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.我是布魯諾，今天將擔任本次電話會議的接線生。現在，我謹代表Vertiv公司歡迎各位參加2023年第三季財報電話會議。 （接線生提示）請注意，本次電話會議正在錄音。

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.

現在我將把主持今天的電話會議交給投資者關係副總裁琳恩‧馬克西納女士。請開始吧。

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.

好的。謝謝，早安，歡迎參加Vertiv 2023年第一季財報電話會議。今天與我一同出席的有Vertiv執行董事長戴夫·科特和首席執行官大衛·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.

在本次電話會議開始之前，我想指出，我們將就未來事件（包括Vertiv未來的財務和營運業績）做出前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述受重大風險和不確定性因素的影響，可能導致實際結果與前瞻性陳述中的結果有重大差異。請參閱今天發布的盈利報告中的相關警示性聲明，您也可以在我們的年度報告、季度報告以及向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他文件中了解更多關於這些風險的信息。

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.

我們今天所作的任何前瞻性陳述均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陳述的義務。

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，我們將同時介紹GAAP和非GAAP財務指標。您可以在我們的獲利新聞稿和投資者關係簡報（可在investors.vertiv.com網站查看）中找到我們的GAAP業績以及GAAP與非GAAP的調節表。

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

接下來，我將把電話交給執行主席戴夫·科特。

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.

各位早安。我們又迎來了一個強勁的季度，這完全得益於我們紮實的基本面，以及整個公司高效的營運執行，這些都很好地轉化為實際業績，最終在第三季度超出了預期。我相信我們正在看到一種趨勢，我們計劃繼續保持這種趨勢。

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提升。最令人振奮的是，我們仍處於發展初期。與優秀的終端市場契合至關重要。我們身處一個前景廣闊的產業，擁有強大的市場地位，而我們的技術差異化優勢也不斷增強。無論經濟情勢好壞，數據都在持續成長。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.

我們計劃以強勁的勢頭結束今年。我們的種子輪規劃正在逐步顯現成效，但仍有待充分發揮。我們的終端市場依然保持韌性。營運執行力持續提升，未來發展空間依然廣闊。展望2024年及以後，這是一個非常有利的局面。那麼，接下來我將把電話交給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.

謝謝你，戴夫。過去12個月，我們高度重視營運執行，包括提高利潤率和現金流，並輔以緊迫感，這正是我們打造高效企業文化的基礎。本季各項業績全面提升，超乎預期，顯示公司仍有更大的發展潛力。

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。第三季銷售額實現了17%的有機成長。美洲地區持續引領成長，增幅達40%。我們持續看到亞太地區，特別是中國市場面臨挑戰。更多詳情將在後續投影片中闡述。

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.

訂單量增加了11%（不計外匯影響），我們對此非常滿意。訂單的強勁成長並不完全出乎我們的意料。我們看到訂單儲備一直在增加，但具體時間總是難以確定。訂單量的加速成長令我們倍感鼓舞。我們相信這是未來形勢良好的預兆。

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.

調整後的營業利潤為2.96億美元，經調整後的營業利益率為17%。營運執行力不斷提升，並實際轉化為利潤率的成長。我們又迎來了一個強勁的現金流季度，這是我們重點關注的領域，我們正在取得預期成果。當然，這對我們的槓桿率產生了正面影響，截至9月底，我們的槓桿率為2.4倍，預計到年底將接近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.

鑑於我們年初至今的出色表現，我們上調了全年業績預期。我們預計全年銷售額將達到21%的有機成長，年度營業利潤（AOP）介於10.2億美元至10.3億美元之間，調整後自由現金流中位數為6.25億美元。強勁的成長勢頭仍在持續，我們預計這一勢頭將得以延續。

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.

讓我們來看第四張投影片。市場環境方面沒有變化。情況與我們90天前所描述的情況一致，整體市場狀況良好。資料中心終端市場依然強勁，其中超大規模雲端和託管服務持續引領成長。我們預計在可預見的未來，需求將加速成長，整體市場將保持強勁勢頭。

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.

不同客戶的需求週期處於不同階段，但他們都意識到未來需求強勁。企業方面傳來令人鼓舞的消息。我們聽到了一些更樂觀的展望，但仍存在一些宏觀層面的擔憂。電信業依然疲軟。一些電信業者推遲了投資，在經歷了幾年強勁的5G投資之後，市場目前處於低迷期。

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.

