UniFirst Corp (UNF) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q3 2025 UniFirst earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

您好，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 2025 年第三季 UniFirst 收益電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄音。

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

現在，我想將會議交給今天的發言人、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. We would like to welcome you to UniFirst Corporation's conference call to review our third quarter results for fiscal year 2025. This call will be on a listen-only mode until we complete our prepared remarks, but first, a brief disclaimer.

謝謝，早安。我是 Steven Sintros，UniFirst 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 財年第三季的業績。在我們完成準備好的發言之前，本次通話將處於僅收聽模式，但首先，我要做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.

本次電話會議可能包含前瞻性陳述，反映本公司對未來事件和財務表現的當前看法。這些前瞻性陳述受到一定風險和不確定性的影響。

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.

預期、樂觀、相信、估計、期望、打算等詞語以及表示未來事件和趨勢的類似表達均屬於前瞻性陳述。由於各種風險因素，實際未來結果可能與預期結果有重大差異。欲了解更多信息，請參閱我們最近向美國證券交易委員會提交的 10-K 和 10-Q 表中有關這些風險因素的討論。

Our third quarter results were largely in line with our expectations. It is rewarding to see our recent investments beginning to yield measurable returns, evidenced by gross margin improvement, and more effective execution across the business. I want to sincerely thank all of 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.

我們的第三季業績基本上符合我們的預期。我們很高興地看到，我們最近的投資開始產生可衡量的回報，這體現在毛利率的提高和整個業務的更有效的執行上。我要真誠地感謝我們團隊的所有合作夥伴，在我們努力實現被廣泛認可為業內最佳服務提供者的願景的同時，他們始終如一地為彼此和我們的客戶提供服務，同時我們始終實踐著為辛勤工作的人們服務的使命。

We serve the people who do the hard work are they -- 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.

我們為那些辛勤工作的人們服務——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。

Our mission is to enable those employees and their organizations by providing the right products and services to do their job successfully and safely. 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 that we structure the right program with the right products and services for their business and team, all while providing an enhanced customer service experience.

我們的使命是透過提供合適的產品和服務，使這些員工及其組織能夠成功、安全地完成工作。無論是提供製服、工作服、設施服務、急救和安全、無塵室或其他產品和服務，我們的目標都是與客戶合作，確保我們為他們的業務和團隊建立正確的計劃、正確的產品和服務，同時提供增強的客戶服務體驗。

Third quarter consolidated revenues were $610.8 million, an increase of 1.2% from fiscal '24. Earnings in the quarter reflect improvements in our gross margin, as well as several unusual items that impacted our profitability, which Shane will discuss in more detail shortly. Our team continues to focus on investing in our people, technology, and infrastructure to further enable growth and profitability.

第三季綜合營收為 6.108 億美元，較 24 財年成長 1.2%。本季的收益反映了我們毛利率的提高，以及影響我們獲利能力的幾個不尋常的項目，Shane 稍後將詳細討論這些項目。我們的團隊繼續專注於投資我們的人才、技術和基礎設施，以進一步實現成長和獲利。

The benefits of this strategy will take time to be fully realized, but we are confident in our ability to seize the significant opportunities ahead and drive significant shareholder value. As mentioned, we are pleased with the progress we continue to make in the areas of operational execution and gross margin enhancement. Core Laundry Operations, key operational costs, continue to trend favorably which benefits being recognized in both merchandise and plant production expenses.

這項策略的優勢需要時間才能完全實現，但我們有信心抓住未來的重大機會並創造巨大的股東價值。如上所述，我們對在營運執行和毛利率提升方面不斷取得的進展感到滿意。核心洗衣業務、關鍵營運成本持續呈現良好趨勢，其優勢在商品和工廠生產費用中均得到體現。

To date, we have not experienced significant headwinds from the newly imposed tariffs. However, we have started to see some of our vendors increasing prices related to their additional sourcing costs, and we foresee potential for future increases.

到目前為止，我們尚未感受到新徵收關稅帶來的重大阻力。然而，我們已經開始看到一些供應商提高與其額外採購成本相關的價格，我們預見到未來還有上漲的潛力。

The tariff situation remains fluid, and we will continue to provide updates in the coming quarters. Overall, we believe we have positioned ourselves well to navigate the disruption, with our efforts over the last few years to improve the diversification within our supply chain.

關稅情況仍然不穩定，我們將在未來幾季繼續提供最新資訊。總體而言，我們相信，透過過去幾年的努力，我們已為改善供應鏈的多樣化做好了充分準備，能夠應對這種混亂局面。

From a top line perspective, there were positive performance trends from both our sales and service organizations in the quarter. We installed more new business than a year ago by a solid margin, and consistent with our expectations, customer retention improved compared to the third quarter of 2024, excuse me. However, a pricing environment that continues to be challenging, as well as some incremental softness in our customer wearer levels, has limited our ability to build more top line momentum.

從營收角度來看，本季我們的銷售和服務部門均呈現正面的業績趨勢。與一年前相比，我們新增的業務量大幅增加，並且與我們的預期一致，與 2024 年第三季相比，客戶保留率有所提高，對不起。然而，持續充滿挑戰的定價環境以及客戶佩戴水平的逐漸下降，限制了我們創造更多營收成長動能的能力。

Additionally, growth in the quarter was impacted by lower direct sales revenues compared to the same quarter for the previous year. Direct sales trends can vary with respect to timing. However, our full year direct sale assumption remains the same and continues to reflect growth over fiscal '24. As a company, we will continue to focus on investments in the business that will enhance our ability to attract new customers, sell additional products to our existing customers, and improve our customers' experience and drive improved retention.

