Taskus Inc (TASK) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the TaskUs First Quarter 2023 Investor Call. My name is John, and I'll be your conference facilitator today. (Operator Instructions) And as a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to introduce you to Alan Katz, Vice President of Investor Relations. Thank you, Alan. You may begin.

早上好，歡迎來到 TaskUs 2023 年第一季度投資者電話會議。我叫約翰，今天我將擔任你們的會議主持人。 （操作員說明）作為提醒，正在錄製此會議。我現在想向您介紹投資者關係副總裁 Alan Katz。謝謝你，艾倫。你可以開始了。

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for the TaskUs First Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. Joining me on the call today are Bryce Maddock, our Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer; and Balaji Sekar, our Chief Financial Officer. Full details of our results and additional management commentary are available in our earnings release, which can be found in the Investor Relations section of our website at ir.taskus.com. We have also posted supplemental information on our website, including an investor presentation and an Excel-based metrics file. Please note that this call is being simultaneously webcast on the IR section of our website.

下午好，感謝您加入我們的 TaskUs 2023 年第一季度收益電話會議。今天和我一起參加電話會議的是我們的聯合創始人兼首席執行官布萊斯·馬多克 (Bryce Maddock)；和我們的首席財務官 Balaji Sekar。我們的收益發布中提供了我們業績的全部細節和額外的管理評論，可以在我們網站 ir.taskus.com 的投資者關係部分找到。我們還在我們的網站上發布了補充信息，包括投資者介紹和基於 Excel 的指標文件。請注意，此電話會議正在我們網站的 IR 部分同時進行網絡直播。

Before we start, I would like to remind you that the following discussion contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including, but not limited to, statements regarding our future financial results and management's expectations and plans for the business. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees and involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed here. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from those forward-looking statements can be found in our annual report on Form 10-K, which was filed with the SEC on March 6, 2023.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒您，以下討論包含聯邦證券法含義內的前瞻性陳述，包括但不限於關於我們未來財務業績和管理層對業務的預期和計劃的陳述。這些陳述既不是承諾也不是保證，涉及的風險和不確定性可能導致實際結果與此處討論的結果大相徑庭。您不應過分依賴任何前瞻性陳述。可能導致實際結果與這些前瞻性陳述不同的因素可以在我們於 2023 年 3 月 6 日向美國證券交易委員會提交的 10-K 表格年度報告中找到。

This filing is accessible on the SEC's website and on our website at ir.taskus.com and may be supplemented with subsequent periodic reports we file with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements made on today's conference call, including responses to questions, are based on current expectations as of today, and TaskUs assumes no obligation to update or revise them whether as a result of new developments or otherwise, except as required by law.

該文件可在 SEC 網站和我們的網站 ir.taskus.com 上訪問，並且可能會補充我們向 SEC 提交的後續定期報告。在今天的電話會議上做出的任何前瞻性陳述，包括對問題的回答，都是基於截至今天的當前預期，TaskUs 不承擔更新或修改這些陳述的義務，無論是由於新的發展還是其他原因，除非法律要求.

The following discussion contains non-GAAP financial measures. For a reconciliation of each of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP metric, please see our earnings press release, which is available on the IR section of our website.

以下討論包含非 GAAP 財務措施。如需將這些非 GAAP 財務指標與最直接可比的 GAAP 指標進行核對，請參閱我們的收益新聞稿，該新聞稿可在我們網站的 IR 部分獲取。

With that, I will now turn the call over to Bryce Maddock, our Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer. Bryce?

有了這個，我現在將把電話轉給我們的聯合創始人兼首席執行官布萊斯馬多克。布萊斯？

Thank you, Alan. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. In the first quarter, we outperformed both our revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance ranges. We delivered $235.3 million in revenue compared to the top end of our guidance range of $233 million. We delivered adjusted EBITDA of $55.2 million for an adjusted EBITDA margin of 23.5%, also well above our guidance of a 21% margin.

謝謝你，艾倫。大家下午好，感謝您加入我們。在第一季度，我們的表現優於我們的收入和調整後的 EBITDA 指導範圍。與我們指導範圍的上限 2.33 億美元相比，我們實現了 2.353 億美元的收入。我們交付了 5520 萬美元的調整後 EBITDA，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 23.5%，也遠高於我們 21% 的利潤率指引。

Our first quarter results were stronger than expectations. We revised our revenue outlook for the remainder of the year as the macro environment has become more challenging. We've seen a continued lengthening of the sales cycle delaying some forecasted revenues for the year. Additionally, our U.S.-based delivery revenues continue to decline. Here, the largest client we serve from the U.S. lost a large contract, significantly impacting our forecasted revenues from this client. Finally, we continue to see volatility at our largest global client as their development priorities evolve.

我們第一季度的業績好於預期。由於宏觀環境變得更具挑戰性，我們修訂了今年剩餘時間的收入展望。我們已經看到銷售週期的持續延長推遲了今年的一些預測收入。此外，我們在美國的交付收入繼續下降。在這裡，我們服務的美國最大客戶失去了一份大合同，嚴重影響了我們對該客戶的預測收入。最後，我們繼續看到我們最大的全球客戶隨著他們的發展重點不斷變化而出現波動。

In the first quarter, we took decisive action to drive additional operational efficiency into our own business. As a result, we've improved profitability and now expect to deliver 23.5% adjusted EBITDA margins for the full year. At the midpoint of our guidance range, we expect to earn over $220 million in adjusted EBITDA, essentially unchanged from last quarter's guidance. We also continue to expect to deliver over $100 million in free cash flow at any point in our guidance range, excluding an earn-out payment associated with the heloo acquisition.

在第一季度，我們採取了果斷行動來提高我們自身業務的運營效率。因此，我們提高了盈利能力，現在預計全年調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率將達到 23.5%。在我們指導範圍的中點，我們預計調整後的 EBITDA 收入將超過 2.2 億美元，與上一季度的指導基本持平。我們還繼續期望在我們的指導範圍內的任何時候提供超過 1 億美元的自由現金流，不包括與 heloo 收購相關的盈利支付。

I'll go through the details of our Q1 performance, and provide an update on our 3 strategic growth drivers as well as the impact from our efficiency gains. Balaji will then walk through our financials as well as our updated guidance ranges for Q2 and the remainder of 2023.

我將詳細介紹我們第一季度的業績，並提供有關我們 3 個戰略增長驅動因素的最新信息以及我們效率提升的影響。 Balaji 然後將介紹我們的財務狀況以及我們對第二季度和 2023 年剩餘時間的最新指導範圍。

Starting with growth with our current clients. Revenue from our top 20 clients declined by 8% year-over-year in Q1, impacted by the transition of work offshore and our largest client and the declines in volume at our largest crypto and equity trading clients. If we exclude those 3 clients, our largest 17 clients grew 20% year-over-year. Revenue from our clients outside of the top 20 grew by 17% year-over-year.

從我們現有客戶的成長開始。第一季度來自我們前 20 大客戶的收入同比下降 8%，這是受到離岸工作和我們最大客戶的轉移以及我們最大的加密貨幣和股票交易客戶交易量下降的影響。如果我們排除這 3 個客戶，我們最大的 17 個客戶同比增長 20%。來自前 20 名以外客戶的收入同比增長 17%。

Looking at our service offerings, Digital Customer Experience revenue declined by 1.6% compared with Q1 of 2022. Expansions with existing clients and new client signings were offset by the decline in revenues from crypto and equity trading clients. As a reminder, crypto equity trading clients, which accounted for 15% of total revenues in Q1 of 2022, dropped to just 4% of total revenues in Q1 of this year.

從我們的服務產品來看，數字客戶體驗收入與 2022 年第一季度相比下降了 1.6%。現有客戶的擴張和新客戶簽約被加密貨幣和股票交易客戶收入的下降所抵消。提醒一下，佔 2022 年第一季度總收入 15% 的加密股票交易客戶在今年第一季度下降到僅佔總收入的 4%。

In terms of major DCX signings, we continue to win business from the competition. In Q1, we signed a fast-growing direct-to-consumer wellness product. Their prior outsourcer was not performing, so they turned to us to improve their customer engagement. We're assisting with customer complaints and new product orders via e-mail, chat and voice.

在DCX的主要簽約方面，我們繼續從競爭中贏得業務。在第一季度，我們簽署了一個快速增長的直接面向消費者的健康產品。他們之前的外包商表現不佳，因此他們求助於我們來改善他們的客戶參與度。我們通過電子郵件、聊天和語音協助處理客戶投訴和新產品訂單。

We also signed a sizable contract with a consumer savings app that moved all of their digital support to us from a competitor. They were looking to partner with a company that utilize technology to drive efficiency and quality in supporting their customers.

我們還與一個消費者儲蓄應用程序簽署了一份規模龐大的合同，該應用程序將他們所有的數字支持從競爭對手那裡轉移給了我們。他們希望與一家利用技術提高效率和質量以支持客戶的公司合作。

We also expanded our work during the quarter with the nation's leading home leasing company, after a successful pilot last year. Our work with them spans multiple service lines from voice support for their leasing agents to digital support for their residents to moderation of their social media and online reviews.

