Stericycle Inc (SRCL) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day and thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Q1 2024 Stericycle Earnings Conference Call.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持，歡迎參加 2024 年第一季 Stericycle 收益電話會議。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Andrew Ellis, Senior Vice President of Finance.

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人，財務高級副總裁安德魯·埃利斯 (Andrew Ellis)。

Good morning, and thank you for joining Stericycle's 2024 First 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. 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 forward-looking statements. 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 and our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

早安，感謝您參加 Stericycle 的 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。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。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」或類似表達等詞語時，我們屬於前瞻性陳述。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有所不同的因素，並在風險因素和我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件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 statements other than in accordance with legal and regulatory obligations. On the call, we will discuss nonfinancial 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.

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陳述的義務。在電話會議上，我們將討論非財務措施。如需了解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. This call is being recorded, and a replay will be available approximately 1 hour after the end of the conference call today until May 25, 2024,. A replay of the webcast will also be available on Stericycle's Investor Relations website. Time-sensitive information provided during today which is occurring on April 25, 2024, may no longer be accurate at the time of a replay. Any redistribution, retransmission or rebroadcast of this call in any form without the express written consent of Stericycle is prohibited. I'll now turn the call over to Cindy.

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。本次電話會議正在錄音，今天電話會議結束後約 1 小時將提供重播，直至 2024 年 5 月 25 日為止。 Stericycle 投資者關係網站上也將提供網路廣播的重播。今天提供的時間敏感資訊發生在 2024 年 4 月 25 日，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. On today's call, I will walk through highlights of our first quarter results. Cory and I will provide an update on our key business priorities and Janet will cover our financial performance. We are pleased with our first quarter results. Adjusted earnings per share was $0.57, an $0.08 improvement and adjusted EBITDA was $116.2 million, a $4.9 million improvement over the first quarter of 2023.

謝謝你，安德魯。大家早安。在今天的電話會議上，我將介紹我們第一季業績的亮點。科里和我將提供我們關鍵業務優先事項的最新信息，珍妮特將介紹我們的財務業績。我們對第一季的業績感到滿意。調整後每股收益為 0.57 美元，比 2023 年第一季增加 0.08 美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 1.162 億美元，比 2023 年第一季增加 490 萬美元。

These improvements were driven by disciplined execution across our key priorities, and we are on track to achieve our guidance for full year 2024. First quarter revenues were in line with our internal expectations. Regulated Waste and Compliance Services organic revenues grew for the eighth consecutive quarter, mainly driven by growth in our hospital customers, which is being partially offset by a reduction in the national account footprint we serve as we have outlined on previous earnings calls.

這些改進是由我們對關鍵優先事項的嚴格執行所推動的，我們預計將實現 2024 年全年的指導。受監管的廢物和合規服務有機收入連續第八個季度增長，主要是由我們的醫院客戶的增長推動的，但正如我們在之前的財報電話會議中概述的那樣，我們所服務的國民賬戶足跡的減少部分抵消了這一增長。

Secure Information Destruction performed as expected, mainly due to year-over-year anticipated headwinds in commodity indexed revenues in the first half of 2024, as we mentioned in our prior earnings call. I will now turn the call over to Cory to provide an update on our first new key business priority, commercial and service excellence.

正如我們在先前的財報電話會議中提到的，安全資訊銷毀的表現符合預期，主要是由於 2024 年上半年商品指數收入預計將出現逆風。我現在將把電話轉給科里，介紹我們第一個新的關鍵業務優先事項、商業和卓越服務的最新情況。

Thank you, Cindy. As a reminder, the three pillars of commercial and service excellence are sales, service and products. Today, I would like to provide an update on our latest initiative in product excellence, which focuses on developing and launching enhanced solutions. We recently launched our Shred-it ProtectPLUS service for our Secure Information Destruction business, which provides regularly scheduled paper shredding service and bundles customizable tiers of cybersecurity and privacy awareness training.

謝謝你，辛蒂。提醒一下，卓越商業和服務的三大支柱是銷售、服務和產品。今天，我想介紹一下我們在卓越產品方面的最新舉措的最新情況，該舉措的重點是開發和推出增強的解決方案。我們最近為我們的安全資訊銷毀業務推出了 Shred-it ProtectPLUS 服務，該服務提供定期的紙張粉碎服務，並捆綁可客製化的網路安全和隱私意識培訓。

This offering promotes compliance, helps maintain brand reputation and provides predictable monthly subscription, billing enabled by capabilities that were delivered with our latest ERP deployment last fall. ProtectPLUS aligns with ongoing customer feedback and our annual Shred-it data protection report which surveys over 1,500 small business leaders and consumers.

該產品可促進合規性，幫助維護品牌聲譽，並提供可預測的每月訂閱和計費，這些功能由我們去年秋天最新的 ERP 部署提供的功能啟用。 ProtectPLUS 與持續的客戶回饋和我們的年度 Shred-it 資料保護報告保持一致，該報告對 1,500 多家小型企業領導者和消費者進行了調查。

In this year's survey, more than 90% of small business leaders reported that data and information protection and compliance training are an essential security practice, yet only 15% reported that they provided employees with training. This differentiated product addresses this specific need in the marketplace. ProtectPLUS is the first subscription-based offering for secure information destruction, small- and medium-sized business customers, which bundle service stops with compliance-based tools similar to our Steri-Safe offering for our regulated waste customers. Although early days, we have already generated approximately $2 million in annualized revenues with new customers only.

在今年的調查中，超過 90% 的小型企業領導者表示資料和資訊保護以及合規培訓是一項重要的安全實踐，但只有 15% 的企業領導者表示他們為員工提供了培訓。這種差異化的產品滿足了市場的這個特定需求。 ProtectPLUS 是第一個針對安全資訊銷毀、中小型企業客戶的基於訂閱的產品，它將服務停止與基於合規性的工具捆綁在一起，類似於我們為受監管廢物客戶提供的 Steri-Safe 產品。雖然還處於起步階段，但我們光是透過新客戶就已經創造了約 200 萬美元的年收入。

I will now turn the call back to Cindy for an update on our other key business priorities.

現在，我將把電話轉回給辛迪，以了解我們其他關鍵業務優先事項的最新情況。

Thank you, Cory. Turning to our second key business priority. Operational excellence, we are focusing on driving margin expansion. First, we have completed the workforce management actions that we discussed on the February 2024 earnings call, which included targeted reductions in headcount in the fourth quarter of 2023 and first quarter of 2024, along with continued careful hiring and managing attrition that began in 2023.

謝謝你，科里。轉向我們的第二個關鍵業務優先事項。卓越運營，我們專注於推動利潤率擴張。首先，我們已經完成了在2024 年2 月財報電話會議上討論的勞動力管理行動，其中包括2023 年第四季度和2024 年第一季的目標裁員，以及從2023 年開始的持續謹慎招聘和管理人員流失。

From these actions, we are on track to realize an estimated $40 million to $45 million of in-year cost savings. Second, the construction phase of our newest medical waste incinerator facility in McCarran, Nevada remains on track to be completed in the second quarter of 2024, at which point we will begin the testing phase. We are also building the capability to process sorted office paper at this location and expect to begin shredding paper later this year.

