Scholastic Corp (SCHL) 2025 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Scholastic Reports second quarter fiscal year 2025 results. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. Now I will pass the call over to the Chief Growth Officer and Executive Vice President, Jeffrey Mathews. Please proceed.

大家好，歡迎閱讀 Scholastic Reports 2025 財年第二季業績。（操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄音。現在我將把電話轉給首席成長長兼執行副總裁 Jeffrey Mathews。請繼續。

Hello, and welcome, everyone to Scholastic's fiscal 2025 second quarter earnings call. Today, on the call, I'm joined by Peter Warwick, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Haji Glover, our Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President.

大家好，歡迎參加 Scholastic 2025 財年第二季財報電話會議。今天，在電話會議上，我與我們的總裁兼執行長 Peter Warwick 一起參加了會議；以及我們的財務長兼執行副總裁 Haji Glover。

As usual, we have 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. 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.

像往常一樣，我們已將隨附的投資者簡報發佈在我們的 IR 網站 investor.scholastic.com 上，如果您還沒有下載，可以立即下載。我們想指出，今天發表的某些言論將具有前瞻性。這些前瞻性陳述就其性質而言，受各種風險和不確定性的影響，實際結果可能與目前預期的結果有重大差異。

In addition, we will be discussing some non-GAAP financial measures as defined in Regulation G. The reconciliations of those 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.

此外，我們將討論 G 條例中定義的一些非 GAAP 財務指標。這些指標與最直接可比較的 GAAP 指標的對帳可以在公司今天下午以 8-K 表格形式提交的收益報告和隨附財務表中找到。此收益報告也已發佈至我們的投資者關係網站。

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. Should you have any questions after today's call, please send them directly to our IR e-mail address, investor_relations@scholastic.com.

我們鼓勵您查看發布和投資者介紹中的免責聲明，並查看公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的年度和季度報告中披露的風險因素。如果您在今天的電話會議後有任何問題，請直接發送至我們的 IR 電子郵件地址 investor_relations@scholastic.com。

And now I'd like to turn the call over to Peter Warwick to begin this afternoon's presentation.

現在我想請彼得沃里克 (Peter Warwick) 開始今天下午的演講。

Thanks, Jeff, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us. In the second quarter, Scholastic Book Fairs and Clubs continue delivering the joint excitement of books and reading to millions of kids. While our global children's publishing and entertainment teams moved ahead with exciting plans for this fiscal year and next.

謝謝傑夫，大家下午好。感謝您加入我們。第二季度，學樂書展和俱樂部繼續向數百萬兒童傳遞書籍和閱讀的共同樂趣。同時，我們的全球兒童出版和娛樂團隊正在為本財年和下一財年制定令人興奮的計劃。

As we discussed on our earnings call in September, second quarter results came in lower than the prior year, primarily reflecting the timing of this year's publishing plan. During the back-to-school season, we pursued multiple opportunities to drive long-term growth in our core markets and expand beyond them with new models, channels and products, all leveraging Scholastic's trusted brand, iconic IP, global scale and differentiated channels.

正如我們在九月份的財報電話會議上所討論的那樣，第二季度的業績低於去年同期，主要反映了今年出版計劃的時間表。在返校季期間，我們利用 Scholastic 值得信賴的品牌、標誌性 IP、全球規模和差異化管道，尋求多種機會推動核心市場的長期成長，並透過新模式、新管道和新產品擴展。

We built upon Scholastic's unique capability to give kids access to engaging high-quality books year after year through our School Reading Events and Education businesses. We advanced our strategy as a global children's media and content company through our Trade and Entertainment divisions, preparing best-selling books and award-winning media for distribution through our own channels as well as through third-party retailers, sellers, and platforms. To support this growth, we successfully upsized our unsecured revolving credit facility to $400 million last month.

我們運用學樂獨特的能力，透過學校閱讀活動和教育業務，讓孩子們年復一年地接觸有趣的高品質書籍。我們透過貿易和娛樂部門推進了作為全球兒童媒體和內容公司的策略，準備暢銷書籍和獲獎媒體，透過我們自己的管道以及第三方零售商、賣家和平台進行分發。為了支持這一成長，我們上個月成功將無擔保循環信貸額度增加至 4 億美元。

With our strong balance sheet and the history of robust free cash flow conversion, we remain committed to investing in our future while returning excess cash to enhance shareholder returns. We've reaffirmed our fiscal 2025 guidance. This reflects our results in the first half of the year and confidence in the outlook for the second half.

憑藉我們強勁的資產負債表和強勁的自由現金流轉換歷史，我們將繼續致力於投資未來，同時返還多餘的現金以提高股東回報。我們重申了 2025 財年指引。這反映了我們上半年的業績以及對下半年前景的信心。

Haji and I will both discuss this further shortly. I'd like to start by discussing our market outlook and how after significant preparations over the past several years, Scholastic is positioned to navigate potential changes in US policy as the administration changes.

哈吉和我很快將進一步討論此事。我想先討論我們的市場前景，以及經過過去幾年的大量準備，學樂如何應對政府更迭帶來的美國政策潛在變化。

First, we're closely monitoring US trade policy, including towards China, Mexico, and Canada. With respect to our outlook for the second half of fiscal 2025, we forecast little exposure as we've already purchased almost all of our inventory needs. We similarly see little impact on our inventory costs in the first half of fiscal 2026, given those purchases will be mostly sitting in our warehouses by early summer.

首先，我們密切關注美國的貿易政策，包括對中國、墨西哥和加拿大的貿易政策。關於我們對 2025 財年下半年的展望，我們預測風險敞口很小，因為我們已經購買了幾乎所有所需的庫存。同樣，我們認為 2026 財年上半年的庫存成本受到的影響很小，因為到初夏時這些採購的大部分將存放在我們的倉庫中。

Scholastic's global scale and highly optimized supply chain has long provided substantial product cost advantages especially for our school channels. The global pandemic four years ago presented an opportunity to diversify our supplier relationships and make sourcing processes more flexible. As a result, today, we're better able to mitigate and hedge against tariff, shipping, out-of-stock and other risks.

Scholastic 的全球規模和高度優化的供應鏈長期以來為我們的學校管道提供了顯著的產品成本優勢。四年前的全球疫情為我們提供了一個機會，讓我們能夠實現供應商關係多元化，採購流程更加靈活。因此，今天我們能夠更好地減輕和對沖關稅、運輸、缺貨和其他風險。

Longer term, we remain confident that our supply chain team can mitigate exposure to potential tariffs just as they navigated the disruptions of the pandemic. Second, with respect to education policy, we're monitoring potential changes in legislation and funding.

