UniFirst Corp (UNF) 2022 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the UniFirst Corporation Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded today, Wednesday, June 29, 2022.

您好，歡迎來到 UniFirst Corporation 第三季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）提醒一下，本次會議將於 2022 年 6 月 29 日星期三錄製。

It is now my pleasure to turn the conference over to Steven Sintros, President and Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead, sir.

現在我很高興將會議轉交給總裁兼首席執行官 Steven Sintros。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, and good morning. I'm Steve Sintros, UniFirst's President and Chief Executive Officer. Joining me today, as always, is Shane O'Connor, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. We'd like to welcome you to UniFirst Corporation's conference call to review our third quarter results for fiscal year 2022. (Operator Instructions) But first, a brief disclaimer.

謝謝你，早上好。我是 UniFirst 總裁兼首席執行官 Steve Sintros。與往常一樣，今天加入我的是執行副總裁兼首席財務官 Shane O'Connor。我們歡迎您參加 UniFirst Corporation 的電話會議，以審查我們 2022 財年第三季度的業績。（操作員說明）但首先，有一個簡短的免責聲明。

This conference call may contain forward-looking statements that reflect the company's current views with respect to future events and financial performance. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. The words anticipate, optimistic, believe, estimate, expect, intend and similar expressions that indicate future events and trends identify forward-looking statements. Actual future results may differ materially from those anticipated depending on a variety of risk factors. For more information, please refer to the discussion of these risk factors in our most recent Form 10-K and 10-Q filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

本次電話會議可能包含反映公司當前對未來事件和財務業績的看法的前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述受到某些風險和不確定性的影響。預期、樂觀、相信、估計、預期、打算和指示未來事件和趨勢的類似表達方式識別前瞻性陳述。實際的未來結果可能與預期的結果大不相同，具體取決於各種風險因素。如需更多信息，請參閱我們最近提交給證券交易委員會的 10-K 和 10-Q 表格中對這些風險因素的討論。

During the quarter, as always, our team focused on providing industry-leading service to our customers as well as selling prospective customers on the value UniFirst can bring to their businesses. I want to thank our thousands of team partners who are in the face of a challenging operating environment continue to always deliver for each other and our customers.

在本季度，我們的團隊一如既往地專注於為我們的客戶提供行業領先的服務，並向潛在客戶推銷 UniFirst 可以為其業務帶來的價值。我要感謝我們成千上萬的團隊合作夥伴，他們在充滿挑戰的運營環境中繼續為彼此和我們的客戶提供服務。

Overall, our third quarter results reflect a strong top line performance with consolidated revenues growing 10.2%. We are pleased with the execution of our team, which has delivered solid performances in both new account sales as well as customer retention so far this year. In addition, wearer additions versus reductions are positive this year-to-date, indicating growth in our customer base.

總體而言，我們的第三季度業績反映了強勁的收入表現，綜合收入增長了 10.2%。我們對我們團隊的執行力感到滿意，今年迄今為止，該團隊在新客戶銷售和客戶保留方面都取得了穩健的表現。此外，今年迄今為止，佩戴者的增加與減少是積極的，表明我們的客戶群有所增長。

The strong revenue growth in the quarter also reflects the impact of price adjustments throughout the year as we work with our customers to share in cost increases related to the inflationary environment. This includes more recent efforts to help offset surging energy and related costs.

本季度強勁的收入增長也反映了全年價格調整的影響，因為我們與客戶合作分擔與通脹環境相關的成本增加。這包括最近為幫助抵消飆升的能源和相關成本所做的努力。

As a reminder, we have discussed in prior calls that going forward over the next few years, we're going to be focused on 3 discrete strategic initiatives that are critical in our efforts to transform the company in terms of our overall capabilities and competitive positioning. These initiatives are the rollout of our new CRM system, investments in the UniFirst brand and a corporate-wide ERP system with a strong focus on supply chain and procurement automation and technology.

提醒一下，我們在之前的電話會議中討論過，在未來幾年內，我們將專注於 3 個獨立的戰略舉措，這對於我們在整體能力和競爭定位方面轉變公司的努力至關重要.這些舉措包括我們新的 CRM 系統的推出、對 UniFirst 品牌的投資以及專注於供應鍊和採購自動化和技術的全公司 ERP 系統。

As we have talked about over the last year or 2, we continue to be focused on making good investments in our people, our infrastructure and our technologies. All of our investments designed to deliver solid long-term returns for our stakeholders and integral components -- and our integral components of our primary long-term objective to be universally recognized as the best service provider in our industry.

