Skillsoft Corp (SKIL) 2026 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, thank you for standing by and welcome to Skillsoft's first-quarter fiscal 2026 results and conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note that today's call is being recorded.

您好，感謝您的支持，歡迎參加 Skillsoft 2026 財年第一季業績和電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，今天的通話正在錄音。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker, Steven Poe, Investor Relations. Thank you, Stephen. You may be begin.

現在我想將會議交給第一位發言人，投資者關係部的 Steven Poe。謝謝你，史蒂芬。你可能已經開始了。

Thank you, operator. Good day, and thank you for joining us to discuss our results for the first quarter ended April 30, 2025. Before we jump in, I want to remind you that today's call will contain forward-looking statements about the company's business outlook and our expectations, including statements concerning financial and business trends, our expected future business and financial performance, financial condition, and market outlook. These forward-looking statements and all statements that are not historical facts reflect management's current beliefs and expectations as of today and therefore subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially.

謝謝您，接線生。您好，感謝您加入我們討論截至 2025 年 4 月 30 日的第一季業績。在我們開始之前，我想提醒您，今天的電話會議將包含有關公司業務前景和我們期望的前瞻性陳述，包括有關財務和業務趨勢、我們預期的未來業務和財務表現、財務狀況和市場前景的陳述。這些前瞻性陳述以及所有非歷史事實的陳述均反映管理層當前的信念和期望，因此受可能導致實際結果大不相同的風險和不確定性的影響。

For a discussion of the material risks and other important factors that could affect our actual results, we refer you to our most recent Form 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements or information, which speak as of their respective dates.

有關可能影響我們實際結果的重大風險和其他重要因素的討論，請參閱我們最近向美國證券交易委員會提交的 10-K 表格。我們不承擔更新任何前瞻性聲明或資訊的義務，這些聲明或資訊僅代表其各自日期的觀點。

During the call, unless otherwise noted, all financial metrics we discussed will be non-GAAP financial measures, which are not prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures included in today's commentary to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, as well as how we define these metrics, is included in our earnings press release, which has been furnished to the SEC and is also available on our website at www.skillsoft.com.

在電話會議中，除非另有說明，我們討論的所有財務指標都將是非 GAAP 財務指標，這些指標並非按照公認會計原則編制。今天的評論中包含的非 GAAP 財務指標與最直接可比較的 GAAP 財務指標的對賬，以及我們如何定義這些指標，都包含在我們的收益新聞稿中，該新聞稿已提供給美國證券交易委員會 (SEC)，也可在我們的網站 www.skillsoft.com 上查閱。

Following today's prepared remarks, Ron Hovsepian, Skillsoft's Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer; and John Frederick, Skillsoft's Chief Financial Officer, will be available for Q&A.

在今天的準備好的發言之後，Skillsoft 的執行主席兼執行長 Ron Hovsepian 和 Skillsoft 的財務長 John Frederick 將接受問答。

With that, it's my pleasure to turn the call over to Ron.

說完這些，我很高興將電話轉給羅恩。

Thanks, Stephen. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us. I'm very pleased to start today's call with the introduction of John Frederick as our new CFO.

謝謝，史蒂芬。下午好，感謝您加入我們。我很高興在今天的電話會議上介紹約翰·弗雷德里克 (John Frederick) 為我們的新任財務長。

Since rejoining Skillsoft in August of last year, he has overseen the company's business planning, working closely with the leadership team to refine and help drive the implementation of our transformation plan. From 2018 through 2021, he served as Skillsoft's Chief Administrative Officer, which included leading the finance team, and previously, he held executive positions at SumTotal Systems, a Skillsoft business acquired by Cornerstone in 2022, and others.

自去年 8 月重新加入 Skillsoft 以來，他一直負責公司的業務規劃，並與領導團隊密切合作，完善並協助推動我們的轉型計畫的實施。從 2018 年到 2021 年，他擔任 Skillsoft 的首席行政官，負責領導財務團隊，此前，他曾在 SumTotal Systems（Skillsoft 旗下子公司，於 2022 年被 Cornerstone 收購）等公司擔任高階主管。

John's deeply familiar with Skillsoft. His experience leading finance organizations and a growth-oriented mindset make him a natural choice to serve as our next CFO. I look forward to continuing to work closely with John as we build on our recent progress, drive success for our customers and learners, and unlock further shareholder value as we execute our strategic plan.

John 對 Skillsoft 非常熟悉。他領導金融機構的經驗和成長型思維使他成為我們下一任財務長的自然人選。我期待著繼續與約翰密切合作，在我們最近取得進展的基礎上再接再厲，為我們的客戶和學習者帶來成功，並在執行戰略計劃時釋放更多股東價值。

I'd like to also extend a sincere thank you to Rich Walker for his significant contributions and dedication to Skillsoft over the past four years. Rich has been a key member of the Skillsoft management team, and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

我還要向 Rich Walker 表示誠摯的感謝，感謝他過去四年來對 Skillsoft 做出的重大貢獻和奉獻。Rich 一直是 Skillsoft 管理團隊的關鍵成員，我們祝福他未來的事業一切順利。

In addition to welcoming John as our CFO, we expanded our leadership team with the addition of our new Chief Marketing Officer, Raianne Reiss. Raianne is responsible for overseeing our global marketing efforts, helping drive demand and enhance brand awareness among organizations and learners who are on their talent transformation journey. She has extensive experience in the technology sector, and her passion for powerful storytelling and driving transformation will help accelerate our go-to-market strategy, which is a key focus for Skillsoft going forward.

