UFP Technologies Inc (UFPT) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day and welcome to the UFP Technologies third-quarter 2025 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note this event is being recorded.

大家好，歡迎參加 UFP Technologies 2025 年第三季財報電話會議。（操作說明）請注意，本次活動正在錄影。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Ronald J. Lataille, Senior Vice President, Treasurer, and Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

現在我謹將會議交給資深副總裁、財務主管兼財務長羅納德·J·拉泰爾先生。請繼續。

Thank you, operator. Good morning and thank you for joining us on our third-quarter 2025 earnings conference call. With me on today's call is our CEO and Chairman, Jeff Bailly.

謝謝接線生。早安，感謝各位參加我們2025年第三季財報電話會議。今天和我一起參加電話會議的還有我們的執行長兼董事長傑夫貝利。

Today, we will make some forward-looking statements within the meaning of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the accuracy of which is subject to risks and uncertainties. Wherever possible, we will try to identify those forward-looking statements by using words such as believe, expect, anticipate, pursue, forecast, and similar expressions. Our forward-look statements are based on our estimates and assumptions as of today and should not be relied upon as representing our estimates of views on any subsequent date.

今天，我們將根據 1995 年美國私人證券訴訟改革法案的定義，做出一些前瞻性聲明，這些聲明的準確性存在風險和不確定性。我們將盡可能使用諸如「相信」、「預期」、「預期」、「追求」、「預測」等詞語和類似表達來識別這些前瞻性陳述。我們的前瞻性聲明是基於我們截至今日的估計和假設，不應被視為代表我們對任何後續日期的觀點估計。

Please refer to the cautionary statement regarding forward-looking information and the risk factors in our most recent 10-K and subsequent 10-Qs, including disclosure of the factors that could cause results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. During this call, we will discuss non-GAAP financial measures which include organic sales growth, adjusted gross margin, adjusted operating income, adjusted SG&A, adjusted EPS, and EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures discussed in this call is contained in the associated press release and is available in the Investor Relations section of our website.

請參閱我們最新的 10-K 表格和後續 10-Q 表格中關於前瞻性資訊和風險因素的警示聲明，包括揭露可能導致實際結果與明示或暗示的結果有重大差異的因素。在本次電話會議中，我們將討論非GAAP財務指標，包括有機銷售成長、調整後毛利率、調整後營業收入、調整後銷售、一般及行政費用、調整後每股收益、EBITDA和調整後EBITDA。本次電話會議中討論的 GAAP 與非 GAAP 指標的調整表包含在相關的新聞稿中，可在我們網站的投資者關係部分查閱。

I'll now turn the call over to Jeff.

現在我將把電話交給傑夫。

Thank you, Ron, and thank you to everyone joining the call. UFP delivered solid Q3 results despite absorbing abnormally high costs related to the labor inefficiency challenge at our AGR Illinois facility. Overall sales grew 6.5% to $154.6 million. Our MedTech business grew 7.3% with impressive growth in interventional and surgical, orthopedics and wound care, each of which grew greater than 30%, offset by a 23% decline in patient services and support, which is our AJR, Stryker business.

謝謝你，羅恩，也謝謝所有參加電話會議的人。儘管由於伊利諾伊州 AGR 工廠勞動力效率低下而承擔了異常高的成本，UFP 第三季業績依然穩健。整體銷售額成長6.5%，達到1.546億美元。我們的醫療技術業務成長了 7.3%，其中介入和外科手術、骨科和傷口護理業務成長顯著，每項業務的成長均超過 30%，但病患服務和支援業務（即我們的 AJR、Stryker 業務）下降了 23%，抵消了部分成長。

Advanced components for non-medical business declined 2.7% as we continue to focus the majority of our resources on our MedTech business. AJR, one of six acquisitions we completed over the last 15 months, faced an issue when we went through the process of verifying the team's eligibility to legally work in the US. The E-Verify process led to the turnover of greater than 50% of the direct labor workforce.

由於我們繼續將大部分資源集中於醫療技術業務，非醫療業務的先進組件銷售額下降了 2.7%。AJR 是我們在過去 15 個月內完成的六項收購之一，但在我們核實團隊在美國合法工作的資格時遇到了問題。E-Verify流程導致超過50%的直接勞工離職。

Retraining a large percentage of our workforce reduced our output resulting in a significant reduction in revenue in a third-quarter $3 million reduction in gross profit and operating income and a $0.28 reduction in diluted EPS. We expect much of the revenue from delayed orders will be recaptured in the coming months when our capacity ramps back up to required levels and we can work down the backlog of open orders.