亞太地區整體經濟依然疲軟，主要原因是中國市場成長緩慢，但印度和亞洲其他地區的一些積極跡象部分抵消了這一影響。我們預計中國市場不會強勁復甦，疲軟態勢預計將持續到2024年底。目前，亞太地區的亮點——印度市場——表現十分亮眼。大量投資湧入印度，而且這一趨勢很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、菲律賓以及整個東南亞的市場活動十分活躍。市場訊號持續令我感到鼓舞。我們看到，無論是在潛在客戶名單、訂單簿，或是與世界各地客戶的溝通中，需求都在增加。

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.

幻燈片5前面有一段很好的內容。請看幻燈片5。第三季訂單年增11%，季增16%。我全年都在強調，銷售通路活動強勁。我們看到這正在轉化為實際訂單。所以這並不完全出乎意料，但這種成長速度令人鼓舞。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類似，我不會感到意外，因為成長速度正在加快。

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.

現在我們經常收到關於訂單中人工智慧相關業務量的問題。這些問題通常被表達為非此即彼的問題：是人工智慧嗎？還是不是？但答案並非如此簡單。如果我們只討論那些明確應用於高密度GPU或計算的技術，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在數千萬美元左右。但我們產品組合中的許多其他組件，例如冷水機組、直接膨脹式冷卻系統、散熱系統、開關設備、母線、UPS等等，無論用於GPU或CPU計算，高密度或普通密度，都與人工智慧相關。因此，支援人工智慧或未來面向人工智慧的資料中心的業務量遠遠超過數千萬美元。

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，許多資料中心的設計都兼顧了多用途性。因此，我們的大多數產品都將支援多種類型的運算，包括人工智慧。這正是我們擁有涵蓋動力系統、熱鍊和IT太空基礎設施等所有關鍵基礎設施技術的全面產品組合的優勢所在，而真正具備這種能力的公司寥寥無幾。

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，無論是超大規模資料中心、託管資料中心，或是企業級資料中心和邊緣運算，都會採用不同的人工智慧策略。而這正合我們心意。複雜性、大規模定制，這些都是我們擅長的領域。總而言之，人工智慧時代即將到來，我們預計它將在2024年到來。屆時，人工智慧將以更顯著的方式展現在我們面前。

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.

現在來說說供應鏈。我們現在的處境與以往截然不同，真的截然不同。我說的不僅僅是比90天前略有進步。如果你回顧過去一年的進展，你會發現交貨週期顯著縮短，這才是真正的進步。關鍵零件供應商一直在大力投資產能，我們也從中受益。我們專注於地緣政治多元化和整體供應鏈韌性，並對許多其他供應商進行了資格認證。我們正在關鍵領域鎖定產能，以確保在當前和未來各種成長情境下，我們的供應基礎都能保持強勁。我們已經做好了充分的準備。

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.

我們來看第六張幻燈片。在這裡，我們想就產能問題做一些補充說明，考慮到各種可能的成長情景，這是一個非常重要的主題。我們擁有一個強大的起點，在全球擁有22家製造工廠。有瞭如此強勁的起點，我們更有信心實現規模化擴張。現有的工廠佈局在設計之初就考慮了未來的成長需求。正如您所看到的，我們不斷擴大規模，擴大現有設施，並提升兩家新工廠的產能，以支持業務成長。

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.

目前，我們的工廠擁有約25%的額外產能作為緩衝，以應對更旺盛的成長期，並可靈活調配各工廠產能，優化生產。當然，我們也在持續投資。

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.

生產力是提升產能的另一大槓桿。產能利用率和生產力提升的機會比比皆是。坦白說，這只是個開始。 Vertiv 的作業系統正在全公司範圍內大力推廣，進一步釋放產能。在公司早期，我非常享受管理工廠的經驗。因此，製造業對我來說意義非凡，它佔據了我全部的精力。

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，但我們會採取穩健的方式，不會對公司的現金流狀況造成顯著影響。我們可以審慎地進行成長投資，並實現強勁的自由現金流。接下來，就交給大衛了。

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.

太好了，謝謝Gio。現在翻到第7頁。這張投影片總結了我們第三季的財務表現。正如你所看到的，各項業務的財務表現依然強勁。有機淨銷售額成長17%，其中9%來自銷售成長，8%來自物價上漲。正如Gio所提到的，美洲地區（有機成長40%）仍然是成長的主要動力，尤其是在剛剛過去的第三季。

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.

經調整後的營業利潤較去年同期成長1.62億美元，主要得益於1億美元的價格成本優勢和4,500萬美元的銷售成長。經調整後的營業利潤較我們之前的預期高出4000多萬美元，主要原因是定價高於預期1500萬美元，以及通膨預期降低3000萬美元，因為我們看到一些核心金屬（尤其是鋼鐵）的價格在上個季度呈下降趨勢。

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.

