Vertiv Holdings Co (VRT) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Brika, and I will be your conference operator for today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Vertiv's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note that this call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the program over to your host for today's conference call, Lynne Maxeiner, Vice President of Investor Relations.

早安.我叫 Brika，今天我將擔任你們的會議操作員。此時此刻，我謹歡迎大家參加 Vertiv 2023 年第四季和全年財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，此通話正在錄音。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。

Great. Thank you, Brika, and good morning, and welcome to Vertiv's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Joining me today are Vertiv's Executive Chairman, Dave Cote; Chief Executive Officer, Giordano Albertazzi; and Chief Financial Officer, David Fallon.

偉大的。謝謝 Brika，早安，歡迎參加 Vertiv 2023 年第四季和全年財報電話會議。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)；佐丹奴阿爾貝塔齊執行長；和財務長大衛法倫。

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.

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。

You can learn more about these risks in our annual and quarterly reports and other filings made with the SEC. 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.

您可以在我們向 SEC 提交的年度報告和季度報告以及其他文件中了解有關這些風險的更多資訊。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 our GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations can be found in our earnings press release and in the investors slide deck found on our website at investors.vertiv.com. With that, I'll turn the call over to Executive Chairman, Dave Cote.

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。接下來，我會將電話轉給執行主席戴夫·科特 (Dave Cote)。

Well, 2023 was a great year for Vertiv and our shareowners. We created tremendous value. Our stock price increased 252% in 2023, putting us well ahead of the #1 performer in all of the S&P 500, and it's up very well again so far this year. We announced the capital allocation strategy at our November investor conference is very flexible and we believe is structured well to provide additional benefits to shareowners and is a great reflection of the cash-generating capability of the company, a very nice and exceptionally promising change from where we were.

嗯，2023 年對 Vertiv 和我們的股東來說是偉大的一年。我們創造了巨大的價值。 2023 年，我們的股價上漲了 252%，使我們遠遠領先所有標準普爾 500 指數中表現第一的公司，今年迄今為止，我們的股價再次大幅上漲。我們在11 月的投資者會議上宣布了資本配置策略非常靈活，我們相信其結構良好，可以為股東提供額外的利益，並且很好地反映了公司的現金生成能力，這是一個非常好的且非常有前途的變化。我們曾經。

We finished the year strong, quite strong, in fact, and we fully expect this to set us up well to continue to provide good returns for our shareowners in 2024 and beyond. So Gio and team were off to a very good start, but we still have work to do. You'll hear Gio talk about his focus areas for 2024 and what we plan to accomplish this year to deliver another good year for our investors.

我們以強勁的勢頭結束了這一年，事實上，我們完全期望這將使我們能夠在 2024 年及以後繼續為我們的股東提供良好的回報。因此，Gio 和團隊有了一個非常好的開始，但我們仍有工作要做。您將聽到 Gio 談論他 2024 年的重點領域，以及我們今年計劃完成的任務，為投資者帶來另一個美好的一年。

It's getting the important thing customer relationships, technology, BOS, organization resiliency, working capital and capital deployment. We've demonstrated our potential in 2023, but we still have a long way to run, and that's all upside. So with that, I'll turn the call over to Gio.

重要的是客戶關係、技術、BOS、組織彈性、營運資本和資本部署。我們已經在 2023 年展示了我們的潛力，但我們還有很長的路要走，這都是有利的。因此，我會將電話轉給 Gio。

Well, thanks, Dave. Thanks a lot. As Dave mentioned, our stock was up 252% last year. And as they said, if we were in the S&P 500, we would have been the top performing stock. We believe we meet the criteria, and we believe Vertiv is a good candidate for S&P 500 inclusion.

嗯，謝謝，戴夫。多謝。正如戴夫所提到的，我們的股票去年上漲了 252%。正如他們所說，如果我們進入標準普爾 500 指數，我們將是表現最好的股票。我們相信我們符合標準，並相信 Vertiv 是入選標準普爾 500 指數的良好候選人。

Let's go to Slide 3. We finished the year strong. Operational execution continues to improve. Q4 sales were up 12% organically. Growth continues to be led by the Americas. Orders grew 23% year-on-year and 18% sequentially, good across all regions. Additionally, book-to-bill was very strong at 1.3x, a demonstration of market strength that gives us confidence in what we believe will be a strong demand environment for '24 and beyond.

讓我們看幻燈片 3。我們以強勁的表現結束了這一年。營運執行力持續提升。第四季銷售額有機成長 12%。成長繼續以美洲為主導。訂單年增 23%，季增 18%，所有地區都表現良好。此外，訂單出貨比非常強勁，達到 1.3 倍，這證明了市場實力，讓我們對 24 世紀及以後的強勁需求環境充滿信心。

Adjusted operating profit of $330 million and adjusted operating margin of 17.7%, clearly a step function improvement and a demonstration of our sharpened operational execution. Our adjusted free cash flow was $305 million for a full year at $778 million, resulting in more than $1 billion improvement year-on-year. Our net leverage at the end of the year was 1.9x. So within our target range of 1x to 2x, and we were upgraded by both Moody's and S&P in December.

調整後營業利潤為 3.3 億美元，調整後營業利潤率為 17.7%，這顯然是一個階梯式的功能改進，也證明了我們的營運執行力得到了加強。我們全年調整後自由現金流為 3.05 億美元，達到 7.78 億美元，較去年同期改善超過 10 億美元。截至年底，我們的淨槓桿率為 1.9 倍。因此，在我們 1 倍到 2 倍的目標範圍內，穆迪和標準普爾在 12 月同時升級了我們的評級。

In December, we announced the acquisition of CoolTera that further strengthens our technology leadership in high-density and liquid cooling. More to come on that in a few slides.

12 月，我們宣布收購 CoolTera，進一步加強了我們在高密度和液體冷卻方面的技術領先地位。更多內容將在幾張投影片中介紹。

I'm pleased with the strong foundation. As we enter 2024, coupled with strong market demand, we feel good about our trajectory for the year and beyond.

我對堅實的基礎感到滿意。進入 2024 年，加上強勁的市場需求，我們對今年及以後的發展軌跡感到滿意。

And let's move to Slide 4. We take a look at the market environment here, and it's pretty consistent with what we have been seeing for a while. Cloud hyperscale continues to lead the growth with tangible signs of AI deployment and very strong build plans. We continue to see encouraging signs in enterprise with customers starting to develop AI plans for the business, be it either on-prem or cloud. Either way, it's good for Vertiv. Telecom, not a lot of news here. CapEx is tight and mainly focused on retrofit.

讓我們轉到幻燈片 4。我們看看這裡的市場環境，它與我們一段時間以來所看到的非常一致。超大規模雲端繼續以人工智慧部署的明顯跡象和非常強大的建置計劃引領成長。我們繼續在企業中看到令人鼓舞的跡象，客戶開始為企業制定人工智慧計劃，無論是本地還是雲端。不管怎樣，這對 Vertiv 來說都是好事。電信，這裡新聞不多。資本支出緊張，主要集中在改造。

From a regional standpoint, APAC remains soft, but continues to be a story of China and the rest of Asia. The China market continues to be weak, but we saw some small positive signs in terms of orders. We don't think the market is getting weaker, but recovery is slow paced, if at all. In the rest of Asia, including India, we see significant investments happening across the market. Cloud colocation are certainly leading the pack, but enterprise customers are also investing.

從地區角度來看，亞太地區仍然疲軟，但仍然是中國和亞洲其他地區的故事。中國市場繼續疲軟，但我們在訂單方面看到了一些小的正面跡象。我們不認為市場正在變得疲軟，但復甦的步伐即使有的話也是緩慢的。在亞洲其他地區，包括印度，我們看到整個市場正在發生重大投資。雲端託管無疑處於領先地位，但企業客戶也在投資。

We moved commercial and industrial to green in APAC, really driven by India. The investment in infrastructure are accelerating. The India market is quite exciting, and we are well positioned. Overall, our pipeline formation is good and particularly strong in the colo hyperscale segment. Let's go to the next slide, Slide 5. I am pleased with the order strength we saw in Q4, 23% year-on-year and 18% sequentially. We entered '24 influenced by a strong 2H '23 booking, driven by large projects, reflecting also demand from AI.

