Stericycle Inc (SRCL) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q3 2023 Stericycle Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Be advised that today's conference is being recorded. And I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Mr. Andrew Ellis, Sir, please go ahead.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 2023 年第三季 Stericycle 財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。現在我想將會議交給今天的發言者安德魯·埃利斯先生，主席先生，請繼續。

Good morning, and thank you for joining Stericycle's 2023 Third Quarter Earnings Call. On the call today will be Cindy Miller, our Chief Executive Officer; Janet Zelenka, our Chief Financial Officer and Chief Information Officer; and Cory White, our Chief Commercial Officer.

早安，感謝您參加 Stericycle 的 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。今天的電話會議由我們的執行長辛迪米勒 (Cindy Miller) 主持。 Janet Zelenka，我們的財務長兼資訊長；以及我們的首席商務官 Cory White。

The discussion today includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. When we use words such as believes, expects, anticipates, estimates, may, plan, will, goal or similar expressions, we are making forward-looking statements.

今天的討論包括涉及風險和不確定性的前瞻性陳述。當我們使用相信、期望、預期、估計、可能、計劃、意願、目標或類似表達方式時，我們正在做出前瞻性陳述。

Forward-looking statements are prospective in nature and are not based on historical facts, but rather on current expectations and projections of our management about future events and are, therefore, subject to risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ significantly from those described in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause our actual results to differ are discussed in the safe harbor statement in our earnings press release and in greater detail within the risk factors in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

前瞻性陳述本質上是前瞻性的，並非基於歷史事實，而是基於我們管理階層對未來事件的當前預期和預測，因此存在風險和不確定性。我們的實際結果可能與此類前瞻性陳述中所述的結果有很大差異。我們的收益新聞稿中的安全港聲明中討論了可能導致我們的實際結果出現差異的因素，並在我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中的風險因素中進行了更詳細的討論。

Our past financial performance should not be considered a reliable indicator of our future performance, and investors should not use historical results to anticipate future results or trends. We disclaim any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement other than in accordance with legal and regulatory obligations.

我們過去的財務表現不應被視為未來績效的可靠指標，投資人也不應使用歷史結果來預測未來的結果或趨勢。除根據法律和監管義務外，我們不承擔任何更新或修改任何前瞻性聲明的義務。

On the call, we will discuss non-GAAP financial measures. For additional information and reconciliation to the most comparable U.S. GAAP measures, please refer to the schedules in our earnings press release, which can be found on Stericycle's Investor Relations website at investors.stericycle.com.

在電話會議上，我們將討論非公認會計準則財務指標。有關更多資訊以及與最具可比性的美國公認會計原則(GAAP) 衡量標準的調整，請參閱我們的收益新聞稿中的時間表，該新聞稿可在Stericycle 的投資者關係網站Investors.stericycle. com 上找到。

The prepared comments for today's call correspond to an earnings presentation, which is also available at Stericycle's Investor Relations website. Throughout the call, we will reference specific slides from the presentation.

今天電話會議準備的評論與收益演示相對應，該演示也可以在 Stericycle 的投資者關係網站上找到。在整個通話過程中，我們將引用簡報中的特定投影片。

This call is being recorded, and a replay will be available approximately 1 hour after the end of the conference call today, until November 30, 2023. A replay of the webcast will be available on Stericycle's Investor Relations website.

本次電話會議正在錄音，重播將於今天電話會議結束後約 1 小時提供，直至 2023 年 11 月 30 日。網路廣播的重播將在 Stericycle 的投資者關係網站上提供。

Time-sensitive information provided during today's call, which is occurring on November 2, 2023 may no longer be accurate at the time of a replay. Any redistribution, retransmission or rebroadcast of this call in any form without the expressed written consent of Stericycle is prohibited. I'll now turn the call over to Cindy.

今天的電話會議於 2023 年 11 月 2 日舉行，其中提供的時間敏感資訊在重播時可能不再準確。未經 Stericycle 明確書面同意，禁止以任何形式重新分發、轉發或轉播本次呼籲。我現在將把電話轉給辛蒂。

Thank you, Andrew. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to today's call. I'm pleased to share that in the third quarter, through the hard work and dedication of our team members and technology partners we successfully deployed the ERP system to our U.S. Regulated Waste and Compliance Services business. Today, almost all of our U.S. team members are leveraging the new technology.

謝謝你，安德魯。大家早安，歡迎參加今天的電話會議。我很高興與大家分享，在第三季度，透過我們的團隊成員和技術合作夥伴的辛勤工作和奉獻，我們成功地將 ERP 系統部署到了美國監管廢物和合規服務業務。如今，我們幾乎所有美國團隊成員都在利用這項新技術。

I'd like to take a few minutes to update you on the ERP deployment. I'm proud to say that we grew North America Regulated Waste and Compliance Services' organic revenues by 3.9% in the third quarter in the midst of a major ERP deployment. To give you greater insights into the deployment, I'll speak to the operations portion, and then I'll turn the call over to Cory to provide an update from a customer experience perspective and how it has improved some of our commercial processes.

我想花幾分鐘時間向您介紹 ERP 部署的最新情況。我很自豪地說，在大型 ERP 部署過程中，第三季北美管制廢棄物與合規服務公司的有機收入成長了 3.9%。為了讓您更深入地了解部署，我將與營運部分交談，然後將電話轉給 Cory，從客戶體驗的角度提供最新資訊以及它如何改善我們的一些商業流程。

We continued to prepare for this deployment throughout the quarter as we finalize data conversion, training and facility upgrades. We launched the deployment in early September, when we began servicing our customers through the new technology.

隨著我們完成資料轉換、培訓和設施升級，我們在整個季度繼續為此部署做準備。我們在 9 月初啟動了部署，當時我們開始透過新技術為客戶提供服務。

From an operational perspective, we couldn't be more pleased with our team members' ability to continue to serve our customers since the system deployed. We experienced the typical start-up learning curve that comes when processes change and are infused with new technology.

從營運角度來看，我們對團隊成員自系統部署以來繼續為客戶提供服務的能力感到非常滿意。我們經歷了流程變化和新技術注入時出現的典型新創企業學習曲線。

For our frontline workers, this resulted in an anticipated and temporary reduction in productivity. As the team has become more familiar with the changes in processes and procedures, we are seeing continued improvements, and we expect that this new technology will contribute significantly to our ability to achieve the margin expansion embedded in our long-term outlook.

對於我們的第一線工人來說，這導致了預期的、暫時的生產力下降。隨著團隊越來越熟悉流程和程序的變化，我們看到了持續的改進，我們預計這項新技術將為我們實現長期前景中的利潤擴張的能力做出重大貢獻。

I'll now turn the call over to Cory, who has been deeply engaged in helping our U.S. Regulated Waste and Compliance Services customers transition onto the new ERP. He will provide insights from our customers.

現在我將把電話轉給 Cory，他一直致力於幫助我們的美國監管廢棄物和合規服務客戶過渡到新的 ERP。他將提供我們客戶的見解。

Cindy, thank you for the opportunity on today's call to share our customers' experience throughout the ERP journey, and highlight some of the exciting ways this new technology will help us improve commercial execution.

Cindy，感謝您在今天的電話會議上分享我們客戶在整個 ERP 旅程中的經驗，並重點介紹這項新技術將幫助我們提高商業執行力的一些令人興奮的方式。

Overall, the rollout of the ERP was a success. We have had no significant system issues. Orders are being created, stops are being routed, containers are being tracked, waste is being picked up, treated and properly disposed and invoices are being created and processed for both Regulated Waste and Compliance Services and Secure Information Destruction customers.

總體而言，ERP的推出是成功的。我們沒有遇到重大的系統問題。正在為受監管廢物和合規服務以及安全資訊銷毀客戶創建訂單、安排停靠點、追蹤貨櫃、拾取、處理和妥善處置廢物，並創建和處理發票。

Along this journey, we have been in frequent contact with our customers, and they are not reporting any major disruptions. We track customer satisfaction trends weekly across our customer base.

在此過程中，我們一直與客戶保持頻繁聯繫，他們沒有報告任何重大中斷。我們每週追蹤整個客戶群的客戶滿意度趨勢。

During the first couple of weeks of September, our customer satisfaction scores understandably dropped as some of our customers experienced short-term disruption. Our scores have since improved and are already above pre-go-live levels.

在 9 月的前幾週，我們的客戶滿意度得分下降，這是可以理解的，因為我們的一些客戶經歷了短期中斷。此後我們的分數有所提高，並且已經高於上線前的水平。

Following the deployment for the first time, we now have real-time capability to see order completion in the system. We are pleased that an overwhelming majority of orders are serviced seamlessly.

首次部署後，我們現在可以即時查看系統中的訂單完成情況。我們很高興絕大多數訂單都能得到無縫服務。

We have seen an expected increase in our customer call center volume. Importantly, the majority of this increase is from customers requesting assistance, understanding the new invoice format, enrolling in the customer portal, setting up auto-pay or verifying new account numbers. We view these interactions as a favorable sign of our customers' engagement with and adoption of the new platform, and how smoothly the ERP deployment has gone for the vast majority of our customers.

我們已經看到客戶呼叫中心數量的預期成長。重要的是，這一增長的大部分來自客戶請求協助、了解新發票格式、註冊客戶入口網站、設定自動付款或驗證新帳號。我們將這些互動視為客戶參與和採用新平台的有利訊號，以及絕大多數客戶的 ERP 部署進展順利。

I'd now like to highlight a few ways in which we have modernized and improved the customer experience through the ERP deployment. One, we've added important digital enhancements, including redesigned portals that act as a one-stop shop for customers to view account information, receive consolidated billing for services and sites, and pay for their services.

