Roper Technologies Inc (ROP) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. The Roper Technologies conference call will now begin. Today's call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

早安. Roper Technologies 電話會議現在開始。今天的通話正在錄音。 （操作員說明）

I would now like to turn the call over to Zack Moxcey, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我現在想將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 third quarter financial results for Roper Technologies. Joining me on the call this morning are Neil Hunn, President and Chief Executive Officer; Jason Conley, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Brandon Cross, Vice President and Principal Accounting Officer; and Shannon O'Callaghan, Vice President of Finance.

早安，感謝大家加入我們，我們討論羅博科技第三季的財務表現。今天早上與我一起參加電話會議的還有總裁兼執行長 Neil Hunn； Jason Conley，執行副總裁兼財務長； Brandon Cross，副總裁兼首席會計長；奧卡拉漢 (Shannon O'Callaghan)，財務副總裁。

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.

今天早些時候，我們發布了一份新聞稿，宣布了我們的財務表現。新聞稿還包括今天電話會議的重播資訊。我們準備了伴隨今天電話會議的幻燈片，這些幻燈片可以透過網路廣播獲取，也可以在我們的網站上取得。

Now if you'll 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，我們將做出前瞻性聲明，這些聲明受到本頁、我們的新聞稿和 SEC 文件中所述的風險和不確定性的影響。您應該在該資訊的背景下收聽今天的電話會議。

And now please turn to Page 3. Today, we will discuss our results primarily on adjusted non-GAAP and continuing operations basis. For the third quarter, the difference between our GAAP results and adjusted results consists of the following items: amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets, the financial impacts associated with our minority investment in Indicor, transaction and restructuring-related expenses associated with our completed acquisitions and lastly, a gain from the sale of nonoperating assets. Reconciliations can be found in our press release and in the appendix of this presentation on our website.

現在請翻到第 3 頁。今天，我們將主要討論調整後的非公認會計準則和持續經營業務的結果。第三季度，我們的GAAP 業績與調整後業績之間的差異包括以下項目：與收購相關的無形資產攤銷、與我們對Indicor 少數股權投資相關的財務影響、與我們完成的收購相關的交易和重組相關費用最後，出售非營運資產的收益。調節表可以在我們的新聞稿和我們網站上的本簡報的附錄中找到。

And now if you'll please turn to Page 4, I will 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，我會將電話轉交給尼爾。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？

Thank you, Zack, and thanks to everyone for joining our call. We're looking forward to sharing our third quarter results with you this morning, which like each of the first 2 quarters this year, were quite good.

謝謝你，扎克，也謝謝大家加入我們的電話會議。我們期待今天早上與您分享我們的第三季業績，就像今年前兩個季度一樣，非常好。

As we turn to Page 4, let's look at today's agenda. As usual, we'll start with the most recent quarter's financial highlights, then Jason will discuss our results. After that, we'll turn to our segment-specific discussion and wrap up outlining our increased 2023 enterprise guidance.

當我們翻到第四頁時，讓我們來看看今天的議程。像往常一樣，我們將從最近一個季度的財務亮點開始，然後傑森將討論我們的業績。之後，我們將轉向特定細分市場的討論，並總結概述我們增加的 2023 年企業指導。

Let's go ahead and get started. Next slide, please. As we turn to Page 5, the 4 main takeaways for today's call are: first, we continue to perform at a high level operationally, delivering another quarter of very strong financial results, definitively demonstrating the quality of our portfolio of businesses, our leaders and our governance system; second, we continue to be very active on the M&A front, deploying about $2 billion over last quarter; third, we're increasing our full year guidance; and fourth, we remain very well positioned for further disciplined capital deployment.

讓我們開始吧。請下一張投影片。當我們翻到第5 頁時，今天電話會議的4 個主要要點是：首先，我們繼續保持高水準的營運表現，又一個季度實現了非常強勁的財務業績，明確展示了我們業務組合的品質、我們的領導者和我們的治理體系；其次，我們在併購方面繼續非常活躍，上季部署了約 20 億美元；第三，我們正在增加全年指導；第四，我們仍處於進一步嚴格資本部署的有利位置。

As it relates to the first takeaway, our continued strong performance, we saw total revenue growth 16% and organic revenue growth of 6%. Consistent with our long-standing strategy, we continue to not only scale our enterprise but also simultaneously improve this underlying quality and recurring revenue base with organic software recurring revenue growing high single digits in the quarter. Importantly, the cash. As we've been highlighting throughout the year, we had very strong cash flow performance, with free cash flow growing 19% for the most recent TTM period and 77% in the quarter.

第一個要點是我們持續強勁的業績，我們看到總收入成長了 16%，有機收入成長了 6%。根據我們的長期策略，我們不僅繼續擴大企業規模，而且同時提高基本品質和經常性收入基礎，有機軟體經常性收入在本季度實現高個位數成長。重要的是，現金。正如我們全年一直強調的那樣，我們的現金流表現非常強勁，最近 TTM 期間的自由現金流增長了 19%，本季增長了 77%。

Turning to our second main takeaway, the deployment of $2 billion over last quarter was led by our acquisitions of Syntellis and Replicon, both of which are bolt-ons for Strata and Deltek, respectively. These are each strategically interesting bolt-ons and are highly compelling from a value creation perspective as we're able to buy these businesses for about 14x next year's EBITDA. More on these in a bit.

談到我們的第二個主要收穫，上個季度 20 億美元的部署是由我們對 Syntellis 和 Replicon 的收購帶動的，這兩家公司分別是 Strata 和 Deltek 的補充。這些都是策略上有趣的補充，從價值創造的角度來看非常引人注目，因為我們能夠以明年 14 倍的 EBITDA 購買這些企業。稍後將詳細介紹這些內容。

In addition, in the quarter, we made a $125 million minority investment in Certinia, a professional services automation software business. We're excited to partner with Haveli and General Atlantic Ventures to deploy the value creation thesis associated with this unique opportunity.

此外，在本季度，我們對專業服務自動化軟體公司 Certinia 進行了 1.25 億美元的少數股權投資。我們很高興與 Haveli 和 General Atlantic Ventures 合作，部署與此獨特機會相關的價值創造理論。

Third, we're increasing our full year total revenue growth to be 14% plus, increasing our organic revenue growth to be 7% plus, and increasing our full year debt guidance to be in the range of $16.62 to $16.66 or up $0.21 at the midpoint versus our previous guidance of $16.36 to $16.50.

第三，我們將全年總收入成長提高到 14% 以上，將有機收入成長提高到 7% 以上，並將全年債務指引提高到 16.62 美元至 16.66 美元範圍內，即按預期增加 0.21 美元。與我們之前指導價16.36 美元至16.50 美元的中點相比。

And fourth, we continue to be very well positioned for further capital deployment by having over $4 billion of M&A firepower. We remain very active in the market as we evaluate and diligence many attractive opportunities.

第四，我們擁有超過 40 億美元的併購火力，並繼續處於進一步資本部署的有利位置。我們在市場上仍然非常活躍，我們評估和挖掘許多有吸引力的機會。

So with that, Jason, let me turn the call over to you, so you can walk through our third quarter results and our very strong financial position. Jason?

因此，傑森，讓我將電話轉給您，以便您可以了解我們第三季的業績和我們非常強勁的財務狀況。傑森？

Thanks, Neil, and good morning to those that have joined our call, and thank you for your interest in Roper.

謝謝尼爾，對加入我們電話會議的人們早上好，並感謝您對羅珀的興趣。

Turning to Slide 6, I'll take you through our third quarter enterprise results in a bit more detail. Revenue of $1.56 billion was 16% over prior year, with 6% organic growth and a 9% contribution from acquisitions, led by Frontline.

轉向投影片 6，我將帶您更詳細地了解我們第三季的企業業績。營收為 15.6 億美元，比上年成長 16%，其中有機成長 6%，由 Frontline 主導的收購貢獻了 9%。

As Neil mentioned, organic software recurring revenue growth was in the high single-digit area. This was led by strength in customer expansion and net new logos across our enterprise software businesses. Additionally, our product businesses continued to deliver with 10% organic growth in the quarter, highlighted by Neptune and Verathon.

正如尼爾所提到的，有機軟體經常性收入成長處於高個位數區域。這是由我們的企業軟體業務的客戶擴張和淨新徽標的強勁推動的。此外，我們的產品業務在本季繼續實現 10% 的有機成長，Neptune 和 Verathon 強調了這一點。

Revenue converted nicely through EBITDA, with EBITDA of $652 million or 18% over prior year. Margin expanded in the quarter to 41.7%, with EBITDA operating leverage of 46%. This all translated to depths of $4.32 versus our guidance of $4.16 to $4.20. Of note, our recent acquisitions had minimal impact on earnings this quarter. We expect debt accretion from these deals in 2024 as we pay down the revolver and benefit from full synergy realization.

營收透過 EBITDA 實現良好轉化，EBITDA 達到 6.52 億美元，比上年增長 18%。本季利潤率擴大至 41.7%，EBITDA 營運槓桿為 46%。這一切都轉化為 4.32 美元的深度，而我們的指導則為 4.16 美元至 4.20 美元。值得注意的是，我們最近的收購對本季收益的影響很小。我們預計，隨著我們還清債務並從全面實現協同效應中受益，這些交易的債務將在 2024 年增加。

Free cash flow was very strong in the quarter and came in line with our expectations. We generated $625 million of free cash flow, which is up $272 million over prior year. As a reminder, our Frontline business delivers most of its free cash flow in the third quarter. So that, plus a terrific organic contribution drove the significant growth.

本季自由現金流非常強勁，符合我們的預期。我們產生了 6.25 億美元的自由現金流，比前一年增加了 2.72 億美元。提醒一下，我們的第一線業務在第三季提供了大部分自由現金流。因此，再加上巨大的有機貢獻推動了顯著的成長。

Looking at cash flow on a trailing 12-month basis, as shown on the slide, provides a more relevant comparison. With the Frontline renewals tucked into the third quarter, our TTM free cash flow was $1.82 billion, which is up 19% over the prior TTM period. With the expectation for a strong Q4, we're on track to deliver north of 30% free cash flow margins in 2023.

如幻燈片所示，查看過去 12 個月的現金流量可以提供更相關的比較。隨著 Frontline 續訂進入第三季度，我們的 TTM 自由現金流為 18.2 億美元，比上一 TTM 期間成長 19%。預計第四季將表現強勁，我們預計在 2023 年實現 30% 以上的自由現金流利潤率。

Taking a broader view, our TTM free cash flow has compounded 16% over a 3-year period, which is in line with EBITDA growth. In summary, our focus on compounding cash flow is evident in our results and will continue to guide us into the future.

