StoneX Group Inc (SNEX) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the StoneX Group Inc. Q4 Fiscal Year 2023 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 StoneX Group Inc. 2023 財年第四季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker, Bill Dunaway, CFO. Please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給您的發言人、財務長 Bill Dunaway。請繼續。

Good morning. My name is Bill Dunaway. Welcome to our earnings conference call for our fourth quarter ended September 30, 2023.

早安.我叫比爾唐納韋。歡迎參加我們截至 2023 年 9 月 30 日的第四季財報電話會議。

After the market closed yesterday, we issued a press release reporting our results for our fourth fiscal quarter of 2023. This release is available on our website at www.stonex.com as well as a slide presentation, which we'll refer to on this call and our discussions of our quarterly and year-to-date results. The presentation and an archive of the webcast will also be available on our website after the call's conclusion.

昨天收盤後，我們發布了一份新聞稿，報告了2023 年第四財季的業績。該新聞稿以及幻燈片演示文稿可在我們的網站www.stonex.com 上獲取，我們將在本報告中參考新聞稿。電話會議以及我們對季度和年初至今業績的討論。電話會議結束後，網路廣播的簡報和存檔也將在我們的網站上提供。

Before getting underway, we're required to advise you, and all participants should note, that the following discussion should be taken in conjunction with the most recent financial statements and notes thereto as well as the Form 10-K to be filed with the SEC. This discussion may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which are detailed in our filings with the SEC. Although the company believes that its forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions regarding its business and future market conditions, there can be no assurances that the company's actual results will not differ materially from any results expressed or implied by the company's forward-looking statements.

在開始之前，我們需要向您提供建議，所有參與者都應注意，以下討論應結合最新的財務報表和附註以及向 SEC 提交的 10-K 表格進行。本討論可能包含經修訂的 1933 年證券法第 27A 條和經修訂的 1934 年證券交易法第 21E 條含義內的前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述涉及已知和未知的風險和不確定性，這些風險和不確定性在我們向 SEC 提交的文件中進行了詳細說明。儘管該公司認為其前瞻性聲明是基於對其業務和未來市場狀況的合理假設，但不能保證該公司的實際結果不會與公司前瞻性陳述明示或暗示的任何結果有重大差異。

The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Readers are cautioned that any forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance.

本公司不承擔公開更新或修改任何前瞻性陳述的義務，無論是由於新資訊、未來事件或其他原因。請讀者註意，任何前瞻性陳述都不能保證未來的表現。

With that, I'll now turn the call over to Sean O'Connor, the company's CEO.

現在，我將把電話轉給公司執行長 Sean O'Connor。

Thanks, Bill. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining our fiscal 2023 fourth quarter earnings call.

謝謝，比爾。大家早安，感謝您參加我們的 2023 財年第四季財報電話會議。

During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023, we saw a strong 33% growth in operational revenues despite generally moderating volatility, although we did see some really sharp moves in the interest rate markets. The extent and speed of the interest rate increases over the last 18 months is nothing short of historic, and has resulted in the general repricing of risk and financial assets across the board. While it would appear that the trajectory of interest rates may be flattening, I do not think we have seen the full force and brunt of these historic moves manifest themselves yet, and there's likely to be some further dislocation and financial stress as a result.

在 2023 財年第四季度，儘管波動性普遍緩和，但我們的營運收入強勁增長了 33%，不過我們確實看到利率市場出現了一些非常劇烈的波動。過去 18 個月升息的幅度和速度堪稱歷史性的，並導致風險和金融資產全面重新定價。雖然利率軌跡可能正在趨於平緩，但我認為我們還沒有看到這些歷史性舉措的全部力量和衝擊力顯現出來，因此可能會出現進一步的混亂和財務壓力。

This was a solid fourth quarter for us and a truly exceptional and another record-setting year for the company overall, validating our strategy and demonstrating the earnings power of our franchise. For the fourth quarter, we recorded operating revenues of $778 million, up 33% versus the prior year. Net operating revenues were up 4% and compensation and other expenses were up 3% from a year ago, resulting in pretax income of $75.4 million, up 14% versus the prior year, which was a strong comparable quarter for us. Despite the increase in pretax income, a much higher effective tax rate, 32.8% versus 21.2% in the prior year quarter, driven by discrete items and year-end adjustments in each period, resulted in a 3% decline in net income to $50.7 million and a diluted EPS of $2.36 and an ROE of 15%. For the full year's results, the tax rates are relatively comparable at 26.2% for fiscal '23 compared to 25.3% in the prior year.

對我們來說，這是一個穩定的第四季度，對於整個公司來說，這是一個真正出色的、又創紀錄的一年，驗證了我們的策略並展示了我們特許經營的盈利能力。第四季度，我們的營業收入為 7.78 億美元，比去年同期成長 33%。淨營業收入年增 4%，薪資和其他費用年增 3%，稅前收入達到 7,540 萬美元，年增 14%，這對我們來說是一個強勁的可比季度。儘管稅前收入有所增加，但受各個時期的離散項目和年末調整的推動，有效稅率為 32.8%，而去年同期為 21.2%，導致淨利潤下降 3%，至 5,070 萬美元稀釋後每股收益為2.36 美元，淨資產收益率為15%。就全年業績而言，23 財年的稅率相對可比，為 26.2%，而前一年為 25.3%。

Turning now to Slide 3 in the earnings deck, listed derivatives operating revenues were down 2%, largely due to a 3% volume decrease versus a year ago. Listed derivatives in our Commercial segment volumes were up 21%. However on the institutional side, the volumes, and this is a much higher volume business, we're down 9%, leading to the overall contract volume decline.

現在轉向損益表中的投影片 3，上市衍生性商品營業收入下降 2%，主要是因為交易量較去年同期下降 3%。我們商業部門的上市衍生性商品交易量成長了 21%。然而，在機構方面，交易量下降了 9%，這是一項交易量大得多的業務，導致整體合約量下降。

OTC derivatives operating revenues were up 22% off the back of strong volumes. Securities operating revenue was the most significant contributor, up 70%, although this number is somewhat distorted due to the much higher interest rates in our fixed income business. Carried interest on fixed income position is reflected in operating revenues, while the offsetting interest expense to finance these positions is not. The RPM, the rate per million numbers, have been adjusted to reflect this offsetting expense.

由於交易量強勁，場外衍生性商品營業收入成長了 22%。證券營業收入是最重要的貢獻者，成長了 70%，儘管由於我們固定收益業務的利率高得多，這個數字有些扭曲。固定收益部位的附帶利息反映在營業收入中，而為這些部位提供資金的抵銷利息費用則不然。 RPM（每百萬個數字的費率）已進行調整以反映這種抵消費用。

Net operating revenue for the fourth quarter for securities declined 15%, primarily as a result of the rate per million declining 45% due to lower volatility and tougher market conditions in the equity business as well as a lower margin product mix in both equities and fixed income, both of these mentioned in previous calls.

第四季證券業務淨營業收入下降了 15%，主要是由於股票業務的波動性降低和市場條件更加嚴峻，以及股票和固定資產的利潤率較低，每百萬人的利率下降了 45%。收入，這兩個因素在之前的電話會議中都提到過。

FX and CFD operating revenues were down 3%, with a higher RPM being offset by a lower ADV impacted by tougher new client acquisition environment internationally. Global Payments operating revenues were up 21% due to a higher RPM versus the prior year quarter.

外匯和差價合約營業收入下降了 3%，較高的 RPM 被國際新客戶收購環境更嚴峻影響的 ADV 較低所抵消。由於 RPM 較去年同期有所提高，Global Payments 營運收入成長了 21%。

Interest and fee revenues were up 110% versus a year ago as we compare to a lower rate environment in the prior year. FDIC sweep balances were down 40% as clients moved into higher-yielding alternatives, although our client funds on the derivatives side were relatively unchanged.

與前一年較低的利率環境相比，利息和費用收入比一年前增加了 110%。儘管我們在衍生性商品方面的客戶資金相對沒有變化，但隨著客戶轉向收益更高的替代品，FDIC 掃除餘額下降了 40%。

Moving on to Slide 4. For the fiscal year as a whole, it was generally a very similar picture. Listed derivatives operating revenues were down 3%, largely due to a 4% decrease in the average rate per contract, largely coming from our commercial segment. OTC derivatives, operating revenues were up 11% off the back of strong volumes, which were up 20%, although the rate per contract declined 7%. Physical contracts operating revenues were up 26% versus the year ago period, primarily as a result of the CDI acquisition at the beginning of the fiscal year as well as the growth in our biodiesel feedstock business.

轉到投影片 4。整個財年的情況總體上非常相似。上市衍生性商品營業收入下降了 3%，主要是因為每份合約的平均費率下降了 4%，而這主要來自我們的商業部門。場外衍生性商品業務的營業收入在交易量強勁的情況下成長了 11%，交易量成長了 20%，儘管每份合約的費率下降了 7%。實物合約營業收入較去年同期成長 26%，這主要是由於本財年初收購 CDI 以及我們生質柴油原料業務的成長。

Securities operating revenue was again the most significant contributor, up 74% although, again, distorted for the higher -- because of higher interest rates, as I mentioned earlier. Net operating revenues in Securities transactions declined 11% versus the prior year as an increase of 52% in ADV was more than offset by a 40% decline in revenue capture.