透過這些行動，我們預計在年內節省約 4,000 萬至 4,500 萬美元的成本。其次，我們位於內華達州麥卡倫的最新醫療廢棄物焚化廠的建設階段仍有望在 2024 年第二季完成，屆時我們將開始測試階段。我們還在該地點建立處理分類辦公紙張的能力，並預計在今年稍後開始碎紙。

Third, we continue to make progress on our routing optimization initiative across both core businesses, which has been enabled by our ERP. In North America, producing routes has allowed us to eliminate approximately 5% of our North America fleet, which is a reduction of about 200 vehicles over the last 15 months.

第三，我們在 ERP 的支持下，在兩個核心業務的路線優化計劃上繼續取得進展。在北美，生產路線使我們能夠淘汰約 5% 的北美車隊，即在過去 15 個月內減少了約 200 輛車。

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

我現在將把電話轉給珍妮特，更詳細地討論我們的財務表現。

Thank you, Cindy. I will start by summarizing our first quarter financial results. As noted on Slide 6, revenues in the first quarter were $664.9 million compared to $684.3 million in the first quarter of 2023. The decrease was mainly due to divestitures of $17.7 million, which was partially offset by favorable foreign exchange rates of $2.8 million and an acquisition of $0.9 million. Organic revenues in Regulated Waste and Compliance Services grew $9 million, while Secure Information Destruction organic revenues declined $14.4 million.

謝謝你，辛蒂。我將首先總結我們第一季的財務表現。如投影片6 所示，第一季的營收為6.649 億美元，而2023 年第一季的營收為6.843 億美元。美元和收購90萬美元。受管制廢棄物和合規服務的有機收入增加了 900 萬美元，而安全資訊銷毀的有機收入下降了 1,440 萬美元。

Secure Information Destruction was mainly impacted by lower commodity index revenues due to lower recycling revenues and lower fuel and environmental surcharges of $19.8 million which were partially offset by higher revenues of $5.4 million. As noted on Slide 7, Regulated Waste and Compliance Services revenues were $447.8 million compared to $451.3 million in the first quarter of 2023. Excluding the impact of divestitures, foreign exchange rates and an acquisition, organic revenues increased 2.1% in the first quarter.

Secure Information Destruction 受到商品指數收入下降的影響，這是由於回收收入減少以及燃料和環境附加費減少 1,980 萬美元，但部分被收入增加 540 萬美元所抵消。如投影片 7 所示，受監管廢棄物和合規服務收入為 4.478 億美元，而 2023 年第一季為 4.513 億美元。

In North America, Regulated Waste and Compliance services organic revenues increased $7.1 million or 1.9%, mainly driven by price. International Regulated Waste and Compliance Services organic revenues increased $1.9 million or 3%, mainly driven by price.

在北美，受監管廢棄物和合規服務的有機收入增加了 710 萬美元，即 1.9%，這主要是由價格推動的。國際管制廢棄物和合規服務有機收入增加了 190 萬美元，即 3%，主要受價格推動。

Secure Information Destruction revenues were $217.1 million compared to $233 million in the first quarter of 2023. Excluding the impact of divestitures, foreign exchange rates and an acquisition, organic revenues decreased 6.3%, mainly due to lower commodity index revenues, reflecting about an $80 reduction per ton in sorted office paper pricing year-over-year.

安全資訊銷毀收入為 2.171 億美元，而 2023 年第一季為 2.33 億美元。噸分類辦公用紙的定價與去年同期相比。

In North America, Secure Information Destruction organic revenues declined $12.2 million or 6% compared to the first quarter of 2023. In the first quarter, recycling paper revenues were down approximately 7% or $14.3 million due to lower RISI rates affecting sorted office paper pricing and lower tonnage. We continue to see headwinds in service stops with our national customers, driven by recent losses of mostly low-margin stops with existing customers and site closures. In the quarter, service revenues were up approximately 1% or $2.1 million, mainly driven by the recycling recovery surcharge. As a reminder, when sorted office paper prices are below $192 a ton, we are able to offset approximately 60% of the reduction in paper prices with our recycling recovery surcharge.

在北美，與2023 年第一季相比，安全資訊銷毀有機收入下降了1,220 萬美元，即6%。 %，即1,430 萬美元。由於近期現有客戶的大部分低利潤站點的損失以及站點關閉，我們繼續看到與全國客戶的服務站點遇到阻力。本季度，服務收入成長約 1% 或 210 萬美元，主要受到回收附加費的推動。提醒一下，當分類辦公用紙價格低於每噸 192 美元時，我們可以透過回收附加費來抵消紙張價格下降的約 60%。

Looking year-over-year, we were able to offset approximately 40% of the reduction as the average sorted office paper price in the first quarter of 2023 was over $220 a ton. Our international Secure Information Destruction organic revenues decreased $2.2 million or 8.4%, compared to the first quarter of 2023, mainly due to lower commodity index revenues. Income from operations in the first quarter was $38.9 million compared to $40 million in the first quarter of 2023.

與去年同期相比，我們能夠抵消約 40% 的降價，因為 2023 年第一季分類辦公用紙的平均價格超過每噸 220 美元。與 2023 年第一季相比，我們的國際安全資訊銷毀有機收入減少了 220 萬美元，即 8.4%，主要是由於商品指數收入下降。第一季的營運收入為 3,890 萬美元，而 2023 年第一季的營運收入為 4,000 萬美元。

The $1.1 million decrease was mainly due to lower secure information destruction commodity index revenues, and the corresponding margin flow-through impact of $11.9 million, higher adjusting items of $6.9 million, and higher bad debt expense of $3.8 million, mainly due to a lower first quarter of 2023 bad debt expense level, as a result of improved North America Secure Information Destruction collection. These decreases were partially offset by cost savings and margin flow through of $14.8 million, and lower incentive and stock-based compensation of $5.5 million. Net income was $13.1 million or $0.14 diluted earnings per share compared to $11.2 million, or $0.12 diluted earnings per share in the first quarter of 2023.

減少 110 萬美元主要是由於安全資訊銷毀商品指數收入減少，以及相應的保證金流通影響 1,190 萬美元、調整項目增加 690 萬美元以及壞帳費用增加 380 萬美元，這主要是由於第一季度較低由於北美安全資訊銷毀收集工作的改進，2023 年季度壞帳費用水準有所下降。這些下降被成本節省和 1,480 萬美元的利潤流動以及 550 萬美元的激勵和股票薪酬減少所部分抵消。淨利潤為 1,310 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 0.14 美元，而 2023 年第一季淨利潤為 1,120 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 0.12 美元。

The $1.9 million increase was mainly due to lower interest expense of $2 million, partially offset by lower income from operations, as I just explained. Cash from operations for the 3 months ended March 31, 2024, was an outflow of $54.5 million, compared to an inflow of $49.5 million in the same period of 2023. The year-over-year decrease of $104 million was mainly due to an increase in accounts receivable, net or deferred revenues of $63.1 million due to expected billing and collection delays from the regulated waste ERP launch in September 2023, higher annual incentive plan payments of $17.1 million and other net working capital changes of $23.8 million.