從更廣泛的角度來看，我們的 TTM 自由現金流在三年內複合了 16%，這與 EBITDA 成長一致。總之，我們對複合現金流的關注在我們的業績中顯而易見，並將繼續引導我們走向未來。

Next slide on Page 7 here, taking a look at our financial position. We ended the quarter with net debt of $6.6 billion, including about $900 million drawn on our revolver. With trailing EBITDA of over $2.4 billion, this leaves us with net leverage of about 2.7x.

第 7 頁的下一張投影片是我們的財務狀況。本季結束時，我們的淨債務為 66 億美元，其中包括左輪手槍提取的約 9 億美元。往績 EBITDA 超過 24 億美元，這使我們的淨槓桿約為 2.7 倍。

Looking forward, we have capacity to deploy $4 billion or more over the foreseeable period even after deploying $2 billion in the third quarter. As always, cash flow growth optimization guides our strategic choices. So while our balance sheet may be primed, we will be disciplined and patient when it comes to capital deployment. To that end, private markets are slowly thawing, with activity picking up over the last quarter.

展望未來，即使在第三季部署了 20 億美元之後，我們也有能力在可預見的時間內部署 40 億美元或更多。一如既往，現金流成長優化指導著我們的策略選擇。因此，儘管我們的資產負債表可能已準備就緒，但在資本配置方面我們將保持紀律和耐心。為此，私人市場正在緩慢解凍，上個季度的活動有所回升。

With that, I'll turn it back over to Neil to go through the segment results and outlook. Neil?

這樣，我將把它轉回給尼爾，以查看部門結果和前景。尼爾？

Thanks, Jason. Let's turn to Page 9. And before we walk through our segment details, we'd like to start with an overview of our acquisition of Syntellis and the combination with our Strata business. To remind everyone, Strata has been part of Roper for 8 years as a leader in delivering SaaS-based financial planning, decision support and performance analytics solutions to U.S. hospitals and health systems.

謝謝，傑森。讓我們翻到第 9 頁。在介紹細分市場詳細資訊之前，我們先概述一下我們對 Syntellis 的收購以及與 Strata 業務的合併。需要提醒大家的是，Strata 已加入 Roper 8 年，作為向美國醫院和衛生系統提供基於 SaaS 的財務規劃、決策支援和績效分析解決方案的領導者。

Syntellis is a leading provider of SaaS-based enterprise performance management and data solutions to hospitals, higher education and financial institutions. As many of you know, U.S.-based hospitals and health systems continue to face intense pressure from macro market trends, challenges resulting from care setting shifts, reimbursement rates, lagging rising costs and labor staffing issues.

Syntellis 是一家為醫院、高等教育和金融機構提供基於 SaaS 的企業績效管理和資料解決方案的領先供應商。眾所周知，美國的醫院和衛生系統繼續面臨宏觀市場趨勢、護理環境轉變、報銷率、成本上升滯後和勞動力問題帶來的挑戰的巨大壓力。

The combined Strata and Syntellis business will uniquely be able to help health systems address these difficult financial and operational challenges. Together, the enterprise has relationships with about 70% of the country's health systems.

Strata 和 Syntellis 合併後的業務將能夠獨特地幫助衛生系統應對這些困難的財務和營運挑戰。該企業總共與該國約 70% 的衛生系統建立了關係。

Stand-alone, Syntellis meets all our acquisition criteria, a leader in a niche market, delivers mission-critical application-specific solutions, is an HSD organic growth business and operates an extremely asset-light business model. Taken together with Strata, it only gets more attractive in terms of the combined customer base, the combined product offering, the combined financial profile and the combined future product development opportunities.

單獨而言，Syntellis 滿足我們所有的收購標準，是利基市場的領導者，提供任務關鍵型特定應用解決方案，是 HSD 有機成長業務，並經營極其輕資產的業務模式。與 Strata 一起，它只會在合併的客戶群、合併的產品供應、合併的財務狀況和合併的未來產品開發機會方面變得更具吸引力。

For 2024, we expect Syntellis to deliver about $185 million of revenue and about $90 million of EBITDA inclusive of cost synergies. Of note, this EBITDA is $5 million higher than at the time of our deal announcement. Considering the $1.25 billion net purchase price, the valuation is about 14x next year's EBITDA and will only improve from there.

到 2024 年，我們預計 Syntellis 將實現約 1.85 億美元的收入和約 9,000 萬美元的 EBITDA（包括成本綜效）。值得注意的是，該 EBITDA 比我們宣布交易時高出 500 萬美元。考慮到 12.5 億美元的淨收購價格，估值約為明年 EBITDA 的 14 倍，並且只會在此基礎上有所改善。

Operationally, the teams have moved quite expeditiously and are ahead of schedule relative to the near-term value creation plan, having implemented about 85% of the cost synergy opportunities within the first 45 days. In addition, the customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

在營運方面，團隊的行動相當迅速，並且相對於近期價值創造計劃提前了，在前 45 天內實施了約 85% 的成本協同機會。此外，客戶的回饋非常積極。

Finally, the new combined leadership team headed by Strata's CEO, John Martino, are turning their strategic attention to new combined product development ideas. Net-net, this is a highly compelling value creation opportunity for our customers and our shareholders.

最後，由 Strata 執行長 John Martino 領導的新聯合領導團隊正在將策略注意力轉向新的聯合產品開發理念。 Net-net，這對我們的客戶和股東來說是一個極具吸引力的價值創造機會。

And with that, let's now turn to Page 10 and walk through our Application Software segment. Third quarter revenues for Application Software segment were $803 million, up 5% on an organic basis and EBITDA margins increased to 44.6% in the quarter.

現在，讓我們翻到第 10 頁，瀏覽一下我們的應用軟體部分。應用軟體部門第三季營收為 8.03 億美元，有機成長 5%，本季 EBITDA 利潤率增至 44.6%。

We'll start with Deltek. Deltek was solid in the quarter with sustained momentum in their SMB channel and the private sector solutions. They continue to see sluggish activity in their GovCon Enterprise segment given the backdrop of federal government spending uncertainty. Retention rates across the entirety of Deltek remain high.

我們將從 Deltek 開始。 Deltek 在本季表現穩健，中小企業通路和私營部門解決方案保持持續成長勢頭。鑑於聯邦政府支出不確定的背景，他們的 GovCon 企業部門活動繼續低迷。整個 Deltek 的保留率仍然很高。

Importantly, over the last couple of months, Deltek released a GenAI-enabled data collection capability for the GovWin IQ business and LLM-based processing features for their VantagePoint product. It's good to see further adoption of GenAI within the portfolio.

重要的是，在過去的幾個月裡，Deltek 為 GovWin IQ 業務發布了支援 GenAI 的資料收集功能，並為其 VantagePoint 產品發布了基於 LLM 的處理功能。很高興看到 GenAI 在產品組合中進一步採用。

Also in the quarter, as we outlined on last quarter's call, Deltek closed the acquisition of Replicon, albeit about a month later than anticipated. To remind you, Replicon is a market-leading timekeeping and workforce management SaaS solution focused on professional services firms and is highly complementary to Deltek's strategy. We continue to expect Replicon to contribute north of $70 million of revenue and $24 million of EBITDA next year.

同樣在本季度，正如我們在上個季度電話會議中概述的那樣，Deltek 完成了對 Replicon 的收購，儘管比預期晚了大約一個月。需要提醒您的是，Replicon 是市場領先的計時和勞動力管理 SaaS 解決方案，專注於專業服務公司，與 Deltek 的策略高度互補。我們仍然預計 Replicon 明年將貢獻超過 7,000 萬美元的營收和 2,400 萬美元的 EBITDA。

Aderant, our software business focused on the needs of law firms continues to excel and delivered a very strong quarter. In the quarter, Aderant saw record third quarter bookings and continued success in the adoption and cross-sell of their SaaS solutions.

我們專注於律師事務所需求的軟體業務 Aderant 繼續表現出色，並取得了非常強勁的季度業績。在本季度，Aderant 的第三季度預訂量創歷史新高，並且在 SaaS 解決方案的採用和交叉銷售方面持續取得成功。

Also and importantly, during the quarter, Aderant continue to mature and gain market traction with their generative AI enabler, MADDI. Aderant's most recent GenAI product release enables passive fee earner time entry assistance through Aderant's iTimekeep product line. Great to see this rapid product innovation at Aderant.

同樣重要的是，在本季度，Aderant 憑藉其生成式 AI 推動者 MADDI 繼續成熟並獲得市場關注。 Aderant 最新發布的 GenAI 產品透過 Aderant 的 iTimekeep 產品線為被動付費者提供時間輸入協助。很高興看到 Aderant 如此快速的產品創新。

Vertafore, our software business that tech enables property and casualty insurance agencies continues to be a great business for us, with solid performance across our core P&C business and their recent MGA solutions bolt-on.

Vertafore 是我們透過科技支援財產和意外傷害保險機構的軟體業務，這對我們來說仍然是一項偉大的業務，在我們的核心財產和意外傷害業務以及他們最近的 MGA 解決方案中都表現出色。

Strata, independent from the Syntellis acquisition, was strong in the quarter and continued to gain market adoption of their leading decision support and financial planning solutions. Finally, Frontline had strong customer renewal season and delivered significant cash flow, as Jason mentioned, to the enterprise in the quarter. Looking to the final quarter of the year, we expect to see organic revenue growth to be in the mid-single-digit area for the segment.

Strata 獨立於 Syntellis 收購，在本季度表現強勁，並繼續獲得市場對其領先決策支援和財務規劃解決方案的採用。最後，正如 Jason 所提到的，Frontline 擁有強勁的客戶續訂季，並在本季度為企業帶來了大量現金流。展望今年最後一個季度，我們預計該領域的有機收入成長將達到中個位數。

Turning to Page 11. Third quarter revenues for our Network Software segment were $364 million, up 5% on an organic basis and EBITDA margins were 56.3%.

翻到第 11 頁。我們的網路軟體部門第三季營收為 3.64 億美元，有機成長 5%，EBITDA 利潤率為 56.3%。

Let's start with our U.S. and Canadian freight matching businesses, DAT and Loadlink, both of which grew in the quarter despite the continued challenges across the broader freight and logistics markets. Over the last quarter or two, these businesses have done a fantastic job of baselining their cost structures while continuing to invest in new product development. This led to strong segment margins in the quarter.

讓我們從我們的美國和加拿大貨運匹配業務 DAT 和 Loadlink 開始，儘管更廣泛的貨運和物流市場持續面臨挑戰，但這兩家公司在本季度都實現了成長。在過去一兩個季度中，這些企業在確定成本結構基準方面做得非常出色，同時繼續投資於新產品開發。這導致本季的細分市場利潤率強勁。

Relative to product development, and as we highlighted a touch last quarter, DAT launched GenAI-enabled solutions among other initiatives targeted to combat freight industry fraud, which is a problem that plagues the entire industry. Within the first month of release, DAT has made a significant dent in fraudulent activity and DAT's customers have noticed and recognized this great accomplishment.

