Rollins Inc (ROL) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the Rollins fourth-quarter 2024 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

大家好，歡迎參加羅林斯 2024 年第四季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）提醒一下，本次會議正在錄音。

It is now my pleasure to introduce Lyndsey Burton, Vice President of Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.

現在我很高興介紹投資者關係副總裁 Lyndsey Burton。謝謝。你可以開始了。

Thank you. In addition to the earnings release that we issued yesterday, the company has also prepared a supporting slide presentation. The earnings release and presentation are available on our website at www.rollins.com.

謝謝。除了我們昨天發布的收益報告外，該公司還準備了一份支援幻燈片簡報。收益報告和簡報可在我們的網站 www.rollins.com 上查閱。

We have included GAAP financial measures as part of our discussion this morning. The non-GAAP reconciliations are available in the Appendix of today's presentation as well as in our earnings release. The company's earnings release discusses the business outlook and contains certain forward-looking statements.

我們已將 GAAP 財務指標納入今天上午的討論中。非公認會計準則對帳表可在今天簡報的附錄以及我們的收益報告中查閱。該公司的收益報告討論了業務前景並包含某些前瞻性陳述。

These particular forward-looking statements and all other statements that have been made on this call, excluding historical facts, are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. And actual results may differ materially from any statement we make today. Please refer to yesterday's press release and the company's SEC filings, including the Risk Factors section of our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, which will be filed later today.

這些特定的前瞻性陳述以及本次電話會議中所做的所有其他陳述（歷史事實除外）都受到許多風險和不確定性的影響。實際結果可能與我們今天所作的任何聲明有重大差異。請參閱昨天的新聞稿和公司的 SEC 文件，包括我們截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日的 10-K 表的風險因素部分，該表將於今天晚些時候提交。

On the line with me today and speaking are Jerry Gahlhoff, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Ken Krause, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. The management will make some opening remarks, and then we'll open the line for your questions.

今天與我通電話並發言的是總裁兼執行長 Jerry Gahlhoff；以及執行副總裁兼財務長 Ken Krause。管理層將致一些開場白，然後我們將開始回答您的問題。

Jerry, would you like to begin?

傑瑞，你想開始嗎？

Thank you, Lyndsey. Good morning, everyone. Fiscal 2024 was another solid year for Rollins, as we achieved a milestone of $3.4 billion in revenue. Our business remains healthy on all fronts, as demand remained strong throughout the year across all major service offerings.

謝謝你，林賽。大家早安。2024 財年對羅林斯來說又是豐收的一年，我們的營收達到了 34 億美元的里程碑。由於全年所有主要服務產品的需求依然強勁，我們的業務各方面均保持健康。

As full-year revenue increased 10.3% versus last year, we grew earnings by 7.9% and adjusted earnings per share by 11.2%. Organic growth for the year of 7.9% was bolstered by strong execution of our operating strategies and continued investment in people and staffing to meet the continued demand in our markets.

由於全年營收較去年同期成長 10.3%，我們的收益成長了 7.9%，調整後每股盈餘成長了 11.2%。本年度有機成長率達到 7.9%，得益於我們強有力地執行營運策略以及持續投資於人才和員工隊伍以滿足市場持續的需求。

We strategically allocated resources to the commercial side of our business as we opened a dedicated commercial division within Orkin. Through this focus, we grew our sales force by more than 15% in the last year and invested in support, training, and tools to help new sales professionals get up to speed quickly and effectively.

我們在 Orkin 內部開設了專門的商業部門，策略性地將資源分配給業務的商業方面。透過這一重點，我們在去年將銷售團隊增加了 15％ 以上，並投資於支援、培訓和工具，以幫助新的銷售專業人員快速有效地上手。

As Ken will discuss, these investments to support long-term growth objectives did temper incremental margins a bit in the second half of the year. But we are confident in our ability to yield a strong return on these investments as we head into 2025.

正如肯所討論的，這些支持長期成長目標的投資在下半年確實稍微抑制了增量利潤率。但我們堅信，在邁入 2025 年之際，我們有能力從這些投資中獲得豐厚的回報。

Our service quality is high. Our offerings are customized, and we believe that we are well positioned to capitalize on growth opportunities within a multibillion-dollar B2B market. Investments to drive organic growth are complemented by strategic M&A. And in 2024, we closed 44 tuck-in deals. We have a robust M&A pipeline with a number of opportunities that we are actively evaluating to drive additional growth.

我們的服務品質很高。我們提供的產品是客製化的，我們相信我們有能力利用數十億美元的 B2B 市場中的成長機會。推動有機成長的投資與策略併購相輔相成。2024 年，我們完成了 44 筆補充交易。我們擁有強大的併購管道，其中有大量機會，我們正在積極評估以推動進一步成長。

Operationally, we remain committed to hiring and developing top talent. The hiring environment was healthy in 2024 as we put significant energy into onboarding the right people in both support functions as well as the customer-facing side of our business. Effective sales and service staffing levels helped us capitalize on continued demand and deliver solid results for the year.

在營運方面，我們始終致力於聘用和培養頂尖人才。2024 年的招募環境良好，因為我們投入了大量精力為支援職能和業務的客戶方面引進合適的人才。有效的銷售和服務人員配置水準幫助我們利用持續的需求並在當年取得了穩健的業績。

We're proud of the tenure and experience of our team, as well as their engagement level and commitment to both our company and our customers. While overall teammate retention has been consistently healthy, there is opportunity for improved retention of our newer teammates, specifically, those who are with us for six months or less.

我們為我們團隊的任期和經驗以及他們對公司和客戶的參與程度和承諾感到自豪。雖然整體隊友的保留率一直保持良好，但我們仍有機會提高新隊友的保留率，特別是那些與我們共事六個月或更短時間的隊友。

We made positive strides in this area throughout 2024 by updating training and onboarding programs to better address key milestones in the early days that a new team member is with us. Another important part of our culture is our dedication to continuous improvement. And our focus on safety is a key element of this.

2024 年，我們透過更新培訓和入職計畫來更好地解決新團隊成員加入我們初期的關鍵里程碑，從而在這一領域取得了積極進展。我們文化的另一個重要部分是我們致力於持續改進。我們對安全的關注是其中的關鍵因素。

There's nothing more important than ensuring our teammates to make it home safely at the end of the day. And in 2024, we implemented several new programs to continue building our safety culture here at Rollins. Our newly revamped onboarding program also includes enhanced safety training intended to equip our drivers with the technical skills, awareness, and courtesy needed to uphold the driver safety standards we expect.

沒有什麼比確保我們的隊友在一天結束後安全回家更重要。2024 年，我們實施了幾項新計劃，以繼續建立羅林斯的安全文化。我們新近改進的入職計畫還包括加強的安全培訓，旨在讓我們的司機掌握必要的技術技能、意識和禮貌，以達到我們期望的司機安全標準。

While we are proud of the progress we have made, there is a long tail associated with safety claims that we continue to work through. This is evidenced by our insurance and claims experience in the fourth quarter, which Ken will discuss in more detail.

雖然我們對所取得的進步感到自豪，但安全索賠方面仍存在長期問題，我們仍需繼續努力解決。我們第四季的保險和索賠經驗證明了這一點，Ken 將對此進行更詳細的討論。

Improving a safety culture isn't something that's done overnight. But we are committed to reducing our claims pipeline over time through ongoing safety efforts. As we look ahead to 2025, we're encouraged by the opportunities that are in front of us across all aspects of our business.

改善安全文化不是一朝一夕就能完成的。但我們致力於透過持續的安全努力，逐步減少我們的索賠管道。展望 2025 年，我們業務各個面向所面臨的機會令我們感到鼓舞。

Momentum is strong as we finish 2024 with the highest quarterly organic growth rate that we saw all year. Our residential business also had its best quarter of the year, growing 6.5% organically. We have meaningfully grown our commercial sales force under the banner of a new work in commercial division to better align the management of these resources and drive results.

我們將在 2024 年底實現全年最高的季度有機成長率，因此發展勢頭強勁。我們的住宅業務也經歷了今年最好的季度，有機成長了 6.5%。我們在商業部門新工作的旗幟下大力擴大我們的商業銷售隊伍，以便更好地協調這些資源的管理並推動業績。

Our modernization efforts are progressing well, but we are still early in our journey and see a multitude of areas to drive incremental change. As Ken will discuss, Fitch and S&P have recently announced investment-grade corporate credit ratings for our company, that will provide us with another important access point to the capital markets as we execute our growth strategy.