對很大一部分員工進行再培訓降低了我們的產量，導致第三季收入大幅下降，毛利和營業收入減少了 300 萬美元，稀釋後每股收益減少了 0.28 美元。我們預計，隨著產能恢復到所需水平，並且我們可以逐步減少未完成訂單的積壓，未來幾個月內，大部分因訂單延遲而產生的收入將得以收回。

We've made significant progress in hiring and training new associates. July was the low point of our inefficiency when we suffered a significant loss in Illinois, and it made steady progress since with a smaller loss in August and a return to solid profitability in September. Although we expect the inefficiency to impact a couple more quarters, the greatest impact is now behind us.

我們在招募和培訓新員工方面取得了顯著進展。7 月是我們效率最低點，我們在伊利諾伊州遭受了重大損失，但此後穩步進步，8 月損失較小，9 月恢復了穩健的獲利能力。雖然我們預計效率低下還會持續幾個季度，但最大的影響現在已經過去了。

[AJR's result] of the Dominican Republic should also continue to improve as qualifications are completed and production of transfer programs ramps up. Our first program is in commercial production. Second is in the qualification process, and we anticipate a third program transferring in 2026, all of which was contemplated in our five-year exclusive supply agreement with Stryker.

隨著資格認證的完成和轉學計畫的推進，多明尼加共和國的[AJR結果]也應該繼續改善。我們的第一個節目已經投入商業製作。第二個項目正在進行資格認證，我們預計第三個項目將於 2026 年完成轉移，所有這些都已在我們與 Stryker 簽訂的五年獨家供應協議中有所考慮。

On the robotic surgery front, revenue was up 5.1% in Q3. We're completing the launch of two significant new programs. The combined revenue of those two programs should be greater than $10 million in 2026, and they continue to grow rapidly from there.

在機器人手術方面，第三季營收成長了 5.1%。我們即將完成兩項重要新項目的啟動。這兩個項目的總收入到 2026 年應該會超過 1000 萬美元，並且從那時起還將繼續快速增長。

We are also in discussion to increase and extend our $500 million contract with our largest customer. They've asked us to plan for significantly increasing volumes. Both companies plan to make multi-million-dollar investments towards increasing capacity and efficiency at our La Romana facilities. We are simultaneously working on extending our exclusive supply agreement for a critical raw material in robotic drapes.

我們目前也正在與最大的客戶商討增加和延長價值 5 億美元的合約。他們要求我們做好大幅增加產量的準備。兩家公司計劃投入數百萬美元，以提高我們在拉羅馬納工廠的產能和效率。我們同時也在努力延長我們與機器人手術簾關鍵原料的獨家供應協議。

As a result, we remain very bullish about our long-term future in robotic surgery. Our two recently completed acquisitions, UNIPEC and TPI, are both performing well ahead of expectations and have been immediately accretive to our earnings. Organic growth for UFP was essentially flat in Q3 due to the reduction in AJR sales quarter over quarter. Setting aside acquisitions completed in the prior 15 months, UFP's based business grew approximately 5%.

因此，我們對機器人手術的長期前景仍然非常樂觀。我們最近完成的兩項收購，UNIPEC 和 TPI，都表現遠超預期，並立即增加了我們的收益。由於 AJR 銷售額環比下降，UFP 第三季的有機成長基本上持平。撇開過去 15 個月完成的收購不談，UFP 的基礎業務成長了約 5%。

In conclusion, we have a lot of positive momentum and good news to look forward to: AJR's return to profitability and improving operating efficiency as new team members complete their training positive impact of the transfer business in the Dominican Republic, launching and then reaching commercial production, two new robotic surgery programs launching and beginning commercial production, an extension process for a long-term contract with our largest cost with significantly increased volumes contemplated, and planned multi-million dollar capital investment by our customer, and the positive impact of our recent acquisitions combined with our efforts to find strategic acquisitions that increase our value to customers.

總之，我們有很多正面的勢頭和好消息值得期待：AJR恢復獲利能力，隨著新團隊成員完成培訓，營運效率不斷提高；多明尼加共和國的轉運業務產生了積極影響，啟動並最終實現商業化生產；兩個新的機器人手術項目啟動並開始商業化生產；與我們最大的客戶簽訂的長期合約正在延期，預計合約數量將大幅增加；客戶計劃同時提升客戶

I will now hand it over to Ron to provide additional details on our financial results.

現在我將把發言權交給羅恩，讓他詳細介紹我們的財務表現。

Thank you, Jeff. I am also pleased with our third-quarter results as we delivered solid numbers despite working through the large non-recurring labor challenge at AJR. Before I provide more color on these numbers, I'd like to start providing a brief update on tariffs.