證券營業收入再次成為最重要的貢獻者，成長了 74%，儘管正如我之前提到的，由於利率上升，證券營業收入再次出現扭曲。證券交易的淨營業收入較前一年下降 11%，ADV 成長 52%，但被收入下降 40% 所抵銷。

FX/CFD operating revenues were down 23% versus the very strong results a year ago, with ADV down 10% and rate per million down 12%. Global Payments operating revenues were up 24% due to both a higher ADV and RPM. Interest and fee revenue was up 331% versus a year ago, as we compare to a lower rate environment in the year prior. On an annual basis, our FDIC sweep was down 25% as clients moved into higher-yielding alternatives, while client funds on the derivative side were up 25%.

與一年前的強勁業績相比，外匯/差價合約營業收入下降了 23%，ADV 下降了 10%，每百萬人的利率下降了 12%。由於 ADV 和 RPM 的提高，Global Payments 營運收入成長了 24%。與前一年較低的利率環境相比，利息和費用收入比一年前增加了 331%。以年度計算，隨著客戶轉向收益更高的另類投資，我們的 FDIC 掃款額下降了 25%，而衍生性商品方面的客戶資金則增加了 25%。

Turning now to Slide 5 and a summary of our fourth quarter and our full year fiscal results, we recorded operating revenues of $778 million, up 33% versus the prior year. Net operating revenue was up 4%, and this is after interest expense, including interest related to the fixed income trading mentioned earlier. Total compensation and other expenses were up 3% for the quarter. This resulted in net income of $50.7 million, down 3% for the year -- from the year prior and diluted EPS of $2.36, down 5%, and a 15% ROE. As I mentioned upfront, there is a much higher tax charge this year, 32.8% versus 21.2%. On a pretax earnings basis, the quarterly results were up 14% versus the prior year quarter.

現在轉向投影片 5，以及我們第四季和全年財務表現的摘要，我們的營業收入為 7.78 億美元，比上年增長 33%。淨營業收入成長 4%，這是扣除利息支出後的結果，其中包括與前面提到的固定收益交易相關的利息。該季度的總薪酬和其他費用增加了 3%。這導致本年度淨利潤為 5,070 萬美元，較上年下降 3%，稀釋後每股收益為 2.36 美元，下降 5%，淨資產收益率為 15%。正如我之前提到的，今年的稅率要高得多，分別為 32.8% 和 21.2%。以稅前收益計算，季度業績較去年同期成長 14%。

Average client float was $7.8 billion, down 10% from a year ago and up 1% from the immediately prior quarter. Our financial results were boosted by higher interest and fee income on our client float as short-term rates increased over the period. Our average yield on our client float was 372 basis points for the year overall and 422 basis points for the fourth quarter. The yield on our client float was adversely affected by some interest rate swaps we entered into about 2 years ago, which will start rolling off in the coming quarters and should boost our yield, assuming, of course, no change in interest rates.

平均客戶流通量為 78 億美元，比去年同期下降 10%，比上一季成長 1%。由於短期利率在此期間上升，客戶浮動利息和費用收入增加，從而提振了我們的財務表現。我們全年客戶流通量的平均收益率為 372 個基點，第四季為 422 個基點。我們的客戶浮動收益率受到我們大約兩年前簽訂的一些利率掉期的不利影響，這些利率掉期將在未來幾個季度開始滾動，並且應該會提高我們的收益率，當然假設利率沒有變化。

In comparison with the immediately preceding quarter, our operating revenue was up modestly and net operating revenues were down 7%. Fixed compensation was up 2% and variable compensation was down 14%, and net income was down 27%. Looking at the summary for the full fiscal year, this was a record year for us in almost every metric. Our operating revenues were a record $2.9 billion, up 38% over the prior year. Net income was a record $238.5 million, up 15%. Our diluted EPS was $11.18 for the full fiscal year, up 12%. Our ROE was 19.5% despite equity having increased 53% over the last 2 years. We ended Q4 '23 with a book value per share of $66.31, up $13.61 for the year or 26% versus the year ago.

與上一季相比，我們的營業收入小幅成長，淨營業收入下降 7%。固定薪酬上漲 2%，變動薪酬下降 14%，淨利下降 27%。縱觀整個財年的摘要，今年對我們來說幾乎每個指標都是創紀錄的一年。我們的營業收入達到創紀錄的 29 億美元，比前一年成長 38%。淨利潤達到創紀錄的 2.385 億美元，成長 15%。我們整個財年的稀釋後每股收益為 11.18 美元，成長 12%。儘管過去 2 年股本成長了 53%，但我們的 ROE 仍為 19.5%。截至 23 年第 4 季度，我們的每股帳面價值為 66.31 美元，年增 13.61 美元，比去年同期成長 26%。

Turning now to Slide 6, which is our segment summary, just to touch on a few highlights before Bill gets into more details. For the quarter, segment operating revenue was up 32% and segment income was up 20%, with good performances across all of our client segments. In our Commercial Client segment, segment income was up 10% off the back of a 12% increase in operating revenues, with strong results from OTC derivatives, and of course, higher interest rates, offset by lower physical commodities revenues. Our Institutional segment realized a 65% increase in revenues, which translated into a 22% increase in segment income. Our foreign exchange business had a very -- had a very good quarter, and of course, we benefited from the positive impact of interest rates. This was offset by a tougher environment in Securities, particularly on the equity side.

現在轉到投影片 6，這是我們的部分摘要，只是為了在比爾介紹更多細節之前簡單介紹一些要點。本季度，分部營業收入成長 32%，分部營收成長 20%，我們所有客戶分部均表現良好。在我們的商業客戶部門，營業收入成長了 12%，部門收入成長了 10%，這得益於場外衍生性商品的強勁業績，當然還有更高的利率，但被實物商品收入下降所抵消。我們的機構部門收入成長了 65%，這意味著部門收入成長了 22%。我們的外匯業務有一個非常好的季度，當然，我們受益於利率的正面影響。這被證券業（尤其是股票方面）更為嚴峻的環境所抵消。

Despite operating revenues being down 9%, our Retail segment delivered a 39% increase in segment income due to good revenue capture on the digital trading platform and 23% lower non-variable costs. Some of this cost reduction is as a result of certain functions, such as the digital marketing group being moved to a central overhead to be leveraged throughout the entire organization.

儘管營業收入下降了 9%，但由於數位交易平台上良好的收入獲取和非可變成本降低了 23%，我們的零售部門的收入增長了 39%。成本降低的部分原因是某些職能的結果，例如數位行銷團隊被轉移到中央管理部門，以便在整個組織中發揮作用。

Global Payments operating revenue was up 22%, and segment income was up 32%, driven by a 26% increase in revenue capture. For the full fiscal year, segment operating revenue was up 37% and segment income was up 13% with strong performance across all of our client segments, except Retail, where segment income was down 60% against the exceptionally third prior year performance.

在營收成長 26% 的推動下，全球支付營運收入成長 22%，分部營收成長 32%。在整個財年，分部營業收入成長了37%，分部收入成長了13%，我們所有客戶分部的業績均表現強勁，但零售除外，該分部收入較上一年表現出色的第三名下降了60%。

These are solid results, but as we've said repeatedly, we take a long-term view on how we manage the company and grow our franchise. As such, we believe the best way to gauge our results and progress is to look at longer-term performance, such as trailing 12 months, rather than specific quarters taken in isolation.

這些都是堅實的成果，但正如我們一再說過的，我們對如何管理公司和發展我們的特許經營權抱有長遠的眼光。因此，我們認為衡量業績和進展的最佳方法是著眼於長期業績，例如過去 12 個月，而不是孤立地考慮特定季度的業績。

Turning to Slide 7, which sets out our trailing 12-month financial performance by quarter, these numbers have been adjusted for the accounting treatment related to the gain in CDI acquisitions, as disclosed in our prior filings and which appear in the reconciliation provided on the last page of the earnings deck.

轉向幻燈片 7，其中按季度列出了我們過去 12 個月的財務業績，這些數字已根據與 CDI 收購收益相關的會計處理進行了調整，如我們之前的文件中所披露的以及出現在收益表的最後一頁。

On the left-hand side, the bars represent our 12-month -- our trailing 12-month operating revenue over the last 9 quarters. As you can see, this has been a smooth and strongly upwards trend as we have steadily expanded our footprint and capabilities. Our operating revenues are up 74% over this period for a 32% CAGR. Our adjusted pretax income likewise has grown significantly at a 37% CAGR.

左側的條形代表我們過去 9 個季度的 12 個月營運收入。正如您所看到的，隨著我們穩步擴大我們的足跡和能力，這是一個平穩且強勁的上升趨勢。在此期間，我們的營業收入成長了 74%，複合年增長率為 32%。我們調整後的稅前收入同樣以 37% 的複合年增長率大幅成長。

On the right-hand side, you can see our adjusted net income in the bar graphs, which is up 79% over the 2 years for a 34% CAGR. The dotted line represents our ROE, which has remained above our 15% target, even though our capital has grown by 53% over this period.

在右側，您可以在長條圖中看到我們調整後的淨利潤，兩年內成長了 79%，複合年增長率為 34%。虛線代表我們的 ROE，儘管我們的資本在此期間增長了 53%，但 ROE 仍高於我們 15% 的目標。

With that, I'll hand you over to Bill Dunaway for a more detailed conversation. Bill?

