Quest Resource Holding Corp (QRHC) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Quest Resource Folding Corporation's third quarter 2025 earnings conference call [Operator Instructions] This call is being recorded on Monday, November 10th, 2025, and I would now like to turn the call over to Nick Nelson with Alpha IR Group. Please go ahead.

女士們、先生們，下午好，歡迎參加 Quest Resource Folding Corporation 2025 年第三季財報電話會議。 [操作員說明] 本次電話會議於 2025 年 11 月 10 日星期一錄音，現在我將把電話會議交給 Alpha IR Group 的 Nick Nelson。請繼續。

Thank you, operator, and thank you everyone for joining us on this, on the call. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that this conference call may contain predictions, estimates, and other forward-looking statements regarding future events or future performance of the company.

謝謝接線員，也謝謝各位參加這次電話會議。在會議開始之前，我想提醒大家，本次電話會議可能包含有關公司未來事件或未來業績的預測、估計和其他前瞻性陳述。

Use of words like anticipate, project, estimate, expect, intend, believe, and other similar expressions are intended to identify those forward-looking statements.

使用諸如預期、預測、估計、期望、打算、相信等詞語以及其他類似表達方式旨在識別這些前瞻性陳述。

Sutch forward-looking statements are based on the company's current expectations, estimates, projections, beliefs, and assumptions, and involve significant risks and uncertainties. Actual events or the company's results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors which are discussed in greater detail in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Sutch 的前瞻性聲明是基於公司目前的預期、估計、預測、信念和假設，並涉及重大風險和不確定性。由於各種因素的影響，實際事件或公司業績可能與前瞻性聲明中討論的內容存在重大差異，這些因素在公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中進行了更詳細的討論。

You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements and then consult SEC filings for additional risks and uncertainties. The company's forward-looking statements are presented as of the date made, and the company undertakes no obligation to update such statements unless required by law to do so.

請注意，不要過度依賴此類聲明，並查閱美國證券交易委員會的文件以了解其他風險和不確定性。本公司發布的前瞻性聲明僅代表發布之日的情況，除非法律要求，否則本公司不承擔更新此類聲明的義務。

In addition, this call may include industry and market data and other statistical information, as well as the company's observations and views about industry conditions and developments. The data and information are based on the company's estimates, independent publications, government publications, and reports made by market research firms and other sources.

此外，本次電話會議可能包括行業和市場數據及其他統計信息，以及公司對行業狀況和發展的觀察和觀點。數據和資訊是基於公司估計、獨立出版物、政府出版物以及市場研究公司和其他來源的報告。

Although Quest believes these sources are reliable and the data and other information are accurate, we caution that Quest has not independently verified the reliability of the sources or the accuracy of the information.

儘管 Quest 認為這些來源可靠，數據和其他資訊準確無誤，但我們提醒您，Quest 並未獨立核實這些來源的可靠性或資訊的準確性。

Certain non-GAAP financial measures will be disclosed during this call. These non-GAAP measures are used by management to make strategic decisions, forecast future results, and evaluate the company's current performance.

本次電話會議將揭露某些非GAAP財務指標。管理階層使用這些非GAAP指標來制定策略決策、預測未來績效和評估公司目前的績效。

Management believes the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is useful to investors' understanding and assessment of the company's ongoing core operations and prospects for the future.

管理階層認為，列示這些非GAAP財務指標有助於投資人了解並評估公司目前的業務核心營運和未來前景。

Unless it is otherwise stated, it should be assumed that any any financials discussed in this call will be on a non-GAAP basis. Full reconciliation of non-GAAP to GAAP financial measures are included in today's earnings release. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Dan Friedberg, Chairman of the board.

除非另有說明，否則應假定本次電話會議中討論的任何財務數據均以非公認會計準則 (non-GAAP) 為基礎。今天的獲利報告中包含了非GAAP財務指標與GAAP財務指標的完整調節表。接下來，我將把電話交給董事會主席丹‧弗里德伯格。

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our third quarter call. Quest delivered a solid third quarter that showed important progress on several fronts. During the first half of the year, we took decisive actions across the business that included reducing costs, improving operations, and generating cash flow.

各位下午好，感謝各位參加我們的第三季電話會議。Quest 第三季業績穩健，在多個方面都取得了重要進展。今年上半年，我們採取了一系列果斷措施，包括降低成本、改善營運和創造現金流。

We're on a much more solid footing as a result of these initiatives and our third quarter results were consistent with our stated expectation. for an improved trajectory of the performance of the business. the impact of these actions is already delivering important improvements in the business and validates our confidence in the path ahead.

由於這些舉措，我們的基礎更加穩固，第三季業績也符合我們先前的預期，業務表現可望持續改善。這些措施的影響力已經為業務帶來了顯著的提升，也印證了我們對未來發展道路的信心。

We will continue pursuing business efficiencies, reducing variability, generating growth, and driving business margins. We are confident in our ability to continue to drive improvements in the business and maintain this trajectory as we finish. 2025 and move into 2026 with that I'll turn the call over to Perry to discuss these efforts in more detail.

我們將繼續追求提高業務效率、減少波動、促進成長並提高業務利潤率。我們有信心在2025年底及2026年繼續推動業務改進並保持這一發展勢頭。接下來，我將把電話交給佩里，讓他更詳細地討論這些舉措。

Thank you, Dan. we delivered a solid third quarter with strong sequential improvement in our financial performance despite what remains a tough operating environment. since taking on the CEO role earlier this year, we've been on a mission to standardize and streamline our internal processes, relentlessly track our progress, as well as foster a culture of continuous improvement.

謝謝丹。儘管經營環境依然嚴峻，但我們第三季業績穩健，財務表現較上季強勁成長。自今年年初擔任執行長以來，我們一直致力於規範和簡化內部流程，持續追蹤進展，並努力營造持續改進的企業文化。

This has been a comprehensive effort that spans every aspect of the business from customer engagement. sales, payments and collections, and more. while these cultural changes can be complicated, I have been thrilled with the response from Quest employees, as well as with what we believe are the early benefits of these efforts.

這是一項涵蓋業務各個方面的全面舉措，包括客戶互動、銷售、支付和收款等等。雖然這些文化變革可能很複雜，但我對Quest員工的積極回應以及我們認為這些舉措已初見成效感到非常欣慰。

Our operational excellence initiatives are driving better visibility into our customers' needs, enhancing the productivity of our sales team, elevating our vendor management practices. maximizing efficiencies for our operating teams and ultimately improving financial results and cash generation.

我們卓越的營運措施正在幫助我們更了解客戶需求，提高銷售團隊的效率，提升供應商管理水平，最大限度地提高營運團隊的效率，並最終改善財務績效和現金流。

Overall, the macro environment continues to present challenges. Volumes from our industrial customers remain subdued, and the pace of adding new clients has been slower than last year and slower than what we had anticipated.

整體而言，宏觀環境仍充滿挑戰。工業客戶的訂單量依然低迷，新增客戶的速度比去年慢，也比我們預期的慢。

Our pipeline remains very healthy and potential clients have not fallen out, but economic uncertainty is leading to some decision delays that are extending the sales cycle.

我們的銷售管道依然非常健康，潛在客戶也沒有流失，但經濟的不確定性導致一些決策延遲，從而延長了銷售週期。

In response We're focusing on what we can control. We recently redefined our sales process to direct our sales teams with a greater focus on share of wallet opportunities. to do this, we focused on greater levels of collaboration between our relationship managers and our sales teams. This realignment combines the capabilities and talent of each team and gives our sales team better visibility into the ongoing and dynamic needs of customers.

對此，我們專注於我們能夠控制的事情。我們近期重新定義了銷售流程，旨在引導銷售團隊更專注於提升客戶錢包份額。為此，我們著重加強了客戶經理和銷售團隊之間的協作。此次重組整合了各個團隊的能力和人才，使我們的銷售團隊更了解客戶不斷變化和持續的需求。

As a result, we're broadening the number of waste streams that we're handling for individual clients. Adding new value-added services to existing client accounts and expanding our coverage with large multi-location customers to handle a larger portion of their waste, there are many more opportunities that include geographic and service line expansion within our installed base.

