Rubicon Technologies Inc (RBT) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Rubicon Technologies First Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. My name is Abby, and I will be your operator for today's call. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

下午好，歡迎參加 Rubicon Technologies 2023 年第一季度收益電話會議。我叫艾比，我是今天電話的接線員。謹此提醒，本次電話會議正在錄音中。 （操作員說明）

It is now my pleasure to introduce Chris Spooner, Executive Vice President of Finance. You may begin.

現在我很高興向大家介紹財務執行副總裁 Chris Spooner。你可以開始了。

Thank you. Hello, everyone, and welcome to Rubicon's First Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. A few quick reminders before we begin. This call is being webcast and can be accessed on the Investors section of our website, which can be found at www.rubicon.com. Today, we will present Rubicon's financial results for the first quarter 2023, which will be followed by a question-and-answer session.

謝謝。大家好，歡迎參加 Rubicon 2023 年第一季度收益電話會議。在我們開始之前有一些快速提醒。本次電話會議正在進行網絡直播，您可以在我們網站的投資者部分進行觀看，網址為 www.rubicon.com。今天，我們將介紹 Rubicon 2023 年第一季度的財務業績，隨後將進行問答環節。

During the call, management will be making forward-looking statements that are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are not guarantees of future performance, and our actual results may differ materially due to known and unknown risks and uncertainties as discussed in greater detail in our earnings release and our SEC filings. We assume no obligation to update forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

在電話會議期間，管理層將做出前瞻性聲明，這些聲明受 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》安全港條款的約束。這些聲明不是對未來業績的保證，我們的實際結果可能會因已知和未知的風險和不確定性，我們的收益發布和 SEC 文件中對此進行了更詳細的討論。除法律要求外，我們不承擔更新前瞻性陳述的義務。

Additionally, we will refer to non-GAAP financial measures during our call today, including adjusted gross profit and adjusted EBITDA. We provide these non-GAAP results for informational purposes, and they should not be considered in isolation from the most directly comparable GAAP measures. A discussion of why we believe these non-GAAP measures are useful to investors, certain limitations of using these measures and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measure can be found in our earnings release and our filings with the SEC.

此外，我們將在今天的電話會議中提及非公認會計原則財務指標，包括調整後的毛利潤和調整後的 EBITDA。我們提供這些非 GAAP 結果僅供參考，不應將它們與最直接可比的 GAAP 指標分開考慮。關於為什麼我們認為這些非公認會計原則措施對投資者有用的討論、使用這些措施的某些限制以及與最直接可比的公認會計原則措施的調節可以在我們的收益報告和向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中找到。

Joining me on the call today are Phil Rodoni, Rubicon's Chief Executive Officer; and Kevin Schubert, President and Chief Financial Officer.

今天和我一起參加電話會議的是 Rubicon 首席執行官 Phil Rodoni；凱文·舒伯特，總裁兼首席財務官。

With that, I will now turn the call over to Phil.

現在，我將把電話轉給菲爾。

Thank you, Chris, and thank you to everyone for joining us today.

謝謝克里斯，也感謝大家今天加入我們。

Before I begin, I would like to take a moment to commend the Rubicon team on achieving a fantastic quarter. In Q1, we were able to achieve record high quarterly gross profit and adjusted gross profit, continued to grow top line revenue at a strong pace and reduce cost as we move closer to profitability. Every Rubicon team member has played a role in the execution of our bridge to profitability plan, and I want to thank everyone for their continued hard work as we get closer to achieving this milestone on our way to profitability and beyond.

在開始之前，我想花點時間讚揚 Rubicon 團隊取得了出色的季度業績。在第一季度，我們實現了創紀錄的季度毛利潤和調整後毛利潤，繼續以強勁的速度增長營收，並隨著我們接近盈利而降低成本。每一位 Rubicon 團隊成員都在我們實現盈利計劃的執行過程中發揮了作用，我要感謝每個人的持續辛勤工作，因為我們越來越接近實現盈利及超越這一里程碑。

We will provide more details of our strategic plan later in the call. But for those who are new to the Rubicon story, I will begin by taking a few minutes to describe the company and the work we do with our customers and partners.

我們將在稍後的電話會議中提供有關我們戰略計劃的更多細節。但對於那些剛接觸 Rubicon 故事的人來說，我將首先花幾分鐘描述該公司以及我們與客戶和合作夥伴所做的工作。

Rubicon was founded over a decade ago and has grown to become a global leader in providing cloud-based waste and recycling solutions to businesses and governments. The company manages waste and recycling services for a network of voice generators, fleets of waste haulers and waste and recycling processors.

Rubicon 成立於十多年前，現已發展成為為企業和政府提供基於雲的廢物和回收解決方案的全球領導者。該公司為語音發生器網絡、廢物運輸車隊以及廢物和回收處理商提供廢物和回收服務。

In addition, Rubicon provides innovative solutions that deliver greater transparency, efficiency and customer engagement within the waste management industry. Prior to Rubicon, customers had to coordinate their waste and recycling needs with multiple vendors, most of which focus on the use of landfills and have little-to-no reporting capabilities.

此外，Rubicon 還提供創新解決方案，提高廢物管理行業的透明度、效率和客戶參與度。在 Rubicon 之前，客戶必須與多個供應商協調他們的廢物和回收需求，其中大多數供應商專注於垃圾填埋場的使用，並且幾乎沒有報告功能。

This inefficient process made it virtually impossible to have a unified corporate diversion program or unified commodity management process. Furthermore, there was no way to track or report landfill diversion or wage-related environmental, social and governance metrics, which have become increasingly important for our customers and partners.

這種低效的流程使得幾乎不可能有統一的企業分流計劃或統一的商品管理流程。此外，無法跟踪或報告垃圾填埋場轉移或與工資相關的環境、社會和治理指標，而這些指標對於我們的客戶和合作夥伴來說變得越來越重要。

Rubicon's solutions address these industry challenges through a suite of transformative artificial intelligence and computer vision technology products, which deliver better service management, data analytics and reporting. Working with Rubicon, our customers can easily procure services, optimize their service schedule and monitor and report on their ESG performance.

Rubicon 的解決方案通過一套變革性的人工智能和計算機視覺技術產品來應對這些行業挑戰，這些產品提供更好的服務管理、數據分析和報告。與 Rubicon 合作，我們的客戶可以輕鬆採購服務、優化服務計劃以及監控和報告其 ESG 績效。

Today, Rubicon has achieved significant scale, surpassing 13 million unique service locations and 8,000 haulers and recyclers with the ability to manage over 160 types of waste streams.

如今，Rubicon 已實現巨大規模，超過 1300 萬個獨特的服務地點和 8,000 個運輸商和回收商，能夠管理 160 多種類型的廢物流。

As our network and platform capabilities continue to grow, our customers benefit from better pricing, a broader service offering, diversion capabilities and improved performance. For businesses that generate waste, we properly align incentives by providing an expanded array of solutions to divert more material from landfills. Rubicon's extraction of commodities from the waste stream can even enable the conversion of customers' waste cost lines into revenue-generating opportunities.