正如我們在過去一兩年所談到的那樣，我們將繼續專注於對我們的員工、基礎設施和技術進行良好的投資。我們所有的投資都旨在為我們的利益相關者和不可或缺的組成部分提供可靠的長期回報 - 以及我們主要長期目標的組成部分，即被普遍認為是我們行業中最好的服務提供商。

We continue to report results adjusted for the direct impact of costs related to these investments.

我們將繼續報告根據與這些投資相關的成本的直接影響進行調整的結果。

With respect to our CRM systems project, we are making good progress deploying our new system in line with our internal schedule. Assuming we progress as expected, we have approximately half of our Core Laundry locations on the new system by the end of fiscal '22.

關於我們的 CRM 系統項目，我們在按照內部計劃部署新系統方面取得了良好進展。假設我們按預期進展，到 22 財年末，我們大約有一半的核心洗衣店位於新系統上。

And as we discussed in our last earnings call, in March, we officially launched our new brand through a series of national TV ads featuring real UniFirst customers and employees. Our message focuses on serving people who always deliver for their company, their customers and their families. And at UniFirst, our ongoing focus will be to always deliver for them.

正如我們在上次財報電話會議中所討論的那樣，3 月份，我們通過一系列以真實 UniFirst 客戶和員工為主角的全國電視廣告正式推出了我們的新品牌。我們的信息側重於為始終為公司、客戶和家人提供服務的人們提供服務。在 UniFirst，我們一直致力於為他們提供服務。

Similar to our message last quarter, our adjusted profitability continues to be challenged by the broad impact that the increasingly inflationary environment is having on many of our costs as well as ongoing supply chain disruption in a challenging labor environment. In addition to these cost-related pressures, we have also recently been infusing higher-than-expected levels of merchandise into service with our customers due to a number of factors, including a pickup in activity in our energy-dependent markets, solid new account sales, additional wearer additions at our customers as well as certain national account investments.

與我們上個季度的信息類似，我們調整後的盈利能力繼續受到日益加劇的通貨膨脹環境對我們的許多成本產生的廣泛影響以及在充滿挑戰的勞動力環境中持續的供應鏈中斷的挑戰。除了這些與成本相關的壓力之外，由於多種因素，我們最近還向客戶提供了高於預期水平的商品，包括我們依賴能源的市場活動的回升、穩固的新賬戶銷售，我們客戶的額外佩戴者增加以及某些國民賬戶投資。

Although much of this investment is related to growth activities, it is also contributing to the near-term margin pressures.

儘管大部分投資與增長活動有關，但它也導致了近期的利潤率壓力。

Despite the challenges in the overall operating environment, we are confident in our ability to manage and execute through these obstacles. We will continue to manage costs in areas we can control while assuring we don't impact our ability to execute on our transformational initiatives or adversely affect our customer service levels.

儘管整體運營環境面臨挑戰，但我們對克服這些障礙的管理和執行能力充滿信心。我們將繼續在我們可以控制的領域管理成本，同時確保我們不會影響我們執行轉型計劃的能力或對我們的客戶服務水平產生不利影響。

As always, we maintain a sharp focus on taking care of our employees, our customers and bringing new customers into the UniFirst family. And with that, I'd like to turn the call over to Shane, who will provide the details of our results for the third quarter and our outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year.

與往常一樣，我們始終專注於照顧我們的員工和客戶，並將新客戶帶入 UniFirst 大家庭。有了這個，我想把電話轉給 Shane，他將提供我們第三季度業績的詳細信息以及我們對本財年剩餘時間的展望。

Thanks, Steve. In our third quarter of 2022, consolidated revenues were $511.5 million, up 10.2% from $464.3 million a year ago and consolidated operating income decreased to $33.7 million from $54.2 million. Net income for the quarter decreased to $25.1 million or $1.33 per diluted share from $42 million or $2.21 per diluted share. .

謝謝，史蒂夫。在我們 2022 年第三季度，合併收入為 5.115 億美元，比一年前的 4.643 億美元增長 10.2%，合併營業收入從 5420 萬美元降至 3370 萬美元。本季度的淨收入從 4,200 萬美元或每股攤薄收益 2.21 美元降至 2,510 萬美元或每股攤薄收益 1.33 美元。 .

Our financial results in the third quarter of fiscal 2022 included $11.4 million of costs directly attributable to our 3 key initiatives that Steve discussed. Excluding these initiative costs, adjusted operating income was $45.1 million, adjusted net income was $33.5 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share was $1.77.

