Vertiv Holdings Co (VRT) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Bruno, and I'll be your conference operator for today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Vertiv's Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this call is being recorded.

早安.我叫布魯諾，我將擔任今天的會議操作員。此時，我謹歡迎大家參加 Vertiv 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，此通話正在錄音。

I would now like to turn the program over to your host for today's conference call, Lynne Maxeiner, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在我想將會議議程交給今天電話會議的主持人、投資者關係副總裁 Lynne Maxeiner。請繼續。

Great. Thank you, and good morning, and welcome to Vertiv's First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Joining me today are Vertiv's Executive Chairman, Dave Cote; Chief Executive Officer, David Fallon.

偉大的。謝謝，早安，歡迎參加 Vertiv 2023 年第一季財報電話會議。今天與我一起出席的有維諦技術 (Vertiv) 執行主席戴夫·科特 (Dave Cote)；執行長大衛法倫。

Before we begin, I'd like to point out that during the course of this call, we will make forward-looking statements regarding future events including the future financial and operating performance of Vertiv. These forward-looking statements are subject to material risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. We refer you to the cautionary language included in today's earnings release, and you can learn more about these risks in our annual and quarterly reports and other filings made with the SEC.

在開始之前，我想指出，在本次電話會議期間，我們將就未來事件（包括 Vertiv 未來的財務和營運績效）做出前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述存在重大風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與前瞻性陳述中的結果有重大差異。我們建議您參考今天的收益發布中包含的警示性語言，您可以在我們的年度和季度報告以及向 SEC 提交的其他文件中了解有關這些風險的更多資訊。

Any forward-looking statements that we make today are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of this date. We undertake no obligation to update these statements as a result of new information or future events.

我們今天所做的任何前瞻性陳述都是基於我們認為截至目前為止合理的假設。我們不承擔因新資訊或未來事件而更新這些聲明的義務。

During this call, we will also present both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. Our GAAP results and GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations can be found in our earnings press release and in the investor slide deck found on our website at investors.vertiv.com.

在本次電話會議中，我們也將介紹 GAAP 和非 GAAP 財務指標。我們的 GAAP 業績以及 GAAP 與非 GAAP 調整表可在我們的收益新聞稿以及我們網站 Investors.vertiv.com 上的投資者幻燈片中找到。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Executive Chairman, Dave Cote.

接下來，我會將電話轉給執行主席戴夫·科特 (Dave Cote)。

Good morning, everyone. Well, we've delivered another strong quarter, built squarely on getting the fundamentals right, good operational execution throughout the organization that translated nicely, outperforming guidance in the third quarter. I believe we're starting to see a trend and one we plan to continue.

大家，早安。好吧，我們又交付了一個強勁的季度，這完全是建立在基本面正確、整個組織良好的運營執行力的基礎上的，這些執行力很好，超出了第三季度的指導。我相信我們開始看到一種趨勢，我們計劃繼續這種趨勢。

Financial and operating performance continues to strengthen significantly across the board. And the most exciting part of that is we're still early in our path of improvement. Alignment to great end market matters. We have a great position in a good industry, and our technology differentiation continues to strengthen. Data continues to proliferate in good times and bad times. And that portends a very favorable end market environment for the foreseeable future.

財務和營運績效持續全面顯著增強。最令人興奮的部分是我們仍處於改進道路的早期階段。與大型終端市場保持一致很重要。我們在一個良好的行業中擁有重要的地位，並且我們的技術差異化不斷加強。無論順境或逆境，數據都會持續激增。這預示著在可預見的未來，終端市場環境將非常有利。

We're intending to finish the year strong. The benefits of our [seed] planning are taking hold and still to be fully realized. Our end markets remain resilient. Operational execution continues to improve, and there is still a lot of runway ahead. That is a great setup as we think about 2024 and beyond. So with that, I'll turn the call over to Gio.

我們打算以強勁的表現結束這一年。我們的[種子]計劃的好處正在顯現，並且仍有待充分實現。我們的終端市場保持彈性。營運執行力持續改善，前方還有很長的路要走。考慮到 2024 年及以後，這是一個很好的設置。因此，我會將電話轉給 Gio。

Well, thank you, Dave. In the last 12 months, we have created intense focus on operational execution, including margin improvement and cash flow generation, combined with a sense of urgency, which underpins a high-performance culture. This quarter shows progress across the board, exceeding our own expectations, demonstrating there is still more value the business can deliver.

嗯，謝謝你，戴夫。在過去 12 個月中，我們高度重視營運執行，包括利潤率提高和現金流生成，以及緊迫感，這是高績效文化的基礎。本季顯示了全面的進展，超出了我們自己的預期，表明該業務仍然可以提供更多價值。

Here are some highlights. Third quarter sales were up 17% organically. Americas continues to lead the growth, up 40%. We continue to see headwinds in APAC, specifically in China. More on that in a few slides.

以下是一些亮點。第三季銷售額有機成長 17%。美洲持續引領成長，成長 40%。我們繼續看到亞太地區的阻力，特別是在中國。更多內容請參考幾張投影片。

Very pleased with our orders, up 11%, excluding FX. We were not totally surprised by the strength in orders. We have seen pipelines built, but timing is never certain. We are encouraged by the order booking acceleration. We believe this is a sign of good things to come.

對我們的訂單非常滿意，成長了 11%（不包括外匯）。我們對訂單的強勁並不完全感到驚訝。我們已經看到管道建成，但時間永遠不確定。我們對訂單預訂加速感到鼓舞。我們相信這是美好事物即將到來的徵兆。

Adjusted operating profit, that was $296 million, and adjusted operating margin of 17%. Operational execution is sharpening and certainly translating into margin performance. We had another strong cash flow quarter, an area of intense focus, and we are delivering. Of course, this has a nice effect on our leverage, which was 2.4 at the end of September, and guidance gets us close to 2x by year-end.

調整後營業利益為 2.96 億美元，調整後營業利益率為 17%。營運執行力正在增強，並且肯定會轉化為利潤率表現。我們又經歷了一個強勁的現金流季度，這是一個備受關注的領域，我們正在兌現承諾。當然，這對我們的槓桿率產生了很好的影響，9 月底的槓桿率為 2.4，指導方針使我們到年底接近 2 倍。

Given our performance year-to-date, we are raising our full year guidance. Again, we're now expecting sales for the full year to be up 21% organically, AOP between $1,020 million and $1,030 million and adjusted free cash flow of $625 million at the midpoint. A very strong year continues to unfold, and we see that momentum enduring.

鑑於我們今年迄今的表現，我們正在提高全年指導。同樣，我們現在預計全年銷售額有機成長 21%，應付利潤在 10.2 億美元至 10.3 億美元之間，調整後自由現金流中點為 6.25 億美元。非常強勁的一年繼續展開，我們看到這種勢頭將持續下去。

Let's turn to Slide 4. No changes on the market environment slide. Things are consistent with the picture we gave 90 days ago, healthy markets overall. The data center end market remains strong, with the cloud hyperscale and colocation continued to lead the growth. We see accelerating demand and a strong overall market for the foreseeable future.

讓我們轉向幻燈片 4。市場環境沒有變化的幻燈片。情況與我們 90 天前給出的情況一致，市場整體健康。資料中心終端市場依然強勁，超大規模雲端和託管持續引領成長。我們看到在可預見的未來需求不斷成長，整體市場強勁。

Different customers are at different points in their demand cycle, but they all recognize that strong future demand is coming. There are encouraging signs from enterprise. We are hearing a more positive outlook, but still balanced against some macro concerns. Telecom is still weak. Some telco carriers have delayed investments, and there is a lull in the market after a few years of a strong 5G investment.

不同的客戶處於需求週期的不同階段，但他們都意識到未來強勁的需求即將到來。企業界出現了令人鼓舞的跡象。我們聽到了更積極的前景，但仍與一些宏觀擔憂保持平衡。電信依然薄弱。一些電信業者推遲了投資，經過幾年強勁的 5G 投資，市場出現了平靜。

Regionally, APAC remains soft, mainly due to a slow Chinese market, partially offset by encouraging signs in India and rest of Asia. We don't anticipate a sharp recovery in China and expect that it will stay soft until the back end of 2024. Now the bright spot in APAC, India, is quite convincing. A lot of investment happening, and the trend is likely to continue for quite a while.

從地區來看，亞太地區仍然疲軟，主要是由於中國市場成長緩慢，但印度和亞洲其他地區令人鼓舞的跡象部分抵消了這一影響。我們預計中國不會大幅復甦，預計到 2024 年底將保持疲軟狀態。現在亞太地區的亮點印度是相當令人信服的。大量投資正在發生，而且這種趨勢可能會持續相當長一段時間。

We are also seeing good activity in Malaysia, the Philippines and Southeast Asia in general. I continue to be quite encouraged by the market signals. We are seeing the demand formation in the pipeline, in the order book, in conversations with customers all over the world.