從長遠來看，我們仍然相信，我們的供應鏈團隊能夠像應對疫情造成的破壞一樣，減輕潛在關稅的影響。第二，關於教育政策，我們正在監控立法和資金方面的潛在變化。

The vast majority of educational publisher sales occur at the state and local district level with money from a combination of funding from local, state, and federal sources. Consequently, policy and funding trends at the state and local level are most relevant to students, families, and classrooms - and to our business.

絕大多數教育出版商的銷售發生在州和地方區域級別，資金來自地方、州和聯邦政府的共同資助。因此，州和地方的政策和資金趨勢與學生、家庭和教室以及我們的業務最為相關。

Among these trends, we remain focused on school choice and voucher programs which are driving enrollment in charter, parochial and independent schools in many states; new educational savings account programs, which give families funds to pay for tuition, home schooling, enrichment, and remediation activities in a growing number of states; and the shift to science-based approaches to literacy instructions, which we've seen adopted across the country over the past two to three years. All three of these trends may accelerate over the next four years. We don't expect this to materially impact our outlook for fiscal 2025 or in the near term.

在這些趨勢中，我們仍然關注學校選擇和代金券計劃，這些計劃正在推動許多州的特許學校、教區學校和獨立學校的入學人數；新的教育儲蓄賬戶計劃，為越來越多州的家庭提供資金支付學費、家庭教育、充實和補習活動的費用；並轉向以科學為基礎的讀寫教學方法，我們看到過去兩三年來全國各地都採用了這種方法。未來四年，這三個趨勢都可能加速。我們預計這不會對我們 2025 財年或近期的前景產生重大影響。

But over the longer term, we believe Scholastic is uniquely positioned to meet the growing markets needs created by these trends, and to support families and kids wherever they are. Five ways we are doing this already are as follows: first, we're tapping into new sources of state, corporate and philanthropic funding, all independent of federal funding and policy to provide kids and families access to books and literacy.

但從長遠來看，我們相信 Scholastic 具有獨特的優勢，可以滿足這些趨勢所帶來的日益增長的市場需求，並為世界各地的家庭和孩子提供支持。我們已經採取了以下五種方式來實現這一目標：首先，我們正在挖掘新的政府、企業和慈善資金來源，所有這些資金都獨立於聯邦資金和政策，為兒童和家庭提供閱讀書籍和讀寫的機會。

Second, we're designing new go-to-market strategies and offerings in our School Reading Events and Education Solutions divisions to serve charter, independent and parochial schools where we have significant growth opportunities.

其次，我們正在學校閱讀活動和教育解決方案部門設計新的行銷策略和產品，以服務我們擁有巨大成長機會的特許學校、獨立學校和教區學校。

Third, we're developing new supplemental instructional programs aligned with the science of reading and the growing nationwide consensus on how best to tease literacy.

第三，我們正在開發新的補充教學計劃，這些計劃與閱讀科學以及全國範圍內關於如何最好地提高讀寫能力的日益增長的共識相一致。

Fourth, we're testing new direct-to-family offerings to support parents and kids with reading and learning at home as we explore the larger direct-to-consumer opportunity for our brand and IP. And lastly, we continue to lean into the importance of literacy - something that people and politicians across the country can wholeheartedly agree on, especially in the face of declining reading scores in the US. Enabling kids to read is something that Scholastic is uniquely known for. Indeed, it lies at the core of our purpose.

第四，我們正在測試新的直接面向家庭的產品，以支持父母和孩子在家閱讀和學習，同時我們正在探索我們的品牌和知識產權更大的直接面向消費者的機會。最後，我們繼續強調讀寫能力的重要性——這是全國人民和政界人士都能全心全意認同的一點，尤其是在美國閱讀成績下降的情況下。培養孩子閱讀能力是學樂 (Scholastic) 獨有的特色。事實上，這就是我們目標的核心。

With respect to the impact of these potential policy changes and others, we're confident in our ability to operate nimbly and navigate changes that may occur in the future. But we're also proactively taking steps to target cost actions and ensure our investments and resources are aligned with our growth priorities, which Haji will elaborate on further.

對於這些潛在政策變化和其他影響，我們有信心能夠靈活運作並應對未來可能發生的變化。但我們也積極採取措施，針對成本行動，確保我們的投資和資源與我們的成長重點保持一致，哈吉將進一步闡述這一點。

With that, I'll turn to the highlights across our business segments. In the Children's Book Publishing and Distribution segment, execution was solid. However, results declined, primarily reflecting year-over-year timing factors in our Trade Publishing and School Reading Events divisions.

接下來，我將介紹我們各業務部門的亮點。在兒童圖書出版和發行領域，執行力十分紮實。然而，業績有所下降，主要反映了我們貿易出版和學校閱讀活動部門的同比時間因素。

In the School Reading Events or SRE, schools booked the largest number of fall fairs since the pandemic, and we remain on track to achieve our target of 90,000 fairs in fiscal 2025. Looking ahead, the investments we're making in Book Fairs to grow our fair counts and implement new merchandising and sales initiatives, as I have discussed on prior calls, are having a positive impact and should contribute to our performance this year and beyond, including modest growth in fiscal 2025.

在學校閱讀活動 (SRE) 中，學校預訂了自疫情爆發以來最多的秋季展覽會，我們仍有望實現 2025 財年 90,000 場展覽會的目標。展望未來，正如我在之前的電話會議上討論過的，我們在書展上進行的投資旨在增加書展數量並實施新的商品推銷和銷售計劃，這些投資正在產生積極的影響，並將為我們今年及以後的業績做出貢獻，包括 2025 財年的適度增長。

Also, within SRE, updated offerings in our School Book Clubs’ business drove higher student participation and revenue per sponsor. As the business continues to rebuild a profitable core, we're reengaging loyal customers and revitalizing the strategic channel to teachers and families. Turning to our Trade Publishing division within the Children's Books segment, revenues were down in the second quarter, in line with expectations based on this year's publishing schedule relative to a year ago when we recorded strong sales of multiple new titles from major Scholastic authors and franchises.