我們在 2022 財年第三季度的財務業績包括 1140 萬美元直接歸因於史蒂夫討論的 3 項關鍵舉措的成本。不包括這些舉措成本，調整後的營業收入為 4510 萬美元，調整後的淨收入為 3350 萬美元，調整後的稀釋後每股收益為 1.77 美元。

Although our financial results in the prior year may have included direct costs related to these key initiatives, which in our third quarter of 2021 would have primarily been for our CRM initiative, company did not specifically track the amounts that were being expensed. This was because the amount was less significant in value and a number of the costs were still being capitalized. As a result, similar to previous quarters this fiscal year, we will not be providing adjusted amounts for the prior year comparable periods.

儘管我們上一年的財務業績可能包括與這些關鍵舉措相關的直接成本，在我們 2021 年第三季度，這些成本將主要用於我們的 CRM 計劃，但公司並未具體跟踪支出的金額。這是因為該金額的價值較小，並且一些成本仍在資本化中。因此，與本財政年度的前幾個季度類似，我們不會提供上一年可比期間的調整後金額。

Our Core Laundry operations revenues for the quarter were $450 million, up 10% from the third quarter of 2021. Core Laundry organic growth, which adjusts for the estimated effect of acquisitions as well as fluctuations in the Canadian dollar, was 9.3%. Our organic growth rates this year continue to benefit from solid sales performance and improved customer retention as well as efforts to share with our customers the cost increases that we have been seeing in our business due to the ongoing inflationary environment.

我們本季度的核心洗衣業務收入為 4.5 億美元，比 2021 年第三季度增長 10%。核心洗衣有機增長（根據收購的估計影響和加元波動進行調整）為 9.3%。我們今年的有機增長率繼續受益於穩健的銷售業績和客戶保留率的提高，以及與我們的客戶分享由於持續的通貨膨脹環境而在我們的業務中看到的成本增加的努力。

Core Laundry operating margin decreased to 5.9% for the quarter or $26.4 million from 11.2% in prior year or $45.6 million. The costs we incurred during the quarter related to our key initiatives were recorded to the Core Laundry Operations segment. And excluding these costs, the segment's adjusted operating margin was 8.4%.

本季度 Core Laundry 營業利潤率從去年同期的 11.2% 或 4560 萬美元降至 5.9% 或 2640 萬美元。我們在本季度發生的與我們的關鍵舉措相關的成本記錄在核心洗衣業務部門。不計這些成本，該部門調整後的營業利潤率為 8.4%。

The most significant item impacting our adjusted operating margin in the quarter compared to the prior year was our merchandise cost, which has increased as a percentage of revenues due to the continued normalization to merchandise amortization from depressed levels during the pandemic, ongoing supply chain disruption, the effect of some large national account reinvestments as well as increased activity in our energy-related markets.

與上年相比，影響我們本季度調整後營業利潤率的最重要因素是我們的商品成本，由於大流行期間商品攤銷從低迷水平持續正常化，持續的供應鏈中斷，商品成本佔收入的百分比有所增加，一些大型國民賬戶再投資以及我們能源相關市場活動增加的影響。

During the quarter, the adjusted operating margin was also impacted by higher energy costs as a percentage of revenues as well as increased input and labor costs due to the inflationary environment and the challenging employment landscape. Energy costs increased to 5.2% of revenues in the third quarter of 2022 and up from 4.2% in the prior year.

在本季度，調整後的營業利潤率還受到能源成本佔收入百分比的影響，以及由於通貨膨脹環境和充滿挑戰的就業環境而導致的投入和勞動力成本增加。到 2022 年第三季度，能源成本佔收入的比例從去年的 4.2% 上升至 5.2%。

Revenues from our Specialty Garments segment, which delivers specialized nuclear decontamination and cleanroom products and services, increased to $41.2 million from $38.2 million in prior year or 7.7%. This increase was primarily due to growth in our cleanroom operations.

我們提供專業核淨化和潔淨室產品和服務的特種服裝部門的收入從去年的 3820 萬美元或 7.7% 增加到 4120 萬美元。這一增長主要是由於我們潔淨室業務的增長。

Segment's operating margin decreased to 17.4% from 21.7%, primarily due to higher merchandise labor and energy costs as a percentage of revenues. As we've mentioned in the past, this segment's results can vary significantly from period to period due to seasonality and the timing of nuclear reactor outages and projects that require our specialized services.

