R C M Technologies Inc (RCMT) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. This is Kevin Miller, Chief Financial Officer of RCM Technologies. I am joined today by Brad Vizi, RCM's Executive Chairman.

早上好，感謝您加入我們。我是 RCM Technologies 的首席財務官 Kevin Miller。今天，RCM 的執行主席 Brad Vizi 加入了我的行列。

Our presentation in this call will contain forward-looking statements. The information contained in the forward-looking statements is based on our beliefs, estimates, assumptions and information currently available to us, and these matters may materially change in the future. Many of these beliefs, estimates and assumptions are subject to rapid changes.

我們在本次電話會議中的演示將包含前瞻性陳述。前瞻性陳述中包含的信息基於我們目前可獲得的信念、估計、假設和信息，這些事項可能在未來發生重大變化。其中許多信念、估計和假設會發生快速變化。

For more information on our forward-looking statements and the risks, uncertainties and other factors to which they are subject, please see the periodic reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K that we file with the SEC as well as our press releases that we issue from time to time.

有關我們的前瞻性陳述及其所受風險、不確定性和其他因素的更多信息，請參閱我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的 10-K、10-Q 和 8-K 表格定期報告以及我們不時發布的新聞稿。

I will now turn the call over to Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman, to provide an overview of RCM's operating performance during the quarter.

我現在將電話轉給執行主席 Brad Vizi，以概述 RCM 在本季度的經營業績。

Thanks, Kevin. Good morning, everyone. As discussed in March, after finishing 2022 strong, RCM started 2023 slower than expected, with a sequential decline in run rate, primarily due to project timing and program ramp-up in our Engineering segment. But as anticipated, the cadence of activity increased as we move through the year following us -- allowing us to retain our offensive posture as we continue to build on the foundation carefully laid in each of our business units. Also, despite the steady drumbeat of company shedding staff, RCM continues to hire.

謝謝，凱文。大家，早安。正如 3 月份所討論的那樣，RCM 在 2022 年表現強勁之後，2023 年的開局速度低於預期，運行率環比下降，這主要是由於我們工程部門的項目時間安排和計劃加速。但正如預期的那樣，隨著我們在接下來的一年裡前進，活動的節奏增加了——這使我們能夠在我們繼續在每個業務部門精心打下的基礎上繼續建設時保持進攻態勢。此外，儘管公司不斷裁員，RCM 仍在繼續招聘。

In my experience, the best time to invest is when others pull back, fortifying our greatest asset, our workforce. If anything, we believe wholesale restructuring in certain parts of the economy's labor force should provide further secular tailwind to our business model.

以我的經驗，最好的投資時機是在其他人撤退、鞏固我們最重要的資產——我們的員工隊伍的時候。如果有的話，我們認為經濟勞動力某些部分的批發重組應該為我們的商業模式提供進一步的長期推動力。

In addition, increasing employee turnover, technological dynamism and perennial macroeconomic uncertainty further incentivize companies to focus on what they do best and embrace us as a value-added partner with decades of experience in human capital management.

此外，不斷增加的員工流動率、技術活力和長期存在的宏觀經濟不確定性進一步激勵公司專注於他們最擅長的領域，並將我們視為擁有數十年人力資本管理經驗的增值合作夥伴。

Now I will briefly provide an update on each business unit, starting with Health Care. Our Specialty Health Care Division had a solid first quarter, exceeding our fourth quarter performance and demonstrating sequential growth. The increased demand for nurses, allied health and behavioral health professionals significantly contributed to our success. Our dedication to delivering best-in-class health care staffing solutions to our clients has been the primary driver of our results.

現在我將簡要介紹每個業務部門的最新情況，首先是醫療保健。我們的專業醫療保健部門第一季度表現穩健，超過了第四季度的業績，並顯示出連續增長。對護士、輔助健康和行為健康專業人員的需求增加極大地促進了我們的成功。我們致力於為客戶提供一流的醫療保健人員配置解決方案，這一直是我們取得成果的主要驅動力。

We have attracted new hospital and (inaudible) school clients, and our existing clients have increased their essential workforce further fueling growth. In addition, we have a robust pipeline of new school districts across the United States. This expansion presents significant growth opportunities, and we are excited about its potential.

我們吸引了新的醫院和（聽不清）學校客戶，我們現有的客戶增加了他們的基本勞動力，進一步推動了增長。此外，我們在美國擁有強大的新學區管道。這種擴張帶來了巨大的增長機會，我們對其潛力感到興奮。

Our focus on providing highly skilled and experienced health care professionals to school districts will drive our success in this growing market. The current nursing and behavioral health professional shortages in schools have become a significant concern for educators and health care providers. The post-pandemic environment has further stressed a system already facing decades of underinvestment.

我們專注於為學區提供高技能和經驗豐富的醫療保健專業人員，這將推動我們在這個不斷增長的市場中取得成功。目前學校護理和行為健康專業人才短缺已成為教育工作者和醫療保健提供者的一個重要問題。大流行後的環境進一步強調了已經面臨數十年投資不足的系統。

This shortage of health care professionals impacts the student's health and well-being. It poses a significant challenge for educators and health care providers responsible for ensuring they receive the best care and education. The need for nurses in schools has become even more critical.