正如我剛才所解釋的，增加 190 萬美元主要是由於利息支出減少了 200 萬美元，部分被營運收入減少所抵消。截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日的三個月營運現金流出 5,450 萬美元，而 2023 年同期流入 4,950 萬美元。萬美元，原因是2023 年9 月啟動受監管的廢棄物ERP 預計會出現計費和收款延遲、年度激勵計畫付款增加1,710 萬美元以及其他淨營運資本變動2,380 萬美元。

In the beginning of the first quarter, we experienced a continuation of accounts receivable trends that we discussed on the fourth quarter call. As a reminder, these trends were mainly driven by the timing of U.S. regulated waste customer billings and collections due to the ERP implementation as we held some invoices for our largest customers for accuracy or meet complex customer invoicing requirements. Beginning in March, accounts receivable balances started to stabilize, and we started to see improvement in collections in April. Adjusted income from operations was $90.5 million or 13.6% as a percentage of revenues, up from $84.7 million or 12.4% as a percentage of revenues in the first quarter of 2023.

在第一季初，我們經歷了在第四季度電話會議上討論的應收帳款趨勢的延續。提醒一下，這些趨勢主要是由 ERP 實施導致的美國監管廢棄物客戶帳單和收款的時間推動的，因為我們為最大的客戶保留了一些發票，以確保準確性或滿足複雜的客戶發票要求。從3月開始，應收帳款餘額開始穩定，4月我們開始看到收款情況有所改善。調整後的營運收入為 9,050 萬美元，佔營收的 13.6%，高於 2023 年第一季的 8,470 萬美元，佔營收的 12.4%。

Adjusted income from operations increased 120 basis points as a percentage of revenues mainly due to cost savings and margin flow-through of 230 basis points, lower incentive and stock-based compensation of 80 basis points, and the impact of divesting lower-margin businesses of 40 basis points. This increase was partially offset by lower Secure Information Destruction Commodity Index revenues and the corresponding margin flow-through impact of 180 basis points and higher bad debt expense of 60 basis points, as explained.

調整後的營運收入佔收入的百分比增加了 120 個基點，主要是由於成本節約和利潤流動增加了 230 個基點，激勵和股票薪酬減少了 80 個基點，以及剝離低利潤業務的影響40個基點。如同所解釋的，這一增長被安全資訊銷毀商品指數收入下降以及相應的 180 個基點的利潤流動影響和 60 個基點的壞帳費用增加部分抵消。

As noted on Slide 10, adjusted diluted earnings per share was $0.57 compared to $0.49 in the first quarter of 2023. Excluding the positive impact from divesting lower-margin businesses of $0.01, the remaining $0.07 year-over-year increase was driven by: one, cost savings and margin flow-through of $0.11; two, for taxes, interest and other are $0.04; and three, lower incentive and stock-based compensation of $0.04. These were partially offset by lower secure information destruction commodity index revenues of $0.09 and lower bad debt expense of $0.03. Capital expenditures for the 3 months ended March 31, 2024, were $43.1 million compared to $36.4 million for the same period last year.

如投影片10 所示，調整後攤薄每股收益為0.57 美元，而2023 年第一季為0.49 美元。因素推動的： , 成本節省和保證金流通為 0.11 美元；二、稅金、利息及其他均為0.04美元；第三，降低激勵和股票薪酬 0.04 美元。這些損失被安全資訊銷毀商品指數收入下降 0.09 美元和壞帳費用下降 0.03 美元部分抵銷。截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日的三個月資本支出為 4,310 萬美元，去年同期為 3,640 萬美元。

Free cash flow for the first quarter was an outflow of $97.6 million compared to an inflow of $13.1 million in the same period of 2023. As noted on Slide 9, the year-over-year decline of approximately $110.7 million was mainly due to lower cash from operations of the $104 million, and higher capital expenditures of $6.7 million. As mentioned on the fourth quarter call and in line with our expectations, we expected a use of cash in the first quarter as it includes our annual incentive compensation payouts, the semiannual debt interest payments and the timing of accounts receivable collections.

第一季自由現金流流出 9,760 萬美元，而 2023 年同期流入 1,310 萬美元。美元。正如第四季度電話會議中所提到的，根據我們的預期，我們預計第一季將使用現金，因為它包括我們的年度激勵薪酬支付、半年度債務利息支付和應收帳款催收時間。

As shown on Slide 11, at the end of the first quarter, our credit agreement-defined debt leverage ratio was 3.51x and aligned with our expectations. The amended credit agreement allows for certain cash add-backs when calculating the credit agreement-defined debt leverage ratio with $50 million of such add-backs that expired at the end of 2023. Expiration of these add-backs, which was anticipated, increased the credit agreement defined debt leverage ratio by approximately 30 points in the first quarter of 2024. We expect to return to our long-term range of 2.5 to 3x later this year.

如投影片 11 所示，第一季末，我們的信貸協議定義的債務槓桿率為 3.51 倍，與我們的預期相符。修訂後的信貸協議允許在計算信貸協議定義的債務槓桿率時進行某些現金加回，其中 5000 萬美元的此類加回將於 2023 年底到期。信貸協議將2024 年第一季的債務槓桿率規定為約30 點。

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 very excited to share that we were recently recognized by Newsweek as one of America's greatest workplaces for diversity and for women. We received the highest rating for offering a diverse and inclusive environment, and celebrating the role diversity plays in driving activity, innovation and organizational success. As always, I'd like to thank our customers, team members and the communities we serve and our shareholders for their continued trust in having Stericycle protect what matters. Operator, please open the line for Q&A.

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，與這一核心價值觀相一致，我非常高興地告訴大家，我們最近被《新聞周刊》認可為美國最多元化和最適合女性的工作場所之一。我們因提供多元化和包容性的環境以及慶祝多元化在推動活動、創新和組織成功方面所發揮的作用而獲得了最高評價。一如既往，我要感謝我們的客戶、團隊成員和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。接線員，請開通問答線。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

And our first question comes from Sean Dodge from RBC Capital Markets.

我們的第一個問題來自加拿大皇家銀行資本市場的 Sean Dodge。

Yes. On the full year EBITDA guidance, Cindy, you said you completed the headcount reduction towards the $40 million to $45 million of in-year cost savings you targeted. The other cost actions you need to take to get the rest of the way to that guidance, the other $15 million to $20 million, give or take, are those the facility and transportation enhancements? I think you mentioned some routing and fleet reduction. Are those part of that $40 million to $45 million or separate? I guess maybe you -- can you just give us a little bit more detail on, what specifically else, needs to be done in the year and how far along you are on all of that?

是的。辛迪，在全年 EBITDA 指導中，您表示您已經完成了人員削減，實現了年內成本節約 4000 萬至 4500 萬美元的目標。為了完成該指導，您需要採取其他成本行動，另外 1500 萬至 2000 萬美元，無論給予還是接受，這些是設施和交通的增強嗎？我想你提到了一些航線和機隊的減少。這些是 4000 萬至 4500 萬美元的一部分還是分開的？我想也許你能告訴我們更多細節，今年還需要做什麼，以及你在這方面進展到什麼程度了？

Yes. No, Sean, thanks for the question. Yes, you're correct. So we've got some savings from last year. We've got the reduction in force that happened this year at the end of February. So for us, we are leaning into the continuation of route rebalancing. And I think the team is making great progress, where they're a small but mighty team for sure. We are leaning into productivity gains that we've seen.