現在我想重點介紹我們透過 ERP 部署現代化和改善客戶體驗的幾種方法。第一，我們添加了重要的數位增強功能，包括重新設計的入口網站，該網站充當客戶查看帳戶資訊、接收服務和網站的綜合帳單以及支付服務費用的一站式商店。

Two, for our Compliance Services customers, we integrated the portal with our compliance training platform to create a single solution to meet their needs.

第二，對於我們的合規服務客戶，我們將入口網站與合規培訓平台整合，以創建單一解決方案來滿足他們的需求。

Three, customers now receive automated advance service notifications to help them better plan their days, a feature requested by our customers so they know when they will be serviced.

第三，客戶現在會收到自動提前服務通知，以幫助他們更好地規劃他們的日子，這是我們客戶要求的功能，以便他們知道何時會得到服務。

Four, we also made enhancements to our secure chain of custody, and can now track waste at the container level through the entire service life cycle in real time.

第四，我們也增強了安全監管鏈，現在可以在整個服務生命週期中即時追蹤容器層級的廢棄物。

Five, in the near future, we expect that our portal will provide new and enhanced reporting features that will allow customers to easily access weight and volume metrics, benchmark and optimize waste streams and gain greater insights, which can be used in pursuit of their sustainability goals.

五，在不久的將來，我們預計我們的門戶將提供新的和增強的報告功能，使客戶能夠輕鬆訪問重量和體積指標、基準測試和優化廢物流並獲得更深入的見解，這些見解可用於追求其可持續性目標。

Over the past few months, I've met personally with well over 100 customers during face-to-face meetings as well as lunch and learn events to elicit their feedback, which has been overwhelmingly positive. They have been supportive of our move to new systems, and are clearly excited about how our new capabilities will unlock opportunities to better service them.

在過去的幾個月裡，我在面對面會議以及午餐和學習活動中親自會見了 100 多名客戶，以徵求他們的回饋，這些回饋非常積極。他們一直支持我們轉向新系統，並且顯然對我們的新功能將如何釋放機會以更好地為他們服務感到興奮。

Recently, one of our key customers told me how pleased they were with the deployment. They appreciated the proactive communication on changes we made to their account and liked the enhancements we made to the portal. They also said they did not get any negative feedback from their internal stakeholders. They saw this as a sign of a successful deployment, citing that silence is golden for managing these kinds of major changes.

最近，我們的一位主要客戶告訴我他們對部署感到非常滿意。他們讚賞我們就他們的帳戶所做的更改進行主動溝通，並喜歡我們對門戶所做的增強。他們還表示，他們沒有從內部利害關係人那裡得到任何負面回饋。他們認為這是成功部署的標誌，並指出沉默對於管理此類重大變更是金。

I'd like to take a moment now to talk about how our commercial organization is using the technology to become more nimble and efficient. All of our salespeople in the U.S. are now utilizing the new system for 5 key processes: lead development, pipeline management, performance management, reporting and contracting.

我現在想花點時間談談我們的商業組織如何利用該技術變得更加靈活和高效。我們在美國的所有銷售人員現在都在使用新系統來執行 5 個關鍵流程：潛在客戶開發、通路管理、績效管理、報告和簽約。

This is a major step forward on our quality-of-revenue journey and our ability to execute on key business priorities, which includes expanding service penetration, improving customer implementation velocity and deepening our customer partnerships by developing enhanced customer solutions.

這是我們在收入品質之旅和執行關鍵業務優先事項的能力方面向前邁出的重要一步，其中包括擴大服務滲透率、提高客戶實施速度以及透過開發增強的客戶解決方案加深我們的客戶合作夥伴關係。

By operating on a common platform, we are improving our proficiency and selling effectiveness for both the Regulated Waste and Secure Information Destruction businesses, while driving greater consistency and accountability throughout the sales process. The platform also lays the foundation for future enhancements like digital and guided selling capabilities and additional call center automation.

透過在通用平台上運營，我們正在提高監管廢物和安全資訊銷毀業務的熟練程度和銷售效率，同時在整個銷售過程中提高一致性和問責制。該平台還為未來的增強功能奠定了基礎，例如數位和引導銷售功能以及額外的呼叫中心自動化。

Finally, by unlocking data and related insights, we expect this will lead to more intelligent sales decisions, new product development and service enhancement opportunities as we continue to listen to the voice of our customers.

最後，透過釋放數據和相關見解，我們預計，隨著我們繼續傾聽客戶的聲音，這將帶來更明智的銷售決策、新產品開發和服務增強機會。

I'll now turn the call back to you, Cindy.

我現在將把電話轉回給你，辛蒂。

Thank you for that update, Cory. Turning to our third quarter results. I'm pleased to report that in the third quarter, Regulated Waste and Compliance Services continued its organic growth trend, increasing 4.1% globally even during a period of ERP deployment.

謝謝你的更新，科里。轉向我們第三季的業績。我很高興地向大家報告，第三季度，管制廢棄物和合規服務持續保持有機成長趨勢，即使在 ERP 部署期間，全球也成長了 4.1%。

Growth this quarter has primarily come from our pricing levers. This has been partially offset by challenges in national accounts, which includes customers like retail pharmacies and nationwide health care service providers. These customers have remained very sticky despite the economic headwinds they are facing. As our customers reduce their footprint, our service stops in this channel have also contracted. We remain encouraged that the critical services we provide remain a priority for these customers.

本季的成長主要來自我們的定價槓桿。這部分被國民帳戶的挑戰所抵消，其中包括零售藥局和全國醫療保健服務提供者等客戶。儘管面臨經濟逆風，這些客戶仍然非常黏性。隨著我們的客戶減少足跡，我們在此管道中的服務網站也隨之減少。我們仍然感到鼓舞的是，我們提供的關鍵服務仍然是這些客戶的優先事項。

Secure Information Destruction organic revenue declined 11.6%, mainly due to lower commodity indexed revenues, including lower RISI rates impacting sorted office paper and lower fuel and environmental surcharges. Although this revenue channel was down year-over-year, the third quarter of 2022 had significant organic revenue growth of 32.3% on the strength of commodity-related pricing. When considering Secure Information Destruction's organic growth over a 2-year compound annual growth rate, it grew organic revenues 7.5% since 2021.

Secure Information Destruction 有機收入下降 11.6%，主要是由於商品指數收入下降，包括影響分類辦公用紙的 RISI 率下降以及燃料和環境附加費下降。儘管該營收管道較去年同期下降，但由於大宗商品相關定價的強勁，2022 年第三季有機收入顯著成長 32.3%。考慮到 Secure Information Destruction 的兩年複合年增長率的有機增長，自 2021 年以來，該公司的有機收入增長了 7.5%。

Similar to Regulated Waste, our national Secure Information Destruction customers are experiencing a reset in their post-COVID pandemic office footprint. Across the Secure Information Destruction business, we believe we remain an essential service and are retaining these customer relationships, but have seen service stops decline year-over-year by about 4%, mainly driven by customer site closures and reduced service frequencies. In the long run, we believe Secure Information Destruction will contribute to our long-term growth trajectory by leveraging technology, deeper customer insights and new service offerings.

與管制廢棄物類似，我們的全國安全資訊銷毀客戶在新冠疫情大流行後的辦公室足跡正在經歷重置。在整個安全資訊銷毀業務中，我們相信我們仍然是一項重要服務，並正在保留這些客戶關係，但服務停止次數同比下降了約 4%，這主要是由於客戶站點關閉和服務頻率減少所致。從長遠來看，我們相信安全資訊銷毀將透過利用技術、更深入的客戶洞察和新的服務產品，為我們的長期成長軌跡做出貢獻。

Regarding our operational efficiency, modernization and innovation priority, most of our engineering team members were squarely focused on deploying the ERP and executing our facility modernization plan. During the deployment, our engineering team supported all aspects of field operations, such as training, communication, site visits to ensure technology was working as designed and identifying and driving performance opportunities.

關於我們的營運效率、現代化和創新優先事項，我們的大多數工程團隊成員都專注於部署 ERP 和執行我們的設施現代化計劃。在部署過程中，我們的工程團隊為現場操作的各個方面提供支持，例如培訓、溝通、現場訪問，以確保技術按設計運行，並識別和推動績效機會。

Additionally, construction of our incinerator in McCarran, Nevada remains on track, and we continue to expect the construction phase of the project to be completed in the first half of 2024.

此外，我們在內華達州麥卡倫的焚燒廠建設仍在按計劃進行，我們仍然預計該項目的建設階段將於 2024 年上半年完成。

As mentioned during our second quarter earnings call, we completed 2 divestitures in the third quarter, with the sale of our dental recycling business in the Netherlands, which closed in July, and the sale of our Secure Information Destruction joint venture in the United Arab Emirates, which closed in August. In early October, we also divested our Regulated Waste business in Romania, our 19th divestiture since 2019.

正如我們在第二季財報電話會議中所提到的，我們在第三季完成了兩項資產剝離，包括出售我們在荷蘭的牙科回收業務（該業務已於7 月關閉）以及出售我們在阿拉伯聯合酋長國的安全資訊銷毀合資企業，於八月關閉。 10 月初，我們也剝離了羅馬尼亞的管制廢棄物業務，這是我們自 2019 年以來的第 19 次剝離。

In October, we substantially completed a targeted workforce reduction that we expect will generate annual savings of approximately $8 million and resulted in an approximate $3 million charge.

10 月份，我們基本上完成了裁員目標，預計每年將節省約 800 萬美元，並產生約 300 萬美元的費用。

As we look to drive long-term margin expansion and shareholder value, we have a host of levers available. These levers are further enabled by our investments in our ERP technology and infrastructure and include strategic initiatives, careful hiring, attrition and targeted workforce reductions to align our operating model with the performance of our business.

