Steelcase Inc (SCS) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Regina, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Steelcase Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2023 Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Mr. O'Meara, you may begin the conference.

早上好。我叫 Regina，今天我將擔任你們的會議接線員。此時，我想歡迎大家參加 Steelcase 2023 財年第四季度電話會議。 （操作員說明）O'Meara 先生，您可以開始會議了。

Thank you, Regina. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for the recap of our fourth quarter fiscal 2023 financial results. Here with me today are Sara Armbruster, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Dave Sylvester, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Our fourth quarter earnings release, which crossed the wires yesterday, is accessible on our website. This conference call is being webcast, and this webcast is a copyrighted production of Steelcase Inc. A replay of this webcast will be posted to ir.steelcase.com later today.

謝謝你，里賈納。大家，早安。感謝您與我們一起回顧我們 2023 財年第四季度的財務業績。今天和我在一起的是我們的總裁兼首席執行官 Sara Armbruster；和我們的高級副總裁兼首席財務官 Dave Sylvester。我們的第四季度財報於昨天發布，可在我們的網站上訪問。此電話會議正在進行網絡直播，該網絡廣播是 Steelcase Inc. 的版權產品。該網絡廣播的重播將於今天晚些時候發佈到 ir.steelcase.com。

Our discussion today may include references to non-GAAP financial measures and forward-looking statements. Reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measures and details regarding the risks associated with the use of forward-looking statements are included in our earnings release. And we are incorporating by reference into this conference call the text of our safe harbor statement included in the release. Following our prepared remarks, we will respond to questions from investors and analysts. I will now turn the call over to our President and Chief Executive Officer, Sara Armbruster.

我們今天的討論可能包括對非 GAAP 財務指標和前瞻性陳述的引用。與最具可比性的 GAAP 措施的對賬以及與使用前瞻性報表相關的風險的詳細信息包含在我們的收益發布中。我們正在通過引用將我們在新聞稿中包含的安全港聲明的文本納入本次電話會議。在我們準備好的評論之後，我們將回答投資者和分析師的問題。我現在將電話轉交給我們的總裁兼首席執行官 Sara Armbruster。

Thanks, Mike, and hi, everyone, and thanks for joining our call today. Our fourth quarter results were better than we expected, as both revenue and EPS finished above the guidance range we provided in December. Stronger orders, higher pricing benefits and improved fulfillment rates combined to generate the increased sales. We continue to drive improvement in our gross margin, which is up 370 basis points on a year-over-year basis as our pricing actions continue to recover the inflation we've been absorbing.

謝謝邁克，大家好，感謝您今天加入我們的電話會議。我們的第四季度業績好於我們的預期，因為收入和每股收益均高於我們在 12 月份提供的指導範圍。更強的訂單、更高的定價優勢和更高的履約率共同促進了銷售額的增長。我們繼續推動毛利率的改善，毛利率同比增長 370 個基點，因為我們的定價行動繼續恢復我們一直在吸收的通貨膨脹。

We also continue to optimize our spending by shifting investments to our most critical initiatives and driving efficiencies in our processes. On the supply chain side, we saw significant improvement in our operational metrics as our network of suppliers stabilized their performance and as we benefited from adjustments in our own operations. At the end of the fourth quarter, 96% of our products were at standard lead times.

我們還通過將投資轉移到我們最關鍵的計劃並提高流程效率來繼續優化我們的支出。在供應鏈方面，隨著我們的供應商網絡表現穩定以及我們從自身運營的調整中受益，我們的運營指標有了顯著改善。到第四季度末，我們 96% 的產品處於標準交貨期。

On the cost side, we still are experiencing inflationary pressures in EMEA due to energy prices, and in some commodities in the Americas, such as plastics, aluminum and packaging. But on an overall basis, we've seen inflation levels begin to moderate. Dave will cover the quarter's results in more detail shortly. And I'd like to comment now on the 3 main pillars of our strategy and the results we're delivering.

在成本方面，由於能源價格，我們在 EMEA 以及美洲的一些商品（如塑料、鋁和包裝）中仍然面臨通脹壓力。但總體而言，我們已經看到通脹水平開始放緩。戴夫將很快更詳細地介紹本季度的結果。我現在想評論我們戰略的 3 個主要支柱和我們正在交付的結果。

Fiscal 2023 was a pivotal year for Steelcase. We delivered 17% revenue growth and significantly higher earnings as compared to fiscal 2022. We overcame a second year of extraordinary inflationary pressure and supply chain challenges. And I'm proud of our employees for the tremendous commitment and resiliency they showed in delivering these results. As we look towards fiscal 2024, we're committed to improving our overall financial performance. We aim to balance delivering higher short-term profits with supporting the investments needed to deliver our longer-term strategies.

2023 財年對 Steelcase 來說是關鍵的一年。與 2022 財年相比，我們實現了 17% 的收入增長和顯著更高的收益。我們克服了第二年的異常通脹壓力和供應鏈挑戰。我為我們的員工感到自豪，因為他們在取得這些成果的過程中表現出了巨大的承諾和韌性。展望 2024 財年，我們致力於改善整體財務業績。我們的目標是在提供更高的短期利潤與支持實現我們的長期戰略所需的投資之間取得平衡。

Regarding our strategy, one of our core initiatives is to lead the workplace transformation that's arisen in the past few years. Many business leaders want their people to spend time together. And in recent months, a notable number of larger companies in the United States have announced workplace strategies that emphasize the importance of an in-office presence. The large corporations we serve increasingly want to imagine, test and implement alternative structures to the work week to bring people together in predictable, consistent ways. And we've seen opportunity creation in the Americas grow on a year-over-year basis for 8 of the last 9 months. In addition, our win rates have remained solid, and we saw a sequential strengthening in project orders from our large corporate customers this quarter.

關於我們的戰略，我們的核心舉措之一是引領過去幾年出現的工作場所轉型。許多商業領袖希望他們的員工花時間在一起。最近幾個月，美國許多大公司都宣布了工作場所戰略，強調在辦公室工作的重要性。我們服務的大公司越來越希望想像、測試和實施工作週的替代結構，以可預測、一致的方式將人們聚集在一起。在過去 9 個月中有 8 個月，我們看到美洲創造的機會同比增長。此外，我們的贏單率一直保持穩定，本季度我們看到來自大型企業客戶的項目訂單環比增加。

The second pillar of our strategy is our diversification efforts, which are centered around educational institutions, small to midsized companies and consumers. In education, our Smith System business is a leader in providing solutions for K-12 classrooms, and this business grew 13% this year after growing nearly 50% in fiscal 2022. Our AMQ business is aimed at serving the needs of small and midsized companies who frequently desire a fast, simple purchasing experience, and we achieved great results with AMQ delivering 32% growth this year. Our consumer business grew 7% on a global basis, primarily driven by the expansion of our programs in EMEA and Asia Pacific.