除了歡迎約翰擔任我們的財務長之外，我們還擴大了我們的領導團隊，增加了新的行銷長 Raianne Reiss。Raianne 負責監督我們的全球行銷工作，幫助推動需求並提高處於人才轉型之旅的組織和學習者的品牌知名度。她在科技領域擁有豐富的經驗，她對強有力的故事敘述和推動轉型的熱情將有助於加速我們的行銷策略，這是 Skillsoft 未來的重點。

Collectively, these leadership additions bring renewed focus and execution strength.

總的來說，這些領導階層的加入帶來了新的關注點和執行力。

With that, let me jump into our first quarter, which as a reminder, is our seasonally smallest revenue quarter of the year.

好了，讓我來談談我們的第一季度，提醒一下，這是我們今年收入最少的季度。

As expected, we experienced macro uncertainty, which translated into lower discretionary spending by our customers in slightly elongated decision-making. This directly impacted our live learning revenue in the quarter, which includes our global knowledge instructor-led training and TDS coaching products. Yet we saw a continuation of growth within our TDS segment, a trend we've seen since the third quarter of last fiscal year.

正如預期的那樣，我們經歷了宏觀不確定性，這導致客戶的可自由支配支出減少，決策時間略有延長。這直接影響了我們本季的現場學習收入，其中包括我們的全球知識講師指導的培訓和 TDS 輔導產品。然而，我們看到 TDS 部門繼續成長，這是自上個財年第三季以來一直存在的趨勢。

Additionally, we delivered improvement in our adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow. While we continue to drive improved financial results, we're also delivering strong progress against our transformation commitments.

此外，我們的調整後 EBITDA 和自由現金流也得到了改善。在我們繼續努力改善財務表現的同時，我們也在履行轉型承諾方面取得了顯著進展。

Let me provide you an update on our progress in a few key areas. We are actively investing capital into our business. With reinvestment happening predominantly in the first half of this fiscal year, we expect to see positive free cash flow and top-line growth for the full fiscal year, both of which we committed to at our July 2024 Investor Day. We expect most of this growth to come in the back half of this year.

讓我向你們介紹我們在幾個關鍵領域的進展。我們正在積極地向我們的業務投入資金。由於再投資主要發生在本財年的上半年，我們預計整個財年將出現正的自由現金流和營收成長，這兩項都是我們在 2024 年 7 月投資者日上所做的承諾。我們預計大部分成長將在今年下半年實現。

We continue to execute our go-to-market strategy. In global knowledge for the first quarter, we saw a decline in US public sector discretionary live learning spending. However, we saw an increase in large scale non-US public sector deals where we are investing in international growth. Common themes were upskilling in AI, cloud computing, software development, cybersecurity, and data analytics.

我們繼續執行我們的市場進入策略。在第一季的全球知識中，我們看到美國公共部門可自由支配的現場學習支出下降。然而，我們看到，我們投資於國際成長的大型非美國公共部門交易增加。共同的主題是提升人工智慧、雲端運算、軟體開發、網路安全和數據分析的技能。

We saw an example of a large European bank that is working with Skillsoft to introduce a blended program that leverages Skillsoft's full capabilities of digital learning live learning, hands-on learning, and skill measurement. This demonstrates our differentiated value proposition to our customers through our multi-modal interactive learning experience offerings.

我們看到一家大型歐洲銀行的例子，該銀行正在與 Skillsoft 合作推出一項混合計劃，該計劃充分利用 Skillsoft 的數位化學習、現場學習、實踐學習和技能測量的全部功能。這透過我們的多模式互動式學習體驗產品向客戶展示了我們的差異化價值主張。

Within our TDS segment, we have had three consecutive quarters of revenue growth. We believe our value proposition is resonating, especially with customers that are transitioning to being a skills-based organization.

在我們的 TDS 部門，我們已經連續三個季度實現營收成長。我們相信我們的價值主張引起了共鳴，特別是對於那些正在轉型為技能型組織的客戶而言。

One example of this is the leading financial services company that is undergoing a significant strategic evolution aimed at enhancing agility and future readiness.

其中一個例子是領先的金融服務公司正在經歷重大的策略變革，旨在提高敏捷性和未來準備度。

As part of this initiative, they have partnered with Skillsoft to deliver a comprehensive skills development program leveraging Skillsoft's content, platform, and services to identify and bridge skill gaps across the organization.

作為該計劃的一部分，他們與 Skillsoft 合作，提供全面的技能發展計劃，利用 Skillsoft 的內容、平台和服務來識別和彌合整個組織的技能差距。

This effort is key to their vision for a dynamic talent ecosystem, one that prioritizes continuous learning, empowers employees, and strengthens the company's competitive edge in a rapidly changing business landscape.

這項努力對於他們實現動態人才生態系統願景至關重要，該生態系統優先考慮持續學習、賦予員工權力並增強公司在快速變化的商業環境中的競爭優勢。

As it relates to our product strategy, we continue to expand our product offerings in the first quarter. Let me highlight a few key examples of how we are delivering comprehensive interactive learning experiences on a global scale for both organizations and learners.

由於這與我們的產品策略有關，我們在第一季繼續擴大我們的產品供應。讓我重點介紹幾個關鍵的例子，說明我們如何在全球範圍內為組織和學習者提供全面的互動學習體驗。

First, Skillsoft's Percipio robust AI capabilities continue to build differentiation and strong learner engagement. Skillsoft's KC, our award-winning AI powered coach, is now available for learners in over 40 languages. Our AI assistant is also now localized and available in all languages that our platform supports.

