SPAR Group Inc (SGRP) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning and welcome to the SPAR Group's fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2022 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note this event is being recorded.

早上好，歡迎來到 SPAR 集團第四季度和全年 2022 財年財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意正在記錄此事件。

I'd now like to turn the conference over to Sandy Martin with Three Part Advisors. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議轉交給桑迪馬丁和三部分顧問。請繼續。

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for the SPAR Group Inc.'s conference call to review 2022 fourth quarter and fiscal-year results. Joining me on the call today are SPAR's Chief Executive Officer, Mike Matacunas; and the company's Chief Financial Officer, Antonio Calisto Pato.

謝謝接線員，大家早上好。感謝您參加 SPAR Group Inc. 的電話會議，回顧 2022 年第四季度和財年的業績。今天和我一起參加電話會議的還有 SPAR 的首席執行官 Mike Matacunas；以及公司的首席財務官 Antonio Calisto Pato。

This call is being webcast and can be accessed through the audio link on the events and presentations page of the Investor Relations section at investors.sparinc.com. Information recorded on this call speaks only as of today. So please be advised that any time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the date of any replay or transcript reading.

此電話會議正在進行網絡直播，可通過 investors.sparinc.com 投資者關係部分的活動和演示頁面上的音頻鏈接進行訪問。此通話中記錄的信息僅在今天有效。因此請注意，任何時間敏感的信息在任何重播或抄本閱讀之日可能不再準確。

I would also like to remind you that statements made in today's discussion that are not historical facts, including statements or expectations of future events or future financial performance and/or forward-looking statements, made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements by their nature are uncertain and outside of the company's control. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied.

我還想提醒您，今天討論中的陳述並非歷史事實，包括對未來事件或未來財務業績的陳述或預期和/或前瞻性陳述，這些陳述是根據私人證券訴訟的安全港條款作出的1995 年改革法案。前瞻性陳述的性質是不確定的，不在公司的控制範圍內。實際結果可能與明示或暗示的結果存在重大差異。

Please refer to the earnings press release that was issued today for our disclosures on forward-looking statements. These factors and other risks and uncertainties are described in detail in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

請參閱今天發布的收益新聞稿，了解我們對前瞻性陳述的披露。這些因素以及其他風險和不確定性在公司提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中有詳細描述。

Management may also refer to non-GAAP financial measures, and reconciliations to the nearest GAAP measures can be found at the end of our earnings release. SPAR Group assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. Finally, the earnings press release we issued earlier today is posted on the Investor Relations section of our website at sparinc.com.

管理層還可以參考非 GAAP 財務指標，並且可以在我們的收益發布結束時找到與最近的 GAAP 指標的對賬。 SPAR 集團不承擔公開更新或修改任何前瞻性陳述的義務。最後，我們今天早些時候發布的收益新聞稿發佈在我們網站 sparinc.com 的投資者關係部分。

And now, I would like to turn the call over to the company's CEO, Mike Matacunas. Mike?

現在，我想把電話轉給公司的首席執行官 Mike Matacunas。麥克風？

Thank you, Sandy, and good morning, everyone. I am pleased to share our fiscal 2022 results. At the end of our prepared remarks today, we will open the line for questions from analysts and institutional investors.

謝謝你，桑迪，大家早上好。我很高興分享我們 2022 財年的業績。在我們今天準備好的發言結束時，我們將開放分析師和機構投資者的提問熱線。

Fiscal 2022 was a transformational year for the company. We successfully grew our businesses, which primarily include merchandising, reset and remodeling, and distribution services, with exceptional strength in the United States and Brazil. Australia was also strong, albeit small in comparison to our other geographic footprint.

2022 財年是公司轉型的一年。我們成功地發展了我們的業務，主要包括商品銷售、重置和改造以及分銷服務，在美國和巴西具有非凡的實力。澳大利亞也很強大，儘管與我們的其他地理足跡相比較小。

Our 2022 top 10 clients make up 49% of our revenue, which are primarily located in the Americas. These long-standing recurring clients add stability and predictability to our business model. I'll speak about our opportunity pipeline and outlook for fiscal 2023 after Antonio provides more details on our 2022 results.

我們 2022 年的前 10 大客戶占我們收入的 49%，這些客戶主要位於美洲。這些長期的經常性客戶為我們的商業模式增加了穩定性和可預測性。在安東尼奧提供了我們 2022 年業績的更多細節之後，我將談論我們的機會管道和 2023 財年的展望。

I'm very pleased with the company's performance for the year. We established priorities and initiatives for 2022, and we met or exceeded our objectives. Our top-line margin and operational initiatives were successfully accomplished in a dynamic and challenging macroeconomic backdrop.

我對公司今年的業績感到非常滿意。我們制定了 2022 年的優先事項和舉措，我們達到或超過了我們的目標。我們的頂線利潤率和運營計劃是在充滿活力和充滿挑戰的宏觀經濟背景下成功完成的。

Demand environment remained robust throughout 2022, and we were successful implementing technology to advance our recruiting and client service efforts. I'm proud of our entire SPAR team and want to thank them for their hard work and dedication last year.