此外，與去年同期相比，本季的成長受到直銷收入下降的影響。直銷趨勢會隨著時間而改變。然而，我們的全年直銷假設保持不變，並繼續反映出 24 財年的成長。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改善客戶體驗和提高保留率的能力。

From a profitability perspective, we continue to believe there is ample opportunity with ongoing efforts focused on driving continued improvement and consistency in our operational execution. We are excited about the progress the team is making in aligning our operations around the UniFirst way, which focuses on creating and executing scalable, repeatable processes to drive a consistent and differentiated customer experience, and is critical for us to achieve our goals.

從獲利能力的角度來看，我們仍然相信，透過持續努力推動營運執行的持續改善和一致性，我們擁有充足的機會。我們對團隊在圍繞 UniFirst 方式調整營運方面取得的進展感到非常興奮，這種方式專注於創建和執行可擴展、可重複的流程，以推動一致且差異化的客戶體驗，這對於我們實現目標至關重要。

Opportunities also exist in the areas of strategic pricing, procurement sourcing, inventory management among others. And as we have talked about, our new ERP system and related technology investments will be fully enabling these benefits. However, ahead of the full implementation, we are working to take advantage of the opportunities available to us in the midterm and setting ourselves up for more robust improvements post deployment.

策略定價、採購貨源、庫存管理等領域也存在機會。正如我們所討論的，我們的新 ERP 系統和相關技術投資將充分實現這些優勢。然而，在全面實施之前，我們正在努力利用中期可用的機會，為部署後更有力的改進做好準備。

With that, I will turn the call over to Shane, who will provide more details on our third quarter results, as well as our outlook for the remainder of fiscal '25.

接下來，我將把電話轉給 Shane，他將提供有關我們第三季度業績的更多詳細信息，以及我們對 25 財年剩餘時間的展望。

Thanks, Steve. In our third quarter of fiscal 2025, consolidated revenues were $610.8 million, up 1.2% from $603.3 million a year ago, and consolidated operating income decreased to $48.2 million from $48.5 million, or 0.6%. Net income for the quarter increased to $39.7 million, or $2.13 per diluted share, from $38.1 million, or $2.03 per diluted share. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA increased to $85.8 million from $84.8 million in the prior year, or 1.2%.

謝謝，史蒂夫。在我們的 2025 財年第三季度，綜合收入為 6.108 億美元，比去年同期的 6.033 億美元增長 1.2%，綜合營業收入從 4,850 萬美元減少至 4,820 萬美元，降幅為 0.6%。本季淨收入從 3,810 萬美元（即每股 2.03 美元）增至 3,970 萬美元（即每股 2.13 美元）。合併調整後 EBITDA 從上年的 8,480 萬美元增至 8,580 萬美元，增幅為 1.2%。

Our effective tax rate increased to 25.7%, compared to 22.9% in the prior year. As a reminder, our tax rate can move from period to period based on discrete events, including adjustments to our tax reserves, the timing of tax credits, and excess tax benefits and deficiencies associated with employee share-based payments.

我們的有效稅率從上年度的 22.9% 上升至 25.7%。提醒一下，我們的稅率會根據離散事件在不同時期發生變化，包括對我們的稅收儲備的調整、稅收抵免的時間以及與員工股份支付相關的超額稅收優惠和不足。

Our financial results for the third quarters of fiscal 2025 and 2024, included approximately $1 million and $3.9 million, respectively, and costs directly attributable to our key initiatives, which are currently focused on our ongoing ERP project. The effect of these items on the third quarter of fiscal 2025 and 2024, combined to decrease operating income and adjusted EBITDA by $1 million and $3.9 million, respectively, net income by $0.7 million and $2.9 million, respectively, and diluted EPS by $0.04 and $0.16, respectively.

我們 2025 財年和 2024 財年第三季的財務業績分別包括約 100 萬美元和 390 萬美元，以及直接歸因於我們關鍵舉措的成本，這些舉措目前集中在我們正在進行的 ERP 項目上。這些項目對 2025 財年和 2024 財年第三季的影響合計導致營業收入和調整後 EBITDA 分別減少 100 萬美元和 390 萬美元，淨收入分別減少 70 萬美元和 290 萬美元，稀釋每股收益分別減少 0.04 美元和 0.16 美元。

Net income and diluted earnings per share also benefited from a $2.8 million gain on the sale of a nonoperating property during the quarter. This gain was recorded to other income expense net but did not impact operating income or adjusted EBITDA.

本季淨收入和每股攤薄收益也受惠於出售非經營性資產所獲得的 280 萬美元收益。此收益記錄在其他收入支出淨額中，但並未影響營業收入或調整後的 EBITDA。

Our Core Laundry Operations revenues for the quarter were $533.2 million, an increase of 0.9% from the third quarter of 2024. Core Laundry organic growth, which adjusts for the estimated effect of acquisitions, as well as fluctuations in the Canadian dollar, was 1.1%.

