Scholastic Corp (SCHL) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to today's program entitled Scholastic Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2023 results. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, today's program is being recorded.

感謝您的耐心等待，歡迎收看今天題為《學術報告第四季度和 2023 財年結果》的節目。 （操作員指示）提醒一下，今天的節目正在錄製中。

And now I'd like to introduce your host for today's program, Mr. Jeffrey Mathews, Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在我想介紹一下今天節目的主持人，企業發展和投資者關係執行副總裁 Jeffrey Mathews 先生。請繼續。

Hello, and welcome, everyone, to Scholastic's Fiscal 2023 Fourth Quarter Earnings Call. Today on the call, I'm joined by Peter Warwick, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Ken Cleary, our Chief Financial Officer. As usual, we posted the accompanying investor presentation on our IR website at investor.scholastic.com, which you may download now if you've not already done so.

大家好，歡迎大家參加 Scholastic 2023 財年第四季度收益電話會議。今天，我們的總裁兼首席執行官 Peter Warwick 也加入了我的電話會議。以及我們的首席財務官 Ken Cleary。與往常一樣，我們在投資者關係網站 Investor.scholastic.com 上發布了隨附的投資者演示文稿，如果您還沒有下載，您可以立即下載。

We would like to point out that certain statements made today will be forward-looking. These forward-looking statements, by their nature, are subject to various risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated.

我們想指出，今天發表的某些聲明將具有前瞻性。這些前瞻性陳述本質上會受到各種風險和不確定性的影響，實際結果可能與當前預期存在重大差異。

In addition, we will be discussing some non-GAAP financial measures as defined in Regulation G. The reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures may be found in the company's earnings release and accompanying financial tables filed this afternoon on a Form 8-K. This earnings release has also been posted to our Investor Relations website. We encourage you to review the disclaimers in the release and investor presentation and to review the risk factors disclosed in the company's annual and quarterly reports filed with the SEC.

此外，我們將討論法規 G 中定義的一些非 GAAP 財務指標。這些指標與最直接可比的 GAAP 指標的調節可以在公司今天下午提交的表格 8 的收益發布和隨附財務表格中找到。 -K。該收益報告也已發佈到我們的投資者關係網站上。我們鼓勵您查看新聞稿和投資者介紹中的免責聲明，並查看公司向 SEC 提交的年度和季度報告中披露的風險因素。

Should you have any questions after today's call, please send them directly to our IR e-mail address, investor_relations@scholastic.com. And now I'd like to turn the call over to Peter Warwick to begin this afternoon's presentation.

如果您在今天的電話會議後有任何疑問，請直接發送至我們的投資者關係電子郵件地址 Investor_relations@scholastic.com。現在我想將電話轉給 Peter Warwick，讓他開始今天下午的演講。

Thank you, Jeff, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us. Scholastic finished fiscal 2023 strongly, with fourth quarter operating income up 40% from the prior year quarter's record level on modest revenue growth.

謝謝杰夫，大家下午好。感謝您加入我們。 Scholastic 2023 財年表現強勁，第四季度營業收入較上年同期創紀錄水平增長 40%，收入溫和增長。

Full year results met or exceeded our revised guidance. I'm especially proud of the excellent performance management achieved across Scholastic last quarter, in response to the cost and the selling headwinds that we've experienced this year and which caused us to revise our guidance in March. Thanks to quick actions to align spending with the revised revenue outlook and to unlock sales, including delayed opportunities in our Education Solutions division, margins and profits rose across all business segments in quarter 4.

全年業績達到或超過了我們修訂後的指導。我對 Scholastic 上個季度實現的出色績效管理感到特別自豪，這是為了應對今年我們經歷的成本和銷售不利因素，這導致我們在 3 月份修改了指導方針。由於迅速採取行動，使支出與修訂後的收入前景保持一致並釋放銷售，包括我們教育解決方案部門延遲的機會，第四季度所有業務部門的利潤和利潤均有所增長。

The operational efficiencies that Scholastic has achieved since the pandemic, especially in our book fair's nationwide operations and in our centralized supply chain and distribution functions also contributed to operating leverage and a considerable flow-through of sales to profits that we saw in quarter 4.

自大流行以來，Scholastic 所取得的運營效率，特別是在書展的全國運營以及集中供應鍊和分銷職能方面，也有助於提高運營槓桿率以及我們在第四季度看到的大量銷售利潤。

Thanks to a strong quarter 4. Full year adjusted EBITDA was $196 million, up from $189 million a year ago and within our original guidance range of $195 million to $205 million. Free cash flow was also robust relative to net income in fiscal 2023, even as we increased investments to grow and maintain our divisions and to rebuild inventory levels post-pandemic.

得益於第四季度的強勁表現，全年調整後 EBITDA 為 1.96 億美元，高於一年前的 1.89 億美元，處於我們最初 1.95 億美元至 2.05 億美元的指導範圍內。相對於 2023 財年的淨利潤，自由現金流也很強勁，即使我們增加了投資以發展和維持我們的部門以及在大流行後重建庫存水平。

This afternoon, I'd like to review our fiscal 2023 results briefly before turning to our strategy and outlook for 2024 and beyond. Ken will then discuss our financial results in more detail, including our fiscal 2024 guidance. But first, I'd like to spend a few moments discussing the macro environment in which we operate.

今天下午，我想簡要回顧一下我們 2023 財年的業績，然後再談談我們 2024 年及以後的戰略和展望。然後 Ken 將更詳細地討論我們的財務業績，包括我們的 2024 財年指導。但首先，我想花一些時間討論我們運營的宏觀環境。

First, reading literacy and learning have never been more pressing needs for our kids. Sadly, this was again recently confirmed by 9- and 13-year-olds performance on the national assessment of educational progress or need. Already low before the pandemic, these scores have fallen steeply since and are now at their lowest levels in decades.

首先，閱讀素養和學習對我們的孩子來說是前所未有的迫切需求。遺憾的是，最近 9 歲和 13 歲兒童在國家教育進步或需求評估中的表現再次證實了這一點。這些分數在大流行之前就已經很低，但自那以後急劇下降，目前處於幾十年來的最低水平。

Reading and Math achievement declined across all groups of children, but vulnerable children generally experience bigger declines. These scores emphasize the critical need for children's books and for solutions to help kids and young students learn and love to read, something all parents, teachers and leaders across our country can agree on.

所有兒童群體的閱讀和數學成績均有所下降，但弱勢兒童的下降幅度普遍更大。這些分數強調了對兒童讀物以及幫助兒童和青少年學生學習和熱愛閱讀的解決方案的迫切需求，這是我們全國所有家長、教師和領導人都同意的。

Second, while demand for children's books and literacy is as strong as ever when you look across the many channels and stakeholders that buy them on behalf of kids, there continue to be short-term headwinds in the retail book selling market. From March through May, Scholastic's fiscal quarter 4, retail sales of children's and young adult books were down approximately 3%, according to NPD's book scan. We believe some of the year-over-year declines in the retail market largely reflect a return to pre-pandemic purchasing patterns.

其次，儘管當你縱觀代表兒童購買兒童書籍和識字的眾多渠道和利益相關者時，對兒童書籍和識字的需求一如既往地強勁，但零售圖書銷售市場仍然存在短期阻力。根據 NPD 的圖書掃描數據，從 3 月到 5 月，即學樂集團第四財季，兒童和青少年圖書的零售額下降了約 3%。我們認為，零售市場的部分同比下降在很大程度上反映了疫情前購買模式的回歸。

Relative to March through May of 2019, that's before the pandemic, the retail children's book market is still up by 13%. As we said, even in periods of lower consumer confidence, as we're seeing currently, consumer spending on children's books is typically less cyclical than other areas of discretionary spending. In fact, in contrast with retail, we've been encouraged to see strong growth in participation and same fare sales in our book fairs as I'll discuss in a moment.