當我們尋求推動長期利潤擴張和股東價值時，我們有許多可用的槓桿。我們對 ERP 技術和基礎設施的投資進一步啟用了這些槓桿，包括策略性舉措、謹慎招聘、自然減員和有針對性的裁員，以使我們的營運模式與業務績效保持一致。

I will now turn the call over to Janet to discuss our third quarter financial results in more detail.

我現在將把電話轉給珍妮特，更詳細地討論我們第三季的財務表現。

Thank you, Cindy. I will start by summarizing our third quarter financial results. As noted on Slide 5, revenues in the third quarter were $653.5 million compared to $690.3 million in the third quarter of 2022. The decrease was mainly due to divestitures of $32.4 million, which was partially offset by favorable foreign exchange rates of $6.1 million.

謝謝你，辛蒂。我將首先總結我們第三季的財務表現。如投影片 5 所示，第三季營收為 6.535 億美元，而 2022 年第三季營收為 6.903 億美元。下降主要是由於 3,240 萬美元的資產剝離，部分被 610 萬美元的有利匯率所抵銷。

Organic revenues in Regulated Waste and Compliance Services grew $17.4 million, while Secure Information Destruction organic revenues declined $27.9 million. Secure Information Destruction was mainly impacted by lower commodity indexed revenues of $30.1 million, including lower RISI rates, impacting sorted office paper and lower fuel and environmental surcharges.

受管制廢棄物和合規服務的有機收入增加了 1,740 萬美元，而安全資訊銷毀的有機收入下降了 2,790 萬美元。 Secure Information Destruction 主要受到商品指數收入下降 3,010 萬美元的影響，包括 RISI 率下降、分類辦公用紙受到影響以及燃料和環境附加費下降。

As noted on Slide 6, Regulated Waste and Compliance Services revenues were $439.9 million compared to $447.8 million in the third quarter of 2022. Excluding the impact of divestitures and foreign exchange rates, organic revenues increased 4.1% in the third quarter.

如投影片 6 所示，受監管廢棄物和合規服務收入為 4.399 億美元，而 2022 年第三季為 4.478 億美元。排除資產剝離和外匯匯率的影響，第三季有機收入成長 4.1%。

In North America, Regulated Waste and Compliance Services' organic revenues increased $13.9 million or 3.9% during the quarter of the ERP deployment, mainly driven by our pricing actions.

在北美，受監管廢棄物和合規服務部門的有機收入在 ERP 部署季度增加了 1,390 萬美元，即 3.9%，這主要是由我們的定價行動推動的。

International Regulated Waste and Compliance Services organic revenues increased $3.4 million or 5.4%, mainly driven by our pricing levers, partially offset by lower waste volumes compared to the third quarter of 2022. International waste volumes continue to be impacted by health care staffing shortages and intermittent strikes.

國際監管廢棄物和合規服務有機收入增加了340 萬美元，即5.4%，主要是由我們的定價槓桿推動的，與2022 年第三季相比，廢棄物量減少部分抵消了這一影響。國際廢棄物量繼續受到醫療保健人員短缺和間歇性的影響罷工。

Secure Information Destruction revenues were $213.6 million compared to $242.5 million in the third quarter of 2022. Excluding the impact of foreign exchange rates, organic revenues decreased 11.6%, mainly due to lower commodity indexed revenues, reflecting more than a $100 reduction in sorted office paper pricing per ton year-over-year.

安全資訊銷毀收入為 2.136 億美元，而 2022 年第三季為 2.425 億美元。排除匯率影響，有機收入下降 11.6%，主要是由於商品指數收入下降，反映出分類辦公用紙減少了 100 多美元每噸價格同比。

In North America, Secure Information Destruction organic revenues declined $25.5 million or 11.9% compared to the third quarter of 2022. In the third quarter, recycling paper revenues were down approximately 7.6% or $16.3 million due to lower RISI rates affecting sorted office paper pricing and lower tonnage.

在北美，與2022 年第三季度相比，安全資訊銷毀有機收入下降了2,550 萬美元，即11.9%。第三季度，由於RISI 率下降影響了分類辦公用紙定價，回收紙張收入下降了約7.6 %，即1630 萬美元。噸位較低。

In the quarter, service revenue was down approximately 4.3% or $9.2 million, mainly driven by lower fuel and environmental surcharges and lower service stops, as Cindy mentioned. Excluding these surcharges, service revenue was up $2 million.

正如 Cindy 所提到的，本季服務收入下降了約 4.3% 或 920 萬美元，主要是由於燃油和環境附加費降低以及服務站點減少所致。除去這些附加費，服務收入增加了 200 萬美元。

Approximately 1/3 of the lower sorted office paper recycling revenue was offset by our recycling recovery surcharge reflected in service revenue. Under more normal RISI rate circumstances, when sorted office paper prices are below $192 a ton, we are able to offset approximately 60% of the reduction in paper prices. Given that the year-over-year decline in paper prices was over $100 a ton, we were able to offset approximately 1/3 of the lower SOP recycling revenue through our recycling recovery surcharge reflected in service revenue in the third quarter. This is due to the nature of the index for this surcharge, and we expect it to offset about 30% of the volatility when comparing to last year for the rest of 2023.

大約 1/3 較低分類的辦公用紙回收收入被服務收入中反映的回收附加費所抵消。在更正常的 RISI 利率情況下，當分類辦公用紙價格低於每噸 192 美元時，我們能夠抵消大約 60% 的紙張價格下降。鑑於紙張價格年減超過每噸 100 美元，我們能夠透過第三季服務收入中反映的回收附加費抵消約 1/3 較低的 SOP 回收收入。這是由於該附加費指數的性質決定的，我們預計 2023 年剩餘時間與去年相比將抵消約 30% 的波動性。

Our international Secure Information Destruction organic revenues decreased $2.3 million or 9.2% compared to the third quarter of 2022, mainly due to lower recycling revenues and fuel and environmental surcharges.

與 2022 年第三季相比，我們的國際安全資訊銷毀有機收入減少了 230 萬美元，即 9.2%，主要是由於回收收入以及燃料和環境附加費減少。

Income from operations in the third quarter was $24.2 million compared to $50.6 million in the third quarter of 2022. The $26.4 million decrease was mainly due to lower commodity indexed revenues and the corresponding margin flow-through impact of $22.2 million. The decrease was also due to anticipated higher incentive and stock-based compensation of $7.2 million and a self-insurance settlement of $2.2 million. These were partially offset by cost savings of $8.6 million and lower bad debt expense of $3.2 million.

第三季的營運收入為 2,420 萬美元，而 2022 年第三季為 5,060 萬美元。減少 2,640 萬美元主要是由於商品指數收入下降以及相應的利潤流動影響 2,220 萬美元。減少的原因還在於預期激勵和股票薪酬將增加 720 萬美元，以及自我保險和解金額 220 萬美元。這些費用被 860 萬美元的成本節省和 320 萬美元的壞帳費用減少所部分抵銷。

Net income was $2 million or $0.02 diluted earnings per share compared to $28 million or $0.30 diluted earnings per share in the third quarter of 2022. The $26 million decrease was mainly due to lower income from operations of $26.4 million, as I just explained.

淨利潤為200 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益0.02 美元，而2022 年第三季的淨利潤為2800 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益0.30 美元。正如我剛才所解釋的，減少2600 萬美元主要是由於營運收入減少了2,640 萬美元。

Cash flow from operations for the 9 months ended September 30, 2023, was $193.3 million compared to $43.1 million in the same period of 2022. The year-over-year increase of $150.2 million was mainly driven by lower FCPA settlement payments of $72.8 million, improved accounts receivable collections, net of deferred revenues of $55 million and lower annual incentive compensation payments of $22.3 million.

截至 2023 年 9 月 30 日的 9 個月營運現金流為 1.933 億美元，而 2022 年同期為 4,310 萬美元。同比增長 1.502 億美元主要是由於 FCPA 和解付款減少了 7,280 萬美元，應收帳款款情況改善，扣除遞延收入5,500 萬美元，年度激勵補償金減少2,230 萬美元。

Adjusted income from operations was $70.3 million or 10.8% as a percentage of revenues, down from $92 million or 13.3% as a percentage of revenues in the third quarter of 2022.

調整後的營運收入為 7,030 萬美元，佔營收的 10.8%，低於 2022 年第三季的 9,200 萬美元，佔營收的 13.3%。

Adjusted income from operations decreased 250 basis points as a percentage of revenues due to the following: lower sorted office paper and fuel and environmental surcharges and their corresponding margin flow-through impact of 340 basis points, higher incentive and stock-based compensation of 110 basis points and a self-insurance settlement of 30 basis points. These were partially offset by cost savings and margin flow-through of 150 basis points and lower bad debt expense of 50 basis points.

調整後的營業收入佔收入的百分比下降了 250 個基點，原因如下：辦公用紙和燃料及環境附加費降低及其相應的利潤流動影響 340 個基點，激勵措施和股票薪酬提高 110 個基點點和自保結算30個基點。這些被成本節省和 150 個基點的利潤流動以及 50 個基點的壞帳費用降低所部分抵消。

As noted on Slide 8, adjusted diluted earnings per share was $0.43 compared to $0.65 in the third quarter of 2022. Excluding the impact from divestitures and foreign exchange rates of $0.02, the remaining $0.20 year-over-year decline was driven by lower commodity indexed revenues of $0.19, higher incentive and stock-based compensation of $0.06, higher taxes, interest and other of $0.03 and a self-insurance settlement of $0.02. These were partially offset by cost savings and margin flow-through of $0.07 and lower bad debt expense of $0.03.