我們在亞太地區的商業和工業轉向綠色，這實際上是由印度推動的。基礎建設投資不斷加快。印度市場非常令人興奮，我們處於有利地位。總體而言，我們的管道形成良好，並且在託管超大規模領域尤其強大。讓我們看下一張投影片，即投影片 5。我對第四季的訂單強度感到滿意，年增 23%，環比成長 18%。我們進入 24 年，受到 23 年 2 月強勁預訂的影響，在大型專案的推動下，這也反映了人工智慧的需求。

We continue to post record backlog which was up about $0.5 billion from the end of Q3, good visibility for '24 and beyond. We expect Q1 '24 orders to continue to be strong up in the high teens on a year-on-year basis in the first quarter across the portfolio. We anticipate they will be down sequentially from Q4. This is just a normal business pattern. We are working in close collaboration with our customers and suppliers to make sure we have the capacity in place to support the likely strong demand environment for the foreseeable future. We inaugurated a new thermal management plant in India.

我們繼續發布創紀錄的積壓訂單，比第三季末增加了約 5 億美元，這對 24 年及以後的前景有良好的影響。我們預計整個投資組合第一季的 24 年第一季訂單將年增。我們預計它們將從第四季開始連續下降。這只是一種正常的商業模式。我們正在與客戶和供應商密切合作，以確保我們有能力支持可預見的未來可能出現的強勁需求環境。我們在印度開設了一家新的熱管理工廠。

We have significant capacity expansion underway for switchgear and busbars across the thermal portfolio, including, of course, liquid cooling. As I mentioned at Investor Day, on a weekly basis, we look at evolving demand scenarios in a disciplined, rigorous and focused way to make timely investment decisions. The backlog for AI orders continues to grow robustly. The acceleration of the overall order book related to AI is never an exact science, as I explained, matches the expected growth rate for the application, i.e. a growth uplift of 3% to 4% to the overall market, as we mentioned in November.

我們正在對整個熱產品組合中的開關設備和母線進行大規模產能擴張，當然也包括液體冷卻。正如我在投資者日提到的，我們每週都會以嚴謹、嚴格和專注的方式審視不斷變化的需求場景，以便及時做出投資決策。人工智慧訂單積壓持續強勁成長。正如我所解釋的，與人工智慧相關的整體訂單簿的加速從來都不是一門精確的科學，它與應用程式的預期成長率相匹配，即整體市場成長3% 至4%，正如我們在11月提到的那樣。

I continue to caution what is and what is not AI is fungible to a certain extent. What matters is that we believe that traction is consistent with the market uplift from AI or perhaps a bit ahead, given our strong position in thermal and thermal is a clear differentiator. Continuing on the right side of Slide 5, we believe that supply chains have largely returned to normal, but I'd say normal in a post-pandemic world.

我繼續警告什麼是人工智慧，什麼不是人工智慧，在某種程度上是可以互換的。重要的是，我們相信這種牽引力與人工智慧帶來的市場提升是一致的，或者可能有點領先，因為我們在熱學領域的強勢地位和熱學是一個明顯的差異化因素。繼續幻燈片 5 的右側，我們認為供應鏈已基本恢復正常，但我想說的是在大流行後的世界中恢復正常。

We are focused on making sure that resiliency is constantly increasing across the supply chain to weather what a quite complicated world can throw at us. So a lot of focus here. Looking at material inflation, we expect materials pricing to be relatively stable year-on-year, but we are very mindful that things can change rapidly. And with that, over to you, David.

我們致力於確保整個供應鏈的彈性不斷增強，以應對一個相當複雜的世界給我們帶來的困難。所以這裡有很多焦點。就材料通膨而言，我們預期材料價格比去年同期相對穩定，但我們非常注意情況可能會迅速變化。接下來，就交給你了，大衛。

Thanks, Gio. Turning to Page 6. This slide summarizes our fourth quarter financial results. We finished the year quite strong. Our organic net sales increased 12%, 5% from volume, 7% from price. And America continues to be the growth engine, which Americas was up 22% in the quarter. Our sales performance was within guidance range, but slightly below midpoint which was mainly attributable to a weaker China and some project delays in EMEA.

謝謝，吉奧。翻到第 6 頁。這張投影片總結了我們第四季的財務表現。我們今年表現非常強勁。我們的有機淨銷售額成長了 12%，其中銷量成長了 5%，價格成長了 7%。美洲仍然是成長引擎，本季美洲成長了 22%。我們的銷售業績在指導範圍內，但略低於中點，這主要是由於中國疲軟以及歐洲、中東和非洲地區的一些項目延遲。

Adjusted operating profit was $330 million, up $120 million from last year's fourth quarter and that was mainly driven by favorable price cost and the higher volume. We beat the midpoint of our implied fourth quarter adjusted operating profit guidance based upon good commercial execution and material inflation below our modeled assumptions.

調整後營業利潤為 3.3 億美元，比去年第四季增加 1.2 億美元，主要是由於有利的價格成本和較高的銷售量。基於良好的商業執行力和低於我們建模假設的物質通膨，我們超越了隱含的第四季調整後營業利潤指引的中點。

Our adjusted operating margin was 17.7% in the quarter, a 500-basis-point improvement compared to last year. And that certainly was driven by our continued relentless focus on operational execution, and that clearly showed in the results. As we move to the right, our fourth quarter GAAP diluted EPS includes a $115 million nonrecurring tax benefit related to the release of a valuation allowance, and we have removed that from adjusted diluted EPS. And we provide additional detail on that valuation allowance release on Page 28 in the appendix. But otherwise, the year-over-year increase in adjusted diluted EPS was driven by higher adjusted operating profit.

本季調整後的營業利潤率為 17.7%，比去年提高了 500 個基點。這當然是由我們對營運執行的持續不懈關注所推動的，這一點在結果中清楚地體現出來。當我們向右移動時，我們第四季度的GAAP 稀釋每股收益包括與釋放估值備抵相關的1.15 億美元的非經常性稅收優惠，我們已將其從調整後的稀釋每股收益中刪除。我們在附錄第 28 頁提供了有關估價準備金發布的更多詳細資訊。但除此之外，調整後攤薄每股收益的年成長是由調整後營業利潤上升所推動的。

To the far right, another very strong quarter for adjusted free cash flow as we generated $305 million in the quarter, more than doubling last year. Certainly, higher profitability contributed to this result, but working capital is also an important part of the story with plenty of opportunity for continued improvement. As Gio mentioned net leverage declined to 1.9x within our target long-term leverage range of 1 to 2x and down from 5.6x at the end of 2022. This leverage level supports the capital deployment framework provided at our investor conference and gives us significant flexibility and optionality to deploy excess cash.

最右邊是調整後自由現金流另一個非常強勁的季度，我們在該季度創造了 3.05 億美元，是去年的兩倍多。當然，更高的獲利能力促成了這一結果，但營運資本也是故事的重要組成部分，有許多持續改進的機會。正如Gio 所提到的，淨槓桿率在我們1 至2 倍的長期目標槓桿範圍內下降至1.9 倍，並從2022 年底的5.6 倍下降。這一槓桿水平支持我們投資者會議上提供的資本部署框架，並為我們提供了巨大的靈活性以及部署多餘現金的選擇權。

Turning to Page 7. This slide summarizes our fourth quarter segment results. The Americas region, as I mentioned, continues to fuel the growth engine with organic net sales up 22% in the quarter. The improvement in adjusted operating margin in the Americas continues, up 640 basis points from last year to 26.9%, with the increase primarily driven by favorable price cost and fixed cost leverage.

翻到第 7 頁。這張投影片總結了我們第四季的業績。正如我所提到的，美洲地區繼續推動成長引擎，本季有機淨銷售額成長 22%。美洲地區調整後營業利潤率持續改善，較去年上升 640 個基點至 26.9%，成長主要得益於有利的價格成本和固定成本槓桿。

APAC sales increased 3% organically, but continues to be weighed down by China, where sales were relatively flat year-over-year, but below expectations included in our quarterly guidance. APAC adjusted operating margin declined 220 points with unfavorable mix and the timing of fixed cost contributory factors.

亞太地區銷售額有機成長 3%，但繼續受到中國的拖累，中國銷售額同比相對持平，但低於我們季度指導中的預期。由於不利的組合和固定成本影響因素的時機，亞太地區調整後的營業利潤率下降了 220 點。

EMEA grew 1% organically in the fourth quarter, which was lower than anticipated primarily due to delays on several larger projects. However, we did see an 18% sequential sales increase from the third quarter, which is encouraging and EMEA experienced strong year-over-year fourth quarter orders growth, both which provides confidence for us to project low double-digit organic growth in EMEA for full year 2024. EMEA delivered strong adjusted operating margin of 28.3% in the fourth quarter, an increase of 750 basis points from last year's fourth quarter, although they did benefit from a $6 million nonrecurring gain from an asset sale in the quarter. And as Anand Sanghi, our Americas President, has emphatically reminded us, without that gain, the adjusted operating margin for the Americas and EMEA would have been approximately the same as those 2 regions continue to push each other for highest regional adjusted operating margin.

