Roper Technologies Inc (ROP) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. The Roper Technologies Conference Call will now begin. Today's call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the call over to Zack Moxcey, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

早上好。 Roper Technologies 電話會議現在開始。今天的通話正在錄音中。 （操作員說明）我現在想把電話轉給投資者關係副總裁 Zack Moxcey。請繼續。

Good morning, and thank you all for joining us as we discuss the fourth quarter and full year financial results for Roper Technologies.

早上好，感謝大家加入我們討論 Roper Technologies 第四季度和全年的財務業績。

Joining me on the call this morning are Neil Hunn, President and Chief Executive Officer; Jason Conley, Incoming Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Rob Crisci, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Brandon Cross, Incoming Vice President and Principal Accounting Officer; and Shannon O'Callaghan, Vice President of Finance.

總裁兼首席執行官尼爾·亨恩 (Neil Hunn) 今天早上和我一起參加了電話會議； Jason Conley，即將上任的執行副總裁兼首席財務官； Rob Crisci，執行副總裁兼首席財務官； Brandon Cross，即將上任的副總裁兼首席會計官；和財務副總裁 Shannon O'Callaghan。

Earlier this morning, we issued a press release announcing our financial results. The press release also includes replay information for today's call. We have prepared slides to accompany today's call, which are available through the webcast and are also available on our website.

今天早上早些時候，我們發布了一份新聞稿，公佈了我們的財務業績。新聞稿還包括今天電話會議的重播信息。我們為今天的電話會議準備了幻燈片，可通過網絡廣播獲取，也可在我們的網站上獲取。

Now if you please turn to Page 2. We begin with our safe harbor statement. During the course of today's call, we will make forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties as described on this page, in our press release and in our SEC filings. You should listen to today's call in the context of that information.

現在請翻到第 2 頁。我們從安全港聲明開始。在今天的電話會議期間，我們將做出前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受本頁、我們的新聞稿和我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中所述的風險和不確定性的影響。您應該在該信息的背景下收聽今天的電話會議。

And now please turn to Page 3. Unless otherwise noted, we will discuss our results and guidance on an adjusted non-GAAP and continuing operations basis. For the fourth quarter, the difference between our GAAP results and adjusted results consists of the following items: amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets; purchase accounting adjustments to commission expense; a legal charge related to the settlement of the Berall v. Verathon patent litigation matter. The case related to the sale of certain Verathon products from 2004 through 2016, there are no future financial obligations for Verathon related to this matter; next, transaction-related expenses for completed acquisitions; and lastly, we have adjusted our cash flow statement to exclude the cash taxes paid related to our divestiture activity.

現在請翻到第 3 頁。除非另有說明，否則我們將在調整後的非 GAAP 和持續運營基礎上討論我們的結果和指導。第四季度，我們的 GAAP 結果與調整後結果之間的差異包括以下項目：與收購相關的無形資產攤銷；購買佣金費用的會計調整；與 Berall 訴 Verathon 專利訴訟事宜的和解相關的法律指控。該案涉及從 2004 年到 2016 年銷售某些 Verathon 產品，Verathon 未來沒有與此事相關的財務義務；其次，完成收購的交易相關費用；最後，我們調整了現金流量表，以排除與剝離活動相關的現金稅。

GAAP requires these payments to be classified as operating cash flow items even though they are related to divestitures. Reconciliations can be found in our press release and in the appendix of this presentation on our website.

GAAP 要求將這些付款歸類為經營現金流量項目，即使它們與資產剝離有關。可以在我們的新聞稿和我們網站上本演示文稿的附錄中找到對賬。

And now if you please turn to Page 4, I'll hand the call over to Neil. After our prepared remarks, we will take questions from our telephone participants. Neil?

現在請翻到第 4 頁，我會把電話轉給尼爾。在我們準備好的發言之後，我們將回答電話參與者的問題。尼爾？

Thanks, Zack, and good morning, everyone. As we turn to Page 4, we'll walk through our usual year-end agenda, highlights for the most recent quarter and full year, followed by color commentary for each of our segments and then the initiation of our 2023 guidance. Let's go and get started. Next slide, please.

謝謝，扎克，大家早上好。當我們翻到第 4 頁時，我們將介紹我們通常的年終議程、最近一個季度和全年的亮點，然後是我們每個細分市場的顏色評論，然後是我們 2023 年指南的啟動。讓我們開始吧。請換下一張幻燈片。

As we heard on Page 5, the main takeaways for today's call are: First, we delivered another great year of strategic, operational and financial progress. To this end, we concluded our multiyear divestiture program, which was centered on improving the quality of remaining portfolio, namely emphasizing less cyclical, more asset-light and higher-growth businesses.

正如我們在第 5 頁聽到的那樣，今天電話會議的主要內容是：首先，我們在戰略、運營和財務方面取得了又一個偉大的進步。為此，我們完成了多年資產剝離計劃，該計劃的重點是提高剩餘投資組合的質量，即強調週期性較弱、資產輕型和增長較高的業務。

In addition, we successfully deployed $4.3 billion towards market-leading and application-specific software businesses. More on this later, but we also continue to have substantial M&A firepower well north of $4 billion. Organically, we grew just shy of 10% for the year while simultaneously improving the underlying quality of the enterprise. During the course of the year, our businesses did a terrific job of innovating and capturing share, which leads us to our second main takeaway for today's call that we're well positioned for another solid year of performance in 2023. Our higher quality, less cyclical and more highly recurring nature of our portfolio will serve us well during 2023.

此外，我們成功地將 43 億美元用於市場領先和特定於應用程序的軟件業務。稍後會詳細介紹，但我們也繼續擁有超過 40 億美元的大量併購火力。有機地，我們在這一年中增長了將近 10%，同時提高了企業的基礎質量。在這一年中，我們的業務在創新和占領份額方面做得非常出色，這使我們得出了今天電話會議的第二個主要結論，即我們已做好準備，在 2023 年再次取得穩健的業績。我們的質量更高，更少我們投資組合的周期性和更高重複性將在 2023 年為我們提供良好的服務。

Now as I hand the call over to our Incoming CFO, Jason Conley, let me take a moment and thank Rob Crisci for all he's done for Roper and for me. Rob has been a significant contributor to our success and an important member of our executive team with meaningful insights and contributions across a variety of topics, including our most recent portfolio repositioning.

現在，當我將電話轉交給我們即將上任的首席財務官 Jason Conley 時，讓我花點時間感謝 Rob Crisci 為 Roper 和我所做的一切。 Rob 一直是我們成功的重要貢獻者，也是我們執行團隊的重要成員，他對各種主題（包括我們最近的投資組合重新定位）具有有意義的見解和貢獻。

We're excited to welcome Jason to his new role. Many of you know, Jason, but those of you who do not, Jason has been with Roper for 16 years. He started in Corporate IR and FP&A, then the operating CFO at MHA our one of our businesses and most recently serving as Roper's Chief Accounting Officer. Since his return to corporate, he has been a member of our capital allocation team and has attended every Board meeting. The team and I are excited to partner with Jason for the next leg of our evolution.

我們很高興歡迎 Jason 擔任他的新角色。傑森，你們中的許多人都知道，但有些人還不知道，傑森已經在羅珀工作了 16 年。他從企業 IR 和 FP&A 開始，然後在我們的業務之一的 MHA 擔任運營 CFO，最近擔任 Roper 的首席會計官。自重返公司以來，他一直是我們資本配置團隊的成員，並出席了每次董事會會議。我和我的團隊很高興能與 Jason 合作，共同推進我們的下一步發展。

So with that, looking forward to the partnership with Jason, and thank you, Rob, for all that you've done to make Roper better than when you joined. Jason, let me turn the call over to you, so you can walk through the fourth quarter and the full year financial summary. Jason?

因此，期待與 Jason 的合作，並感謝你，Rob，感謝你所做的一切，讓 Roper 比你加入時更好。傑森，讓我把電話轉給你，這樣你就可以瀏覽第四季度和全年的財務摘要。傑森？

Thanks, Neil. I am very excited and incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work with you and the team in this new role. And of course, thanks, Rob, for your awesome partnership and mentorship over the years. It's been just a great experience working together.

謝謝，尼爾。我很高興也非常感謝有機會與您和團隊一起擔任這個新角色。當然，還要感謝 Rob，感謝您多年來的出色合作和指導。一起工作真是太棒了。

So first, I'd like to introduce Brandon Cross as our new Principal Accounting Officer. Brandon joined Roper about 5 years ago, progressing to our Assistant Controller and more recently, has led and transformed our audit services function. He has significant M&A and integration experience. So this is a natural and well-earned promotion for him. Brandon, I look forward to working together in your new role.

首先，我想介紹 Brandon Cross 作為我們的新首席會計官。 Brandon 大約 5 年前加入儒博，晉升為我們的助理財務總監，最近領導並轉變了我們的審計服務職能。他擁有豐富的併購和整合經驗。所以這對他來說是一個自然的、應得的晉升。布蘭登，我期待著在你的新角色中一起工作。

Thanks, Jason.

謝謝，傑森。

If you indulge me, I'll rip on Roper for a few seconds. I've been blessed to help guide and execute our evolution from Roper Industries to Roper Technologies, which has been underpinned by our North Star belief that cash is the best measure of performance. And as we enter 2023, our best years are ahead of us. We have a family of market-leading businesses with durable growth drivers and terrific free cash flow margins. Further, the leadership teams and talent processes at our businesses are the best in the company's history.

如果你放縱我，我會撕羅珀幾秒鐘。我很幸運能夠幫助指導和執行我們從 Roper Industries 到 Roper Technologies 的演變，這得益於我們的北極星信念，即現金是衡量績效的最佳指標。當我們進入 2023 年時，我們最好的年華就在前方。我們擁有一系列市場領先的業務，具有持久的增長動力和極好的自由現金流利潤率。此外，我們業務的領導團隊和人才流程是公司歷史上最好的。

And finally, we have significant capacity to execute our proven and disciplined M&A strategy that I've been a part of for many years. I anticipate being quite active on the road this year. So for those on the call, I look forward to either meeting you or reconnecting in the coming months.