是的。不，肖恩，謝謝你的提問。是的，你是對的。所以我們比去年省了一些錢。我們在二月底就看到了今年發生的兵力削減情況。因此，對我們來說，我們傾向於繼續進行路線再平衡。我認為團隊正在取得巨大進步，他們確實是一支小而強大的團隊。我們正在努力實現我們已經看到的生產力的提高。

We upgraded about 20 facilities last year, everything from conveyance to new autoclaves and quite a bit of other capital expenditure investments. Those things are yielding good results in terms of -- the equipment is staying up, running longer, which reduces the amount of time that we've got to have, folks actually handling materials or staffing them. So that all is working. Remember, there's also a part to this in terms of careful hiring and attrition as well.

去年，我們升級了大約 20 個設施，從運輸工具到新的高壓滅菌器，以及相當多的其他資本支出投資。這些事情正在產生良好的效果——設備保持正常運行，運行時間更長，這減少了我們實際處理材料或配備人員的時間。這樣一切正常。請記住，這其中還包括謹慎的招聘和人員流失。

We're being very disciplined in terms of replacements and a lot of the things to make sure that we keep a keen eye on the reduction in forces that we've already had. So I think it's a combination of all those initiatives. I'm very confident that we are on track, we're certainly trending towards the plan that we had laid out, and I think the team is doing a great job.

我們在替換和很多事情方面都非常嚴格，以確保我們密切注意現有部隊的減少。所以我認為這是所有這些舉措的結合。我非常有信心我們正在走上正軌，我們肯定會朝著我們制定的計劃發展，而且我認為團隊做得很好。

Okay. Great. And then on the free cash flow, Janet, I know you mentioned some impact from accounts receivable in the ERP. Can you just unpack that a little bit more for us? What's happening there? And then you said it looks like it's starting to stabilize as of April. Are we at the point now where we should start to see that begin to reverse? And then just in context of your full -- the $210 million to $265 million. Is this going to be pretty Q4 or back-half weighted? Or with this stabilizing and diversing should free cash pretty ratable over the next few quarters?

好的。偉大的。關於自由現金流，Janet，我知道您提到了 ERP 中應收帳款的一些影響。你能為我們再解釋一下嗎？那裡發生了什麼事？然後你說，從四月開始，情況似乎開始穩定下來。我們現在是否已經到了應該開始看到這種情況開始逆轉的地步了？然後就您的全額而言——2.1 億至 2.65 億美元。這會是漂亮的第四季還是後半加權？或者，隨著這種穩定和多樣化，自由現金在接下來的幾個季度中是否應該相當可觀？

Yes, I'll start. I think you will start to see it improve in the second quarter. We are starting to see momentum and those cash collections remaining. Those are focused on our largest customers that are most complex. For most of our customers, we build about $120 million a month in RWCS in North America, and most of that is coming in. This is intent to pay and just getting the bills right, highly complex over thousands of invoices to be processed over a lot of systems for our customers.

是的，我要開始了。我認為你會在第二季開始看到它的改善。我們開始看到勢頭和剩餘的現金收集。這些主要針對我們最大、最複雜的客戶。對於我們的大多數客戶來說，我們在北美的RWCS 每月建立約1.2 億美元，其中大部分都是進來的。這是非常複雜的。

So we're very encouraged by the momentum we're seeing. I think that will continue into the second quarter a bit, but we intend to flip into positive cash flow as the year progresses and are confident in our guidance because we know that it's money to be paid. And we had predicted that when we were looking at the cash outflow, that I said we would have in the first quarter, that would continue to go into Q1. And actually, internally, we did better on our cash flows than we had thought.

因此，我們對所看到的勢頭感到非常鼓舞。我認為這種情況將持續到第二季​​度，但隨著時間的推移，我們打算轉變為正現金流，並對我們的指導充滿信心，因為我們知道這是要支付的錢。我們曾預測，當我們考慮現金流出時，我說我們將在第一季出現現金流出，這將繼續進入第一季。事實上，在內部，我們的現金流比我們想像的還要好。

And our next question comes from David Manthey from Baird.

我們的下一個問題來自貝爾德 (Baird) 的大衛曼蒂 (David Manthey)。

My first question is that I'm hoping you can outline some of the business problems or processes that you've been able to either solve or improve with the new ERP system so far? And what key projects are next on the timeline? And associated with that, Janet, you talked about the evidence of cost savings and margin flow through. Are you expecting that to accelerate, decelerate or remain at constant levels in quarters ahead?

我的第一個問題是，我希望您能概述一下到目前為止您已經能夠使用新 ERP 系統解決或改進的一些業務問題或流程？接下來的重點項目是什麼？與此相關的是，珍妮特，您談到了成本節約和利潤流動的證據。您預計未來幾季這種情況會加速、減速還是維持在穩定水平？

Great. Dave, great to hear you. Appreciate the questions. So I think the ERP has done -- we look at it two ways. Certainly, it solves problems, but then it also gives us additional capabilities we didn't have. So it's almost as if what can you fix? And then what does it open up as an opportunity for you.

偉大的。戴夫，很高興聽到你的聲音。感謝您提出的問題。所以我認為 ERP 已經做到了——我們從兩個方面來看待它。當然，它可以解決問題，但它也為我們提供了我們沒有的額外功能。所以這就好像你能解決什麼問題？然後它會帶給你什麼機會。

So in terms of problems, anytime you get morning report, if you will, putting it in simple terms, from an RWCS side right now that they are on the same platform as shred with dispatching routing capabilities to know productivity levels, to understand stop counts during a day to be able to and make changes. I don't want to say on the fly, but certainly as customers have different needs. We are early days on the ERP or on the regulated side.

因此，就問題而言，只要您願意，只要您願意，就可以隨時從RWCS 方面獲得晨間報告，簡單來說，它們現在與shred 位於同一平台上，具有調度路由功能，可以了解生產力水平，了解停止計數在一天中能夠做出改變。我不想說即時的，但肯定是因為客戶有不同的需求。我們在 ERP 或監管方面還處於早期階段。

But I think our operators are really leaning into the technology. So for us, better routing, Anytime you can turn around and take 200 vehicles off the street, continue to do the work, just having it routed better, all the miles that you run less, the fuel, everything. Those are some of the problems, if you will call -- or I would just say, the inefficiencies that we're solving for.

但我認為我們的營運商確實傾向於這項技術。所以對我們來說，更好的路線，任何時候你都可以掉頭，讓 200 輛車離開街道，繼續做工作，只是讓它的路線更好，你跑的所有里程，燃料，一切。如果你願意的話，這些就是我們正在解決的一些低效率問題。

And then -- but if you take a look at solutions, right now, as we morph into, let's say, the commercial side and the excellence, we just launched ProtectPLUS. We're looking at understanding our customers better. We are looking at how we can leverage, penetrate, cross-sell, do things better. All of that is coming to life because we're no longer manual.