分部的營業利潤率從 21.7% 下降至 17.4%，主要是由於商品勞動力和能源成本佔收入的百分比較高。正如我們過去提到的，由於季節性和核反應堆停運的時間以及需要我們專業服務的項目，該部門的結果可能因時期而異。

Our First Aid segment's revenues increased to $20.3 million from $17.1 million in the prior year or 19.1%, primarily due to strong top line performance from the segment's wholesale distribution business. However, the segment's operating income was nominal during the quarter, primarily due to continued investment in the company's initiative to expand its First Aid van business into new geographies. We continue to maintain a solid balance sheet and financial position with no long-term debt and cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaling $410.6 million at the end of our third quarter of fiscal 2022.

我們急救部門的收入從去年的 1710 萬美元或 19.1% 增加到 2030 萬美元，這主要是由於該部門的批發分銷業務的強勁收入表現。然而，該部門在本季度的營業收入是名義上的，主要是由於對該公司將其急救車業務擴展到新地區的計劃的持續投資。截至 2022 財年第三季度末，我們繼續保持穩健的資產負債表和財務狀況，沒有長期債務和現金、現金等價物和短期投資，總額為 4.106 億美元。

For the first 9 months of 2022, cash provided by operating activities has been impacted by our reduced profitability, including the impact of our key initiative costs as well as heavier-than-normal working capital needs of the business. Contributing to these higher working capital needs were elevated accounts receivable balances as well as supply inventory primarily due to ongoing supply chain disruption.

在 2022 年的前 9 個月，經營活動提供的現金受到我們盈利能力下降的影響，包括我們的關鍵計劃成本以及業務營運資金需求高於正常水平的影響。導致這些更高的營運資金需求是由於持續的供應鏈中斷導致的應收賬款餘額和供應庫存增加。

In addition, rental merchandise and service has increased as our balance sheet position continues to normalize coming out of the pandemic impacted period. In 2022, we also paid an additional $12.2 million in FICA payments that we were able to defer from prior years as part of the CARES Act. Also during the first 3 quarters of 2022, we continue to invest in our future with capital expenditures totaling $97.3 million and the acquisition of 10 businesses for which we paid a total of $42.7 million.

此外，隨著我們的資產負債表狀況在大流行影響期結束後繼續正常化，租賃商品和服務也有所增加。 2022 年，我們還額外支付了 1220 萬美元的 FICA 付款，作為 CARES 法案的一部分，我們能夠從往年推遲。同樣在 2022 年的前 3 個季度，我們繼續投資於我們的未來，資本支出總額為 9730 萬美元，收購了 10 家企業，我們為此支付了 4270 萬美元。

During the third quarter of fiscal 2022, we repurchased 90,394 common shares for a total of $15.7 million under our previously announced stock repurchase program.

在 2022 財年第三季度，我們根據之前宣布的股票回購計劃回購了 90,394 股普通股，總價為 1570 萬美元。

I'd like to take this opportunity to provide an update on our outlook. At this time, we now expect our full year revenues for fiscal 2022 will be between $1.993 billion and $2 billion. We further expect that our diluted earnings per share for fiscal 2022 will now be between $5.40 and $5.60. This earnings per share guidance assumes an effective tax rate of [24%] and includes a revised estimate of $32 million of costs directly attributable to our key initiatives that will be expensed during the year.

我想藉此機會提供有關我們前景的最新信息。目前，我們現在預計 2022 財年的全年收入將在 19.93 億美元至 20 億美元之間。我們進一步預計，我們 2022 財年的攤薄後每股收益現在將在 5.40 美元至 5.60 美元之間。該每股收益指引假設有效稅率為 [24%]，並包括修訂後的 3200 萬美元直接歸因於我們將在年內支出的關鍵舉措的成本估計。

Please also note that the following assumptions regarding our fiscal 2022 guidance. Core Laundry Operations adjusted operating margin at the midpoint of the range is now 8.3%. Our adjusted tax rate for fiscal 2022 is 24.4%. Adjusted diluted earnings per share is expected to be between $6.65 and $6.85 and guidance does not include the impact of any future share buyback and or other unexpected significantly adverse economic developments.

另請注意以下關於我們 2022 財年指導的假設。核心洗衣業務調整後的營業利潤率在該範圍的中點現在為 8.3%。我們調整後的 2022 財年稅率為 24.4%。調整後的每股攤薄收益預計在 6.65 美元至 6.85 美元之間，指引不包括任何未來股票回購和/或其他意想不到的重大不利經濟發展的影響。

This concludes our prepared remarks, and we would now be happy to answer any questions that you might have.

我們準備好的評論到此結束，我們現在很樂意回答您可能提出的任何問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question is from Andrew Wittmann with Baird. .

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Baird 的 Andrew Wittmann。 .

