Stantec Inc (STN) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to Stantec's third-quarter 2024 results webcast and conference call. Leading the call today are Gord Johnston, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Vito Culmone, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

歡迎參加 Stantec 2024 年第三季業績網路直播和電話會議。今天主持電話會議的是總裁兼執行長 Gord Johnston 和執行副總裁兼財務長 Vito Culmone。

Stantec invites those dialing in to view the slide presentation, which is available in the Investors section at stantec.com. Today's call is also webcast. Please be advised that if you have dialed in while also viewing the webcast, you should mute your computer as there is a delay between the call and the webcast.

Stantec邀請所有撥入電話會議的與會者查看幻燈片演示文稿，該演示文稿可在stantec.com網站的「投資者」版塊中找到。今天的電話會議也提供網路直播。請注意，如果您在撥打電話的同時觀看網路直播，則應將電腦靜音，因為通話和網路直播之間存在延遲。

All information provided during this conference call is subject to forward-looking statements, qualification set out on slide 2, detailed in Stantec's Management Discussion and Analysis and incorporated in full for the purposes of today's call. Unless otherwise noted, dollar amounts discussed in today's call are expressed in Canadian dollars and are generally rounded.

本次電話會議中提供的所有資訊均屬於前瞻性陳述，相關限定條件已在第 2 頁幻燈片中列出，並在 Stantec 的管理層討論與分析中進行了詳細說明，並已完整納入本次電話會議。除非另有說明，今天電話會議中討論的金額均以加元表示，並且通常會進行四捨五入。

With that, I'm pleased to turn the call over to Mr. Gord Johnston.

接下來，我很高興將電話交給戈德約翰斯頓先生。

Good morning. and thank you for joining us today. I'm happy to report very solid third-quarter results as we delivered another record quarter. We continue to see strong demand in all of our geographies and across our business operating units. Climate change, aging infrastructure, industry shifts, reshoring of production and incremental and breakthrough technologies all continue to drive this demand.

早安，感謝您今天收看我們的節目。我很高興地報告，第三季業績非常穩健，我們又創下了季度業績新高。我們在所有地區和所有業務營運部門都持續看到強勁的需求。氣候變遷、基礎設施老化、產業轉型、生產回流以及漸進式和突破性技術都在持續推動這項需求。

We achieved record net revenue of $1.5 billion, up almost 16% compared to Q3 2023. This was generated with 6.5% organic and almost 8% acquisition growth. We delivered solid organic growth in each of our key geographies, and we had organic growth in each of our business operating units with the exception of energy and resources.

我們實現了創紀錄的淨收入 15 億美元，比 2023 年第三季成長了近 16%。其中，內生成長佔 6.5%，收購成長佔接近 8%。我們在每個主要地區都實現了穩健的內生成長，除能源和資源部門外，我們每個業務營運部門都實現了內生成長。

Our water and buildings businesses both realized double-digit organic growth. As a result of solid project execution, adjusted EBITDA for the quarter rose to $275 million, up almost 14%, with a very healthy margin of 18%, and we delivered adjusted EPS of $1.30, also up 14%.

我們的水務和建築業務都實現了兩位數的內生成長。由於專案執行穩健，本季調整後 EBITDA 增至 2.75 億美元，成長近 14%，利潤率高達 18%，調整後每股收益為 1.30 美元，也成長了 14%。

In addition to our record results, I want to highlight a recent accolade that Stantec received. Newsweek recently released their list of Canada's Most Responsible Companies for 2025. I'm very pleased to announce that Stantec was ranked at number one for our commitment to climate, social welfare and responsible governance. Over 700 of Canada's largest private and public companies were evaluated on over 30 key performance indicators.

除了我們創紀錄的成績之外，我還想重點介紹Stantec最近獲得的一項榮譽。《新聞週刊》最近發布了2025年加拿大最具責任感公司名單。我非常高興地宣布，Stantec 在氣候、社會福利和負責任的治理方面表現出色，排名第一。加拿大700多家最大的私人和上市公司根據30多項關鍵績效指標進行了評估。

Those results were coupled with a corporate social responsibility reputation survey of over 4,000 Canadian consumers. The final rankings list included only 150 companies, where Stantec achieved the highest score and was the only firm in the rankings to achieve a score of 100 related to governance. We're honored to be recognized by organizations like Newsweek for our leadership in sustainability and for making a positive impact on society.

這些結果與一項針對 4000 多名加拿大消費者的企業社會責任聲譽調查相結合。最終排名榜單僅包含 150 家公司，其中 Stantec 獲得了最高分，也是排名中唯一一家在公司治理方面獲得 100 分的公司。我們很榮幸能得到《新聞周刊》等機構的認可，這肯定了我們在永續發展領域的領導地位以及我們對社會的正面影響。

Now I'll turn to our results in each of our geographies. Our US business continues to perform well, delivering a 9% increase in net revenue for the third quarter, including 5.6% organic and approximately 2% acquisition growth. The public and private investments that we're seeing in the US allowed all of our business operating units to achieve solid organic growth.