此外，在 SRE 中，我們學校讀書俱樂部業務的更新產品提高了學生參與度和每個贊助商的收入。隨著業務繼續重建盈利核心，我們正在重新吸引忠實客戶並重振面向教師和家庭的策略管道。談到我們兒童圖書部門內的貿易出版部門，第二季度收入有所下降，與基於今年出版計劃的預期相符，而去年同期我們記錄了主要學樂作家和特許經營商的多部新書的強勁銷售。

In quarter two, new Scholastic releases maintained our presence on best seller lists. Top-selling titles last quarter included Christmas at Hogwarts by JK Rowling, which debuted at number one on the New York Times picture book bestseller list and held a spot for seven straight weeks; The Christmas Pig in paperback also by JK Rowling, which debuted at number one on the New York Times paperback bestseller list;

第二季度，Scholastic 的新書繼續在暢銷書排行榜上佔有一席之地。上季最暢銷的書籍包括 JK 羅琳的《霍格華茲的聖誕節》，該書首次登上《紐約時報》圖畫書暢銷書排行榜，並連續七週位居第一； 《聖誕豬》平裝本也是由JK·羅琳撰寫，該書首次亮相就登上了《紐約時報》平裝暢銷書排行榜的榜首；

and the final title in our on Aaron Blabey’s Bad Guys series, The Bad Guys in One Last Thing. New titles in our long-time best-selling global franchises, including the Harry Potter Interactive Edition, a special edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and the Hunger Games Illustrated Edition, which was a USA Today best seller - they also performed strongly.

這是我們 Aaron Blabey 的「壞人」系列的最後一部作品，《最後一件事的壞人》。我們長期暢銷的全球系列中的新作品，包括《哈利波特》互動版、《哈利波特與魔法石》特別版和《飢餓遊戲插圖版》，後者是《今日美國》的暢銷書——它們也表現強勁。

Earlier this month, as we began our third quarter, Scholastic published the thirteenth book in Dav Pilkey's global best-selling series, Dog Man, Big Jim Begins, which instantly became the number one best-selling book overall in the US and Canada, beating out every other adult and children's title on sale and the number one best-selling children's book in the UK and Australia.

本月初，在我們開始第三季度的時候，學樂出版了戴夫·皮爾奇全球暢銷系列叢書的第十三本《狗人，大吉姆開始》，該書立即成為美國和加拿大最暢銷的書籍，擊敗了所有其他成人和兒童書籍，並成為英國和澳大利亞最暢銷的兒童書籍。

The global excitement behind Big Jim Begins is a testament to the prodigious creativity of Dav Pilkey; the unmatched editorial marketing, sales, distribution and supply chain expertise of Scholastic employees around the globe; and the enduring power of a great story to engage and capture the imagination of kids of all ages.

《大吉姆開始》在全球引起的轟動證明了戴夫·皮爾基非凡的創造力； Scholastic 員工在全球範圍內無與倫比的編輯營銷、銷售、分銷和供應鏈專業知識；偉大故事的持久力量可以吸引和俘獲各個年齡段孩子的想像力。

We're optimistic that the title's incredible popularity will also contribute to backlist sales as new readers discover earlier Dog Man titles and Dave's other series, Cat Kid Comic Club and Captain Underpants. The release of the Dog Man movie in January 2025 supported by extensive media and a worldwide author tour should also support excitement and the virtuous circle from page to screen and back to page.

我們樂觀地認為，隨著新讀者發現早期的《狗人》系列以及戴夫的其他系列《貓小子漫畫俱樂部》和《內褲隊長》，該作品的驚人人氣也將有助於提高舊書的銷量。《狗人》電影於 2025 年 1 月上映，並得到了廣泛媒體和全球作者巡演的支持，這也將帶來激動人心的體驗以及從書頁到屏幕再回到書頁的良性循環。

Looking ahead, we're excited about our spring publishing schedule, which includes the highly anticipated fifth book in Suzanne Collins' worldwide best-selling Hunger Games series, Sunrise on the Reaping. Next March, the title will be released simultaneously in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

展望未來，我們對春季出版計畫感到非常興奮，其中包括備受期待的蘇珊柯林斯全球暢銷的《飢餓遊戲》系列的第五本書《收割之日出》。明年 3 月，該片將在美國、加拿大、英國、澳洲和紐西蘭同時上映。

Turning to the Entertainment segment. Revenue and adjusted EBITDA rose from the strategic acquisition of 9 Story Media Group in June as we continue to make progress on our integration and a promising joint development and production slate of major projects. As we've discussed previously, after the glut of spending on content production from approximately 2020 to 2022, the major streaming platforms and studios pulled back on production budgets and delayed green lights for series, feature films and longer-form content in general.

轉向娛樂領域。隨著我們在整合方面繼續取得進展以及主要項目的聯合開發和生產前景看好，收入和調整後的 EBITDA 因 6 月份對 9 Story Media Group 的戰略收購而增加。正如我們之前所討論過的，在 2020 年至 2022 年左右內容製作支出過剩之後，主要的串流媒體平台和工作室削減了製作預算，並推遲了電視劇、長片和長篇內容的審批。

This has temporarily slowed but not stopped demand for production service work as well as green lights for multiple promising projects on our shared development slate. Nevertheless, last quarter, we were able to go to market with a new Magic School Bus series for pre-school, Mighty Explorers, an updated Clifford animated series as well as others. These shows were met with great excitement among broadcasters and streamers.

這暫時減緩了但並未阻止對生產服務工作的需求，同時也為我們共同開發計劃中的多個有前景的項目開了綠燈。儘管如此，上個季度，我們還是向市場推出了針對學齡前兒童的全新《神奇校車》系列、《神奇探險家》、更新版的《克利福德》動畫系列以及其他作品。這些節目受到了廣播公司和串流媒體的熱烈歡迎。

We also look forward to the second season of the animated kid’s series Eva the Owlet based on the best-selling Scholastic book series, Owl Diaries by Rebecca Elliott, premiering on Apple TV+ next month. The show was produced by Scholastic Entertainment with production services and animation by 9 Story. There's also great enthusiasm externally and in the industry around the second season of our Goosebumps live-action series airing on Disney+ on January 10, 2025.

我們也期待兒童動畫影集《小貓頭鷹伊娃》的第二季，該影集改編自學樂暢銷書系列《麗貝卡·艾利奧特的貓頭鷹日記》，將於下個月在 Apple TV+ 上首播。該節目由 Scholastic Entertainment 製作，並由 9 Story 提供製作和動畫服務。我們的《雞皮疙瘩》真人劇第二季將於 2025 年 1 月 10 日在 Disney+ 上播出，外界和業界對此也表現出極大的熱情。

Based upon R.L. Stine's worldwide best-selling Scholastic book series and co-produced by Scholastic Entertainment, this core Scholastic brand has significant upside for us. We continue to publish new titles in the franchise, including the first Goosebumps Graphix title, The Haunted Mask which debuted earlier this fall.