然後，如果你看看解決方案，現在，當我們轉向商業方面和卓越時，我們剛剛推出了 ProtectPLUS。我們正在尋求更好地了解我們的客戶。我們正在研究如何利用、滲透、交叉銷售，把事情做得更好。所有這一切都將成為現實，因為我們不再是手動的。

So for me, I think it is early days in terms of what the ERP is giving us, but pretty much anything that we're coming out with right now. It is really -- we're morphing from the (inaudible) stage. I used to talk about we're doing an awful lot because we're muscling through. We're now finally combining the (inaudible) with some brain. And the brain is more just the information we're getting and able to use and harness from the ERP. So more to come there, and quite frankly, for us to have reaffirmed long-range guidance, a good bit of us getting better with that is built into that.

因此，對我來說，我認為 ERP 為我們提供的功能還處於早期階段，但我們現在推出的幾乎所有功能都還處於早期階段。確實──我們正在從（聽不清楚）階段轉變。我曾經說過我們做了很多事情，因為我們正在努力克服困難。我們現在終於將（聽不清楚）與一些大腦結合。大腦更多的是我們從 ERP 中獲取並能夠使用和利用的資訊。因此，還有更多的事情要做，坦白說，我們要重申長期指導，我們中的許多人在這方面做得更好。

And then in terms of the momentum on what we're seeing, remember, most we did -- completed the headcount reduction in Q1. So most of the savings are not in Q1. And we're just going to see momentum on that build on the $40 million to $45 million in-year cost savings that we're going to have, David, for the year. We also -- we're going to see that in SG&A and others because that is a key driver for us. But there is also continued route rebalancing. Most of that has been in Secure Information Destruction, we have some momentum that we can build over this year and next and applying the RWCS, and data has been key for us to see insights that we have never seen before, and RWCS which are important.

然後就我們所看到的勢頭而言，請記住，我們所做的大部分工作是在第一季完成了員工人數削減。所以大部分節省不是在第一季。戴維，我們將在今年節省 4,000 萬至 4,500 萬美元成本的基礎上看到這一勢頭。我們還將在銷售、一般行政費用和其他方面看到這一點，因為這是我們的關鍵驅動力。但航線也在持續重新平衡。其中大部分是在安全資訊銷毀方面，我們有一些動力可以在今年和明年建立並應用 RWCS，數據對於我們看到我們以前從未見過的見解至關重要，而 RWCS 很重要。

I just want to point out that margin flow-through from SID from the headwinds that we're seeing in first quarter. The heaviest headwinds we have year-over-year on the commodity index revenue related to the RISI rates was heaviest in the first quarter. We'll see some in the second quarter, and then that will also mitigate as well, creating a margin flow-through in the second of the year.

我只是想指出，SID 的利潤流動來自我們在第一季看到的不利因素。與 RISI 利率相關的商品指數收入年比最大的阻力出現在第一季。我們將在第二季度看到一些情況，然後這種情況也會有所緩解，從而在今年第二季創造利潤流動。

Okay. That's a lot of great information. And then just a quick one. On this ProtectPLUS offering, how important is this going to be? I don't want to overstate it, but -- and secondarily, when you used to break out SQ Med waste, it was higher operating margin than overall, and given that it sounds like you're catering to a SMB customer here? Is it right to assume that ProtectPLUS operating margins would be higher than the corporate average?

好的。這是很多很棒的資訊。然後是快速的。對於 ProtectPLUS 產品來說，這有多重要？我不想誇大這一點，但是——其次，當您過去處理 SQ Med 廢物時，其營業利潤率高於整體，而且考慮到您在這裡是在迎合中小型企業客戶？假設 ProtectPLUS 營業利潤率高於公司平均是否正確？

I'll let Janet kind of address maybe the margin discussion. But for us, we're -- Cory talked about ProtectPLUS. And for us, Dave, you've been a follower for a long time. Any time you take a look, and you compare this to what we're doing in Steri-Safe and being able to provide a similar service really to that niche market, that's small and medium business owner who doesn't have a training department.

我會讓珍妮特來談談利潤率討論。但對我們來說，我們——Cory 談到了 ProtectPLUS。對我們來說，戴夫，你長期以來一直是我們的追隨者。任何時候你看一下，並將其與我們在 Steri-Safe 所做的事情進行比較，並能夠真正為那個利基市場提供類似的服務，那就是沒有培訓部門的中小型企業主。

They don't have compliance departments. They don't have an awful lot of the resources that the big companies have for us, it has been -- our customer base in RWCS really appreciates the expertise we provide to them at their fingertips. And this is our venture into that on the shred side, because with all the cyber, all the information, all the technical things around keeping information secure, that's extremely important to them.

他們沒有合規部門。他們沒有大公司為我們提供的大量資源，我們 RWCS 的客戶群非常感謝我們為他們提供的專業知識。這是我們在碎片方面的冒險，因為所有網路、所有資訊、所有圍繞著保持資訊安全的技術事物，這對他們來說極為重要。

So for us, -- this is allowing us right now -- I think, Cory, I think it was -- I think Cory had mentioned that it is just with new customers at this moment. Where we are providing them that subscription service which takes them away from the transactional engagement that's with us, and really builds the value, builds the connectivity and I think builds the customer stickiness. Because certainly, we're -- I think what we have is something that our competitors and anybody else, the big and the small really aren't offering.

所以對我們來說，——這讓我們現在——我想，科里，我認為——我認為科里已經提到，目前只是針對新客戶。我們為他們提供訂閱服務，使他們遠離我們的交易參與，真正創造價值，建立連接，我認為建立客戶黏性。因為當然，我認為我們擁有的是我們的競爭對手和其他任何人，無論大小，確實無法提供的東西。

And in terms of margin, yes, inherently, your small and medium business customers have a better margin profile than your largest customers. And it has a stability to the margin. Right now, 100% of secure information destruction is transactional by its very nature. And I'd just like to point out this was -- this subscription-based capability was put a place when we went to the ERP for RWCS just last fall. So we didn't have the capability in the system to offer subscription base to our (inaudible) customers. So this is a capability-enabled offering. That also provides a stability and revenue flow-through in the long run as a potential, just like we do our independent customers in RWCS, which about 90% of that revenue, I think, is about subscription based. So it's -- it's an early days. So you're right not to overstate it, but it is encouraging. And it is an example of the capabilities enabled by the ERP.

就利潤率而言，是的，本質上，您的中小型企業客戶比最大的客戶擁有更好的利潤率。且其邊際具有穩定性。目前，100% 的安全資訊銷毀本質上都是事務性的。我想指出的是，這種基於訂閱的功能是在去年秋天我們使用 RWCS 的 ERP 時就已經到位的。因此，我們的系統沒有能力向我們的（聽不清楚）客戶提供訂閱基礎。所以這是一個基於能力的產品。從長遠來看，這也提供了穩定性和收入流動作為潛力，就像我們為 RWCS 的獨立客戶所做的那樣，我認為其中約 90% 的收入來自訂閱。所以現在還處於早期階段。所以你沒有誇大它是對的，但它是令人鼓舞的。這是 ERP 支援的功能的一個範例。

And our next question comes from Scott Schneeberger from Oppenheimer & Company.

我們的下一個問題來自 Oppenheimer & Company 的 Scott Schneeberger。

I'll pick up on that last question. It's very -- ProtectPLUS sounds very interesting as a new offering. Maybe like a 3-part question in this. First one would be, Janet, will the collections on the subscription base, be at the top of the month as opposed to after the fact, which I believe is the way you do Steri-Safe. And please correct me if not. Number two in this is, if you can just add -- provide more for you, Cindy, a progress update on Express and priority pickup services for secure information, that was an initiative you rolled out a couple of years ago.

