Steelcase Inc (SCS) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Sarah, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Steelcase First Quarter Fiscal 2025 Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions)

早安.我叫莎拉，今天我將擔任你們的會議操作員。此時，我謹歡迎大家參加 Steelcase 2025 財年第一季電話會議。所有線路均已靜音，以防止任何背景噪音。演講者發言後，將進行問答環節。 （操作員說明）

Mr. O'Meara, you may begin your conference.

奧米拉先生，您可以開始會議了。

Thank you, Sarah, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for the recap of our fiscal -- our first quarter fiscal 2025 financial results.

謝謝莎拉，大家早安。感謝您與我們一起回顧我們的 2025 財年第一季財務表現。

Here with me today are Sara Armbruster, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Dave Sylvester, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

今天和我在一起的還有我們的總裁兼執行長薩拉·阿姆布魯斯特 (Sara Armbruster)；以及我們的高級副總裁兼財務長 Dave Sylvester。

Our first quarter earnings release, which crossed the wires earlier today, 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.

我們今天早些時候發布的第一季財報可以在我們的網站上存取。本次電話會議正在進行網路直播，且該網路直播是 Steelcase Inc. 受版權保護的作品。

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.

我們今天的討論可能包括提及非公認會計原則財務指標和前瞻性陳述。我們的收益發布中包含了對最具可比性的公認會計準則衡量標準的調節以及有關使用前瞻性陳述相關風險的詳細信息，並且我們將通過引用將發布中包含的安全港聲明文本納入本次電話會議。在我們準備好的發言之後，我們將回答投資人和分析師的問題。

I will now turn the call over to our President and Chief Executive Officer, Sara Armbruster.

我現在將把電話轉給我們的總裁兼執行長薩拉·阿姆布魯斯特 (Sara Armbruster)。

Thanks, Mike, and hi, everyone, and thanks for joining our call today.

謝謝麥克，大家好，謝謝您今天加入我們的電話會議。

It's been about a year since we hosted our Investor Day where we shared an update on our strategy to lead the transformation of the workplace, diversify the customer market segments we serve, improve our profitability, and use our business as a force for good. And today, I'm excited to share additional areas of progress from the last quarter.

距離我們舉辦投資者日已有大約一年的時間，我們在會上分享了我們的策略更新，以引領工作場所轉型、使我們服務的客戶細分市場多樣化、提高我們的盈利能力以及利用我們的業務作為行善的力量。今天，我很高興與大家分享上季其他領域的進展。

We continue to help people do their best work by creating places that work better. We are focused on leading our industry and the transformation of the workplace and growing our market share. And as we meet with customers, they continue to describe their efforts to bring people together and to support their company culture. And our innovation and our solutions fit what those customers need.

我們繼續透過創造更好的工作場所來幫助人們盡其所能地工作。我們專注於引領產業和工作場所轉型並擴大市場份額。當我們與客戶會面時，他們繼續描述他們為將人們聚集在一起並支持他們的公司文化所做的努力。我們的創新和解決方案滿足這些客戶的需求。

I recently spoke, for example, with an executive leading the company that is in the middle of building a new global headquarters. This organization established its vision for the building to engage employees and drive high performance. They're interested in solutions that integrate with technology, experiences that drive employee wellness and partners to support their sustainability objectives. The Steelcase offerings deliver on those needs, which gives me confidence that we're providing what customers need to transform the ways their organizations work.

例如，我最近與一位領導該公司的高階主管進行了交談，該公司正在建立新的全球總部。該組織制定了大樓的願景，以吸引員工並推動高績效。他們對與技術、促進員工健康的體驗以及支持其永續發展目標的合作夥伴相結合的解決方案感興趣。 Steelcase 產品可以滿足這些需求，這讓我相信我們正在為客戶提供改變其組織工作方式所需的產品。

As we think about our diversification efforts, we're making progress in expanding our offering to reach new customers and markets. Earlier this month, we participated in NeoCon where we showcased several new solutions to foster better connections, increased privacy and high-performance ancillary spaces. So, let me highlight three solutions that we launched this quarter.

當我們考慮多元化努力時，我們在擴大產品範圍以接觸新客戶和市場方面取得了進展。本月早些時候，我們參加了 NeoCon，展示了幾種新的解決方案，以促進更好的連接、增強的隱私和高效能的輔助空間。因此，讓我重點介紹我們本季推出的三個解決方案。

First, we expanded the Ocular collection, which offers a range of products designed to create experiences that are more engaging, equitable and empowering in the hybrid workplace. Our newest product called Ocular View was co-developed by Steelcase and Logitech. It's an immersive, realistic and personal meeting experience that brings together digital and physical elements to achieve increased social connection and privacy, which are top priorities for employees.

首先，我們擴展了 Ocular 系列，該系列提供一系列產品，旨在創造在混合工作場所中更具吸引力、更公平和更賦權的體驗。我們的最新產品 Ocular View 由 Steelcase 和 Logitech 共同開發。這是一種身臨其境、真實且個人化的會議體驗，將數位和實體元素結合在一起，以增強社交聯繫和隱私，這是員工的首要任務。

Second is our Campers & Dens solution from our Orangebox brand, which is a great example of innovation that can be adapted to a broad range of customer and geographic market needs. It was inspired by the intuitive way people socialize and interact in a campground. And this system of interior architecture, campers, cabins and awnings can be configured in a wide range of ways to create enclosed or semi-enclosed and open spaces within the office environment, supporting the many ways people connect in the workplace.

其次是 Orangebox 品牌的 Campers & Dens 解決方案，這是創新的一個很好的例子，可以適應廣泛的客戶和地理市場需求。它的靈感來自於人們在露營地社交和互動的直觀方式。這個室內建築、露營車、小屋和遮陽篷系統可以透過多種方式進行配置，在辦公環境中創造封閉或半封閉和開放的空間，支援人們在工作場所中的多種聯繫方式。

And finally, we're excited to unveil a new chapter in our creative collaboration with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, an ongoing project to reintroduce, reinterpret and reimagine Wright's celebrated designs. The Rockford and Galesburg collections, which are new interpretations of fine modern furniture for the home and workplace, draw upon a later era in Wright's work and are rooted in his unmistakable design principles. This partnership helps us strengthen our brand and create interest among new customers.

最後，我們很高興揭開與弗蘭克·勞埃德·賴特基金會的創意合作的新篇章，這是一個正在進行的項目，旨在重新介紹、重新解釋和重新想像賴特的著名設計。 Rockford 和 Galesburg 系列是對家庭和工作場所的精美現代家具的全新詮釋，借鑒了賴特後期的作品，並植根於他明確無誤的設計原則。這種合作關係有助於我們強化品牌並引起新客戶的興趣。

Now, turning to profitability. Our first quarter results reflect strong earnings growth despite revenue being slightly below prior year as we continue to make progress on our profit improvement initiatives. Our adjusted earnings per share of $0.16 was an increase of 78% versus last year. And for the eight consecutive quarter, we drove year-over-year gross margin improvement.

