UniFirst Corp (UNF) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the first quarter 2025 UniFirst earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 UniFirst 2025 年第一季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to hand the conference over to President and Chief Executive Officer, Steven Sintros. Please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給總裁兼執行長史蒂文·辛特羅斯 (Steven Sintros)。請繼續。

Thank you, and good morning. I'm Steven Sintros, UniFirst's President and Chief Executive Officer. Joining me today is Shane O' Connor, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. I'd like to welcome you to UniFirst Corporation's conference call to review our first-quarter results for fiscal year 2025.

謝謝你，早安。我是史蒂文·辛特羅斯 (Steven Sintros)，UniFirst 的總裁兼執行長。今天與我一起出席的是執行副總裁兼財務長 Shane O' Connor。歡迎您參加 UniFirst Corporation 的電話會議，回顧我們 2025 財年第一季的業績。

This call will be on a listen-only mode until we complete our prepared remarks. The first, a brief disclaimer. This conference call may contain forward-looking statements that reflect the company's current views with respect to future events and financial performance.

在我們完成準備好的發言之前，本次通話將採用只聽模式。首先是簡短的免責聲明。本次電話會議可能包含前瞻性陳述，反映本公司目前對未來事件和財務表現的看法。

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.

這些前瞻性陳述存在一定的風險和不確定性。預期、樂觀、相信、估計、期望、打算以及表明未來事件和趨勢的類似表達方式均屬於前瞻性陳述。

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.

根據各種風險因素，未來的實際結果可能與預期結果有重大差異。如需了解更多信息，請參閱我們最近向美國證券交易委員會提交的 10-K 表格和 10-Q 表格中對這些風險因素的討論。

To start the call today, I would like to briefly address the news regarding Cintas Corporation. As we stated in our press release yesterday, the UniFirst Board, in consultation with its independent financial and legal advisers, carefully evaluated the unsolicited non-binding proposal from Cintas and unanimously determined that it was not in the best interest of UniFirst our shareholders and our other stakeholders.

在今天的電話會議開始之前，我想先簡單介紹一下 Cintas Corporation 的新聞。正如我們在昨天的新聞稿中所述，UniFirst 董事會在與其獨立財務和法律顧問協商後，仔細評估了Cintas 主動提出的非約束性提案，並一致認為這不符合UniFirst 我們股東和我們的最佳利益。

In making its determination, the board considered the offer price execution and business risk, feedback from some of the company's largest shareholders by voting power, and the company's future growth and value creation opportunities.

在做出決定時，董事會考慮了要約價格執行和業務風險、公司一些最大股東透過投票權提供的回饋，以及公司未來的成長和價值創造機會。

The UniFirst Board and management team remain confident in the strategy the company is executing and will continue to take actions to create shareholder value. With that, I will turn to our results for the quarter.

UniFirst 董事會和管理團隊對公司正在執行的策略仍然充滿信心，並將繼續採取行動創造股東價值。接下來，我將談談我們本季的業績。

We are pleased with the results from our first quarter which represent a solid start to our fiscal year and we're largely in line with our expectations. I want to sincerely thank our team partners who continue to always deliver for each other and our customers as we strive toward our vision of being universally recognized as the best service provider in the industry. All while living our mission of serving the people who do the hard work.

我們對第一季的業績感到滿意，這代表了我們財年的良好開端，並且基本上符合我們的預期。我要衷心感謝我們的團隊合作夥伴，他們始終為彼此和客戶提供服務，努力實現成為公認的業內最佳服務提供者的願景。我們始終實踐著辛勤工作的人們服務的使命。

We serve the people who do the hard work as they are the workforce that keeps our communities up and running. They are our existing and prospective customers as well as our own UniFirst team partners. Our mission is to enable those employees and their organizations by providing the right products and services to do their job successfully and safely.

我們為辛勤工作的人們提供服務，因為他們是維持我們社區正常運作的勞動力。他們是我們現有和潛在的客戶，也是我們自己的 UniFirst 團隊合作夥伴。我們的使命是透過提供正確的產品和服務來幫助這些員工及其組織成功且安全地完成工作。

Whether that means providing uniforms, workwear, facility services, first aid and safety, clean room or other products and services. Our goal is to partner with our customers to ensure we have the right structure, the right program structure, products and services for their businesses and their team, all while providing an enhanced customer experience.

無論這意味著提供製服、工作服、設施服務、急救和安全、無塵室或其他產品和服務。我們的目標是與客戶合作，確保我們為他們的企業和團隊提供正確的結構、正確的計劃結構、產品和服務，同時提供增強的客戶體驗。

First quarter revenues were $604.9 million, increases of 1.9% from fiscal '24. Operating income and adjusted EBITDA increased by 4.5% and 5.9% respectively compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2024.

第一季營收為 6.049 億美元，比 2024 財年成長 1.9%。與2024財年第一季相比，營業收入和調整後EBITDA分別成長4.5%和5.9%。

As we discussed last quarter, as the market has emerged from a period of significantly elevated inflation levels, a more challenging pricing environment has developed which has had a corresponding impact on our retention rates. This has impacted our overall growth in our core laundry operations.

正如我們上季度所討論的，隨著市場已經擺脫了通貨膨脹水平顯著升高的時期，一個更具挑戰性的定價環境已經形成，這對我們的保留率產生了相應的影響。這影響了我們核心洗衣業務的整體成長。

Although these are certainly not the growth rates we ultimately aspire to deliver, as we discussed last quarter, we do feel like there's reasons to be positive about some of the trends we are experiencing in our leading indicators that should translate into improvements in revenue trends and retention as we move through this cycle.