現在我將介紹我們在各個地區的調查結果。我們的美國業務持續表現良好，第三季淨收入成長了 9%，其中有機成長 5.6%，收購成長約 2%。我們在美國看到的公共和私人投資使我們所有的業務營運部門都實現了穩健的內生成長。

Significant transit, rail and roadway, and residential development projects contributed to double-digit organic growth in infrastructure. Water capitalized on continued robust public sector and industrial demands as well as large-scale water security projects. Our buildings business saw continued strong demand across most subsectors, including health care, industrial, and science and technology.

重要的公共交通、鐵路、公路和住宅開發項目促成了基礎設施兩位數的自然增長。水務產業受益於持續強勁的公共部門和工業需求以及大規模的水安全專案。我們的建築業務在大多數子行業都持續保持強勁需求，包括醫療保健、工業以及科學技術。

In Canada, we grew our net revenue by almost 18%, with 9% organic growth and 8.5% acquisition growth. Each of our infrastructure, buildings and water businesses experienced double-digit organic growth. Our infrastructure team saw a significant ramp-up in work related to major roadway projects in Western Canada, transit and rail projects in Eastern Canada, and land development projects in Alberta.

在加拿大，我們的淨收入成長了近 18%，其中有機成長為 9%，收購成長為 8.5%。我們的基礎設施、建築和水務業務均實現了兩位數的自然成長。我們的基礎設施團隊在加拿大西部的主要公路項目、加拿大東部的公共交通和鐵路項目以及阿爾伯塔省的土地開發項目方面都迎來了顯著的工作量成長。

Our buildings business performed extremely well as they continue their leading work in healthcare, civic and education. And our water business continued to outperform, working on major wastewater projects across the country. The ramp-up of a major power-intensive industrial project this quarter helped our Canadian energy and resources business return to growth.

我們的建築業務表現非常出色，他們在醫療保健、市政和教育領域繼續保持領先地位。我們的水務業務持續表現出色，在全國各地開展了多個大型污水處理項目。本季一項大型高耗能工業計畫的啟動，幫助我們在加拿大的能源和資源業務恢復了成長。

Our global operations generated over 30% growth in net revenue, reflecting 22% acquisition and close to 6% organic growth. Our industry-leading water business saw strong organic growth across the UK, New Zealand and Australia through long-term framework agreements and public sector investment in water infrastructure.

我們的全球業務淨收入成長超過 30%，其中收購成長 22%，內生成長接近 6%。我們行業領先的水務業務透過長期框架協議和公共部門對水利基礎設施的投資，在英國、紐西蘭和澳洲實現了強勁的內生成長。

Buildings achieved 16% organic growth as work continued to ramp up on the Cancer Center in Dubai and on the GBP4 billion battery cell manufacturing facility in the UK. And our environmental services business continued to see strong organic growth from energy transition projects in Europe. Our global energy and resources business, particularly in mining, saw a slight retraction again this quarter, offsetting growth in the US and Canada.

隨著杜拜癌症中心和英國價值 40 億英鎊的電池製造廠的建設工作不斷推進，建築業務實現了 16% 的有機成長。我們的環境服務業務持續受惠於歐洲的能源轉型計畫而實現強勁的內生成長。本季度，我們的全球能源和資源業務，特別是採礦業務，再次出現小幅萎縮，抵消了美國和加拿大市場的成長。

Now I'll turn the call over to Vito to review our financial results in more detail.

現在我將把電話交給維托，讓他更詳細地回顧我們的財務表現。

Thank you, Gord, and good morning, everyone. The very strong results we delivered in Q3 continues our solid track record thus far for the 2024 fiscal year. Gross revenue in Q3 grew to $1.9 billion, up almost 14% year over year and net revenue of $1.5 billion is up almost 16%. On a year-to-date basis, net revenue was approximately $4.4 billion, up almost 15% compared to last year at this time.

謝謝你，戈爾德，大家早安。我們在第三季的強勁業績延續了我們2024財年迄今的良好發展勢頭。第三季總營收成長至 19 億美元，較去年同期成長近 14%；淨收入為 15 億美元，較去年同期成長近 16%。今年迄今為止，淨收入約為 44 億美元，比去年同期成長近 15%。

As a percentage of net revenue, projects came in at 54.3%, a decrease of 50 basis points compared to Q3 of 2023, reflecting a minor shift in project mix and, as previously stated, project recoveries and change order approvals in 2023 that were higher than normal for a single quarter. As Gord mentioned, we achieved a very solid adjusted EBITDA margin of 18% in Q3.

專案收入佔淨收入的百分比為 54.3%，比 2023 年第三季下降了 50 個基點，反映出專案組合略有變化，如前所述，2023 年的專案回收和變更訂單批准數量高於正常水準。正如戈爾德所提到的，我們在第三季度實現了非常穩健的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率，達到 18%。

Our year-to-date EBITDA margin now stands at 16.7%. And our adjusted diluted EPS in the quarter increased 14% year over year to $1.30. This increase reflects strong operational performance, along with the revaluation impacts of our long-term incentive program due to strong share price appreciation in the prior period.

