Vertiv Holdings Co (VRT) 2020 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Nick. I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to Vertiv's Fourth Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note that this event is being recorded.

早安.我是Nick，今天將由我擔任這次電話會議的接線生。現在，我謹代表Vertiv公司歡迎各位參加2020年第四季財報電話會議。 （接線生提示）請注意，本次會議正在錄音。

Now I'd like to turn the program over to your host for today's conference call, Lynne Maxeiner, Vice President of Investor Relations.

現在，我將把節目交給今天的電話會議主持人，投資者關係副總裁琳恩·馬克西納。

Great. Thank you, Nick. Good morning, and welcome to Vertiv's Fourth Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. Joining me today are Vertiv's Executive Chairman, David Cote; Chief Executive Officer, Rob Johnson; Chief Financial Officer, David Fallon; and Chief Strategy and Development Officer, Gary Niederpruem.

好的。謝謝你，尼克。早安，歡迎參加Vertiv 2020年第四季財報電話會議。今天與我一同出席的有Vertiv執行董事長David Cote、執行長Rob Johnson、財務長David Fallon以及首席策略與發展長Gary Niederpruem。

Before we begin, I 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 registration statement or proxy statement and other filings 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.

在本次電話會議開始之前，我謹指出，我們將就未來事件（包括Vertiv未來的財務和營運業績）作出前瞻性陳述。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。請參閱今日發布的獲利報告中的相關警示性聲明，您也可以透過我們的註冊聲明、委託書以及其他提交給美國證券交易委員會（SEC）的文件了解更多關於這些風險的資訊。我們今天所做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 investor.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（可在公司網站investor.vertiv.com上找到）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, David Cote.

接下來，我將把電話交給執行主席大衛·科特。

Thanks, Lynne. As I reflect on the past year in Vertiv, I'm even more encouraged that everything we discussed in the road show has been proved to be even more true today. Vertiv has a great position in a good industry and we can differentiate with technology. Sales growth and margin rate expansion opportunity abounds, and we have a team that's making it happen. That opportunity shone brightly in 2020. We were able to hold sales flat and significantly increase orders in a terribly difficult year. We were able to increase our margin rate on flat sales, which is always difficult. And at the same time, we ramped up investment in R&D, other growth drivers, and process initiatives like the Vertiv Operating System, Vertiv Product Development, functional transformation and customer view, the Vertiv User Experience.

謝謝琳恩。回顧過去一年在Vertiv的經歷，我更加感到鼓舞，因為我們在巡迴推介會上討論的所有內容，如今都得到了印證。 Vertiv在一個前景廣闊的行業中佔據著有利地位，並且我們能夠憑藉技術實現差異化。銷售成長和利潤率提升的機會比比皆是，而我們擁有一支能夠將這些機會轉化為現實的團隊。 2020年，這些機會尤其突出。在如此艱難的一年裡，我們不僅保持了銷售額的穩定，還顯著提高了訂單量。在銷售額持平的情況下，我們實現了利潤率的提升，這始終是一項挑戰。同時，我們也增加了對研發、其他成長驅動因素以及流程改善的投入，例如Vertiv作業系統、Vertiv產品開發、功能轉型以及客戶視角和Vertiv用戶體驗等。

The same is true for 2021. As Vertiv guides to sales growth, margin rate expansion and the reinvestment that drives both in 2022 and beyond. Cash and overall liquidity improved markedly and net leverage is down a lot more than anticipated, especially in a COVID year. My confidence has increased, not decreased over the past year. No matter where I look in Vertiv, we're making great progress. As Timbuk 3 said in their 1986 song, "The future is so bright, we got to wear shades." I felt that way a year ago, and I feel that way even more so today.

2021年也是如此。 Vertiv正朝著銷售成長、利潤率提升以及推動2022年及以後發展的再投資目標邁進。現金流和整體流動性顯著改善，淨槓桿率的下降幅度遠超預期，尤其是在新冠疫情肆虐的這一年。過去一年，我的信心不減反增。無論從哪個角度來看Vertiv，我們都取得了巨大的進步。正如Timbuk 3在他們1986年的歌曲中所唱的，「未來如此光明，我們得戴上墨鏡。」一年前我就有這種感覺，而今天我更加確信這一點。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Rob.

接下來，我將把電話交給羅布。

Thank you, Dave, and I truly appreciate your partnership and the good advice you continue to provide to me and my executive leadership team. I also want to thank the Vertiv employees for their efforts in Q4 and throughout last year. They pulled together and demonstrated how our collective efforts can accomplish amazing feats during a very challenging time. They've adopted to a can-do attitude, used creativity, ingenuity and outside-the-box thinking in order to serve our customers during this pandemic. I commend my team, my Board and our many partners for delivering the results I will share with you today.