接下來，我將把您交給 Bill Dunaway 進行更詳細的對話。帳單？

I will be starting with Slide #8, which summarize our consolidated income statement for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023. Sean covered many of the consolidated highlights for the quarter, so I will just highlight a few and then move on to a segment discussion.

我將從投影片#8 開始，該投影片總結了我們2023 財年第四季的合併損益表。Sean 介紹了該季度的許多合併要點，因此我將僅重點介紹其中一些，然後繼續進行部分討論。

Transaction-based clearing expenses declined 1% to $68.6 million in the current period, while introducing broker commissions increased 5% to $39.2 million in the current period. Principally due to increased activity in our Commercial segment, both in listed derivatives as well as a result of the CDI acquisition, which was effective October 31, 2022. Interest expense attributable to trading activities increased $175.6 million versus the prior year, primarily as a result of the $138.7 million increase in interest expense related to our institutional fixed income business and a $27.2 million increase in interest paid to client on client balances, both of which were a result of the significant increase in short-term interest rates.

本期交易清算費用下降 1%，至 6,860 萬美元，而介紹經紀商佣金本期增加 5%，至 3,920 萬美元。主要是由於我們商業部門的活動增加，包括上市衍生性商品以及 CDI 收購（該收購於 2022 年 10 月 31 日生效）。交易活動產生的利息支出比上一年增加了 1.756 億美元，主要是由於其中，與我們的機構固定收益業務相關的利息支出增加了1.387 億美元，以及支付給客戶的客戶餘額利息增加了2720 萬美元，這兩者都是由於短期利率大幅上升所致。

Interest expense on corporate funding increased $1.7 million versus the prior year, also as a result of the increase in short-term interest rates, but partially offset by a decrease in average borrowings. Variable compensation declined $17.3 million versus the prior year and represented 28% of net operating revenues in the current period compared to 33% of net operating revenues in the prior year period. This decline in variable compensation as a percentage of net operating revenues is a result of the significant increase in interest and fee income earned on client balances as compared to the prior year as this revenue is typically not included in variable compensation payouts.

企業融資利息支出較前一年增加 170 萬美元，也是由於短期利率上升所致，但部分被平均借款減少所抵銷。可變薪酬比前一年減少了 1,730 萬美元，佔當期淨營業收入的 28%，而上年同期佔淨營業收入的 33%。可變薪酬佔淨營業收入百分比的下降是由於客戶餘額賺取的利息和費用收入與上一年相比大幅增加的結果，因為該收入通常不包含在可變薪酬支出中。

Fixed compensation increased $17.3 million versus the prior year due to a 14% increase in headcount, resulting from the expansion of our capabilities among our business lines as well as in support areas to facilitate this business growth, the effect of annual merit increases and a $1.7 million increase in share-based compensation as compared to the prior year. Fixed compensation increased 2% versus the immediately preceding quarter.

固定薪酬比前一年增加了 1,730 萬美元，原因是員工人數增加了 14%，這是由於我們在業務線以及支持領域的能力擴展以促進業務增長、年度績效增長的影響以及 1.7 美元股權激勵較上年增加100萬元。固定薪資較上一季增加 2%。

Other fixed expenses increased $6.8 million as compared to the prior year and $4.7 million versus the immediately preceding quarter. As compared to the prior year, nontrading technology and support increased $3.2 million, trade systems and market information increased $1.9 million, occupancy and equipment rental increased $1.5 million, and travel and business development increased $1 million.

其他固定費用較前一年增加 680 萬美元，較上一季增加 470 萬美元。與前一年相比，非貿易技術和支援增加了 320 萬美元，貿易系統和市場資訊增加了 190 萬美元，佔用和設備租賃增加了 150 萬美元，旅行和業務開發增加了 100 萬美元。

Bad debt expense, net of recoveries increased $2.1 million to $6.5 million in the current period versus $4.4 million in the prior year period, and was relatively flat with the immediately preceding quarter. The increase versus the prior year is principally related to an increase in bad debt expense in our Physical Ag and Energy business, which was partially offset by a recovery in our Institutional Futures and Options business.

本期壞帳費用（扣除回收金額）增加了 210 萬美元，達到 650 萬美元，而去年同期為 440 萬美元，與上一季相對持平。與前一年相比的成長主要與我們的實物農業和能源業務壞帳費用的增加有關，但我們的機構期貨和選擇權業務的復甦部分抵消了壞帳費用的增加。

Net income for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023 was $50.7 million, which represents a 3% and 2% decline versus the prior year and immediately preceding quarters, respectively.

2023 財年第四季的淨利為 5,070 萬美元，比上一年和前一季分別下降 3% 和 2%。

Moving on to Slide #9. I will provide some more information on our operating segments.

繼續幻燈片#9。我將提供有關我們營運部門的更多資訊。

Our Commercial segment added $22.3 million in operating revenues versus the prior year, however, declined $45.2 million when compared to the immediately preceding quarter, which was a record 1 for this segment. The increase over the prior year was driven by a $10.9 million increase in OTC derivative operating revenues, most notably in agricultural and soft commodities. In addition, interest earned on client balances increased $19.5 million as a result of a significant increase in short-term interest rates. Average client equity declined 22% versus the prior year, primarily as a result of lower margin requirements due to the decline in market volatility. These increases were partially offset by a $9.4 million decline in operating revenues from physical transactions despite the acquisition of CDI earlier in the year, principally due to decreased activity in biodiesel feedstocks this quarter, which had been a large contributor to the immediately preceding record quarter in this segment, as well as a decline in precious metals revenues.

我們的商業部門的營業收入與前一年相比增加了 2,230 萬美元，但與上一季相比下降了 4,520 萬美元，這是該部門的創紀錄的 1。較上年增長的原因是場外衍生性商品營業收入增加了 1,090 萬美元，尤其是農產品和軟商品。此外，由於短期利率大幅上升，客戶餘額賺取的利息增加了 1,950 萬美元。平均客戶資產較前一年下降 22%，主要是由於市場波動性下降導致保證金要求降低。儘管今年稍早收購了CDI，但實物交易營業收入下降了940 萬美元，部分抵消了這些增長，這主要是由於本季度生物柴油原料活動減少，而生物柴油原料是上一季度創紀錄的主要原因。該部門以及貴金屬收入下降。

Fixed compensation and benefits increased $2.9 million versus the prior year, however, declined $900,000 versus the immediately preceding quarter. Other fixed expenses increased $2.6 million, including increases in travel and business development, professional fees, selling and marketing and depreciation and amortization. Bad debt expense increased $5 million as compared to the prior year, and as I mentioned earlier, was primarily related to our Physical Ag and Energy business.

固定薪資和福利比前一年增加 290 萬美元，但比上一季下降 90 萬美元。其他固定費用增加了 260 萬美元，包括旅行和業務開發、專業費用、銷售和行銷以及折舊和攤提的增加。壞帳費用與前一年相比增加了 500 萬美元，正如我之前提到的，主要與我們的實體農業和能源業務有關。

Segment income was $88 million for the period, an increase of 10% over the prior year period. However, a 25% decline versus the immediately preceding quarter.

該期間分部營收為8,800萬美元，較上年同期成長10%。然而，與上一季相比下降了 25%。

Moving on to Slide #10. Operating revenues in our Institutional segment increased $167.9 million versus the prior year, primarily driven by $125.3 million increase in Securities operating revenues compared to the prior year period as a result of a 57% increase in the average daily volume of Securities transactions, as well as the increase in interest rates. The increase in Securities ADV was driven by an increase in client volumes in both equity and fixed income markets. As Sean mentioned earlier, the increase in interest rates also led to a significant increase in securities-related interest expense for the period, which I'll touch on momentarily.

繼續看投影片#10。機構業務部門的營業收入比去年同期增加了 1.679 億美元，主要是由於證券營業收入比去年同期增加了 1.253 億美元，這是由於證券日均交易量增加了 57%，以及利率的增加。證券日交易量的成長是由股票和固定收益市場客戶數量的增加所推動的。正如肖恩之前提到的，利率的上升也導致了這段時期與證券相關的利息支出的大幅增加，我稍後會談到這一點。

Interest and fee income earned on client balances increased $34.4 million versus the prior year as a result of the increase in short-term interest rates as well as a 10% increase in average client equity. This was partially offset by a 40% decline in the average money market and FDIC sweep balances versus the prior year. Interest and fee income earned on client balances was up $8 million versus the immediately preceding quarter.

由於短期利率上升以及平均客戶資產增加 10%，客戶餘額賺取的利息和費用收入比前一年增加了 3,440 萬美元。這被貨幣市場平均下降 40% 和 FDIC 清償餘額較上年下降部分抵消。與上一季相比，客戶餘額賺取的利息和費用收入增加了 800 萬美元。

The rise in short-term interest rates drove $171.8 million increase in interest expense versus the prior year. Interest expense related to fixed income trading and Securities lending activities increased $138.7 million and $5.1 million, respectively, as compared to the prior year, while interest paid to clients increased $23.9 million.