現在，轉向獲利能力。儘管營收略低於去年同期，但我們第一季的業績反映了強勁的獲利成長，因為我們在利潤改善計劃方面繼續取得進展。調整後每股收益為 0.16 美元，比去年增長 78%。我們連續八個季度推動毛利率較去年同期改善。

Our sales teams continue to capture the necessary price increases to offset the inflationary costs we've absorbed over the past few years. Our operations leaders have continued to implement additional cost reduction initiatives such as distribution center closures and optimizing our production lines. And our employees continue to find efficiencies to support our fitness efforts and optimize our spending. So, all of these things are helping improve our overall profitability. And these profit improvement efforts are also helping enable our investment to support growth initiatives and business transformation work.

我們的銷售團隊繼續捕捉必要的價格上漲，以抵消我們在過去幾年中吸收的通貨膨脹成本。我們的營運領導者繼續實施額外的成本削減舉措，例如關閉配送中心和優化我們的生產線。我們的員工繼續尋找效率來支持我們的健身工作並優化我們的支出。因此，所有這些都有助於提高我們的整體獲利能力。這些提高利潤的努力也有助於我們的投資支持成長計畫和業務轉型工作。

As we look at our segment performance, the Americas had another good quarter due to gross margin improvement. Our International segment posted adjusted operating income of $2 million, which was a $7 million improvement versus the prior year. This International improvement continued to build on the strong momentum we saw during the second half of fiscal 2024 when we focus on reducing our cost structure to support improved earnings and to enhance our competitiveness.

當我們審視我們的部門表現時，由於毛利率的改善，美洲地區迎來了一個好的季度。我們的國際部門調整後營業收入為 200 萬美元，比前一年增加了 700 萬美元。這項國際改善持續建立在我們在 2024 財年下半年看到的強勁勢頭之上，當時我們專注於降低成本結構，以支持改善收益並增強我們的競爭力。

Our overall order growth remained strong for the third consecutive quarter as we drove 8% order growth in Q1 with the Americas up 10%. Similar to the previous two quarters, strong growth from large companies helped drive the Americas improvement, but orders also grew across all our other customer segments, including notable growth in our education business at the start of the peak education season. Our win rates remain strong as our solutions continue to resonate with companies investing in their offices.

我們的整體訂單成長連續第三個季度保持強勁，第一季訂單成長 8%，其中美洲成長 10%。與前兩季類似，大公司的強勁成長幫助推動了美洲地區的改善，但我們所有其他客戶群的訂單也有所成長，包括我們的教育業務在教育旺季開始時的顯著成長。由於我們的解決方案繼續與投資辦公室的公司產生共鳴，我們的勝率仍然很高。

Finally, as we think about our efforts to use our business as a force for good and design better futures for people and the planet, we're excited to share that Steelcase recently announced a commitment to reach net zero by 2050. This means cutting carbon emissions over 90% by 2050 throughout our entire value chain. We worked with the science-based targets initiative to validate our near-term and new net zero targets, and we are proud to be the first in our industry to publish a transition plan outlining our path to net zero. We believe this new commitment will create a competitive advantage by helping our customers reach their own sustainability goals, and as a result, generate more opportunities to grow our business. Many of our customers already have made net zero commitment and we expect more will follow.

最後，當我們思考如何利用我們的業務作為行善力量並為人類和地球設計更美好的未來時，我們很高興地告訴大家，Steelcase 最近宣布了到2050 年實現淨零排放的承諾。碳排放到 2050 年，我們整個價值鏈的排放量將超過 90%。我們與基於科學的目標倡議合作，驗證我們的近期和新的淨零目標，我們很自豪能夠成為業內第一個發布概述我們實現淨零之路的過渡計劃的公司。我們相信，這項新承諾將幫助我們的客戶實現自己的永續發展目標，從而創造競爭優勢，從而創造更多發展我們業務的機會。我們的許多客戶已經做出了淨零承諾，我們預計會有更多客戶跟進。

So, in closing, our first quarter results were a great start to fiscal 2025 and we believe that momentum will continue into the second quarter. Dave will discuss our outlook in more detail, but we feel great about where we're projected to be halfway through the year. We feel positive about the balanced progress we continue to make against our strategy to lead the transformation of the workplace, diversify the customer and market segments we serve, improve our profitability and use our business as a force for good.

因此，最後，我們第一季的業績是 2025 財年的良好開端，我們相信這股勢頭將持續到第二季​​。戴夫將更詳細地討論我們的前景，但我們對今年中期的預期情況感到非常滿意。我們對我們在領導工作場所轉型、使我們服務的客戶和細分市場多樣化、提高盈利能力以及利用我們的業務作為正義力量的戰略方面繼續取得的平衡進展感到積極。

I'll now turn it over to Dave to review the financial results and our outlook.

我現在將把它交給戴夫來審查財務表現和我們的前景。

Thank you, Sara, and good morning, everyone.

謝謝你，薩拉，大家早安。

My comments today will start with the highlights related to our first quarter results, balance sheet and cash flow. I will then share a few summary remarks about the strength of our outlook for the second quarter and our increased confidence of achieving our fiscal 2025 financial targets.

我今天的評論將從與我們第一季業績、資產負債表和現金流相關的亮點開始。然後，我將就我們第二季的前景以及我們對實現 2025 財年財務目標的信心增強進行一些總結。

Our first quarter adjusted earnings of $0.16 per share were above the top end of the estimated range we provided in March and our revenue of $727 million was at the midpoint of our range. The Americas drove the earnings favorability on strong gross margin, which was driven by higher pricing benefits, lower inflation and improved operational performance. International results were also better than we expected, as favorable gross margins and lower spending more than offset a small shortfall in revenue. Compared to the prior year, our adjusted operating income was $9 million higher, including a $7 million improvement in our International segment, which reflected benefits from the restructuring actions we implemented last year.

我們第一季的調整後每股收益為 0.16 美元，高於我們 3 月提供的估計範圍的上限，而我們的收入 7.27 億美元則處於我們範圍的中點。美洲地區由於較高的定價優勢、較低的通貨膨脹和改善的營運表現推動了強勁的毛利率，從而推動了獲利前景。國際業績也優於我們的預期，因為良好的毛利率和較低的支出足以抵銷收入的小幅缺口。與前一年相比，我們調整後的營業收入增加了 900 萬美元，其中國際業務收入增加了 700 萬美元，這反映了我們去年實施的重組行動帶來的好處。

As it relates to cash flow and the balance sheet, we consumed $59 million of cash from operating activities in the first quarter as our seasonal disbursements related to fiscal 2024 variable compensation and retirement plan contributions were higher than our $61 million of adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter of fiscal 2025. We also repurchased 1.5 million shares under our repurchase authorization this quarter at a total cost of $19 million or at an average price of $12.48 per share.