我們的現代化工作進展順利，但我們仍處於早期階段，並且看到許多領域可以推動漸進式變革。正如肯所討論的，惠譽和標準普爾最近宣布了對我們公司的投資級企業信用評級，這將為我們在實施成長策略時提供另一個重要的資本市場切入點。

Most importantly, we remain committed to providing our customers with the best customer experience and investing meaningfully in our team to drive growth, both organically as well as through disciplined acquisitions. We are pleased with where our business stands today and what lies ahead of us in 2025. And I want to thank each of our 20,000-plus teammates around the world for their efforts and contribution to our success in 2024.

最重要的是，我們仍然致力於為客戶提供最佳的客戶體驗，並對我們的團隊進行有意義的投資，以推動成長，無論是透過有機成長還是透過有紀律的收購。我們對目前的業務狀況以及 2025 年的發展前景感到滿意。我還要感謝全球兩萬多位隊友為我們在 2024 年取得成功所做的努力和貢獻。

I'll now turn the call over to Ken. Ken?

我現在將電話轉給肯。肯？

Thanks, Jerry, and good morning, everyone. Our results for the quarter and the year reflect continued strong execution by the Rollins team. And let me begin with a few highlights for 2024.

謝謝，傑瑞，大家早安。我們本季和全年的業績反映了羅林斯團隊持續強勁的執行力。首先，讓我介紹一下 2024 年的一些亮點。

First, we delivered robust revenue growth of 10.3% for the year with strong growth across each of our service offerings. It was encouraging to see organic growth of 7.9% for the year, while acquisitions continue to be a meaningful part of our growth profile.

首先，我們全年的營收強勁成長了 10.3%，我們的各項服務都實現了強勁成長。令人鼓舞的是，今年的有機成長率達到了 7.9%，而收購仍然是我們成長的重要組成部分。

Second, we made progress on profitability improvement in 2024 while also making significant long-term investments to support the business. The pricing environment remains healthy, and we continue to focus on investing in future growth while delivering margin improvement.

其次，我們在2024年獲利能力提升方面取得了進展，同時也進行了重大長期投資以支持業務。定價環境依然健康，我們將繼續專注於投資未來成長，同時提高利潤率。

Growth investments and pressure from developments on legacy auto claims that materialized in December, both weighed on incremental margins for the quarter and the year. When you isolate the impact of these two factors, the incremental margin that was generated by our underlying operations for the year is solidly in the 30% range.

12 月出現的成長投資和遺留汽車索賠的壓力均對本季和全年的增量利潤率造成了壓力。當你單獨考慮這兩個因素的影響時，我們今年基礎營運產生的增量利潤率穩定在 30% 的範圍內。

And finally, we delivered operating cash flow of $608 million and free cash flow of $580 million, up 15% and 17%, respectively, versus last year. Our strong cash flow performance enabled us to execute a balanced capital allocation strategy, deploying almost $500 million of capital in 2024 with a focus on investing for growth while returning cash to shareholders through a growing dividend.

最後，我們實現了 6.08 億美元的營運現金流和 5.8 億美元的自由現金流，分別比去年增長 15% 和 17%。強勁的現金流表現使我們能夠執行平衡的資本配置策略，在 2024 年部署近 5 億美元的資本，重點投資成長，同時透過不斷增長的股息向股東返還現金。

Turning to our fourth-quarter performance. The team delivered a strong quarter with revenue up 10.4% and our strongest organic growth rate of the year at 8.5%. It was certainly encouraging to see the strong improvement in organic revenue growth in the second half of the year.

談談我們第四季的表現。該團隊本季表現強勁，營收成長 10.4%，有機成長率達到今年最高水平，為 8.5%。看到下半年有機收入成長的強勁成長確實令人鼓舞。

In the fourth quarter, residential revenue increased 8.4%, commercial pest control increased 9.2%, and termite- and ancillary-related services was up 16.6%. Organic growth was healthy across the portfolio, with growth of 6.5% in residential, 7.2% in commercial, and 14.9% in termite and ancillary. Our demand creation efforts and investments in customer-facing resources are paying off with stronger organic growth in our portfolio.

第四季度，住宅收入成長 8.4%，商業蟲害防治成長 9.2%，白蟻及輔助相關服務成長 16.6%。整個投資組合的有機成長都很健康，其中住宅業務成長 6.5%，商業業務成長 7.2%，白蟻及輔助業務成長 14.9%。我們創造需求的努力和客戶導向的資源的投資正在帶來回報，我們的產品組合實現了更強勁的有機成長。

Gross margin improved 40 basis points to 51.3% in the quarter. And looking at our four major buckets of service costs, people, fleet, materials and supplies as well as insurance and claims, we saw improvements in margins associated with materials and supplies as well as people costs despite healthy staffing levels needed to support strong underlying demand trends.

本季毛利率提高40個基點至51.3%。從我們的四大服務成本（人員、車隊、材料和供應品以及保險和索賠）來看，儘管需要健康的人員水平來支持強勁的潛在需求趨勢，但我們發現與材料和供應品以及人員成本相關的利潤率有所改善。

Fleet was neutral to margins in the quarter, while insurance and claims were a headwind driven by developments on legacy auto claims that we previously mentioned. Quarterly SG&A costs as a percentage of revenue increased by 50 basis points versus last year. We continue to see leverage in administrative people costs which somewhat offset deleverage from selling and marketing expenses associated with growth initiatives.

車隊在本季度對利潤率沒有影響，而保險和索賠則受到我們之前提到的遺留汽車索賠發展的推動，這是一個阻力。季度銷售、一般及行政開支佔收入的百分比較去年同期增加了 50 個基點。我們繼續看到行政人員成本的槓桿作用，這在一定程度上抵消了與成長計劃相關的銷售和行銷費用的去槓桿作用。

Unpacking this further, we have consistently talked about our intent to reinvest savings from administrative costs in the sales and marketing initiatives. And since the end of 2022, we have seen 50 basis points of leverage in administrative employees expenses and have invested that back into selling and marketing expenses.

進一步說，我們一直在談論將節省下來的管理成本重新投資於銷售和行銷計劃。自 2022 年底以來，我們看到行政員工費用的槓桿率上升了 50 個基點，並將其重新投資到銷售和行銷費用中。

Going forward, we do see an opportunity to continue to leverage our administrative costs to drive further investment as well as margin expansion. Fourth-quarter GAAP operating income was $151 million, up 8.3% year over year. And adjusted operating income was $155 million, up 7.3% versus last year.

展望未來，我們確實看到了繼續利用我們的管理成本來推動進一步投資和擴大利潤的機會。第四季 GAAP 營業收入為 1.51 億美元，較去年同期成長 8.3%。調整後的營業收入為 1.55 億美元，較去年同期成長 7.3%。

Quarterly adjusted EBITDA was $181 million, and EBITDA margin was 21.8%. While we saw nice leverage with respect to gross profit, EBITDA margins were negatively impacted by growth investments and our claims experience in the quarter. The effective tax rate was 27.3% for the quarter and 26% for the full year. For 2025, we are expecting an effective tax rate of approximately 26%.

季度調整後的 EBITDA 為 1.81 億美元，EBITDA 利潤率為 21.8%。雖然我們看到了與毛利相關的良好槓桿率，但 EBITDA 利潤率受到了本季成長投資和索賠經驗的負面影響。本季有效稅率為 27.3%，全年有效稅率為 26%。到 2025 年，我們預計有效稅率約為 26%。

Quarterly GAAP net income was $106 million or $0.22 per share. For the fourth quarter, we had non-GAAP pretax adjustments associated with Fox acquisition-related items totaling approximately $4 million of pretax expense in the quarter. Considering these adjustments, adjusted net income for the fourth quarter was $109 million or $0.23 per share, increasing just under 10% from the same period a year ago.