我來回答最後一個問題。作為一項新產品，ProtectPLUS 聽起來非常有趣。也許這就像一個由三個部分組成的問題。第一個是，珍妮特，訂閱基礎上的收藏將在月末而不是事後進行，我相信這就是您執行 Steri-Safe 的方式。如果沒有，請糾正我。第二點是，如果您可以添加的話，請為您提供更多信息，辛迪，關於安全信息的快遞和優先取件服務的進度更新，這是您幾年前推出的一項舉措。

Just curious on how that's progressing as you're clearly looking to innovate in the destruction business. And lastly, on this topic, should we expect any innovation, this is -- you have the ERP in place, for (inaudible) over a year. So we're seeing this innovation from you. Should we expect innovation with regard to regulated waste in a matter of time, particularly with regard to the top line?

只是好奇這方面的進展如何，因為您顯然希望在銷毀業務方面進行創新。最後，關於這個主題，我們是否應該期待任何創新，即—您已經部署了 ERP（聽不清楚）一年多了。所以我們看到了您的這項創新。我們是否應該期待在監管廢棄物方面的創新在時間問題上，特別是在營收方面？

So I'll take the first question on collections. So yes, you are right, we do bill in advance and for the subscription billing and RWCS. So various two questions. We are also asked going for credit cards with ProtectPLUS as well or billing by ACH.

那麼我將回答關於集合的第一個問題。所以是的，您是對的，我們會提前計費以及訂閱計費和 RWCS。所以有兩個問題。我們也被要求使用 ProtectPLUS 信用卡或 ACH 計費。

So that is a cashflow improvement and versus the transactional, you do it and then you bill. So it is another win for this particular product. And then I'll turn it over to Cindy for the Express and Priority.

因此，這是現金流的改善，與交易相比，你先做然後計費。因此，這是該特定產品的另一個勝利。然後我會將其轉交給 Cindy 以獲得特快和優先服務。

Sure. So absolutely, the Express and the Priority continues along very well. We've got the teams that are selling it. I think that's a drive -- it's amazing how many folks really one thing -- this on-demand culture, that Priority purge really fits right into that, matching that demand. So I think I think we've got some positive things going on there. And then, Cory, I would say the short answer to your last question is, there innovation coming with RWCS that's unleashed by the ERP. Cory can answer that. I know we won't say anything prematurely. But Cory?

當然。所以絕對，Express 和 Priority 繼續發展得很好。我們有團隊在銷售它。我認為這是一種驅動力——令人驚訝的是，有多少人真正喜歡這種按需文化，而優先清除確實適合這種文化，符合這種需求。所以我認為我們正在發生一些積極的事情。然後，Cory，我想說你最後一個問題的簡短答案是，RWCS 帶來了由 ERP 釋放的創新。科里可以回答這個問題。我知道我們不會太早說任何話。但是科里？

Yes. I think great questions. I think ultimately, we're excited about the capabilities there. I think it's safe to assume we'll continue to see innovation. We've talked in the past about, obviously, new centers and some innovation we're doing there. So that will continue. We've talked about new sites and facilities. But I think the big unlock there is data. We've talked about this in past earnings calls, I think the really exciting thing for us, especially as we move into more sustainability targeted innovations.

是的。我認為這是很好的問題。我認為最終我們對那裡的功能感到興奮。我認為可以肯定地認為我們將繼續看到創新。顯然，我們過去曾討論過新中心以及我們在那裡所做的一些創新。所以這將繼續下去。我們已經討論過新地點和設施。但我認為最重要的是數據。我們在過去的財報電話會議中討論過這一點，我認為這對我們來說確實令人興奮，特別是當我們轉向更永續目標的創新時。

The data is really all unlocking opportunities for us to really see some innovation in the way we present data, the way we target opportunities for savings for customers, but more importantly, to give better insights into benchmarking waste streams, areas of opportunity to drive recycling capabilities, things like that, that I think are going to be unlocked again from this new ERP technology. So more to come there, early days, but we're excited about the innovation pipeline that continues to grow.

這些數據確實為我們提供了機會，使我們能夠真正看到數據呈現方式的一些創新，我們為客戶尋找節省機會的方式，但更重要的是，可以更好地洞察廢物流基準、推動回收的機會領域我認為這種新的 ERP 技術將再次釋放諸如此類的功能。雖然還處於早期階段，還會有更多的事情出現，但我們對持續成長的創新管道感到興奮。

I appreciate that everyone. I know I did a 3 for 1 on the first one, but I would like to ask a second question. And I guess, Cindy probably for you primarily just -- how is the pricing environment across both major segments and in disruption more on the service as opposed to use paper. But just curious, are you able to cover more than inflationary pressure. And how sort of are you in -- across both segments?

我很感激大家。我知道我在第一個問題上做了 3 比 1，但我想問第二個問題。我想，辛蒂對你來說可能主要是──兩個主要細分市場的定價環境如何，以及服務的顛覆性如何，而不是使用紙張。但只是好奇，你能承受的不只是通膨壓力嗎？您在這兩個領域的表現如何？

I think that's a great question, Scott. Another thing I think, just internally that the ERP has really afforded us the opportunity to stay current, to be more engaged to be able to be more adaptive and flexible as we see those things. So for me, I think overall pricing I don't see there being any major pushback from customers. And quite frankly, I think we -- most companies, like Stericycle from, I think, January of 2022 when inflation hit 9%, had their opportunities to go back and forth with reference to negotiations on, hey, where should price be? I think for us right now, I think we're in a very steady rhythm.

我認為這是一個很好的問題，斯科特。我認為的另一件事是，就內部而言，ERP 確實為我們提供了跟上潮流的機會，讓我們更加投入，能夠在我們看到這些事情時變得更加適應和靈活。因此，對我來說，我認為整體定價並沒有看到客戶有任何重大阻力。坦白說，我認為我們——大多數公司，例如Stericycle，我想，2022 年 1 月通膨率達到 9% 時，他們有機會來回討論「嘿，價格應該在哪裡？」的談判。我認為現在對我們來說，我認為我們的節奏非常穩定。

And I think we're looking to continue with whether it's CPIs or those types of things, as we move forward. But I see stability. I think what you're really driving at is, are we seeing any problems with it? For me, I see more stability. I see our ability on both sides of the business be able to extract the value that we expect for services that we provide.

我認為，隨著我們的前進，我們希望繼續關註消費者物價指數或此類問題。但我看到了穩定性。我認為你真正的目的是，我們發現它有什麼問題嗎？對我來說，我看到了更多的穩定性。我認為我們業務雙方都有能力從我們提供的服務中獲得我們期望的價值。

And one moment for our next question. And our next question comes from Tobey Sommer from Truist Securities.

請稍等一下我們的下一個問題。我們的下一個問題來自 Truist Securities 的 Tobey Sommer。

This is Jeff, [a rebound] for Tobey. For the U.S. regulated waste business, I'm just curious if you could stratify the growth trends you're seeing between the large and small quantity generators, as well as what competitive behavior looks like on price from some of the smaller players in the market?