醫療保健專業人員的短缺會影響學生的健康和福祉。這對負責確保他們獲得最好的護理和教育的教育工作者和醫療保健提供者提出了重大挑戰。學校對護士的需求變得更加緊迫。

Nurses play a vital role in educating and promoting health among students. Additionally, the need for more behavioral health professionals in schools has become a significant challenge for educators. The lack of mental health resources makes it difficult for schools to provide students with the necessary support to cope with behavioral health issues.

護士在教育和促進學生健康方面發揮著至關重要的作用。此外，學校對更多行為健康專業人員的需求已成為教育工作者面臨的重大挑戰。心理健康資源的缺乏使得學校難以為學生提供必要的支持來應對行為健康問題。

At RCM, we understand the importance of collaboration with our clients to address these shortages and support students. We are committed to working closely with our (inaudible) partners to find innovative health care staffing solutions and ensure students receive best-in-class care.

在 RCM，我們了解與客戶合作解決這些短缺問題並為學生提供支持的重要性。我們致力於與我們的（聽不清）合作夥伴密切合作，尋找創新的醫療保健人員配置解決方案，並確保學生獲得一流的護理。

On the Life Sciences and IT front, our HCM practice continues to excel by expanding our managed services agreement with a large workforce management technology provider. The program has been so successful that we have become the largest partner for 1 of its core offerings and expanded our partnership into the client's second flagship offering.

在生命科學和 IT 方面，我們的 HCM 實踐通過擴大與大型勞動力管理技術提供商的託管服務協議而繼續表現出色。該計劃非常成功，我們已成為其核心產品之一的最大合作夥伴，並將我們的合作夥伴關係擴展到客戶的第二個旗艦產品。

Collectively, the 2 programs bolster our multiyear managed service portfolio. Our Life Sciences team has secured several new clients, including 2 large-scale manufacturing commercialization projects. In addition, our shift to long-term managed service contracts has largely mitigated our exposure to business volatility.

這 2 個計劃共同加強了我們多年的託管服務組合。我們的生命科學團隊獲得了幾個新客戶，包括 2 個大型製造商業化項目。此外，我們向長期託管服務合同的轉變在很大程度上減輕了我們對業務波動的風險。

We see increased opportunities for 2023 as we expand our services and reach across all our primary service offerings. The shift in focus away from one-off episodic engagements to long-term offerings has provided a platform for growth in all economic conditions.

隨著我們擴展服務並覆蓋所有主要服務產品，我們看到 2023 年的機會增加。重點從一次性的偶發性交易轉向長期產品，為所有經濟條件下的增長提供了平台。

Moving to Engineering. First quarter RCM Processing Industrial results were modestly above plan with strong growth in backlog and pipeline. A high level of start-up and commissioning work at our job sites and the timing of new customer projects led to performance below the Q4 run rate. However, the strong uptick in bookings at the end of the quarter demonstrates delivery to the forecast and a trajectory for year-over-year growth.

轉向工程。第一季度 RCM Processing Industrial 業績略高於計劃，積壓訂單和管道訂單增長強勁。我們工作現場的高水平啟動和調試工作以及新客戶項目的時間安排導致績效低於第四季度的運行率。然而，本季度末預訂量的強勁增長表明了預測的實現以及同比增長的軌跡。

Growth is forecast to continue as additional projects become fully funded and current demonstration scale work fuel multiple production scale ventures. The potential of the Process Industrial group and most notably, the Thermal Kinetics business unit continues to flourish with diversification in customers and markets, evidenced by backlog and recent awards.

隨著更多項目獲得充分資助以及當前示範規模的工作推動了多個生產規模的企業，預計增長將繼續。過程工業集團的潛力，尤其是熱動力學業務部門，隨著客戶和市場的多樣化繼續蓬勃發展，積壓訂單和最近的獎項證明了這一點。

RCM Thermal Kinetics has gained momentum with several new clients and strategic partnerships, including Solugen, global leader in scalable synthetic biology, bringing sustainability and nontoxic ingredients to the chemicals industry. You can read more about the work in the March edition of manufacturing today magazine, where Solugen is featured in a major editorial.

RCM Thermal Kinetics 獲得了一些新客戶和戰略合作夥伴的支持，其中包括可擴展合成生物學領域的全球領導者 Solugen，它為化學工業帶來了可持續性和無毒成分。您可以在《今日製造》雜誌的 3 月版中閱讀更多關於這項工作的信息，Solugen 在該雜誌的一篇主要社論中有特色。

New partnerships like this complement long-standing ones with companies like Fluid Quip Technologies where we have brought another 2 fuel ethanol projects online in Q1, both in Brazil.

像這樣的新合作夥伴關係補充了與 Fluid Quip Technologies 等公司的長期合作夥伴關係，我們在第一季度將另外 2 個燃料乙醇項目上線，均在巴西。

As the push for a carbon-neutral future and increased demand for materials drives investment for facility owners, RCM Thermal Kinetics is also seeing an increase in demand for equipment in the aluminum rolling mill industry.