隨著我們的網絡和平台能力不斷增強，我們的客戶將受益於更優惠的定價、更廣泛的服務、轉移能力和改進的性能。對於產生廢物的企業，我們通過提供一系列擴大的解決方案來適當調整激勵措施，以從垃圾填埋場轉移更多材料。 Rubicon 從廢物流中提取商品甚至可以將客戶的廢物成本線轉化為創收機會。

In addition, our fleet customers can use Rubicon's platform to find new business opportunities, many of which are exclusive to our proprietary platform. Our technology also provides easy-to-use fleet management and route optimization solutions and access to a buying consortium where fleets can purchase products and services at discounts such as fuel, parts, tires and insurance.

此外，我們的車隊客戶可以使用 Rubicon 的平台尋找新的商機，其中許多是我們專有平台獨有的。我們的技術還提供易於使用的車隊管理和路線優化解決方案，並可以進入購買聯盟，車隊可以以折扣價購買產品和服務，例如燃料、零件、輪胎和保險。

These benefits can help fleet customers save time and money and for our city and municipal fleet customers have resulted in taxpayer savings. In fact, our solution for municipal fleet known as RUBICONSmartCity, is one of our fastest-growing products.

這些好處可以幫助車隊客戶節省時間和金錢，並為我們的城市和市政車隊客戶節省納稅人的錢。事實上，我們的市政車隊解決方案稱為 RUBICONSmartCity，是我們增長最快的產品之一。

Our proprietary technology helps cities run faster, smarter and more efficiently through more effective waste recycling and the heavy-duty municipal fleet operations. Our software not only helps drivers become more time efficient with their routes, it also captures and sends information back to city employees, which can improve response times for issues like block bins, mix pickups, recycling contamination and illegal dumping. All of this can lead to increased citizen satisfaction, lower carbon operations, improved driver safety and morale and substantial cost savings from municipal operators.

我們的專有技術通過更有效的廢物回收和重型市政車隊運營，幫助城市運行得更快、更智能、更高效。我們的軟件不僅可以幫助司機在路線上提高時間效率，還可以捕獲信息並將其發送回城市員工，這可以縮短對塊垃圾箱、混合垃圾收集、回收污染物和非法傾倒等問題的響應時間。所有這些都可以提高公民滿意度、低碳運營、提高駕駛員安全和士氣，並為市政運營商節省大量成本。

With this understanding of Rubicon's services and platform in mind, I want to take a moment to walk you through how Rubicon makes money. Our platform primarily generates revenue via 3 sources.

了解了 Rubicon 的服務和平台後，我想花點時間向您介紹 Rubicon 如何賺錢。我們的平台主要通過 3 個來源產生收入。

First, our revenues are reflective of all the waste and recycling services that transact over our platform. We make a margin based on the difference between the price at which we sell our services to our waste generator customers and the price at which we're able to procure those services from within our hauler network. As we drive hollow density within markets and as we leverage our technology to optimize service levels for waste generators, Rubicon's marketplace margins improve.

首先，我們的收入反映了通過我們平台交易的所有廢物和回收服務。我們根據向廢物產生者客戶出售服務的價格與我們能夠從我們的運輸網絡內採購這些服務的價格之間的差異來賺取利潤。隨著我們提高市場內的空心密度，並利用我們的技術優化廢物產生者的服務水平，Rubicon 的市場利潤率不斷提高。

Secondly, Rubicon monetizes the commodities pulled from the waste and recycling streams for our customers, which otherwise may have ended up in the landfill. Through this process, we are able to earn higher margins by providing unique value to our customers and turning prior cost into revenue and by adding predictability and quality of supply to processor volumes.

其次，Rubicon 為我們的客戶將從廢物和回收流中提取的商品貨幣化，否則這些商品可能最終會進入垃圾填埋場。通過這個過程，我們能夠通過為客戶提供獨特的價值並將先前的成本轉化為收入以及通過增加處理器數量的可預測性和供應質量來獲得更高的利潤。

It is worth noting that we structure our agreements with waste generators and processors such that we do not assume exposure to commodity price risk at the adjusted gross profit level. Further, our contracts often feature incentives for achieving certain environmental outcomes to align our interest with our customers. As we drive positive environmental outcomes, our margins improve.

值得注意的是，我們與廢物產生者和處理者簽訂的協議使得我們不會在調整後的毛利潤水平上承擔商品價格風險。此外，我們的合同通常會激勵實現某些環境成果，以使我們的利益與客戶的利益保持一致。當我們推動積極的環境成果時，我們的利潤就會提高。

Finally, whether a customer is a waste generator or fleet, Rubicon charges constituents a monthly software subscription fee for access to our proprietary platform.

最後，無論客戶是廢物產生者還是車隊，Rubicon 都會向客戶收取每月軟件訂閱費，以訪問我們的專有平台。

Turning to the operations side of the business. Rubicon continued to expand the Connect Marketplace with the addition of new clients, including Vail Properties, GoldOller Real Estate Investments, Acuity Brands, and others throughout the first quarter of 2023. Rubicon sees an increasing need to centralize and digitize workflows related to the collection of waste and recycling. Our platform provides a one-stop solution for clients to order, manage and track sustainability metrics through a single portal.

轉向業務的運營方面。 Rubicon 在 2023 年第一季度繼續擴大 Connect Marketplace，增加了新客戶，包括 Vail Properties、GoldOller Real Estate Investments、Acuity Brands 等。Rubicon 認為，越來越需要對與收集信息相關的工作流程進行集中化和數字化。廢物和回收。我們的平台為客戶提供一站式解決方案，讓他們通過單一門戶訂購、管理和跟踪可持續發展指標。

We also continue to see growth in our commodity sales, such as OCC, highlighted by the addition of Southeast Grocers to our portfolio. Southeast Grocers joins our other commodities clients who are able to take advantage of special commodities rates that normally would be unattainable as one-off sites but are achieved by leveraging our vast network.

我們還看到我們的商品銷售（例如 OCC）繼續增長，尤其是東南雜貨店 (Southeast Grocers) 添加到我們的投資組合中。東南雜貨商與我們的其他商品客戶一樣，能夠利用特殊商品價格，這些價格通常作為一次性網站無法獲得，但可以通過利用我們龐大的網絡來實現。

We also had some notable wins for our SmartCity product. In April, we announced a new 3-year partnership with the City of Miami, Florida to help enhance its residential waste and recycling services with RUBICONSmartCity technology. Rubicon will help the city's Department of Solid Waste transition from largely manual and paper-based processes to a fully digital operation as part of Miami's resilience planning efforts. The city will use Rubicon's technology to balance its waste and recycling routes to streamline collection, track material and tonnage on its bulky trash routes and to reduce missed pickups and unnecessary go-backs.