由於與現金流量和資產負債表相關，我們第一季從經營活動中消耗了5,900 萬美元的現金，因為我們與2024 財年可變薪酬和退休計畫繳款相關的季節性支出高於第一季度6,100 萬美元的調整後EBITDA 2025 財年第四季，我們也根據回購授權回購了 150 萬股股票，總成本為 1,900 萬美元，平均價格為每股 12.48 美元。

Our liquidity totaled $378 million at the end of the quarter, which is $178 million higher than the prior year, in part due to a significant reduction in working capital, which was elevated in the prior year due to supply chain disruptions. Total debt aggregated to $447 million. Our trailing four-quarter adjusted EBITDA is $274 million or 8.7% of revenue, which is 150 basis points higher than the same timeframe last year.

截至本季末，我們的流動資金總額為 3.78 億美元，比上年增加 1.78 億美元，部分原因是營運資金大幅減少，而上年因供應鏈中斷導致營運資金增加。債務總額總計達 4.47 億美元。我們過去四個季度調整後的 EBITDA 為 2.74 億美元，佔營收的 8.7%，比去年同期高出 150 個基點。

Orders in the quarter grew 8% compared to the prior year, including 10% growth in the Americas and 2% growth in International. The growth in the Americas was broad-based across all of our customer vertical markets, but was led by strong project business with large corporate customers as well as strong growth from the government sector and in our education business, including K-12 at Smith System. Continuing business or day-to-day orders from large corporate customers declined modestly in Q1 compared to the prior year after growing year-over-year in each of the previous four quarters. Q1 marks the third consecutive quarter of year-over-year order growth, which has been driven by both pricing and volume. And we believe the growth in our project business is reflective of our strong win rates in fiscal 2024 as we continue to support our customers' workplace strategies. The order growth in International was driven by 4% growth in EMEA, which reflect growth in several markets and a decline in Germany, while Asia Pacific declined 3% as declines in most markets were partially offset by strong growth in India.

本季訂單較上年同期成長 8%，其中美洲訂單成長 10%，國際訂單成長 2%。美洲的成長在我們所有客戶垂直市場中都有廣泛基礎，但主要是由大型企業客戶的強勁項目業務以及政府部門和我們的教育業務（包括 Smith System 的 K-12）的強勁增長帶動的。大型企業客戶的持續業務或日常訂單在前四個季度均同比增長後，第一季與去年同期相比略有下降。第一季標誌著訂單連續第三個季度同比增長，這是由價格和數量共同推動的。我們相信，隨著我們繼續支持客戶的工作場所策略，我們專案業務的成長反映了我們在 2024 財年的強勁獲勝率。國際訂單成長是由歐洲、中東和非洲地區4% 的成長推動的，這反映了多個市場的成長和德國的下降，而亞太地區的訂單成長則下降了3%，因為大多數市場的下降被印度的強勁成長部分抵消。

Turning to our outlook for the second quarter. We expect to report revenue within a range of $850 million to $875 million, which would reflect 1% to 4% organic growth year-over-year. As I mentioned, our first quarter orders grew 8% versus the prior year and our backlog was up 1%. Orders during the first three weeks of the second quarter declined by 2%, reflecting growth in the Americas and a decline in International compared to the same period last year, which included some larger projects in the International segment.

轉向我們對第二季的展望。我們預計營收將在 8.5 億至 8.75 億美元之間，這將反映出 1% 至 4% 的同比有機成長。正如我所提到的，我們第一季的訂單比去年同期成長了 8%，我們的積壓訂單增加了 1%。第二季前三週的訂單下降了 2%，反映出美洲訂單量的成長和國際訂單量與去年同期相比的下降，其中包括國際訂單量的一些較大項目。

As it relates to earnings, we expect to report adjusted earnings per share of between $0.36 and $0.40, which compares to $0.31 in the prior year. In addition to the projected range of revenue, the adjusted earnings estimate includes estimated gross margin of approximately 35%; operating expenses of between $240 million to $245 million, which includes $4.3 million of amortization related to purchased intangible assets; and lastly, we expect interest expense and other non-operating items to net to approximately $3 million of expense and we're projecting an effective tax rate of approximately 27%.

由於與收益相關，我們預計調整後每股收益將在 0.36 美元至 0.40 美元之間，而前一年為 0.31 美元。除了預計的收入範圍外，調整後的獲利預測還包括約35%的毛利率；營運費用在2.4億至2.45億美元之間，其中包括與購買的無形資產相關的430萬美元攤銷；最後，我們預計利息支出和其他非經營項目淨支出約為 300 萬美元，並且我們預計有效稅率約為 27%。

In March, we outlined our fiscal 2025 full year financial targets, which included organic revenue growth of 1% to 5% and adjusted earnings per share of $0.85 to $1. Based on the strength of our first quarter results and our second quarter outlook, we have increased confidence of achieving our targets and potentially reaching the higher end of the range for our income targets, assuming relatively stable macroeconomic and geopolitical environments.

3 月份，我們概述了 2025 財年全年財務目標，其中包括 1% 至 5% 的有機收入增長以及 0.85 美元至 1 美元的調整後每股收益。基於我們第一季的強勁業績和第二季的前景，假設宏觀經濟和地緣政治環境相對穩定，我們對實現目標並有可能達到收入目標範圍的高端的信心增強。

In summary, we feel great about our first quarter financial results and our outlook for the second quarter. And as Sara said, we believe our strategy is working and we're continuing to make progress on our most important initiatives.

總之，我們對第一季的財務表現和第二季的前景感到滿意。正如薩拉所說，我們相信我們的策略正在發揮作用，我們將繼續在最重要的舉措上取得進展。

From there, we'll turn it back to the operator for questions.

從那裡，我們會將其轉回給操作員詢問問題。

Thank you. (Operator Instructions) Reuben Garner, Benchmark.

謝謝。 （操作員指示）Reuben Garner，基準。

Thank you. Good morning, everybody.

謝謝。大家早安。

Hi, Reuben.

嗨，魯本。

Good morning.

早安.