隨著對碳中和未來的推動和對材料需求的增加推動了設施所有者的投資，RCM Thermal Kinetics 也看到了鋁軋機行業對設備的需求增加。

Our technology provides a high-value solution for recovering expensive rolling oils through a distillation process and supports plant operators in meeting environmental compliance while reducing costs. This is another example of diversification in customers and markets our technology-led business model serves.

我們的技術為通過蒸餾過程回收昂貴的軋製油提供了高價值的解決方案，並支持工廠運營商在滿足環境合規性的同時降低成本。這是我們以技術為主導的商業模式所服務的客戶和市場多元化的另一個例子。

Energy Services continues to build growth and momentum through the first quarter. The team kicked off several projects with one of North America's largest utilities mid-quarter and is seeing the backlog and pipeline grow substantially for this work well beyond 2023 with multiple 7-figure PL awards secured during the quarter.

能源服務在第一季度繼續保持增長勢頭。該團隊在季度中期與北美最大的公用事業公司之一啟動了幾個項目，並且看到這項工作的積壓和管道在 2023 年之後大幅增長，並在本季度獲得了多個 7 位數的 PL 獎勵。

The Energy Services Group continues to grow its footprint and is pleased to announce the opening of its new office in Germany. This achievement is well aligned with the group's mission to be a trusted partner as we grow our footprint to better align with the expansion of these key relationships. We were awarded a substantial project for a large European utility client during the quarter. We look forward to strengthening its ability to support the modernization of the grid and partnering towards a carbon-neutral future for energy across Europe.

能源服務集團繼續擴大其足跡，並高興地宣布其在德國開設新辦事處。隨著我們擴大足跡以更好地適應這些關鍵關係的擴展，這一成就與集團成為值得信賴的合作夥伴的使命完全一致。在本季度，我們獲得了一個大型歐洲公用事業客戶的重要項目。我們期待著加強其支持電網現代化的能力，並攜手為整個歐洲的能源實現碳中和的未來而努力。

The Energy Services Group has one of the most robust portfolios of clients and backlog in its history. It remains focused on building upon this sturdy foundation to deliver efficient, quality focused, innovative solutions for our clients' success.

能源服務集團擁有其歷史上最強大的客戶和積壓產品組合之一。它仍然專注於建立在這個堅實的基礎上，為我們的客戶的成功提供高效、注重質量、創新的解決方案。

Aerospace continued to drive growth through the first quarter of 2023 by adding customers and expanding scope with existing clients while adding new capabilities and seasoned executive management to complement the existing team. We have added 3 new customers to our portfolio and broken into the Aerospace component and engine market, presenting huge potential.

航空航天在 2023 年第一季度繼續推動增長，方法是增加客戶並擴大現有客戶的範圍，同時增加新功能和經驗豐富的執行管理以補充現有團隊。我們在我們的產品組合中增加了 3 個新客戶，並打入了具有巨大潛力的航空航天部件和發動機市場。

Our new senior management team provides much needed experience and expertise in the manufacturing realm of this environment. Our employee base in the space and air mobility arenas continues to expand into other adjacent areas in engineering and aftermarket with both new and current customers.

我們新的高級管理團隊在這種環境的製造領域提供了急需的經驗和專業知識。我們在太空和空中交通領域的員工基礎繼續擴展到工程和售後市場的其他相鄰領域，包括新客戶和現有客戶。

Our sales pipeline is the largest it has ever been with potential to close on 5 to 7 new clients and opportunities before year-end 2023, gaining us a foothold in many of the largest and most successful OEMs in the industry. The depth and breadth of this new business -- of this new development will include new air mobility clients, vertical flight, sea vessels and commercial airlines.

我們的銷售渠道是有史以來最大的，有可能在 2023 年年底之前關閉 5 到 7 個新客戶和機會，使我們在業內許多最大和最成功的原始設備製造商中站穩腳跟。這項新業務的深度和廣度——這項新發展將包括新的空中交通客戶、垂直飛行、海船和商業航空公司。

Our recruitment team remains ready to compete and utilize its network, agility and speed-to-market approach, which has proven successful with several recent ramp rate requirements at clients. Additionally, we added a Senior Vice President, aftermarket with experience in negotiating maintenance agreements, leading cross-functional teams and surplus parts strategies and establishing partnership agreements in new market segments.

我們的招聘團隊隨時準備競爭並利用其網絡、敏捷性和快速上市方法，該方法在客戶最近的幾個爬升率要求中證明是成功的。此外，我們還增加了一名售後市場高級副總裁，他在談判維護協議、領導跨職能團隊和剩餘零件戰略以及在新細分市場建立合作夥伴協議方面經驗豐富。

This addition will help drive diversification into other areas of aftermarket. The aftermarket segment continues to be an area of growth throughout the industry.

這一增加將有助於推動多元化進入售後市場的其他領域。售後市場仍然是整個行業的增長領域。

Attending aviation week, MRO Americas in April, we learned that demand for air travel remains strong, while skilled labor and [park] shortages continue to be challenging. This combination is ideal for RCM's aftermarket solutions as had been in our many discussions with OEMs and MROs.