謝謝你，傑夫。我對我們第三季的業績也感到滿意，儘管我們克服了 AJR 面臨的大量非經常性勞動力挑戰，但我們仍然取得了穩健的業績。在更詳細地分析這些數字之前，我想先簡單介紹一下關稅的最新情況。

As mentioned in our second-quarter call, we do not expect to be directly subject to a material amount of tariffs, and that was true in our third quarter when we paid approximately $160,000 in tariffs to the government, of which all was or will be passed through to our customers. On the supply side, our new estimate of the annual amount of tariffs to be passed through by our suppliers is approximately $6 million, down from the $9 million estimate in Q2. Like the direct tariffs, we anticipate passing through the raw material increases to our customers, some of which have already occurred.

正如我們在第二季電話會議中提到的，我們預計不會直接受到大量關稅的影響，第三季的情況也是如此，當時我們向政府支付了約 16 萬美元的關稅，而這些關稅全部已經或將會轉嫁給我們的客戶。在供應方面，我們對供應商每年轉嫁的關稅金額的最新估計約為 600 萬美元，低於第二季的 900 萬美元估計。與直接關稅一樣，我們預計原材料價格上漲將轉嫁給我們的客戶，其中一些上漲已經發生。

Switching back to operating results, as Jeff mentioned, organic sales were essentially flat as the AJR business flipped from inorganic to organic for all of Q3. Due to the labor problem at AJR, more than $8 million in incremental orders were unable to be fulfilled during the quarter. Had we been able to meet the production demand, organic sales would have grown approximately 6%.

回到經營業績方面，正如 Jeff 所提到的，由於 AJR 業務在第三季度從無機成長轉向有機成長，有機銷售額基本上持平。由於 AJR 的勞動力問題，該季度超過 800 萬美元的新增訂單無法完成。如果我們能夠滿足生產需求，有機產品的銷售額將成長約 6%。

In light of these unfilled orders, backlog going into Q4 is approximately $16 million, much of which we expect to fulfill by early 2026. Gross profit as a percentage of sales or gross margin decreased to 27.7%, largely due to the $3 million and extra labor costs incurred at AJR, which are all reflected in the cost of sales. Absent the $3 million and additional labor costs, gross margins would have increased to 29.6%.

鑑於這些未完成的訂單，第四季度的積壓訂單約為 1,600 萬美元，我們預計其中大部分將在 2026 年初之前完成。毛利佔銷售額的百分比或毛利率下降至 27.7%，這主要是由於 AJR 產生的 300 萬美元和額外的勞動力成本，這些成本都反映在銷售成本中。如果不計入 300 萬美元和額外的人工成本，毛利率將提高到 29.6%。

As Jeff mentioned, we have turned the corner in terms of recovery, and in fact, last week, the amount shipped were 3 times higher than the low point since the problem surfaced. Adjusted operating margin for the third quarter was 17% of sales, within our target range despite the $3 million of extra labor costs. Interest expense was down significantly as we continue to delever our balance sheet and our effective tax rate of 22.2% for the third quarter was down slightly from a year ago.

正如傑夫所提到的，我們在復原方面已經扭轉了局面，事實上，上週的出貨量是問題出現以來最低點的 3 倍。第三季調整後的營業利潤率為銷售額的 17%，儘管增加了 300 萬美元的額外人工成本，但仍在我們的目標範圍內。由於我們持續降低資產負債率，利息支出大幅下降；第三季實際稅率為 22.2%，較去年同期略有下降。

During the third quarter, we generated $35.9 million in cash from operations, paid down approximately $17.5 million in debt, and ended the quarter with a leverage ratio well below 1.5 times. Capital expenditures were $3.4 million.

第三季度，我們從經營活動中獲得了 3,590 萬美元的現金，償還了約 1,750 萬美元的債務，季度末的槓桿率遠低於 1.5 倍。資本支出為340萬美元。

With that, I now turn it back to the operator for questions.

這樣，我現在就把麥克風交還給操作員，讓他回答問題。

(Operator Instructions) Justin Ages, CJS Securities.

（操作員說明）賈斯汀·艾格斯，CJS證券。

Hi, good morning all. Can you give us a bit more color on the growth in robotic surgery, that 5% -- how much was from your largest customer. Any more details on that?