與大流行之前的 2019 年 3 月至 5 月相比，兒童圖書零售市場仍增長了 13%。正如我們所說，即使在消費者信心較低的時期，正如我們目前所看到的，消費者在兒童讀物上的支出通常也比其他可自由支配支出領域的周期性要小。事實上，與零售業相比，我們很高興看到書展的參與度和相同票價銷售的強勁增長，正如我稍後將討論的那樣。

Third, sales of supplemental in structural materials remained slow in the fourth quarter, another headwind we've navigated this year. School and district administrators continue to manage their immediate challenges, including staffing.

第三，第四季度結構材料補充劑的銷售仍然緩慢，這是我們今年遇到的另一個阻力。學校和學區管理人員繼續應對眼前的挑戰，包括人員配置。

Fourth, the steep rise in paper, manufacturing, freight and shipping costs that we saw in late calendar 2021 and early 2022 are now largely reflected in our inventories in prior year results. We're cautiously optimistic about potential improvements in freight and shipping costs. Any disruption to service by our national shipping partners, one of which is in the process of renegotiating long-term labor contracts this summer could materially impact our shipping costs and revenues overall, however.

第四，我們在 2021 年末和 2022 年初看到的紙張、製造、貨運和運輸成本的急劇上升現在主要反映在我們上一年業績的庫存中。我們對貨運和運輸成本的潛在改善持謹慎樂觀態度。然而，我們的國家航運合作夥伴的任何服務中斷（其中之一正在今年夏天重新談判長期勞動合同）都可能對我們的整體運輸成本和收入產生重大影響。

With that, I'll provide a high-level overview of our fourth quarter and fiscal 2023 results. In the Children's Books segment, revenues increased 5%, continuing to outperform softness in the children's book market due to strong results in our school book fairs and multiple trade bestsellers. Operating income increased 25% driven by higher revenues, operating leverage and continuing improvements in operational efficiencies. Book fairs revenues grew 12% in the quarter and were up 29% for the year, benefiting from increased share count, which reached approximately 85% of pre-pandemic levels. Strong growth in revenue per fair was also a key factor contributing to growth in operating leverage in the quarter and the year.

接下來，我將概述我們第四季度和 2023 財年的業績。在兒童圖書領域，收入增長了 5%，由於學校圖書展和多本暢銷書的強勁業績，繼續超越兒童圖書市場的疲軟表現。由於收入增加、經營槓桿和運營效率持續提高，營業收入增長了 25%。書展收入本季度增長 12%，全年增長 29%，受益於份額數量增加，份額數量達到大流行前水平的約 85%。每場展會收入的強勁增長也是推動本季度和全年運營槓桿增長的關鍵因素。

In line with recent quarter's trends, Book Clubs revenues declined compared to the prior year period, driven by lower teacher participation. In our trade channel, sales declined in the quarter and the full year, in line with overall softness in the retail market. This dynamic impacted backlist titles and was partially offset by best-selling new titles in quarter 4, including #11 in Dav Pilkey Series Dog Man, 20,000 Feet Under The Sea as well as Hunger Games titles in advance of the November release of the Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes movie.

與最近季度的趨勢一致，由於教師參與度下降，讀書俱樂部的收入與去年同期相比有所下降。在我們的貿易渠道中，本季度和全年銷售額均有所下降，這與零售市場的整體疲軟程度一致。這種動態影響了重溫的遊戲，並被第4 季度的暢銷新遊戲部分抵消，包括Dav Pilkey 系列中排名第11 的《Dog Man》、《20,000 Feet Under The Sea》以及11 月發行《Ballad of the Ballad》之前的《飢餓遊戲》。電影《鳴禽與蛇》。

Scholastic Entertainment continued to be a key component of our strategy to build most read series and franchises last year. We successfully launched Eva the Owlet on Apple TV+ in quarter 4 (inaudible) Scholastic Entertainment production based on our New York Times best-selling book series, Owl Diaries. We also launched new licensing programs for Eva and our Emmy award-winning Stillwater series, also streaming an Apple TV+.

去年，Scholastic Entertainment 仍然是我們打造最受歡迎的系列和特許經營戰略的關鍵組成部分。我們在第 4 季度（聽不清）Scholastic Entertainment 製作的基於《紐約時報》暢銷書系列《貓頭鷹日記》的作品中，成功在 Apple TV+ 上推出了《貓頭鷹伊娃》。我們還為《伊娃》和榮獲艾美獎的《斯蒂爾沃特》系列推出了新的授權計劃，同時還通過 Apple TV+ 進行流媒體播放。

Last quarter, Education Solutions delivered higher sales and substantially improved margins. Strong management of the sales pipeline in quarter 4 allowed us to partially overcome softness in supplemental curriculum sales earlier in the year. The strong fourth quarter also indicated the growing size and contribution of our summer reading business and the seasonal importance of quarter 4.

上季度，教育解決方案實現了更高的銷售額並大幅提高了利潤率。第四季度對銷售渠道的強有力管理使我們能夠部分克服今年早些時候補充課程銷售疲軟的情況。第四季度的強勁表現也表明了我們夏季閱讀業務的規模和貢獻不斷增長，以及第四季度的季節性重要性。

In our International segment, revenues declined as the strong dollar negatively impacted foreign exchange. But profits rose in quarter 4, largely driven by the exiting quarter 1 of the unprofitable direct-to-consumer business in Asia.

在我們的國際部門，由於美元走強對外匯產生負面影響，收入下降。但第四季度的利潤有所增長，這主要是由於亞洲第一季度未盈利的直接面向消費者業務的退出所推動的。

As we begin fiscal 2024, we're focused on executing an integrated strategy to drive growth, impact and shareholder value creation over the following years. At the same time, we protect margins and sustain the growth we achieved in fiscal 2023.

在 2024 財年開始之際，我們將重點執行一項綜合戰略，以推動未來幾年的增長、影響力和股東價值創造。與此同時，我們保護利潤並維持 2023 財年實現的增長。

I'd like to discuss the 4 pillars of this strategy as context to our fiscal 2024 and long-term plan. The first pillar of our overall strategy is focused on leveraging the strength and operating leverage of our market-leading children's book businesses to achieve sustainable long-term revenue growth and higher earnings. Scholastic's content and direct access to customers provide a unique strategic position to further grow our share of the children's book market. Just as exciting we have an opportunity to grow the market and bring the power and joy of reading and books to more kids.

我想討論該戰略的四大支柱，作為我們 2024 財年和長期計劃的背景。我們整體戰略的第一個支柱是利用我們市場領先的兒童圖書業務的實力和運營槓桿來實現可持續的長期收入增長和更高的收益。學樂的內容和直接接觸客戶的方式為進一步擴大我們在兒童圖書市場的份額提供了獨特的戰略地位。同樣令人興奮的是，我們有機會擴大市場，為更多的孩子帶來閱讀和書籍的力量和樂趣。

Strong operating leverage on over $1 billion in segment sales as we saw in fiscal 2023 means that modest top line growth in this business can generate substantial growth in the company's overall earnings and free cash flow.

正如我們在2023 財年看到的那樣，超過10 億美元的細分市場銷售額擁有強大的運營槓桿，這意味著該業務的適度營收增長可以為公司的整體收益和自由現金流帶來大幅增長。

Scholastic's Children's Book segment is coming off a strong year, especially considering industry-wide challenges in the retail market. In addition to our continued best-selling publishing, a bright spot for Scholastic in the industry has been our school book fairs, which delivers high-impact events, focused on building book access, choice and reading environment.

學樂兒童圖書部門今年表現強勁，尤其是考慮到零售市場中全行業面臨的挑戰。除了持續暢銷的出版之外，學樂在行業中的一個亮點是我們的學校書展，它舉辦高影響力的活動，重點是建立圖書獲取、選擇和閱讀環境。

The combination of Scholastic Book Fairs and book clubs into the newly-formed school reading events division is expected to be a key driver of future growth in our Children's Books segment. Over the past 2 years, new customer-centric strategies and operational improvements have transformed book fairs, resulting in higher participation, strong growth in revenue per fair and higher operating contribution.