首先，Skillsoft 的 Percipio 強大的 AI 功能繼續建立差異化和強大的學習者參與度。Skillsoft 的 KC 是我們屢獲殊榮的人工智慧教練，目前可供 40 多種語言的學習者使用。我們的 AI 助理現在也已在地化，可以使用我們平台支援的所有語言。

Second, Skillsoft Percipio's certification dashboard was released. Clients can now see how many learners are pursuing certifications, how much time it is taking, and the progress each learner is making.

其次，Skillsoft Percipio 認證儀表板發布。客戶現在可以看到有多少學習者正在追求認證、花了多少時間以及每個學習者的進步。

Third, in addition to offering a world-class one-on-one coaching experience, our platform allows clients' coaching programs to administer and operate with both internal and external coaches.

第三，除了提供世界一流的一對一輔導體驗外，我們的平台還允許客戶的輔導計劃由內部和外部教練管理和營運。

This Skillsoft coaching platform offering an open approach to learning allows organizations to scale their internal coaching programs through coach selection, scheduling, and dashboards that measure success.

Skillsoft 輔導平台提供開放式學習方法，使組織能夠透過教練選擇、安排和衡量成功的儀表板來擴展其內部輔導計劃。

Lastly, Skillsoft's Code Academy was a launch partner for UConnect's class module product, which helps students fill skill gaps and gain industry-specific knowledge. UConnect provides career center services for over 400 universities. Codecademy is also evolving to better meet the needs of upskillers with an end-to-end certification hub and granular skill tracking.

最後，Skillsoft 的 Code Academy 是 UConnect 課堂模組產品的發布合作夥伴，該產品可幫助學生填補技能空白並獲得行業特定知識。UConnect 為 400 多所大學提供職業中心服務。Codecademy 也在不斷發展，透過端到端認證中心和細粒度的技能追蹤來更好地滿足技能提升者的需求。

Collectively, these transformation actions are driving improved financial results and delivering better outcomes for our clients and learners.

總的來說，這些轉型行動正在推動財務表現的改善，並為我們的客戶和學習者帶來更好的成果。

During this past quarter, we hosted several customer events across the globe with multiple key accounts and prospects. These conversations provided me with further confidence in our business strategy and validates the key actions we are taking.

在過去的一個季度，我們與多個重要客戶和潛在客戶在全球舉辦了多場客戶活動。這些對話讓我對我們的業務策略更有信心，並證實了我們正在採取的關鍵行動。

Looking forward to the balance of our fiscal 2026, we are closely monitoring the macroeconomic environment as certain verticals are experienced heightened to customer caution. While we are seeing some elongation and decision-making and softening in discretionary spend, we are continuing to strategically focus our resources in key growth areas. And as John will touch on shortly, we are reiterating our outlook for the full fiscal year.

展望 2026 財年的平衡，我們正密切關注宏觀經濟環境，因為某些垂直產業正在經歷客戶謹慎情緒的增強。雖然我們看到可自由支配支出有所延長、決策有所鬆懈，但我們仍將繼續策略性地將資源集中在關鍵成長領域。正如約翰即將談到的，我們重申對整個財政年度的展望。

I am confident we will return the company to top-line growth and deliver continued margin expansion this year while generating positive free cash flow.

我相信，我們將使公司今年恢復營收成長，並繼續提高利潤率，同時產生正的自由現金流。

With that, now let me hand the call over to John to cover our financial results in more detail. John?

現在，我將把電話交給約翰，讓他更詳細地介紹我們的財務結果。約翰？

Thank you, Ron, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm pleased to join today's call as Skillsoft's new Chief Financial Officer. I'm excited to continue working alongside such a talented and dedicated team and look forward to further accelerating our growth transformation.

謝謝你，羅恩，大家下午好。我很高興能以 Skillsoft 新財務長的身份參加今天的電話會議。我很高興能繼續與這樣一支才華橫溢、敬業的團隊一起工作，並期待進一步加速我們的成長轉型。

While we're still progressing through our multi-quarter transformation journey, I'm pleased that we once again delivered improved profitability and positive free cash flow.

雖然我們仍在經歷多個季度的轉型之旅，但我很高興我們再次實現了盈利能力的提高和正的自由現金流。

Let me turn to a detailed review of our financial results starting with revenue.

讓我從收入開始詳細回顧我們的財務表現。

Revenue for Talent Development Solutions, TDS, was $99.1 million in the first quarter, up 1% year over year. Our TDS performance continues to benefit from our efforts to capitalize on the evolving market shift from traditional learning and skills development toward more comprehensive talent development solutions.

人才發展解決方案 (TDS) 第一季的營收為 9,910 萬美元，年增 1%。我們的 TDS 業績繼續受益於我們努力利用市場從傳統學習和技能發展向更全面的人才發展解決方案的轉變。

Global Knowledge revenue of $25.1 million in the quarter was down approximately $4.7 million or 15.7% year over year.

本季 Global Knowledge 的營收為 2,510 萬美元，年減約 470 萬美元，成長 15.7%。

As Ron commented earlier, we saw softer demand within the public sector, which impacted GK in the quarter. We also had a higher mix of reseller business for the GK in this quarter, which is recognized net of fees. More importantly, GK remains on track with its transformation journey, and we're excited by our pipeline of opportunities, especially large global public sector deals.

正如羅恩之前所說，我們看到公共部門的需求疲軟，這對本季的 GK 產生了影響。本季度，我們還擁有更高的 GK 經銷商業務組合，這是扣除費用後確認的。更重要的是，GK 的轉型之路仍在繼續，我們對眾多機會感到興奮，尤其是大型全球公共部門交易。

Provided the market stabilizes, we expect continued improvement which should support our goal of returning the total company to growth.