歐洲、中東和非洲地區第四季有機成長 1%，低於預期，主要是由於幾個較大項目的延誤。然而，我們確實看到第三季銷售額環比增長了18%，這令人鼓舞，而且歐洲、中東和非洲地區第四季度訂單同比強勁增長，這都為我們預測歐洲、中東和非洲地區的低兩位數有機成長提供了信心。2024 年 全年。歐洲、中東和非洲地區第四季度調整後營業利潤率強勁，達到28.3%，比去年第四季度增長750 個基點，儘管他們確實受益於該季度資產出售帶來的600 萬美元非經常性收益。正如我們的美洲區總裁阿南德·桑吉(Anand Sanghi) 所強調的那樣，如果沒有這一收益，美洲和歐洲、中東和非洲地區的調整後營業利潤率將與這兩個地區繼續相互推動最高區域調整後營業利益率大致相同。

Next, turning to Page 8, a summary of full year 2023. I can safely say it was a very strong year. It's always a good thing when the orange bars on this slide are significantly higher than the gray bars and that is the case for all financial metrics for this past year. 2023 produced a step function change in financial performance from 2022 that is not often seen in a 12-month period. This significant improvement is a result of a relentless focus on operational execution, which very clearly reads directly through -- to our financial results.

接下來，翻到第 8 頁，這是對 2023 年全年的總結。我可以有把握地說，這是非常強勁的一年。當這張投影​​片上的橘色條明顯高於灰色條時，這總是一件好事，過去一年的所有財務指標都是如此。與 2022 年相比，2023 年的財務表現發生階梯函數變化，這在 12 個月期間並不常見。這項重大改進是對營運執行的不懈關注的結果，這非常清楚地直接反映了我們的財務表現。

Our full year organic sales up 21%, reflects a great position in a strong end market. Adjusted operating margin of 15.3%, an improvement of 760 basis points from last year, certainly provides a strong foundation to surpass our midterm adjusted operating margin target of 16%, which we expect to do in 2024, with about 110 basis points to spare at the midpoint.

我們全年的有機銷售額成長了 21%，反映出我們在強大的終端市場中的重要地位。調整後營業利潤率為15.3%，比去年提高了760 個基點，無疑為超越我們16% 的中期調整營業利潤率目標奠定了堅實的基礎，我們預計在2024 年實現這一目標，而2024 年調整後營業利益率還有約110 個基點。中點。

We did well in converting the improved profitability to cash with an over $1 billion improvement year-over-year. And let me repeat that, an over $1 billion improvement in adjusted free cash flow year-over-year, with this improvement driven by the higher profitability and improved working capital management while continuing to invest in CapEx to support growth.

我們在將提高的獲利能力轉化為現金方面表現出色，比去年同期成長超過 10 億美元。讓我重複一遍，調整後的自由現金流同比改善超過 10 億美元，這一改善是由更高的盈利能力和改善的營運資本管理推動的，同時繼續投資於資本支出以支持增長。

Adjusted free cash flow of $778 million drove an adjusted free cash flow conversion of 114%, with this improved conversion benefiting from a significant increase in deferred revenue primarily from advanced customer payments, which increased $280 million or 80% in the year, while sales were up 21%, which we estimate contributed about 30 percentage points to that conversion. While we expect continued growth in deferred revenue, there are many market dynamics at play, and we should not expect similar growth in 2024, which is one of the primary reasons we are guiding to adjusted free cash flow conversion in the low to mid-90s for full year 2024.

調整後自由現金流為7.78 億美元，調整後自由現金流轉換率為114%，轉換率的提高得益於主要來自客戶預付款的遞延收入大幅增加，該收入在本年度增加了2.8 億美元，即80%，而銷售額為成長了 21%，我們估計這對轉換貢獻了約 30 個百分點。雖然我們預計遞延收入將持續成長，但有許多市場動態在發揮作用，我們不應期望 2024 年出現類似的成長，這是我們指導在 90 年代中期調整自由現金流轉換的主要原因之一2024 年全年。

We have much work to do, and there's plenty of opportunity for continued improvement, but 2023 certainly demonstrates our potential and helps build credibility and confidence that we can execute upon our long-term strategy and deliver the financial targets we introduced at our Investor Conference.

我們還有很多工作要做，並且有很多持續改進的機會，但2023 年無疑展示了我們的潛力，並有助於建立信譽和信心，使我們能夠執行長期策略並實現我們在投資者大會上提出的財務目標。

Pivoting to 2024 and moving to Slide 9. This is a look at our first quarter guidance. We are expecting first quarter sales to be up approximately 5% organically with Americas up high single digits, APAC's up mid-single digits and EMEA relatively flat. Adjusted operating profit between $200 million and $220 million and adjusted operating margin of 13.1%, up 160 basis points from last year's first quarter. And that is driven by price/cost tailwinds and productivity programs, partially offset by continued growth investments. As you likely have noted in our slide deck, we have not provided the detailed split between price and cost/inflation for 2024. As we emphasized at our Investor Conference, our ambition is to cover all inflation, including labor inflation with price and being price cost positive is an important lever for us to attain our long-term adjusted operating margin target of 20% plus.

轉向 2024 年並轉向幻燈片 9。這是我們第一季的指導。我們預計第一季銷售額將有機成長約 5%，其中美洲成長高個位數，亞太地區成長中個位數，歐洲、中東和非洲則相對持平。調整後營業利潤在2億至2.2億美元之間，調整後營業利益率為13.1%，比去年第一季成長160個基點。這是由價格/成本順風和生產力計劃推動的，但部分被持續增長的投資所抵消。正如您可能在我們的幻燈片中註意到的那樣，我們沒有提供2024 年價格和成本/通貨膨脹之間的詳細劃分。正如我們在投資者會議上所強調的那樣，我們的目標是涵蓋所有通貨膨脹，包括勞動力通貨膨脹與價格和價格上漲成本正值是我們實現 20% 以上的長期調整營業利潤率目標的重要槓桿。

As you will see on the next slide, we fully expect to be price/cost positive in 2024, and we expect that to be the case each year going forward. We will continue to price our products commensurate with the increasing value we provide our customers. However, for commercial and competitive reasons, we are not disclosing the specific quantified pricing figure going forward, but rest assured, that commercial excellence actions are a core tenet to our continued profit improvement program, and we believe we are well positioned in a favorable market to continue to execute upon our long-term plans.

正如您將在下一張投影片中看到的那樣，我們完全預計 2024 年價格/成本將為正值，並且我們預計未來每年都會如此。我們將繼續根據我們為客戶提供的不斷增加的價值來定價我們的產品。然而，出於商業和競爭的原因，我們不會透露未來的具體量化定價數字，但請放心，商業卓越行動是我們持續利潤改善計劃的核心宗旨，我們相信我們在有利的市場中處於有利地位繼續執行我們的長期計劃。

Next, turning to Slide 10, our full year guidance, higher across all metrics from the view presented at our November Investor Conference. Organic net sales growth is expected to be 9% to 11%, up from the 8% to 10% we shared in November. We are increasing the midpoint for adjusted operating profit from $1.25 billion to $1.3 billion with adjusted operating margin at 17.1%, well above the previously established midterm target of 16%. And as a reminder, our long-term margin target is 20% plus, and we believe we will take all the necessary next steps in '24 on our path towards that target.

接下來，轉向投影片 10，我們的全年指導，從我們 11 月投資者會議上提出的觀點來看，所有指標都更高。有機淨銷售額成長預估為 9% 至 11%，高於我們 11 月預測的 8% 至 10%。我們將調整後營業利潤的中點從 12.5 億美元提高到 13 億美元，調整後營業利潤率為 17.1%，遠高於先前設定的 16% 的中期目標。提醒一下，我們的長期利潤率目標是 20% 以上，我們相信我們將在 24 年採取所有必要的後續步驟來實現該目標。

Our projected 2024 adjusted diluted EPS of $2.23 at the midpoint is approximately 25% higher than 2023, primarily driven by higher adjusted operating profit and partially offset by taxes and a higher share count as the higher share price drives more accounting dilution for employee stock options. We have included some estimates for share repurchases and share price in our estimated '24 diluted share count, but we are not prepared at this point to share specifics for either but we believe the 393 million shares estimate for full year diluted share count is a reasonable and balanced guidance, but certainly subject to change based upon several variables.