本季我們的核心洗衣業務收入為 5.332 億美元，比 2024 年第三季成長 0.9%。核心洗衣業務有機成長率為 1.1%，該成長率已根據收購的預期影響以及加幣的波動進行調整。

Core Laundry segment's operating margin declined to 6.9% for the quarter, or $36.7 million, compared to 7% in the previous year, or $36.9 million. Segment's adjusted EBITDA margin, however, remained unchanged at 13.5%. 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 third quarter of fiscal 2025 and 2024 by 0.2% and 0.7%, respectively.

核心洗衣部門本季的營業利潤率下降至 6.9%，即 3,670 萬美元，而去年同期為 7%，即 3,690 萬美元。不過，該部門調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率保持不變，為 13.5%。我們與關鍵措施相關的成本被記錄在核心洗衣營運部門，並導致 2025 財年第三季和 2024 財年第三季的核心洗衣營運和調整後 EBITDA 利潤率分別下降 0.2% 和 0.7%。

During the quarter, we also incurred approximately $5.7 million in expense related to advisory costs for a strategic matter and legal costs related to an employee matter. Excluding the benefit of reduced key initiative costs, and the $5.7 million in advisory and legal expense, Core Laundry adjusted EBITDA margin showed solid improvement over prior year.

本季度，我們還發生了約 570 萬美元的與策略事務諮詢費用和員工事務相關的法律費用相關的支出。不計減少關鍵計畫成本以及 570 萬美元的諮詢和法律費用，Core Laundry 調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率較上年有顯著提高。

As Steve discussed, this improvement was driven by lower merchandise and production costs as a percentage of revenues, and was partially offset by higher health care claims expense. Selling and administrative costs also ran slightly higher as a percentage of revenue compared to prior year. Energy costs in the third quarter of 2025 were 4.1% of revenues, compared to 4.3% in prior year.

正如史蒂夫所討論的，這種改善是由於商品和生產成本佔收入的百分比下降所致，但被更高的醫療保健索賠費用部分抵消。與前一年相比，銷售和管理成本佔收入的百分比也略有上升。2025 年第三季的能源成本佔營收的 4.1%，去年同期為 4.3%。

Revenues from our Specialty Garments segment, which delivers specialized nuclear decontamination and cleanroom products and services, increased to $47.8 million from $47.6 million in prior year, or 0.5%. Growth in the European nuclear operations and cleanroom operations were largely offset by a decrease in North American nuclear revenues.

我們的專業服裝部門提供專業的核淨化和無塵室產品和服務，其收入從上年的 4,760 萬美元增至 4,780 萬美元，增幅為 0.5%。歐洲核電業務和無塵室業務的成長在很大程度上被北美核電收入的下降所抵消。

The segment's operating margin for the quarter was 22.8%, down from 23.9% in prior year. As we mentioned in the past, this segment's results can vary significantly from period to period due to seasonality, as well as the timing and profitability of nuclear reactor outages and projects.

該部門本季的營業利潤率為 22.8%，低於去年同期的 23.9%。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 $29.8 million from $27.3 million in prior year, or 9%, driven by growth in our van operations. Segment had a nominal operating income of $0.5 million during the quarter as the segment's results continue to reflect the investments we are making in the First Aid van business.

我們的急救部門的收入從去年的 2,730 萬美元增至 2,980 萬美元，增幅為 9%，得益於貨車業務的成長。該部門本季的名義營業收入為 50 萬美元，因為該部門的業績繼續反映了我們在急救車業務方面的投資。

At the end of our third fiscal quarter, we continue to reflect a solid balance sheet and financial position with no long-term debt and cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments totaling $211.9 million. The first nine months of fiscal 2025, cash flows from operating activities were $196.5 million, and free cash flow increased 22% to $86.7 million. We continue to invest in our future with capital expenditures of $109.8 million, repurchased $25.6 million worth of common stock, and acquired four small First Aid businesses for which we paid a total of $5.4 million.

在第三財季末，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額為 2.119 億美元。2025財年前九個月，經營活動現金流為1.965億美元，自由現金流成長22%至8,670萬美元。我們繼續投資於未來，資本支出為 1.098 億美元，回購了價值 2,560 萬美元的普通股，並收購了四家小型急救公司，總成本為 540 萬美元。

We would like to provide an update regarding our financial outlook. At this time, we are maintaining our annual revenue guidance within the range of $2.422 billion to $2.432 billion. However, we are increasing our diluted earnings per share guidance to a range of $7.60 to $8.

我們想提供有關我們財務前景的最新資訊。目前，我們維持年度營收預期在 24.22 億美元至 24.32 億美元之間。不過，我們將每股攤薄收益預期上調至 7.60 美元至 8 美元之間。

This adjustment reflects an updated assumption that our key initiative costs in fiscal '25 will be approximately $7.5 million, revised down from our previous estimate of $12 million. As a reminder, fiscal 2025 includes one less week of operations compared to fiscal 2024, which included an additional week in its fourth fiscal quarter. Also, guidance does not assume future share buybacks or unforeseen economic events.

此項調整反映了最新的假設，即我們 25 財年的主要計畫成本約為 750 萬美元，低於我們先前估計的 1,200 萬美元。提醒一下，2025 財年的營運時間比 2024 財年少了一周，而 2024 財年第四季的營運時間增加了一周。此外，本指南不假設未來的股票回購或不可預見的經濟事件。

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

我們的準備好的演講到此結束，現在我們很樂意回答您可能提出的任何問題。

Thank you. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝。（操作員指示）

Manav Patnaik, Barclays.