我們戰略的第二個支柱是我們的多元化努力，以教育機構、中小型公司和消費者為中心。在教育領域，我們的 Smith System 業務是為 K-12 教室提供解決方案的領導者，該業務在 2022 財年增長近 50% 後，今年增長了 13%。我們的 AMQ 業務旨在滿足中小型公司的需求那些經常渴望快速、簡單的購買體驗的人，我們取得了很好的成績，AMQ 今年實現了 32% 的增長。我們的消費者業務在全球範圍內增長了 7%，這主要是由於我們在 EMEA 和亞太地區的計劃擴展所推動的。

So many of our customers, whether the world's largest companies or a local community college or a small business, are asking Steelcase for guidance. And our insights are key to helping them make decisions about their spaces. So for this reason, we continue to invest in product innovation for every customer segment we serve with the goal of leading. We are committed to solving some of today's biggest workspace challenges and finding new ways to integrate technology to keep teams connected and help people collaborate. And Steelcase's long-standing leadership in product design and innovation now is bolstered even further by the incredible work of the teams at Viccarbe, HALCON and Orangebox, along with partner brands like West Elm.

我們的許多客戶，無論是世界上最大的公司還是當地的社區學院或小型企業，都在向 Steelcase 尋求指導。我們的見解是幫助他們做出空間決策的關鍵。因此，出於這個原因，我們以領先的目標繼續為我們服務的每個客戶群投資產品創新。我們致力於解決當今一些最大的工作空間挑戰，並尋找新的方法來集成技術以保持團隊聯繫並幫助人們協作。 Steelcase 在產品設計和創新方面的長期領導地位現在得到了 Viccarbe、HALCON 和 Orangebox 團隊以及 West Elm 等合作品牌令人難以置信的工作的進一步支持。

And we're innovating beyond product and across segments. We're investing in and reinventing our go-to-market model and creating new experiences for our customers. So whether it's local tailored showroom experiences for our corporate customer or new digital tools to enable a small business, we're taking a look at how we help customers engage with us in the way they desire. As we make these choices and bring innovation to the customer experience, I expect we will accelerate our positive momentum.

我們正在超越產品和跨領域進行創新。我們正在投資並重塑我們的上市模式，並為我們的客戶創造新的體驗。因此，無論是為我們的企業客戶量身定制的本地展廳體驗，還是為小型企業提供支持的新數字工具，我們都在研究如何幫助客戶以他們希望的方式與我們互動。當我們做出這些選擇並為客戶體驗帶來創新時，我預計我們將加速我們的積極勢頭。

Next, we continue to focus on driving higher levels of profitability, which is our third pillar. While some of the things we're working on are large-scale changes such as business transformation and larger footprint changes in our operations, we remain equally committed to going after near-term and more incremental improvement opportunities. So whether it's a packaging change to improve performance while reducing costs or the rearrangement of factory floor space to improve flow, we're pursuing numerous ideas to generate value now.

接下來，我們將繼續專注於推動更高水平的盈利能力，這是我們的第三大支柱。雖然我們正在努力的一些事情是大規模的變化，例如業務轉型和我們運營中更大的足跡變化，但我們仍然同樣致力於追求近期和更多漸進的改進機會。因此，無論是改變包裝以提高性能同時降低成本，還是重新安排工廠佔地面積以改善流程，我們現在都在尋求無數想法來創造價值。

Finally, I'd like to highlight that even while we focus on leading workplace transformation, diversifying the customer and market segments we serve and increasing our profitability, we're not letting up on our ESG ambitions. This past year saw significant progress against our ESG goals, and here are a few of the ways we're sharing our expertise to better serve our customers, partner with our suppliers and support our dealers.

最後，我想強調的是，即使我們專注於引領工作場所轉型、實現我們所服務的客戶和細分市場的多元化以及提高我們的盈利能力，我們也不會放棄我們在 ESG 方面的雄心壯志。在過去的一年裡，我們在實現 ESG 目標方面取得了重大進展，以下是我們分享專業知識以更好地服務客戶、與供應商合作並支持經銷商的一些方式。

Steelcase continues to lead the industry in new products with BIFMA-level certification and is continuously exploring new innovations in materials, chemistry and product sustainability with a recent great example being the launch of the carbon-neutral Series 1 chair. As we strive for greater circularity in our own business, we're also developing and launching ways to pass that along to our customers through products and services that consider the full life cycle of our solutions.

Steelcase 在獲得 BIFMA 級認證的新產品方面繼續引領行業，並不斷探索材料、化學和產品可持續性方面的新創新，最近推出的碳中和系列 1 椅子就是一個很好的例子。在我們努力提高自身業務的循環性的同時，我們還開發並推出了一些方法，通過考慮我們解決方案整個生命週期的產品和服務將循環性傳遞給我們的客戶。

And in addition to reducing carbon emissions in our owned operations, we're also partnering with suppliers to help them set their own science-based targets for carbon emissions. And we're working with our dealers to help them as they expand their commitments to diversity by sharing resources and tools to guide and inspire them. There's more I could share but I think the best evidence of progress is the recognition we're getting from others who see that progress, too. In fact, this past year alone, we were named a World's Most Admired Company by Fortune, a Forbes Best Employer for Women and a Forbes Best Employer for New Graduates. And we earned a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index.

除了減少我們自有業務的碳排放外，我們還與供應商合作，幫助他們設定自己的基於科學的碳排放目標。我們正在與我們的經銷商合作，通過共享資源和工具來指導和激勵他們，幫助他們擴大對多元化的承諾。我可以分享更多，但我認為進步的最好證據是我們從其他看到這種進步的人那裡得到的認可。事實上，僅在過去一年，我們就被《財富》雜誌評為全球最受讚賞的公司、福布斯女性最佳雇主和福布斯新畢業生最佳雇主。我們在人權運動的企業平等指數中獲得滿分。

So I'm not only proud of our progress and excited about what lies ahead, but I'm convinced we have the right strategy to lead the workplace transformation, drive growth as we diversify the customers and markets we serve and improve our profitability. This strategy, along with the efforts of everyone at Steelcase is yielding results. We achieved gains in fiscal 2023 in a difficult environment, and we look forward to the potential of fiscal 2024. So with that, I'll turn it over to Dave to review the financial results and our fiscal 2024 outlook.