相對於產品開發，正如我們上季度所強調的那樣，DAT 推出了支持 GenAI 的解決方案以及其他旨在打擊貨運行業欺詐的舉措，這是困擾整個行業的問題。在發布的第一個月內，DAT 就顯著減少了詐騙活動，DAT 的客戶已經注意到並認可了這一偉大成就。

This is a shiny example of why and how Roper businesses continue to innovate through and across macroeconomic cycles, which enables us to consistently deliver on market and customer opportunities, ultimately leading to market share gains.

這是羅珀企業為何以及如何在整個宏觀經濟週期中持續創新的一個鮮明例子，這使我們能夠持續提供市場和客戶機會，最終帶來市場份額的成長。

Turning to our iPipeline, our network software business that tech enables the distribution channel for life insurance and annuities. iPipeline continues to execute at a high level and gain market share. In the quarter, they had very nice ARR gains driven by strong retention and customer expansion activity. This growth is directly attributable to iPipeline's strategy that is laser-focused on their core life insurance and annuity customer base.

談到我們的 iPipeline，我們的網路軟體業務，其技術支援人壽保險和年金的分銷管道。 iPipeline 繼續保持高水準執行並贏得市場份額。在本季度，由於強勁的保留和客戶擴展活動，他們的 ARR 成長非常可觀。這一成長直接歸功於 iPipeline 專注於其核心人壽保險和年金客戶群的策略。

We talked about this concept during our Investor Day earlier in the year. A closely held value of Roper in our businesses is a notion that we compete and win based on customer intimacy. Customer intimacy requires focus and strategic choice. iPipeline, over the last 2 to 3 years, has excelled at this, the concept of focus on the core and choice, which enables further market share gains. Great job, team.

我們在今年早些時候的投資者日討論了這個概念。 Roper 在我們的業務中秉承的核心價值是我們基於客戶親密度進行競爭和獲勝。與客戶的親密關係需要專注和策略選擇。 iPipeline在過去的2到3年裡，在這一點上表現出色，即聚焦核心和選擇的理念，從而進一步提高了市場份額。幹得好，團隊。

Foundry, our media and entertainment postproduction software business continued their business model transition to a subscription model and is ahead of plan in that regard. Though industry demand was temporarily paused given both the Hollywood writers' and actors' strikes. Notwithstanding, Foundry continues to innovate their product offering and will aggressively compete for customer wallet share in the coming months as the actors' strike resolves.

我們的媒體和娛樂後製軟體業務 Foundry 繼續將其業務模式轉變為訂閱模式，並在這方面領先於計劃。儘管由於好萊塢編劇和演員的罷工，行業需求暫時停止。儘管如此，隨著罷工的解決，Foundry 仍在繼續創新其產品，並將在未來幾個月積極爭取客戶錢包份額。

Finally, our alternate site health care businesses, MHA, SoftWriters and SHP, were strong in the quarter. Execution was solid, and the business has benefited by having improved census in skilled nursing, assisted living facilities and home health reaching the highest occupancy levels and patient volumes since the onset of the pandemic. For the final quarter of the year, we expect to see low single-digit growth for this segment based on continued challenging freight market conditions and the actor's strike impact on Foundry.

最後，我們的備用站點醫療保健業務 MHA、SoftWriters 和 SHP 在本季表現強勁。執行力紮實，業務受益於熟練護理、輔助生活設施和家庭健康方面的普查改善，入住率和患者數量達到了大流行爆發以來的最高水平。在今年最後一個季度，由於貨運市場條件持續充滿挑戰以及演員罷工對 Foundry 的影響，我們預計該細分市場將實現低個位數成長。

Now let's turn to Page 12 and walk through our TEP segment. Revenues in the quarter were $396 million, up 10% on an organic basis. EBITDA margins for the segment were strong at 36.5% in the quarter.

現在讓我們翻到第 12 頁並瀏覽我們的 TEP 部分。該季度營收為 3.96 億美元，有機成長 10%。本季該部門的 EBITDA 利潤率為 36.5%，強勁。

We'll start with Neptune, our water meter and technology business. Neptune delivered another fantastic quarter of operational and financial performance. As has been the case for several quarters, Neptune continues to see strong demand and momentum for the residential and commercial ultrasonic or static meters and increasing adoption for their meter data management software. We remain bullish about Neptune and the market in which they compete, given this market tends to be quite steady as Neptune's customers' budgets are typically fixed year-to-year and not tied to broader macroeconomic trends or cycles.

我們將從海王星開始，我們的水錶和技術業務。海王星又一個季度的營運和財務表現表現出色。與幾個季度的情況一樣，Neptune 繼續看到住宅和商業超音波或靜態儀表的強勁需求和勢頭，其儀表數據管理軟體的採用率不斷增加。我們仍然看好海王星及其競爭的市場，因為該市場往往相當穩定，因為海王星的客戶預算通常每年都是固定的，並且與更廣泛的宏觀經濟趨勢或週期無關。

Verathon was awesome in the quarter as well with double-digit order growth and tremendous operational execution. Specifically, Verathon saw strength across the reoccurring single-use products, both bronchoscope or BFlex and video innovation or GlideScope as well as BladderScan capital purchases. A group of smaller businesses here, Inovonics, IPA and RF IDeas were fantastic as they were last quarter, substantially working through a series of nagging supply chain challenges. Relative to the final quarter of the year, we expect to see low double-digit organic growth for this segment.

Verathon 在本季表現出色，訂單成長兩位數，營運執行力出色。具體來說，Verathon 看到了重複出現的一次性產品的優勢，包括支氣管鏡或 BFlex、視訊創新或 GlideScope 以及 BladderScan 資本購買。這裡的一些小型企業，如 Inovonics、IPA 和 RF IDeas，與上季一樣表現出色，基本上解決了一系列棘手的供應鏈挑戰。相對於今年最後一個季度，我們預計該細分市場將實現低兩位數的有機成長。

Now please turn to Page 14, and let's go through our increased 2023 guidance. Based on our strong third quarter performance, we're raising our full year 2023 guidance for total revenue, organic revenue and adjusted debts. For 2023, we now expect total revenue growth to be 14% plus, an increase from about 13% last quarter. In addition, we're raising our full year organic revenue outlook to be in a 7%-plus ZIP code, an increase from about 7% last quarter and 5% to 6% in our original guide for the year.

現在請翻到第 14 頁，讓我們來看看我們增加的 2023 年指引。基於第三季的強勁表現，我們上調了 2023 年全年總收入、有機收入和調整後債務的指引。對於 2023 年，我們目前預計總營收成長將超過 14%，高於上季的 13% 左右。此外，我們還將郵遞區號地區的全年有機收入預期提高到 7% 以上，高於上季的 7% 左右，以及我們今年最初指南中的 5% 至 6%。

As a result of our improved revenue outlook, we're increasing our debt guidance for the year to be in the range of $16.62 and $16.66, up from our prior guidance of $16.36 to $16.50. Assumed in this guidance is the tax rate trending to the high end of our 21% to 22% range. For the fourth quarter, we're establishing adjusted DEPS guidance to be in the range of $4.28 and $4.32.

由於收入前景改善，我們將今年的債務指引從先前的 16.36 美元到 16.50 美元提高到 16.62 美元到 16.66 美元。本指南中假設稅率趨向於 21% 至 22% 範圍的高端。對於第四季度，我們將調整後的 DEPS 指導確定在 4.28 美元至 4.32 美元之間。

Now please turn over to Page 15, and then we'll look forward to answering your questions. We want to leave you with the same 4 points with which we started. First, we delivered yet another solid quarter. And in the third quarter, revenues increased 16% to $1.56 billion. This growth was underpinned with 6% organic revenue growth and high single-digit organic software recurrent revenue growth. In addition, EBITDA margins were notably strong at 41.7% and cash flow was outstanding, growing 77% in the quarter and 19% on a TTM basis.

現在請翻到第15頁，我們將期待回答您的問題。我們想給您留下與我們開始時相同的 4 點。首先，我們又交付了一個穩定的季度業績。第三季營收成長 16%，達到 15.6 億美元。這一增長得益於 6% 的有機收入增長和高單位數有機軟體經常性收入增長。此外，EBITDA 利潤率非常強勁，達到 41.7%，現金流也非常出色，本季成長 77%，以 TTM 計算成長 19%。

Second, we successfully deployed $2 billion of capital in the quarter, led by the bolt-ons of Syntellis and Replicon. These 2 deals will deliver about $115 million of EBITDA next year and are priced about 14x next year's EBITDA, quite compelling.

其次，在 Syntellis 和 Replicon 的補充下，我們在本季成功部署了 20 億美元的資本。這兩筆交易明年將帶來約 1.15 億美元的 EBITDA，定價約為明年 EBITDA 的 14 倍，相當引人注目。

Third, based on the strong quarter performance, the recurring nature of our revenue stream and the importance of our solutions to our customers were increasing our full year total and organic revenue growth outlook and increasing our full year debt outlook to be between $16.62 and $16.66. And finally, notwithstanding this quarter's $2 billion of deployment, we continue to be active with our capital deployment activities as we have north of $4 billion of available M&A firepower.

第三，基於強勁的季度業績、我們收入流的經常性性質以及我們的解決方案對客戶的重要性，我們提高了全年總收入和有機收入增長前景，並將全年債務前景提高到16.62 美元至16.66 美元之間。最後，儘管本季部署了 20 億美元，但我們仍繼續積極進行資本部署活動，因為我們擁有超過 40 億美元的可用併購火力。

As we've been discussing over the past several quarters, we have a very large pipeline of opportunities, though, as always, we remain super patient and highly disciplined to ensure the continued optimal deployment of our available capital, just as we did with the Syntellis and Replicon acquisitions. We firmly believe that patience, as is always the case with capital deployment, will be rewarded.

正如我們在過去幾季中一直在討論的那樣，我們擁有大量的機會，但我們一如既往地保持超級耐心和高度紀律，以確保我們的可用資本持續最佳部署，就像我們對收購Syntellis 和Replicon 。我們堅信，就像資本部署一樣，耐心一定會得到回報。

Before we turn to your questions, I'd like to share an exciting addition to the Roper executive team. During the quarter, Janet Glazer joined our team and is leading our acquisition cultivation and corporate development outreach efforts. Janet will partner with our M&A resources, our corporate leadership team and several of our business units to increase our forward-leaning posture with private equity sponsors and their businesses. Most recently, Janet was a global sector leader and portfolio manager at Fidelity. We're super excited that Janet has joined our leadership team, and welcome aboard.