短期利率上升導致利息支出較前一年增加 1.718 億美元。與前一年相比，與固定收益交易和證券借貸活動相關的利息支出分別增加了 1.387 億美元和 510 萬美元，而支付給客戶的利息則增加了 2,390 萬美元。

Segment income increased 22% to $55 million in the current period despite an $800,000 decline in net operating revenues as variable compensation declined $6 million, other fixed expenses declined $3.3 million, and we had a favorable variance in bad debt expense of $1.5 million versus the prior year quarter. Also contributing to the increase in segment income, we received a $2.1 million FX related antitrust class action settlement during the current period. Segment income increased $9.9 million versus the immediately preceding quarter.

儘管由於可變薪酬減少了600 萬美元，其他固定費用減少了330 萬美元，淨營業收入下降了80 萬美元，但本期部門收入增長了22％，達到5500 萬美元，而且我們的壞賬費用與之前相比有150 萬美元的有利差異年季。我們在本期獲得了 210 萬美元的外匯相關反壟斷集體訴訟和解金，這也促進了部門收入的成長。部門收入較上一季增加 990 萬美元。

Moving on to the next slide. Operating revenues in our Retail segment declined $9.4 million versus the prior year, which is primarily driven by a $7.3 million decrease in FX and CFD revenues, primarily as a result of a 13% decline in FX/CFD average daily volume, which was partially offset by a 4% increase in rate per million as compared to the prior year. The current period was relatively flat with the immediately preceding quarter with Retail segment operating revenues increasing $900,000. Segment income increased 39% to $28 million in the current period despite the decline in operating revenues as variable compensation declined $2.8 million, fixed compensation declined $4.2 million and other fixed expenses declined $5.4 million.

轉到下一張投影片。零售部門的營業收入較上年下降 940 萬美元，這主要是由於外匯和差價合約收入減少 730 萬美元，主要是由於外匯/差價合約日均交易量下降 13%，但這一下降被部分抵消與上一年相比，每百萬人的比率增加了4%。本季與上一季相對持平，零售部門營業收入增加了 90 萬美元。儘管營業收入因可變薪酬下降 280 萬美元、固定薪酬下降 420 萬美元和其他固定費用下降 540 萬美元而下降，但本期部門收入仍增長 39% 至 2800 萬美元。

The decline in fixed compensation was partially driven by FX hedge gains on positions we established to hedge compensation expense in some of our foreign jurisdictions. The decline in other fixed expenses was driven by a $1.9 million decline in selling and marketing as well as a $2.5 million decline in depreciation and amortization. Segment income increased $10.8 million versus the immediately preceding quarter.

固定薪資下降的部分原因是我們在一些外國司法管轄區為對沖薪資支出而建立的頭寸的外匯對沖收益。其他固定費用的下降是由於銷售和行銷費用減少了 190 萬美元，以及折舊和攤提費用減少了 250 萬美元。與上一季相比，部門收入增加了 1,080 萬美元。

Closing out the segment discussion on the next slide, operating revenues in Global Payments increased $9.9 million versus the prior year, driven by a 26% increase in the rate per million as compared to the prior year. Segment income increased 32% to $32.3 million in the current period as a result of the growth in operating revenues, which was partially offset by a $200,000 increase in fixed compensation and an $800,000 increase in other fixed expenses as compared to the prior year. Segment income increased $3.7 million or 13% versus the immediately preceding quarter.

在下一張幻燈片中結束對細分市場的討論時，Global Payments 的營業收入比上一年增加了 990 萬美元，這得益於每百萬人的收入比上一年增加了 26%。由於營業收入的成長，本期部門收入成長了32%，達到3,230 萬美元，但與前一年相比，固定薪酬增加了20 萬美元，其他固定費用增加了80 萬美元，部分抵消了這一增長。部門收入較上一季增加 370 萬美元，即 13%。

Moving on to Slide #13, which represents a bridge between operating revenues for the fourth quarter of last year to the current period across our operating segments. Overall operating revenues were $778 million in the current period, up $194.6 million or 33% over the prior year. I've touched on the variances in the operating segments for the $3.9 million positive variance in unallocated overheads, is primarily related to FX revaluation gains, as well as FX hedge variances, partially offset by a decrease in interest income.

接下來看投影片#13，它代表了我們各個營運部門去年第四季的營運收入與目前期間的營運收入之間的橋樑。本期整體營業收入為 7.78 億美元，較上年增加 1.946 億美元，即 33%。我已經談到了營運部門的差異，即未分配管理費用的 390 萬美元正差異主要與外匯重估收益以及外匯對沖差異有關，部分被利息收入的減少所抵消。

This variance is primarily covered in the segment discussion I just walked through, so I'll move on to the next slide, #14, which represents a bridge from 2022 fourth quarter pretax income of $66.4 million to pretax income of $75.4 million in the current period. The negative variance in unallocated overhead of $24.5 million was primarily driven by a $15.5 million increase in fixed compensation and benefits as a result of a build-out of our compliance and IT functions to support our continued business growth as well as the incremental costs associated with the acquisition of CDI.

這種差異主要在我剛剛瀏覽的部分討論中進行了介紹，因此我將繼續觀看下一張幻燈片#14，它代表了從2022 年第四季度稅前收入6640 萬美元到當前稅前收入7540萬美元的橋樑。時期。未分配管理費用的負差異為 2,450 萬美元，主要是由於我們為支援持續業務成長而擴大了合規和 IT 職能，導致固定薪酬和福利增加了 1,550 萬美元，以及與業務相關的增量成本收購CDI。

Finally, moving on to Slide #15, which depicts our interest and fees earned on client balances by quarter as well as a table which shows the annualized interest rate sensitivity for a change in short-term interest rates. Interest and fee income net of interest paid to clients and the effect of interest rate swaps increased $15.1 million to $46 million in the current period as compared to $30.9 million in the prior year. This represents a $2.1 million increase in the immediately preceding quarter, primarily driven by an increase in short-term interest rates.

最後，轉到幻燈片#15，它描述了我們按季度從客戶餘額中賺取的利息和費用，以及顯示短期利率變化的年化利率敏感性的表格。扣除支付給客戶的利息和利率掉期影響後的利息和費用收入，本期增加了 1,510 萬美元，達到 4,600 萬美元，而前一年為 3,090 萬美元。這意味著比上一季增加了 210 萬美元，主要是由於短期利率上升所致。

As noted in the table, we estimate a 100 basis point change in short-term interest rates, either up or down would result in a change in net income of $16.8 million or about $0.81 per share on an annualized basis.

如表中所示，我們估計短期利率變化 100 個基點，無論是上升或下降，都將導致淨利潤變化 1,680 萬美元，即年化每股收益約 0.81 美元。

With that, I'd like to turn it back over to Sean.

有了這個，我想把它轉回給肖恩。

Thanks, Bill. Turning now to Slide 16, which sets up a high-level strategic objectives that we have been focused on for the better part of 15 years now. We have included the slide before and went through it in some detail at the end of fiscal 2022, so we thought maybe a review and a quick update would be appropriate.

謝謝，比爾。現在轉向投影片 16，它設定了我們 15 年來的大部分時間都在關注的高階策略目標。我們之前已經包含過該投影片，並在 2022 財年末對其進行了一些詳細介紹，因此我們認為也許進行審查和快速更新是合適的。

First, building our ecosystem. We want to stay relevant to our clients, both existing and new clients, by adding products and services and creating the best financial ecosystem to connect them to the global financial markets. I believe StoneX is now becoming known as a growing and best-in-class financial services franchise. We continually invest in our ecosystem by acquiring talent, either individuals or teams, as well as investing in technology to expand our products and capabilities to better serve our clients. While these investments result in increased costs and expenditures, oftentimes well in advance of the ultimate benefits being achieved, they are essential to achieve the strategic objective.

首先，建立我們的生態系統。我們希望透過添加產品和服務並創建最佳的金融生態系統將他們與全球金融市場連接起來，與現有客戶和新客戶保持聯繫。我相信 StoneX 現在已成為一家不斷成長的一流金融服務特許經營商。我們透過收購個人或團隊人才以及投資技術來持續投資我們的生態系統，以擴展我們的產品和能力，從而更好地為我們的客戶服務。雖然這些投資會導致成本和支出增加，而且往往遠早於實現最終效益，但它們對於實現策略目標至關重要。

None of these projects in isolation will result in a significant change to our current growth trajectory and certain of these initiatives may not be viable in the long run. However, in aggregate and over time, we believe that these initiatives will bend our growth curve upwards. In addition, because many of these initiatives are digital in nature, we should see operational leverage and scalability start to kick in as well, and a steady improvement in margins as a result.

這些單獨的項目都不會導致我們目前的成長軌跡發生重大變化，而且從長遠來看，其中某些舉措可能不可行。然而，總的來說，隨著時間的推移，我們相信這些舉措將使我們的成長曲線向上彎曲。此外，由於其中許多舉措本質上都是數位化的，因此我們應該會看到營運槓桿和可擴展性也開始發揮作用，從而導致利潤率穩步提高。

Our fixed income group has strategically diversified into a broad spectrum of fixed income asset classes. This approach has proven to be highly beneficial, especially in recent quarters, and provided resiliency to our revenue streams amid the fluctuating interest rate environment. Notably, there has been a distinct shift in perception among institutional investors and top industry talent alike. We are now increasingly being recognized as a growing and successful fixed income franchise with the capabilities to compete alongside Tier 1 players.