我們的智能城市產品也取得了一些顯著的勝利。 4 月，我們宣布與佛羅里達州邁阿密市建立為期三年的新合作夥伴關係，利用 RUBICONSmartCity 技術幫助加強其住宅垃圾和回收服務。作為邁阿密彈性規劃工作的一部分，Rubicon 將幫助該市固體廢物部門從主要手動和紙質流程過渡到完全數字化操作。該市將利用 Rubicon 的技術來平衡其廢物和回收路線，以簡化收集、跟踪其大件垃圾路線上的材料和噸位，並減少錯過的收集和不必要的返回。

We are also happy to announce that our SmartCity snow removal technology helped our partner, Kansas City, Missouri win the American Public Works Association Excellence in Snow and Ice Control Award for 2023. The award is based on a number of criteria, including innovation, resourcefulness and effectiveness in dealing with winter weather events. RUBICONSmartCity's snow removal technology powered the city's 300 snow vehicles through the 2021 and 2022, and 2022 and 2023 snow seasons, which included 5 major snow events. We were honored to help Kansas City win this award and look forward to our continued success together.

我們還很高興地宣布，我們的 SmartCity 除雪技術幫助我們的合作夥伴密蘇里州堪薩斯城贏得了 2023 年美國公共工程協會冰雪控制卓越獎。該獎項基於多項標準，包括創新、足智多謀以及應對冬季天氣事件的有效性。 RUBICONSmartCity 的除雪技術在 2021 年和 2022 年以及 2022 年和 2023 年雪季為該市的 300 輛雪地車輛提供動力，其中包括 5 場重大降雪活動。我們很榮幸幫助堪薩斯城贏得這一獎項，並期待我們一起繼續取得成功。

And lastly, in May, we announced Rubicon entered into a 3-year RUBICONSmartCity partnership with the City of Atlanta. RUBICONSmartCity software will help Atlanta enhance its operations to become a fully digital function with a focus on route optimization, digital route sheets, digital workflows, tracking exceptions in the field, improve routing for the city's bulky waste pickup drivers and street sweeping. We are excited once again to work with Atlanta, the site of the company's former headquarters and where the RUBICONSmartCity product was born.

最後，五月份，我們宣布 Rubicon 與亞特蘭大市建立了為期 3 年的 RUBICONSmartCity 合作夥伴關係。 RUBICONSmartCity 軟件將幫助亞特蘭大加強其運營，使其成為一個完全數字化的功能，重點是路線優化、數字化路線表、數字化工作流程、跟踪現場異常情況、改善該市龐大的垃圾收集司機的路線和街道清掃。我們很高興再次與亞特蘭大合作，這裡是公司前總部所在地，也是 RUBICONSmartCity 產品的誕生地。

We look forward to helping all of our Connect and SmartCity customers achieve their sustainability and efficiency goals.

我們期待幫助所有 Connect 和 SmartCity 客戶實現其可持續發展和效率目標。

I will now turn the call over to Kevin to provide a review of the first quarter as well as a financial update and 2023 outlook.

我現在將把電話轉給 Kevin，以提供對第一季度的回顧以及財務更新和 2023 年展望。

Thanks, Phil. I'll now take a few minutes to review our results from the first quarter of 2023 compared to the first quarter of 2022.

謝謝，菲爾。現在，我將花幾分鐘時間回顧一下我們 2023 年第一季度與 2022 年第一季度的結果。

Rubicon generated approximately $181 million of revenue in the first quarter. This was an increase of $21 million or 13% compared to the first quarter of 2022. This growth was driven primarily by strength in our RUBICONConnect product as well as continued growth of our SaaS business. This strong growth was achieved despite negative commodity price impact of approximately $10 million in the first quarter.

Rubicon 第一季度營收約為 1.81 億美元。與 2022 年第一季度相比，增加了 2100 萬美元，即 13%。這一增長主要得益於我們 RUBICONConnect 產品的實力以及我們 SaaS 業務的持續增長。儘管第一季度大宗商品價格受到約 1000 萬美元的負面影響，但仍實現了這一強勁增長。

Adjusted gross profit in the first quarter was approximately $16 million, an increase of $3 million or 23% compared to the first quarter of 2022 and was our highest quarterly adjusted gross profit ever, beating the second best by 14%. The increase was primarily driven by the RUBICONConnect product, as we are beginning to experience efficiencies from the margin enhancement actions we have taken over the last few months, and we expect to see these efficiencies accelerate as the year progresses. In addition, we also experienced another quarter of growth in our SaaS products.

第一季度調整後毛利潤約為 1600 萬美元，與 2022 年第一季度相比增加了 300 萬美元，即 23%，是我們有史以來最高的季度調整毛利潤，比第二名高出 14%。這一增長主要是由 RUBICONConnect 產品推動的，因為我們開始從過去幾個月採取的利潤提高行動中體驗到效率，並且我們預計隨著時間的推移，這些效率將會加速。此外，我們的 SaaS 產品也經歷了另一個季度的增長。

Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter was negative $14 million. It is worth noting, however, that the adjusted EBITDA figure still includes an additional $2.5 million of nonrecurring items, which have not been adjusted for. These items relate to expenses resulting from the business combination and strategic shift.

第一季度調整後 EBITDA 為負 1,400 萬美元。但值得注意的是，調整後的 EBITDA 數字仍包括額外的 250 萬美元非經常性項目，這些項目尚未進行調整。這些項目與業務合併和戰略轉變產生的費用有關。

As of the end of the first quarter, the company had $10.5 million of cash on the balance sheet and approximately $9.1 million undrawn and available under the revolver.

截至第一季度末，該公司資產負債表上有 1050 萬美元現金，左輪手槍下有約 910 萬美元未提取和可用現金。

We are proud of the steady improvements that have already made a material impact on results and are confident in executing the remaining steps on our bridge to profitability to hit our goals at the end of this year. One of these goals, as we've discussed on prior calls, is to increase liquidity and financial flexibility for the company.

我們對已經對業績產生重大影響的穩步改進感到自豪，並有信心執行盈利橋樑上的剩餘步驟，以在今年年底實現我們的目標。正如我們在之前的電話會議中討論的那樣，這些目標之一是增加公司的流動性和財務靈活性。

As part of this final step in the process, we have secured an incremental equity financing package led by our largest shareholder. And though there is no guarantee we will be able to successfully close the refinancing, we are in the final stages of securing a comprehensive refinancing package, which we hope to be able to discuss in the near future.

作為該過程最後一步的一部分，我們已獲得由最大股東牽頭的增量股權融資方案。儘管不能保證我們能夠成功完成再融資，但我們正處於確保全面再融資計劃的最後階段，我們希望能夠在不久的將來進行討論。

Looking forward to the remaining 3 quarters of 2023, we expect to be in line with the guidance we gave on our last call and remain confident in our ability to generate positive adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter as well as for the full year 2024.

展望 2023 年剩餘的 3 個季度，我們預計將與我們上次電話會議中給出的指導一致，並對我們在第四季度以及 2024 年全年產生正調整 EBITDA 的能力充滿信心。

Phil will now give an update on the key strategies we are implementing to achieve these projections.

菲爾現在將介紹我們為實現這些預測而正在實施的關鍵戰略的最新情況。

Thank you, Kevin. We believe Rubicon's industry-leading service experience for waste generators, fleets and processors is strategically well positioned as the definitive platform to enable the elimination of waste in years to come.