You talked about this a little bit in the prepared remarks on the merchandise and services $12 million injection in the quarter. It's obviously a really big number for you guys. You talked about national account investment. It sounds like maybe you redressed somebody there. You talked about energy patch. That's all helpful. But how much of this is just new account sales? You're happy with it. But Steve, maybe you could just give a little bit more color on -- of new account sales. And particularly, if you could talk about the amount of no programmers that are in the market. Is there still good business to convert to a rental program for the first time? I'm asking because, obviously, there's a lot of uncertainty about the economy. And so I'd be curious to your thoughts on no programmers and if there's any recent changes in ad stops, which you said have been positive through the reporting period, but maybe in the more recent time period, if you could comment on that. .

您在準備好的關於本季度注入 1200 萬美元的商品和服務的評論中談到了這一點。對你們來說，這顯然是一個很大的數字。你談到了國民賬戶投資。聽起來也許你在那裡糾正了某人。你談到了能量補丁。這都很有幫助。但這有多少只是新賬戶銷售？你對此很滿意。但是史蒂夫，也許你可以多說一點——關於新賬戶的銷售。特別是，如果您可以談論市場上沒有程序員的數量。第一次轉換為租賃計劃還有好的業務嗎？我之所以這麼問，是因為很明顯，經濟存在很多不確定性。所以我很好奇你對沒有程序員的想法，以及最近廣告停止是否有任何變化，你說在整個報告期內都是積極的，但如果你能對此發表評論，可能是在最近的一段時間內。 .

Sure. So as far as new account sales, our ratio of new account sales that come from competitive wins versus no programmers remains consistent so far this year. And I'm willing to say probably in the more recent period quarter as well, where it's about 60% to 65% competitive in the remaining note programmers. As we've talked about before, no programmers could be someone who doesn't have a uniform program or someone who maybe buys uniforms direct that we convert into a full-service rental program. And again, not just uniforms but other products as well. So that ratio remains reasonably consistent.

當然。因此，就新帳戶銷售而言，今年到目前為止，我們來自競爭勝利的新帳戶銷售與沒有程序員的新帳戶銷售比例保持一致。而且我也願意說可能在最近的一個季度中，剩下的筆記程序員的競爭力約為 60% 到 65%。正如我們之前所討論的，沒有一個程序員可能是沒有統一計劃的人，或者可能直接購買我們轉換成全方位服務租賃計劃的製服的人。再說一次，不僅是製服，還有其他產品。因此，該比率保持合理一致。

As far as our merchandise infusions, we've always said that about 2/3 of the merchandise we put in service is for existing customers, just the normal cycle of redress and reinvestments into our accounts. So we are trending toward a record year in new account sales, which is obviously very positive. And that is causing some of the merchandise rise, which is positive. But there's still a large chunk that relates to reinvestment in existing accounts, which can be cyclical, which can trend when accounts are adding wearers or needing reinvestment you mentioned, and there has been a couple of reinvestments in national accounts from a redress perspective.

就我們的商品注入而言，我們一直說我們提供服務的商品中約有 2/3 是為現有客戶提供的，這只是正常的補救和再投資到我們賬戶的周期。因此，我們的新客戶銷售額正朝著創紀錄的一年邁進，這顯然是非常積極的。這導致一些商品上漲，這是積極的。但仍有很大一部分與現有賬戶的再投資有關，這可能是周期性的，當賬戶增加佩戴者或需要您提到的再投資時，這種趨勢可能會出現趨勢，從補救的角度來看，國民賬戶中有一些再投資。

So I would say, like I said in the prepared remarks that there is a fair amount of the merchandise investments you would view as kind of positive trends of good growth activity. But it is -- it's also being impacted by the higher cost of merchandise, right, and higher raw material cost and freight and a number of other things impacting the cost of our merchandise. So it's really a mixed bag of all those different factors. But like we said in our remarks, there are some positive things in there for sure on merchandise being tied to growth activities.

所以我想說，就像我在準備好的評論中所說的那樣，有相當數量的商品投資你會認為是良好增長活動的積極趨勢。但它是——它也受到更高的商品成本、更高的原材料成本和運費以及其他一些影響我們商品成本的因素的影響。所以這真的是所有這些不同因素的混合包。但就像我們在評論中所說的那樣，與增長活動相關的商品肯定有一些積極的方面。

Could you talk about, Shane, maybe quantify the year-over-year headwind to your margin from those merchandise and maybe comment on labor as well, if you could?

Shane，您能否談談，如果可以的話，可以量化這些商品對您的利潤率造成的同比逆風，並且還可以對勞動力發表評論嗎？

Yes. Andy, I know that I've provided some of that information in the past, that level of, I guess, granularity. But I'm not going to get into that level of detail this quarter. And the reason is, is there just -- there continues to be a lot of disruption in our cost. And as a result, at least in my opinion, it's not as valuable as it is in a more normalized environment.