我們預計2024 年調整後攤薄每股收益中點為2.23 美元，比2023 年高出約25%，這主要是由於調整後營業利潤較高，部分被稅收和股票數量所抵消，因為較高的股價推動了員工股票選擇權的會計攤薄。我們在24 年攤薄股數的估計中納入了對股票回購和股價的一些估計，但我們目前不准備透露這兩者的具體細節，但我們認為全年稀釋股數3.93 億股的估計是合理的和平衡的指導，但肯定會根據幾個變數而變化。

Moving to the right on this slide. We are projecting adjusted free cash flow between $800 million and $850 million, representing 94% adjusted free cash flow conversion at the midpoint. As mentioned, this is lower than 2023 conversion primarily due to assumptions with deferred revenue and higher investment in CapEx. And finally, as we introduced at our Investor Conference, there will be a couple of external reporting changes in 2024 to align with how we run the business.

在此投影片上移至右側。我們預期調整後自由現金流在 8 億至 8.5 億美元之間，相當於中點調整後自由現金流轉換率為 94%。如前所述，這低於 2023 年的換算率，主要是由於遞延收入和資本支出投資增加的假設。最後，正如我們在投資者大會上介紹的那樣，2024 年將進行一些外部報告變更，以適應我們的業務運作方式。

We summarized these changes on Slide 31 in the appendix, and we have provided a historical recasting for these changes going back to 2020 in Exhibit 99.2 of our earnings release. And with that said, I turn it back over to Gio.

我們在附錄的投影片 31 中總結了這些變化，並在收益發布的圖表 99.2 中提供了可追溯到 2020 年的這些變化的歷史重述。話雖如此，我把它轉回給吉奧。

Well, thank you. Thanks a lot, David. And we go to Slide 11. Thank you. You saw this slide at our Investor Conference. We are the market leader in thermal management for data centers. We have the most complete portfolio of thermal management solutions, including liquid cooling to lead the industry as a transition to GPU accelerate. We can do this customizing at scale, and we believe in a very strong position.

嗯，謝謝。非常感謝，大衛。我們轉到投影片 11。謝謝。您在我們的投資者會議上看到了這張投影片。我們是資料中心熱管理領域的市場領導者。我們擁有最完整的熱管理解決方案組合，包括液體冷卻，以引領業界加速向 GPU 的過渡。我們可以大規模地進行定制，並且我們相信自己處於非常有利的地位。

This slide here shows also our high-density liquid cooling portfolio. In November, the technology was both owned and partnership-based, now it's fully owned.

這裡的這張幻燈片也展示了我們的高密度液體冷卻產品組合。 11 月，該技術既是自有的，也是基於合作夥伴關係的，現在是完全擁有的。

We can go to Slide 12. The 8th of December, we closed the acquisition of CoolTera, which has industry-leading liquid cooling technology. We have now secured that technology with full ownership. We have been close partners of CoolTera for years. Now take CoolTera's premier technology, certified and approved by key chip manufacturers, along with established customer relationships, combine that with Vertiv's reach and you can scale the technology at a pace that will support our customers' aggressive AI deployment plans. We have already started to manufacture CoolTera's CDUs in one of the Vertiv plants, and we expect to have capacity quadrupled by the end of Q1.

我們可以看幻燈片12。12月8日，我們完成了對CoolTera的收購，CoolTera擁有業界領先的液冷技術。我們現在已經完全擁有該技術的所有權。多年來我們一直是 CoolTera 的密切合作夥伴。現在，採用經主要晶片製造商認證和批准的 CoolTera 一流技術以及已建立的客戶關係，將其與 Vertiv 的影響力相結合，您可以以支援客戶積極的 AI 部署計劃的速度擴展該技術。我們已經開始在 Vertiv 的一個工廠生產 CoolTera 的 CDU，預計到第一季末產能將增加四倍。

We are executing on a plan to scale the production of our liquid cooling solutions more than 40 times by the end of this year. We truly want to make sure we have capacity to cover the most aggressive GPU growth scenarios. That is what Vertiv means by scaling technology, activating our global manufacturing and supply chain footprint.

我們正在執行一項計劃，到今年年底將液體冷卻解決方案的生產規模擴大 40 倍以上。我們確實希望確保我們有能力應對最激進的 GPU 成長場景。這就是維諦技術 (Vertiv) 擴展技術、激活我們的全球製造和供應鏈足跡的含義。

Let's go now to Slide 13. This is where we obsessively focus to deliver another very good year. It starts with the customers. We plan to continue leveraging our far-reaching and deep customer relationships and have the technology, the portfolio, the innovation and the capacity to meet their demand. We spoke about the capacity expansion underways. We have allocated additional investments to CapEx to support our customers. Global scale matters and will continue to differentiate us. Vertical Operating System is foundational across the organization, helping us to realize productivity improvements in general and given us a speed. We have started to make progress on trade working capital, but there is more work to do. We are not optimized. It continues to have my full attention, and we are improving.

現在讓我們看幻燈片 13。這是我們全神貫注於交付又一個非常好的一年的地方。它從客戶開始。我們計劃繼續利用我們廣泛而深厚的客戶關係，並擁有滿足他們需求的技術、產品組合、創新和能力。我們談到了正在進行的產能擴張。我們已為資本支出分配了額外投資以支持我們的客戶。全球規模很重要，並將繼續使我們脫穎而出。垂直作業系統是整個組織的基礎，幫助我們整體提高生產力並提高速度。我們已經開始在貿易營運資本方面取得進展，但還有更多工作要做。我們沒有優化。它繼續引起我的全部關注，我們正在進步。

Our capital deployment framework provides much flexibility driven by good cash flow generation. So a lot to do in 2024. And the short work is fully underway to continue to execute well on all these focus areas.

我們的資本部署框架在良好的現金流產生的推動下提供了極大的靈活性。 2024 年還有很多工作要做。短期工作正在全面展開，以繼續在所有這些重點領域取得良好進展。

Now to Slide 14. We started 2024 in a strong positions. Orders in Q1, backlog at the end of the year were very strong. Orders in Q4, backlog at the end of the year were very strong. End markets continue to signal strong and increasing demand for the foreseeable future certainly driven by AI. We expect to have the capacity to support our customers, that is our commitment to them. Investments in capacity and R&D to support the growth of the business will continue.

現在轉到投影片 14。我們在 2024 年開始時就處於有利地位。第一季的訂單和年底的積壓訂單非常強勁。第四季的訂單和年底的積壓訂單非常強勁。終端市場繼續顯示出在可預見的未來強勁且不斷增長的需求，這無疑是由人工智慧推動的。我們希望有能力支持我們的客戶，這是我們對他們的承諾。支持業務成長的產能和研發投資將持續。

Our foundation is stronger today than ever before. Our focus area will continue to strengthen that foundation and increase the resiliency of the organization to navigate, again, an increasingly complicated world. VOS, Vertiv Operating System is a cornerstone for that, a robust, resilient operating system deployed globally.

今天我們的基礎比以往任何時候都更加牢固。我們的重點領域將繼續加強這一基礎，並增強組織的彈性，以應對日益複雜的世界。 VOS（Vertiv 作業系統）是其基石，是一個在全球部署的強大、有彈性的作業系統。

I am pleased with the progress, but I see even more opportunity than I did when I stepped into the CEO role, much more. There is work to do, and we look forward to updating you on our progress, and we look forward to your questions now. So over to the operator. And thank you very much.

我對進展感到滿意，但我看到了比我擔任執行長時更多的機會。還有工作要做，我們期待向您通報我們的最新進展，並期待您現在提出問題。所以交給運營商。非常感謝你。

(Operator Instructions) We have the first question from Andrew Obin of Bank of America.

（操作員說明）我們有來自美國銀行的安德魯·奧賓（Andrew Obin）的第一個問題。

Just a question on -- we've got a lot of questions this morning on the pace of savings that you guys are forecasting for next year is just on a net basis, it's just material slowdown versus 2023. And also the big question we got, what kind of pricing. And I know you're not going to talk about it for competitive reasons, but you have disclosed pricing for 2023. So if we sort of plug in any sort of reasonable pricing for '24 right? On a net basis, the $60 million looks fairly conservative, particularly given what you achieved even in the fourth quarter, if you could address that.

只是一個問題——今天早上我們收到了很多關於你們預測明年的儲蓄速度的問題，這只是淨值，與 2023 年相比只是實質性放緩。還有一個大問題是我們得到的，什麼樣的定價。我知道出於競爭原因您不會談論它，但您已經披露了 2023 年的定價。那麼，如果我們為 '24 插入任何合理的定價，對嗎？從淨值來看，6000 萬美元看起來相當保守，特別是考慮到您在第四季度取得的成就（如果您能解決這個問題）。

Thank you, Andrew. I'll start. And David, if you want to chip in. I mean, we've been pretty vocal about the strength of our pricing muscle over the -- built over the last 12-plus months. It's something that continues just simply, it's just (inaudible) have been vocal about the fact that while we continue to believe that we operate in a price favorable environment, but the marginal price gains will diminish for obvious reasons and a different inflationary environment we're in.

