Taskus Inc (TASK) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and welcome to the TaskUs second-quarter 2024 investor call. My name is Josh, and I will be your conference facilitator today. (Operator Instructions)

下午好，歡迎參加 TaskUs 2024 年第二季投資者電話會議。我叫喬希，今天我將擔任你們的會議主持人。（操作員說明）

I would now like to introduce Trent Thrash, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations. Trent, you may begin.

現在我想介紹企業發展和投資者關係資深副總裁 Trent Thrash。特倫特，你可以開始了。

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for TaskUs second-quarter 2024 earnings call. Joining me on today's call 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 on 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 financial metrics file. Please note that this call is being simultaneously webcast on the Investor Relations section of our website.

下午好，感謝您參加 TaskU 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。參加今天電話會議的還有我們的共同創辦人兼執行長 Bryce Maddock；和我們的財務長 Balaji Sekar。有關我們業績和其他管理層評論的完整詳細信息，請參閱我們的收益報告，您可以在我們網站 ir.taskus.com 的投資者關係部分找到該報告。我們還在網站上發布了補充信息，包括投資者演示和基於 Excel 的財務指標文件。請注意，本次電話會議正在我們網站的投資者關係部分同時進行網路直播。

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.

在開始之前，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，包括但不限於有關我們未來財務業績以及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，涉及風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與此處討論的結果有重大差異。您不應過度依賴任何前瞻性陳述。

Factors that could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements can be found in our annual report on Form 10-K, which was filed with the SEC on March 8, 2024. This filing, which may be supplemented with subsequent periodic reports we file with the SEC, is accessible on the SEC's website and our Investor Relations website.

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 2024 年 3 月 8 日向 SEC 提交的 10-K 表格年度報告中找到。該文件可能會以我們向 SEC 提交的後續定期報告作為補充，可在 SEC 網站和我們的投資者關係網站上存取。

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.

今天的電話會議上所做的任何前瞻性陳述（包括對問題的答复）均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 these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP metric, please see our earnings press release, which is available in the IR section of our website.

以下討論包含非公認會計準則財務指標。有關這些非 GAAP 財務指標與最直接可比較的 GAAP 指標的調節，請參閱我們網站的 IR 部分的收益新聞稿。

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

現在，我將把電話轉給我們的聯合創始人兼執行長布萊斯·馬多克 (Bryce Maddock)。布萊斯？

Thank you, Trent. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. In the second quarter, we generated $237.9 million, outperforming the top end of our revenue guidance by approximately $6 million or 2.6%. I'm proud of our team, which has worked tirelessly throughout the challenges of the past 18 months. Their efforts paid off, and we returned to year-over-year growth in Q2, delivering nearly 4% revenue growth in the quarter.

謝謝你，特倫特。大家下午好，感謝您加入我們。第二季度，我們實現了 2.379 億美元的收入，比收入指導上限高出約 600 萬美元，即 2.6%。我為我們的團隊感到自豪，他們在過去 18 個月的挑戰中不知疲倦地工作。他們的努力得到了回報，我們在第二季度恢復了同比增長，本季收入增長了近 4%。

Our investments in sales and marketing are paying off. In Q2, we had our best bookings quarter since 2022. As a result of this and continued sales momentum in early Q3, we have even greater confidence that our year-over-year revenue growth rate will continue to accelerate in Q3 and Q4 of this year. Accordingly, we're increasing both the bottom and top ends of our annual revenue guidance and now expect revenue of $955 million to $975 million for the year. In just one quarter, we've increased the midpoint of our full year guidance by $27.5 million.

我們在銷售和行銷方面的投資正在獲得回報。第二季度，我們迎來了 2022 年以來最好的預訂季度。由於這一點以及第三季初持續的銷售勢頭，我們更有信心今年第三季和第四季的年收入成長率將繼續加快。因此，我們提高了年度收入指引的下限和上限，目前預計今年的收入為 9.55 億美元至 9.75 億美元。僅在一個季度內，我們就將全年指導中位數增加了 2,750 萬美元。

The acceleration of revenue growth requires additional investments in operations, facilities, hiring, and training, which impacts our margins and cash flow. On a sequential basis, we grew adjusted EBITDA in the quarter to $51.3 million for an adjusted EBITDA margin of 21.5%. This was below our margin guidance. As our growth rate accelerates in the back half of 2024, we expect this trend to continue. We now expect to deliver approximately 22% adjusted EBITDA margins and approximately $120 million in free cash flow for the full-year 2024.

收入成長的加速需要在營運、設施、招聘和培訓方面進行額外投資，這會影響我們的利潤和現金流。以環比計算，本季調整後 EBITDA 增至 5,130 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 21.5%。這低於我們的利潤指引。隨著 2024 年下半年我們的成長率加快，我們預計這一趨勢將持續下去。我們現在預計 2024 年全年調整後 EBITDA 利潤率約為 22%，自由現金流約為 1.2 億美元。

In summary, we've emerged from the challenges we faced in 2023. We are experiencing robust global demand from new and existing clients. We expect our revenue growth rate to accelerate in the back half of the year. In fact, at the top end of both our Q3 and updated annual guidance, we would expect to return to double-digit revenue growth in Q4. This is a tremendous accomplishment for our global team. With the increase in our growth rate, we will see a temporary reduction in margins as we invest to support our scaling operations. As we look towards 2025, our goal is to continue driving growth while improving our margin and cash flow profile.

總而言之，我們已經擺脫了 2023 年面臨的挑戰。我們正面臨新舊客戶的強勁全球需求。我們預計下半年收入成長將加快。事實上，在第三季末和更新後的年度指引的頂端，我們預計第四季的營收成長將恢復兩位數。對於我們的全球團隊來說，這是一項巨大的成就。隨著成長率的提高，我們將看到利潤率暫時下降，因為我們進行投資以支持我們的擴展業務。展望 2025 年，我們的目標是繼續推動成長，同時改善我們的利潤率和現金流狀況。

Next, I'll spend time going through some of the highlights of our Q2 performance. Balaji will then walk through our Q2 financials and Q3 outlook and our increased full-year 2024 guidance. Q2 revenue was $237.9 million, an increase of 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. The 4.6% sequential quarterly revenue increase was reflective of quarter-over-quarter growth in all three of our service lines and continued strength in revenue and bookings from our top 20 clients generated 68% of total revenue during the quarter. In particular, we have seen strong demand from our largest client who contributed approximately 20% of total revenue in Q2 of 2024.

接下來，我將花時間回顧我們第二季業績的一些亮點。然後，巴拉吉將介紹我們第二季的財務狀況和第三季的前景以及我們增加的 2024 年全年指引。第二季營收為 2.379 億美元，年增 3.8%。4.6% 的季度收入環比增長反映了我們所有三個服務線的環比增長，以及我們前 20 位客戶的收入和預訂量的持續強勁，佔本季度總收入的 68%。特別是，我們看到我們最大客戶的強勁需求，在 2024 年第二季貢獻了約 20% 的總收入。

In terms of delivery geographies, as expected, revenue from US delivery declined 32% in Q2 on a year-over-year basis. As a result, US revenue was approximately 11% of total revenue during Q2. Our offshore geographies continue to demonstrate strong revenue results, growing by approximately 11% year over year. While Q2 saw rapid growth in Latin America, again, at more than 40% year over year, we also delivered year-over-year growth in all of our major delivery geographies, including the Philippines, India, and the rest of the world. We ended the quarter with approximately 51,700 global teammates, an increase of approximately 2,100 teammates from the end of Q1.

從配送地域來看，如預期，第二季美國配送收入年減 32%。因此，第二季美國收入約佔總收入的 11%。我們的離岸地區持續展現強勁的營收業績，年增約 11%。雖然拉丁美洲第二季再次實現了同比 40% 以上的快速成長，但我們在所有主要配送地區（包括菲律賓、印度和世界其他地區）也實現了同比增長。截至本季末，我們在全球擁有約 51,700 名隊友，比第一季末增加了約 2,100 名隊友。

In Q2, our sales and client service teams once again delivered strong performance. Like Q1, the majority of sales were driven by bookings from existing clients, which accounted for approximately 66% of total signings. This marked a positive shift towards growth in new client bookings, which made up 34% of total signings compared to 28% in Q1. The size, quality, and depth of pipeline opportunities across our service lines from new and existing clients of all sizes continue to be encouraging and supportive of our commitment to accelerate growth throughout the remainder of 2024.

第二季度，我們的銷售和客戶服務團隊再次取得了強勁的業績。與第一季一樣，大部分銷售都是由現有客戶的預訂推動的，約佔總簽約量的 66%。這標誌著新客戶預訂量的積極轉變，佔總簽約量的 34%，而第一季為 28%。我們的服務線中來自各種規模的新舊客戶的管道機會的規模、品質和深度繼續鼓勵和支持我們在 2024 年剩餘時間裡加速成長的承諾。

During Q2, we again made progress on our strategic goal of cross-selling our suite of specialized services to our client base. The number of clients using multiple services increased by more than 10% year over year. We also continued expanding our presence in new markets, including adding notable use cases for clients in the fintech and health tech industries as well as with fast-growing clients in the generative AI and technology verticals.