謝謝你，凱文。我們相信，Rubicon 為廢物產生者、車隊和處理者提供行業領先的服務經驗，在戰略上處於有利地位，成為在未來幾年消除廢物的權威平台。

In support of this success, our efforts have been focused on 3 primary areas: First, we are thoughtfully and diligently executing on our Bridge to Profitability plan. Second, we are increasing our financial flexibility through additional equity financing and our debt recapping efforts, as Kevin mentioned. And third, we have been curtailing lower return on investments and capturing payroll and non-payroll cost reductions throughout the organization.

為了支持這一成功，我們的努力主要集中在三個主要領域：首先，我們正在深思熟慮、勤奮地執行我們的盈利之橋計劃。其次，正如凱文提到的，我們正在通過額外的股權融資和債務重組工作來提高財務靈活性。第三，我們一直在削減較低的投資回報率，並在整個組織內降低工資和非工資成本。

These combined efforts have led to our highest ever quarterly adjusted gross profit increasing revenues and annualized cost reductions to date of over $28 million. While we have made substantial progress, the job is not yet complete, and we continue to focus our efforts on profitability.

這些共同努力使我們實現了有史以來最高的季度調整毛利潤，增加了收入，並且迄今為止年化成本降低了超過 2800 萬美元。雖然我們已經取得了實質性進展，但工作尚未完成，我們將繼續將精力集中在盈利能力上。

We expect additional improvements to our margins achieved through increased sales of our higher-margin SaaS products, such as RUBICONSmartCity and increased prices of select services in line with the broader waste industry, while continuing to drive superior economic outcomes for our waste generator customers through service optimization and revenue-generating recycling programs.

我們預計，通過增加利潤率較高的 SaaS 產品（例如 RUBICONSmartCity）的銷量以及根據更廣泛的廢物行業提高特定服務的價格，進一步提高我們的利潤率，同時繼續通過服務為我們的廢物產生者客戶帶來卓越的經濟成果優化和創收回收計劃。

We have also been successful in obtaining volume-based rebates amongst key vendors and we have selectively high-graded our portfolio to remove underperforming accounts, which have compressed margins and hurt our profitability.

我們還成功地在主要供應商中獲得了基於數量的回扣，並且我們有選擇地對我們的投資組合進行了高評級，以消除表現不佳的賬戶，這些賬戶壓縮了利潤並損害了我們的盈利能力。

As discussed last quarter, Rubicon has made material progress in reducing our SG&A expenses across the company. The actions included traditional efficiency improvements like outsourcing of back-office functions, select payroll and non-payroll expense reductions, such as cutting excess software and third-party services and centralizing licensing and procurement processes.

正如上季度所討論的，Rubicon 在減少整個公司的 SG&A 費用方面取得了實質性進展。這些行動包括傳統的效率改進，例如外包後台職能、減少特定工資和非工資費用，例如削減多餘的軟件和第三方服務以及集中許可和採購流程。

The actions have also included the strategic use of artificial intelligence-based systems in our operations. For example, we will be deploying a large language model, ChatGPT-like system, to automatically process inbound work order requests, thereby reducing the need for employees to perform repetitive data entry tasks and freeing up their time to provide more value-added services.

這些行動還包括在我們的運營中戰略性地使用基於人工智能的系統。例如，我們將部署一個大型語言模型，類似ChatGPT的系統，來自動處理入站工單請求，從而減少員工執行重複數據輸入任務的需要，並騰出時間來提供更多增值服務。

Combined, these efforts have resulted in over $28 million in annualized cost savings, which is an additional $16 million of savings identified since our last call.

這些努力加在一起，每年節省了超過 2800 萬美元的成本，這是自我們上次通話以來確定的額外節省了 1600 萬美元。

The progress we have accomplished to date has further the confidence we have in our ability to achieve positive adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of this year, while expanding our adjusted gross profit margins to within the low double-digit range and we remain confident in our ability to be cash flow positive this year.

我們迄今為止所取得的進展進一步增強了我們對今年第四季度實現正調整 EBITDA 的能力的信心，同時將調整後的毛利率擴大到低兩位數範圍內，我們對我們的業績仍然充滿信心。今年有能力實現正現金流。

I'm excited by the prospects and opportunities that lie ahead of us. We have invested in scaling our business, and today, we work with over 8,000 haulers manage over 13 million unique service locations and are now analyzing over 1 million images per day for insights related to municipal waste streams and infrastructure. As a result of our breadth of service, we are positioned to begin to take greater advantage of our platform scale.

我對我們面前的前景和機遇感到興奮。我們投資擴大了我們的業務，如今，我們與 8,000 多家運輸商合作，管理著超過 1300 萬個獨特的服務地點，每天分析超過 100 萬張圖像，以獲取與城市廢物流和基礎設施相關的見解。由於我們的服務範圍廣泛，我們將開始更好地利用我們的平台規模。

To elaborate, we have a strategic advantage in leveraging our existing relationships with partners and customers to increase our share of wallet amongst our current waste generator clients. Additionally, we can enhance our profit margins by offering solutions across the more than 160 different material types that are already handled on our platform, the majority of which feature better margin profile than municipal solid waste services.

詳細地說，我們在利用與合作夥伴和客戶的現有關係來增加我們在現有廢物產生者客戶中的錢包份額方面擁有戰略優勢。此外，我們還可以通過提供涵蓋我們平台上已處理的 160 多種不同材料類型的解決方案來提高利潤率，其中大多數材料的利潤率高於城市固體廢物服務。

As previously mentioned, our high-margin SmartCity business has doubled in size year-over-year, and we anticipate that growth will continue. We have primarily sold to municipalities that manage their own fleets within the U.S. market. And in the past, we intentionally limited ourselves while we focused on building sales channels, international support capabilities, and developing functionality for commercial fleet, including billing and invoicing.

如前所述，我們的高利潤智能城市業務規模同比翻了一番，我們預計這種增長將持續下去。我們主要向在美國市場管理自己車隊的市政當局出售產品。過去，我們有意限制自己，專注於建立銷售渠道、國際支持能力以及開發商業車隊的功能，包括計費和發票。

However, even with these limitations, we managed to double our SaaS-based business last year while maintaining adjusted gross profit margins of over 70%. This year, we look forward to expanding our SaaS business beyond municipalities and into commercial fleets, both internationally and domestically. our marketplace and SaaS products.

然而，儘管存在這些限制，我們去年基於 SaaS 的業務仍實現了一倍增長，同時保持調整後毛利率超過 70%。今年，我們期待將 SaaS 業務擴展到市政以外的地區，並擴展到國際和國內的商業車隊。我們的市場和 SaaS 產品。

Strategically, our marketplace and SaaS products support each other as they expand. For example, our expanded digital marketplace enables us to offer more material solutions, which then attracts more haulers and fleets. This provides us with more opportunities to sell our SaaS-based solutions. And the more data we collect through these interactions, the more we can offer new and innovative products and services.