因此，我不僅為我們的進步感到自豪，對未來感到興奮，而且我相信我們有正確的戰略來引領工作場所轉型，在我們服務的客戶和市場多樣化的同時推動增長，並提高我們的盈利能力。這一戰略以及 Steelcase 每個人的努力正在取得成果。我們在困難的環境中取得了 2023 財年的收益，我們期待 2024 財年的潛力。因此，我將把它交給 Dave 來審查財務結果和我們的 2024 財年展望。

Thank you, Sara, and good morning, everyone. Today, I will cover our fourth quarter results, share a few summary remarks about the fiscal year and provide some color about our outlook for the first quarter and our targets for fiscal 2024. Regarding the fourth quarter, our financial results were significantly better than we expected. Revenue of $802 million reflected organic growth of 6% compared to the prior year. And the organic growth was driven by the Americas, which grew 10% while EMEA grew 2%. The Other segment declined 10%, driven by Asia Pacific and the impacts of the COVID-related restrictions in China earlier in the year as well as broader economic uncertainty.

謝謝你，薩拉，大家早上好。今天，我將介紹我們的第四季度業績，分享一些關於本財年的總結，並對我們對第一季度的展望和我們 2024 財年的目標提供一些色彩。關於第四季度，我們的財務業績明顯好於我們預期的。 8.02 億美元的收入反映出與上一年相比有機增長 6%。有機增長由美洲推動，美洲增長 10%，而 EMEA 增長 2%。其他部分下降 10%，受亞太地區和今年早些時候中國與 COVID 相關限制的影響以及更廣泛的經濟不確定性的影響。

Revenue in the Americas benefited from stronger orders than we anticipated, especially in December and notably related to project business from our large corporate customers. In addition, supply chain improvements enabled faster order fulfillment patterns, which resulted in less orders being pushed out at the end of the quarter. Our better-than-expected adjusted earnings were driven by the Americas, primarily due to the stronger revenue, but favorable pricing and better operational efficiencies also contributed. This favorability was partially offset by lower volume and higher inflation in EMEA.

美洲的收入受益於比我們預期更強勁的訂單，尤其是在 12 月份，尤其是與我們大型企業客戶的項目業務有關。此外，供應鏈的改進實現了更快的訂單履行模式，從而減少了本季度末推出的訂單。我們好於預期的調整後收益是由美洲推動的，主要是由於收入增加，但有利的定價和更好的運營效率也有所貢獻。這種青睞被歐洲、中東和非洲地區較低的銷量和較高的通脹率部分抵消。

Operating expenses were slightly above our Q4 estimate due primarily to higher variable compensation expense driven by our better-than-expected earnings. We continue to benefit from the actions we took earlier in the year to reduce spending in headcount, which helped offset a $5 million charge related to an earn-out liability associated with the recent acquisition, which is outperforming our initial value creation plan. Consistent with our Q4 estimate, we recorded $9 million of gains from the sale of fixed assets.

營業費用略高於我們對第四季度的估計，這主要是由於我們好於預期的收益導致可變補償費用增加。我們繼續受益於我們今年早些時候採取的減少員工支出的行動，這有助於抵消與最近收購相關的賺取負債相關的 500 萬美元費用，這超出了我們最初的價值創造計劃。與我們對第四季度的估計一致，我們記錄了 900 萬美元的固定資產出售收益。

As it relates to cash flow and the balance sheet, we generated strong free cash flow in Q4, driven by stronger-than-expected earnings and a reduction in working capital primarily due to lower inventory. As a result, we repaid the remaining $34 million of borrowings under our global credit facility and cash balances increased by $35 million. At the end of the quarter, our liquidity totaled $248 million, and total debt aggregated to $481 million, including $32 million of term debt related to our aircraft financing. The aircraft financing matures on May 1, and we expect to pay off this financing during the first quarter. Depending on the timing of the expected sales of our aircraft, the payoff may be funded by a combination of the sales proceeds, cash on hand or temporary borrowings under our credit facility.

由於與現金流和資產負債表相關，我們在第四季度產生了強勁的自由現金流，這是由於收益強於預期以及主要由於庫存減少導致營運資金減少。因此，我們償還了全球信貸安排下剩餘的 3400 萬美元借款，現金餘額增加了 3500 萬美元。本季度末，我們的流動資金總額為 2.48 億美元，債務總額為 4.81 億美元，其中包括與我們的飛機融資相關的 3200 萬美元定期債務。飛機融資將於 5 月 1 日到期，我們預計將在第一季度還清這筆融資。根據我們飛機的預期銷售時間，收益可能由銷售收益、手頭現金或我們信貸額度下的臨時藉款共同提供。

At the end of the fourth quarter, our ratio of debt to trailing 4-quarter adjusted EBITDA approximated 2.3x, and it's less than 2x on a net debt basis, taking into consideration our cash balances. Regarding orders in the quarter, we posted a year-over-year order decline of 8% in the fourth quarter, including declines of 9% in the Americas and 24% in the other category, while EMEA grew 2%. The decline in the Americas moderated as compared to the 16% year-over-year decline in the third quarter, but the year-over-year comparisons trended unfavorably over the course of the quarter before improving over the first 3 weeks of March. Specifically, orders in the Americas declined by 3% in December, 6% in January and 19% in February versus the prior year. And in the first 3 weeks of March, orders in the Americas grew by 4% and were approximately flat on a consolidated basis.

第四季度末，我們的債務與過去 4 季度調整後的 EBITDA 之比約為 2.3 倍，考慮到我們的現金餘額，按淨債務計算，該比率不到 2 倍。關於本季度的訂單，我們公佈第四季度訂單同比下降 8%，其中美洲下降 9%，其他類別下降 24%，而 EMEA 增長 2%。與第三季度 16% 的同比降幅相比，美洲的降幅有所緩和，但在 3 月的前 3 周有所改善之前，整個季度的同比降幅都呈不利趨勢。具體而言，美洲的訂單在 12 月份下降了 3%，1 月份下降了 6%，2 月份下降了 19%。而在 3 月的前 3 週，美洲的訂單增長了 4%，在綜合基礎上基本持平。

Turning to our outlook for the first quarter. We expect to report revenue within a range of $710 million to $735 million, which would reflect a moderate decline year-over-year, yet we expect to report adjusted earnings per share of between $0.01 and $0.05, which would be an increase compared to a $0.05 adjusted loss per share in the prior year. In addition to the projected range of revenue, the earnings estimate includes estimated gross margin of approximately 29.5%, which is approximately 350 basis points higher than the prior year; operating expenses of between $205 million to $210 million, which includes $10 million of expected gains from the sale of fixed assets; and lastly, we expect interest expense and other nonoperating items to net to approximately $4 million, and we are estimating an effective tax rate of 27%.