我們今年迄今的 EBITDA 利潤率目前為 16.7%。本季經調整後的稀釋每股盈餘年增 14% 至 1.30 美元。這一成長反映了強勁的營運業績，以及由於上期股價大幅上漲而導致的長期激勵計畫的重估影響。

Turning to our cash flow, liquidity and capital resources. During the first nine months of the year, we generated very strong cash flows, achieving $296 million in operating cash flow. This reflects continued strong organic revenue growth, partially offset by an increased investment in net working capital in support of organic revenue growth.

接下來談談我們的現金流、流動性和資本資源。今年前九個月，我們產生了非常強勁的現金流，實現了 2.96 億美元的營運現金流。這反映了持續強勁的內生性收入成長，但部分被為支持內生性收入成長而增加的淨營運資本投資所抵銷。

DSO at the end of the quarter stood at 80 days, which is within our target range. And as a reminder, DSO is typically a little higher in the third quarter as a result of the seasonal impacts. Our net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio at quarter end was 1.5 times, a reduction from 1.7 times at the end of Q2, which reflects the free cash flow we generated in the quarter. We continue to remain well within our target range of 1 to 2 times, and the balance sheet is in great shape.

本季末的應收帳款週轉天數為 80 天，符合我們的目標範圍。另外要提醒一下，由於季節性因素的影響，第三季的應收帳款週轉天數（DSO）通常會略高一些。本季末，我們的淨負債與調整後 EBITDA 比率為 1.5 倍，較第二季末的 1.7 倍有所下降，這反映了我們本季產生的自由現金流。我們繼續保持在 1 到 2 倍的目標範圍內，資產負債表狀況良好。

Lastly, one technical accounting matter I wanted to speak to briefly. Our Q3 financial statements reflect adjustments emanating from clarifying guidance that the IFRS Interpretations Committee issued in April of this year. This guidance relates to how deferred acquisition consideration should be treated when it may also be contingent on the seller's continuing employment.

最後，我想簡單談談一個技術會計問題。我們的第三季財務報表反映了因國際財務報告準則解釋委員會今年 4 月發布的澄清性指導意見而產生的調整。本指南涉及在遞延收購對價可能取決於賣方繼續就業的情況下，應如何處理遞延收購對價。

Note 3 of our Q3 financial statements fully summarizes the accounting impacts resulting from the updated guidance. However, in a nutshell, the adjustments aggregate to a noncash charge, reducing goodwill by approximately $310 million and a reduction in our retained earnings by approximately the same amount. I will highlight that this reduction was not in any way related to operating performance but rather to how the terms of our past agreements were documented, and we do not anticipate future impacts from this updated interpretation.

我們第三季財務報表附註 3 全面總結了更新後的指引所帶來的會計影響。簡而言之，這些調整加起來會產生非現金支出，導致商譽減少約 3.1 億美元，留存收益減少約相同金額。我要強調的是，此次削減與經營業績沒有任何關係，而是與我們過去協議條款的記錄方式有關，我們預計這種更新的解釋不會對未來產生影響。

Before handing the call back to Gord, with this being my first earnings call here at Stantec, I just wanted to share how excited I am to be here. It's a true privilege to join you, Gord, my executive colleagues, a strong finance team, and the rest of Stantec's over 32,000 employees. In my short time here, it's abundantly obvious to me that Stantec has truly built something special, and with that comes significant value creation opportunities for years to come.

在將電話交還給 Gord 之前，由於這是我在 Stantec 的第一次財報電話會議，我只想分享我來到這裡有多麼興奮。能與您、Gord、我的高階主管同事、強大的財務團隊以及 Stantec 的 32,000 多名員工一起工作，我感到非常榮幸。在我短暫的停留期間，我非常清楚地感受到 Stantec 確實打造了一些特別的東西，隨之而來的是未來幾年巨大的價值創造機會。

Gord, I'll now hand the call back to you.

戈爾德，現在我把電話交還給你。

Great. Thanks, Vito. At the end of the third quarter, our backlog reached a record-setting $7.3 billion. Since December of 2023, this represents 9.5% acquisition and almost 5% organic growth, which was achieved across all of our regions. Backlog traditionally declined in the third quarter as we burn through a significant amount of work. However, this year, despite our strong revenues, we've seen an increase in backlog sequentially from Q2, which really highlights the demand for our services. Our backlog represents approximately 12 months' work.

偉大的。謝謝你，維托。第三季末，我們的積壓訂單達到了創紀錄的 73 億美元。自 2023 年 12 月以來，這代表著 9.5% 的收購成長和近 5% 的內生成長，這一成長在我們所有地區均已實現。通常情況下，第三季積壓訂單會減少，因為我們會完成大量工作。然而，今年儘管我們的收入強勁，但與第二季度相比，我們的積壓訂單卻環比增加，這充分凸顯了對我們服務的需求。我們積壓的工作量大約相當於 12 個月的工作量。

Let me now highlight just some of the major projects we were awarded in Q3. First, I'll note that in the UK, we continue to secure our future workload related to AMP8 in the regulated water business. During the quarter, we received a significant win with Northern Ireland Water to provide feasibility, design and climate change services for the next regulatory cycle.