參加 4 月份的美洲 MRO 航空週，我們了解到航空旅行的需求依然強勁，而熟練勞動力和 [park] 短缺仍然具有挑戰性。正如我們在與 OEM 和 MRO 的多次討論中所討論的那樣，這種組合非常適合 RCM 的售後市場解決方案。

Before turning the call to Kevin, who will cover our financial results in more detail. I will take a moment to touch on our progress on the capital allocation front. Since the start of the year, our clean balance sheet and high cash generating business model have allowed us to repurchase over 1.2 million shares including purchasing 334,000 shares in an opportunistic private transaction.

在將電話轉給凱文之前，他將更詳細地介紹我們的財務業績。我將花點時間談談我們在資本配置方面的進展。自今年年初以來，我們乾淨的資產負債表和高現金產生業務模式使我們能夠回購超過 120 萬股股票，包括在機會主義私人交易中購買 334,000 股股票。

In addition, as we work through our seasonally strongest cash generated quarter, we maintain great financial flexibility to pursue growth programs and react opportunistically to capitalize on market anxiety.

此外，在我們度過季節性最強的現金產生季度時，我們保持了巨大的財務靈活性，以追求增長計劃並做出機會主義反應以利用市場焦慮。

Now I will turn the call to Kevin to discuss the Q1 2023 full year financial results in more detail.

現在我將把電話轉給凱文，更詳細地討論 2023 年第一季度的全年財務業績。

Thank you, Brad. Regarding our consolidated results, revenue for the first quarter was $67.2 million, the decrease in revenue was mainly due to the following: in Health Care, we have a comp against our peak COVID impact in Q1 of 2022. So naturally, we saw a decline in revenue as the pandemic shifted to an endemic. However, as telegraphed on our last call, we saw solid sequential growth as the underlying non-COVID-related demand for our services is robust.

謝謝你，布拉德。關於我們的綜合業績，第一季度的收入為 6720 萬美元，收入減少的主要原因如下：在醫療保健方面，我們與 2022 年第一季度 COVID 影響的峰值進行了比較。所以自然地，我們看到了下降隨著大流行病轉變為地方病，收入有所增加。然而，正如我們在上次電話會議上所傳達的那樣，由於對我們服務的潛在非 COVID 相關需求強勁，我們看到了穩健的連續增長。

As for Engineering, Q1 '23 was a quarter we occasionally see where there is a gap from several large projects ending around the same time and not getting immediately replaced with new projects. We expect our Engineering group to see sequential increases throughout the rest of 2023.

至於工程，23 年第一季度是我們偶爾會看到幾個大型項目大約在同一時間結束並且沒有立即被新項目取代的地方。我們預計我們的工程團隊將在 2023 年剩餘時間內實現連續增長。

Gross margin in the first quarter was 28.3% versus 28.6%. We saw outstanding gross margin performance from Health Care and Life Sciences and IT. However, we saw weak margin performance in our Engineering due to lower utilization associated with project gaps.

第一季度的毛利率為 28.3% 和 28.6%。我們看到了醫療保健和生命科學以及 IT 領域出色的毛利率表現。但是，由於與項目差距相關的利用率較低，我們的工程部門利潤率表現不佳。

As we look to the second quarter, we expect Health Care to continue to experience its underlying sequential growth trend. However, due to school closings, we expect to see a sequential top line decline. Our second largest school client closes at the end of May, and most other school clients are not in session through June 30. We are optimistic that our Engineering group can match whatever sequential decline we see from Health Care.

展望第二季度，我們預計醫療保健將繼續經歷其潛在的連續增長趨勢。然而，由於學校停課，我們預計收入將連續下降。我們的第二大學校客戶在 5 月底關閉，而大多數其他學校客戶在 6 月 30 日之前都沒有開會。我們樂觀地認為，我們的工程部門可以匹配我們從醫療保健看到的任何連續下降。

As for IT, we expect to see a modest sequential increase in the second quarter. As we look beyond the second quarter, we expect our Health Care group to continue to see strong growth trends. as we get through summer school closings in Q3, we believe that Q4 '23 will be Health Care's best quarter in 2023 by a significant amount.

至於 IT，我們預計第二季度將出現適度的環比增長。展望第二季度之後，我們預計我們的醫療保健集團將繼續保持強勁的增長趨勢。隨著我們在第三季度結束暑期學校的關閉，我們相信 23 年第四季度將是醫療保健在 2023 年的最佳季度。

In addition, we are incredibly excited about new schools and our behavioral health offering for the 2023-2024 school year. We expect to continue to see significant sequential gains in our Engineering group as we realize our strong project backlog and continue to convert the pipeline. With the recent managed service wins in Life Sciences and IT, we anticipate sequential growth each quarter in 2023.

此外，我們對 2023-2024 學年的新學校和我們的行為健康服務感到非常興奮。隨著我們意識到我們強大的項目積壓並繼續轉換管道，我們預計我們的工程組將繼續取得顯著的連續收益。隨著最近在生命科學和 IT 領域贏得託管服務，我們預計 2023 年每個季度都會出現連續增長。

In summary, we believe we are lining up an impressive fourth quarter and run rate as we head into fiscal 2024.