謝謝你，安德魯。我開始吧。 David，如果你想參與的話。我的意思是，我們一直非常直言不諱地談論我們在過去 12 個多月裡建立的定價能力。這只是簡單地持續下去，只是（聽不清楚）一直在直言不諱地表達這樣一個事實：雖然我們仍然相信我們在一個價格有利的環境中運作，但由於明顯的原因和不同的通膨環境，邊際價格收益將會減少。重新加入。

But we operate -- the biggest part of our business operates in a favor from a demand supply balance environment. So we continue to count on price. The pace of that price will, again, price gains diminish, but we're confident it will continue to be positive. And I don't know if you want to add something, David.

但我們的營運—我們業務的最大部分是在供需平衡的環境下運作的。所以我們繼續依靠價格。該價格的上漲速度將再次減弱，但我們有信心它將繼續保持積極的勢頭。我不知道你是否想補充一些東西，大衛。

No, just for avoidance it out, that $60 million certainly is a price cost or price inflation number. And when we look at price cost, we include labor inflation in that number, which we have disclosed previously, that's in the $100 million range, and we certainly expect both material and freight to contribute some inflation next year. So you got to take that into consideration when you're looking at that price/cost dynamic including looking at price.

不，為了避免這個問題，6000 萬美元肯定是一個價格成本或價格通膨數字。當我們考慮價格成本時，我們將勞動力通膨納入該數字，我們之前已披露過，該數字在 1 億美元範圍內，我們當然預計材料和貨運都會對明年的通膨產生一定影響。因此，當您查看價格/成本動態（包括價格）時，必須考慮到這一點。

Got you. And just a follow-up question on North America. You are guiding North America revenue up high single digits in the first quarter, but 22% growth in the fourth quarter, orders up 23% in the fourth quarter of '23. Is there any specific dynamic taking place in the first quarter? Why you think North America is only going to be up high single digits given the strength in the fourth quarter?

明白你了。關於北美的後續問題。你們引導北美地區的營收在第一季實現高個位數成長，但在第四季成長 22%，在 2023 年第四季訂單成長 23%。第一季有什麼具體的動態嗎？鑑於第四季的強勁表現，您為什麼認為北美地區的成長只會出現高個位數的成長？

Well, we continue to believe that -- we believe and we have a strong business in North America pipeline is very, very encouraging. Just want to remind that the Q1 last year in North America, but -- in Americas, sorry, particularly was particularly strong. You remember, we were coming out of 2022, where we had a lot of, let me say, pent-up backlog. So that's also reason. But we feel very good about our America -- our business in America.

嗯，我們仍然相信——我們相信，我們在北美管道上擁有強大的業務是非常非常令人鼓舞的。只是想提醒一下，去年第一季在北美，但是，在美洲，對不起，尤其是特別強勁。你還記得，我們​​即將走出 2022 年，當時我們有很多積壓的積壓工作。所以這也是有道理的。但我們對我們的美國——我們在美國的業務——感覺非常好。

We now have Lance Vitanza of TD Cowen.

現在我們有 TD Cowen 的 Lance Vitanza。

Congrats on the performance. It looks like book-to-bill not only improved in the fourth quarter, but accelerated. So I'm thinking about the organic sales growth guide for 2024, which certainly terrific in an absolute sense is obviously a lot lower than what you achieved in 2023. So I'm wondering to what extent does the guidance for '24 reflect potential bottlenecks, both from the standpoint of perhaps your customers' ability to source permitting and utility power on the one hand. And then also, of course, your own supply chain with respect to fans and IGBTs and breakers and so forth?

恭喜你的表現。看起來訂單出貨比在第四季不僅有所改善，而且還在加速。所以我正在考慮2024 年的有機銷售成長指南，從絕對意義上講，這當然很棒，但顯然比2023 年實現的目標低很多。所以我想知道24 年的指南在多大程度上反映了潛在的瓶頸一方面，從您的客戶獲得許可和公用電力的能力的角度來看。當然，還有您自己的風扇、IGBT 和斷路器等供應鏈？

Thank you, Lance. So the -- as you noticed, of course, we are very happy about our book-to-bill and our backlog. We have dynamics in the sense that certainly our second half orders '23 were strong and good. And that reflects in the way the shape of our backlog in general. We do not see a supply chain bottleneck at our end. I mean, it's never infinite, but the constraining factor, if you will, if we can call it. So is the fact that simply there's large projects and we -- large project we're talking have relatively long requested lead times from our customers.

謝謝你，蘭斯。當然，正如您所注意到的，我們對訂單到帳單和積壓訂單感到非常滿意。從某種意義上說，我們有活力，我們的 23 年下半年訂單肯定強勁且良好。這反映了我們積壓的整體情況。我們沒有看到供應鏈瓶頸。我的意思是，它從來都不是無限的，而是限制因素，如果你願意的話，如果我們可以稱之為限制因素的話。事實上，只是有大型項目，而我們正在談論的大型項目對我們的客戶要求的交貨時間相對較長。

So it's a natural cycle. We were vocal in the past and we'll continue to be vocal that the whole industry needs to confront itself with power availability, permitting, et cetera. But I would say that in the 12, 18 months is really the natural pace of build-outs and sites, et cetera. So we pretty much deliver on what our customers' request right now.

所以這是一個自然循環。我們過去曾大聲疾呼，並將繼續大聲疾呼，整個產業需要面對電力可用性、許可等問題。但我想說，在 12、18 個月內，確實是擴建和選址等的自然節奏。因此，我們現在幾乎可以滿足客戶的要求。

We now have Nigel Coe of Wolfe Research.

現在請來沃爾夫研究中心的奈傑爾‧科 (Nigel Coe)。

I'll keep it to 1 question. So if I'm doing the math right, it looks like $2.4 billion of orders in the quarter, up from $1.9 billion in the third quarter. I'm guessing you're going to say America is hyperscale, et cetera, but maybe just give us some context on what drove that sequential acceleration. But more importantly, can you maybe talk about the front log of the funnel, the fund log where you want to call it of opportunities you see coming up in the next quarter or two?

我將保留 1 個問題。因此，如果我計算得正確的話，本季的訂單量將達到 24 億美元，高於第三季的 19 億美元。我猜你會說美國是超大規模的，等等，但也許只是給我們一些推動連續加速的背景。但更重要的是，您能否談談漏斗的前端日誌，即您認為在下一兩個季度出現的機會的基金日誌？

And then David, just maybe just address this very specifically. You said deferred revenues will continue to grow in '24. Does that indicate that backlog continues to expand from here.

然後大衛，也許只是非常具體地解決這個問題。您說遞延收入將在 24 年繼續成長。這是否表示積壓工作將繼續擴大？

I'll start, Nigel, to answer your 3 questions in one. So clearly, we like the acceleration. We like the acceleration in orders. And the -- you remember, we were vocal about the strength of pipeline, both at the earnings call in October and in November at the Investor Day. That continues to be true. What we have positively noticed is an increased velocity in the pipeline.

奈傑爾，我首先將回答您的 3 個問題。很明顯，我們喜歡加速。我們喜歡訂單的加速成長。你還記得嗎，我們在 10 月的財報電話會議和 11 月的投資者日上都直言不諱地談論了管道的實力。這仍然是事實。我們積極注意到的是管道速度的增加。

So we believe that's a capacity rate of the pipeline that will stay with us. So that is through the final continues to grow, and that's true pretty much globally, certainly for the Americas, EMEA and many parts of Asia. So we're positive about that. So we see opportunity out there. Do you want to comment on the other part of the other question?

因此，我們相信管道的容量率將繼續存在。因此，決賽的規模持續成長，這在全球範圍內都是如此，尤其是美洲、歐洲、中東和非洲以及亞洲許多地區。所以我們對此持正面態度。所以我們看到了機會。您想對另一個問題的其他部分發表評論嗎？

Yes. Yes. So as it relates to deferred revenue, and I may oversimplify this, but deferred revenue can grow for 2 reasons. One, is, as you mentioned, backlog grows. The other is just improved execution and further penetrating customers with those advanced payments. And frankly, we would hope for both. But we feel pretty good that we'll see continued growth in those customer advanced payments.

是的。是的。因此，由於它與遞延收入有關，我可能會過於簡化，但遞延收入可以因兩個原因而成長。一是，正如您所提到的，積壓工作正在增加。另一個是提高執行力並透過預付款進一步滲透客戶。坦白說，我們希望兩者都能實現。但我們感覺非常好，我們將看到這些客戶預付款的持續成長。

Your next question comes from Amit Daryanani of Evercore.