最後，我們有強大的能力來執行我們多年來一直參與的經過驗證和嚴格的併購戰略。我預計今年會在路上非常活躍。因此，對於那些接聽電話的人，我期待在未來幾個月與您會面或重新聯繫。

All right. Let's get into the financials. Turning to Slide 6. We'll do a quick review of our Q4 performance. We capped off a solid year of growth with revenue of over $1.4 billion, which was 14% higher over prior year. Organic growth was 7% with strength across the portfolio, which was enhanced by 10% software recurring revenue growth. Acquisitions added 8 points of growth, led by our Frontline business that closed in early October, and currency was a 2-point headwind.

好的。讓我們進入財務。轉到幻燈片 6。我們將快速回顧一下第四季度的表現。我們以超過 14 億美元的收入結束了穩健增長的一年，比上年增長 14%。有機增長為 7%，整個產品組合均表現強勁，軟件經常性收入增長 10% 進一步推動了這一增長。在 10 月初關閉的前線業務的帶動下，收購增加了 8 個百分點的增長，而貨幣則是 2 個百分點的逆風。

EBITDA of $592 million, was up 17% over the prior year. We experienced strong operating leverage across the enterprise and improving gross margins in our TEP segment to finish out the year. DEPS came in at $3.92, which was 17% against the prior year and $0.18 above the midpoint of our guidance range.

EBITDA 為 5.92 億美元，比上年增長 17%。我們在整個企業中經歷了強大的運營槓桿，並在我們的 TEP 部門提高了毛利率，以結束這一年。 DEPS 為 3.92 美元，比上年增長 17%，比我們的指導範圍中點高出 0.18 美元。

Next, we'll look at free cash flow. Free cash flow of $457 million, was down 8% over the prior year. Excluding the Section 174 impact, we were down 3%. And factoring out a $30 million Vertafore tax benefit in 2021 that doesn't repeat, we're up about 3% to 4% in the quarter.

接下來，我們將看看自由現金流。自由現金流為 4.57 億美元，比上年下降 8%。排除第 174 條的影響，我們下跌了 3%。考慮到 2021 年 3000 萬美元的 Vertafore 稅收優惠不會重複，我們本季度增長了約 3% 至 4%。

Taking a broader view, you can see we compounded cash 11% over a 4-year period, despite the Section 174 headwind, and we're well positioned for double-digit cash flow compounding going forward.

從更廣泛的角度來看，你可以看到我們在 4 年期間的複合現金增加了 11%，儘管有第 174 條的逆風，而且我們為未來兩位數的現金流複合做好了準備。

Turning to Slide 7. We'll now do a quick overview of our Q4 segment results, as Neil will unpack more detail on the full year a bit later. We had a nice finish to a great year across the 3 segments. For Application Software, revenue was up 22% to $740 million, with organic growth of 7%. EBITDA margin increased to 45.6% in the quarter. We had strong SaaS bookings growth and overall solid net retention throughout the year, which is just naturally rolling through recurring revenue in the quarter.

轉向幻燈片 7。我們現在將快速概述我們第四季度的業績，因為尼爾稍後將解開全年的更多細節。我們在 3 個細分市場中度過了美好的一年。應用軟件方面，收入增長 22% 至 7.4 億美元，有機增長 7%。本季度 EBITDA 利潤率增至 45.6%。全年我們的 SaaS 預訂量增長強勁，整體淨保留率穩健，這自然會在本季度的經常性收入中滾動。

Growth was broad-based across the segment, aside from some delayed decision-making in the large government contracting space within Deltek. On margin, we had lower incentive-based SG&A and employee medical costs, so some favorability in the quarter. If you look at the full year margin of 44%, that's about where we would expect to be over a longer horizon.

除了 Deltek 內大型政府承包空間的一些延遲決策外，該部門的增長基礎廣泛。在保證金方面，我們基於激勵的 SG&A 和員工醫療成本較低，因此本季度有一定的優勢。如果你看一下 44% 的全年利潤率，那就是我們預期的長期利潤率。

Our Network Software segment grew nicely in the quarter, with revenue up 9% to $350 million and EBITDA also up 9% to $189 million or 54% of revenue. Growth was led by our freight matching businesses, which continued driving higher ARPU from premium offerings to offset moderating carry activity as we expected.

我們的網絡軟件部門在本季度增長良好，收入增長 9% 至 3.5 億美元，EBITDA 也增長 9% 至 1.89 億美元，佔收入的 54%。增長是由我們的貨運匹配業務帶動的，該業務繼續推動優質產品的 ARPU 提高，以抵消我們預期的緩和運載活動。

Tech Enabled products revenue was $340 million and grew 5% organically in the quarter. Demand remained strong, and we had some orders that didn't get delivered toward the end of the quarter, which will benefit Q1. EBITDA grew 7% to $119 million, resulting in EBITDA margin of 34.9% or 100 basis points over prior year, with strong operating leverage as the price cost dynamic was neutralized in the quarter.

Tech Enabled 產品收入為 3.4 億美元，本季度有機增長 5%。需求依然強勁，我們有一些訂單在本季度末未交付，這將有利於第一季度。 EBITDA 增長 7% 至 1.19 億美元，導致 EBITDA 利潤率比上年同期增長 34.9% 或 100 個基點，由於本季度價格成本動態被抵消，運營槓桿作用強勁。

Turning to the full year 2022 performance on Slide 8. Revenue was 11% higher than prior year to $5.4 billion, with 9% organic growth. EBITDA was 12% better to nearly $2.2 billion, with EBITDA margin coming in at 40.4%. DEPS of $14.28, was 15% over prior year and reflected strong P&L leverage against the 11% revenue growth. Notably, compared to our 2018 pre-divestiture financial profile, our revenue is about $175 million higher, while EBITDA is nearly $365 million higher.

轉到幻燈片 8 上的 2022 年全年業績。收入比上年增長 11% 至 54 億美元，有機增長 9%。 EBITDA 增長 12% 至近 22 億美元，EBITDA 利潤率為 40.4%。 DEPS 為 14.28 美元，比上年增長 15%，反映出對 11% 收入增長的強勁損益槓桿作用。值得注意的是，與我們 2018 年剝離前的財務狀況相比，我們的收入高出約 1.75 億美元，而 EBITDA 高出近 3.65 億美元。

So through a combination of organic growth and capital deployment, we've grown despite divesting about 40% of our 2018 revenue. And most importantly, the composition of our portfolio today positions us for higher and more durable growth going forward.

因此，通過有機增長和資本配置的結合，儘管我們剝離了 2018 年收入的約 40%，但我們仍然實現了增長。最重要的是，我們今天的投資組合構成使我們能夠實現更高、更持久的增長。

Free cash flow came in at about $1.5 billion, so down 7% versus prior year. It's a bit of the same situation as our fourth quarter with both the 2022 headwinds of Section 174 of nearly $100 million and the nonrepeat of the 2021 Vertafore tax benefit of $117 million. If we normalize for those items, free cash flow grew about 8%.

自由現金流約為 15 億美元，較上年下降 7%。這與我們第四季度的情況有點相同，2022 年第 174 條的逆風將近 1 億美元，2021 年 Vertafore 稅收優惠的非重複 1.17 億美元。如果我們對這些項目進行標準化處理，自由現金流量將增長約 8%。

We've had a bit of an inventory built within our Tech segment as supply has become more available. This is not a new normal, and we certainly expect that to improve in 2023. If we kind of take this up to a multiyear view, you can see we've compounded cash at 15% over a 4-year period. And as we look forward, the impact from Section 174 will be fairly neutral, and we expect to convert plus or minus 80% of EBITDA to free cash flow. So we're clearly well positioned for double-digit growth.

隨著供應變得更加可用，我們在技術部門建立了一些庫存。這不是新常態，我們當然預計這種情況會在 2023 年有所改善。如果我們從多年的角度來看，你會發現我們在 4 年期間的複合現金增長率為 15%。展望未來，第 174 條的影響將相當中性，我們預計將正負 80% 的 EBITDA 轉換為自由現金流。因此，我們顯然有能力實現兩位數的增長。

Turning to Slide 9. Let's take a look at our financial position. We certainly had a lot going on in Q4. On November 22, we completed the majority sale of our industrial businesses, which are now operating under the name Indicor and received $2.6 billion in upfront proceeds. Also in the quarter, we paid $270 million, representing all taxes due related to the majority sale. So this yielded us net proceeds of over $2.3 billion, a very good outcome here indeed. Related to our stake in Indicor, this is now appearing as an equity investment on our balance sheet. We will be updating the fair value of the equity investment each quarter going forward.

轉到幻燈片 9。讓我們來看看我們的財務狀況。我們在第四季度當然發生了很多事情。 11 月 22 日，我們完成了工業業務的大部分出售，這些業務現在以 Indicor 的名義運營，並收到了 26 億美元的預付款。同樣在本季度，我們支付了 2.7 億美元，這是與大部分銷售相關的所有應付稅款。因此，這為我們帶來了超過 23 億美元的淨收益，這確實是一個非常好的結果。與我們在 Indicor 的股份相關，這現在在我們的資產負債表上顯示為股權投資。我們將在未來每個季度更新股權投資的公允價值。

To provide a clearer picture of our continuing operations, we will provide a non-GAAP adjustment for this fair value accounting and any tax expense related to this investment.

為了更清楚地了解我們的持續經營，我們將針對此公允價值會計和與此投資相關的任何稅收費用提供非 GAAP 調整。

So just looking at our balance sheet, even after our $3.7 billion Frontline acquisition, which was completed in October, our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio stands at 2.7x. So our solid leverage profile, coupled with strong free cash flow generation and an undrawn revolver of $3.5 billion, gives us $4 billion plus of M&A capacity. Clearly, we are very well positioned for disciplined capital deployment in 2023.

因此，只要看看我們的資產負債表，即使在我們於 10 月份完成的 37 億美元收購 Frontline 之後，我們的淨債務與 EBITDA 之比仍為 2.7 倍。因此，我們堅實的槓桿狀況，加上強勁的自由現金流產生和 35 億美元的未動用循環，為我們提供了 40 億美元以上的併購能力。顯然，我們已做好充分準備，在 2023 年進行有紀律的資本部署。

And with that, I will turn the call back over to Neil to go through our segment details. Neil?