需求環境在整個 2022 年保持強勁，我們成功地實施了技術來推進我們的招聘和客戶服務工作。我為我們整個 SPAR 團隊感到自豪，並感謝他們去年的辛勤工作和奉獻精神。

Now turning to our results. We reported record full-year revenue of $261 million, which grew by 3.5% on a constant currency basis. For the fourth quarter, total revenue was $64.6 million. This reflects a strong 7.7% increase year over year on a reported basis. On a constant currency basis, which excludes the FX impact, revenue grew by 11.8% over the year-ago quarter.

現在轉向我們的結果。我們公佈了創紀錄的全年收入 2.61 億美元，按固定匯率計算增長了 3.5%。第四季度總收入為 6460 萬美元。這反映了在報告基礎上同比強勁增長 7.7%。在排除外匯影響的固定匯率基礎上，收入比去年同期增長 11.8%。

Our Americas segment reported record revenue of $48.6 million, an increase of 20.8%. And the Americas grew organically on a constant currency basis by 21.2% during the fourth quarter, which was due to strong momentum in the US and Brazil. The Americas segment also includes Mexico and Canada.

我們的美洲分部報告創紀錄的收入為 4860 萬美元，增長 20.8%。第四季度，美洲在固定匯率基礎上實現了 21.2% 的有機增長，這歸功於美國和巴西的強勁勢頭。美洲部分還包括墨西哥和加拿大。

Within the Americas, the US grew by over 20% and delivered close to $25 million in revenue. Our core merchandising services business grew by 28% in the fourth quarter with the addition of new clients and expansion in our current client agreements. Our resets and remodel business was up 72% and it is worth noting, this division has more than doubled over the past five years, up 113%.

在美洲，美國增長超過 20%，收入接近 2500 萬美元。隨著新客戶的增加和現有客戶協議的擴展，我們的核心商品服務業務在第四季度增長了 28%。我們的重置和改造業務增長了 72%，值得注意的是，該部門在過去五年中增長了一倍多，增長了 113%。

The momentum continues as we're working together with more than 20 of the largest retailers in the country, often as a preferred partner to help them reset categories, remodel locations, and renovate stores.

隨著我們與該國 20 多家最大的零售商合作，這種勢頭仍在繼續，通常作為首選合作夥伴幫助他們重新設置類別、改造地點和翻新商店。

We continue to remain bullish on the prospects of our remodel business as the industry continues to invest in reinventing physical stores across key segments such as big box, discount, drug, and convenience. Our Brazil joint venture reported record growth of 30% in the fourth quarter. This strength is based on winning new business and an expanded share of wallet for existing clients.

我們繼續看好我們改造業務的前景，因為該行業繼續投資於改造大型商店、折扣店、藥品店和便利店等關鍵領域的實體店。我們的巴西合資企業在第四季度報告了 30% 的創紀錄增長。這種優勢是基於贏得新業務和擴大現有客戶的錢包份額。

In addition, we grew EBIT for our Brazil venture by 49%. We've expanded our scope of work for several key clients, including Nivea and Red Bull. And in 2023, we've been awarded a three-year contract with [3M]. Adding new logos with large international company speaks to our positive reputation as a global service partner.

此外，我們的巴西合資企業的息稅前利潤增長了 49%。我們已經擴大了幾個主要客戶的工作範圍，包括妮維雅和紅牛。 2023 年，我們與 [3M] 簽訂了一份為期三年的合同。與大型國際公司一起添加新徽標證明了我們作為全球服務合作夥伴的良好聲譽。

Our EMEA segment representing our joint venture in South Africa reported revenue of $9.4 million, down 2.1%, and on a constant currency basis expanded by 13.6% over the prior-year quarter. We have won new clients, renewed large multi-year agreements, and increased EBIT on a reported basis of 27%. Organically, EBIT for me grew by a strong 28.5% over last year's quarter. The strengthening of the US dollar devalued the rand in 2022.

我們的 EMEA 分部代表我們在南非的合資企業，報告收入為 940 萬美元，下降 2.1%，按固定匯率計算，比去年同期增長 13.6%。我們贏得了新客戶，續簽了大型多年期協議，據報導息稅前利潤增長了 27%。有機地，我的息稅前利潤比去年同期增長了 28.5%。美元走強導致蘭特在 2022 年貶值。

Asia Pacific segment reported revenue of $6.7 million, which represents a decline of approximately $3.5 million, or 34.8%. On a constant currency basis, total revenue was down by 26.9% due to China revenue declines of 46%; Japan declines of 33%; India declines of 17%, offset by a strong 25% increase in Australia, albeit small numbers in this joint venture.

亞太區報告的收入為 670 萬美元，下降了約 350 萬美元，即 34.8%。按固定匯率計算，由於中國收入下降 46%，總收入下降 26.9%；日本下降了 33%；印度下降了 17%，被澳大利亞 25% 的強勁增長所抵消，儘管這家合資企業的數量很少。

We continue to watch the APAC market. It makes up approximately 9% of our overall revenue, but it is immaterial to our bottom line. Therefore, we are exploring alternative approaches to improve the leverage of these businesses to ensure we are focused on delivering value for our clients.