大家早安。您能否更詳細地介紹一下機器人手術的成長情況，那 5% 的成長中有多少來自您最大的客戶？還有更多細節嗎？

Yeah. So if you do the math on our largest customer, their growth was actually higher than that. It was closer to 8%. And the reason is we had this sort of one-year phenomenon if you go back in time, we were producing pouches, that sort of critical part between the robot and the surgical instrument, for the last couple decades, some of which were sold directly to Intuitive Surgical, some of which were sold to our competitor.

是的。所以，如果你計算我們最大客戶的成長率，你會發現他們的成長率其實比這還要高。實際數值接近 8%。原因在於，如果你回顧過去，你會發現我們曾經經歷過這種為期一年的現象。在過去的二十年裡，我們一直在生產手術袋，這是機器人和手術器械之間的關鍵部件，其中一些直接賣給了 Intuitive Surgical，一些賣給了我們的競爭對手。

When we moved to Dominican Republic, those sales were no longer -- to an outsider, they were part of the product that we sold to Intuitive ourselves. So this is one year where this impact is going to happen. So robotic surgery sales of about 5.1%, with a blend of Intuitive Surgical being higher than that offset by this one-time impact.

當我們搬到多明尼加共和國後，這些銷售就不復存在了——在外人看來，它們是我們自己賣給 Intuitive 的產品的一部分。所以今年將會出現這種影響。因此，機器人手術銷售額約為 5.1%，其中 Intuitive Surgical 的銷售額高於此，但被這一一次性影響所抵消。

That's helpful. Thanks. And then on the -- some of the other MedTech, the interventional orthopedic that grew, I think it's strong, around 30%, just looking, any indication or any hints if the demand that you're seeing, if we can expect that to continue going forward?

那很有幫助。謝謝。然後，關於其他一些醫療技術領域，例如介入性骨科，我認為成長勢頭強勁，大約成長了 30%。就目前來看，您觀察到的需求是否有任何跡像或暗示，我們是否可以預期這種需求會持續下去？

Yeah, I mean, we're seeing very strong demand in all three of those markets. It was a blend of some of our acquisitions and some of our internal growth. But the only market really across the board that we saw any compression and related to patient surfaces and support, which is literally our AJR/Stryker. So we see like a nice tailwind in in most of our markets offset by this sort of one-time item that we have to work our way through.

是的，我的意思是，我們看到這三個市場的需求都非常強勁。這既得益於我們的一些收購，也得益於我們的一些內部成長。但我們看到的唯一真正全面壓縮的市場是與病人表面和支撐相關的市場，這實際上是我們的 AJR/Stryker。所以我們看到，在大多數市場中，我們都迎來了一股不錯的順風，但這種一次性事件抵消了這股順風，我們需要努力克服它。

All right, I appreciate you guys taking the question. Thank you.

好的，感謝各位回答這個問題。謝謝。

Brett Fishbin, KeyBanc.

Brett Fishbin，KeyBanc。

Hey guys, good morning, Jeff. Good morning, Ron. I wanted to follow-up on some of the commentary about the contract dialogue. And you noted in the press release and then again in prepared remarks that you're in discussions to extend and expand that contract with your largest customer and mentioned that volumes are expected to increase significantly. So I wanted to follow-up and just see if there's any additional color you're able to provide on that.

嘿，各位，早安，傑夫。早安，羅恩。我想就合約對話的一些評論做一些後續說明。您在新聞稿中以及在事先準備好的發言稿中都提到，您正在與最大的客戶商討延長和擴大合同，並提到預計銷量將大幅增長。所以我想跟進一下，看看您是否還能提供一些補充資訊。

And I was really wondering, just the word expand imply that the contract may include additional SKUs relative to what's been done in the past. And then can we assume that higher volume also means higher overall value for UFP? Thank you.

我真的很想知道，「擴展」這個詞是否意味著合約可能包含比過去更多的 SKU。那我們是否可以假設，UFP 的產量越高，其整體價值也越高？謝謝。

Sure. So yes, we have been requested to revisit the contract. I think the goal is going to be a rolling four-year contract. So there's a couple years left, maybe a little bit more. And so they're looking to extend it out a couple years.

當然。是的，我們已被要求重新審視這份合約。我認為目標是簽訂為期四年的滾動合約。所以還有幾年時間，也許會更長。因此，他們正考慮將期限延長幾年。

The key is from our perspective, they need us to plan for substantially higher volumes. In order to do that, we literally have to get a brand-new building. If you recall, we brought our building five this year in our robotic surgery campus. We're going to have to add a sixth building. We're going to have to add new capital, new personnel, et cetera. So we need a commitment from them. And conversely, they need a commitment from us so that they can be assured of continuity supply.