Congrats on the strong start to the year. I guess, Dave, can you start -- the gross margin performance in particular in the first quarter was very strong. The outlook for the second quarter looks to be -- point to similar year-over-year improvements despite the fact that your kind of revenue growth from the recent order strength hasn't started to kick in yet. Can you talk about what drove the improvements on a year-over-year basis and maybe how to think about that gross margin line as the year progresses?

祝賀今年的強勁開局。我想，戴夫，你可以開始了嗎——毛利率表現，尤其是第一季的毛利率表現非常強勁。第二季的前景看起來是－指出類似的年比改善，儘管近期訂單強度帶來的營收成長尚未開始顯現。您能否談談是什麼推動了同比的改善，以及隨著時間的推移如何考慮毛利率線？

Yes. Like I said a second ago, a number of factors including remaining pricing benefits from actions that we took last year that are posting some year-over-year benefits, strong operational performance as well was a contributing factor and really across many fronts in the plants. I think we also might have had a tad of favorable business mix in the quarter, but everything was moving in the right direction in the first quarter for us. And with the second quarter and the strength of our education business, we get such a terrific absorption of our overhead and fixed costs, because we ship so much product in that short three-months period that we expect our gross margins and the strength year-over-year to continue into the second quarter.

是的。正如我剛才所說，許多因素包括我們去年採取的行動帶來的剩餘定價收益，這些行動帶來了一些同比效益，強勁的營運績效也是一個促成因素，而且確實涉及工廠的許多方面。我認為我們在本季度可能也有一些有利的業務組合，但對我們來說，第一季一切都在朝著正確的方向發展。憑藉第二季和我們教育業務的實力，我們吸收了管理費用和固定成本，因為我們在短短的三個月內運送瞭如此多的產品，我們預計我們的毛利率和強勁的一年 -同比持續到第二季​​。

And that business mix, what kind of items are driving the growth in this environment that's leading to business mix benefit?

在這種業務組合中，什麼樣的專案正在推動這種環境下的成長，從而帶來業務組合效益？

I don't know all the details, but oftentimes we see product mix shifts that are a little bit favorable to us. We see customer mix shifts that can be favorable. We see quote type mix shifts. So, I don't know the details of what drove the favorable mix year-over-year. We might have had a large project in last year that was more significantly discounted for an example. I just -- I don't know all the details.

我不知道所有細節，但我們經常看到對我們有利的產品組合變化。我們看到客戶組合的變化可能是有利的。我們看到報價類型的混合變化。因此，我不知道是什麼因素逐年推動了有利的組合。例如，我們去年可能有一個大型項目，折扣幅度更大。我只是——我不知道所有細節。

Okay. And then, Sara, you just mentioned NeoCon. I'm sure you got a chance to talk to some of your customers there. Any consistent feedback? And does it feel like there's a kind of a turning point here in terms of the return to the office and the need to get folks back in and therefore kind of put more investment in the office, or did it kind of just feel very similar to a year ago from your standpoint?

好的。然後，薩拉，你剛才提到了新保守派。我確信您有機會與那裡的一些客戶交談。有一致的回饋嗎？就重返辦公室以及讓人們重返辦公室的需要而言，是否感覺這裡存在某種轉折點，因此需要對辦公室進行更多投資，或者感覺是否非常類似於從你的角度來看一年前？

Well, maybe I'd break that question into a couple of parts. So, in terms of feeling the need to get people back to the office, I think we've seen very consistently strong desires from CEOs and decision makers and executive teams for some time to do that. So, I think the desire has always been there. The distinction has been who's making or taking action and when. And I think we definitely saw high-quality visits at NeoCon. We saw a lot of customers, a lot of customers in architecture design firms that had projects that were actively working on things versus window shopping. So that was good to see.

好吧，也許我會把這個問題分成幾個部分。因此，就感覺有必要讓人們回到辦公室而言，我認為一段時間以來，我們已經看到執行長、決策者和執行團隊一直強烈希望這樣做。所以，我認為這個願望一直存在。差別在於誰在何時採取行動。我認為我們在 NeoCon 上確實看到了高品質的參觀。我們看到了很多客戶，很多建築設計公司的客戶，他們的專案都在積極開展工作，而不是逛街。所以很高興看到這一點。

I think we also saw a really healthy diversity of clients. So, as you would imagine lots of domestic or North American-based clients, including a pretty strong contingent from the West Coast, which was nice to see, but we also had quite a bit of traffic and visits from clients or potential clients from Europe as well as Asia. So, I think, that all felt like positive momentum continuing to support some of the things that Dave was talking about in terms of our outlook.

我認為我們也看到了真正健康的客戶多樣性。所以，正如你想像的那樣，有很多國內或北美的客戶，包括來自西海岸的相當強大的隊伍，這是很高興看到的，但我們也有相當多的流量和來自歐洲的客戶或潛在客戶的訪問以及亞洲。因此，我認為，這一切都像是積極的勢頭，繼續支持戴夫在我們的前景方面談論的一些事情。

Okay. Great. I'm going to sneak one more in. Your growth initiatives outside of kind of the core corporate office, you mentioned education being pretty strong. This is obviously an important season for that business. Any other color on any of the other initiatives? Anything new to report in terms of growth efforts there?

好的。偉大的。我要再偷偷地講一下。對於該業務來說，這顯然是一個重要的季節。其他舉措還有其他顏色嗎？在成長方面有什麼新的報告嗎？

Yeah. As I said, all of the customer vertical markets that we're focused on grew versus prior year. They also were at or above our plan or our expectations for the first quarter. So, we feel really good about the breadth of the strength in Q1. Large project activity from our enterprise or large corporate customer segment really was very strong in the quarter. But when we look at education, they had strong growth and where we wanted them to be. Small to mid also -- size businesses also had a good quarter and grew orders year-over-year. Healthcare, which has continued to be challenged by administrative settings and lower investment there that we've seen for a while, we posted order growth from healthcare. And even in the retail and consumer, which is a smaller vertical market for us, that grew as well. But the big driver was large corporate.

是的。正如我所說，我們關注的所有客戶垂直市場都比去年有所成長。它們也達到或高於我們對第一季的計劃或預期。因此，我們對第一季的實力廣度感到非常滿意。我們的企業或大型企業客戶群的大型專案活動在本季確實非常強勁。但當我們審視教育時，他們的成長強勁，達到了我們想要的水平。中小型企業也有不錯的季度表現，訂單較去年同期成長。醫療保健行業繼續受到行政環境和投資下降的挑戰，我們已經看到一段時間了，我們公佈了來自醫療保健行業的訂單增長。即使在零售和消費者領域，這對我們來說是一個較小的垂直市場，它也在成長。但最大的推動力是大企業。

Great. Thank you, guys, and good luck for the rest of the year.

偉大的。謝謝你們，夥伴們，祝今年剩下的時間一切順利。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Greg Burns, Sidoti & Company.