我們繼續關注亞太市場。它約占我們總收入的 9%，但對我們的底線並不重要。因此，我們正在探索提高這些業務槓桿作用的替代方法，以確保我們專注於為客戶創造價值。

With a solid organic revenue performance in the quarter of almost 12%, let's now turn to gross margin. Our fourth-quarter gross margin was 20.7% compared to 17.7% last year, a 300-basis point expansion. Our Americas segment, which represented 75% of the total business in the quarter, compared to 67% last year. Group gross margin to 19.3%, more than a 500-basis point improvement from 14.2% gross profit margin a year ago.

憑藉本季度近 12% 的穩健有機收入表現，現在讓我們來看看毛利率。我們第四季度的毛利率為 20.7%，而去年為 17.7%，增長了 300 個基點。我們的美洲分部佔本季度總業務的 75%，而去年為 67%。集團毛利率達到 19.3%，比一年前的 14.2% 提高了 500 個基點以上。

Our focus continues to be on pricing, productivity, and leverage of technology during the quarter. Our EMEA segment reported a strong 27.2% gross margin, an improvement of 120 basis points. Continue to make progress on merchandise productivity margin enhancement initiatives this year, I'm pleased that this is reflected in our fourth-quarter number.

我們的重點仍然是本季度的定價、生產力和技術槓桿。我們的 EMEA 分部報告了 27.2% 的強勁毛利率，提高了 120 個基點。今年繼續在商品生產率提高計劃方面取得進展，我很高興這反映在我們第四季度的數字中。

The countries that make up APAC for us, China, Japan, India and Australia combined, delivered a gross margin of 21.8%, sequentially better than 21.2% in the second quarter and down 210 basis points from the prior-year same period. Notwithstanding the strength in our consolidated gross profit during the fourth quarter, a 41% drop year over year in gross margin dollars from APAC impacted our consolidated gross margin percent.

中國、日本、印度和澳大利亞構成亞太地區的國家/地區加起來，毛利率為 21.8%，連續高於第二季度的 21.2%，比去年同期下降 210 個基點。儘管我們第四季度的綜合毛利潤強勁，但亞太地區的毛利率同比下降 41% 影響了我們的綜合毛利率百分比。

We continue to focus on gross profit, and I am pleased with the results to date. I believe there's more opportunity to enhance margins, and we will continue to pursue this strategy.

我們繼續關注毛利潤，我對迄今為止的結果感到滿意。我相信有更多的機會來提高利潤率，我們將繼續奉行這一戰略。

Relative to operating income, we reported consolidated operating loss of $760,000, which had a fair bit of non-recurring noise in the numbers. In the fourth quarter of 2022, we recorded a non-cash goodwill impairment, as well as one-time expenses related to our strategic alternatives' announcement.

相對於營業收入，我們報告的綜合營業虧損為 760,000 美元，其中包含相當多的非經常性噪音。 2022 年第四季度，我們記錄了一項非現金商譽減值，以及與我們的戰略替代方案公告相關的一次性費用。

In the same period in 2021, we paid expenses related to the majority stockholders change in control. Without these non-cash and one-time expenses and carving out the APAC segment, our operating income improved from last year in the same period.

2021年同期，我們支付了與大股東控制權變更相關的費用。如果不考慮這些非現金和一次性支出以及剝離亞太地區業務，我們的營業收入比去年同期有所提高。

As I noted in the press release, I expect these expenses in effect to be temporary in nature, while we stay focusing on growing the top line, improving gross profits, and creating more operating leverage.

正如我在新聞稿中指出的那樣，我預計這些支出實際上是暫時的，而我們將繼續專注於增加收入、提高毛利潤和創造更多的經營槓桿。

After Antonio covers the detailed financial results, I will come back and share key strategic wins and then speak about my view on our opportunity pipeline and progress. With that, I will turn the call over to Antonio to review our results.

在 Antonio 介紹了詳細的財務結果後，我將回來分享關鍵的戰略勝利，然後談談我對我們的機會管道和進展的看法。有了這個，我會把電話轉給安東尼奧來審查我們的結果。

Thank you, Mike, and good morning, everyone. Today, we filed our Form 10-K with the SEC after filing a 12b25 notification of late filing on March 31. This late filing was required after we discovered and corrected and error that triggered the material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting involving international accounting.

謝謝邁克，大家早上好。今天，我們在 3 月 31 日提交了延遲提交的 12b25 通知後，向美國證券交易委員會提交了 10-K 表格。在我們發現並糾正了導致我們在涉及國際財務報告的內部控制中存在重大缺陷的錯誤後，我們要求延遲提交會計。

Now, turning to the financial results. Our fourth-quarter 2022 net revenues totaled $64.6 million, an increase of 7.7%, which includes $48.6 million of revenue from the Americas, $9.4 million from EMEA, and $6.6 million from APAC. As the US dollar strengthened against other currencies this quarter and for the year, a number of our international businesses suffered from significant foreign exchange adjustments.