現在讓我重點介紹一下我們在第三季獲得的一些主要項目。首先，我要指出的是，在英國，我們將繼續確保與 AMP8 相關的受監管水務業務的未來工作量。本季度，我們與北愛爾蘭水務公司達成了一項重大協議，將為其下一個監管週期提供可行性研究、設計和氣候變遷服務。

In addition, we continue to secure additional AMP8 frameworks across the UK with significant contracts being won with both Thames Water and United Utilities over the last quarter. This brings the total number of AMP8 framework secured across the UK and Ireland to over 20, strengthening our position as the leading water firm in the UK and securing our market share in regulated water.

此外，我們繼續在英國各地獲得額外的 AMP8 框架協議，上個季度與泰晤士水務公司和聯合公用事業公司都簽訂了重要合約。這使得我們在英國和愛爾蘭獲得的 AMP8 框架協議總數超過 20 個，鞏固了我們作為英國領先水務公司的地位，並確保了我們在受監管水務領域的市場份額。

Second, between community development and buildings, we've been awarded an MSA to assist a confidential data center client in selecting sites and providing design services for multiple data center campuses across Western Canada. In terms of scale, each site will equate to hundreds of megawatts.

其次，在社區發展和建築方面，我們獲得了 MSA 協議，以協助一家保密的資料中心客戶選擇場地，並為加拿大西部多個資料中心園區提供設計服務。從規模上看，每個站點的裝置容量將達到數百兆瓦。

While data centers currently only account for 1% to 2% of our overall net revenue, it is one of the fastest-growing areas within our buildings business. And given our strong expertise in the space, we see this business potentially tripling within just a couple of years.

雖然資料中心目前僅占我們整體淨收入的 1% 到 2%，但它是我們建築業務中成長最快的領域之一。鑑於我們在該領域的強大專業知識，我們預計這項業務在短短幾年內可能會成長三倍。

Lastly, I'm pleased to highlight that we've just won our third master services agreement with LUMA Energy in Puerto Rico. This MSA is part of a Federal Emergency Management Agency-funded effort to continue to rebuild and strengthen the electrical grid in Puerto Rico following major hurricanes.

最後，我很高興地宣布，我們剛剛與波多黎各的 LUMA Energy 公司簽訂了第三份主服務協議。該MSA是聯邦緊急事務管理局資助的一項工作的一部分，旨在颶風過後繼續重建和加強波多黎各的電網。

We've done a lot of work with LUMA over the past few years. And over the next three years, this new MSA will allow Stantec's teams to continue engineering and grid reconstruction designs and upgrades to aging infrastructure, including multiple transmission lines, distribution feeders and substations.

過去幾年，我們與 LUMA 進行了許多合作。在接下來的三年裡，這項新的主服務協議將使 Stantec 的團隊能夠繼續對老化的基礎設施進行工程和電網重建設計及升級，包括多條輸電線路、配電饋線和變電站。

And now turning to our guidance. Based on our strong performance in Q3 and outlook for Q4, we're expecting 2024 to be another record-setting year. With that, we're raising certain targets in our guidance and narrowing some ranges further. We're increasing the bottom end of our net revenue range for the year to 14.5% to 15%, up from 12% to 15%. We remain confident with our expectations of organic net revenue growth being in the mid- to high single digits and acquisition growth being in the high single digits.

現在讓我們來看看我們的指導意見。根據我們第三季的強勁表現和對第四季的展望，我們預計 2024 年將是另一個創紀錄的年份。因此，我們提高了部分業績預期目標，並進一步縮小了部分預期區間。我們將今年的淨收入範圍下限從 12% 到 15% 提高到 14.5% 到 15%。我們仍然對有機淨收入成長（中高個位數）和收購收入成長（高個位數）的預期充滿信心。

In addition, we continue to expect the US and global regions to deliver organic growth in the mid- to high single digits and Canada to be in the mid-single digits. We maintain our target for adjusted EBITDA margin for the year to 16.5% to 16.9%, which reflects our continued confidence in solid project execution and operational performance. With our increased expectations for net revenue growth, we now expect adjusted diluted EPS growth to be in the range of 16% to 18%, up from 12% to 16%, and our adjusted ROIC to now be above 12%.

此外，我們繼續預期美國和全球地區的有機成長率將達到中高個位數，加拿大地區的有機成長率將達到中個位數。我們維持全年調整後 EBITDA 利潤率目標為 16.5% 至 16.9%，這反映了我們對穩健的專案執行和營運績效的持續信心。由於我們對淨收入成長的預期提高，我們現在預計調整後的稀釋每股盈餘成長率將在 16% 至 18% 之間，高於先前的 12% 至 16%，調整後的 ROIC 也將超過 12%。

2024 is shaping up to be another record-setting year for Stantec, which puts us in a great position to continue to successfully execute on our 2024 to 2026 strategic plan. The demand fundamentals for our business remain strong, and I'm excited for what's to come in 2025 and beyond.