巴克萊銀行的馬納夫·帕特奈克（Manav Patnaik）。

Hi, good morning. This is Ronan Kennedy on for Manav. I was just looking to please -- perhaps unpack organic growth a little further. I know you talked new biz by a solid margin, improved retention, a challenging pricing and then some incremental softness in wearer levels. So can you kind of speak to and characterize the demand environment and anything of note with regards to particular end markets or client size?

嗨，早安。這是羅南肯尼迪 (Ronan Kennedy)，代替馬納夫 (Manav)。我只是想取悅大家——也許可以進一步激發有機成長。我知道您談到了以穩固的利潤率開展新業務、提高保留率、制定有挑戰性的定價以及佩戴者水平的逐步下降。那麼，您能否談談並描述需求環境以及與特定終端市場或客戶規模相關的值得注意的事情？

And then how is that a driver versus your investments in the business to enhance new customers, sell additional products, enhance customer experience, et cetera?

那麼，與您在業務上的投資相比，這如何成為驅動力，以增加新客戶、銷售更多產品、增強客戶體驗等等？

Sure. I'll start with the existing customer base. In general, I think I would characterize the mood of the existing customer base is somewhat cautious in terms of investments in heads. And we have seen some targeted reductions from some of our -- and again, when I talk about our customer base, it's easier for me to have more specific visibility to some of the larger customers, but we have seen examples of cutbacks on employment levels and some targeted manufacturing sector companies.

當然。我將從現有客戶群開始。總的來說，我認為現有客戶群在投資上的態度是有些謹慎。我們看到一些公司有針對性地削減了開支——再說一次，當我談到我們的客戶群時，我更容易對一些較大的客戶有更具體的了解，但我們已經看到了削減就業水平的例子，以及一些有針對性的製造業公司。

Just in general, we've talked about last quarter, how we saw some incremental pickup in reductions, and that has continued this quarter at somewhat of a higher level, somewhat offsetting the benefits recently on improved retention as well as solid sales performance. Obviously, those things all sort of work together.

總的來說，我們已經討論過上個季度的情況，我們看到降幅有所回升，並且本季度降幅仍然保持在較高水平，在一定程度上抵消了近期留存率提高和銷售業績穩健帶來的好處。顯然，這些事情都是協同進行的。

And any trend in the current quarter only impacts the current quarter so much. But when you look at the four components of growth, again, we feel good about our new account sales and the retention trajectory that we're on, but seeing some softness in those other areas, which over the short term are impacting the overall growth.

本季的任何趨勢只會對本季產生一定的影響。但是，當你再次審視成長的四個組成部分時，我們對我們的新帳戶銷售和保留軌跡感到滿意，但看到其他領域有些疲軟，這在短期內影響了整體成長。

That's helpful. And then if I may dive in -- if we may dive in a little deeper on pricing. You referenced a challenging environment and then seeing some of the vendors increasing pricing and sourcing costs. Can you give some further insight there as to the pricing dynamics? Pricing and cost --

這很有幫助。然後，如果我可以深入探討一下——我們可以更深入地探討定價問題。您提到了一個充滿挑戰的環境，然後看到一些供應商提高了價格和採購成本。能否進一步了解定價動態？定價和成本--

Yes, it's a good point. I mean, obviously, we've been talking about for the last year coming out of a very high inflationary environment, the things we're taking a step back from a pricing perspective. I think as we're transitioning now potentially, and this is why it's such a fluid situation, into an environment where tariffs may be impacting vendor cost or some of our own costs.

是的，這是個好觀點。我的意思是，顯然，我們去年一直在談論如何走出高通膨環境，從定價角度來看，我們正在退一步。我認為我們現在可能正在轉型，這就是為什麼情況如此不穩定，進入一個關稅可能會影響供應商成本或我們自己的部分成本的環境。

It's a little bit of a wait and see to how that impacts pricing going forward. I think we're sort of in this in-between state right now where companies are still looking to recover from a lot of the inflation that they experienced over the last couple of years, obviously, with an eye towards what might be coming with respect to tariffs. So I would say we're still sort of stuck in the middle of that right now, and it's unclear how that's going to play out over the next quarter or two.

我們還需要等待一段時間才能看到這將如何影響未來的定價。我認為我們現在處於一種中間狀態，企業仍在尋求從過去幾年經歷的大量通貨膨脹中恢復過來，顯然，他們也在關注關稅方面可能出現的情況。所以我想說，我們現在仍然處於這種困境之中，而且不清楚未來一兩個季度的情況會如何發展。

And if I may sneak in a quick follow-up on that. Is there a particular area of the business where pricing has been most impacted or could potentially be?

如果我可以偷偷地快速跟進一下這一點的話。業務中是否存在某個特定領域受到定價最大或可能受到定價影響？

No, I wouldn't say so. When I talk about pricing generally, it's really across our customer base. Large, medium, small customers, right? I think we talk about the competitiveness, and I wouldn't say there's any particular sector or size of customer that is being more impacted.

不，我不會這麼說。當我談論定價時，它實際上涉及我們的客戶群。大、中、小客戶吧？我認為我們談論的是競爭力，我不會說任何特定的行業或客戶規模受到更大的影響。

Thank you very much for all that. I appreciate it.