因此，我們正在擴大為單一客戶處理的廢物流種類。透過為現有客戶帳戶增加新的增值服務，並擴大我們與大型多地點客戶的合作範圍，以處理他們更大比例的廢棄物，我們在現有客戶群中還有許多機會，包括地理和服務範圍的擴展。

We expect the share of wallet initiatives to contribute greater levels of organic growth for us going forward, as these are clients that already understand and appreciate the Quest value proposition and have seen the tangible benefits of the services we provide.

我們預計，未來「錢包份額」計劃將為我們帶來更大水平的自然成長，因為這些客戶已經了解並欣賞 Quest 的價值主張，並且已經看到了我們所提供服務的實際好處。

They will all be strong contributors to gross profit dollar growth as we add and optimize services. from a process standpoint we've also re-segmented and better defined the different stages for our sales process. this has provided us with greater visibility into the sales cycle for individual accounts and offers a more detailed look at our total pipeline. We've replicated the same staged approach for share wallet opportunities, demonstrating our focus here, and now actively maintain both a new business pipeline.

隨著我們不斷增加和優化服務，這些都將成為毛利成長的重要貢獻者。從流程角度來看，我們也重新劃分並更好地定義了銷售流程的各個階段。這讓我們能夠更清楚地了解各個客戶的銷售週期，並更詳細地了解我們的整體銷售管道。我們對股票錢包機會也採用了同樣的階段性方法，這表明我們專注於此，並且現在積極維護新的業務管道。

As well as a share wallet pipeline. the sales focused initiatives and process improvements are contributing to improved results as we continue to bring new clients and expanded services with others. we recently launched our two wins that we announced during our last earnings call. One is a major retailer and the other is a large full service restaurant chain. And just last week we signed another new contract with a company in the food products and market.

除了共享錢包管道之外，以銷售為中心的舉措和流程改進也正在幫助我們取得更好的業績，因為我們不斷為其他公司帶來新客戶並擴展服務。我們最近推出了在上次財報電話會議上宣布的兩項新措施。一家是大型零售商，另一家是大型全方位服務連鎖餐廳。就在上週，我們與一家食品公司簽署了另一份新合約。

Additionally, we continue to execute on ourfo refocused share of wallet efforts by adding all the cardboard and organic food waste from one of our largest new customers from 2024 and adding a significant new number of stores from another existing customer.

此外，我們將繼續執行我們重新聚焦錢包份額的努力，從 2024 年起，我們將納入我們最大的新客戶之一的所有紙板和有機食品垃圾，並從另一現有客戶那裡增加大量新門市。

These efforts will also be important contributors to our commitment to broadening our customer base by adding to the total number of customers we serve and also through expanding our business in non-industrial end markets. We are committed to diversifying our customer and revenue profile by expanding in markets like retail, hospitality, grocery stores, and more.

這些努力也將為我們擴大客戶群的承諾做出重要貢獻，具體做法包括增加我們服務的客戶總數，以及擴大我們在非工業終端市場的業務。我們致力於透過拓展零售、旅館、雜貨店等市場，實現客戶和收入來源多元化。

These are all markets we are present in today and where we see compelling opportunities for our sales team to further penetrate. these are all markets and businesses that tend to perform better during the 4th quarter where industrial production typically moderates and will provide a good counterbalance to our earnings profile and seasonality.

這些都是我們目前已涉足的市場，也是我們認為銷售團隊可以進一步拓展的絕佳機會。這些市場和企業通常在第四季度表現更佳，因為此時工業生產通常會放緩，這將很好地平衡我們的獲利狀況和季節性波動。

Another critical area of focus of ours is our source to contract process where we engage our vendors and nurture those relationships. these relationships are essential given our asset like model. Strong relationships with these vendors are central to our ability to win new clients, deploy the right solutions, and deliver a best in class customer experience.

我們另一個重點關注的領域是採購到簽約流程，在這個過程中，我們會與供應商接洽並維護這些關係。鑑於我們採用的資產型模式，這些關係至關重要。與這些供應商建立牢固的關係是我們贏得新客戶、部署合適的解決方案以及提供一流客戶體驗的關鍵。

We've added new vendor relationships, reestablished older ones, and expanded others, which has elevated our level of visibility and value proposition with these vendors. We're finding that many vendors are once again proactively reaching out to Quest, asking for new business, and looking to grow their relationships with us.

我們新增了供應商關係，重新建立了舊關係，並擴大了其他關係，這提高了我們與這些供應商的知名度和價值主張。我們發現許多供應商再次主動聯繫 Quest，尋求新的業務機會，並希望與我們建立更緊密的合作關係。

Strong vendor relationships have a direct flow through to service levels for our customers, and today. we currently are experiencing the lowest service disruption rates and associated cost we've ever had. on the process side, we've taken steps to optimize our payment and collection processes with vendors with the goal of improving our order to cash cycle and overall working capital management.

牢固的供應商關係直接提升了我們為客戶提供的服務水準。目前，我們的服務中斷率和相關成本均處於歷史最低水準。在流程方面，我們已採取措施優化與供應商的付款和收款流程，旨在改善訂單到收款週期和整體營運資金管理。

We've been able to homogenize this process and are now paying the vast majority of our vendors on term. we have also shortened our invoicing time and will continue to optimize our cash collections process. we also continue to leverage our technology and data platform, which is enhancing the customer experience through its zero-to nature.

我們已成功規範了這個流程，目前絕大多數供應商都能按期付款。我們也縮短了發票處理時間，並將繼續優化收款流程。此外，我們也將持續利用我們的技術和數據平台，透過其零基礎的特性來提升客戶體驗。

Customers can utilize the portal to access their data to see the benefits of the Quest program. they now see the various waste materials generated. their associated costs and end destinations. we've amassed a tremendous amount of data which we believe carries incredible value.

客戶可以透過入口網站存取他們的數據，了解Quest計畫帶來的好處。他們現在可以看到產生的各種廢棄物、相關成本和最終去向。我們已經累積了大量數據，相信這些數據具有巨大的價值。

Ultimately we envision a subscription life model for access to this data, adding another margin accreted revenue stream. looking ahead I am confident that the continued implementation and progress of our operational excellence initiatives will continue to drive improvements in the business in the 4th quarter and beyond.

最終，我們設想採用訂閱模式來獲取這些數據，從而增加一項利潤成長的收入來源。展望未來，我相信我們持續推動卓越營運舉措，並取得進展，將繼續推動第四季及以後的業務成長。

Our sales pipeline is moving slower than we would like, but the quest value proposition continues to resonate with current and potential clients alike. our relationships with our large industrial clients remains as strong as ever. We are growing our share of wallet with existing clients, and discussions with potential new clients leaves us confident that we will win more than our fair share of new business when these companies ultimately elect to move forward.

我們的銷售管道進展比預期慢，但我們的產品價值主張仍能引起現有客戶和潛在客戶的共鳴。我們與大型工業客戶的關係也一如既往地牢固。我們正在不斷擴大現有客戶的市場份額，與潛在新客戶的洽談也讓我們有信心，當這些公司最終決定合作時，我們將贏得遠超我們應得份額的新業務。

We do expect to continue to experience some margin pressure as we execute our land and expand strategy and volumes that our largest industrial customers are expected to remain challenged. however, we anticipate we will be able to help offset these pressures through optimizing service levels, growing our share of wallet with existing clients, and continuing to drive operational improvements across the business.

我們預計，隨著我們推進土地開發和擴張策略，利潤率將持續面臨壓力，而我們最大的工業客戶的業務量預計也將持續受到挑戰。然而，我們預計，透過優化服務水準、提高現有客戶的市場份額以及持續推進業務營運改進，我們將能夠幫助緩解這些壓力。

To wrap up, our key priorities remain to grow the business with new and existing customers, drive margin improvements as we execute our operational excellence initiatives. continue the development of our operating platform.