季度 GAAP 淨收入為 1.06 億美元，即每股 0.22 美元。第四季度，我們與福斯收購相關項目相關的非公認會計準則稅前調整總計約 400 萬美元。考慮到這些調整，第四季度調整後的淨收入為 1.09 億美元，即每股 0.23 美元，較去年同期增長近 10%。

Turning to cash flow and the balance sheet. Operating cash flow increased 23% in the quarter to $188 million. Cash flow did benefit from a disaster relief measure granted to those with operations impacted by Hurricane Helene, that allowed us to defer an estimated $32 million fourth-quarter tax payment. This payment would have occurred in Q4 and will now be paid in the second quarter of 2025.

轉向現金流和資產負債表。本季營運現金流成長 23%，達到 1.88 億美元。現金流確實受益於向受到颶風海倫影響的企業提供的災難救助措施，這使我們能夠推遲繳納預計 3,200 萬美元的第四季度稅款。這筆款項原本應在第四季支付，現在將於 2025 年第二季支付。

Cash flow conversion, a percent of income that was converted into operating cash, was approximately 144% for the quarter, adjusting for the positive impact of the deferred tax payment. We generated $184 million of free cash flow and $106 million of earnings, a 30% increase versus last year. As Jerry mentioned, I wanted to take a moment to highlight the assignment of investment-grade corporate credit ratings from Fitch and S&P.

現金流轉換率（即收入轉換為經營現金的百分比）本季約為 144%，已根據遞延稅項支付的正面影響進行調整。我們產生了 1.84 億美元的自由現金流和 1.06 億美元的收益，比去年增長了 30%。正如傑瑞所提到的，我想花點時間來強調惠譽和標準普爾對投資級公司信用評等的分配。

The agencies have announced public credit ratings for the company with Fitch issuing a BBB+ rating and S&P a BBB rating. Today, we are also announcing that our Board has approved a $1 billion commercial paper program backstopped by our existing $1 billion revolving credit facility. We will start to work to put this in place in the coming weeks, helping provide flexibility and more efficient shorter-term liquidity options.

各機構已公佈了該公司的公開信用評級，其中惠譽給予 BBB+ 評級，標準普爾給予 BBB 評級。今天，我們還宣布，董事會已批准一項 10 億美元的商業票據計劃，該計劃由我們現有的 10 億美元循環信貸額度支持。我們將在未來幾週內開始實施這項計劃，以幫助提供靈活性和更有效的短期流動性選擇。

We have made considerable progress in modernizing our back office and capital structure over the last several years. A key goal of this effort has been to ensure access to the most efficient capital to further enable our balanced and disciplined approach to capital allocation.

過去幾年來，我們在後台辦公室和資本結構現代化方面取得了長足的進展。此項努力的一個主要目標是確保獲得最有效的資本，以進一步實現我們均衡、規範的資本配置方法。

One of our top priorities has been to achieve investment-grade ratings. These ratings represent a big step forward, ensuring our ability to grow using the most cost-efficient capital. We've also recently welcomed Brady Knudsen as our new Treasurer. Brady has been working alongside many of our team members and helping guide us through the ratings process. It is great to have Brady on the team.

我們的首要任務之一就是獲得投資等級評級。這些評級代表我們向前邁出了一大步，確保了我們能夠利用最具成本效益的資本來實現成長。我們最近也歡迎 Brady Knudsen 擔任我們的新財務主管。布雷迪一直與我們的許多團隊成員一起工作，並幫助我們完成評級過程。很高興布雷迪加入球隊。

Throughout our history, we have managed this business through an investment-grade lens, and we will continue to do so in the future. We are committed to maintaining a strong investment-grade rating with leverage well under 2 times supported by healthy cash flow generation and disciplined capital allocation.

在我們的歷史上，我們一直透過投資級的視角來管理這項業務，並且我們將來也將繼續這樣做。我們致力於在健康的現金流產生和嚴格的資本配置的支持下，保持強勁的投資級評級，槓桿率遠低於 2 倍。

Going forward, we have updated our definition of leverage to better align with the rating agencies, which results in a more conservative view. A reconciliation can be found in our press release. But using this definition of our leverage, our leverage calculation currently would stand -- stands at 0.8 times.

展望未來，我們更新了槓桿的定義，以便更好地與評級機構保持一致，從而形成更保守的觀點。在我們的新聞稿中可以找到一份和解書。但使用我們的槓桿定義，我們的槓桿計算目前將是－0.8 倍。

As we look to 2025, we remain encouraged by the strength of our markets and the execution by our teams. We are focused on delivering another year of robust growth and healthy incremental margins, further complemented by a strategic and disciplined approach to M&A.

展望 2025 年，我們仍然為我們的市場實力和團隊的執行力所鼓舞。我們致力於實現另一年的強勁成長和健康的增量利潤，同時採取策略性和嚴謹的併購方式。

We continue to expect organic growth in the range of 7% to 8% with additional growth from M&A of at least 2% to 3%. Additionally, we are focused on improving our incremental margin profile while investing in growth opportunities. We anticipate that cash flow will continue to convert at a rate that is above 100% again in 2025.

我們繼續預期有機成長率將在 7% 至 8% 之間，而來自併購的額外成長將至少達到 2% 至 3%。此外，我們致力於在投資成長機會的同時提高增量利潤率。我們預計，2025年現金流將繼續以100%以上的速度轉換。

With that, I'll turn the call back over to Jerry.

說完這些，我就把電話轉回給傑瑞。

Thank you, everyone. We're happy to take any questions you have at this time.

謝謝大家。我們很樂意解答您的任何問題。

(Operator Instructions) Tim Mulrooney, William Blair.

（操作員指示）蒂姆·馬爾羅尼、威廉·布萊爾。

Jerry, good morning.

傑瑞，早安。

Good morning, Tim.

早安，提姆。

Yeah, congrats on a nice quarter. My first question is about your residential business, which I know the organic growth up 6.5% in the fourth quarter. I think that was better than what we were expecting and certainly better than what the Street was expecting.

是的，恭喜您度過了一個愉快的季度。我的第一個問題是關於你們的住宅業務，我知道第四季的有機成長率達到了 6.5%。我認為這比我們預期的要好，當然也比華爾街的預期好。

I think the Street was a little concerned based on some web traffic data and credit card data and other things that were floating out there. But there really doesn't seem to be much of a correlation there at all. Can you talk about what drove this better-than-expected result? Was there a big surge in one-time sales or surge in lead flow? Just any color would be helpful.

我認為，根據一些網路流量數據、信用卡數據和其他流傳的數據，華爾街有點擔心。但實際上，兩者之間似乎沒有太大的關聯。您能談談是什麼原因促成了這好於預期的結果嗎？一次性銷售額或銷售線索流量是否大幅成長？任何顏色都有用。

Yeah. Tim, this is Jerry. It's interesting to me, we often see a lot of the reports with the data, the website data and the visitors. And as we see those items come up, sometimes, it confuses us because what we -- what those reports say aren't necessarily aligned with what we're seeing day to day in the market.

是的。提姆，這是傑瑞。對我來說這很有趣，我們經常看到很多包含數據、網站數據和訪客的報告。當我們看到這些項目出現時，有時我們會感到困惑，因為這些報告所說的內容不一定與我們在市場上每天看到的情況相符。

So there's a time or two where it ties. But I would say more often than not, some of those data just don't tie out. We've seen this time and time again with credit card processing data, et cetera. And it's rarely tied out, or at least, it's fairly uncommon..

因此有一兩次是連在一起的。但我想說，很多時候，其中有些數據就是不相關的。我們在信用卡處理資料等方面一次又一次地看到了這種情況。而且它很少被捆綁，或者至少，它是相當不常見的。

Our residential business was strong in the fourth quarter. Our customer base is larger that we carried it into the fourth quarter. That was helpful. We did see also rises in calls for especially rodents in November and December.

我們的住宅業務在第四季度表現強勁。我們的客戶群更大，我們將其帶入了第四季度。這很有幫助。我們確實看到 11 月和 12 月針對囓齒動物的呼叫數量增加。

The population of rodents, particularly rats and mice, really had a strong pop late in the year. And there's a recent article out there, University of Richmond study that talks about how in most of these very urban markets, these rodent populations, especially rats, are just thriving.