正如本頁幻燈片所示，我們因一項商業讓步獲得了一次性700萬美元的收益，這也促成了業績優於先前預期。這項商業讓步也使調整後營業利潤率提高了40至50個基點，本季調整後營業利潤率達到17%。這比去年同期高出790個基點，有力地表明我們在相對較短的時間內顯著提升了營運效率。

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，我們還有更多的工作要做，但第三季的業績應該能讓我們更有信心實現長期利潤率目標。

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.

繼續看這張投影片。我們本季的調整後自由現金流表現強勁，達到2.21億美元，較去年同期成長2.41億美元。我們持續感受到獲利能力提升和營運資本管理改善的益處，這惠及整個公司。現金稅額增加，這是獲利能力提升的必然結果。

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，我們正在努力提高現金流的穩定性和可預測性，控制那些重要的事情，特別是貿易營運資本，因為我們充分認識到，如果銷售額和盈利能力不能轉化為現金流，那麼它們就毫無意義，而現金流對於推動股東長期價值至關重要。

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.

最後，如果您看一下這張投影片的右下角，會發現本季末淨槓桿率已降至2.4倍，預計到年底將降至2.1倍左右。當然，淨槓桿率的改善與現金流的增加密切相關。顯然，我們的資產負債表持續增強，這為我們考慮資本部署提供了更大的靈活性。關於資本部署的更多細節，我們將在11月29日的投資者大會上進行詳細闡述。

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，請翻到第8頁。本頁總結了我們第三季各業務板塊的業績。美洲地區持續保持強勁成長勢頭，有機淨銷售額成長40%，其中銷量成長28%，價格上漲12%。美洲地區調整後營業利潤率較去年同期顯著提升，成長910個基點，這主要得益於有利的價格成本和固定成本槓桿效應。

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.

亞太地區的營收成長線（位於圖表中間部分）持續受到中國市場的負面影響，該地區的有機淨銷售額較去年同期下降7%。從子區域來看，除中國以外的亞洲其他地區（即除中國以外的所有地區）繼續保持良好的同比增長，第三季度實現了兩位數的低增長。儘管銷售額有所下降，但亞太地區的調整後營業利潤率仍與去年同期持平，為19.1%，這充分體現了公司在持續提升利潤率的同時，也注重成本控制。

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.

我們預計亞太地區第四季將恢復個位數中低水準的年成長，部分原因是受中國第四季季節性因素的影響，但該地區2023年全年業績可能低於2022年。我們預計中國市場在2024年初不會出現強勁復甦。相反，我們預期銷售活動將相對低迷，至少持續到明年下半年。

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（EMEA）第三季有機成長相對平穩，略優於我們先前的預期。該季度同比銷售額持平主要是由於時間因素所致，我們預計第四季度將出現顯著的環比增長，全年該地區有機銷售額增長率將達到個位數高點至兩位數低點。 EMEA地區持續保持強勁的調整後營業利潤率，本季接近28%，較去年同期增長1030個基點，這一增長主要得益於有利的價格/成本比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，本頁顯示，第三季公司成本較去年同期增加約700萬美元，主因是研發投入增加以及新增300萬美元的匯兌損失。我們目前的預期是，下半年公司成本總額與上半年基本持平。

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，請翻到第9頁。本頁總結了我們第四季的業績預期。我們預計全年業績將強勁收官，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為16.3%，比去年第四季高出360個基點。由於亞太地區銷售成長，區域組合變化將對利潤率產生一定影響，預計調整後營業利潤率將較第三季的17%有所下降。需要注意的是，第三季業績得益於我們前幾頁提到的商業優惠政策。

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.

經過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，其中大部分是由時間因素驅動的。此外，由於銷售額將季增約1億美元，第四季營運資本使用量預計將比第三季增加約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.

中國第四季的現金回收值得關注，鑑於中國當前的宏觀環境和現金可用性受到的影響，大客戶的付款速度有所放緩。

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，請看第10張投影片，也就是我們的全年業績指引。我們將全年銷售額預計上調約3,000萬美元，調整後營業利潤預計為12億至13億美元，較2022年成長超過5.8億美元。此次調整後的業績指引比先前的指引高出約7,500萬美元，其中4,000萬美元來自第三季業績超預期，3,500萬美元來自第四季業績上調。

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.