格雷格‧伯恩斯 (Greg Burns)，西多蒂公司 (Sidoti & Company)。

Good morning. At your Analyst Day, you laid out, like, a midterm target of $50 million in savings, I think, mostly around the cost of goods line. How far along are you in the progress towards that goal?

早安.我認為，在分析師日，您制定了節省 5000 萬美元的中期目標，主要是圍繞商品成本。您在實現這一目標方面進展到了什麼程度？

I would say mid to early innings on it, Greg. We accomplished a number of improvements that we feel really good about, teams worked really hard on and they're driving year-over-year benefits. The challenge is, as we have some offsetting other factors, so we're not seeing the net improvement that we would like to see yet. They are also in the midst of launching a number of additional initiatives. You've read about some of them periodically. You'll read about some of them in the Q when we file that tomorrow. We give more color in the Q behind some of the restructuring activities that we're taking. We feel pretty good about it.

我想說的是中後期，格雷格。我們完成了許多讓我們感覺非常好的改進，團隊非常努力地工作，並且他們正在推動逐年的效益。挑戰在於，由於我們有一些其他因素相互抵消，所以我們還沒有看到我們希望看到的淨改善。他們也正在發起一些額外的措施。您已經定期閱讀其中一些內容。當我們明天提交該文件時，您將在 Q 中讀到其中的一些內容。我們在我們正在採取的一些重組活動背後的問題中提供了更多的色彩。我們對此感覺很好。

We just have had some other challenges that have dampened the net impact of gross margin improvement. We're still seeing year-over-year benefits in gross margin, which is, of course, in part due to the actions and activities that the ops team is driving, but we're hoping to see more significant net improvements outside of pricing, net of inflation and benefits from volume growth and business mix shifts. So, I'd say we're in the early to mid innings on that and have gains in front of us yet.

我們只是遇到了一些其他挑戰，這些挑戰削弱了毛利率改善的淨影響。我們仍然看到毛利率同比增長，這當然部分歸功於營運團隊正在推動的行動和活動，但我們希望看到定價之外的更顯著的淨改善，扣除通貨膨脹以及銷量增長和業務組合變化帶來的收益。所以，我想說我們正處於前半局，我們也取得了進展。

Okay. So then, I guess, when we think about where the gross margins can go from here, do you think they could get back past prior peaks? Like, do you feel like the business should be operating at a structurally higher gross margin once this is all realized?

好的。那麼，我想，當我們考慮毛利率將走向何方時，您認為它們可以回到先前的高峰嗎？例如，一旦這一切實現，您是否認為企業應該以結構性更高的毛利率運作？

Yes.

是的。

Okay. All right. And then, in terms of demand, is there -- how much of this is, like, pent-up from maybe delays that happened as -- due to work -- return to work being maybe slower than expected? Because when you look at some of the market indicators that we typically would look at to gauge demand, like the ABI index, still remains kind of subdued or in negative territory. So, can you just help us triangulate maybe what's driving the demand here and how sustainable it is?

好的。好的。然後，就需求而言，其中有多少是因為工作原因而導致的延遲而被壓抑的，因為返回工作的速度可能比預期慢？因為當你觀察我們通常用來衡量需求的一些市場指標（例如 ABI 指數）時，它們仍然處於低迷狀態或處於負值區域。那麼，您能幫助我們三角測量一下推動這裡需求的因素以及它的可持續性嗎？

It's a good question. I don't know that I have data behind us. So, this is, I guess, what I think and I'm interested what Sara wants to build on it, but I don't think that a big part of what we're seeing right now is due to delays. I think we saw that a couple of years ago, right? As we went into the pandemic, everything stopped, then things that were in flight really, let's say, late in flight projects were finished that were paused, but many things were put on hold for six months or 12 months and then they restarted, which I think is what drove kind of the initial rebound that then softened again because of new variants of COVID, lack of return to office, economic uncertainty. This feels like more of a restart.

這是一個好問題。我不知道我背後有數據。所以，我想這就是我的想法，我對薩拉想要在此基礎上建造的東西感興趣，但我不認為我們現在看到的很大一部分是由於延誤造成的。我想我們幾年前就看到過這一點，對吧？當我們進入大流行病時，一切都停止了，然後真正進行中的事情，可以說，在飛行項目後期完成了暫停的項目，但許多事情被擱置了六個月或12 個月，然後重新啟動，這我認為這推動了最初的反彈，然後由於新冠病毒的新變種、缺乏重返辦公室和經濟不確定性而再次疲軟。這感覺更像是重新開始。

I'm sure there are some projects in there that were thought about years ago that were placed on hold and are restarting, but when I think of some of the large project activity that are starting to show up in our order patterns, these are things we've been working on for quite some time and I don't believe they were slowed down necessarily during the pandemic.

我確信其中有一些項目是幾年前考慮的，但現在被擱置並正在重新啟動，但是當我想到一些大型項目活動開始出現在我們的訂單模式中時，這些都是事情我們已經工作了相當長一段時間，我不認為在大流行期間他們一定會放慢腳步。

And -- is that helpful? I mean, that's about as much color as I can give you. Let's see what's Sara has.

還有──這有幫助嗎？我的意思是，這就是我能給你的最多的顏色了。讓我們看看莎拉有什麼。

Yeah. Maybe I agree with that and maybe I'll build on it. I mean, I think, as we've always seen, we've always seen clients that are kind of operating at a different place on the spectrum from, say, kind of progressive and leading to maybe more conservative or lagging. So, we definitely see clients who had spaces that were perfectly good spaces before the pandemic, but they're continuing to invest and update them to try to bring an even more modern perspective to how their organizations are working.

是的。也許我同意這一點，也許我會以此為基礎。我的意思是，我認為，正如我們一直看到的那樣，我們總是看到客戶在不同的範圍內運營，比如說，有點進步，但可能會導致更加保守或落後。因此，我們肯定會看到客戶在大流行之前擁有非常好的空間，但他們正在繼續投資和更新它們，試圖為他們的組織的運作方式帶來更現代的視角。

We also see a group of clients who I would say maybe had more traditional spaces or maybe their spaces were already somewhat outdated before the pandemic. And with years having passed now since 2020, they're realizing they're even more out of date and they have to do something to make those spaces compelling and attractive and frankly functional.

我們也看到一群客戶，我想說他們可能有更傳統的空間，或者他們的空間在疫情大流行之前就已經有些過時了。自 2020 年以來已經過去了很多年，他們意識到自己已經過時了，他們必須做一些事情來讓這些空間引人注目、有吸引力且實用。

And then, there are also clients that are growing. I mean, I talked not that long ago to a CEO of a major financial services institution who was sharing with me that, during the pandemic, they shed a number of leases, but at the same time, they were also continuing to hire. They hired thousands of people. And now that they're getting people back to the office, he said even if only a fraction of those people actually go to the office, they have no place for them to go.