囓齒動物，尤其是大鼠和小鼠的數量在年底出現了大幅增長。里士滿大學最近發表了一篇文章，研究表明，在大多數城市市場中，囓齒動物種群，尤其是老鼠，數量繁多。

And we're certainly seeing that opportunity in the business as well. So we had very strong lead demand, a lot of call volume coming into the business that may not necessarily have been aligned with what some of the data others are seeing out there or publishing.

我們當然也看到了商業上的這種機會。因此，我們有非常強勁的領先需求，大量的呼叫量進入業務，這可能不一定與其他人看到的或發布的一些數據相符。

Okay. That's really helpful. Thank you. For my follow-up, I actually want to switch gears completely and ask a question on sales and marketing. I appreciate the extra disclosure that you gave for your different expense buckets in the press release, where I noticed that sales and marketing expense really jumped up about 70 basis points in the fourth quarter, I think, 40 basis points in 2024.

好的。這真的很有幫助。謝謝。對於我的後續問題，我實際上想完全轉換主題並詢問有關銷售和行銷的問題。我很感謝您在新聞稿中對不同費用類別所做的額外披露，我注意到銷售和行銷費用在第四季度確實上漲了約 70 個基點，我認為，到 2024 年將上漲 40 個基點。

Now a skeptical investor might look at that and say, you're just having to spend more on leads. Your cost per lead is going up. I'm curious what would be your response to that. What data can you share to prove that the increased spend is more about growth investments rather than just your check is going up? Thank you.

現在持懷疑態度的投資者可能會看到這一點並說，你只需要在線索上投入更多。您的每個線索成本正在上升。我很好奇你對此會作何反應。您可以分享哪些數據來證明增加的支出更多是出於成長投資，而不僅僅是您的薪資在增加？謝謝。

Yeah. So the -- when you look at the S part of the SG&A, the sales and which could include marketing, it's our people costs. It's the investments we're making in sales staffing, not that we're spending irrationally into the market to drive the phone calls to our business.

是的。所以，當你查看銷售、一般和行政費用的 S 部分時，銷售額以及可能包括行銷的費用，就是我們的人力成本。這是我們在銷售人員配置方面進行的投資，而不是我們在市場上不合理地投入資金來吸引電話來訪。

We have not seen that. And as I've stated repeatedly over the last couple of years, we still spend as a percent of revenue, very similar amounts in investing in our business to drive new leads into our business, both direct allocated leads that come in as well as our mass media advertising that, say, an Orkin brand would do.

我們還沒有看到這一點。正如我在過去幾年中反覆強調的那樣，我們仍然將佔收入一定比例的資金用於投資於我們的業務，以吸引新的潛在客戶，包括直接分配的潛在客戶以及我們的大眾媒體廣告，例如奧金品牌會做的廣告。

We still spend at the same percent of revenue that we've historically spent at. The investments are made in our people. And that's where you see many of those people, especially, say, in the fourth quarter are both on the commercial side and then also on our termite and ancillary business, which is heavily cross-sell. And you see the organic growth rates there.

我們的支出佔收入的百分比仍然和過去一樣。這些投資都是針對我們的員工進行的。你會看到，尤其是在第四季度，許多人既從事商業方面，也從事白蟻和輔助業務，而這些業務大量存在交叉銷售。您可以看到那裡的有機增長率。

That's not having to drive leads into the business. Those are creative sales opportunities that are coming from cross-selling to our existing customer base, not by just irrationally spending into the market. And these are sustainable ways to drive long-term organic growth through investments in our people and investments in our staffing.

這並不意味著必須為企業帶來潛在客戶。這些都是創造性的銷售機會，來自於對我們現有的客戶群的交叉銷售，而不僅僅是透過不理性地向市場投入。這些都是透過對人才和人員配置的投資來推動長期有機成長的可持續方式。

And I realize that might confused some people. But we monitor cost per lead, especially in businesses like Orkin, very, very carefully, very closely. And we are committed to not spending irrationally and just trying to buy business.

我意識到這可能會讓一些人感到困惑。但我們會非常非常仔細、密切地監控每個潛在客戶的成本，尤其是在 Orkin 這樣的企業。我們致力於不進行無理性的支出，而只是盡力購買業務。

The one thing I would add to Jerry's comment there is, I would point you back to -- I think an important thing to think about is our investment meeting -- investor conference last May, where we showcased the diversity in the approach to acquiring customers. And you could see it's not solely focused on digital. It's not solely focused on one avenue to our customer. It's a very broad-based approach.

我想補充傑瑞的評論，我想讓你回顧一下——我認為需要考慮的一件重要的事情是我們去年 5 月的投資會議——投資者會議，我們在會議上展示了獲取客戶方法的多樣性。您會發現它不僅僅關注數位化。它並不只專注於為客戶提供一條途徑。這是一種非常廣泛的方法。

And Jerry is spot on. When we look at the investments that we made in the last, say, six months, they're very heavily tilted towards people. That's helped us drive demand across the business, not just in one sector, but across the business.

傑瑞的說法是正確的。當我們回顧過去六個月所做的投資時，我們發現它們主要針對人力。這有助於我們推動整個業務的需求，不僅僅是在某個部門，而是整個業務。

But talking about the resi area a little bit closer, what gives us some optimism there is the recurring growth is stepping up. There, for a while, we were talking about it approaching 6%. It's solidly in that 6% to 7% here. So it's not like it's one-time business driving that resi area. It's really a nice recurring revenue that's coming through that's providing some wind in our sales.

但進一步談論住宅領域，讓我們感到樂觀的是，持續性成長正在加快。有一段時間，我們一直在談論該數字接近 6%。這裡的比例穩定在 6% 到 7% 之間。因此，這並不是推動該住宅區發展的一次性業務。這確實是一筆不錯的經常性收入，為我們的銷售提供了一些動力。

George Tong, Goldman Sachs.

高盛的喬治通 (George Tong)。

Hi, thanks, good morning.

嗨，謝謝，早安。

Good morning.

早安.

Hi. Can you detail how much auto claims activity impacted EBITDA margins in the quarter?

你好。您能否詳細說明汽車索賠活動對本季 EBITDA 利潤率的影響有多大？

Certainly, George. It was -- if you look at it, there were two buckets of claims experience that came through. We lost about 40 basis points of leverage across the P&L. 20 basis points of that leverage was -- or loss leverage was in gross margin. The other 20 basis points was in SG&A.

當然，喬治。如果您看一下，您會發現有兩類索賠經驗。我們的損益表槓桿率損失了約40個基點。該槓桿的 20 個基點——或者說損失槓桿佔了毛利率。其餘 20 個基點用於銷售、一般及行政費用。

And it's one of those areas that we're dealing with -- we continue to deal with. These claims are legacy claims from years ago that we're working through. But we're doing a nice job at really making investments in a number of safety programs to ensure our workforce gets home safely each and every day.

這是我們正在處理的領域之一——我們會繼續處理的。這些索賠是多年前遺留的，我們正在努力解決。但我們確實在一系列安全項目上進行了投資，以確保我們的員工每天都能安全回家，這做得很好。

Our safety systems and our trucks, the scoring systems that we're monitoring, and a number of other measures that we're taking to really improve the current performance and the safety, most importantly, the safety of our folks that are out on the highways.

我們的安全系統和卡車、我們正在監控的評分系統以及我們正在採取的許多其他措施，以真正提高當前的性能和安全性，最重要的是，提高高速公路上人員的安全。

Got it. That's helpful context. And then in your commercial business, the growth there decelerated a bit in the quarter despite easier comps. Can you elaborate on trends you're seeing there that may be driving that?

知道了。這是很有幫助的背景資訊。然後在您的商業業務中，儘管同店銷售額比較容易，但本季的成長略有放緩。您能否詳細說明您所看到的可能推動這一現象的趨勢？

Yeah. So looking at the fourth quarter, we're still really optimistic about what's going on in the commercial side, the Orkin business, Orkin Commercial. And keep in mind, not all of our all commercial businesses at Orkin. We have other brands that also perform commercial business.

是的。因此，展望第四季度，我們仍然對商業方面、奧肯業務、奧肯商業業務的進展感到非常樂觀。請記住，Orkin 並非經營所有商業業務。我們還有其他品牌也從事商業業務。

So the fourth quarter was a little -- it was a little bit softer. But I don't think it's indicative of anything, especially as we started the year already. That business is really strong. Sometimes, in the commercial space, you have some large one-time jobs.