總而言之，我們相信在進入 2024 財年之際，我們將取得令人印象深刻的第四季度和運行率。

This concludes our prepared remarks. At this time, we will open the call for questions.

我們準備好的發言到此結束。這個時候，我們會開啟提問的徵集。

(Operator Instructions). It does look like we got at least 1 question in so far from Alex Rygiel from B. Riley Financial.

（操作員說明）。到目前為止，B. Riley Financial 的 Alex Rygiel 似乎至少提出了 1 個問題。

Kevin. Just thanks for the added guidance there. As it related to your comment about Specialty Health, sequentially being down a little bit. It sounded like you suggested that 2Q sequential down would be basically offset by the Engineering team. So I wanted to confirm that first.

凱文。只是感謝那裡的額外指導。由於它與您對 Specialty Health 的評論有關，所以依次下降了一點。聽起來你建議 2Q 連續下降基本上會被工程團隊抵消。所以我想先確認一下。

Yes. I mean sure. Obviously, we don't know what the exact revenues are going to be in Q2, but we're -- like I said, we're optimistic that the 2 will offset each other.

是的。我的意思是肯定的。顯然，我們不知道第二季度的確切收入是多少，但我們 - 就像我說的那樣，我們樂觀地認為這兩個收入會相互抵消。

Great. And then Brad, bigger picture here, very bullish comments from a macro standpoint, your capital allocation, share repurchases in the first quarter would suggest your confidence kind of heading out. You referenced a number of new customers, and it sounds like, therefore, backlog is growing. I know you don't disclose backlog, but can you help us to sort of understand maybe how backlog has changed year-over-year sequentially? And how do you see that growing throughout the year?

偉大的。然後布拉德，從更大的角度來看，從宏觀角度來看非常樂觀的評論，你的資本配置，第一季度的股票回購表明你有信心走出去。您提到了一些新客戶，因此聽起來積壓正在增加。我知道你沒有透露積壓，但你能幫助我們了解一下積壓是如何逐年變化的嗎？您如何看待全年的增長？

Yes. Backlog is certainly building. But what's probably more encouraging is pipeline activity and the level of confidence that we have, not only is it broadening across the portfolio, but the size of the work and the level of involvement with our clients is also increasing. So again, as we continue -- as the business continues to mature, and we have increased confidence in cadence, we're certainly willing to share that. Inevitably, given the project-oriented orientation of some of what we do when you start in kind of precise guidance, it becomes a little bit more difficult, particularly when you're balancing growth versus profitability?

是的。積壓肯定在增加。但可能更令人鼓舞的是管道活動和我們擁有的信心水平，它不僅在整個投資組合中擴大，而且工作規模和與客戶的參與程度也在增加。因此，隨著我們的繼續——隨著業務的不斷成熟，我們對節奏的信心也越來越強，我們當然願意分享這一點。不可避免地，考慮到我們在開始提供精確指導時所做的某些工作以項目為導向，這會變得更加困難，尤其是當您在平衡增長與盈利能力時？

And with that, there are no further -- We just got another question, Bill Sutherland of Benchmark.

有了這個，就沒有了——我們剛剛收到另一個問題，Benchmark 的 Bill Sutherland。

So as you try to think about the timing of the projects coming on in Engineering, does it feel like it's going to be not just a back half weighted year, but maybe even more in the fourth quarter? Or would it be more evenly distributed?

因此，當您嘗試考慮工程項目的時間安排時，是否感覺這不僅是後半年加權的一年，而且可能在第四季度甚至更多？還是分佈更均勻？

Hard to say exactly, Bill, because some of the timing of the projects is difficult to project, but I think that we'll see Q3 should be significantly better than Q2 and Q2 should be significantly better than Q1. And I think Q4 will be better than Q3. So I think we're good. I think both Q3 and Q4 would be strong as we sit here today and forecast the backlog rollout and the realization of pipeline, but Q4 should be better than Q3 as well. So we're optimistic we'll see (inaudible) each quarter as we head out.

很難準確地說，比爾，因為一些項目的時間安排很難預測，但我認為我們會看到第三季度應該明顯好於第二季度，而第二季度應該明顯好於第一季度。而且我認為第四季度會比第三季度好。所以我認為我們很好。我認為第三季度和第四季度都會很強勁，因為我們今天坐在這裡預測積壓的推出和管道的實現，但第四季度也應該比第三季度好。所以我們很樂觀，我們會在每個季度看到（聽不清）。

And you typically get a seasonal Q1 seasonally off at least a little bit from Q4, just because of the projects that get wrapped up, and you have to start new ones.