在回答您的問題之前，我想先分享一下 Roper 執行團隊的一個令人興奮的新成員。本季度，珍妮特·格雷澤 (Janet Glazer) 加入了我們的團隊，領導我們的收購培育和企業發展推廣工作。珍妮特將與我們的併購資源、我們的企業領導團隊和我們的幾個業務部門合作，以增強我們對私募股權發起人及其業務的前瞻性態度。最近，珍妮特 (Janet) 擔任富達 (Fidelity) 的全球部門領導者兼投資組合經理。我們非常高興珍妮特加入我們的領導團隊，並歡迎加入。

Now as we turn to your questions, and if you could flip to the final slide, our strategic flywheel, we'd like to remind everyone that what we do at Roper is simple. We compound cash flow over a long arc of time by operating a portfolio of market-leading application-specific and vertically-oriented businesses.

現在，當我們轉向您的問題時，如果您可以翻到最後一張投影片，即我們的策略性飛輪，我們想提醒大家，我們在羅珀所做的事情很簡單。我們透過經營市場領先的特定應用和垂直導向的業務組合，在很長一段時間內複合現金流。

Once the company is a part of Roper, we operate a decentralized environment so our businesses can compete and win based on customer intimacy, yet we chose our businesses on how to structurally improve their growth rates and underlying business quality Finally, we run a centralized process-driven capital deployment strategy to focus on finding the next great business to add to our cash flow flywheel. Taken together, we compound our cash flow in the mid-teens area over a long arc of time.

一旦公司成為羅博的一部分，我們就會經營一個去中心化的環境，這樣我們的業務就可以根據客戶的親密度來競爭並獲勝，但我們選擇我們的業務時會考慮如何從結構上提高其成長率和基本業務品質最後，我們運行一個集中的流程-驅動的資本部署策略，專注於尋找下一個偉大的業務來添加到我們的現金流飛輪中。總的來說，我們的現金流在很長一段時間內都在十幾歲左右。

So with that, thank you for your continued interest in Roper, and let's open it up to your questions.

因此，感謝您對 Roper 的持續關注，讓我們來回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) The first question comes from Julian Mitchell with Barclays.

（操作員說明）第一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Julian Mitchell。

Maybe I just wanted to focus on the network software business for a second. One question, really trying to put a finer point on how much of a headwind in that Q4 sales guide you have from the freight markets, what sort of pace of decline or softness there? And is Foundry more of a sort of rearview month of October type headwind? And then was there anything onetime in the network software margins in Q3 that made them so high?

也許我只是想暫時關註一下網路軟體業務。有一個問題，真的想更詳細說明第四季度銷售指南中貨運市場的阻力有多大，下降或疲軟的速度是怎樣的？ Foundry 更像是 10 月的逆風回顧月？那麼，第三季網路軟體利潤率中是否有什麼因素導致其如此之高？

Julian, thanks for your question. So I'll try and take them in reverse order. The margins I tried to cover in my prepared remarks, how DAT and Loadlink have just done a great job in Q2 and Q3, aligning the cost structure of where the business is today. And so they're actually a little bit ahead of where they wanted to be in that regard, so that's what drove the margins.

朱利安，謝謝你的提問。所以我會嘗試以相反的順序來處理它們。我試著在準備好的發言中談到利潤率，DAT 和 Loadlink 如何在第二季和第三季做得很好，調整了當前業務的成本結構。因此，他們在這方面實際上比他們想要的目標稍微領先一些，這就是推動利潤率的原因。

Relative to Foundry, it's very much in Q4. I mean there's still much -- very much is an active strike for Foundry in post-production. They need content flowing through the pipeline. And right now, writers are writing, but actors aren't acting. The general consensus is that will sort of resolve itself in Q4, but one never knows. Then the pipelines will build and sort of leading into maybe the second half of Q1 and Q2, Foundry's demand will sort of dip back to normal levels. So it's sort of the Q3, Q4, maybe Q1 impacting.

相對於 Foundry，第四季的情況非常好。我的意思是，Foundry 在後製方面仍然採取了很多積極的行動。他們需要內容流經管道。現在，作家在寫作，但演員不在表演。普遍的共識是，這個問題將在第四季自行解決，但誰也不知道。然後管道將建成，並可能進入第一季下半年和第二季度，代工廠的需求將回落到正常水平。所以這可能是第三、第四季，也許是第一季的影響。

Relative to DAT and Loadlink, I'll remind that DAT has just been remarkable over the last couple of years. it's really been abnormal growth. It's been exceptional. DAT has a super long history of being very steady and growing. They grew in the quarter. They continue to innovate in October here. We've seen sort of -- we're bouncing along the bottom, if you will, maybe a slight uptick in the first handful of weeks in October, who knows if that sort of started the trend or just some of the yellow sort of capacity coming into a different part of the market and reshaping. But we expect normal behavior for DAT. It's just we've got to wait to about get off the bottom here in terms of the industry group volumes.

相對於 DAT 和 Loadlink，我要提醒大家的是，DAT 在過去幾年表現出色。確實是不正常的生長。這真是太棒了。 DAT 有著非常穩定且不斷成長的超長歷史。他們在本季有所成長。十月他們在這裡繼續創新。我們已經看到了——如果你願意的話，我們正在沿著底部反彈，也許在 10 月份的前幾週內會略有上升，誰知道這是趨勢的開始還是只是一些黃色的趨勢產能進入市場的不同部分並重塑。但我們期望 DAT 表現正常。只是我們必須等待行業群體數量才能觸底。

If you want to add that, Jason?

如果你想補充一點，傑森？

No, I think that's right. I mean the abnormality, if you draw a straight line from 2019, you'd see the business has been up substantially, right? So we have sort of this exceptional growth. A lot of carriers come in the market, they're exiting out. And again, it's just been a good steady growth for us over the last 20 years, absent sort of this exceptional period.

不，我認為這是對的。我的意思是異常情況，如果你從2019年開始畫一條直線，你會發現業務大幅成長，對吧？所以我們有這種非凡的成長。許多運營商進入市場，然後退出。再說一次，在過去 20 年裡，我們一直在穩步成長，儘管沒有經歷過這樣的特殊時期。

And just back on Foundry, I would say that what we've observed is the gross retention of the business has been extremely strong. We have moved to a subscription model this year, and so that gives customers pause on if they get off maintenance, they're going to have to come back on a subscription. So we feel good to -- once the actors' strike is done, that business is going to pick back up next year, hopefully.

回到 Foundry，我想說的是，我們觀察到該業務的總保留率非常強勁。我們今年已經轉向訂閱模式，因此，如果客戶停止維護，他們將不得不重新訂閱。因此，我們感覺很好——一旦演員罷工結束，這項業務預計將在明年回升。

And then just a quick follow-up. It sounds like Syntellis is off to a strong start. But maybe my question on Certinia more, maybe a slightly unusual structure for Roper to go into this minority interest approach given the attributes when you bring something in-house. So maybe just sort of explain why you went for this structure. And any sense of the scale of Certinia or the size of that business?

然後進行快速跟進。聽起來 Syntellis 已經有了一個好的開始。但也許我對 Certinia 的問題更多，考慮到當你帶來內部的東西時的屬性，對於羅珀來說，進入這種少數利益方法的結構可能有點不尋常。所以也許只是解釋為什麼你選擇這個結構。對 Certinia 的規模或該業務的規模有何了解？

Yes. So we're partners with Haveli principally in -- the Haveli partners, we know quite well. It was one of the founders of Vista and then the person who led the tech practice at Bain, came together and joined Haveli, so the long history of both of them as individuals, they actually approached us to see if we can lend some of our expertise to the situation. So we're intrigued by being able to help. We're intrigued by the value creation opportunity here. It's a very compelling value creation opportunity.

是的。因此，我們與哈維裡的合作夥伴主要是──哈維裡的合作夥伴，我們非常了解。這是Vista 的創始人之一，然後是貝恩技術實踐的領導者，他們聚集在一起並加入了Haveli，所以他們倆作為個人的悠久歷史，他們實際上與我們接觸，看看我們是否可以藉出我們的一些資金。情況的專業知識。因此，我們對能夠提供幫助感到很感興趣。我們對這裡的價值創造機會很感興趣。這是一個非常引人注目的價值創造機會。

And then we'll also learn a thing or two along the way. I mean this is a smart group of people that have a long history of doing this type of transaction. It's a unique opportunity, Julian, as you mentioned. We're not looking to do a lot more of things like this. This is not the beginning of like a large book of minority investments.

然後我們還將在過程中學到一兩件事。我的意思是，這是一群聰明的人，他們在進行此類交易方面有著悠久的歷史。正如你所提到的，朱利安，這是一個獨特的機會。我們不打算做更多這樣的事。這並不是一本關於少數股權投資的大書的開始。

We'll continue to be opportunistic, but it's not going to be anything -- it's going to be few and far between in terms of our pacing and volume on this. And the scale, I think we're on it at the private business, so we'll sort of keep the scale of the business sort of in the private domain.

我們將繼續投機取巧，但這不會有任何結果——就我們在這方面的節奏和數量而言，這將是很少的。至於規模，我認為我們是在私人企業，所以我們將把業務規模保持在私人領域。

The next question comes from Allison Poliniak with Wells Fargo.

下一個問題來自富國銀行的艾莉森‧波利尼亞克。

Going back to the technology-enabled products, it seems like certainly a tick up in terms of where you were expecting the second half of this year. I know you mentioned Neptune and Verathon. But any specific vertical driving sort of that outperformance in the sector in the space?

回到技術支援的產品，就您對今年下半年的預期而言，這似乎肯定會增加。我知道你提到了 Neptune 和 Verathon。但是，有什麼特定的垂直驅動因素可以在該領域的行業中表現出色嗎？

I'm sorry, you broke up just on the very end there, Allison. So I would say -- so just to reiterate it, sort of Neptune is -- I mean, it is a bit market based and that market continues to be very healthy. The customers are -- ordering patterns are consistent and robust, lots of backlog carrying into next year. So there's market share gains and product advantage we have and also a cooperative market for sure.

對不起，你最後就分手了，艾莉森。所以我想說——重申一下，海王星是——我的意思是，它有點基於市場，而且市場仍然非常健康。客戶的訂購模式一致且穩健，大量積壓訂單將持續到明年。因此，我們擁有市場佔有率成長和產品優勢，當然還有合作市場。

With Verathon, the market dynamic is moving towards single-use in the category in bronchoscopes from reusables because of infection control. So it's a market that is definitely a growth market that we are very soon to be the #1 player in, knock on wood, maybe this quarter. And so that's market related, but just tremendous execution by the team, both go-to-market and product, it means tons of product vitality.

借助 Verathon，由於感染控制，支氣管鏡類別的市場動態正在從可重複使用轉向一次性使用。因此，這個市場絕對是一個成長的市場，我們很快就會成為第一大市場，也許這個季度。因此，這與市場相關，但團隊的巨大執行力，無論是進入市場還是產品，都意味著大量的產品活力。

And then also in the segment, we have a couple -- we mentioned a couple of smaller RF product businesses. That's less market and more just clearing through just a mountain of supply chain problems that plague the businesses for many -- a few quarters. And second quarter and third quarter are great in that regard to those businesses.