預計全年調整後營業利益率為15%，較前一年提高730個基點，其中約500個基點來自更高的變動貢獻利潤率，超過200個基點來自固定成本槓桿效應。此外，我們將調整後自由現金流預期調高7,500萬美元至6.25億美元（中位數），較前一年增加8.85億美元。這項改善體現了我們對現金流的重視，以及已在整個公司範圍內落實的營運流程改善。我們致力於提供強勁且穩定的自由現金流，這是我們高績效文化的重要組成部分，我相信這預示著未來將取得持續的良好業績。

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

說完這些，我把麥克風交還給喬。

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

好的，謝謝你，大衛。非常感謝。我們來看第11張投影片。

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.

我對2024年有一些初步看法。我認為利好因素多於阻力。我們的起點很高，資料中心市場持續加速成長。人工智慧正在形成一股利好因素，這股因素在2024年可能會更加明顯。

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.

我們的供應鏈韌性已顯著提升至更高成熟度。這一點至關重要，因為我們需要展望明年及未來可能出現的需求變化。我們將繼續對業務進行均衡投資，包括研發能力等，以支持未來幾年的業務成長。我們將繼續不懈地專注於營運執行，並持續深入實施Vertiv營運系統，從而持續改善。我們已經取得了一些進展，但未來還有更多目標需要實現。

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.

當然，也存在一些不利因素。中國經濟復甦緩慢，短期內似乎難以實現。值得注意的是，我們預期2024年季節性規律將恢復正常。對Vertiv而言，這通常意味著隨著時間的推移，以美元計價的財務指標將逐週走強。

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.

讓我們來看第12張投影片。再次提醒大家，我們的首屆投資者大會將於11月29日舉行。以下是我們計劃當天討論的主題。我們將分享許多令人興奮的信息。我期待與大家共度這一天，探討我們的策略、技術、市場應用、營運和財務框架。我們希望您能參加，最好是親臨現場，或是遠程參加。

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.

讓我們來看第13張投影片。我認為，與一年前相比，我們已經取得了顯著的進步。您可以在這張投影片的所有要點中看到這一點。我們取得了巨大的進步。這段時間既緊張又充滿樂趣，但我們距離發揮全部潛力還有很長的路要走。我要感謝我們全球團隊的熱情和辛勤付出，感謝他們每天應對挑戰，確保我們超越客戶的期望，助力整個行業發展壯大，並始終堅持每個季度都取得優異的業績。我相信您已經看到了我們高效文化的初步跡象。

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

好了，現在交給接線生。布魯諾，該你了。

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

謝謝。 （操作說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Melius Research 公司的 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.

我看著第11張投影片，電信業在這股順風或逆風中處於什麼位置？或者說，電信業在這裡根本沒有被提及，我的意思是，它更像是中立的？或者──我不知道，我就說到這裡吧。

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，斯科特。不，我認為，就目前整體情況而言，電信板塊處於中性水平。說實話，電信板塊疲軟在本季已不是什麼新鮮事。我們至少在最近兩次電話會議上都提到過這一點。

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，我們預計這種情況將在2024年延續。所以，如果有什麼變化的話，我們可能會看到相反的結果。業內人士普遍預期，極致優勢遲早會在電信邊界營運等領域出現。但同樣，我們不能對此抱持僥倖心理，而是要看是否擁有合適的技術和足夠的客戶覆蓋範圍，以防這種情況發生。

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。我再補充一點，關於價格。在這個行業，價格歷來都不是最重要的因素，直到供應鏈危機爆發，需要採取措施時，價格才變得至關重要。但到了2024年，是否需要做出一些改變？是否需要一種新的模式，例如基於價值的銷售，並找到比以往更有效控制價格的方法？

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。產業和線路技術正變得越來越複雜。我們肯定會討論高密度輸電方案。我們會討論裝置容量的整體淨增量，以及總擁有成本、效率等方面的需求。

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.

世界正變得越來越複雜。你所交付的技術的價值至關重要。我們討論了Vertiv在定價方面的能力，包括流程方面以及將價值轉化為初始價格方面，無論是在專案定價流程方面，還是在新技術定價方面。

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.

但產業整體而言，需求大於產能也是不爭的事實。因此，從很多方面來看，這無疑是一個有利的環境。我認為，未來價格漲幅將會放緩。我們確實享受了通膨後的追趕效應。但我們仍然對未來投資者的認可度保持樂觀。

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

聽起來令人鼓舞。分析師日見！謝謝！

Looking forward.

期待。

Our next question comes from Nicole DeBlase from Deutsche Bank.

下一個問題來自德意志銀行的妮可·德布萊斯。

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?