綜上所述，我們的主要優先事項仍然是：透過拓展新舊客戶來發展業務；在執行卓越營運計劃的同時，提高利潤率；並繼續完善我們的營運平台。

Improve cash generation and pay down debt. we remain confident in our ability to execute the quest value proposition and implement these organic initiatives as macroeconomic conditions and industrial volumes normalize. with that, I'd like to turn the call over to Brett to review our third quarter financial results in greater detail. Brett?

改善現金流並償還債務。我們仍有信心在宏觀經濟環境和產業產量恢復正常後，執行Quest價值主張並實施這些內部成長計畫。接下來，我將把電話會議交給Brett，讓他更詳細地回顧我們第三季的財務表現。布雷特？

Thanks, Perry, and good afternoon, everyone. we are encouraged by the sequential improvements in the business as the internal initiatives we've enacted are delivering tangible results. revenue for the third quarter was $63.3 million, which was a 13% decrease from one year ago, but a sequential increase of 6.4% compared to the second quarter.

謝謝佩里，大家下午好。我們對業務的持續改善感到鼓舞，因為我們實施的內部措施正在取得實際效果。第三季營收為6,330萬美元，年減13%，但較上季成長6.4%。

The decline compared to the prior year was driven by the divested mall-related business and by lower revenue from clients in our industrial and market where market conditions remain challenged. our relationships with these clients remain strong, but macroeconomic conditions are leading to lower overall volumes.

與前一年相比，業績下滑的主因是剝離了與購物中心相關的業務，以及來自工業和市場客戶的收入減少，這些市場的市場環境依然充滿挑戰。我們與這些客戶的關係依然穩固，但宏觀經濟情勢導致整體業務量下降。

We do ultimately expect, Conditions to normalize and return to growth and fully expect to continue to support these clients when they do. In the meantime, we have greatly elevated our focus on share of wallet opportunities with these new clients.

我們最終期望市場環境能夠恢復正常並重回成長軌道，我們完全有信心在市場恢復正常後繼續為這些客戶提供支援。同時，我們已大幅提升了對這些新客戶的錢包份額機會的關注度。

Sequentially, our revenue growth was driven by new clients that we have added over the past 18 months. Year-to-date, these new clients have added over $24 million in incremental revenue year over year. The onboarding and progression of these new clients is advancing as planned and it's beginning to contribute meaningfully to our financial results.

從季度來看，我們的營收成長主要得益於過去 18 個月新增的客戶。今年迄今為止，這些新客戶已為該公司帶來了超過 2,400 萬美元的增量收入。這些新客戶的入職和發展正按計劃進行，並開始對我們的財務表現做出有意義的貢獻。

To speak further to that progress, gross margins with these new clients have made consecutive gains for multiple quarters in a row. as a reminder, while margins with these newer clients are initially lower and can create a drag on overall gross profit margins, we have a demonstrated land and expand strategy to both grow our share of wallet and add incremental value add services over time, which enhances the profitability of these relationships.

為了進一步說明這項進展，我們與這些新客戶的毛利率已連續多季實現成長。需要指出的是，雖然這些新客戶的毛利率初期較低，可能會拖累整體毛利率，但我們已成功實施了「先佔領市場，再逐步拓展」的策略，旨在不斷提升客戶份額，並隨著時間的推移增加增值服務，從而提高這些合作關係的盈利能力。

In the third quarter, gross profit dollars totaled $11.5 million a decline of 2% compared to the prior year, but a sequential increase of 3.9%. This sequential growth was better than our expectation of flat is slightly down as our gross profit initiatives gained traction.

第三季毛利總額為 1,150 萬美元，較上年同期下降 2%，但較上季成長 3.9%。這一環比成長好於我們預期的持平略有下降，因為我們的毛利提升計畫取得了成效。

Our gross margin was 18.1%, which was 200 basis points better than the prior year and a sequential decline of 40 basis points. The year over year growth in gross profit margin was largely driven by the sale of our lower margin mall business earlier this year, while the sequential decline was mainly a function of the aforementioned margin dynamics of newer clients combined with margin pressure from renewals previously discussed last quarter.

我們的毛利率為 18.1%，比前一年提高了 200 個基點，但季減了 40 個基點。毛利率年增率主要得益於今年稍早出售了毛利率較低的商場業務，而環比下降主要是由於上一季度新客戶的毛利率動態變化以及續約帶來的毛利率壓力所致。

These were largely offset by optimization improvements and other efficiency measures. as we look to the 4th quarter, we would expect sequential comparisons for gross profit dollars to be flat to slightly down, but mostly in line with our previous expectations.

這些影響基本上被優化改進和其他效率提升措施所抵消。展望第四季度，我們預計毛利環比將持平或略有下降，但基本上符合我們先前的預期。

As a reminder, we tend to see seasonably low volumes across several of our clients in the 4th quarter. additionally, there remains significant uncertainty related to client volumes in the industrial markets. However, the return to sequential growth in the 3rd quarter leaves us confident that our commercial and customer initiatives are helping to offset these pressures.

需要提醒的是，我們通常會發現，第四季度我們部分客戶的銷售量會出現季節性下降。此外，工業市場的客戶銷售量仍存在很大的不確定性。然而，第三季恢復環比成長，讓我們相信我們的商業和客戶措施正在幫助抵消這些壓力。

Our confidence is based on our visibility and efforts continuing to take hold as we optimize the business and with new clients and expansions with existing clients coming online in the fourth quarter. we will also continue to benefit from the reduction of temporary cost increases we discussed during the prior calls.

我們的信心源於我們不斷提升的業務可見度和持續的努力，隨著業務優化、新客戶上線以及現有客戶業務拓展在第四季度陸續啟動，這些努力都將取得成效。此外，我們還將繼續受益於先前電話會議中討論的臨時成本增長的降低。

Overall, we believe these positive trends position us to drive growth going into next year. Moving on to SG&A, which was $9.2 million during the third quarter. this was $1 million lower compared to the prior year, which equates to a 10% reduction year over year, and on a sequential basis, it was a slight decrease from the second quarter.

總體而言，我們相信這些積極的趨勢將使我們在明年實現成長。接下來是銷售、一般及行政費用，第三季為920萬美元。這比去年同期減少了100萬美元，相當於年減了10%，較上季也比第二季略有下降。

SG&A was consistent with our outlook of mostly flat sequentially. the declines are primarily related to the reduction in workforce in the first half of the year, increased efficiencies, and the aggressive takeout of costs across the organization.

銷售、一般及行政費用與我們先前預期基本持平的情況相符。下降主要與上半年員工人數減少、效率提高以及全公司範圍內積極削減成本有關。

We expect SG&A in the 4th quarter to be down again compared to the third quarter as we continue to reduce costs. moving on to a review of the cash flow and balance sheet. at the end of the third quarter we had $1.1 million in cash, a sequential increase from 450,000 at the end of the second quarter.

我們預計第四季銷售、管理及行政費用將較第三季再次下降，因為我們將繼續降低成本。接下來，我們來看看現金流量表和資產負債表。第三季末，我們持有現金110萬美元，較第二季末的45萬美元增加。

And approximately $20 million of available borrowing capacity on our $45 million operating borrowing line. for the third quarter we generated approximately $5.7 million in cash from operations, a sequential improvement of roughly 46%.

在我們的4500萬美元營運借款額度中，約有2000萬美元的可用借款額度。第三季度，我們從經營活動中產生了約570萬美元的現金，較上季成長約46%。

These results are driven by improved processes resulting from our initiatives aimed at billing faster, collecting from our clients sooner, and improving vendor management practices and payment terms. our heightened focus on these activities is reducing our cash cycle.

這些成果得益於我們各項措施帶來的流程改進，這些措施包括加快帳單處理速度、儘早向客戶收款以及優化供應商管理流程和付款條件。我們對這些工作的日益重視正在縮短現金週轉週期。

Further benefiting from these initiatives, our DSOs also decreased nicely from the second quarter to the 3rd quarter, building off a modest decrease from the 1st to the second quarter. the approximate nine day decrease drove DSOs into the lower 70s.