在第二季度，我們在向客戶群交叉銷售我們的專業服務套件的策略目標方面再次取得了進展。使用多種服務的客戶數量較去年同期成長超過10%。我們也持續擴大在新市場的業務，包括為金融科技和健康科技產業的客戶以及產生人工智慧和技術垂直領域快速成長的客戶增加值得注意的用例。

Shifting focus to our service lines. In Q2 of 2024, digital customer experience revenue declined by 1.7% compared with Q2 of 2023. In DCX, year-over-year growth from new clients was more than offset by the prior year's termination of a travel industry client and other client cost optimization initiatives, which we've discussed on prior calls. However, compared to a sequential decline of 5.6% in Q1, sequential quarterly growth accelerated to an increase of approximately 3.4% in Q2. We now expect DCX to return to year-over-year growth during the second half of the year.

將重點轉移到我們的服務領域。2024年第二季度，數位客戶體驗營收較2023年第二季下降1.7%。在 DCX 中，新客戶的同比增長被上一年旅遊業客戶的終止和其他客戶成本優化舉措所抵消，我們在之前的電話會議中已經討論過這些問題。然而，與第一季環比下降 5.6% 相比，第二季環比成長加速至約 3.4%。我們現在預計 DCX 將在今年下半年恢復年成長。

In terms of DCX signings in Q2, we saw broad-based strength in bookings across most of our vertical markets, including our on-demand travel and transportation, technology, media and entertainment, health tech, and fintech verticals. Consistent with recent quarters, crypto and equity trading-related revenue remained below 5% of total revenues for Q2.

就第二季 DCX 簽約量而言，我們看到大多數垂直市場的預訂量均表現強勁，包括隨選旅遊和交通、科技、媒體和娛樂、健康科技以及金融科技垂直市場。與最近幾季一致，第二季加密貨幣和股票交易相關收入仍低於總收入的 5%。

In connection with our healthcare expansion strategy, in Q2, we signed two new multimillion-dollar DCX contracts. One, with a provider of consumer healthcare and pharmacy services, leveraging our onshore work-from-home solutions, and the second, delivering provider and patient support and revenue cycle management services from our operations in Colombia to a company in the mental health industry.

根據我們的醫療保健擴張策略，我們在第二季簽署了兩份新的數百萬美元的 DCX 合約。一是與消費者醫療保健和藥房服務提供者合作，利用我們的境內在家工作解決方案，二是透過我們在哥倫比亞的業務向一家心理健康行業的公司提供提供者和患者支援以及收入週期管理服務。

Lastly, as an example of the continued strength and demand we have seen for Latin American-based delivery, we signed a DCX contract with a leading provider of cloud-based website and e-commerce solutions for services to be delivered from Colombia.

最後，作為我們看到的拉丁美洲交付持續強勁和需求的一個例子，我們與一家領先的基於雲端的網站和電子商務解決方案提供商簽署了 DCX 合同，以從哥倫比亞交付服務。

Moving on to trust and safety, which includes our risk and response solutions, revenue growth in this service line was again accretive to our overall growth rate, increasing 30.7% year over year and 6.9% quarter over quarter. This quarter, we again saw broad-based growth, including strong performance with our largest client as well as with certain fintech, social media, and on-demand travel and transportation clients.

轉向信任和安全，其中包括我們的風險和回應解決方案，該服務線的收入成長再次促進了我們的整體成長率，年成長 30.7%，環比成長 6.9%。本季度，我們再次看到了廣泛的成長，包括我們最大的客戶以及某些金融科技、社群媒體以及按需旅行和運輸客戶的強勁表現。

During Q2, growth from our risk and response offering was again accretive to the overall growth rate of the trust and safety service line. I want to take a moment to highlight the success we have had in growing the financial crimes and compliance work that we classify as risk and response. Revenue from this subservice line doubled year over year.

在第二季度，我們的風險和回應產品的成長再次促進了信任和安全服務線的整體成長率。我想花點時間強調我們在加強金融犯罪和合規工作（我們將其歸類為風險和應對）方面所取得的成功。該子服務線的收入較去年同期翻了一番。

From a sales perspective, we continue to see strong demand for our trust and safety services. Based on recent booking trends and the increasing number of clients utilizing the service line, we expect trust and safety to continue outpacing DCX and AI services growth rate, resulting in trust and safety, representing an increasing percentage of total revenue in future quarters.

從銷售角度來看，我們持續看到對我們的信任和安全服務的強勁需求。根據最近的預訂趨勢以及使用該服務線的客戶數量不斷增加，我們預計信任和安全將繼續超過DCX 和人工智慧服務的成長率，導致信任和安全在未來幾季佔總收入的比例不斷增加。

Notably, during Q2, we signed an expansion of European language content moderation and platform integrity operations with our largest client. We also increased the scope of work we provide to a global marketplace for unique and creative goods and the world's leading multichannel social and gaming communications platform.

值得注意的是，在第二季度，我們與最大的客戶簽署了歐洲語言內容審核和平台完整性營運擴展協議。我們也擴大了向全球市場提供獨特創意商品以及世界領先的多通路社交和遊戲通訊平台的工作範圍。

Turning to AI services, while revenues declined approximately $2.5 million or 7.7% on a year-over-year basis, we were pleased with the improved trajectory of this service line when compared to the 23.6% year-over-year decline we saw in Q1. As discussed last quarter, Q2 year-over-year AIS revenue comparisons continue to be impacted by declines at our largest client and our largest autonomous vehicle plant. Despite the year-over-year decline, we were pleased that our AI service line returned to growth on a sequential basis in Q2, generating sequential growth of approximately 6.3%. As noted in our Q1 call, we anticipate AI services revenue to continue to stabilize over the course of 2024 as difficult comparisons last and recent signings continue to ramp.

談到人工智慧服務，雖然營收年減約 250 萬美元或 7.7%，但與第一季同比下降 23.6% 相比，我們對該服務線的改善軌跡感到滿意。正如上季所討論的，第二季 AIS 收入年比繼續受到我們最大客戶和最大自動駕駛汽車工廠收入下降的影響。儘管同比下降，但我們很高興我們的人工智慧服務線在第二季度恢復了環比增長，實現了約 6.3% 的環比增長。正如我們在第一季電話會議中指出的那樣，我們預計人工智慧服務收入將在 2024 年繼續穩定，因為去年和最近簽約的困難比較繼續增加。

Moving to sales. We continue to see strong demand for our AI services across multiple client verticals, including from clients in the social media and generative AI industries. We signed multiple new statements of work supporting our largest clients generative AI development initiatives and an expansion of our relationship with the world's leading large language model developer in Q2. We continue to support this client across all three of our service lines in multiple geographies. Given this recent success selling AI services, we now anticipate a return to year-over-year growth in this service line during the second half of the year.

轉向銷售。我們持續看到多個客戶垂直領域對我們的人工智慧服務的強勁需求，包括社群媒體和產生人工智慧產業的客戶。我們在第二季度簽署了多項新的工作聲明，支持我們最大的客戶生成人工智慧開發計劃，並擴大我們與世界領先的大型語言模型開發商的關係。我們將繼續透過多個地區的所有三個服務線為該客戶提供支援。鑑於最近銷售人工智慧服務的成功，我們現在預計該服務線將在今年下半年恢復年成長。

Before moving on to our updated 2024 outlook, I want to provide a brief update on our own generative AI initiatives. We continue to see success deploying our TaskGPT solutions to increase the efficiency and accuracy of our teammates. In the near term, we believe the biggest impact from generative AI will come from combining these technologies with well-trained teammates to deliver results that improve the customer experience on behalf of our clients. Many clients have been slow to launch customer-facing generative AI initiatives, citing concerns with accuracy and data security. Thus far, we believe GenAI has created more opportunity than risk for TaskUs.

在繼續更新 2024 年展望之前，我想先介紹一下我們自己的生成式人工智慧計畫的最新情況。我們不斷看到成功部署 TaskGPT 解決方案以提高團隊成員的效率和準確性。在短期內，我們相信生成式人工智慧的最大影響將來自於將這些技術與訓練有素的團隊成員結合，以交付代表我們的客戶改善客戶體驗的結果。許多客戶出於對準確性和資料安全性的擔憂，在啟動面向客戶的生成式人工智慧計畫方面進展緩慢。到目前為止，我們相信 GenAI 為 TaskU 創造的機會多於風險。

Having said that, we recognize that over the next few years, clients will use GenAI to automate basic customer interactions. We've embraced this and are working hard to support our claims automation efforts. We have and will continue to focus our offerings on the more complex and sensitive customer interactions and content types that we believe are less likely to be automated. Additionally, we will continue pursuing opportunities to support the emerging business process needs of companies in the GenAI industry.