只要市場穩定下來，我們預期情況會持續改善，這應該會支持我們實現公司整體恢復成長的目標。

Total revenue of $124.2 million in the first quarter was down approximately $3.6 million, or 2.8% year over year. Our TDS LTM dollar retention rate, or DRR, for the first quarter was 99%. This compares to 100% last quarter and 99% one year ago.

第一季總營收為 1.242 億美元，年減約 360 萬美元，降幅為 2.8%。我們第一季的 TDS LTM 美元保留率（DRR）為 99%。相較之下，上一季這一比例為 100%，去年同期為 99%。

Now, I'll walk through our expenses, which saw a reduction across the board as a result of our cost-reduction initiatives that we executed in the back capital of last year.

現在，我將介紹我們的開支，由於我們去年在後勤方面實施了成本削減舉措，我們的開支全面減少。

Cost of revenue of $32 million for the first quarter, or 26% of revenue, was down approximately 6.5% year over year. These decreases were driven primarily by lower variable costs and the impacts of our cost-reduction efforts.

第一季的營收成本為 3,200 萬美元，佔營收的 26%，年減約 6.5%。這些下降主要是由於變動成本降低以及我們削減成本的努力的影響。

Content and software development expenses of $12.9 million (sic - see press release, "$12.842 million") in the quarter, or 10% of revenue, were down approximately 8.4% year over year. These improvements were driven by the continued productivity gains we're seeing from our investment to leverage AI.

本季內容和軟體開發費用為 1,290 萬美元（原文如此 - 請參閱新聞稿「1,284.2 萬美元」），佔營收的 10%，年減約 8.4%。這些改進是由我們利用人工智慧的投資所帶來的持續生產力成長所推動的。

Selling and marketing expenses of $38.4 million in the quarter, or 31% of revenue, were down approximately 5.5% year over year.

本季銷售和行銷費用為 3,840 萬美元，佔營收的 31%，年減約 5.5%。

General and administrative expenses were $18.8 million in the first quarter, or 15% of revenue, were down approximately 6% year over year.

第一季的一般及行政開支為 1,880 萬美元，佔營收的 15%，年減約 6%。

Total operating expenses of $102.1 million in the first quarter, or 82% of revenue were down approximately 6.8 million or 6.2% year over year.

第一季總營運費用為 1.021 億美元，佔營收的 82%，年減約 680 萬美元，降幅為 6.2%。

Despite the lower revenue base compared to the prior year period, we once again delivered higher profitability, adjusted EBITDA $22.1 million or 17.8% of revenue, was up $3.2 million compared to $18.9 million or 14.8% of revenue in the year-ago period.

儘管與去年同期相比營收基數較低，但我們再次實現了更高的獲利能力，調整後的 EBITDA 為 2,210 萬美元，佔營收的 17.8%，與去年同期的 1,890 萬美元或 14.8% 相比成長了 320 萬美元。

Cost reduction efforts in the back half of last year drove further marginal improvement in the first quarter. GAAP net loss was $38 million in the first quarter compared to $27.6 million in the prior year. Net loss per share was $4.57 per share compared to $3.42 per share in the prior year. Adjusted net income of $2.5 million in the first quarter compared to an adjusted net loss of $390,000 in the prior year. Adjusted net income per share of $0.30 for the first quarter compared to an adjusted net loss of $0.05 in the prior year.

去年下半年的成本削減措施推動第一季業績進一步小幅改善。第一季 GAAP 淨虧損為 3,800 萬美元，去年同期為 2,760 萬美元。每股淨虧損為 4.57 美元，去年同期為每股 3.42 美元。第一季調整後淨收入為 250 萬美元，去年同期調整後淨虧損為 39 萬美元。第一季調整後每股淨收益為 0.30 美元，去年同期調整後淨虧損為 0.05 美元。

Moving cash flow and balance sheet highlights. As we've continuously highlighted, one of our key focus areas is improving free cash flow and getting the company to generate consistent positive free cash flow.

行動現金流和資產負債表亮點。正如我們不斷強調的那樣，我們的重點關注領域之一是改善自由現金流並讓公司產生持續的正自由現金流。

In Q1, we generated $31.3 million in cash flow from operations and invested $5.1 million in capital expenditures and capitalized internally developed software resulting in free cash flow of $26.2 million compared to $10.4 million in the prior-year period, an improvement of $15.8 million.

在第一季度，我們產生了 3,130 萬美元的營運現金流，投資了 510 萬美元的資本支出，並將內部開發的軟體資本化，導致自由現金流為 2,620 萬美元，而去年同期為 1,040 萬美元，增加了 1,580 萬美元。

While we're encouraged by our strong pre-cash flow in the quarter, I want to make two points as it relates to pre-cash flow. The first has to do with normal seasonality. Our first quarter is our highest seasonal free cash flow quarter, whereas our second quarter is traditionally our lowest. Secondly, in Q1, we benefited from the timing of collections and certain disbursements and would expect to see much of that benefit reversed in the second quarter, in fact, causing a cash usage in the second quarter. However, we remain on track for our free cash flow expectations for the full fiscal year 2026.

雖然我們對本季強勁的預現金流感到鼓舞，但我想就預現金流提出兩點看法。第一個與正常的季節性有關。我們的第一季是季節性自由現金流最高的季度，而第二季度傳統上是最低的。其次，在第一季度，我們受益於收款和某些支出的時機，預計大部分收益將在第二季度發生逆轉，實際上導致第二季度的現金使用。不過，我們仍有望實現 2026 財年全年的自由現金流目標。

Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash was $131 million at quarter-end. Total gross debt, which includes borrowings on our term loan and accounts receivable facility, was $580 million at the end of Q1, down slightly from approximately $581 million at the end of fiscal '25. With a strong cash flow performance in the quarter, we kept borrowings on our accounts receivables facility to the minimum amount of $1 billion and in fact build cash.