謝謝你，戴夫，我非常感謝你的合作以及你一直以來為我和我的高階主管團隊提供的寶貴建議。我也要感謝Vertiv全體員工在第四季以及去年全年所付出的努力。他們團結一心，展現了我們如何在充滿挑戰的時期，透過集體的努力取得令人矚目的成就。他們秉持積極進取的態度，運用創造力、智慧和突破常規的思維方式，在疫情期間竭誠為客戶服務。我在此向我的團隊、董事會以及眾多合作夥伴致以崇高的敬意，感謝他們共同取得了今天我將與大家分享的成果。

Moving to Slide 3. Overall, the demand side of our business was very promising as Q4 sales were up over 11% compared to Q4 of 2019, driven largely by significant growth in the European and Asia Pacific regions. Orders for the quarter were up 9% when compared to the fourth quarter of last year. And I'm pleased to remind you that the orders for Q3 were already up 15% as compared to Q3 of the previous year.

接下來是第三張投影片。整體而言，我們業務的需求端表現非常強勁，第四季銷售額較2019年第四季成長超過11%，這主要得益於歐洲和亞太地區的顯著成長。本季訂單量較去年同期成長9%。值得一提的是，第三季訂單量較去年同期成長15%。

Our backlog remains at an all-time high and is up $450 million from the end of 2019. We will talk more specifically about the demand side of the business over the next few slides.

我們的積壓訂單量仍處於歷史最高水平，比 2019 年底增加了 4.5 億美元。接下來的幾張投影片，我們將更具體地討論業務的需求面。

From a profitability standpoint, our adjusted EBITDA was $187 million, which was up over 25% from last year's Q4. This resulted in adjusted EBITDA margin expansion of 160 basis points, driven higher by sales, higher contribution margin and lower fixed costs on a percentage basis. Additionally, our free cash flow at the end of Q4 improved over the same time period last year by $86 million to $175 million because of higher earnings and lower transformation spending.

從獲利能力來看，我們調整後的 EBITDA 為 1.87 億美元，較去年同期成長超過 25%。這使得調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率提高了 160 個基點，主要得益於銷售額成長、貢獻毛利提高以及固定成本百分比下降。此外，由於獲利增加和轉型支出減少，我們第四季末的自由現金流較去年同期增加了 8,600 萬美元，達到 1.75 億美元。

Turning to the full year results of 2020. We delivered $39 million more in adjusted EBITDA as compared to 2019, with sales down approximately 1%. This equates to 110 basis point improvement in adjusted EBITDA margin versus the prior year. Our free cash flow improved $171 million over last year to $163 million, driven primarily by higher adjusted EBITDA and lower cash interest.

回顧2020年全年業績。與2019年相比，我們實現了3,900萬美元的調整後EBITDA，而銷售額下降了約1%。這意味著調整後EBITDA利潤率較上年提高了110個基點。我們的自由現金流較前一年增加了1.71億美元，達到1.63億美元，主要得益於調整後EBITDA的成長和現金利息支出的減少。

Looking at 2021, we anticipate above-market top line growth, increase in profitability, an even stronger balance sheet, all while continuing to invest significantly in strategic areas like research and development and sales and marketing.

展望 2021 年，我們預計營收將高於市場平均水平，獲利能力將有所提高，資產負債表將更加強勁，同時我們將繼續在研發、銷售和行銷等策略領域進行大量投資。

Finally, I wanted to let you know that we have transitioned to the measure of profitability from adjusted EBITDA to adjusted operating profit. While there are a few moving parts associated with this transition, this is nothing more than continuing on our committed path to keeping our financials and communications as simple as possible. In order to aid the analysts with this transition, we've included Exhibit 99.2 in our 8-K that reconciles all the pertinent information. David will speak to this further during his section as well.

最後，我想告知各位，我們已將獲利能力衡量指標從調整後 EBITDA 改為調整後營業利潤。雖然這項轉變涉及一些細節，但這只是我們致力於盡可能簡化財務報表和溝通方式的另一個舉措。為了幫助分析師理解這一轉變，我們在 8-K 文件中附上了附錄 99.2，其中匯總了所有相關資訊。 David 也將在他的部分對此進行更詳細的闡述。

Turning to Slide 4. We've used this slide over the past few quarters to illustrate what we are seeing in our market environment regarding demand. It's been updated here to reflect how things look today.

接下來請看第四張投影片。過去幾個季度，我們一直用這張投影片來說明我們目前在市場需求方面觀察到的情況。現在，我們更新了這張投影片，以反映當前的市場狀況。

In the cloud and colocation market, we continue to see strong levels of activity in every region, as indicated by the 6 green buttons in the top 2 rows. Emerging digital applications, such as online education, telemedicine, video and gaming are benefiting our cloud and colocation customers, and that demand benefits us as well.