在去年的成功試點之後，本季度我們還擴大了與全國領先的房屋租賃公司的合作。我們與他們的合作涉及多個服務領域，從對其租賃代理的語音支持到對居民的數字支持，再到調節他們的社交媒體和在線評論。

Finally, we signed 2 new contracts in the health tech space for Digital Customer Experience. Both of these clients are AI-enabled provider platforms that were looking to leverage our global delivery model to drive efficiency while simplifying practice management and improving the patient experience. We'll be serving one of these clients out of Latin America and another one out of the Philippines.

最後，我們在數字客戶體驗的健康技術領域簽署了 2 份新合同。這兩個客戶都是支持 AI 的提供商平台，他們希望利用我們的全球交付模型來提高效率，同時簡化實踐管理並改善患者體驗。我們將為其中一位來自拉丁美洲的客戶和另一位來自菲律賓的客戶提供服務。

Moving on to trust and safety. Revenues in this service offering declined by 11.5% compared with Q1 of 2022, driven by the impact from our largest client moving work to our locations in the Philippines and India. Despite this, volumes continue to grow within our trust and safety offering. The number of trust and safety teammates at TaskUs increased by 16% year-over-year as volumes grew at our clients.

轉向信任和安全。與 2022 年第一季度相比，這項服務的收入下降了 11.5%，這是受我們最大的客戶將工作轉移到我們在菲律賓和印度的地點的影響所推動。儘管如此，我們的信任和安全產品的數量仍在繼續增長。隨著客戶數量的增長，TaskUs 的信任和安全團隊成員數量同比增長 16%。

Our relationship with our largest client remains strong. We expect that their trust and safety volumes will grow again this year as we continue to take share from competitors. However, given the onshore to offshore shifts and the deprioritization of certain R&D projects, we expect that revenue will decline with this client year-over-year in 2023.

我們與最大客戶的關係依然牢固。隨著我們繼續從競爭對手那里奪取份額，我們預計今年他們的信任和安全量將再次增長。然而，鑑於陸上到海上的轉移以及某些研發項目的優先級降低，我們預計該客戶的收入將在 2023 年同比下降。

Looking at our other clients and signings in our trust and safety offering, we signed a new risk and response engagement with a high-growth fintech company. We're supporting their chargebacks and disputes, know your customer and fraud monitoring work, taking share from another provider.

查看我們的其他客戶和簽署的我們的信任和安全產品，我們與一家高增長的金融科技公司簽署了新的風險和響應協議。我們支持他們的拒付和糾紛，了解您的客戶和欺詐監控工作，從其他供應商那裡獲得份額。

Another milestone for our trust and safety service offering came last month when we were named both the leader and the star performer in Everest Group's Trust and Safety Services PEAK Matrix assessment for 2023. The recognition reflects our continued progress in delivering on our vision for trust and safety clients around the world as well as our significant investments building a hybrid solution of technology and talent to detect and remove harmful content. Our inclusion as a leader among a small handful of large providers is humbling. To further be named a Star Performer demonstrates the trust we've earned from clients as we invest in the best technology and people to protect their platforms.

上個月，我們在 Everest Group 的 Trust and Safety Services PEAK Matrix 評估中被評為 2023 年領導者和明星，這是我們信任和安全服務產品的另一個里程碑。這一認可反映了我們在實現信任和安全願景方面的持續進步世界各地的安全客戶以及我們在構建技術和人才混合解決方案以檢測和刪除有害內容方面的重大投資。我們作為少數大型供應商中的領導者被列入其中是令人羞愧的。進一步被評為 Star Performer 表明我們在投資最好的技術和人員以保護他們的平台時贏得了客戶的信任。

Moving on to our AI service offering. Revenues grew 10.2% in Q1 compared with Q1 of 2022, driven primarily by expansions with our current clients, including growth in the generative AI space. Volumes continue to grow in the service line as well, demonstrated by over 17% growth in the number of teammates providing AI services to our clients.

繼續我們的 AI 服務產品。與 2022 年第一季度相比，第一季度的收入增長了 10.2%，這主要是由於我們現有客戶的擴張，包括生成人工智能領域的增長。服務線的數量也在繼續增長，為我們的客戶提供 AI 服務的團隊成員數量增長超過 17% 就證明了這一點。

Within the service line, we signed expansion agreements with clients in the social media space, and we signed an exciting new generative AI start-up that has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in venture funding. We will be providing adversarial testing to prevent their model from providing harmful or misleading responses.

在服務線內，我們與社交媒體領域的客戶簽署了擴展協議，我們還簽署了一家激動人心的新型生成人工智能初創公司，該初創公司已經籌集了數億美元的風險投資。我們將提供對抗性測試，以防止他們的模型提供有害或誤導性的反應。

After a successful pilot in Europe with this client, we have already expanded to the U.S. our deep understanding of generative AI and our industry-leading wellness program is what differentiated us from the competition and won us this business.

在與該客戶一起在歐洲成功試點後，我們已經擴展到美國。我們對生成人工智能的深刻理解和我們行業領先的健康計劃使我們在競爭中脫穎而出，並贏得了這項業務。

We also signed an expansion with a dating app to provide additional trust and safety support. We'll be leveraging our TaskVerse offering to provide a portion of these services. This will allow for flexibility for the client and is an attractive use case of our gig platform.

我們還與約會應用程序簽署了擴展協議，以提供額外的信任和安全支持。我們將利用我們的 TaskVerse 產品來提供其中的一部分服務。這將為客戶提供靈活性，並且是我們零工平台的一個有吸引力的用例。

Turning to revenue growth within our industry verticals, we're seeing particular strength from our technology and entertainment and gaming verticals, both of which grew 40% year-over-year. Additionally, our on-demand travel and transportation vertical, which includes food delivery clients, grew almost 30% year-over-year. We continue to see clients turning to us to take on volumes as they optimize their internal cost structures.

談到我們垂直行業的收入增長，我們看到技術、娛樂和遊戲垂直領域的實力特別強，這兩個領域都同比增長了 40%。此外，我們的按需旅遊和運輸垂直行業（包括送餐客戶）同比增長近 30%。我們繼續看到客戶在優化其內部成本結構時轉向我們進行批量生產。

One of our largest clients, one of the world's leading e-commerce platforms, expanded their efficiency efforts recently. They've reduced the size of their in-house team and are scaling with us. In addition to scaling our core support offerings, this client relocated multiple strategic business lines to our teams. This year, we expect revenues from this client to nearly double from 2021, and we're now supporting this client from 5 different countries.

我們最大的客戶之一，世界領先的電子商務平台之一，最近擴大了他們的效率工作。他們縮減了內部團隊的規模，並與我們一起擴大規模。除了擴展我們的核心支持產品之外，該客戶還將多個戰略業務線重新分配給我們的團隊。今年，我們預計該客戶的收入將比 2021 年增長近一倍，我們現在正在為來自 5 個不同國家的客戶提供支持。

Another one of our large clients, who we migrated to an outcome-based pricing model, has turned to us to drive cost savings. In order to ensure that this is a win-win, we made significant progress in the quarter, leveraging automation and process reengineering to reduce our teammate count and improve margins. This increase in efficiency drove the majority of the reduction in our global teammate count over the past quarter. As Balaji will discuss, this was also one of the drivers of our margin improvement in Q1, as margins with this client increased by 4 percentage points over the course of the quarter. We expect to see an increase in client interest for outcome-based pricing underpinned by automation in this environment.

我們遷移到基於結果的定價模型的另一位大客戶已轉向我們來推動成本節約。為了確保這是雙贏的，我們在本季度取得了重大進展，利用自動化和流程再造來減少我們的隊友數量並提高利潤率。效率的提高推動了過去一個季度我們全球隊友數量的大部分減少。正如 Balaji 將討論的那樣，這也是我們第一季度利潤率提高的驅動因素之一，因為該客戶的利潤率在本季度內增長了 4 個百分點。我們預計，在這種環境下，客戶對以自動化為基礎的基於結果的定價的興趣會增加。

I'll spend a few minutes discussing our teammates and the environment for talent before I move on to an update on our growth drivers.

在我繼續更新我們的增長動力之前，我將花幾分鐘討論我們的隊友和人才環境。

We ended Q1 with 47,700 teammates, up by 4% compared with Q1 of last year. We grew year-over-year in all geographies with the exception of the U.S. and Ireland. As I mentioned, we also grew the number of teammates year-over-year in both our trust and safety and AI service lines by 16% and 17%, respectively. Despite a competitive environment for talent, we continue to attract new teammates to TaskUs in the quarter and were able to meet all of our hiring SLAs. We exited the quarter with TaskUs teammates rating us 4.5 stars on Glassdoor.

我們在第一季度末擁有 47,700 名隊友，與去年第一季度相比增長了 4%。除美國和愛爾蘭外，我們在所有地區都實現了同比增長。正如我所提到的，我們在信任和安全以及人工智能服務領域的團隊成員數量也同比分別增長了 16% 和 17%。儘管人才競爭激烈，但我們在本季度繼續吸引新隊友加入 TaskUs，並且能夠滿足我們所有的招聘 SLA。我們在本季度結束時，TaskUs 隊友在 Glassdoor 上給我們打了 4.5 星。

Moving on to our growth strategy. I discussed 3 initiatives to accelerate revenue over the course of 2023 on our last earnings call: growing with our large global technology and traditional enterprise clients, expanding to serve increasingly global clients and new geographies and increasing our focus on specialized services.