季度末的現金、現金等價物和受限現金為 1.31 億美元。總債務（包括定期貸款和應收帳款）在第一季末為 5.8 億美元，略低於 25 財年末的約 5.81 億美元。由於本季現金流表現強勁，我們將應收帳款貸款的最低金額保持在 10 億美元，並實際上累積了現金。

Total net debt, which includes borrowings on our term loan and accounts receivables facility, net of cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash, was approximately $449 million, down from approximately $477 million at the end of the fourth quarter.

總淨債務（包括定期貸款和應收帳款貸款的借款，扣除現金、現金等價物和受限現金）約為 4.49 億美元，低於第四季末的約 4.77 億美元。

Turning to our outlook for the full year. As Ron already mentioned, we're reiterating our previously communicated guidance ranges for fiscal '26. As a reminder, we expect revenue in a range of $530 million to $545 million and adjusted EBITDA $112 million to $118 million.

談談我們對全年的展望。正如羅恩已經提到的，我們重申了先前傳達的 26 財年指導範圍。提醒一下，我們預計營收在 5.3 億美元至 5.45 億美元之間，調整後的 EBITDA 在 1.12 億美元至 1.18 億美元之間。

We will continue to monitor the current market conditions and the policy changes that could potentially materially impact the business. While we expect to reverse most of our first-quarter free cash flow generation in the second quarter and use cash in that quarter, we remain confident in our ability to again drive positive free cash flow in fiscal '26 and reiterate our expectation of free cash flow in a range of $13 million to $18 million for the full year.

我們將繼續關注當前的市場狀況和可能對業務產生重大影響的政策變化。雖然我們預計第一季的大部分自由現金流生成將在第二季度逆轉，並在該季度使用現金，但我們仍然有信心在 26 財年再次推動正自由現金流，並重申我們對全年自由現金流在 1300 萬美元至 1800 萬美元範圍內的預期。

With that, operator, please open up the call to questions.

接線員，請開始回答問題。

(Operator Instructions) Ken Wong, Oppenheimer & Company.

（操作員指示）Ken Wong，Oppenheimer & Company。

That's fantastic. John, congratulations on the role, and welcome to the team. I think this question could go to either you or Ron, but you guys called out heightened macro uncertainty and a little erosion on discretionary spend and longer sale cycles. I guess, what are you seeing in the underlying KPI or if there's deals that have closed since the quarter ended that gives you confidence in reiterating that full-year target?

太棒了。約翰，祝賀你擔任這個職務，歡迎加入團隊。我認為這個問題可以問你或羅恩，但你們指出宏觀不確定性加劇、可自由支配支出略有減少以及銷售週期延長。我想，您在基礎 KPI 中看到了什麼，或者自本季結束以來是否有已完成的交易讓您有信心重申全年目標？

Ken, hi. This is John. I'll take the first tab at the question, and thanks for the kind words. Pretty excited to be here.

肯，你好。這是約翰。我將首先回答這個問題，感謝您的善意。很高興來到這裡。

I think I'll just give you kind of a higher order sort of answer, and I'll progressively drill down just a little bit. As I think about the outlook, I've been on the job for about three weeks now, and this has really been -- whether or not we can hit the guidance for the year it's really been consuming a lot of my mind share.

我想我會給你一個更高層次的答案，然後我會逐步深入一點。當我思考前景時，我已經上任大約三週了，這確實是——我們是否能夠達到今年的預期，這確實佔據了我很大的心思。

When I break down the pieces into the two business segments, I think about TDS for a second. We've grown three quarters in a row, so I feel good about that so far. We had some nice recurring revenue coming off of the Q4 bookings so that gave me some confidence. So overall, I feel pretty good about our biggest business segment TDS. So the focus for me to try to really answer that question is really around GK.

當我將這些部分分解為兩個業務部分時，我會考慮 TDS。我們已經連續三個季度實現成長，所以到目前為止我對此感覺很好。我們從第四季的預訂中獲得了一些不錯的經常性收入，這給了我一些信心。所以總的來說，我對我們最大的業務部門 TDS 感覺相當良好。因此，我嘗試真正回答這個問題的重點實際上是圍繞 GK。

From a GK perspective, last year, we declined for the full year in the mid-teens. But when you look at the back half in isolation, there was really a positive second derivative that was happening. The declines were starting to soften, and that is giving us some confidence.

從 GK 的角度來看，去年我們全年的銷售額下降了 15% 左右。但是當你單獨看後半部時，確實有一個正的二階導數正在發生。跌幅開始減緩，這給了我們一些信心。

And then you enter the market uncertainty, we saw Q1 kind of go back to a reversion of last year's declines. And if you index on some of the live learning challenges that Ron highlighted in some of his comments, our performance in GK really speaks to both the resilience of the early strategy shifts and perhaps even more so to the resilience of the go to market team.

然後你進入市場不確定性，我們看到第一季又回到了去年下滑的趨勢。如果你關注 Ron 在他的一些評論中強調的一些現場學習挑戰，我們在 GK 的表現確實說明了早期策略轉變的韌性，甚至更說明了進入市場團隊的韌性。

So when I start to think about contextualizing my confidence, I start looking at the deal pipeline. We've got a nice large deal pipeline in GK, specifically, some good recurring relationships that provide some visibility. So provided that the live learning market stabilizes, there's a reasonable basis for GK to resume its improvements.