話雖如此，我們認識到在未來幾年中，客戶將使用 GenAI 來自動化基本的客戶互動。我們已經接受了這一點，並正在努力支持我們的索賠自動化工作。我們已經並將繼續將我們的產品重點放在更複雜、更敏感的客戶互動和內容類型上，我們認為這些互動和內容類型不太可能自動化。此外，我們將繼續尋求機會來支持 GenAI 行業公司的新興業務流程需求。

Before handing it over to Balaji to provide more details on our Q2 results, I want to touch briefly on our 2024 outlook. In light of our strong operational execution and sales momentum, we're increasing our full-year revenue guidance to between $955 million and $975 million. This represents a $27.5 million increase to a midpoint of $965 million.

在交給 Balaji 提供有關我們第二季度業績的更多詳細資訊之前，我想簡要介紹一下我們 2024 年的展望。鑑於我們強勁的營運執行力和銷售勢頭，我們將全年收入指引提高至 9.55 億美元至 9.75 億美元之間。這意味著增加了 2,750 萬美元，達到 9.65 億美元的中位數。

We expect our revenue growth rate to continue to accelerate in the back half of the year. As such, we will be investing in new facilities, hiring, and training initiatives during the back half of 2024, which will have some impact on our margins this year. Additionally, we have seen an increase in pricing pressure as some of our competitors who have excess capacity reduced their rates. We believe we are a premium provider of specialized services. As such, we've been able to maintain adjusted EBITDA margins that are among the best in the industry, but we expect to continue to price our services competitively in order to achieve above market growth rates. As a result of these factors, we now expect full-year adjusted EBITDA margins of approximately 22% and free cash flow of approximately $120 million.

我們預計下半年收入成長率將持續加快。因此，我們將在 2024 年下半年投資新設施、招聘和培訓計劃，這將對我們今年的利潤率產生一些影響。此外，由於一些產能過剩的競爭對手降低了費率，我們發現定價壓力增加。我們相信我們是專業服務的優質提供者。因此，我們能夠保持行業中最好的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率，但我們預計將繼續以具有競爭力的價格定價我們的服務，以實現高於市場的成長率。由於這些因素，我們現在預計全年調整後 EBITDA 利潤率約為 22%，自由現金流約為 1.2 億美元。

As we look to 2025, our team is working tirelessly to lead the industry on adjusted EBITDA margins and revenue growth.

展望 2025 年，我們的團隊正在不懈地努力，力爭在調整後 EBITDA 利潤率和營收成長方面引領業界。

With that, I'll hand it over to Balaji to go through the Q2 financials and our 2024 outlook in more detail.

接下來，我將把它交給 Balaji，讓他更詳細地了解第二季度的財務狀況和我們的 2024 年展望。

Thank you, Bryce, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm going to discuss our financial results for the second quarter of 2024. 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. In the second quarter, we earned total revenues of $237.9 million, once again, beating our guidance range of $230 million to $232 million. Revenues increased by 3.8% compared to the previous year, delivering on our promise to return to year-over-year growth in Q2. We outperformed our guidance as a result of new client ramps and existing client volumes, both of which came in stronger than we expected.

謝謝你，布萊斯，大家下午好。我將討論 2024 年第二季的財務表現。請注意，其中一些項目是非公認會計準則衡量標準，相關調節表附在我們今天稍早發布的新聞稿中。第二季度，我們的總收入達到 2.379 億美元，再次超出我們 2.3 億至 2.32 億美元的指導範圍。營收較上年增長 3.8%，兌現了我們第二季度恢復同比增長的承諾。由於新客戶的增加和現有客戶量的增加，我們的表現超出了我們的預期，這兩者都比我們預期的要強。

In the second quarter, our DCX offering generated $148.4 million for a year-over-year decline of 1.7%. As Bryce covered earlier, the decline was primarily attributable to a US travel industry client who lost a large contract and certain client cost optimization initiatives, including the Q1 2023 project ramp downs from our largest clients, both of which we have discussed on prior calls. These declines were largely offset by a mix of existing client growth and strong new client revenue performance, including seeing positive results from our strategic focus on the fintech, health tech, and generative AI industries.

第二季度，我們的 DCX 產品產生了 1.484 億美元的收入，年減 1.7%。正如Bryce 之前提到的，下降的主要原因是美國旅遊業客戶失去了一份大額合約和某些客戶成本優化計劃，包括我們最大客戶的2023 年第一季專案縮減，我們在之前的電話會議中討論過這兩個問題。這些下降在很大程度上被現有客戶成長和強勁的新客戶收入表現所抵消，包括我們對金融科技、健康科技和產生人工智慧產業的策略重點所帶來的正面成果。

Our trust and safety business, which includes our risk and response solutions, grew by 13.7% compared to Q2 of 2023, resulting in $59.1 million of revenue. Sequential growth also accelerated from 5.8% in Q1 to 6.9% in Q2. As discussed earlier, we are excited about the progress in this service line, which included a return to year-over-year growth by our largest client as well as certain new and existing clients across our on-demand travel and transportation, social media, and fintech verticals.

我們的信任和安全業務（包括風險和回應解決方案）與 2023 年第二季相比成長了 13.7%，營收達到 5,910 萬美元。環比增速也從第一季的 5.8% 加速至第二季的 6.9%。正如前面所討論的，我們對該服務線的進展感到興奮，其中包括我們最大的客戶以及我們的按需旅行和交通、社交媒體、和金融科技垂直領域。

Our AI services business declined by 7.7% year-over-year for revenues of $30.5 million due to contraction of the largest client under the largest autonomous vehicle side. We have seen demand from our AI services pick up among generative AI and social media clients. This increased demand and our return to sequential growth of approximately 6.3% in Q2 gives us confidence that the service line will return to growth in the back half of the year as we lap the difficult year-over-year comparisons from client-driven cost optimization programs in 2023.

由於最大自動駕駛汽車方面最大客戶的收縮，我們的人工智慧服務業務收入年減 7.7%，收入為 3,050 萬美元。我們看到生成型人工智慧和社群媒體客戶對我們的人工智慧服務的需求增加。需求的增加以及我們在第二季度恢復約 6.3% 的環比增長，讓我們有信心服務線將在今年下半年恢復增長，因為我們克服了客戶驅動的成本優化帶來的艱難的同比比較2023 年計劃。

In Q2, revenue concentration with our largest client was approximately 20%, up from 19% in Q2 of 2023. With strong bookings in Q1 and Q2, we have returned to growth with our largest client and now expect our revenue concentration with our largest time to increase for the remainder of the year. Our top 10 and top 20 clients accounted for 55% and 68%, respectively, compared to 55% and 69% in Q2 of the previous year. We continue to see strength from our clients outside of our top 20, which grew 6.2% year over year.

第二季度，我們最大客戶的營收集中度約為 20%，高於 2023 年第二季的 19%。由於第一季和第二季的預訂量強勁，我們最大的客戶已經恢復成長，現在預計我們最大時間的收入集中度將在今年剩餘時間內增加。我們的前 10 名和前 20 名客戶佔比分別為 55% 和 68%，而去年第二季為 55% 和 69%。我們繼續看到前 20 名以外客戶的實力，年增 6.2%。

In the second quarter, we generated 58% (sic - see slide 18, "57%") of our revenues in the Philippines, 11% (sic - see slide 18, "12%") in the United States, and 12% (sic - see slide 18, "13%") in India, and 19% (sic - see slide 18, "18%") from the rest of the world. We saw particularly strong year-over-year revenue growth in excess of 40% in Latin America.

第二季度，我們的收入的58%（原文如此- 參見幻燈片18，「57%」）來自菲律賓，11%（原文如此- 參見投影片18，「12%」）來自美國，12% 來自菲律賓。我們看到拉丁美洲的營收年增尤其強勁，超過 40%。

For the full-year 2024, we now expect to see year-over-year revenue growth in all of our delivery geographies with the exception of the United States. Our cost of service as a percentage of revenue was 60.5% in the second quarter compared to 58.3% in Q2 of the prior year. The increase was due to typical wage and benefits cost inflation, competitive pricing pressures, and the higher recruiting and facilities expansion costs to support revenue expansion as a result of our improved revenue outlook. These increased expenses were partially offset by ForEx improvements in the Philippines, Colombia, and Mexico versus the prior year due to slightly stronger US dollar.

對於 2024 年全年，我們預計除美國外的所有配送地區的收入都將實現同比增長。第二季我們的服務成本佔營收的比例為 60.5%，而去年第二季為 58.3%。這一增長是由於典型的工資和福利成本通膨、競爭性定價壓力以及因收入前景改善而支持收入擴張的更高的招聘和設施擴張成本。由於美元小幅走強，菲律賓、哥倫比亞和墨西哥的外匯較上年有所改善，部分抵消了這些增加的費用。

In the second quarter, our SG&A expenses were $56.3 million or 23.7% of revenue. This compares to SG&A in Q2 of 2023 of $58.2 million or 25.4% of revenue. Earn-out consideration and stock compensation expenses decreased by $1.3 million and $3.4 million, respectively, compared to the previous year. These reductions were partially offset by our ongoing investments in sales, marketing, and technology that we discussed on prior calls and higher bonus expense primarily due to better company performance. Q2 of 2024 also included an increase of $2.3 million related to replication costs that are non-recurring and outside the ordinary course of business.