繼續我們的增長戰略。在我們上次的財報電話會議上，我討論了 2023 年期間加速收入的 3 項舉措：與我們的大型全球技術和傳統企業客戶一起成長，擴展以服務越來越多的全球客戶和新的地區，以及增加我們對專業服務的關注。

First, we continue to expand with the large global technology and traditional enterprise clients that we signed in 2022. To take just one example, in Q4, we ramped to support the holiday volumes of one of the world's largest technology companies. Typically, the majority of these volumes would ramp down in Q1, but our team delivered excellent customer satisfaction and efficiency in our first year supporting this client. As a result, not only did we retain all the volume we had over the holiday season, but we've since doubled the size of this team. We expect to see continued growth with this client this year.

首先，我們繼續擴展我們在 2022 年簽署的大型全球技術和傳統企業客戶。舉個例子，在第四季度，我們增加了對全球最大科技公司之一的假期量的支持。通常，這些數量中的大部分會在第一季度下降，但我們的團隊在支持該客戶的第一年就提供了出色的客戶滿意度和效率。結果，我們不僅保留了假期期間的所有業務量，而且此後我們的團隊規模擴大了一倍。我們預計今年該客戶將繼續增長。

Second, we continue to focus on expanding our global client base, particularly in Europe and Asia. We signed 2 new engagements and an expansion deal with European clients this past quarter. We have a solid pipeline of global opportunities for clients in Europe and Southeast Asia. Our European-based sales team has been integrated with heloo's go-to-market organization, and they've begun to cross-sell our capabilities and offerings.

其次，我們繼續專注於擴大我們的全球客戶群，尤其是在歐洲和亞洲。上個季度，我們與歐洲客戶簽署了 2 項新協議和一項擴展協議。我們為歐洲和東南亞的客戶提供可靠的全球機會渠道。我們位於歐洲的銷售團隊已與 heloo 的上市組織整合，他們已開始交叉銷售我們的能力和產品。

Finally, we continue to see demand for specialized services where we have a distinct competitive advantage. We continue to sign new clients in the health tech space, adding 2 new health care clients in Q1. Health care continues to be a growth opportunity for us.

最後，我們繼續看到對我們具有明顯競爭優勢的專業服務的需求。我們繼續在醫療科技領域簽約新客戶，第一季度新增 2 家醫療保健客戶。醫療保健仍然是我們的增長機會。

We've also seen an increase in demand for our generative AI services. We're now supporting the development of 2 out of the 3 leading large language models. We've developed adversarial testing and prompt engineering teams. In the past quarter, we've doubled the size of the team supporting the industry's leader, and we see significant demand for these services ahead.

我們還看到對我們的生成 AI 服務的需求有所增加。我們現在支持開發 3 個領先的大型語言模型中的 2 個。我們開發了對抗性測試並組建了工程團隊。在上個季度，我們將支持行業領導者的團隊規模擴大了一倍，我們看到未來對這些服務的巨大需求。

Beyond the support that we're providing to generative AI companies, there are significant strategic questions about what generative AI means for the BPO industry in general and our business more specifically. As I said on our last call, we're very excited about the generative AI revolution. We've been using this technology for nearly 2 years. Recently, we've seen a significant uptick in client interest. We've launched TaskGPT, our open AI-powered platform that supercharges the productivity of our teammates. Since the start of the year, we've engaged with multiple clients to implement TaskGPT to improve the efficiency and quality of their workflows.

除了我們為生成式 AI 公司提供的支持之外，關於生成式 AI 對於一般的 BPO 行業以及更具體地我們的業務意味著什麼，還存在重大的戰略問題。正如我在上次電話會議上所說，我們對生成式 AI 革命感到非常興奮。我們已經使用這項技術將近 2 年了。最近，我們看到客戶的興趣顯著增加。我們推出了 TaskGPT，這是我們的開放式 AI 驅動平台，可提高我們團隊成員的工作效率。自今年年初以來，我們已與多家客戶合作實施 TaskGPT，以提高他們工作流程的效率和質量。

While we're early in this journey, this type of dynamic, rapidly changing environment is where TaskUs thrives. We've consistently demonstrated an ability to quickly discover and launch services in new markets as they grow exponentially. Generative AI represents our next opportunity to do this. We believe the future of generative AI is one of augmentation rather than automation. Our talented teammates will leverage these tools to meaningfully improve customer outcomes and operational efficiencies. Over the next few years, there are large revenue opportunities for system integrators and service providers to successfully build, integrate and deploy this technology for our clients.

雖然我們還處於這段旅程的早期，但這種動態、快速變化的環境正是 TaskUs 蓬勃發展的地方。隨著新市場呈指數級增長，我們一直展示了在新市場中快速發現和推出服務的能力。生成式 AI 代表了我們的下一個機會。我們相信生成人工智能的未來是增強而不是自動化。我們才華橫溢的團隊成員將利用這些工具來有意義地改善客戶成果和運營效率。在接下來的幾年裡，系統集成商和服務提供商將有大量的收入機會來為我們的客戶成功構建、集成和部署該技術。

Finally, every new technology produces demand for novel unexpected services. A decade ago, no one would have guessed that tens of thousands of people would be employed moderating political ads on social media or coordinating between restaurants, drivers and hungry customers to ensure food was delivered hot and on time. We believe that the same will be true of generative AI. For example, we expect to see enormous demand for trust and safety services in a world of infinite content creation and deepfake technology. Many other demands are impossible to predict today, but TaskUs is well positioned to discover these service needs and deliver them for our innovative clients.

最後，每項新技術都會產生對新奇服務的需求。十年前，沒有人會想到成千上萬的人會受僱在社交媒體上審核政治廣告，或者在餐館、司機和飢餓的顧客之間進行協調，以確保食物及時熱送達。我們相信，生成人工智能也是如此。例如，我們期望在無限內容創建和深度造假技術的世界中看到對信任和安全服務的巨大需求。今天無法預測許多其他需求，但 TaskUs 可以很好地發現這些服務需求並為我們的創新客戶提供這些需求。

Despite progress across these 3 initiatives, since our last call, we've seen a lengthening sales cycle, lower volumes at our largest U.S. client and shifting priorities impacting projects for our largest global clients. These factors have led us to lower our revenue outlook for the remainder of the year. We now expect that revenue for the full year will be between $925 million and $950 million. We expect to return to year-over-year revenue growth in the fourth quarter at the midpoint of our range.

儘管這 3 項舉措取得了進展，但自我們上次通話以來，我們已經看到銷售週期延長、我們最大的美國客戶的銷量下降以及影響我們最大的全球客戶項目的優先事項發生變化。這些因素導致我們下調了今年剩餘時間的收入預期。我們現在預計全年收入將在 9.25 億美元至 9.5 億美元之間。我們預計第四季度收入將恢復到區間中點的同比增長。

In light of the changed revenue outlook, we've taken immediate action to improve our margins and cash generation. We're executing well on our multiyear efficiency program as demonstrated in our adjusted EBITDA margins for Q1. As a result of these decisive actions, we've increased our guidance for adjusted EBITDA margins to 23.5% for the year, leading to an outlook for adjusted EBITDA dollars that is essentially unchanged.

鑑於收入前景的變化，我們已立即採取行動來提高我們的利潤率和現金生成能力。正如我們第一季度調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率所證明的那樣，我們的多年效率計劃執行得很好。由於採取了這些果斷行動，我們已將全年調整後 EBITDA 利潤率的指引提高至 23.5%，從而使調整後 EBITDA 美元的前景基本保持不變。

We've also reaffirmed our guidance of at least $100 million of free cash flow for the year. We're using this cash to drive shareholder value. We've repurchased over 2.5 million shares since the start of our share repurchase program in September of last year. You'll see that we were even more active in the market during the second quarter, driven by our dynamic repurchase plan that allows us to purchase more shares at lower prices. We see repurchasing our stock as a very attractive use of capital. As a result, our Board has approved an increase in our repurchase authorization of another $100 million through the end of 2024.

我們還重申了我們對今年至少 1 億美元自由現金流的指導。我們正在使用這筆現金來推動股東價值。自去年 9 月我們的股票回購計劃開始以來，我們已經回購了超過 250 萬股股票。您會看到，在我們動態回購計劃的推動下，我們在第二季度的市場上更加活躍，該計劃使我們能夠以更低的價格購買更多的股票。我們認為回購我們的股票是一種非常有吸引力的資本使用方式。因此，我們的董事會已批准在 2024 年底之前將我們的回購授權再增加 1 億美元。

Our 3 strategic growth initiatives, coupled with our focus on cost, will underpin our results for the remainder of 2023 and gives us confidence that we will achieve the revenue, adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow outlook that we provided today.

我們的 3 項戰略增長計劃，加上我們對成本的關注，將鞏固我們 2023 年剩餘時間的業績，並使我們有信心實現我們今天提供的收入、調整後的 EBITDA 和自由現金流前景。

With that, I'll hand it over to Balaji to go through the Q1 financials in a bit more detail and provide our outlook for Q2 and the year ahead.