由於這些舉措，我們的應收帳款週轉天數（DSO）從第二季到第三季也出現了顯著下降，延續了第一季到第二季的小幅下降。約九天的減少使DSO降至70天左右。

Additionally, as the overall business continues to improve, we believe our model supports consistent operating cash generation. we would expect these systems and process improvements to contribute continued cash generation and further DSO reduction in the coming quarters.

此外，隨著整體業務的持續改善，我們相信我們的模式能夠支持穩定的營運現金流。我們預計這些系統和流程的改進將在未來幾季持續促進現金流量的產生，並進一步降低應收帳款週轉天數（DSO）。

As a result of the improved cash generation, we paid down $4.6 million of debt during the third quarter, bringing our year-to-date debt reduction to $11.2 million. as of the end of the third quarter we had $65.4 million in net notes payable versus $76.3 million at the beginning of the year.

由於現金流改善，我們在第三季償還了 460 萬美元的債務，使年初至今的債務減少額達到 1,120 萬美元。截至第三季末，我們的淨應付票據為 6,540 萬美元，而年初時為 7,630 萬美元。

We expect to continue to aggressively reduce debt as these cash initiatives continue to take hold. With that, I'll turn the call back over to Perry for some closing comments before we open up for Q&A.

隨著這些現金流措施的持續推進，我們預計將繼續積極降低債務。接下來，我將把電話轉回給佩里，請他做一些總結發言，之後我們將進入問答環節。

Great. Thank you, Brett. Our third quarter was an important validation of the operational excellence initiatives we've been enacting across the business. There remains plenty of work to be done, and the operating landscape remains tough. But we are highly confident in the value of our asset-like model and our ability to deliver improved financial results.

偉大的。謝謝你，布雷特。第三季業績是我們一直在全公司範圍內推行的卓越營運措施的重要驗證。還有很多工作要做，經營環境依然嚴峻。但我們對我們的資產型模式的價值以及我們實現財務績效提升的能力充滿信心。

Our initiatives are working. and we're well positioned to continue to drive improvements in the business. going forward, our focus will remain on generating cash and paying down debt while continuing to advance our customer and other commercial initiatives. with that I'd like to request the operator to provide instructions on how listeners can queue up for questions, operator.

我們的各項措施正在奏效，我們已做好充分準備，並繼續推動業務發展。展望未來，我們將繼續專注於創造現金流和償還債務，同時推進客戶服務和其他商業措施。最後，我想請接線生說明聽眾如何排隊提問。

Thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen [Operator Instructions] your first question comes from Jerry Sweeney with Roth Capital. Please go.

非常感謝各位女士、先生們。 [操作員說明] 你們的第一個問題來自羅斯資本的傑瑞‧斯威尼。請走吧。

Ahead. good afternoon, Dan, Brett Perry, thanks for taking my call. You've spoken about end markets, specifically maybe industrial remaining weak or challenging. Has that stabilized, or do you see some more headwinds in there outside of sustainable or seasonality in the fourth quarter, and I'm just curious of your other end markets how they're holding up altogether.

下午好，丹，布雷特·佩里，謝謝你們接聽我的電話。您提到了終端市場，特別是工業市場可能仍然疲軟或面臨挑戰。情況是否已經穩定下來？或者您看到第四季度除了永續性或季節性因素外，還存在一些其他不利因素？我很好奇您的其他終端市場整體情況如何。

Yeah, Jerry, I'll take that. This is Perry. The macroeconomic environment is still a bit uncertain. But, we believe the industrial markets and really all of our markets are stabilized of course from the industrial sector we'll see some seasonality effect in Q4, which is why.

好的，傑瑞，我接受。這是佩里。宏觀經濟環境仍存在一些不確定性。但是，我們相信工業市場以及我們所有的市場都已趨於穩定，當然，從工業領域來看，我們會在第四季度看到一些季節性影響，這就是原因。

In my comments, we're trying to diversify our portfolio a bit to add customers that actually ramp up in Q4, but I think more importantly, we're really focused on what we can control, which is our share of wallet with these with these clients, and you know we've been very successful with adding incremental services with these, customers and we expect to continue to do so.

在我的評論中，我們正努力使我們的產品組合更加多元化，以增加那些在第四季度真正成長的客戶。但我認為更重要的是，我們真正專注於我們能夠控制的事情，也就是我們與這些客戶的錢包份額。你知道，我們在為這些客戶增加增量服務方面取得了很大的成功，我們希望繼續這樣做。

We talked last quarter about our strategy to renew a contract with a large client where we gave up some margin on the front end to gain an opportunity to equally share in the savings.

上個季度我們討論了與一位大客戶續約的策略，我們放棄了一部分前期利潤，以換取與該客戶平等分享節省下來的費用。

We believe that's going to work very well. It will take more than a quarter for us to see the gains from those shared savings. But we believe that that will benefit. So I think everything is stabilized now. The sectors that I talked about earlier, retail, grocery, logistics, we work in a lot of verticals. We think that they will ramp slightly in Q4, but industrials will remain a bit challenged just because of the seasonality.

我們相信這會非常有效。我們需要超過一個季度的時間才能看到這些共享儲蓄帶來的收益。但我們相信這將會帶來好處。所以我覺得現在一切都穩定下來了。我之前提到的零售、食品雜貨、物流等行業，我們涉足許多垂直領域。我們認為第四季工業生產會略有成長，但由於季節性因素，工業生產仍將面臨一些挑戰。

Got it. And then while here, that was something you just brought up now but also in the prepared coms. taking wallet share, expanding wallet share, however you want to phrase it, it's always been, I think, part of what Quest did. have you changed that strategy at all to accelerate it or any other details on that front?

知道了。然後，你剛才也提到了這一點，其實在準備的通訊稿裡也提到了。無論是獲取錢包份額、擴大錢包份額，還是其他什麼說法，我認為這一直是Quest一直在做的事情。你們有沒有改變過這個策略來加速實現這個目標？或者這方面有其他細節嗎？

Yeah, so the answer is yes. So when I arrived a couple of years ago, I brought a whole new discipline to the sales process, the new, customer sales process.

是的，答案是肯定的。所以幾年前我來到這裡時，我為銷售流程帶來了一個全新的規範，即全新的客戶銷售流程。

So, we've taken that approach and, Use that now for share of wallet so we have a very disciplined approach where we have a very well defined share a wallet that which is something we didn't have before but in addition we're now collaborating with our between our relationship managers and our sales teams, which is another new development so we have people that own relationships with the customers.

所以，我們採取了這種方法，現在將其用於錢包份額，因此我們採取了非常嚴謹的方法，對錢包份額進行了非常明確的定義，這是我們以前沒有的。此外，我們現在正在客戶經理和銷售團隊之間進行合作，這是另一個新的發展，因此我們有了負責客戶關係的人員。

They may not have the same skill sets that our sales team do so they kind of go in together and provide additional services and we see that that's paying off you know with one of our largest new customers from 2024 we've added some significant share wallet by gaining access to all of the cardboard generation.

他們可能不具備我們銷售團隊的技能，所以他們會一起合作，提供額外的服務，我們看到這樣做是有回報的，你知道，從 2024 年起，我們最大的新客戶之一通過接觸所有紙板一代用戶，增加了大量的共享錢包份額。

And also all of the the food waste, the plastic, just a number of different streams, another another customer in the retail sector we've added a significant new number of store locations so I would say it's an enhanced and refined approach from the way that we did this in the past.

此外，還有所有的食物垃圾、塑料，以及許多不同的垃圾流，還有零售業的另一個客戶，我們新增了大量門市，所以我認為這是一種比我們過去的做法更完善、更精細的方法。

Got you. Would that include, I guess some KPIs around it or, incentives?