我們也看到馬來西亞、菲律賓和整個東南亞的良好活動。我仍然對市場訊號感到非常鼓舞。我們在管道中、在訂單中、在與世界各地客戶的對話中看到了需求的形成。

There's a very good seg to Slide 5. Let's go to Slide 5, please. Orders in Q3 were up 11% year-on-year and 16% sequentially. I have said throughout the year that pipeline activity is strong. We are seeing that translate into orders. So not entirely surprising, but encouraging velocity. We anticipate Q4 orders will also be positive year-on-year. I wouldn't be surprised if Q4 growth was like Q3's, velocity is increasing.

投影片 5 有一個非常好的片段。請前往投影片 5。第三季訂單年增 11%，季增 16%。我全年都說過管道活動很強。我們看到這轉化為訂單。因此，這並不完全令人驚訝，但速度令人鼓舞。我們預計第四季訂單也將年增。如果第四季的成長與第三季一樣，速度正在增加，我不會感到驚訝。

Now we get a lot of questions on the amount of AI activity in our order book. Those questions are often formulated as binary questions. Is it AI? Or is it not AI? But there is no binary answer. If we talk about technologies that univocally are applied to high-density GPU or compute, as for example, liquid cooling, CDUs or some rack-level power distribution solutions, I will still say our order book is in the tens of millions of dollars. But many elements of our portfolio, chillers, direct expansion cooling, heat rejection systems, switchgear, busbars, UPS, you name them are -- regardless if GPU or CPU compute, high density or normal density. So the volume supporting AI or future AI-proof data centers is way larger than that tens of millions.

現在，我們收到了很多關於訂單簿中人工智慧活動量的問題。這些問題通常被表述為二元問題。是人工智慧嗎？或者說這不是AI嗎？但沒有二元答案。如果我們談論專門應用於高密度GPU或運算的技術，例如液冷、CDU或一些機架級配電解決方案，我仍然會說我們的訂單量達到數千萬美元。但我們產品組合中的許多元素，冷卻器、直接膨脹冷卻、排熱系統、開關設備、母線、UPS，凡是你能想到的——無論是 GPU 還是 CPU 計算、高密度還是普通密度。所以支援人工智慧或未來的人工智慧資料中心的數量遠大於數千萬。

Also, many data centers have been designed to be multipurpose. So the majority of our products will support many types of compute, including AI. That is the beauty of having a comprehensive portfolio of all critical infrastructure technologies across the entire span of the powertrain, the thermal chain and IT-wide space infrastructure, something that very few companies truly have.

此外，許多資料中心被設計成多功能的。因此，我們的大多數產品將支援多種類型的運算，包括人工智慧。這就是擁有涵蓋整個動力系統、熱鍊和 IT 範圍的空間基礎設施的所有關鍵基礎設施技術的全面組合的美妙之處，而很少有公司真正擁有這一點。

Different players, hyperscale, colocation but also enterprise and edge will have different approaches to AI. And now that suits us well. Complexity, customization at scale, all things we're good at. So overall, AI is coming, and we anticipate it will show up. We're in a more pronounced manner in 2024.

不同的參與者，超大規模、託管以及企業和邊緣將採用不同的人工智慧方法。現在這很適合我們。複雜性、大規模定制，這些都是我們所擅長的。總的來說，人工智慧即將到來，我們預計它會出現。 2024 年我們將採取更明顯的方式。

Now on to supply chain. We are in a much different place than we were historically, much different. I'm not just talking about incrementally better than 90 days ago. If you look at the progress over the last year, you tangibly see this in our reduced lead times. Suppliers of key components have been making substantial capacity investments, and we are seeing the benefit. We have qualified many additional suppliers, with a sharp eye on geopolitical diversification and overall supply chain resilience. We are doing capacity locks in key areas to make sure the supply base is strong for today and for the future under various growth scenarios. We will be ready.

現在進入供應鏈。我們現在所處的位置與歷史上的情況截然不同。我所說的不僅僅是比 90 天前更好。如果您查看去年的進展，您會在我們縮短的交貨時間中明顯看到這一點。關鍵零件供應商一直在進行大量產能投資，我們已經看到了好處。我們敏銳地關注地緣政治多元化和整體供應鏈的彈性，並且已經對許多其他供應商進行了資格審查。我們正在關鍵領域進行產能鎖定，以確保當前和未來在各種成長情境下的供應基礎強勁。我們會做好準備的。

Let's move to Slide 6. Here, we want to provide some additional color around capacity, an important topic given the different growth scenarios that are indeed possible. We start in a strong place, with 22 manufacturing plants around the world. It's much more believable to say you can scale with this strong starting point. The existing footprint was built with the idea that future growth would need to be accommodated. So you've seen us scale, expand existing facilities, ramp-up the 2 facilities -- the 2 new facilities to support growth.

讓我們轉到幻燈片 6。在這裡，我們希望為容量提供一些額外的顏色，考慮到確實可能的不同增長場景，這是一個重要的主題。我們起步強勁，在全球擁有 22 家製造工廠。更可信的是，您可以透過這個強大的起點進行擴展。現有佔地面積的建立是為了適應未來的成長。因此，您已經看到我們擴大規模、擴大現有設施、擴大 2 個設施——2 個新設施以支持成長。

And we have buffer capacity in our plants today, roughly around additional 25% to support more intense growth periods and can flex across facilities to optimize our production. And of course, we continue to invest.

如今，我們的工廠擁有緩衝能力，大約增加了 25% 左右，以支持更強烈的生長期，並且可以跨設施靈活調整以優化我們的生產。當然，我們會繼續投資。

Productivity is another capacity lever. The utilization and productivity opportunities are plentiful. And candidly, just starting. Vertiv's operating system is being deployed vigorously across the organization, unlocking further capacity. I enjoyed tremendously running a plant during my early years with the company. So there is a manufacturing in general is near and dear to my heart. It has my and [there's] a full attention.

生產力是另一個能力槓桿。利用率和生產力機會是充足的。坦白說，這才剛開始。 Vertiv 的作業系統正在整個組織內大力部署，釋放了更多能力。早年在公司工作期間，我非常享受經營工廠的過程。因此，整體而言，製造業是我所鍾愛的。它得到了我的充分關注。

We'll continue to make capital investments to support growth. We will be ready for what is ahead, but this can be done in a measured way that does not significantly change the cash flow profile of this business. We can invest for growth, prudently and deliver strong free cash flow. And with that, over to you, David.

我們將繼續進行資本投資以支持成長。我們將為未來做好準備，但這可以以一種謹慎的方式完成，不會顯著改變該業務的現金流狀況。我們可以謹慎地投資成長，並提供強勁的自由現金流。接下來，就交給你了，大衛。

Great. Thanks, Gio. Turning in the presentation to Page 7. This slide summarizes our third quarter financial results. As you can see, strong financial performance continues across the board. Organic net sales up 17%, with 9% from volume and 8% from pricing. As Gio mentioned, we continue to see the Americas, which was up 40% organically, drive the growth engine, particularly in this past third quarter.

偉大的。謝謝，吉奧。將簡報翻到第 7 頁。這張投影片總結了我們第三季的財務表現。正如您所看到的，強勁的財務表現持續全面。有機淨銷售額成長 17%，其中銷量成長 9%，定價成長 8%。正如 Gio 所提到的，我們繼續看到美洲地區有機成長 40%，推動成長引擎，特別是在過去的第三季。

Adjusted operating profit was $162 million higher than last year's third quarter, mainly driven by $100 million price cost benefit and $45 million of volume. Adjusted operating profit was $40-plus million higher than our prior guidance, driven by $15 million higher-than-anticipated pricing and $30 million lower inflation, as we have seen some core metals, notably steel, trending lower in the past quarter.

調整後營業利潤比去年第三季高出 1.62 億美元，主要得益於 1 億美元的價格成本效益和 4,500 萬美元的銷售量。調整後的營業利潤比我們之前的指導高出40 多萬美元，這是由於定價高於預期1500 萬美元，通貨膨脹率降低3000 萬美元，因為我們看到一些核心金屬，特別是鋼鐵，在過去一個季度呈走低趨勢。

We did have a onetime $7 million benefit from a commercial concession as we note on this slide that also contributed to the favorability versus prior guidance. This commercial concession also favorably influenced adjusted operating margin by 40 to 50 basis points as adjusted operating margin reached 17% in the quarter. And that's 790 basis point higher than last year, a great indicator of the significant progress we have made in a relatively short period in driving operational execution.