有了這個，我將把它交給 Balaji 來更詳細地了解第一季度的財務狀況，並提供我們對第二季度和來年的展望。

Thanks, Bryce, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm going to discuss our financial results for the first quarter of 2023. Please note that some of these items are non-GAAP measures and the relevant reconciliations are attached to the press release we issued earlier today.

謝謝，布萊斯，大家下午好。我將討論我們 2023 年第一季度的財務業績。請注意，其中一些項目是非 GAAP 措施，相關對賬已附在我們今天早些時候發布的新聞稿中。

In the first quarter, we earned total revenues of $235.3 million, a decrease of 1.8% compared to Q1 of 2022. We outperformed compared to our guidance as a result of client volumes coming in stronger than expected primarily within our Digital Customer Experience service line. In the first quarter, our Digital Customer Experience offering generated $157.1 million for a year-over-year decline of 1.6%, driven by the impact of lower revenue from our crypto and equity trading clients.

第一季度，我們的總收入為 2.353 億美元，與 2022 年第一季度相比下降了 1.8%。與我們的指導相比，我們的表現優於我們的指導，因為主要是在我們的數字客戶體驗服務線中，客戶數量強於預期。在第一季度，我們的數字客戶體驗產品產生了 1.571 億美元的收入，同比下降 1.6%，這是由於我們的加密貨幣和股票交易客戶收入下降的影響。

Our Trust and Safety business declined by 11.5% compared to Q1 of 2022, resulting in $40.6 million of revenue. This decline was as a result of the geographic mix shift from our largest client moving volumes offshore.

與 2022 年第一季度相比，我們的信任與安全業務下降了 11.5%，收入為 4060 萬美元。這一下降是由於我們最大的客戶將業務量轉移到海外，導致地域組合發生變化。

Our AI Services business grew 10.2% year-over-year for revenues of $37.6 million as a result of expansion with both existing and new clients.

由於現有客戶和新客戶的擴張，我們的 AI 服務業務同比增長 10.2%，收入達到 3760 萬美元。

Our client base has continued to diversify in Q1. Our revenue concentration with our largest client was approximately 20%, down from 22% in Q4 2022 and 24% in Q1 of 2022, primarily driven by the shift from onshore to offshore. Our top 10 and top 20 clients accounted for 58% and 71%, down from 61% and 75% in Q1 of last year.

我們的客戶群在第一季度繼續多樣化。我們與最大客戶的收入集中度約為 20%，低於 2022 年第四季度的 22% 和 2022 年第一季度的 24%，這主要是由於從陸上轉向離岸。我們的前 10 名和前 20 名客戶分別佔 58% 和 71%，低於去年第一季度的 61% 和 75%。

In the first quarter, we generated 54% of our revenues in the Philippines, 20% of our revenues in the United States, 12% of our revenues in India and 14% of our revenues from the rest of the world. As Bryce discussed, we expect to see a continued shift of revenues to our nearshore and offshore geographies. As a result, we now expect the revenues from our U.S. operations to account for approximately 10% of total revenue in the second half of the year.

第一季度，我們 54% 的收入來自菲律賓，20% 的收入來自美國，12% 的收入來自印度，14% 的收入來自世界其他地區。正如 Bryce 所討論的那樣，我們希望看到收入繼續轉移到我們的近岸和離岸地區。因此，我們現在預計下半年來自美國業務的收入將佔總收入的 10% 左右。

Our cost of service as a percentage of revenue was 58.5% in the first quarter compared to 58.9% in Q1 of the prior year. The decline was primarily driven by the stronger dollar in the current quarter compared with Q1 of 2022 and the transition of work from our onshore to offshore locations which have lower cost of service. This was primarily offset by wage inflation and return to office expenses as we have more people back in the office compared with last year.

我們的服務成本佔收入的百分比在第一季度為 58.5%，而去年第一季度為 58.9%。下降的主要原因是本季度與 2022 年第一季度相比美元走強，以及工作從我們的陸上地點轉移到服務成本較低的離岸地點。這主要被工資上漲和重返辦公室費用所抵消，因為與去年相比，我們有更多的人回到辦公室。

Quarter-over-quarter, we have seen our cost of service increase as a percentage of revenues from 57.5% in Q4 to 58.5% this quarter. This is a result of a weaker U.S. dollar as well as wage inflation, partially offset with the margin benefit from our operational efficiency gains.

與上一季度相比，我們看到我們的服務成本佔收入的百分比從第四季度的 57.5% 上升到本季度的 58.5%。這是美元疲軟和工資上漲的結果，部分被我們運營效率提高帶來的利潤收益所抵消。

In the first quarter, our SG&A expenses were $64.3 million or 27.3% of revenue. This compares to SG&A in Q1 2022 of $64.2 million or 26.8% of revenue. Excluding the impact of severance cost, the earn-out accrual associated with our heloo acquisition and stock-based compensation for the quarter, SG&A as a percent of revenue would have been 18.6%. As we realize the impact of cost optimization and other efficiency efforts compared with revenue trends, we expect this percentage to decline.

第一季度，我們的 SG&A 費用為 6430 萬美元，佔收入的 27.3%。相比之下，2022 年第一季度的 SG&A 為 6420 萬美元，佔收入的 26.8%。排除遣散費的影響、與我們的 heloo 收購相關的應計利潤和本季度基於股票的薪酬，SG&A 佔收入的百分比為 18.6%。當我們意識到與收入趨勢相比成本優化和其他效率努力的影響時，我們預計這一百分比會下降。

In the first quarter of 2023, we earned adjusted EBITDA of $55.2 million, a 23.5% margin, compared to $54.1 million and 22.6% in the first quarter of 2022, driven by lower cost of service and a reduction in SG&A, as I just discussed. We outperformed compared with guidance, driven by our strong revenue performance and operational efficiency gains.

2023 年第一季度，我們的調整後 EBITDA 為 5520 萬美元，利潤率為 23.5%，而 2022 年第一季度為 5410 萬美元和 22.6%，這主要是受服務成本降低和 SG&A 減少的推動，正如我剛才所討論的.在我們強勁的收入表現和運營效率提高的推動下，我們的表現優於指導。

Adjusted net income for the quarter was $32.5 million, and adjusted earnings per share was $0.32. By comparison, in the year ago period, we earned adjusted net income of $35 million and adjusted EPS of $0.34. The decline in adjusted net income was primarily due to higher financing expenses compared to last year due to the impact of higher interest rates, offset by the improvement we saw in adjusted EBITDA margins.

本季度調整後淨收入為 3250 萬美元，調整後每股收益為 0.32 美元。相比之下，去年同期，我們的調整後淨收入為 3500 萬美元，調整後每股收益為 0.34 美元。調整後淨收入的下降主要是由於較高利率的影響導致融資費用比去年增加，但被我們看到的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率的改善所抵消。

Now moving on to the balance sheet. Cash and cash equivalents were $167 million as of March 31, 2023 compared with the December 31, 2022 balance of $134 million. In the quarter, we utilized approximately $6.4 million for share repurchases, buying back approximately 390,000 shares at an average price of $16.35. As of quarter end, we had approximately $62.7 million of authorization left on our plan. With today's Board authorization, we now have approximately $155 million remaining in our plan.

現在轉到資產負債表。截至 2023 年 3 月 31 日，現金和現金等價物為 1.67 億美元，而 2022 年 12 月 31 日的餘額為 1.34 億美元。本季度，我們使用了大約 640 萬美元用於股票回購，以平均 16.35 美元的價格回購了大約 390,000 股股票。截至季度末，我們的計劃還剩下大約 6270 萬美元的授權。根據今天的董事會授權，我們的計劃中現在還剩下大約 1.55 億美元。

Cash generated from operations was $43.7 million for the first quarter of 2023 as compared to $36.9 million in Q1 of 2022. Our capital expenditure decreased in the first quarter of 2023 to $5.2 million compared to $17.8 million in Q1 of 2022. The decrease was primarily driven by lower technology-related expenses as employees have returned to the office and the timing of spend within the year. We would expect CapEx to be higher in the second quarter.

2023 年第一季度運營產生的現金為 4370 萬美元，而 2022 年第一季度為 3690 萬美元。我們的資本支出在 2023 年第一季度減少至 520 萬美元，而 2022 年第一季度為 1780 萬美元。減少的主要原因是隨著員工返回辦公室以及年內支出時間的減少，與技術相關的支出減少。我們預計第二季度的資本支出會更高。

Free cash flow was $38.4 million or 69.6% of adjusted EBITDA. This quarter's conversion rate was particularly high given the lower CapEx spend and reduction in working capital.

自由現金流為 3840 萬美元，佔調整後 EBITDA 的 69.6%。鑑於較低的資本支出支出和營運資金減少，本季度的轉化率特別高。

In terms of our financial outlook for the remainder of the year, we have updated our guidance. We now anticipate full year 2023 total revenues to be in the range of $925 million to $950 million.

就今年剩餘時間的財務前景而言，我們更新了指引。我們現在預計 2023 年全年總收入將在 9.25 億美元至 9.5 億美元之間。

As a result of the efficiency gains that we have realized since the start of the year, we have increased our margin outlook and now expect to earn a full year 2023 adjusted EBITDA margin of 23.5%, implying an adjusted EBITDA guide that is essentially unchanged at the midpoint.