談談我們對第一季度的展望。我們預計報告的收入將在 7.1 億美元至 7.35 億美元之間，這將反映出同比溫和下降，但我們預計報告的調整後每股收益將在 0.01 美元至 0.05 美元之間，與上一年調整後每股虧損 0.05 美元。除了預期的收入範圍外，盈利預測還包括約 29.5% 的毛利率，比上年高出約 350 個基點；運營費用在 2.05 億美元至 2.1 億美元之間，其中包括 1000 萬美元的固定資產出售預期收益；最後，我們預計利息支出和其他非經營性項目淨額約為 400 萬美元，我們估計有效稅率為 27%。

As we look to the full fiscal year of 2024, we are approaching the demand environment with cautious optimism. More large corporations in the U.S. are requiring their employees to return to their offices for a minimum number of days. And project opportunity creation in the Americas has grown compared to the prior year in 8 of the last 9 months. However, we are beginning the year with a backlog that is 14% lower on a consolidated basis than the prior year. And the overall macroeconomic and geopolitical environment remains relatively unstable.

展望 2024 年整個財年，我們正以謹慎樂觀的態度對待需求環境。美國越來越多的大公司要求他們的員工返回辦公室至少停留幾天。在過去 9 個月中有 8 個月，美洲的項目機會創造與上一年相比有所增長。然而，我們今年年初的積壓訂單在綜合基礎上比上一年減少了 14%。總體宏觀經濟和地緣政治環境仍然相對不穩定。

As a result, we are targeting the following for fiscal 2024. For revenue, we are targeting moderate organic revenue growth, which includes projected pricing benefits, largely offset by a decline in volume. As it relates to volume, we expect a decline from large corporate customers, which is being driven by our lower beginning backlog but is expected to improve over the course of the year. And we expect this decline to be partially offset by volume growth across the customer segments of education, health and small to midsized corporate companies.

因此，我們的目標是在 2024 財年實現以下目標。對於收入，我們的目標是溫和的有機收入增長，其中包括預計的定價優勢，這在很大程度上被銷量下降所抵消。就數量而言，我們預計大型企業客戶的銷量會下降，這是由於我們較低的開始積壓訂單導致的，但預計在今年會有所改善。我們預計這一下降將部分被教育、健康和中小型企業客戶群的銷量增長所抵消。

For gross margin, we are targeting between 30.5% and 31.5% for fiscal 2024, with the improvement compared to fiscal 2023 primarily driven by projected pricing benefits, net of moderate inflation. As a reminder, we estimate the cumulative benefits from our pricing actions over the last 2 years now approximate the cumulative inflation we absorbed through the end of fiscal 2023. For operating expenses, we are planning higher investments in strategic initiatives and higher employee costs, partially offset by a full year of benefits from the actions we implemented in the second half of fiscal 2023.

對於毛利率，我們的目標是 2024 財年的毛利率在 30.5% 至 31.5% 之間，與 2023 財年相比有所改善，這主要是由於預計定價收益（扣除適度通脹）。提醒一下，我們估計過去 2 年定價行動的累計收益現在接近我們在 2023 財年末吸收的累計通貨膨脹。對於運營費用，我們計劃增加對戰略計劃的投資和更高的員工成本，部分被我們在 2023 財年下半年實施的行動帶來的全年收益所抵消。

Lastly, I'll share some other details for your fiscal 2024 modeling. We are targeting for nonoperating items to net to approximately $16 million. We are estimating an effective tax rate of 27%, and we are targeting capital expenditures of between $70 million to $80 million. Taking all of these estimates into consideration, we are targeting adjusted earnings of between $0.55 to $0.75 per share for fiscal 2024.

最後，我將分享您的 2024 財年建模的其他一些細節。我們的目標是使非經營項目的淨額達到約 1600 萬美元。我們估計有效稅率為 27%，我們的目標資本支出在 7000 萬至 8000 萬美元之間。考慮到所有這些估計，我們的目標是 2024 財年調整後的每股收益在 0.55 美元至 0.75 美元之間。

In closing, we navigated a very challenging environment during fiscal 2023, fraught with additional inflation and supply chain disruptions as well as continued hesitancy by our largest corporate customers to mandate a more significant presence in their offices. And yet, we delivered strong growth in revenue and earnings while advancing our longer-term strategy. As we begin fiscal 2024, our beginning backlog is lower than prior year and broader uncertainty remains relatively high. However, we believe we are well positioned to deliver our targeted level of revenue and earnings growth.

最後，我們在 2023 財年度過了一個非常具有挑戰性的環境，充滿了額外的通貨膨脹和供應鏈中斷，以及我們最大的企業客戶繼續猶豫是否要求在他們的辦公室設立更重要的存在。然而，在推進我們的長期戰略的同時，我們實現了收入和收益的強勁增長。在我們開始 2024 財年之際，我們的初始積壓低於上一年，更廣泛的不確定性仍然相對較高。然而，我們相信我們有能力實現我們的目標收入和盈利增長水平。

We project additional benefits from our pricing actions. We believe volume growth across our education, health and mid-market segments will help offset some of the expected decline from large corporate customers. And we believe the tide is turning on return to office for our larger customers, which will help drive increased investment in their workspaces over the course of the year. From there, we will turn it over for questions.

我們計劃從我們的定價行動中獲得額外收益。我們相信，我們教育、健康和中端市場細分市場的銷量增長將有助於抵消大型企業客戶的部分預期下滑。我們相信，大客戶重返辦公室的潮流正在轉向，這將有助於推動他們在這一年中增加對工作空間的投資。從那裡，我們將把它交給問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Our first question comes from the line of Reuben Garner with The Benchmark Company.

我們的第一個問題來自 The Benchmark Company 的 Reuben Garner。

Can we start with the top line outlook, I guess, both for the coming quarter and beyond? I was wondering if you could help, backlog down, I think you said 14% year-over-year. Your orders were down, this past quarter, 8%, I think, consolidated. And the outlook for the quarter is significantly better than both of those. Is that just a product of the recent kind of stabilization in order rates that you talked about? And then if you could maybe give some color on the full year volume versus price assumed to kind of get to that modest growth for FY '24.

我想，我們可以從下個季度及以後的頂線展望開始嗎？我想知道你是否可以提供幫助，減少積壓，我想你說的是同比增長 14%。您的訂單在上個季度下降了 8%，我認為是合併的。本季度的前景明顯好於這兩個。這只是您談到的最近訂單率穩定的產物嗎？然後，如果你可以給出全年銷量與價格的一些顏色，假設在 24 財年實現適度增長。

Yes. I mean, your first question related to the outlook for the first quarter and its connection to backlog or being better than backlog is exactly what you summarized. I mean, as we look at our opportunity creation and pipeline of projects that our sales organization are working on, that has improved 8 of the last 9 months, we've been waiting for it to start to show up in orders, and it feels like it is starting to show up a bit more significantly.