正如我們在這張幻燈片中指出的那樣，我們確實從商業特許權中獲得了一次 700 萬美元的收益，這也有助於與先前的指導相比獲得優惠。這項商業優惠也對調整後營業利潤率產生了 40 至 50 個基點的有利影響，本季調整後營業利潤率達到 17%。這比去年高出 790 個基點，充分證明我們在相對較短的時間內在推動營運執行方面取得了重大進展。

Certainly more work to do, but third quarter results should provide some confidence in our ability to achieve our longer-term margin targets.

當然還有更多的工作要做，但第三季的業績應該會為我們實現長期利潤目標的能力帶來一些信心。

Moving to the right on this slide. We had another strong quarter of adjusted free cash flow, generating $221 million in the quarter, a year-over-year improvement of $241 million. We continue to see the benefit of higher profitability and improved working capital management really across the organization. Cash taxes were higher, the inevitable result of driving higher profitability.

在此投影片上移至右側。我們的調整後自由現金流又表現強勁，本季產生 2.21 億美元，年增 2.41 億美元。我們繼續看到整個組織更高的獲利能力和改善的營運資本管理所帶來的好處。現金稅更高，這是提高獲利能力的必然結果。

But in general, we are driving much more consistency and predictability with our cash flow, controlling the things that matter, notably trade working capital, as we fully appreciate that sales and profitability mean little if they do not translate into cash flow, which is absolutely essential to drive long-term shareholder value.

但總的來說，我們正在推動現金流更加一致和可預測，控制重要的事情，特別是貿易營運資本，因為我們充分認識到，如果銷售和盈利能力不轉化為現金流，那麼它們就毫無意義，這絕對是對於推動長期股東價值至關重要。

Last on this slide, if you look at the bottom right-hand corner, net leverage declined to 2.4x at the end of the quarter and is expected to be approximately 2.1x by year-end. Of course, this net leverage improvement certainly correlates with improved cash generation. Clearly, our balance sheet continues to strengthen, which provides flexibility as we think about capital deployment. And more to come on capital deployment in our November 29th Investor Conference.

在這張投影片的最後，如果你看右下角，淨槓桿率在本季末下降至 2.4 倍，預計到年底將約為 2.1 倍。當然，這種淨槓桿率的改善肯定與現金產生的改善有關。顯然，我們的資產負債表繼續增強，這為我們考慮資本部署提供了靈活性。我們將在 11 月 29 日的投資者大會上公佈更多有關資本部署的資訊。

Next, turning to Page 8. This slide summarizes our third quarter segment results. The Americas region continues its strong growth trajectory with organic net sales up 40%, including 28% from volume and 12% from pricing. We continue to see substantial year-over-year improvement in adjusted operating margin in the Americas, up 910 basis points, which is largely driven by favorable price cost and fixed cost leverage.

接下來，翻到第 8 頁。這張投影片總結了我們第三季的業績。美洲地區持續保持強勁的成長勢頭，有機淨銷售額成長 40%，其中銷量成長 28%，定價成長 12%。我們繼續看到美洲調整後營業利潤率同比大幅改善，上升了 910 個基點，這主要是由於有利的價格成本和固定成本槓桿所推動的。

APAC top line, moving to the center section of the graph, continues to be negatively impacted by China, with organic net sales in that region declining 7% from last year. From a subregion perspective, the rest of Asia, so everything outside of China continues to grow nicely year-over-year, up low double digits in the third quarter. Adjusted operating margin for APAC remained flat year-over-year despite the lower sales at 19.1%, really a strong testament to their focus on cost control while continuing to drive margin enhancements.

亞太地區的頂線移動到圖表的中心部分，繼續受到中國的負面影響，該地區的有機淨銷售額比去年下降了 7%。從次區域的角度來看，亞洲其他地區（中國以外的所有地區）持續較去年同期良好成長，第三季達到低兩位數成長。儘管銷售額下降了 19.1%，但亞太地區調整後的營業利潤率仍與去年同期持平，這確實有力地證明了他們在繼續推動利潤率提高的同時注重成本控制。

Now we do anticipate that APAC will return to mid- to low single-digit year-over-year growth in the fourth quarter, in part due to typical fourth quarter seasonality in China, but this region will likely be down for full year 2023 versus 2022. And we are not planning for a sharp recovery in China at the beginning of '24. Rather, we are expecting sales activity to be relatively muted, at least until the back half of next year.

現在，我們確實預計亞太地區將在第四季度恢復到中低個位數的同比增長，部分原因是中國第四季典型的季節性因素，但該地區2023 年全年的成長率可能會低於去年同期2022年。我們並不打算在24年初中國實現大幅復甦。相反，我們預計銷售活動將相對平靜，至少到明年下半年為止。

The EMEA region was relatively flat organically in the third quarter, which was slightly better than we anticipated in guidance. Flat year-over-year sales in the quarter was mostly due to timing, as we expect a significant sequential increase in the fourth quarter, with full year organic sales growth in that region in the upper single- to low double digits. EMEA continues to deliver strong adjusted operating margin, almost 28% this quarter, an increase of 1,030 basis points compared with last year's third quarter, with the improvement driven by favorable price/cost and good fixed cost control.

歐洲、中東和非洲地區第三季的有機成長相對平穩，略優於我們在指導中的預期。本季銷售額同比持平主要是由於時間安排，因為我們預計第四季度將大幅環比增長，該地區全年有機銷售額增長將達到高個位數到低兩位數。歐洲、中東和非洲地區繼續保持強勁的調整後營業利潤率，本季接近28%，與去年第三季相比增加了1,030 個基點，這得益於有利的價格/成本和良好的固定成本控制。

And finally, on this page, corporate costs in the third quarter were approximately $7 million higher than last year, driven by both R&D investment and an incremental $3 million foreign exchange loss. Our current guidance assumes second half corporate costs in the aggregate to be consistent with the first half.

最後，在本頁中，由於研發投資和增量 300 萬美元的外匯損失，第三季的企業成本比去年高出約 700 萬美元。我們目前的指導假設下半年企業成本大致與上半年一致。

Next, turning to Page 9. This slide summarizes our fourth quarter guidance. We expect a strong finish to the year with adjusted operating profit in the range of $295 million to $305 million and adjusted operating margin at 16.3% at the midpoint, 360 basis points higher than last year's fourth quarter. Adjusted operating margin is expected to be down sequentially from the 17% in the third quarter as regional mix plays a role with higher APAC volume. And recall that the third quarter was favorably impacted by the commercial concession that we talked about a couple of slides ago.

接下來，翻到第 9 頁。這張投影片總結了我們第四季的指導。我們預計今年將取得強勁業績，調整後營業利潤將在 2.95 億美元至 3.05 億美元之間，調整後營業利潤率中位數將達到 16.3%，比去年第四季高出 360 個基點。由於亞太地區銷量增加，區域組合發揮了作用，調整後的營業利潤率預計將比第三季的 17% 有所下降。回想一下，第三季受到了我們在幾張投影片上討論過的商業特許權的有利影響。

Adjusted free cash flow is also projected to be lower sequentially as we expect CapEx to ramp up about $35 million, a lot of that driven by timing. And working capital use should be approximately $35 million higher in the fourth quarter versus the third quarter as sales are expected to increase about $100 million sequentially.

調整後的自由現金流預計也將環比下降，因為我們預計資本支出將增加約 3500 萬美元，其中很大一部分是由時機推動的。由於銷售額預計將季增約 1 億美元，第四季的營運資金使用量應比第三季增加約 3,500 萬美元。

China cash collections are a watch item for the fourth quarter, with larger customers paying a bit slower given the macro environment there and the impact on cash availability.

中國的現金收款是第四季度的觀察項目，考慮到那裡的宏觀環境以及對現金可用性的影響，大客戶的付款速度稍慢。

Next, moving to Slide 10, our full year guidance. We are increasing projected full year sales by approximately $30 million and adjusted operating profit to $1.20 billion to $1.30 billion, an increase of over $580 million from 2022. This revised guidance is approximately $75 million higher than previous guidance, with $40 million from the third quarter beat and $35 million from the raise in the fourth quarter.

接下來，轉向幻燈片 10，這是我們的全年指導。我們將預計全年銷售額增加約3,000 萬美元，並將營業利潤調整至12 億至13 億美元，比2022 年增加超過5.8 億美元。本次修訂後的指導比先前的指導高出約7,500 萬美元，比第三季增加了4000 萬美元擊敗了第四季籌集的 3500 萬美元。

Full year adjusted operating margin is expected to be 15%, 730 basis points higher than last year, with approximately 500 basis points from higher variable contribution margin and over 200 basis points from fixed cost leverage. And finally, on this page, we are increasing adjusted free cash flow guidance by $75 million to $625 million at the midpoint, $885 million higher than last year. This improvement demonstrates our focus on cash and the operational process improvements that have taken a hold across the organization. And our commitment to delivering strong and consistent free cash flow is a crucial part of our high-performance culture, and I believe this could be a harbinger of continued good things to come.