儘管這些肯定不是我們最終希望實現的成長率，但正如我們上季度討論的那樣，我們確實認為有理由對我們在領先指標中經歷的一些趨勢持積極態度，這些趨勢應該轉化為收入趨勢的改善和當我們經歷這個週期時，保留率。

During the quarter, our sales organization continued to perform well, selling prospects on the value that UniFirst can bring to their businesses. We also continue to be encouraged by the pipeline of large account opportunities that we are currently working on. From an adds versus reductions perspective, net wearer levels for our existing customers declined during the quarter showing some incremental weakness compared to a year ago at this time.

本季度，我們的銷售組織繼續表現良好，向潛在客戶推銷 UniFirst 可以為其業務帶來的價值。我們目前正在努力的大客戶機會管道也繼續令我們感到鼓舞。從增加與減少的角度來看，我們現有客戶的淨佩戴者水平在本季度有所下降，顯示與一年前相比出現了一些增量疲軟。

We are pleased with the progress we continue to make in areas of operational execution and margin enhancement, which allowed us to show solid improvements in operating income and adjusted EBITDA during the quarter despite the modest growth. These improvements which were primarily in core expense areas such as merchandise and plant production expenses were partially offset in the quarter by higher health care costs and legal environmental expenses compared to a year ago.

我們對我們在營運執行和利潤率提高方面繼續取得的進展感到高興，這使我們能夠在本季度實現營業收入和調整後 EBITDA 的穩步改善，儘管增長幅度不大。這些改善主要集中在商品和工廠生產費用等核心費用領域，但本季的部分改善被與去年同期相比較高的醫療保健費用和法律環境費用所抵消。

We also continue to see strong improvements in operating cash flows, which were up 27.3% compared to the same quarter a year ago. As a company, we will continue to focus on investments in the business to enhance our ability to attract new customers, sell additional products to existing customers as well as enhance our customers experience and drive improved retention.

我們也持續看到營運現金流的強勁改善，與去年同期相比成長了 27.3%。作為一家公司，我們將繼續專注於業務投資，以增強我們吸引新客戶、向現有客戶銷售更多產品以及增強客戶體驗和提高保留率的能力。

We believe that there is ample runway to improve our profitability with ongoing efforts focused on the consistency of our operational execution and driving productivity. In addition, areas such as strategic pricing and account profitability, as well as strategic manufacturing and sourcing continue to represent significant opportunities.

我們相信，透過專注於營運執行的一致性和提高生產力的持續努力，有足夠的空間來提高我們的獲利能力。此外，策略定價和客戶獲利能力以及策略製造和採購等領域仍代表著重大機會。

Although some of these benefits going forward, it will be more significantly enabled through the implementation of our ERP, we continue to focus on these areas and others we feel can move the needle in the near to mid-term. Speaking of our ERP project, we are generally on track with our project timelines and continue to be excited about the benefits that the system can bring to our business.

雖然其中一些好處將在未來透過我們的 ERP 的實施而得到更顯著的實現，但我們將繼續關注這些領域以及我們認為可以在中短期內取得進展的其他領域。說到我們的 ERP 項目，我們的專案時間表總體上進展順利，並且對該系統可以為我們的業務帶來的好處繼續感到興奮。

That said, I'll turn the call over to Shane, who will provide more details on our first-quarter results as well as our outlook for the remainder of fiscal '25.

也就是說，我會將電話轉給 Shane，他將提供有關我們第一季業績的更多詳細資訊以及我們對 25 財年剩餘時間的展望。

Thanks Steve, and good morning. In our first quarter of 2025 consolidated revenues were $604.9 million, up 1.9% from $593.5 million a year ago. And consolidated operating income increased to $55.5 million from $53.1 million or 4.5%. Net income for the quarter increased to $43.1 million or $2.31 per diluted share from $42.3 million or $2.26 per diluted share.

謝謝史蒂夫，早安。2025 年第一季度，我們的合併收入為 6.049 億美元，比一年前的 5.935 億美元成長 1.9%。綜合營業收入從 5,310 萬美元增至 5,550 萬美元，增幅為 4.5%。該季度淨利潤從 4,230 萬美元或稀釋每股 2.26 美元增至 4,310 萬美元或稀釋每股 2.31 美元。

As discussed in the prior quarter, the company migrated to an adjusted EBITDA metric that we believe is more meaningful and is defined as net income before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization further adjusted for share-based compensation expense, acquisition costs and other items impacting comparability.

正如上一季所討論的，該公司轉向了調整後的EBITDA 指標，我們認為該指標更有意義，定義為未計利息、所得稅、折舊和攤銷前的淨收入，並針對股權激勵費用、收購成本和其他項目進行了進一步調整影響可比性。

We believe that this more wholesome non-GAAP measure will provide a more refined view of the company's profitability and is a better indication of the company's capacity to generate future cash flows. The adjusted EBITDA metric does not adjust for the key initiative costs we incur, but the company will provide visibility to those items separately.

我們相信，這種更健康的非公認會計原則衡量標準將更準確地反映公司的獲利能力，並更好地表明公司產生未來現金流的能力。調整後的 EBITDA 指標不會針對我們產生的關鍵計畫成本進行調整，但公司將單獨提供這些項目的可見度。

Consolidated adjusted EBITDA increased to $94 million from $88.7 million in the prior year or 5.9%. Our financial results in the first quarters of fiscal 2025 and 2024 included approximately $2.5 million and $2.9 million respectively of costs directly attributable to our key initiatives.