從戰略上講，我們的市場和 SaaS 產品在擴張時相互支持。例如，我們擴大的數字市場使我們能夠提供更多的材料解決方案，從而吸引更多的運輸商和車隊。這為我們提供了更多銷售基於 SaaS 的解決方案的機會。我們通過這些互動收集的數據越多，我們就越能提供新的創新產品和服務。

For instance, in our SmartCity product today, we use image data to create artificial intelligence and Computer vision models that can detect contamination in the waste stream, illegal dumping, overfilled bins, and can confirm when service has been provided. This feedback loop has been so successful that our clients have requested that we support other fleet types, such as snowplows and street sweepers, to confirm when routes are being swept or plowed.

例如，在今天的 SmartCity 產品中，我們使用圖像數據創建人工智能和計算機視覺模型，可以檢測廢物流中的污染、非法傾倒、垃圾箱裝滿，並可以確認何時提供服務。這種反饋循環非常成功，以至於我們的客戶要求我們支持其他類型的車隊，例如掃雪機和街道清掃車，以確認路線何時被清掃或犁過。

As I said last quarter, and continue to firmly believe, the future growth and product opportunities for our company are only limited by our imaginations. By leveraging our resources, building strong partnerships, and continuously pushing the boundaries of what is possible, I am confident that our team's creativity and innovative spirit will continue to drive us forward, leading to new horizons and unexplored possibilities.

正如我上個季度所說，並繼續堅信，我們公司的未來增長和產品機會僅受我們的想像力限制。通過利用我們的資源、建立牢固的合作夥伴關係並不斷突破可能的界限，我相信我們團隊的創造力和創新精神將繼續推動我們前進，引領新的視野和未知的可能性。

As we work towards our goals, I am excited to see what the future holds and the impact we can make on the industry and the world at large.

當我們努力實現我們的目標時，我很高興看到未來的前景以及我們可以對行業和整個世界產生的影響。

Thank you for continuing this journey with us. And we look forward to updating you on our progress in the coming quarters.

感謝您與我們一起繼續這段旅程。我們期待向您通報我們未來幾個季度的最新進展。

With that I will turn the call over to the operator, who can open the line for questions.

之後，我會將電話轉給接線員，接線員可以打開電話詢問問題。

(Operator Instructions) We have our first question from Maria Ripps from Canaccord Genuity.

（操作員說明）我們收到來自 Canaccord Genuity 的 Maria Ripps 的第一個問題。

Great. Congrats on the strong numbers here, and thanks for taking my questions. First, it seems like you've been seeing nice momentum with your SmartCity offering. Can you maybe just talk about some of the core capabilities that are attracting new clients, and maybe remind us whether there is a variable component to your pricing framework for that offering?

偉大的。祝賀這裡的強勁數字，並感謝您提出我的問題。首先，您似乎已經看到了 SmartCity 產品的良好勢頭。您能否談談吸引新客戶的一些核心功能，並提醒我們該產品的定價框架是否存在可變成分？

Sure. Thank you for the question. The core capabilities from a SmartCity perspective, think of it as the base of it is a fleet and telematic management system. But on top of that, what you added on it specifically for cities is the ability to add in what you would call infrastructure monitoring. Things like, are there potholes? Is there graffiti? Is there broken curb cuts or street lamps? The ability to flag for those additional kind of things that are actually happening within the city that can be made aware either automatically through the computer vision technology that we have, or be flagged by the drivers as they're going about their routes.

當然。感謝你的提問。從智慧城市的角度來看，核心功能是車隊和遠程信息處理管理系統。但最重要的是，您專門為城市添加了所謂的基礎設施監控功能。比如，有坑洼嗎？有塗鴉嗎？路緣石或路燈是否破損？能夠標記城市內實際發生的其他類型的事情，這些事情可以通過我們擁有的計算機視覺技術自動意識到，或者由司機在行駛路線時標記。

So, the cities look at it as a two-fold benefit. One is we're going to help them make their operations that much more efficient. We can help them with the routing and the optimization of those routes. And you can actually bring in some other environmental data about what's actually happening in your city at the same time. So those are the core capabilities of the SmartCity system.

因此，城市將其視為雙重好處。一是我們將幫助他們提高運營效率。我們可以幫助他們規劃路線並優化這些路線。您實際上可以同時引入一些有關您所在城市實際發生情況的其他環境數據。這些就是智慧城市系統的核心能力。

In terms of the variable kind of cost associated with providing that, it's really more the direct variable cost about the cellular services if you will have, or the devices that we actually deploy within the field. Those are the true variable costs associated with that.

就與提供該服務相關的可變成本而言，實際上更多的是有關蜂窩服務（如果您擁有）或我們在現場實際部署的設備的直接可變成本。這些是與之相關的真正的可變成本。

Got it. That's’ very helpful. And then maybe more broadly, could you talk about what type of customer response you saw to price increases that you implemented on select services last quarter? And how are you thinking about your capacity for future price increases from here?

知道了。這非常有幫助。然後，也許更廣泛地說，您能否談談您對上個季度對某些服務實施的價格上漲所看到的客戶反應類型？您如何看待未來價格上漲的能力？

Yes. So first, in context on it, I would say that the price increases that we kind of put forth in the last year were actually were -- I would consider them more to catch up to what the industry has already done, right? So if you look at what Waste Management, Republic Services will have done, they kind of publish what their price increases are. So I think we're just more kind of keeping pace with what's in the industry.

是的。首先，就其背景而言，我想說的是，我們去年提出的價格上漲實際上是——我認為它們更多的是為了趕上行業已經做的事情，對嗎？因此，如果你看看共和服務公司的廢物管理部門會做什麼，他們會公佈他們的價格上漲情況。所以我認為我們只是跟上行業的步伐。

On top of that, I would say there are certain kind of customers that we have when we go this is what we talk about kind of high grading the portfolio. There are certain customers that were operating kind of either at a loss or kind of just barely at breakeven. And so those are kind of conversations with those customers and actually making sure that we're providing the right level of services. Can we expand into other kind of commodity kind of based services along the way? So it's just really kind of expanding the pie a little bit in terms of the service capabilities and offerings we can bring to those customers.

最重要的是，我想說，當我們去的時候，我們有某些類型的客戶，這就是我們所說的高評級投資組合。有些客戶要么虧損，要么勉強達到收支平衡。因此，這些都是與這些客戶的對話，實際上是為了確保我們提供正確水平的服務。我們能否一路擴展到其他類型的基於商品的服務？因此，就我們可以為這些客戶提供的服務能力和產品而言，這確實是稍微擴大了蛋糕。

So in terms of the future, I would say -- I would think that from a pricing -- from a pure pricing increase standpoint, that we would certainly kind of keep pace with the industry at large. So that's fairly standard within the industry. And as we've always said, we deepen our relationships with our clients over time as we handle those additional 160 different types of services or materials that are out there. All of those kind of materials typically have a better kind of margin profile than the classic kind of municipal solid waste.