將學術書展和讀書俱樂部合併到新成立的學校閱讀活動部門預計將成為我們儿童圖書業務未來增長的關鍵驅動力。在過去的兩年裡，新的以客戶為中心的戰略和運營改進已經改變了書展，帶來了更高的參與度、每屆書展收入的強勁增長和更高的運營貢獻。

We've also begun implementing these strategies and operational improvements in book clubs since integrating with fairs. We're optimistic that our integrated school reading events will remove structural barriers and leverage synergies to more profitable long-term growth and enable a more holistic approach to serving our kid and adult customers.

自從與博覽會整合以來，我們還開始在讀書俱樂部中實施這些策略和運營改進。我們樂觀地認為，我們的綜合學校閱讀活動將消除結構性障礙，並利用協同效應實現更有利可圖的長期增長，並實現更全面的方法來服務我們的兒童和成人客戶。

Scholastic's high-quality engaging children's and young adult publishing including some of the biggest titles and series in history, is another part of our strategy to profitably grow our Children's Books segment.

Scholastic 的高品質、引人入勝的兒童和青少年出版品（包括歷史上一些最大的圖書和系列）是我們儿童圖書業務盈利增長戰略的另一部分。

In fiscal 2024, we're focused on continuing to develop unrivaled content, including driving revenue and building on our tentpole series and titles as we acquire and develop our next wave of hits. Following the strength of Dav Pilkey's latest Dog Man book, we're excited about a new title in another of his series Cat Kid Comic Club later this fall.

在 2024 財年，我們將專注於繼續開發無與倫比的內容，包括在獲取和開發下一波熱門作品時增加收入並以我們的主打系列和遊戲為基礎。繼達夫·皮爾基（Dav Pilkey）最新的《狗人》（Dog Man）一書的力量之後，我們對今年秋天晚些時候他的另一部系列《貓小子漫畫俱樂部》（Cat Kid Comic Club ）中的新書感到興奮。

The 25th anniversary in September of the publishing of Harry Potter will create an opportunity for a new generation of kids to discover the series. While the Hunger Games prequel movie is expected to drive backlist sales of the series. With new titles to be published this year from best-selling graphic novel series including Amulet, Bone and Heartstopper, we look to grow our commanding market share in that market, too.

9 月份是《哈利·波特》出版 25 週年紀念日，將為新一代孩子創造一個探索該系列的機會。而《飢餓遊戲》前傳電影預計將推動該系列的回歸銷量。今年，包括《Amulet》、《Bone》和《Heartstopper》在內的暢銷圖畫小說系列的新作品即將出版，我們也希望擴大在該市場的主導市場份額。

We're also excited to continue to innovate the multi-platform model with Zombie season, a heart-pounding new series that we're launching in partnership with Roblox. We're one of the first major publishers to do so. Scholastic has a history of innovation, most notably with the 39 Clues, which has over 17.5 million copies in print.

我們也很高興能夠通過《殭屍季節》繼續創新多平台模式，這是我們與 Roblox 合作推出的一個令人心潮澎湃的新系列。我們是最早這樣做的主要出版商之一。 Scholastic 有著創新的歷史，其中最著名的是《39 條線索》，該書已印刷超過 1750 萬冊。

As we've discussed, Scholastic Entertainment contributes to long-term growth in children's books by creating a virtuous circle of content from page to screen, to merchandising and then back to page.

正如我們所討論的，Scholastic Entertainment 通過創建內容從頁面到屏幕、推銷再到頁面的良性循環，為兒童圖書的長期增長做出了貢獻。

In October, Disney+ will release the live-action Goosebumps series, starring Justin Long. This project is a new interpretation of our best-selling Goosebumps series. It's already generated a lot of buzz, and we're excited about the many potential new readers who will discover the books through it.

10 月，Disney+ 將推出真人版《雞皮疙瘩》系列，由賈斯汀·朗主演。該項目是對我們最暢銷的雞皮疙瘩系列的全新詮釋。它已經引起了很大的轟動，我們對許多潛在的新讀者將通過它發現這些書籍感到興奮。

The second pillar of Scholastic's strategy is to invest to grow our digital sales in education solutions with new blended literacy programs, which combine digital and print components. They'll build on the long-term strength of our profitable print content businesses.

學樂戰略的第二個支柱是通過結合數字和印刷組件的新混合掃盲計劃進行投資，以增加教育解決方案的數字銷售。它們將建立在我們盈利的印刷內容業務的長期實力之上。

Here, again, our opportunity is both strategic and financial. Scholastic's strong reputation in schools and with teachers our unique reading and literacy content and our sales and distribution capabilities position us to grow our blended sales with new solutions that address the critical and growing need to improve reading skills.

在這裡，我們的機會同樣是戰略性的和財務性的。 Scholastic 在學校和教師中享有盛譽，我們獨特的閱讀和識字內容以及我們的銷售和分銷能力使我們能夠通過新的解決方案來增加我們的混合銷售，以滿足提高閱讀技能的關鍵和不斷增長的需求。

While investments to build new products and new platform capabilities that enable future products and reinvention of existing ones impact short-term earnings as we saw in fiscal 2023 and expect to continue in fiscal 2024, we're optimistic that over the long term, they will result in new, faster-growing, higher-margin revenue streams on top of our profitable core print offerings.

正如我們在2023 財年看到的那樣，雖然用於構建新產品和新平台功能以實現未來產品和現有產品改造的投資會影響短期收益，並預計將在2024 財年持續下去，但我們樂觀地認為，從長遠來看，它們將在我們盈利的核心印刷產品之上，帶來新的、增長更快、利潤更高的收入來源。

Looking to fiscal '24, we're very excited to be in the market with Ready for Reading, which was launched last month and is already generating substantial interest. Ready for Reading is as simple to implement, speech-recognition-enabled print and digital K3 foundational reading phonics program aligned with science-based approaches to literacy. Ready for Reading leverages core IP from Learning (inaudible) the tech we acquired last year that's built on 10 years of efficacy research in reading instruction. It's also the first blended program to launch under our new strategy for this business.

展望 24 財年，我們非常高興能通過 Ready for Reading 進入市場，該產品於上個月推出，已經引起了人們的極大興趣。 Ready for Reading 是一種易於實施、支持語音識別的印刷版和數字 K3 基礎閱讀拼讀程序，與基於科學的讀寫方法相一致。 Ready for Reading 利用了我們去年收購的 Learning（聽不清）技術的核心知識產權，該技術建立在 10 年閱讀教學功效研究的基礎上。這也是我們針對該業務的新戰略推出的第一個混合計劃。

Of course, we're keenly focused on protecting and growing Scholastic's strong print-based education offerings, including our summer programs, classroom library connections, state-based partnerships and programs with community-based organizations. Not only are they profitable and highly strategic, leveraging Scholastic's unique content and distribution capabilities, these programs provide access to engaging books at school and at home for millions of kids, many of whom could not afford them otherwise. These products diversify Scholastic's customers beyond the limits of school and district budgets while expanding our reach and impact.

當然，我們非常注重保護和發展 Scholastic 強大的紙質教育產品，包括我們的暑期項目、課堂圖書館連接、州級合作夥伴關係以及與社區組織的項目。這些計劃不僅有利可圖，而且具有高度戰略意義，利用Scholastic 獨特的內容和發行能力，為數百萬孩子提供了在學校和家裡獲取引人入勝的書籍的機會，否則他們中的許多人買不起這些書籍。這些產品使 Scholastic 的客戶多樣化，超越了學校和地區預算的限制，同時擴大了我們的覆蓋範圍和影響力。

The third pillar of our strategy is continuing to improve operating efficiencies across the company, both domestically and internationally, including holding recent gains achieved during the pandemic. As we've discussed in previous calls, Scholastic is a much more efficient organization today, both in our centralized functions and in our divisions compared to 3 years ago before the pandemic. These gains, in particular in our overheads and fixed costs enabled the strong operating leverage and earnings growth we saw last quarter.