合併調整後 EBITDA 從前一年的 8,870 萬美元增至 9,400 萬美元，增幅為 5.9%。我們 2025 財年和 2024 財年第一季的財務表現分別包括約 250 萬美元和 290 萬美元的直接歸因於我們關鍵措施的成本。

The effect of these items on the first quarter of fiscal 2025 and 2024 decreased operating income and adjusted EBITDA by $2.5 million and $2.9 million respectively. Net income by $1.8 million and $2.4 million respectively, and diluted EPS by $0.09 and $0.12 respectively.

這些項目對 2025 財年和 2024 財年第一季的影響使營業收入和調整後 EBITDA 分別減少了 250 萬美元和 290 萬美元。淨利潤分別增加 180 萬美元和 240 萬美元，攤薄後每股收益分別減少 0.09 美元和 0.12 美元。

Our core laundry operations revenues for the quarter were $532.7 million, an increase of 1.7% from the first quarter of 2024. Core laundry organic growth, which adjusts for the estimated effect of acquisitions as well as fluctuations in the Canadian dollar was also 1.7%.

我們本季的核心洗衣業務收入為 5.327 億美元，較 2024 年第一季成長 1.7%。核心洗衣業務的有機成長（根據收購的估計影響以及加幣波動進行調整）也為 1.7%。

The organic growth rate was primarily the result of solid new account sales and pricing efforts over the last year. Core laundry operating margin increased to 8.1% for the quarter or $43 million from 8% in prior year or $42.1 million. And the segment's adjusted EBITDA margin increased to 14.8% from 14.4%.

有機成長率主要歸功於去年強勁的新客戶銷售和定價工作。本季核心洗衣店營運利潤率從去年同期的 8%（4,210 萬美元）增至 8.1%（4,300 萬美元）。該部門調整後 EBITDA 利潤率從 14.4% 增加到 14.8%。

Costs we incurred related to our key initiatives were recorded to the core laundry operations segment and decreased core laundry operating and adjusted EBITDA margins for the first quarter of fiscal 2025 and 2024 by 0.5% and 0.6% respectively.

我們與關鍵措施相關的成本記錄在核心洗衣業務部門，並使 2025 財年第一季和 2024 財年第一季的核心洗衣業務和調整後 EBITDA 利潤率分別下降 0.5% 和 0.6%。

Segment's operating and adjusted EBITDA margin comparisons benefited from lower merchandise and other operating input costs as a percentage of revenues, which were partially offset by higher health care, legal and environmental, and selling costs in the first quarter of 25' as a percentage of revenues.

該部門的營業利潤率和調整後EBITDA 利潤率比較受益於商品和其他營業投入成本佔收入百分比的下降，但25 年第一季醫療保健、法律和環境以及銷售成本佔收入百分比的上升部分抵消了這一影響。

Energy costs in the first quarter of 2025 were 3.9% of revenues. Revenues from our specialty garments segment, which delivers specialized nuclear decontamination and cleanroom products and services increased to $45.9 million from $44.7 million in prior year or 2.9%. And the segment's operating margin was 26.5%.

2025 年第一季的能源成本佔營收的 3.9%。我們的特種服裝部門提供專門的核淨化和無塵室產品和服務，其收入從上一年的 4,470 萬美元增至 4,590 萬美元，增幅為 2.9%。該部門的營業利益率為 26.5%。

Strong operating results from our European nuclear operations were partially offset by a slight decline in our clean room business. As we mentioned in the past, this segment's results can vary significantly from period to period due to seasonality, as well as timing and the profitability of nuclear reactor outages and projects.

我們歐洲核能業務的強勁營運業績被我們無塵室業務的小幅下滑部分抵銷。正如我們過去所提到的，由於季節性以及核反應器停駛和項目的時間和盈利能力，該部門的表現在不同時期可能會有很大差異。

Our first aid segment's revenues increased to $26.2 million from $24.9 million in prior year or 5.4%, driven by double digit growth in our van operations. Segment had a nominal operating income of $0.3 million during the quarter as the segment's results continue to reflect the investments we are making in the first aid van business.

在貨車業務兩位數成長的推動下，我們急救部門的收入從上一年的 2,490 萬美元增至 2,620 萬美元，增幅為 5.4%。該部門本季的名義營業收入為 30 萬美元，因為該部門的業績繼續反映了我們在急救車業務上的投資。

At the end of our first fiscal quarter, we continued to reflect a solid balance sheet and financial position with no long-term debt and cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totalling $181 million. In the first three months of fiscal 2025, we continued to see solid improvement in our cash flows from operating activities, which increased 27.3% to $58.1 million primarily due to improved profitability and lower working capital needs of the business.

在第一財季末，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，現金、現金等價物和短期投資總計 1.81 億美元。在 2025 財年的前三個月，我們的營運活動現金流量持續穩定改善，成長 27.3% 至 5,810 萬美元，這主要是由於業務獲利能力的提高和營運資金需求的降低。

We continue to invest in our future with capital expenditures of $33.6 million, repurchased $6.4 million worth of common stock and acquired three small first aid businesses for which we paid a total of $2.8 million. I'd like to take this opportunity to provide an update on our outlook.