抓到你了。我想這其中應該要包括一些關鍵績效指標或是激勵措施吧？

Absolutely, yeah, we, yes, so we know, so we have mapped every opportunity that we have with every customer and we now know which ones we're pursuing. We know which stage in the sales cycle that opportunity is and you know with any sales opportunity it's always about advancing the sale from one stage to the next until, closing. So, there are, this discipline and KPIs around that whole approach.

當然，是的，我們知道，我們已經梳理了與每位客戶之間的每一個機會，現在我們知道了我們正在追求哪些機會。我們知道這個銷售機會處於銷售週期的哪個階段，你也知道，對於任何銷售機會來說，都是要將銷售從一個階段推進到下一個階段，直到最終成交。所以，這種整體方法背後是有紀律的，也有關鍵績效指標。

Got it. And one more quick question. I'll jump back in line. Obviously, operational improvement, big theme this quarter.

知道了。最後一個問題。我重新排隊。顯然，營運改善是本季的一大主題。

Making some progress, how much, what.

取得了一些進展，進展如何？具體是什麼進展？

As we look at 4th quarter and 2026, what opportunities are out there and what should we be thinking about in terms of.

展望第四季和 2026 年，有哪些機會？我們應該考慮哪些方面？

How it flows through either to the balance sheet or the income statement.

它如何最終體現在資產負債表或利潤表中。

Yeah. We're on, we're on a path of continuous improvement and optimization. So one of the things that we intend to do, so up to now, we have defined all of our major processes. So that's, source the contract, procure to pay, order the contract and sales to contract, and we've got those all mapped and optimized.

是的。我們正在不斷改進和優化。因此，我們打算做的一件事，到目前為止，我們已經定義了所有主要流程。所以，從合同獲取、採購到付款、訂購合同到銷售合同，我們已經把這些都梳理清楚並優化好了。

We've got KPIs. The next step is actually putting KPIs and all of our team members to make sure that we can get them. Fully optimized ensuring that they're hitting excellence every day so we think that's a future impact that will help us improve our our our financial imp performance and again with our land and expand as we close on additional significant customers yeah there may be some margin pressure initially but you know that's going to be a good thing because you know we're significantly growing our revenue base.

我們有關鍵績效指標。下一步是製定關鍵績效指標 (KPI)，並讓所有團隊成員確保我們能夠達成這些指標。全面優化，確保他們每天都能達到卓越水平，因此我們認為這將對我們未來的財務業績產生積極影響，並有助於我們擴大業務規模，隨著我們與更多重要客戶達成協議，初期可能會有一些利潤壓力，但這將會是一件好事，因為我們的收入基礎正在顯著增長。

Got it. I will, jump back and queue. Thanks for that detail.

知道了。我會的，跳回去排隊。謝謝你提供這個細節。

Sure. Your next question comes from Aaron Spychalla with Craig Hallam. Please go ahead.

當然。下一個問題來自 Aaron Spychalla 和 Craig Hallam。請繼續。

Yeah Hi Perry and Brett, thanks for taking the questions. First for me on the new food when, congrats on that. Can you give any details on, size and timing and, maybe percentage of footprint, for the customers who think about land and expand and then just any, was it a competitive win? Any kind of more detail there is appreciated.

嗨，Perry 和 Brett，謝謝你們回答問題。我第一次嘗試這種新食物，恭喜你！您能否提供一些細節，例如規模、時間安排以及佔地面積百分比，供那些考慮購買土地並進行擴張的客戶參考？另外，這是否是一次競爭中的勝利？如果您能提供更多細節，我們將不勝感激。

Yeah, so it was, it was absolutely a competitive win. and we Generally don't talk about the size of our our new wins, but I think I've mentioned on prior calls that all of our opportunities are 7 or 8 figures, so this one falls into one of those categories. We're starting out even though this one is a land to and expand, we're starting out at slightly higher margins than we typically do.

是的，的確如此，這絕對是一場激烈的競爭性勝利。我們通常不會談論新項目的具體金額，但我認為我在之前的電話會議中提到過，我們所有的機會都是七位數或八位數，所以這個項目也屬於其中之一。雖然這是一塊可以開發和擴張的土地，但我們起步時的利潤率比平常要高一些。

Of their total portfolio this represents probably 20%, so there's a really nice share of wallet opportunity. There are a couple of operating plants that saw our value proposition and they jumped on it right away. So while we continue to pursue expansion with with their corporate folks.

這筆投資在其總投資組合中可能佔 20%，因此這是一個非常好的市佔率提升機會。有幾家營運中的工廠看到了我們的價值主張，並立即採取了行動。因此，我們將繼續與他們的企業人員一起尋求擴張。

The, these two plants that saw the value of the of our proposition and jumped right away. So I think there'll be more to come with that win, but it was competitive and they're, to be a little more, I I guess granular. This is, they're in the food processing business.

這兩家工廠看到了我們方案的價值，並且立即採取行動。所以我覺得這場勝利之後還會有更多收穫，但這場比賽競爭激烈，而且，更詳細地說，我想說的是，他們…也就是說，他們是做食品加工生意的。

Nice, good. I appreciate the color, for that as you continue to build in that space and then maybe just second on OE, can you kind of talk about that a little bit, and, with all the operational initiatives you have, going there and, in additions to the team and just working to optimize things there along with the technology investments. Just curious, how you think about, OE trending as we move forward into 2026.

不錯，很好。我很欣賞這種色彩，因為隨著你繼續在這個領域發展，其次是關於 OE，你能稍微談談這方面嗎？還有，考慮到你所有的營運舉措，去那裡，以及團隊的加入，努力優化那裡的運作，以及技術投資。我很好奇，您如何看待2026年OE的發展趨勢？

Yeah, I mean this has been our plan all along, so we've got two full quarters now operational excellence as I've said before it's focused on standardizing and streamlining our processes and delivering, continuous improvement that's really kind of our foundational approach on everything right now is continuous improvement so.

是的，我的意思是，這始終是我們計劃的一部分，所以我們現在已經有兩個完整的季度致力於卓越運營，正如我之前所說，它專注於標準化和簡化我們的流程，並持續改進，這實際上是我們目前一切工作的基礎方法，那就是持續改進。

The last thing we're looking for is making major improvements and then falling back the following quarter, but the results of those efforts have been, improved financial results and cash generation, so. We've got of those major processes that I talk about a lot, the order to cash, procure to pay, etc.

我們最不希望看到的就是在取得重大進展後，下一季又出現倒退，但這些努力的結果是，財務表現和現金流都得到了改善。我們已經完成了我經常提到的那些主要流程，例如訂單到收款、採購到付款等等。

Within those processes we have 25 different KPIs where we're tracking very specific projects and ALL25 of those KPIs have been trending positive since the beginning of April, which is when we began to implement. So I expect to see continued improvement. It's it's hard work and I think you know as we continue to build out our operating platform and bring in some more automation in addition to those operational improvements we'll see some efficiencies come from you know our platform and our automation.

在這些流程中，我們有 25 個不同的 KPI，用於追蹤非常具體的項目，而自 4 月初我們開始實施以來，這 25 個 KPI 全部都呈現正面趨勢。所以我相信會持續進步。這是一項艱苦的工作，我認為隨著我們不斷完善營運平台，並引入更多自動化功能以及這些營運改進，我們將看到我們的平台和自動化帶來一些效率提升。

Got you, thanks for that. And then just maybe building on that real quick on the 25 different KPIs, I know it's been since April and good results here, progress for the first couple quarters. Just so I mean what inning do you think you're kind of in and implementing that, across kind of across all the business.

明白了，謝謝。然後，也許可以快速地就 25 個不同的 KPI 做個補充說明，我知道從四月份開始，這方面取得了不錯的成果，前幾季也取得了進展。所以我的意思是，你認為你現在處於哪個階段，以及你正在如何將這種理念應用到整個業務中。

Yeah, last time I think you asked me the same question, and I think I said we're in the bottom of the 4th. It's been a long inning and we're probably still in the bottom of the 4th or the top of the 5th. There just seems to be more and more things that we see that need to be done or that we want to do.