我們戰略的第三個支柱是繼續提高整個公司在國內和國際上的運營效率，包括保持最近在大流行期間取得的成果。正如我們在之前的電話會議中所討論的那樣，與三年前大流行之前相比，無論是在我們的集中職能還是在我們的部門方面，Scholastic 現在都是一個更加高效的組織。這些收益，特別是我們的管理費用和固定成本，使我們上季度看到了強勁的運營槓桿和盈利增長。

Even as we invest in new capabilities to support our long-term strategy, we're committed to protecting the hard-fought gains that we've already achieved. Looking ahead, we're pursuing further opportunities to lower costs and improve efficiencies in fiscal 2024. These include the integration of school reading events, a reorganization of our Canadian book clubs, centralizing some of the go-to-market capabilities across the company and investments in process improvements in our manufacturing and distribution functions.

即使我們投資新能力來支持我們的長期戰略，我們也致力於保護我們已經取得的來之不易的成果。展望未來，我們將在 2024 財年尋求進一步降低成本和提高效率的機會。其中包括整合學校閱讀活動、重組我們的加拿大讀書俱樂部、集中整個公司的一些進入市場的能力以及投資於我們的製造和分銷職能的流程改進。

Last, like companies across many industries, we're excited about the potential to better, more efficiently serve our customers with generative AI, for example, by integrating it into customer service and marketing processes. With the recent advances in generative AI, more remains to be seen in this area.

最後，與許多行業的公司一樣，我們對利用生成式人工智能更好、更高效地為客戶提供服務的潛力感到興奮，例如，通過將其集成到客戶服務和營銷流程中。隨著生成人工智能的最新進展，這一領域還有更多的事情有待觀察。

Finally, the fourth pillar of our strategy is continuing to use Scholastic's strong free cash flow and balance sheet to invest in profitable growth and to return capital to shareholders, thus driving sustainable growth and shareholder value. In fiscal 2023, Scholastic invested to grow our Education Solutions business, including acquiring learning (inaudible), increasing spending on new products and investing in new go-to-market capabilities, which have impacted near-term margins.

最後，我們戰略的第四個支柱是繼續利用學樂強大的自由現金流和資產負債表來投資於盈利增長並向股東返還資本，從而推動可持續增長和股東價值。在 2023 財年，Scholastic 投資發展我們的教育解決方案業務，包括收購學習（聽不清）、增加新產品支出以及投資新的上市能力，這些都影響了短期利潤。

We intend to continue this strategy while also making strategic investments to profitably grow our Children's Books segment, generating income from our real estate assets and build new revenue and efficiency opportunities in our supply chain and distribution. Last year, Scholastic returned over $160 million to shareholders through the regular dividend and share repurchases, another sign of our renewed focus on deploying capital for shareholder returns as well as for growth.

我們打算繼續這一戰略，同時進行戰略投資，以實現兒童圖書業務的盈利增長，從我們的房地產資產中產生收入，並在我們的供應鍊和分銷中建立新的收入和效率機會。去年，Scholastic 通過定期股息和股票回購向股東返還超過 1.6 億美元，這是我們重新關注為股東回報和增長部署資本的另一個跡象。

Looking ahead, Scholastic is committed to continuing to return to our shareholders capital that's not needed to maintain a secure balance sheet and to invest in growth. To this end, yesterday, the Scholastic Board authorized a $100 million increase in our open market share buyback authorization.

展望未來，學樂致力於繼續向股東返還資本，而這些資本並非維持安全的資產負債表和投資於增長所必需的。為此，昨天，學術委員會授權將我們的公開市場股票回購授權增加 1 億美元。

I'm optimistic that the strategy that I've just laid out provides a compelling path to Scholastic to grow profitably and sustainably for the long term, meeting the needs of our stakeholders and balancing investment and profitability now and into the future. Just as importantly, I'm confident that the core markets that Scholastic serves are sustainable and the mission we pursue will be relevant for many years to come.

我樂觀地認為，我剛剛制定的戰略為Scholastic 提供了一條令人信服的道路，使其能夠實現長期盈利和可持續增長，滿足我們利益相關者的需求，並平衡現在和未來的投資和盈利能力。同樣重要的是，我相信 Scholastic 所服務的核心市場是可持續的，我們追求的使命將在未來許多年中發揮作用。

With that, I'll turn the call now over to Ken to review our fiscal 2023 results and fiscal 2024 guidance.

現在，我將把電話轉給 Ken，以審查我們 2023 財年的業績和 2024 財年的指導。

Thank you, Peter, and good afternoon, everyone. Today, I will refer to our adjusted results for the fourth quarter and full fiscal year, excluding onetime items in the prior year period, unless otherwise indicated. There were no onetime items in fiscal 2023. Please refer to our press release tables and SEC filings for a complete discussion of last year's onetime items.

謝謝你，彼得，大家下午好。今天，除非另有說明，我將提及第四季度和整個財年的調整後業績，不包括上一年期間的一次性項目。 2023 財年沒有一次性項目。請參閱我們的新聞稿表和 SEC 文件，了解去年一次性項目的完整討論。

As Peter noted, we finished fiscal 2023 strongly, generating record operating income in the fourth quarter. On a full year basis, revenues and profits rose despite headwinds in the retail book selling market, longer selling cycles for instructional materials and higher cost and supply chain pressures. We also increased spending on go-to-market capabilities to support long-term growth in education solutions.

正如 Peter 指出的那樣，我們 2023 財年的業績表現強勁，第四季度營業收入創歷史新高。從全年來看，儘管零售圖書銷售市場面臨阻力、教材銷售週期更長、成本和供應鏈壓力更大，但收入和利潤仍然增長。我們還增加了進入市場能力的支出，以支持教育解決方案的長期增長。

Our positive results, in spite of these factors, highlight the company's operating leverage and improved efficiencies achieved since the pandemic, which I'd like to discuss before turning to financial results. Over the last 36 months, triggered by the pandemic impact on our business and customers, we have worked and invested to transform key components of Scholastic supply chain, operations, logistics and go-to-market capabilities. As a result, these functions are vastly more resilient, more agile and more efficient today. As Peter just described, we also have additional opportunities that we are pursuing in fiscal 2024.

儘管存在這些因素，我們的積極業績凸顯了公司自疫情以來的運營槓桿和效率的提高，我想在轉向財務業績之前討論這一點。在過去 36 個月裡，由於疫情對我們業務和客戶的影響，我們努力並投資，對 Scholastic 供應鏈、運營、物流和上市能力的關鍵組成部分進行了轉型。因此，如今這些功能變得更加有彈性、更加敏捷、更加高效。正如 Peter 剛才所描述的，我們還在 2024 財年尋求更多機會。

Greater efficiencies in areas we control have partially offset higher costs in other areas, especially paper, manufacturing, shipping and freight. They have also helped preserve the strong variable margins and operating leverage inherent in our businesses as we saw in Book Fairs and in education solutions. Like Peter, I am proud of our team for the hard work and look forward to continuing our progress in the upcoming fiscal year and beyond.

我們控制領域的效率提高部分抵消了其他領域更高的成本，特別是造紙、製造、運輸和貨運。正如我們在書展和教育解決方案中看到的那樣，它們還幫助保持了我們業務固有的強勁可變利潤和運營槓桿。和彼得一樣，我為我們團隊的辛勤工作感到自豪，並期待在即將到來的財政年度及以後繼續取得進步。

Turning to our consolidated financial results. The fourth quarter revenues rose 3% to $528.3 million. Operating income of $92 million was up $25.9 million from the prior year period. Net income was $75.7 million compared to $61.2 million in the prior year period, and adjusted EBITDA increased to $115 million from $88.5 million in the prior year period.