2024 年有望成為 Stantec 又一個創紀錄的年份，這使我們能夠繼續成功執行 2024 年至 2026 年的策略計畫。我們業務的基本需求依然強勁，我對 2025 年及以後的發展充滿期待。

And with that, I'll turn the call back to the operator for questions. Operator?

那麼，我就把電話轉回給接線生，回答大家的問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Benoit Poirier, Desjardins.

（操作說明）Benoit Poirier，Desjardins。

Congrats for the results, and welcome to the Stantec team, Vito.

恭喜你取得好成績，歡迎Vito加入Stantec團隊。

Thank you, Benoit.

謝謝你，貝努瓦。

Yeah. Just in terms of organic growth, obviously, very strong performance during the quarter, especially from water and building that reported double digit. Any thoughts about the double-digit sustainability for those two segments?

是的。單就有機成長而言，顯然本季表現非常強勁，尤其是水務和建築業務，均實現了兩位數的成長。對於這兩個細分市場兩位數的永續發展目標，大家有什麼看法？

And also, if you could comment about energy and resources. Obviously, you experienced some delays in the ramp-up of new projects and the wind down of some projects late in 2023. So just wondering what we could expect in the coming quarter for this segment.

另外，如果您能談談能源和資源的問題就更好了。顯然，你們在 2023 年底遇到了一些新專案啟動延遲和一些專案結束延遲的情況。所以我想知道在接下來的一個季度裡，這個板塊會有什麼發展趨勢。

Yeah. Thanks, Benoit. For water and buildings, we see really strong tailwinds for both of them. Certainly, our water franchise, extremely busy here in Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand with the framework agreements there. And as we've mentioned, we've now won over 20 AMP8 frameworks in the UK and Ireland. So very, very strong growth going forward for the next couple of years there.

是的。謝謝你，貝努瓦。對於水和建築物而言，我們看到兩者都有非常強勁的順風。當然，我們的水務特許經營業務在加拿大、美國、澳洲和紐西蘭非常繁忙，因為我們與這些國家簽訂了框架協議。正如我們之前提到的，我們現在已經在英國和愛爾蘭贏得了超過 20 個 AMP8 框架。因此，未來幾年該地區將保持非常強勁的成長勢頭。

Buildings is another interesting one for us. We all look at the ABI index and 20 quarters of successive performance below 50. But yet for us, you can see the strong organic growth that we've had in buildings for the last couple of years, just a little over 11% year-to-date for us here now. So we see good continued growth in the buildings section.

建築是我們另一個很感興趣的領域。我們都關注ABI指數，該指數已連續20季低於50。但就我們而言，您可以看到我們在過去幾年中建築業務的強勁自然成長，今年迄今為止，我們的成長率略高於 11%。因此，我們看到建築板塊持續保持良好的成長勢頭。

So to your comment on E&R, you're right. We've come off last year -- every quarter that we had in E&R in 2023 was pretty strong, particularly in the first part of the year. So we have seen some -- in Q3, Canada and the US, we both had some positive net revenue growth there. But it really was the global mining business that pulled things down a little bit.

所以，關於你對E&R的評論，你是對的。去年我們取得了不錯的成績——2023 年 E&R 的每個季度都表現強勁，尤其是在上半年。所以我們看到了一些——在第三季度，加拿大和美國，我們這兩個國家的淨收入都實現了正成長。但真正拖累整體水準的，是全球採礦業。

So I think what we see is that we're still confident that we're going to return to organic growth in E&R in Q4. Just as an aside, the backlog in our energy and resources group is up about 9% year-to-date. So that really kind of supports that thesis of returning to backlog growth here in Q4 and certainly stronger performance going into 2025.

所以我認為我們看到的是，我們仍然有信心在第四季度恢復勘探與開發領域的有機成長。順便提一下，我們能源和資源部門的積壓訂單今年迄今增加了約 9%。所以這確實支持了第四季度訂單積壓成長將恢復的論點，並且肯定會在2025年取得更強勁的業績。

Yeah, definitely improving trend in E&R.

是的，勘探與開發領域的確呈現良好的發展趨勢。

Yeah.

是的。

Okay. That's great color. And just with respect to the margin, a little bit down versus a year ago, even if you normalize with LTIPs. I'm looking at admin and marketing expenses; percentage was up slightly versus a year ago. Is it just a matter of LTIPs? Or is there more cost to support the strong bidding activities that you see out there?

好的。顏色真好看。即使將長期激勵計劃 (LTIP) 納入考量，利潤率也比一年前略有下降。我正在查看行政和行銷費用；與去年同期相比，百分比略有上升。僅僅是長期激勵計劃（LTIP）的問題嗎？或者說，支持目前市場上活躍的競標活動是否需要更多成本？

Benoit, you're absolutely right. As a percentage of NR, our Q3 admin was 37.5% this year versus 37.3%, so up a little bit. That does reflect some benefit actually we had last year. The share-based compensation would have been a headwind again because we had share price appreciation. This year was fairly neutral. So when you adjust for that, you do have a bit more of increase relative to what we're showing in the externals.