是的，上次你好像也問過我同樣的問題，我想我當時說我們現在在第四局下半。比賽已經進行了很久，我們現在可能還在第四局下半或第五局上半。似乎有越來越多的事情要做，或者我們想做。

This, these initiatives have really begun to gain traction in the business, so you can imagine. you know our team has been focused on doing all of their daily work and then we bring in all of these operating initiatives and improvements and these are projects and things that they're doing kind of at the moment on top of their day to day and it takes a while to to gain traction and see the results and this is probably the first quarter that.

這些舉措確實開始在業務中取得成效，你可以想像，我們的團隊一直專注於日常工作，然後我們引入了所有這些運營舉措和改進措施，這些都是他們目前在日常工作之外開展的項目和工作，需要一段時間才能取得成效並看到結果，這可能是第一個季度。

All of our employees are beginning to see the results of their work and they're getting really excited about it. So one of the things that I'm very hopeful for is that this is, we're going to be carrying momentum into Q4 and then into next year.

我們所有的員工都開始看到他們工作的成果，他們為此感到非常興奮。因此，我非常希望的一點是，我們能夠將這種勢頭延續到第四季度，並延續到明年。

We've been, we've been all working really hard, so it's nice to finally begin to see some, tangible benefits, but, it's, while it seems like. Okay. It seems like we've been doing this for a couple of years. It's only been 6 months of, or two full quarters of operational improvement. so, with a continuous improvement mindset, I'm hopeful that we'll continue this pattern as we move forward.

我們一直都很努力，所以很高興終於開始看到一些實際的成果，但是，雖然看起來是這樣。好的。感覺我們已經做了好幾年了。營運改善至今只有6個月，也就是兩個完整的季度。因此，秉持持續改善的理念，我希望我們能夠繼續保持這種勢頭。

Thanks for the call there and best of luck as we move forward through the game. Thanks, Barry, Brett, and Dan.

感謝你的來電，祝你在接下來的比賽中好運。謝謝巴里、布雷特和丹。

Yeah. You're.

是的。你是。

Welcome.

歡迎。

Your next question comes from Owen Rickert with Northland Capital Market. Please go ahead.

下一個問題來自 Northland Capital Market 的 Owen Rickert。請繼續。

Hey guys, thanks for taking my question here. last quarter he suggested we might see a sequential decline in gross profit dollars, but 3Q obviously came in a lot stronger. can you walk us through more specifically what drove that outperformance and where results came in better than expected? And then just on top of that was the slight sequential margin decline primarily just from ongoing maturation of newer clients.

大家好，感謝你們回答我的問題。上個季度他預測毛利可能會環比下降，但第三季顯然表現強勁得多。能否更具體地解釋一下是什麼因素推動了這一業績成長，以及哪些方面的業績超出了預期？此外，由於新客戶的持續成熟，利潤率也略有環比下降。

Yeah. this is Brett. I'll take that, question. So I'll kind of start on the second piece of that, which is margin, which was expected and largely was part of why we had directionally said maybe we'd be, or that we would be flat to down in Q3 relative to Q2, and that's because of some of the margin pressure on.

是的，這是布雷特。我接受這個問題。所以我先從第二部分說起，也就是利潤率。利潤率的變化是意料之中，這也是我們先前預測第三季利潤率可能與第二季持平或下降的主要原因，因為利潤率面臨一些壓力。

On some select renewals that we took in Q2 and had to flush through the P&L and Q3 and we've still got a little bit of that for Q4. So, that's why we expected down, but what we got was, a lot earlier traction on the initiatives, we continue to get improvement on operational efficiencies that Perry's discussed. So it was great to see those come in a little bit ahead of plan and materialize in the P&L. additionally, we got stabilized a little bit more on the industrials as well than what we would have expected.

在第二季度，我們收到了一些特定的續約合同，這些合約不得不計入損益表和第三季度，而第四季度我們仍然有一些合約需要處理。所以，這就是我們預期會下降的原因，但我們得到的卻是，各項舉措更早地取得了進展，我們繼續在佩里所討論的運營效率方面取得改進。很高興看到這些項目比計劃提前完成，並在損益表中體現。此外，工業板塊的業績也比預期更穩定。

Kind of thinks and.

有點想法。

Then secondly for me, can you guys just provide a quick update on the vendor management platform? How's that going?

其次，請問各位能否簡單介紹一下供應商管理平台的最新進展？進展如何？

Yeah, it's going, You know it's going fine it it's going as planned and and you know just as a reminder our vendor management platform is just 11 aspect of our process improvement initiatives and overall end to end workflow so you know there will be ongoing opportunities to further automate beyond just the vendor management system but you know our.

是的，一切進展順利，你知道，一切都在按計劃進行。另外提醒一下，我們的供應商管理平台只是我們流程改善計畫和整體端到端工作流程的第 11 個方面，所以你知道，除了供應商管理系統之外，我們還會持續有機會進一步實現自動化。

Our procure to pay process and source to contract process are two processes that are heavily involved with our vendors. Our relationships have never been better. So in addition to, the automation that we have with our vendors and their invoices with our system, our relationships have improved. We have vendors asking for more business.

我們的採購到付款流程和尋源到合約簽訂流程是兩個與供應商密切相關的流程。我們的關係從未如此融洽。因此，除了我們與供應商及其發票在我們系統中實現的自動化之外，我們的關係也得到了改善。有供應商要求增加業務。

We have our vendor team, sourcing better rates than they have in the past and as a result, the service disruptions that we've talked about in the past and the associated costs that come with those disruptions, they're at the lowest point really in the history of our company. They're very low now.

我們的供應商團隊正在努力尋找比以往更優惠的價格，因此，我們過去討論過的服務中斷以及由此產生的相關成本，現在都處於公司歷史上的最低點。現在價格非常低。

So, the system itself continues to progress well, but it's also the process combined with the system that's really reaping the benefits.

因此，系統本身繼續取得良好進展，但真正帶來益處的是流程與系統的結合。

Great, thank you.

太好了，謝謝。

Yeah, you're welcome.

不客氣。

Your next question comes from Greg Kitt with Pinnacle Family. Please go ahead.

下一個問題來自 Pinnacle Family 的 Greg Kitt。請繼續。

Hi, Perry, Dan, and Brett. Congratulations on the good quarter that showed improvement.

嗨，佩里、丹和布雷特。恭喜你們本季業績有所改善。

Thanks, Greg. Thanks.

謝謝你，格雷格。謝謝。

The first question, kind of an open-ended question for you, Perry, since we talked some, I heard you on your baseball inning analogy. Maybe if I could approach it differently, how would you rank, Where you think the company was from a commercial execution and then operational execution standpoint when you came in, you, clearly there were some opportunities to improve and then where do you think it is? If you were to rate it out of 10, are you operational, operationally, it seemed like there were more issues than on the commercial side because you were winning business. But I would love to hear how you think the company is doing right now and how much more opportunity there is to improve.

第一個問題，算是對你來說一個開放式的問題，佩里，因為我們聊了一會兒，我聽你講了棒球局的比喻。如果我能換個角度來看這個問題，你會如何評價？你認為你剛加入公司時，公司在商業執行和營運執行上處於什麼位置？顯然，當時有一些改進的機會，那麼你認為現在公司處於什麼位置？如果滿分是 10 分，你的營運狀況如何？從營運角度來看，似乎問題比商業方面要多，因為你們正在贏得業務。但我很想聽聽您對公司目前營運狀況的看法，以及還有多少改進空間。

Yeah, Greg, you always ask good questions. I appreciate that. I don't really want to comment too much on the past. I'd rather focus on the improvements. I mean, we got back to the blocking and tackling the fundamentals of this business, I, I'm my.

是的，格雷格，你總是能問出好問題。我很感激。我不太想對過去的事情多加評論。我更願意關注改進之處。我的意思是，我們又回到了這項業務的基本層面，我，我是我的。

Suspicion is we probably lost a little focus on those things were going, fairly well, and so we got back to blocking and tackling clearly defining processes, putting KP KPIs in place. That is something that we didn't have before. So you know whenever you're running an operation you should always know if you're operating within control parameters or not. Because it's so important to be able to be nimble and to flex and intervene when needed, and I don't think we had that visibility before, so.