有了這個，我會把電話轉回給 Neil 來檢查我們的細分細節。尼爾？

Thanks, Jason, and well done. Let's turn to Page 11 and walk through our 2022 highlights for our Application Software segment. Revenues here were $2.64 billion, up 7% on an organic basis, and EBITDA margins were 44.1%. Performance across this segment was just solid in 2022. Vertafore, our software business that tech enables property and casualty insurance agencies accelerated their growth, led by continued strength in their Enterprise Class segment. In addition, the 2 Vertafore bolt-on acquisitions are strategically on point, integrated and performing well.

謝謝，傑森，幹得好。讓我們翻到第 11 頁，瀏覽一下我們應用軟件部門 2022 年的亮點。這裡的收入為 26.4 億美元，有機增長 7%，EBITDA 利潤率為 44.1%。該細分市場在 2022 年的表現非常穩健。Vertafore 是我們的軟件業務，其技術支持財產和意外傷害保險機構，在企業級細分市場的持續強勁帶動下加速了增長。此外，2 次 Vertafore 的補強收購在戰略上恰到好處、整合且表現良好。

As we've been discussing, SaaS migrations have been a key theme for us over the past few years, and 2022 was no different. Both Aderant and Deltek continued their SaaS migration momentum and both grew nicely based on solid customer adds and strong retention. Deltek was particularly strong in their private sector end markets. But as Jason mentioned, Deltek did see some slower decision-making specific to new bookings in the enterprise segment for their GovCon solutions. At our upcoming March 21 Investor Day, you'll get an opportunity to hear directly from the leaders at Vertafore, Deltek and Aderant about how they're competing and consistently winning in the market.

正如我們一直在討論的那樣，SaaS 遷移在過去幾年中一直是我們的一個關鍵主題，2022 年也不例外。 Aderant 和 Deltek 都繼續他們的 SaaS 遷移勢頭，並且都在穩固的客戶增加和強大的保留率的基礎上實現了良好的增長。 Deltek 在其私營部門終端市場中表現尤為突出。但正如 Jason 所提到的，Deltek 確實看到一些針對企業部門新預訂的 GovCon 解決方案的決策速度較慢。在我們即將到來的 3 月 21 日投資者日，您將有機會直接聽取 Vertafore、Deltek 和 Aderant 的領導者關於他們如何在市場上競爭和持續獲勝的信息。

As it relates to PowerPlan, we liked what we saw last year. PowerPlan was strong given their refocused and narrowed strategy combined with a highly aligned team. As a result, PowerPlan crossed a meaningful milestone, launching a SaaS solution for their flagship product, Tax Fixed Assets. Congrats to the team for a great 2022 and looking forward to more great things in 2023.

由於它與 PowerPlan 相關，我們喜歡我們去年看到的東西。 PowerPlan 之所以強大，是因為他們重新調整了重點並縮小了戰略範圍，再加上高度一致的團隊。因此，PowerPlan 跨越了一個有意義的里程碑，為其旗艦產品 Tax Fixed Assets 推出了 SaaS 解決方案。祝賀團隊取得了偉大的 2022 年，並期待在 2023 年取得更多偉大的成就。

2022 is a very good year for application, health care, IT businesses as well. Strata's combination with EPSi has just been great. The integration is complete and the number of EPSi, the Strata has conversions and upsell, cross-sell are both meaningfully ahead of our deal expectations.

2022 年對於應用、醫療保健、IT 業務來說也是非常好的一年。 Strata 與 EPSi 的結合非常棒。整合已經完成，EPSi 的數量、Strata 的轉化率和追加銷售、交叉銷售都大大超出了我們的交易預期。

CliniSys and Data Innovations continue to win in the marketplace. The internal combination of CliniSys and Sunquest has rejuvenated and energized their high-performance culture, which is enabling the business to more effectively compete and win in the marketplace. Data Innovations continues to gain share and evolve to become the de facto standard as it relates to lab middleware.

CliniSys 和 Data Innovations 繼續贏得市場。 CliniSys 和 Sunquest 的內部結合重振並激發了他們的高績效文化，這使企業能夠更有效地競爭並在市場上取勝。 Data Innovations 繼續獲得份額並發展成為事實上的標準，因為它與實驗室中間件有關。

Finally, Frontline, our cornerstone 2022 acquisition is off to a solid start. We look forward to sharing the strategic and financial success of this business in the quarters and years to come. I'd like to reiterate with what we started with. Performance here strategically, operationally and financially was just great in 2022. Very proud of the team and the performance. Congrats and thanks. Looking to the outlook for 2023, we expect to see organic growth in the mid-single-digit area based on our market positions and growth in recurring revenues.

最後，Frontline，我們 2022 年的基石收購有了一個堅實的開端。我們期待在未來幾個季度和幾年內分享該業務的戰略和財務成功。我想重申一下我們的開頭。 2022 年在戰略、運營和財務方面的表現都非常出色。對團隊和表現感到非常自豪。恭喜並感謝。展望 2023 年的前景，根據我們的市場地位和經常性收入的增長，我們預計將實現中個位數區域的有機增長。

Turning to Page 12. Revenues in 2022 for our Network Software segment were $1.38 billion, up 13% on an organic basis, and EBITDA margins were strong at 53.3%. As we dig in the business-specific performance, our U.S. and Canadian freight matching businesses were great in 2022. Their exceptional growth is based on many factors, certainly favorable market conditions, but also continued product and network innovations as well as terrific product and package designs that drove increased value for the Network participants.

翻到第 12 頁。我們網絡軟件部門 2022 年的收入為 13.8 億美元，有機增長 13%，EBITDA 利潤率高達 53.3%。當我們深入研究特定業務的表現時，我們的美國和加拿大貨運匹配業務在 2022 年表現出色。它們的超常增長基於許多因素，當然是有利的市場條件，還包括持續的產品和網絡創新以及出色的產品和包裝為網絡參與者帶來更高價值的設計。

iPipeline and iTradeNetwork were stellar performers throughout 2022 and benefited from having strong renewal and expansion activity. iPipeline like that of PowerPlan is benefiting from having a narrowed and more focused strategy, namely Tech Enabling, the life insurance, and annuity distribution network.

iPipeline 和 iTradeNetwork 在整個 2022 年表現出色，並受益於強勁的更新和擴張活動。像 PowerPlan 這樣的 iPipeline 受益於範圍更窄、更集中的戰略，即 Tech Enabling、人壽保險和年金分銷網絡。

Moving to Foundry, which had another great year as part of Roper. Foundry continues to be the market-leading software in postproduction media entertainment. During 2022, Foundry's product innovations were impressive with several new features focused on ML-based automation. Starting in 2023, Foundry's flagship product Nuke will begin its subscription transition, so looking forward for solid progress on that front.

搬到 Foundry，作為 Roper 的一部分，這又是一個偉大的一年。 Foundry 仍然是後期製作媒體娛樂領域的市場領先軟件。在 2022 年期間，Foundry 的產品創新令人印象深刻，推出了多項專注於基於 ML 的自動化的新功能。從 2023 年開始，Foundry 的旗艦產品 Nuke 將開始訂閱過渡，因此期待在這方面取得穩步進展。

Growth in our businesses that focus on alternate site healthcare was led by SHP and SoftWriters and importantly, retention rates across SHP, SoftWriters and MHA remained extremely high. Broadly, the performance across this segment was great. Congrats to the teams for this terrific year of financial performance.

我們專注於替代站點醫療保健的業務增長由 SHP 和 SoftWriters 引領，重要的是，SHP、SoftWriters 和 MHA 的保留率仍然非常高。從廣義上講，該細分市場的表現非常出色。祝賀這些團隊在這一年取得了出色的財務業績。

Turning to the outlook for 2023. We expect to see mid-single-digit organic growth for this segment based on broad and sustained growth across the group and a normalization of market conditions for freight and logistics applications.

談到 2023 年的前景。基於整個集團廣泛而持續的增長以及貨運和物流應用市場條件的正常化，我們預計該部門將實現中個位數的有機增長。

As we turn to Page 13, revenues in 2022 for our Tech Enabled Products segment were $1.35 billion, up 10% on an organic basis. EBITDA margins for this segment were 35.4% for the year. As expected, EBITDA margins expanded in the second half of the year as pricing and supply chain improvements flow through.

當我們翻到第 13 頁時，我們技術支持產品部門 2022 年的收入為 13.5 億美元，有機增長 10%。該部門全年的 EBITDA 利潤率為 35.4%。正如預期的那樣，隨著定價和供應鏈的改善，EBITDA 利潤率在下半年有所擴大。

Let's start with Neptune, our water meter and technology product business. This past year was just terrific with very strong growth based on strong margin conditions, strong share gains and strong adoption of their static ultrasonic meter technology. In addition, Neptune launched their cellular connectivity solution and did a fantastic job migrating a large chunk of their customer base to their newest data management solution. Spectacular job Neptune, congrats Don to you and your team.

讓我們從我們的水錶和技術產品業務 Neptune 開始。過去的一年非常出色，基於強勁的利潤率狀況、強勁的份額增長和對靜態超聲波儀表技術的大力採用，實現了非常強勁的增長。此外，Neptune 推出了他們的蜂窩連接解決方案，並出色地將大量客戶群遷移到他們最新的數據管理解決方案。海王星的出色工作，祝賀唐對你和你的團隊。

Northern Digital, which is our precision measurement tech company, continued to see terrific demand for their optical and EM solutions. NDI benefits from having a strategy that is laser-focused on healthcare applications and an R&D capability that is unmatched in the industry. NDI's core tech is using countless life-saving procedures on a daily basis across the globe.

Northern Digital 是我們的精密測量技術公司，繼續看到對其光學和 EM 解決方案的巨大需求。 NDI 得益於專注於醫療保健應用的戰略和業內無與倫比的研發能力。 NDI 的核心技術每天在全球範圍內使用無數的救生程序。

Verathon turned in another solid year performance in 2022 as well. The growth is based on momentum across their video innovation and single-use bronchoscope product lines. As you saw in the press release, we did take the opportunity to clean up a legacy patent dispute. Make no mistake, the innovation capability at Verathon is nothing short of exceptional, and we cannot be more confident about their most recent product launches and the new concepts in the development pipeline. As it relates to the single-use bronc space, we hope to see Verathon capture the #1 market position in North America in 2023.