然後，客戶也在成長。我的意思是，不久前我與一家大型金融服務機構的執行長交談，他與我分享說，在大流行期間，他們取消了一些租約，但與此同時，他們也在繼續招聘。他們僱用了數千人。他說，現在他們正在讓人們回到辦公室，即使只有一小部分人真正去辦公室，他們也沒有地方可以去。

So, he was describing how they are actually leasing new space and expanding because they need a place for all the hiring that they did over the past couple of years. So, I think there's -- as Dave said, I don't think we can give you precise data, but I do think we feel that there are multiple drivers depending on kind of which clients are in which category that give us, I think, some degree of optimism as we've been talking about for continued momentum.

因此，他描述了他們實際上是如何租賃新空間並進行擴張的，因為他們需要一個地方來容納過去幾年的所有招募工作。所以，我認為，正如戴夫所說，我認為我們無法為您提供精確的數據，但我確實認為我們認為存在多種驅動因素​​，具體取決於哪些客戶屬於哪個類別，我認為，正如我們一直在談論的持續勢頭的某種程度的樂觀。

Maybe one other comment, Greg, is that you probably see the same industry data that we see from BIFMA. It's not perfect. It doesn't include everyone in the industry, but it's the only industry information that we have. And the industry has been growing modestly more recently, but we've been growing at a faster rate and we think that's linked to our strong win rates, that's linked to us staying invested and where we think work is going in this kind of hybrid world go forward. So, I think another factor is even though the ABI might be sluggish and the industry is growing modestly, we've been doing better than that because we've stayed focused on the office and stayed invested in how we thought the office needed to change to support hybrid work. So, I definitely think a factor in there is some share gain.

Greg，也許另一條評論是，您可能看到的行業數據與我們從 BIFMA 看到的相同。它並不完美。它並不包括行業中的所有人，但這是我們擁有的唯一行業資訊。該行業最近一直在溫和增長，但我們一直在以更快的速度增長，我們認為這與我們強勁的獲勝率有關，這與我們保持投資以及我們認為在這種混合世界中工作的進展有關，這與我們保持投資以及我們認為在這種混合世界中工作的進展有關前進。因此，我認為另一個因素是，儘管 ABI 可能低迷並且該行業正在溫和增長，但我們做得比這更好，因為我們一直專注於辦公室，並繼續投資於我們認為辦公室需要如何改變支持混合工作。所以，我絕對認為有一些份額成長的因素。

Great. Thanks for the color.

偉大的。謝謝你的顏色。

Brian Gordon, Water Tower Research

布萊恩‧戈登，水塔研究中心

Good morning, and thank you for taking my question. First of all, I would just want to say, Budd apologizes for not being able to make it to the call today. He's on the road and was not able to dial in, but wanted to congratulate you guys on the great margins and the progress you guys have seen there.

早安，感謝您提出我的問題。首先，我只想說，巴德對今天無法參加電話會議表示歉意。他正在路上，無法撥入，但想祝賀你們取得的巨大利潤以及你們在那裡看到的進步。

Thanks.

謝謝。

I had a question sort of about how -- so let me say it this way. How are customers kind of thinking about as they're thinking about redesigning their offices for hybrid work, about things like, space per employee and spend per employee? And how has that been changing when we compare what's going on today versus pre-COVID?

我有一個關於如何做的問題——所以讓我這樣說吧。當客戶考慮重新設計辦公室以實現混合工作時，他們會如何考慮每位員工的空間和每位員工的支出等問題？當我們將今天的情況與新冠疫情之前的情況進行比較時，情況發生了怎樣的變化？

Well, one thing we've seen with respect to space per employee and, again, I don't -- I can't give you really precise data, but I can't think of a number of clients right off the top of my head who have been thinking about somewhat increasing space for employee. I think a couple years ago, that was driven more in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic by people not wanting to be quite so close together.

好吧，我們已經看到了關於每位員工的空間的一件事，而且，我沒有——我無法給你真正精確的數據，但我無法立即想到有多少客戶我的頭腦一直在考慮為員工增加一些空間。我認為幾年前，這種情況更多是在大流行之後立即推動的，因為人們不想靠得太近。

But I think since then, it's really reflected in evolution and how we think about how people work and creating ancillary spaces, creating social spaces and more informal spaces, adding solutions like Ocular View or Orangebox Campers & Dens into their floorplate to provide different levels of privacy, technology support, et cetera. So, while I can't give you an exact metric, I would be willing to bet that, that space per employee number is at least stable, if not potentially increasing a bit in some organizations.

但我認為從那時起，它真正反映在進化以及我們如何思考人們如何工作和創建輔助空間、創建社交空間和更多非正式空間、在地板中添加Oural View 或Orangebox Campers & Dens 等解決方案以提供不同程度的隱私、技術支援等。因此，雖然我無法給您一個準確的指標，但我願意打賭，每個員工數量的空間至少是穩定的，即使在某些組織中可能不會增加一點。

Yeah, I would definitely agree with that. I mean, it's hard to point at concrete data, but I mean, we are selling fewer benching applications, which were really the design philosophy was really around density. And we are now selling more freestanding furniture and we are selling more screens and partitions and architectural pods and walls and other applications that kind of divide up the space and it's all linked I think to the need for privacy.

是的，我絕對同意這一點。我的意思是，很難指出具體數據，但我的意思是，我們銷售的工作台應用程式越來越少，這實際上是圍繞密度的設計理念。我們現在正在銷售更多的獨立式家具，我們正在銷售更多的屏幕和隔間以及建築吊艙和牆壁以及其他分隔空間的應用程序，我認為這一切都與隱私的需求有關。

One of the largest complaints about the office before the pandemic was the lack of privacy. People found privacy in their homes. They were able to do their focused work. And as they come back to the office, they struggle to find privacy and they need to be on video periodically, oftentimes not necessarily supported by a conference room or a suite where technology has been embedded. So, they need to take video occasionally at their desk and you cannot do that in the open plan at a benching application or you can't do it very effectively.

在大流行之前，對辦公室最大的抱怨之一是缺乏隱私。人們在家中找到了隱私。他們能夠集中精力開展工作。當他們回到辦公室時，他們很難找到隱私，並且需要定期進行視頻，通常不一定有嵌入技術的會議室或套房支援。因此，他們需要偶爾在辦公桌上拍攝視頻，而您無法在開放式的長凳應用中這樣做，或者您無法非常有效地做到這一點。

So, what we see is this increased desire for privacy. And in some cases, there was actually a recent article about this as well, a little bit more toward ownership. I don't think the pendulum is going to swing all the way back to one-to-one desks per employee, but it swung a long way toward shared in the open plan and to enable privacy, it might move a little bit back toward owned and certainly embed more privacy elements in the open plan.