如投影片 8 所示，調整後攤薄每股收益為 0.43 美元，而 2022 年第三季為 0.65 美元。排除資產剝離和匯率 0.02 美元的影響，剩餘的 0.20 美元同比下降是由商品指數下降推動的收入為0.19 美元，更高的激勵和股票薪酬為0.06 美元，更高的稅收、利息和其他費用為0.03 美元，自我保險結算為0.02 美元。這些費用被節省的成本和 0.07 美元的保證金流通以及 0.03 美元的壞帳費用降低所部分抵消。

Capital expenditures for the 9 months ended September 30, 2023, were $102.2 million compared to $106 million for the same period last year.

截至 2023 年 9 月 30 日的 9 個月資本支出為 1.022 億美元，而去年同期為 1.06 億美元。

Free cash flow for the 9 months ended September 30, 2023, was an inflow of $91.1 million compared to an outflow of $62.9 million in the same period of 2022. As noted on Slide 9, the year-over-year improvement of $154 million was mainly due to higher cash flow from operations of $150.2 million.

截至 2023 年 9 月 30 日的 9 個月自由現金流流入 9,110 萬美元，而 2022 年同期流出 6,290 萬美元。如幻燈片 9 所示，同比改善 1.54 億美元主要是由於營運現金流增加至1.502 億美元。

DSO was reported for September 30, 2023, was 63 days or 55 days net of deferred revenues. During the third quarter, we began to invoice certain regulated Waste and Compliance Services subscription-based customers in advance, which contributed to the higher as reported DSO for September 30, 2023. DSO as reported for September 30, 2022, was 63 days or 62 days net of deferred revenue.

據報告，截至 2023 年 9 月 30 日的 DSO 為 63 天或 55 天（扣除遞延收入）。在第三季度，我們開始提前向某些受監管的廢棄物和合規服務訂閱客戶開立發票，這導致了2023 年9 月30 日報告的DSO 較高。2022 年9 月30 日報告的DSO 為63天或62 天扣除遞延收入的天數。

The September 30, 2023 DSO, net of deferred revenues was lower as compared to the same period in 2022, mainly driven by the improved timing of FID customer billing and collections.

2023 年 9 月 30 日的 DSO（扣除遞延收入）低於 2022 年同期，主要是由於 FID 客戶計費和收款時間的改善所致。

As shown on Slide 10, at the end of the third quarter, we maintained our credit agreement defined debt leverage ratio below 3x, achieving a ratio of 2.84x.

如投影片 10 所示，第三季末，我們將信貸協議定義的債務槓桿率維持在 3 倍以下，達到 2.84 倍。

As Cindy noted, we recently completed 3 divestitures for a total of 8 divestitures in 2023. In 2022, the Romania medical waste business and the Netherlands dental recycling business collectively contributed less than 1% of revenues and had approximately breakeven adjusted EBITDA. On Slide 11, we have removed the divested revenues from our 2022 baseline. The joint venture in the UAE was accounted for as an equity investment and included in noncontrolling interest. Collectively, these businesses were sold for a nominal amount of net proceeds.

正如Cindy 指出的，我們最近完成了3 項資產剝離，到2023 年總共完成8 項資產剝離。2022 年，羅馬尼亞醫療廢棄物業務和荷蘭牙科回收業務合計貢獻的收入不到1%，調整後的EBITDA 大致達到損益平衡。在投影片 11 中，我們從 2022 年基線中刪除了剝離的收入。阿聯酋合資企業以股權投資入帳併計入非控股權益。總的來說，這些業務以名目淨收益出售。

As noted on Slide 11, we are providing our updated 2023 guidance, taking in consideration our expectations for the fourth quarter. We have lowered our organic revenue growth rate range to 2% to 3% from 3% to 5%, mainly due to the impact of commodity indexed revenues.

如投影片 11 所示，我們正在提供更新的 2023 年指導，同時考慮到我們對第四季的預期。我們將有機收入成長率範圍從 3% 至 5% 下調至 2% 至 3%，這主要是由於商品指數收入的影響。

We have narrowed our adjusted earnings per share guidance range to $1.80 to $1.95 from $1.75 to $2.05. This updated range reflects the impact of a self-insurance settlement in the third quarter and potential commodity volatility that I mentioned earlier.

我們已將調整後每股收益指引範圍從 1.75 美元至 2.05 美元縮小至 1.80 美元至 1.95 美元。這個更新的範圍反映了我之前提到的第三季自保結算和潛在商品波動的影響。

We have narrowed our capital expenditure guidance to $135 million to $145 million from $125 million to $145 million. This reflects our expectation on the timing of cash outlays associated with the McCarran incinerator project.

我們已將資本支出指引從 1.25 億至 1.45 億美元縮小至 1.35 億至 1.45 億美元。這反映了我們對麥卡倫焚燒爐專案相關現金支出時間的預期。

We have modified our free cash flow range to $170 million to $190 million from $175 million to $205 million. This is mainly driven by our expectation that we will be at the high end of our capital expenditure guidance range, the self-insurance settlement and severance associated with our targeted workforce reduction mentioned by Cindy. These 3 items could potentially result in an incremental cash outflow of approximately $10 million to $15 million in the fourth quarter, higher than we previously planned.

我們已將自由現金流範圍從 1.75 億美元至 2.05 億美元修改為 1.7 億美元至 1.9 億美元。這主要是由於我們預期我們將處於資本支出指導範圍的高端，以及與辛迪提到的目標裁員相關的自我保險結算和遣散費。這三項可能會導致第四季現金流出增加約 1,000 萬至 1,500 萬美元，高於我們先前的計畫。

Excluded from our free cash flow guidance is adjusted litigation payments of which we paid approximately $13 million in the third quarter and expect to pay approximately $5 million to $12 million in the fourth quarter.

我們的自由現金流指引不包括調整後的訴訟付款，我們在第三季支付了約 1,300 萬美元，預計在第四季支付約 500 萬至 1,200 萬美元。

I will now turn the call back to Cindy.

我現在將把電話轉回給辛蒂。

Thank you, Janet. One of Stericycle's core values is that we embrace diversity and inclusion. Aligning with this core value, I'm excited to share that earlier this week, we were recognized for the third consecutive year by Women in Trucking as one of the top companies for women to work for. This award highlights our focus on creating a rewarding and positive work environment for all of our team members.

謝謝你，珍妮特。 Stericycle 的核心價值之一是我們擁抱多元化和包容性。與這項核心價值一致，我很高興本週稍早與大家分享，我們連續第三年被《女性卡車運輸》雜誌評為最適合女性工作的公司之一。該獎項凸顯了我們致力於為所有團隊成員創造一個有益且積極的工作環境。

And as always, I'd like to thank our customers, team members, the communities we serve and our shareholders for their continued trust in having Stericycle protect what matters.

像往常一樣，我要感謝我們的客戶、團隊成員、我們所服務的社群以及我們的股東對 Stericycle 保護重要事物的持續信任。

Operator, please open the line for Q&A.

接線員，請開通問答線。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question will come from Sean Dodge of RBC Capital Markets.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將來自 RBC 資本市場的 Sean Dodge。

Yes. And I'll start by offering my congratulations on the successful ERP deployment. I know that's been a big lift. So it's got to feel really nice to have that done now.

是的。首先，我對 ERP 部署的成功表示祝賀。我知道這是一個很大的提升。所以現在完成這件事一定感覺非常好。

Thanks, Sean.

謝謝，肖恩。

On the -- so you all shared the update there. It sounds like so far, so good, being now more than a full month into that, having used it, are we pretty much out of the woods now as far as figuring out if there are any glitches or bugs left or not? And I guess, at what point can we declare all clear here? And then where do you think the dangers or risks still lie going forward?

所以你們都在那裡分享了更新。聽起來到目前為止，一切都很好，現在已經使用了它一個多月了，我們現在是否已經擺脫了困境，可以弄清楚是否還存在任何故障或錯誤？我想，什麼時候我們可以宣布一切都清楚了？那麼您認為未來的危險或風險還有哪裡呢？

Yes, Sean, thanks for that question, and thanks for the congratulations. I can tell you the -- we are tremendously proud of the overall journey that our team members and support folks have had. It was quite a learning for us, putting a company with no technology really onto a platform a couple of years ago, and the amount of lessons learned leading up to putting this business unit on which had far more complexities. And for it to have gone as well as it has, and continues to. We're really very, very happy about it.

是的，肖恩，謝謝你的提問，也謝謝你的祝賀。我可以告訴你——我們對我們的團隊成員和支援人員所經歷的整個旅程感到非常自豪。這對我們來說是一次很大的學習，幾年前將一家沒有真正技術的公司放到了一個平台上，並且在將這個複雜得多的業務部門放到一個平台上之前吸取了很多經驗教訓。而且它已經過去了，而且還在繼續。我們對此真的非常非常高興。

And I think the good news is, as Cory had said in his remarks, there isn't customer disruption. Most of everything has gone off pretty seamlessly. And I think the testimony to that is do we still have -- are there major issues? I think we've put those to bed. We know where they are. We're still fixing a few things. But I think for us, we're now almost morphing from worrying about where are the ghosts in the system to correcting the problems that we've identified, and now even moving towards, all right, where are the next enhancements? And any time you do that in the system, the sooner you can get to your enhancements, the things you forgot, the thing that would make something a little bit more intuitive, the suggestions back from the field, I think we've gotten to that point certainly much faster than any of us anticipated, which is really, really good news.