非常感謝你們所做的一切。我很感激。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Kartik Mehta, Northcoast Research.

Kartik Mehta，Northcoast Research。

Steve, I just wanted to maybe understand a little bit on new sales. Kind of the environment today if you're seeing a lengthening of the sales cycle, or if you look at contribution from new sales to overall growth, if they're different today higher or lower than they were three to six months ago?

史蒂夫，我只是想了解一下新銷售的情況。如果您發現銷售週期延長，或者如果您查看新銷售對整體成長的貢獻，那麼今天的環境是高於還是低於三到六個月前呢？

No, I wouldn't say they're significantly different. I think we talked in the first quarter about having a little bit of a slower start to the year. Particularly from a year over year comparison, you remember back in early '24, we sold a really large national account. But over the last couple of quarters, we've started to pick up some momentum. So I would say it's incrementally positive today compared to six months ago, but not a dramatically different percentage when you look at it as a component of our overall growth.

不，我不會說它們有顯著的差異。我想我們在第一季就談到了今年開局會稍微慢一點的情況。特別是從同比來看，你還記得在 24 年初，我們銷售了一個非常大的全國帳戶。但在過去幾個季度裡，我們開始獲得一些發展勢頭。因此，我想說，與六個月前相比，今天的成長是逐步積極的，但當你將其視為我們整體成長的一個組成部分時，百分比並沒有顯著差異。

And then on the add-stop metric. Has that -- you said it's declined a little bit compared to the previous quarter. And I'm wondering, has it gone negative? Or is it flat? What you're seeing in the business at least as far as what your customers are doing?

然後是添加-停止指標。您說與上一季相比，有所下降。我想知道，它已經變成負數了嗎？還是平的？至少就您的客戶的行為而言，您在業務中看到了什麼？

Yeah. I think we mentioned last quarter, it flipped into the negative position and it still remains negative a little bit more so in the current quarter.

是的。我想我們上個季度提到過，它轉入了負值狀態，而本季仍然保持著負值狀態。

Perfect. And just one last question. Any change in the environment in your ability to sell ancillary products? Are customers getting a little bit more cautious because of the environment and maybe not buying ancillary products as much as they used to? Any change that you've noticed?

完美的。最後一個問題。您銷售輔助產品的能力環境有變化嗎？消費者是否會因為環境因素而變得更加謹慎，並且可能不會像以前那樣購買輔助產品？您注意到什麼變化了嗎？

I think the caution from customers is overall. So it probably does have some ancillary impact on that. That being said, and not as much impact in the current quarter, but we've talked before about we think we have a lot of opportunities to continue to penetrate our customers more holistically over time with direct sales and other facility products that were probably somewhat underpenetrated today. So we still feel good about that opportunity. But as far as what's going on today, yeah, some of that probably has wrapped up a bit in the caution.

我認為顧客的謹慎是整體性的。所以它可能確實會對此產生一些附帶影響。話雖如此，本季度的影響並不大，但我們之前已經談到，我們認為我們有很多機會隨著時間的推移繼續更全面地滲透我們的客戶，透過直銷和其他設施產品，而這些產品在今天可能滲透得不夠。所以我們仍然對這個機會感到高興。但就今天發生的事情而言，是的，其中一些可能已經在謹慎中結束了。

Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

非常感謝。我很感激。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Tim Mulrooney, William Blair.

提姆·馬爾羅尼、威廉·布萊爾。

Hi, good morning. This is Luke McFadden on for Tim Mulrooney. Maybe one here just on the key initiatives. Could you just give us an update on progress as it relates to those initiatives and drivers behind the reduction in costs for those this year? Was this primarily a reflection of better implementation than previously expected? Or is it more a timing dynamic where we should expect to see these costs maybe come through next year, or in future quarters? Just any color there would be helpful.

嗨，早安。這是盧克·麥克法登 (Luke McFadden)，代替蒂姆·穆爾羅尼 (Tim Mulrooney)。也許這裡只討論關鍵舉措。您能否向我們介紹一下這些舉措的進展以及今年降低成本的驅動因素？這是否主要反映了實施情況比之前預期的要好？或者這更多的是一個時間動態，我們應該預期這些成本可能會在明年或未來幾季出現？任何顏色都有幫助。

Yeah, Luke. I'll give you an update there. As I had mentioned in my prepared comments, at this point in time, those key initiative costs are primarily attributable to our ERP implementation that we have ongoing. I would say that, that project continues to move along very, very well, right in line with the time line that we had originally established.

是的，盧克。我會在那裡向你提供最新消息。正如我在準備好的評論中提到的那樣，目前，這些關鍵計劃的成本主要歸因於我們正在進行的 ERP 實施。我想說的是，這個專案進展非常順利，完全符合我們最初設定的時間表。

Where we are in that project is right now, we're in the middle of our second release which is a finance-centric release. We'll be replacing our general ledger and a lot of our other finance modules. So where we are is we've sort of just concluded a lot of the detailed design work, and we're going into the implementation phase.

我們現在處於該專案的第二個版本發布階段，這是一個以財務為中心的版本。我們將更換我們的總帳和許多其他財務模組。我們現在的情況是，我們剛完成了大量詳細的設計工作，即將進入實施階段。

When you take a look at the costs that are going through my P&L, it's not necessarily related to a lower level of spend, it really relates to the types of costs that we're incurring. Depending upon the activities that you're advancing within each individual release, you can either capitalize those costs or expense them. And right now, we are in a phase where a high percentage of those costs are being capitalized.