關鍵在於，從我們的角度來看，他們需要我們為更大的業務量做好準備。為了實現這個目標，我們確實需要一棟全新的建築。如果你還記得的話，我們今年在我們的機器人手術園區裡蓋了五號樓。我們得再建第六棟大樓。我們需要增加新的資金、人員等等。所以我們需要他們的承諾。反過來，他們也需要我們的承諾，以確保供應的持續性。

In general, when we do a new contract, it does incorporate all the products, not just the XI, it would roll in all the other ones at the same time. Simultaneous, we are working on that contract with Intuitive -- we're going back and negotiating with our key supplier. So we'll look for our supplier to give similar commitments for volume that we do over the same four-year period.

一般來說，當我們簽訂新合約時，它會包含所有產品，而不僅僅是 XI，它將同時包含所有其他產品。同時，我們正在處理與 Intuitive 的合約——我們正在重新與我們的主要供應商進行談判。因此，我們將要求供應商在同樣的四年期限內做出與我們類似的供貨量承諾。

And the volumes that are being contemplated are significantly increased over where we are now, particularly in the outyears. We have the capacity already to do, I think, about 9 million drapes, but they're looking for us to plan to do substantially more than that in the outyears.

而且，正在考慮的產量將比我們現在的產量大幅增加，尤其是在未來幾年。我認為，我們目前有能力製作大約 900 萬幅窗簾，但他們希望我們在未來幾年計劃製作的數量遠遠超過這個數字。

All right, super helpful. And then maybe I'll just follow-up on in the quarter, I think inorganic revenue was again higher than we were expecting. And looking at the 12-month run rate, I think it was a little bit above 9 million. So maybe just touch on how the acquired businesses performed versus your expectations and whether the upside relative to call out the trailing 12-month rate with more from the new ones UNIPAC and TPI or from the final subperiod from some of your deals from last year. Thank you again.

好的，非常有幫助。然後我可能會跟進一下本季的情況，我認為非有機成長收入再次高於我們的預期。從過去 12 個月的運行率來看，我認為略高於 900 萬。所以，或許可以簡單談談收購的企業表現與你的預期相比如何，以及相對於預期而言是否有所提升，可以重點提及過去 12 個月的增長率，特別是新收購的 UNIPAC 和 TPI，或者去年一些交易的最後一個子週期。再次感謝。

Sure. So to start, both of our two new ones are small, but they're performing fantastically well. They're turning out to be homeruns even though they're little, both strategically by bringing us new capabilities and financially. So I would say the impact from the new acquisitions is relatively small. And so the inorganic growth you're more seeing is from the previous ones rolling forward, but we are thrilled with both of our new small acquisitions. And despite the fact that the small ones are not as impactful that we're able to -- I come up with much more pro-shareholder valuations in those than we're seeing in the market for the much larger deals, so we're still happy with the small deals.

當然。首先，我們新買的兩台設備雖然都很小，但性能卻非常出色。雖然規模不大，但它們卻取得了巨大的成功，無論是在策略上（為我們帶來新的能力）還是在經濟上。所以我認為，這些新收購帶來的影響相對較小。因此，您現在看到的非有機成長更多是來自先前收購的延續，但我們對兩項新的小型收購感到非常滿意。儘管小額交易的影響力不如大額交易那麼大——但我在這些小額交易中得出的有利於股東的估值比我們在市場上看到的大額交易要高得多，所以我們仍然對小額交易感到滿意。

All right, thanks so much again.

好的，再次非常感謝。

Max Michaelis, Lake Street Capital Market.

Max Michaelis，Lake Street Capital Market。

Hey guys, thanks for taking my question. I want to go back to the two programs that are expected to ramp in 2026. I think you mentioned the $10 million number in revenue contribution for next year, but sort of help me out. What do those two programs look like in terms of size maybe once that's fully scaled, let's call, in 2027 or 2028.

各位好，感謝你們回答我的問題。我想回到預計 2026 年全面啟動的兩個項目。我想你提到明年收入貢獻將達到 1000 萬美元，但能不能幫我確認一下？這兩個項目完全擴展後，比如說在 2027 年或 2028 年，規模會是什麼樣子呢？

Yeah, so our estimate of $10 million in my feeling is very conservative. I think one of those programs alone could be $10 million in 2026 and the other about half that size. We're always very conservative in year one because we don't know if there's going to be delays in launching. But they're both substantial, greater than $5 million dollar programs that rate in both growing rapidly.