是的。我的意思是，您的第一個問題與第一季度的前景及其與積壓或優於積壓的聯繫正是您總結的。我的意思是，當我們審視我們的銷售組織正在開展的機會創造和項目管道時，在過去 9 個月中有 8 個月有所改善，我們一直在等待它開始出現在訂單中，感覺就像它開始變得更加明顯一樣。

Not only did we see improvement in our order patterns for the first 3 weeks of March, which is not a month and is not a quarter of orders, but more importantly, we saw, in December, some of that project activity starts showing up in our order patterns from our larger corporate customers. So what's embedded in the guidance is a belief that not only will we ship our backlog, not only will our education and health care and mid-market business continue at its pace but that the larger corporate companies will start to get back into the game a little bit more meaningfully as well. Does that answer your first question?

我們不僅看到 3 月前 3 週的訂單模式有所改善，這不是一個月也不是訂單的四分之一，更重要的是，我們看到，在 12 月，一些項目活動開始出現在我們來自大型企業客戶的訂單模式。因此，指南中包含的信念是，我們不僅會運送我們的積壓訂單，不僅我們的教育和醫療保健以及中端市場業務將繼續保持原樣，而且大型企業將開始重新投入遊戲也更有意義一點。這是否回答了您的第一個問題？

Yes. And then the volume versus price for the full year outlook to get to growth? I guess a better way to ask is what kind of volume declines can you withstand from pricing actions you already have in place?

是的。然後全年展望實現增長的數量與價格？我想更好的問法是你可以承受什麼樣的銷量下降，因為你已經採取了定價行動？

Well, we're not going to share those details. I mean, we do have projected pricing benefits for the year that we've embedded into our guidance. I just kind of gave you a high-level assumption that pricing benefits will be offset by a volume decline, which is being driven by large corporate customers. So you're going to have to make some assumptions on your own for those different components.

好吧，我們不會分享這些細節。我的意思是，我們確實已經將今年的定價收益納入我們的指導中。我只是給了你一個高層次的假設，即定價優勢將被銷量下降所抵消，而銷量下降是由大型企業客戶推動的。因此，您將不得不自己對這些不同的組件做出一些假設。

But you can imagine, as we're now going into the third year of capturing pricing benefits and the fact that inflation has been slowing down at least, that we're -- our pricing benefits are expected to slow down as well, meaning they won't be at the same size next year that they were this year.

但你可以想像，隨著我們現在進入獲得定價收益的第三個年頭以及通脹至少已經放緩的事實，我們 - 我們的定價收益預計也會放緩，這意味著它們明年的尺寸將與今年不同。

Got it. And in the prepared remarks or in the press release, you talked about increased investments in the SG&A line on some of these strategic initiatives. I was wondering if you could, one, quantify what kind of investments you're making. Any specifics you could give on what exactly those investments are? Is it people? Is it new products? And then I guess, what kind of plans do you have if maybe the top line environment is a little worse than you're expecting, is that something where you can pull back? Or would you likely continue to invest just because of the long-term vision you have for those opportunities?

知道了。在準備好的評論或新聞稿中，您談到了在其中一些戰略舉措中增加對 SG&A 系列的投資。我想知道你是否可以量化你正在進行的投資類型。關於這些投資到底是什麼，你能提供任何細節嗎？是人嗎？是新產品嗎？然後我想，如果頂線環境可能比您預期的要差一點，您有什麼樣的計劃，這是您可以撤回的事情嗎？還是僅僅因為您對這些機會的長期願景，您可能會繼續投資？

Well, maybe I'll start with the long-term vision and then Dave can talk about some of the quantification. I mean, we've talked pretty consistently about how we continue to try to balance delivering short-term profits with staying invested in the longer-term strategy. So with respect to the specific initiatives that those investments are going after, I mean, it's really spread across a number of the things I talked about, our commitment to staying invested in product innovation to solve our customers' most pressing workplace needs, our continued investment in the diversification strategy and helping support initiatives like our mid-market initiative, our education business continue to grow.

好吧，也許我會從長期願景開始，然後戴夫可以談談一些量化問題。我的意思是，我們一直在談論我們如何繼續努力平衡提供短期利潤和保持對長期戰略的投資。因此，關於這些投資所追求的具體舉措，我的意思是，它實際上涵蓋了我談到的許多事情，我們致力於繼續投資於產品創新以解決客戶最緊迫的工作場所需求，我們繼續投資多元化戰略並幫助支持像我們的中端市場計劃這樣的計劃，我們的教育業務繼續增長。

It's really kind of across the board in terms of those 3 pillars. So at a high level, we have been committed to those 3 important strategies and we remain committed to those 3 important strategies. And as we have the opportunity to continue to invest in those to drive those forward, that's what we're doing. So at a high level, that's how I would describe kind of where the money will go.

就這 3 個支柱而言，它確實是全面的。因此，在高層次上，我們一直致力於這 3 項重要戰略，並且我們將繼續致力於這 3 項重要戰略。由於我們有機會繼續投資於那些以推動它們向前發展，這就是我們正在做的事情。所以在高層次上，這就是我描述資金流向的方式。

Yes. And at a more detailed level, you might be disappointed in my answer so I'll give you the quick answer is I think you asked 4 or 5 questions in there. And I think the answer to all of them is yes, that we are investing in people. We are investing in growth in our strategies. We are investing in our profitability enhancements. We didn't size it for you guys because, frankly, we will use that as a lever if our top line and gross margin assumptions don't play out fully.

是的。在更詳細的層面上，您可能會對我的回答感到失望，所以我會快速回答您，我認為您在那裡問了 4 或 5 個問題。我認為所有這些問題的答案都是肯定的，我們正在投資於人。我們正在投資於我們戰略的增長。我們正在投資於提高盈利能力。我們沒有為你們調整規模，因為坦率地說，如果我們的收入和毛利率假設沒有充分發揮作用，我們將把它作為一個槓桿。

I mean, if I look back at fiscal 2023, we didn't spend the initial plan that we put in place because the top line and gross margins didn't play out as we planned. So we adjusted our expectations, prioritized and remained invested but not at the level that we had initially planned. So it's a lever that we'll use and we'll be quite careful, given our cautious optimism, but we also feel pretty good about where we're positioned. And I'll tell you again, 8 of the last 9 months of opportunity creation growing over the prior year is we feel pretty good about.

我的意思是，如果我回顧 2023 財年，我們沒有花掉我們制定的最初計劃，因為收入和毛利率沒有按照我們的計劃發揮作用。因此，我們調整了我們的預期，確定優先次序並繼續投資，但沒有達到我們最初計劃的水平。因此，鑑於我們謹慎的樂觀態度，這是我們將使用的一個槓桿，我們會非常小心，但我們也對自己的定位感到非常滿意。我會再次告訴你，過去 9 個月中有 8 個月的機會創造比前一年增長，我們感覺非常好。

I think you gave me too much credit. I don't know if I got 4 or 5 but I'll check tape. Congrats on the strong close to the year and good luck.