Verathon 在 2022 年也取得了又一個穩健的表現。這一增長基於其視頻創新和一次性支氣管鏡產品線的勢頭。正如您在新聞稿中看到的那樣，我們確實抓住了解決遺留專利糾紛的機會。毫無疑問，Verathon 的創新能力堪稱非凡，我們對他們最近發布的產品和開發流程中的新概念充滿信心。由於它涉及一次性 bronc 空間，我們希望看到 Verathon 在 2023 年佔據北美第一的市場地位。

Our outlook for the year in this segment is in the high single-digit area and is based on continued strength in backlog at Neptune as well as continued growth across our medical product businesses. Specific to the first quarter, we do have easier comps versus a year ago.

我們對該領域今年的展望處於高個位數區域，並且基於 Neptune 積壓訂單的持續增長以及我們醫療產品業務的持續增長。具體到第一季度，與一年前相比，我們的業績確實更容易。

Now please turn to Page 15, and let's review our 2023 and Q1 guidance. For 2023, we're initiating our DEPS guidance to be in the range of $15.90 and $16.20. Underpinning this guidance is expected organic growth of 5% to 6% and a tax rate in the 21% to 22% area. Specific to the first quarter, we're establishing our DEPS guidance to be in the $3.80 to $3.84 range.

現在請翻到第 15 頁，讓我們回顧一下我們的 2023 年和第一季度指南。對於 2023 年，我們開始將 DEPS 指導值定在 15.90 美元和 16.20 美元之間。支持這一指引的是預計 5% 至 6% 的有機增長和 21% 至 22% 的稅率。具體到第一季度，我們將 DEPS 指導建立在 3.80 美元至 3.84 美元的範圍內。

Now please turn with us to our final page, Page 16. As we turn to this page, we want to leave you with the same key points with which we started. First, 2022 was a year of great accomplishment for our teams and our enterprise. We grew revenue 11%, 9% on an organic basis. And we did this while continuing to increase the underlying quality of our revenue base. In fact, we delivered double-digit increases in our Software organic recurring revenue during 2022.

現在請翻到我們的最後一頁，第 16 頁。翻到這一頁時，我們想留給您的是與我們開始時相同的要點。首先，2022 年是我們團隊和企業取得巨大成就的一年。我們的收入有機增長了 11%，增長了 9%。我們在這樣做的同時繼續提高我們收入基礎的基礎質量。事實上，我們在 2022 年實現了軟件有機經常性收入的兩位數增長。

EBITDA grew 12%. Our EBITDA margins expanded 20 basis points to 40.4%. Also, we successfully concluded our multiyear divestiture program and deployed $4.3 billion against our long-standing capital deployment strategy, headlined by Frontline Education.

EBITDA 增長了 12%。我們的 EBITDA 利潤率擴大了 20 個基點，達到 40.4%。此外，我們還成功完成了多年資產剝離計劃，並根據我們以前線教育為首的長期資本配置戰略部署了 43 億美元。

The second key takeaway is that we're well positioned for double-digit cash flow compounding in 2023 based on our organic revenue growth outlook, contributions from our 2022 acquisition cohort and having well north of $4 billion of M&A capacity. To this end, we continue to be very active in the M&A markets. But as you saw during 2022 and as always, we will remain super patient and highly disciplined to ensure optimal deployment of our available capital.

第二個關鍵要點是，根據我們的有機收入增長前景、2022 年收購隊列的貢獻以及遠高於 40 億美元的併購能力，我們在 2023 年有望實現兩位數的現金流複合。為此，我們繼續積極參與併購市場。但正如您在 2022 年看到的那樣，一如既往，我們將保持超級耐心和高度紀律，以確保我們可用資本的最佳部署。

Finally, and perhaps the most important, the new higher quality Roper portfolio is becoming increasingly more evident, and we've never been more excited about the future of enterprise. As we open up to your questions, we'd like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that we're hosting an Investor Day on Tuesday, March 21, in New York. We look forward to seeing many of you there. So with that, let's open it up to your questions.

最後，也許是最重要的是，新的更高質量的 Roper 產品組合正變得越來越明顯，我們對企業的未來從未如此興奮。在回答您的問題時，我們想藉此機會提醒大家，我們將於 3 月 21 日星期二在紐約舉辦投資者日活動。我們期待在那裡見到你們中的許多人。因此，讓我們打開它來回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Today's first question comes from Deane Dray at RBC Capital Markets.

（操作員說明）今天的第一個問題來自 RBC Capital Markets 的 Deane Dray。

Just start with the best wishes to Rob. I remember when he was starting as a rookie Investor Relations professional. And just wish him all the best.

就從對 Rob 的最良好祝愿開始吧。我記得他剛開始擔任新手投資者關係專業人士時的情景。祝他一切順利。

Thank you, Deane, I appreciate it. It's been a great decade.

謝謝你，迪恩，我很感激。這是一個偉大的十年。

It's fabulous. And then, Jason, yes, I think, you've been on every one of our callbacks for the 16 years. So you're absolutely -- we know exactly who you are and your experience. And so congrats on the new role.

太棒了。然後，Jason，是的，我想，16 年來你參加了我們的每一次回訪。所以你絕對 - 我們確切地知道你是誰和你的經歷。所以恭喜你擔任新角色。

Thanks, Deane. Appreciate it.

謝謝，迪恩。欣賞它。

All right. So for a question, maybe we can start with a bit of a macroeconomic sensitivity because you typically, you don't see much of this within Roper. But just since you called out the Deltek delayed decision-making, Neil, is there any change in the pace of like new customer adds or the migration, new logos? Anything that you would point to that perhaps, there is some economic sensitivity reading through in that kind of the pace of business?

好的。因此，對於一個問題，也許我們可以從宏觀經濟敏感性開始，因為通常情況下，您在 Roper 內部看不到太多。但就在你宣布 Deltek 延遲決策之後，Neil，新客戶添加或遷移、新徽標的步伐是否有任何變化？您可能會指出的任何事情，在那種業務節奏中都存在一些經濟敏感性？

Yes. I think the -- if I take it at the highest level, we've been 8% to 10% organic. The last couple of years, obviously, are guiding a little bit below that for 2023. So I think you see it in our guidance model reading through as a general matter.

是的。我認為——如果我把它放在最高水平，我們已經有 8% 到 10% 的有機率。顯然，過去幾年的指導略低於 2023 年的水平。所以我認為你在我們的指導模型中看到了它作為一般問題閱讀。

If you take the Software businesses, our retention rates will stay very high. We expect that to the intimacy and the criticality of our applications. So retention rates to be very high.

如果您選擇軟件業務，我們的保留率將保持很高。我們期望這對我們應用程序的親密性和關鍵性。所以保留率非常高。

But as our customers, I mean, across all these end markets, I mean, if there's macroeconomic sort of headwinds or slowdown, then they're going to be affected to some degree. So we'd expect customer expansion activity maybe a little bit of net new to be slowed a little bit. The Software businesses will be great. They'll grow for sure, but a little bit slower.

但作為我們的客戶，我的意思是，在所有這些終端市場中，如果出現宏觀經濟逆風或放緩，那麼他們將在某種程度上受到影響。因此，我們預計客戶擴展活動可能會稍微放緩一點。軟件業務會很棒。他們肯定會成長，但會慢一點。

From an end market perspective, we're in a number of end markets that are generally macro insensitive. There's a little bit, obviously, in our transportation business DAT that we called out on the call. That will be a little bit slower. But there's some hedges inside the portfolio. ConstructConnect should be good in the slower economic environment and also our medical product businesses as staffing levels and hospitals gets a little bit easier, patient volume should come back and that should help those businesses.

從終端市場的角度來看，我們處於一些通常對宏觀不敏感的終端市場。顯然，在我們的運輸業務 DAT 中，我們在電話中提到了一點點。那會慢一點。但投資組合中有一些對沖。 ConstructConnect 在經濟放緩的環境中應該表現良好，我們的醫療產品業務也應該如此，因為人員配備水平和醫院變得更容易一些，患者數量應該會回來，這應該有助於這些業務。

And then from a product, Neptune has got a gigantic amount of backlog, which will carry them through much of this year. So we feel pretty well set up. It doesn't mean that we're completely insensitive to macro, but relatively insensitive.

然後從一個產品中，Neptune 得到了大量的積壓，這將使他們度過今年的大部分時間。所以我們感覺很好。這並不意味著我們對宏觀完全不敏感，而是相對不敏感。

That's real helpful. And then let's just switch over to free cash flow and maybe I'll be accused of quibbling. The $161 million free cash flow conversion is still elite, but it did lag your 5-year average. And I know there's some dynamics here, and you touched on in the remarks, the Section 174 and the comparison from the tax benefit last year. Anything that on the working capital side or maybe the Frontline contribution because they're on a different school year, so maybe more of a third quarter collection. But is there any change in the seasonal tilt on free cash flow conversion?

這真的很有幫助。然後讓我們切換到自由現金流，也許我會被指責狡辯。 1.61 億美元的自由現金流轉換仍然很出色，但確實落後於 5 年平均水平。我知道這裡有一些動態，你在評論中提到了第 174 條和去年稅收優惠的比較。任何在營運資金方面或前線貢獻的東西，因為他們在不同的學年，所以可能更多的是第三季度的收藏。但是自由現金流轉換的季節性傾斜有什麼變化嗎？

Yes, Deane, good question. I think you're spot on. So we typically convert on -- from an EBITDA to free cash flow will be in the 90s typically and Section 174, if we adjust for that we are in the 80s. And so you're right. Frontline has a very seasonal sort of cash collection cadence. So their third quarter is when all the renewals and upsells happen, so most of their cash comes in the third quarter.

是的，迪恩，問得好。我認為你是正確的。因此，我們通常會轉換為 - 從 EBITDA 到自由現金流通常會在 90 年代和第 174 節，如果我們針對它進行調整，我們會在 80 年代。所以你是對的。 Frontline 有一種非常季節性的現金收集節奏。所以他們的第三季度是所有續訂和追加銷售發生的時候，所以他們的大部分現金都來自第三季度。

So in the fourth, you won't see that converting to cash from EBITDA. So that's exactly what you saw. So we're looking forward to next year and especially in the third quarter will be a little bit more weighted than normal.