當你查看我的損益表中的成本時，它不一定與較低的支出水平有關，它實際上與我們產生的成本類型有關。根據您在每個單獨版本中推進的活動，您可以將這些成本資本化或費用化。目前，我們正處於這些成本很大一部分是資本化的階段。

As we move along throughout the remainder of the phase and as we approach an eventual deployment of this release will be incurring additional costs related to change management and also training of the organization to digest the new solution. And those costs will actually be expensed. So there is the probability that we'll see some additional costs go through the P&L. But right now, the trend that you're seeing is primarily related to the activities that we're advancing.

隨著我們繼續推進剩餘階段並接近最終部署此版本，將會產生與變更管理相關的額外成本，以及培訓組織以消化新的解決方案。這些成本實際上將被計入費用。因此，我們有可能會看到一些額外的成本計入損益表。但目前，您所看到的趨勢主要與我們正在推進的活動有關。

That all makes sense and really helpful. And maybe one here, I know you said not seeing as much of an impact on the cost structure from tariffs yet, but could potentially see an impact in the future depending on how things play out. I was hoping maybe you could just unpack that a bit more and maybe where we would expect -- or where you would expect to see some impact on the business from a cost standpoint?

這一切都很有意義並且確實有幫助。也許這裡有一個，我知道您說過目前還沒有看到關稅對成本結構產生太大的影響，但根據事態發展，未來可能會看到影響。我希望您能更詳細地解釋一下這個問題，也許我們可以預期——或者您預期從成本角度來看這會對業務產生哪些影響？

Yeah, sounds good. I mean I think if you look at the environment right now, and this is why it remains relatively fluid, but we've talked before about how -- if you take a look at the largest portion of our costs, it's obviously our merchandise for our customers. And the largest portion of that is garment. So I'll speak to that and it kind of gives you a sense of the environment.

是的，聽起來不錯。我的意思是，我認為如果你看看現在的環境，這就是它仍然相對不穩定的原因，但我們之前已經討論過——如果你看看我們成本中最大的部分，顯然是我們為客戶提供的商品。其中最大的一部分是服裝。所以我會談論這個，它會讓你對環境有所了解。

We source garments from all over the world. Some self-manufactured, some through subcontract partnerships, some through third-party vendors. The vast majority, if not virtually all of those garments are coming from somewhere outside of the United States. Many of these countries will be subject to some level of tariff. At this point, 10% in many of the cases. And in a couple of cases, there countries, there are no tariffs at this point.

我們從世界各地採購服裝。有些是自行生產的，有些是透過分包合作夥伴關係生產的，有些是透過第三方供應商生產的。這些服裝中的絕大多數（如果不是幾乎所有的話）都來自美國以外的地區。其中許多國家將徵收一定程度的關稅。目前，許多情況下這一比例為 10%。在一些情況下，這些國家目前沒有關稅。

So you can sort of see that regardless of where the garments are coming from. They're getting hit with some level of tariff today, how that changes in terms of what countries work what trade deals and how all that settles out will sort of impact, or result in the ultimate impact that has.

所以無論這些服裝來自哪裡，你都可以看到這一點。他們今天受到了一定程度的關稅打擊，這將如何改變哪些國家參與哪些貿易協定，以及如何解決所有問題，將產生何種影響，或導致最終的影響。

Obviously, China had been a country that had been on balance experiencing higher tariffs. We don't have as much exposure there across our source base, which is positive at this point. But again, it's fluid. As the countries make different deals and we see where things settle, we'll probably be able to react a little bit more and see what the overall impact will be.

顯然，中國總體上是一個關稅不斷提高的國家。我們在源基地的曝光度並不高，目前這是正面的一點。但同樣，它是流動的。隨著各國達成不同的協議，我們看到事情最終得到解決，我們或許能夠做出更多反應，看看整體影響會是什麼。

That's great. Makes sense. And if I can squeeze one more in here, maybe just to switch gears. On First Aid, you continue to see some nice growth there. I know you've made some smaller acquisitions. Maybe could you just talk about the strength you're seeing in that business and maybe where you're having the most success?

那太棒了。有道理。如果我能在這裡再擠一點時間，也許只是為了換個話題。在急救方面，你繼續看到一些良好的成長。我知道你們進行過一些規模較小的收購。也許您能談談您在該業務中看到的優勢以及您最成功的地方嗎？

Absolutely. Yeah. We continue to be very excited about the future of that business. We've talked before about how that business is made up of really two pieces, kind of the van operations, which service the kind of rank and file street customers every day. And then we do have a wholesale business that sells through some distribution partners.

絕對地。是的。我們對該業務的未來仍然感到非常興奮。我們之前討論過這項業務實際上由兩部分組成，一部分是貨車運營，每天為街頭的普通顧客提供服務。然後我們確實有透過一些分銷合作夥伴進行銷售的批發業務。

The -- we grew a little over 9% this quarter. The van business, which is the business we're really focused on growing most significantly was mid-double digit -- 15% or so growth this quarter. So we continue to see strong penetration not only with our existing UniFirst customers on the laundry side, but just in general. We're also doing a good job penetrating those customers with all the services that First Aid and Safety bring.