我們繼續投資於我們的未來，資本支出為 3,360 萬美元，回購了價值 640 萬美元的普通股，併購了三個小型急救企業，我們總共支付了 280 萬美元。我想藉此機會更新我們的前景。

At this time, we expect our revenues for fiscal 2025 to between $2.425 billion and $2.440 billion. We continue to expect diluted earnings per share to be between $6.79 and $7.19. This outlook continues to include an estimated $16 million of costs directly attributable to our key initiatives that we anticipate will be expensed in fiscal 2025.

目前，我們預計 2025 財年的營收將在 24.25 億美元至 24.40 億美元之間。我們仍然預計稀釋後每股收益將在 6.79 美元至 7.19 美元之間。這項展望繼續包括直接歸因於我們關鍵措施的估計 1,600 萬美元成本，我們預計這些成本將在 2025 財年支出。

Although there's been a recent decline in the value of the Canadian dollar. This outlook assumes a constant Canadian exchange rate of $0.74, consistent with our original guidance, due to the uncertainty and how the foreign currency will fluctuate over the remainder of the year.

儘管最近加元的價值有所下降。由於不確定性以及外幣在今年剩餘時間內的波動情況，本展望假設加拿大匯率穩定在 0.74 美元，與我們最初的指導一致。

Aside from the tightening of our revenue range, now one quarter into the year, all other assumptions that we detailed out last quarter remain largely unchanged. As a reminder, fiscal 2025 includes one less week of operations compared to fiscal 2024. And guidance does not include the impact of any future share buybacks or significant changes in the regulatory or broader economic environment.

除了收緊我們的收入範圍外，現在已經是今年的一個季度了，我們上季度詳細列出的所有其他假設基本上保持不變。提醒一下，與 2024 財年相比，2025 財年的營運時間減少了一週。指引不包括任何未來股票回購或監管或更廣泛經濟環境重大變化的影響。

This concludes our prepared remarks. Before we open the call for questions, I'd like to remind you all that our focus today is our first quarter financial results and 2025 outlook. As a result, we won't be commenting further on Cintas.

我們準備好的演講到此結束。在我們開始提問之前，我想提醒大家，我們今天的重點是我們第一季的財務表現和 2025 年展望。因此，我們不會對 Cintas 進行進一步評論。

Liz, we can now open the call for questions.

莉茲，我們現在可以開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) Andrew Wittmann, Baird.

（操作員說明）Andrew Wittmann，Baird。

Yeah, great. Good morning, guys. I have to ask the question. You're welcome to comment to the extent that you can, but it's important. And so I wanted to ask it. The Cintas is $275 offer, clearly could have some upside as they outlined in their performance. The cost energy opportunity that they outlined at $375 million at least, not to mention the revenue synergies.

是的，太棒了。早安，夥計們。我必須問這個問題。歡迎您盡可能發表評論，但這很重要。所以我想問一下。Cintas 的報價為 275 美元，正如他們在表演中概述的那樣，顯然可能有一些上漲空間。他們概述的能源機會成本至少為 3.75 億美元，更不用說收入綜效了。

I mean, this is all obviously a substantial premium what their offering and to where your stock is today and probably would be for some time. Your controlling shareholders, obviously have a lower basis in the company. There's other factors, I'm sure at least from the outside.

我的意思是，這顯然比他們的產品和你的股票今天的價格以及可能在一段時間內的價格有很大的溢價。你的控股股東，顯然在公司的基礎較低。我確信至少從外部來看還有其他因素。

But when you look at the offer that's been on the table and the company's decision to pass on it, it seems like there's more than just the financials that are being considered by your board. So if I'm right in saying that, would you be comfortable in discussing some of the other reasons, that your board has decided to pass on this for the benefit of your non-controlling shareholders.

但當你看到已經提出的報價以及公司決定放棄它時，你會發現董事會考慮的不僅僅是財務問題。因此，如果我的說法是正確的，您是否願意討論一些其他原因，即您的董事會決定為了非控股股東的利益而放棄這一點。

Yeah. Appreciate the question, Andrew. I think, we're going to go back to, what we commented, which basically says that we considered several factors in making the determination, including the offer price execution, business risks, feedback from some of our company's largest shareholders and the company's future growth and value opportunities.

是的。感謝這個問題，安德魯。我想，我們要回到我們所評論的內容，基本上說我們在做出決定時考慮了幾個因素，包括要約價格執行、業務風險、我們公司一些最大股東的反饋以及公司的未來成長和價值機會。

And at the end of the day, we determined unanimously that from the board that it was not in the best interest of UniFirst and our shareholders and our other stakeholders. So that's really, all we have to say about the opportunity.

最終，我們董事會一致認為，這不符合 UniFirst 以及我們的股東和其他利害關係人的最佳利益。這就是關於這個機會我們要說的一切。

Okay. Felt like it was important to try at least. I did want to just have you drill in a little bit on one of the comments on your script as well. And you mentioned -- you did say you mentioned this last quarter.

好的。感覺至少嘗試一下很重要。我確實想讓你稍微深入了解一下你的腳本中的一則評論。你提到過——你確實說過你在上個季度提到過這一點。

I just thought we'd go for an update on, some of the reasons to be positive. Obviously talked about the challenging pricing, and how that's impacted the revenue line, including some retention. But if you could drill in a little bit to the reasons that you're seeing some of the positivity reasons to be positive.