是的。安迪，我知道我過去提供了一些信息，我猜是那種粒度級別的信息。但我不會在本季度詳細介紹該級別。原因是，我們的成本是否繼續存在很多中斷。因此，至少在我看來，它不像在更規範化的環境中那樣有價值。

What I will say though is that when you take a look at the primary things that are influencing the comparability to prior year, I did call out the increase in energy costs in my prepared remarks and indicated that the headwind related to that was about 100 basis points. Merchandise is more than that and is the largest item I'm seeing a headwind from. And Steve, obviously, just talked a lot about the factors that are influencing that.

不過，我要說的是，當您查看影響與上一年可比性的主要因素時，我確實在我準備好的評論中提到了能源成本的增加，並表示與此相關的逆風約為 100 個基點點。商品不僅如此，而且是我看到逆風的最大項目。顯然，史蒂夫剛剛談到了很多影響這一點的因素。

But included in that and it's not just merchandise amortization, but it's other merchandise costs as well. To my earlier point, there are costs that we're incurring from a merchandise perspective that are related to ongoing supply chain disruption, which are causing those costs to be somewhat elevated. The other areas that I called out, input and labor costs, those were also headwinds for our quarter, but to a lesser extent in the primary 2 items that were impacting us, which would be merchandise and energy.

但其中包括的不僅僅是商品攤銷，還有其他商品成本。就我之前的觀點而言，從商品的角度來看，我們會產生與持續的供應鏈中斷有關的成本，這導致這些成本有所升高。我提到的其他領域，投入和勞動力成本，這些也是我們季度的不利因素，但在影響我們的主要兩項方面，即商品和能源方面的影響較小。

And one other comment, Andy, just on the labor side, we talked a little bit last quarter about our staffing coming up a bit. Obviously, staffing has been a challenge throughout the fiscal year. We feel we're in a better place right now. To some extent, a better place actually comes with higher heads. And I think we're closer to staffed right now or maybe even a little bit heavy on the staff as a result of increased turnover and trying to get our feet under us from a hiring perspective. So there are some positives there, but that did cause a little bit of the miss in the quarter that we're probably a little bit higher than we projected from a heads, which is kind of a good news, bad news situation. But it does, I think, reflect maybe a little bit improved ability to bring people in. But it's still a volatile labor environment for sure. .

還有另一條評論，安迪，就在勞動力方面，我們上個季度談到了我們的人員配備有點增加。顯然，人員配備在整個財政年度都是一個挑戰。我們覺得我們現在處於一個更好的地方。在某種程度上，一個更好的地方實際上伴隨著更高的人頭。而且我認為我們現在更接近人員配備，或者由於人員流動增加以及從招聘的角度試圖讓我們站穩腳跟，甚至可能對員工有點沉重。所以那裡有一些積極的一面，但這確實導致了本季度的一些失誤，我們可能比我們從正面預測的要高一點，這是一個好消息，壞消息的情況。但我認為，這確實反映了吸引人的能力有所提高。但肯定的是，它仍然是一個不穩定的勞動力環境。 .

This is all really helpful. So sorry, I just want to make sure that I'm understanding on the merchandise cost a little bit more here. I mean I think you generally have an average amortization period of like 18 months for the merchandise that you put in rental service. Was there anything that's in today's merchandise cost that amortizes faster than that? Or should we expect these elevated costs that we've been seeing here to kind of stick around for a while because of the way the accounting works?

這一切都非常有幫助。很抱歉，我只是想確保我了解這裡的商品成本更高一點。我的意思是，我認為您投入租賃服務的商品的平均攤銷期通常為 18 個月。在今天的商品成本中，有什麼東西攤銷得比這更快嗎？或者我們是否應該期望我們在這裡看到的這些高成本會因為會計的運作方式而持續一段時間？

Yes. So we have useful lives for all the different types of products that we put into service. On average, we've talked about that 18 months being the average life and that hasn't significantly changed, right? The average life of the merchandise that we've been putting into service is still -- that 18 months is still a good proxy for that. .

是的。因此，我們投入使用的所有不同類型的產品都有使用壽命。平均而言，我們已經討論過 18 個月是平均壽命，並且沒有顯著變化，對吧？我們投入使用的商品的平均壽命仍然是 - 18 個月仍然是一個很好的代表。 .