是的，所以我覺得我們估計的1000萬美元非常保守。我認為，到 2026 年，其中一個專案可能耗資 1,000 萬美元，而另一個專案的規模大約是它的一半。第一年我們總是非常保守，因為我們不知道產品發布是否會延期。但它們都是規模龐大的項目，投資額都超過 500 萬美元，而且成長速度都很快。

So in the outyears, one of them could be $20 million-plus within a few years, and the other one, harder to say, but they're both rapidly growing programs that we're super excited about. So I would take the $10 million as conservative and then look for 2027 to be a wonderful uptick from there.

因此，在未來幾年，其中一個項目可能會在幾年內達到 2000 萬美元以上，而另一個項目則很難說，但它們都是快速增長的項目，我們對此感到非常興奮。因此，我保守估計為 1000 萬美元，並期待 2027 年會有一個顯著的成長。

Awesome. And then just with the recent discussions and the extension of your contract Intuitive. I know you talked about sort of an investment needed in the building six. I mean, how much are you guys in terms of investment on the hub for? Is this all, on their side I guess?

驚人的。然後，就最近的討論以及與 Intuitive 的合約延期而言。我知道你提到過六號樓需要一些投資。我的意思是，你們在這個中心投入了多少資金？這就是他們那邊的全部情況了嗎？

So it's being discussed and negotiated. They have already committed to a multi-million-dollar investment that's related to improving efficiency. Some of their internal initiatives came up with some efficiencies that are helpful to us and they share all these things with us. So they're in the process of a multi-million-dollar investment right now.

所以這件事正在討論和協商中。他們已經承諾投入數百萬美元來提高效率。他們的一些內部舉措提高了效率，這對我們很有幫助，而且他們也與我們分享了所有這些資訊。所以他們目前正在進行一項數百萬美元的投資。

Typically, the shared capital at a minimum would be on the hook for investing in the leases, et cetera. I think the inclination of late is more that it would be Intuitive's capital than ours, but it has not been decided. It could be 100% either one or it could be split down the middle. In the past, we've done both, but I would expect some multi-billion dollar sharing of capital in the end.

通常情況下，共有資本至少要用於投資租賃等事宜。我認為最近的趨勢是，這筆資金會歸 Intuitive 所有，而不是我們所有，但這還沒有最終決定。可能是100%一方，也可能雙方各佔一半。過去我們兩種方式都嘗試過，但我預計最終會達成數十億美元的資本共享協議。

Awesome. All right, thanks, guys.

驚人的。好的，謝謝各位。

Cooper Andrew, Raymond James.

庫柏安德魯，雷蒙德詹姆斯。

Hey, guys. This is [Nolan] on for Andrew. Just wanted to get a sense for the AJR pacing. You call out $8 million of incremental orders this quarter, $16 million in backlog. I think you said earlier the a question you haven't seen any demand impact. So how should we think about you working down that backlog over the next few quarters and should we expect AJR be able to return the growth as you see those efficiencies? And so what should we expect in kind of that non-intuitive business that's kind of major, so just get a sense there.

嘿，夥計們。這是諾蘭替安德魯上場。只是想了解AJR的節奏。您指出本季新增訂單金額為 800 萬美元，積壓訂單金額為 1,600 萬美元。我想你之前說過，你還沒有看到任何需求上的影響。那麼，我們應該如何看待您在接下來的幾季中逐步減少積壓訂單的情況？隨著效率的提高，我們是否應該預期 AJR 能夠恢復成長？那麼，在這種非直覺性的、但又非常重要的業務中，我們該期待些什麼呢？讓我們來了解一下。

Sure. So we're working hard to reduce that backlog. Unfortunately, their -- or fortunately, their business itself is growing, so the demand internally is growing in the backlog, as you say, is about a $15 million or $16 million. Our goal is to work it down as fast as possible. I think that they like us to have it done in the year. I think that's going to be a tall order. We're way more interested in output than efficiency right now, so we're throwing a lot of resources at getting their backlogged down.

當然。所以我們正在努力減少積壓的工作。不幸的是——或者說幸運的是，他們的業務本身正在增長，因此內部需求也在增長，正如你所說，積壓訂單大約有 1500 萬美元或 1600 萬美元。我們的目標是盡快把它清理乾淨。我認為他們希望我們能在一年內完成這件事。我認為這將是一項艱鉅的任務。我們現在更關注產量而不是效率，所以我們投入了大量資源來處理他們的積壓訂單。

As we go into next year, we're still expecting the business to continue to grow. So all on its own, it'll grow at a double-digit rate plus we'll be working down the backlog. So we have quite a bit of tailwind going into next year, So our goal, like I said, is to get our customer's orders fulfilled as fast as possible with less focus on efficiency. Next year, we'll turn our attention to doing things much more efficiently.