這個核心 Scholastic 品牌以 R.L. Stine 全球暢銷的 Scholastic 叢​​書為基礎，並由 Scholastic Entertainment 聯合製作，對於我們來說具有顯著的優勢。我們將繼續出版該系列的新作品，包括今年秋初首次亮相的首部 Goosebumps Graphix 作品《The Haunted Mask》。

We're especially proud that earlier this month, Scholastic Entertainment and 9 Story received a total of sixteen Children's & Family Emmy nominations, including nine nominations for Goosebumps. These nominations bring well-deserved recognition to the high-quality and engaging content that our talented creators and teams create for children everywhere. YouTube continues to grow as the leading platform to reach kids with short-form content.

我們特別感到自豪的是，本月早些時候，學樂娛樂 (Scholastic Entertainment) 和 9 Story 共獲得了 16 項兒童與家庭艾美獎提名，其中《雞皮疙瘩》獲得 9 項提名。這些提名是對我們才華橫溢的創作者和團隊為世界各地兒童創作的高品質、引人入勝的內容當之無愧的認可。YouTube 繼續發展成為向兒童提供短篇內容的領先平台。

To meet this demand, we're accelerating our digital first production and development growth opportunities with multiple new projects based on Scholastic IP. We also continue to expand our reach and monetization on YouTube and other advertising-supported platforms, leveraging 9 Story’s distribution capabilities. Last quarter, we added to our content available on digital platforms, including classic Scholastic franchises such as Goosebumps, which is driving increased viewership and revenues.

為了滿足這一需求，我們正在透過基於 Scholastic IP 的多個新專案加速我們的數位化首發生產和開發成長機會。我們也利用 9 Story 的分發能力，繼續擴大我們在 YouTube 和其他廣告支援平台上的覆蓋範圍和貨幣化。上個季度，我們增加了在數位平台上提供的內容，包括《雞皮疙瘩》等 Scholastic 經典系列作品，這推動了觀眾人數和收入的成長。

In summary, we remain very optimistic about Scholastic's long-term opportunity to build and grow beloved children's franchises on page and on screen, supported by our integrated Scholastic Entertainment team, which is nimbly navigating a dynamic entertainment sector. Turning to Education Solutions.

總而言之，我們仍然非常看好 Scholastic 的長期發展機會，即在我們綜合的 Scholastic 娛樂團隊的支持下，在紙上和屏幕上打造和發展深受喜愛的兒童特許經營作品，該團隊正在靈活地駕馭充滿活力的娛樂行業。轉向教育解決方案。

Second quarter sales declined year-over-year. This was in line with the expectations we outlined on our last two earnings calls and reflected lower curriculum and book collection sales. Lower spending on supplemental curriculum products continues to be a headwind for this business. In anticipation of a recovery in supplemental curriculum spending in fiscal 2026, we continue to move forward with the development of updated and new literacy programs that leverage Scholastic's content and align with the shift to the science of reading.

第二季銷售額較去年同期下降。這與我們在過去兩次收益電話會議上概述的預期一致，反映了課程和書籍收藏銷售額的下降。補充課程產品支出的減少繼續成為該業務的阻力。為了因應 2026 財年補充課程支出的復甦，我們將繼續推進更新和新的讀寫能力計畫的開發，利用 Scholastic 的內容並與閱讀科學的轉變保持一致。

We're very excited about Explore ELA, a new digital supplemental research-based program for grades six through eight that gives the middle school educators instant access to the highest quality standards aligned content and instructional materials.

我們對探索 ELA 感到非常興奮，這是一項針對六至八年級的新型數位補充研究型項目，它使中學教育工作者能夠即時存取符合最高品質標準的內容和教學材料。

With exciting units and more than 1,000 engaging text and multimedia resources, which leverage content from our Classroom Magazines, Explore ELA develops the knowledge and literacy students need to read grade level and increasingly complex texts. Also in final stages of development, the new Scholastic Knowledge Library is a small group solution that integrates knowledge acquisition with instruction in essential literacy skills to build strong readers in grades K through five.

憑藉令人興奮的單元和超過 1,000 個引人入勝的文本和多媒體資源（利用我們課堂雜誌的內容），Explore ELA 培養學生閱讀年級水平和日益複雜的文本所需的知識和素養。同樣處於發展的最後階段，新的學樂知識圖書館是一個小組解決方案，它將知識獲取與基本讀寫技能的教學相結合，以培養從幼兒​​園到五年級的優秀讀者。

The evidence-based program boosts vocabulary and knowledge to enable students to read complex text across disciplines with differentiated instruction for teachers to ensure all students can access grade level texts. Both programs will be in the market for the 2025-26 school year and are expected to contribute to next fiscal year results. We continue to be optimistic about our state and community literacy partner business in the second half of fiscal 2025, driven by expanded participation in state-sponsored programs as our partners continue investing to improve kids' access to books outside of school.

這個基於證據的計劃提高了學生的詞彙量和知識水平，使學生能夠閱讀跨學科的複雜文本，並為教師提供差異化教學，以確保所有學生都能閱讀到相應年級的文本。這兩個項目將於 2025-26 學年投入市場，預計將對下一財年的業績做出貢獻。隨著我們的合作夥伴繼續投資以改善孩子們在校外獲取書籍的機會，我們對 2025 財年下半年的州和社區掃盲合作夥伴業務繼續持樂觀態度，這得益於我們對州政府資助計畫的參與度擴大。

Overall, we remain positive about the opportunity for Scholastic's uniquely differentiated education business. As we move forward with our investments in new products and partnerships, as I just discussed. In the International segment, revenues were in line with prior year. We continue to make progress optimizing the business to drive growth.

總體而言，我們仍然對 Scholastic 獨特差異化教育業務的機會持樂觀態度。正如我剛才討論的，隨著我們對新產品和合作夥伴關係的投資而不斷推進。在國際部門，收入與上年持平。我們不斷取得進展，優化業務以推動成長。

Last quarter, we took steps to reorganize and realign our International Education portfolio to improve coordination and decision-making across our various growth markets. We've now consolidated our product and marketing teams so we can better leverage our on-the-ground market knowledge and go-to-market capabilities.

上個季度，我們採取措施重組和調整我們的國際教育組合，以改善我們各個成長市場的協調和決策。我們現在已經整合了我們的產品和行銷團隊，以便我們能夠更好地利用我們實地市場知識和進入市場的能力。

We continue to expect modest growth in major markets relative to fiscal 2024. As I laid out at the start of this year, Scholastic is focused on execution and achieving modest growth in fiscal 2025 as we navigate near-term headwinds in some of our markets. At the same time, we're continuing our investments to grow in our core and adjoining markets where favorable trends in Scholastic's brand, IP and channels present compelling opportunities.