我們懷疑我們可能有點忽略了那些進展相當順利的事情，所以我們又回到了基礎工作上，明確定義流程，制定關鍵績效指標。這是我們以前沒有的。所以你知道，無論何時執行一項操作，你都應該始終知道你是否在控制參數範圍內操作。因為能夠靈活應變，並在需要時進行幹預非常重要，而我認為我們以前並沒有這種洞察力，所以。

I'm not going to give us a rating of where we were before, but I think we are operating better than we ever have. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd probably give us, a score of six to seven. so there's still opportunity for us to do better.

我不會對我們之前的表現進行評價，但我認為我們現在的營運狀況比以往任何時候都好。如果以 1 到 10 分來評判，我大概會給我們 6 到 7 分。所以我們還有進步的空間。

You know this is a tough business. It never stops coming at you. we've got vendors on one side, we've got customers on the other, and we've got, incredible amounts of data flowing through this business, so, I think once we, start putting the individual KPIs on all of our team members, I expect that we'll see some efficiencies and. Performance improvements there, so I think 6 to 7 is fair. For now.

你知道這行不好做。它永不停歇地向你襲來。一邊是供應商，一邊是客戶，而且我們公司還有海量數據在流動，所以，我認為一旦我們開始為所有團隊成員設定個人KPI，我預計我們會看到一些效率的提升。性能方面有所提升，所以我認為 6 到 7 分比較合理。目前。

Thank you. And then, I missed part of, Bryn's comment. What did you say about SG&A? Did you say it would be down sequentially from Q3 or down year over year?

謝謝。然後，我錯過了布林的部分評論。你對銷售、管理及行政費用說了些什麼？您說的是季減還是較去年同期下降？

Yeah, Greg, I was saying down sequentially. From Q3, we saw some pretty significant reductions in the first quarter, from a year over year perspective as we right size the business. A lot of the focus has been on early on right sizing. and then, of course, we had the, SG&A related to the divested mall business as well, where we saw reductions, saw a little bit of improvement in, Q3, but I'd say mostly flat, but we do continue to see improvements, some additional cost reductions in Q4 as well.

是的，格雷格，我說的是按順序向下。從第三季開始，我們看到第一季同比出現了相當大的下滑，因為我們正在調整業務規模。我們一直非常重視早期的規模調整。當然，還有與剝離的購物中心業務相關的銷售、一般及行政費用，我們看到這部分費用有所下降，第三季度略有改善，但總體而言基本持平，不過我們確實看到情況繼續好轉，第四季度也進一步降低了一些成本。

Okay, thank you, that's helpful, on the data subscription opportunity that you talked about, for customers to access the portal, do you think that's something that can be a million dollars or more over time, or is this maybe not necessarily that big?

好的，謝謝，這很有幫助。關於您提到的數據訂閱機會，客戶可以透過訂閱訪問入口網站，您認為隨著時間的推移，這能帶來一百萬美元甚至更多的收入嗎？還是說這可能沒有那麼大？

Greg, I don't know. I mean that's why I said it's, we envision it's kind of a vision of ours. What we do know is we have a lot of data and you know with the onset of AI, I mean who knows what our data is really worth, but we think there's value there and one methodology could be to.

格雷格，我不知道。我的意思是，這就是為什麼我說，我們設想，這可以說是我們自己的一種願景。我們知道我們擁有大量數據，而且隨著人工智慧的出現，我的意思是，誰知道我們的數據究竟值多少錢，但我們認為其中蘊含著價值，一種方法可能是…

Charge a subscription for access to that data, but we're not there yet, and I couldn't begin to size that. It's it was just a little peek into what we're thinking about as we move forward, but we're we're not, we're not there yet.

可以對存取這些數據收取訂閱費，但我們還沒到那一步，我根本無法估算那需要多少資金。這只是我們未來發展方向的一個小小的展望，但我們還沒有達到目標。

Okay, thank you. and then on, AR, congrats, thank you for all your hard work to get DSOs down into the math I was looking at was like 75 days, so, really good improvement. How much of that was from maybe two part, question, and the, I think on the last call you talked about getting the percentage of customers that are billed current to like 75%. That was sort of the first part, and then the second, how do I think about that today? And then the second part of the question was.

好的，謝謝。還有，AR，恭喜你，感謝你為把DSO（應收帳款週轉天數）降到我之前看到的75天左右所做的所有努力，所以，這是一個非常好的進步。其中有多少來自兩個方面，一個是問題，另一個是，我想在上次通話中你談到要將按時繳費的客戶比例提高到 75% 左右。那算是第一部分，然後是第二部分，我今天是如何看待這件事的呢？然後是問題的第二部分。

Was this like one time because maybe there are opportunities to build customers more frequently, or do you see this kind of from here being smaller continuous improvements maybe a day or two. Every quarter getting back into the mid-60s.

這是一次性的嗎？因為這樣或許能更頻繁地累積客戶，還是您認為從現在開始，這種改進會越來越小，可能每隔一兩天就會有所改善？每個季度都回升到 60 多度。

Yeah, let me start, but you jump into. I think our calculators may be a couple of days better than yours, Greg, but, I think that, I think that this is absolutely something that We believe we will improve so regarding the billing 75%, I don't really remember precisely what that comment was, but where we are now is we are billing the majority of our clients on time.

是的，讓我先開始，但你先加入。格雷格，我覺得我們的計算器可能比你們的要好幾天，但是，我認為，這絕對是我們一定會改進的地方。至於75%的帳單，我不太記得你具體是怎麼說的了，但我們現在的情況是，我們能夠按時向大多數客戶開出帳單。

However, there's always a billing tail, so we need to get the invoices in from our vendors in order to process it and then bill our customer, so we're working diligently to improve the timeline it takes to get some of those bills so we can build even faster so we now know that we're billing current for all the invoices that come in on time.

但是，總是會有一些帳單處理時間，所以我們需要收到供應商的發票才能進行處理，然後才能向客戶開立帳單。因此，我們正在努力縮短收到部分帳單的時間，以便我們能夠更快地進行建設，這樣我們現在就可以確保所有按時收到的發票都能及時開立帳單。

Which is an improvement from what we were doing before. Our focus now is to reduce the tail. So for those bills that aren't coming in in time for us to bill, we're focused on getting those in so we can bill on time. So we're, we continue to make great progress there.

這比我們之前的做法有所改進。我們現在的重點是減少尾部。所以對於那些未能及時收到以便我們開立賬單的款項，我們正集中精力盡快收到這些賬單，以便我們能夠及時開具賬單。所以，我們在這方面繼續取得巨大進展。

Our exception processing continues to, stabilize, we're paying our haulers to term, which is really important because, I would tell you in the past we were probably paying a little ahead just to ensure that we weren't receiving service disruptions and you know that's another, significant point of improvement is our service disruptions are at the lowest point in history and.

我們的異常處理持續穩定，我們按期支付給運輸商款項，這非常重要，因為過去我們可能要提前支付一些費用，以確保服務不會中斷。你知道，另一個重要的改進點是，我們的服務中斷率已降至歷史最低點。

Each one of those disruptions comes with associated costs, there are late fees and other fees that you can't bill the customer and we don't really see much of those anymore so that also flows right through to the business and. Right, I don't know if you have anything to add to.

每一次中斷都會帶來相關的成本，例如滯納金和其他無法向客戶收取的費用，而我們現在很少看到這些費用，因此這些成本也會直接影響企業。好的，我不知道你還有什麼要補充的。

Yeah, I'll just, one, agree on the team's been working really hard, so we're really proud of the performance. It's something we've been seeing the improvement on our side for a while. It needed to come through and show through the financials, so I'm really excited that we can finally show that and, have everybody's hard work pay off.