展望明年，我們仍預期業務將繼續成長。所以，光憑自身成長，它就會以兩位數的速度成長，再加上我們還要處理積壓的工作。因此，明年我們將迎來相當有利的發展動能。正如我所說，我們的目標是在盡可能快的時間內完成客戶的訂單，而較少關注效率。明年，我們將把注意力轉向如何更有效率地完成各項工作。

Okay, awesome. And then just one quick follow-up, in this -- and kind of following up to that, point on efficiency, we've already had that labor headwind, sort of troughing in 3Q and getting better from here. So now that you're sort of working -- now that you're working through all of that, how should we expect gross margins to pace going forward? I know you're [lapping] like the headwind next year, but just kind of curious how should we expect margins to trend, as you pull out those efficiencies in light of your LRP ranges.

好的，太棒了。然後，還有一個後續問題——關於效率這一點，我們已經遇到了勞動力方面的阻力，第三季已經觸底，並且從現在開始會好轉。既然你們現在已經開始著手處理所有這些問題了，那麼我們該如何預期未來的毛利率走勢呢？我知道你明年會像逆風一樣[加速]前進，但我只是有點好奇，鑑於你的長期定價範圍，當你提高效率時，我們應該如何預期利潤率的趨勢。

This is Ron, Nolan. So yeah, we would anticipate gross margins gradually improving. As Jeff mentioned in his script, the inefficiencies are not going to be 100% eliminated. They'll linger into Q4 and potentially even into Q1 of next year as we focus on output rather than efficiency. So I think they will gradually improve from where we were in Q3, but I don't think they'll be back to where sort of adjusted gross margins would have been had we had no inefficiency in Q3.

這是羅恩，諾蘭。是的，我們預期毛利率會逐步提高。正如傑夫在他的劇本中提到的那樣，效率低下的問題不可能100%消除。由於我們將重點放在產量而不是效率上，這種情況可能會持續到第四季度，甚至可能持續到明年第一季。所以我認為他們會從第三季的水平逐步改善，但我認為他們不會恢復到第三季沒有效率低下情況下的調整後毛利率水準。

Okay, awesome. Thank you.

好的，太棒了。謝謝。

[Wagned Ted, AFR].

[Wagned Ted，AFR]

Hey guys, thanks for taking the question. I just want to drill out on the $8 million of orders that weren't filled in the quarter. I think you mentioned it, Ron, in your prepared remarks. But just so I'm clear, that closed July of '24, so it is considered organic this this quarter year over year?

各位，謝謝你們回答這個問題。我只想詳細了解本季未完成的 800 萬美元訂單的情況。羅恩，我想你在事先準備好的演講稿中提到過這一點。但我想確認一下，那家公司在2024年7月關閉了，所以這季度年增率算是自然成長嗎？

It is.

這是。

And so in a perfect world where you had delivered those, we should actually think about medical being more like $150 million, roughly 13%, 14% growth year over year?

所以，在理想情況下，如果你實現了這些目標，我們應該認為醫療保健領域的收入應該更接近 1.5 億美元，比去年同期成長約 13% 到 14%？

Yeah, I think that's right (multiple speakers) To be clear, if we were able to deliver on the $8 million of backlog, organic growth would have been approximately 6%. Factoring in the inefficiency, the $3 million if we were -- if we did not have that $3 million, gross margins would have been -- adjusted gross margins would have been approximately 29.7%. EPS would have been approximately $2.67, and adjusted EBITDA would have been approximately $33.7 million.

是的，我認為沒錯（多人發言）。需要明確的是，如果我們能夠完成800萬美元的積壓訂單，有機成長率將約為6%。考慮到效率低下，如果我們沒有這 300 萬美元，毛利率將會是——調整後的毛利率大約是 29.7%。每股收益約為 2.67 美元，調整後 EBITDA 約為 3,370 萬美元。

Got it. And thinking about that EBITDA, I get that there was the $3 million of AJR cost, but I got to imagine there's cost associated with the ramp up in the qualification programs that you guys were getting started in in the quarter?

知道了。考慮到 EBITDA，我知道其中有 300 萬美元的 AJR 成本，但我認為你們本季啟動的資格認證計畫也會產生相應的成本？

Yeah, 100%. Every program launches with losses and then transitions to breakeven and then to profitability. So the programs launching the DR are still in the losses phase and the program's launching in La Romana will be in the loss phase for the first quarter or two.