我覺得你給了我太多的信任。我不知道我得到的是 4 還是 5，但我會檢查磁帶。祝賀年末強勢，好運連連。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Your next question comes from the line of Greg Burns with Sidoti.

你的下一個問題來自 Greg Burns 與 Sidoti 的對話。

How big is China? How far below pre-pandemic levels is that business operating? And are you seeing any improvements there now that China is kind of backing off some of their COVID restrictions?

中國有多大？該企業的運營水平比大流行前水平低多少？現在中國正在取消一些 COVID 限制，你看到那裡有什麼改善嗎？

Yes, Greg, we haven't disclosed the size of China. I mean, you could make an estimate based on the size of the other category. You know that it's Asia and Designtex. And I think most people have a rough idea of the mix of those 2 businesses. And we've talked about China and India being our primary markets that we target. So it's down considerably from its peak.

是的，格雷格，我們還沒有透露中國的規模。我的意思是，您可以根據其他類別的大小進行估算。你知道這是亞洲和 Designtex。而且我認為大多數人對這兩種業務的組合有一個粗略的了解。我們已經談到中國和印度是我們的主要目標市場。所以它比它的峰值下降了很多。

But importantly, the activity levels that we're seeing across Asia in general, in fact, Sara and I just were looking at a mockup activity that our head of the region had shared with us earlier in the week. And it is pretty strong at the moment so we're -- it's too early to be bullish on a recovery in Asia, but we feel pretty good about some of the early signs that we're seeing of things getting back -- coming back in the broader market, including China.

但重要的是，我們在整個亞洲看到的活動水平，事實上，Sara 和我只是在看我們的區域負責人在本週早些時候與我們分享的模擬活動。目前它非常強勁，所以我們——現在看好亞洲的複蘇還為時過早，但我們對一些早期跡象感到非常滿意，這些跡象表明我們看到事情正在恢復——正在恢復在更廣闊的市場，包括中國。

Okay. And obviously, there's been some consolidation going on in the industry. What are your thoughts on amplifying some of these organic investments with M&A? And do you feel there's any areas where you might benefit from like kind of a scale acquisition?

好的。顯然，該行業正在進行一些整合。您對通過併購擴大其中一些有機投資有何看法？你覺得有什麼領域可以從類似規模的收購中獲益嗎？

Well, I think we are always, as we've said previously, thinking about both organic and inorganic opportunities to invest in the business. We remain pretty active and keeping our eyes open and asking those questions in terms of what might make sense for our strategy and what might be the right next move. So I would say we continue to ask those questions as we always do, and we continue to look at opportunities to drive our strategy forward.

好吧，正如我們之前所說，我認為我們一直在考慮投資該業務的有機和無機機會。我們仍然非常活躍，睜大眼睛，並就哪些可能對我們的戰略有意義以及下一步可能是正確的行動提出這些問題。所以我想說我們會像往常一樣繼續問這些問題，我們會繼續尋找機會來推動我們的戰略向前發展。

Okay. And lastly, with the conversations you're having around some of the projects, now that we've gone through COVID, companies are trying to understand what their offices are going to look at -- look like post COVID, do you feel like the expectations for what an office is going to look like, have changed drastically? Do you have the product portfolio to kind of address where the office is headed? Or do you feel like you need to maybe fill in any gaps and where everything is evolving toward?

好的。最後，通過你圍繞一些項目的對話，既然我們已經經歷了 COVID，公司正試圖了解他們的辦公室將要關注的內容——看起來像 COVID 後，你覺得對辦公室外觀的期望是否發生了巨大變化？您是否有產品組合以解決辦公室所在的地址？或者你覺得你可能需要填補任何空白以及一切都在朝著什麼方向發展？

Yes. So I feel really good about where we're positioned. I mean, you'll recall that over the past couple of years during the pandemic, we made the explicit choice to remain committed to the office. So we stayed invested in product development. We did a ton of research to better understand the very question you're asking throughout the pandemic. We made moves like the acquisition of HALCON to help support what we thought was going to be the portfolio that we would need to be successful.

是的。所以我對我們的定位感覺非常好。我的意思是，你會記得在過去幾年的大流行期間，我們明確選擇繼續致力於辦公室。所以我們繼續投資於產品開發。我們進行了大量研究，以更好地理解您在整個大流行期間提出的問題。我們採取了收購 HALCON 等舉措，以幫助支持我們認為成功所需的產品組合。

And in terms of what we're seeing right now, I wish Eddy Schmitt, our Head of Americas were here right now, but he's not because he's actually out, been calling on large companies and he was recently out on the East Coast. He was in the West Coast last week. He's in Europe this week. And it's been interesting to hear him reflect on the energy, I would say, that many of these organizations are bringing to their spaces and really thinking about what's next and what's required for them to be successful.

就我們現在看到的情況而言，我希望我們的美洲區負責人艾迪施密特現在就在這裡，但他並不是因為他實際上已經出局，一直在拜訪大公司，而且他最近在東海岸出差。他上週在西海岸。他這週在歐洲。聽到他反思能量是很有趣的，我想說，許多這些組織正在為他們的空間帶來並真正思考下一步是什麼以及他們成功所需的條件。

And 2 key things, for sure, among several that have come out of those recent conversations, are the continued desire to create more privacy and options for privacy for individuals within the workplace, and then also investment in really terrific social spaces. So having more informal collaboration social kind of spaces that are a draw for people to come back to the office as well as creating the opportunity for people to come together in different kinds of ways within an office.

在最近的對話中，肯定有兩件關鍵的事情是繼續希望為工作場所的個人創造更多的隱私和隱私選擇，然後還投資於非常棒的社交空間。因此，擁有更多非正式的協作社交空間可以吸引人們回到辦公室，並為人們創造機會在辦公室內以不同的方式聚集在一起。

And I think on both those fronts, privacy and social spaces, we've done a lot of work over the past couple of years, both through acquisitions and our own product development as well as the partnerships we've developed, to give us, I think, a pretty competitive portfolio to allow us to be successful.

我認為在這兩個方面，隱私和社交空間，我們在過去幾年裡做了很多工作，通過收購和我們自己的產品開發以及我們開發的合作夥伴關係，給我們，我認為，一個相當有競爭力的投資組合可以讓我們取得成功。

Your next question comes from the line of Steven Ramsey with Thompson Research Group.