因此，就未來而言，我想說——我認為從定價角度來看——從純粹的定價上漲的角度來看，我們肯定會跟上整個行業的步伐。所以這在行業內是相當標準的。正如我們一直所說的那樣，隨著時間的推移，我們處理另外 160 種不同類型的服務或材料，從而加深了與客戶的關係。所有這些類型的材料通常都比傳統的城市固體廢物具有更好的利潤率。

So I think the opportunity to kind of grow within the existing base is core to our strategy. And we anticipate being able to kind of certainly hit our numbers based on that.

因此，我認為在現有基礎上發展的機會是我們戰略的核心。我們預計在此基礎上一定能夠達到我們的數字。

Your next question comes from the line of Stephanie Moore from Jefferies.

您的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Stephanie Moore。

And maybe just kind of to start, can you talk a little bit about what you're seeing on the recycling side of your business. I think it's helpful that on the top line, it can be a little bit more volatile given the underlying commodity pressures, but made up for that on the adjusted gross profit line. But maybe just talk a little bit about the demand you're seeing from just continuing to offer that service when it comes to managing recyclable commodities.

也許首先，您能談談您在業務回收方面看到的情況嗎？我認為，考慮到潛在的大宗商品壓力，營收可能會稍微波動一些，但在調整後的毛利潤線上彌補了這一點。但也許只是談談您在管理可回收商品方面繼續提供該服務所看到的需求。

Yes. Thanks for the question, Stephanie. So you're right, there was some pricing pressure in our revenues year-over-year. There was about a 63% decrease in the average price of recyclable commodities that we saw. And so with that, there was actually a little bit of underlying volume growth in our commodities business even amidst these market trends.

是的。謝謝你的提問，斯蒂芬妮。所以你是對的，我們的收入同比存在一些定價壓力。我們看到可回收商品的平均價格下降了約 63%。因此，即使在這些市場趨勢中，我們的商品業務實際上也有一些潛在的銷量增長。

As you probably recall, we don't have exposure at the gross profit level to these pressures in commodity pricing. And so we remain insulated at that adjusted gross profit level from these pricing pressures. But I think what's so compelling about the Rubicon business model is it's an environmental proposition that's built from the ground up with an economic value proposition.

您可能還記得，我們​​的毛利潤水平並未受到商品定價壓力的影響。因此，我們在調整後的毛利潤水平上仍然不受這些定價壓力的影響。但我認為 Rubicon 商業模式如此引人注目的地方在於，它是一種從頭開始構建的環境主張，具有經濟價值主張。

And so as we divert these materials from the landfill, we're actually reducing waste costs for our customers, and we're turning this into a revenue line. And so again, even in a down market, this is a value proposition that resonates with our customers. And particularly in a recessionary market, people are looking to cut costs and improve their P&L in any way they can and it makes the recycling proposition all the more compelling.

因此，當我們將這些材料從垃圾填埋場轉移出來時，我們實際上正在為客戶減少廢物成本，並將其轉化為收入來源。同樣，即使在低迷的市場中，這也是一個能引起我們客戶共鳴的價值主張。尤其是在經濟衰退的市場中，人們希望盡其所能地削減成本並改善損益，這使得回收主張變得更加引人注目。

Yes. And I would just add, Stephanie, that for a lot of our customers, they're looking to go on a 0 waste or close to a journey, right, for a number of our large customers. It's important to them, and that is important to them above and beyond sort of pure price, right? They're looking to really continue their recycling and continue their 0 waste journey pretty sort of regardless of that revenue, bringing that revenue and sort of offsetting their costs is a great benefit, obviously, but it's not the sole purpose for a lot of our customers. So they're going to continue to do it regardless of the pricing that we're seeing in the market.

是的。我想補充一點，斯蒂芬妮，對於我們的許多客戶來說，他們希望進行零浪費或接近一次旅程，對吧，對於我們的許多大客戶來說。這對他們來說很重要，而且這對他們來說比純粹的價格更重要，對吧？他們希望真正繼續回收並繼續他們的零廢物之旅，無論收入如何，帶來收入並抵消成本顯然是一個巨大的好處，但這並不是我們許多人的唯一目的顧客。因此，無論我們在市場上看到的定價如何，他們都會繼續這樣做。

Got it. Understood. So then maybe as a follow-up and taking that a step further. I think you called out targeting clearly an improvement in your adjusted gross profit margin. And so my first is a clarification. I think you said you are eventually targeting a low double-digit range. But even just breaking that out. Could you maybe kind of walk through what are the puts and takes to achieve that target over time? what do we need to see from the commodity business? What do we need to see from the SaaS side? And then, is there room for improvement also on that lower margin MSW customer base too? So clarification and then also kind of longer term, how do we get to that target?

知道了。明白了。那麼也許作為後續行動並更進一步。我認為您明確指出目標明確可以提高調整後的毛利率。我首先要澄清一下。我想你說過你最終的目標是低兩位數範圍。但即使只是打破這一點。您能否詳細介紹一下隨著時間的推移實現該目標需要採取哪些措施？我們需要從大宗商品業務中看到什麼？我們需要從SaaS方面看到什麼？那麼，利潤率較低的城市固體廢棄物客戶群是否也有改進的空間？所以澄清一下，然後從長遠來看，我們如何實現該目標？

Yes. So I think, first of all, you are seeing some significant margin improvement in the core MSW product for Rubicon. That's largely what we addressed through the price increases that we discussed during the first quarter and will continue to over the course of the year.

是的。所以我認為，首先，您會看到 Rubicon 的核心城市固體廢棄物產品的利潤率有了顯著的提高。這主要是我們通過第一季度討論的價格上漲所解決的問題，並將在今年繼續下去。

But we believe as we continue to drive value in the commodity segments with the reporting with our ability to generate higher premiums by aggregating these volumes across our customer base, we'll be able to improve the margins even in the commodity markets as well.

但我們相信，隨著我們通過報告繼續推動商品細分市場的價值，並通過匯總整個客戶群的這些數量來產生更高的溢價，我們甚至能夠提高商品市場的利潤率。

As you mentioned, the SaaS business continues to grow significantly. That accounts on a net basis. And so it's effectively 100% adjusted gross profit margin. And so as the SaaS business continues to scale at the rapid pace that it is, that's going to help drive our blended adjusted gross profit margins into those double digits.

正如您提到的，SaaS 業務持續顯著增長。這是按淨額計算的。因此，調整後的毛利率實際上是 100%。因此，隨著 SaaS 業務繼續快速擴張，這將有助於推動我們的混合調整毛利率達到兩位數。

Yes. And I'd just add. I mean, absolutely, that is still where we see it going. And it really is just going to be a combination of the 3. Obviously, we don't break out the SaaS business yet. But as that becomes a larger piece of our business, obviously, that is obviously a high-margin area. And then as we continue to grow in the recycling area and to bring on more material types for our customers that's going to drive incremental margin, too.