我們的固定收益集團已策略性多元化，涉足廣泛的固定收益資產類別。事實證明，這種方法非常有益，尤其是在最近幾個季度，並且在利率波動的環境下為我們的收入流提供了彈性。值得注意的是，機構投資者和頂尖產業人才的看法發生了明顯轉變。我們現在越來越被認為是一家不斷成長且成功的固定收益特許經營商，有能力與一級參與者競爭。

On the equity side, we've now launched and continue to grow our electronic market-making platform on the domestic NMS equities leveraging our long-standing institutional relationships of over 20 years from the international equity side. We enhanced our institutional prime offering with the launch of a multi-asset cash compliant custody solution, coupled with new financing capabilities, which include repo financing and securities lending, under the banner of our London-based StoneX Institutional Prime product. We also bolstered the growth and the capabilities within London Prime services through some key hires. These product expansions and major appointments are in line with our continued investment in our technology platforms across trading, regulatory reporting, middle and back-office operations, all designed to augment client engagement and to drive growth within our securities and prime offering.

在股票方面，我們利用我們在國際股票方面 20 多年的長期機構關係，在國內 NMS 股票上推出並繼續發展我們的電子做市平台。我們透過推出多資產現金合規託管解決方案以及新的融資功能（包括回購融資和證券借貸），在倫敦 StoneX 機構 Prime 產品的旗幟下增強了我們的機構 Prime 產品。我們也透過一些關鍵人員的招聘，促進了 London Prime 服務的成長和能力。這些產品擴展和重大任命符合我們對交易、監管報告、中後台營運等技術平台的持續投資，所有這些都是為了增強客戶參與度並推動我們的證券和主要產品的成長。

The crypto market has gone through some ranching of predictable changes recently with consolidation, and we expect a smaller, but more regulated market to start to emerge. We believe this market will be best served in the long term by well-capitalized and regulated terms such as StoneX. We have also made some crucial new hires for our StoneX Digital Initiative, our wholly owned subsidiary of StoneX that specializes in providing institutions with access to digital asset trading, custody and services. We plan on offering non-custodial spot execution, borrowing and lending and OTC bilateral derivatives to global institutions down the road.

加密貨幣市場最近經歷了一些可預見的整合變化，我們預計一個更小但更受監管的市場將開始出現。我們相信，從長遠來看，像 StoneX 這樣資本充足且受監管的條款將最好地服務於這個市場。我們也為 StoneX Digital Initiative 招募了一些重要的新員工，該公司是 StoneX 的全資子公司，專門為機構提供數位資產交易、託管和服務。我們計劃今後向全球機構提供非託管現貨執行、借貸以及場外雙邊衍生性商品。

Carbon trading is another growing market and our primary role to date would be to provide our clients with access to select carbon trading instruments. In addition, we have a role in educating our clients on how best to participate in this marketplace. Many of our agricultural clients are potential sources of carbon credits, which can be monetized. We have made good incremental progress over the last year and have a small, but growing revenue stream and client base in carbon. We continue to add new trading venues and exchanges to our ecosystem to better serve our clients. StoneX recently became members of the Nodal Exchange, which offer renewable fuels and pollutant contracts to support an increasing focus on corporate sustainability and carbon neutrality. We're also in the process of joining the ASX exchange in Australia and evaluating other potential trading venues.

碳交易是另一個不斷成長的市場，迄今為止我們的主要作用是為我們的客戶提供選擇碳交易工具的機會。此外，我們也負責教育客戶如何最好地參與這個市場。我們的許多農業客戶都是碳信用的潛在來源，可以貨幣化。去年我們取得了良好的漸進式進展，在碳領域擁有雖小但不斷成長的收入來源和客戶群。我們不斷在我們的生態系統中添加新的交易場所和交易所，以更好地服務我們的客戶。 StoneX 最近成為 Nodal Exchange 的成員，該交易所提供可再生燃料和污染物合同，以支持對企業可持續發展和碳中和的日益關注。我們也正在加入澳洲澳洲證券交易所並評估其他潛在的交易場所。

We have been expanding our capabilities and expertise in physical commodities to provide a comprehensive service from risk management to logistics and supply chain management. Several years ago, we started to assist our biofuel refinery clients with the efficient sourcing of physical inputs in addition to risk management of those inputs and risk management of the resulting outputs, aligning them to more efficiently operate their facilities. Over time, we have now become a significant and recognized player in the biofuel and renewable biofuel industries in the U.S.

我們一直在擴大我們在實體商品方面的能力和專業知識，以提供從風險管理到物流和供應鏈管理的全面服務。幾年前，我們開始幫助我們的生物燃料煉油廠客戶有效採購實體投入，以及對這些投入和最終產出進行風險管理，使他們能夠更有效地運作其設施。隨著時間的推移，我們現在已成為美國生物燃料和再生生物燃料產業的重要且公認的參與者。

At the beginning of this year, you may remember we acquired CDI, a physical cotton brokerage business. We saw the opportunity to make further inroads into the cotton vertical by offering physical cotton brokerage and trading and risk management together as one service. This was a well-priced transaction that resulted in immediate gain being recognized on acquisition and has exceeded our first year financial expectations. We have also validated the original thesis as we have seen market share gains in both physical cotton brokerage, as well as on the risk management services. We have made significant progress in integrating this business and are excited about its prospects in the coming years.

今年年初，您可能還記得我們收購了實體棉花經紀業務 CDI。我們看到了透過提供實體棉花經紀、交易和風險管理作為一項服務進一步進軍棉花垂直領域的機會。這是一項定價合理的交易，收購後立即獲得了收益，並且超出了我們第一年的財務預期。我們也驗證了最初的論點，因為我們看到實體棉花經紀和風險管理服務的市場份額都有所增長。我們在整合該業務方面取得了重大進展，並對未來幾年的前景感到興奮。

We continue to believe that there's a sizable opportunity for us to expand our self-directed offering to include all of the StoneX products and capabilities, from CFDs to stocks, crypto, precious metal, coin payment, futures and foreign exchange. Doing this will dramatically expand the addressable market for our self-directed platform. While we have made good incremental steps, we are definitely behind where we should be in this project and are focused on accelerating our progress here.

我們仍然相信，我們有很大的機會擴展我們的自主產品，以涵蓋所有 StoneX 產品和功能，從差價合約到股票、加密貨幣、貴金屬、硬幣支付、期貨和外匯。這樣做將大大擴大我們自主平台的潛在市場。雖然我們已經採取了良好的漸進步驟，但我們在這個專案中絕對落後於我們應該達到的水平，並專注於加速我們的進展。

On the international side, we're on the final testing to launch cash trading in international equities for all clients in the coming quarters. This platform already offers over 15,000 OTC products designed for active traders, and these same clients will now have access to investment products directly on our platform. This not only expands our product offering to clients, but allows us to target a much larger universal potential clients. We're also leveraging this platform to provide our commercial clients with access to OTC hedging products.

在國際方面，我們正在進行最後的測試，以便在未來幾季向所有客戶推出國際股票現金交易。該平台已提供超過 15,000 種專為活躍交易者設計的場外交易產品，這些客戶現在可以直接在我們的平台上存取投資產品。這不僅擴大了我們向客戶提供的產品範圍，而且使我們能夠瞄準更大的普遍潛在客戶。我們也利用這個平台為我們的商業客戶提供場外交易對沖產品。

In the U.S., the regulatory framework adds significant complexity to offering a multi-asset class trading platform with different regulators, legal entities and related protocols and challenges. During the year, we launched StoneX One as our U.S.-based self-directed platform, allowing trading in equity, equity options as well as listed derivatives. This platform is active, and we are incrementally marketing it to existing clients. We are seeking to have payments, physical gold coins to both international and domestic StoneX One platforms, making this a very unique asset class execution capability.

在美國，監管框架大大增加了提供具有不同監管機構、法律實體以及相關協議和挑戰的多元資產類別交易平台的複雜性。年內，我們推出了 StoneX One 作為我們在美國的自主平台，允許進行股票、股票選擇權以及上市衍生性商品交易。該平台很活躍，我們正在逐步向現有客戶行銷它。我們正在尋求向國際和國內StoneX One平台提供支付、實體金幣，使其成為非常獨特的資產類別執行能力。

We continue to offer new OTC products to address client needs and have invested in our technology stack to do this faster and more effectively. We are now introducing dozens of new products every month, some of which are new and industry-leading, which add both incremental value as well as positioning StoneX as a leading innovator focused on adding value to our clients.

我們繼續提供新的 OTC 產品來滿足客戶的需求，並投資於我們的技術堆疊，以更快、更有效地實現這一目標。現在，我們每個月都會推出數十種新產品，其中一些是業界領先的新產品，它們既增加了增量價值，也將 StoneX 定位為專注於為客戶增加價值的領先創新者。

The next strategic objective for us is we are a client-centric business, and we need to constantly work at growing our client footprint into new markets and expanding our market share where we have existing clients and cross-selling all of our growing capabilities to our existing clients. We also seek to serve new client segments and channels. We have all the capabilities to service clients of all types and have a large addressable market in front of us, with very low market penetration currently.

我們的下一個策略目標是我們是一家以客戶為中心的企業，我們需要不斷努力將我們的客戶足跡擴展到新市場，擴大我們現有客戶的市場份額，並將我們所有不斷增長的能力交叉銷售給我們的客戶。現有客戶。我們也尋求為新的客戶群和管道提供服務。我們有能力為各類客戶提供服務，並且擁有廣大的潛在市場，但目前市場滲透率很低。

Obviously, as we enhance our ecosystem, we are able to offer a more compelling value proposition to our existing and potential clients. We have grown our client footprint significantly over the last 10 years, assisted by a positive industry environment. There has been significant consolidation at the small end of the market as increased regulatory costs and capital burdens have rendered smaller monoline players unable to earn acceptable returns on capital.