是的，百分之百。每個專案啟動之初都會虧損，然後逐漸達到收支平衡，最終獲利。因此，啟動 DR 的專案仍處於虧損階段，而拉羅馬納的專案在前一、兩季也將處於虧損階段。

I mean, how would you -- can you size that for us or how should we think about that? It's just -- I'm trying to -- obviously, you guys -- you punched above your weight in a quarter with a lot going on, and I'm trying to kind of dig at what would be a good -- how should we kind of view, I don't know, lack of a better term, run rate EBITDA, and I'm -- you know I get it, $30.7 million of EBITDA, [add $3 million] and then you have these one-time cost. How big are those roughly?

我的意思是，您能幫我們估算一下尺寸嗎？或者我們該怎麼考慮這個問題？我只是——我試圖——顯然，你們——在一個有很多事情要處理的情況下，你們的表現超出了預期，我正在努力探究一個好的——我們應該如何看待，我不知道，暫且用一個不太恰當的詞，運行率 EBITDA，我——你知道，我明白，3070 萬美元的 EBITDA，[加上 300 萬美元]，然後還有這些成本。它們大概有多大？

I mean, for us, it's the cost of doing business because we're constantly launching programs, so we usually don't quantify them. Per program, it's not millions of dollars, but it's hundreds of thousands of dollars per program. But again, we're used to this. We factored into our planning, so we're constantly launching programs and constantly absorbing modest losses. But those several $100,000 of losses will turn into profits over the next couple of quarters. So it'll be meaningful, but it's just the cost of doing business for us.

我的意思是，對我們來說，這是做生意的成本，因為我們不斷地推出項目，所以我們通常不會量化它們。每個項目雖然不是數百萬美元，但每個項目也有幾十萬美元。但我們早已習以為常。我們在規劃中考慮到了這一點，所以我們不斷推出新項目，也不斷承受一些小損失。但接下來的幾個季度，這幾十萬美元的損失將會轉化為利潤。所以這很有意義，但對我們來說，這只是做生意的成本。

And I know you guys talked about obviously wanting to serve the customer, getting that product out the door, not worrying so much about efficiency. But is it fair to assume the incremental margin on that additional $8 million probably would have been something a little greater than 20% or in that 20% to 25% range?

我知道你們說過，你們顯然想服務好客戶，盡快把產品送到客戶手中，而不是太在意效率。但是，假設這額外 800 萬美元的增量利潤率可能略高於 20%，或者在 20% 到 25% 的範圍內，這種假設是否合理呢？

We would probably think of it more as contribution because all the fixed costs are kind of there, the rent of the engineers and everything. So the contributions considerably higher than that, when you subtract direct costs.

我們可能會把它看作是貢獻，因為所有的固定成本都已經包含在內了，例如工程師的租金等等。因此，扣除直接成本後，實際貢獻值要高得多。

Yeah, it's probably in the 30% to 35% range.

是的，大概在30%到35%之間。

So I mean, we should be thinking about it in a perfect quarter where none of this stuff happened, you're actually kind of run rating more like a $36 million, $37 million of EBITDA.

所以我的意思是，我們應該考慮在一個完美的季度裡，如果沒有發生這些事情，你的 EBITDA 實際上應該達到 3600 萬美元到 3700 萬美元。

That's right.

這是正確的。

Thanks. I'll get back in the queue.

謝謝。我重新排隊。

Thank you. This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Jeff Bailey for any closing remarks.

謝謝。我們的問答環節到此結束。我謹將會議交還給傑夫·貝利，請他作總結發言。

Yeah. Thank you all for your participation and interest in UFP. As you can tell, we are super bullish about our future, particularly in the long-term front for robotic surgery. We will work our way through this one-time AJR issue. We have for the first time in the history of our company actually filed a claim after doing 20-something deals for miss on a rep and warranty. So maybe or maybe not, we'll get reimbursed for our expenses.

是的。感謝大家對UFP的參與與關注。正如你所看到的，我們對未來充滿信心，尤其是在機器人手術的長期發展方面。我們將逐步解決這期AJR特刊的問題。這是我們公司歷史上第一次在完成二十多筆交易後，因產品外觀和保固方面的問題而提出索賠。所以，我們或許能報銷費用，或許不能。

But one way or another, they're one time in nature. We'll move through them. We're working through them quickly. So we appreciate your patience in the process and we appreciate your interest in the company.

但無論如何，它們都是自然界的一部分。我們會逐一解決。我們正在盡快解決這些問題。因此，我們感謝您在過程中的耐心等待，也感謝您對公司的關注。

Thank you. The conference has now concluded Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

謝謝。會議到此結束。感謝各位參加今天的報告。您現在可以斷開連線了。