現在，轉向財務結果。我們 2022 年第四季度的淨收入總計 6460 萬美元，增長 7.7%，其中包括來自美洲的 4860 萬美元收入、來自 EMEA 的 940 萬美元收入和來自亞太地區的 660 萬美元收入。由於本季度和全年美元兌其他貨幣走強，我們的許多國際業務都受到了重大外匯調整的影響。

Excluding the foreign exchange impact, our fourth-quarter revenue improved by 11.8% on a constant currency basis. Reported revenues by segment for Q4 versus the previous year comprise of the Americas up by 20.8%, EMEA down by 2.1%, and APAC revenues down by 34.8%.

排除外匯影響，我們第四季度的收入按固定匯率計算增長了 11.8%。與去年同期相比，第四季度各部門報告的收入包括美洲增長 20.8%，歐洲、中東和非洲下降 2.1%，亞太地區收入下降 34.8%。

As Mike has mentioned earlier, our Americas segment revenue's strength was primarily driven by a positive momentum from our reset and remodel work in the US and Brazil. The revenue decrease in EMEA was due solely to negative foreign exchange impacts for our South African business.

正如邁克之前提到的，我們美洲部門的收入強勁主要是由我們在美國和巴西的重置和改造工作帶來的積極勢頭推動的。歐洲、中東和非洲地區的收入下降完全是由於我們南非業務的負面外匯影響。

In constant currencies, EMEA revenues would have been up 13.6% compared to Q4 last year. Headwinds in APAC for the quarter was due to pandemic-related lockdowns in both China and Japan. Australia's revenue were strong, but the numbers are small and did not offset pressure results from other countries for APAC.

按固定匯率計算，歐洲、中東和非洲地區的收入與去年第四季度相比增長了 13.6%。本季度亞太地區的逆風是由於中國和日本與大流行相關的封鎖。澳大利亞的收入強勁，但數量較少，無法抵消來自其他國家/地區對亞太地區的壓力。

Fourth-quarter gross profit was $13.4 million, 20.7% of revenues, compared to $10.6 million, or 11.7% of revenues in the prior quarter -- prior-year quarter. Mike discussed the 300-basis-point improvement from the previous year, which was based on initiatives that we implemented during the year.

第四季度毛利潤為 1340 萬美元，佔收入的 20.7%，上一季度為 1060 萬美元，佔收入的 11.7%。 Mike 討論了與上一年相比的 300 個基點的改進，這是基於我們在這一年中實施的舉措。

We recorded a non-cash $2.5 million impairment charge for goodwill in the fourth quarter of 2022. Selling, general, and administrative expenses for the fourth quarter totaled [$11.2 million] (technical difficulty), or 17.3% of revenues, compared to $13.2 million, or 22% of revenues in the prior-year quarter.

我們在 2022 年第四季度記錄了 250 萬美元的非現金商譽減值費用。第四季度的銷售、一般和管理費用總計 [1120 萬美元]（技術難度），佔收入的 17.3%，而去年同期為 1320 萬美元，或去年同期收入的 22%。

SG&A increases in 2022 included a $1.2 million bad debt write-off on one customer that filed for bankruptcy in the US, as well as fees -- correction there, sorry, did not file for bankruptcy, it's facing financial hardship, as well as fees for the strategic alternatives advisory work. Also, in the prior year, we recorded a majority shareholder change and control costs.

2022 年的 SG&A 增加包括註銷一位在美國申請破產的客戶的 120 萬美元壞賬，以及費用——更正那裡，抱歉，沒有申請破產，它面臨財務困難，以及費用用於戰略替代諮詢工作。此外，在前一年，我們記錄了大股東變更和控製成本。

The fourth-quarter operating income was $760,000 versus operating income of $3.1 million in the previous-year quarter. Net loss attributable to SPAR Group, Inc. for the fourth quarter was $351,000 or 2¢ per share compared to a net loss of 4.4 million.

第四季度營業收入為 760,000 美元，而去年同期營業收入為 310 萬美元。第四季度歸屬於 SPAR Group, Inc. 的淨虧損為 351,000 美元或每股 2 美分，而淨虧損為 440 萬美元。

Excuse me -- net loss attributable to SPAR Group Inc. for Q4 were $351,000, or $0.02 per share, compared to a net loss of $4.4 million -- excuse me, net loss attributable to SPAR Group Inc. for Q4 were $351,000, or $0.02 per share, compared to a net loss of $4.4 million, or $0.21 per share in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted net income attributable to SPAR Group, Inc. in the quarter was $1.9 million, or $0.08 per share, compared to a loss of $644,000, or $0.03 per share in the year-ago quarter.

不好意思——第四季度歸屬於 SPAR Group Inc. 的淨虧損為 351,000 美元，即每股 0.02 美元，而淨虧損為 440 萬美元——對不起，第四季度歸屬於 SPAR Group Inc. 的淨虧損為 351,000 美元，即每股 0.02 美元每股淨虧損 440 萬美元，或去年同期每股虧損 0.21 美元。本季度歸屬於 SPAR Group, Inc. 的調整後淨利潤為 190 萬美元，或每股 0.08 美元，而去年同期為虧損 644,000 美元，或每股 0.03 美元。

Consolidated adjusted EBITDA in the 2022 fourth quarter was $5.2 million compared to a loss of $1.2 million in the prior-year quarter. Q4 adjusted EBITDA attributable to SPAR Group was $4.1 million compared to a loss of $3 million in previous-year quarter.