我認為好消息是，正如科里在演講中所說，客戶不會受到干擾。大部分事情都進展順利。我認為證明這一點的證據是我們仍然存在重大問題嗎？我想我們已經把它們放在床上了。我們知道他們在哪裡。我們仍在修復一些問題。但我認為對我們來說，我們現在幾乎從擔心系統中的幽靈在哪裡，轉變為糾正我們已經發現的問題，現在甚至正在朝著，好吧，下一個增強功能在哪裡？每當您在系統中執行此操作時，您就能越早獲得增強功能、您忘記的內容、使某些內容更加直觀的內容、從現場返回的建議，我認為我們已經做到了這個時間點肯定比我們任何人預期的要快得多，這確實是個好消息。

So Janet, any other insights?

那麼珍妮特還有其他見解嗎？

I think, Cindy, you said it very well. We have actually also billed. And as a reminder, about 70% of the billing is subscription-based. So we have gotten those billed out actually at the start of the month and continue to bill that through. If there's anything we're looking at, it's being very thoughtful of the transactional billing that's going down to make sure it's accurate, but don't anticipate that to be a big issue.

我認為，辛迪，你說得很好。我們其實也已經計費了。提醒一下，大約 70% 的帳單是基於訂閱的。因此，我們實際上在本月初就已經開出了這些帳單，並將繼續開出帳單。如果說我們正在關注什麼的話，那就是對交易帳單的考慮非常周全，以確保其準確性，但不要認為這是一個大問題。

And to Cindy's point, we are moving into where can we enhance the system for -- rather than where is it broken. We do have a few incidents left, as you would expect, the lower the volume than we expected to have at this point in time.

對於辛迪來說，我們正在研究我們可以在哪裡增強系統，而不是它在哪裡被破壞。正如您所料，我們確實還剩下一些事件，但數量比我們目前預期的要少。

And I think, Sean, one last thing, just to wrap that up. Right now, everybody at least understands how to use it, but everybody hasn't really developed their own -- we all develop the routine and the nuance of how we make it work faster or how we know to click through things. I think we're developing that right now. And so there's still some learning, there's still some change management to go on. Not everybody has adopted it or has become as proficient as everybody else at the same time. But for the most part, I think major potential issues with customers, with revenue recognition and those types of things, I think those are well behind us.

我想，肖恩，最後一件事，總結一下。現在，每個人至少都知道如何使用它，但每個人都沒有真正開發自己的——我們都開發了例程以及如何讓它更快地工作或我們如何知道點擊事物的細微差別。我認為我們現在正在開發它。因此，仍然需要一些學習，仍然需要進行一些變革管理。並不是每個人都採用了它，或者同時變得像其他人一樣熟練。但在大多數情況下，我認為客戶的主要潛在問題、收入確認等類型的問題，我認為這些都已經過去了。

And I think to your point, as you mentioned that we went live actually running the trucks at the beginning of September. The quarter was spent in getting ready, but the trucks started rolling in the beginning of September. So we do have a good month and more under our belt, a month in the quarter and more than that as we talk today.

我認為就您的觀點而言，正如您所提到的，我們在九月初就開始實際運行卡車。這個季度的時間都花在準備上，但卡車在九月初開始行駛。因此，我們確實度過了美好的一個月，甚至更多，本季的一個月甚至比我們今天談論的還要多。

Okay. Great. And then, Janet, on both the EPS and the free cash guidance for Q4 implies a bit of a step-up from Q3. Can you just walk us through what's expected to drive that, anything you have about visibility there? Is this kind of the benefits of the workforce reduction kind of improving productivity? Anything else?

好的。偉大的。然後，珍妮特，第四季度的每股收益和自由現金指引意味著比第三季度有所上升。您能否向我們介紹一下推動這一目標的預期是什麼？您對那裡的可見性有什麼了解嗎？這種減少勞動力的好處是否可以提高生產力？還要別的嗎？

Yes. So we have some real key items that will help us drive there. One is we've had that incentive comp, which underneath that is a stock comp acceleration that was due to retirement benefits I mentioned earlier. That basically ends in the fourth quarter. So that's a few cents of uplift.

是的。所以我們有一些真正的關鍵物品可以幫助我們到達那裡。一是我們已經有了激勵補償，背後是股票補償的加速，這是由於我之前提到的退休福利。基本上到第四季就結束了。所以這只是幾美分的提升。

We had that onetime self-insurance claim that won't repeat, and that will be an uplift. If you're looking quarter-to-quarter, we see fuel helping us a bit in the quarter as you see that it has been mitigating as the price, and then we can see continued (inaudible) in bad debt from quarter-to-quarter.

我們曾經有過一次自我保險索賠，不會重複，這將是一種提升。 If you're looking quarter-to-quarter, we see fuel helping us a bit in the quarter as you see that it has been mitigating as the price, and then we can see continued (inaudible) in bad debt from quarter-to-四分之一.

So those are some of the key levels and I'm not even talking about they're continuing to improve as we get more confident on the system and from the learning curve that Cindy mentioned. So we see a good line of sight to that EPS and then the cash flow, similar sort of -- similar to follow suit.

這些是一些關鍵級別，我甚至不是在談論它們正在繼續改進，因為我們對系統和辛迪提到的學習曲線更有信心。因此，我們對每股盈餘和現金流量都有良好的了解，類似的做法類似於效仿。

One moment please for our next question. And our next question will come from Scott Schneeberger of Oppenheimer & Company.

請稍等一下我們的下一個問題。我們的下一個問題將來自奧本海默公司的斯科特·施尼伯格。

I'd like to share my congratulations. I know how much your whole organization has worked hard in preparation for this. So great that you've finally flipped the switch. I'm curious, is there -- you covered a lot of the updates very well. I believe you were running on parallel systems throughout the process. Could you give us an update on how dependent you are still on parallel systems?

我想表達我的祝賀。我知道你們整個組織為此付出了多少努力。太棒了，你終於打開開關了。我很好奇，您是否很好地涵蓋了很多更新。我相信您在整個過程中都在並行系統上運行。您能否向我們介紹一下您對平行系統的依賴程度的最新情況？

And a follow-up to this, getting onward and upward, is this thinking about international and timeline we should consider now that you're off and running in the U.S.?

後續，繼續向上，既然你已經在美國跑步，我們是否應該考慮國際和時間表？

Yes. Scott, what I'll do is I'll take that international portion of the question on 2 fronts. And then in terms of the duplicative systems that we have, the legacy and the new one, I'll let Janet handle that.

是的。史考特，我要做的是從兩個方面來回答這個問題的國際部分。然後，就我們擁有的重複系統、遺留系統和新系統而言，我將讓珍妮特來處理這個問題。

In terms of international, a couple of things. We've now had 19 divestitures since 2019. And that's done a few things. Number one, certainly, from an overall portfolio, our ability to manage things, that has certainly helped us. But the other thing it's done, as you can imagine is -- tying into the answer Janet is going to give you, is we've got 19 less countries and places and geographies and business units that we have to figure out how to put on this new platform.

就國際而言，有幾件事。自 2019 年以來，我們已經進行了 19 次資產剝離。這已經起到了一些作用。第一，當然，從整體投資組合來看，我們管理事物的能力無疑地對我們有幫助。但正如你可以想像的那樣，它所做的另一件事是- 與珍妮特將給你的答案聯繫起來，我們已經減少了19 個國家、地區、地區和業務部門，我們必須弄清楚如何進行部署這個新平台。

So this has afforded us an opportunity not just to improve balance sheet, not just to improve oversight, not just to manage the business better, not just to use proceeds to pay down debt, this has also afforded us the opportunity to shrink the footprint of what's going to be required that's going to have to continue to go onto this new platform.

因此，這為我們提供了一個機會，不僅僅是改善資產負債表，不僅僅是改善監督，不僅僅是更好地管理業務，不僅僅是用收益來償還債務，這也為我們提供了縮小足跡的機會。需要什麼就必須繼續進入這個新平台。

So I think -- and then in terms of actual portfolio optimization, which is one of the key priorities, we still leave that on there, because I did talk about 19 divestitures, but we've also had an acquisition. So if -- and Scott, you've been on the journey with us since the beginning. We originally talked about portfolio divestitures. Then we morphed it to optimization figuring that at some point in time, we might get a stable enough balance sheet where we would have options to not just be focused on divestiture, but also become focused on potential tuck-in acquisitions.

所以我認為，就實際投資組合優化而言，這是關鍵優先事項之一，我們仍然將其留在那裡，因為我確實談到了 19 項資產剝離，但我們也進行了收購。所以，如果──還有史考特，你從一開始就和我們一起踏上旅程。我們最初討論的是投資組合剝離。然後我們將其轉變為優化，認為在某個時間點，我們可能會獲得足夠穩定的資產負債表，我們不僅可以選擇專注於剝離，還可以專注於潛在的收購。

Now that we understand more about the business, where are our strengths, where do we have a great footprint. So I think we're leaving it on there for both things, potentially divestiture, but then also from an acquisition perspective.

現在我們對業務有了更多的了解，我們的優勢在哪裡，我們的足跡在哪裡。所以我認為我們會把它留在那裡，可能是剝離，但也是從收購的角度來看。

So now I'll morph it back to Janet. Janet, with reference to the duplicative systems, how much more to go on? And what do you see?

所以現在我會把它變回珍妮特。珍妮特，關於重複系統，還有多少可以繼續？你看到了什麼？

Yes. So we put the U.S. on. Meaning, we put all the revenue on and we put all our core waste processing. So all the waste stations, everything that is autoclaving, our incinerator is running on it. We have a few, what I'll call edge cases of hybrid model where they're actually partially using the system but have some small unique areas that we need to still put on, but that should be not a long putt to get there.

是的。所以我們把美國放上來。意思是，我們把所有的收入都投入到我們所有的核心廢棄物處理上。所以所有的廢棄物站，所有需要高壓滅菌的東西，我們的焚化爐都在上面運作。我們有一些，我稱之為混合模型的邊緣情況，它們實際上部分使用了系統，但有一些我們仍然需要放置的小的獨特區域，但這應該不會是一個很長的推桿就能到達那裡。

Now we do have Canada, which is a much smaller part that is on our journey to move. But I would call the ERP in the U.S. and what we're looking for in North America largely done, which is very exciting.