因此，當我開始考慮如何將我的信心具體化時，我開始關注交易管道。我們在 GK 擁有良好的大型交易管道，具體來說，是一些能夠提供一定可見性的良好重複關係。因此，只要直播學習市場穩定下來，GK 就有合理的基礎恢復改善。

So overall, assuming the market, the macro market stabilizes, we decided to reaffirm the P&L guidance.

因此整體而言，假設市場、宏觀市場穩定，我們決定重申損益指引。

Got it. And in your underlying assumptions, I guess is there some component of GK is maybe a little worse, TDS a little better, and on the balance you can arrive at the reiteration or is it kind of the business dynamic remains similar to how you were thinking a couple of months back and hopefully, things stabilize and then we get there? Does that question somewhat makes sense or you have to reword if necessary?

知道了。在您的基本假設中，我猜 GK 的某些組成部分可能稍微差一點，TDS 可能稍微好一點，總的來說，您可以重申這一點，還是業務動態仍然與您幾個月前的想法相似，希望情況穩定下來，然後我們就能實現目標？這個問題是否有點道理，或者如果有必要你需要重新表達？

Yeah, this is Ron. I'll just jump in for a second on it. As I look at the business, as John highlighted, the discretionary spending for us is what came under attack in Q1 from what I talked to some other people, the same thing. There's a lot of activity and discretionary spending. So to bring that to life, Ken, that is both our -- that's really under the category we call live learning, which would include GK and our coaching business. So those two pieces are where we are where we felt it in Q1.

是的，這是羅恩。我只想花一點時間來討論這個問題。正如約翰所強調的那樣，當我審視業務時，從我與其他人交談的情況來看，我們的可自由支配支出在第一季受到了攻擊，情況也是如此。有很多活動和可自由支配的開支。因此，為了實現這一點，肯，這既是我們的——也是我們所謂的現場學習類別，其中包括 GK 和我們的輔導業務。所以這兩點就是我們在第一季感受到的。

What I will say is we saw at the last month of the quarter we saw things heading back in the right direction. So that's where my confidence -- I'll just jump in here for a second -- where my confidence comes back saying, okay, we're working our way through this thing. The uncertainty thing, my hope is that, that becomes just part of the market normal now like we dealt with COVID as an example, right? And that's where my head is heading to. And that's why we stayed, as John had indicated, right with our guidance.

我想說的是，我們在本季的最後一個月看到事情正在回到正確的方向。這就是我的信心所在——我只想在這裡插一句——我的信心又回來了，說，好吧，我們正在努力解決這個問題。我希望不確定性能夠成為市場正常運作的一部分，就像我們應對 COVID 一樣，對吧？這就是我的想法。這就是我們留下來的原因，正如約翰所說，在我們的指導下。

Okay, perfect. Thanks a lot for that context, Ron. And Ron, maybe sticking with you. So you guys have done a fantastic job in terms of cleaning up the business. It feels like we have stabilized for the most part. What's next? Like how should we think about what's Phase 2 of this process, and any thoughts on how we should think about a timeline there?

好的，完美。非常感謝你提供的信息，羅恩。榮恩，也許我會和你在一起。所以你們在清理業務方面做得非常出色。感覺我們大部分已經穩定下來了。下一步是什麼？例如，我們應該如何思考這個過程的第二階段是什麼，以及我們該如何思考那裡的時間表？

Sure, this year is the most important year of my life like it is every time, right, so the -- for the company.

當然，今年是我一生中最重要的一年，就像往年一樣，對吧，對公司來說也是如此。

So as we look at it, delivering this year really is important, Ken, as we go along. As we execute against the year, what we'll do is we'll really start to plan on now cranking that growth rate up further, right? That's the goal here. And I'm excited about what I see in the strategy that we laid out. I'm excited about where we can take the business, the reaction we're getting from, I just hosted the two customer dinners, one in London, one in New York. And the feedback from the CHROs that we were within the chief learning officers of very large companies we were with. It was very positive.

因此，肯，從我們的角度來看，今年的交付確實非常重要。當我們執行今年的目標時，我們要做的是真正開始計劃進一步提高成長率，對嗎？這就是我們的目標。我對我們所製定的策略感到非常興奮。我對我們的業務發展方向以及我們得到的回饋感到非常興奮，我剛剛主持了兩場客戶晚宴，一次在倫敦，一次在紐約。我們從 CHRO 那裡得到回饋，我們曾是大型公司的首席學習長。這是非常積極的。

The one in London, in particular, was 15 prospects in the room, which is very interesting to hear their view of where the market's going. We heard words like on the money. Now, what we have to do is translate that into our go-to-market and our product strategy. So what you see with announcements like Raianne and other things taking over in marketing, that's an area that needs a lot of improvement for us as a company.

特別是在倫敦，房間裡有 15 位潛在客戶，聽到他們對市場走向的看法非常有趣。我們聽到了諸如「關於金錢」之類的話。現在，我們要做的就是將其轉化為我們的行銷和產品策略。因此，您看到 Raianne 等公告以及其他接管行銷的事情，這是我們公司需要大力改進的領域。

I didn't want to go get ahead of ourselves too early there until we built out what we were doing strategically. That is now strategic direction is set. We're good on that. We're now very focused on the product plans, and go to market plans, and most importantly, the sales coverage or the overall go to market approach. That's where all the energy is going now. Timeline, that takes a little longer to build out those strategic capabilities for how we're going to sell, but they're -- all that foundation is being poured in parallel with delivering this year.