第二季度，我們的 SG&A 費用為 5,630 萬美元，佔營收的 23.7%。相比之下，2023 年第二季的銷售及管理費用為 5,820 萬美元，佔營收的 25.4%。與前一年相比，獲利對價和股票補償費用分別減少了 130 萬美元和 340 萬美元。這些減少部分被我們在先前的電話會議上討論的銷售、行銷和技術方面的持續投資以及主要由於公司業績更好而增加的獎金費用所抵消。2024 年第二季還包括與非經常性和正常業務過程之外的複製成本相關的 230 萬美元的增加。

In the second quarter of 2024, we earned adjusted EBITDA of $51.3 million, or 21.5% margin. This compares to $54.3 million in the previous year and $50.6 million in Q1 of 2024. While roughly in line on a dollar basis, we came in lower than our adjusted EBITDA margin guidance, partially due to the ramp expenses associated with the higher-than-expected revenue growth for the year. We are also increasing our investments and operational leadership to take advantage of the momentum in the business.

2024 年第二季度，我們的調整後 EBITDA 為 5,130 萬美元，即利潤率 21.5%。相比之下，上一年為 5,430 萬美元，2024 年第一季為 5,060 萬美元。雖然以美元計算大致一致，但我們的 EBITDA 利潤率指引低於調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率指引，部分原因是與今年高於預期的收入成長相關的斜坡費用。我們還增加投資和營運領導力，以利用業務的勢頭。

Adjusted net income for the quarter was $28.6 million, and adjusted earnings per share was $0.31. By comparison, in the year-ago period, we earned adjusted net income of $31.8 million and adjusted EPS of $0.32. Our adjusted EPS included the impact of our lower share count resulting from our stock repurchase program.

該季度調整後淨利潤為 2860 萬美元，調整後每股收益為 0.31 美元。相較之下，去年同期，我們的調整後淨利為 3,180 萬美元，調整後每股收益為 0.32 美元。我們調整後的每股盈餘包括股票回購計畫導致的股份數量減少的影響。

Now, moving on to the balance sheet. Cash and cash equivalents was $171.1 million as of June 30, 2024, compared with the December 31, 2023, balance of $125.8 million. In the quarter, we bought back approximately 1 million shares at an average price of $11.36. As of quarter end, we had approximately $42.2 million of authorization left on our plan. Given the programmatic design of our share repurchase plan, we repurchased a limited number of shares during Q2. Our net leverage ratio continues to be healthy and was 0.4 times as of the quarter end.

現在，轉向資產負債表。截至 2024 年 6 月 30 日，現金及現金等價物為 1.711 億美元，而 2023 年 12 月 31 日的餘額為 1.258 億美元。本季度，我們以平均價格 11.36 美元回購了約 100 萬股股票。截至季末，我們的計劃還剩約 4,220 萬美元的授權。鑑於我們股票回購計畫的程序化設計，我們在第二季回購了有限數量的股票。我們的淨槓桿率持續保持健康，截至季末為 0.4 倍。

Cash generated from operations was $30 million for the second quarter of 2024 as compared to $38.5 million in Q2 of 2023. The decline was primarily driven by an increase in accounts receivable related to the sequential growth in revenues from Q1 to Q2 of 2024 and an increase in tax payments compared to the prior year. Our capital expenditure decreased in the second quarter of 2024 to $4.5 million compared to $9.8 million in Q2 of 2023. The strength of our anticipated client ramps will continue driving an increase in investments during the remainder of 2024. As a result, we now expect CapEx to be approximately $42 million for the year.

2024 年第二季營運產生的現金為 3,000 萬美元，而 2023 年第二季為 3,850 萬美元。下降的主要原因是與 2024 年第一季至第二季收入連續成長相關的應收帳款增加以及稅款較上年增加。我們的資本支出在 2024 年第二季減少至 450 萬美元，而 2023 年第二季為 980 萬美元。我們預期的客戶成長動能將在 2024 年剩餘時間內持續推動投資增加。因此，我們現在預計今年的資本支出約為 4,200 萬美元。

Year-to-date free cash flow was $73.1 million or 71.8% of adjusted EBITDA. As noted in Q1, we expect lower free cash flow conversion due to increased capital expenditures and the buildup of working capital associated with our accelerating revenues during the remainder of 2024.

年初至今的自由現金流為 7,310 萬美元，佔調整後 EBITDA 的 71.8%。如第一季所述，我們預計，由於資本支出增加以及與 2024 年剩餘時間收入加速相關的營運資本積累，自由現金流轉換將會降低。

In terms of our financial outlook for the remainder of the year, we now anticipate full-year 2024 revenues to be in the range of $955 million to $975 million. We expect to earn full-year adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 22%. The revision in adjusted EBITDA margin guidance captures the impact of ramp costs to deliver the increased revenue forecast, additional investment in operations, and the impact of competitive pricing environment that we are currently in.

就我們今年剩餘時間的財務前景而言，我們目前預計 2024 年全年營收將在 9.55 億美元至 9.75 億美元之間。我們預計全年調整後 EBITDA 利潤率約為 22%。調整後 EBITDA 利潤率指引的修訂反映了提高收入預測所需的斜坡成本的影響、營運方面的額外投資以及我們目前所處的競爭性定價環境的影響。

Including the additional investments supporting our improved outlook, we expect to generate free cash flow of approximately $120 million for the year. This implies a conversion rate of over 50% from adjusted EBITDA, a great demonstration of our financial discipline. Our free cash flow guidance excludes the impact of certain litigation costs, which are non-recurring and outside the ordinary course of business. In the first half of 2024, we incurred approximately $2.6 million related to these litigation matters. We will continue to exclude these costs from our adjusted EBITDA calculations.

包括支持我們改善前景的額外投資，我們預計今年將產生約 1.2 億美元的自由現金流。這意味著調整後的 EBITDA 轉換率超過 50%，這充分體現了我們的財務紀律。我們的自由現金流指引不包括某些非經常性且不屬於正常業務過程的訴訟成本的影響。2024 年上半年，我們因這些訴訟事項產生了約 260 萬美元。我們將繼續將這些成本從調整後的 EBITDA 計算中排除。

For the third quarter, we expect revenues to be in the range of $244 million to $246 million, and we expect our adjusted EBITDA margin to be approximately 21.5%. The adjusted EBITDA margin guidance for the third 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 US dollars, so we do not see the impact of US dollar fluctuation in our revenues.

對於第三季度，我們預計營收將在 2.44 億美元至 2.46 億美元之間，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率約為 21.5%。第三季和全年調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率指引基於當前外匯匯率。因此，匯率的任何變化都會影響我們的利潤。提醒一下，我們的大部分收入都是以美元計費和收取的，因此我們沒有看到美元波動對我們收入的影響。

I will now hand it back to Bryce.

我現在將把它還給布萊斯。

Thank you, Balaji. Before we open for questions, I'd like to share a story about one of our dedicated TaskUs teammates. [Mobo Saygal] is a team leader at our site in indoor India. She loves working for TaskUs because we're deeply committed to the health, well-being, and career development of our employees. We strive to create a supportive environment where teammates can thrive and build fulfilling careers.

謝謝你，巴拉吉。在我們開始提問之前，我想先分享一個關於我們一位專注的 TaskUs 隊友的故事。 [Mobo Saygal] 是我們印度室內工廠的團隊領導。她喜歡在 TaskUs 工作，因為我們致力於員工的健康、福祉和職業發展。我們努力創造一個支持性的環境，讓團隊成員能夠茁壯成長並建立充實的職業生涯。

Mobo has been actively utilizing our academy learning platform to advance her career and prepare for her next role. She's enrolled in our TaskUs Operations Manager Preparatory Academy and aspires to be promoted to an ops manager after gaining the necessary experience. When it comes to health and wellness, Mobo shares that our wellness team and indoor has been incredibly supportive of her needs. They are well equipped to help teammates navigate both their personal and professional lives. Mobo has regular one-on-one sessions with one of our local wellness counselors and says the guidance and support she receives as a critical part of her success.

Mobo 一直積極利用我們的學院學習平台來推進她的職業生涯並為她的下一個角色做好準備。她已就讀於我們的 TaskUs 營運經理預備學院，並渴望在獲得必要的經驗後晉升為營運經理。談到健康和保健，Mobo 表示我們的健康團隊和室內團隊非常支持她的需求。他們有能力幫助隊友應對個人和職業生活。Mobo 定期與我們當地的一位健康顧問進行一對一的會談，並表示她收到的指導和支持是她成功的關鍵部分。

Mobo's story is a testament of our focus on personal and professional growth and our unwavering commitment to our teammates. I'll be traveling to our sites in India later this month, where I look forward to meeting Mobo and many of our hard-working and talented teammates in person.