然後，在這個領域，我們有幾個——我們提到了幾個較小的射頻產品業務。這不再是市場，而只是解決困擾許多企業幾季的堆積如山的供應鏈問題。在這些業務方面，第二季和第三季表現出色。

Understood. And then just turning to M&A. You mentioned sort of those private markets starting to fall. Can you maybe talk through sort of the multiples that you're starting to see there? Are they as attractive as what we've just seen this past quarter? Or do they still need to come in a little bit here?

明白了。然後轉向併購。你提到私人市場開始下跌。您能否談談您在那裡開始看到的倍數？它們與我們上個季度剛剛看到的一樣有吸引力嗎？或者他們還需要進來一點嗎？

Yes. That's really the question. The -- so it's like the market Jason sort of referred to it is like a coiled spring. I mean there is a tremendous amount of activity, like forming activity, investment bankers, pipelines are filling processes are starting. There's increasing pressure from the LPs onto the sponsors to start thinking about getting some liquidity back to them.

是的。這確實是個問題。 - 所以這就像傑森所說的市場就像一個螺旋彈簧。我的意思是有大量的活動，例如形成活動、投資銀行家、管道填充過程正在啟動。有限合夥人對贊助商施加的壓力越來越大，要求他們開始考慮向他們返還一些流動性。

The sponsor is starting to think about raising new funds, they need liquidity to do that. So there's a lot of the precursor activity that is required to see transactions come back into the market. The question still remains about the bid-ask spread between buyers and sellers.

贊助商開始考慮籌集新資金，他們需要流動性來做到這一點。因此，需要進行大量的前期活動才能看到交易重新進入市場。買家和賣家之間的買賣價差問題仍然存在。

You still -- the number of printed deals to date is still small, right? So this is -- and we anticipate -- well, we know there's going to be more opportunities. We don't yet know where they're going to clear we continue to be super patient. The market is coming to us. We don't have to chase the market. If we can find very compelling value opportunities like Replicon and Syntellis, we'll do them. If we don't, we'll remain patient.

您仍然 - 迄今為止打印的交易數量仍然很少，對吧？所以，我們預計，我們知道將會有更多的機會。我們還不知道他們會清理哪裡，我們繼續保持超級耐心。市場正在向我們走來。我們不必追逐市場。如果我們能找到像 Replicon 和 Syntellis 一樣非常有吸引力的價值機會，我們就會去做。如果我們不這樣做，我們將保持耐心。

The next question comes from Deane Dray with RBC Capital Markets.

下一個問題來自加拿大皇家銀行資本市場部的迪恩‧德雷 (Deane Dray)。

First, congrats on hiring Janet. I've known her many years, I think she'll be a great addition to the team. So congrats.

首先，恭喜您聘用珍妮特。我認識她很多年了，我認為她會成為團隊的重要補充。所以恭喜。

Thanks for saying that. We're looking at her, she's sort of -- she's not on the exact script, we're looking at her, and she's blushing. So she's going to be great as part of the team for sure.

謝謝你這麼說。我們看著她，她有點——她沒有出現在確切的劇本上，我們看著她，她臉紅了。因此，作為團隊的一員，她肯定會表現出色。

That's fabulous. All right. So first, I wanted to go back, more of a macro question. Have there been any changes at the margin and customer decision-making, the pace of new logos? You called out Deltek, which is understandable given their government service side, some of the uncertainties there. But just kind of broad brush, are you seeing any changes in customer behavior?

太棒了。好的。首先，我想回顧一下，更多的是一個宏觀問題。利潤和客戶決策、新標誌的步伐是否有任何變化？你點名了Deltek，鑑於他們的政府服務方面存在一些不確定性，這是可以理解的。但粗略地講，您是否看到客戶行為有任何變化？

So it's played out as we anticipated over the course of the year. It's really been a mixed bag. Just look at one company in Deltek, strong across SMB, both on the government contracting and private sector, professional services markets, strong at the enterprise level for PS, less strong on the government contracting side at the enterprise level. So it really is a mixed bag. In that case, it's less macro related and more tied to the uncertainty around what's happening to the federal government and budgets and what's going on there.

因此，這一年的發展正如我們所預期的。這確實是一個魚龍混雜的情況。只要看看 Deltek 的一家公司，它在中小企業、政府承包和私營部門、專業服務市場上都很強大，在 PS 的企業層面上表現強勁，在企業層面的政府承包方面表現較差。所以這確實是一個魚龍混雜的情況。在這種情況下，它與宏觀相關性較小，而更多地與聯邦政府和預算以及那裡正在發生的事情的不確定性相關。

You see strength across the pipeline. You see strength at Aderant. Those are very healthy customer bases. So it really is a mixed bag. Obviously, the weakness at DAT given that we just talked about with just where freight markets are, so it's really a collection of bespoke things than it is sort of a broad brush macro across the portfolio.

你會看到整個管道的力量。您可以在阿德蘭特看到力量。這些都是非常健康的客戶群。所以這確實是一個魚龍混雜的情況。顯然，考慮到我們剛剛討論了貨運市場的情況，DAT 的弱點是，所以它實際上是定制產品的集合，而不是整個投資組合中的宏觀宏觀。

All right. That's good to hear. And then second question on -- maybe more of an update on GenAI. It was interesting that you called out several initiatives that the companies are pursuing, DAT and Aderant. Are these mostly bottom-up initiatives by the companies? Or is there anything from the headquarter side, maybe you're getting some expertise to help identify opportunities? And maybe give us a sense of how penetrated it is today within Roper and what kind of adoption might you see a year from now, just to kind of -- it sounds like you're playing more offense here in this, and would love some insights.

好的。聽起來還不錯。然後是第二個問題——也許更多的是 GenAI 的更新。有趣的是，您提到了公司正在推行的幾項舉措：DAT 和 Aderant。這些主要是公司自下而上的措施嗎？或者總部方面有什麼事情嗎？也許你正在獲得一些專業知識來幫助發現機會？也許讓我們了解它今天在羅珀內部的滲透程度，以及一年後你可能會看到什麼樣的採用，只是有點——聽起來你在這裡玩得更多了，並且會喜歡一些見解。

Sure. Yes. So we're definitely playing offense here. We think this is a transformational technology, right? It's not a trendy paradigm or hyping a fab. We think this is a foundational technology that will change the way we all live our personal lives and business will be conducted over the course of the next 5 to 10 years, right?

當然。是的。所以我們在這裡肯定是在進攻。我們認為這是一項變革性技術，對吧？這不是一個流行的範例或炒作的工廠。我們認為這是一項基礎技術，將在未來 5 到 10 年內改變我們所有人的個人生活和業務開展方式，對吧？

So that's our view on the technology of GenAI and large language models, et cetera. So what we're doing is really a combination of top-down bottoms up, if you will. From a top-down perspective, Deane, we've organized -- we've deputized, I should say, a couple of our group executives, Satish Maripuri, Mike Corkery, to lead an education series across a variety of topics for GenAI for our companies.

這就是我們對 GenAI 和大型語言模型等技術的看法。所以，如果你願意的話，我們所做的其實是自上而下、自下而上的結合。 Deane，從自上而下的角度來看，我們已經組織了——我應該說，我們已經委託了幾位集團高管Satish Maripuri、Mike Corkery 來領導針對GenAI 的一系列涵蓋各種主題的教育系列。我們的公司。

So we've done a series of Zoom meetings, 3 or 4, we've got 5 or 6 still to go. They're spaced out every 3 or 4 weeks around -- but started with what is GenAI. And it's evolving more and more into how do you deploy, methods of deployment, where and how the organization deploys both from productivity and new product ideas.

我們已經召開了一系列 Zoom 會議，其中有 3 到 4 次，還有 5 到 6 次。他們大約每 3 到 4 週進行一次——但從 GenAI 開始。它越來越多地演變為如何部署、部署方法、組織從生產力和新產品理念進行部署的位置和方式。

So the hope with that is that it creates -- it spurns this creative thinking across the 18,000 people at Roper to think about how they impact our customers positively, how it impacts our operations positively. So ultimately, it will be a bottoms-up ground-12 ideas, but we're accelerating the learning, if you will.

因此，我們希望它能激發 Roper 18,000 名員工的創造性思維，讓他們思考如何對我們的客戶產生正面影響，如何對我們的營運產生正面影響。所以最終，這將是一個由下而上的 12 個想法，但如果你願意的話，我們正在加速學習。

Ultimately, we might do a couple of other things at the center around contracts with some of the larger players or deployment models for cybersecurity, safety and security purposes. But as with Roper, all the good ideas will be generated bottoms-up from the field and the leadership team and the employee base.

最終，我們可能會圍繞與一些較大參與者的合約或出於網路安全、安全和保障目的的部署模型做一些其他事情。但與羅珀一樣，所有好的想法都將從現場、領導團隊和員工群體中自下而上產生。

The next question comes from Joe Vruwink with Baird.

下一個問題來自 Joe Vruwink 和 Baird。

Great. In the slides, you make the distinction that organic software growth, the recurring software growth, that's already in the high single digits. And then, of course, your reported organic is 5%. And I guess the question, is that generally going to be the spread you would expect just given professional services and probably license attrition over time? And then is that spread expected to be consistent in the foreseeable future?

偉大的。在幻燈片中，您可以區分有機軟體成長、經常性軟體成長，這已經是高個位數了。當然，你報告的有機率是 5%。我想問題是，這通常是您所期望的專業服務的傳播，並且隨著時間的推移可能會出現許可證損耗？那麼在可預見的未來，這種利差預計會保持一致嗎？

Joe, it's Jason. I would say that there always will be a spread. It was probably a little bit more pronounced this quarter just because we had some deals in AS pushed out, and we have -- we talked about Foundry going from perpetual to subscription. So yes, there always will be a spread. It's -- like I said, it's probably a little bit more pronounced than the third quarter though.

喬，是傑森。我想說的是，總會有一個傳播。本季這一情況可能更加明顯，因為我們在 AS 方面推出了一些交易，我們討論了 Foundry 從永久到訂閱的轉變。所以是的，總是會有傳播。正如我所說，這可能比第三季更加明顯。

Okay. And then I wanted to go back a couple of quarters ago now you mentioned that AS had ramping services capacity that was to support strong bookings in your health care assets. I'm wondering if you can maybe just provide an update on maybe whether those awards have gone live.

好的。然後我想回到幾個季度前，現在您提到 AS 的服務能力不斷增強，以支持您的醫療保健資產的強勁預訂。我想知道您是否可以提供有關這些獎項是否已生效的最新資訊。

And then in the broader health care apparatus, what are you seeing there? Obviously, you're increasing exposure there now via M&A. I guess, how does maybe organic growth as a profile stand relative to the AS broader segment?