貝努瓦，你說得完全正確。佔 NR 的百分比，我們第三季的管理費用為 37.5%，而今年為 37.3%，略有上升。這確實反映了我們去年取得的一些收益。由於股價上漲，股權激勵計畫原本會再次成為不利因素。今年的情況則比較中性。所以當你考慮到這一點後，相對於我們在外部數據中顯示的數據，成長幅度會更大一些。

And what that reflects really is labor training and integration with respect to some of the, acquisitions which is normal, all within our expectations. We've got some slightly lower utilization as we move staff off over some major projects coming out of last year into this year. But all very much within our expectations, and we really are, as we look into Q4 and into 2025, pleased with the progress against that.

這實際上反映的是勞動力培訓和整合，以及一些收購項目，這很正常，都在我們的預期之內。由於我們將部分人員調往去年的一些重大項目，導致今年的設備利用率略有下降。但這一切都在我們的預期之內，展望第四季和 2025 年，我們對所取得的進展感到非常滿意。

Jacob Bout, CIBC.

Jacob Bout，加拿大帝國商業銀行。

Yeah. Looking for maybe your thoughts around the election results. The view seems to be that Trump administration will be supportive of the IIJA and CHIPS Act, but that we could see some changes to the IRA program in USAID. What are your thoughts? And any adjustments that you think you'll have to make?

是的。想聽聽您對選舉結果的看法。目前的普遍看法是，川普政府將支持《國際投資援助法案》(IIJA) 和《兒童援助和保護法案》(CHIPS Act)，但我們可能會看到美國國際開發署的《投資援助法案》(IRA) 項目發生一些變化。你有什麼想法？你認為需要做哪些調整？

I think as we were -- we've been thinking over the last year or so what a change in administration, either change or same administration, in the US might look like for our business and our industry overall. I think in general, we feel pretty neutral about whichever firm was in there. We've been around a long time, performed well under Republican Presidents and Democratic Presidents. So to your point, I think IIJA is good. I think CHIPS and Science is good. Even IRA, the majority of that funding has been disbursed to Republican states.

我認為，在過去一年左右的時間裡，我們一直在思考，美國政府換屆（無論是換屆還是維持原狀）會對我們的業務和整個行業產生怎樣的影響。總的來說，我們對最終執政的是哪家公司持比較中立的態度。我們成立時間很長，在共和黨總統和民主黨總統執政期間都表現出色。所以，正如你所說，我認為IIJA很好。我認為《CHIPS and Science》這門課很好。即使是個人退休帳戶（IRA），大部分資金也撥給了共和黨執政的州。

So will there be a pullback there? Hard to say, Jacob. But if President Trump might bring tariffs in, certainly, that might bring some onshoring of manufacturing facilities back. And we've actually already had some manufacturing clients calling us asking about siting and design should that occur. So we actually feel pretty positive about the economic opportunities for us going forward.

那麼那裡會出現回調嗎？很難說，雅各。但如果川普總統真的徵收關稅，當然可能會促使一些製造業工廠回流到美國。事實上，已經有一些製造業的客戶打電話來詢問如果發生這種情況，選址和設計方面的問題。所以，我們對未來的經濟機會感到非常樂觀。

Okay. And then maybe just going back to the Investor Day that we had last December, you're talking in a '26 net revenue of $7.5 billion and EBITDA margins of about 17% to 18%. Does that feel about right? I mean, you're taking up your revenue guidance here or at least the midpoint. Does it feel like it's a bit more on the conservative side? Or how are you thinking about that?

好的。然後，也許可以回顧我們去年 12 月的投資者日，當時我們預計 2026 年淨收入為 75 億美元，EBITDA 利潤率約為 17% 至 18%。這樣感覺對嗎？我的意思是，你們在這裡採用了營收預期，或至少採用了其中值。感覺它是不是稍微偏保守一些？或者，你對此有何看法？

I think we still feel really comfortable with that, Jacob. Recall, that was 50% net revenue growth in a three-year period of time. And so we're performing well. This year, we see that continued performance. But yes, we're not putting out any changes to that guidance at this point.

雅各布，我覺得我們對此仍然感到非常放心。請記住，這是在三年內實現了 50% 的淨收入成長。所以，我們表現不錯。今年，我們看到了這種持續的表現。但是，目前我們暫時不打算對該指導方針做出任何更改。

Yeah. Yes, Jacob, on the margin side of things, obviously, we're pleased with our year-to-date EBITDA margin. I think we delivered a strong Q3 here. I feel good about where we're tracking to on a full-year basis. We'll obviously provide 2025 color here with our year-end results in February and feel very confident that we can step into that 17% to 18% range. And then we'll take it from there, quite frankly. I think there's lots of opportunity.

是的。是的，雅各布，就利潤率而言，顯然我們對今年迄今為止的 EBITDA 利潤率感到滿意。我認為我們第三季業績表現強勁。我對我們全年的發展方向感到滿意。我們顯然會在 2 月的年終業績報告中提供 2025 年的展望，並且非常有信心達到 17% 到 18% 的水平。坦白說，接下來我們就從那裡開始吧。我認為有很多機會。

Frederic Bastien, Raymond James.

Frederic Bastien，Raymond James。

Just wanted to switch gears on M&A. And Gord, wondering if your pipeline is as busy or healthy as it was 12 months ago.