2022 年第四季度合併調整後 EBITDA 為 520 萬美元，而去年同期為虧損 120 萬美元。歸屬於 SPAR 集團的第四季度調整後 EBITDA 為 410 萬美元，而去年同期為虧損 300 萬美元。

For the year, net revenues were $261.3 million, up 2.2% from the year-ago period. For the segments, year-to-date revenues were $198.6 million for the Americas, representing 76% of the total revenue; while EMEA was $36.7 million, or 14% of total revenue; and APAC was $26 million, or 10% of revenue.

全年淨收入為 2.613 億美元，同比增長 2.2%。對於這些細分市場，美洲的年初至今收入為 1.986 億美元，佔總收入的 76%； EMEA 為 3670 萬美元，佔總收入的 14%；亞太地區為 2600 萬美元，佔收入的 10%。

Gross profit for 2022 was $51 million, or 19.5% of revenues, compared favorably to $47.5 million, or 18.6% of revenues in the prior-year period. Gross margin increased 90 basis points. The improvement was due to strength in the Americas, up 180 basis points, and EMEA gross margin was up 210 basis points due to successful improvement actions and favorable mix shifts in certain markets.

2022 年的毛利潤為 5100 萬美元，佔收入的 19.5%，高於上年同期的 4750 萬美元，佔收入的 18.6%。毛利率增加了 90 個基點。改善是由於美洲的強勁增長 180 個基點，而歐洲、中東和非洲地區的毛利率由於成功的改善行動和某些市場有利的組合轉變而增長了 210 個基點。

Despite strength in the other two segments, APAC negatively impacted by margin -- excuse me, APAC negatively impacted margin by 380 basis points due to pandemic lockdowns for the year. For the year, we reported a non-cash $2.5 million impairment charge for goodwill that we mentioned for Q4. SG&A expenses were $41.1 million, or 15.7% of revenues, compared to $36.8 million, or 14 4% of revenues in the prior-year period, primarily due to rebound of business from the pandemic.

儘管其他兩個細分市場表現強勁，但亞太地區的利潤率受到了負面影響——對不起，由於今年的大流行病封鎖，亞太地區的利潤率受到了 380 個基點的負面影響。今年，我們報告了我們在第四季度提到的 250 萬美元的非現金商譽減值費用。 SG&A 費用為 4110 萬美元，佔收入的 15.7%，上年同期為 3680 萬美元，佔收入的 14.4%，這主要是由於業務從大流行中反彈。

In addition, the full-year result included one-year expenses that are not part of the run rate to SG&A costs. Full-year operating income was $5.4 million versus 4.2 million in the year-ago period. For the full year, net loss attributable to SPAR Group Inc. was $732,000, or $0.03 per share, compared to $1.8 million, or $0.08 per share in the year-ago period.

此外，全年業績包括不屬於 SG&A 成本運行率的一年費用。全年營業收入為 540 萬美元，而去年同期為 420 萬美元。全年，歸屬於 SPAR Group Inc. 的淨虧損為 732,000 美元，即每股虧損 0.03 美元，上年同期為 180 萬美元，即每股虧損 0.08 美元。

Adjusted net income attributable to SPAR was $1.6 million, or $0.07 per share, compared to $2.6 million, or $0.12 per share in the year-ago period.

歸屬於 SPAR 的調整後淨利潤為 160 萬美元，或每股 0.07 美元，而去年同期為 260 萬美元，或每股 0.12 美元。

Consolidated adjusted EBITDA for the full year was $10.8 million compared to $11.9 million in the prior year. Excluding the non-controlling interest, adjusted EBITDA attributable to SPAR Group Inc. was $6.1 million compared to $7 million in the prior year. You can find the GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation of management's financial measures at the end of today's press release.

全年合併調整後的 EBITDA 為 1080 萬美元，上年為 1190 萬美元。剔除非控股權益後，歸屬於 SPAR Group Inc. 的調整後 EBITDA 為 610 萬美元，上年同期為 700 萬美元。您可以在今天的新聞稿末尾找到管理層財務措施的 GAAP 與非 GAAP 對賬。

Now, turning to the company's financial position as of December 31, 2022. The company balance sheet remains strong and the total worldwide liquidity at year end was $14.7 million, with $9.3 million in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash and 5.4 million of unused availability at year end. The company's working capital as of December 31 was $26.4 million, and the accounts receivable balance was $63.7 million.

現在，轉向公司截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日的財務狀況。公司資產負債表依然強勁，年末全球流動性總額為 1470 萬美元，其中現金、現金等價物和受限制現金 930 萬美元，未使用的現金 540 萬美元年底的可用性。公司截至 12 月 31 日的營運資金為 2640 萬美元，應收賬款餘額為 6370 萬美元。

Finally, for the year, we repurchased 151,156 shares of SGRP common stock under our Board authorized share repurchase program. With that, I would like to turn back to Mike.

最後，今年，我們根據董事會授權的股票回購計劃回購了 151,156 股 SGRP 普通股。有了這個，我想回到邁克。

Thank you, Antonio. Last fall, we announced that the Board had initiated a process to evaluate potential strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value. This process includes a full range of options, including a sale, merger, divestiture, going private, as well as other potential value creation opportunities to accelerate our growth and return profile as a publicly traded company.