Mobo 的故事證明了我們對個人和職業成長的關注以及我們對團隊成員堅定不移的承諾。本月晚些時候我將前往我們在印度的工廠，在那裡我期待與 Mobo 以及我們許多勤奮且才華橫溢的隊友見面。

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

這樣，我將要求接線員打開我們的問答環節。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Jonathan Lee, Guggenheim Securities.

（操作員指令）喬納森·李（Jonathan Lee），古根漢證券公司。

Great. Thanks for taking our questions. It's tremendous to see the inflection at your top client. You touched on some of the uptick there, but can you help unpack some of the moving pieces, how you're thinking about the durability there, and perhaps whether that's a share shift dynamic or maybe the client just is doing more and more broadly?

偉大的。感謝您回答我們的問題。看到你的頂級客戶的變化真是太棒了。您談到了那裡的一些上升，但是您能否幫助解開一些令人感動的部分，您如何考慮那裡的耐久性，也許這是否是一種份額轉移動態，或者也許客戶只是在做越來越廣泛的事情？

Sure. Yeah, our relationship with our largest client continues to be incredibly strong. We've won multiple large pieces of business with this client this year. We're scaling operations in every country where we operate with them and are expanding our operations into two new countries. We're supporting them on vital initiatives like their investments in GenAI and trust and safety. And also note that while we're supporting them on this year's election, that is not the source of recent growth, and we don't anticipate any reductions at this client post-November.

當然。是的，我們與最大客戶的關係仍然非常強大。今年我們與該客戶贏得了多項大筆業務。我們正在擴大與他們合作的每個國家的業務，並將我們的業務擴展到兩個新的國家。我們正在支持他們的重要舉措，例如他們對 GenAI 以及信任和安全的投資。另請注意，雖然我們在今年的選舉中支持他們，但這並不是近期增長的源泉，而且我們預計 11 月後該客戶不會出現任何削減。

In some cases, this business is being taken from the competition. As I outlined in the annual call start of this year, the first growth lever that we're focused on is going after our competition and trying to take business from them, and we've been successful in doing that at this client along with other clients. But in other cases, we're just getting net new business that our team has competed for and won.

在某些情況下，該業務正在從競爭中被奪走。正如我在今年的年度電話會議開始時概述的那樣，我們關注的第一個成長槓桿是追趕我們的競爭對手並試圖從他們那裡奪取業務，我們已經成功地在這個客戶以及其他客戶身上做到了這一點客戶。但在其他情況下，我們只是獲得了我們團隊競爭並贏得的淨新業務。

So given the success here, we expect our revenue growth with this client to outpace the rest of the business and the revenue concentration would decline to increase over the next few quarters.

因此，鑑於這裡的成功，我們預計我們與該客戶的收入成長將超過其他業務，並且收入集中度將在未來幾季下降並增加。

Got it. Appreciate your insight there. And as a follow-up, can you help compose some of the pricing pressure you're seeing across your service lines and customer base, especially as you look to expand into the enterprise customer base? I want to also understand if you've seen maybe AI augment your pricing discussions in the quarter.

知道了。欣賞你的洞察力。作為後續行動，您能否幫助緩解您在服務線和客戶群中看到的一些定價壓力，特別是當您希望擴展到企業客戶群時？我還想了解您是否看到人工智慧在本季度增強了您的定價討論。

Yeah. It's an interesting environment right now because if you look at the broader market, the growth rates that we saw in the post-COVID era had really slowed down. And so, as I said, we, this year, have decided to focus exclusively on one goal, and that goal was to return to growth. We spent 15 years doing nothing but growing at TaskUs. And in the past 18 months, we stopped growing and started shrinking. And having experienced both growth and decline, I can tell you, growth is a lot more fun.

是的。現在的環境很有趣，因為如果你看看更廣闊的市場，我們在後新冠時代看到的成長率確實放緩了。因此，正如我所說，今年我們決定只專注於一個目標，而這個目標就是恢復成長。我們花了 15 年在 TaskUs 成長，什麼也沒做。在過去的 18 個月裡，我們停止了成長並開始萎縮。而經歷成長和衰退的我可以告訴你，成長更有趣。

You may not solve all of our problems, but it certainly is a much better position to be in than to have declining revenues. So we've invested heavily in sales and marketing and aligned our teams with a single focus on growth. Because the overall growth rate of the industry slowed, we've gone after our competitors, and we outlined earlier that we're going to go and take share from the competition. And since then, we've been successful in taking tens of millions of dollars of business from our competitors. But in those pursuits, we have made the strategic decision to be more aggressive on price.

你可能無法解決我們所有的問題，但這肯定比收入下降好得多。因此，我們在銷售和行銷方面投入了大量資金，並使我們的團隊專注於成長。因為產業整體成長放緩，所以我們開始追趕競爭對手，我們之前就說過要從競爭對手那裡分一杯羹。從那時起，我們已經成功地從競爭對手那裡奪走了數千萬美元的業務。但在這些追求中，我們做出了在價格上更為激進的策略決策。

As you mentioned, another part of our growth strategy was going after enterprise client can be banking financial services and healthcare spaces. And here too, we've priced our offerings competitively to drive growth. So the strategy has worked. It's returned us to accelerating revenue growth with the possibility of achieving double-digit growth by the end of this year, but it's also impacted our margins. And even though it's impacted our margins, we continue to have the best or among the best EBITDA margins in the industry, so we're proud of that fact. But we recognize that we're going to have to continue to work hard to get back to a growth rate that's better than the industries while maintaining those margins.

正如您所提到的，我們成長策略的另一部分是追求銀行金融服務和醫療保健領域的企業客戶。在這方面，我們也對我們的產品進行了具有競爭力的定價，以推動成長。所以這個策略奏效了。它使我們重新加速營收成長，並有可能在今年年底實現兩位數成長，但這也影響了我們的利潤率。儘管這影響了我們的利潤率，但我們仍然擁有業內最好或最好的 EBITDA 利潤率，因此我們對此感到自豪。但我們認識到，我們將必須繼續努力，以恢復高於行業的成長率，同時保持這些利潤率。

Thank very much for the details there.

非常感謝那裡的詳細資訊。

Maggie Nolan, William Blair.

瑪吉諾蘭、威廉布萊爾。

Hi, thank you. Building on the margin commentary there, Bryce, so you brought the guidance down. You mentioned meeting to make some investments in people and facilities. I'm curious if those investments are for revenue that you expect to materialize in the remainder of this year or more so to prepare you for next year? And how much visibility do you have into those expected ramp-ups?

你好，謝謝。布萊斯，根據那裡的保證金評論，所以你降低了指引。您提到開會對人員和設施進行一些投資。我很好奇這些投資是為了您預計在今年剩餘時間內實現的收入，還是為了為明年做好準備？您對這些預期的成長有多少了解？

Yeah, the answer is both. We've got good visibility because what we're building for now is business that we've been awarded, either we signed contracts or we've been verbally awarded the business. And so, those investments, which include we see new office space, ramping up our recruitment efforts, investing heavily in the training period, those investments are well underway. We will see revenue growth from those investments in Q3 and Q4, and we'll also see continued revenue growth into 2025. So, does that answer your question, Maggie?

是的，答案是兩者兼具。我們擁有良好的知名度，因為我們現在正在建立的是我們已經獲得的業務，要么我們簽署了合同，要么我們被口頭授予了業務。因此，這些投資，包括我們看到新的辦公空間、加強招募、大力投資培訓期，這些投資正在順利進行中。我們將在第三季和第四季看到這些投資的收入成長，並且我們還將看到收入持續成長到 2025 年。那麼，這能回答你的問題嗎，瑪姬？

Yeah, thank you. And then one on the competitive pricing that you both mentioned the environment has been a little bit competitive, can you elaborate on that? Is that broad-based across the competitor set? Is it a particular clients or within specific geographies or solution offerings?

是的，謝謝。然後是關於競爭性定價，你們都提到環境有點競爭，你能詳細說明一下嗎？這在競爭對手中是否具有廣泛的基礎？是特定客戶還是特定地區或特定解決方案？

Yeah. Let me elaborate a bit more. So I think ultimately, we're seeing the majority of this come in new deal pursuits. As I mentioned on the call, we had our best new logo sales quarter in Q2 that we had since 2022, and we're seeing an environment in which buyers have more pricing power than they have had historically. My sense is that, that may be because the growth rate of the industry has slowed and there's excess capacity in the system. So some of our competitors are slashing their rates just to fill that capacity.