或許我們可以先從你們之前提到的2024年的情況說起。我認為區分半年和半年非常重要，因為上半年的比較基數很大。我想接著問的是，你們是否仍預期上半年能夠達到自然成長？還是說，由於比較基數的影響，成長將完全依賴下半年？

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，正如我剛才提到的，讓我詳細解釋一下。正如我所說，我們正朝著正常水平邁進，也就是按照歷史規律來安排上半年和下半年。 2023年可能會略有不同，因為我們積壓了一些訂單，可以說是幾乎是2022年積壓的剩餘訂單，由於零件短缺等原因，這些訂單被轉移到了上半年。因此，2023年上半年和下半年的業績肯定會比較平穩。

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 think it was going to be positive all the way through.

目前，我們預計上半年和下半年營收成長率可能在45%到55%之間。上下浮動一些，現在下結論還為時過早，但這大概是我們的想法。如果2024年上半年的營收低於2023年，我會感到很驚訝，當然現在下結論還為時過早。所以，我認為整個2024年上半年的營收都會保持成長。

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

但我們再次強調季節性問題。僅此而已。

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。還有你們關於產能和業務投資的評論。我想，如果我們看一下多年的資本支出狀況，你們是想傳達資本支出需要從目前的水準成長嗎？還是認為可以在目前的支出水準下逐步擴大產能？

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，資本支出也會隨著營收成長而成長。我的意思是，兩者之間會有一定比例關係，但可能還會略微超過這個比例。我認為這在我們服務的主要行業中是一個獨特的趨勢。正如我們所說，我們有很多方法可以確保產能充足。

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.

提高生產力是一方面，我們正在確保充分利用過去幾年累積的產能。當然，如果情況如我們所預期的那樣有利，我們也會採取更積極的策略。但我再次強調，我們認為這不會對公司的整體現金流狀況產生實質的影響。

Our next question comes from Amit Daryanani from Evercore.

我們的下一個問題來自 Evercore 公司的 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.

恭喜你拿到了非常棒的業績數據。首先，你的訂單成長勢頭強勁，年增了11%，你對未來的發展也更加樂觀。你認為訂單成長的驅動力中，有多少是來自訂單量，又有多少是來自價格？另外，客戶的訂單處理時間是否也在延長？這或許也是原因之一。如果你能談談價格、訂單量和訂單處理時間這三方面因素對訂單成長的影響，那就太好了。

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。所以我覺得我們接到的訂單量很大。正如我剛才所說，我們今年的銷售額表現不錯。我們預計價格會略有下降。而未來的成長將主要來自銷售。

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.

說到週期，我想您指的是我們收到的訂單以及需要處理多久才能完成。我認為這其中有利有弊。一方面，正如我之前多次提到的，包括今天早些時候，縮短的交付週期有利於加快所謂的「常規業務」的拓展，這始終是好事，對未來服務收入的積累也大有裨益。但我們也看到，大型企業，無論是超大規模資料中心營運商還是大型託管服務商，都越來越關注覆蓋範圍。所以，這其實是兩者的良好結合。

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?

明白了，這真的很有幫助。接下來我想聽聽您的看法。預計未來幾年，新建資料中心將新增 15 到 20 吉瓦的電力消耗。想想看，這些機架的功率從 10 千瓦增加到 50 到 100 千瓦，這對您的電源管理產品組合會有什麼影響？我們需要一套與現有方案截然不同的電源解決方案嗎？這對（聽不清楚）意味著什麼？因為我認為 [Edwards] 一直專注於散熱方面，這當然是件好事。但我很想知道，隨著我們轉向更高密度的機架，電源管理方面會受到怎樣的影響？

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，您說的這一點非常重要——這不僅是我們產品組合中非常重要的一部分，也是散熱部件，而且會受益於您提到的擴展、加速和千兆瓦級的功率提升。從根本上講，我們現有的動力系統，從中壓開關設備到母線和配電單元（PDU），整個動力系統都不會發生劇烈的變化。只是由於需要從電網向晶片傳輸更多電力，因此部署範圍會更廣。

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。淨容量增加了。機架內部的電源分配方式還需要一些微調。一些PDU解決方案將採用高密度設計，但這只是整個電源系統中相對較小的一部分，其容量將大幅增加。

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.

對我們業務的電力方面而言，另一個積極因素是，正如我們多次提到的，電力供應是整個行業普遍關注的瓶頸，也是新建資料中心面臨的主要限制因素。這促使營運商思考替代供電方式。因此，動態電力解決方案、微電網、電池、儲能係統等等，都是我們正在密切關注的未來機遇，我們也在與業內巨頭合作進行概念驗證等方面的研究。這對我們來說是一個充滿希望的未來機會。

Our next question comes from Nigel Coe from Wolfe Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 Wolfe Research 的 Nigel Coe。

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?

