面持續存在的AP 解決方案，所有這些都需要將支付和銀行業務結合起來。

And those are the segments where there are large flows of money, large pools. They take some sophistication to address, so not everyone's going to get there. And we're seeing a lot of opportunities to win and are deploying resources in those verticals.

這些都是資金流動量大、資金池大的領域。解決這些問題需要一些複雜的技巧，所以並不是每個人都能做到這一點。我們看到了許多獲勝的機會，並正在這些垂直領域部署資源。

Okay, thank you.

好的謝謝。

Hal Goetsch, B. Riley.

哈爾·戈奇，B.萊利。

Hey, good morning, guys. A quick question. You guys gave some great detail on gross profit. You said 58% of Q4 gross profit was from monthly fees. I was wondering if you'd give us some color on the components of that, how much of that gross profit of fees is dispersed amongst the three different segments? Is it mostly in enterprise or B2B, or is there still a pretty good amount of gross profit in monthly subscriptions for -- even in the SMB? Can you give us some color on that?

嘿，早上好，夥計們。一個簡單的問題。你們提供了有關毛利的一些詳細資訊。你說第四季毛利的58%來自月費。我想知道您是否願意給我們一些關於其中組成部分的信息，費用毛利中有多少分散在三個不同的細分市場中？主要是在企業或 B2B 中，還是即使在中小型企業中，每月訂閱仍然有相當可觀的毛利？你能為我們提供一些資訊嗎？

Sure, Hal, happy to jump in there. So the various components that we have, fixed monthly fees or even in the SMB business, it's not all transaction or volume dependent. There are fixed monthly fees per account.

當然，哈爾，很高興加入其中。因此，我們擁有的各種組件、固定月費甚至中小企業業務，並不完全依賴交易或數量。每個帳戶有固定的月費。

So that figure, if I think about gross profit, that's going to be 15-plus percent or so of gross profit in the quarter. And then you have the monthly fees within the enterprise business along with the income we make on our permissible investments. Those all drive part of the balance of the recurring gross profit that's not transaction or volume dependent, right? So a lot of it does sit in enterprise, but SMB has a very consistent level of recurring gross profit as well.

因此，如果考慮到毛利，這個數字將佔本季毛利的 15% 以上。然後您將獲得企業業務的月費以及我們在允許的投資中獲得的收入。這些都推動了不依賴交易或數量的經常性毛利平衡的一部分，對吧？因此，其中很大一部分確實屬於企業，但中小企業也具有非常穩定的經常性毛利水準。

It would be a monthly fee, like $20 a month, or it would depend on the client and how much volume they do or the hardware or software they use. Is that kind of where it comes from?

這將是按月收費，例如每月 20 美元，或取決於客戶以及他們的業務量或他們使用的硬體或軟體。它是從那裡來的嗎？

Yes, it depends on the nature. I'll describe it this way. It's the nature of the subscription. So some pay platform, and then we manage accounts on their behalf. And then, others think of it like pay by the drink, where each account has a subscription.

是的，這取決於性質。我會這樣描述它。這是訂閱的本質。所以一些支付平台，然後我們代表他們管理帳戶。然後，其他人認為這就像按飲料付費，每個帳戶都有訂閱。

And the reason that is different, Hal, is there are certain expenses they may be passing along to their end market; and others, they are not.

哈爾，不同的原因是他們可能會將某些費用轉嫁給終端市場；而其他人則不然。

Okay.

好的。

So those are the driving factors. And it's very subscription -- or I should say subscriber/integrated partner oriented. It will depend on their business model.

這些都是驅動因素。它是非常訂閱的——或者我應該說是針對訂閱者/整合合作夥伴的。這將取決於他們的商業模式。

Yes. I know it's a really detailed question, but how -- of this kind of recurring business where it's not dependent on Bankcard volume, can you give us a feel for what that grew versus the previous year? So we know -- I mean, this is really high-value business then. What I'm getting at is this is a growing part of your business. This is very high multiple types of things. (Multiple speakers)

是的。我知道這是一個非常詳細的問題，但是對於這種不依賴銀行卡數量的經常性業務，您能否讓我們了解一下與前一年相比的增長情況？所以我們知道——我的意思是，這確實是一項高價值的業務。我的意思是，這是您業務中不斷增長的一部分。這是非常高的多種類型的東西。（多位發言者）

Yes -- one, I have to call it -- it's a great question, and that's kind of what we're saying is every dollar is not created equal, right? So I know Tim's got some stats prepared for you.

是的——我必須稱其為一——這是一個很好的問題，這就是我們所說的，每一美元並非生來平等，對嗎？所以我知道蒂姆已經為你準備了一些統計數據。

Okay.

好的。

Yes, so without getting into specific dollars, maybe think about just the percentage, obviously, we mentioned 58% of gross profit was recurring in Q4 of this year. That number was 43% last year in Q4. So for full-year '23, it was 51%.

是的，所以在不考慮具體金額的情況下，也許只考慮百分比，顯然，我們提到今年第四季毛利的 58% 是經常性的。去年第四季這一數字為 43%。因此，23 年全年的比例為 51%。

So we're continuing to see that percentage grow and drive higher value in the business, right? That is repeatable, highly visible, recurring gross profit that we see. And that's why we're starting to report that and give you a better sense of the consistency in the profitability.

因此，我們將繼續看到該百分比成長並推動業務價值更高，對嗎？這是我們看到的可重複的、高度可見的、經常性的毛利。這就是為什麼我們開始報告這一點，讓您更了解獲利能力的一致性。

All right, terrific. Thanks, guys. Great quarter. Thank you.

好吧，太棒了。多謝你們。很棒的季度。謝謝。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Tom Priore for any closing remarks. Please go ahead, sir.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回給湯姆·普賴爾 (Tom Priore) 先生發表閉幕詞。請繼續，先生。

Well, we'll just like to thank everyone once again for taking the time to learn more about Priority and certainly listen to our perspective on the potential for our business, the industry at large, and where we see the opportunity set. And we are, hopefully, as you can see, from the quality of performance and what we're projecting for the upcoming year, we are we are laser focused on delivering results.

好吧，我們要再次感謝大家花時間了解有關 Priority 的更多信息，當然也要聽取我們對我們的業務、整個行業的潛力以及我們在哪裡看到的機會的看法。希望正如您所看到的，從績效品質和我們對來年的預測來看，我們非常專注於交付成果。

So thank you very, very much. I hope everyone has a great remainder of the week, and we'll look forward to the next opportunity to connect and measure how we did. Thank you.

非常非常感謝。我希望每個人都度過了愉快的一周，我們將期待下一次交流和衡量我們的表現的機會。謝謝。

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。