全年調整後營業利潤率預計為 15%，比去年高出 730 個基點，其中可變貢獻邊際增加約 500 個基點，固定成本槓桿增加約 200 個基點。最後，在本頁中，我們將調整後的自由現金流指引增加了 7,500 萬美元，達到中點 6.25 億美元，比去年高出 8.85 億美元。這項改進表明我們對現金和營運流程改進的關注已在整個組織中得到體現。我們對提供強勁且持續的自由現金流的承諾是我們高績效文化的重要組成部分，我相信這可能是未來持續美好事物的預兆。

And with that said, I turn it back over to Gio.

話雖如此，我把它轉回給吉奧。

Well, thank you, David. Thanks a lot. And let's go to Slide 11.

嗯，謝謝你，大衛。多謝。讓我們看投影片 11。

So some initial thoughts on 2024. I'm going to say we see more tailwinds than headwinds. Our starting point, it is a strong. The data center market continues to accelerate. And AI is forming a tailwind that will likely be more evident in 2024.

關於 2024 年的一些初步想法。我想說的是，我們看到的順風因素多於逆風因素。我們的出發點，是堅強。數據中心市場持續加速發展。人工智慧正在形成一股順風，這種順風可能在 2024 年更加明顯。

Our supply chain resilience is at a much greater level of maturity. This is important as we think about the demand profiles that may emerge for next year and beyond. Balanced investments in the business will continue. R&D capacity, things that will support the growth of the business for the years to come. We will continue our relentless focus on operational execution and implement the Vertiv operating system increasingly deeply. This will support continuous improvement consistently. We have started making progress, but much more to come.

我們的供應鏈彈性更加成熟。當我們考慮明年及以後可能出現的需求情況時，這一點很重要。業務的平衡投資將持續。研發能力，將支持未來幾年業務成長的東西。我們將繼續不懈地專注於營運執行，並越來越深入地實施 Vertiv 作業系統。這將支援持續改進。我們已經開始取得進展，但未來還會有更多進展。

There are headwinds too. Certainly, China is slow, and recovery doesn't appear near term. Worth noting, we anticipate more normal seasonality returning in 2024. And for Vertiv, that typically means our financial measures in absolute dollars get stronger sequentially as the year progresses.

也有逆風。當然，中國經濟發展緩慢，短期內不會出現復甦。值得注意的是，我們預計 2024 年會出現更正常的季節性。對於 Vertiv 來說，這通常意味著我們以絕對美元計算的財務指標會隨著時間的推移而逐漸走強。

Let's go to Slide 12. Once more, remind everyone that we have our first Investor Conference on the 29th of November. So here are the topics we plan to cover that day. And we'll be sharing a lot of exciting information. I look forward to spending the day with you, talking about our strategy, technology, use on the market, operations and financial framework. We hope you will be able to join us, preferably in person, or remote.

讓我們看投影片 12。再次提醒大家，我們將於 11 月 29 日舉行第一次投資者會議。以下是我們當天計劃討論的主題。我們將分享許多令人興奮的訊息。我期待與您共度這一天，討論我們的策略、技術、市場使用、營運和財務框架。我們希望您能夠加入我們，最好親自或遠端加入。

Let's go to Slide 13. I'd say we have meaningfully evolved from where we were a year ago. You can see that across all the key takeaways on this slide. A lot of improvement. It has been quite intense and fun, and we are still quite far from our full potential. I want to thank our team around the world for the passion and the hard work, tackling challenges every day, making sure we exceed our customer expectations, helping the entire industry scale and holding ourselves accountable for delivering strong results every quarter. I am sure you can see the early signs of a high-performing culture.

讓我們看幻燈片 13。我想說，與一年前相比，我們已經取得了有意義的進展。您可以在這張投影片上的所有關鍵要點中看到這一點。很多改進。這是非常激烈和有趣的，但我們距離充分發揮潛力還很遠。我要感謝我們世界各地的團隊的熱情和辛勤工作，他們每天應對挑戰，確保我們超越客戶的期望，幫助整個行業擴大規模，並讓我們自己負責每季交付強勁的業績。我相信您可以看到高績效文化的早期跡象。

With that, over to the operator. Over to you, Bruno.

這樣，就交給操作員了。交給你了，布魯諾。

Thank you. (Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Scott Davis from Melius Research.

謝謝。 （操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Melius Research 的 Scott Davis。

Where -- I'm looking at Slide 11, where does telecom fit in this tailwind, headwind? Or is it the lack of kind of telecom being on here, I mean it's more of a neutral? Or just -- I don't know, I'll just stop there.

我正在看投影片 11，電信在順風、逆風中處於什麼位置？還是因為這裡缺乏某種電信服務，我的意思是它比較中立？或者只是——我不知道，我就到此為止。

Yes. No, Scott. I would say, Telecom is neutral right now in this whole picture. Honestly speaking, the fact that telecom is soft is no new news this quarter. That's something that we already signaled for at least the last 2 calls.

是的。不，斯科特。我想說，電信目前在整個情況下是中立的。老實說，電信業疲軟這一事實在本季並不是什麼新鮮事。我們至少在最近兩次通話中已經發出了這一信號。

So we see that continuing in 2024. So if anything, we can be surprised by the opposite. In the industry, there is some expectations that sooner or later, the extreme edge will happen in the, let's say, telecom perimeter operations. But again, not counting on that, but having the right technology available and the customer reach, if that happens.

因此，我們認為這種情況將在 2024 年繼續下去。因此，如果有什麼不同的話，我們可能會對相反的情況感到驚訝。在業界，有人預期遲早會在電信外圍營運領域出現極端優勢。但同樣，不要指望這一點，而是擁有合適的技術和客戶覆蓋範圍（如果發生這種情況）。

Okay. That's helpful. And just as a quick follow-up, price. This has been an industry historically where price wasn't really a big deal until you had the -- not meaningful contributor one way or another until you had the supply chain debacle and needed to get after some. But do you have to start giving back some of that when you get into 2024? Is there a new paradigm just because your -- perhaps your kind of value-based selling and kind of figure out how to hold that -- how to hold the line on price a little bit more effectively than maybe in the past?

好的。這很有幫助。作為快速跟進，價格。從歷史上看，這個行業的價格並不是什麼大問題，除非你以某種方式找到了有意義的貢獻者，直到你遇到了供應鏈崩潰並需要採取一些措施。但進入 2024 年時，您是否必須開始回饋其中的一部分？是否存在一種新的範式，僅僅因為你的——也許是你那種基於價值的銷售，以及如何保持這一點——如何比過去更有效地控制價格？

Yes, Scott. Certainly, value is a big element. The industry and the line technology is becoming more complex. We will talk certainly about high density. We'll talk about the overall net increment on installed power and the need for total cost of ownership, efficiency, et cetera.

是的，斯科特。當然，價值是一個重要因素。產業和生產線技術變得越來越複雜。我們肯定會談論高密度。我們將討論裝置容量的整體淨增量以及總擁有成本、效率等的需求。

So the world is becoming more complex. Value in terms of the technology that you deliver matters. And we talked about Vertiv's ability to exercise the pricing muscle, both in terms of process and in terms of translating value in the initial price, both in terms of project price process and in general, pricing new technology.

所以世界正變得更加複雜。您提供的技術的價值很重要。我們也討論了 Vertiv 行使定價能力的能力，無論是在流程方面還是在初始價格中的價值轉換方面，無論是在專案價格流程方面還是在總體上對新技術進行定價方面。

But it's also true that the industry -- in the industry in general, there is more demand than capacity. So that is certainly a favorable environment in many respects. I'm going to say that we see in the future, diminishing price gains. We have certainly enjoyed a lot of the kind of catching up after the inflation. But again, we continue to be positive about the future investor respect.

但事實上，在整個產業中，需求多於產能。因此，從很多方面來說，這無疑是一個有利的環境。我想說的是，我們未來會看到價格漲幅逐漸縮小。我們確實很享受通膨後的追趕。但我們仍然對未來投資者的尊重持正面態度。

Sounds encouraging. We'll see you all at the Analyst Day. Thank you.

聽起來令人鼓舞。我們將在分析師日與大家見面。謝謝。

Looking forward.

期待。

Our next question comes from Nicole DeBlase from Deutsche Bank.