您的下一個問題來自 Evercore 的 Amit Daryanani。

Gio, I was hoping you would talk about -- I think you talked about AI activity broadly in line, if not slightly better than you had expected, and that's the way you described it. Can you maybe just talk about -- and I realize you said it's not easy for you to be precise, but how much of your orders or your backlog you think are AI-driven today?

Gio，我希望你能談論——我認為你談論的人工智慧活動大致一致，即使不是比你預期的稍好一些，這就是你描述它的方式。你能不能談談——我知道你說過準確地說對你來說並不容易，但你認為今天有多少訂單或積壓訂單是由人工智慧驅動的？

And as you engage with these cloud customers, do you see them sort of preferring more the route of direct-to chip or full immersion? Just sort of love to get clever what your customers are looking to build their data center technology with as they go forward?

當您與這些雲端客戶接觸時，您是否發現他們更喜歡直接晶片或完全沉浸的方式？只是想了解您的客戶在發展過程中希望用什麼來建立他們的資料中心技術？

Thank you, and a good day to you. As I said in the couple of occasions, it's very hard for us, and I think for everyone truly to be exact. It's not an exactly as I said in -- where we're going through the slides, not exact signs deciding what goes to or being sure of what goes through AI applications or not. As I said, there are some product lines that are univocally destined to high-density GPU AI like, any sort of high-density cooling or liquid cooling, some elements of in rack power distribution.

謝謝你，祝你有美好的一天。正如我在幾個場合所說的那樣，這對我們來說非常困難，而且我認為對每個人來說都是如此。這並不完全像我在幻燈片中所說的那樣，沒有確切的標誌來決定什麼會透過人工智慧應用程式或確定什麼會通過人工智慧應用程式。正如我所說，有一些產品線專門針對高密度 GPU AI，例如任何類型的高密度冷卻或液體冷卻、機架內配電的某些元素。

But so to say, we want to make sure that we don't go to the side of too much detail, too much details also from a competitive standpoint. But we are very happy about the trajectory of the backlog and the trajectory of the pipeline. But the vast majority of -- the vast majority of our portfolio is really fungible, as I said, in the sense that also a lot of what you see built today and designed today is not univocally one or the other.

但可以這麼說，我們希望確保我們不會偏向太多細節，從競爭的角度來看也不會太多細節。但我們對積壓的軌跡和管道的軌跡感到非常高興。但正如我所說，我們的產品組合中的絕大多數確實是可替代的，從某種意義上說，您今天看到的許多構建和設計的東西也不是單一的一個或另一個。

It is data centers that needs to be hybrid in their very nature because they will host both traditional, let's say, CPU and GPU with configurations that may and will actually change over time. So the mix of loads in the same data center changes.

資料中心本質上需要混合，因為它們將同時託管傳統的 CPU 和 GPU，其配置可能會隨著時間的推移而實際變化。因此，同一資料中心的負載組合會改變。

The challenge here for all in the industry, and that's why we operate very, very strongly with the hyperscalers and the largest colors is how do you design it in a way that you can transition that way? How can you build that intrinsic flexibility there? So that's why it's very difficult for me to answer in a credible way to your question.

對於整個產業來說，這裡面臨的挑戰是如何以一種可以過渡的方式設計它，這就是為什麼我們非常非常強烈地與超大規模和最大的顏色合作？如何在那裡建立內在的彈性？這就是為什麼我很難以可信的方式回答你的問題。

And I would invite the entire industry to be less [biunivocally] black and white on this because I don't think you can. Having said that, we're very happy about the trajectory. We are very happy about the trajectory of what is univocally destined to AI, but also the pull-through of what we now believe, see is AI-driven medium, long term in our pipeline.

我會邀請整個行業在這個問題上不要那麼黑白分明，因為我認為你做不到。話雖如此，我們對這個軌跡感到非常高興。我們對人工智慧的發展軌跡感到非常高興，同時也對我們現在相信、看到的人工智慧驅動的中長期管道的實現感到非常高興。

Direct or [emotion]? That's what we hear. In spades, that's the discussions that we have predominantly with all. Does it mean that there is no room for emotion ? No, but just we just see more direct than anything else. But again, the fun part of the -- or a lot of the -- a very interesting part of our job today is that we really figure out and design with the big players across the world what the future looks like, and that is a highly cooperative activity. It was a bit long answer, sorry about that, but hopefully.

直接還是[情感]？這就是我們所聽到的。毫無疑問，這就是我們主要與所有人進行的討論。這是否意味著沒有情感的空間？不，只是我們看到的比其他任何東西都更直接。但同樣，我們今天工作的一個有趣的部分——或者說很多——一個非常有趣的部分是，我們真正與世界各地的大公司一起弄清楚和設計未來的樣子，這是一個高度合作的活動。答案有點長，對此表示抱歉，但希望如此。

We now have Scott Davis with Melius Research.

現在我們有 Melius Research 的 Scott Davis。

Congratulations on the year. This might be a little hard to answer, but do you guys have a view or a vision, either one, but what percentage of the mix liquid cooling would be in a couple of years? Is it -- I'm trying to just get a sense of size and materiality of it, I think, is the question.

恭喜你過年了。這可能有點難以回答，但是你們有一個觀點或願景嗎？幾年後混合液體冷卻的比例是多少？是嗎——我想，我只是想了解它的大小和重要性，這就是問題所在。

Scott, it's very much -- we do not deviate very much from what we were saying at Investor Day quite honestly. So if I go back to those thought process, we would see, let's say, go into a 15% to 20% of the overall let's say, thermal part over time, as that builds up. Okay. But again, it's really still a bit early.

史考特，老實說，我們並沒有太大偏離我們在投資者日所說的內容。因此，如果我回到這些思考過程，我們會看到，比如說，隨著時間的推移，隨著時間的推移，熱部分會占到整體的 15% 到 20%。好的。但話又說回來，現在確實還太早。

Okay. And again, I know you've got a lot of different SKUs, but can you give us a sense of your capacity utilization by region? And maybe the real question I'm trying to get at is how much did lack of capacity kind of slow down your growth in '23 or perhaps impact your growth in even the first couple of quarters here at '24 before your new capacity comes online?

好的。再說一遍，我知道你們有很多不同的 SKU，但你能否讓我們了解一下你們按地區劃分的產能利用率？也許我想解決的真正問題是，產能不足在多大程度上減緩了您在 23 年的成長，甚至可能影響您在 24 年新產能上線之前的前幾季的成長？

Capacity and capacitization is ongoing. I would say that with the open -- the big steps were opening, talked also many times, India and Monterrey. After that, it's more of a gradual expansion, adding lines, adding chefs, improving utilization, improving output, investing more in assembly lines and tools. So in general, we do not see -- in this moment, we do not see for 2024 capacity or beyond, of course, capacity as a limiting factor not in any kind of a material fashion.

產能和能力建設正在進行中。我想說的是，隨著開放，印度和蒙特雷也多次談到了大步的開放。之後，更多的是逐步擴張，增加生產線，增加廚師，提高利用率，提高產量，對裝配線和工具進行更多投資。因此，總的來說，我們目前並沒有看到 2024 年或以後的產能，當然，產能不是任何物質形式的限制因素。

Clearly, as I mentioned, we make capacity decisions almost on a weekly basis because never have we experienced a market that is dynamic to this extent. And I want to make sure we have kind of a very robust process to be there and to provide our customers with the right capacity.

顯然，正如我所提到的，我們幾乎每週都會做出容量決策，因為我們從未經歷過如此活躍的市場。我想確保我們有一個非常健全的流程，並為我們的客戶提供適當的能力。

We now have the question from Jeff Sprague of Vertical Research.

現在我們收到垂直研究公司傑夫·斯普拉格（Jeff Sprague）提出的問題。

Maybe just coming back to the Slide 12, Gio. Just help us get our head around what exactly this means. Obviously, you're increasing capacity off a very, very low base. But if we go back to the Investor Day, you said you had $100 million of really direct AI revenue exposure. And there was another $250 million, which was kind of in that fungible category that was maybe AI, but you didn't know for sure.

也許只是回到幻燈片 12，Gio。請幫助我們了解這到底意味著什麼。顯然，您正在以非常非常低的基礎增加容量。但如果我們回到投資者日，您說您擁有 1 億美元的真正直接人工智慧收入敞口。還有另外 2.5 億美元，這可能屬於可替代類別，可能是人工智慧，但你不確定。

I don't think you're telling us here that $100 million is going to $4.5 billion, multiplying it by 100 by 45. But what are you telling us here? It's obviously a pretty dramatic chart.