而且你通常會從第 4 季度開始季節性地至少有一點季節性的第 1 季度，只是因為項目已經結束，你必須開始新的項目。

Typically, yes. Every year is a little different, but we often see that. One of the things that impacted us in the Q1 in addition to some major projects ending is 1 of our major aerospace clients lost a contract, and we had about 30 people come off building, which is fine. These types of things happens when you're in the business of filling gaps for clients, you're going to wind up with some gaps yourself, but we're seeing that rebuild and we think the second half for aerospace is going to be dynamite. Brad mentioned that we have a whole bunch of new clients that we've never worked with in the past that we think we're going to close. And we've added several new clients in the beginning of this year. They'll take a little while to ramp and then we have 5 to 7 more that we think we could close between now and the end of the year. So we're really, really excited about what we have going on in the Aerospace group despite not going up in the Q1 number.

通常，是的。每年都有點不同，但我們經常看到。除了一些重大項目結束之外，第一季度影響我們的事情之一是我們的主要航空航天客戶失去了一份合同，我們有大約 30 人離開了建築，這很好。這些類型的事情發生在你為客戶填補空白的業務中，你自己也會有一些空白，但我們正在看到重建，我們認為航空航天的下半年將是炸藥.布拉德提到我們有一大堆新客戶，我們過去從未與之合作過，我們認為我們將要關閉。我們在今年年初增加了幾個新客戶。他們需要一些時間來提升，然後我們認為從現在到今年年底我們可以關閉 5 到 7 個。因此，儘管第一季度的數字沒有上升，但我們對我們在航空航天集團所做的事情感到非常非常興奮。

Yes. And then when you look at the clients that you're onboarding in education in the fall for this coming school year. Do these tend to have contracts to kind of start September 1-ish? Or do you have some that are a little off the traditional education calendar? Just curious...

是的。然後，當您查看即將在下一學年秋季接受教育的客戶時。這些合同是否傾向於在 9 月 1 日左右開始？或者你有一些與傳統教育日曆有點不同的東西嗎？只是好奇...

The contracts are kind of a bit all over the map, but a lot of the newer contracts that we're getting are general M&As, right? And if you win an MSA with a school client in April, you may or may not be able to place some people with that client at the end of the current school year. Sometimes we can add a few people. Sometimes you win a contract and it's okay, we're gearing up for September of 2023. But we're optimistic that when the new school year rolls around and some of our clients start in August, some of them start in September, we're really optimistic about a lot of the new contracts, either contracts that are new, and we're not -- and we don't have a lot of providers there or contracts potentially that we could win between now and the 2023-2024 school year because we're talking to a whole bunch of schools that we feel good, that we can close sometime over the summer so that we can get some people in there in September.

合同有點亂，但我們獲得的很多新合同都是一般併購，對吧？如果您在 4 月份贏得了學校客戶的 MSA，您可能會或可能無法在當前學年結束時為該客戶安排一些人。有時我們可以加幾個人。有時你贏得了一份合同，沒關係，我們正在為 2023 年 9 月做準備。但我們樂觀地認為，當新學年到來時，我們的一些客戶在 8 月開始，其中一些客戶在 9 月開始，我們'我們對很多新合同真的很樂觀，要么是新合同，要么是新合同，但我們不是——我們那裡沒有很多供應商，也沒有我們可能從現在到 2023-2024 年學校贏得的合同年，因為我們正在與一大堆我們感覺良好的學校交談，我們可以在夏季的某個時候關閉，以便我們可以在 9 月招收一些人。

And then you've got school contracts that we won for 2022, '23, you don't always go in there and put 30 people in. In the first year, you might put in 10 and then the next year, maybe you get up to 30 and then next year, maybe you get up to 40 or 50 if the school is big enough to support that many people.

然後你獲得了我們贏得的 2022 年學校合同，'23，你並不總是去那裡並投入 30 人。在第一年，你可能會投入 10 人，然後第二年，也許你會得到最多 30 人，然後明年，如果學校大到足以供養這麼多人，也許你會增加到 40 或 50 人。

So it's really kind of all over the map. But I think the bottom line is we're very optimistic about when we look at the new schools that we've added and the pipeline schools that we haven't added yet that we think we can add, we're really excited about '23, '24, and we won't see that impact until September, end of August. So that's the main reason we talk about Health Care having a great Q4. That's why we think we're going to have a really good Q4 for Health Care.

所以它真的遍布整個地圖。但我認為最重要的是，當我們看到我們已經添加的新學校和我們認為可以添加的尚未添加的管道學校時，我們非常樂觀，我們真的很興奮' 23、24 年，我們要到 9 月、8 月底才能看到這種影響。所以這就是我們談論醫療保健第四季度表現出色的主要原因。這就是為什麼我們認為我們將有一個非常好的醫療保健第四季度。

Got it. And then Brad, on capital allocation, you guys have repurchased 1.2 million shares through the end of 1Q or...

知道了。然後布拉德，在資本分配方面，你們在第一季度末回購了 120 萬股股票，或者......

No (inaudible) through date.

沒有（聽不清）截止日期。

Through to date, okay.

到目前為止，好的。

Through to date, right. So if you want -- I know you always like to get our share count, I'll be happy to give it to you.

到目前為止，對。所以如果你想要——我知道你總是喜歡得到我們的股票數量，我很樂意給你。

Yes. Absolutely.

是的。絕對地。

So our share count as of today, and this is without dilutive shares, is 8,269,332. So that's our share count as of today without dilutive shares. And the dilutive shares in Q1 were about 229,000 shares.