然後在更廣泛的醫療保健機構中，您看到了什麼？顯然，您現在正在透過併購增加在那裡的曝光度。我想，相對於 AS 更廣泛的細分市場而言，有機成長作為一個概況如何？

Yes. So relative to the professional services ramp build, that was principally at our laboratory -- global laboratory business, CliniSys. They've done just a tremendous job competing and winning in the U.K., in the French market, in the Benelux region, they tend to be larger installs, and they did a nice job there. It also is around power plan, where -- and that, I think, their second quarter services bookings was the largest services bookings quarter in the company's history, if my memory serves me correctly. So the deals have sort of formed in the capacity, is in the process being utilized. So good operational sort of foresight from those 2 businesses.

是的。因此，相對於專業服務的建設，這主要是在我們的實驗室——全球實驗室業務 CliniSys。他們在英國、法國市場、比荷盧地區的競爭和勝利中取得了巨大的成功，他們的安裝量往往更大，而且他們在那裡做得很好。它也圍繞著電力計劃，如果我沒記錯的話，我認為他們第二季的服務預訂是該公司歷史上最大的服務預訂季度。因此，這些交易已經形成，正在被利用。這兩家公司的營運遠見卓識。

And then relative to health care exposure, I mean, it's -- with Syntellis, I mean it's a stand-alone high single-digit growth business. Our Strata business was a little bit better than that over our ownership period. And the companies -- the combined company, now they've got most of the cost synergy work, is super excited about the new product development ideas they have to further monetize both the customer base and persona. I mean we have 70% of the health systems as customers with the persona of the CFO, which is -- it's not just the same customer, but the same persona in between the 2 companies, and we're very excited about what that can do.

然後相對於醫療保健業務，我的意思是，對於 Syntellis，我的意思是它是一個獨立的高個位數成長業務。我們的 Strata 業務比我們擁有期間的情況要好一些。這些公司——合併後的公司，現在已經完成了大部分成本協同工作，對新產品開發理念感到非常興奮，他們必須進一步將客戶群和角色貨幣化。我的意思是，我們 70% 的衛生系統客戶都具有 CFO 的角色，也就是說，這不僅是同一個客戶，而且是兩家公司之間的相同角色，我們對這可以帶來什麼感到非常興奮做。

The next question comes from Scott Davis from Melius Research.

下一個問題來自 Melius Research 的 Scott Davis。

Guys, when you compete -- when you're doing a more bolt-on-ish deal in this kind of rate environment, are you competing against a different type of competitor in these things versus maybe a year or two ago? Is there less PE shop showing up? And just kind of trying to get a sense of if there's just less competition overall for those types of transactions.

夥計們，當你們競爭時——當你們在這種利率環境下進行更多的附加交易時，與一兩年前相比，你們是否在這些方面與不同類型的競爭對手競爭？是不是PE店少了？只是想了解這些類型的交易是否整體上競爭較少。

So what I would say is, as a general matter, we're still competing against the sponsor community, though the depth of the field is a little thinner. In the case of Syntellis, it was really a proprietary deal. And we haven't seen many proprietary deals in a long time, right? I mean in a more frothy market, even if you were the most likely owner of an asset, the seller would run a market check. And in this case, we're able to just sort of cut through all that and reach a deal that made sense for both parties. So maybe in that regard, I mean, the competition is a little thinner, but it's the same set of characters.

所以我想說的是，總的來說，我們仍然在與贊助商群體競爭，儘管這個領域的深度有點薄弱。就 Syntellis 而言，這實際上是一項專有交易。我們已經很長一段時間沒有看到很多自營交易了，對吧？我的意思是，在一個更泡沫化的市場中，即使你是最有可能的資產所有者，賣方也會進行市場檢查。在這種情況下，我們能夠解決所有這些問題並達成一項對雙方都有意義的協議。所以也許在這方面，我的意思是，競爭有點薄弱，但都是同一組角色。

Okay. Makes sense. Not much to pick on, very solid quarter overall. But can you give us a sense of materiality of kind of the foundry, just the strike impact and everything. If foundry wasn't in the mix, would growth have been higher than the 5% segment growth.

好的。說得通。沒什麼好挑剔的，整體季度非常穩定。但是你能給我們一種鑄造廠的物質性感覺嗎？罷工的影響等等。如果代工廠不參與其中，成長將高於 5% 的細分市場成長。

Yes, I'd say a little bit. I mean it's -- for the second half, it's like single-digit revenue impact relative to our last guide. Mid-singles.

是的，我想說一點。我的意思是，相對於我們上一份指南，下半年的收入影響就像個位數。中單打。

The next question comes from Terry Tillman with Truist.

下一個問題來自 Truist 的 Terry Tillman。

The first question is on Frontline. If I'm not mistaken, you have this important renewal season. We saw the strong cash flow in the quarter. I'm curious, those are important kind of milestones when they're renewing and you get the cash flow. So what happens and what did you see with expansion or interest in expanding products or modules, adding more seats, taking pricing? And then the second part of my first question is just how is new business growth going in Frontline?

第一個問題是在前線。如果我沒記錯的話，你們將迎來這個重要的續約賽季。我們看到本季強勁的現金流。我很好奇，當它們更新並且你獲得現金流時，這些都是重要的里程碑。那麼，隨著擴張或對擴展產品或模組、增加更多席位、定價的興趣，發生了什麼？您看到了什麼？我的第一個問題的第二部分是 Frontline 的新業務成長如何？

Okay. So Frontline, as we mentioned, I mean, it was just a good first year. The renewals and the -- were right on plan, consistent with last year. Gross retention was in line with historical and net retention. So relative to the upsell, cross-selling was in line with historical rates, sort of [103, 104], was very consistent in the quarter for Frontline, for net retention. So steady as she goes. It just goes to the criticality of what Frontline does for the customers in which they serve. Again, they empower the frontline of education. So it's good.

好的。所以前線，正如我們所提到的，我的意思是，這是一個很好的第一年。續約和——都按計畫進行，與去年一致。總留存率與歷史留存率和淨留存率一致。因此，相對於追加銷售，交叉銷售與歷史比率一致，有點 [103, 104]，對於 Frontline 的淨留存率而言，該季度非常一致。她走得那麼穩健。這正好說明了 Frontline 為他們所服務的客戶所做的事情的重要性。他們再次為教育第一線賦能。所以這很好。

In terms of the new cross-selling -- or excuse me, net new customers, it's been very good on the -- sort of the run rate business at Frontline. Actually a little bit better than prior years. And then as it goes with the loss of small numbers, there's a handful of large deals that Frontline normally gets in any given year. The larger deals have been a little slower to show up this year.

就新的交叉銷售（或對不起，淨新客戶）而言，Frontline 的營運率業務非常好。其實比前幾年好一點點。隨著少量交易的流失，Frontline 通常在任何一年都會獲得一些大額交易。今年較大的交易出現的速度要慢一些。

They're still in the pipeline. They're just starting push things to the right, but we're talking about 3 to 5 deals in the course of a year. It could -- it's just a lot of small numbers, so we're not reading too much into that. Hard to recall a macro or a lack of execution. It's just a small number of deals.

他們仍在醞釀中。他們剛開始將事情推向正確的方向，但我們正在談論一年內 3 到 5 筆交易。它可能——這只是很多小數字，所以我們不會對此進行太多解讀。很難回想起宏或缺乏執行力。這只是少量的交易。

Okay. I guess just my follow-up is on Neptune. Do you foresee this momentum continuing into '24? And how much should we hang our hat on this meter data management product? I mean does that move the needle? Does it have good attach rates?

好的。我想我的後續行動只是關於海王星。您預計這種勢頭會持續到 2024 年嗎？我們應該在多大程度上關注這個儀表資料管理產品？我的意思是這會帶來影響嗎？它有良好的附著率嗎？

Yes. So Neptune, Neptune has got a lot of backlog carrying next year. And obviously, we've got to go through our planning process for all of our companies and understand the puts and takes. But we expect Neptune to have another good year as a general matter, just given the momentum in the backlog, the market positioning, the capacity they have, the competitive advantage they have.

是的。所以海王星，海王星明年有很多積壓訂單。顯然，我們必須對所有公司進行規劃流程並了解其中的細節。但考慮到積壓的動能、市場定位、產能和競爭優勢，我們預期海王星將迎來另一個好年。

Related to master data management and the software, it's been an important part of this business. As we have more technology on the meter to get more data off the meters and do and push more capability to the theaters, you have to be able to start to process a gigantic volume of data, to be able to put it into a billing system or cash collection system.

與主資料管理和軟體相關，它一直是該業務的重要組成部分。隨著我們擁有更多的儀表技術，可以從儀表上獲取更多數據，並向影院提供更多功能，您必須能夠開始處理大量數據，才能將其放入計費系統或現金收集系統。

And so we have a pretty decent size and highly capable software group at Neptune that didn't exist 10 years ago, that deals with this, and it's a growing part of the business. It's always -- it's a smaller part of the business, but it's a fast-growing part of the business, one worthy to call out in the quarter. So I appreciate the question.

因此，我們在 Neptune 擁有一個規模相當大、能力很強的軟體團隊，這在 10 年前還不存在，專門處理這個問題，而且它是業務中不斷增長的一部分。它始終是業務的一小部分，但它是業務快速成長的部分，值得在本季提及。所以我很欣賞這個問題。

The next question comes from Christopher Glynn with Oppenheimer.

下一個問題來自克里斯托弗·格林和奧本海默。

So a lot has been asked. I was curious about some language in the press release that guidance doesn't include, obviously, future acquisitions or divestitures. You've had a pretty broad stroke of divestiture over a couple of year period recently passed by. So curious if that -- the intent on putting that word in the press release.

所以人們問了很多。我對新聞稿中的一些措辭感到好奇，這些措辭顯然不包括未來的收購或剝離。最近幾年，你們進行了相當廣泛的資產剝離。非常好奇是否有意將這個詞放入新聞稿中。

It's just standard language, Christopher. So nothing to read into that.

這只是標準語言，克里斯多福。所以沒有什麼好解讀的。

The next question comes from Joe Giordano with Cowen.

下一個問題來自喬·佐丹奴和考恩。

So on M&A, like if we're going into like kind of a more murky kind of macro environment here, a little bit more uncertain, I get why it would kind of open up those markets a little bit. But do these large -- like larger-scale bolt-ons become incrementally more attractive to you in like times like this just because you kind of know the markets more, you probably have kind of more certainty around an outcome than like bringing in something that perhaps is an adjacency or something that you're just less familiar with in general?