所以在第四，你不會看到從 EBITDA 轉換為現金。所以這正是你所看到的。因此，我們期待明年，尤其是第三季度的權重會比往常高一些。

And our next question today comes from Scott Davis of Melius Research.

我們今天的下一個問題來自 Melius Research 的 Scott Davis。

Congrats, Rob. And good luck, Jason, et cetera. I wish you guys well, but -- good luck.

恭喜，羅伯。祝你好運，傑森，等等。我祝你們一切順利，但是——祝你們好運。

The et cetera -- both ways...

等等——雙向……

Jason, you get to work a few more years with Neil. Good luck.

傑森，你可以再和尼爾一起工作幾年。祝你好運。

Thanks, I guess.

謝謝吧。

I can say that, I guess. But anyways, I don't want to climb in a minutia here, but I know there's no one particular asset that moves the needle in a huge way. But can we walk back and talk a little bit about PowerPlan? I mean you mentioned the narrower product focus, I think, I heard you say, which didn't really understand what that meant.

我可以這麼說，我想。但無論如何，我不想在這裡細枝末節，但我知道沒有一項特定的資產可以在很大程度上推動針頭。但是我們可以回頭談談 PowerPlan 嗎？我的意思是你提到了更窄的產品重點，我想，我聽到你說過，這並沒有真正理解那是什麼意思。

And the cloud rollout, again, like is that -- how relevant is that to the business? And -- but maybe if we just go back and you can explain to us again what kind of drives PowerPlan? And I'll just leave it there and leave it...

雲的推出，再次，就像是 - 這與業務有多大關係？並且 - 但也許如果我們只是回去，你可以再次向我們解釋什麼樣的驅動器 PowerPlan？我就把它留在那裡，讓它離開……

Yes. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about -- any of our businesses, it's been a while since we've been able to do a double-click on PowerPlan. So just reminds you what they do, right? So PowerPlan software and services live at the intersection of the financial system and the asset tracking system for these large utilities, investor-owned and public utilities. And when the PowerPlan software has a perfectly curated view of what the assets look like inside our customer base. When you have that perfectly curated view and these assets are constantly being updated and changed, they're not static, right? And so that's why you have to live between these 2 systems.

是的。我很高興有機會談論我們的任何業務，自從我們能夠雙擊 PowerPlan 以來已經有一段時間了。所以只是提醒你他們做了什麼，對吧？因此，PowerPlan 軟件和服務處於金融系統和這些大型公用事業、投資者所有和公共事業的資產跟踪系統的交叉點。當 PowerPlan 軟件對我們客戶群中的資產有一個完美的策劃視圖時。當您擁有完美策劃的視圖並且這些資產不斷更新和更改時，它們就不是靜態的，對嗎？這就是為什麼你必須生活在這兩個系統之間。

And we have this perfectly curated view of what the assets are, then you get the most appropriate tax treatment you can, the most appropriate lease accounting, and a series of other financial benefits associated with that. We bought the business, the business was doing that, but then it was also reaching outside its core customer base and the core products I just described, looking for growth sort of in all the wrong places, if you will.

我們對資產是什麼擁有完美的策劃視圖，然後您可以獲得最合適的稅收待遇、最合適的租賃會計以及與此相關的一系列其他財務利益。我們買下了這家公司，這家公司就是這樣做的，但後來它也擴展到了我剛才描述的核心客戶群和核心產品之外，在所有錯誤的地方尋找增長，如果你願意的話。

And then we -- what we did -- when we did our strategy work with them going back probably a 1 year, 1.5 years ago is the amount of opportunity inside the core of what they do was large enough to support the growth thesis for many years to come. So it's just refocusing back on the core, that's a common theme. We talked about that. I think you'll see that increasingly more inside of Roper as we do our strategy work, right? So not getting too far away from the core and getting distracted. So that's what they've done.

然後我們——我們所做的——當我們和他們一起做我們的戰略工作時，大概可以追溯到 1 年，1.5 年前，他們所做的核心工作中的機會數量足以支持許多人的增長論點未來幾年。所以它只是重新關注核心，這是一個共同的主題。我們談過那個。我認為在我們開展戰略工作時，您會越來越多地看到 Roper 內部，對嗎？所以不要離核心太遠而分心。這就是他們所做的。

The first impact of that is they now have this 100% SaaS solution for their principal product Tax Fixed Assets. It just released in Q4. And we're excited by that because, as you lift and shift your customer base from an on-premise to a cloud solution, there's a tremendous value capture opportunity, and it will unlock some growth for the business.

這樣做的第一個影響是，他們現在為其主要產品稅務固定資產提供了這種 100% SaaS 解決方案。它剛剛在第四季度發布。我們對此感到很興奮，因為當您將客戶群從內部部署提升並轉移到雲解決方案時，就會有巨大的價值獲取機會，它將為業務帶來一些增長。

Can you get pricing in the process? Or is this just more about retention?

你能在這個過程中得到定價嗎？或者這只是更多關於保留？

No, that's the value unlock, right? So we're doing more for our customers with the SaaS solution, right? So we're not just hosting it. There's more features. You're on the latest release, where certainly, we know how to operate our software ourselves better than third parties. And so it's the efficiency and the uptime is higher. And as a result of all that, you do get price. We'll see -- we talked about there's roughly $900 million in legacy on-premise maintenance in our revenue base.

不，那是價值解鎖，對吧？所以我們正在使用 SaaS 解決方案為我們的客戶做更多的事情，對吧？所以我們不只是託管它。還有更多的功能。您使用的是最新版本，當然，我們比第三方更了解如何自己操作我們的軟件。因此效率和正常運行時間更高。作為這一切的結果，你確實得到了價格。我們會看到——我們談到我們的收入基礎中大約有 9 億美元的遺留內部部署維護。

And as that is lifting and shifting to the cloud over a long arc of time, that should lift and shift north of 2x, right? So there's $1 billion of growth that's latent inside the portfolio as we lift and shift that on-premise maintenance to the cloud.

由於它會在很長一段時間內提升並轉移到雲端，所以應該提升並轉移到 2 倍以北，對吧？因此，隨著我們將本地維護提升並轉移到雲中，投資組合中潛在的 10 億美元增長。

And our next question today comes from Julian Mitchell of Barclays.

我們今天的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的朱利安米切爾。

And look forward to working with you, Jason. So maybe my first question, just to try and home in a little bit more on the sort of macro framework in the guide. Maybe specifically, I think about 25% of your Software revenue is reoccurring and nonrecurring, so maybe more cyclical kind of talk. Maybe just remind us sort of what the organic growth of those 2 in aggregate was last year and what you're dialing in for 2023 or any flavor of that?

傑森，期待與您合作。所以也許我的第一個問題是嘗試更多地了解指南中的那種宏觀框架。也許具體來說，我認為大約 25% 的軟件收入是經常性的和非經常性的，所以可能是更週期性的談話。也許只是提醒我們去年這兩者的有機增長總量是多少，以及你在 2023 年撥入了什麼或其他任何形式？

And then within Network Software specifically, transport and freight, it's almost 1/4 of the revenue. And you mentioned you're dialing in, I think, normalization was your phrase. Maybe just any finer point on what that means exactly of growth this year versus last?

然後在網絡軟件中，特別是運輸和貨運，它幾乎佔收入的 1/4。你提到你正在撥入，我想，規範化是你的用語。也許只是關於今年與去年的增長究竟意味著什麼的任何更好的觀點？

Yes. So let me take -- let's take those. Jason, I take those in sequence. So I'll set up what the difference between recurring and reoccurring revenue is in our base. I'll let then Jason talk about the relative growth rate. Then we'll tackle the DAT freight question you're raising.

是的。所以讓我接受——讓我們接受那些。傑森，我按順序來。因此，我將在我們的基礎上確定經常性和經常性收入之間的區別。然後我讓 Jason 談談相對增長率。然後我們將解決您提出的 DAT 運費問題。

So just to level set what everybody is, if we have a recurring revenue is subscription, contractual recurring revenue. Reoccurring revenue is principally located at our MHA business. We take a percentage of the drug and food spend that goes to the network. And so it's not technically recurring. It's highly reoccurring.

因此，如果我們有經常性收入，那麼只是為了確定每個人的水平，即訂閱、合同經常性收入。經常性收入主要來自我們的 MHA 業務。我們從網絡中抽取一定比例的藥品和食品支出。所以它在技術上不是反復出現的。它是高度重複發生的。

So it's not -- and that's probably the most -- one of the most stable parts of our portfolio, long-term care, healthcare, residents and buildings, consuming food and pharmaceuticals, right? So it's highly, secure for lack of a better word. It's not transactional relative to a macroeconomic sort of situation. So I'll stop just in terms of framing recurring versus reoccurring. I'll let Jason take the relative growth rate question.

所以它不是 - 這可能是我們投資組合中最穩定的部分之一，長期護理，醫療保健，居民和建築物，消費食品和藥品，對吧？因此，由於缺乏更好的詞，它非常安全。相對於宏觀經濟情況，這不是交易性的。因此，我將停止在框架重複出現與重複出現方面。我會讓 Jason 回答相對增長率問題。

Yes, sure, glad to. So MHA, as Neil mentioned, it's really about drug purchases from the pharmacies, and they have very strong retention in those businesses from a customer standpoint. We always sort of think about the business being at the -- maybe at the bottom end of the mid-single digits, maybe a little bit low singles. And that's sort of what we experienced this year, and that's kind of what we're baking in for next year.

是的，當然，很高興。所以 MHA，正如 Neil 提到的，它實際上是關於從藥店購買藥品，從客戶的角度來看，他們在這些業務中有很強的保留率。我們總是考慮業務處於 - 可能處於中間個位數的底部，可能有點低。這就是我們今年所經歷的，也是我們為明年準備的。

Great. Okay. Now let's take to your freight and logistics around DAT, specifically. So to remind you, there's this tension between the -- a cyclical freight dynamic and a secular push or a secular benefit that DAT and DAT's customers are experiencing relative to the spot market becoming a more efficient place -- to place freight. So there's tension between those 2.