由於我們自年初以來實現的效率提升，我們提高了利潤率預期，現在預計 2023 年全年調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 23.5%，這意味著調整後的 EBITDA 指南基本保持不變中點。

We continue to expect free cash flow, which we define as cash flow from operations less CapEx, to be $100 million, excluding the earn-out payment associated with heloo acquisition.

我們繼續預計自由現金流（我們將其定義為運營現金流減去資本支出）為 1 億美元，不包括與 heloo 收購相關的盈利支付。

For the second quarter, we expect revenue to be in the range of $226 million to $228 million, and we expect our adjusted EBITDA margin to be approximately 23% for the quarter. This adjusted EBITDA margin guidance for the second quarter and full year is based on current ForEx rates. So any change to currency rates would impact our margins. As a reminder, the majority of our revenue is billed and collected in U.S. dollars. So we do not see the impact of U.S. dollar fluctuation in our revenues.

對於第二季度，我們預計收入將在 2.26 億美元至 2.28 億美元之間，我們預計本季度調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率約為 23%。這一調整後的第二季度和全年 EBITDA 利潤率指導是基於當前的外匯匯率。因此，匯率的任何變化都會影響我們的利潤率。提醒一下，我們的大部分收入都是以美元計費和收取的。所以我們看不到美元波動對我們收入的影響。

I will now hand it back to Bryce before we take your questions.

在我們回答您的問題之前，我現在將把它交還給 Bryce。

Thank you, Balaji. Before we open for questions, I want to share another TaskUs teammate story. In March, I visited 5 of our 10 sites in the Philippines. Our strategy of building sites and locations outside large metro areas and close to where teammates live meant I got to visit our beautiful facility on the island of Bohol. The location of the Bohol site proved to be very attractive for [Juris], a teammate who joined us after working in Manila for 13 years. Originally from Bohol, Juris is overjoyed to learn that we were opening a facility on the island. Her parents were getting older, and she wanted to be closer to them. But prior to TaskUs, she hadn't been able to find companies with good salaries and benefits near her hometown. As a result of the career that she found with us, Juris was able to spend 3 years living with her father in Bohol behold before he passed away last December.

謝謝你，巴拉吉。在我們開始提問之前，我想分享另一個 TaskUs 隊友的故事。 3 月，我參觀了我們在菲律賓的 10 個站點中的 5 個。我們在大型都市區以外並靠近隊友居住地的建設地點和位置的策略意味著我必須參觀我們在薄荷島的美麗設施。事實證明，薄荷島的位置對 [Juris] 非常有吸引力，他是在馬尼拉工作 13 年後加入我們的隊友。來自薄荷島的 Juris 得知我們要在島上開設一家工廠時非常高興。她的父母年紀越來越大，她想離他們更近一些。但在加入TaskUs之前，她一直沒能在家鄉附近找到薪水和福利都不錯的公司。由於她在我們這裡找到的職業，Juris 得以在她父親於去年 12 月去世之前與她在薄荷島一起生活了 3 年。

She talked about how happy she was to have the time and how grateful she was for the assistance TaskUs provided for her and her father in his final days. Juris also told me how wonderful it is not to have to deal with Manila's notoriously bad traffic and how grateful she is for weekends at the beach and her mother's home cooking. Listening to Juris was an important reminder to me that our strategy of locating sites outside major metro areas and close to where people actually live is critical, not just to lower our costs and increase our ability to recruit the best talent, but also to enhance our teammates' quality of life.

她談到她很高興有時間，她非常感謝 TaskUs 在她和她父親最後的日子里為她和她父親提供的幫助。 Juris 還告訴我，不用面對馬尼拉臭名昭著的交通擁堵是多麼美妙，她是多麼感激在海灘度過週末和她母親做的家常菜。聽 Juris 的演講對我來說是一個重要的提醒，我們將網站選址在主要都市區之外並靠近人們實際居住的地方的戰略至關重要，這不僅是為了降低我們的成本並提高我們招募最優秀人才的能力，而且還可以增強我們的能力隊友的生活質量。

With that, I'll ask the operator to open our line for the question-and-answer session.

有了這個，我會要求接線員打開我們的問答環節。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Maggie Nolan with William Blair.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Maggie Nolan 和 William Blair 的台詞。

I wanted to ask, Bryce, what needs to happen for you to get back to growth, both from kind of an internal TaskUs perspective as well as what your clients need to see and those kind of demand factors.

我想問，布萊斯，你需要做些什麼才能恢復增長，無論是從內部 TaskUs 的角度，還是你的客戶需要看到的以及那些需求因素。

Yes, Maggie, thanks so much for the question. So I think it's important to remember that our offshore and nearshore businesses continue to grow healthily. If we excluded revenue from the U.S. and Ireland, revenue from our offshore and nearshore locations grew 19% year-over-year in Q1, and we expect to see continued double-digit revenue growth in these geographies going forward. Our current guidance includes a significant risk hedge, which takes U.S. revenues to just 10% of total revenues for the back half of the year. And this continues the challenging year-over-year compares that are being driven by the drops in crypto and equity volumes and the onshore to offshore shifts that we began seeing in Q1 of last year. This is the primary driver of the delayed return to revenue growth. With that said, we expect to return to year-over-year revenue growth in Q4 of 2023 at the midpoint of today's guidance.

是的，Maggie，非常感謝你提出這個問題。所以我認為重要的是要記住我們的離岸和近岸業務繼續健康增長。如果我們排除來自美國和愛爾蘭的收入，第一季度我們離岸和近岸地點的收入同比增長 19%，我們預計未來這些地區的收入將繼續保持兩位數增長。我們目前的指引包括一項重要的風險對沖，這使得今年下半年美國的收入僅佔總收入的 10%。這延續了具有挑戰性的同比比較，這是由加密貨幣和股票交易量下降以及我們在去年第一季度開始看到的在岸到離岸轉移所推動的。這是延遲恢復收入增長的主要驅動力。話雖如此，我們預計 2023 年第四季度的收入將在今天指引的中點恢復同比增長。

As the remaining U.S. revenues become a smaller portion of our overall business, we expect sustained demand for our nearshore and offshore services to accelerate this growth into 2024. As I outlined on today's call, there are 3 factors that are driving this growth. First, we continue to expand our relationships with the big tech and enterprise claims that we won last year. As these clients are ramping up their cost savings initiatives, there are meaningful opportunities ahead. Second, we're accelerating our go-to-market efforts in Europe and Asia. And finally, we're delivering on the significant opportunities where we're very well positioned in the health tech and generative AI space.

隨著剩餘的美國收入占我們整體業務的一小部分，我們預計對我們近岸和離岸服務的持續需求將加速這種增長到 2024 年。正如我在今天的電話會議上概述的那樣，有 3 個因素正在推動這種增長。首先，我們繼續擴大與我們去年贏得的大型科技和企業索賠的關係。由於這些客戶正在加強他們的成本節約計劃，未來將出現有意義的機會。其次，我們正在加快我們在歐洲和亞洲的上市努力。最後，我們正在提供重要的機會，我們在健康技術和生成人工智能領域處於非常有利的地位。

That's helpful. And then Balaji, I know the guidance for EBITDA margin has remained strong. Can you talk a little bit about are those cost initiatives deep enough? Are the incremental things that you're doing deep enough to compensate for a slightly lower revenue expectation going forward? And then if you were to come in at the lower end of your guidance, how that would impact the margin as well.

這很有幫助。然後 Balaji，我知道 EBITDA 利潤率的指導一直很強勁。你能談談這些成本舉措是否足夠深入？您正在做的增量工作是否足以彌補未來略低的收入預期？然後，如果你進入指導的低端，那也會如何影響利潤率。

Yes. So Maggie, so as we discussed on the last call, so we kicked off a multiyear program. which is driving efficiencies in our global operating model, leveraging automation and leveraging shared services, which has resulted in millions of dollars in savings, and we quantified that in excess of about $20 million in in-year savings in 2023. So we continue to optimize the spend and continue to drive efficiency in relation to where we are seeing some revenue forecast perspective, that's number one.

是的。 Maggie，正如我們在上次電話會議上討論的那樣，我們啟動了一項多年計劃。這正在提高我們全球運營模式的效率，利用自動化和利用共享服務，從而節省了數百萬美元，我們量化了到 2023 年超過約 2000 萬美元的年內節省。因此我們繼續優化支出並繼續提高效率，這與我們看到的一些收入預測觀點有關，這是第一位的。

And second, just as a reminder, the majority of our cost is variable in nature, which also is linked to revenue. So we're able to continue to drive that efficiently, which is the reason that gives us confidence in increasing our EBITDA guidance to 23.5% for the full year and leaving the dollars, EBITDA dollars, unchanged from our previous guidance.

其次，提醒一下，我們的大部分成本本質上都是可變的，這也與收入有關。因此，我們能夠繼續有效地推動這一目標，這就是讓我們有信心將全年 EBITDA 指引提高到 23.5% 並保持美元、EBITDA 美元與我們之前的指引保持不變的原因。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from the line of Puneet Jain with JPMorgan.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 JPMorgan 的 Puneet Jain。

Bryce, can you talk a bit more about the work you do for this generative AI start-up? Like what are you doing? How are you providing those services? And can those services be transferred to other clients who intend to launch generative AI-based solutions?