這是傑夫，托比的[籃板球]。對於美國受監管的廢棄物業務，我只是好奇您是否可以對大型和小型生產商之間的成長趨勢進行分層，以及市場上一些較小參與者的價格競爭行為？

Yes. Good question. I think for us, that large quantity generator is really our -- we call it our hospital group, if you will. Some of these hospital networks have grown quite large I think when you take a look at growth, there are -- it really is very interesting. We're pleased with what we're seeing in terms of volume -- looks like it's returning. I think more to come as it unfolds. We're encouraged by what we're seeing. It is mixed in terms of that recovery, though, certain areas, staffing has come back. And are in a little bit better shape than maybe some of the others. But for us, we're very encouraged by what we see in terms of the opportunity to grow there.

是的。好問題。我認為對我們來說，大量的發電機確實是我們的——如果你願意的話，我們稱之為我們的醫院集團。其中一些醫院網絡已經發展得相當大，我認為當你觀察增長情況時，會發現——這確實非常有趣。我們對所看到的數量感到滿意——看起來它正在回歸。我認為隨著事情的展開，還會有更多的事情發生。我們對所看到的感到鼓舞。不過，就復甦而言，情況好壞參半，但在某些領域，人員配備已經恢復。而且他們的身體狀況可能比其他一些人好一些。但對我們來說，我們看到在那裡發展的機會感到非常鼓舞。

And then I know there's typically a seasonal impact in the first half with back season for Shred-it. So just kind of curious if you've seen the seasonal uplift there that you'd normally expect -- and whether you've seen tonnage start to, I guess, stabilize a bit more as the return to office trend discontinued?

然後我知道，Shred-it 的上半場和淡季通常會受到季節性影響。因此，我有點好奇，您是否已經看到了通常預期的季節性上升，以及我猜，隨著重返辦公室趨勢的停止，您是否已經看到噸位開始更加穩定？

Yes, I think that's a good call out. It is kind of a minor blip, not everybody as soon as they do their taxes purge everything from 7 years prior. So it isn't quite an apples-to-apples. The other thing I want to say with reference to Q1, we did see some -- we did have some adverse weather in the beginning of -- or through January, we had several facilities. We had the usual things with the usual things with pipes bursting and vehicles not being able to get out. And as a result with us on the shred business, that means transactions weren't able to happen that day, which means we missed some revenue. So I think all in all, those things kind of washed as we moved through the quarter.

是的，我認為這是一個很好的呼籲。這只是一個小插曲，並不是每個人在繳稅後都會清除 7 年前的一切。所以這並不完全是同類的。關於第一季度，我想說的另一件事是，我們確實看到了一些——我們在年初確實遇到了一些惡劣的天氣——或者整個一月，我們有幾個設施。我們遇到了常見的事情，管道爆裂，車輛無法駛出。結果，我們從事碎紙業務，這意味著當天無法進行交易，這意味著我們錯過了一些收入。所以我認為總而言之，隨著我們度過這個季度，這些事情都被洗掉了。

So for us, as we move forward into Q2, I think that the ones that we do like about this business is it isn't really extreme cycles or seasonality to it. So I think we're encouraged where we are, which is why we believe we're going to continue to make guidance as originally outlined.

因此，對我們來說，當我們進入第二季時，我認為我們對這項業務的真正喜歡之處在於它並不是真正的極端週期或季節性。因此，我認為我們的現狀受到了鼓舞，這就是為什麼我們相信我們將繼續以最初概述的方式提供指導。

And our next question comes from Michael Hoffman from Stifel.

我們的下一個問題來自 Stifel 的 Michael Hoffman。

So Cindy, congratulations on being noted as a woman who inspires by [Waste360].

所以，Cindy，恭喜您被認為是一位受到 [Waste360] 啟發的女性。

Michael, thank you very much. That was a very kind little public service announcement.

邁克爾，非常感謝你。這是一個非常友善的小公益公告。

So my questions are around growth first. In medical waste, I think of you as having kind of in the low 30s penetration in the small -- what used to be called small generator, your independent market. Cory talked about a go-to-market strategy on the fourth quarter call so there's why can't you get the next incremental dock.

所以我的問題首先是關於成長。在醫療廢棄物方面，我認為你們在小型（過去被稱為小型發電機）的獨立市場中的滲透率在 30 多歲左右。科里在第四季度的電話會議上談到了進入市場的策略，所以這就是為什麼你不能獲得下一個增量碼頭。

But in volume part of the market. Mike said is you're a little underweighted relative to your hospitals in assisted living and nursing homes. So isn't that -- and also golden opportunity even as waiting for the staffing volume recovery issue and the existing [base], there's a new customer add opportunity as well?

但在市場量上佔有部分份額。麥克說，相對於輔助生活醫院和療養院的醫院來說，你們的權重有點偏低。那麼，這不是一個黃金機會嗎？

Michael, it's almost as if you've been in a couple of the rooms, we do talk about that. And one of the things that I think the ERP has done first. And quite frankly, one of the things that a stable workforce. So we are staffed accordingly. And when you reroute and you rebalance routes and you take miles out of drivers days. It provides them an opportunity within their territory, and to be more productive as you drive density within that day's worth of work.

邁克爾，就好像您已經去過幾個房間一樣，我們確實談論過這一點。我認為 ERP 首先完成的事情之一。坦白說，穩定的勞動力是其中之一。因此我們配備了相應的人員。當你重新規劃路線並重新平衡路線時，你就會減少司機的工作時間。它為他們提供了在自己的領域內的機會，並且當您在當天的工作價值中提高密度時，可以提高工作效率。

So for us, when you have the opportunity to do more than just drive across town, drive to the next county and worry about time commitments for big customers or bigger customers. When you tighten up your routes, you afforded the opportunity to look left and right and go after different leads and go after different opportunities, because you do have appropriate staffing now to be able to provide the service that all of those customers expect.

因此，對我們來說，當您有機會做更多事情時，不僅僅是開車穿過城鎮，開車到下一個縣，並擔心大客戶或更大客戶的時間承諾。當您收緊路線時，您就有機會左顧右盼，尋找不同的線索並尋找不同的機會，因為您現在確實擁有適當的人員配備，能夠提供所有這些客戶期望的服務。

And as you can imagine, when you're dispatching looks more like a bowl of spaghetti, sometimes it's very difficult to add -- to look for something else in order to capture and gain that revenue. So as we continue to rebalance and we continue to really get, I think, pretty efficient. I'm pretty proud of this team, having lived in the world of efficiency for 30 years before getting here. I would stack the ability that our people and the learnings that they're getting with this new technology, I'd stack it up against many. And for us, as we do that, you're right, that's where operations improvements and engineering improvements come to the table and share with commercial that, hey, we have the opportunity do more and be more, and then we can get more aggressive in those avenues.

正如您可以想像的那樣，當您的調度看起來更像是一碗意大利麵條時，有時很難添加 - 尋找其他東西來獲取和獲得收入。因此，隨著我們繼續重新平衡，我認為我們繼續變得非常有效率。我為這個團隊感到非常自豪，在來到這裡之前，我已經在效率世界中生活了 30 年。我會將我們的員工的能力以及他們從這項新技術中學到的知識疊加起來，我會將其與許多人進行比較。對我們來說，當我們這樣做時，你是對的，這就是營運改進和工程改進出現的地方，並與商業分享，嘿，我們有機會做得更多，做得更多，然後我們可以變得更加積極主動在那些途徑中。

So I think we are as good as the service we provide, as we get tighter and we get better with our routes, you can then open up the service to more. And I think that's finally a position where we putting ourselves in as we move forward.