是的。我只想補充一下。我的意思是，絕對，這仍然是我們所看到的發展方向。它實際上只是這三者的結合。顯然，我們還沒有突破 SaaS 業務。但隨著這成為我們業務的一個更大的部分，顯然，這顯然是一個高利潤領域。然後，隨著我們在回收領域的不斷發展，並為我們的客戶提供更多的材料類型，這也將推動利潤率的增量。

So I think you're kind of getting I think you've seen, as Chris alluded to, you're kind of seeing, you've seen a nice bit of increase already from the efficiency measures. There's definitely more to go. We are still kind of going through our portfolio, so we're not done. So there is more to go there. but then you're also going to see, I would say, you're kind of almost equally now between more efficiency measures in the portfolio as well as continued growth on recycling as well as the growth of the SaaS business as we look towards the end of the year.

所以我認為你已經看到，正如克里斯提到的，你已經看到效率措施已經帶來了很大的增長。肯定還有更多的事情要做。我們仍在審查我們的投資組合，所以我們還沒有完成。所以還有更多的事情可以去那裡。但我想說，你也會看到，在投資組合中更多的效率措施、回收的持續增長以及 SaaS 業務的增長之間，你現在幾乎是平等的，因為我們期待著年底。

Excellent. And then just lastly for me, can you maybe talk a little bit about the M&A environment and maybe your appetite for M&A as we look to the second half of this year and into 2024?

出色的。最後，您能否談談併購環境以及您對併購的興趣，因為我們展望今年下半年和 2024 年？

But yes, I think as always, we're kind of -- really kind of focused on kind of growing our organic business, making sure we're as operationally efficient as possible. M&A, as I always say, we'll be opportunistic if a deal comes across our desk that actually makes sense and within our ability to kind of pull it down, we would certainly kind of approach it. But again, our core focus is really on the -- or growing our organic business and making sure that we're as efficient as possible.

但是，是的，我認為一如既往，我們確實專注於發展我們的有機業務，確保我們盡可能高效地運營。併購，正如我常說的，如果我們的辦公桌上出現了一項確實有意義的交易，並且在我們有能力阻止它的範圍內，我們肯定會採取機會主義的態度。但同樣，我們的核心重點實際上是發展我們的有機業務並確保我們盡可能高效。

Yes. And I mean, to your question, Stephanie, we definitely are still keeping our pipeline warm. We're keeping contact with a lot of potential targets. So we still have that out there and available to us. And frankly, the list of potential targets is growing. And frankly, we feel like there will be a time; it's just a matter of when will be at the right time to start pulling down on that lever, as Phil mentioned, there is -- so we feel like a time of opportunity in the core business, right, and we're focused on really making sure the core business is running as well as possible and as and we do make sure that we're as strong as possible from a liquidity perspective as well. Once we've achieved that, then yes, absolutely, we'll be turning to M&A, and we're keeping close tabs on a lot of different potential targets.

是的。我的意思是，對於你的問題，斯蒂芬妮，我們肯定仍在保持我們的管道溫暖。我們正在與許多潛在目標保持聯繫。所以我們仍然可以使用它。坦率地說，潛在目標的名單正在不斷增加。坦率地說，我們覺得總有一天；正如菲爾提到的那樣，這只是一個何時開始拉低杠桿的問題，所以我們覺得核心業務存在機遇期，對吧，我們真正關注的是確保核心業務盡可能良好地運行，並且從流動性角度來看，我們也確實確保我們盡可能強大。一旦我們實現了這一目標，那麼是的，絕對，我們將轉向併購，並且我們正在密切關注許多不同的潛在目標。

Your last question comes from the line of Brett Knoblauch from Cantor Fitzgerald.

你的最後一個問題來自康托·菲茨杰拉德 (Cantor Fitzgerald) 的布雷特·諾布勞赫 (Brett Knoblauch)。

Maybe to start, I know you guys outlined a kind of more than 8,000 haulers on the network or on the marketplace, and you're still seeing strong growth there. I think that more than 8,000 number has remained pretty steady over the last few quarters. Can you maybe help quantify what type of growth you're seeing in just the number of haulers and recyclers on the platform?

也許首先，我知道你們概述了網絡或市場上的 8,000 多個運輸商，而且您仍然看到那裡的強勁增長。我認為過去幾個季度 8,000 多個數字一直保持相當穩定。您能否幫助量化您在平台上的運輸商和回收商數量中看到的增長類型？

That's a great question. Thank you, Brett, for it, too. So in terms of the 8,000, so if you think about this, this is what -- this is a network that allows us to kind of service our waste generator customers effectively across the United States, right? And so for us, I'm not really all that concerned with kind of growing the overall number that are servicing us across the United States. Effectively, we curate that number. So if you have good haulers in particular territories, you kind of double down with them and if you need to make a replacement somewhere else, you'll do that accordingly.

這是一個很好的問題。布雷特，也謝謝你。就這 8,000 個而言，如果你想一想，這就是一個網絡，使我們能夠在美國各地有效地為我們的廢物產生者客戶提供服務，對吧？因此，對於我們來說，我並不真正關心增加在美國各地為我們提供服務的總數。實際上，我們管理了這個數字。因此，如果您在特定地區擁有優秀的運輸商，您就會加倍努力，如果您需要在其他地方進行替代，您也會相應地這樣做。

So the core for us is not necessarily kind of increasing that 8,000 number any higher. We're already able to kind of serve robustly across every kind of corner in the United States, our customers with that network. And it's really about kind of having deeper relationships with them.

因此，我們的核心不一定是增加 8,000 個數字。我們已經能夠通過該網絡為美國各個角落的客戶提供強大的服務。這實際上是為了與他們建立更深入的關係。

I think the next step for us is really about how can we kind of broaden the engagement within that hauler base. And so we start talking about thinking of selling kind of our Rubicon Pro or our SaaS-based product within that network, I think that's important.

我認為我們的下一步實際上是如何擴大該運輸商基地的參與度。因此，我們開始討論考慮在該網絡中銷售 Rubicon Pro 或基於 SaaS 的產品，我認為這很重要。

And another thing is that maybe they can participate in our Rubicon Select program, which they buy in consortium where those haulers can actually save money on fuel, parts and tires, et cetera. I think that's another thing that we would be kind of making sure that we kind of make great inroads with that hauler base. But again, in short, it's not -- the absolute number really isn't important. It's about the coverage that you have across the United States, and we have that with the number we have.

另一件事是，也許他們可以參加我們的 Rubicon Select 計劃，他們以聯盟形式購買該計劃，這些運輸商實際上可以節省燃料、零件和輪胎等費用。我認為這是我們要確保我們在運輸基地取得巨大進展的另一件事。但簡而言之，絕對數字並不重要。這是關於您在美國各地的覆蓋範圍，我們擁有這樣的覆蓋範圍和我們擁有的數量。

Perfect. And then I guess can you maybe just help bridge the gap to I guess, the path to a double-digit adjusted gross profit margins. I guess if you're looking at where the business is at today to getting there, how much of that is coming from, say, higher maybe revenues coming from SaaS or versus maybe core business margin expansion? And I guess, within that core gross margin expansion, I guess, what's really driving that as well?