轉向我們的綜合財務業績。第四季度收入增長 3%，達到 5.283 億美元。營業收入為 9200 萬美元，比上年同期增加 2590 萬美元。淨利潤為 7570 萬美元，上年同期為 6120 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 從上年同期的 8850 萬美元增至 1.15 億美元。

Earnings per diluted share was $2.26 compared to $1.72 last year. For the full year, revenues increased 4% to $1.7 billion. Operating income was up 9% to 106.3 million. Net income was $86.3 million, up from $85.1 million in the prior year period, and adjusted EBITDA increased to $196.3 million from $188.9 million in fiscal 2022. Full year earnings per diluted share were $2.49, up 5% from $2.38 in the prior year period.

稀釋後每股收益為 2.26 美元，去年為 1.72 美元。全年收入增長 4%，達到 17 億美元。營業收入增長 9%，達到 1.063 億美元。淨利潤為8630 萬美元，高於上年同期的8510 萬美元，調整後EBITDA 從2022 財年的1.889 億美元增至1.963 億美元。全年攤薄每股收益為2.49 美元，較上年同期的2.38美元增長5%。

Now turning to our segment results. In Children's Book Publishing and Distribution, revenues for the fourth quarter rose 5% to $291 million, and were up 10% to over $1 billion in the full fiscal year. Q4 segment operating income was up $11.6 million from the prior year period to $58.4 million. For fiscal 2023, operating income for the Children's Book Publishing segment increased $28.1 million to $143.4 million from fiscal 2022.

現在轉向我們的部門業績。在兒童圖書出版和發行方面，第四季度收入增長 5%，達到 2.91 億美元，整個財年收入增長 10%，超過 10 億美元。第四季度部門營業收入較上年同期增長 1160 萬美元，達到 5840 萬美元。 2023 財年，兒童圖書出版部門的營業收入比 2022 財年增加了 2810 萬美元，達到 1.434 億美元。

Strong segment performance in the fourth quarter and fiscal year was primarily driven by school book fairs, which continued to achieve impressive growth and profitability in fiscal 2023, driven by a focus on our customers, strong execution and more efficient operations. Book fairs revenues rose 12% in Q4 to $180.5 million and 29% for the full year to $553.1 million, an all-time high.

第四季度和本財年的強勁細分市場表現主要是由學校圖書展推動的，在對客戶的關注、強大的執行力和更高效的運營的推動下，學校圖書展在2023 財年繼續實現了令人印象深刻的增長和盈利能力。第四季度書展收入增長 12%，達到 1.805 億美元，全年增長 29%，達到 5.531 億美元，創歷史新高。

Participation at our in-person book fairs remains strong and fair count reached approximately 85% pre-pandemic levels, up from 72% in fiscal 2022. Book Club's revenues in the fourth quarter of $26.2 million were down versus the prior year period revenues of $27.2 million. Full year revenues of $117.8 million trailed the prior year revenues of $126.4 million.

我們現場書展的參與度依然強勁，展會數量達到了大流行前水平的約85%，高於2022 財年的72%。讀書俱樂部第四季度的收入為2620 萬美元，比去年同期的收入27.2 美元有所下降百萬。全年收入為 1.178 億美元，低於上年的 1.264 億美元。

While Book Club revenues continue to trend lower, mainly due to lower revenue per order and lower participation by hard prestiges, clubs remains a vital component of the company's outreach to teachers and students and of our integrated school reading event strategy. Trade revenues in the fourth quarter were $84.3 million, trailing prior year period revenues of $88.5 million. Full year revenues in trade were $367.1 million versus $390.4 million a year ago.

雖然讀書俱樂部的收入繼續呈下降趨勢，主要是由於每份訂單的收入下降以及硬聲望的參與度下降，但俱樂部仍然是公司向教師和學生推廣以及我們綜合學校閱讀活動戰略的重要組成部分。第四季度的貿易收入為 8,430 萬美元，低於去年同期的 8,850 萬美元。全年貿易收入為 3.671 億美元，而去年同期為 3.904 億美元。

The current quarter benefited from the release of the 11 title and Dav Pilkey's Dog Man series as well as strong sales of Hunger Games and Harry Potter titles. Trade sales, however, continued to be impacted by headwinds in the retail book selling market, as Peter discussed. Education Solutions finished the year with a strong fourth quarter.

本季度受益於 11 部作品和 Dav Pilkey 的《Dog Man》系列的發行，以及《飢餓遊戲》和《哈利·波特》作品的強勁銷售。然而，正如彼得所討論的那樣，貿易銷售繼續受到零售圖書銷售市場逆風的影響。教育解決方案以強勁的第四季度業績結束了這一年。

Segment revenues were up 4% to $163.4 million, largely due to strength in scholastic summer reading programs and state-sponsored programs. These results partly offset earlier quarters, reflecting both slower selling cycles this year and shifting seasonality in the business. Full year segment revenues of $386.6 million were down only 2% from the prior year period.

該部門收入增長 4%，達到 1.634 億美元，這主要得益於學術暑期閱讀項目和國家資助項目的強勁發展。這些業績部分抵消了前幾個季度的影響，反映出今年銷售週期放緩和業務季節性變化。全年分部收入為 3.866 億美元，較上年同期僅下降 2%。

In the fourth quarter, operating leverage on higher sales and lower marketing costs, primarily related to sponsored programs, which seasonally incur higher marketing during the early months of the program, benefited segment results. Operating income rose 20% to $55 million in Q4 compared to the prior year period.

第四季度，銷售增長和營銷成本降低（主要與讚助計劃相關）帶來的運營槓桿，在該計劃的前幾個月季節性地產生更高的營銷成本，有利於部門業績。第四季度營業收入較去年同期增長 20%，達到 5500 萬美元。

Full year segment operating income of $58.4 million, however, trailed $81.8 million in the prior period, reflecting higher organic investments and go-to-market capabilities to support our long-term growth strategy in this business. As discussed on previous calls, we also recorded approximately $3 million in expenses related to the acquisition and integration and learning innovations, which was not anticipated in our original plan.

然而，全年分部營業收入為 5840 萬美元，低於上一期的 8180 萬美元，反映出更高的有機投資和進入市場的能力，以支持我們在該業務的長期增長戰略。正如之前電話中討論的那樣，我們還記錄了大約 300 萬美元的與收購、整合和學習創新相關的費用，這是我們最初計劃中沒有預料到的。

International segment revenues of $73.9 million in the fourth quarter trailed the prior year period revenues of $80.4 million, reflecting a $4.7 million year-over-year impact of unfavorable foreign currency exchange and lower revenues of $4.4 million due to the successful Q1 disposition and direct sales business in Asia. Excluding these factors, International revenues rose 3% or $2.6 million, reflecting higher revenues from book fairs in the U.K. and Canada and modest recovery of results in Asia.

第四季度國際部門收入為 7,390 萬美元，低於去年同期的 8,040 萬美元，反映出不利的外匯匯率同比影響 470 萬美元，以及由於第一季度的成功處置和直接銷售而導致收入減少 440 萬美元亞洲業務。排除這些因素，國際收入增長 3%，即 260 萬美元，反映出英國和加拿大書展收入的增加以及亞洲業績的溫和復蘇。

Segment operating income increased 16% to $2.2 million as the segment benefited from the recovery in Asia as well as the exit from direct sales business, which generated losses in the prior year period. For the full year, International segment revenues of $279.4 million were down from the prior year's revenues of $302.8 million, reflecting a $23 million negative impact of foreign exchange and the exit of the direct sales business. Excluding these factors, segment revenues rose approximately 5% in fiscal 2023.