我只是想我們應該了解一些積極的原因的最新情況。顯然談到了具有挑戰性的定價，以及這如何影響收入線，包括一些保留。但如果你能深入探討你所看到的一些正面原因是正面的原因。

You talked about some of the large accounts. Maybe you could drill into that a little bit more or some of the other things are leading indicators that are causing to be a little bit more optimistic maybe.

您談到了一些大客戶。也許你可以進一步深入研究這一點，或者其他一些事情是領先指標，可能會導致更加樂觀。

Sure. I talked about some of them a little more specifically last quarter. And we continue to see some of our internal metrics that measure contract renewal rates. I talked about our NPS program, which continues to emerge, and we continue to get larger samples and continue to see positive trends in that area. And other internal metrics that we think are leading indicators towards retention and contract renewals have been consistently approving.

當然。上個季度我更具體地討論了其中一些問題。我們繼續看到一些衡量合約續約率的內部指標。我談到了我們的 NPS 計劃，該計劃不斷湧現，我們不斷獲得更大的樣本，並繼續看到該領域的積極趨勢。我們認為是保留和續約合約的領先指標的其他內部指標也一直得到認可。

So we feel like we're coming out of the cycle a bit and we should start seeing better results in that, call it, customer and price retention area that we think can start to move the revenue trends in a better direction. On the sales side, I know you mentioned that as well. We continue to have a robust pipeline, feel like we're executing well in that area and seeing a lot of opportunities.

因此，我們覺得我們正在擺脫這個週期，我們應該開始看到更好的結果，稱之為客戶和價格保留領域，我們認為可以開始將收入趨勢推向更好的方向。在銷售方面，我知道您也提到過這一點。我們仍然擁有強大的管道，感覺我們在該領域執行得很好，並且看到了很多機會。

I'll leave it there. Thanks guys.

我會把它留在那裡。謝謝你們。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Manav Patnaik, Barclays.

馬納夫·帕特奈克，巴克萊銀行。

Hi, good morning. This is Ronan Kennedy on for Manav. Thank you for taking my questions. Just as a follow up to Andy's question there, balancing the challenging pricing environment, the corresponding impact on retention and the impact on sequential revenue trends.

嗨，早安。我是馬納夫的羅南肯尼迪。感謝您回答我的問題。正如安迪問題的後續，平衡具有挑戰性的定價環境、對保留率的相應影響以及對連續收入趨勢的影響。

How should we think about those sequential revenue trends? What's contemplated in the guidance for the remainder of the year? And how should we think about exit into '26?

我們該如何看待這些連續的收入趨勢？今年剩餘時間的指導意見有何設想？我們應該如何考慮退出'26？

Yeah. What I would say is we really don't give quarterly guidance, Ronan. But we think that's mostly going to be consistent. I think the idea would be that by the end of the year, we've created some more momentum headed into '26.

是的。我想說的是，羅南，我們確實不提供季度指導。但我們認為這基本上是一致的。我認為我們的想法是，到今年年底，我們已經為進入 26 年創造了更多動力。

And we'll continue to update the group as we go through upcoming quarters, but still being one quarter in we're not kind of providing quarterly guidance for the remainder of the year.

我們將在接下來的幾個季度中繼續更新該小組的信息，但仍有一個季度我們不會為今年剩餘時間提供季度指導。

Ronan, one thing I can add to that is sort of going into the year, we had said that the expectation was that organic growth in the core laundries was going to be about 1.8%.

Ronan，我可以補充的一件事是，進入這一年，我們曾說過，預計核心洗衣店的有機成長約為 1.8%。

When you take a look at the first quarter, the organic growth rate was 1.7% right, relatively in line with the organic growth that we're forecasting for the year. So that probably will give you an indication of whether there's some more lumpiness in that experience throughout the year.

當你看第一季時，有機成長率是 1.7%，與我們預測的今年有機成長相對一致。因此，這可能會讓你知道這一年的經歷是否會更加不穩定。

Understood. Thank you. And then as a follow-up, can you please help us to understand where you are, I guess, holistically in your transformation, the journey as a company in terms of innings. I know there's a lot of initiatives to enhance service, operational execution, you alluded to, you're not currently at the levels of growth that you aspire to, also in consideration of the Cintas transaction, potential transaction.

明白了。謝謝。作為後續行動，我想您能否幫助我們全面了解您在轉型過程中所處的位置，以及作為一家公司在局數方面的旅程。我知道有很多舉措來增強服務和營運執行，您提到，您目前還沒有達到您渴望的成長水平，同時考慮到 Cintas 交易和潛在交易。

You considered your opportunity for future growth and value creation. Where are you in this journey holistically? And when can we expect to see potential inflection points, both in organic growth and margins?

您考慮了未來成長和價值創造的機會。整體而言，您在這段旅程中處於什麼位置？我們什麼時候可以看到有機成長和利潤率的潛在轉折點？

Yeah. Great question, Ronan. I mean, I think we've been transparent with investors over the last couple of years that we are in a period of significant investment, people, technology, and a number of areas that will take multiple years.

是的。好問題，羅南。我的意思是，我認為過去幾年我們一直對投資者保持透明，我們正處於一個需要多年時間才能在人員、技術和許多領域進行大量投資的時期。

And then we talk about the ERP is sort of one of the overarching things that has sort of a long tail to it because there are a number of things that will be enabled by the ERP. But that's not the only areas of investment that we're making.