想換個話題聊聊併購。戈爾德想知道，你的管道是否還像 12 個月前那樣繁忙或健康。

Yeah. Thanks, Frederic. Great question. We actually do see the pipeline of M&A very full, not just here in Canada and the United States, but also in different countries around the world. And all sorts of different sizes, from that sub-1,000 firm size to some that are a little bit larger than that.

是的。謝謝你，弗雷德里克。問得好。我們確實看到併購交易管道非常暢通，不僅在加拿大和美國，而且在世界各地都是如此。各種尺寸都有，從小於 1000 的小型公司到比這稍大的公司都有。

So we feel really good about the overall pipeline. We're still feeling good about the competitive environment as to who we would see out there in various processes. So no change to our M&A thoughts, no change to sort of what we're seeing out there in terms of competition or the amount of firms available.

所以我們對整個產品線感到非常滿意。我們仍然對當前的競爭環境感到樂觀，並相信在各種競爭過程中看到一些優秀的選手。所以，我們對併購的看法沒有改變，就競爭格局或可供收購的公司數量而言，我們看到的情況也沒有改變。

Okay. And when you think about adding new building blocks, I guess you mentioned a number of regions, but is there a specific end market where you would like to bolster your presence?

好的。當您考慮增加新的組成部分時，我想您提到了一些地區，但是有沒有您希望加強在某個特定終端市場的業務？

Yeah. I think we still have some opportunities for some tuck-ins here in Canada. But as I look at the US, I absolutely see the opportunity to even double our size in the US. UK, we still have great opportunity to expand there. While we're dominant in water, we're not dominant in some of the other areas that we have, buildings, transportation and so on.

是的。我認為在加拿大，我們仍然有一些機會可以做一些溫暖的事情。但就美國市場而言，我絕對看到了在美國將規模擴大一倍的機會。在英國，我們仍然擁有巨大的擴張潛力。雖然我們在水資源領域佔據主導地位，但在我們擁有的其他一些領域，例如建築、交通運輸等等，我們並沒有佔據主導地位。

We've spoken previously about the Nordics. I still would be interested in doing the right deal up in the Nordics. And we're looking down in Australia and New Zealand a little bit as well, but really focusing on a little bit Canada, the US, UK, Nordics and then a little bit down Australia and New Zealand.

我們之前討論過北歐國家。我仍然有興趣在北歐達成合適的交易。我們也會稍微關心一下澳洲和紐西蘭，但主要還是關注加拿大、美國、英國、北歐國家，然後再稍微關心一下澳洲和紐西蘭。

Maybe just a good time for me to chime in. As the new guy, we've been on the road a little bit, and I do get the questions around capital structure and our perspectives on M&A. And I just want to reiterate what Gord has already articulated here.

或許現在正是我插幾句的好時機。作為新人，我們已經出差了一段時間，我確實會收到關於資本結構和我們對併購的看法的問題。我只想重申一下戈爾德已經在這裡闡述的觀點。

Historically, M&A has been one of the biggest sources of our value creation, and we continue to see significant opportunities. We'll obviously remain disciplined. Balance sheet is in great shape. We continue to be levered here through Q4 and into the early part of the year. But significant growth ahead of us through the M&A channel.

從歷史上看，併購一直是我們創造價值的最大來源之一，我們仍然看到巨大的機會。我們當然會保持紀律。資產負債表狀況良好。我們將繼續保持槓桿狀態，直到第四季和今年年初。但透過併購管道，我們未來將迎來顯著成長。

Maxim Sytchev, NBF.

馬克西姆·西切夫，NBF。

Gordon, I was wondering if potentially you could comment around the UK market in general. It feels like there's a bit of a turning of the page on kind of austerity dynamic. Curious to see if -- and how that could translate for your business in that geography.

Gordon，我想問您是否可以對英國市場發表一下看法。感覺緊縮政策的局面正在發生一些轉變。很好奇這是否以及會如何影響您在該地區的業務。

Yeah. Thanks, Max. Certainly, in the UK, we've talked a lot about the AMP8 cycle. And certainly, we're transitioning to that. It officially starts in April of 2025. The final ruling from Ofwat as to the size of the AMP8 program is expected here in December. But as we've talked about before, all indications are 40% to 50% increase in funding availability.

是的。謝謝你，馬克斯。當然，在英國，我們已經討論了很多關於 AMP8 循環的問題。當然，我們正在向那個方向過渡。正式啟動時間為2025年4月。英國水務監理局 (Ofwat) 預計將於 12 月就 AMP8 項目的規模做出最終裁決。但正如我們之前討論過的，所有跡像都表明，資金可用性將增加 40% 到 50%。

I mentioned that we've secured over 20 new renewals or new AMP frameworks there. So we've been growing by market share a little bit in addition to securing the existing. So water is really, really strong. We've already taken some additional real estate space there. We're hiring people there, scaling up our Pune, India operations already there for that.