所以，我們看到的是人們對隱私的渴望不斷增加。在某些情況下，實際上最近也有一篇關於此的文章，更多地涉及所有權。我不認為鐘擺會一直回到每個員工一對一的辦公桌，但它在開放式計劃中朝著共享的方向擺動了很長一段路，並且為了實現隱私，它可能會稍微回到向擁有並肯定在開放式平面中嵌入更多隱私元素。

And then of course, all the collaborative references that Sara mentioned are a big deal. Conference rooms were not designed to support hybrid collaboration. They were designed really to share information with people that were predominantly if not entirely in the room. So, I think there's lots of arguments that suggest the spend per employee or spend per workstation, let's say, is increasing.

當然，薩拉提到的所有合作參考資料都很重要。會議室的設計初衷並不是支持混合協作。它們的設計目的實際上是為了與主要（如果不是全部）在房間裡的人分享資訊。因此，我認為有許多論點表明每個員工的支出或每個工作站的支出正在增加。

That's great. Thank you so much for that. Just really one quick follow-up. How do you think this should affect when we're doing our modeling? How we think about things like margin instruction and replacement cycles?

那太棒了。對此感激不盡。只是一個快速的跟進。您認為這會對我們進行建模產生什麼影響？我們如何看待保證金指令和更換週期等問題？

I think from a margin perspective, we really don't have products that are significantly different than other products in their gross margins. I mean, I think it's well known and understood in the industry that seating has a higher gross margin than average gross margins inside of companies in the industry and it's true for Steelcase. It's because of all of the intellectual property and investments that are made into those products and the lifecycle of those products as well. So, gross margin can be a little bit higher than average.

我認為從利潤率的角度來看，我們確實沒有毛利率與其他產品有顯著差異的產品。我的意思是，我認為業內眾所周知和理解的是，座椅的毛利率高於行業內公司的平均毛利率，Steelcase 也是如此。這是因為這些產品的所有智慧財產權和投資以及這些產品的生命週期。因此，毛利率可能略高於平均值。

As far as the general lifecycle, we do -- we have believed that that was shortening. In the world of cubicles, 20-plus years ago, I mean, they didn't really wear out. So, many clients use them for a long time. And it's not that products are wearing out faster, it's that there is so much change that is impacting work and so many different design elements that are being embedded into the solutions that is causing more churn inside kind of an office structure, whether it's the conference rooms need to embed technology more effectively or we went for the open plan and shared desking and benching applications and now we need to move to more freestanding, height adjustable and privacy. There's more embedding of social spaces that allow for more informal collaboration. All that change, I think, is happening more frequently because of how work is changing.

就整體生命週期而言，我們相信它正在縮短。我的意思是，在 20 多年前的小隔間世界裡，它們並沒有真正磨損。因此，許多客戶長期使用它們。並不是產品磨損得更快，而是影響工作的變化太多，解決方案中嵌入了太多不同的設計元素，導致辦公結構內部產生更多的混亂，無論是會議還是會議房間需要更有效地嵌入技術，或者我們選擇了開放式佈局和共享辦公桌和長凳應用，現在我們需要轉向更獨立、高度可調節和隱私的。有更多的社交空間嵌入，可以進行更多非正式的協作。我認為，由於工作方式的變化，所有這些變化都更加頻繁地發生。

Great. Thank you very much.

偉大的。非常感謝。

Steven Ramsey, Thompson Research Group.

史蒂文·拉姆齊，湯普森研究小組。

Good morning, everyone. This is Chris White calling in for Steve, and thanks for taking my questions. I wanted to follow-up on a return-to-office question. It seems like that's been the major topic for the past couple of years. But now, based on recent results and the conversational tone at NeoCon, it was less about return to office and more about the hybrid models. There, you mentioned the Ocular collection to open the call. So, my question is, do you think that return-to-office chapter is over? And are we now instead focused on kind of implementing the hybrid model instead of -- seen as highly valued in our company spending to make them functional and attractive?

大家，早安。我是克里斯懷特 (Chris White) 給史蒂夫打電話，感謝您回答我的問題。我想跟進返回辦公室的問題。這似乎是過去幾年的主要話題。但現在，根據最近的結果和 NeoCon 的談話基調，問題不再是重返辦公室，而是更多關於混合模式。在那裡，您提到了 Oural 系列來開始通話。所以，我的問題是，你認為重返辦公室的章節已經結束了嗎？我們現在是否轉而專注於實施混合模式，而不是——在我們公司的支出中被視為高度重視，以使它們具有功能性和吸引力？

Hi, Chris. It's Sara. So, great question, and here's how I would think about that. As we think about return to -- I'll separate return-to-office from the hybrid model, because if you think about it, back in February of 2020, before the pandemic, there were a few organizations that were strictly 100% in the office then, right? We work with a lot of clients where people, especially white collar employees, had some degree of flexibility, had different models. So, I think in some ways, the pandemic has really just accelerated or pushed forward a trend that was already happening. So, I think hybrid was something that we were focused on even before the pandemic.

嗨，克里斯。是薩拉。所以，這是一個很好的問題，這就是我的想法。當我們考慮重返辦公室時，我將把重返辦公室與混合模式分開，因為如果你想一想，早在 2020 年 2 月，在大流行之前，有一些組織嚴格 100% 恢復正常工作。吧？我們與許多客戶合作，這些客戶，尤其是白領員工，具有一定程度的靈活性，有不同的模式。因此，我認為在某些方面，這種流行病實際上只是加速或推動了已經發生的趨勢。所以，我認為混合動力甚至是在疫情大流行之前我們就關注的事情。

We really doubled down on hybrid and our investments and solutions to support hybrid work during the pandemic. And I think those are the things that we've been launching and will continue to come to market. And we hope to kind of reap the benefits of having the right solutions for the moment. So, I think we definitely still see lots of organizations thinking about and working on what hybrid means for them. And those decisions -- as they make those decisions and evolve that thinking, we believe will continue to drive demand for our solution.

我們確實加倍了混合動力以及我們的投資和解決方案，以支持大流行期間的混合工作。我認為這些是我們一直在推出並將繼續推向市場的產品。我們希望能夠從目前擁有正確的解決方案中獲益。因此，我認為我們肯定仍然看到許多組織正在思考並致力於混合對他們意味著什麼。當他們做出這些決定並發展這種思維時，我們相信這些決定將繼續推動對我們解決方案的需求。

With respect to return-to-office in terms of just simply, like, getting people back for -- back to the office at all, I don't think we're anywhere near done. I would describe the progress that we've seen or the evolution we've seen in terms of organizations, taking steps or taking more significant steps to really define how their organizations are going to work, we've seen that happening, and I think we continue to see that happening.