然後我們談論 ERP 是一種具有長尾效應的首要事物之一，因為 ERP 可以實現很多功能。但這並不是我們正在進行的唯一投資領域。

And so I didn't kind of go over all those items in the call today. But if you kind of go back through the last couple of years and we talk about the journey we're on in first aid and safety. And we're talking about additional investments we're making to enable further capabilities in direct sales and in product development to better upsell to our existing customers.

所以我今天沒有在電話會議中詳細討論所有這些內容。但如果你回顧過去幾年，我們會談論我們在急救和安全方面的歷程。我們正在談論我們正在進行的額外投資，以增強直接銷售和產品開發的能力，從而更好地向現有客戶進行追加銷售。

There's a lot going on right now that we feel very excited about, but we'll take a little time to sort of accumulate to the ultimate goal, which we've sort of roughly talked about getting back to closer to mid-single-digit growth and EBITDA margins sort of in the high-teens, right?

現在發生了很多事情，我們感到非常興奮，但我們需要一些時間來累積最終目標，我們已經大致討論過回到接近中個位數的水平增長和 EBITDA 利潤率大約在十幾歲左右，對嗎？

We believe that's achievable, but it is going to take a bit of time, which is why we haven't been as upfront about that this is a late fiscal '25 or '26 inflection point. And I understand the question, but we continue to have a lot of confidence in those things that we're investing in.

我們相信這是可以實現的，但這需要一些時間，這就是為什麼我們沒有提前表明這是 25 或 26 財年後期的轉折點。我理解這個問題，但我們仍然對我們正在投資的那些東西充滿信心。

Thank you. Appreciate it.

謝謝。欣賞它。

Kartik Mehta, Northcoast Research.

Kartik Mehta，北海岸研究中心。

Hey, good morning, Steve. Sorry about that. I was hoping maybe just to drill down a little bit on pricing. And in the past, you've said, maybe new customer pricing has been maybe a little bit more aggressive. And I'm wondering, are the pricing trends the same for existing customers and new customers? Or has that changed at all?

嘿，早上好，史蒂夫。對此感到抱歉。我希望也許只是深入了解定價。您曾說過，過去，新客戶的定價可能會更激進一些。我想知道，現有客戶和新客戶的定價趨勢是否相同？或者說這一切已經改變了嗎？

I would say for new accounts, Kartik, we've talked about this before. I mean, the industry has always been very competitive for new business and that continues. I'm not sure, I'd characterize it are more or less aggressive than a couple of years ago.

我想說的是，對於新帳戶，Kartik，我們之前已經討論過這個問題。我的意思是，該行業對於新業務的競爭一直非常激烈，而且這種情況仍在持續。我不確定，我認為它比幾年前或多或少具有侵略性。

I think for existing accounts, this is where as we went through this heavily inflationary period, we were all trying to recover some additional pricing with the cost increases we were seeing and that leads to challenges upon renewal when customers are saying, hey, inflations kind of moderated a bit. And it's really a complex dynamic, and it really goes back to a lot of the things I've talked about before.

我認為對於現有帳戶來說，當我們經歷這個嚴重通貨膨脹時期時，我們都試圖透過我們所看到的成本增加來恢復一些額外的定價，這會導致續訂時面臨挑戰，因為客戶會說，嘿，通貨膨脹稍微緩和一下。這確實是一個複雜的動態，它確實可以追溯到我之前討論過的許多事情。

If you're partnering with your customers, if you're providing a superior customer experience, then they're going to see the value in what you're providing and that's going to allow you to drive and keep good pricing with your customers. So I think that existing customer dynamic is always a little bit different than the new customer dynamic. And I think our ability to execute and provide value to our customers at a very high level will allow us to obtain that pricing.

如果您與客戶合作，如果您提供卓越的客戶體驗，那麼他們就會看到您所提供的產品的價值，這將使您能夠推動並與客戶保持良好的定價。因此，我認為現有客戶動態總是與新客戶動態有些不同。我認為我們執行和為客戶提供高水準價值的能力將使我們能夠獲得這樣的定價。

The other thing I'd say is that, on the flip side of that, as we experienced a lot of cost increases with our vendors, I think we're doing a good job right now working to recover and work through from a sourcing and procurement perspective as our supply chain capabilities continue to mature and recover some of those cost increases we're taking. And you're seeing that in some of our core expenses coming down and we're excited and we think there's a lot more opportunity there for the future as well.

我想說的另一件事是，另一方面，由於我們與供應商的成本增加了很多，我認為我們現在做得很好，正在努力從採購和解決問題中恢復和解決問題。的供應鏈能力不斷成熟並收回我們正在增加的部分成本，採購的角度將會改善。你會看到我們的一些核心費用下降了，我們很興奮，我們認為未來還有更多的機會。

And then just a follow-up. Just on the ad stop metric. I know you've talked a lot of retention. I'm wondering about just number of ads or maybe number of deletions in terms of employees at your customers, how that's trending?

然後只是後續行動。就廣告停止指標而言。我知道您已經談了很多保留問題。我想知道廣告的數量，或是客戶員工的刪除數量，趨勢如何？

Yeah, we did make that comment in the script that, that was a little weaker this quarter. So just to give you a little perspective, I think a year ago at this time, we would have said that, that was very stable and sort of hovering right around even in terms of ads reductions, right?