我不認為你在這裡告訴我們 1 億美元乘以 100 乘以 45 就會變成 45 億美元。但你在這裡告訴我們什麼呢？這顯然是一個非常戲劇性的圖表。

What we are saying is that here, we will -- in the space of the 12 months, our plan is to make sure that we have the necessary demand to cover the needs -- the direct-to chip liquid cooling needs of the industry and making sure that we do not limit our ability of our customers to grow their direct-to-chip liquid cooling.

我們所說的是，在這 12 個月的時間內，我們的計劃是確保我們有必要的需求來滿足行業的直接晶片液體冷卻需求以及確保我們不會限制客戶發展直接晶片液體冷卻的能力。

That means that we indeed start from a relatively low base when we were talking about $100 million at Investor Day of course. That doesn't mean it's all liquid cooling, by the way. The -- we were talking about a backlog that was spread over months and quarters. So it's not necessarily a peak point realized in -- at the beginning of the year.

當然，這意味著當我們在投資者日談論 1 億美元時，我們確實是從相對較低的基數開始的。順便說一下，這並不意味著全部都是液體冷卻。我們正在討論的是分佈在數月和幾季的積壓工作。因此，這不一定是在年初實現的峰值。

The fact is we start from a low base. We believe that we'll be able to bring the capacity that the industry needs and plus, and that's done activating 3 vertical plants across all continents and with a rapidity and with a broad reach of our supply chain. So the message is, without going in exactly in the numbers for obvious reasons, but the message is we will have capacity, and we have capacity. And our -- we have the technology -- and that's why we see a lot of conversation and a lot of pipeline forming in this moment.

事實上，我們的起點很低。我們相信，我們將能夠帶來產業所需的產能，並透過在各大洲快速啟動 3 個垂直工廠來實現這一點，並覆蓋我們的供應鏈。因此，我們傳達的訊息是，出於明顯的原因，我們沒有確切地輸入數字，但訊息是我們將有能力，而且我們有能力。我們擁有技術，這就是為什麼我們此時看到大量對話和大量管道形成的原因。

We have the next question from Nicole DeBlase of Deutsche Bank.

我們有德意志銀行的 Nicole DeBlase 提出的下一個問題。

Just maybe on EMEA. You guys alluded to some shipment delays that took place in the fourth quarter. And I guess, can you talk a little bit about maybe quantify that, talk about the impact if you can kind of recoup all of that in the first quarter. And talk about the quarterly cadence of growth to get to low double digits for 2024.

也許只是在歐洲、中東和非洲地區。你們提到了第四季度發生的一些發貨延誤。我想，您能否稍微談談量化這一點，談談如果您能在第一季收回所有這些影響的話。並討論 2024 年季度成長節奏達到低兩位數。

The line was very, very noisy. I believe -- we believe that we have understood your question. So Q4 was -- for EMEA was predominantly a question of customer readiness and site readiness, so not so much an internal capacity, but it was more us more the customer side receiving. When it comes to the sequence of quarters going into 2024 for EMEA, probably a little bit premature. We certainly will have a challenging comparison in Q1.

線路非常非常吵。我相信——我們相信我們已經理解了你的問題。因此，對於歐洲、中東和非洲地區來說，第四季主要是客戶準備和站點準備的問題，所以與其說是內部能力的問題，不如說是我們客戶方面接收的問題。當談到歐洲、中東和非洲地區進入 2024 年的季度順序時，可能有點為時過早。我們肯定會在第一季進行具有挑戰性的比較。

So (inaudible) this acceleration that we shared with you happen necessarily in Q1. But as I said, we are -- this and we are very happy about the pipeline, and we are happy about the example and specifically refer to our order intake in Q1. So we are quite opportunistic about it. Some noise there. Brika, you still there?

因此（聽不清楚）我們與您分享的這種加速必然發生在第一季。但正如我所說，我們對此感到非常滿意，我們對這個例子感到高興，特別是我們在第一季的訂單量。所以我們對此非常機會主義。那裡有一些噪音。布里卡，你還在嗎？

We will move on to the next question of Mark Delaney of Goldman Sachs.

我們將繼續討論高盛馬克·德萊尼的下一個問題。

Yes. Backlog grew 16% to reach a record high of $5.5 billion. Can you talk about how much of the backlog is supporting sales in 2024? And how much is for 2025? And as you think about the order of backlog strength, does that imply that in the next few years, where this revenue would be at the higher end or maybe even above the 8% to 11% long-term revenue CAGR target provided at the Investor Day?

是的。積壓訂單成長 16%，達到 55 億美元的歷史新高。您能談談有多少積壓訂單支持 2024 年的銷售嗎？ 2025 年要多少錢？當您考慮積壓強度的順序時，這是否意味著在未來幾年中，該收入將處於較高水平，甚至可能高於投資者提供的 8% 至 11% 長期收入複合年增長率目標天？

Our long-term, let's say, vision stays -- stays what we shared with you at Investor Day. And of course, with a good Q4 under our belt. Backlog 16%, obviously something that makes us certainly very happy and that is heading in the right direction. When it comes to the -- this year vis-a-vis future years or next year and future years, I would say that we do not see a distribution that is anyway much difference than what we saw a year ago in the same condition. So I would say pretty natural -- pretty regular split, let's say, this year and next year. Is the backlog good? Yes, is the backlog, let's say, encouraging? Absolutely, absolutely.

可以說，我們的長期願景保持不變—保持我們在投資者日與您分享的內容。當然，我們也擁有出色的 Q4。積壓 16%，顯然這讓我們非常高興，而且正在朝著正確的方向發展。當談到今年相對於未來幾年或明年和未來幾年時，我想說的是，我們沒有看到與一年前在相同條件下看到的分佈有太大差異。所以我會說非常自然 - 非常規律的分裂，比方說，今年和明年。積壓情況好嗎？是的，積壓的訂單是否令人鼓舞？絕對，絕對。

You saw -- you know our long-term view. You have your -- our 2024 plan. And yes.

你看到了——你知道我們的長期願景。您有您的—我們的 2024 年計畫。是的。

We now have Sahil Manocha of Citi.

現在我們有花旗銀行的薩希爾·馬諾查 (Sahil Manocha)。

This is Sahil Manocha on for Andy Kaplowitz. It's now been roughly 3 months since the CoolTera transaction, and you mentioned that asset integration and vigorous production acceleration will continue through 2024. To the extent possible, could you please clarify the impact of the CoolTera acquisition has had on the '24 guide since the Analyst Day was pre-acquisition. More specifically, what is the revenue and cost impact of the CoolTera acquisition on the '24 guide?

我是薩希爾·馬諾查 (Sahil Manocha) 為安迪·卡普洛維茨 (Andy Kaplowitz) 發言。現在距離 CoolTera 交易已經過去了大約 3 個月，您提到資產整合和生產的強勁加速將持續到 2024 年。請您盡可能澄清一下自 2024 年以來收購 CoolTera 對 '24 指南的影響。分析師日是在收購之前。更具體地說，收購 CoolTera 對 '24 指南的收入和成本有何影響？

We closed CoolTera acquisition on the 8th of December. So yes, it's not 3 months yet. But yes, I would tell you that our plan and our Investor Day vision of the future included certainly an important acceleration in liquid cooling and AI. It was already part of our portfolio. The difference is with the acquisition and one may think that we probably kind of aware that things would may have evolved that direction on the 29th of November.

我們於 12 月 8 日完成了對 CoolTera 的收購。是的，現在還不到 3 個月。但是，是的，我想告訴你，我們的計劃和投資者日對未來的願景肯定包括液體冷卻和人工智慧的重要加速。它已經是我們產品組合的一部分。不同之處在於收購，人們可能認為我們可能意識到事情可能會在 11 月 29 日朝這個方向發展。

But that gives us, again, more, let's say, confidence in the ability and the speed to execute on that plan. So nothing revolutionary, nothing dramatically different is -- are we in a better position because we have secured something that was likely but not sure? Yes, absolutely.

但這再次讓我們對執行該計劃的能力和速度更有信心。因此，沒有什麼革命性的，也沒有什麼顯著的差異——我們是否處於更好的位置，因為我們已經獲得了一些可能但不確定的東西？是的，一點沒錯。

And just one more. I see that your views for the Communications segment end market was unchanged, and you mentioned that CapEx remains tight. Could you please provide a bit more color on what you're seeing in the end market in terms of outlook for '24. How are you seeing the still elevated rate environment impact your telecom-related customers? Any further color there would be much appreciated.