顯然，隨著我們增強生態系統，我們能夠為現有和潛在客戶提供更具吸引力的價值主張。在積極的產業環境的幫助下，過去 10 年我們的客戶足跡顯著成長。由於監管成本和資本負擔的增加，使得規模較小的單一產品企業無法獲得可接受的資本回報，小型市場出現了重大整合。

On the other hand, larger banks have seen capital requirements for trading businesses steadily increase under the Basel regime with additional new capital charges under current consideration. We see this trend continuing, and many clients will be looking for new brokerage and trading relationships. We believe that our unique global financial ecosystem allows us to be the counterparty of choice and places us in a strong position to win additional market share.

另一方面，大型銀行在巴塞爾制度下看到交易業務的資本要求穩定增加，目前正在考慮增加新的資本要求。我們看到這種趨勢仍在繼續，許多客戶將尋找新的經紀和交易關係。我們相信，我們獨特的全球金融生態系統使我們能夠成為首選的交易對手，並使我們處於贏得更多市場份額的有利地位。

We have continued to invest and grow our EU presence post-Brexit with an expanding office in Frankfurt to service our existing European-based clients and allowing us to more effectively market to new clients in Europe, which may not be adequately covered post-Brexit. We have dramatically expanded our product capability in Singapore, adding fixed income, foreign exchange and commodities expertise, which should allow us to increase our market penetration in Asia. We've also expanded our licensing to facilitate broader payments and securities offering.

英國脫歐後，我們繼續投資並擴大我們在歐盟的業務，在法蘭克福擴大了辦事處，為我們現有的歐洲客戶提供服務，並使我們能夠更有效地向歐洲的新客戶進行行銷，這些客戶在英國脫歐後可能無法充分覆蓋。我們大大擴展了在新加坡的產品能力，增加了固定收益、外匯和大宗商品的專業知識，這將使我們能夠提高在亞洲的市場滲透率。我們還擴大了許可範圍，以促進更廣泛的支付和證券發行。

Our payments business has also launched its platform focused on small and medium-sized Brazilian enterprises looking for a more efficient way to make international payments to both G20 and non-G20 countries. We have launched our new digital payments platform for corporates in Europe, and we'll aim to expand this geographically. We are also adding international payments capability to all of our existing internal platforms on the commercial side, further embedding ourselves with these existing clients.

我們的支付業務也推出了其平台，專注於尋求更有效的方式向 G20 和非 G20 國家進行國際支付的巴西中小企業。我們已經為歐洲企業推出了新的數位支付平台，我們的目標是在地理上擴展這個平台。我們也在商業方面為所有現有內部平台添加國際支付功能，進一步融入這些現有客戶。

On the Security side, we have historically had little client penetration outside of the U.S. despite our global product offering in both equities and fixed income. We have now added a small team in Asia and bolstered our presence in London. In addition, as you've heard earlier, we are bolstering our capabilities in London to enable a more fully fledged offering there.

在安全性方面，儘管我們在股票和固定收益方面提供全球產品，但歷來在美國以外的客戶滲透率很少。我們現在在亞洲增加了一個小團隊，並加強了我們在倫敦的業務。此外，正如您之前所聽說的，我們正在增強我們在倫敦的能力，以便在那裡提供更成熟的服務。

We'll not be able to achieve the necessary growth and scale unless we continue to embrace technology to digitize our offering. This will not only enhance client engagement, but increase scalability and margins. This initiative requires a rethink of our processes from front to back and has been underway for some years now, but has accelerated recently. Many of the product initiatives mentioned above are digital in nature, so I'll not mention them again. The advantage of digital offerings is that it dramatically expands the addressable market. Every client anywhere is a potential client, and it offers scalability and operational leverage to enhance margins.

除非我們繼續採用技術來數位化我們的產品，否則我們將無法實現必要的成長和規模。這不僅會增強客戶參與度，還會提高可擴展性和利潤。這項舉措需要從前到後重新思考我們的流程，並且已經進行了幾年，但最近加速了。上面提到的許多產品舉措本質上都是數位化的，所以我不會再提及它們。數位產品的優勢在於它極大地擴大了潛在市場。任何地方的每個客戶都是潛在客戶，它提供可擴展性和營運槓桿來提高利潤。

We are increasingly using technology on the trading side. Many of our trading platforms are designed to aggregate trading flow and internalized spreads so we can maximize the client revenue opportunity and minimize our hedging costs. As we gain critical mass in trading volumes, the impact on revenue capture can be significant and should further drive margins.

我們越來越多地在交易方面使用科技。我們的許多交易平台旨在聚合交易流量和內部點差，以便我們可以最大限度地提高客戶收入機會並最大限度地降低對沖成本。隨著我們的交易量達到臨界規模，對收入的影響可能會很大，並應進一步提高利潤率。

We also spend considerable effort providing technology to help our clients be more effective, and in turn, become stickier to us. During the year, we launched and expanded a StoneHedge for our grain merchandising clients, which has now gained significant traction. This new platform provides trading efficiency on our side and embeds us as a critical partner with many of our most important clients. We continue to enhance our digital platform for OTC and structured products to allow our commercial hedging clients to run intricate scenarios to determine the best product for their needs and instantly get quotes.

我們也花費大量精力提供技術來幫助我們的客戶提高效率，從而提高對我們的黏性。在這一年裡，我們為糧食銷售客戶推出並擴展了 StoneHedge，現在已獲得了巨大的關注。這個新平台為我們提供了交易效率，並使我們成為許多最重要客戶的重要合作夥伴。我們繼續增強我們的場外交易和結構性產品的數位平台，使我們的商業對沖客戶能夠運行複雜的場景，以確定最適合他們需求的產品並立即獲得報價。

A lot of these projects are underpinned by the success of our data lake, which allows users to come to one place to get normalized data from our many systems of record. Instead of multiple point-to-point connections to these systems, information can be accessed from one place in near real time in an easily consumable form. We continue to see validation of this approach as many of our internal departments as well as our client placing platforms can easily stand up applications. We continue to build and enhance the data lake as we expand our business.

許多這些項目都以我們資料湖的成功為基礎，它允許使用者到一個地方從我們的許多記錄系統中獲取標準化資料。無需與這些系統進行多個點對點連接，而是可以從一個地方以一種易於使用的形式近乎即時地存取資訊。我們繼續看到這種方法的驗證，因為我們的許多內部部門以及我們的客戶放置平台可以輕鬆建立應用程式。隨著業務的擴展，我們不斷建構和增強資料湖。

Our risk management team has made really significant strides and is able to more easily aggregate and analyze data with real-time monitoring of risk across the organization. Also, our accounting team completed their conversion to a new accounting and HR system, and we are already seeing dramatic improvements in efficiency and effectiveness.

我們的風險管理團隊取得了真正的重大進步，能夠透過即時監控整個組織的風險，更輕鬆地匯總和分析數據。此外，我們的會計團隊完成了向新的會計和人力資源系統的轉換，我們已經看到效率和有效性的顯著提高。

We have a number of projects underway throughout many of our support areas to better use technology to create efficiency and scalability in our infrastructure, which over time should drive operational leverage. This includes contract management system for legal team -- technology to better track and monitor internal audits and operational risk issues, and also a major project to automate our compliance and KYC monitoring.

我們在許多支援領域正在進行許多項目，以更好地利用技術來提高基礎設施的效率和可擴展性，隨著時間的推移，這將推動營運槓桿。這包括法律團隊的合約管理系統——更好地追蹤和監控內部審計和營運風險問題的技術，以及自動化我們的合規性和 KYC 監控的重大項目。

Finally, our business is supported by capital, and we need to underpin our growth with internally generated capital, access capital markets when appropriate and approach acquisitions in a disciplined manner. The most important thing we can do is to create a capital runway for our continued growth. This is why we focus on ROE. It is interesting to note that 10 years ago, we had a little over $300 million in stockholders' equity and only a slightly lower number of shares outstanding as we do now. Over this 10-year period, we have more than tripled our shareholder funds, acquired over 15 businesses and significantly expanded our client footprint, largely financed organically from retained earnings and the unbelievable power of compounding.

最後，我們的業務是由資本支持的，我們需要用內部產生的資本來支撐我們的成長，在適當的時候進入資本市場，並以嚴格的方式進行收購。我們能做的最重要的事情就是為我們的持續成長創造資本跑道。這就是我們關注 ROE 的原因。有趣的是，10 年前，我們的股東權益略高於 3 億美元，而流通股數量僅略低於現在。在這 10 年期間，我們的股東資金增加了兩倍多，收購了超過 15 家企業，並大幅擴大了我們的客戶足跡，大部分資金來自留存收益和令人難以置信的複利能力。

During this growth, we have largely achieved our 15% ROE target. Certainly not every year, but on average over the period, it's pretty close, if not higher. This has happened despite the investments we have made in technology and infrastructure, the cost of developing new capabilities, the integration of a large number of acquisitions and despite low interest rates for extended periods of time. Achieving our ROE target will continue to be our north star, and we believe as we digitize our platforms and gain scale, that margins and ROE should start to increase.