因此，在併購方面，如果我們進入一個更黑暗的宏觀環境，更加不確定，我明白為什麼它會稍微開放這些市場。但是，在這樣的時期，這些大型的補強產品是否會變得對你越來越有吸引力，僅僅因為你對市場了解更多，你可能對結果有更多的確定性，而不是引入一些東西也許是一種鄰接關係或是您一般不太熟悉的東西？

Well, Joe, I would say yes and no to that. I would -- I mean, first of all, times of uncertainty relative to our capital deployment, our history and pattern recognition says those are great times for us, right? You go back to like the pandemic, we do Vertafore. Like in the late summer of 2020, it was a terrific business for us, a great asset for us, our largest deal. Because of our balance sheet strength and our flexibility, we were in business when nobody else was and the sellers need to sell. Frontline, very different reasons last year, very similar. Syntellis, I mean, it's opportunity in this uncertainty, so we like that.

好吧，喬，對此我會說是，也可能說不是。我想——我的意思是，首先，相對於我們的資本部署、我們的歷史和模式認知而言，不確定的時期表明，這對我們來說是偉大的時期，對嗎？你回去喜歡流行病，我們喜歡 Vertafore。就像 2020 年夏末一樣，這對我們來說是一筆了不起的生意，對我們來說是一筆巨大的資產，也是我們最大的一筆交易。由於我們的資產負債表實力和靈活性，我們在沒有其他人做生意、賣家需要出售的時候開展業務。前線，去年的原因很不同，也很相似。 Syntellis，我的意思是，在這種不確定性中這是機會，所以我們喜歡這樣。

Now as it relates to is it going to be deployed as a platform or a bolt-on, we've built over 20 years, the ability to understand -- be a great, if you will, humbly, a business picker. And part of that is understanding the markets and understanding competitive advantages. But in that, we're looking for stability, right? We're looking for stable competitive forces, observable competitive forces, small markets, clear leadership position, high gross and net retention. That's a formula for stability from which to grow from. And so if we see things like that in these uncertain times, we'll certainly lean into that.

現在，當涉及到是將其部署為平台還是附加元件時，我們已經建立了 20 多年的理解能力——謙虛地說，成為一名偉大的業務選擇者。其中一部分是了解市場和了解競爭優勢。但在這方面，我們正在尋求穩定性，對嗎？我們正在尋找穩定的競爭力量、可觀察的競爭力量、小市場、明確的領導地位、高的總保留率和淨保留率。這是一個穩定發展的公式。因此，如果我們在這個不確定的時期看到類似的事情，我們肯定會傾向於這一點。

At the same time, as we talked about at our Investor Day, for our capital deployment strategy, we are trying to lean in to do more bolt-on activity, because they've historically been the best value-creative deals we've done. They help our businesses, once they turn organic, grow faster. That's a gigantic part of what we brought Janet in to do to, is to help lead that part of our investment strategy. And so we'll do either, but you understand sort of the dynamic between -- the interplay between the two.

同時，正如我們在投資者日談到的那樣，對於我們的資本部署策略，我們正在努力進行更多的補充活動，因為它們歷來是我們所做的最佳價值創造交易。一旦我們的企業轉向有機發展，它們就會幫助我們更快地發展。這是我們聘請珍妮特的一個重要部分，就是幫助領導我們投資策略的這一部分。所以我們會做任何一個，但你了解兩者之間的動態——兩者之間的相互作用。

Yes. That makes sense. And then just last, we still don't have a speaker of the House, we may have a government shutdown coming at the end of the year. What are the implications of something like that on Deltek's business?

是的。這就說得通了。最後，我們仍然沒有眾議院議長，我們可能會在今年年底關閉政府。類似事件對 Deltek 的業務有何影響？

I think all of that is factored into the current environment. I think the large government -- the enterprise class government contractors, based on just the uncertainty have -- or just are being very cautious in their activity. They've been cautious over -- it fits and starts this year.

我認為所有這些都考慮到了當前的環境。我認為大型政府——企業級政府承包商，基於不確定性——或者只是在他們的活動中非常謹慎。他們對今年的情況一直保持謹慎。

So I think it's baked in. It's certainly reflected in our balance of the outlook for this year, sort of continued uncertainty. And this -- but the good news is this will eventually clear itself and then the government gets back to spending, and that will be a catalyst for Deltek.

所以我認為它已經融入其中。這肯定反映在我們今年的前景平衡中，即持續的不確定性。但好消息是，這最終會自行解決，然後政府恢復支出，這將成為 Deltek 的催化劑。

I'll just echo Deane's comments. Great hire on Janet. We'll miss her as a client, but a good home for her and great hire for you guys.

我只是回應迪恩的評論。珍妮特的聘用很棒。我們會想念她作為客戶，但對她來說是一個美好的家，對你們來說也是一個很好的僱用機會。

Thank you.

謝謝。

The next question comes from Steve Tusa with JPMorgan.

下一個問題來自摩根大通的史蒂夫·圖薩。

Congrats to Janet as well. Yes. can you guys just -- obviously, great cash in the quarter, I guess, you guys have talked about the seasonality here. How do we kind of think about the 4Q from a working capital perspective now? Like how should we -- should we look at history? And is there anything that kind of gives back when it comes to front line in the fourth quarter? Like what -- how do we think about working capital? Should we expect another strong working capital performance similar to what we just saw in the third quarter -- like history?

也祝賀珍妮特。是的。你們能不能——顯然，本季有大量現金，我想，你們已經在這裡談論了季節性。現在我們如何從營運資金的角度看待第四季？就像我們該如何看待歷史？第四節的前線有回饋嗎？就像我們如何看待營運資金？我們是否應該期待再次出現與第三季類似的強勁營運資本表現——就像歷史一樣？

Yes. I mean before Frontline, Q4 was our strongest quarter of the year. We have a lot of large renewals at our enterprise software businesses we expect it to be strong again this year. I mean I don't think Frontline is going to really give back. They're just not going to give, right? They'll be kind of flattish on cash. So we feel good about sort of the fourth quarter and how it's going to close out the year. We still expect to be north of 30% free cash flow margins for this year. And so Q3 was obviously strong, and we expect the same in Q4.

是的。我的意思是，在 Frontline 之前，第四季是我們今年最強的季度。我們的企業軟體業務進行了許多大型更新，我們預計今年將再次表現強勁。我的意思是，我認為 Frontline 不會真正回饋社會。他們只是不會給予，對嗎？他們對現金的態度會有些平淡。因此，我們對第四季的情況以及今年的收官情況感到滿意。我們仍然預計今年的自由現金流利潤率將超過 30%。因此，第三季顯然表現強勁，我們預計第四季也會如此。

And anything else year-over-year in Q4 from a cash tax timing perspective or outside of working capital we have to be aware of?

從現金稅時間角度或營運資金之外，我們必須注意第四季的其他同比情況？

Not really. Yes.

並不真地。是的。

Okay. So effectively, net income growth and then some working capital benefits?

好的。那麼有效的是，淨收入成長然後帶來一些營運資本利得？

Right.

正確的。

Okay. Great. And then just following up on the environment and enterprise software. You guys mentioned there's like -- there's pockets of softening, I think. Just -- could you just clarify like what you're seeing broadly there from customers into '24? It just seems like the economy is mixed, but a lot of the software businesses out there are holding up really well. How would you guys kind of characterize the environment maybe a little bit deeper there?

好的。偉大的。然後只是跟進環境和企業軟體。你們提到了——我認為有一些軟化的地方。只是 - 您能否澄清一下您從 24 世紀以來的客戶中廣泛看到的情況？經濟情勢似乎好壞參半，但許多軟體業務都表現良好。你們會如何描述那裡的環境（也許更深入一點）？

I mean I think it's -- again, just to remind everybody, right, I mean we've got a business model that's like built on durability, right? So it's very highly incurring. What we do is mission-critical, so we're not -- we're not on the fringe, generally speaking, something that can be turned off and on. We're just -- we're a system of record. We operate sort of the freight markets, like our customers need our software that leads to high retention. There's pricing, that's routine in the growth algorithm. Most of the cyclicality has been taken out of the business. And so this is -- the macro is it's a very durable set of businesses. So we're talking about a point or two here or there relative to the impact of all of this.

我的意思是，我認為這是——再次提醒大家，對吧，我的意思是我們有一個建立在耐用性基礎上的商業模式，對吧？所以它的發生率非常高。我們所做的事情是關鍵任務，所以一般來說，我們不是處於邊緣，可以關閉和打開的東西。我們只是──我們是一個記錄系統。我們經營貨運市場，就像我們的客戶需要我們的軟體來提高保留率一樣。有定價，這是增長演算法中的常規。大部分週期性已從業務中消除。所以，從宏觀來看，這是一組非常持久的業務。因此，我們在這裡或那裡討論與所有這些影響相關的一兩點。

There isn't -- we talked quite a bit getting rid of this call, Steve, about is there some broad brush, a [pan room] for macroeconomic impact. And what we say is -- what we said from the beginning of the year is we just expected from our January call that software would be a little slower. Because generally, you're not going to buy new large software with uncertainty in the market.

沒有——我們談了很多關於擺脫這個呼籲，史蒂夫，關於是否有一些廣泛的刷子，宏觀經濟影響的[泛空間]。我們所說的是——我們從今年年初就說過，我們只是從 1 月份的電話會議中預計軟體會稍微慢一些。因為一般來說，您不會在市場不確定的情況下購買新的大型軟體。

So the impact on our growth algorithm is gross retention is -- we expect that it is a little bit higher. Cross-selling and up selling should be a little bit lower, because you're not going to grow as much with your customers. And then we're not -- so net retention is going to net out to be in the same area code as it always has been. And then you're not going to sell as many large new things, and that's essentially what's played out across the enterprise.

因此，對我們的成長演算法的影響是總留存率——我們預期它會更高一些。交叉銷售和向上銷售應該低一點，因為你不會與客戶一起成長。然後我們就不會——所以淨留存率將與往常一樣位於相同的區號中。然後你就不會銷售那麼多大型新產品，這基本上就是整個企業的狀況。

But there's pockets of differences. You've got a ton of strength at Aderant. You have a little bit of weakness in Gatan and Deltek. You've got strength at -- help me -- with iPipeline, sorry, tons of strength in iPipeline, improving strength at ConstructConnect, but then you have the DAT headwind. So it really is a mixed bag of things.

但也存在一些差異。在阿德蘭特，您擁有強大的力量。你在 Gatan 和 Deltek 方面有一點弱點。你在 iPipeline 方面有實力，幫幫我，抱歉，iPipeline 方面有很多實力，在 ConstructConnect 方面也有進步，但是你卻遇到了 DAT 逆風。所以這確實是一個混合體。

The next question comes from Joe Ritchie with Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題來自高盛的喬·里奇。

And congrats to you both, Janet. I look forward to reconnecting sometime in the near future. Just my first question, maybe just talking on the bolt-ons for a second. So clearly highlighted Syntellis and Replicon today. As you look across your portfolio, where do you see the most opportunity to potentially bolt on?