感謝您在投資者日上的預覽。我想了解更多關於地域分佈的細節。歐洲、中東和非洲地區（EMEA）本季表現不佳，您提到了一些專案延期。看起來第四季已經明顯反彈。那麼2024年的情況如何？您認為目前歐洲市場的優勢或劣勢在哪裡，尤其是在宏觀經濟情勢下？您也提到了中國，預計要到2024年底才能復甦。那麼印度、菲律賓等地的成長是否足以抵銷中國市場在2024年的下滑？

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，我覺得現在下結論還太早——不，絕對是如此。確切地說，即使是亞太地區內部的地域劃分也還為時過早。不過，我們在印度和東南亞市場的表現確實令人鼓舞。至於中國市場，我們當然仍是中國市場的重要力量，一股強大的本土力量。但對於明年的發展，我們採取的是一種較為謹慎的態度。

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.

談到歐洲、中東和非洲地區（EMEA），我對目前的銷售管道感到鼓舞。我對EMEA的銷售管道以及與各客戶的溝通都非常滿意。您也提到EMEA的宏觀經濟情勢並不樂觀，地緣政治局勢也極為複雜。中東市場對我們來說確實存在著很大的不確定性，畢竟它並非我們市場的大頭，營收佔比也微乎其微。但我們無法預知未來會發生什麼事。不過總的來說，就我們能夠掌控的因素而言，我們在EMEA擁有穩固的地位和良好的銷售管道。

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?

好的。關於定價，我想快速問一下，因為我覺得這個問題很重要，畢竟大家對價格回落有些擔憂。你們的業務中是否存在任何程度的價格敏感度、基於價格的談判或基於價格的競爭？另外，David，您能否就第四季的價格延續到2024年發表一下看法？我們估計價格延續幅度在2個百分點以上。這個範圍合適嗎？

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，我先談談對市場的整體看法。我的意思是，我們生活在一個商業活動頻繁的世界。這點毋庸置疑。不同的地域，尤其是不同類型的市場，不同的目標市場，從價格角度來看，其動態略有不同。但總的來說，我們對繼續保持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。至於Nigel你問到的價格結轉效應，很遺憾，現在給出具體數字可能還為時過早，但我們絕對不會保證一定會有一些好處。像今年這樣每年都維持8%的價格漲幅，甚至像去年那樣達到7%，可能不太現實。不過，我們確實預期會有一些結轉效應。而且我們可以肯定的是，我們未來的目標，甚至更長遠的目標，就是實現價格/成本的正成長。

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

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?

所以，當您審視您的人工智慧——是的，是的，當您審視您與人工智慧相關的流程時，我們是在新建資料中心方面投入更多資源嗎？還是在改造現有資料中心方面投入更多資源？從您的角度來看，情況如何？

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.

改造升級絕對是個機會。目前，我們主要看到的是新建項目，但並非完全如此。不過，關於改造升級的討論也相當令人鼓舞。但是，情況瞬息萬變。我們積極參與這兩方面的討論。

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?

還有一個後續問題。你們目前在美國的產能利用率是多少？我知道這些問題之前有人問過，但還是想問一下。到2024年底，美國將新增多少產能？目前的計劃是什麼？另外，我還想了解一下，如果包括墨西哥在內，你們在從其他地區調配產能到美國方面有多大的彈性？畢竟不同地區的電力標準差異很大。

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，絕對沒錯。我想說，我們之前在幻燈片演示中提到的普遍增長25%的說法，絕對適用——幾乎在全球範圍內都適用。就目前而言，北美市場的情況也確實如此。

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.

正如我剛才所說，我們將繼續投資。但我們確實有一項非常明確且精心策劃的計劃，確保我們能夠利用全球資源，為美國市場做出貢獻。目前，我們已經在不同業務領域以不同程度進行了部分工作。但隨著時間的推移，我們將加快並加強這項工作。

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規範而言，關鍵在於北美或美洲以外地區的工廠是否擁有相應的認證。我們目前已經具備或正在加快這方面的認證，具體取決於技術。因此，這非常注重利潤，也是我們正在進行並將繼續進行的重點工作。

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?

我知道您說過，您看到的訂單成長正向拐點其實並不出乎意料。但您能否談談您對目前訂單成長動能能否持續的看法？您預計訂單成長會在2024年繼續加速嗎？您又如何看待這一輪上漲週期的持續時間？您認為人工智慧的貢獻會像淘金熱一樣曇花一現嗎？還是會持續相當長的時間？

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.