在雲端運算和託管市場，我們看到各個地區的市場活動仍然強勁，如頂部兩行中的六個綠色按鈕所示。線上教育、遠距醫療、視訊和遊戲等新興數位應用程式正在惠及我們的雲端運算和託管客戶，而這種需求也使我們受益。

In contrast, we see the enterprise and small to medium business continuing to be challenged by COVID, as indicated by the red and yellow buttons in row 3. Its spending continues to be mixed. We commented last quarter that this segment was slightly more positive in October than it was in July, and it's slightly better today than it was in October. The change is subtle, but it is trending in the right direction.

相較之下，我們看到企業和中小企業繼續受到新冠疫情的挑戰，正如第三行中的紅色和黃色按鈕所示。它們的支出依然喜憂參半。我們上季曾提到，該板塊10月份的情況略好於7月份，而目前的情況又略好於10月份。這種變化雖然細微，但整體趨勢是正確的。

Switching to the telecom side of things. We see little change from last quarter. However, we are seeing an uptick of 5G deployment in U.S. and parts of Asia. Several of our larger U.S. carriers are continuing to roll out 5G and we expect the rollout to continue for several more quarters.

接下來談談電信方面。與上個季度相比，情況變化不大。不過，我們看到美國和亞洲部分地區的5G部署正在加速。我們幾家美國大型營運商正在繼續部署5G網絡，預計這一部署趨勢將持續數個季度。

Finally, our commercial and industrial business often tracks GDP, but sometimes the quarterly timing can be different. There was a positive movement in a few light commercial and industrial applications over the past few months. The most notable changes we are seeing are taking place in Europe. So certainly some puts and takes, but overall, a strong market picture given our mix of the data center business. The digital applications people use every day continue to become more and more important to daily living as the result of demand increasing for those digital applications so they can be processed, stored and transmitted. This is creating a significant opportunity for our customers and, consequently, a significant opportunity for Vertiv.

最後，我們的商業和工業業務通常與GDP同步成長，但有時季度時間可能會有所不同。過去幾個月，一些輕型商業和工業應用領域出現了積極的成長。我們看到最顯著的變化發生在歐洲。因此，市場肯定會有一些波動，但總體而言，鑑於我們資料中心業務的多元化，市場前景仍然強勁。隨著人們對數位應用的需求不斷增長，這些應用在日常生活中變得越來越重要，因為需要對它們進行處理、儲存和傳輸。這為我們的客戶創造了巨大的機遇，也因此為Vertiv創造了巨大的機會。

Moving to Slide 5. To reiterate, the overall demand is strong as evidenced by our order rates and backlog. Each of our world regions saw orders growth between 2019 and 2020, which was led by strength of the cloud and colocation markets. As I mentioned in the prior chart, the enterprise and IT channel markets are still not back to pre-COVID levels, but they are moving in the right direction. The IT channel momentum is evidenced by our integrated rack solutions revenue having increased every quarter in 2020. While we continue to maintain a high level of vigilance around COVID, our backlog is approximately $450 million higher than it was entering 2020, and we are confident about our position in the market for 2021 and beyond.

接下來是第五張投影片。重申一下，整體需求強勁，我們的訂單量和積壓訂單量都證明了這一點。 2019年至2020年間，我們全球各區域的訂單量均有所成長，主要得益於雲端運算和託管市場的強勁表現。正如我在前一張圖表中提到的，企業和IT通路市場尚未恢復到疫情前的水平，但正朝著正確的方向發展。 IT通路的成長動能體現在我們2020年每季整合機架解決方案營收的成長。儘管我們仍對疫情保持高度警惕，但我們的積壓訂單量比2020年初增加了約4.5億美元，我們對2021年及以後的市場地位充滿信心。

Switching to the supply side. Now I'm pleased to report that most of our manufacturing facilities are operating normally. The measures we have taken and the priority we have placed on safety has allowed us to continue to operate in a relatively normal state amid the disruptions caused by COVID. Sometimes those disruptions are daily. Although we've seen a strong appetite in the broader market for some of the components we use to manufacture our products, I'm proud of how we have diversified our logistics and supply chains globally to mitigate any serious consequences.

接下來談談供應方面。我很高興地報告，我們的大部分生產設施目前都在正常運作。我們採取的措施以及對安全的重視，使我們能夠在新冠疫情帶來的衝擊下，繼續保持相對正常的運作狀態。有時，這些衝擊甚至每天都會出現。儘管我們看到，市場對我們產品製造所使用的一些零件需求旺盛，但我為我們在全球範圍內實現物流和供應鏈多元化，從而最大程度地降低疫情帶來的嚴重後果而感到自豪。

With that, I'll turn it over to David Fallon to walk us through the financials. David?