因此第四季的表現稍微有些疲軟。但我並不認為這有什麼意義，尤其是在今年才剛開始的時候。那項生意確實很強勁。有時，在商業領域，您會遇到一些大型的一次性工作。

You could have some large bird jobs. You could have some commodity fumigations that occur, especially around the holidays, that may not reoccur in the same cycle the following year. So we had -- there's some of that type of activity that affects the commercial number. But the commercial business is still really strong. It's been strong out of the gates here already in January. And nothing that -- certainly nothing that I'm at all concerned about.

你可以做一些大型鳥類工作。您可能會遇到一些商品熏蒸，特別是在假期期間，這些熏蒸可能不會在來年的相同周期內再次發生。所以，有些這類活動會影響商業數字。但商業業務仍然非常強勁。從一月開始這裡就已經很強勁了。沒有什麼——當然沒有什麼是我擔心的。

Got it. Very helpful. Thank you.

知道了。非常有幫助。謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Manav Patnaik, Barclays.

巴克萊銀行的 Manav Patnaik。

Hi, good morning. This is Ronan Kennedy, on for Manav. Thank you for taking my questions. Can I just confirm in response to the question posed by George on the auto claims. Does that imply that there's potential for this to continue versus it being a one-time event? Can you give some further insight there?

嗨，早安。這是羅南肯尼迪 (Ronan Kennedy)，代替馬納夫 (Manav)。感謝您回答我的問題。我能否確認一下喬治關於汽車索賠的問題。這是否意味著這種情況有可能持續下去，而不是一次性事件？能提供進一步的見解嗎？

It's always hard -- thanks for the question. It's always hard to predict these sorts of things. We've been dealing with it. If you go back several years, we've been dealing with some volatility associated with this. We have so many folks that are out on the road. And what we saw as we came out of COVID, was you just saw an uptick in claims experience and the cost of claims activity.

這總是很難——感謝您的提問。預測這類事情總是很困難的。我們一直在處理此事。如果回顧幾年前，我們一直在處理與此相關的一些波動。我們有許多人正在路上。當我們擺脫 COVID 時，我們看到索賠經驗和索賠活動成本上升。

And so we saw that happen as we came out of COVID. So we've been dealing with it for some time. But we've been putting a number of measures in place to mitigate exposures going forward, a lot of safety measures in our trucks taking advantage of the technologies that are out there to help improve the safety experience of our technicians on the highway.

當我們擺脫新冠疫情時，我們就看到了這種情況的發生。因此我們已經處理這個問題有一段時間了。但我們已經採取了一系列措施來減輕未來的風險，我們的卡車採取了許多安全措施，利用現有的技術來幫助改善我們的技術人員在高速公路上的安全體驗。

Okay. Thank you. And for my follow-up, please. Could I just -- you touched on this to a certain extent, but an assessment of the progress made in the modernization of back office and the centralizing of services and processes.

好的。謝謝。請關注我的後續報道。我能否—您在一定程度上提到了這一點，但請評估後台現代化以及服務和流程集中化方面的進展。

So I think the intent there is, amongst the benefits, to be a better acquirer of businesses, but also the ability to fund sales and marketing investments. I think you referenced 50 bps of leverage there since '22 from takeout of those admin costs. To what extent is that happening now? And when can we expect to see that ramp?

因此，我認為其目的除了有好處之外，還在於成為更好的企業收購者，同時也能夠為銷售和行銷投資提供資金。我認為您提到了自 22 年以來透過扣除管理費用而實現的 50 個基點的槓桿率。目前這種情況發生到什麼程度了？我們什麼時候可以看到那個坡道？

Sure. Great question, and thank you for it. When you look at the business, if you go back to '22, for example, and that's when this really started to occur, between '22 and year-end '24. What you'll see is the savings from administrative costs of about 50 basis points has completely offset the selling and marketing increase over that same time period. And so we certainly are taking costs out, and we're helping fund those activities.

當然。這個問題問得好，謝謝您。例如，當你回顧業務時，如果你回到 22 年，你會發現這種情況確實開始發生，也就是在 22 年到 24 年底之間。您會發現，約 50 個基點的管理費用節省已完全抵消了同一時期內銷售和行銷費用的成長。因此，我們肯定會降低成本，並幫助資助這些活動。

It may not be a one-for-one match every single quarter. But generally, over the long term, that's the focus, is try to redeploy those investments into customer-facing demand-creation sort of investments. When we think about the other steps we're taking, I think we're still very early on.

每個季度可能不是一對一的比賽。但一般來說，從長遠來看，重點是嘗試將這些投資重新部署到面向客戶的需求創造類投資。當我們考慮我們正在採取的其他措施時，我認為我們還處於非常早期的階段。

We made a ton of progress with our capital structure and a number of other measures with bringing a lot of new folks on board and also with respect to the credit ratings, which we announced earlier today. So we made a ton of progress, I think, across those areas. But we certainly have a lot ahead of us and a lot of opportunity to continue to be a better acquirer and a better, quite frankly, integrator of some of these businesses that we're acquiring along the way.

我們在資本結構和其他一些措施方面取得了巨大進展，引進了許多新員工，並且在信用評級方面也取得了很大進展，我們今天早些時候宣布了這些進展。所以我認為我們在這些領域取得了巨大進展。但我們確實還有很多事情要做，也有很多機會繼續成為一個更好的收購者，坦白說，成為一個更好的整合者，整合我們正在收購的一些業務。

Thank you. Appreciate it.

謝謝。非常感謝。

Ashish Sabadra, RBC Capital.

加拿大皇家銀行資本 (RBC Capital) 的 Ashish Sabadra。

Thanks for taking my question. I had a question on the pricing increases in 2025. A number of business services companies are talking about normalization of price increases. I was just wondering if you could comment on your ability to continue to drive 3% to 4% price increase in 2025 on the consumer side, but also if you could comment on the pricing trends within the commercial business. Thanks.

感謝您回答我的問題。我對 2025 年的價格上漲有一個疑問。許多商業服務公司正在談論價格上漲的正常化。我只是想知道您是否可以評論一下您在 2025 年繼續推動消費方面價格上漲 3% 至 4% 的能力，以及您是否可以評論一下商業業務中的定價趨勢。謝謝。

Thank you for the question on pricing. When we look at pricing, we've always talked about CPI-plus level pricing. I think we all saw the CPI print yesterday. It still remains at a relatively elevated level.

感謝您提出有關定價的疑問。當我們考慮定價時，我們總是談論 CPI 加水平定價。我想我們都看到了昨天的 CPI 數據。它仍然保持在相對較高的水平。

I think we still have an opportunity to get above CPI level of pricing here in 2025, probably similar to the pricing that we got in the last year or two. And so there's no reason for us to take our foot off the gas when it comes to the pricing.

我認為我們仍然有機會在 2025 年實現高於 CPI 水準的定價，可能與過去一兩年的定價類似。因此，我們沒有理由在定價方面放鬆警惕。

We feel like we're providing a very essential service to our customers. Our customers see the value of the service, and we price it slightly ahead of what CPI is coming in at. So we feel pretty good about our position with pricing in the marketplace.

我們覺得我們正在為客戶提供一項非常重要的服務。我們的客戶看到了這項服務的價值，我們將其定價略高於 CPI 的價格。因此，我們對自己在市場定價方面的地位感到非常滿意。

That's great color. And then maybe just switching gear about the growth investments. Obviously, very high ROI on those investments. But how do we think about those investments going into 2025? You've guided to roughly 30% incremental margins. But I was just curious if you could provide some color on the quarterly cadence there. How should we think about the timing of those investments? Thanks.

顏色真棒。然後也許只是轉換一下成長投資的話題。顯然，這些投資的報酬率非常高。但是我們要如何看待 2025 年的這些投資呢？您已指導約 30% 的增量利潤。但我只是好奇您是否可以提供一些有關季度節奏的詳細資訊。我們該如何考慮這些投資的時機？謝謝。

Thanks for the question on the growth investments. When we look at the growth investments, we think the first half, you'll see a slightly elevated level of year over year of growth investments. And so we continue to invest.