Bryce，你能多談談你為這家生成式 AI 初創公司所做的工作嗎？比如你在做什麼？您如何提供這些服務？這些服務能否轉移給其他打算推出基於人工智能的生成解決方案的客戶？

Yes. Thank you, Puneet. The work we're doing for generative AI companies is incredibly exciting. We spun up adversarial testing teams. These are teams of people who are provoking large language models and image generation models to produce offensive content or content that violates terms of service. We're then documenting those violations, so that generative AI engineering teams can further refine their models to protect their users.

是的。謝謝你，普尼特。我們為生成式 AI 公司所做的工作非常令人興奮。我們組建了對抗性測試團隊。這些人的團隊正在激發大型語言模型和圖像生成模型來製作令人反感的內容或違反服務條款的內容。然後，我們會記錄這些違規行為，以便生成式 AI 工程團隊可以進一步完善他們的模型以保護他們的用戶。

In addition to this, we're actually helping to train many of these models answering complex questions, recruiting experts in particular areas of subject matter expertise to help build the future of large language models. Today, we work for 2 of the 3 leading large language models. In the first quarter, we doubled the size of our team supporting the industry's clear leader. We also signed a contract with a very exciting generative AI start-up that has raised hundreds of millions of dollars. So we see this as a rapidly growing area that TaskUs is perfectly suited to support.

除此之外，我們實際上正在幫助訓練許多這些模型來回答複雜的問題，招募特定主題專業領域的專家來幫助構建大型語言模型的未來。今天，我們為 3 個領先的大型語言模型中的 2 個工作。第一季度，我們將支持行業領先者的團隊規模擴大了一倍。我們還與一家非常令人興奮的生成式 AI 初創公司簽訂了合同，該公司已經籌集了數億美元。所以我們認為這是一個快速增長的領域，TaskUs 非常適合支持。

Got it. Got it. And so for your guidance for this year, like for Q2, it implies like a sequential decline from Q1 revenue, but the full year guidance implies like a sequential growth in 3Q and possibly in 4Q also. And you also mentioned that in 4Q, you expect revenue to be up on a year-on-year basis at the midpoint of the guidance. So can you talk about like what drives that confidence of this sequential increase that you expect in second half? And how much visibility you have on that second half revenue at this point of time?

知道了。知道了。因此，對於您今年的指導，就像第二季度一樣，這意味著收入比第一季度連續下降，但全年指導意味著第三季度甚至第四季度的連續增長。你還提到，在第四季度，你預計收入將在指導的中點同比增長。那麼你能談談是什麼推動了你對下半年預期的連續增長的信心嗎？您此時對下半年收入的了解程度如何？

Yes. I mean the confidence comes from the fact that our offshore business is continuing to grow at a very healthy clip. As I said to Maggie's question earlier, in Q1, our offshore and nearshore business grew 19% year-over-year, and we expect to continue to see strong double-digit revenue growth from our offshore and nearshore locations for the remainder of the year.

是的。我的意思是信心來自於我們的離岸業務繼續以非常健康的速度增長。正如我之前對 Maggie 的問題所說，在第一季度，我們的離岸和近岸業務同比增長 19%，我們預計今年剩餘時間我們的離岸和近岸業務收入將繼續保持兩位數的強勁增長.

As you pointed out, unfortunately, since the time of our last call, we've seen some shifts that have impacted our U.S. business. The largest client that we have in the U.S. business lost a significant customer contract, cutting the size of our business with them roughly in half.

正如您所指出的，不幸的是，自我們上次通話以來，我們已經看到一些影響我們美國業務的變化。我們在美國業務中擁有的最大客戶失去了一份重要的客戶合同，將我們與他們的業務規模削減了大約一半。

When we look at the rest of the year, it's important to note just what we're expecting to happen here. So if we look back at 2022, in Q1 of 2022, our U.S. business was over a $300 million annual run rate business. Today, we expect our annual run rate to drop to under $100 million from U.S. delivery in the back half of 2023. So we'll have lost about twice as much business as we have left.

當我們回顧今年剩下的時間時，重要的是要注意我們期望在這裡發生什麼。因此，如果我們回顧 2022 年，在 2022 年第一季度，我們在美國的業務年營業額超過 3 億美元。今天，我們預計我們的年運行率將從 2023 年下半年的美國交付量降至 1 億美元以下。因此，我們失去的業務量將是我們剩下的業務量的兩倍左右。

As the percentage of U.S. business declines, the continued growth in our offshore and nearshore locations will outpace the business that we're losing in the U.S. And that's what gives us confidence about getting back to sequential quarterly revenue growth in Q3, year-over-year revenue growth in Q4 and watching that revenue growth accelerate into 2024.

隨著美國業務的百分比下降，我們離岸和近岸地點的持續增長將超過我們在美國失去的業務。這讓我們有信心在第三季度恢復連續的季度收入增長，同比第四季度的年收入增長，並觀察收入增長加速到 2024 年。

Got you. Let me quickly follow up. Like what do you expect for U.S. mix to be in 2Q? I know for the second half, you said you expect 10%. But what would be that number for 2Q?

明白了讓我趕緊跟進。就像您對美國組合在第二季度的期望一樣？我知道下半年，你說你期望 10%。但是第二季度的數字是多少？

Yes. We're not guiding to that number specifically. But as we said, we had 20% of our global revenues come from the U.S. in Q1. By Q3, we expect that to drop to about 10%. And so you can kind of do the math, and it will be somewhere in between those two numbers.

是的。我們沒有具體指導這個數字。但正如我們所說，第一季度我們全球收入的 20% 來自美國。到第三季度，我們預計這一比例將降至 10% 左右。所以你可以算一下，它會介於這兩個數字之間。

And the next question comes from the line of James Faucette with Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自 James Faucette 與 Morgan Stanley 的對話。

It's [Jonathan] on for James. Good to hear about the utilization of AI in your own operations, especially as you think about potential improvements in productivity. I mean, that said, can you talk about how that may impact your pricing model going forward, particularly as it relates to efficiency gains you may be recognizing in some of your contracts?

這是 [喬納森] 為詹姆斯上場。很高興聽到有關在您自己的運營中使用 AI 的消息，尤其是當您考慮生產力的潛在改進時。我的意思是，也就是說，你能談談這可能會如何影響你未來的定價模式，特別是因為它與你可能在某些合同中認識到的效率收益有關嗎？

Yes, it's a great question, [Jonathan]. Thank you. So obviously, we're very excited about what's taking place in generative AI. Very excited to announce the TaskGPT platform. Clearly, what's happening in this space is a step function change above anything we've seen in the past. And over the next couple of years, we will see this technology automate simple workflows. But given the complexity of the majority of work that we do, we see generative AI primarily as a tool to augment our talented teammates. And so in terms of our pricing models, as I said, in the first quarter, our largest outcome-based pricing agreement, we were able to increase our margins by 4%. And we did that by driving efficiency with process design and technology.

是的，這是一個很好的問題，[喬納森]。謝謝。很明顯，我們對生成人工智能中正在發生的事情感到非常興奮。非常高興地宣布 TaskGPT 平台。顯然，這個空間正在發生的變化是我們過去所見的階躍函數變化。在接下來的幾年裡，我們將看到這項技術使簡單的工作流程自動化。但考慮到我們所做的大部分工作的複雜性，我們將生成式 AI 主要視為增強我們才華橫溢的隊友的工具。因此，就我們的定價模型而言，正如我所說，在第一季度，我們最大的基於結果的定價協議，我們能夠將利潤率提高 4%。我們通過流程設計和技術提高效率來做到這一點。

Going forward, leveraging platforms like TaskGPT is going to enable us to enhance our margins and pass on cost savings to our customers. And this will be done with outcome-based pricing and gain share agreements, which we expect to see an increase in demand for from our customers.

展望未來，利用像 TaskGPT 這樣的平台將使我們能夠提高利潤並將成本節約轉嫁給我們的客戶。這將通過基於結果的定價和收益份額協議來完成，我們預計客戶的需求會增加。

Got it. That's good color. Beyond sort of the company is undertaking a mix shift offshore, are you seeing any changes to like-for-like pricing of deals near term? I mean how are you thinking about the pricing environment now? And how is that being reflected in your outlook?

知道了。這個顏色好除了公司正在海外進行混合轉移之外，您是否看到近期交易的同類定價有任何變化？我的意思是你現在如何看待定價環境？這如何反映在您的前景中？

Yes. It means the pricing environment today is one where we're seeing our clients continue to look for cost savings. We're able to drive those cost savings for our clients by taking them offshore, leveraging our network of locations in tier 2 cities and then baking in technology into the solutions that we're offering to our customers. TaskUs has always been a premium service provider. And so while pricing is always competitive, it's usually not the real reason that we win or lose business.

是的。這意味著今天的定價環境是我們看到客戶繼續尋求節省成本的環境。我們能夠通過將客戶帶到海外、利用我們在二線城市的地點網絡，然後將技術融入我們為客戶提供的解決方案中，從而為我們的客戶節省成本。 TaskUs 一直是優質服務提供商。因此，儘管定價始終具有競爭力，但這通常不是我們贏得或失去業務的真正原因。

And the next question comes from the line of David Koning with Baird.