還有一個。我看到您對通訊領域終端市場的看法沒有變化，並且您提到資本支出仍然緊張。您能否就 24 世紀終端市場的前景提供更多資訊？您如何看待仍然較高的費率環境對您的電信相關客戶的影響？任何進一步的顏色將不勝感激。

Yes. The telecom is, let's say, it ebbs and flows depending on the technology waves. 5G, of qcourse, created acceleration a few years ago and then slowed down. And that's typically the type of cycle that business is. We do not see any imminent cycles and hence, we continue to believe that, that market will be pretty slow. We do not think that would be shrinking.

是的。可以說，電信業的潮起潮落取決於科技浪潮。當然，5G 在幾年前創造了加速，然後又放緩了。這就是商業的典型週期類型。我們沒有看到任何即將到來的周期，因此，我們仍然相信，該市場將相當緩慢。我們認為這一數字不會縮小。

In the future, there will be new technology, new acceleration, certainly an area where a very distributed edge could, at a certain stage, have a positive impact, and we're there with the technology, with the presence with the go-to-market, with the capacity. But again, in our guide and our vision for the future, we are very prudent with this space.

未來，將會出現新技術，新的加速，當然，一個非常分散的邊緣可以在某個階段產生積極影響的領域，而我們將擁有技術，擁有首選的存在——有市場、有能力。但同樣，在我們的指南和對未來的願景中，我們對這個空間非常謹慎。

You now have Steve Tusa of JPMorgan.

現在請來摩根大通的史蒂夫·圖薩。

The -- just a question on the orders outlook. I mean do you guys expect to grow orders in 2024? And I think you said you'd grow that deferred balance, but it would be growing just slower than the 80% that you saw this year? And then I have a follow-up.

這只是關於訂單前景的問題。我的意思是你們預計 2024 年訂單會增加嗎？我想你說過你會增加遞延餘額，但它的成長速度會比你今年看到的 80% 慢一點？然後我有一個後續行動。

Yes, we believe that orders will grow. We started, of course, mentioning that Q1 will be sequentially up sorry, it will be year-on-year up, not sequentially -- year-on-year up in high teens, as explained during the slide show. But we believe that overall the year will be up.

是的，我們相信訂單將會成長。當然，我們一開始就提到第一季將連續上升，抱歉，這將是同比上升，而不是連續上升——正如幻燈片中所解釋的那樣，是按年上升。但我們相信今年整體會上漲。

And the deferred balance? And then I have a follow-up to that.

遞延餘額呢？然後我有一個後續行動。

Yes. We would generally expect that deferred balance to be very much correlated with the growth of sales or orders, one being the proxy for the other. So we would expect growth in that account commensurate with what we see the growth being in both orders and sales.

是的。我們通常預期遞延餘額與銷售或訂單的成長密切相關，其中一個是另一個的代理。因此，我們預計該帳戶的成長與我們看到的訂單和銷售額的成長相稱。

Got it. And I appreciate you guys talking about pricing in a little bit more of a sensitive way. But then you were pretty clear that like supply/demand remains relatively favorable. You guys are offering greater value for the customer. Are you guys planning on getting just roughly any sequential price increases in orders this year?

知道了。我很感謝你們以更敏感的方式談論定價。但後來你很清楚，供需關係仍然相對有利。你們正在為客戶提供更大的價值。你們計劃今年的訂單價格連續上漲嗎？

We are talking about an environment going forward with price cost is up. And we believe in an environment in which price remains positive, as I explained. That necessarily translates in the same equation being true for orders. Otherwise, that would be a short-lived statement.

我們正在談論一個價格成本上漲的環境。正如我所解釋的，我們相信價格保持正值的環境。這必然轉化為同樣適用於訂單的等式。否則，這將是一個短暫的聲明。

But I guess is there any time this year that you would expect price declines in orders year-over-year?

但我想今年您是否會預期訂單價格會比去年同期下降？

We do not expect that.

我們不希望這樣。

We have the next question from Nigel Coe, a follow-up, of Wolfe Research.

我們有沃爾夫研究公司 (Wolfe Research) 的後續跟進者奈傑爾·科 (Nigel Coe) 提出的下一個問題。

Thanks for the second part of the cherry here. So yes, my question is actually partially addressed by Jeff but the 45x increase in capacity on the CoolTera CDUs, mean any kind of conservative read of your current capabilities would suggest you're planning for $1 billion plus kind of revenue line here in 2025. Just wondering if that complete your base. But just more broadly, on capacity, it seems to me that adding second shift would be a big meaningful increase in your capacity capabilities. So just curious what you're seeing and what you're doing along partnerships across your overall footprint.

感謝這裡的櫻桃的第二部分。所以，是的，Jeff 實際上部分解決了我的問題，但CoolTera CDU 的容量增加了45 倍，這意味著對您當前功能的任何保守解讀都表明您正在計劃在2025 年實現10 億美元以上的收入線。只是想知道這是否完成了你的基礎。但更廣泛地說，就產能而言，在我看來，增加第二輪班將是對你的產能能力的重大有意義的提高。因此，只是好奇您所看到的以及您在整個足跡中的合作夥伴關係中所做的事情。

Sure. Let me start. I'm not sure I fully -- I heard you very well on the first part of the other question. But when it comes to capacity, it's never adding a second shift or when I say they're adding more shifts in general, adding more capacity, utilization of the asset. So think about our capacity increase as exactly a combination of more net-net, more square feet, square meters, more utilization, investment going up. And you have seen our CapEx projections go up year-on-year.

當然。讓我開始吧。我不確定我是否完全——我在另一個問題的第一部分聽得很清楚。但當談到產能時，它從來不會增加第二個班次，或者當我說他們一般會增加更多的班次，增加更多的產能和資產利用率。因此，我們的產能增加實際上是更多淨淨、更多平方英尺、平方公尺、更多利用率和投資增加的組合。您已經看到我們的資本支出預測逐年上升。

And there is VOS, Vertiv Operating System productivity certainly plays a big role, and there is an ability to utilize more the capacity that at any given instance, we have available, and this is not different from what we shared already in October and indeed at Investor Day. So there is flexibility in that respect and flexibility we are using. But the first part, I couldn't capture very well, so real quick as we're at time. Can you ask again?

還有 VOS，Vertiv 作業系統的生產力無疑發揮著重要作用，並且有能力利用更多的容量，在任何給定的情況下，我們都可用，這與我們在 10 月和實際上在投資者日。因此，我們正在使用這方面和靈活性。但第一部分，我捕捉得不好，因為我們當時的速度太快了。可以再問一下嗎？

Yes, look, Slide 12, the 45x increase. It seems like $1 billion plus of capacity is what you'll point to here, but just wondering if there's any more detail on that.

是的，看，投影片 12，增加了 45 倍。您在這裡所指的似乎是 10 億美元以上的產能，但只是想知道是否有更多細節。

So I think we are reading too much into that, read it like the industry has a growth rate in direct-to- chip. We want to make sure that we provide capacity over and above that growth rate so that whatever the industry needs, we will be able to cover that.

因此，我認為我們對這一點的解讀太多了，就像產業在直接晶片方面的成長率一樣。我們希望確保我們提供的產能超過該成長率，以便無論產業需要什麼，我們都能夠滿足。

Thank you. This does conclude our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Giordano Albertazzi for any closing remarks.

謝謝。我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉交給佐丹奴·阿爾貝塔齊 (Giordano Albertazzi) 發表閉幕詞。

Well, thank you. Thank you very much, and thanks, everyone, for your questions. And looking forward to more interaction in the next few days. I want to thank the Vertiv team globally, hard work in 2023, and we have executed well. We -- as we mentioned a few times in the recent past and continues to do, we are shifting our culture towards high-performance culture.

嗯，謝謝。非常感謝大家，也謝謝大家提出的問題。並期待在接下來的幾天裡有更多的互動。我要感謝 Vertiv 全球團隊在 2023 年的辛勤工作，我們執行得很好。正如我們最近多次提到的那樣，我們正在將我們的文化轉向高績效文化。

It doesn't happen overnight, but certainly happening at Vertiv gradually, a lot more to do. We are heading in the right direction. We started to develop the right sense of urgency across the organization, and you can see that. As I like to say, I'm pleased, but absolutely never satisfied. Good year 2023. Looking forward for a stronger year yet, in 2024. A lot of potential, very excited. Thanks, everyone, for joining us, and we'll speak soon.

這不是一朝一夕就能實現的，但維諦技術 (Vertiv) 肯定會逐步實現，還有很多工作要做。我們正朝著正確的方向前進。我們開始在整個組織內培養正確的緊迫感，你可以看到這一點。正如我想說的，我很高興，但絕對不滿足。 2023 年是美好的一年。期待 2024 年更強勁的一年。潛力很大，非常興奮。謝謝大家加入我們，我們很快就會說話。

Thank you. The conference has now concluded. Thank you all again for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

謝謝。會議現已結束。再次感謝大家參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連線。