因此，截至今天，我們的股份數量為 8,269,332，這沒有稀釋股份。這就是我們今天的股份數量，沒有稀釋股份。而一季度攤薄股份約為22.9萬股。

Wait, you...

等你...

Well, so let me just say you're not confused. As of today, our share count without dilutive shares is 8,269,332 but let me -- I'll give you the Q1 as well because I know you like to get those, some additional confusion, hold on, let me just flip to the Q, which I expect to file at the end of the day to our footnote here. So our share -- our diluted average share count for Q1 was 9,401,867. And that includes 229,356 of dilutive shares for Q1.

好吧，我只想說你不困惑。截至今天，我們的股份數量不包括稀釋性股份為 8,269,332，但讓我 - 我也會給你 Q1 因為我知道你喜歡得到那些，一些額外的困惑，等一下，讓我轉到 Q，我希望在今天結束時將其提交到我們的腳註中。所以我們的份額——我們第一季度的攤薄平均股數為 9,401,867。其中包括 229,356 股第一季度的稀釋性股份。

I understand Okay. Okay. No, I understand what you're saying. And then you're just kind of an opportunistic posture in the authorization is how big at this point?

我明白了 好的。好的。不，我明白你在說什麼。然後你只是那種投機取巧的姿態，此時授權有多大？

As of today, [$23.5 million] we have left for potential purchases.

截至今天，[2350 萬美元] 我們已留給潛在購買。

Yes, I think the 1 thing I'd add to that, Bill, is we're not capital constrained whatsoever and we have a high level of confidence in the business that we're building here and the teams that we brought on and have filled out and are increasingly enhancing and the activity that they're generating. So we obviously have done a good job converting cash flow over the last few years.

是的，我認為我要補充的一件事是，比爾，我們沒有任何資金限制，我們對我們在這裡建立的業務以及我們組建和擁有的團隊充滿信心填寫並越來越多地增強他們正在產生的活動。因此，在過去幾年中，我們顯然在轉換現金流方面做得很好。

We anticipate to continue to generate significant amounts of free cash flow. We actively evaluate bolt-on opportunities that we feel like we can grow materially as part of the RCM platform. So with kind of the stock trading at the current levels, it's -- the decision tree is relatively straightforward. What we like to do in terms of capital and the high-return projects we like to target, they're not mutually exclusive. It's kind of the ones that make sense, we'll move forward. We have plenty of capacity to deploy capital where it makes sense.

我們預計將繼續產生大量的自由現金流。我們積極評估補強機會，我們認為我們可以作為 RCM 平台的一部分實現實質性增長。因此，對於目前水平的股票交易，決策樹相對簡單。我們喜歡在資本方面做的事情和我們喜歡瞄準的高回報項目，它們並不相互排斥。這是有道理的，我們會繼續前進。我們有足夠的能力在有意義的地方部署資本。

All right. And next up, it looks like we have [Frank Kelly], a private investor.

好的。接下來，看起來我們有私人投資者 [Frank Kelly]。

Great. I was looking at AR. Our DSOs are considerably up year-over-year, I think they've got to be pretty incredible. And then I turned around and I look at interest expense on our line, would it be -- what do we have to say about that? And it looks like it's the $9 million in increased line that we've used. We could save $0.5 million in interest versus collecting that cash. What do you guys think on the DSO? And what's happening there?

偉大的。我在看AR。我們的 DSO 同比大幅增長，我認為它們一定非常不可思議。然後我轉過身來，看看我們線路上的利息支出，會是——我們對此有什麼要說的嗎？看起來這是我們使用的 900 萬美元的增加線。與收取現金相比，我們可以節省 50 萬美元的利息。大家對DSO有什麼看法？那裡發生了什麼？

Sure. I mean the DSOs are definitely up in Q1 and certainly above a level that we've been accustomed to for the last 2 years. As you know, [Frank], they can fluctuate for all kinds of reasons. We often see a spike in Q1 just because I think we usually see a lot of our clients push to get [cash] out the door at the end of the calendar year. And then sometimes they take a little pause in the first quarter. So it's not unusual to see a spike in the first quarter. But I would tell you that, frankly, they're a lot higher than in Q1 than I'd like to see them. And I think they're higher than what we expect to see going forward.

當然。我的意思是 DSO 肯定在第一季度上升，並且肯定高於我們過去 2 年已經習慣的水平。如你所知，[弗蘭克]，它們可能會因各種原因而波動。我們經常看到第一季度出現激增，因為我認為我們通常會看到很多客戶在日曆年年底推動 [現金] 出門。然後有時他們會在第一節稍作停頓。因此，第一季度出現飆升並不罕見。但我會告訴你，坦率地說，它們比第一季度高得多，比我希望看到的要高。而且我認為它們比我們預期的要高。

I think if we look at the last year, those are quite good. But the Q1 of 2023, they were not good and when we expect them to come down.