Our next question is from Kartik Mehta with Northcoast Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 Northcoast Research 的 Kartik Mehta。

This is actually Jack Boyle on behalf of Kartik Mehta. Keeping with the same line of questioning here, we have questions, just like with the pricing environment, considering how merchandise, energy, gas, diesel, all these things just continually going up. Are you seeing any kind of pushback or any kind of pricing ceiling here? Any kind of pricing that might be impacting momentum going forward? And also, are you seeing any pricing impact changes -- differences between maybe small and large businesses?

這實際上是代表 Kartik Mehta 的 Jack Boyle。在這裡保持同樣的問題，我們有問題，就像定價環境一樣，考慮到商品、能源、天然氣、柴油，所有這些東西是如何不斷上漲的。您是否在這裡看到任何形式的回擊或任何形式的定價上限？任何可能影響未來發展勢頭的定價方式？此外，您是否看到任何定價影響變化——可能是小型企業和大型企業之間的差異？

Good questions. Obviously, very relevant to the environment. I wouldn't say it's an important question, I guess, whether there's a price ceiling. And I'm not sure we know the answer to that yet. I mean we continue to work through the process as we've talked about. Look, there's always pushback from time to time as all customers are dealing with higher costs, they're trying to manage their own costs. So as inflation goes, it's sort of a circular challenge. But we have been working well with our customers and haven't seen what I would call a tremendous pushback at this point, and we will continue to work with them as appropriate.

好問題。顯然，與環境非常相關。我不會說這是一個重要的問題，我想，是否有價格上限。我不確定我們是否知道答案。我的意思是，我們將繼續按照我們已經討論過的流程進行工作。看，總是有阻力，因為所有客戶都在處理更高的成本，他們試圖管理自己的成本。因此，隨著通貨膨脹的發展，這是一種循環挑戰。但我們一直與客戶合作良好，目前還沒有看到我所說的巨大阻力，我們將繼續酌情與他們合作。

Yes, I think naturally, the larger customers can be more challenging. The contracts are typically somewhat more refined with the larger customers and more prescriptive on what can be done and what can't be done. But even some of those larger accounts have been opened to working with us through this time. So I would say it's a little different on the larger accounts for sure, but we're exploring efforts on all avenues.

是的，我自然認為，較大的客戶可能更具挑戰性。對於較大的客戶，合同通常會更加細化，並且對可以做什麼和不可以做什麼有更多的規定。但即使是其中一些較大的賬戶也已開放與我們合作。所以我會說在更大的賬戶上肯定會有一點不同，但我們正在探索所有途徑的努力。

Our next question is from Tim Mulrooney with William Blair.

我們的下一個問題來自 Tim Mulrooney 和 William Blair。

We'll just stick with pricing here because a lot of the questions we're getting right now are around pricing power. So can you just talk about how much of your organic growth right now is pricing versus volume and how that compares to your historical average? .

我們將在這裡堅持定價，因為我們現在遇到的很多問題都與定價能力有關。那麼，您能否談談您現在的有機增長中有多少是定價與銷量，以及與您的歷史平均水平相比如何？ .

Yes, it's a good question. I mean we've never really broken out pricing, and it's difficult to do for a lot of reasons. But what I would say is it's a healthy portion of that organic growth. When you look at the historical, if we were growing 3% or 4% in the past, we'd say, well, maybe there's 1%, 1.5% in there from price and that was always an estimate. It wasn't a hard and fast number. And we're growing 9%. And I talked about we're having a very good sales here. We're having an improved retention here. Adds versus reductions are positive, which is a development that isn't always part of that organic growth. So there are other things that are causing probably our core growth to be higher than, say, historical organic levels, but the pricing is certainly a healthy piece of that as we work through things. .

是的，這是個好問題。我的意思是我們從來沒有真正打破定價，而且由於很多原因很難做到。但我想說的是，這是有機增長的健康部分。當您查看歷史數據時，如果我們過去增長 3% 或 4%，我們會說，嗯，價格可能有 1% 或 1.5%，這始終是一個估計值。這不是一個硬性的數字。我們正在增長 9%。我談到我們在這裡的銷售非常好。我們在這裡的留存率有所提高。增加與減少是積極的，這並不總是有機增長的一部分。因此，還有其他一些因素可能導致我們的核心增長高於歷史有機水平，但在我們努力解決問題時，定價無疑是其中的一部分。 .

Just one more for me. Can you remind us the different ways that you capture price? Is it all structural price increase or do you have fuel surcharges or other ways to help offset the inflationary headwinds? And are you able to have those pricing conversations on an annual basis? Or is it primarily just when the contract is up for renewal? .