謝謝你，安東尼奧。去年秋天，我們宣布董事會已經啟動了一個流程來評估潛在的戰略選擇，以最大限度地提高股東價值。這個過程包括全方位的選擇，包括出售、合併、剝離、私有化，以及其他潛在的價值創造機會，以加速我們作為一家上市公司的增長和回報。

The management team is fully engaged on exploring ways to unlock value for the shareholders of SPAR. We have not concluded this process yet, and I do not have an update today so I will not be answering questions related to the company's strategic alternatives process after our remarks.

管理團隊正全力探索為 SPAR 股東釋放價值的方法。我們還沒有結束這個過程，我今天沒有更新，所以我不會在我們發表評論後回答與公司戰略替代過程相關的問題。

As I mentioned earlier, we made significant progress with our long-term strategic goals, both short term and longer term. We organically expanded the US business by expanding store experience and remodeling services. We also established fulfillment solution capabilities, expanded our services in Canada, developed a talent framework, and invested in establishing a data lake with expanded analytics of our SPARview technology.

正如我之前提到的，我們在短期和長期的長期戰略目標方面取得了重大進展。我們通過擴展商店體驗和改造服務有機地擴展了美國業務。我們還建立了履行解決方案能力，擴展了我們在加拿大的服務，開發了人才框架，並投資建立了一個數據湖，對我們的 SPARview 技術進行了擴展分析。

A quick example of our talent framework advancement was evident in Q4 as we hired over 2,400 reps using artificial intelligence. This is the way our reps like to sign up for work on our platform.

我們的人才框架進步的一個簡單例子在第四季度顯而易見，因為我們使用人工智能僱用了 2,400 多名代表。這是我們的代表喜歡在我們的平台上註冊工作的方式。

With regard to gross margin, our internal initiatives resulted in margin expansions in 2022, especially during the fourth quarter. Our business has not slowed; our pipeline is robust; and we have continued to take market share from our competitors. While we recognize that there are macro headwinds, we do not expect this to have a meaningful impact on our plans.

在毛利率方面，我們的內部舉措導致 2022 年的利潤率有所增長，尤其是在第四季度。我們的業務並沒有放緩；我們的管道很強大；我們繼續從競爭對手那里奪取市場份額。雖然我們認識到存在宏觀逆風，但我們預計這不會對我們的計劃產生重大影響。

Our business is resilient. We work with brands and retailers that are needed in any economic environment. For the customers are trading up or down, our largest 10 clients include those in the discount retailing market, large box retailers who are continuing to open stores and brands that sell consumable products that people need every day like food products, pharmacies, and more. Many of these companies have been announcing comparable sales growth and business expansion.

我們的業務具有彈性。我們與任何經濟環境中都需要的品牌和零售商合作。對於正在上漲或下跌的客戶，我們最大的 10 個客戶包括折扣零售市場的客戶、繼續開店的大型零售商以及銷售人們每天需要的消費品的品牌，如食品、藥店等。其中許多公司已經宣布了可比的銷售增長和業務擴張。

Most businesses are looking for ways to optimize the cost structure. We've begun discussions with a number of clients and prospects that have input cost pressures and margin challenges and exploring how SPAR provide incremental operating leverage.

大多數企業都在尋找優化成本結構的方法。我們已經開始與許多面臨投入成本壓力和利潤挑戰的客戶和潛在客戶進行討論，並探索 SPAR 如何提供增量運營槓桿。

For those with large field organizations, they're asking us about syndicated models that share expenses, better use of technology to capture insights, and make targeted visits and multi-country agreements that can create leverage for them.

對於那些擁有大型現場組織的人，他們向我們詢問分擔費用的聯合模式，更好地利用技術來獲取洞察力，並進行有針對性的訪問和可以為他們創造影響力的多國協議。

As I mentioned last quarter, our only constraint to growing our business is access to labor. We've invested in recruiting resources dedicated to identifying this future SPAR team member. We've also invested in technology to remove the friction from hiring to paying our people.

正如我在上個季度提到的，我們發展業務的唯一限制是獲得勞動力。我們已投資招聘資源，專門用於識別這位未來的 SPAR 團隊成員。我們還投資於技術，以消除從招聘到支付員工工資的摩擦。

Our recruiting track record to date has been quite good. We are tracking our contact data conversion rate weekly to ensure that we're attracting the right talent and leveraging all of the appropriate technology.

迄今為止，我們的招聘記錄非常好。我們每週都會跟踪我們的聯繫人數據轉換率，以確保我們吸引合適的人才並利用所有適當的技術。

Now, let me make a few comments about our pipeline and opportunities. As I noted earlier, we are not seeing a softening of the business. In the fourth quarter, we closed on multi-year contract that has potential for revenue of $32 million in addition to many other million-dollar or smaller contracts.

現在，讓我對我們的管道和機會發表一些評論。正如我之前指出的那樣，我們沒有看到業務疲軟。在第四季度，除了許多其他數百萬美元或更小的合同外，我們還簽訂了可能帶來 3200 萬美元收入的多年期合同。

A typical profile for one of these large agreements is either replacing a competitor in providing in-store merchandising across the geography, or assuming responsibility for a number of store remodels.