我認為，如果我們回顧去年，這些都非常好。但是 2023 年第一季度，它們表現不佳，而我們預計它們會下降。

As far as [DSO] is concerned, obviously, obviously, a decline in DSOs will -- assuming no big increase in revenue, will help us to decrease our debt, and that would obviously help decrease our interest expense. But the main driver of the debt is obviously the repurchase program, which we'll take that trade-off and the share count versus a little bit of interest expense all day long in terms of the EPS and having a leverage ratio (inaudible).

就 [DSO] 而言，顯然，顯然，假設收入沒有大幅增加，DSO 的下降將有助於我們減少債務，這顯然有助於減少我們的利息支出。但債務的主要驅動力顯然是回購計劃，我們將在每股收益和槓桿率（聽不清）方面整天權衡取捨，股票數量與一點利息支出。

Yes, [Frank], just to put a fine point on the interest expenses is under any sort of reasonable assumptions, we don't see kind of after-tax interest expense to be much more than $1 million. We don't anticipate significant leverage relative to our earnings power or anything like that. We have a great relationship with our bank. So -- but your point is well taken. It wasn't our best collections quarter. The finance team is on it. We anticipate a good free cash flow in Q2 as we would have seasonally anyways. But there's also opportunity to improve DSOs from where we're at.

是的，[弗蘭克]，只要在任何合理的假設下對利息支出進行細化，我們認為稅後利息支出不會超過 100 萬美元。我們預計相對於我們的盈利能力或類似的東西不會有顯著的槓桿作用。我們與銀行有著良好的關係。所以——但你的觀點得到了很好的採納。這不是我們最好的收藏季。財務團隊在上面。我們預計第二季度會有良好的自由現金流，因為無論如何我們都會有季節性的。但也有機會從我們所處的位置改進 DSO。

Great. Great. Great. I'm sure you guys are on it. The other question, could you shed some light on the gain of sale of assets, which kind of a one-off extra $400,000 this quarter. What was that as related to?

偉大的。偉大的。偉大的。我相信你們都在努力。另一個問題，你能否闡明資產出售的收益，本季度一次性額外增加 400,000 美元。那和什麼有關？

So as I'm sure you're aware, we sold our Canada Power Systems Group in 2021 and that -- there were some escrow funds associated with that. And the accounting on that is you don't recognize the gain until the cash comes in. That was just a matter of us collecting the last amount of escrow funds. We -- it was like a 1/3, 2/3 collection. We collected some last year, which is what I think it was in the fourth quarter or the third quarter, it was recognized maybe. That was a smaller amount because that was a portion of the escrow and then the balance of it was paid out this year. And there's no more funds that deals done, the escrows will return to us.

所以我相信你知道，我們在 2021 年出售了我們的加拿大電力系統集團，並且有一些與之相關的託管基金。會計是在現金進來之前你不會確認收益。這只是我們收集最後一筆託管資金的問題。我們——這就像一個 1/3、2/3 的集合。我們去年收集了一些，我認為這是在第四季度或第三季度，它可能被認可了。這是一個較小的數額，因為這是託管的一部分，然後今年支付了余額。並且沒有更多的資金完成交易，託管將返回給我們。

Great. Great. Just the extension on that was about 2 years, right?

偉大的。偉大的。只是延長了大約 2 年，對嗎？

18 months, [Frank], which was -- which, frankly, was a rough negotiation, but we got it in 18 months.

18 個月，[弗蘭克]，坦率地說，這是一次艱難的談判，但我們在 18 個月內就達成了。

Great. Great. Last question on the capital allocation. The program that the company is currently pursuing. Do we see that to continue throughout the rest of -- the remainder of 2023?

偉大的。偉大的。關於資本配置的最後一個問題。公司目前正在實施的計劃。我們是否認為這種情況會持續到 2023 年剩餘時間？

Yes, certainly through the remainder of 2023. We continue to be open-minded. Look, as the business continues to strengthen, we continue to grow EBITDA, right, and share count is lower. I mean that just further opens up the field. Like I said, we're not ruling anything out. Like I said, I don't think that it's fair to anticipate any type of a distribution or dividend this year, but going forward, we're not completely opposed to it. It's something that we do talk about.

是的，肯定會持續到 2023 年剩餘時間。我們將繼續保持開放的態度。看，隨著業務的不斷加強，我們的 EBITDA 繼續增長，對，而且股票數量減少了。我的意思是，這只是進一步打開了這個領域。就像我說的，我們不排除任何可能性。就像我說的，我認為今年預期任何類型的分配或股息都是不公平的，但展望未來，我們並不完全反對它。這是我們確實在談論的事情。

With that, gentlemen, we no longer have any questions in queue. (Operator Instructions). And at this time, I'm seeing no further questions in queue.

有了這個，先生們，我們不再有任何問題要排隊了。 （操作員說明）。目前，我沒有看到隊列中有其他問題。

Thanks, everyone.

感謝大家。

Thank you, everyone, for your time today. We look forward to our next update in August.

謝謝大家今天的時間。我們期待 8 月的下一次更新。

All right. Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude your call. You may now disconnect your lines, and thank you again for joining us today.

好的。女士們，先生們，你們的電話到此結束。您現在可以斷開線路，再次感謝您今天加入我們。