你的下一個問題來自 Thompson Research Group 的 Steven Ramsey。

On the backlog and order decline, that context for the fourth quarter, March better but lower corporate volumes being the driver, are volumes better through that time period in the education, SMB and health markets? And do you expect non-corporate verticals to have better volumes throughout the year?

關於積壓和訂單下降，第四季度的背景，3 月更好，但較低的企業銷量是驅動因素，教育、SMB 和醫療市場在這段時間內的銷量是否更好？您是否預計非企業垂直行業全年的銷量會更好？

The first part of your question was related to the quarter's orders or the first 3 weeks' more recent order patterns? I wasn't quite sure what you were getting at.

您問題的第一部分與本季度的訂單或前 3 週最近的訂單模式有關？我不太確定你在說什麼。

Sure. I'm guessing -- what I'm asking is lower corporate volumes clearly a driver, but were volumes in the non-corporate verticals positive through the prior months?

當然。我猜——我要問的是，較低的企業交易量顯然是一個驅動因素，但在前幾個月，非企業垂直行業的交易量是否為正？

Not sure I know that specifically in the last few months, but we have been seeing fairly consistent growth from the nonlarge corporate verticals, and we expect that to continue over the course of next year. Large company is starting -- is -- has a low backlog going into the year, and we expect activity from large corporate will improve over the course of the year. But it will be a drag on volume at least through the first half.

不確定我是否知道過去幾個月的具體情況，但我們看到非大型企業垂直領域的增長相當穩定，我們預計這種情況將在明年繼續。大公司開始 - 是 - 進入今年的積壓量很低，我們預計大型公司的活動將在這一年中有所改善。但這至少會拖累上半年的成交量。

Okay, okay. Helpful. That kind of gets to my next question on the 2024 top line guide with the mix demand trends driving that. Do you think, ultimately, the second half of FY '24 is showing better volumes across the board? Is that part of the assumption behind the sales guidance?

好吧好吧。有幫助。這就是我關於 2024 年頂線指南的下一個問題，混合需求趨勢推動了這一點。您是否最終認為 24 財年下半年的銷量全面提升？這是銷售指導背後假設的一部分嗎？

Yes. That's right.

是的。這是正確的。

Okay, okay. Helpful. And then on the pricing front for FY '24, does that mean more incremental actions on pricing or is this prior actions flowing through in that carryover being assumed?

好吧好吧。有幫助。然後在 24 財年的定價方面，這是否意味著在定價方面採取更多的增量行動，或者是否假設這種先前的行動在結轉中流動？

It's prior actions flowing through.

這是之前的動作流過。

Okay, helpful. And then last 1 for me. You talked more on the last call about the long term for North America office potentially being reduced as a total addressable market to pre-COVID levels. Your commentary on this call is pretty positive on how people are thinking about their office space. Do you think that changes that long-term viewpoint?

好的，有幫助。然後最後 1 對我來說。您在上次電話會議上談到了北美辦事處作為一個總目標市場的長期可能會減少到 COVID 之前的水平。您對這次電話會議的評論非常積極地表明人們是如何看待他們的辦公空間的。你認為這會改變這種長期觀點嗎？

I wish it did. I think it's too early to call any change in that. I mean, we're in a pretty big hole. Large corporate has largely been on the sideline for 3 -- the better part of 3 years. And it didn't go to 0 but it obviously substantially declined. So I don't have any new information relative to what we said last quarter. We still think that overall industry is more likely than not to be under some pressure due to the hybrid transformation and the number of days that people spend in the office and the amount of spend that large companies have on their workspaces.

我希望如此。我認為現在就說有任何改變還為時過早。我的意思是，我們陷入了一個很大的困境。大型企業基本上已經觀望了 3 年——3 年的大部分時間。它並沒有下降到 0，但它顯然大幅下降。所以我沒有關於我們上個季度所說的任何新信息。我們仍然認為，由於混合轉型和人們在辦公室度過的天數以及大公司在其工作空間上的支出，整個行業更有可能承受一些壓力。

Once all this settles down after the reinvention of the office over the next couple of years. But -- we'll wait and see what happens how a large company comes back. If you double-click on some of the information that Eddy has shared from his trips and travels to go see our large corporate, you don't hear the same amount of dialogue from large company about real estate consolidation that we heard a year ago or 2 years ago. I mean, that was what everybody was talking about.

一旦這一切都在未來幾年對辦公室進行改造後安定下來。但是——我們將拭目以待，看看一家大公司如何回歸。如果你雙擊 Eddy 從他的旅行和旅行中分享的一些信息去看看我們的大公司，你不會聽到大公司關於房地產整合的對話，我們一年前或2年前。我的意思是，那是每個人都在談論的。

Now the dialogue -- it's not to say that it's not happening or won't happen at all, but the dialogue is much more about what needs to change inside the office to get employees back into the office more significantly and to help them work more effectively. And to manage hybrid work, which is here to stay, we're going to have people distributed for the foreseeable future, if not forever. And the offices aren't set up to handle living on video, so to speak. So that just seems to be driving more of the dialogue. But the short answer is we don't have an update from what we said 90 days ago about longer-term industry trends.

現在的對話——這並不是說它沒有發生或根本不會發生，而是更多關於辦公室內部需要改變什麼才能讓員工更有效地回到辦公室並幫助他們更多地工作有效地。為了管理混合工作，我們將在可預見的未來（如果不是永遠的話）分配人員。可以說，辦公室的設置並不是為了處理視頻直播。所以這似乎正在推動更多的對話。但簡短的回答是，我們沒有 90 天前關於長期行業趨勢的最新消息。

That's all very helpful.

這一切都非常有幫助。

(Operator Instructions) Your next question comes from the line of Rex Henderson with Water Tower Research.

（操作員說明）您的下一個問題來自 Rex Henderson 與 Water Tower Research 的合作。

Congratulations on a fine quarter. I wanted to draw attention to a comment that you made in the press release and what you -- Sara, you made on your comments about part of the beat on -- for this quarter was due to increased project orders from large corporate customers. Can you reconcile that? Kind of the common wisdom these days is that the mid-market that's doing better and big corporations are not. And you've mentioned that, and your guidance is also for lower orders for large corporate. Can you tell me a little bit more about what those projects were, how sustainable they are and kind of how that continues to flow through next year, if at all?

祝賀一個很好的季度。我想提請注意你在新聞稿中發表的評論以及你 - 薩拉，你對本季度部分節拍的評論 - 是由於大型企業客戶的項目訂單增加。你能調和嗎？如今，一種普遍的看法是，中型市場做得更好，而大公司則不然。你已經提到了這一點，你的指導也適用於大型企業的低訂單。你能告訴我更多關於這些項目是什麼，它們的可持續性如何以及明年如何繼續流動（如果有的話）嗎？

Yes. Maybe I can give some color on the comments. I think one of the things that we've seen from large corporations recently is more investment in, I'll say, significant projects. So we've talked in previous quarters about how many of our larger customers have been interested in discussion and conversation, and some of them had moved into pilots or small-scale, I'll say, tests of new space ideas. But I think more recently, we've seen more energy, more interest and more actual orders that tied it to true action where customers, at least some customers, are making bigger investments to renovate an entire building or to move into a new location.