在這成長過程中，我們基本上實現了 15% 的 ROE 目標。當然不是每年，但平均而言，即使不是更高，也非常接近。儘管我們在技術和基礎設施方面進行了投資，開發新功能的成本很高，整合了大量收購，儘管利率長期處於低位，但這種情況還是發生了。實現我們的股本回報率目標將繼續成為我們的北極星，我們相信，隨著我們平台的數位化和規模的擴大，利潤率和股本回報率應該會開始增加。

So let's move to final Slide 18 and wrap the call up. So in summary, this was another strong quarter with good market conditions and solid results across all products and client segments. As we mentioned earlier, we achieved earnings of $50.7 million, diluted EPS of $2.36 and an ROE on stated book of 15%. This quarter capped the best fiscal year in StoneX history, with earnings of $238.5 million, a diluted EPS of $11.18 and ROE of 19.5% and 20.9% on tangible equity. Our stated book value per share is now $66.31, up $13.61 or 26% over last year. When our performance is viewed through a slightly longer-term lens such as trailing 12 months over the last 2 years, which evens out quarterly anomalies, our results continue to show strong upward trajectory, growing our operating revenues at a 32% CAGR and our adjusted net income at a 34% CAGR.

讓我們看最後一張投影片 18 並結束這通通話。總而言之，這是另一個強勁的季度，市場狀況良好，所有產品和客戶群均取得了穩健的業績。正如我們之前提到的，我們實現了 5,070 萬美元的盈利，攤薄後每股收益為 2.36 美元，帳面淨資產收益率為 15%。本季是 StoneX 史上最好的財年，獲利為 2.385 億美元，稀釋後每股收益為 11.18 美元，淨資產殖利率為 19.5%，有形權益為 20.9%。我們的每股帳面價值現為 66.31 美元，比去年增加 13.61 美元，即 26%。當我們從稍微長期的角度來看我們的業績時，例如過去2 年過去12 個月的業績，這消除了季度異常情況，我們的業績繼續呈現強勁的上升軌跡，我們的營業收入以32% 的複合年增長率成長，調整後的淨利複合年增長率為 34%。

We continue to see strong growth in our client base. This has been driven in part by increasing capital charges being applied to the trading activities of larger banks under the Basel regime and smaller players being squeezed out by higher regulatory capital costs. We believe that this constructive market environment, combined with the outlook for good general market volatility and current levels of interest rates, put a real tailwind behind our business for the next year or so.

我們的客戶群持續強勁成長。這在一定程度上是由於巴塞爾制度下大型銀行交易活動的資本費用增加，而較小的銀行則因監管資本成本上升而被擠出。我們相信，這種建設性的市場環境，加上整體市場波動性良好的前景和當前的利率水平，將為我們未來一年左右的業務帶來真正的推動力。

In fiscal 2024, we believe we will see an accelerated cadence of delivery on our platforms as we continue to more tightly integrate our offerings by client type and make it more engaging for clients to interact with our growing financial ecosystem. We continue to invest in our financial ecosystem, expanding products, capabilities and talent. We have a unique and comprehensive ecosystem with a very large addressable market in front of us. While we have good market share in certain niche segments of the market, lots of white space remains in areas where we really have client relationships and demonstrable capabilities and now need to monetize these opportunities.

到 2024 財年，我們相信，隨著我們繼續按客戶類型更緊密地整合我們的產品，並使客戶更容易與我們不斷發展的金融生態系統互動，我們的平台上的交付節奏將會加快。我們繼續投資我們的金融生態系統，擴大產品、能力和人才。我們擁有獨特而全面的生態系統，眼前有一個非常大的潛在市場。雖然我們在某些​​細分市場擁有良好的市場份額，但在我們真正擁有客戶關係和可證明能力的領域仍然存在大量空白，現在需要將這些機會貨幣化。

One thing will always be constant for the StoneX team. We will continue to dedicate ourselves to better serve our growing client footprint around the world by providing them with the best financial ecosystem and client service to access the global financial markets. In closing, I'd just like to say the management team and I are extremely proud of the talented StoneX team who continue to propel us to new heights.

對 StoneX 團隊來說，有一件事永遠不變。我們將繼續致力於為我們在全球不斷增長的客戶足跡提供更好的服務，為他們提供進入全球金融市場的最佳金融生態系統和客戶服務。最後，我想說的是，管理團隊和我對才華橫溢的 StoneX 團隊感到非常自豪，他們不斷將我們推向新的高度。

So with that, let's open the line, operator, and see if we have any questions.

那麼，讓我們打開線路，接線員，看看我們是否有任何問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question will be coming from Daniel Fannon of Jefferies LLC.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將來自 Jefferies LLC 的 Daniel Fannon。

To start, this quarter, the revenue environment was still good. Actually, just looking at revenues growing year-over-year, this is the first time I remember variable compensation being down in the context of while revenues are growing, and obviously, fixed was up. But I just want to make sure, as I think about the component of variable versus fixed going forward, and if there's been any change or if there are changes as we think about payouts or how you're compensating employees that will drive just more shift towards fixed versus variable over time?

首先，本季的營收環境仍然良好。事實上，只要看看收入逐年增長，這是我第一次記得可變薪酬在收入增長的情況下下降，而顯然固定薪酬卻上升了。但我只是想確定一下，當我考慮未來可變與固定的組成部分時，是否有任何變化，或者當我們考慮支付或如何補償員工時是否有變化，這將推動更多的轉變隨著時間的推移，朝著固定還是可變的方向發展？

Dan. I'll start just at a high level, and let Bill jump in.

擔。我將從高水平開始，然後讓比爾介入。

So I think, Dan, the best way to think about sort of variable is to correlate it to net operating revenues. Our gross operating revenues are before the interest charge, and obviously, you know there's kind of an accounting anomaly there on the fixed income side. It's before interest charges, it's before sort of brokerage and exchange fees. So if you look at our net operating revenue, it was up, I guess, 4%, 5%, something like that. I don't have the number right in front of me. And I think you should look at variable related to that, because that's really kind of how most of the payout calculations work.

所以我認為，丹，考慮某種變數的最佳方法是將其與營業淨收入相關聯。我們的總營業收入是扣除利息費用之前的，顯然，你知道固定收益方面存在某種會計異常。這是在利息費用之前，在經紀費用和交易費用之前。因此，如果你看看我們的淨營業收入，我猜它成長了 4%、5% 之類的。我面前沒有這個號碼。我認為您應該查看與此相關的變量，因為這確實是大多數支付計算的工作方式。

And then I would say one other factor. As I mentioned, we're always investing in teams of people, expanding initiatives. And oftentimes, we have some of those costs hitting before we have revenue. As the revenue starts to hit, you start to get variable comp to replace some of that or you get offsetting revenue, let me say it that way. So over time, if we just stopped investing in new products and new teams, you would see variable comp come down as a percentage because you would start to see those initiatives either be terminated or become successful, and you had offsetting revenue. And sometimes, there are a little bit of leads and lags on that, so you can see a little bit of fluctuation from quarter-to-quarter just depending on how those new initiatives are running through, but I'll stop there, and let Bill add anything he wants to add.

然後我想說另一個因素。正如我所提到的，我們一直在投資團隊、擴大計畫。通常，在我們獲得收入之前，我們會先承受一些成本。當收入開始增加時，你開始獲得可變補償來取代其中的一些，或者你得到抵消收入，讓我這樣說。因此，隨著時間的推移，如果我們停止投資新產品和新團隊，您會看到可變補償百分比下降，因為您會開始看到這些計劃要么被終止，要么變得成功，並且您抵消了收入。有時，會有一點領先和滯後，所以你可以看到每個季度之間有一點波動，這取決於這些新舉措的實施情況，但我就到此為止，讓比爾添加任何他想添加的內容。

Sure. I mean, Sean, I think you nailed most of it. The only comment I'd make is, so looking -- focusing on a percentage of net operating revenue is the way to do it. And I think if you look at historically, we've probably been in the 31% to 32% of net operating range for variable comp.

當然。我的意思是，肖恩，我認為你已經完成了大部分工作。我唯一想說的是，所以專注於——關注淨營業收入的百分比是做到這一點的方法。我認為，如果你回顧歷史，我們可能處於可變補償淨營運範圍的 31% 到 32% 之間。

What you do see, and I tried to point it out in my section of the call today a little bit. As the interest and fee income on client balances has increased here, particularly year-over-year, that typically does not fall into variable compensation calculations. So you'll actually see variable comp as a percentage of net operating revenues kind of trend down a little bit as a percentage as interest and fee or client income goes up. We'll have conversely the opposite effect, if it goes the other way.

你們確實看到了什麼，我試著在今天的電話會議中稍微指出這一點。由於客戶餘額的利息和費用收入增加，尤其是逐年增加，因此通常不屬於可變薪資計算。因此，您實際上會看到可變補償佔淨營業收入的百分比隨著利息和費用或客戶收入的上升而略有下降。如果情況相反，我們就會得到相反的效果。

So I'd say the really low rate environment that we have been in, in the last 2 or 3 years or prior to the last 18 months, I should say, I think you're looking at probably like 32% of net operating revenues as a gauge and probably more like 29% to 30% in the current environment, if that helps.