我們繼續預期主要市場相對於 2024 財年將實現適度成長。正如我在今年年初所述，Scholastic 將專注於執行並在 2025 財年實現適度成長，以應對部分市場的短期逆風。同時，我們將繼續投資於我們的核心市場和鄰近市場，而 Scholastic 的品牌、智慧財產權和通路的良好趨勢為我們帶來了極具吸引力的機會。

The appointment last quarter of Jeff Mathews as our first Chief Growth Officer, is helping to accelerate these cross-company growth initiatives as we prioritized three key areas. First, developing direct-to-consumer offerings and channels that leverage our brand and IP; second, expanding our partnerships with public and private funders to increase kids and families’ access to books; and third, creating stories and characters that leverage Scholastic's unique editorial, book distribution and entertainment capabilities to engage more kids and create more valuable global franchises. We're already seeing more momentum in these areas, and I look forward to providing continued updates.

上個季度，我們任命傑夫馬修斯 (Jeff Mathews) 為我們首位首席成長官，這有助於加速這些跨公司成長計劃，因為我們優先考慮了三個關鍵領域。首先，開發利用我們的品牌和智慧財產權的直接面向消費者的產品和管道；第二，擴大與公共和私人資助者的合作，以增加兒童和家庭接觸書籍的機會；第三，利用學樂獨特的編輯、圖書發行和娛樂能力創作故事和人物，吸引更多孩子，創造更有價值的全球特許經營權。我們已經看到這些領域正在取得更多進展，我期待提供持續的更新。

And now I'll turn the call over to Haji to review our fiscal 2025 second quarter results and outlook for the remainder of the year.

現在，我將把電話交給哈吉，讓他回顧我們 2025 財年第二季的業績以及今年剩餘時間的展望。

Thank you, Peter, and good afternoon, everyone. Today, I will refer to our adjusted results for the second quarter, excluding one-time items, unless otherwise indicated. Please refer to our press release tables and SEC filings for a complete discussion of one-time items. As Peter discussed earlier, second quarter revenues decreased year-over-year, primarily due to timing-related factors in our Children's Book Publishing segment. Operating profits in the quarter decreased driven by these modest sales decline.

謝謝你，彼得，大家下午好。今天，我將參考我們第二季的調整後業績，不包括一次性項目，除非另有說明。有關一次性項目的完整討論，請參閱我們的新聞稿表和 SEC 文件。正如彼得之前所討論的，第二季度的收入年減，主要是由於我們兒童圖書出版部門的時間相關因素。受銷售額小幅下滑影響，本季營業利潤也出現下降。

Turning to our consolidated financial results. In the second quarter, revenues decreased 3% to $544.6 million. Operating income was $78.9 million compared to $101.3 million in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA was $108.7 million, relative to $124 million a year ago. Net income was $52 million from $76.9 million in the prior year period.

談到我們的合併財務表現。第二季度，營收下降 3% 至 5.446 億美元。營業收入為 7,890 萬美元，而去年同期為 1.013 億美元。調整後的 EBITDA 為 1.087 億美元，去年同期為 1.24 億美元。淨收入為 5,200 萬美元，去年同期為 7,690 萬美元。

On a per diluted share basis, earnings were $1.82 compared to $2.45 last year. Now turning to our segment results. In Children's Book Publishing and Distribution, revenues for the second quarter decreased 6% to $367 million, reflecting timing factors in our Trade Publishing, and Book Fairs channels.

以攤薄每股收益計算，每股收益為 1.82 美元，去年同期為 2.45 美元。現在來談談我們的分部業績。在兒童圖書出版與發行方面，第二季的收入下降 6% 至 3.67 億美元，反映了我們的貿易出版和書展管道的時間因素。

Segment operating income was $102.1 million, a decrease of $9.5 million from a prior year period. Within our School Reading Events division, Book Fairs revenues were $231 million in the quarter, a decrease of 5%, reflecting slightly lower fair count and revenue per fair.

分部營業收入為 1.021 億美元，較去年同期減少 950 萬美元。在我們的學校閱讀活動部門，本季書展收入為 2.31 億美元，下降 5%，反映出書展數量和每場書展收入略有下降。

Given the late Thanksgiving holiday in the US and the impact of hurricanes on schools in the South, a larger number of fair bookings occurred in December this year and our fiscal third quarter compared to a year ago. As a result, fair count was lower in the second quarter versus a year ago. As we increase fair count for the season, adding smaller fairs to the fall schedule, revenue per fair also decreased slightly. Still, RPF remained close to record levels and significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels.

由於美國感恩節假期較晚以及颶風對南部學校的影響，今年12月及我們第三財季的展會預訂數量與去年同期相比有所增加。因此，第二季的展會數量與去年同期相比有所下降。隨著我們增加本季的展會數量，在秋季展會安排中加入一些小型展會，每個展會的收入也略有下降。儘管如此，RPF仍接近歷史最高水平，且明顯高於疫情前的水平。

As Peter mentioned, we expect fair count to contribute to modest growth in our Book Fairs business this school year. Book Clubs revenue were $33.2 million in the quarter, an increase of 2%, reflecting higher revenue per sponsor and student per sponsor. After strategically transitioning Book Clubs to a smaller, more profitable core business in fiscal 2024, we successfully implemented new strategies to reengage sponsors and customers, and we're continuing to adapt various offerings to improve teacher engagement.

正如彼得所提到的，我們預計書展數量將促進本學年書展業務的適度成長。本季讀書會的收入為 3,320 萬美元，成長 2%，反映出每個贊助商的收入和每個贊助商的學生的收入都有所增加。在 2024 財年將讀書俱樂部策略性地轉型為規模更小、利潤更高的核心業務後，我們成功實施了新策略來重新吸引贊助商和客戶，並且我們將繼續調整各種產品以提高教師的參與度。

In our Trade Publishing division, revenues were $102.8 million in the second quarter compared to prior year period revenues of $117.9 million, in line with expectations. This reflected lower frontlist revenues compared to a year ago when sales benefited from big new titles in the Cat Kid Comic Club, Harry Potter, and Hunger Game franchises.

在我們的貿易出版部門，第二季的營收為 1.028 億美元，而去年同期的營收為 1.179 億美元，符合預期。這反映出與一年前相比，新書銷售量有所下降，當時銷售量受益於《貓小子漫畫俱樂部》、《哈利波特》和《飢餓遊戲》等系列新書的銷售量。

Excluding the impact of timing in the quarter, new publishing releases performed strongly and continue to top bestseller lists. We're excited about our major releases in the second half of this fiscal year, including Dog Man: Big Jim Begins, which published at the start of our third quarter and has already seen huge success worldwide, as well as a highly anticipated fifth book in the best-selling Hunger Games series, Sunrise on the Reaping, publishing at the start of our fourth quarter.