關於您問題的第二部分——也是最後一部分，我們認為這是一個長期趨勢。從某種意義上來說，我們相信人工智慧將會非常普及。而這只是個開始。這是一個持續多年的周期——我們相信，這是一個需要很多年才能完成的週期。

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，或許你剛才在考慮訂單組成時提到了企業市場。這方面可能有一些令人鼓舞的趨勢。新增訂單中有多少來自超大規模和託管客戶？他們現在佔訂單的比例是否高於企業客戶？你如何描述企業市場？你提到了一些積極的跡象，但顯然，利率較高，而且經濟狀況也令人擔憂。所以，如果能提供更詳細的資訊就更好了。

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，沒錯，託管和超大規模資料中心在我們業務組合和訂單量中佔比非常大，而且成長速度還在加快。所以，這方面講得非常透徹。

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，運算能力的加速提升，以及人工智慧進一步加劇的數據利用率和數據量的成長，都需要企業端的相應基礎設施。這包括更分散式的運算、更邊緣的運算，有時甚至需要企業內部或專有的資料中心。顯然，加速發展的主要動力將來自超大規模資料中心、託管資料中心和雲端服務。但我們對企業業務前景持樂觀態度。

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.

此外，企業業務在我所指的領域中佔據了很大一部分，它代表了我們更分散的市場佈局和細分市場類型。而交付週期的縮短也對我們大有裨益。我們正在加速拓展這部分市場。

Our next question comes from Mark Delaney from Goldman Sachs.

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，恭喜你們取得如此佳績。希望您能更詳細地談談您在中國觀察到的情況以及造成這種疲軟的部分原因。另外，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在中國的業務？即使這種影響是間接的，Vertiv自身的產品並沒有直接受到任何出口管制。

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。我們看待中國市場，更多的是將其視為一個整體市場狀況，而非出口限制。我想提醒大家，我們的設備不涉及任何資料傳輸，僅用於為IT基礎設施供電和散熱。顯然，目前中國市場並不強勁。我們作為一家非常本土化的供應商或企業參與市場，我們的大部分供應鏈都在本地。因此，我們以中國供應商的身份運營，並隨著市場的發展而調整。而目前，中國市場確實不景氣。

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，Gio。我的另一個問題是關於定價的——第三季的定價表現優於您的預期。與上季的預期相比，2023年的定價預期並沒有更大的利多因素。您能否詳細談談是什麼因素推動了第三季以及全年的定價成長？這在多大程度上是產品組合調整的結果，還是同類產品定價策略的結果？

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.

當然，從定價角度來看，我們已經採取了一系列措施。但顯然，我們調整了訂單組合和執行順序，並採取了一定的保守策略和引導措施，這些都促成了價格/成本的上漲。

Got it. Congrats again on the good results.

明白了。再次恭喜你取得好成績。

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.

所以我想更深入探討一些關於明年上半年的評論。我們聽說，在第四季度，不僅有一些超大規模資料中心營運商下了訂單——而且你們似乎對此很有信心——最近幾週還下了一些大訂單。目前唯一真正的問題是，他們何時需要交付，也就是供應商何時開始生產。

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這種趨勢，是否已經看到了這些訂單，你對明年的謹慎態度更多是因為你不知道這些東西什麼時候才能發貨，因為我們正處於一個快速發展且可能不斷變化的環境中，這些人仍在摸索最佳的運營方式。

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10月初的需求究竟有多大。我覺得——我不知道，你們一直在談論產能，並努力證明產能充足，這似乎與大家普遍認為的「明年開局疲軟」形成了鮮明對比。我只是想把所有這些資訊整合起來，了解你們在第四季初的訂單情況究竟有多大把握。

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，就在我們分享投影片的時候——也就是在瀏覽投影片的過程中——我們預計第四季可能會與第三季基本持平，我們認為會和第三季的情況差不多。所以我們對此相當樂觀。

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.

我認為我們不應該對上半年和下半年的業績過度解讀。這是業界的常態。而且，如果不是因為供應限制影響了我們以及所有人的整個2022年，2023年上半年的情況也會如此。

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.

所以，如果真有什麼影響的話，那就是2022年下半年到2023年上半年的積壓訂單人為地有所增加，從而平衡了2023年上下半年的訂單量，這種情況在我們這種類型的企業中並不常見。所以我認為不必對此過度解讀。

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.