現在我們確實有了加拿大，它在我們的遷移過程中只是一個小得多的部分。但我認為美國的 ERP 以及我們在北美所尋求的大部分已經完成，這是非常令人興奮的。

In terms of the legacy applications, they are still used right now in Canada, as I mentioned, but also internationally. So that is then the next journey we're on, and the international team is very active working on the data cleanup and starting to start requirements next year, with a goal to start moving off of that around the 2025 time frame.

就遺留應用程式而言，正如我所提到的，它們現在仍在加拿大使用，但也在國際上使用。這就是我們接下來的旅程，國際團隊非常積極地致力於資料清理，並開始在明年開始提出要求，目標是在 2025 年左右開始擺脫這項要求。

Meanwhile, while we continue to take that $20 million to $30 million out in the longer term, we are looking for ability to rightsize the legacy platform, which may give us some opportunity next year as we continue to look at it.

同時，雖然從長遠來看，我們將繼續支出 2,000 萬至 3,000 萬美元，但我們正在尋找調整遺留平台規模的能力，這可能會為我們明年帶來一些機會，因為我們將繼續關注它。

And I think one thing, too, just as a point, Scott, just a little bit more than 80% of all of our volume runs through the platform currently. So I hope that puts some things into perspective, too, in terms of size.

我還認為有一件事，斯科特，目前我們所有交易量的 80% 以上是透過該平台運行的。因此，我希望這也能讓人們在規模上正確看待一些事情。

Yes. And just for Canada, SID is on the platform, Secure Information Destruction, so I'm only talking about RWCS is the only piece left for Canada.

是的。就加拿大而言，SID 位於安全資訊銷毀平台上，所以我只談論 RWCS 是加拿大唯一剩下的部分。

Yes. Got it. That's very helpful, very comprehensive. I -- another 2-parter as my second question. The first part is, what are you anticipating for sorted office paper going forward? Just what are the trends that you're seeing? What do you expect as you look ahead here, what's implicit in the fourth quarter? Janet, I guess that's mostly for you.

是的。知道了。這非常有幫助，非常全面。我——另一個雙人作為我的第二個問題。第一部分是，您對未來分類的辦公文件有何期望？您看到的趨勢是什麼？展望未來，您有何期望？第四季隱含著什麼？珍妮特，我想這主要是為了你。

Cindy, you had mentioned that -- let me go back to the notes. The -- a few sites, a few customers -- this is on Information Destruction. A few site closures in this post-pandemic period and lesser pickup frequency. I just wanted to latch onto that for a second. I don't think I've heard that from you all before. I just want to hear what -- how you feel about that trend? Is that something new? Or is that something you've seen consistent? I just want to delve in a little bit more on that.

辛迪，你提到過——讓我回到筆記。一些站點，一些客戶，這是關於資訊銷毀的。在大流行後時期，一些站點關閉，取貨頻率減少。我只是想抓住這一點。我想我以前沒聽過你們這麼說。我只是想聽聽你對這個趨勢有何看法？這是新事物嗎？或者你所看到的東西是一致的嗎？我只是想更深入地研究一下。

Got you. And Scott, I can kind of help you with both of them. First of all, in terms of the RISI rate, what I think -- I said coming out of pandemic, we were going to learn a lot. And I think now a few years out, here's what we've learned. I think 2022 is the anomaly. That year, the average price of paper, with people figuring out who's coming back to work, who's going out to eat, what's the demand on travel, what's the demand on all these things? It really put an immediate pressure on a lot of commodities, specifically paper that's used in a lot of the essential things that we use, and I think it averaged the year somewhere around $235. That in and of itself is an anomaly. But Q3 last year versus Q3 this year, it's a difference from -- we're looking at $254 in September of last year, down to $140 in October of this year.

明白你了。史考特，我可以幫你解決這兩個問題。首先，就 RISI 比率而言，我認為，從大流行中走出來，我們會學到很多。我想幾年後，這就是我們學到的。我認為 2022 年是異常情況。那一年，紙張的平均價格，人們計算誰回來工作，誰出去吃飯，旅行需求是什麼，所有這些東西的需求是什麼？這確實給了許多商品直接壓力，特別是用於我們使用的許多必需品的紙張，我認為全年平均價格約為 235 美元。這本身就是一個反常現象。但去年第三季與今年第三季有所不同——我們去年 9 月的價格為 254 美元，今年 10 月降至 140 美元。

But the trend that we're seeing, and here's, I think, the good news. The good news is prior to 2022 being now just a complete outlier, prior to that, the 15-year average has been about $150 a ton. And right now, today, it's about $140. That seems pretty reasonable in terms of if you look -- if you take 2022 out of there, it's now more normalized, which I think is a good sign for society. It's a good sign that we've gotten into a rhythm of where is demand. So I think we need to level set that.

但我們看到的趨勢，我認為這是個好消息。好消息是 2022 年之前完全是異常值，在此之前，15 年平均價格約為每噸 150 美元。現在，今天，大約是 140 美元。如果你看看 2022 年的話，這似乎相當合理，你會發現現在更加正常化，我認為這對社會來說是一個好兆頭。這是一個好跡象，表明我們已經進入了需求所在的節奏。所以我認為我們需要對此進行調整。

What are we seeing going into Q4? Right now, it's maintained around $140 over the last several months, which is a good, stable number, I think, in terms of showing that it isn't showing the wild swings as much as it had over the last, let's say, 6, 7 quarters. So I think that's really good news there. And we know how to manage at that. That's more normal for the business. And quite frankly, once the RISI rate gets below $192 a ton, our surcharge will help mitigate more like about 60% of whatever the volatility is. So I think all that's good.

第四季我們會看到什麼？目前，過去幾個月它維持在 140 美元左右，我認為這是一個很好、穩定的數字，表明它沒有像過去那樣劇烈波動，比如說 6 ，7 個季度。所以我認為這確實是個好消息。我們知道如何管理這一點。這對企業來說是比較正常的事。坦白說，一旦 RISI 匯率低於每噸 192 美元，我們的附加費將有助於減輕約 60% 的波動性。所以我認為這一切都很好。

If I go to the second portion of the question about that national channel, that national account channel base that we have, we're seeing similar things for the national accounts in both Regulated as well as Shred. And what that nuance is, we've seen it over the course of the last couple of quarters, and what it's been is on the Regulated side, those national accounts, those large retail pharmacies, you read headlines, I read headlines. There's an awful lot of store closures. There's potential bankruptcies. There's a lot of things that are going on in that space. And quite frankly, that space not only uses us for Regulated, but they also use us for Shred.

如果我轉到有關國家管道的問題的第二部分，即我們擁有的國民帳戶管道基礎，我們會在受監管和粉碎的國民帳戶中看到類似的情況。這種細微差別是什麼，我們在過去幾個季度中已經看到了，它是在監管方面，那些國民帳戶，那些大型零售藥店，你讀頭條新聞，我讀頭條新聞。大量商店關門。有破產的可能。那個空間裡正在發生很多事情。坦白說，這個空間不僅使用我們進行監管，而且還使用我們來粉碎。

And when you have a footprint which is thousands of stores and you choose to close down 1,000 of them, that definitively means we -- they still use us. They just don't have a facility in a particular town that requires that service anymore. So -- and we're seeing that on Regulated.

當你的足跡有數千家商店，而你選擇關閉其中 1,000 家時，這絕對意味著我們——他們仍然在使用我們。他們只是在某個特定城鎮不再擁有需要該服務的設施。所以——我們在《監管》上看到了這一點。

And then on the Shred side, when we take a look at Shred, we're looking at that customer base that is now figuring out, "Hey, most of our people are now back at work. This is going to be our new rhythm for right now," As they continue to figure out how to cut their costs, How to right -- how to reset their future so that they can position themselves to grow. So they may have closed down some sites, they may have reduced some frequencies, still requiring our service, but getting used to whatever their new normal is.

然後在 Shred 方面，當我們看 Shred 時，我們看到的客戶群現在正在弄清楚，「嘿，我們的大多數人現在都回到了工作崗位。這將是我們的新節奏現在，」當他們繼續思考如何削減成本、如何修正——如何重新設定未來，以便能夠實現成長。因此，他們可能關閉了一些網站，他們可能減少了一些頻率，仍然需要我們的服務，但已經習慣了他們的新常態。

So I don't see any of those themes as anything that's lingering, anything that's going to continue to a great degree. I think we've seen this shift and this change through our larger national account channel base, and I see now an opportunity for that to stabilize. And now I can tell you, Cory and his team are just positioned to grow. So that's where we sit and that's the trend that we see.

因此，我不認為這些主題中的任何一個是揮之不去的，任何一個會在很大程度上持續下去的。我認為我們已經透過更大的國民帳戶管道基礎看到了這種轉變和變化，我現在看到了穩定這種情況的機會。現在我可以告訴你，科里和他的團隊正處於成長的階段。這就是我們所處的位置，這就是我們看到的趨勢。

Our next question will come from Dave Manthey of Baird.

我們的下一個問題將來自貝爾德 (Baird) 的戴夫曼蒂 (Dave Manthey)。

Mr. Manthey, (Operator Instructions). Hello, Sir. Are you able to hear us? Mr. Dave Manthey. Speaker is (inaudible), I'll move to the next person.

Manthey 先生（操作員說明）。你好先生。你聽得到我們說話嗎？戴夫·曼蒂先生。發言者（聽不清楚），我將轉到下一個。

Our next question will come from Michael E. Hoffman of Stifel.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Stifel 的 Michael E. Hoffman。

Cindy, Janet, I was never in doubt. So well done.