除去本季時間因素的影響，新出版作品表現強勁，繼續位居暢銷書榜首。我們對本財年下半年的主要發行感到非常興奮，包括《狗人：大吉姆的開始》，這本書在我們第三季度初出版並已在全球取得巨大成功，以及備受期待的暢銷書《飢餓遊戲》系列的第五本書《收割之日出》，這本書在我們第四季度初出版。

Turning to our Entertainment segment. As a reminder, this segment consolidates results from the company's existing Scholastic Entertainment division reported in the Children's Book segment prior to fiscal 2025, with results from 9 Story Media Group, in which we acquired 100% economic interest this past June.

轉向我們的娛樂部分。提醒一下，此部門合併了公司現有的 Scholastic Entertainment 部門在 2025 財年之前的兒童讀物部門報告的業績，以及 9 Story Media Group 的業績，我們於今年六月收購了該集團 100% 的經濟權益。

Entertainment segment revenues were $16.8 million, reflecting the contribution of 9 Story. Segment operating loss was $3.9 million, which includes increased amortization expense on intangible assets. On a pro forma basis, 9 Story revenues were in line relative to the prior year period as anticipated, primarily driven by delayed production green lines, as Peter detailed. While these industry-wide headwinds will impact production work in the short term, we continue to execute on the company-wide synergies, which should benefit this segment in fiscal 2026 and beyond.

娛樂部門收入為 1,680 萬美元，反映了 9 Story 的貢獻。分部營運虧損為 390 萬美元，其中包括無形資產攤銷費用的增加。從預測數據來看，9 Story 的營收與去年同期持平，符合預期，這主要受生產綠線延遲的影響，正如 Peter 所詳述的那樣。雖然這些產業範圍內的不利因素將在短期內影響生產工作，但我們將繼續發揮全公司範圍內的協同效應，這將使 2026 財年及以後的該部門受益。

Turning to Education Solutions, segment revenues were down 12% to $71.2 million in the second quarter, primarily reflecting lower spending on supplemental curriculum products, coupled with lower revenues from state-sponsored programs. As school districts focus on adopting and implementing new core programs, near-term pressures on supplemental literacy curricular continue to impact sales of supplemental instructional materials and key product lines, including classroom libraries and collections in the second quarter.

談到教育解決方案，第二季度該部門收入下降 12% 至 7,120 萬美元，主要反映了補充課程產品的支出減少，以及來自國家資助計畫的收入減少。由於學區專注於採用和實施新的核心課程，補充讀寫課程的短期壓力繼續影響第二季補充教學材料和主要產品線（包括教室圖書館和收藏品）的銷售。

As Peter noted, our teams are developing new supplemental products for schools, which we expect to contribute to fiscal 2026 results. Segment operating loss was $0.5 million in the second quarter compared to operating income of $5.8 million in the prior year period on lower sales.

正如彼得所說，我們的團隊正在為學校開發新的補充產品，我們預計這些產品將為 2026 財年的表現做出貢獻。由於銷售額下降，第二季分部營業虧損為 50 萬美元，而去年同期的營業收入為 580 萬美元。

Looking at the remainder of the year, we expect to continue to face headwinds in this segment as anticipated in fiscal 2025, as we move forward with our investments in this business. We remain optimistic about the state and community literacy partner business in the second half of fiscal 2025.

展望今年剩餘時間，隨著我們繼續對該業務進行投資，我們預計該領域將繼續面臨阻力，正如 2025 財年所預期的那樣。我們對 2025 財年下半年的州和社區掃盲合作夥伴業務仍然持樂觀態度。

International segment revenues were $86.7 million in the second quarter, in line with prior year period revenues. Excluding the $1.9 million year-over-year impact of favorable foreign currency exchange, International revenues were down $1.7 million, reflecting lower revenues in Australia, driven by softness in retail market.

第二季國際部門營收為 8,670 萬美元，與去年同期營收持平。除去外匯匯率有利帶來的 190 萬美元的年比影響，國際收入下降了 170 萬美元，反映出由於零售市場疲軟，澳洲的收入下降。

In the second half of the year, we expect modest growth in operational efficiencies to drive improvements in operating margins and contribution in the International segment, relative to the same period in fiscal 2024. Segment operating income decreased slightly to $7.1 million compared to $8 million in the prior year period. Unallocated overhead cost of $25.9 million in the second quarter increased from $23.3 million in the prior period, primarily driven by higher employee benefit costs.

與 2024 財年同期相比，我們預計下半年營運效率將略有成長，從而推動國際部門的營業利潤率和貢獻率的提高。分部營業收入較去年同期的 800 萬美元略有下降，至 710 萬美元。第二季未分配間接成本為 2,590 萬美元，較上一季的 2,330 萬美元增加，主要原因是員工福利成本增加。

Now I'm turning to cash flow and the balance sheet. Net cash provided by operating activities was $71.2 million compared to $109.7 million in the prior year. This decrease was primarily driven by higher inventory purchases, partly related to major releases later this fiscal year, higher interest payments related to the Company's borrowings and lower customer remittances on decreased sales.

現在我來談談現金流和資產負債表。經營活動產生的淨現金為 7,120 萬美元，而去年同期為 1.097 億美元。下降的主要原因是庫存採購量增加（部分與本財年稍後的主要產品發布有關）、公司借款相關的利息支付增加以及由於銷售額下降導致的客戶匯款減少。

Free cash flow in the second quarter was $42.4 million compared to $88.6 million in the prior year period, primarily reflecting lower operating cash flow. As a reminder, we now include production spending and borrowing related to production loans, both within the new Entertainment segment as part of our definition of free cash flow.

第二季自由現金流為 4,240 萬美元，而去年同期為 8,860 萬美元，主要反映了經營現金流的下降。提醒一下，我們現在將製作支出和與製作貸款相關的借款（均屬於新的娛樂部門）作為自由現金流定義的一部分。

Last quarter, consistent with our capital allocation priorities, we successfully upsized our unsecured revolving credit facility from $300 million to $400 million and reset the maturity into November 2029. At quarter end, the company had borrowings of $250 million under the facility. At the end of the quarter, net debt was $120.8 million compared to a net cash position of $107.7 million at the end of fiscal 2024, primarily driven by 9 Story Media Group acquisition, seasonal free cash use and cash returned to shareholders.