感謝您提出有關成長投資的問題。當我們審視成長投資時，我們認為，上半年，成長投資的年比水準將略有上升。因此我們會繼續投資。

We started to really ramp up the investments in the second half of last year. So you'll start to lap that as you get into the second half of 2025. But I think for the first half, it will be a more challenging comp for us. The other area that we're looking at as we go into 2025, is just fleet costs.

我們從去年下半年開始真正加大投資。因此，到 2025 年下半年，您就會開始實現這一目標。但我認為，對我們來說，上半場比賽將更具挑戰性。進入 2025 年，我們關注的另一個領域是車隊成本。

The cost of vehicles compared to what we bought or what we leased two, three years ago, those are coming back in. We're replacing them. So the costs are going up slightly in those areas as well. But our pricing, we feel very good about. We feel very good about the ability to get gross margin leverage with that 3% to 4% price increase.

與我們兩三年前購買或租賃的車輛相比，現在的車輛成本已經回落。我們正在更換它們。因此這些地區的成本也會略為上漲。但我們對我們的定價感覺非常好。我們對透過 3% 至 4% 的價格上漲獲得毛利率槓桿的能力感到非常滿意。

Very helpful color, and congrats on such a strong top-line momentum. Thank you.

非常有用的顏色，並祝賀如此強勁的營收勢頭。謝謝。

Thank you

謝謝

Jason Haas, Wells Fargo.

富國銀行的傑森·哈斯。

Hi, good morning. Thank you for taking my question. I was curious if you could comment on what you're seeing from an organic growth perspective so far this year.

嗨，早安。感謝您回答我的問題。我很好奇，您是否可以評論一下今年迄今為止您從有機成長角度看到的情況。

And then we've heard some concern in the industry that there was a pretty severe cold weather in January that, essentially, I guess, killed off the eggs and larvae from some of the pests and I guess -- I don't know -- the rodent populations as well in January. So there's a concern that we could see a muted spring selling season. So I was curious if that's a dynamic that you're seeing and if you agree with that?

然後，我們聽到業內有人擔心，一月份出現了相當嚴重的寒冷天氣，我猜，這基本上殺死了一些害蟲的卵和幼蟲，我猜——我不知道——而且一月份的囓齒動物種群也減少了。因此，我們擔心春季銷售旺季可能會表現疲軟。所以我很好奇您是否看到了這種動態，以及您是否同意這一點？

Jason, this is Jerry. I don't necessarily think that we've seen that. In January, we're off to a pretty strong start. It's interesting -- you think about insects and related pests. They're all very adaptive. A lot of mechanisms to survive difficult conditions.

傑森，這是傑瑞。我並不認為我們已經看到了這一點。一月份，我們開局非常強勁。這很有趣——你會想到昆蟲和相關的害蟲。它們的適應力都很強。許多機制可以幫助我們在困難的條件下生存。

You think about -- one example I'll give you is -- I think about mosquitoes in Minnesota. Mosquitoes in Minnesota can be really bad once you get to spring or summer. And guess what, they'll probably be really bad again this year. Because those mosquitoes are able to overwinter in immature stages. They're able to overwinter, and they do just fine because they're back in the late spring. They're back biting people. And when you think about mosquitoes, one mosquito is too many mosquito.

你想想——我給你舉一個例子——我想到明尼蘇達州的蚊子。一旦進入春季或夏季，明尼蘇達州的蚊子就會變得非常嚴重。你猜怎麼著，今年他們的表現可能又會很糟。因為這些蚊子在未成熟階段就能夠過冬。它們能夠過冬，而且它們過得很好，因為它們在春末回來了。他們總是在背後說別人壞話。當你想到蚊子時，一隻蚊子就太多了。

So that one mosquito bite you 10 times, whether there's 10 mosquitoes or 1 mosquito, doesn't matter. One mosquito is too many, right? So I don't get too hung up on that. We see it as a -- all those things are opportunities. You see right now in parts of the country, we're getting a lot of moisture and rain. You could also make the case that excess of moisture is very good for certain insect populations.

因此，一隻蚊子叮你 10 次，無論是 10 隻蚊子還是 1 隻蚊子，都沒有關係。一隻蚊子就太多了，對吧？所以我不會太糾結於此。我們認為所有這些都是機會。你可以看到，現在我們國家的部分地區正遭受大量濕氣和雨水的侵襲。您也可以證明過多的水分對某些昆蟲種群非常有益。

To me, if there's some insect or maybe something that doesn't do well surviving the winter, maybe some invasive species that comes in and is in a climate that is not as well adapted to and populations collapse because it's in too cold of an area or something like that.

對我來說，如果某種昆蟲或某種生物不能很好地度過冬天，也許某些入侵物種進入後，如果不能很好地適應當地的氣候，它們的數量就會因為地區太冷或諸如此類的原因而崩潰。

I certainly see that. But for the primary pests that recur in the same markets year after year, we've never seen any cycle of weather that has radically changed the pest populations. They still manage to come back in the spring just fine.

我當然明白。但對於年復一年在同一市場出現的主要害蟲，我們從未見過任何氣候週期徹底改變害蟲族群。它們仍然能夠在春天順利回來。

It's interesting when you look at the start of the year compared to the prior year with respect to weather, oftentimes, you might have a disparity in the weather patterns year over year. However, last January in 2024, it was a tough weather comp, too.

有趣的是，當你將今年年初的天氣與前一年的天氣進行比較時，你會發現每年的天氣模式都有差異。然而，2024 年 1 月的天氣同樣非常艱難。

So we did have some bad weather here in January. And I can attest to it from the snowfall that we saw in Atlanta. And so we certainly had some bad weather in January this year, but we had a similar experience a year ago.

因此，一月份我們這裡確實遇到了一些惡劣天氣。我可以從亞特蘭大看到的降雪來證明這一點。因此，今年 1 月我們確實遇到了一些惡劣天氣，但一年前我們也經歷過類似的天氣。

Our growth continues to be very healthy. Second half of this year of 2024 was up versus the first half, and that's the first time we've seen that in several years. And so we see a really nice trajectory of growth here as we start the new year.

我們的成長持續保持健康。2024 年下半年較上半年上漲，這是我們幾年來第一次看到這種情況。因此，在新的一年開始時，我們看到了非常好的成長軌跡。

Got it. That's great to hear. And then can you -- I just wanted to ask you again on the incrementals. I think you have said that it was a 40-basis-point headwind from the auto claims. So it was getting like a little over $3 million.

知道了。我很高興聽到這個消息。然後你能——我只是想再問你有關增量的問題。我記得您說過，汽車索賠帶來了 40 個基點的阻力。因此，其收入約為 300 多萬美元。

So excluding that in 4Q, I was getting incrementals of about 23%. I guess, the other piece that keeps -- because I know you said the underlying business was approaching 30%. So I guess, the other piece was the investments that you're making.

因此，除去第四季的數據，我獲得的增量約為 23%。我想，另一部分是——因為我知道你說過基礎業務接近 30%。所以我猜，另一部分就是你所做的投資。

So can you just help us bridge to getting closer to the 30% incrementals for 2025? Because it sounds like some of those investments -- maybe the auto claims don't all repeat. But it sounds like some of those investments will continue. And then even more just like bigger picture, I know the long-term target is 30% to 35%. Can you help us bridge to that as well, and what can increase incremental margins over time? Thanks.

那麼，您能幫助我們接近 2025 年 30% 的增量嗎？因為這聽起來像是其中一些投資——也許汽車索賠並不全部重複。但聽起來其中一些投資將會持續下去。然後甚至從更大的角度來看，我知道長期目標是 30％ 到 35％。您能幫助我們解決這個問題嗎？謝謝。

Certainly, Jason. So when you look at the quarter, there was $4 million to $5 million of absolute dollars spent in those insurance and claims that were just, unfortunately, came through and materialized late in the quarter. We had about, call it, $6 million or so of what we call sales and marketing, people costs, primarily.

當然，傑森。因此，當您查看本季時，您會發現，這些保險和索賠的絕對支出為 400 萬至 500 萬美元，不幸的是，這些保險和索賠在本季度末才得以實現。我們的銷售和行銷成本，主要是人力成本，大約有 600 萬美元左右。

And then you had some -- about $2 million of things that shouldn't repeat. They were new, and they shouldn't repeat in the quarter. So I mean, you had $10 million to $15 million of things that we identified in the quarter that came through. If you take some of those things out -- and again, there's always going to be things that occur from time to time.