這些大型協議之一的典型概況是取代競爭對手提供跨地域的店內銷售，或者承擔一些商店改造的責任。

Looking into 2023, we have several active multimillion dollar opportunities in our pipeline across the US, Brazil, South Africa, and India. The health of our pipeline improves our ability to expand client relationships and wallet share across borders. This is something that is unique to SPAR in our global marketplace.

展望 2023 年，我們在美國、巴西、南非和印度的管道中有幾個活躍的數百萬美元的機會。我們管道的健康狀況提高了我們擴大跨境客戶關係和錢包份額的能力。這是 SPAR 在我們全球市場中獨有的。

An area that we continue to aggressively lean into is retail and analytics and technology tools. We've invested our resources offshore to our India business to expand our business insights and analytics offerings. We've taken lessons learned from the best brand and retailers in the world while capturing data from every visit to provide insights to opportunities and the performance challenges for our clients. These resources support our business and clients in multiple countries.

我們繼續積極進軍的一個領域是零售、分析和技術工具。我們已將我們的資源投資到印度業務的海外，以擴展我們的業務洞察力和分析產品。我們吸取了世界上最好的品牌和零售商的經驗教訓，同時從每次訪問中獲取數據，為我們的客戶提供機會和績效挑戰的見解。這些資源支持我們在多個國家的業務和客戶。

We continue to believe that the application of artificial intelligence is important. We captured more than 90 million pictures globally in 2022, and more than 32 million inventory data points just in the United States. Our vision is to turn each of these data points into value creation for our clients by applying machine learning and artificial intelligence.

我們仍然相信人工智能的應用很重要。 2022 年，我們在全球範圍內拍攝了超過 9000 萬張圖片，僅在美國就有超過 3200 萬個庫存數據點。我們的願景是通過應用機器學習和人工智能，將這些數據點中的每一個轉化為我們客戶的價值創造。

Earlier this year, we launched our partnership with ParallelDots to apply image recognition, and we now have expanded this by applying AI tools on top of our SPARview images to sell broader business challenges. We made great progress in 2022 and expanding our data and analytics and insights work.

今年早些時候，我們啟動了與 ParallelDots 的合作夥伴關係以應用圖像識別，現在我們通過在 SPARview 圖像之上應用 AI 工具來擴展這一點，以銷售更廣泛的業務挑戰。我們在 2022 年取得了長足進步，擴大了我們的數據、分析和洞察工作。

We're privileged to work with some of the best companies in the world such as Family Dollar, WalMart, 3M, CVS, Nivea, Foster Grant, cargo, McKesson, Advance Auto, P&G, and many, many more. Many of these are long-standing relationships to provide recurring revenue for us. We aspire to earn more of their business while winning new clients and pursuing our long-term vision to be the most creative, energizing, and effective merchandising, marketing and distribution services business on the planet. This is our ambitious goal.

我們有幸與世界上一些最好的公司合作，例如 Family Dollar、WalMart、3M、CVS、Nivea、Foster Grant、cargo、McKesson、Advance Auto、P&G 等等。其中許多是為我們提供經常性收入的長期關係。我們渴望在贏得新客戶的同時贏得他們更多的業務，並追求我們的長期願景，即成為地球上最具創意、最具活力和最有效的商品銷售、營銷和分銷服務企業。這是我們雄心勃勃的目標。

Let me wrap up my comments by, again, thanking our team and recognizing their dedication and commitment each day. I'm grateful that I'm allowed to work with this incredible group of people and look forward to an even brighter future.

最後，讓我再次感謝我們的團隊並認可他們每天的奉獻和承諾。我很感激我被允許與這群了不起的人一起工作，並期待著一個更加光明的未來。

For that, I'd like to open the line for questions. Operator?

為此，我想打開問題熱線。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Theodore O'Neill, Litchfield Hills Research.

（操作員說明）Theodore O'Neill，Litchfield Hills Research。

Thank you very much. Mike, you -- it sounds like you were saying that you're taking market share from some of your competitors. I was wondering if you can expand on that a little bit.

非常感謝。邁克，你 - 聽起來你在說你正在從一些競爭對手那里奪取市場份額。我想知道你是否可以擴展一下。

Yeah, Theo, thank you for the question and good to hear you. Thanks for joining us this morning. Yeah, we've had a few opportunities, particularly in the early part of '22 we saw a lot of them. And we're starting to see them again early in 2023 in some segments, in particular, cosmetics, for example.

是的，西奧，謝謝你的提問，很高興聽到你的聲音。感謝您今天早上加入我們。是的，我們有過一些機會，尤其是在 22 世紀初期，我們看到了很多機會。我們將在 2023 年初再次看到它們出現在某些領域，尤其是化妝品領域。

We had a large retail pharmacy business here in the United States. One of our competitors had abandoned that space and said they didn't want to do that work. The client who's also a client of ours reached out to us and asked if we would pick that up over thousands of locations. So we're seeing some of that.