上個季度，根據我們的資本配置重點，我們成功地將無擔保循環信貸額度從 3 億美元增加到 4 億美元，並將到期日重設為 2029 年 11 月。截至季末，該公司已根據該貸款協議借款 2.5 億美元。截至本季末，淨債務為 1.208 億美元，而 2024 財年末的淨現金狀況為 1.077 億美元，這主要受收購 9 Story Media Group、季節性自由現金使用和返還給股東的現金推動。

We continue to return excess cash to our shareholders in the second quarter through our regular dividend and open market share repurchases. We repurchased 185,000 shares last quarter for $5 million. Together with our regular dividend, we returned over $10 million in the second quarter.

我們在第二季繼續透過定期股利和公開市場股票回購向股東返還多餘的現金。上個季度我們以 500 萬美元回購了 185,000 股。加上我們的常規股息，我們在第二季的回報超過 1000 萬美元。

We'll continue to pursue opportunities to optimize our strong 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. As we look ahead to the rest of the year, we've reaffirmed our fiscal year 2025 guidance.

我們將繼續尋求機會優化我們強勁的資產負債表並部署資本，首先是投資成長機會；第二，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，以提高股東回報。展望今年剩餘時間，我們重申了 2025 財年的指導方針。

We continue to expect revenue growth of 4% to 6%, and adjusted EBITDA of $140 million to $150 million. Looking at the outlook for the remainder of the year, in our seasonally smaller third quarter, we expect revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth compared to the prior year, largely driven by positive timing-related factors in our Trade and School Reading Events divisions that I discussed earlier.

我們繼續預期營收成長 4% 至 6%，調整後 EBITDA 為 1.4 億至 1.5 億美元。展望今年剩餘時間的前景，在我們季節性較小的第三季度，我們預計收入和調整後的 EBITDA 將與上年同期相比增長，這主要得益於我之前討論過的貿易和學校閱讀活動部門的積極時機相關因素。

We also anticipate solid performance in our fourth quarter, driven by our Trade division with the release of the Fifth Hunger Games book and modest growth in School Reading Events versus a relatively soft comparison in the prior year. The outlook for full year free cash flow remains between $20 million and $30 million, reflecting our planned capex and this year's larger than usual working capital investments. In a dynamic market, we believe Scholastic is well positioned to navigate and mitigate the potential impact of policy and other changes, as Peter discussed.

我們也預期第四季業績將表現穩健，這得益於我們的貿易部門發行《第五屆飢餓遊戲》一書，以及學校閱讀活動與去年同期相比的溫和成長。全年自由現金流預期仍在 2,000 萬美元至 3,000 萬美元之間，這反映了我們計劃的資本支出和今年比往常更大的營運資本投資。正如彼得所討論的，在動態的市場中，我們相信 Scholastic 能夠很好地應對和減輕政策和其他變化的潛在影響。

While we don't anticipate any of these market dynamics to impact our outlook for the remainder of fiscal 2025, we'll continue to closely monitor potential changes. We are also taking proactive steps to target additional cost actions that will benefit the current fiscal year and our cost structure going into next year.

雖然我們預計這些市場動態不會影響我們對 2025 財年剩餘時間的展望，但我們將繼續密切關注潛在的變化。我們也正在採取積極措施，採取額外的成本行動，這將有利於本財政年度和明年的成本結構。

As part of our ongoing efforts to align spending with our long-term priorities, we have cut back in discretionary non-revenue generating expenses, and consulting in non-priority functions and businesses. We have frozen hiring in these areas, too, and executed a series of strategic departmental reorganizations globally. We remain confident in Scholastic's long-term growth opportunity and look forward to the second half of fiscal 2025.

作為我們持續努力使支出與我們的長期優先事項保持一致的一部分，我們削減了可自由支配的非創收支出以及非優先職能和業務的諮詢費用。我們也凍結了這些地區的招聘，並在全球範圍內進行了一系列策略部門重組。我們對 Scholastic 的長期成長機會仍然充滿信心，並期待 2025 財年下半年。

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

感謝您今天抽出時間。現在我將把電話轉回給彼得，請他做最後的發言。

Thank you, Haji. After solidly executing in the second quarter and positive about Scholastic's prospects for the remainder of the year, we're focused on delivering modest growth. For next year and beyond, I'm excited about the investments we're currently making to leverage Scholastic's unique assets and strengths and profitably grow in and beyond our core markets, as I've discussed this afternoon.

謝謝你，哈吉。在第二季穩健執行並對 Scholastic 今年剩餘時間的前景持樂觀態度之後，我們專注於實現適度成長。正如我今天下午所討論的，對於明年及以後，我對我們目前正在進行的投資感到非常興奮，這些投資將利用 Scholastic 獨特的資產和優勢，並在我們的核心市場內外實現盈利增長。

I again want to acknowledge the dedication and innovation of our employees, the talent of the creators, teachers and parents we work with and the support of our shareholders, which together enable Scholastic to bring stories, reading and learning to kids around the globe. Thank you very much. Let me now turn the call over to Jeff.

我再次感謝我們員工的奉獻和創新，我們合作的創作者、教師和家長的才華以及我們股東的支持，這些共同使得學樂能夠為全球兒童帶來故事、閱讀和學習。非常感謝。現在讓我把電話轉給傑夫。

Thank you, Peter. With that, we will open the call for questions. Operator?

謝謝你，彼得。現在，我們將開始提問。操作員？

Thank you, Jeff. (Operator Instructions) Brendan McCarthy, Sidoti.

謝謝你，傑夫。（操作員指示） Brendan McCarthy，Sidoti。

I just wanted to start out at the segment margin level, specifically the Entertainment segment. I'm wondering if you could walk us through some of the dynamics and factors that drive margins in that new Entertainment segment? And what kind of drove segment operating loss for this recent quarter?

我只是想從細分利潤水平開始，特別是娛樂細分市場。我想知道您是否可以向我們介紹一下推動新娛樂領域利潤的一些動態和因素？那麼，是什麼原因導致了最近一個季度的分部營業虧損呢？

Brendan, this is Haji. How are you doing?

布倫丹，這是哈吉。你好嗎？

Good, Haji. How are you?

很好，哈吉。你好嗎？

All right. So just taking the Entertainment segment and mainly around the intangible impairments that we have, not impairments, the intangibles that we have in the business that actually impacted the quarter by at least two -- I think it was like $2.3 million, which is part of the buy of the deal. And then also we have production expenses as well. So those are the major drivers for the margin change.

好的。因此，僅就娛樂部門而言，主要圍繞我們的無形減值，而不是減值，我們業務中的無形資產實際上對本季度產生了至少 2% 的影響——我認為是 230 萬美元，這是交易的一部分。另外我們還有生產費用。這些是利潤率變化的主要驅動因素。

Got it. That makes sense. And then as a follow-up with the -- sorry, go ahead.