本季我們的成長率略高於 9%。貨車業務是我們真正關注的成長最快的業務，本季的成長率達到了兩位數的中等水平——15% 左右。因此，我們不僅看到我們現有的 UniFirst 客戶在洗衣方面的強勁滲透，而且看到整個行業的滲透。我們也透過急救和安全帶來的所有服務很好地吸引了這些客戶。

When you think about that end customer in that First Aid business, it's not just the cabinet on the wall. It's safety training, it's AEDs, it's fire extinguisher certifications. It's a number of things. And so as we broaden our customer base, we're also looking to penetrate those customers more and seeing good progress in those areas. And it's a little early in the cycle, but we're seeing at least some positive momentum as we try to push the profitability of that division as well through this growth cycle.

當您考慮急救業務中的最終客戶時，它不僅僅是牆上的櫃子。這是安全訓練、這是 AED、這是滅火器認證。有很多事情。因此，隨著我們擴大客戶群，我們也希望更多地滲透到這些客戶中，並在這些領域看到良好的進展。雖然現在還處於週期的早期階段，但隨著我們試圖透過這個成長週期來提高該部門的獲利能力，我們至少看到了一些積極的勢頭。

Great, really helpful appreciate all the time.

太棒了，真的很有幫助，一直很感激。

Justin Hauke, Baird.

賈斯汀·豪克，貝爾德。

Great. I guess I've got two here. I guess the first question is just thinking about your labor costs, which I don't think you really talked about here on this call. Just anything you're seeing on labor costs there, and particularly with some of the immigration factors and some of your production labor, I guess?

偉大的。我想這裡已經有兩件了。我想第一個問題只是考慮你的勞動成本，我認為你在這次電話會議中並沒有真正談論這個問題。我想，您看到那裡的勞動成本有什麼變化嗎，特別是一些移民因素和一些生產勞動力？

Yeah. Holistically, I think it's pretty stable right now. I mean, again, I kind of referenced the heavy inflation we went through over the last couple of years. And I think the combination of moves that we needed to do during that time to kind of increase wages and so on, as well as the overall kind of stabilization of the employment environment a bit, we've been in pretty good shape there. And I think that some of the improvements we're seeing in execution as that labor force has become more stable, less overtime, less turnover, higher efficiency.

是的。總體而言，我認為現在相當穩定。我的意思是，我再次提到了過去幾年我們經歷的嚴重通貨膨脹。我認為，由於我們當時採取了一系列措施來提高工資等，並且總體上穩定了就業環境，所以我們的情況一直很好。我認為我們在執行方面看到的一些改進是勞動力變得更加穩定，加班更少，人員流動更少，效率更高。

So we feel pretty good there. There has been some impact from some of the immigration changes but not something notable in terms of impacting our overall performance.

所以我們在那裡感覺很好。一些移民政策變化確實產生了一些影響，但對我們的整體表現的影響並不顯著。

Okay. I appreciate that. I guess my second one, to the extent you can comment on. The $5.9 million strategic advisory costs and the legal expense that you called out is the -- is that related to the previous kind of merger deal discussions that were out there? Or is that something else?

好的。我很感激。我想這是我的第二個問題，您可以評論一下。您提到的 590 萬美元策略諮詢費用和法律費用是否與先前的合併交易討論有關？還是別的什麼？

I'm just trying to understand why it would be in this quarter. And then on that the legal matter, is that a resolved issue? Or is this an accrual for something that's ongoing?

我只是想知道為什麼它會出現在這個季度。那麼關於法律問題，這個問題解決了嗎？還是這是某件正在進行的事情的應計項目？

Yeah. So that $5.7 million is really broken into those two areas, like you said. About $3.5 million was related to the prior strategic discussions with Cintas. Yeah, some of those costs were -- did bleed into this quarter more significantly, but they weren't, what I'll call, recent cost if that makes sense.

是的。所以，正如您所說，這 570 萬美元實際上被分成了這兩個領域。其中約 350 萬美元與先前與 Cintas 的策略討論有關。是的，其中一些成本確實在本季度顯著流失，但如果說得通的話，它們並不是我所說的近期成本。

With respect to the other legal matter, it is an ongoing item that we built an accrual for. We don't anticipate it having any longer -- significantly longer tail to it, but we did increase the reserve for it this quarter.

關於其他法律問題，這是我們建立應計項目的持續性事項。我們預計它的尾巴不會再長了——明顯更長，但我們確實在本季度增加了它的儲備。

Thank you for clarifying that. Tha'ts all I had. Thank you.

感謝您澄清這一點。這就是我所擁有的一切。謝謝。

Josh Chan, UBS.

瑞銀的 Josh Chan。

Hi, good morning, Steven and Shane. I guess, Steve, you mentioned the wearer levels stepping down a little this quarter and then you called out manufacturing. I was just wondering how broad-based you're seeing this lower wearer levels and whether it's kind of concentrated in certain pockets? Or is it more pervasive around the customer base?

嗨，早上好，史蒂文和肖恩。我想，史蒂夫，你提到本季的佩戴者數量略有下降，然後你又提到了製造業。我只是想知道，您認為這種佩戴者人數減少的現像在多大程度上存在，以及是否只集中在某些特定群體？或者它在客戶群中更具普遍性？

Yeah. Good question. I mean obviously, with 300,000 customers, it's hard to kind of narrow that down. I would lean on that it's a little bit broader, right? No one customer, or even sector, really makes up the majority of the trend. So I think I'd probably just have to answer saying it's a little more broad-based.