因此，我認為我們的服務與我們提供的服務一樣好，隨著我們的路線變得越來越緊，我們的路線也越來越好，您就可以向更多人開放服務。我認為這最終是我們前進時所處的位置。

And then on the shred side, Janet, could you disaggregate for us or help us as we strip away SOP, and we strip away the CVS and Rite Aid site facility closures, where same-store otherwise stops up, so we're seeing organic growth.

然後在切碎方面，珍妮特，您能否為我們分解或幫助我們取消 SOP，我們取消 CVS 和 Rite Aid 站點設施關閉，否則同店就會停止營業，所以我們看到有機生長。

Yes. So if you take away what's going on with the national footprint and good to call out, we're seeing encouraging signs on the rest of the small medium business. And what's going on there. And really, it's a really commodity issue as well as you well know. And if you strip out globally, all the commodity-based revenue, just look at service revenue was up about 3% globally and about 2.9% North America.

是的。因此，如果你不考慮全國足跡的情況，我們會看到其他中小型企業出現了令人鼓舞的跡象。那裡發生了什麼事。事實上，正如您所知，這確實是一個商品問題。如果剔除全球所有以商品為基礎的收入，只要看看服務收入，全球成長了約 3%，北美成長了約 2.9%。

Perfect. And then -- just so we don't get your top line wrong. If you gave -- if you knew if the current SOP price was the price for the whole quarter, what's our headwind year-over-year?

完美的。然後——這樣我們就不會弄錯你的頂線。如果您知道目前的 SOP 價格是否是整個季度的價格，我們的同比逆風是什麼？

Yes. So significant headwind for the year. I think we're looking at -- I'm trying to get the number right here. It's like $18 million or something, like it's a big number. That was headwinds. Are you looking for the headwinds Q1 over Q1?

是的。今年的逆風如此之大。我想我們正在考慮——我正在努力獲得這裡的數字。好像是1800萬美元什麼的，好像是一個很大的數字。那是逆風。您是否在尋找第一季相對第一季的不利因素？

Well, you told us in 1Q, I have that data because you gave it to us, but there's going to be another headwind hits supposed to be smaller in Q2.

好吧，你在第一季告訴我們，我有這些數據，因為你把它給了我們，但第二季還會有另一個阻力，應該會更小。

It's more in Q2. It's less than what it was in Q1 significantly. If you just look at the paper pricing year-over-year, it starts to mitigate in the comparison. And then it ceases to be a headwind in the second half of the year.

第二季更多。明顯低於第一季的水平。如果你只看逐年的紙張定價，你會發現比較中它開始有所緩解。然後到下半年就不再是逆風了。

So $10 million?

那麼1000萬美元？

Yes. It's actually in the -- around the $5 million range is our best guess for the second quarter of what we see year-over-year, and then it gets to be a nonissue in the second half of the year.

是的。實際上，我們對第二季度同比情況的最佳猜測約為 500 萬美元，然後到下半年就不再是問題了。

Right. And then squeeze one last one. Cindy, about a couple of years ago, I asked you this question about, could you go from transaction-based to service base. So now I understand why you were so enthusiastic because it was going to be in the ERP. Five years out, what do you think the mix looks like?

正確的。然後再擠最後一顆。辛迪，大約幾年前，我問過你這個問題，你能從基於交易的轉向基於服務的嗎？現在我明白為什麼您如此熱情了，因為它將納入 ERP。五年後，您認為這種組合會是什麼樣子？

Yes. I think just as Janet had mentioned, if you take a look in our best bellwether is Steri-Safe on the regulated side. We've got a large customer base in terms of independent, which would be the equivalent to the small and medium businesses on the shred side. So for us, if you take a look at about 90% of that independent is in that subscription base.

是的。我認為正如珍妮特所提到的，如果您看看我們最好的領頭羊是受監管方面的 Steri-Safe。我們在獨立方面擁有龐大的客戶群，這相當於碎紙方面的中小型企業。所以對我們來說，如果你看一下大約 90% 的獨立作品都在訂閱基礎上。

I think for us it at least put a target out there for us to work towards -- so I don't know exactly what it will be, but I know what it turned into and we've matured on the regulated side. So I think we've challenged ourselves internally that we know what's possible.

我認為對我們來說，它至少為我們設定了一個目標，讓我們努力實現——所以我不知道它到底是什麼，但我知道它會變成什麼，而且我們在監管方面已經成熟了。所以我認為我們已經在內部挑戰了自己，我們知道什麼是可能的。

And certainly, different businesses, different needs. But for us, we think there's great upside there, and that's what we're going to continue to work towards.

當然，不同的業務，不同的需求。但對我們來說，我們認為那裡有很大的上升空間，這就是我們將繼續努力的方向。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

And our next question comes from Kevin Steinke from Barrington Research Associates.

我們的下一個問題來自 Barrington Research Associates 的 Kevin Steinke。

So just again following up on the ProtectPLUS offering. You mentioned the $2 million contribution from new customers only. Does that imply that you have not yet begun to cross-sell it to existing customers, which presumably is a large opportunity for penetration. As you referenced there with the high levels of Steri-Safe penetration that you've achieved?

因此，再次跟進 ProtectPLUS 產品。您提到僅新客戶貢獻了 200 萬美元。這是否意味著您尚未開始向現有客戶交叉銷售，這可能是一個巨大的滲透機會。正如您所提到的，您已經實現了高水準的 Steri-Safe 滲透？

That's exactly right, Kevin. It's been I guess on new customers only. We expect more opportunity to manifest as we go throughout the year, but we've started with only new contracts.

完全正確，凱文。我猜這只是針對新客戶。我們預計全年會出現更多機會，但我們一開始只簽訂了新合約。

Okay. Do you have a (inaudible) of that timing is when you might start to ramp up the cross-sell for ProtectPLUS to existing customers?

好的。您是否知道（聽不清楚）您可能開始向現有客戶加強 ProtectPLUS 交叉銷售的時機？

Yes. That will -- obviously, over the course of the next few years, as contracts come up, we'll have the opportunity to write them on the new ProtectPLUS offering. And so it will continue to trickle throughout the rest of this year and in the years to come.

是的。顯然，在接下來的幾年裡，隨著合約的簽訂，我們將有機會將它們寫在新的 ProtectPLUS 產品上。因此，它將在今年剩餘時間和未來幾年繼續不斷湧現。

And I'm showing no further questions. I would now like to turn the back over to Cindy Miller for closing remarks.

我沒有再提出任何問題。現在我想請辛蒂·米勒（Cindy Miller）發表結束語。

Thank you, Justin. And to everyone listening on this call, we appreciate your interest in Stericycle, and your shared excitement for our future. Thank you all very much.

謝謝你，賈斯汀。對於收聽本次電話會議的每個人，我們感謝您對 Stericycle 的興趣，以及您對我們未來的共同興奮。非常感謝大家。

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

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。