是的。也許我可以給評論一些顏色。我認為我們最近從大公司看到的一件事是對重要項目的更多投資。所以我們在前幾個季度談到了我們有多少大客戶對討論和對話感興趣，其中一些已經進入試點或小規模，我會說，測試新的空間想法。但我認為最近，我們看到更多的精力、更多的興趣和更多的實際訂單將其與客戶（至少是一些客戶）進行更大投資以翻新整棟建築或搬遷到新地點的真實行動聯繫在一起。

And obviously, just kind of the scale of those types of projects generates higher revenue for us because they're bigger. So I think the reference to large corporate projects is some evidence that we're seeing more and more customers who've been thinking and talking and experimenting and highlighting starting to make bigger commitments to their future workplace strategy.

顯然，這些類型的項目的規模只是為我們帶來了更高的收入，因為它們更大。因此，我認為對大型企業項目的提及是一些證據，表明我們看到越來越多的客戶一直在思考、談論、試驗和強調開始對他們未來的工作場所戰略做出更大的承諾。

Is that (inaudible) any of the -- go ahead.

那是（聽不清）任何-- 繼續。

Well, I was just going to add a little bit. Some of the specifics of the -- like the product that's being ordered or looked at is, it's really emphasizing what Sara was talking about in her scripted remarks. I mean, privacy is a big deal in the future, privacy in the open plan, privacy or private office applications. Collaboration also is a big deal, where architectural walls are under higher demand right now. So it just speaks to more substantive change.

好吧，我只是想補充一點。一些細節——比如正在訂購或查看的產品，它確實強調了 Sara 在她的腳本發言中所說的內容。我的意思是，隱私在未來很重要，開放計劃中的隱私，隱私或私人辦公室應用程序。協作也是一件大事，現在對建築牆的需求更高。所以它只是談到更實質性的變化。

Now full transparency, we also have some large orders that are being thought about that are just more freshening up the office. Clients want new chairs for when their employees come back or something like that. But the common themes are what Sara summarized, privacy and collaboration are a big deal, which is great, I think, for the industry for the next couple of years as the offices -- as our clients deal with what it's going to mean to have people back in the office more significantly and living on video. They're going to need to facilitate collaboration and privacy. That's going to be change and change is good for us in the industry.

現在完全透明，我們還有一些正在考慮的大訂單，這些訂單只是讓辦公室更加清新。當他們的員工回來或類似的事情時，客戶想要新椅子。但共同的主題是 Sara 總結的，隱私和協作是一件大事，我認為這對未來幾年的行業來說是件好事——因為我們的客戶正在處理它的意義人們更多地回到辦公室並依靠視頻生活。他們將需要促進協作和隱私。這將是改變，改變對我們這個行業有好處。

And you mentioned that the first 3 weeks of March, order levels have been improving. Is this sort of activity contributing to that?

你提到 3 月的前 3 週，訂單水平一直在提高。這種活動是否對此有所貢獻？

Yes.

是的。

Okay, all right. And is it -- you're still expecting the lower large corporation orders for the year. Could this kind of activity change that outlook over the coming year?

好的，好的。是嗎——你仍然預計今年大公司的訂單會減少。這種活動能否改變來年的前景？

Well, maybe clarify is we weren't projecting orders from large company. We were projecting revenue from large company...

好吧，也許要澄清的是我們沒有預測大公司的訂單。我們預計來自大公司的收入......

And that's based on backlog at the moment?

那是基於目前的積壓嗎？

Yes, exactly. So you start with a low backlog and it will take a while for large corporate to really get that engine restarted, if it, in fact, is going to more significantly restart.

對，就是這樣。因此，您從低積壓開始，大型企業需要一段時間才能真正重新啟動該引擎，如果它實際上要更顯著地重新啟動的話。

Okay, all right. And secondly, I want to turn a little bit to Other and to Asia. You've already mentioned that China has been -- had been a challenge but you're seeing some bump in activity. Any idea how long it takes for that activity to convert into orders and sales? And what you expect -- how that's paced through the year?

好的，好的。其次，我想稍微談談其他和亞洲。你已經提到中國一直是一個挑戰，但你看到了一些活動。知道該活動需要多長時間才能轉化為訂單和銷售額嗎？你的期望是什麼——這一年的節奏如何？

I don't -- I'm not prepared today to, I guess, publicly project that. I mean, we're working very closely with our Asia Pacific leadership team. I mean, you can see from the results that we posted in the Other category that we were losing money in that region so we're very carefully looking at the demand environment and what our expectations are for the next 90 days, 180 days.

我不——我想我今天不准備公開預測。我的意思是，我們正在與亞太地區的領導團隊密切合作。我的意思是，您可以從我們在其他類別中發布的結果中看到我們在該地區虧損，因此我們非常仔細地研究需求環境以及我們對未來 90 天、180 天的預期。

We feel pretty good about the midterm, longer-term outlook for the region. We don't think like things have changed in a significant kind of way that would suggest our strategy is -- needs to be adjusted significantly. But we're also not keen about losing any kind of significant amount of money in the near term either.

我們對該地區的中期和長期前景感到非常滿意。我們認為事情並沒有發生重大變化，這表明我們的戰略是——需要進行重大調整。但我們也不熱衷於在短期內損失任何形式的大量資金。

All right. Okay. Again, congratulations.

好的。好的。再次恭喜。

Thanks, Rex.

謝謝，雷克斯。

There are no further questions at this time. Ms. Armbruster, I'd turn the call back over to you.

目前沒有其他問題。 Armbruster 女士，我會把電話轉給你。

Great. Well, I just want to thank you, all, for joining. And I'd also like to invite you to join us for our Investor Day planned on May 4 in New York City, which we will also webcast. I will be there along with several members of our leadership team to discuss our strategy and review our longer-term targets. So we look forward to seeing you, and we appreciate your interest in Steelcase as we continue to focus on driving improved results. Have a great day.

偉大的。好吧，我只想感謝大家的加入。我還想邀請您參加我們計劃於 5 月 4 日在紐約市舉行的投資者日，我們也將在網上直播。我將與我們領導團隊的幾名成員一起討論我們的戰略並審查我們的長期目標。因此，我們期待與您見面，感謝您對 Steelcase 的關注，因為我們將繼續專注於推動改進結果。祝你有美好的一天。

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連接。