祝賀你們倆，珍妮特。我期待在不久的將來的某個時候重新建立聯繫。這只是我的第一個問題，也許只是談談螺栓。今天，我們清楚地強調了 Syntellis 和 Replicon。當您審視您的作品集時，您認為哪裡最有可能加入？

So we're in the early stages of doing that, right? So we don't want what we do not and we will not do, is do a center-led process from Sarasota and say to any one of our companies, here's something you should buy. We're not going to do that. We will not do that. What we are going to do is we're asking the vast, vast majority of our businesses as they go through their strategic planning cycle to have both an organic and an inorganic strategy.

所以我們正處於這樣做的早期階段，對嗎？因此，我們不想要我們不想要也不會做的事情，那就是在薩拉索塔進行一個由中心主導的流程，並對我們的任何一家公司說，這是你應該購買的東西。我們不會那樣做。我們不會那樣做。我們要做的是要求絕大多數企業在進行策略規劃週期時同時制定有機策略和無機策略。

And so as we go through that vetting exercise, we'll build -- we'll understand the strategic areas of expansion and then we'll have the discussion, should it be organic or inorganic. From there, we'll then forward lean to figure out the inorganic opportunities and then go from there. So that's the process.

因此，當我們進行審查工作時，我們將了解擴張的策略領域，然後我們將進行討論，無論它是有機的還是無機的。從那裡開始，我們將向前精益找出無機機會，然後從那裡開始。這就是過程。

As a general matter, I think the larger businesses are the most obvious ones, where we'll start, Deltek, Frontline, Vertafore. But it's not limited to the largest ones. I mean Strata was sort of an average or a mean size business for us, if you will, and there was a very compelling opportunity. I think we'll ultimately have, if you will, again, the vast majority, maybe as many as 20 of our 27 companies will have some inorganic growth strategy. Whether or not we execute against that is a whole nother thing, but at least we'll have strategies formed across the vast majority of the portfolio.

總的來說，我認為較大的企業是最明顯的，我們將從 Deltek、Frontline 和 Vertafore 開始。但它不僅限於最大的。我的意思是，如果你願意的話，Strata 對我們來說是一個中等規模的企業，而且有一個非常有吸引力的機會。我認為，如果你願意的話，我們最終將擁有 27 家公司中的絕大多數（也許多達 20 家）將製定一些無機成長策略。無論我們是否執行這一點都是另一回事，但至少我們將在絕大多數投資組合中製定策略。

Got it. That's helpful, Neil. And I guess maybe just a follow-on question. As you think about renewal rates, you mentioned Frontline. So I think 3Q tends to be more like the typical quarter where you'd see more renewals for Frontline. Across your portfolio, does it tend to be more weighted around like the fourth quarter? Or just any -- any color you can give us on, I guess, the confidence in your retention rate staying very high going into next year?

知道了。這很有幫助，尼爾。我想也許只是一個後續問題。當您考慮續訂率時，您提到了 Frontline。因此，我認為第三季度往往更像是典型的季度，您會看到 Frontline 的更多續訂。在您的投資組合中，它是否傾向於像第四季度那樣更加重要？或只是任何 - 我猜你可以給我們任何顏色，你的保留率在明年保持很高的信心？

Yes, Joe. Yes, fourth quarter is a very strong renewal season for us at Deltek, Vertafore, Aderant. So -- but I'd say it is balanced across the year but more in the fourth quarter. But obviously, with Frontline in the third quarter, that's changed the dynamic there. But we expect some strong renewals. We had our operating calls this quarter and the renewal process has already kicked off for the fourth quarter for these businesses, and we're hearing positive feedback.

是的，喬。是的，第四季對我們 Deltek、Vertafore、Aderant 來說是一個非常強勁的續約季節。所以，但我想說的是，全年是平衡的，但第四季會更加平衡。但顯然，隨著第三季的前線，這改變了那裡的動態。但我們預計會有一些強勁的更新。我們本季接到了營運電話，這些業務的第四季更新流程已經啟動，我們聽到了正面的回饋。

The next question comes from Brett Linzey with Mizuho.

下一個問題來自 Mizuho 的 Brett Linzey。

Congrats on a nice quarter.

恭喜您度過了一個美好的季度。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Hey, just wanted to come back to ConstructConnect. I think in the previous comment, you said improving strength. I was just hoping you'd put a finer point on that improving activity, just particularly given some of the incoming data, construction is a little bit weaker, higher rates and so on. So I'd just be curious what you're seeing there.

嘿，只是想回到 ConstructConnect。我想你在之前的評論中提到了提昇實力。我只是希望你能對改善活動提出更明確的觀點，特別是考慮到一些傳入的數據、建設有點弱、利率更高等等。所以我只是好奇你在那裡看到了什麼。

Yes. So just to remind everybody, ConstructConnect is the leader in commercial construction informatics. So in this data set, it's used in the planning stages of construction. So once the shovel goes in the ground, that's a different part of the industry and one in which we do not compete.

是的。所以提醒大家，ConstructConnect 是商業建築資訊學領域的領導者。因此，在這個資料集中，它用於施工的規劃階段。因此，一旦鏟子深入地下，那就是產業的另一部分，我們不參與競爭。

So it's actually -- so think about if you're a contractor or a building product manufacturer and there's so much work to do that you have a backlog, you're not even responding to RFPs, that's the environment we've been in for the last handful of years. It actually has a dampening demand driver for our business.

所以實際上 - 所以想一想，如果您是承包商或建築產品製造商，並且有太多工作要做，以至於您有積壓的工作，您甚至沒有回复 RFP，這就是我們一直處於的環境最後幾年。它實際上抑制了我們業務的需求驅動力。

When business is harder to find, there's fewer projects, then the contractors are having to work harder and find opportunities that plays into the strength of ConstructConnect. So to the first point, why we're seeing some improving strength there is because the market is coming to us. It tends to have countercyclical demand drivers.

當業務更難找到時，專案就會減少，那麼承包商就必須更努力工作，尋找發揮 ConstructConnect 優勢的機會。所以對於第一點，為什麼我們看到實力有所增強，是因為市場正在走向我們。它往往具有反週期的需求驅動因素。

But we have to -- when we talk about construction, we've got to talk about the operational improvements that have happened in the business with Matt Straza and his team at ConstructConnect. They're doing a tremendous job taking complexity out of this business, having a go-to-market motion that's more efficient, having a product motion that's more efficient, having a marketing message that's more efficient. And so when the market is coming to us, we're going to do -- we are doing a better job capturing that demand. So it's a combination of both market and operations.

但我們必須——當我們談論建築時，我們必須談論 Matt Straza 及其 ConstructConnect 團隊在業務中發生的營運改善。他們在降低業務複雜性方面做了大量工作，制定了更有效率的上市行動，並制定了更有效率的產品行動，並制定了更有效率的行銷訊息。因此，當市場向我們襲來時，我們將更好地捕捉這項需求。所以這是市場和營運的結合。

Got it. I appreciate the color. And then just last question on the margin outlook. I understand you don't want to give full guidance here in October for next year. But just thinking about the moving pieces, the mix differences in the businesses, is there a framework to think about in terms of percent margin expansion, incremental margins and particularly within network software, I mean, do we build off these high levels for next year?

知道了。我很欣賞它的顏色。最後一個問題是關於利潤前景的。我知道您不想在明年 10 月在這裡提供全面的指導。但只要考慮一下移動的部分，業務中的混合差異，是否有一個框架可以考慮利潤率擴張百分比、增量利潤率，特別是在網絡軟體方面，我的意思是，我們是否會在明年建立這些高水平？

Yes. I mean I think it's a little early to talk about margins for next year. But I mean, broadly, 45% operating leverage is sort of what our long-term model is, and we've been close to that this year. You're probably right, though on network, it will be maybe a little bit above that next year, but it's still too early to tell.

是的。我的意思是，我認為現在談論明年的利潤率還為時過早。但我的意思是，從廣義上講，45% 的營運槓桿是我們的長期模型，今年我們已經接近這個目標。你可能是對的，儘管在網路上，明年的數字可能會略高於這個數字，但現在下結論還為時過早。

The next question comes from Brad Hewitt with Wolfe Research.

下一個問題來自沃爾夫研究中心的布拉德·休伊特。

So I noticed that Tim Haddock, your VP of Acquisitions, is on the Board of Certinia. Is there anything to read through there in terms of potentially seeing that relationship with Certinia evolve and deepen over time?

我注意到你們的收購副總裁 Tim Haddock 是 Certinia 的董事會成員。是否有任何內容可供閱讀，以了解與 Certinia 的關係隨著時間的推移而發展和加深？

I wouldn't read too much into that. We have a Board member and a Board observer. And part of us delivering our knowledge, if you will, to that enterprise and also learning from the enterprise comes partially through the Board interaction. And so I would not read anything into that other than he was -- Tim was the one who helped shepherd the process. He had the relationships. Obviously, the M&A team leads the diligence. And so he's just a named Board member. I wouldn't read anything into that this is a one step into a second step transaction.

我不會對此進行太多解讀。我們有一名董事會成員和一名董事會觀察員。如果你願意的話，我們向該企業提供我們的知識以及向該企業學習的一部分是透過董事會互動實現的。所以我不會對此有任何解讀，除了他——蒂姆是幫助引導這一過程的人。他有關係。顯然，併購團隊主導了盡職調查。所以他只是一個指定的董事會成員。我不會認為這是進入第二步交易的一步。

Okay. That's helpful. And then maybe switching gears. In terms of free cash flow conversion, you guys have typically targeted conversion of about 80% of EBITDA and historically, you've executed on that. But now following the Indicor sale, just curious if you guys have kind of reassessed that number and whether there's scope to kind of outperform on that from a longer-term perspective.

好的。這很有幫助。然後也許會切換齒輪。在自由現金流轉換方面，你們的目標通常是 EBITDA 的 80% 左右，而且從歷史上看，你們已經執行了這一目標。但現在在 Indicor 出售之後，我只是好奇你們是否重新評估了這個數字，以及從長遠來看是否有超越這個數字的空間。

Yes. I mean I think I've said it for about a year, we kind of look at things as a kind of a margin as a percent of revenue. And being north of 30% of revenue on free cash flow is kind of the right way to think about it. With EBITDA, obviously, with interest rates changing, it's not -- it's good to look at it in a certain point in time, but over time, that could change. So a percent of revenue is sort of how we think about it, north of 30% is our target.

是的。我的意思是，我想我已經說過大約一年了，我們將事情視為一種利潤佔收入的百分比。自由現金流佔收入的 30% 以上是正確的思考方式。顯然，對於 EBITDA，隨著利率的變化，在某個時間點觀察它是好的，但隨著時間的推移，情況可能會改變。所以收入的百分比是我們的想法，30% 以上是我們的目標。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. We will now return back to Zack Moxcey for any closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。現在我們將回到 Zack Moxcey 進行閉幕致詞。

Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. We look forward to speaking with you during the next earnings call.

謝謝大家今天加入我們。我們期待在下次財報電話會議上與您交談。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連線。