我們在美國有一家大型零售藥店。我們的一個競爭對手已經放棄了那個空間，並說他們不想做那個工作。那個也是我們客戶的客戶聯繫了我們，問我們是否願意在數千個地點取貨。所以我們看到了其中的一些。

Second example, in a large multi-box discount retailer, I'm just picking some US examples for example. We were asked to pick up on one of the large consumer brands. Because they had so many locations, the consumer brand was disappointed with how the integration of the business that was serving them was going.

第二個例子，在一家大型多箱折扣零售商中，我只是選擇了一些美國的例子。我們被要求選擇一個大型消費品牌。因為他們有太多的地點，消費者品牌對為他們服務的業務整合的進展情況感到失望。

They had been rolled up in one of the acquisitions in the marketplace of a competitor of ours. And they reached out to us because they felt very strongly about SPAR's management and the way we serve them and other businesses and gave us half of that business and took it from our competitors. So we're continuing to see that.

他們被捲入了我們競爭對手在市場上的一次收購中。他們之所以聯繫我們，是因為他們對 SPAR 的管理以及我們為他們和其他企業提供服務的方式感覺非常強烈，並給了我們一半的業務，並從我們的競爭對手那里奪走了。所以我們繼續看到這一點。

And lastly, I would say, we're seeing as much where organizations or brands or field merchandising teams, where they're turning to us and asking us to take some or all of that business just because they've found it difficult to recruit and know that that's one of our core competencies, it's to attract and engage labor to do the work. So we've been picking up more of that, and that has continued into this year as well.

最後，我想說的是，我們看到很多組織、品牌或現場營銷團隊，他們轉向我們並要求我們承擔部分或全部業務，只是因為他們發現很難招聘並且知道這是我們的核心競爭力之一，它是吸引和聘用勞動力來完成工作。所以我們一直在收集更多的東西，而且這種情況也一直持續到今年。

That help answer your question?

這有助於回答你的問題？

It does. And the media is focusing on the retail side about layoffs. And so, the view seems not great, but you're saying that you're better positioned here for that kind of environment based on the customer mix you've got?

確實如此。媒體正在關注裁員的零售方面。因此，這個觀點似乎不太好，但你是說根據你所擁有的客戶組合，你在這裡更適合那種環境？

Yeah. [A little of this] -- I'll comment with my retail background. I spent many years in a senior retail role. In the retail model, you can hire two types of people. You can hire a full-time person or a part-time person. Your part-time is 20 to 24 hours, but oftentimes, the work doesn't consume 20 to 24 hours. And that's one of the most expensive resources you can spend as a retail between that and your inventory.

是的。 [其中一點] -- 我會用我的零售背景發表評論。我在高級零售職位上工作了很多年。在零售模式中，你可以僱用兩種類型的人。您可以僱用全職人員或兼職人員。你的兼職是 20 到 24 小時，但通常工作不會消耗 20 到 24 小時。這是您可以在零售和庫存之間花費的最昂貴的資源之一。

When they find [Truck Day], for example, comes in and they need to people but they need them for four hours for they need to replenish product, where they need to reset the shelf in a particular department. They need someone for 48 hours. And to be able to do that, as a variable expense, it is really attractive to the retailer in that case. And they're starting to shift more of that to us.

例如，當他們發現 [Truck Day] 到來時，他們需要人員，但他們需要他們四個小時，因為他們需要補充產品，他們需要在特定部門重置貨架。他們需要有人 48 小時。能夠做到這一點，作為可變費用，在這種情況下對零售商來說真的很有吸引力。他們開始將更多的東西轉移給我們。

So in some of our large clients, for example, they're turning to us instead of adding more part-time labor. They're turning to us and giving us more hours to do -- consider eight to 16 hours' worth of work each week. So I think that's an opportunity for us for the next few years.

因此，例如，在我們的一些大客戶中，他們轉向我們而不是增加更多的兼職勞動力。他們求助於我們，給了我們更多的工作時間——考慮一下每週工作 8 到 16 小時的價值。所以我認為這對我們未來幾年來說是一個機會。

Okay. And there were fees related to exploring strategic options in the quarter. Will that continue into 2023?

好的。本季度還有與探索戰略選擇相關的費用。這種情況會持續到 2023 年嗎？

We have allowed for a little bit in 2023. Quite candidly, I feel, as I said, the process is ongoing. I don't have a lot more to offer at the moment. So yeah, we've carved out and note some of that in 2022 as well.

我們在 2023 年允許了一點點。坦率地說，正如我所說，我覺得這個過程正在進行中。目前我沒有更多的東西可以提供。所以是的，我們已經在 2022 年制定並註意到其中的一些內容。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

Thanks for your question.

謝謝你的問題。

(Operator Instructions) It appears there are no further questions. This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mike for any closing remarks.

（操作員說明）看來沒有其他問題了。我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回 Mike 的任何閉幕詞。

Operator, thank you. Just quickly, thanks for all who listened and participated today for your interest in our company and listening to the earnings conference call today. I look forward to providing an update of our progress and report the first-quarter results. Thank you again.

接線員，謝謝。很快，感謝所有今天聆聽和參與的人，感謝您對我們公司的興趣和收聽今天的收益電話會議。我期待提供我們進展的最新情況並報告第一季度的結果。再次感謝你。

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

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連接。