我們的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Nicole DeBlase。

Maybe we could just start with the comments that you guys made about 2024. I think it's an important distinction with 1 half versus 2 halves since the comps are really difficult in the first half. And I guess the follow-up to that comment is, do you still expect to be able to grow organically in the first half of the year? Or is that going to be totally back half weighted just because of the comp dynamic?

也許我們可以從你們對 2024 年的評論開始。我認為這是上半場與下半場的一個重要區別，因為上半場的比賽確實很困難。我想該評論的後續內容是，您仍然期望能夠在今年上半年實現自然成長嗎？或者僅僅因為競爭動態，這將完全被一半加權？

Nicole, as we -- as I mentioned, let me elaborate on it. As I mentioned, we are going more towards a normal is what is historically normal first half, second half. 2023 may expect a little bit abnormal in the sense that we had a pent-up backlog, let me say, almost a 2022 backlog residue that we moved because of the shortage of components, et cetera, moved to the first half of the year. So that makes certainly a more flat H1, H2 year.

妮可，正如我所提到的，讓我詳細說明一下。正如我所提到的，我們正朝著歷史上正常的上半場、下半場的方向發展。 2023 年可能會有點異常，因為我們有積壓的積壓，可以說，幾乎將 2022 年的積壓殘留物轉移到了上半年。因此，這肯定會使上半年和下半年更加穩定。

In this moment, we are thinking something that probably will be around 45%, 55% top line, first half, second half. Give and take something, it's too early to say, but that's probably the thought -- that thought process. I would be surprised, and it's again, early, but I would be surprised if H1 '24 were below 2023. So we -- I don't think it was going to be positive all the way through.

此時此刻，我們正在考慮的事情可能會在上半場、下半場的 45%、55% 左右。給予和索取，現在說還為時過早，但這可能就是這個想法——那個思考過程。我會感到驚訝，而且這又是早期，但如果 24 年上半年低於 2023 年，我會感到驚訝。所以我們 - 我認為它不會一直都是積極的。

But again, we'd like to be clear about the seasonality. That's all.

但同樣，我們想清楚季節性。就這樣。

That's really helpful. And then the comments that you guys made about capacity and investing in the business. I guess, if we kind of look at the multiyear CapEx picture, are you trying to send the message that CapEx does need to grow from current levels? Or do you think that you can kind of expand capacity gradually at the current levels of spend?

這真的很有幫助。然後是你們對業務能力和投資的評論。我想，如果我們看看多年的資本支出狀況，您是否試圖傳達這樣的訊息：資本支出確實需要從當前水準成長？或者您認為您可以在目前的支出水準上逐步擴大產能嗎？

There will be some CapEx growth, as a matter of fact, just as our top line grows. I mean, there will be an element of a proportionality, but probably a little bit more than that. Again, I think this is a unique trend in the industry, the main industry that we serve. And as we said, we have many ways to make sure that we make the capacity available.

事實上，隨著我們的收入成長，資本支出也會有所成長。我的意思是，會有比例的因素，但可能比這個因素多一點。再說一次，我認為這是我們服務的主要行業的獨特趨勢。正如我們所說，我們有很多方法來確保我們提供可用的容量。

Productivity being one, we're making sure that we use everything that we have created in terms of capacity over the last couple of years. But yes, we -- if the conditions, as we believe, will favor that, we think we can be a little bit more aggressive. But I want to once more highlight the fact that we do not believe that this will materially, meaningfully change the cash flow profile of the business overall.

生產力就是其中之一，我們確保利用過去幾年在產能方面創造的一切。但是，是的，如果我們認為條件有利於這一點，我們認為我們可以更加激進一些。但我想再次強調這樣一個事實，即我們認為這不會實質地、有意義地改變整個業務的現金流狀況。

Our next question comes from Amit Daryanani from Evercore.

我們的下一個問題來自 Evercore 的 Amit Daryanani。

Congrats on a really good set of numbers here. I guess the first one I had was, your orders accelerated really nicely, I think it was up 11% year-over-year, you sound more positive going forward on this as well. How much of this uplift do you think in orders is driven by volume versus pricing? And any sense if the duration of -- are the customers are putting in is starting to stretch out as well? And maybe that's helping also. Maybe you can talk about pricing versus volume versus duration on orders would be really helpful.

恭喜您獲得了一組非常好的數字。我想我收到的第一個消息是，你們的訂單加速得非常好，我認為同比增長了 11%，聽起來你們對此也更加積極。您認為訂單量的成長有多少是由數量與價格所驅動的？如果客戶投入的持續時間也開始延長，有什麼意義嗎？也許這也有幫助。也許你可以談論訂單的定價、數量和持續時間，這會很有幫助。

Okay. So I would say that there is a lot of volume in the orders that we've taken. As I'm saying, we are -- as we are saying, we are -- we're printing nice price numbers this year in our sales. We expect that to trim a little bit. And the growth -- the future growth will have a very good volume component.

好的。所以我想說，我們接到的訂單量很大。正如我所說，我們——正如我們所說，我們——我們今年在銷售中印出了不錯的價格數字。我們預計這一數字會有所減少。未來的成長將具有非常好的數量成分。

When it comes to the duration, I think you're asking duration in terms of how far out the orders that we are receiving and covering. And I would say it's a little bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, there are shortened lead times, that I mentioned in a few occasions and also earlier today, are favorable in terms of accelerating what is the so-called run rate more territory business, which is always good, great also in terms of installed base creation for future service revenue. But we see also increasingly the big part of the -- the big players, be them hyperscalers or be them the large colocation players increasingly look out in terms of coverage. So it's really a good combination of the 2.

當談到持續時間時，我認為您問的持續時間是指我們收到和覆蓋的訂單有多遠。我想說這是一個魚龍混雜的情況。一方面，我在幾次場合以及今天早些時候提到過，縮短交貨時間對於加速所謂的運行率更大的領土業務而言是有利的，這總是好的，而且在方面也很棒為未來的服務收入創造安裝基礎。但我們也越來越常看到，大型企業，無論是超大規模企業還是大型託管企業，都越來越關注覆蓋範圍。所以這確實是兩者的一個很好的結合。

Got it. That is really helpful. And then if I can get your perspective on this. There's an expectation that new data center deployments will add, I don't know, 15, 20 gigawatts of incremental power consumption in the next few years. And you think about these racks going from 10 kilowatts to [50, 100]. Can you talk about what does it do to your power management side of the portfolio? Do we need a completely different set of power solutions versus what we have today? What does that imply for (inaudible) because I think [Edwards] always focused on the cooling side, which is obviously incredibly positive. But I'd love to know how does it play out on the power management side as we shift into these higher density racks?

知道了。這真的很有幫助。然後我能否了解您對此的看法。預計新的資料中心部署將在未來幾年內增加 15,20 吉瓦的增量功耗（我不知道）。您可以想像這些機架的功率從 10 千瓦到 [50, 100]。您能談談它對您的產品組合的電源管理方面有什麼作用嗎？我們是否需要一套與現有解決方案完全不同的電源解決方案？這意味著什麼（聽不清楚），因為我認為 [Edwards] 始終關注冷卻方面，這顯然是非常積極的。但我很想知道當我們轉向這些更高密度的機架時，它在電源管理方面的表現如何？

Well, it's an absolutely good point that -- it's a very important part of our portfolio as well as a thermal part and one that will benefit from the expansion, the acceleration, the gigawatts that you are mentioning. Fundamentally, the powertrain that we have, from medium voltage switchgear all the way to busbars and PDUs, so the entire powertrain, it's not going to change dramatic. It's just going to be more, deployed more because it's more power that needs to be transferred from the grid to the chip.

嗯，這是一個絕對好的觀點——它是我們產品組合中非常重要的一部分，也是一個熱部件，並且將從您提到的擴展、加速和千兆瓦中受益。從根本上說，我們擁有的動力系統，從中壓開關設備一直到母線和 PDU，因此整個動力系統不會發生巨大變化。它只會更多、部署更多，因為需要從電網傳輸到晶片的電力更多。

So it's good news. It's a net volume increase. There will be some fine-tuning in what exactly happens in terms of power distribution inside the rack. Some PDU solutions will be designed for high density, but it's a relatively small portion of the total powertrain that will expand as a lot.

所以這是個好消息。這是淨成交量的增加。機架內的配電的具體情況將會進行一些微調。一些 PDU 解決方案將設計用於高密度，但它只佔總動力系統中相對較小的一部分，但會大幅擴展。

The other aspect is positive for the power side of our business is that power is, as we said several times that the industry is very vocal about that, an overall constraint, power availability for new data centers. And that drives operators to think about alternative ways to power. So dynamic power solution, microgrids, battery, energy storage systems, et cetera, are all future opportunities that we are keenly looking into and for which we are cooperating with the big players in terms of proof of concepts, et cetera. Something -- a future good opportunity for us.