在我們制定戰略之前，我不想過早超越自己。現在已經確定了戰略方向。我們對此很擅長。我們現在非常關注產品計劃和市場計劃，最重要的是銷售覆蓋範圍或整體行銷方法。現在所有的精力都集中到那裡去了。時間表，我們需要更長的時間來建立我們將如何銷售的戰略能力，但是所有這些基礎都將在今年交付的同時建立。

And when you think about how we're sequencing this, and Ron summarized it nicely, we came up with a way to pay for all the transformation efforts that we needed to do. We did that through the resource reallocations last year. That's fully implemented. We're seeing the benefits you sold out and operating expenses coming down year over year. The first half of the year is really all around investing in our go-to-market products as Ron discussed. And then in the back half, that's where we start to see the benefits from what should be a multiyear set of benefits.

當你思考我們如何按順序進行時，羅恩很好地總結道，我們想出了一種方法來支付我們需要做的所有轉型工作。我們去年透過資源重新分配實現了這一目標。這已完全實現。我們看到您出售的福利和營運費用逐年下降。正如羅恩所討論的，今年上半年我們的投資重點實際上是市場化產品。然後在後半段，我們開始看到應該是多年期福利帶來的好處。

From the investments we're making in growth today, so we're really focused on trying to get through this investment phase as quickly as we can so we can have the proper go-to-market coverage, the proper tools in market, the proper marketing and market to grow revenue.

從我們今天在成長方面所做的投資來看，我們真正專注於盡快完成這一投資階段，以便我們能夠獲得適當的市場覆蓋、適當的市場工具、適當的營銷和市場來增加收入。

Got it. And then John, I wanted to touch on free cash flow. Obviously, very strong quarter. You highlighted maybe a little bit of kind of collection timing benefited and you already laid out the two dynamics of reversing. I mean, when we cut through all of that commentary, is the right interpretation that free cash flow was kind of above expectation? And to the extent that it was, maybe help us think through some of the moving pieces besides the kind of the earlier collections that might have caused that with the bookings upside was it just more aggressive spend management? How should we think through like what the back half could look like as we lap that 2Q downtick seasonally?

知道了。然後約翰，我想談談自由現金流。顯然，這是一個非常強勁的季度。您強調了收集時機可能帶來一些好處，並且您已經列出了逆轉的兩種動力。我的意思是，當我們看完所有這些評論時，正確的解釋是自由現金流有點超出預期嗎？在某種程度上，除了早期的收藏之外，也許可以幫助我們思考一些可能導致預訂量上升的因素，這是否只是更積極的支出管理？當我們從季節性角度看待第二季下滑時，我們該如何思考下半年的情況？

Yeah, it's a great question, Ken. So if you think about the seasonality of our bookings, we have -- within TDS, we've got a 45% to 50% fourth quarter that's collected in Q1. So big seasonality there. I'd say that our cash collection performance was very good in the quarter. I mean, really good in the quarter. In fact, I'd say it's going to be hard to repeat.

是的，這是一個很好的問題，肯。因此，如果您考慮我們預訂的季節性，我們有 - 在 TDS 中，第四季度的 45％ 到 50％ 是在第一季收集的。那裡的季節性非常強。我想說我們本季的現金回款表現非常好。我的意思是，本季表現非常好。事實上，我想說這將很難重複。

And but when you look at -- and when you look at our disbursement timing, just kind of breaking through the pieces, we had some timing of some big payables that went out in the first week, second week of May, so we had a bit of timing on the disbursement side.

但是，當您查看我們的支付時間時，只需將其分解開來，我們就會發現，我們在 5 月的第一周和第二週支付了一些大額應付給付，因此，我們在支付方面有一些時間安排。

When you look at over the year, you've heard me talk about the fact that it's a bunch of that's going to reverse in Q2, and naturally when you give guidance at $13 million to $18 million, that would infer that we're going to use cash in the balance of the year. And the good news is we've collected the cash up front and we'll just use the cash to run the business operations throughout the year as we go. But the booking really the biggest catalyst for having a really big Q1.

當你回顧這一年時，你會聽到我談論這樣一個事實，那就是很多情況將在第二季度發生逆轉，當你給出 1300 萬美元到 1800 萬美元的指導時，這自然意味著我們將在今年餘下的時間裡使用現金。好消息是我們已經預先收取了現金，我們將使用這些現金來維持全年的業務運作。但預訂量確實是第一季業績大增的最大催化劑。

Okay, understood. And then perhaps just a little context on the government business. I think that seems kind of one area that you called out and seeing a little more softness than anticipated. Any context you can provide? Has that started to pick back up now that maybe -- is no longer a thing or maybe it still will be, but what might have been the contributors to that slower government spend, and how we should think about it going forward?

好的，明白了。然後也許只是關於政府事務的一些背景。我認為這似乎是您所提到的一個領域，並且其疲軟程度比預期的要高一些。您能提供任何背景資訊嗎？現在這種情況是否已經開始回升了——也許不再是問題了，或者可能仍然會是問題，但導致政府支出放緩的原因是什麼？我們該如何看待未來的發展？

So there's two parts of the government journey and you hit one of them, which is those.

因此，政府的旅程分成兩個部分，你碰到了其中一個，也就是那些。

The first part was the executive orders that we talked about on the calls in the past. In terms of that, we're still not seeing a material impact to our revenue overall.

第一部分是我們過去在電話中談到的行政命令。就此而言，我們仍然沒有看到對我們的整體收入產生實質的影響。

Now, what we saw was what I mentioned earlier in the Fed space, we did see the discretionary spend hit the live learning piece of it, and that primarily the hit we took came from the federal sector, right? That came from US federal sector.