該部門的營業收入增長了 16%，達到 220 萬美元，因為該部門受益於亞洲的複蘇以及去年同期產生虧損的直銷業務的退出。全年國際業務收入為 2.794 億美元，低於上年的 3.028 億美元，反映出外彙和直銷業務退出帶來的 2,300 萬美元負面影響。排除這些因素，2023 財年該部門收入增長約 5%。

For the full year, the International segment reported an operating loss of $3.6 million versus operating income of $5 million in the prior year, primarily reflecting costs and operating pressures in Canada. Unallocated overhead costs of $23.6 million in the fourth quarter declined from $28.4 million in the prior period. For full year unallocated overhead costs of $91.9 million were also lower than the prior year's $104.6 million.

全年，國際部門報告運營虧損 360 萬美元，而上一年的運營收入為 500 萬美元，主要反映了加拿大的成本和運營壓力。第四季度未分配管理費用為 2,360 萬美元，較上一季度的 2,840 萬美元有所下降。全年未分配管理費用為 9190 萬美元，也低於上一年的 1.046 億美元。

I'm pleased to report that we have signed several new tenants at our own headquarters building in SoHo, including Capital One this spring and now have rented all of our first floor retail space. The lease terms with our tenants typically range from 10 to 15 years. We're currently marketing floors 2 through 4, which are available for lease.

我很高興地向大家報告，我們在 SoHo 的總部大樓簽下了幾位新租戶，其中包括今年春天的 Capital One，現在我們已經租下了所有一樓的零售空間。我們與租戶的租賃期限通常為 10 至 15 年。我們目前正在營銷 2 至 4 層，可供出租。

As we now disclosed in our filings with the SEC, we recognized rental income of $7.1 million in fiscal 2023. On the approximately 26,600 square feet leased as of today, we expect annualized straight-line rental income to total approximately $10.6 million.

正如我們現在在向SEC 提交的文件中披露的那樣，我們在2023 財年確認了710 萬美元的租金收入。截至目前租賃的約26,600 平方英尺，我們預計年化直線租金收入總計約為1060 萬美元。

Now turning to cash flow and the balance sheet. For the full year, net cash provided by operating activities was $148.9 million compared to $226 million in the prior period, largely reflecting higher inventory purchases this year as the company replenished inventory levels post pandemic to meet demand and mitigate shipping delays and by lower net refunds from income taxes of $51.3 million relative to the prior year. These factors were partially offset by higher customer remittances on receivable balances in fiscal 2023 of approximately $62.6 million, reflecting the current year's strong sales.

現在轉向現金流和資產負債表。全年經營活動提供的現金淨額為1.489 億美元，而上一期為2.26 億美元，這主要反映了今年庫存採購的增加，因為該公司在大流行後補充庫存水平以滿足需求並減少運輸延誤，並且淨退款減少與上一年相比，所得稅減少了 5130 萬美元。這些因素被 2023 財年應收賬款餘額的客戶匯款增加部分抵消，約為 6260 萬美元，反映了本年度的強勁銷售。

We have seen dramatic reductions in overseas lead times for inventory purchases and along with the return to pre-pandemic inbound freight costs. Accordingly, we expect to manage inventory purchases substantially closer to our demand cycle in fiscal 2024.

我們看到海外庫存採購的交貨時間大幅縮短，入境貨運成本也恢復到大流行前的水平。因此，我們預計 2024 財年的庫存採購管理將更加接近我們的需求週期。

Free cash flow of $60 million in fiscal 2023 compared to $182.8 million in the prior year period reflects lower cash from operations as well as $88.9 million in CapEx and prepublication spending on new products and growth initiatives compared to $59.2 million in fiscal 2022. At the end of the fiscal year, cash and cash equivalents, net of total debt was $218.5 million compared to $310.1 million at the end of the prior year period.

2023 財年的自由現金流為6,000 萬美元，而上年同期為1.828 億美元，反映出運營現金減少，以及新產品和增長計劃的資本支出和出版前支出為8,890 萬美元，而2022 財年為5,920 萬美元。本財政年度的現金和現金等價物扣除債務總額為 2.185 億美元，而上年末為 3.101 億美元。

In addition to increasing growth investments, we accelerated capital returns to shareholders in fiscal 2023 through a tender offer and open market share repurchases. Together with our regular dividend, we returned over $160 million in fiscal year 2023, including $63 million in this past quarter. In total, we repurchased 3.3 million shares last year, which net of 800,000 shares issued related to stock compensation represents 7% of the company's outstanding shares.

除了增加增長投資外，我們還通過要約收購和公開市場股票回購加快了 2023 財年股東的資本回報。連同定期股息，我們在 2023 財年返還了超過 1.6 億美元，其中上一季度的返利為 6300 萬美元。去年我們總共回購了330萬股，扣除與股票補償相關的80萬股，占公司流通股的7%。

As we look ahead, we'll continue to pursue opportunities to leverage our balance sheet and deploy capital by: First, investing in growth opportunities; second, maintaining a strong and efficient balance sheet; and third, returning excess cash to shareholders to enhance their returns. Our priority in fiscal 2024 is protecting margins and sustaining growth as we execute on long-term growth and shareholder value creation strategy that Peter has described.

展望未來，我們將繼續尋求機會，通過以下方式利用我們的資產負債表和部署資本：首先，投資於增長機會；其次，保持強勁、高效的資產負債表；第三，將多餘的現金返還給股東，以提高他們的回報。我們 2024 財年的首要任務是保護利潤率和維持增長，因為我們執行彼得所描述的長期增長和股東價值創造戰略。

In fiscal 2024, we expect revenue growth of 3% to 5% and are targeting adjusted EBITDA of $190 million to $200 million. This excludes the impact of onetime charges related to restructuring and cost saving activities of approximately $7 million to $10 million, as Peter has already discussed, which we expect in the first and second quarters.

2024 財年，我們預計收入增長 3% 至 5%，調整後 EBITDA 目標為 1.9 億美元至 2 億美元。這不包括與重組和成本節約活動相關的一次性費用的影響，約為 700 萬至 1000 萬美元，正如彼得已經討論過的那樣，我們預計第一季度和第二季度會出現這種情況。

In Children's Books, we expect growth in book fairs with fair counts increasing to approximately 90% of pre-pandemic levels. As a reminder, we do not see a return to 100% of in-person book fairs held before the pandemic as many of these fares were not profitable. We also expect revenue per fair to continue to modestly grow on continued strong participation in customer-centric strategies.

在兒童讀物方面，我們預計書展數量將增加至大流行前水平的 90% 左右。提醒一下，我們認為疫情爆發前舉辦的面對面書展不會恢復到 100%，因為其中許多票價都沒有盈利。我們還預計，由於持續大力參與以客戶為中心的戰略，每場展會的收入將繼續小幅增長。

In trade, front and backlist sales should continue to be solid, as Peter described. These positive factors are expected to be partially offset by lower revenues in book clubs as we shrink the business to a profitable core and in Scholastic Entertainment, which is recorded in consolidated trade due to the timing of production revenues. Operating income and margin should rise modestly for the year.

正如彼得所描述的那樣，在貿易方面，前台和後台銷售應繼續保持穩定。這些積極因素預計將被讀書俱樂部和學術娛樂業務的收入下降所部分抵消，因為我們將業務縮小到盈利核心，而學術娛樂業務由於製作收入的時間安排而記錄在合併貿易中。今年的營業收入和利潤率應該會小幅上升。

In Education Solutions, revenues are expected to be up modestly, driven in part by continued growth in state-sponsored programs in the latter half of the year. We will continue to invest in new products and capabilities to grow our blended literacy solutions as demonstrated by our recent launch of Ready for Reading.