我提到我們已經在那裡獲得了 20 多個新的續約協議或新的 AMP 框架協議。所以，除了鞏固現有市場佔有率之外，我們的市佔率也略有成長。所以水的力量真的很強。我們已經在那裡租了一些額外的房地產空間。我們正在那裡招募人員，並擴大我們在印度浦那的業務規模。

From a housing perspective, the new labor government has talked about reducing some of the regulatory burden on the permitting side and getting more new houses built, up to 1.5 million new houses. We've mentioned, I think, previously that we have a four-year master services agreement with Homes England to support that. So maybe it does feel like some of those things are all really positive tailwinds for us in the UK.

從住房角度來看，新工黨政府曾談到要減輕許可方面的一些監管負擔，並建造更多的新房，最多可達 150 萬套新房。我想我們之前已經提到過，我們與 Homes England 簽訂了為期四年的主服務協議來支持這項工作。所以，或許在英國，這些事情確實會讓我們感覺像是順風順水。

Okay. And then just shifting gears to I think in the past couple of quarters, you said that recent M&A sort of in the short term is constraining the margin somewhat. And I'm just wondering if you can maybe provide an update here and potentially link it to some of the design center opportunity that could be coming through, yeah.

好的。然後，我想換個話題，您提到最近幾季的併購活動在短期內一定程度上限制了利潤率。我只是想問您能否在這裡提供一些最新信息，並可能將其與一些即將到來的設計中心機會聯繫起來，是的。

Yeah, Max, it's Vito here. Honestly, from an acquisitions perspective and the integration, we're very, very pleased with the four that we're integrated at this point. We've got our normal sort of impact related to that, but nothing to call out. Really pleased with the margins, really pleased with how admin costs are performing as a percentage of NR. So really, I think it provides a bit of a tailwind as we move through Q4 into 2025. But nothing really abnormal relative to other acquisitions we've had to call out. All in order.

是的，Max，我是Vito。坦白說，從收購和整合的角度來看，我們對目前整合的這四家公司非常非常滿意。這方面我們受到了一些正常的影響，但沒有什麼特別值得一提的。利潤率非常令人滿意，管理成本佔淨收入的百分比也令人滿意。所以，我認為這確實為我們進入 2025 年第四季提供了一定的助力。但與其他我們先前不得不指出問題的收購案相比，這並沒有什麼特別異常的地方。一切正常。

Jonathan Goldman, Scotiabank.

喬納森‧戈德曼，加拿大豐業銀行。

Just one for me. I wanted to circle back to the question around the potential impacts of the recent elections. Gord, does that change your outlook for the water franchise in the US and specifically the potential funding allocated to the PFAS renewal work and other water infra programs?

我只留一個。我想再回到最近選舉可能產生的影響這個議題上來。戈爾德，這是否會改變你對美國水務特許經營權的看法，特別是對分配給 PFAS 更新工作和其他水利基礎設施項目的潛在資金的看法？

Yeah. There's some funding for water program enhancement in the IIJA and certainly that's there. Will there be changes to either PFAS regulatory limits or time frames for work to be done? All remains to be seen.

是的。IIJA 中確實有一些用於加強水資源計畫的資金，這一點毋庸置疑。PFAS監理限值或相關工作的時間框架是否會改變？一切還有待觀察。

But while we've done some of that work and the industry is starting to ramp up for that work, that still is a couple of years down the road. So whether or not there's a change made to that, I don't see causing any impact on our water business in the next number of years. Huge amount of opportunity still in water related to scarcity of water, Southern California, Southwestern US in general, flooding work in a number of the projects that we're doing in Texas and other areas.

雖然我們已經做了一些這方面的工作，而且該行業也開始為這項工作加緊推進，但這還需要幾年的時間才能實現。所以，無論情況如何變化，我認為在未來幾年內都不會對我們的水務業務造成任何影響。水資源短缺問題仍帶來巨大的機遇，尤其是在南加州、美國西南部地區，以及我們在德州和其他地區所進行的多個防洪計畫中。

So there's just so much opportunity there in addition to the number of advanced wastewater and wastewater treatment that we're seeing with some of these new manufacturing facilities that are going in, whether they're semiconductor, solar panel manufacturing and others. So I think really, any impact from the election on our water business will be really muted.

因此，除了我們看到的一些正在興建的新製造工廠（無論是半導體製造、太陽能電池板製造還是其他製造工廠）所帶來的先進廢水和廢水處理技術之外，還有很多機會。所以我認為，這次選舉對我們水務業務的影響其實會非常有限。

I'm showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn it back to Gord Johnston for closing remarks.

我目前沒有其他問題要問。現在我謹將發言權交還給戈德·約翰斯頓，請他作總結發言。

Great. Well, thank you, operator, and thank you to everyone for joining us this morning. If you have any questions following today's call, please reach out to Jess Nieukerk, our VP of Investor Relations. So thanks again, and we look forward to chatting with all of you again soon.

偉大的。好的，謝謝接線員，也謝謝今天早上收看我們節目的各位。如果您在今天的電話會議後有任何疑問，請聯絡我們的投資人關係副總裁 Jess Nieukerk。再次感謝大家，我們期待很快能再次與大家交流。

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.

感謝您參加今天的會議。節目到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線了。