是的。讓我詳細說明一下。所以我認為最終，我們看到其中大部分來自於新交易的追求。正如我在電話會議中提到的，我們在第二季度取得了自 2022 年以來最好的新標誌銷售季度，而且我們看到買家擁有比歷史上更多定價權的環境。我的感覺是，可能是因為產業成長放緩，系統產能過剩。因此，我們的一些競爭對手正在大幅削減費率，以填補這一容量。

Ultimately, TaskUs has always priced ourselves as a premium provider, and we've been able to do that because we deliver for our clients. But we recognize in this space that getting back to growth, and getting back to growth that's better than our competitors is the most important thing we can do. And so to do that, we've had to price our offering competitively.

最終，TaskUs 始終將自己定位為優質供應商，我們之所以能夠做到這一點，是因為我們為客戶提供服務。但我們認識到，在這個領域，恢復成長，並恢復比競爭對手更好的成長是我們能做的最重要的事情。為此，我們必須對我們的產品進行有競爭力的定價。

Thank you. Appreciate it.

謝謝。欣賞它。

Thanks, Maggie.

謝謝，瑪吉。

Cassie Chan, Bank of America.

卡西·陳，美國銀行。

Hey. I just wanted to follow up on the strong bookings commentary that you mentioned. I guess, just any more detail about the type of contract, length of it? Are they utilizing multiple specialized services? Just I'd like to see that. I just wanted a little bit more color. Thanks.

嘿。我只是想跟進您提到的強烈的預訂評論。我想，只是關於合約類型、合約長度的更多細節嗎？他們是否使用多種專業服務？只是我想看到這一點。我只是想要多一點顏色。謝謝。

Yeah. Thanks so much, Cassie. We've seen a lot of really exciting both new logos and existing clients signing new statements of work. On the digital customer experience front, I mentioned on the call, a very large provider of e-commerce and website building solutions, and that was a competitive takeaway, so I'm very proud of the team for doing that.

是的。非常感謝，卡西。我們看到了許多令人興奮的新徽標和現有客戶簽署的新工作聲明。在數位客戶體驗方面，我在電話中提到了一家非常大的電子商務和網站建立解決方案提供商，這是一個有競爭力的外賣，所以我為團隊這樣做感到非常自豪。

Inside trust and safety, we're seeing expansion in our risk and response offering. Here, primarily fintech clients are using us to do any money laundering and know your customer work. And then the broader trust and safety offering continues to expand. Obviously, at social media clients and our largest client, we're seeing an acceleration in growth. But inside trust and safety, we're also seeing meaningful demand from our generative AI clients and from clients in different industries where trust and safety maybe isn't as apparent as a need, but the net has definitely expanded across many industries now.

在信任和安全方面，我們看到我們的風險和回應服務不斷擴大。在這裡，主要是金融科技客戶利用我們進行洗錢活動並了解您的客戶工作。然後，更廣泛的信任和安全產品繼續擴大。顯然，在社群媒體客戶和我們最大的客戶中，我們看到了成長的加速。但在信任和安全方面，我們也看到來自我們的生成式人工智慧客戶以及不同行業的客戶的有意義的需求，在這些行業中，信任和安全可能並不像需求那麼明顯，但網路現在肯定已經擴展到許多行業。

Lastly, inside AI services last quarter, I was pretty frustrated with the fact that our business was declining in a market that was growing so rapidly. And obviously, we saw another year-over-year decline this quarter, but I'm proud of the fact that we got back to sequential quarterly growth. I'm also very proud of the fact that we will get back to year-over-year growth in the back half of 2024. Again, that growth is being driven by new generative AI initiatives at our largest clients, along with success selling into many other generative AI companies. So I think we're getting back on the right foot when it comes to our AI service business. And I hope that, that will be a big lever of growth in 2025.

最後，在上個季度的人工智慧服務內部，我對我們的業務在成長如此迅速的市場中下滑這一事實感到非常沮喪。顯然，本季度我們再次出現同比下降，但我對我們恢復季度環比增長感到自豪。我也非常自豪的是，我們將在 2024 年下半年恢復年成長。同樣，這種成長是由我們最大客戶的新生成式人工智慧計劃以及向許多其他生成式人工智慧公司的成功銷售所推動的。因此，我認為在人工智慧服務業務方面，我們正在重新站穩腳跟。我希望這將成為 2025 年的重要成長槓桿。

Got it, that's helpful. And I guess just to pivot a bit, another question on margins. I guess is there any way that we can sort of think about what the lower margin guidance profile is relative to the different pieces like maybe mix in terms of the different -- is there a difference in the margin profile for AI services versus DCX versus trust and safety and then the reinvestment, additional reinvestments that you're making versus some of the pricing pressures that you're talking about. So I guess like kind of a few questions.

明白了，很有幫助。我想只是稍微調整一下，另一個關於利潤率的問題。我想我們是否可以透過某種方式來思考較低的利潤率指導概況相對於不同部分的關係，例如可能在不同方面進行混合——AI 服務與 DCX 與信任的利潤率概況是否存在差異安全，然後是再投資，您正在進行的額外再投資與您正在談論的一些定價壓力。所以我想有幾個問題。

Yeah. Let me make two comments, and then I'm going to hand it to Balaji to fill in the details. Firstly, the majority of what we're seeing in terms of the decline in the adjusted EBITDA margin is because of the investments that we're making for growth. So I just want to be very, very clear, we're acknowledging that we are seeing some pricing pressure, but that is certainly not the majority of the reason why our adjusted EBITDA margins have come down somewhat. So I think that's an important point.

是的。讓我發表兩點意見，然後我將把它交給巴拉吉來填寫細節。首先，我們看到的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率下降的主要原因是我們為成長而進行的投資。因此，我只想非常非常明確地表示，我們承認我們面臨一些定價壓力，但這肯定不是我們調整後 EBITDA 利潤率下降的主要原因。所以我認為這是很重要的一點。

And then as far as the margin mix, historically, we've had similar margins across our service lines, but the biggest differentiator for margin has been geographic delivery area. We have a large business in the Philippines and India where margins tend to be highest. Our business in the US is shrinking where margins tend to be lowest. But we are seeing significant growth in Latin America and Europe.

就利潤率組合而言，從歷史上看，我們在各個服務領域的利潤率相似，但利潤率的最大差異在於交付地理區域。我們在利潤率最高的菲律賓和印度擁有大量業務。我們在美國的業務正在萎縮，那裡的利潤率往往最低。但我們看到拉丁美洲和歐洲的顯著成長。

And typically, the margins in Latin America and Europe tend to be kind of in between the US and the offshore geographies in the Philippines and India. So there's some dilutive effect to the overall margin when we're seeing that kind of growth, but we're very happy that we're strengthening our global footprint.

通常，拉丁美洲和歐洲的利潤率往往介於美國與菲律賓和印度的近海地區之間。因此，當我們看到這種成長時，整體利潤率會受到一些稀釋影響，但我們很高興我們正在加強我們的全球足跡。

So I'll hand it to Balaji to add some more color.

所以我會把它交給 Balaji 添加更多顏色。

Yeah, thanks. And just to add on to what Bryce said, a couple of things that you also see from a year-over-year perspective beyond the investments that we are making in sales, marketing and technology that we spoke about in the Q1 call is also the impact of annual labor and benefits cost inflation that we typically see is mostly in our offshore locations, which is where it is higher, but that's where like Bryce mentioned, the margins also tend to be higher. And like Bryce discussed earlier and we spoke about it in the prepared remarks, is the ran costs that we're referring currently to deliver to the ramp that we saw in Q2 where we beat our revenue guidance and then the increase in guidance for the rest of the year in Panero. So those are some of the other contributing factors that is leading to the 22% adjusted EBITDA for the full year.

是的，謝謝。只是補充一下布萊斯所說的內容，除了我們在第一季電話會議中談到的銷售、行銷和技術投資之外，您還可以從逐年的角度看到一些事情我們通常看到的年度勞動力和福利成本通膨的影響主要發生在我們的離岸地區，那裡的成本較高，但就像布萊斯提到的那樣，那裡的利潤率也往往較高。就像布萊斯之前討論的那樣，我們在準備好的發言中談到了這一點，我們目前指的是達到我們在第二季度看到的增長的運行成本，我們超出了我們的收入指導，然後是其餘指導的增加帕內羅年度最佳。這些是導致全年調整後 EBITDA 成長 22% 的其他一些影響因素。

Got it, really helpful. Thanks, guys.

明白了，真的很有幫助。謝謝，夥計們。

James Faucette, Morgan Stanley.

詹姆斯‧福賽特，摩根士丹利。

Great, thank you very much. I wanted to ask a couple of questions on the customers as well as the pricing environment we talked about. First, on your customers, and particularly your largest customers, great to see that you're re-growing with them. What is the composition of work or type of work that you're doing now in your -- and as you're growing with them? And how has that changed, if at all, versus maybe what you've been doing with them a year or two ago as they started to contract and can kind of reposition a little bit the work that TaskUs was doing for them?