在教育解決方案方面，收入預計將小幅增長，​​部分原因是下半年國家資助項目的持續增長。我們將繼續投資新產品和能力，以發展我們的混合讀寫解決方案，正如我們最近推出的 Ready for Reading 所證明的那樣。

We expect the International segment will benefit from continued recovery in major markets and in Asia as well as the reorganization in Canada, generating modest top line growth and a lower operating loss. We remain committed to returning our international business to profitability in the coming years. We expect unallocated overhead costs to increase modestly next year as we continue to invest in improving efficiencies and building capabilities to support long-term growth.

我們預計國際業務將受益於主要市場和亞洲的持續復甦以及加拿大的重組，從而實現適度的收入增長和較低的運營虧損。我們仍然致力於在未來幾年使我們的國際業務恢復盈利。我們預計，隨著我們繼續投資於提高效率和建設支持長期增長的能力，明年未分配的間接費用將小幅增加。

As a reminder, Scholastic's results are highly seasonal. We generally record an operating loss in our first and third quarters, coinciding with summer and winter school vacations were profitable second and fourth quarters. Year-over-year, we expect our first quarter seasonal loss to grow. We are looking forward to an exciting and busy year ahead.

需要提醒的是，Scholastic 的結果具有很強的季節性。我們通常在第一和第三季度錄得營業虧損，而恰逢學校暑假和冬季假期，第二和第四季度實現盈利。與去年同期相比，我們預計第一季度的季節性虧損將會增加。我們期待著即將到來的激動人心且忙碌的一年。

Thank you for your time today. I will now hand the call back to Peter for his final remarks.

感謝您今天抽出時間。我現在將把電話轉回給彼得，讓他做最後的發言。

Thank you, Ken. In summary, Scholastic delivered solid results in fiscal 2023, reflecting the unique strength of our businesses and effective performance management in response to market headwinds. We continued our investments in growth opportunities, especially in Education Solutions while returning substantial capital to our shareholders.

謝謝你，肯。總而言之，Scholastic 在 2023 財年取得了穩健的業績，反映了我們業務的獨特優勢以及應對市場逆風的有效績效管理。我們繼續投資於增長機會，特別是教育解決方案，同時向股東返還大量資本。

We're enthusiastic about our plan for fiscal 2024 as we begin the year and prepare for back-to-school. The new school reading events division has great promise to continue our momentum in schools while connecting kids to the joy and power of reading with new go-to-market strategies that leverage Scholastic's content and brand as never before.

在新年伊始並為返校做準備之際，我們對 2024 財年的計劃充滿熱情。新的學校閱讀活動部門有望繼續我們在學校的發展勢頭，同時通過新的市場推廣策略，以前所未有的方式利用 Scholastic 的內容和品牌，讓孩子們享受閱讀的樂趣和力量。

We have exciting new frontlist titles publishing and streaming series launching as well as new products in education solutions like Ready for Reading and our growing state-sponsored programs. This plan aligns with Scholastic's larger multiyear strategy and opportunity as we grow our profitable core Children's Book businesses build out our blended literacy offering, continue improving efficiencies and allocate our capital to sustainably grow and generate higher shareholder returns.

我們有令人興奮的新書名出版和流媒體系列推出，以及教育解決方案中的新產品，如“Ready for Reading”和我們不斷發展的國家資助計劃。該計劃與學樂集團更大的多年戰略和機遇相一致，因為我們發展了盈利的核心兒童圖書業務，構建了我們的混合讀寫服務，繼續提高效率並分配我們的資本以實現可持續增長並產生更高的股東回報。

I'm grateful for the hard work of Scholastic's employees and for the support of our shareholders as together, we bring the power of reading and books to all kids. Thank you very much. Let me now turn the call over to Jeff.

我感謝學樂員工的辛勤工作，感謝股東的支持，我們齊心協力，為所有孩子帶來閱讀和書籍的力量。非常感謝。現在讓我把電話轉給傑夫。

Thanks, Peter. We appreciate everyone's time today and your continuing support. With that, we will open the call for questions. Operator?

謝謝，彼得。我們感謝大家今天抽出時間以及你們持續的支持。至此，我們將開始提問。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) And our first question comes from the line of Brendan McCarthy from Sidoti.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Sidoti 的 Brendan McCarthy。

Yes. Congratulations on the strong results. My question is regarding the new school reading events business. Just wondering if you can provide some color on the timing of that combination and when we might expect to see margin improvement in the Children's Book Publishing and Distribution segment. I know margins were up in Q4 year-over-year, but I was also wondering if you're able to quantify the margin improvement with that combination.

是的。祝賀取得了優異的成績。我的問題是關於新學校讀書活動的業務。只是想知道您是否可以提供一些有關該合併的時間安排的信息，以及我們預計何時會看到兒童圖書出版和發行部門的利潤率改善。我知道第四季度的利潤率同比有所上升，但我也想知道您是否能夠量化這種組合的利潤率改善。

Brendan, I mean, the whole strategy of the school routing events business is really to take 2 of our activities that have got an awful lot of overlap within the schools and to be able to make much more of a joined-up business with individual schools. And we had a great start in planning for that, and we'll be underway really from the start of the new school year from sort of mid-August in the south to early September in the north and east.

布倫丹，我的意思是，學校路由活動業務的整體策略實際上是採取我們在學校內有大量重疊的兩項活動，並能夠與各個學校進行更多的聯合業務。我們在這方面的規劃有一個良好的開端，我們將從新學年開始就開始實施，從南部的八月中旬到北部和東部的九月初。

And we have got a lot of material ready to go and we would expect to see a really strong start. The clubs part of that business traditionally starts strongly at the beginning of the school year, and we hope that, that obviously is going to continue with the new program that we've got for that. And we're very well set up in the book fairs area to get off to a very, very strong start. So I'm very enthusiastic about this part of our business. And I think that we'll be able to talk very positively about how the team, which is an excellent team has performed.

我們已經準備好了很多材料，我們希望看到一個非常強勁的開始。傳統上，該業務的俱樂部部分在學年開始時就開始強勁，我們希望，這顯然會隨著我們為此制定的新計劃而繼續下去。我們在書展區已經做好了充分的準備，將有一個非常非常強勁的開端。所以我對我們這部分業務非常熱衷。我認為我們將能夠非常積極地談論這支優秀團隊的表現。

On the financial side, I'm going to turn that over to Ken just to make some comments.

在財務方面，我將把這個問題轉交給肯，只是發表一些評論。

Thanks, Peter. Brendan, nice to meet you. Yes. So Peter, as Peter talked about, we quickly moved on this, and the team got together and in a very short period of time where put together in tight rooms and in just about 60 days came up with a very tight operating plan. So we are hitting the ground ready to roll here, and we expect margin improvement this year.

謝謝，彼得。布倫丹，很高興認識你。是的。因此，Peter，正如 Peter 所說，我們很快就開始著手解決這個問題，團隊在很短的時間內聚集在一起，在狹小的房間裡，在大約 60 天內就制定了一個非常嚴格的運營計劃。因此，我們已做好準備，預計今年的利潤率會有所改善。

It will be on lower clubs revenues clearly as we start to bring this business down to its core. There's a long-term strategy where we think we -- the combined revenues of this business will ultimately be stronger, but we need to break this -- the first part of this down to what we understand to be profitable, and we have to get it down to that first.

當我們開始將這項業務納入其核心時，顯然俱樂部的收入將會下降。我們有一個長期戰略，我們認為這項業務的綜合收入最終會更強，但我們需要打破這一點，第一部分歸結為我們所理解的盈利，我們必須獲得首先歸結為這一點。

So Phase 1 is going to be pretty exciting for us. It's certainly more kid centric and customer focused than we were in the past. So we're excited about it, but we expect margin improvement right out of the gate, although you will see lower clubs revenues.