至於重返辦公室，就像讓人們回到辦公室一樣，我認為我們還沒有完成任何工作。我將描述我們在組織方面看到的進步或演變，採取步驟或更重要的步驟來真正定義他們的組織將如何運作，我們已經看到這種情況正在發生，我認為我們繼續看到這種情況發生。

And again, I was at an event with a group of CEOs two weeks ago and was seeking to one individual, again, a Fortune 100 company who shared with me that, like, that very day, they had announced that they were moving from four days a week, to five days a week, right? And I do hear stories like that, or they're going from three days a week to four days a week. So, I think it's a -- I'll say, a steady march. It's not a sprint, but it's a steady march. And I expect we'll continue to see organizations moving back toward a significant amount of in-person week, not a 100%, but in-person work still matters, and the spaces in which people come together to do that work still matter. So, we still believe that's likely to be what's in front of us.

兩週前，我再次與一群首席執行官一起參加一個活動，並正在尋找一個人，再次，一家財富 100 強公司，他與我分享了這一點，就在那天，他們宣布從四個一周幾天，一週五天，對吧？我確實聽過這樣的故事，或者他們從每週三天變成了每週四天。所以，我認為這是一個——我會說，穩步前進。這不是衝刺，而是穩步前進。我預計我們將繼續看到組織回歸每週大量的面對面工作，而不是 100%，但面對面的工作仍然很重要，人們聚集在一起完成工作的空間仍然很重要。因此，我們仍然相信這可能是我們面前的情況。

Great. Thank you. And then, following up on a question you had -- comment you made about a financial company hiring thousands, are you starting to see kind of green shoots of traditional business coming back where people are actually hiring and expanding in a traditional sense?

偉大的。謝謝。然後，繼續回答您提出的問題——您對一家金融公司僱用數千人的評論，您是否開始看到傳統業務的萌芽重新出現，人們實際上在傳統意義上招聘和擴張？

I'm not sure if -- I'm not sure I'm exactly following traditional sense, but, I mean, we do. I mean, we -- again, we work with clients across every part of the world and every industry. And so, I can't say that universally all of them are hiring. But there are industries and there are clients and there are parts of the world where we still see growth. India as an example, certain sectors and certain clients where they are growing, they're investing, they're adding to their workforce and they are taking advantage of whatever the factors might be in their particular industry or markets that allow them to capture that growth. So, I think we continue to see that even in spite of some of the headwinds that also exist in certain places and parts of the world.

我不確定是否——我不確定我是否完全遵循傳統觀念，但是，我的意思是，我們這樣做。我的意思是，我們再次與世界各地、各產業的客戶合作。因此，我不能說他們普遍都在招募。但在某些行業、某些客戶、以及世界上的某些地區，我們仍然看到成長。以印度為例，某些行業和某些客戶正在成長，他們正在投資，他們正在增加勞動力，他們正在利用其特定行業或市場中可能存在的任何因素，使他們能夠抓住這一點生長。因此，我認為，儘管世界某些地方和部分地區也存在一些不利因素，但我們仍然會看到這一點。

Great. Thank you. And last question, you called out education a couple of times in the press release and on the call. I'm wondering, are you seeing an uptick in education due to kind of previous federal stimulus dollars or are these traditional state-led funding initiatives? And are you seeing strength in any particular regions? Thanks for taking my questions.

偉大的。謝謝。最後一個問題，您在新聞稿和電話會議中多次提到了教育問題。我想知道，您是否看到教育水平的提高是由於之前的聯邦刺激資金，還是這些傳統的國家主導的資助計劃？您是否在某些特定地區看到了優勢？感謝您回答我的問題。

Sure. So, first of all, yes, the stimulus spending or stimulus dollars in the US has certainly had a noticeable impact on investment in education and investment in educational facilities that we've seen now. I think we continue to see that to some degree. So that's been a certainly a driver of demand. But we also see certainly some state-led efforts in education as well.

當然。因此，首先，是的，美國的刺激支出或刺激資金肯定對我們現在看到的教育投資和教育設施投資產生了顯著影響。我認為我們在某種程度上繼續看到這一點。所以這無疑是需求的驅動因素。但我們當然也看到了一些國家主導的教育努力。

I was in Texas a couple months ago and had the opportunity to tour a couple of high schools and some public school districts that were just phenomenal examples of some of the just -- as an example, some of the decisions that the state of Texas has made in terms of supporting and funding K-12 education. And I think we see that as well and enjoy the benefit of that as well, so at least with respect to K-12.

幾個月前，我在德克薩斯州，有機會參觀了幾所高中和一些公立學區，這些只是一些正義的非凡例子——例如，德克薩斯州做出的一些決定在支持和資助K-12 教育方面取得了進展。我認為我們也看到了這一點，也享受了其中的好處，至少在 K-12 方面是如此。

And then, I think with higher education, we continue to see what we've seen for some time, which is, I'll say, maybe it's a war for talent. Universities are trying to continue to attract students. They're trying to attract world-class faculty. They're trying to attract research or other kinds of investment dollars. So, we still see that playing out in terms of many universities and higher education institutions making investments in facilities. So, I expect that we'll continue to see that going forward. That seems to be a trend that we've enjoyed the benefits of that for some time, and I think, that feels like that's going to be somewhat persistent would be my guess.

然後，我認為在高等教育中，我們將繼續看到一段時間以來我們所看到的情況，我想說，這也許是一場人才之戰。大學正在努力繼續吸引學生。他們正在努力吸引世界一流的教師。他們正試圖吸引研究或其他類型的投資資金。因此，我們仍然看到許多大學和高等教育機構對設施進行投資。因此，我預計我們將繼續看到這一點。這似乎是一種趨勢，我們已經享受了一段時間的好處，而且我認為，我的猜測是，這種趨勢將會持續下去。

Great. Thank you, again.

偉大的。再次感謝你。

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

目前沒有其他問題。 Armbruster 女士，我將電話轉回給您。

Great. Well, I just want to thank all of you for joining us this morning. As always, we appreciate your interest in Steelcase, and I hope you have a great day.

偉大的。好吧，我只是想感謝大家今天早上加入我們。一如既往，我們感謝您對 Steelcase 的興趣，並祝您有個愉快的一天。

This concludes today's conference call. We thank you for joining. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。我們感謝您的加入。您現在可以斷開連線。