是的，我們確實在劇本中發表了評論，本季的表現有點弱。因此，為了給您一些視角，我想一年前的這個時候，我們會說，即使在廣告減少方面，情況也非常穩定，甚至在廣告減少方面也徘徊，對嗎？

Last quarter, we said it had gone incrementally negative, but not still characterized as stable. I think it's got a little bit more negative this quarter. And I think as you've seen in some of the surveying done on our industry. Yeah, I think that's broadly, there's been a little bit of a weakening of the existing customer base.

上個季度，我們表示它已逐漸變為負值，但仍不具有穩定特徵。我認為本季的負面影響更大一些。我認為正如您在對我們行業進行的一些調查中所看到的那樣。是的，我認為從廣義上講，現有客戶群有所削弱。

The one other dynamic we are seeing with our customers is there's less turnover in the employees that are at our customers, which probably creates a little less revenue opportunity from our perspective, but does create a little bit more cost advantages as we're investing less garments to deal with that turnover. So I think there is a bit of a slowdown in the employment environment, but not one that we're overly overreacting to, I would say.

我們在客戶中看到的另一個動態是，我們客戶的員工流動率較低，從我們的角度來看，這可能會減少一些收入機會，但隨著我們投資的減少，確實會創造更多的成本優勢服裝來應對這筆營業額。因此，我認為就業環境略有放緩，但我想說，我們並沒有對此反應過度。

Perfect. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

完美的。太感謝了。我很感激。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Josh Chan, UBS.

喬許陳，瑞銀。

Hi, good morning, Steven and Shane. Could you talk a little bit about what drove the very slight guidance narrowing on the top line? And what did you see in the quarter that caused that?

嗨，早上好，史蒂文和肖恩。您能否談談是什麼導致營收指引略有收窄？您在本季看到了什麼導致了這種情況？

Yeah, it's kind of a good segue from our last question. I think Shane had mentioned, one quarter into the year kind of makes sense to tighten the range a little bit and with some of the weakness in the varies that we experienced, we felt it was prudent to kind of tweak down the top end of it.

是的，這是我們上一個問題的一個很好的延續。我認為肖恩已經提到過，今年的一個季度稍微收緊範圍是有意義的，並且考慮到我們經歷的變化中的一些弱點，我們認為調整上限是謹慎的做法。

Perfect. Thank you. And then I know you said you're not commenting on Cintas, but you did comment on your own growth and value creation opportunities. So I was wondering if you can elaborate on what those may be and what shareholders of UniFirst can look forward to absent some sort of transaction? And then maybe what timeline to think about. Thank you.

完美的。謝謝。然後我知道你說過你不是在評論 Cintas，但你確實評論了你自己的成長和價值創造機會。所以我想知道您是否可以詳細說明這些可能是什麼，以及 UniFirst 的股東可以期待缺席某種交易？然後也許要考慮什麼時間表。謝謝。

Yeah, I think that's the question that was asked a couple of questions ago. And again, there's a number of different areas we continue to invest in terms of technology, sourcing, supply chain tied into the technology, procurement, strategic pricing, first aid and safety. I mean, there's a number of areas that we just think there's a lot of opportunity to unlock that we have the ability to do over the next few years.

是的，我認為這是幾個問題之前提出的問題。同樣，我們繼續在技術、採購、與技術、採購、策略定價、急救和安全相關的供應鏈方面進行投資。我的意思是，我們認為有很多領域有很多機會可以解鎖，我們有能力在未來幾年內做到這一點。

And again, I'll say what I said couple of questions ago, yeah, it is a little bit of a journey that we're on here and this isn't a next quarter, next year, 100% realized plan. But clearly the runways there in these areas if we can get through these investments and take advantage of them, which we're confident in doing.

再說一遍，我會說我之前說過的幾個問題，是的，我們現在所處的階段是一段旅程，這不是下個季度、明年 100% 實現的計劃。但顯然，如果我們能夠透過這些投資並利用它們，這些領域就存在著跑道，我們對此充滿信心。

Great. Thanks for the colour and thanks for your time.

偉大的。感謝您的顏色，感謝您的時間。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Tim Mulrooney, William Blair.

提姆·馬爾魯尼，威廉·布萊爾。

Yeah. Shane, Steve, good morning. I thought the core laundry margins held in pretty well in the first quarter, up a little bit from last year. But I think your guide for the segment was expecting it to be down year-over-year for the full year. Is that the case for your core laundry business? Is the pressure that you're expecting more back-end loaded?

是的。肖恩，史蒂夫，早安。我認為第一季核心洗衣利潤保持得很好，比去年略有上升。但我認為您對該細分市場的指南預計全年該細分市場將同比下降。您的核心洗衣業務是否屬於這種情況？您期望後端負載增加的壓力嗎？

Yeah, I think the expectation for the year is very similar to last years' experience. Often times when you take a look at the profitability of our quarter, our first quarter is usually the most profitable quarter.

是的，我認為今年的預期與去年的經歷非常相似。通常，當您查看我們季度的獲利能力時，我們的第一季通常是最多獲利的季度。

And the second quarter again is sort of somewhat the unwind of that as the profitability in that quarter is the lowest. What I'll say about the quarter is sometimes our quarterly experience is impacted by some timing. Some of the benefits that we saw in our first quarter.

第二季度再次是這種情況的緩解，因為該季度的盈利能力是最低的。關於本季度，我要說的是，有時我們的季度體驗會受到某些時間的影響。我們在第一季看到的一些好處。

We have been cautious as to whether the some of the benefits were related to the timing of the expense realization. And we aren't necessarily carrying those forwards to subsequent quarters. So some of that profitability, I guess our expectations haven't changed largely there in line. And the trend from a profitability perspective will sort of mirror last year.