所以第一階段對我們來說將是非常令人興奮的。與過去相比，現在肯定更加以孩子為中心，以客戶為中心。所以我們對此感到興奮，但我們預計利潤率會立即改善，儘管你會看到俱樂部收入下降。

Got it. That's helpful. And then if I could pivot to the Education Solutions segment. Yes, I know you mentioned in your results, there was some benefit from the state-sponsored programs. Were there any additional states added regarding your new state business. I know Florida and Louisiana, I think are the primary 2. But were there any additional states added?

知道了。這很有幫助。然後我是否可以轉向教育解決方案領域。是的，我知道您在結果中提到，國家資助的計劃有一些好處。是否添加了有關您的新州業務的任何其他州。我知道佛羅里達州和路易斯安那州，我認為是主要的兩個州。但是還有其他州添加嗎？

Well, we've added really for primarily really for next year, but we've also got Tennessee as another state where got additional new business. We have some business in Tennessee this year, but we've got more coming up. And yes, Louisiana was the big new one. And we've got a lot of, I think, good opportunities in Florida going forward because we've now been able to add the pre-K kids to the project. And we've also -- we're also making some adjustments to how we do the marketing. And I think that's also going to be beneficial.

好吧，我們主要是為明年增加了真正的業務，但我們也將田納西州作為另一個獲得更多新業務的州。今年我們在田納西州有一些業務，但接下來還會有更多業務。是的，路易斯安那州是一個新的大州。我認為，我們在佛羅里達州未來有很多很好的機會，因為我們現在已經能夠將學前班的孩子添加到該項目中。我們還對營銷方式進行了一些調整。我認為這也是有益的。

And a final factor really to emphasize is there's such a lot of concern amongst parents, teachers, administrators, politicians, everybody about literacy. And this is really a key -- a really key initiative to help that. And I think that that's going to be a big factor.

真正要強調的最後一個因素是，家長、教師、行政人員、政治家和每個人都非常關心識字率。這確實是一個關鍵——一個幫助實現這一目標的非常關鍵的舉措。我認為這將是一個重要因素。

The other key thing to mention is that we are benefiting quite a lot from a much broader array of opportunities for funding literacy, particularly aimed at those kids from disadvantaged communities, and these are examples of that. But we also have other examples in terms of working with communities to sponsor books in schools to sponsor book fairs.

另一個值得一提的關鍵是，我們從更廣泛的掃盲資助機會中受益匪淺，特別是針對來自弱勢社區的孩子，這些就是例子。但我們還有其他與社區合作贊助學校圖書、贊助書展的例子。

And also increasingly, we see that there's going to be more that we can do in that regard. And that was really 1 of the reasons why we appointed one of our most senior and experienced executives to become a sort of Chief Impact Officer because we feel that it's really exactly on point for us to be working in this way with providing more literacy to disadvantaged communities but also putting much more effort into finding the funding to be able to enable us to do that. And so far, we're very happy overall with what we're able to do in this sponsored area of our business. We see it as one that will grow in the future.

我們也越來越多地看到，在這方面我們可以做更多的事情。這確實是我們任命一位最資深、最有經驗的高管擔任首席影響官的原因之一，因為我們認為，以這種方式為弱勢群體提供更多的識字能力確實是正確的。社區，而且還付出更多努力來尋找資金，使我們能夠做到這一點。到目前為止，我們對我們在這個贊助業務領域所做的事情總體感到非常滿意。我們認為它是未來會增長的一個。

Great. One more, if I may. Sorry, go ahead, Ken.

偉大的。如果可以的話，再來一張。抱歉，請繼續，肯。

Yes. No, just adding to that, it's nice having the Florida model out there because now we can replicate it, and that's largely what happened in Louisiana. So there was a learning curve just to acquire that first business. And now we're out there trying to do this in other places. So having that model is great, and I'll speak as the CFO here. Also, the revenues are not because they are addressing kids who are disadvantaged are not cannibalistic to our clubs and fairs business, which is really great for us, too, and both on mission and financially beneficial to us as well.

是的。不，只是補充一點，佛羅里達州的模式很好，因為現在我們可以復制它，而這很大程度上就是路易斯安那州發生的事情。因此，為了獲得第一個業務，需要一個學習曲線。現在我們正在其他地方嘗試這樣做。因此，擁有這個模型非常棒，我將在這里以首席財務官的身份發言。此外，收入並不是因為他們針對的是弱勢兒童，他們不會蠶食我們的俱樂部和展會業務，這對我們來說也非常好，無論是在任務上還是在經濟上都對我們有利。

Got it. That's helpful. And then lastly, I know the theme within the Education Solutions segment has been softer spending by schools as they deal with teacher staffing issues. Are you still assuming that trend to kind of soften as we enter the new school year in fiscal '24? And I guess, secondly, what kind of -- are you seeing that show up in specific data points?

知道了。這很有幫助。最後，我知道教育解決方案領域的主題是學校在處理教師人員配置問題時支出疲軟。當我們進入 24 財年的新學年時，您是否仍然認為這種趨勢會有所減弱？我想，其次，您是否看到具體數據點中出現了什麼樣的情況？

We're not really -- I mean, we expect that the overall environment in FY '24, for example, in terms of spending in schools is going to be similar to that in FY '23. But the additional asset funding is coming to an end, the -- in sort of the fall of next year. Whether that will have any impact on using up funds more quickly towards the end of the next school year, we just really don't know at the moment. But certainly, staffing issues are a key issue, but there's also been a real need and a lot of pressure sometimes from parents to make sure that this continuing book buying by schools and that they have that opportunity to do that with the funding in our next financial year.

我們並不是真的——我的意思是，我們預計 24 財年的整體環境，例如，在學校支出方面將與 23 財年相似。但額外的資產融資即將結束，大概是明年秋天。這是否會對下一學年結束時更快地用完資金產生任何影響，目前我們真的不知道。但當然，人員配備問題是一個關鍵問題，但也確實有需要，有時來自家長的很大壓力，以確保學校繼續購買圖書，並且他們有機會利用我們下一個項目的資金來做到這一點財政年度。

And I think when we look going forward, Brendan, at FY '25. And going forward, you've got to remember that as funding is additional funding. It's not the core funding that's going away. And it's important, I think, that all of those who are concerned about education regardless of their political background, everyone is really, really concerned about literacy. And I think you would be very, very surprising if there weren't continued and indeed additional, perhaps federal and state funding measures, to really address that issue because it's really critical for the success of not just society, but our economy that more people are able to be literate and that's a critical thing for us.

我認為當我們展望未來時，布倫丹，在 25 財年。展望未來，您必須記住，資金是額外的資金。消失的並不是核心資金。我認為重要的是，所有關心教育的人，無論其政治背景如何，每個人都非常非常關心識字率。我認為，如果沒有持續的、實際上是額外的、也許是聯邦和州的資助措施來真正解決這個問題，你會非常非常驚訝，因為這不僅對社會的成功至關重要，而且對我們的經濟的成功也至關重要。能夠識字，這對我們來說至關重要。

This does conclude the question-and-answer session of today's program. I'd like to hand the program back to management for any further remarks.

今天節目的問答環節到此結束。我想將該程序交還給管理層以徵求進一步的意見。

Well, thank you, everyone, for joining today's call and for your continued support. I'd like again to thank all of Scholastic employees for their hard work this year.

好的，謝謝大家參加今天的電話會議並給予我們持續的支持。我要再次感謝所有學樂員工今年的辛勤工作。

To summarize, we're focused on executing a long-term strategy to drive growth, impact and shareholder value creation over the coming years while protecting margins and sustaining the growth we achieved in fiscal 2023. We're confident about Scholastics opportunities, and we're excited to execute our strategy in fiscal 2024 and beyond.

總而言之，我們的重點是執行一項長期戰略，以推動未來幾年的增長、影響和股東價值創造，同時保護利潤並維持我們在 2023 財年實現的增長。我們對 Scholastics 的機會充滿信心，並且我們我們很高興能夠在2024 財年及以後執行我們的戰略。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect. Good day.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。再會。