偉大的。好的。現在讓我們具體談談 DAT 周圍的貨運和物流。因此，提醒您，DAT 和 DAT 的客戶相對於現貨市場成為更有效率的地方所經歷的周期性貨運動態和長期推動或長期利益之間存在這種緊張關係。所以這兩者之間存在緊張關係。

When -- from a cyclical point of view, we expected and have seen the carrier side of the network reduce a little bit. And it's -- and we expect it to reduce over the course or shrink or get a little bit smaller over the course of this year. DAT grew through the 2019 freight recession. I think DAT has grown every year since 2010. So the business is talking about the rate of growth at DAT, not as it expand and contract. It tends to be much more stickier than that.

當——從周期的角度來看，我們預計並且已經看到網絡的運營商方面有所減少。而且它 - 我們預計它會在今年的過程中減少或縮小或變小一點。 DAT 在 2019 年的貨運衰退中實現了增長。我認為自 2010 年以來，DAT 每年都在增長。因此，企業談論的是 DAT 的增長率，而不是擴張和收縮。它往往比那更粘。

As an early read, January is actually a little bit better. I mean the number of carriers in the network is sort of flattish through January and not declining. And the people in the industry that sort of call like the freight timing. And if there's going to be a freight recession, actually think there's a queuing for a large spring shipping season, mostly around -- this triggered by produce. And we might start -- we're seeing a little bit of that bleed in, but we'll have to see how the next couple of quarters play out.

作為早期閱讀，一月實際上好一點。我的意思是網絡中的運營商數量在整個 1 月份持平並且沒有下降。業內人士喜歡貨運時間。如果出現貨運衰退，實際上認為春季航運旺季會排起長隊，主要是在前後——這是由農產品引發的。我們可能會開始——我們看到了一點點流血，但我們必須看看接下來幾個季度的結果。

That's very helpful. And then just within TEP, I understand the recurring piece is minimal there and its 99% product-related. Any flavor you'd give us on the sort of what you're seeing in medical versus Neptune for 2023, any major difference in kind of visibility between the 2 or the growth rate expected?

這很有幫助。然後就在 TEP 內，我知道重複出現的部分很少，而且 99% 與產品相關。關於 2023 年你在醫療和海王星中看到的那種情況，你會給我們帶來什麼味道，兩者之間的能見度或預期增長率有什麼重大差異？

Yes. So we have, the, most visibility we've ever had at Neptune.

是的。因此，我們在海王星獲得了前所未有的知名度。

That's right.

這是正確的。

The order volume continues to flow. The order duration, meaning the longer dated orders continues to flow. And so we feel quite comfortable and good how 2023 is shaping for Neptune.

訂單量源源不斷。訂單持續時間，意味著日期較長的訂單會繼續流動。因此，我們對 2023 年對海王星的塑造感到非常舒服和滿意。

For medical products, there's actually -- I think we've talked about a few quarters ago, the reoccurring elements of Verathon, became the largest part of the revenue stream. There's a lot of consumable pull-through on the capital equipment there. Northern Digital has a decently high amount of consumables that are pulled through that CIVCO.

對於醫療產品，實際上——我想我們在幾個季度前已經討論過，Verathon 的重複出現的元素成為收入流的最大部分。那裡的資本設備上有很多消耗品。 Northern Digital 擁有大量通過 CIVCO 提取的消耗品。

And so it is more procedure and patient driven. And we, like, I said a few minutes ago, we feel that we're decently well set up there, but it's not on our base case, right? So we saw 6% to 8% declines in patient volumes in the areas in which we service in 2022, all tied to hospital staffing levels. And we're cautiously optimistic that as the labor market solution, hospitals be able to staff, and be able to see patient volumes pick back up the prior levels.

因此，它更多的是程序和耐心驅動。而我們，就像我幾分鐘前說的那樣，我們覺得我們在那裡設置得很好，但這不在我們的基本案例中，對吧？因此，我們看到 2022 年我們服務的地區的患者數量下降了 6% 到 8%，這都與醫院人員配備水平有關。我們謹慎樂觀地認為，作為勞動力市場的解決方案，醫院能夠配備人員，並且能夠看到患者數量回升到之前的水平。

Our next question today comes from Steve Tusa at JPMorgan.

我們今天的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Steve Tusa。

Congrats to all. Rob and Jason, I'm looking forward to working with you. Just on the free cash, you mentioned plus or minus 80% conversion to EBITDA. Obviously, the last couple of years have been a bit volatile around all these tax items. But in '21, I think you had a decent number of deferred revenue benefit on the cash flow statement. Maybe just give us a little bit of color looking into next year with concerns around the macro that can be a pretty big variable. I mean are you going to be around that 80% in '23? Or will you be kind of more in between what you did in '21 and '22, I think, adjusted around 70%? Maybe just a bit of color on the free cash, and then I have a follow-up on Frontline.

恭喜大家。 Rob 和 Jason，我期待著與你們合作。就自由現金而言，您提到了正負 80% 的 EBITDA 轉換。顯然，過去幾年圍繞所有這些稅項都有些波動。但在 21 年，我認為你在現金流量表上有相當數量的遞延收入收益。也許只是給我們一些關於明年的顏色，因為對宏觀的擔憂可能是一個相當大的變量。我的意思是你會在 23 年達到 80% 左右嗎？或者你會在你在 21 年和 22 年所做的事情之間進行更多調整，我認為調整了 70% 左右？也許只是在自由現金上有點顏色，然後我在 Frontline 上進行跟進。

Yes, happy to. No, I think we're feeling very good about the 80%. Our deferred revenue, our renewals were really strong this quarter, and we felt good how it moved up sequentially, how was it up year-over-year. And just what we're hearing from our businesses, we feel good about the renewals. And then we're going to have -- we expect -- I think I said on the call that we'll get some improvement on our inventory ratios next year. We had a little bit of build at the end of this year.

是的，很高興。不，我認為我們對這 80% 的感覺非常好。我們的遞延收入，我們的續訂本季度非常強勁，我們對它如何連續上升，同比上升感到滿意。正如我們從我們的業務中聽到的那樣，我們對續約感到滿意。然後我們將 - 我們預計 - 我想我在電話會議上說過明年我們的庫存比率會有所改善。我們在今年年底進行了一些建設。

Frontline will certainly help with our negative working capital profile. They're at negative 40%. Like I said, most of that will hit in the third quarter when all the renewals take place. Of course, if Section 174 gets repealed, this will be a home run year, but we're not banking on that for now.

Frontline 肯定會幫助我們解決負面的營運資金狀況。他們是負 40%。就像我說的，其中大部分將在第三季度發生，屆時所有續約都會發生。當然，如果第 174 條被廢除，這將是本壘打的一年，但我們現在不指望這一年。

So like something in the $1.8 billion range for free cash for next year?

那麼像明年 18 億美元的自由現金一樣嗎？

I'll let you come to your math on that.

我會讓你來算一下。

Okay. We will. And then just Frontline, revenues roughly $95 million this quarter. Is that about right?

好的。我們將。然後是 Frontline，本季度的收入約為 9500 萬美元。這樣說對嗎？

No. They were somewhere in the 80s. We had a few days knocked off at the beginning of the quarter because we closed on the 4th.

不，他們在 80 年代的某個地方。我們在本季度初休息了幾天，因為我們在 4 號關閉。

Okay. By the way, really appreciate all the discussion on the businesses and looking forward to the Investor Day, learning more on this portfolio. So very helpful detail on the moving parts of all the different businesses.

好的。順便說一句，非常感謝所有關於業務的討論，並期待著投資者日，了解更多關於這個投資組合的信息。關於所有不同業務的移動部分的非常有用的詳細信息。

And our next question today comes from Allison Poliniak with Wells Fargo.

我們今天的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Allison Poliniak。

Just want to circle back on DAT. I know you talked about it growing historically through cycles, but it's certainly been an unusual one. A lot of new entrants here. Is there any risk to the retention rate, should that spot rate not hold in terms of stabilization if some of those new entrants, I guess, can't survive?

只想回到 DAT。我知道你談到它在歷史上通過週期發展，但這肯定是一個不尋常的周期。這裡有很多新進入者。保留率是否存在任何風險，如果我猜這些新進入者中的一些人無法生存，那麼即期匯率是否應該在穩定方面不成立？

And then I guess along with that, that premium offering, in this type of uncertainty, does that drive maybe more increase or interest in that premium offering versus just to gain some visibility here in an uncertain market? Just any thoughts there?

然後我猜想，在這種不確定的情況下，這種優質產品是否會推動對該優質產品的更多增加或興趣，而不是僅僅為了在不確定的市場中獲得一些知名度？有什麼想法嗎？

Yes. So in terms of the number of -- when you say new entrants, I assume you're referring to the number of new carriers that are in the network as opposed to a competitive entrant or the sort, because there really are no new competitive entrants.

是的。所以就數量而言——當你說新進入者時，我假設你指的是網絡中新運營商的數量，而不是競爭進入者或類似的，因為確實沒有新的競爭進入者.

Relative to the carriers, yes, I mean, it was -- it's been just a tremendous last couple of years, driven by the things we've talked about for a couple of years, which is the fluidity and the liquidity in the spot market, which is a secular tailwind and then obviously, a huge boom on the cyclical piece.

相對於承運人，是的，我的意思是，它是 - 在過去幾年裡，在我們已經討論了幾年的事情的推動下，這是非常棒的，即現貨市場的流動性和流動性，這是一個長期的順風，然後顯然是周期性作品的巨大繁榮。

We -- historically, when you look at like peak carriers to trough carriers through cycle, it sort of goes -- network carriers declines by plus or minus 10%. We've assumed that it will decline by more than that in our guidance model because the buildup was unprecedented. But -- so that's sort of -- we think we have this conservatively planned in our outlook, but it's unprecedented ramp up leading up to this. We do take some early confidence in the carrier count in the first couple of weeks of January, right?

我們——從歷史上看，當你通過週期觀察從高峰運營商到低谷運營商時，它有點像——網絡運營商下降了正負 10%。我們假設它的下降幅度將超過我們的指導模型，因為這種增長是前所未有的。但是——所以有點——我們認為我們在我們的前景中有這個保守的計劃，但這是前所未有的增長導致了這一點。我們確實對 1 月的前幾週的運營商數量抱有一些早期信心，對嗎？

So the fact that we're flattish versus continuing to see some declines is certainly encouraging, but it's only a handful of data points we want to see take together. In terms of the premium offering, I mean, DAT has just done a tremendous job creating product and package designs that have more value for all the network participants. It's helped drive some ARPU increases because there's more value that the participants are getting.