是的，首先，我同意球隊一直非常努力，所以我們對球隊的表現感到非常自豪。我們已經看到我們這邊在這方面有所改進一段時間了。這一切都需要透過財務數據來證明，所以我很高興我們終於能夠證明這一點，讓大家的辛勤付出得到回報。

To your question about, the opportunity ahead, this was obviously a pretty big jump. I wouldn't expect to make these types of leaps down, but we do expect to continue to make progress in Q4 and into next year. There's still some opportunities.

至於你問到的未來機遇，這顯然是相當大的飛躍。我並不指望這種程度的下滑，但我們確實預計在第四季度以及明年會繼續取得進展。仍然有一些機會。

This wasn't one of those quarters where all the things went right that we needed to go right to materialize. There was some meat left on the bones, still some opportunity there, so. To Perry's point, we continue to TRY to build faster.

這並不是那種所有事情都進展順利，一切順利就能實現的季度。骨頭上還有些肉，還有些機會，所以。正如佩里所說，我們將繼續努力加快建設速度。

We still got some opportunities on the collection side to get our clients tightened up a little bit more there. And then on the payment side we're getting more efficient, so really pleased with the progress. This is a model that is built to generate cash, and we've been more consistent with that in the last two quarters and continue to have high expectations going forward.

在催收方面，我們還有一些機會讓我們的客戶在這方面更加嚴格。在支付方面，我們的效率也在不斷提高，所以對目前的進展非常滿意。這是一個旨在產生現金流的模式，我們在過去兩個季度在這方面做得更加穩定，並且對未來仍抱有很高的期望。

Thank you. If I can maybe sneak in two more. One was, it looks like your Monroe debt is a little more than 5 points more expensive than the PNC line. Would you, if you could, I don't know if you can, would you prepay some amount of that $5 or $10 million to use more of your PNC line because you could save, if you prepay $10 million you would save $500,000 a year in interest, or do you like having the flexibility to draw on the revolver if you need it?

謝謝。如果我能再偷偷塞進去兩個就好了。其中一項是，看起來你的門羅債務比 PNC 的利率高出 5 個百分點多一點。如果可以的話，我不知道你是否可以，你會預付那 500 萬或 1000 萬美元中的一部分，以便更多地使用你的 PNC 信用額度嗎？因為這樣可以省錢，如果你預付 1,000 萬美元，每年就能節省 50 萬美元的利息。還是你喜歡在需要的時候靈活地使用循環信用額度？

Well, it's a balance. We've created a lot more flexibility. We've created a lot more room with the recent cash generation, so that's certainly positive. Regardless of what we want to do though, we are restricted right now, through Q1, is the earliest we could pay down. We have to hit some metrics that the banks have established, to be able to make that switch that you talked about, but certainly, we'd like to pay down more expensive debt as much as possible.

嗯，這需要權衡。我們創造了更大的靈活性。我們最近獲得的現金流為我們創造了更多空間，這當然是件好事。但無論我們想做什麼，目前我們都受到限制，最早也要到第一季才能開始還款。我們必須達到銀行製定的一些指標，才能實現你所提到的轉變，但當然，我們希望盡可能償還成本較高的債務。

Okay, and then my last thing was I think last year, when something that was unusual for this business is Quest never really lost any material customers and some of that was RWS related and then some of it was acquisition related but as I start to think about next year, how do you feel about.

好的，我最後一點是，我認為去年對這個行業來說不尋常的一點是，Quest 實際上並沒有失去任何重要的客戶，其中一些與 RWS 有關，一些與收購有關。但是當我開始考慮明年時，你覺得怎麼樣？

The renewals that you know that are coming and how are you positioning to make sure that you're in front of those customers, ahead of time today.

您知道即將到期的續約合約有哪些，您如何做好準備，確保在續約之前就與這些客戶取得聯繫？

Yeah, I think we're in a really good position. Greg, this is Perry, we're back to, attrition at historically low levels. We're really, we started by vastly improving the relationships we had with our vendors because I would argue that. It needed improving, we're going to put a whole new refocus on, relationship building and process improvement with our customers our customers are very happy.

是的，我認為我們處境非常有利。格雷格，我是佩里，我們又回到了人員流失率處於歷史低點的局面。我們首先大幅改善了與供應商的關係，因為我認為這一點很重要。它需要改進，我們將重新聚焦於與客戶建立關係和改進流程，我們的客戶非常滿意。

With our program with our execution, so you know we're, we, we're developing a new plan to begin the renewal process for contracts earlier than we have in the past, our intention is con have contracts renewed well before the contract expires which, maintains leverage for us so, yeah, I think. I think we've leveled off and our attrition will be, at back to historical low levels.

憑藉我們的計劃和執行力，你知道，我們正在製定一項新計劃，比以往更早地啟動合約續約流程​​。我們的目標是在合約到期前就完成續約，這樣可以維持我們的談判籌碼。所以，是的，我認為。我認為我們已經趨於穩定，人員流失率將回到歷史低點。

Thank you very much for your hard work.

非常感謝你的辛勤付出。

You're welcome. Your next question comes from Andrew Heffer with Pinnacle Capital. Please go ahead.

不客氣。下一個問題來自 Pinnacle Capital 的 Andrew Heffer。請繼續。

Yeah, I was wondering if you could talk a little bit more about, the debt reduction, you guys are generating some significant sequential cash flow and what your goals for 2026 are and like you just said the quarter 1.

是的，我想請你們再多談談債務削減、你們正在產生一些顯著的連續現金流以及你們 2026 年的目標，就像你們剛才提到的第一季。

Hey, this is Brett.Yeah, just. Same follow-up, kind of following up on what we discussed with Greg, we continue to look to pay down debt. Preference would be to pay down the more expensive. We can't do that until after Q1 at the earliest because of some of the restrictions currently in place, but we're excited about the cash generation. That's one of our stated short-term goals, medium term goals is to continue to pay down debt aggressively. We want to be able to.

嘿，這是布雷特。嗯，就是這樣。後續工作也是一樣，算是跟進我們和格雷格討論過的內容，我們將繼續努力償還債務。最好是先償還較貴的部分。由於目前存在的一些限制，我們最早也要到第一季之後才能做到這一點，但我們對現金流的產生感到興奮。這是我們既定的短期目標之一，中期目標是繼續積極償還債務。我們希望能夠做到。

To fund, continue to fund, certain strategic initiatives to help grow the business and create operating leverage with the business, and we'll continue to do that, in conjunction with paying down debt aggressively.

為了資助、並繼續資助某些策略性舉措，以幫助業務成長並創造業務營運槓桿，我們將繼續這樣做，同時積極償還債務。

Do you have any goals set for 2026 to where you want your operational leverage?

您對2026年設定了哪些營運槓桿目標？

No, we haven't talked about that externally.

不，我們沒有對外討論過這個問題。

All right, thank you.

好的，謝謝。

Yeah.

是的。

Thank you so much. There are no further questions at this time. I'm pleased to turn the call back over to Perry Moss.

太感謝了。目前沒有其他問題了。我很高興把電話轉回給佩里·莫斯。

Okay. Thank you, operator. We've made significant improvements in the past two quarters during a very challenging macroeconomic environment, but we still have work to do. as I said in my comments today, we're focusing on individual KPIs and performance goals to ensure our team members are operating at optimal levels.

好的。謝謝接線生。過去兩個季度，儘管宏觀經濟環境充滿挑戰，我們仍取得了顯著進步，但仍有許多工作要做。正如我今天所說，我們正專注於個人關鍵績效指標和績效目標，以確保團隊成員發揮最佳水準。

We plan to drive incremental efficiency in our business. Our mission is continuous improvement in everything we do. so, with that, thank you all, for joining this afternoon. we appreciate your continued support and interest in Quest, and we look forward to updating you all next quarter. Thank you.

我們計劃逐步提高業務效率。我們的使命是不斷改進我們所做的一切。因此，感謝各位今天下午的參與。我們感謝您一直以來對Quest的支持和關注，並期待在下個季度向大家報告最新進展。謝謝。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線了。