知道了。這很有道理。然後作為後續問題 — — 抱歉，請繼續。

Yes, it's also going to say, but all that stuff is being backed out when you look at the EBITDA.

是的，它也會這麼說，但是當你看 EBITDA 時，所有這些東西都被撤銷了。

Got it. Just as a follow-up for the Entertainment segment, the Dog Man movie that's due to come out in January 2025. What kind of role did 9 Story play in that production or distribution there? And maybe you could just kind of walk us through how that worked its way through the Entertainment business?

知道了。作為娛樂部分的後續，《狗人》電影將於 2025 年 1 月上映。9 Story 在該片的製作和發行中扮演了什麼樣的角色？也許您可以向我們介紹一下它在娛樂業中是如何運作的？

Yes. So, from that perspective, we didn't have anything to do with the actual Dog Man movie, that's actually done through DreamWorks, but what we see the benefit from is actually in the book sales. So, we're hoping that the movie gets the excitement that we need and that we continue to see a pull-through on the back list as well as the front list.

是的。因此，從這個角度來看，我們與實際的《狗人》電影沒有任何關係，這實際上是透過夢工廠完成的，但我們看到的好處實際上是在書籍銷售上。所以，我們希望這部電影能引起我們所需要的轟動，並且能夠繼續看到它在後期榜單和前列榜單上的受歡迎程度。

Got it. That makes sense. And then more of a broad question here on the Education Solutions side of the business, and as it relates to the incoming Trump administration, just I guess just curious as to what's your base case for any funding changes there. I know that Trump has mentioned potentially eliminating the Department of Education. Just curious as base case as to what changes we might see and ultimately how that will impact the business and spending?

知道了。這很有道理。然後這是一個關於教育解決方案業務方面的更廣泛的問題，因為它與即將上任的川普政府有關，我只是好奇您對那裡任何資金變化的基本情況是什麼。我知道川普曾提到可能取消教育部。只是好奇，作為基本情況，我們可能會看到什麼變化，以及最終這將如何影響業務和支出？

Well, in the -- Brendan, it's Peter. In the short term, we don't expect that to have any material impact one way or the other in our current financial year. I think going forward, what we're likely to see is a further decentralization really in terms of funding and decision-making from federal level to state and local levels. That's already happening, and of course, the big thing is that most of the funding -- most of the decision-making about educational books is actually done at State -- it's done at State and the local level.

嗯，--布倫丹，是彼得。短期內，我們預計這不會對我們目前財政年度產生任何重大影響。我認為展望未來，我們可能會看到資金和決策權從聯邦層級進一步分散到州和地方層級。這已經發生了，當然，最重要的是，大部分資金——大部分關於教育圖書的決策實際上是在州政府——在州政府和地方層級做出的。

It's not really done at federal level. It's done to some extent with federal funding, but the major funding has always been at State level. I think you're looking at only about 13% to 14% of funding for education being done from federal funding. Of course, we sell at the district level.

這實際上並未在聯邦層級完成。這在一定程度上是由聯邦政府資助的，但主要資金一直來自州一級。我認為你所看到的教育經費只有大約13%到14%來自聯邦政府的資助。當然，我們是在區級層級進行銷售。

Great. That's helpful. And then on the state literacy partnerships, I think you mentioned in the remarks, you're pretty optimistic about the outlook there for the rest of the fiscal year. Maybe you could talk about what's driving that optimism?

偉大的。這很有幫助。然後關於國家掃盲夥伴關係，我想您在評論中提到過，您對本財政年度剩餘時間的前景非常樂觀。也許您可以談談是什麼推動了這種樂觀情緒？

We've got more -- the main factor is actually we've got more students in our New World Reading initiative project in Florida, which we do with the Lastinger Center at the University of Florida. So those numbers are growing well, and it's been a big success as we've discussed in the past. We've also got other projects ongoing, but the big difference really in terms of our optimism for going forward is really the -- is the Florida project.

我們獲得了更多學生——主要的因素實際上是我們在佛羅裡達州的新世界閱讀計劃項目中獲得了更多的學生，這是我們與佛羅裡達大學拉斯廷格中心合作開展的。所以這些數字成長良好，正如我們過去討論的那樣，這是一個巨大的成功。我們還有其他項目正在進行中，但就我們對未來的樂觀程度而言，最大的不同實際上是佛羅裡達項目。

Got it. And one more question for me, just on the capital allocation priorities. Haji, I think you mentioned strengthening the balance sheet is kind of second in line there. How can we kind of think about leverage for where it stands now relative to your goals for leverage or where you would ultimately want leverage to fall long term?

知道了。我還有一個問題，關於資本配置優先事項。哈吉，我認為你提到加強資產負債表是第二位的。我們如何看待當前的槓桿率相對於您的槓桿率目標或您最終希望槓桿率長期下降的位置？

Well, right now, we're very much comfortable with our leverage that we have today. We're considering to increase modestly to support new growth initiatives that we have been contemplating within the organization, to continue to contemplate, because we do see a lot of adjacencies within the markets that we play in, and with our strong brand, we want to continue to leverage that. And then, of course, returning excess cash to shareholders is always a priority for us as well.

嗯，現在，我們對我們今天所擁有的優勢非常滿意。我們正在考慮適度增加以支持我們在組織內部一直在考慮的新增長計劃，並繼續考慮，因為我們確實看到我們所涉及的市場中存在很多相鄰關係，憑藉我們強大的品牌，我們希望繼續利用這一點。當然，向股東返還多餘的現金也始終是我們的首要任務。

Thank you. And this concludes our Q&A session for today. I will pass the call back to management for closing comments.

謝謝。今天的問答環節到此結束。我會將電話轉回管理階層，徵求他們的結束語。

Well, thank you, everyone, for joining today's call and for your continued support. I'd just like to, again, thank all of Scholastic’s employees for their great work this fall, executing on a solid back-to-school season and preparing for a big second half. We look forward to executing on our plan for fiscal 2025 and continuing to make progress towards realizing Scholastic's long-term opportunities. And of course, I wish everyone a happy holiday season.

好吧，感謝大家參加今天的電話會議並感謝大家一直以來的支持。我只想再次感謝 Scholastic 的所有員工今年秋天所做的出色工作，為開學季做好了充分的準備，並為下半年的重大活動做好了準備。我們期待執行 2025 財年計劃，並繼續朝著實現 Scholastic 的長期機會邁進。當然，我祝大家節日快樂。

And thank you so much. And this concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for participating, and you may now disconnect.

非常感謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的參與，現在您可以斷開連線了。