是的。好問題。我的意思是，顯然，有 30 萬名客戶，很難縮小範圍。我認為它的範圍更廣一些，對嗎？沒有哪個客戶，甚至哪個產業，能夠真正主導這個趨勢。所以我想我可能只需要回答說它的範圍更廣泛一些。

Okay. That's fair. And then maybe just a quick clarification on Shane's comment about the direct sales. How big of an impact did that have on your growth in Core Laundry this quarter? Because I guess that could inform what the underlying trajectory really is?

好的。這很公平。然後也許只是對 Shane 關於直銷的評論進行快速澄清。這對本季 Core Laundry 的成長有多大影響？因為我猜這可以告知潛在的軌跡到底是什麼？

Yeah. Year over year, those direct sales in the third quarter were a few million dollars lower than the third quarter of a year ago. So if you kind of look at that, it's not quite a -- doing my math in my head here, not quite 0.5 point on the growth. But it did -- obviously, with the growth being a little lower, it did have an impact sort of on the trajectory that we thought was worth mentioning.

是的。與去年同期相比，第三季的直接銷售額比去年同期低了幾百萬美元。所以如果你看一下，它不完全是 - 在我心中計算一下，增長率不完全是 0.5 個百分點。但它確實——顯然，由於成長率略低，它確實對我們認為值得一提的軌跡產生了影響。

And some of that will be made up in the fourth quarter. And if you look at our implied growth in the fourth quarter, you'll probably notice it's a little bit up from the trend because of some of that time.

其中一部分將在第四季度得到彌補。如果你看一下我們第四季的隱含成長，你可能會注意到，由於某些原因，它比趨勢略有上升。

(Operator Instructions) Andrew Steinerman, JPMorgan.

（操作員指示）摩根大通的安德魯·施泰納曼。

I wanted to jump back into the systems around the key initiatives. The CRM system, the ABS system, has been done for a while. And so I wanted to know if you feel like the company is now getting current benefits from the ABS system in terms of merchandise control, and generally kind of account level profitability. And then when thinking about the ERP system, which you said is still on track in terms of timing, just remind me, I forgot if the ERP, the Oracle system includes route management? Or is that a separate system to optimize?

我想重新回到圍繞關鍵舉措的系統。CRM系統、ABS系統，已經做了一段時間了。所以我想知道您是否覺得公司現在從 ABS 系統獲得了商品控制和一般帳戶級別盈利方面的當前利益。然後，當考慮 ERP 系統時，您說它在時間上仍在按計劃進行，提醒我一下，我忘了 ERP、Oracle 系統是否包括路線管理？或者這是一個需要優化的單獨系統？

Yeah. Good question, Andrew. With respect to the ABS, I think absolutely is the answer. I think after the changes over a couple of years deploying that system, I think the organization is really settled into utilizing it and getting its benefits.

是的。問得好，安德魯。關於 ABS，我認為這絕對是答案。我認為，經過幾年部署該系統的變化後，該組織已經真正適應了利用該系統並從中獲益。

You mentioned merchandise control. We talked about our merchandise cost and the benefits that we've been seeing. So we do feel good about that. Just in general, I think from a route efficiency standpoint and the time that our route drivers automating a lot of their activities has been very beneficial.

您提到了商品管制。我們討論了我們的商品成本以及我們所看到的收益。所以我們對此確實感覺很好。總的來說，我認為從路線效率的角度來看，我們的路線司機自動化許多活動是非常有益的。

In terms of the ERP. Yeah, ERP will not specifically handle route optimization. The ABS system has put us in a better position with the serialization of our bar codes to be more aggressive on route optimization. And one additional piece of the puzzle, which we haven't talked that much about, but we're also in the midst of an implementation of telematics for our route trucks, including inward and outward facing cameras. And that data from the telematics, which will give us very good, obviously, mileage, but also route stop times will be part of the puzzle in terms of advancing additional route optimization.

就ERP而言。是的，ERP 不會專門處理路線最佳化。ABS 系統透過條碼的序列化，使我們處於更有利的位置，可以更積極地進行路線最佳化。還有一個難題，我們還沒有談論太多，但我們正在為我們的路線卡車實施遠端資訊處理，包括面向內部和外部的攝影機。遠端資訊處理的數據不僅能為我們提供非常好的里程數據，還能提供路線停靠時間，這將成為推進額外路線優化過程中的難題之一。

Thank you.

謝謝。

I'm showing no further questions at this time. And I would like to hand the conference back over to Steve Sintros for any closing remarks.

我目前沒有其他問題。我想將會議交還給史蒂夫·辛特羅斯 (Steve Sintros) 並由他作閉幕發言。

I'd like to thank everyone for joining us today to review our results, and we look forward to speaking with everyone again in October when we expect to report our fourth quarter performance, as well as our outlook for fiscal '26. Thank you, and have a great day.

我要感謝大家今天加入我們來回顧我們的業績，我們期待在十月份再次與大家交談，屆時我們預計將報告第四季度的業績以及我們對 26 財年的展望。謝謝您，祝您有愉快的一天。

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

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與，您現在可以斷開連接了。