現在，我們看到的是我之前在美聯儲領域提到的，我們確實看到可自由支配的支出對現場學習部分造成了衝擊，而且我們受到的衝擊主要來自聯邦部門，對嗎？這來自美國聯邦部門。

Interestingly enough, we're seeing actually good activity in Europe in their federal sectors, their public sector. We're actually seeing good uptick there in that business in the quarter. So when I look at it, we're in good shape there from the moment on the executive orders.

有趣的是，我們看到歐洲的聯邦部門和公共部門實際上表現良好。實際上，我們在本季看到該業務出現了良好的成長勢頭。因此，我認為從行政命令發布那一刻起，我們的狀況就很好。

Now, to your point, there's a workforce reduction, and those numbers we're still assessing right now as those things come in because that's as you've seen in the news, that's become very fluid, right? As to what that means in terms of number of employees in the government. So we're holding -- we're paying very close attention and holding steady right now until we understand it more.

現在，正如您所說，勞動力正在減少，我們仍在評估這些數字，因為正如您在新聞中看到的那樣，情況變得非常不穩定，對嗎？至於這對政府僱員人數意味著什麼。因此，我們正在密切關注並保持穩定，直到我們對此有更多的了解。

The government's a big business in the world, in our world, and it's a piece of ours. It's a notable piece of ours, but it's not. We're not going to over rotate. We're staying steady. We're keeping a calm hand on it, watching it very, very closely, but discretionary is what got hit revenue wise. DOGE impact is TBD.

政府是世界上、在我們的世界上的大企業，也是我們的一部分。這是我們的一個值得注意的作品，但事實並非如此。我們不會過度輪換。我們保持穩定。我們對此保持冷靜，密切關注，但可自由支配的收入受到了打擊。DOGE 的影響有待確定。

Yeah, it's also -- adding to that, Ken, real quick is, the pressure that we saw on discretionary including the coaching piece of the business. Notwithstanding those pressures, TDS still managed to grow on its own. So I think it's helpful to kind of comment on the resilience of it, and this is a full year we're running a full-year business in the end. It was it was interesting and frankly, comforting to see the resilience in that business.

是的，肯，除此之外，我們看到的自由裁量權（包括業務的指導部分）的壓力也很大。儘管面臨這些壓力，TDS 仍然設法自行發展。因此，我認為對它的彈性進行評論是有幫助的，而且今年我們最終將開展全年業務。看到這個行業的韌性很有趣，坦白說，也令人欣慰。

Got it. Last thing for me, I don't want to completely monopolize the time today. John, you obviously, you've been here before, you're now taking the reins on in the CFO seat. Anything that you're specifically focused on any either changes, improvements that we can expect now that you're helming the finance office?

知道了。對我來說最後一件事是，我不想完全壟斷今天的時間。約翰，顯然，你以前來過這裡，現在你擔任財務長一職。在您掌管財務辦公室之後，我們能期待哪些特別關注的變化或改進嗎？

So I think there's kind of a broader conversation around the company around transforming the business around getting everything aligned and organized really to work as an integrated unit across the company. So that integration piece is going to be something that the team has already heard, and that we're all working together to try to drive, which is to say we want to infuse finance into every decision that we make in the company, but do it in a way that connects with what we have to do from a market and from a product perspective. So just absolutely everything that we do is going to be go-to-market driven, with us acting as a support feature to the team.

所以我認為公司內部正在進行更廣泛的討論，圍繞著業務轉型，讓所有部門協調一致、井然有序，真正實現公司整體的一體化運作。因此，團隊已經聽說過這個整合部分，並且我們都在共同努力推動它，也就是說，我們希望將財務注入公司做出的每一個決策中，但要以一種與我們必須從市場和產品角度做的事情相聯繫的方式來做。因此，我們所做的一切都將以市場為導向，而我們將作為團隊的支援機構。

Perfect. I'll pass the mic.

完美的。我會把麥克風遞過去。

Thank you, Ken, I appreciate it.

謝謝你，肯，我很感激。

Operator, I believe that is it for our analysts.

接線員，我相信我們的分析師講的就是這樣的。

Great, thank you. And I'd like to pass it back to Ron Hovsepian for closing remarks.

太好了，謝謝。我想將其交還給 Ron Hovsepian 作最後發言。

Great, thank you. I appreciate it, everyone. And as I look at Q1, I look to Q2, it was an interesting first quarter given all the signals that we received in the market, especially obviously from the macro uncertainties -- macroeconomic uncertainties that were generated. That said, I thought the business performed fairly well. There's areas where we can continue to improve, and we are improving those areas. So go-to-market remains the top priority, as John had highlighted for us, and we're going to continue to drive that throughout the year.

太好了，謝謝。我很感謝大家。當我回顧第一季和第二季時，我發現第一季很有趣，因為我們在市場上收到的所有訊號，尤其是宏觀不確定性——宏觀經濟產生的不確定性。話雖如此，我認為業務表現相當不錯。有些領域我們可以繼續改進，而且我們正在改進這些領域。因此，正如約翰向我們強調的那樣，進入市場仍然是重中之重，我們將全年繼續推動這一點。

John and his prepared remarks made a reference to a number of investments that we anticipate really seeing the benefits in Q3 and Q4 in particular, and I am excited about what I'm seeing there both at a recruiting level as well as the reaction from the customers.

約翰和他的準備好的發言中提到了一系列投資，我們預計這些投資將在第三季和第四季真正看到收益，我對在招募層面以及客戶的反應感到興奮。

So with that, we'll get back to work on Q2, and I really appreciate it. We'll talk soon. Thank you.

因此，我們將重新開始第二季的工作，我對此非常感激。我們很快就會談。謝謝。

Thank you. And with that, this does conclude today's teleconference. We thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。我們感謝您的參與。現在您可以斷開線路。