對於我們業務的電力方面來說，另一個積極的方面是，正如我們多次說過的那樣，業界對此非常直言不諱，這是一個總體限制，即新資料中心的電力可用性。這促使營運商考慮替代的供電方式。因此，動態電源解決方案、微電網、電池、儲能係統等都是我們正在密切關注的未來機會，我們正在與大型企業在概念驗證等方面合作。有些東西－對我們來說是未來的好機會。

Our next question comes from Nigel Coe from Wolfe Research.

我們的下一個問題來自沃爾夫研究中心的奈傑爾·科。

And thank you for the preview on the Investor Day. I just want a bit more detail on the geographics. EMEA, negatives this quarter. You talked about some project delays. It looks like it's bounced back nicely in the fourth quarter. How does that break in 2024? Where do you see the (inaudible) of strength or weakness in Europe right now, especially given the macro? And then you called out China, you're not expecting that to recover until back end of '24. But is there enough growth in India, Philippines, et cetera, to drive -- to kind of offset that in 2024?

感謝您在投資者日進行預覽。我只是想了解更多關於地理的細節。歐洲、中東和非洲地區，本季出現負面影響。您談到了一些專案的延誤。看起來第四季反彈得很好。到 2024 年，這種情況會如何打破？您認為歐洲目前（聽不清楚）的優勢或劣勢在哪裡，特別是考慮到宏觀經濟？然後你大聲疾呼中國，你預計直到 24 年底才會恢復。但印度、菲律賓等國家是否有足夠的成長來推動——在 2024 年抵消這一成長？

Well, I think it's a little bit premature to -- no, absolutely. To be exactly [tail on] -- even geographics within APAC. But again, we are very encouraged from what we see in India and Southeast Asia. China, again, we, of course, continue to be a strong player in China, a strong local player in China. But we have kind of a prudent posture in the way we look at the next year.

嗯，我認為現在說還為時過早——不，絕對是。確切地說，甚至是亞太地區的地理區域。但同樣，我們對印度和東南亞的情況感到非常鼓舞。再說一次中國，我們當然繼續是中國的強勢玩家，中國本土的強勢玩家。但我們對明年持謹慎態度。

When it comes to EMEA, I am encouraged by the pipeline. I'm very encouraged by pipelines in EMEA and also the conversations with the various customers. And you do say that the macroeconomics are not phenomenal in EMEA. And the geopolitics are as hard as it gets. There is clearly a big question mark when it comes to the Middle East, for us, not a big part of our market. Absolutely not a big part of our, let's say, our revenue. But yes, it's -- we don't know what will happen. But overall, for what we can control, absolutely a strong position in EMEA and good pipelines.

當談到歐洲、中東和非洲地區時，我對管道感到鼓舞。歐洲、中東和非洲地區的管道以及與各個客戶的對話讓我深受鼓舞。您確實說過，歐洲、中東和非洲地區的宏觀經濟狀況並不顯著。地緣政治是最艱難的。中東顯然是一個很大的問號，對我們來說，它並不是我們市場的很大一部分。絕對不是我們收入的很大一部分。但是，是的，我們不知道會發生什麼。但總體而言，就我們所能控制的而言，在歐洲、中東和非洲地區絕對擁有強大的地位，並且擁有良好的管道。

Great. A quick one on pricing, because I think it's important to sort of like bet this because there is some concerns around price rollback. Are you seeing any price sensitivity or price-based negotiations or price-based competition across your businesses in any meaningful extent? And then maybe, David, if you could opine perhaps on the carry forward from 4Q pricing into 2024. We calculate about 2 points-plus of price carry forwards. Is that in the right zone?

偉大的。關於定價的快速介紹，因為我認為押注這一點很重要，因為人們對價格回滾有一些擔憂。您是否發現您的企業有任何有意義的價格敏感度或基於價格的談判或基於價格的競爭？ David，如果您可以對從第四季度定價結轉至 2024 年的情況發表意見。我們計算了大約 2 個百分點以上的價格結轉。那是在正確的區域嗎？

So Nigel, I'll start with the general comments about the market. I mean, we will live in a commercially active world. Don't get me wrong. So different geographies, especially different types of market, different go-to markets have slightly different dynamics from a price standpoint. But overall, we are optimistic about our ability to continue to have a commercial advantage.

奈傑爾，我將從對市場的一般評論開始。我的意思是，我們將生活在一個商業活躍的世界。別誤會我的意思。因此，從價格的角度來看，不同地區，特別是不同類型的市場、不同的首選市場的動態略有不同。但總體而言，我們對我們繼續擁有商業優勢的能力持樂觀態度。

Yes. And Nigel, on your question on pricing carryover, unfortunately, probably a little premature to give specific numbers that there certainly will be some benefit. It probably is not reasonable to anticipate 8% pricing every year going forward like we've seen this year and even the 7% last year. But we do anticipate to have some carryover impact. And the one thing we can safely say, it's certainly our intention going forward, even beyond, to be price/cost positive.

是的。奈傑爾，關於你關於定價結轉的問題，不幸的是，給出肯定會有一些好處的具體數字可能有點為時過早。像我們今年看到的那樣，預計未來每年的定價為 8%，甚至去年的 7%，這可能是不合理的。但我們確實預期會產生一些延續影響。我們可以有把握地說的一件事是，我們的意圖肯定是繼續前進，甚至超越，以實現價格/成本正值。

Our next question comes from Andrew Obin from Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的安德魯·奧賓。

So as you look at your AI -- yes, yes, as you look at your AI-related pipeline, so are we building more for new build locations? Or is it more retrofit of existing data centers? What does it look like from your perspective?

因此，當您查看您的人工智慧時 - 是的，是的，當您查看與人工智慧相關的管道時，我們是否正在為新的建置位置建立更多？還是更多的是對現有資料中心的改造？從你的角度來看，它是什麼樣的？

Retrofit will be an opportunity, definitely. In this moment, we predominantly but not exclusively see new build. But there is also quite encouraging conversations about retrofit. But it's -- things are very much in flux. Things are very much in flux. We participate in both conversations very actively.

改造肯定會是一個機會。此時此刻，我們主要但不完全看到新的建築。但關於改造的討論也相當令人鼓舞。但事情是在不斷變化的。事情瞬息萬變。我們非常積極地參與這兩次對話。

And just a follow-up. Where are you guys in terms of -- and I know these questions have sort of been asked, but U.S. capacity utilization today? And how much extra U.S. capacity would be in place by year-end '24? And the current plans. And also curious to know how flexible can you be -- and when I say you -- if I include Mexico, but how flexible can you be in pulling capacity from other regions into the U.S. as there are very different electrical standards?

只是後續行動。我知道有人問過這些問題，但你們現在的美國產能利用率呢？到 24 年底，美國將新增多少產能？以及目前的計劃。我也很想知道，當我說你的時候，如果我包括墨西哥，你能有多靈活，但由於電力標準截然不同，你在將產能從其他地區拉到美國方面能有多靈活？

Yes. No, absolutely. I would say that the general plus-25% that we were signaling during the slide show earlier, it's definitely applicable -- is definitely applicable to pretty much homogeneously across the world. And certainly true for the North American business as of now.

是的。不，絕對是。我想說的是，我們之前在幻燈片放映期間表示的一般+25%，它絕對適用——絕對適用於世界各地的幾乎同質的情況。對於目前的北美業務來說當然也是如此。

And as I was saying, we will continue to invest. But we do have a very explicit and well-orchestrated initiative to make sure that we use and leverage the global capacity also for the U.S. It's something that we are doing already partially today in different degrees, different lines of business. But it's something that we will be able to accelerate and accentuate as we go ahead.

正如我所說，我們將繼續投資。但我們確實有一個非常明確和精心策劃的舉措，以確保我們也為美國使用和利用全球能力。這是我們今天已經在不同程度、不同業務領域部分所做的事情。但隨著我們的前進，我們將能夠加速和強調這一點。

In terms of American codes versus other type of codes, that's something that -- it's just about having the right certification of a plant outside the North American or American region. And it's something that we have or that we are accelerating, depending on the technology. So it's very, very margin-focused and very much something we do and that we will accelerate going forward.

就美國規範與其他類型的規範而言，這只是關於北美或美國地區以外的工廠獲得正確的認證。這是我們已經擁有或正在加速的東西，這取決於技術。因此，這是非常非常注重利潤的事情，也是我們所做的事情，我們將加速前進。

Our next question comes from Andy Kaplowitz from Citigroup.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗集團的安迪·卡普洛維茨。

I know you said that the positive order inflection you're seeing hasn't really been that unexpected. But can you talk about how you're thinking about the longevity of the current order inflection? Would you expect order growth to continue to accelerate into '24? And then how are you thinking about the duration of the up cycle? Do you see the AI contribution as sort of a big gold rush and then it flames out? Or could it last quite a long time?