因此，我們持平而不是繼續看到一些下降的事實肯定令人鼓舞，但這只是我們希望看到的少數數據點。在優質產品方面，我的意思是，DAT 剛剛在創建產品和包裝設計方面做得非常出色，這些設計對所有網絡參與者都具有更多價值。它有助於推動 ARPU 的增加，因為參與者獲得了更多價值。

So different packages, different features and functionality that they've upsold.

如此不同的包裝、不同的特性和功能，他們已經追加銷售。

That's right.

這是正確的。

Great. No, that's helpful. And then just in terms of the M&A pipeline, are you still under the new portfolio, PE, primarily your source of opportunities here? Have you expanded it? And if, I guess if you have, are you looking -- I know CRI is your metric that is your foundation. But are you providing any other controls with maybe some new opportunities out there? Just any thoughts there?

偉大的。不，那很有幫助。然後就併購渠道而言，您是否仍在新的投資組合、PE 下，主要是您在這裡的機會來源？你擴大了嗎？如果，我想如果你有，你在看——我知道 CRI 是你的指標，它是你的基礎。但是您是否提供了任何其他控件，也許還有一些新的機會？有什麼想法嗎？

Yes. You're right. We've obviously historically sourced all. But in my time here, I think one meaningful deal from private equity. One was from a small founder -- founder, and that has been sort of the pod in which we fish. But we're -- that's not exclusively where we have business development activities going on. We've always looked in public markets. We just haven't found anything that's been compelling from a value point of view yet. We'll continue to look there.

是的。你說得對。我們顯然在歷史上採購了所有產品。但在我在這裡的時間裡，我認為來自私募股權的一筆有意義的交易。一個來自一個小創始人——創始人，那有點像我們釣魚的豆莢。但我們——這不僅僅是我們開展業務發展活動的地方。我們一直在關注公開市場。從價值的角度來看，我們只是還沒有發現任何有吸引力的東西。我們將繼續在那裡尋找。

You could see us get a little bit earlier in the cycle and try to compete a little bit more with private equity sort of half a click earlier in the company's life cycle. So when we did the Vertafore transaction and the Frontline transaction, many of our investors said, why didn't you buy it when the person you bought it from or a private equity firm, you bought it from bought it. And so that's something that you could see us explore in the right situations.

你可以看到我們在周期中早一點，並嘗試在公司生命週期的早期與私募股權競爭更多一點。因此，當我們進行 Vertafore 交易和 Frontline 交易時，我們的許多投資者說，當您從那裡購買它的人或私募股權公司購買它時，您為什麼不購買它。因此，您可以看到我們在適當的情況下進行探索。

But still, all that being said, the predominance of what we're going to do is what we've done for the last 20 years, which is sort of lower risk, highly recurring software -- application software businesses from private equity.

但是，話雖如此，我們將要做的主要事情是我們在過去 20 年所做的事情，這是一種風險較低、重複性較高的軟件——來自私募股權的應用軟件業務。

And our next question today comes from Brad Hewitt with Wolfe Research.

我們今天的下一個問題來自 Wolfe Research 的 Brad Hewitt。

You noted that your adjusted EPS calculation will include the fair value accounting and tax impact of Indicor. But why would you not include the minority interest contribution as well? Just wondering what is the logical downside to not including that, shouldn't it be a positive and growing contribution?

您指出，您調整後的每股收益計算將包括 Indicor 的公允價值會計和稅收影響。但是你為什麼不把少數股東的貢獻也包括在內呢？只是想知道不包括它的合乎邏輯的缺點是什麼，它不應該是一個積極的和不斷增長的貢獻嗎？

Well, it's a calculation that's going to be based on many variables, right? It's mainly an accounting exercise. We don't think that it's going to -- we'd rather see the outcome when we do the exit. We think that's the better reflection of what the economics are going to be. We feel really good about what that's going to look like. We've worked with CD&R on a strategy there. They typically look at several multiples of return on investment, and that's what we're playing for upon exit.

好吧，這是一個基於許多變量的計算，對吧？這主要是一個會計練習。我們不認為它會——我們寧願在退出時看到結果。我們認為這更好地反映了經濟學的未來。我們對它的外觀感覺非常好。我們在那裡與 CD&R 合作制定了一項戰略。他們通常會看重投資回報率的幾倍，而這正是我們在退出時所追求的。

Okay. Great. That's helpful. And then in terms of price contribution in Q4, what did that look like? And then also how much pricing is embedded in your 2023 guidance?

好的。偉大的。這很有幫助。然後就第四季度的價格貢獻而言，它是什麼樣的？然後您的 2023 年指南中包含多少定價？

So price for us, I mean, it's an important lever to our growth algorithm, not just for '22 and '23, but all prior years and all forward years. Teasing out specifically how much is price is a very, very difficult thing across our 27 companies and rolling it up to a number that is meaningful. And so we're not going to share a specific number in that regard.

所以價格對我們來說，我的意思是，它是我們增長算法的一個重要槓桿，不僅適用於'22 和'23，而且適用於所有前幾年和所有未來年份。在我們的 27 家公司中，具體梳理價格是一件非常非常困難的事情，並將其匯總到一個有意義的數字。因此，我們不會在這方面分享具體數字。

I'll tell you the pricing, the value capture that we have, given what we do, the criticality of what we do, we've always had pricing power and pricing value capture and there's nothing different with that. Do you want to add anything to that, Jason?

我會告訴你定價，我們擁有的價值捕獲，鑑於我們所做的事情，我們所做事情的重要性，我們一直擁有定價權和定價價值捕獲，這沒有什麼不同。傑森，你想補充什麼嗎？

Perhaps, we can go to the next question?

也許，我們可以轉到下一個問題？

Our next question today comes from Brendan Luecke with Bernstein.

我們今天的下一個問題來自 Bernstein 的 Brendan Luecke。

Just wanted to take a quick look at macro, one other question here. I was wondering if you could offer any color on your exposure to construction end markets? And how that's playing into your growth expectations for FY '23. And I guess, specifically, I'd be curious around Deltek, ConstructConnect and Neptune as well.

只是想快速瀏覽一下宏，這是這裡的另一個問題。我想知道您是否可以就您在建築終端市場的風險敞口提供任何顏色？以及這如何影響您對 23 財年的增長預期。我想，具體來說，我也會對 Deltek、ConstructConnect 和 Neptune 感到好奇。

Yes. So I appreciate the opportunity there. So let's just take it by those 3. So ConstructConnect, to remind you what it is, right, so we have a near perfect database of all the construction -- commercial construction projects that are in the planning phase across North America. As a result when -- it has a bit of countercyclical demand attached to it. So when there is a tremendous amount of new projects and you're a subcontractor, general contracting, building product manufacturer and business is flowing from everywhere, then you don't have to look too hard for what you're going to do next.

是的。所以我很感激那裡的機會。所以讓我們只考慮那些 3. 所以 ConstructConnect，提醒你它是什麼，對，所以我們有一個近乎完美的所有建築數據庫 - 北美處於規劃階段的商業建築項目。結果是——它有一點反週期需求。因此，當有大量的新項目，而你是分包商、總承包商、建築產品製造商和業務從四面八方湧來時，你就不必為下一步要做什麼而苦苦思索。

When there's fewer projects, then you subscribe to the subscription service of ConstructConnect so you can identify what projects are coming down the pipe that you want to try to bid for and win. And so the ConstructConnect has been a modestly good performer for us over the years. We expect it to actually have a good run here in '23 as a result.

當項目較少時，您可以訂閱 ConstructConnect 的訂閱服務，這樣您就可以確定哪些項目正在通過您想要競標並贏得的管道。因此，多年來，ConstructConnect 對我們來說一直表現不錯。結果，我們希望它在 23 年在這裡實際運行良好。

Deltek does have -- it's been a strategic focus -- Deltek. Deltek is 60% government contracting, 40% private sector and private sector, the smallest lever is construction. And we sell software to large contractors, right? That's what we do. That business, we -- in our prepared comments, we talked about how the private sector was very strong in Q4 for Deltek. We would expect and do anticipate some softening on the construction side for Deltek in 2023, and we think we have that fully covered in our guidance.

Deltek 確實有——這是一個戰略重點——Deltek。 Deltek 是 60% 的政府承包，40% 的私營部門和私營部門，最小的槓桿是建築。我們向大型承包商銷售軟件，對嗎？這就是我們所做的。那項業務，我們 - 在我們準備好的評論中，我們談到了私營部門在第四季度對 Deltek 的表現如何非常強勁。我們預計並確實預計 2023 年 Deltek 的建築方面會出現一些軟化，我們認為我們已經在我們的指導中完全涵蓋了這一點。

And then Neptune, we believe strongly that Neptune is not a cyclical business. As you sell water meters and water meter technology to the municipalities when they're -- they tend to have a budget for meters. When there is a large new residential new construction, then a higher percentage of the budget goes to install new meters. When there's fewer new starts, the budget stays the same, but they take the meters and they do the retrofits and trade outs of the aging fleet and infrastructure. So that is a general cross-cycle sort of view of Neptune.

然後是海王星，我們堅信海王星不是周期性業務。當您向市政當局出售水錶和水錶技術時，他們往往會有水錶預算。當有大型新住宅新建築時，預算的更高百分比將用於安裝新儀表。當新開工較少時，預算保持不變，但他們會使用儀表，對老化的車隊和基礎設施進行改造和權衡。所以這是海王星的一般跨週期視圖。

But then we're further -- our confidence is further buoyed by the fact that we have this just unprecedented amount of backlog at Neptune for 2023. So we think that Neptune will perform well for us this year.

但隨後我們更進一步——我們的信心因我們在 2023 年在海王星擁有前所未有的積壓數量這一事實而進一步受到鼓舞。因此我們認為海王星今年將為我們表現良好。

And our next question today comes from Rob Mason at Baird.

我們今天的下一個問題來自 Baird 的 Rob Mason。

Congrats as well to Jason and Rob. Maybe just stick on the Technology Enabled Products area. I think the -- there was a mention of some products didn't ship in the quarter, maybe got pushed. Just to step back, maybe update us where you think you are around supply chain just on the product side in your businesses? And then I'm curious what kind of impact that those deferral shipments might have had in the fourth quarter?