只給我一個。你能提醒我們你獲取價格的不同方式嗎？是結構性價格上漲，還是您有燃油附加費或其他方式來幫助抵消通脹阻力？您是否能夠每年進行一次定價對話？還是主要只是在合同即將續籤時？ .

There are certainly price discussions on an annual basis and in this environment, certainly so. Not to get into the weeds about the industry and how we bill our customers, but there are a number of things. There's core rental prices. There's extra charges that relate to, in some cases, merchandise and there's also delivery charges, some of which encapsulate fuel. So there are different aspects of how we would look at adjusting pricing to deal with the different specific cost pressures. And as you can imagine, we're looking at all of them as needed.

每年肯定都會進行價格討論，在這種環境下，當然是這樣。不要深入了解該行業以及我們如何向客戶收費，但有很多事情。有核心租金價格。在某些情況下，還有與商品相關的額外費用，還有運費，其中一些包含燃料。因此，我們將如何看待調整定價以應對不同的具體成本壓力，有不同的方面。正如您可以想像的那樣，我們正在根據需要查看所有這些。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question is from Andrew Steinerman with JPMorgan.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Andrew Steinerman。

I just wanted to make sure I got the fourth quarter implied core operating margin right, 8.3% for the year, by my math, makes an 8.8% operating margin for Core Laundry in the fourth quarter, which, of course, is not that much different than what we just reported in the May quarter. And so if you could just go over any kind of puts and takes that you think of when comparing the fourth quarter margin, which is guided to the third quarter margin that was just actual.

我只是想確保我得到了正確的第四季度隱含核心營業利潤率，根據我的數學計算，全年為 8.3%，這使得第四季度 Core Laundry 的營業利潤率為 8.8%，當然，這並不多與我們剛剛在 5 月季度報告的情況不同。因此，如果您在比較第四季度利潤率時可以考慮任何類型的看跌期權，那麼您在比較第四季度利潤率時會考慮到第三季度的實際利潤率。

Yes. So Andrew, correct, the implied margin and our Core Laundry operations for the fourth quarter is 8.8%. And the things that we expect to be impacting the fourth quarter are largely the items that impacted our third quarter, right. Merchandise, energy, some of our other costs, labor, the other costs that have been increasing as a result of the inflationary pressures and obviously, assumptions around what we're going to be able to offset those with from a pricing perspective. But largely, you mentioned the fact that the third quarter operating margin is not significantly different than the fourth and the factors influencing the 2 are largely the same. .

是的。所以安德魯，正確的，第四季度的隱含利潤率和我們的核心洗衣業務是 8.8%。我們預計會影響第四季度的事情主要是影響我們第三季度的項目，對吧。商品、能源、我們的一些其他成本、勞動力以及由於通脹壓力而不斷增加的其他成本，顯然，從定價的角度來看，我們將能夠抵消這些成本的假設。但在很大程度上，您提到第三季度營業利潤率與第四季度沒有顯著差異，影響兩者的因素基本相同。 .

And one thing I'll add to that, Andrew, is that we talked about merchandise, the nature of our merchandise as we put more in. Merchandise costs will continue to come up. So sequentially, they'll be higher in the fourth quarter than the third quarter. One thing that we probably will do a little bit better in the fourth quarter and we project to do is offsetting some of the increased fuel cost with some pricing adjustments because as we've reacted to the higher fuel cost, a little bit more will be benefiting us in the fourth quarter than it did in the third quarter.

安德魯，我要補充的一件事是，我們談到了商品，當我們投入更多時，我們商品的性質。商品成本將繼續上升。因此，按順序，它們在第四季度將高於第三季度。我們可能會在第四季度做得更好的一件事，我們預計要做的是通過一些定價調整來抵消一些增加的燃料成本，因為當我們對更高的燃料成本做出反應時，將會更多一點第四季度比第三季度更使我們受益。

And we have no further questions at this time. I'll return the call back to you for closing remarks.

目前我們沒有進一步的問題。我會將電話回電給您以結束髮言。

Okay. I'd like to thank everyone as always for joining us to review our third quarter results, and we look forward to speaking with everyone again in October when we expect to be reporting our fourth quarter performance and our outlook for fiscal '23. Thank you, and have a great day. .

好的。我要一如既往地感謝大家加入我們審查我們的第三季度業績，我們期待在 10 月再次與大家交談，屆時我們預計將報告我們的第四季度業績和我們對 23 財年的展望。謝謝你，祝你有美好的一天。 .

And that does conclude the conference call for today. We thank you all for your participation and kindly ask that you please disconnect your lines. Have a great day.

這確實結束了今天的電話會議。我們感謝大家的參與，並請您斷開線路。祝你有美好的一天。