我知道你說過你所看到的積極的秩序變化並不是那麼出乎意料。但您能否談談您如何看待當前訂單拐點的持續時間？您預計訂單成長會在 24 世紀繼續加速嗎？那麼您如何看待上升週期的持續時間？您是否認為人工智慧的貢獻就像一場淘金熱，然後就熄火了？或者說可以持續很久嗎？

The second -- the last part of your question, we believe this is a long-term trend. In a sense that we believe that AI will be pretty pervasive. And this is just the beginning. This is a multiyear, truly many years of cycle -- many years cycle, we believe.

第二個——你問題的最後一部分，我們認為這是一個長期趨勢。從某種意義上說，我們相信人工智慧將相當普遍。而這只是個開始。我們相信，這是一個多年、真正多年的周期——多年的周期。

And Gio, maybe just in thinking about the mix of orders, you mentioned enterprise markets. Maybe some encouraging trends there. How much of the incremental order growth is from hyperscale and colo customers? Are they now a larger percentage of your orders versus enterprise? And then how would you characterize the enterprise market? You mentioned some positive signs, but obviously, rates are higher and concerns around the economy. So color would be helpful.

Gio，也許只是在考慮訂單組合時，您提到了企業市場。也許有一些令人鼓舞的趨勢。增量訂單成長中有多少來自超大規模和託管客戶？與企業相比，它們現在在您的訂單中所佔的比例是否更大？那麼您如何描述企業市場的特徵？您提到了一些積極的跡象，但顯然，利率上升以及對經濟的擔憂。所以顏色會有幫助。

Yes, definitely, colocation and hyperscale are a very large part of our mix and our order intake. And growing actually in terms of speed of growth. So well -- very well covered there.

是的，毫無疑問，託管和超大規模是我們的組合和訂單量的很大一部分。並且實際上在成長速度方面也在成長。很好——那裡覆蓋得很好。

What we see is that the acceleration in compute power and anyway, utilization, and volume of data that is further accentuated by AI is going to require some infrastructure also on the enterprise side of the equation. More distributed compute, more edge compute or sometimes even on-prem or proprietary data centers. So clearly, the biggest part of the acceleration is coming, and it will come from the hyperscale, colo and cloud. But we are optimistic and positive about the Enterprise business.

我們看到的是，運算能力的加速，無論如何，人工智慧進一步加劇了利用率和資料量的加速，這將需要企業方面的一些基礎設施。更多分散式運算、更多邊緣運算，有時甚至是本地或專有資料中心。很明顯，加速的最大部分即將到來，它將來自超大規模、託管和雲端。但我們對企業業務持樂觀和積極的態度。

Plus, the Enterprise business constitute a big portion of what I was referring to, our more distributed territory go-to-market and type of segment. And we are helped by improving lead times. We are accelerating that part of the market.

另外，企業業務構成了我所指的很大一部分，即我們更加分散的領域進入市場和細分市場類型。縮短交貨時間對我們也有幫助。我們正在加速這部分市場的發展。

Our next question comes from Mark Delaney from Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的馬克·德萊尼。

Yes. Congratulations on the good results. Hoping you could elaborate a bit more on what you're seeing in China and some of the causes of the weakness. In a related topic, to what extent you think geopolitics and export restrictions for AI could impact Vertiv in China, even if it's an indirect effect, Vertiv's own products aren't directly put on to any sort of export controllers?

是的。恭喜取得好成績。希望您能詳細說明您在中國所看到的情況以及造成疲軟的一些原因。在相關主題中，您認為地緣政治和人工智慧出口限制會在多大程度上影響 Vertiv 在中國的影響，即使這是間接影響，Vertiv 自己的產品不會直接提供給任何類型的出口管制者？

Yes. Well, we see China as really a general market situation. More so than anything to do with the export restrictions, in our case. I just want to remind everyone that no data flow through our stuff. The only thing we power and cool IT infrastructure. So clearly, the market is not strong in China right now. And we participate to the market as a very local supplier, as a very local player. The majority of our supply chain is local. So we operate as a Chinese supplier, and we move with that market. And that market in this moment is not strong.

是的。嗯，我們認為中國確實是一個普遍的市場狀況。就我們而言，這比出口限制更重要。我只是想提醒大家，沒有資料流過我們的東西。我們唯一為 IT 基礎設施提供動力和冷卻的東西。很明顯，目前中國的市場並不強勁。我們作為一個非常本地化的供應商、一個非常本地化的參與者參與市場。我們的供應鏈大部分都是本地的。因此，我們作為中國供應商運營，並隨著該市場的發展而變化。而此時此刻的市場並不強勁。

That's helpful, Gio. and my other question is just around pricing and -- came in better than your guidance in the third quarter. There's no larger tailwinds in terms of pricing in 2023 guidance relative to what you assumed last quarter. Can you just talk a little bit more on what's been driving the pricing strength that you're seeing in 3Q and for the year? And to what extent it's more about mix or like-for-like pricing?

這很有幫助，吉奧。我的另一個問題是關於定價，並且比您第三季的指導要好。與您上季度的假設相比，2023 年的定價指引沒有更大的推動因素。能多談談推動第三季和今年定價走強的因素嗎？混合定價或同類定價在多大程度上更重要？

Well, again, there is a number of actions that we have implemented from a pricing standpoint. But clearly, the mix, the sequence of orders that we execute and a certain degree of being on the safe side and in guiding have all contributed to this price/cost upside.

好吧，再說一遍，我們從定價的角度實施了許多行動。但顯然，我們執行的訂單組合、順序以及一定程度的安全和指導都促成了價格/成本的上漲。

Got it. Congrats again on the good results.

知道了。再次恭喜取得的好成績。

Our next question comes from Steve Tusa from JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的史蒂夫·圖薩。

So I just wanted to delve into the comments around the first half of next year a little more. We've been hearing that there have been some -- and you guys sound pretty confident on this in the fourth quarter, some -- not only early indications of orders for next year from hyperscalers, but like some real big orders in the last couple of weeks. And that the only real concern is like when they're going to actually want delivery, i.e., like when suppliers are going to produce.

所以我只是想更深入地研究一下明年上半年的評論。我們聽說有一些——你們聽起來對第四季度的這一點非常有信心，一些——不僅是來自超大規模企業明年訂單的早期跡象，而且就像過去幾年中的一些真正的大訂單一樣幾週。唯一真正關心的是他們什麼時候真正需要交貨，即供應商何時要生產。

I'm just curious as to if you're kind of seeing that profile, if you're seeing those orders yet in that you're kind of caution on next year is just more about not knowing really when those things will ship, given that we're in kind of a very growthy and perhaps fluid situation where these guys are still figuring out the best way to go about this.

我只是好奇你是否看到了該資料，是否看到了這些訂單，因為你對明年的謹慎更多的是不知道這些東西何時會發貨，因為我們正處於一種非常成長且可能不穩定的情況，這些人仍在尋找解決這個問題的最佳方法。

I'm just curious as to how tangible that demand is early in October. And I think -- I don't know, it would make sense to me that you guys are talking a lot about capacity here and proving that you have the capacity, which would be juxtaposed against what I think people are viewing as a "soft start to next year." I'm just trying to kind of put that all together and understand how concrete this visibility on orders is that you guys have early in the quarter here in the fourth quarter.

我只是好奇十月初的需求有多大。我認為——我不知道，你們在這裡談論很多關於能力並證明你們有能力的事情對我來說是有意義的，這與我認為人們所認為的“軟能力”並列。從明年開始。”我只是想將所有這些放在一起，並了解你們在第四季度的季度初對訂單的可見性有多麼具體。

No, just when we're sharing the slide -- going through the slides, we have -- we expect a fourth quarter that is probably going to be up more or less the same that we think something around what we experienced in Q3. So we're quite optimistic about that.

不，就在我們分享幻燈片時——瀏覽幻燈片，我們預計第四季度的成長可能與我們對第三季經歷的情況大致相同。所以我們對此非常樂觀。

I would say that we should not read too much in the first half, second half. That's the normal nature of the industry. And again, it would have been the same of '23 first half, were it not for the supply constraints that marred the entire 2022 for us and for everyone else.

我想說上半場、下半場我們不要讀太多。這是這個行業的正常現象。再說一遍，如果不是供應限制給我們和其他所有人帶來了整個 2022 年的損害，那麼 23 年上半年的情況也會一樣。

So that, if anything, there was an artificial drift of backlog from, let's say, the second half of '22 to the first half of '23, that balanced the 2 halves in '23 in a way that is not so kind of normal in our type of business. So I would not read too much into it.