然後你遇到了一些大約價值 200 萬美元的事情，這些事情不應該再重複發生。他們是新手，本季不應該再重複這種做法。所以我的意思是，我們在本季度確定了價值 1000 萬到 1500 萬美元的東西。如果你把其中一些東西拿出來——同樣，總是會有事情時不時​​地發生。

But if you do adjust for some of those things, we were there. But more importantly, when I look at the business and what gives me confidence in our ability to get 30% to 40% is just look at the first half of last year. It was 30% to 40% of incremental margins. You go back in the '23 in the third quarter. You had 35% to 40%.

但如果你確實對其中的一些事情進行了調整，我們就在那裡。但更重要的是，當我審視業務時，我對我們能夠實現 30％至 40％的成長率充滿信心，只要看看去年上半年的情況。增量利潤率為30%至40%。你回到第三節的 23 號。你有 35% 到 40%。

I mean, this business is certainly capable of generating that type of incremental margin profile, and we feel good about it. When we think about the first half, you might see a slightly lower incremental margin to start the year. But we feel like it's temporary.

我的意思是，這項業務肯定有能力產生這種類型的增量利潤，我們對此感到滿意。當我們考慮上半年時，您可能會看到年初的增量利潤率略低。但我們覺得這只是暫時的。

We feel like we've got to be able to go after and acquire customers that are going to be with us for four or five, six, sometimes even longer. And the lifetime value of those customers is so great. And what you're seeing with the growth we're putting up right now is we're acquiring those customers.

我們覺得我們必須能夠追逐並獲得那些將與我們合作四、五年、六年甚至更長的客戶。這些客戶的終身價值是如此之大。而您現在看到的是我們目前正在實現的成長，我們正在吸引這些客戶。

Those customers will pay off for us in future quarters, future years. And those are the reasons why we continue to grow through economic recessions, pandemics, industrial slowdowns. Those are the reasons we continue to do so well through all those various economic cycles. We're taking a long-term view on the business. We're investing in it. We're bringing new customers, and we're growing our base.

這些客戶將會在未來幾季、未來幾年為我們帶來回報。這就是我們在經濟衰退、流行病和工業放緩的情況下仍能繼續成長的原因。這就是我們在各個經濟週期中都能繼續表現良好的原因。我們對業務有長遠的眼光。我們正在對此進行投資。我們正在帶來新客戶，並且正在擴大我們的客戶群。

Got it. Thank you. That's great to hear.

知道了。謝謝。我很高興聽到這個消息。

(Operator Instructions) Aadit Shrestha, Stifel.

（操作員指示） Aadit Shrestha，Stifel。

Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. You mentioned outside deal contribution again in 2025, I think, about 2% to 3%. How much of that is already in hand from rollover from deals you already did in '24 and what you've already done in '25?

早安.感謝您回答我的問題。您再次提到 2025 年的外部交易貢獻，我認為大約是 2% 到 3%。其中，從您在 24 年和 25 年已經完成的交易中結轉而來的資金有多少？

Yeah, it's approaching 2% in terms of carryover. So we feel pretty good about our ability to get that 2% to 3%. And our pipeline is strong. I mean, we've got a number of opportunities in the pipeline that range from the small tuck-in sort of level to those that look like Fox in terms of $200 million to $400 million of acquisitions. So we're prepared, and we're positioned extremely well to continue to deliver on that commitment.

是的，就結轉而言，它接近2％。因此，我們對實現 2% 至 3% 的目標感到非常滿意。我們的管道非常強大。我的意思是，我們有很多機會，從小型收購到像福克斯那樣價值 2 億到 4 億美元的收購。因此，我們已經做好準備，並且已經做好了充分的準備來繼續履行這項承諾。

Okay. Great. And just as a follow-up, the investment-grade rating in hand. So now you have access to cheaper capital and [runs] -- versus historically now, you're more comfortable with debt. So does this open up a larger pipeline opportunities for M&A that maybe in the past, you may have decided not to pursue just because -- now the return on the capital will be fit within your requirements?

好的。偉大的。作為後續行動，我們手上有投資等級。因此，現在你可以獲得更便宜的資本和[運行] - 與歷史上相比，你對債務更滿意。那麼，這是否會為併購開闢更大的機會，而在過去，您可能決定不去追求這些機會，只是因為——現在資本回報率將符合您的要求？

What I would say is, we have so many opportunities in the middle of the fairway. And when I talk about the fairway, it's what we've been doing for years. You're not going to see a major inflection point where we're going and changing the strategy.

我想說的是，我們在球道中間有很多機會。當我談到球道時，這就是我們多年來一直在做的事情。你不會看到我們改變戰略的重大轉折點。

Our focus is investment grade. Our focus is to continue to manage this business in investment grade, but take advantage of the opportunities that a company like us should have. And that's why we went after and got the credit rating, was we want to avail ourselves to the opportunity that we should be -- should have available to us.

我們的重點是投資等級。我們的重點是繼續以投資等級管理這項業務，但同時利用像我們這樣的公司應有的機會。這就是我們追求並獲得信用評級的原因，我們想利用我們應得的機會——我們應該得到的機會。

And so -- but with respect to your question, we're going to continue to execute this business the same way we've done for -- under our leadership, but also past leadership. The approach is working, and we're -- we feel like there's a lot of runway left to execute on that approach.

所以 - 但就您的問題而言，我們將繼續以同樣的方式開展這項業務 - 在我們的領導下，以及在前任領導下。這種方法正在發揮作用，而且我們覺得，這種方法還有很大的發展空間。

Yeah. So let me -- I'll add to that. We will still have a very disciplined approach to how we both pace, how we value, how we assess acquisitions. And yeah, maybe going to -- maybe having this credit rating helps lower our hurdle rate for return on investment, those kinds of things. But we are still going to be maintaining the same strategy that we've had for a very long time and being very conservative in how we approach things.

是的。所以讓我——我將補充一點。我們仍將採取非常嚴謹的方法來制定我們的節奏、如何估值、如何評估收購。是的，也許——也許這個信用評級有助於降低我們的投資回報率最低率，諸如此類的事情。但我們仍將維持長期以來的相同策略，並在處理事情上保持非常保守的態度。

Great. Thank you for taking my question.

偉大的。感謝您回答我的問題。

Josh Chan, UBS.

瑞銀的 Josh Chan。

Hi, good morning. This is Karan Singh, on for Josh. If I could ask a question maybe on what you're seeing on the cost inflation side. What you're seeing, maybe just across the board, with labor material and equipment, and what are your expectations for 2025 versus what you saw in 2024?

嗨，早安。我是卡蘭辛格，代替喬許。我可以問一個問題，關於您在成本通膨方面看到的情況。您所看到的，可能只是全面的，包括勞動力、材料和設備，與 2024 年相比，您對 2025 年的預期是什麼？

We feel like the inflation is very much under control. We continue to see -- and what gives us confidence in the ability to say that is when you look at the gross margin level. And you look at -- when you isolate things that we're doing in terms of adding folks to go after growth, from the underlying business in materials and supplies and those other things, we feel good about our ability to manage inflation.

我們覺得通貨膨脹得到了很好的控制。我們繼續看到——當你看到毛利率水平時，我們就有信心這麼說。而且當你把我們所做的事情（即增加人員以追求成長）與材料和供應品等基礎業務分開來看時，我們對我們管理通貨膨脹的能力感到很滿意。

We -- I mentioned earlier, the one area that we see outsized inflation maybe is in the fleet area. That -- when you look at -- just look at the lease liability that we have on the books. It's stepped up of late. You look at the cost of acquiring new leases relative to two, three, four years ago, it's a higher cost.

我們 — — 我之前提到過，我們看到通貨膨脹過大的領域可能是船隊領域。當您查看時，只需查看我們帳簿上的租賃負債。最近它已經加強了。你看看與兩年、三年、四年前相比，獲得新租約的成本更高。

And so that's something that that's probably more of a headwind. But when you look at the other areas of the P&L, that's not a large area of the P&L by any stretch. But when you look at the other areas, people our largest area. We feel very well managed and ability to continue to manage that.