太好了，非常感謝。我想問一些有關客戶以及我們討論的定價環境的問題。首先，對於您的客戶，尤其是您最大的客戶，很高興看到您與他們一起重新成長。您現在正在做的工作的組成或工作類型是什麼——以及您與他們一起成長的過程？與一兩年前他們開始簽訂合約時您與他們所做的事情相比，如果有的話，這種情況有何變化？

Yeah. So we're continuing to do some of the same activities. We've always had a very strong trust and safety business. But we've also seen a real increase in demand for their generative AI initiatives. Last year, we saw a reduction in AI services at our largest client, which was related to R&D investments that they were making not related to GenAI. So these are previous initiatives that they decided to decommission and obviously had an impact in both our overall revenue as well as our ad service revenue with that client.

是的。因此，我們將繼續進行一些相同的活動。我們一直擁有非常強大的信任和安全業務。但我們也看到對其生成式人工智慧計畫的需求真正增加。去年，我們最大的客戶的人工智慧服務有所減少，這與他們進行的與 GenAI 無關的研發投資有關。因此，這些是他們決定停用的先前舉措，顯然對我們的整體收入以及我們與該客戶的廣告服務收入產生了影響。

We are adding new geographies. So we're going to be covering many more languages for our largest client as we continue to grow there. And I would say we are moving up the value chain in terms of the sophistication of work that we're doing, and that's really true across all of our clients. We've got clients in the on-demand travel and transportation space, clients in the e-commerce space where maybe where we started with them was more kind of basic level support.

我們正在新增新的地理位置。因此，隨著我們繼續發展，我們將為我們最大的客戶提供更多的語言。我想說的是，就我們所做工作的複雜性而言，我們正在向價值鏈上游移動，這對我們所有的客戶來說都是如此。我們在按需旅行和運輸領域有客戶，在電子商務領域有客戶，也許我們從他們開始的地方是更多的基礎層級支援。

Increasingly, we're moving into sales and lead gen Tier 2 and Tier 3 support workflows, risk and response, the anti-money laundering and know your customer work that I mentioned on the call. So I think we're making good progress of continuing to move up the value chain into jobs that are more resilient to the threat of AI and also just more meaningful for our relationships with our customers.

我們越來越多地轉向銷售和潛在客戶開發第 2 層和第 3 層支援工作流程、風險和回應、反洗錢以及我在電話中提到的了解客戶工作。因此，我認為我們在繼續向價值鏈上游邁進，進入對人工智慧威脅更有彈性、對我們與客戶的關係更有意義的工作方面取得了良好進展。

Got it. Thanks for that, and that's great to hear. And then the second thing I was going to ask is, you mentioned the pricing pressure and at least one of your competitors has acknowledged that. How are you feeling about kind of what the response is going to be, how well that's contemplated into your own outlook and as those competitors get respond and get more aggressive on pricing on their own. Do you think that's well anticipated in a way that you formulated outlook or what things should we be aware of there?

知道了。謝謝你，很高興聽到這個消息。然後我要問的第二件事是，你提到了定價壓力，至少你的一個競爭對手已經承認了這一點。您對將會得到的反應有何感受，您自己的前景如何考慮，以及當這些競爭對手得到反應並在定價上變得更加激進時。您認為您所闡述的前景是否符合預期，或者我們應該注意哪些事情？

Yeah. I mean, I think we're in a privileged position to have margins that are amongst the best in the industry. And it gives us a lot of room to be competitive while maintaining great margins. We are definitely seeing and expect to continue to see an environment in which clients are looking for better pricing. We are continuing to be creative in our solutioning for that pricing.

是的。我的意思是，我認為我們處於有利地位，擁有業內最好的利潤率。它為我們提供了很大的競爭空間，同時保持巨大的利潤。我們肯定會看到並期望繼續看到客戶尋求更好定價的環境。我們將繼續在該定價解決方案中發揮創意。

We're very lucky in having a large offshore footprint that we can leverage to reduce client costs while protecting our margins. And we're also using our technology to move clients to outcome-based contracts where we can drive efficiencies for them. And as we get more productive, our margins expand. So the answer is sort of multifaceted. I believe that we will continue to see this environment for some time. And certainly, in our 22% adjusted EBITDA margin guidance for the year, we've contemplated a continuation of the competitive environment.

我們非常幸運，擁有大量的離岸業務，我們可以利用這些業務來降低客戶成本，同時保護我們的利潤。我們也利用我們的技術讓客戶轉向基於結果的合同，從而提高他們的效率。隨著我們生產力的提高，我們的利潤率也在擴大。所以答案是多方面的。我相信這種環境還會持續一段時間。當然，在我們今年調整後 22% 的 EBITDA 利潤率指引中，我們考慮到競爭環境將持續下去。

Great. Thanks for all that, Bryce.

偉大的。謝謝你所做的一切，布萊斯。

Jim Schneider, Goldman Sachs.

吉姆·施奈德，高盛。

Good afternoon, and thanks for taking my question. Just -- no, to return to the AI services market for a moment, can you maybe comment on just the broader market and what you're seeing in terms of client priorities are leading to a point where some of the models out there are getting more fully trained, and thus, there's kind of the dentition of what's being asked of you in terms of incremental work? Or are you seeing an expansion of the overall number of clients who are doing these kind of training activities and just a broader kind of sweep of opportunity sets?

下午好，感謝您提出我的問題。只是 - 不，暫時回到人工智慧服務市場，您能否評論一下更廣泛的市場以及您在客戶優先級方面所看到的情況正在導致一些模型正在發展接受過更全面的培訓，因此，在增量工作方面對您有什麼要求？或者您看到正在進行此類培訓活動的客戶總數有所增加，並且機會集更廣泛？

Yeah. Thanks for the question, Jim. I mean, certainly, we have not done as well in this space as others. What we've seen is the sophistication of the demand has increased markedly. In the past, we used to do basic data tagging and invitation for autonomous vehicles, looking at images of street teams and essentially anoctamin what was in those images. Now, we're recruiting people with master securities and PhDs in particular subjects to look at the answers that large language models are producing and rate their accuracy or in some cases, free write those answers from scratch. So I think it is a fundamentally market shift in terms of just the complexity of the work that we're doing.

是的。謝謝你的提問，吉姆。我的意思是，當然，我們在這個領域做得不如其他人。我們看到需求的複雜程度顯著增加。過去，我們曾經對自動駕駛車輛進行基本的數據標記和邀請，查看街道團隊的圖像，基本上了解這些圖像中的內容。現在，我們正在招募具有特定學科碩士學位和博士學位的人員來查看大型語言模型產生的答案並評估其準確性，或者在某些情況下，從頭開始免費編寫這些答案。因此，我認為就我們正在進行的工作的複雜性而言，這是一個根本性的市場轉變。

We've certainly not seen any abatement in demand. I mean, there is a large and rapidly growing market for AI services. I think it's a combination of the biggest players are continuing to invest more in quality training data. And the number of players in the space continues to grow exponentially. So we're going to get back to growth in this service line in the back half of the year. And I think if we execute properly, it will be a good growth story for 2025.

我們當然沒有看到需求有任何減少。我的意思是，人工智慧服務有一個巨大且快速成長的市場。我認為這是最大的參與者繼續在高品質培訓數據上投入更多資金的結合。該領域的參與者數量持續呈指數級增長。因此，我們將在今年下半年恢復該服務線的成長。我認為，如果我們執行得當，這將是 2025 年的一個良好的成長故事。

Thank you. And then relative to the increased cost to support the new growth ramps, can you maybe give us a sense, is that sort of tied to incremental headcount, if it's tied to specific projects? And I guess, more broadly speaking, is there a point at which you get to a certain amount of absolute cost addition and then you're able to kind of get more leverage off of that increased cost or is it more proportional headcount?

謝謝。然後，相對於支持新增長的成本增加，您能否給我們一個感覺，如果與特定項目相關，這是否與增量人員數量相關？我想，更廣泛地說，是否有一個點，你達到一定數量的絕對成本增加，然後你就能夠從增加的成本中獲得更多的槓桿，或者是更比例的員工人數？

Yeah. I think what's happened here is we've gone through a bit of a 180. So at the end of last year, we were actively looking to remove capacity. We were getting out of leases, closing facilities, I mean, really focusing on how can we cut costs in order to protect our margins. And in the beginning of this year, as we went back to investing heavily in growth, we knew that if we were successful, we would have to do a rapid about pace and build a bunch of new offices very, very quickly. And so that's what we've had to do. I mean, we're building offices on four different continents right now, and they're all being done at a breakneck pace.

是的。我認為這裡發生的事情是我們經歷了 180 度的轉變。所以去年底，我們就積極尋求去產能。我的意思是，我們正在擺脫租賃，關閉設施，並真正專注於如何削減成本以保護我們的利潤。今年年初，當我們重新大力投資成長時，我們知道，如果我們成功，我們必須加快步伐，並非常非常快地建立一堆新辦公室。這就是我們必須做的。我的意思是，我們現在正在四個不同的大陸建立辦事處，而且它們都在以極快的速度完成。

And as a result of the focus on speed, perhaps not as efficiently as they could be done if we went through kind of a proper procurement process, so that's just an example. I mean, when we're doing these large ramps, we're also getting very aggressive in terms of trying to meet our hiring timelines needing to provide for extra things like sign-on bonuses or in the case of our European business relocation packages. And then in some of these ramps, we're also providing free training to our clients, so that can sort of artificially reduce margins, at least in the beginning of an engagement.