因此，如果有的話，那就是從 22 年下半年到 23 年上半年存在人為的積壓漂移，以一種不太正常的方式平衡了 23 年的兩個半期在我們的業務類型中。所以我不會對其進行過多的解讀。

We are happy about our pipeline. We're happy about the order pace. And yes, a lot of those orders will be coming from hyperscale and colo and that type of market. And really, those orders are placed today for tomorrow. Those are aligned with the big site deployments, with fairly forward-looking project plans. So I look at it as something quite normal, starting to happen again.

我們對我們的管道感到滿意。我們對訂單進度感到滿意。是的，其中許多訂單將來自超大規模和託管以及此類市場。事實上，這些訂單是今天下的明天的。這些與大型站點部署保持一致，具有相當前瞻性的專案計劃。所以我認為這是很正常的事情，又開始發生了。

Right. That makes sense. And then just one last one on -- any updates on how this liquid cooling strategy is progressing? And I assume we're going to hear more about it in the 29th. But any updates there on how you guys are going about that solution?

正確的。這就說得通了。然後是最後一個——有關這種液體冷卻策略進展的任何更新嗎？我想我們會在 29 日聽到更多相關消息。但是你們如何解決該解決方案有任何更新嗎？

Well, we are very happy by the way things are progressing in terms of portfolio, in terms of partnerships, et cetera. And yes, as I said in several occasions, we see that as -- we see this piece as additive because it's adding a link to the cooling chain, so to speak, to the thermal chain. We'll certainly have more details at Investor Day here, but pretty -- feel pretty good about what we're doing also with our partners and the biggest chip manufacturers.

嗯，我們對產品組合、合作夥伴關係等的進展感到非常高興。是的，正如我在多個場合所說的那樣，我們認為這件產品是添加劑，因為它為冷卻鏈（可以說是熱鏈）添加了一個連結。我們肯定會在投資者日公佈更多細節，但我們對我們與合作夥伴和最大的晶片製造商所做的事情感到非常滿意。

Our next question comes from Jeff Sprague from Vertical Research.

我們的下一個問題來自垂直研究的傑夫·斯普拉格。

And just a couple for me. I wonder if we could talk about service a little bit. Obviously isn't growing anywhere near the rate of equipment, which I think is tied to the mix of where the equipment is going. But all this talk about system integration complexity and the like, what is the prospect for kind of service growth to accelerate here or service revenue per unit or per megawatt deployed, however you might frame it? Maybe you could give us some perspective there.

對我來說只有幾個。我想知道我們是否可以談談服務。顯然，成長速度遠不及設備的成長速度，我認為這與設備的去向組合有關。但是，所有這些討論都涉及系統整合複雜性等，這裡加速的服務成長或每單位或每兆瓦部署的服務收入的前景如何，無論您如何設計？也許你可以給我們一些觀點。

Yes. Service is accelerating for us towards a double-digit growth territory, which, of course, we like. It is in the nature of service, especially the life cycle part of service. I always like to think in terms of project services, the services that you sell with new equipment, say, and instead the life cycle, the duration of the life of the kit. The latter is very important from a profit standpoint, from a customer experience standpoint, but also very important because it compounds over time. But it's built on the installed base that we are growing.

是的。我們的服務正在加速實現兩位數的成長，這當然是我們所喜歡的。這是服務的本質，尤其是服務的生命週期部分。我總是喜歡從專案服務的角度來思考，例如用新設備銷售的服務，而不是生命週期，也就是套件的生命週期。從利潤的角度、從客戶體驗的角度來看，後者非常重要，但也非常重要，因為它會隨著時間的推移而復合。但它是建立在我們不斷增長的安裝基礎上的。

So we are happy about the direction. We want to accelerate further, and we'll accelerate further. But definitely, a component of service that is being able and uniquely, given our global footprint and experience, uniquely able to accompany our customers in the complexity from an installation commissioning start-up standpoint or retrofit standpoint, customer on the journey of high density, be it cooling high density, very complex. And power high density is something that, a, we are well equipped for, uniquely experienced and geographically positioned, but also getting ready for it. So I am -- I've never been more excited about our service opportunity going forward.

所以我們對這個方向感到高興。我們希望進一步加速，我們也會進一步加速。但毫無疑問，鑑於我們的全球足跡和經驗，服務的一個組成部分能夠獨特地陪伴我們的客戶，從安裝調試啟動的角度或改造的角度來看，客戶在高密度的旅程中，在復雜的情況下，冷卻密度高，非常複雜。高功率密度是我們裝備精良、經驗獨特、地理位置優越的原因，我們也為此做好了準備。所以我對我們未來的服務機會感到前所未有的興奮。

Then maybe you could address capital deployment a little bit more, and maybe we'll hear more about that next month. But maybe your appetite for M&A, your view on whether the organization is up to digesting something else or share repurchases in the cards? Maybe just what the priorities might be?

然後也許您可以更多地解決資本部署問題，也許我們下個月會聽到更多相關資訊。但也許你對併購的興趣，你對組織是否準備消化其他東西或股票回購的看法？也許優先事項可能是什麼？

I would say that there's certainly a very relevant question. And our Investor Day is relative -- is relatively soon about a month. And I think the best thing is to just ask you to be patient for us -- with us for another month. And we will certainly go into those details together on the 29th of November. Bear with us for now.

我想說這肯定是一個非常相關的問題。我們的投資者日是相對的—相對較快，大約一個月。我認為最好的方法就是請你們對我們保持耐心——再陪我們一個月。我們肯定會在 11 月 29 日一起討論這些細節。現在請耐心等待。

Our next question comes from Lance Vitanza from TD Cowen.

我們的下一個問題來自 TD Cowen 的 Lance Vitanza。

My question is around how Vertiv is positioned specifically with respect to liquid cooling and direct-to-chip technologies. Are there notable gaps in your product portfolio? And if so, how do you expect to address them?

我的問題是 Vertiv 在液體冷卻和直接晶片技術方面的具體定位。您的產品組合中是否有明顯的差距？如果是這樣，您預計如何解決這些問題？

Hey, Lance, we feel very good about our liquid cooling portfolio. And it's a broad portfolio, and it's a portfolio that stretches direct-to-chip, immersion cooling, so we feel good with what we have today in the portfolio. And again...

嘿，蘭斯，我們對我們的液體冷卻產品組合感覺非常好。這是一個廣泛的產品組合，而且是一個延伸至晶片、浸入式冷卻的產品組合，因此我們對目前的產品組合感到滿意。然後再...

(inaudible)

（聽不清楚）

Yes, go ahead.

好，去吧。

No, no, please continue.

不不不，請繼續。

No, I was saying that would be a big...

不，我是說這將是一個大...

My follow-up was just going -- yes. So just specifically, do you worry about potentially being disintermediated, so to speak, by either hyperscalers or chip manufacturers directly embedding their own or someone else's technology into the chip or into the rack and thus bypassing Vertiv? Is that something that you worry about?

我的後續行動只是──是的。那麼具體而言，您是否擔心超大規模廠商或晶片製造商直接將自己或其他人的技術嵌入到晶片或機架中，從而繞過 Vertiv，從而可能被脫中介？這是你擔心的事情嗎？

We are working very closely with both hyperscalers and chip manufacturers. And the whole landscape of high-density cooling and power looks very promising to us. And again, more when we're together also in the interest of time.

我們正在與超大規模廠商和晶片製造商密切合作。對我們來說，高密度冷卻和電力的整個前景看起來非常有前途。再說一次，我們在一起的時候也會更多，也是為了時間。

We currently have no further questions. So I would like to hand over back to Giordano for closing remarks.

目前我們沒有進一步的問題。我想請佐丹奴做閉幕致詞。

All right. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. So again, 2023, certainly shaping up as a strong year. We're happy about that. Again, an opportunity for me to thank the Vertiv team around the world for their hard work, dedication and focus. So we definitely have seen the benefits of a stronger execution. And we really appreciate your support. We look forward to connecting with all of you in November at our Investor Conference. With that, thank you very much, and have a splendid day.

好的。非常感謝。非常感謝。再說一遍，2023 年無疑將是強勁的一年。我們對此感到高興。我再次有機會感謝世界各地的 Vertiv 團隊的辛勤工作、奉獻精神和專注。所以我們確實看到了更強執行力的好處。我們非常感謝您的支持。我們期待在 11 月的投資者大會上與大家交流。在此，非常感謝您，祝您有個愉快的一天。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的加入。現在您可以斷開線路。謝謝。