下一個問題來自 David Koning 與 Baird 的對話。

I guess, my first question, I saw employees were down, I think, 4% sequentially, if I saw that right. And I know for years they've kind of -- they've been building. And really, revenue isn't declining that much. So I was just kind of interested in why employees are down a bit.

我想，我的第一個問題是，如果我沒看錯的話，我認為員工連續下降了 4%。我知道多年來他們一直在——他們一直在建設。實際上，收入並沒有下降那麼多。所以我只是對員工情緒低落的原因感興趣。

Yes. Thanks for the question, Dave. So we did see the number of teammates decline by about 1,800 teammates. About half of that decline was driven by seasonal volumes. The other half was driven by the efficiency gains that we realized in our largest outcome-based contract with our -- with one of our largest clients. And so this is a situation in which we've been able to increase our productivity significantly and thus use fewer people to deliver on the same amount of work.

是的。謝謝你的問題，戴夫。所以我們確實看到隊友數量下降了大約 1800 名隊友。大約一半的下降是由季節性銷量造成的。另一半是由我們在與我們最大的客戶之一的最大基於結果的合同中實現的效率提升所推動的。因此，在這種情況下，我們已經能夠顯著提高我們的生產力，從而使用更少的人來完成相同數量的工作。

Got you. Okay. And then I guess my second question, just when we've done like different surveys, it seems like almost everybody acknowledges like puts and takes of AI. Like it could be good, there could be some negative. But net, most think it's positive. What parts of your business do you think are most beneficial and maybe most at risk? And I think content is the one that, I'd say, most people worry the most about. But what do you think there?

明白了好的。然後我想我的第二個問題，當我們完成不同的調查時，似乎幾乎每個人都承認 AI 的投入和投入。就像它可能是好的，可能會有一些負面的。但淨值，大多數人認為這是積極的。您認為您業務的哪些部分最有利也可能風險最大？我認為內容是大多數人最擔心的問題。但是你怎麼看呢？

Yes. I mean, I think it's worth it to maybe look across our 3 major service lines and ask the question, what's the impact of generative AI on each of them? So starting with Digital CX. Tier 1 customer support is going to be further automated. I think everyone agrees on that. Educational questions on how to use an app or understand the policy are very unlikely to require human intervention for much longer.

是的。我的意思是，我認為也許值得看看我們的 3 條主要服務線並問一個問題，生成式 AI 對它們各自的影響是什麼？所以從數字客戶體驗開始。一級客戶支持將進一步自動化。我想每個人都同意這一點。關於如何使用應用程序或了解政策的教育問題不太可能需要更長時間的人工干預。

The good news is that today, we do very little of this kind of work. Our customer experience work is almost all complex, involving technical questions and interactions with multiple systems to solve urgent issues in real time. So we don't believe that, that type of work is likely to be automated anytime soon. Instead, we're using TaskGPT to augment our talented teammates, supercharging their efficiency and improving the quality of their responses.

好消息是，今天，我們很少做這種工作。我們的客戶體驗工作幾乎都很複雜，涉及技術問題和與多個系統的交互以實時解決緊急問題。所以我們不相信，這種類型的工作可能會很快實現自動化。相反，我們正在使用 TaskGPT 來增強我們才華橫溢的隊友，提高他們的效率並提高他們的響應質量。

Further, we believe that the demand for our trust and safety services is going to grow as a result of these technologies. We're already working on moderating images that are produced by a leading image generation model and earlier, I mentioned some of the adversarial testing work that our team is already doing to protect people against harmful responses. It's hard to imagine today, all of the trust and safety workflows that are going to emerge as a result of near-perfect deepfakes or infinite user prompted content creation. But in general, we expect an exponential increase in trusted safety demand as a result of generative AI.

此外，我們相信，由於這些技術，對我們的信任和安全服務的需求將會增長。我們已經在處理由領先的圖像生成模型生成的圖像，早些時候，我提到了我們的團隊已經在進行的一些對抗性測試工作，以保護人們免受有害反應。今天很難想像，由於近乎完美的深造假或無限的用戶提示內容創建，所有的信任和安全工作流程都會出現。但總的來說，我們預計由於生成人工智能，可信安全需求將呈指數級增長。

And finally, we continue to see demand for our AI services to build and refine these generative AI models. The nature of this work is evolving. We've gone from basic tagging to more complex content creation editing and rating led by global teams of experts in specific subject matter areas. So as I outlined on the last call, we've already made great progress selling both our trust and safety services and our AI services to leading generative AI companies. And we expect that our clients to leverage these services to demand more in the immediate future. So we're excited about the generative AI revolution and feel very well positioned to benefit from it.

最後，我們繼續看到對我們的 AI 服務的需求，以構建和完善這些生成式 AI 模型。這項工作的性質正在演變。我們已經從基本的標記轉變為由特定主題領域的全球專家團隊領導的更複雜的內容創建編輯和評級。因此，正如我在上次電話會議上概述的那樣，我們在向領先的生成人工智能公司銷售我們的信任和安全服務以及我們的人工智能服務方面已經取得了很大進展。我們希望我們的客戶能夠利用這些服務在不久的將來提出更多需求。因此，我們對生成式 AI 革命感到興奮，並感到非常有能力從中受益。

And the next question comes from the line of Cassie Chan from Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Cassie Chan。

So first, I just wanted to dig in a little bit more with your top clients. So it sounds like several projects were deprioritized. Were they outright canceled? Could you just give us a little bit more color on the type of project that, that is? Is it related to like the trust and security aspect of your business? So I just wanted to ask about that first.

所以首先，我只想深入了解一下你們的頂級客戶。所以聽起來有幾個項目被取消了優先級。他們被徹底取消了嗎？你能不能給我們更多關於項目類型的顏色，那就是？它與您的業務的信任和安全方面有關嗎？所以我只想先問一下。

Thanks, Cassie. So we've got a very strong relationship with our largest client. And fortunately, the core of what we do for them, the trust and safety work, continues to be stable. In fact, we expect that demand for our trust and safety services at our largest client will grow between here and the end of the year.

謝謝，卡西。因此，我們與最大的客戶建立了非常牢固的關係。幸運的是，我們為他們所做的核心工作，即信任和安全工作，繼續保持穩定。事實上，我們預計從現在到年底，我們最大的客戶對我們的信任和安全服務的需求將會增長。

We also support certain R&D projects. And so our largest client has been developing exciting new technologies in many different areas. And in -- on some of these projects, we've seen certain projects deprioritized and other new projects spun up. But at this stage, while the new projects are taking some time to scale and to basically catch up to the scale of the old projects that were reduced as part of their overall cost savings initiatives. So the relationship itself remains very, very strong. We believe that overall, we continue to take share in an environment of declining spending, and the core of the work that we do for them in trust and safety continues to grow.

我們還支持某些研發項目。因此，我們最大的客戶一直在許多不同領域開發令人興奮的新技術。在其中一些項目中，我們已經看到某些項目被取消了優先級，而其他新項目則啟動了。但在這個階段，雖然新項目需要一些時間才能擴大規模並基本趕上舊項目的規模，但作為整體成本節約計劃的一部分，這些項目的規模已經縮減。所以這種關係本身仍然非常非常牢固。我們相信，總的來說，我們將繼續在支出下降的環境中佔有一席之地，我們在信任和安全方面為他們所做的核心工作將繼續增長。

Got it. And then just a follow-up, I wanted to touch back on the U.S. portion, which you're now assuming 10% of revenues in the back half of the year. I mean could that go to 0? And I believe that -- so your top client is fully offshore now, so they have no presence in the U.S. Just wanted to confirm that as well. But yes.

知道了。然後只是一個後續行動，我想回到美國部分，你現在假設下半年收入的 10%。我的意思是那會變成0嗎？我相信——所以你的最大客戶現在完全在海外，所以他們在美國沒有業務。我也想確認一下。但是，是的。

Yes. So the U.S. will continue to be an important part of our global delivery network. Obviously, we've seen a significant decline in our U.S. business from roughly a $300 million revenue run rate business in Q1 of 2022 to about $100 million revenue run rate business in the back half of 2023. What remains in the U.S., we believe, will stay onshore because of regulatory reasons, in some cases, because the end customer of our client is the U.S. government and in other cases, because of strong client preferences.

是的。因此，美國將繼續成為我們全球交付網絡的重要組成部分。顯然，我們已經看到我們的美國業務從 2022 年第一季度的約 3 億美元的收入運行率業務大幅下降到 2023 年下半年的約 1 億美元的收入運行率業務。我們認為，留在美國的是，由於監管原因，在某些情況下，因為我們客戶的最終客戶是美國政府，而在其他情況下，因為強烈的客戶偏好。

So at this stage, we feel good about what remains in the U.S. business. And I should mention that to get to that 10% number, we've taken a significant risk hedge based on the trend that we've seen to date. As far as our largest customer, almost all of their work has been moved to the Philippines and India TaskUs.

因此，在現階段，我們對美國業務的剩餘部分感到滿意。我應該提到，為了達到 10% 的數字，我們根據迄今為止看到的趨勢採取了重大的風險對沖。至於我們最大的客戶，他們幾乎所有的工作都轉移到了菲律賓和印度的TaskUs。

And the next question comes from the line of Ryan Potter with Citi.