我們對目前的訂單儲備情況很滿意，訂單成長速度也令人滿意。的確，許多訂單都來自超大規模資料中心、託管資料中心以及類似的市場。而且，這些訂單都是今天下的，明天就能交付。它們與大型站點部署專案以及相當長遠的專案計劃相吻合。所以我認為這是一個非常正常的現象，正在逐漸恢復。

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?

好的，有道理。最後一個問題－關於液冷方案的進展，有什麼最新消息嗎？我估計29號會聽到更多消息。但你們在解決方案方面有什麼最新進展嗎？

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.

我們對目前在產品組合、合作夥伴關係等方面的進展感到非常滿意。是的，正如我之前多次提到的，我們認為這部分業務是錦上添花，因為它相當於在冷卻鏈（或熱鏈）上增加了一個環節。我們會在投資者日上公佈更多細節，但我們對與合作夥伴以及最大的晶片製造商的合作進展感到非常樂觀。

Our next question comes from Jeff Sprague from Vertical Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 Vertical Research 的 Jeff Sprague。

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.

我這裡就先問幾個問題。我想我們能不能稍微聊聊服務方面。顯然，服務的成長速度遠不及設備，我認為這與設備的部署方向有關。但是，現在大家都在討論系統整合的複雜性等等，那麼服務成長的前景如何呢？或者說，每單位服務收入（或每兆瓦部署的服務收入）會如何？您能否就此給我們一些見解？

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。我們的服務業務正在加速成長，即將達到兩位數，這當然是我們樂見的。這正是服務的本質，尤其是服務生命週期這一環節。我總是喜歡從專案服務的角度來思考問題，例如隨新設備一起銷售的服務，而不是從設備生命週期的角度來思考。後者從利潤和客戶體驗的角度來看都非常重要，而且隨著時間的推移，其價值還會不斷累積。這一切都建立在我們正在不斷增長的現有客戶群之上。

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.

所以我們對目前的發展方向感到滿意。我們希望進一步加速，也一定會加速。但可以肯定的是，憑藉我們的全球佈局和經驗，我們能夠以獨特的方式陪伴客戶應對各種複雜情況，無論是安裝調試啟動還是改造升級，我們都能為客戶提供全方位的支持，助力他們實現高密度應用，例如高密度製冷和高密度電力應用，這些都是非常複雜的應用。我們擁有豐富的經驗和得天獨厚的地理位置，並且正在為此做好準備。因此，我對我們未來的服務機會從未如此充滿信心。

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?

那麼，或許您可以更詳細地談談資本部署，我們下個月可能會聽到更多相關消息。但您對併購的興趣如何？您認為公司是否有能力消化其他收購項目，或是否會考慮股票回購？或許您還想談談公司的優先事項是什麼？

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.

我認為這確實是一個非常相關的問題。我們的投資者日還有一段時間，大約一個月後。我認為最好的方法是請您再耐心等待一個月。我們一定會在11月29日與您詳細討論這些細節。請您耐心等待。

Our next question comes from Lance Vitanza from TD Cowen.

下一個問題來自 TD Cowen 公司的 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?

我的問題是關於Vertiv在液冷和晶片直熱技術領域的具體定位。你們的產品組合是否有明顯的不足？如果有，你們打算如何彌補這些不足？

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，我們對我們的液冷產品組合非常有信心。這是一個涵蓋廣泛的產品組合，包括晶片級直接冷卻和浸沒式冷卻，所以我們對目前的產品組合非常滿意。還有…

(inaudible)

（聽不清楚）

Yes, go ahead.

好的，請繼續。

No, no, please continue.

不，不，請繼續。

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

不，我的意思是那將是一件大事…

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?

我的後續問題是──是的。那麼具體來說，您是否擔心超大規模資料中心營運商或晶片製造商會直接將自己的或其他公司的技術嵌入晶片或機架中，從而繞過Vertiv，造成某種程度上的「去中介化」？您是否擔心這一點？

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.

我們正與超大規模資料中心營運商和晶片製造商密切合作。高密度冷卻和供電領域的整體前景非常光明。當然，為了節省時間，我們還需要進一步探討。

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

目前我們沒有其他問題了。因此，我想把發言權交還給喬爾達諾，請他作總結發言。

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。再次感謝。所以，2023年無疑會是強勁的一年。我們對此感到非常高興。再次藉此機會，我要感謝Vertiv全球團隊的辛勤工作、奉獻精神和專注精神。我們已經切實感受到了更有效率執行帶來的益處。我們衷心感謝大家的支持。我們期待在11月的投資者大會上與各位再次相聚。最後，非常感謝，祝您有美好的一天。

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。感謝各位的參與。現在可以掛斷電話了。謝謝。