我們對部分收益是否與費用實現時間相關持謹慎態度。我們不一定會將這些結轉至後續幾季。因此，我想我們的一些盈利能力的預期並沒有發生很大的變化。從獲利角度來看，這一趨勢將與去年類似。

And just one clarification there. I can't remember if you said at the outset of the question, whether you were looking at sort of operating income or EBITDA, from an EBITDA perspective, that's the guidance at the beginning of the year. We said that the margin was going to be relatively flat from the year before.

這裡只有一項澄清。我不記得你在問題一開始是否說過，你是在考慮營業收入還是 EBITDA，從 EBITDA 的角度來看，這是年初的指導。我們說過，利潤率與上年相比將相對持平。

We probably do have incremental kind of depreciation and amortization compared to last year. So if you're looking at the operating margin, yes, the full year guidance might have been somewhat down, but I think the EBITDA margin was in line.

與去年相比，我們可能確實有增量的折舊和攤提。因此，如果你關注營業利潤率，是的，全年指引可能有所下降，但我認為 EBITDA 利潤率是一致的。

Yeah. I was talking about OI, but it's good to get the clarification on both. So thank you. And as my follow-up, it's been asked a couple of times, a couple different ways, I'm going to take a crack at it. I know you're not answering questions on Cintas. But look, I respect that, but like Andy, I just -- I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't at least ask the question that I think should be asked.

是的。我正在談論成骨不全症，但最好能對這兩個問題進行澄清。所以謝謝你。作為我的後續行動，已經有人以幾種不同的方式問過幾次這個問題，我將嘗試一下。我知道你沒有回答有關 Cintas 的問題。但是你看，我尊重這一點，但就像安迪一樣，如果我不至少問我認為應該問的問題，我就不會做好我的工作。

So I'm going to go at this from a slightly different angle. I'm curious if there's a way to help investors understand the board's perspective and presumably your perspective as well regarding the decision to reject a large premium by providing maybe a way to do this guys is, can you provide some longer term targets and where you expect revenue and earnings to be a few years down the line to help frame what the true value of the company is.

所以我將從一個稍微不同的角度來討論這個問題。我很好奇是否有一種方法可以幫助投資者了解董事會的觀點，大概也了解您對拒絕巨額溢價的決定的看法，通過提供可能的方法來做到這一點，你們能提供一些長期目標嗎？年後的收入和收益將有助於確定公司的真正價值。

That way that -- I mean, what I'm saying is like that way, I think we can all better understand why you consider that offer price that you received to be undervaluing the company. Does that make sense?

這樣——我的意思是，我所說的就是這樣，我想我們都能更好地理解為什麼你認為你收到的報價低估了公司的價值。這樣有道理嗎？

I certainly understand the question. I think, it ties into a couple answers that I've given so far on the call. And again, without kind of pegging a particular year or exact numbers, I think I said a few minutes ago that our goal is to drive our growth to mid-single digits and hopefully beyond and EBITDA margins into the high teams, right?

我當然明白這個問題。我認為，這與我迄今為止在電話會議中給出的幾個答案有關。再說一遍，在沒有固定特定年份或確切數字的情況下，我想我幾分鐘前說過，我們的目標是將我們的成長推向中個位數，並希望超越EBITDA 利潤率進入高水準團隊，對嗎？

And I do think we feel that there's a lot of value to be created with the execution of that. And I think -- and hopefully that answers, I think partially your question. From the board's perspective, I kind of deferred back to the comment I made earlier about, what we went through in evaluating the opportunity.

我確實認為我們認為執行該計劃可以創造很多價值。我認為——希望這能回答你的問題。從董事會的角度來看，我有點推遲了我之前發表的評論，即我們在評估機會時所經歷的事情。

Yeah, the multiple different reasons. And the mid-single-digit and high-teens, that is helpful. Thank you. If I'm just going to take one more in, I noticed that you called out executive transition costs as a discrete item in that non-GAAP reconciliation table.

是的，有許多不同的原因。中個位數和高青少年，這很有幫助。謝謝。如果我想再多說一點的話，我注意到您在非公認會計原則調節表中將高階主管過渡成本列為離散項目。

I'm just not sure I've seen that before, because executives come and go and we typically kind of think about that as a normal course of business. Can you help us understand what that discrete cost is?

我只是不確定我以前見過這種情況，因為高階主管來來去去，我們通常認為這是正常的業務流程。您能幫助我們了解離散成本是什麼嗎？

Yeah. That was really around -- partially around the onboarding of our new COO as well as the departure of one of our senior operating Vice Presidents.

是的。這確實是一個問題——部分是因為我們新任營運長的入職以及我們一位高級營運副總裁的離職。

Okay. thank you very much. Good luck.

好的。非常感謝。祝你好運。

Thank you. That concludes today's question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the call back to Steven Sintros for closing remarks.

謝謝。今天的問答環節到此結束。我想將電話轉回給史蒂文·辛特羅斯 (Steven Sintros)，讓其致閉幕詞。

I'd like to thank everyone as always for joining today to review our first quarter results. We look forward to speaking with you again in April when we expect to report our second quarter performance. Thank you and Happy New Year.

我要一如既往地感謝大家今天加入回顧我們第一季的業績。我們期待在四月再次與您交談，屆時我們預計將報告第二季的業績。謝謝你，新年快樂。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。