完美的。然後我想你能否幫助縮小差距，達到兩位數的調整後毛利率。我想，如果您正在考慮業務目前的狀況，那麼其中有多少來自於 SaaS 帶來的更高收入，或者與核心業務利潤率擴張相比？我想，在核心毛利率的擴張中，真正推動這一增長的因素是什麼？

Right. I think, Kevin, just touched on this previously, but I think it's really kind of -- I mean, I think we're getting equal contributions from kind of all those measures that we've taken, right? So the price increases relative to the business on the Connect side. It's certainly kind of the growth and expansion within the high margin, the higher margin kind of SmartCity kind of business as well, and it's the kind of the increasing kind of amounts that we're actually getting on the kind of the commodity services side. So I think really equal contribution across the board.

正確的。我想，凱文，之前剛剛談到過這一點，但我認為這確實是——我的意思是，我認為我們從我們採取的所有這些措施中得到了平等的貢獻，對嗎？所以價格相對於Connect端的業務來說是上漲的。這當然是高利潤率、高利潤率的智能城市業務的增長和擴張，也是我們在商品服務方面實際獲得的金額的增加。所以我認為全面的貢獻確實是平等的。

And strategically, again, that you're going to see is kind of playing those -- on those 3 things as we go on. So those are the core kind of tenets of actually how we bring in money to the company, and in turn we certainly expect to make kind of good progress in each one of them.

從戰略上講，您將看到在我們繼續進行的這三件事上發揮這些作用。因此，這些實際上是我們如何為公司帶來資金的核心原則，反過來，我們當然希望在每一項原則上取得良好的進展。

Were these price increases kind of across the board or I guess, your 2 largest customers, I guess, did they see similar price increases relative to the rest of your customer base?

這些價格上漲是全面的還是我猜，您的兩個最大的客戶，我猜，相對於您的其他客戶群，他們是否看到了類似的價格上漲？

Yes. Yes, we've done, I'd say, broadly speaking, and I won't speak to any one particular client, but broadly speaking, we went through the entire book of business just to make sure that we're -- again, part of it was, as I mentioned, is kind of keeping pace with what the broader industry had done.

是的。是的，我想說，從廣義上講，我們已經做到了，我不會與任何一位特定客戶交談，但從廣義上講，我們瀏覽了整本業務手冊，只是為了確保我們——再次正如我所提到的，其中一部分是與更廣泛的行業所做的事情保持同步。

So certainly, it was kind of -- it was a broad-based kind of adjustment, if you will, based on kind of current micro prevailing prices, as you -- we've all been through the inflationary market for the last couple of years. And so really was about kind of keeping pace and getting back to pace with some of that.

所以當然，這是一種基礎廣泛的調整，如果你願意的話，基於當前微觀現行價格，就像你一樣，過去幾年我們都經歷了通貨膨脹市場年。因此，真正重要的是跟上並重新跟上其中的一些步伐。

And then really kind of going back and we talk about kind of high grading the portfolio as well, looking at where did we have certain customers that we were unable to either kind of put forth the kind of the appropriate level of price changes or we really didn't have a path forward with them relative to kind of increasing commodities, increasing their diversion rates, which also helps them as well as ourselves.

然後真的回過頭來，我們也討論了對投資組合的高評級，看看我們在哪裡有某些客戶，我們無法提出適當的價格變化水平，或者我們真的相對於增加商品、提高其轉移率而言，我們沒有與他們一起前進的道路，這對他們和我們都有幫助。

There are some clients where we just were unable to do that. So when we talk about high grading our portfolio, that's what -- those are some of the actions we had to take on that side.

有些客戶我們無法做到這一點。因此，當我們談論對我們的投資組合進行高評級時，這就是我們必須在這方面採取的一些行動。

Yes. And I would just add, but we were pretty mindful as we went through the portfolio, right? We're going through it and looking at each client individually where they're at, the value we provide, the relationship, right, where it's been, obviously, where they're currently priced in the market, all those things in sort of making decisions.

是的。我想補充一點，但我們在審查投資組合時非常謹慎，對吧？我們正在仔細研究每個客戶的情況，我們提供的價值，關係，顯然，他們目前在市場上的定價，所有這些都在某種程度上做出決定。

So it was really -- we really did it with an eye towards being really -- making sure we're being mindful and thinking about where prices sort of need to be given the environment we're in and what's been going on, but also making sure we're priced appropriately going forward to kind of grow the relationships as well.

因此，我們確實是著眼於真正做到這一點，確保我們保持警惕並思考考慮到我們所處的環境和正在發生的事情，價格在哪裡需要考慮，但同時確保我們的定價適當，以發展關係。

Perfect. Got it. And then maybe if I could just ask one more on just the SmartCity, 2 nice wins announced. I guess, since the quarter ended, I guess, what are you seeing in terms of the pipeline there? I guess just by looking at your website, you now have more than 80 cities kind of deploying your SmartCity solution. I guess are you seeing maybe momentum pick up? Is there like a snowball effect as once you need to pull it, it is encouraging others to deploy as well?

完美的。知道了。然後也許我可以再問一個關於智能城市的問題，宣布了 2 個不錯的勝利。我想，自本季度結束以來，您對那裡的渠道有何看法？我想只要看看你們的網站，你們現在就有 80 多個城市正在部署你們的 SmartCity 解決方案。我想你是否看到勢頭有所回升？是否存在滾雪球效應，一旦您需要拉動它，就會鼓勵其他人也進行部署？

No, that's a great question. Thank you, Brett. So certainly, we have seen momentum kind of increase over the years and -- and frankly, kind of quarter-to-quarter. And you're exactly right. So I think from a city perspective, one particular area, you have -- think of them almost like kind of an anchor tenant in the mall, so once somebody converts, kind of the areas around that suddenly becomes more interested from a city perspective.

不，這是一個很好的問題。謝謝你，布雷特。當然，多年來我們看到勢頭有所增加，而且坦率地說，每個季度都有增長。你是完全正確的。所以我認為，從城市的角度來看，一個特定的區域，你可以把它們想像成購物中心的主要租戶，所以一旦有人轉變，從城市的角度來看，周圍的區域就會突然變得更有趣。

These are all, as you can imagine, these are all kind of tight networks. These are mayors and supervisors and fleet operators at all -- it's a small world, they all know each other. And so when they one has had great success with us as that kind of gets out and I think we're reaping the benefits of that for sure.

正如你可以想像的那樣，這些都是緊密的網絡。這些人都是市長、主管和車隊運營商——世界很小，他們都互相認識。因此，當他們與我們一起取得巨大成功時，我認為我們肯定會從中受益。

We have no further questions at this time. I will turn the call back over to Mr. Rodoni for final remarks.

目前我們沒有進一步的問題。我會將電話轉回給羅多尼先生以供最後發言。

Well, again, appreciate everybody's time for joining us today, and thank you for continuing your interest in our journey so far, and we look forward to keeping you updated and apprised on our growth in the quarters to come. So thank you, everyone.

好吧，再次感謝大家今天抽出時間加入我們，感謝您迄今為止對我們旅程的持續關注，我們期待著向您通報我們未來幾個季度的增長情況。謝謝大家。

This now concludes today's call. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連接。