Tucows Inc (TCX) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to Tucows' question-and-answer dialogue for Q1 2024. Elliot Noss, President and Chief Executive Officer, will be responding to your questions. For your convenience, this audio file is also available as a transcript in the Investors section of our website along with our Q1 2024 financial results and updated reports.

歡迎參加 Tucows 2024 年第一季問答環節。總裁兼執行長 Elliot Noss 將回答您的問題。為了方便您查閱，本次音訊檔案的文字稿也已發佈在我們網站的「投資者關係」版塊，同時發布的還有我們 2024 年第一季的財務業績和最新報告。

I would also like to remind investors that if you would like to receive our quarterly reports and Q&A via e-mail, please make the request to ir@tucows.com. Please note that the following discussion may include forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially.

我還要提醒各位投資者，如果您希望透過電子郵件接收我們的季度報告和問答，請發送郵件至ir@tucows.com提出申請。請注意，以下討論可能包含前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受風險和不確定性因素的影響，可能導致實際結果與預期有重大差異。

These risk factors are described in detail in the company's documents filed with the SEC, specifically the most recent reports on the Forms 10-Q and 10-K. The company urges you to read its security filings for a full description of the risk factors applicable to its business.

這些風險因素在公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中均有詳細描述，特別是最新的10-Q表和10-K表報告。本公司強烈建議您閱讀其證券備案文件，以全面了解適用於其業務的風險因素。

Today's commentary includes responses to questions submitted to us following the prerecorded management remarks regarding the quarter and outlook for the company. We are grouping similar questions into categories that we feel are addressing common queries. If your questions reach a certain threshold or volume, we may ask you to schedule a call instead to ensure we can address the full body of your questions.

今天的評論包括我們在預先錄製的管理層關於本季度業績和公司展望的講話後收到的問題的解答。我們將類似的問題歸類，以便解答常見問題。如果您的問題數量達到一定閾值，我們可能會請您預約電話會議，以確保我們能夠解答您的所有問題。

And if you feel the recorded questions and/or any direct e-mail you may receive do not address the full scope of your questions. Please let us know. Go ahead, Elliott.

如果您覺得錄音問題和/或您收到的任何電子郵件沒有完全解答您的問題，請告訴我們。請繼續，埃利奧特。

Thank you, Monica, and welcome to our Q&A for our first quarter 2024 financial results. We had a few questions on Ting's market penetration and profitability. The first question was how the penetration we've achieved in Ting's more mature markets compares to our 50% take rate target and whether there are noticeable differences in take rates between owned and partner markets?

謝謝莫妮卡，歡迎參加我們2024年第一季財務業績問答環節。我們收到了一些關於Ting市場滲透率和獲利能力的問題。第一個問題是，我們在Ting較成熟的市場中所實現的滲透率與我們50%的目標相比如何？自有市場和合作夥伴市場的滲透率是否有顯著差異？

Currently, nearly 20% of Ting's serviceable footprint is 5 years or older and in aggregate has met the 50% penetration rate goal. I know 2 things: first, we believe we are continually improving our ability to load the network to keep churn low and to attract new customers as old customers moved from already connected premises; second, our penetration rates as well as our ARPU, churn and customer satisfaction are all seen as market leading.

目前，Ting 服務覆蓋區域內近 20% 的用戶已使用 5 年或更久，總體而言，其網路滲透率已達到 50% 的目標。我知道兩件事：首先，我們相信我們正在不斷提升網路負載能力，從而降低用戶流失率，並在老用戶從已連接場所遷移後吸引新用戶；其次，我們的網路滲透率、ARPU 值、用戶流失率和客戶滿意度均處於市場領先水平。

The questioner also asked whether there was a difference in penetration performance between owned and partner markets. There is our owned networks performed better than our partner networks. There are a variety of reasons, but we believe that most of them have to do with the seams between our operation and our partners' operations. We're actively working on this as more and more capital enters the partner side of the market. For example, we're engaged in efforts to improve this in our new partner markets in Colorado Springs and Memphis.

提問者也詢問自有市場和合作夥伴市場的滲透率是否有差異。我們的自有網絡表現優於合作夥伴網絡。原因有很多，但我們認為大部分原因在於我們自身營運與合作夥伴營運之間的銜接問題。隨著越來越多的資金流入合作夥伴市場，我們正在積極解決這個問題。例如，我們正在努力改善我們在科羅拉多斯普林斯和孟菲斯這兩個新合作夥伴市場的銜接情況。

The next question asked on Ting was what contributed to Ting's $3 million quarter-over-quarter improvement in adjusted EBITDA?

接下來，有人問 Ting，是什麼因素促成了 Ting 的調整後 EBITDA 環比增長 300 萬美元？

Most of the improvement is permanent. It came from our February workforce reduction and reduced marketing spend among other efficiencies. There were some quarter-over-quarter reductions that were more transient, but we continue to focus on improving Ting's adjusted EBITDA.

大部分改善是永久性的。這主要得益於我們二月的員工精簡和行銷支出削減等效率提升措施。雖然也有一些季度環比的短期下降，但我們仍將繼續致力於提高婷氏調整後的EBITDA。

One of the challenges of the last few years has been trying to settle on the scope and scale of the Ting Build. As those of you following the story know, this has taken different paths and has been impacted by both macroeconomic and fiber market forces, building an operating machine calibrated to the right size has been a challenge.