也祝賀 Jason 和 Rob。也許只是堅持技術支持產品領域。我認為 - 有人提到本季度未發貨的某些產品，可能被推了。只是退後一步，也許可以更新我們您認為您在業務產品方面圍繞供應鏈的位置？然後我很好奇這些延期發貨在第四季度可能產生什麼樣的影響？

Let me just set it up, and I'll hand it over to Jason. So in TEP, we talk obviously -- about Neptune, we talk about medical products. There's also a small cohort of RF product businesses Inovonics and RF IDeas. The fourth quarter was particularly brutal supply chain wise on those RF product businesses. And so with that, I'll give it to Jason to sort of talk through anything you'd like to.

讓我設置一下，然後交給 Jason。所以在 TEP 中，我們很明顯地談論——關於海王星，我們談論醫療產品。還有一小部分 RF 產品業務 Inovonics 和 RF IDeas。第四季度對那些 RF 產品業務的供應鏈來說尤其殘酷。因此，我會把它交給傑森，讓他談談你想談的任何事情。

Yes. It wasn't significant, it was probably in the $5 million to $10 million range, and it was across a number of businesses. So I think we expect the first quarter for TEP to be up a little bit more than the rest of the year because of that and because of some of the easier comps. So maybe low double digits in the first quarter, but that's sort of the range. So yes, a lot of this is in the rearview. Of course, things do pop up here and there, but we're not hearing as much sort of meaningful impact in the quarters.

是的。這並不重要，可能在 500 萬到 1000 萬美元之間，而且涉及許多企業。因此，我認為我們預計 TEP 的第一季度將比今年餘下時間多一點，因為這一點以及一些更容易的組合。所以第一季度可能是低兩位數，但這就是范圍。所以是的，其中很多都在後視鏡中。當然，事情確實會時不時地出現，但我們在季度中沒有聽到那麼多有意義的影響。

And as a general matter, we're not the only ones that. But supply chain is generally, as Jason just said, improving, and there's essentially the chip shortage and chip issues. There's more of a glut globally yet. But we're not -- we're not -- concerning that from us. We do think this -- the supply chain issues abate over '23.

一般來說，我們不是唯一的。但正如傑森剛才所說，供應鏈總體上在改善，本質上存在芯片短缺和芯片問題。全球範圍內還有更多的供過於求。但我們不是 - 我們不是 - 與我們有關。我們確實認為這一點——供應鏈問題在 23 世紀有所緩解。

Sure, sure. And Neil, you've made several references to Neptune through the call and share gains and the strength in your backlog. And that tends to be a business where share doesn't move around that dramatically. I'm just -- could you expound a little bit just on how what's going on there? What you've done, whether it relates to ultrasonic adoption or the introduction of cellular? Or is this a broader effort at Neptune that's driving that?

一定一定。尼爾，你通過電話和分享收益以及你積壓的實力多次提到海王星。這往往是一個份額不會大幅波動的企業。我只是 - 你能稍微解釋一下那裡發生了什麼嗎？你做了什麼，是否與超聲波採用或蜂窩技術的引入有關？還是這是海王星更廣泛的努力推動的？

Yes. Neptune has been just a steady and consistent share gainer, made -- the whole time I've been here, right? I mean, for a decade. And the reasons for that are manifold, but they have a product orientation that starts with, they never want to strand their existing customers with technology. So for instance, this goes back to the prior iteration of communication software, but the proprietary protocols between mobile and fixed point, Neptune has a solution where if you're a rural municipality and you can have one fixed point, roaming points and still have some manual reads and the master data management software package in Neptune can ingest all that data and you don't strand a customer having to pick one piece of technology for the totality of what they have to do. So it comes from a product orientation that starts with flexibility.

是的。海王星一直是一個穩定和持續的份額獲得者，我一直在這裡，對吧？我是說，十年。其原因是多方面的，但他們有一個產品導向，他們從不想用技術束縛他們現有的客戶。因此，例如，這可以追溯到通信軟件的先前迭代，但是移動和固定點之間的專有協議，Neptune 有一個解決方案，如果你是一個農村市政當局，你可以擁有一個固定點、漫遊點，並且仍然有一些手動讀取和 Neptune 中的主數據管理軟件包可以攝取所有這些數據，並且您不會讓客戶束手無策，因為他們必須選擇一項技術來完成他們必須做的全部事情。所以它來自以靈活性開始的產品導向。

The second thing is the products are just particularly well thought out for the long arc of what the customer wants to do. For instance, on the large commercial meters for ultrasonic, you have to be able to read high flow and low flow equally accurate, our products do that. So think about a big hotel application, a trickle that happened 3 in the morning versus the high flow and everybody takes their showers in the morning, our ultrasonic meter will perfectly read the low flow and the high flow and the competitive products have to tend to be focused on one or the other for the precision.

第二件事是，產品經過特別深思熟慮，可以滿足客戶的長期需求。例如，在用於超聲波的大型商用儀表上，您必須能夠同樣準確地讀取高流量和低流量，我們的產品可以做到這一點。所以想想一個大型酒店應用，凌晨 3 點發生的涓流與高流量，每個人早上都洗澡，我們的超聲波流量計將完美讀取低流量和高流量，而競爭產品必須傾向於為了精度而專注於其中之一。

More so for that application when the ultrasonic -- the battery that drives the ultrasonic technology needs to be replaced. In our case, it's essentially a drop in battery, the competitors have to cut the meter out and replace the meter. So it's small things -- it's seemingly small things like that, that help drive market share gains over a long arc of time.

對於超聲波應用來說更是如此——需要更換驅動超聲波技術的電池。在我們的例子中，它本質上是電池電量下降，競爭對手必須切斷儀表並更換儀表。所以這是一些小事——看起來像這樣的小事，有助於在很長一段時間內推動市場份額的增長。

Final thing I would say, in 2022, it was particularly beneficial for us because we had product availability throughout the totality of the year. And so some of our competitors were quoting year plus lead times. I think our lead times went from like 8 to 12 weeks.

最後我要說的是，在 2022 年，這對我們特別有利，因為我們全年都有產品供應。因此，我們的一些競爭對手引用的是年份加上交貨時間。我認為我們的交貨時間從 8 週變成了 12 週。

And so just some accounts that we typically have not had any presence in, they need meters, we can deliver meters, all of a sudden, you have presence and the opportunity to compete in that account. So that's helped gain some market share in the relative short term.

因此，只有一些我們通常沒有任何存在的賬戶，他們需要儀表，我們可以提供儀表，突然之間，你有存在感並有機會在該賬戶中競爭。因此，這有助於在相對短期內獲得一些市場份額。

And our next question today comes from Alex Blanton at Clear Harbor Asset Management.

我們今天的下一個問題來自 Clear Harbor Asset Management 的 Alex Blanton。

First, I just want to say that I think your format for the slide presentation this time is probably the best ever. And I think you should stick with it. It's really a great presentation.

首先，我只想說，我認為你們這次的幻燈片演示格式可能是有史以來最好的。我認為你應該堅持下去。這真是一個很棒的演講。

Noted.

著名的。

Now most of my questions have been answered, but something came up from one of the other participants, regarding the business that accumulates commercial construction plans. And Barry Sternlicht, who's the CEO of Starwood resigns. CNBC yesterday, saying that in his business and across the board really in commercial construction, as interest rates have gone up, people will complete the projects they have, but hold off on starting new ones. And so that's why he's looking for a big drop in commercial construction in the second half of this year because new projects are sliding. Do you see that in your statistics?

現在我的大部分問題都得到了解答，但是其他參與者提出了一些關於積累商業建設計劃的業務的問題。喜達屋首席執行官 Barry Sternlicht 辭職。 CNBC 昨天表示，在他的業務和整個商業建築領域，隨著利率上升，人們將完成他們擁有的項目，但推遲開始新的項目。這就是為什麼他預計今年下半年商業建築將大幅下降，因為新項目正在下滑。你在你的統計數據中看到了嗎？

So it's interesting. So I can add Zack -- ConstructConnect publishes, look at that quarterly. Quarterly, the macro of what they're seeing from a construction planning point of view, and I can have Zack forward that to you. I have not read the -- personally, I've not read the most recent report yet, so I don't want to comment on its content. But we can send that to you.

所以這很有趣。所以我可以添加 Zack——ConstructConnect 發布，看看那個季度。每季度，從建設規劃的角度來看，他們所看到的宏觀情況，我可以讓 Zack 將其轉發給您。我還沒有閱讀——就個人而言，我還沒有閱讀最新的報告，所以我不想對其內容髮表評論。但我們可以將其發送給您。

Okay. Because it would seem that if new construction projects are not being put into implementation, it would show up in those numbers, wouldn't it?

好的。因為似乎如果新的建設項目沒有投入實施，它就會顯示在那些數字上，不是嗎？

So here's the countercyclical nature of that. And so if you have several hundred thousand construction workers, construction, small subcontracting firms -- ConstructConnect has tens of thousands of customers. So as those hundreds of thousands are looking for work, it only takes a small percentage of that cohort to become a customer of ours to exhibit countercyclical growth behavior, which is what's happened in every prior slowdown in the history that we've been able to observe with ConstructConnect.

所以這就是它的反週期性質。因此，如果您有數十萬建築工人、建築、小型分包公司——ConstructConnect 擁有數万客戶。因此，當成千上萬的人正在尋找工作時，只需要一小部分人成為我們的客戶，就會表現出反週期增長行為，這就是我們能夠做到的歷史上每一次經濟放緩所發生的情況用 ConstructConnect 觀察。

Okay. So you're really talking about your business and market share rather than the overall trend of that market.

好的。所以你實際上是在談論你的業務和市場份額，而不是那個市場的整體趨勢。

Correct.

正確的。

And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our question-and-answer session. We will now return back to Zack Moxcey for any closing remarks.

女士們，先生們，我們的問答環節到此結束。我們現在將返回 Zack Moxcey 聽取任何結束語。

Thank you, everyone, for joining us today, and we hope to see you all at our Investor Day on March 21 in New York.

感謝大家今天加入我們，我們希望在 3 月 21 日於紐約舉行的投資者日見到大家。

Thank you. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines, and have a wonderful day.

謝謝。會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開線路，度過美好的一天。