由於注重速度，如果我們通過適當的採購流程，可能不會像他們可以完成的那樣有效，所以這只是一個例子。我的意思是，當我們進行這些大規模的擴張時，我們在努力滿足招聘時間表方面也變得非常積極，需要提供額外的東西，例如簽約獎金或我們的歐洲業務搬遷套餐。然後，在其中一些斜坡中，我們還為客戶提供免費培訓，這樣可以人為地降低利潤，至少在合作之初是如此。

So yeah, to answer the question, I mean, I mean I think it's fair to ask, if you look back and like, hey, you grew faster than this before and your margins were better, what's different this time. I really think it's just the abruptness with which we've had to turn the ship around and some of the concessions that we've made in order to win business.

所以，是的，要回答這個問題，我的意思是，我認為可以公平地問，如果你回頭看，嘿，你的增長速度比以前更快，你的利潤率更好，這次有什麼不同。我真的認為這只是我們不得不扭轉局面以及為了贏得業務而做出的一些讓步。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Matt VanVliet, BTIG.

馬特·範弗利特，BTIG。

Yeah, good afternoon. Thanks for taking the question. I guess, when you look at some of the growth and you highlighted Latin America as a big growth area, are you seeing any shifting of business that maybe historically was serviced from the Philippines and looking at sort of more similar time zones with some of your customers? Is that helping a little bit of the revenue driving growth here? Or anything you're going to have in terms of customers sort of moving, relocating their work?

是的，下午好。感謝您提出問題。我想，當您看到一些增長並強調拉丁美洲作為一個大增長區域時，您是否會看到歷史上可能由菲律賓提供服務的業務發生任何轉移，並考慮與您的一些國家更相似的時區顧客？這是否有助於推動這裡的營收成長？或者您將有什麼關於客戶搬遷、重新安置他們的工作的事情？

Yeah. We see a huge demand in the last 12 to 18 months for nearshore delivery. And by nearshore, I mean Latin America operations in Mexico and in Colombia. Part of that demand is coming from people who had previous operations in the US and they see the nearshore opportunity to reduce cost, stay in the same time zone, get bilingual coverage.

是的。我們看到過去 12 至 18 個月對近岸交付的巨大需求。我所說的近岸是指在墨西哥和哥倫比亞的拉丁美洲業務。這項需求的一部分來自於先前在美國開展業務的人們，他們看到了近岸的機會，可以降低成本、停留在同一時區、獲得雙語覆蓋。

There's also, I think, amongst some clients an overexposure to the Philippines for English language support. And so they've been interested in Colombia and Mexico as a sort of a BCP strategy. So yeah, it's multifaceted, but it's very encouraging. I mean, I think we'll have a triple-digit revenue business in Latin America this year, which is just incredible when you think where we're coming from.

我認為，有些客戶過度依賴菲律賓的英語支援。因此，他們對哥倫比亞和墨西哥感興趣，將其作為 BCP 策略的一種。是的，它是多方面的，但非常令人鼓舞。我的意思是，我認為今年我們在拉丁美洲的收入業務將達到三位數，當你想到我們來自哪裡時，這真是令人難以置信。

Very helpful. And then as you look at a number of your very large tech clients that maybe had a fair amount of reduction in their own head count over the last 1.5 years, as we've seen those headlines at least slow down, do you feel like that's helping drive some of the growth in the business, maybe a stabilization of their own internal expectations and now understanding, how TaskUs plays into that equation? Or would you point to maybe other drivers that are seeing more of this return of growth here?

非常有幫助。然後，當你看到一些非常大的科技客戶在過去 1.5 年裡可能大幅減少了自己的員工數量時，我們已經看到這些頭條新聞至少放緩了，你覺得這是嗎？成長，也許是穩定他們自己的內部期望，現在了解TaskUs 如何參與這個等式？或者您會指出其他在這裡看到更多成長回報的驅動因素？

Yeah. I mean, 2022 was the year of efficiency. We all saw the headlines, and certainly, we felt it directly ourselves as our clients reduce internal headcount and spend on external vendors.

是的。我的意思是，2022 年是效率年。我們都看到了頭條新聞，當然，當我們的客戶減少內部員工數量並在外部供應商上支出時，我們自己也直接感受到了這一點。

At the start of this year, it felt like clients had optimized just about as much as they could. And there was a lot of new excitement in areas like generative AI, where investment dollars were being freed up. And so, we've capitalized on that opportunity and I think have done a really good job of selling our value proposition to clients that are back in growth mode.

今年年初，感覺客戶已經盡其所能地進行了優化。在生成人工智慧等領域出現了很多新的令人興奮的事情，這些領域的投資資金正在被釋放。因此，我們利用了這個機會，我認為我們在向恢復成長模式的客戶推銷我們的價值主張方面做得非常好。

Great, thank you.

太好了，謝謝。

Jacob Haggarty, Baird.

雅各·哈加蒂，貝爾德。

Thank you for taking my question. I just have a question about the shift to offshore. So US was the [10%] of revenue as last quarter looks like. So are you guys seeing that stabilizing -- and furthermore, are you seeing the shift to nearshore as sort of a stepping stone to the Philippines and India? So are clients using LatAm and then eventually shifting over to Philippines and India as they progress? Thanks.

感謝您回答我的問題。我只是有一個關於轉向離岸的問題。因此，如上季所示，美國市場佔營收的 [10%]。那麼，你們是否認為這種情況正在趨於穩定——此外，你們是否認為向近岸的轉變是進入菲律賓和印度的墊腳石？那麼，客戶是否會使用拉丁美洲，然後隨著進展最終轉向菲律賓和印度？謝謝。

Yeah. So we've said historically, we don't think our US business is going to get below 10% of total revenue. I think at this point, it will be between 11% and 12% for the rest of the year. That would indicate that we're seeing some sequential quarterly growth in our US business, which is great. We continue to have both existing and new clients that want onshore delivery either for regulatory reasons or just individual client preference.

是的。因此，我們過去曾說過，我們認為我們的美國業務不會低於總收入的 10%。我認為今年剩餘時間將這一比例將在 11% 到 12% 之間。這表明我們的美國業務出現了一些連續的季度成長，這很好。我們繼續有現有和新客戶出於監管原因或只是個人客戶偏好而希望陸上交付。

And as far as the nearshore piece goes, I don't know if it's a stepping stone. Historically, getting people started in the US always seem like a good stepping stone to leveraging our global footprint. But once people get into Mexico and Colombia, we haven't seen as much movement to places like Philippines and India. Again, our business in the Philippines is by far our largest geography. And on a headcount basis, India is definitely our second largest geography. So we've got strong businesses there, and we're excited about the business that we're growing in Latin America.

至於近岸部分，我不知道它是否是一塊墊腳石。從歷史上看，讓人們在美國起步似乎總是一個很好的踏腳石，可以利用我們的全球足跡。但一旦人們進入墨西哥和哥倫比亞，我們就沒有看到像菲律賓和印度這樣的地方有那麼多的流動。同樣，我們在菲律賓的業務是迄今為止我們最大的地區。從人員數量來看，印度絕對是我們的第二大地區。因此，我們在那裡擁有強大的業務，我們對在拉丁美洲發展的業務感到興奮。

Got you, that's helpful. And then I just wanted to follow up on some of the AI services. So as you see this grow, is this going to be mostly in the Philippines and India as well? And then kind of on top of that, is that going to start to drive a meaningful increase in revenue per employee, especially with like tools implemented internally?

明白了，很有幫助。然後我只是想跟進一些人工智慧服務。那麼，當你看到這種增長時，這是否也主要發生在菲律賓和印度？除此之外，這是否會開始推動每位員工的收入大幅增加，尤其是在內部實施類似工具的情況下？

Yeah. AI services has been a global effort. As far as revenue per employee, it really depends on the level of sophistication of the task. A lot of the work we're talking about doing with experts is being done onshore. And certainly, there should be an increase in revenue per employee. Some of the work continues to be done by our teammates in places like the Philippines and India, where revenue per employee may not go up quite as much, just depending on the sophistication of the demand for service.

是的。人工智慧服務是全球共同努力的結果。就每位員工的收入而言，這實際上取決於任務的複雜程度。我們與專家討論的許多工作都是在岸上完成的。當然，每個員工的收入應該增加。有些工作繼續由我們在菲律賓和印度等地的團隊成員完成，這些地方員工的人均收入可能不會增加那麼多，這只取決於服務需求的複雜程度。

Thank you. And I'm not showing any further questions at this time. This concludes the conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

謝謝。目前我不會提出任何進一步的問題。會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。