所以這很可能是個阻力。但是當你查看損益表的其他區域時，你會發現這無論如何都不是一個很大的損益表區域。但是當你看看其他地區時，人們是我們最大的地區。我們感覺管理得很好並且有能力繼續保持這種管理。

Got it. That's helpful. And maybe for my follow-up, if I can ask a question on the different channels. What are your priorities for 2025 with respect to those areas? And how do you expect that to drive like volume performance for the year?

知道了。這很有幫助。也許對於我的後續行動，我可以透過不同的管道提出問題。就這些領域而言，您在 2025 年的首要任務是什麼？您預計這會對今年的銷售表現產生什麼影響？

Could you repeat that question again? I missed the first half of your question.

你能再重複一次這個問題嗎？我沒注意到你問題的前半部。

Sorry, yeah, sure. So basically, I wanted to ask you about the different channels that you have. And how are you thinking about that for 2025? And like how do you expect those to drive some volume performance over there?

抱歉，是的，當然。所以基本上，我想問一下您擁有的不同管道。您對於 2025 年有何看法？那麼您期望這些會如何推動那裡的銷售表現呢？

Yeah. So this is Jerry. I think each of our channels, as I stated, they're all performing well and doing well. And we aim to continue to have all of them keep that momentum that we currently have. We see the residential business as a continued opportunity to grow. We have a multifaceted way to acquire new customers that's dependent on our brands.

是的。這就是傑瑞。我認為我們的每個管道，正如我所說的，都表現良好，做得很好。我們的目標是讓它們繼續保持目前的勢頭。我們認為住宅業務是一個持續成長的機會。我們擁有多種方式來獲取依賴我們品牌的新客戶。

We have the commercial business. Those investments we made last year continue to pay off for us as we try to drive execution, efficiency, sales productivity. Those types of things continue to drive that business. And we think our brands are what will continue to help us drive that.

我們有商業業務。當我們努力提高執行力、效率和銷售效率時，去年所做的投資持續為我們帶來回報。這些因素將繼續推動該項業務的發展。我們認為我們的品牌將繼續幫助我們推動這一目標。

And then continuing to drive on the termite and the ancillary side. As you see in the growth rates of that is continued opportunity. We haven't seen any concerns with the consumer. When there's a severe, say, rat infestation in the attic and we've got to do other exclusion work or major remediation of contaminated insulation and these types of things, we haven't seen resistance from our customers not willing to pay for that service.

然後繼續在白蟻和輔助方面前進。正如您所看到的，成長率意味著持續的機會。我們沒有看到消費者有任何擔憂。當出現嚴重問題，例如閣樓鼠患時，我們必須採取其他排除工作或對受污染的絕緣材料進行重大修復等，我們並沒有看到客戶不願意為這些服務付費。

So all those channels, for us, execution in all three of those areas will continue to be a focus for us. And we see all three of them as excellent opportunities as we go into 2025.

因此，對我們來說，所有這些管道、這三個領域的執行將繼續成為我們的關注重點。我們認為這三個面向對我們邁入 2025 年來說都是絕佳的機會。

Understood. Thanks for the color.

明白了。謝謝你的顏色。

Stephanie Moore, Jefferies.

傑富瑞的史蒂芬妮摩爾 (Stephanie Moore)。

Hey, good morning, guys. This is Peter Sullivan, on for Stephanie Moore.

嘿，大家早安。我是彼得·沙利文，代替史蒂芬妮·摩爾發言。

Hi, Peter.

你好，彼得。

So, how's it going? I was just curious about your strategy for continuing momentum in new business wins. What are you guys seeing in your end when it comes to through digital versus door to door? And then also, is there a dispersion in retention for gaining customers through these avenues? Thanks.

那麼，怎麼樣？我只是好奇您在新業務中保持持續發展勢頭的策略。當談到數位化行銷和挨家挨戶行銷時，你們最終看到了什麼？而且，透過這些途徑獲得客戶的保留率是否有分散？謝謝。

We feel like it's getting -- we're going to continue to have a multifaceted approach to customer acquisition. That's a really important part of our strategy. We've been very successful. And when you look at it, the cost might differ across the different categories.

我們感覺我們將繼續採取多管齊下的方法來獲取客戶。這是我們策略中非常重要的一部分。我們非常成功。而且當您查看它時，不同類別的成本可能會有所不同。

The retention doesn't necessarily differ. The retention is very healthy across those various categories. So we feel we feel really good about our ability to continue to do that. And when we look at acquisitions, when we buy businesses, we look at their geographic footprint and how complementary it might be to us.

保留不一定有所不同。各類別的保留率都非常高。因此，我們對自己繼續這樣做的能力感到非常滿意。當我們考慮收​​購、購買企業時，我們會考慮它們的地理分佈以及與我們有多大的互補性。

We look at the way they access their customers. We look at the way they service their customers. So we're always looking at adding diversification to our arsenal in terms of how we approach our customers. And so we feel good. We feel really good about those various channels.

我們觀察他們接觸客戶的方式。我們觀察他們為客戶提供服務的方式。因此，我們始終致力於在客戶接觸方式上增強產品的多樣化。因此我們感覺很好。我們對各種管道感到非常滿意。

Appreciate it, guys. And then for my follow-up, I was curious a little bit on -- to switch it up to the labor side. And then looking at kind of the consolidation of the competitive landscape, are you guys seeing any noticeable change in, say, technician turnover and then some context on what the technician hiring environment currently is? Thank you.

感謝你們，夥計們。然後對於我的後續行動，我有點好奇 ​​- 將其轉換到勞動力方面。然後看看競爭格局的整合，你們是否看到任何明顯的變化，例如技術人員的流動率以及目前技術人員招募環境的一些情況？謝謝。

This is Jerry. Yeah, we had a good hiring environment in 2024, as I mentioned. It's probably the -- I'm still not going to describe it as -- I wouldn't fully describe it as easy. But compared to, say, 2020 and 2021, it definitely feels easier.

這是傑瑞。是的，正如我所提到的，2024 年我們的招募環境良好。這可能是——我仍然不會將它描述為——我不會完全將它描述為容易。但與 2020 年和 2021 年相比，這肯定感覺更容易。

And so from that standpoint, we did a great job of being staffed to meet the demands of our customers, probably better than we have in the previous five years. And so we don't see anything changing there. We monitor pay. We try to make sure that we pay our people very competitively. We try to be in the top quartile of pay to make sure we retain people, offer great benefits and a great place to work. So a great career opportunity.

因此從這個角度來看，我們在配備員工以滿足客戶需求方面做得很好，可能比過去五年做得更好。因此我們沒有看到任何變化。我們監控工資。我們盡力確保為員工提供極具競爭力的薪資。我們努力將薪資保持在最高水平，以確保留住人才，提供優厚的福利和良好的工作場所。這是一個很好的職業機會。

So the -- while certainly the people expenses are the majority of our real expenses of our business, it's also where we spend a lot of our time and make a lot of our investment. So we're pretty comfortable and confident in the position that we're in today.

因此，雖然人力成本肯定是我們業務實際成本的大部分，但這也是我們花費大量時間和進行大量投資的地方。因此，我們對目前的地位感到非常滿意和自信。

I guess, maybe, Jerry, the one thing maybe is the retention that we continue to focus on, investing in retention and the real impact of that with customer engagement and profitability across the business. It's certainly an area -- it's an opportunity. We continue to make strides there, but we're certainly not finished with respect to our efforts on retention.

我想，傑瑞，也許有一件事是我們繼續關注的，那就是保留，投資於保留以及這對整個業務的客戶參與度和盈利能力的真正影響。這無疑是一個領域──一個機會。我們在這方面繼續取得進展，但我們在保留方面的努力當然還沒有完成。

Appreciate the color here. Thank you.

欣賞這裡的色彩。謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

At this time, I would like to turn the floor back over to management for closing comments.

現在，我想將發言權交還給管理階層，請他們發表最後評論。

Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. We appreciate your interest in our company. And we look forward to speaking with you on our first-quarter earnings call in a few months.

感謝大家今天的參與。感謝您對我們公司的關注。我們期待幾個月後在第一季財報電話會議上與您交談。

Thank you. This does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation, and have a great day.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。現在您可以斷開您的線路。感謝您的參與，祝您有愉快的一天。