下一個問題來自花旗銀行的 Ryan Potter。

I wanted to touch on the international opportunity, particularly the European and Asian growth leg that you mention. Can you just kind of highlight your positioning there, how you're kind of viewed versus peers? And I mean what actions you're taking to kind of accelerate growth there? Is it investments into sales? Or is there some kind of regional kind of domain expertise that you're also investing in as well?

我想談一談國際機會，尤其是你提到的歐洲和亞洲增長部分。你能不能只是強調一下你在那裡的定位，你與同行相比如何看待？我的意思是你正在採取什麼行動來加速那裡的增長？是對銷售的投資嗎？還是您也在投資某種區域性的領域專業知識？

Yes. Thanks for the question, Ryan. So as you know, we completed our first acquisition last year of a company called heloo, which has operations in Croatia, Serbia and other parts of Eastern Europe. We also have our own operations in Greece and in Ireland. Over the course of the last year, we fully integrated those operations and our go-to-market efforts. We've got a go-to-market team in Europe that is based in the U.K. and Croatia and is actively selling our European solutions and landing multiple clients. We landed multiple new logos for -- from Europe in the first quarter.

是的。謝謝你的問題，瑞安。如您所知，我們去年完成了對一家名為 heloo 的公司的首次收購，該公司在克羅地亞、塞爾維亞和東歐其他地區開展業務。我們在希臘和愛爾蘭也有自己的業務。在過去的一年裡，我們完全整合了這些業務和我們的上市努力。我們在歐洲有一個進入市場的團隊，總部設在英國和克羅地亞，他們正在積極銷售我們的歐洲解決方案並吸引多個客戶。我們在第一季度從歐洲獲得了多個新標識。

In Asia, we've got delivery locations in Malaysia, Taiwan and Japan and a really robust group of global technology clients that rely on TaskUs for Asian language support. This is an area of the business that continues to grow very healthily. And we plan to make further investments in go-to-market efforts in the region in the months to come.

在亞洲，我們在馬來西亞、台灣和日本設有交付點，並且有一群非常強大的全球技術客戶依賴 TaskUs 提供亞洲語言支持。這是一個持續健康發展的業務領域。我們計劃在未來幾個月進一步投資於該地區的上市工作。

Got it. And then on capital allocation, I guess, can you discuss what led to the decision to increase the share repurchase authorization as to opposed to something more like using capital towards M&A.? Have your thoughts changed at all around M&A? And could you provide some color, I guess, on how the acquisition pipeline looks (inaudible)?

知道了。然後關於資本配置，我想，你能討論一下是什麼導致了增加股票回購授權的決定，而不是更像是將資本用於併購的決定嗎？您對併購的看法是否發生了變化？我想，您能否提供一些顏色來說明採集管道的外觀（聽不清）？

Yes. Thanks for that question. So we increased our share repurchase authorization by $100 million. And that's on top of the $100 million that our Board authorized us to repurchase shares starting in September of last year. This decision was driven by two factors. The first is that our business continues to create a huge amount of cash. This year, we expect our adjusted EBITDA to be north of $220 million, and we expect to generate over $100 million in free cash flow, excluding the onetime payment for the heloo earnout.

是的。謝謝你的問題。因此，我們將股票回購授權增加了 1 億美元。這還不包括我們的董事會授權我們從去年 9 月開始回購股票的 1 億美元。這個決定是由兩個因素驅動的。首先是我們的業務繼續創造大量現金。今年，我們預計調整後的 EBITDA 將超過 2.2 億美元，我們預計將產生超過 1 億美元的自由現金流，不包括一次性支付的 heloo 收益。

We have been purchasing shares actively in the market and have bought 2.5 million shares to date. But we are continuing to accrue cash on our balance sheet. We added approximately $30 million in cash from the end of Q4 to the end of Q1. And so we're looking at our capital allocation strategy. And first, we want to invest in the business. And we've done this successfully, investing in sales and marketing and also in technology. Both of those are areas in which we've continued to increase the amount of money we're spending to drive growth and deliver value for our clients. But despite that, we are on pace to deliver 23.5% adjusted EBITDA margins this year.

我們一直在市場上積極購買股票，迄今為止已經購買了 250 萬股。但我們繼續在資產負債表上增加現金。從第四季度末到第一季度末，我們增加了大約 3000 萬美元的現金。因此，我們正在研究我們的資本配置策略。首先，我們想投資這項業務。我們已經成功地做到了這一點，投資於銷售和營銷以及技術。在這兩個領域，我們都在繼續增加支出以推動增長並為客戶創造價值。但儘管如此，我們今年有望實現 23.5% 的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率。

So second, we're looking for opportunities to acquire businesses to grow inorganically. Unfortunately, there the valuations of private companies continue to stay stubbornly high, especially when compared to public market multiples. And so we turned to share repurchases as the most productive use of our capital, given what we believe is a very attractive share price and current valuation of our business.

因此，其次，我們正在尋找機會收購企業以實現無機增長。不幸的是，私營公司的估值繼續居高不下，尤其是與公開市場倍數相比。因此，鑑於我們認為非常有吸引力的股價和我們業務的當前估值，我們將股票回購作為我們資本最有效的使用方式。

And the next question comes from the line of Matt VanVliet with BTIG.

下一個問題來自 BTIG 的 Matt VanVliet。

Curious if you could give us a little more color in terms of some of the sales cycles that you're seeing elongate. Are there specific areas of the market that just seem to be kind of in a holding pattern, waiting to see more things on the macro side? Or is it just becoming maybe more signatures, more kind of discussions of the contract, but things are maybe slowly moving along more so than being at an impasse?

很好奇您能否就您看到的一些銷售週期延長給我們更多的顏色。是否有特定的市場領域似乎處於持有模式，等待宏觀方面的更多信息？或者它只是成為更多的簽名，更多的合同討論，但事情可能正在緩慢進展而不是陷入僵局？

Yes. Thanks for the question, Matt. So the pipeline itself is strong, but the sales cycle does continue to elongate. In general, it seems like there's less urgency to sign large new engagements. And this is definitely the case among innovative technology companies that are growing much slower than they have in the past few years.

是的。謝謝你的問題，馬特。因此管道本身很強大，但銷售週期確實在繼續延長。總的來說，簽署新的大型合約似乎不那麼緊迫。在增長速度遠低於過去幾年的創新科技公司中，情況肯定如此。

I will say that in terms of the number of new logos that we've been able to sign, historically, we've signed about 10 new logos a quarter. And in the first quarter, we signed more than that. But the size of the deals that we've signed is smaller than we had seen in the past.

我要說的是，就我們能夠簽署的新徽標的數量而言，從歷史上看，我們每個季度簽署了大約 10 個新徽標。而在第一季度，我們簽下的不止於此。但我們簽署的交易規模比我們過去看到的要小。

We have continued to sell successfully into our existing clients. And here, our clients had increased urgency to drive cost savings. So we're helping a number of our clients who've reduced the size of their in-house teams to scale in our offshore and nearshore environments. Overall, the pipeline itself is healthy, filled with opportunities for nearshore and offshore delivery in our TaskGPT-powered solutions. And so we expect this to return us to growth later this year.

我們繼續成功地向現有客戶銷售產品。在這裡，我們的客戶更加迫切地推動成本節約。因此，我們正在幫助一些已經縮減內部團隊規模的客戶在我們的離岸和近岸環境中進行擴展。總的來說，管道本身是健康的，在我們的 TaskGPT 驅動的解決方案中充滿了近岸和離岸交付的機會。因此，我們預計這將使我們在今年晚些時候恢復增長。

All right, helpful. And that kind of leads me into a follow-up question. On the generative AI side, obviously, a lot of questions and certainly a lot going on there. But is it currently sort of cannibalizing any of the other AI model training that you were doing to this point for some of your clients? Have they now decided to maybe forgo building their own models or at least not as robustly build out their own models and using some of these large language models? Just curious on how any mix shift or trends you're seeing in the existing book of business in that space.

不錯，有幫助這讓我想到了一個後續問題。在生成人工智能方面，顯然有很多問題，當然也有很多問題。但它目前是否正在蠶食您目前為您的一些客戶所做的任何其他 AI 模型培訓？他們現在是否決定放棄構建自己的模型，或者至少不那麼穩健地構建自己的模型並使用其中一些大型語言模型？只是好奇您在該領域的現有業務簿中看到的任何混合變化或趨勢。

Yes. What's happened is most of the smaller players in the space have shifted to leveraging open AI or one of the other leading large language models. And what we've seen is that the industry's leaders have increased their investment in training and trust and safety. And so overall, our AI services revenue continues to grow.

是的。現在發生的事情是，該領域的大多數小型參與者已經轉向利用開放人工智能或其他領先的大型語言模型之一。我們所看到的是，該行業的領導者增加了他們在培訓、信任和安全方面的投資。因此，總體而言，我們的人工智能服務收入繼續增長。

There are no further questions at this time, and that does conclude today's teleconference. Thank you, everyone, for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Enjoy the rest of your day.

目前沒有其他問題，今天的電話會議就此結束。謝謝大家的參與。此時您可以斷開線路。享受你剩下的一天。