過去幾年面臨的挑戰之一是如何確定婷網建設的範圍和規模。正如關注此事的各位所知，該專案幾經波折，受到宏觀經濟和光纖市場因素的雙重影響，因此，建構一個適當規模的運作體系始終是一項挑戰。

And as we sort out the long-term capitalization of the Ting business, we will be much better able to tailor the operations appropriately. We had an inquiry on what the ideal wave low customer looks like. The target Wavelo customer is really any mobile or fixed telecom.

隨著我們理順Ting業務的長期資本結構，我們將能夠更好地調整營運策略。我們收到詢問，Wavelo的理想客戶是什麼樣的。 Wavelo的目標客戶實際上是所有行動或固定電信用戶。

Wavelo low significantly improves efforts to expands revenue with new products, services or service areas as well as through improving cost efficiency in their operations via automation. We cannot imagine any telecom who would say they don't want these things.

Wavelo 的低成本方案顯著提升了電信公司透過新產品、新服務或新服務領域拓展收入以及透過自動化提高營運成本效益的努力。我們無法想像會有哪家電信公司會說他們不要這些。

The challenge whether the potential customer is big or small, is the readiness and ability to change their back office.

無論潛在客戶規模大小，他們面臨的挑戰都是改變後台系統的意願和能力。

With billing and provisioning systems, change is hard. We know this from the Domains business and telecom is even trickier as the target for customers are generally less technically sophisticated than most web-hosted companies. Our challenge is to make migrating as easy as possible using modern data practices and just as importantly, to help the potential customers with their fear of migrations.

對於計費和配置系統而言，變革總是困難重重。我們在網域業務中深知這一點，而電信業的變革則更為棘手，因為其目標客戶通常不如大多數網路託管公司那樣精通科技。我們的挑戰在於，如何利用現代資料實踐盡可能簡化遷移過程，更重要的是，如何幫助潛在客戶消除對遷移的恐懼。

We are changing the paradigm in that we value subscription revenues much more than professional service fees. The industry until now has benefited from making migrations complex as this drove professional service fees up like lawyers benefiting from making every problem more complex. If you've spent your career as a CIO on the wrong side of this trade, the emotional hurdle, the trust hurdle can be significant.

我們正在改變這種模式，我們更重視訂閱收入而非專業服務費。過去，整個產業一直透過人為製造複雜的遷移流程來提高專業服務費，就像律師透過把所有問題都搞複雜來牟利一樣。如果你作為一名首席資訊官，在這個行業裡一直扮演著錯誤的角色，那麼情感上的障礙，尤其是信任上的障礙，可能會非常巨大。

The good news is every new customer makes the point easier to prove. An investor asked about the forecast for cash flow for 2024. For forecasts, we provide annual adjusted EBITDA guidance. The guidance we provided for Tucows for 2024 was $43 million in adjusted EBITDA for Tucows' domains, $8 million to $10 million for Wavelo and $2 million to $4 million in adjusted EBITDA for our corporate segment for a total of $53 million to $57 million for Tucows ex-Ting. We continue to track to that forecast.

好消息是，每增加一位新客戶，我們的業績就更容易得到印證。一位投資人詢問了2024年的現金流預測。對於預測，我們提供年度調整後EBITDA指引。我們先前對Tucows 2024年的指引是：Tucows旗下網域調整後EBITDA為4,300萬美元，Wavelo為800萬至1,000萬美元，企業部門調整後EBITDA為200萬至400萬美元，Tucows（不含Ting）總計為5,300萬美元。我們將繼續朝著這個預測穩步前進。

And lastly, I was asked about my statement about exploiting inefficiencies in public markets. I will read the statement again for clarity. We have every indication that the public markets are not the right place to source long-term capital for fiber. If you look at TCX, the market is saying that if we turned over the keys of the Ting fiber business to its lenders for nothing that our stock price would likely skyrocket, that is market inefficiency.

最後，有人問到我之前關於利用公開市場效率低落的言論。為了更清楚地說明，我將再次宣讀。種種跡象表明，公開市場並非光纖業務長期融資的理想場所。以TCX為例，市場似乎在暗示，如果我們無償地將Ting光纖業務的控制權交給債權人，我們的股價很可能會飆升，這就是市場效率低下的表現。

Inefficiencies create opportunities. We have a good sense of what the inefficiencies are and a track record of exploiting them. Frankly, the statement speaks for itself. We have the 2 non-Ting businesses and the Mobile tail generating well over $50 million at EBITDA. We have the Ting business, and we have the current stock price.

低效之處蘊藏著機會。我們清楚知道哪些環節效率低下，並且有利用這些低效之處的成功經驗。坦白說，這句話本身就足以說明一切。我們擁有兩項非Ting業務以及行動端業務，這些業務的EBITDA均超過5000萬美元。我們擁有Ting業務，而我們目前的股價也證明了這一點。

My statement feels accurate. And of course, I know that I'm just like every public company CEO who thinks the stock price is too low.

我的說法感覺很準。當然，我也知道我和其他所有認為股價過低的上市公司CEO一樣。

Again, we think we have a clear sense of how to approach this. Thank you for listening to our Q&A. And a reminder that if you feel that the recorded answers or any direct e-mail you receive do not address your question, please follow up with us at ir@tucows.com.

再次重申，我們認為我們已經清楚地知道如何解決這個問題。感謝您收聽我們的問答環節。另外提醒您，如果您覺得錄音或您收到的任何電子郵件沒有解答您的問題，請透過 ir@tucows.com 與我們聯絡。