所以我想說的是，在過去 2 到 3 年或過去 18 個月之前，我們一直處於非常低的利率環境，我認為你看到的可能是淨營業收入的 32%作為一個衡量標準，在當前環境下可能更接近29% 到30%（如果有幫助的話）。

Okay. I mean, I'm just looking at this quarter where variable on a net operating revenues basis, there is a bit of a divergence. There's nothing...

好的。我的意思是，我只是專注於本季度的淨營業收入基礎上的變量，存在一些差異。什麼也沒有...

It's like 28% or so. No, nothing meaningful there.

好像是28%左右。不，那裡沒有任何意義。

Okay. And then a lot of discussion, Sean, just about what you're doing, digitizing expenses, getting more efficient initiatives, a lot of opportunity for growth. I guess in the context of the fixed expense budget as you think about next year and how -- what the puts and takes around all the things you're doing, and what that ultimately means from kind of how we should think about fixed expense growth?

好的。然後有很多討論，肖恩，關於你正在做的事情，數位化費用，獲得更有效的計劃，大量的成長機會。我想在固定費用預算的背景下，當你考慮明年的時候，你正在做的所有事情的投入和支出是什麼，以及我們應該如何看待固定費用增長，這最終意味著什麼？

Okay. So unfortunately, when you try and digitize and make your business efficient, you end up spending more money in the short term with the hope that eventually when these things kick in, you'll see some of the scale benefits emerging. So we have been investing in a lot of these initiatives and other similar initiatives for a period of time now. I think we're sort of at max expenditure points on those initiatives right now. I don't see us taking on any other major new initiatives, and our hope is now that some of these initiatives we start to see on the back end, us gaining efficiency.

好的。因此，不幸的是，當你嘗試數位化並提高業務效率時，你最終會在短期內花費更多的錢，並希望最終當這些事情開始時，你會看到一些規模經濟的出現。因此，一段時間以來，我們一直在投資許多此類舉措和其他類似舉措。我認為我們現在在這些舉措上已經達到了最大支出點。我不認為我們會採取任何其他重大的新舉措，我們希望現在我們開始在後端看到其中一些舉措，從而提高效率。

Now I don't think that means the fixed cost will go down. I think what we should hope for is we can handle greater volume and growth without our cost increasing lockstep. I mean that's really what we're hoping for. It's scalability rather than seeing the costs come down. But we are not anticipating a significant increase in fixed costs. I mean, we've got an inflation push, and inflation is obviously higher than it's been for a while, and we'll probably see somewhere between 3% and 5% sort of embedded growth in those fixed costs. But we're not anticipating a sort of a step change in our fixed costs at this point. I think we took that step change a couple of years ago already.

現在我認為這並不意味著固定成本會下降。我認為我們應該希望的是我們能夠在不增加成本的情況下處理更大的數量和成長。我的意思是，這確實是我們所希望的。它是可擴展性而不是成本下降。但我們預計固定成本不會大幅增加。我的意思是，我們已經推動了通貨膨脹，而且通貨膨脹明顯高於一段時間以來的水平，我們可能會看到這些固定成本的內在增長在 3% 到 5% 之間。但目前我們預期固定成本不會發生階躍變動。我認為我們幾年前就已經採取了這一步驟改變。

Okay. And then one more on expenses. Bill, you mentioned a positive offset within bad debt. Can you -- just so we get a sense of what the -- normalize or what the actual expense was versus the recovery?

好的。然後再談一談費用。比爾，您提到壞帳中的正抵消。您能否—讓我們了解一下—正常化或實際費用與恢復情況相比是多少？

Yes. It was, I think, a $1.5 million recovery in the Institutional segment, I think, is what we saw. You're going to kind of see if you look at the -- or $1.3 million, I guess, as I'm looking at the earnings deck here.

是的。我認為，我們所看到的機構部門復甦了 150 萬美元。我想，當我查看這裡的收益表時，您會看到 130 萬美元。

Okay. All right. And then just one more on, I guess, expenses -- the recent news around the litigation associated with BTIG and some of the claims made within that? I know it's early, but I was hoping you could contextualize the businesses this impacts? And any kind of first -- kind of outlook or comments on it?

好的。好的。我想，還有一個關於費用的問題——最近與 BTIG 相關的訴訟新聞以及其中提出的一些索賠？我知道現在還為時過早，但我希望您能了解受此影響的企業的背景？對此有何看法或評論？

Okay. Well, obviously, we can't comment on pending litigation. So -- but what I will say is we are aware of the complaint that was filed earlier this week. It seems to us that this action is more focused on media and attracting publicity than anything else because it appeared in the media before the complaint was even filed with the court. So they went to press first.

好的。顯然，我們無法對未決訴訟發表評論。所以，但我要說的是，我們知道本週早些時候提出的投訴。在我們看來，這項行動比其他任何事情都更注重媒體和吸引公眾關注，因為它甚至在向法院提起申訴之前就出現在媒體上。所以他們先去媒體報道。

We're reviewing the complaint, but at this time, we don't believe any of these allegations of any merit. So we will defend ourselves, we believe we're in a good position, and we don't think there's any merit. So that's about all I can tell you at this point. We're looking into it.

我們正在審查該投訴，但目前我們不相信這些指控有任何依據。所以我們會為自己辯護，我們相信我們處於有利地位，而且我們認為沒有任何優點。這就是我現在能告訴你的全部內容。我們正在調查此事。

Understood, okay. And then I guess one more just on the environment. You have a lot of things that you mentioned you'd like to do and will do around expanding your client footprint as well as geographies and products. Can you talk about the inorganic opportunity today given the market volatility? And what that is presenting itself or not in terms of more opportunities? And how active is the pipeline for new transactions today versus kind of earlier this year?

明白了，好吧。然後我想還有一個關於環境的問題。您提到，您有很多想做的事情，並將圍繞擴大您的客戶足跡、地理和產品來做。鑑於市場波動，您能談談今天的無機機會嗎？就更多機會而言，這意味著什麼？與今年稍早相比，今天的新交易管道有多活躍？

Sure. Well, we never plan for acquisitions. I know that always sounds strange when we say it, given that we've done like 30 acquisitions. We always focus, first and foremost, on sort of the organic growth of our ecosystem and opportunity. And as I said, it's a very constructive environment, we believe for organic growth. I mean, I think the banks are going to be hit with another big capital charge. There was a big conference that the FIA held about that. They believe it could really affect the sort of trading and clearing business at the big banks as it has. That will just accelerate that, so that's good news for us. So that's our primary focus.

當然。嗯，我們從不計劃收購。我知道，考慮到我們已經完成了大約 30 次收購，當我們這麼說時，聽起來總是很奇怪。我們始終首先關注我們的生態系統和機會的有機成長。正如我所說，這是一個非常有建設性的環境，我們相信有利於有機成長。我的意思是，我認為銀行將面臨另一筆巨額資本費用的打擊。國際汽聯為此召開了一次大型會議。他們認為，這確實會影響大銀行的交易和清算業務。這只會加速這一過程，所以這對我們來說是個好消息。這是我們的首要關注點。

That said, we do like to be in the pipeline. We included in most of the transactions that would be sort of sized for us. I think we see most of them. And I would say there's definitely been more interesting opportunities of late than there was probably over the last 2 years. As I said repeatedly, as we were sort of during the COVID years, things were crazy, people were having sort of big bumps in revenue, and obviously, multiples got to kind of [historic] levels. So at that point, we just didn't see anything that was even remotely interesting.

也就是說，我們確實喜歡參與其中。我們納入了大部分適合我們規模的交易。我想我們看到了其中的大多數。我想說，最近肯定有比過去兩年更多的有趣機會。正如我一再說過的，正如我們在新冠疫情期間的情況一樣，事情很瘋狂，人們的收入出現了大幅增長，顯然，倍數達到了[歷史]水平。所以在那一點上，我們只是沒有看到任何有趣的東西。

I think we're now in a more normalized environment, and I think the push to consolidation continues. Smaller firms are struggling and they have to do something, and those are the kind of opportunities we tend to see. So I think we're sort of back to a more normal cadence. But having said that, I don't think there's necessarily anything on the horizon that we think is close or sort of -- or could be meaningful, but we're definitely looking at more stuff, if that answers your question.

我認為我們現在處於一個更正常化的環境中，我認為整合的推動仍在繼續。小公司正在苦苦掙扎，他們必須做點什麼，而這些正是我們傾向於看到的機會。所以我認為我們有點回到了更正常的節奏。但話雖如此，我認為未來不一定有任何我們認為接近或有意義的東西，或者可能有意義的東西，但如果這能回答你的問題，我們肯定會考慮更多的東西。

I'm showing no further questions. I would now like to hand the call back to Sean for closing remarks.

我沒有再提出任何問題。現在我想將電話轉回肖恩以供結束演講。

All right. Well, thanks, everyone. It was a long call today. I appreciate all your attention. And I guess on a final note, I'd just like to wish all of those in the U.S. a happy Thanksgiving, and to everyone else, a great holiday season, and we will speak to you in the new year. Thanks very much. Bye-bye.

好的。嗯，謝謝大家。今天打了一個很長的電話。感謝您的關注。我想最後一點，我只想祝所有在美國的人感恩節快樂，並祝其他人度過一個愉快的假期，我們將在新的一年裡與你們交談。非常感謝。再見。

This concludes today's conference. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

今天的會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。