辛迪，珍妮特，我從來沒有懷疑過。做得很好。

Thanks, Michael.

謝謝，麥可。

Well, you tested the bejesus out of it. So I knew you had pushed it and pulled it and tugged on it a lot. But to that end, again, we're right in the beginning of billing, and billing was a challenged [facet]. You fixed it. You tested that really hard in Puerto Rico. What are you seeing relative to that sort of baseline of knowledge? What are you seeing at the moment?

好吧，你已經測試過了。所以我知道你已經推了它、拉了它、拉了它很多次。但為此，我們再次處於計費的開始階段，而計費是一個充滿挑戰的[面向]。你修好了。你在波多黎各進行了非常嚴格的測試。相對於這種知識基線，你看到了什麼？你此刻看到了什麼？

We're seeing a much more astute understanding and we have reporting in place to track billing and pricing and contracts and everything that impact billing from day 1. And I think that's the big difference that we see because we knew what to look for. There's a lot of complexity in RWCS in terms of its contracts and pricing.

我們看到了更敏銳的理解，我們已經制定了報告來追蹤計費、定價、合約以及從第一天開始影響計費的所有內容。我認為這是我們看到的巨大差異，因為我們知道要尋找什麼。 RWCS 的合約和定價非常複雜。

So -- but there's also -- when you get to the transactional piece, but there's also the service revenue side that is a subscription base that is actually easier. And as you heard me mention, we actually did -- that we moved that to be a month ahead of time for most of our customers. So that was a switch we did. So that needs to -- that's a little customer change management that we're watching, but so far so good. That has the potential in the long term to be a cash flow benefit for us.

所以——但還有——當你談到交易部分時，還有服務收入方面，即訂閱基礎，實際上更容易。正如你聽到我提到的，我們實際上做到了——我們將大多數客戶的時間提前了一個月。這就是我們所做的一個轉變。所以這需要——這是我們正在關注的一點客戶變更管理，但到目前為止還不錯。從長遠來看，這有可能為我們帶來現金流效益。

And then we've been very thoughtful and been auditing all the transactional revenue that we're sending out through billing, and putting what they call payer blocks or other blocks on to make sure it's right before it goes out. So there's been a lot of thought on the team. So, so far, so good. We may have some of the transaction be a little later. We'll have a subscription be a little earlier, and I think we'll wash out very well.

然後我們非常周到，一直在審查我們透過計費發出的所有交易收入，並放置他們所謂的付款人區塊或其他區塊，以確保它在發出之前是正確的。所以團隊裡也花了很多心思。所以，到目前為止，一切都很好。我們可能會推遲一些交易。我們會提前一點訂閱，我想我們會做得很好。

All right. Cool. And then beginning of the year, you revised some of the parameters around your outlook, and you've reaffirmed those in this document today, 13% to 17% EBITDA, 50% free cash. When do we start seeing that happen, now that 80% of the volume is on one platform and a lot of people can be held accountable in a good way. When do I start seeing the benefit of that 13% to 17% and that 50% cash conversion?

好的。涼爽的。然後在今年年初，您修改了有關前景的一些參數，並且今天重申了本文件中的這些參數，即 13% 至 17% 的 EBITDA、50% 的自由現金。我們什麼時候開始看到這種情況發生，既然 80% 的交易量都在一個平台上，並且可以以一種好的方式讓很多人承擔責任。我什麼時候開始看到 13% 到 17% 以及 50% 現金轉換的好處？

Yes. I think what we've talked about is taking year-end 2023 and then build from there. And more of that is based off of the timing of this ERP, the focus that we can then put into maturing that process as well as several others.

是的。我認為我們討論的是 2023 年底，然後從那裡開始建造。其中更多是基於此 ERP 的時機，然後我們可以將重點放在使該流程以及其他幾個流程成熟上。

So a couple of things we talk about as being levers that we have. Right now that the ERP is in and as we mature with this and that folks get back -- get better, get smoother, we put in a few enhancements to help really facilitate things working and going -- flowing through our plants and out to customers a little easier.

因此，我們談論的一些事情是我們擁有的槓桿。現在 ERP 已經投入使用，隨著我們的成熟，人們會回來——變得更好、更順利，我們進行了一些增強功能，以幫助真正促進工作和進展——流經我們的工廠並流向客戶容易一點。

There's an opportunity then for us. We've been leaning into attrition, and we talk about removing the manual-ness. I've often said, at some point in time, when you get a technology system that can move data for you as opposed to you needing to move it -- paper or needing to move statistics or needing to swivel chair things from one system to the next, that there should be a removal of a lot of that manual intervention.

那我們就有機會了。我們一直在傾向於消耗，我們正在討論消除手動操作。我經常說，在某個時間點，當你獲得一個可以為你移動數據的技術系統，而不是你需要移動它時——紙張或需要移動統計數據或需要將椅子從一個系統轉移到另一個系統其次，應該取消大量的手動幹預。

So for us, I think we've got a continued -- or maybe an additional targeted workforce reduction as we continue to develop these things. And like I said, we will still lean into attrition with controlled hiring. I think as we get better with our infrastructure, with any of the operational improvements, the ERP improvements that we can continue to fine-tune for efficiency, for productivity, for scheduling, for engagement with customers, I think all of those things in combination are things that we will enact in 2024 moving forward.

因此，對於我們來說，我認為隨著我們繼續開發這些東西，我們將繼續或可能進行額外的有針對性的勞動力削減。就像我說的，我們仍然會透過控制招募來減少人員流失。我認為，隨著我們的基礎設施變得更好，透過任何營運改善、ERP 改進，我們可以繼續微調以提高效率、生產力、日程安排、與客戶的互動，我認為所有這些事情結合在一起這些是我們將在2024 年頒布的內容。

And then we continue -- Michael, as you know, then at some point in time, McCarran comes on. At some point in time, we retire the legacy system. Those are some pretty big levers that I think are -- that are at our disposal in order to make that adjusted EBITDA margin hit the long-range targets that we've put out there.

然後我們繼續——邁克爾，如你所知，然後在某個時間點，麥卡倫登場。在某個時間點，我們將淘汰遺留系統。我認為這些是我們可以使用的一些相當大的槓桿，以便使調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率達到我們設定的長期目標。

Yes. And just to add to that. 2023 is the base year for that 13% to 17% annual adjusted EBITDA growth rate that we expect to see. So you'll see it in 2024, and the 3% to 5% is a CAGR growth rate. So 2024 is when you should start seeing it directly, Michael, to that question.

是的。只是為了補充這一點。 2023 年是我們預期 13% 至 17% 的調整後 EBITDA 年度成長率的基準年。所以你會在 2024 年看到它，3% 到 5% 是 CAGR 成長率。所以 2024 年你應該開始直接看到這個問題，麥可。

In Q1, if you look at the commodity headwinds on paper, you will see some of that continue in Q1. But we have the system now. We have a great variable cost model. So we're looking for that to begin in 2024.

在第一季度，如果你從紙上看大宗商品面臨的阻力，你會發現其中一些阻力在第一季仍在繼續。但我們現在有了這個系統。我們有一個很棒的變動成本模型。所以我們希望從 2024 年開始。

Okay. That's what I was looking for. This is iterative every year, not all back-ended on the multiyear compound that you...

好的。這就是我一直在尋找的。這是每年迭代的，並不是所有後端都在您...的多年化合物上。

Right. Correct.

正確的。正確的。

Okay. I think the big part of this is the market is going to see evidence that all of this effort is beginning to pay off in '24.

好的。我認為這其中最重要的部分是市場將看到證據表明所有這些努力將在 24 年開始得到回報。

And as Cindy mentioned, we already have put in a targeted workforce reduction that we executed in the -- continue fourth quarter that will generate $8 million next year. So those are some of the layers that we have as we drive efficiencies.

正如 Cindy 所提到的，我們已經在第四季度執行了有針對性的裁員計劃，明年將產生 800 萬美元的收入。這些是我們在提高效率時所擁有的一些層級。

She also mentioned careful hiring, attrition. We have strategic initiatives that drive efficiencies and improvements, and then our modernization efforts in our facilities are starting to take hold. You combine that with the systems, you just sort of get a compounding effect on efficiency being able to be driven.

她還提到了謹慎的招募和減員。我們制定了旨在提高效率和改進的策略性舉措，然後我們設施的現代化努力開始發揮作用。將其與系統結合起來，就會對能夠驅動的效率產生複合效應。

(Operator Instructions) And again, we have Dave Manthey of Baird.

（操作員說明）同樣，我們有來自 Baird 的 Dave Manthey。

Hello, Dave? Mr. Manthey? (Operator Instructions).

你好，戴夫？曼泰先生？ （操作員說明）。

Do you hear me now?

你現在聽到我說話了嗎？

Yes.

是的。

There we go...

我們就這樣...

We can hear you.

我們能聽到你的聲音。

I'm going to chalk that up to user error. All right. Well, congrats on the ERP. My question, I'm going to talk about the paper. And Cindy, you talked earlier about the long-range paper pricing being in the $150 range. What's magical about $192 and 60%? I would have thought that over time as you cycle in new contracts and sign additional customers and lose some that, that number would move around, like you'd be able to move the $192 set point lower and get a lower percentage of absorption. Can you talk about that formula and why that number hasn't changed in a while?

我將把這歸因於用戶錯誤。好的。好吧，恭喜 ERP。我的問題是，我要談談這篇論文。 Cindy，您之前談到長期紙張定價在 150 美元範圍內。 192 美元和 60% 有何神奇之處？我以為，隨著時間的推移，當你簽訂新合約並簽署更多客戶並失去一些客戶時，這個數字會發生變化，就像你能夠將192 美元的設定點降低並獲得較低的吸收百分比一樣。您能談談這個公式以及為什麼這個數字有一段時間沒有改變嗎？

Yes. Dave, great question. So I think in terms of that, while anybody can set numbers and set ranges, what we actually tried to do was take market data and an understanding of what's going on in the marketplace. And we took this whole recycling revenue surcharge and put that onto a scale, unlike anybody else in the marketplace on that side of the business. That was purely putting out a recycling surcharge fee, whether it's a flat 10%, if it's 20%, whatever it is.

是的。戴夫，好問題。因此，我認為，雖然任何人都可以設定數字和範圍，但我們實際上試圖做的是獲取市場數據並了解市場上正在發生的事情。我們收取了全部回收收入附加費，並將其納入規模，這與市場上該業務方面的其他任何人不同。那純粹是收取回收附加費，無論是固定的10%，還是20%，無論是什麼。

We felt that this one, the scale that we've designed, we looked at the market in general to see what do we think, where is the opportunities for us to develop the scale where we believe we can win, we can still be competitive, we can still get paid for the value of the service that we provide, and pretty much through all of that is where that sliding scale came.

我們認為，我們設計的規模，我們總體上考察了市場，看看我們的想法是什麼，我們有機會發展規模，我們相信我們能夠獲勝，我們仍然具有競爭力，我們仍然可以根據我們提供的服務價值獲得報酬，並且幾乎所有這一切都是滑動比例的來源。

And as we do talk about 60% of the volatility being covered. There is -- that's a general number, but you are correct. As we continue to win new customers, as we continue -- all new contracts go out with some type of acceptance or adoption of this surcharge, but we also have legacy customers out there that continue to negotiate.

正如我們所談論的，60% 的波動性都被覆蓋了。有——這是一個一般數字，但你是對的。隨著我們不斷贏得新客戶，隨著我們繼續，所有新合約都會以某種形式接受或採用此附加費，但我們也有繼續談判的老客戶。

So I think it's not just a combination of where do you want to be, it's a combination of where you want to be and how competitive do you want to be in markets all across the U.S. And it depends on who the competitors are against whom we play.

所以我認為這不僅僅是你想要成為哪裡的組合，而是你想要成為哪里以及你想要在美國各地市場上的競爭力的組合，這取決於我們的競爭對手是誰。玩。

So I think if you take a look at the national account perspective, a national account has potentially a little bit of a lower adoption in terms of that versus some of the independents or some of the larger customers. So that's, I think, pretty much where that came from as opposed to just being, here's where we think we could mitigate 100% of the volatility.

因此，我認為，如果你從國民帳戶的角度來看，與一些獨立人士或一些較大的客戶相比，國民帳戶的採用率可能會較低一些。所以，我認為，這幾乎就是它的來源，而不僅僅是我們認為我們可以減輕 100% 的波動性。

Okay. And then second, on the ERP. I understand that you were not standing still before you flipped the switch on the system. But what are the key changes, the early wins that you can get out of the ERP system? So if we look to year 1 based on your experience with SID, what should we expect in RWCS?

好的。其次是 ERP。我知道您在打開系統開關之前並沒有停下來。但關鍵的變化是什麼，您可以從 ERP 系統中獲得哪些早期勝利？因此，如果我們根據您在 SID 方面的經驗來展望第一年，我們對 RWCS 應該有什麼期望？

And related, is there any reason why we shouldn't see margins just steadily tick higher from here? I mean it seems like with all this behind you, you can start folding up some of those legacy systems, and you've already done the risk, maybe there's more behind that. Is there any reason we shouldn't see sort of up and to the right as it relates to margins from here?

相關的是，我們是否有任何理由不應該看到利潤率從這裡開始穩定上升？我的意思是，似乎所有這些都在你身後，你可以開始折疊一些遺留系統，並且你已經承擔了風險，也許背後還有更多。有什麼理由我們不應該看到某種向上和向右的情況，因為它與這裡的邊距有關？

Dave, great question. And I think what we focus on are -- unfortunately, during this journey that we've had at Stericycle, it's been quite a turbulent 5-year time period, at least for me, in terms of things that have been maybe, let's say, a bit outside of our control, whether it's been pandemics and hyperinflation and war in Ukraine and Russia and supply chain issues and now another breakout.

戴夫，好問題。我認為我們關注的是——不幸的是，在 Stericycle 的這段旅程中，這是一個相當動蕩的 5 年時間段，至少對我來說，就可能發生的事情而言，可以說，有點超出我們的控制範圍，無論是流行病、惡性通貨膨脹、烏克蘭和俄羅斯的戰爭、供應鏈問題，還是現在的另一個爆發。

So I think you are correct. When I look at the things that we can control, here's some things that the ERP system affords us an opportunity to do right away. We get better with scheduling, we get better with routing, we get better with overtime, we get better with staffing, we get better with plant utilization, we get better with engagement with customers, we get better and we get more nimble when a customer wants to put on a service or add a container or schedule an additional pickup, we get better at those things because we get faster. And any time we get faster on those things, it affords us an opportunity to get to revenue quicker to match the effort and the energy that we're putting on the operations side from a cost perspective.

所以我認為你是對的。當我查看我們可以控制的事情時，ERP 系統為我們提供了立即執行以下操作的機會。我們在調度方面做得更好，我們在路線安排方面做得更好，我們在加班方面做得更好，我們在人員配備方面做得更好，我們在工廠利用率方面做得更好，我們在與客戶的互動方面做得更好，當客戶出現時我們做得更好，我們變得更加靈活如果想要提供服務或添加容器或安排額外的取貨，我們會在這些事情上做得更好，因為我們速度更快。每當我們在這些事情上加快速度時，我們就有機會更快地獲得收入，以匹配我們從成本角度投入在營運方面的努力和精力。

So our expectation and what we do see and what we have seen...

所以我們的期望、我們所看到的以及我們所看到的......

(technical difficulty)

（技術難度）

One moment.

一會兒。

You will see that. So Dave, you're thinking about it correctly. And again, the caveat is for things that we can control, I'm very proud and very confident in the development of this culture and who we are and how we handle things to get better every day. So I'm excited about that.

你會看到這一點。所以戴夫，你的想法是對的。再說一遍，需要注意的是我們可以控制的事情，我對這種文化的發展、我們是誰以及我們如何處理事情以便每天變得更好感到非常自豪和充滿信心。所以我對此感到很興奮。

Janet, a couple of things?

珍妮特，有幾件事嗎？

Yes. So -- and Dave, just to reiterate, we said that 2023 was the base year of our long-term outlook, which includes a significant margin expansion with adjusted EBITDA growth rate of 13% to 17%, which we expect to start seeing next year. And due to all the things and levers that Cindy has mentioned as well as the commercial levers, who, Cory, is sitting right next to me, mentioned. On the call that give us confidence in that number. And then the legacy systems in international start to come up out in '25, we see some opportunity for adjusting IT costs as we go through this. So we still need to be (inaudible) on.

是的。因此，戴夫重申一下，我們說 2023 年是我們長期展望的基準年，其中包括利潤率大幅擴張，調整後 EBITDA 增長率為 13% 至 17%，我們預計接下來會看到這一情況年。由於辛蒂提到的所有事情和槓桿以及坐在我旁邊的科里提到的商業槓桿。電話會議讓我們對這個數字充滿信心。然後國際上的遺留系統在 25 年開始出現，我們看到了一些調整 IT 成本的機會。所以我們仍然需要（聽不清楚）。

I will point out there'll be some timing next year, a little bit in the first quarter. There will be that continued headwinds from the paper, but we have a great variable cost model, as I mentioned, and we can drive through that. But from a top line perspective, you still may see some year-over-year choppiness on RISI rate in the first quarter.

我會指出明年會有一些時間，第一季會有一點。這篇論文將會帶來持續的阻力，但正如我所提到的，我們有一個很好的可變成本模型，我們可以克服它。但從營收角度來看，第一季 RISI 率仍可能出現年比波動。

Yes. And I think Janet brings -- Dave you're -- I know you're very in tune to the RISI rate. Just kind of on average, Q1, 2Q next year would be comparisons to Q1, 2Q obviously this year. When the average for both of those -- Q1 was probably about $225. Q2 was close, let's say, $186, somewhere around in there, $187. So still some stiff comps, I would say, for Q1, Q2. But then by the time you get to Q3, it obviously it comes down. It's about $146. And I think that's where you finally get a decent year-over-year comparison from a commodity perspective, at least with respect to RISI and the top line.

是的。我認為珍妮特帶來了——戴夫，你——我知道你非常適應 RISI 率。平均而言，明年第一季、第二季將與今年第一季、第二季進行比較。第一季這兩者的平均值可能約為 225 美元。第二季接近 186 美元，約 187 美元。所以我想說，對於第一季和第二季度，仍然有一些僵硬的比較。但當你到達第三季時，它顯然會下降。大約是146美元。我認為，從大宗商品的角度來看，您最終可以獲得不錯的同比比較，至少在 RISI 和營收方面是如此。

This will end the Q&A session. I would now like to turn the conference back to Cindy Miller for closing remarks.

問答環節就此結束。現在我想請辛蒂米勒 (Cindy Miller) 致閉幕詞。

Thank you. And as always, we'd like to thank the investors. We'd like to thank our employees, our customers and community that we serve for their continued interest in Stericycle. So thank you all very much.

謝謝。一如既往，我們要感謝投資者。我們要感謝我們的員工、客戶和我們所服務的社群對 Stericycle 的持續關注。非常感謝大家。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect, and have a pleasant day.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的參與。您現在可以斷開連接，並度過愉快的一天。