接下來，我將把麥克風交給大衛法倫，讓他為我們講解一下財務狀況。大衛？

Thanks, Rob. Starting with Slide 6. This page summarizes our fourth quarter financial results versus last year. Net sales were up $134 million or 11.4%, 9.5% when adjusted for a $22 million foreign exchange translation tailwind. We continued our strong momentum with orders, which were up 9% in the fourth quarter after increasing 15% in the third quarter. Adjusted EBITDA increased $38 million or 26%, primarily driven by the flow-through from higher sales and slightly offset by a foreign currency transaction loss, translating into 160 basis point improvement in adjusted EBITDA margin. Our sales and profitability performance converted into strong free cash flow of $175 million, $86 million higher than last year's fourth quarter. We will review some of the drivers of this improved free cash flow in a couple of slides.

謝謝羅布。從第6頁投影片開始。本頁總結了我們第四季度與去年同期相比的財務表現。淨銷售額成長1.34億美元，增幅11.4%；若剔除2,200萬美元的匯兌收益，則增幅為9.5%。訂單量延續了強勁成長勢頭，繼第三季成長15%之後，第四季又成長了9%。調整後EBITDA成長3800萬美元，增幅26%，主要得益於銷售額成長帶來的收益，但部分被外匯交易損失所抵消，最終調整後EBITDA利潤率提高了160個基點。銷售額和獲利能力的提升轉化為強勁的自由現金流，達到1.75億美元，比去年同期成長8,600萬美元。我們將在接下來的幾頁投影片中探討推動自由現金流成長的部分因素。

Turning to Slide 7. This slide summarizes our fourth quarter segment results. Net sales in the Americas were up $3 million or 0.6%, as growth in telecom was offset by lower services sales, which continue to be negatively impacted by COVID site access issues. Net sales in APAC increased $70 million or 19%, primarily due to continued strong growth in China across most end markets, including data centers, telecommunication and industrials. Geographic locations outside China in APAC were up slightly as we continue to deal with site access challenges in some of those jurisdictions.

請看幻燈片7。本投影片總結了我們第四季的分部業績。美洲地區的淨銷售額成長300萬美元，增幅0.6%，電信業務的成長被服務銷售額的下降所抵消，而服務銷售額的下降又持續受到新冠疫情期間現場准入問題的負面影響。亞太地區的淨銷售額成長7,000萬美元，增幅19%，主要得益於中國在包括資料中心、電信和工業在內的大多數終端市場持續強勁成長。由於我們仍在應對部分地區現場准入的挑戰，亞太地區除中國以外其他地區的銷售額略有成長。

Net sales in EMEA were up $60 million or 25%, almost entirely in the critical infrastructure and solutions product segment, driven by several larger colocation projects.

歐洲、中東和非洲地區的淨銷售額成長了 6,000 萬美元，增幅達 25%，幾乎全部來自關鍵基礎設施和解決方案產品領域，這主要得益於幾個大型託管項目。

From a profitability perspective, adjusted EBITDA margin improved in both the Americas and EMEA, but notably in EMEA, where margin increased over 600 basis points from last year's fourth quarter. This improvement was driven by both higher contribution margin and sales leverage on relatively flat year-over-year fixed costs. Higher contribution margin was primarily due to continued operational and procurement improvement despite a slight negative mix impact from larger projects.

從獲利能力角度來看，美洲和歐洲、中東及非洲地區的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率均有所改善，尤其以歐洲、中東及非洲地區最為顯著，其利潤率較去年第四季增長超過 600 個基點。這項改善主要得益於更高的貢獻毛利率以及在固定成本同比基本持平的情況下，銷售槓桿效應的發揮。更高的貢獻毛利率主要歸功於營運和採購的持續改進，儘管大型專案對產品組合造成了輕微的負面影響。

EMEA adjusted EBITDA margin has improved sequentially each quarter in 2020, reflecting the benefits of past transformational spending, the launch of the Vertiv Operating System and, of course, the leverage benefits of growing the top line while holding fixed cost constant.

2020 年，EMEA 調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率每季都較上季提高，這反映了過去轉型支出帶來的益處、Vertiv 作業系統的推出，當然還有在保持固定成本不變的情況下提高收入所帶來的槓桿效應。

Next, turning to Slide 8. This chart bridges fourth quarter free cash flow from last year. The $86 million increase is primarily a result of higher adjusted EBITDA, lower cash interest payments and lower transformational spending. The $175 million of free cash flow in the quarter was higher than our internal expectations, primarily driven by the timing of cash collections at the end of December versus early January.

接下來，請看第8張投影片。這張圖表比較了今年第四季和去年同期的自由現金流。 8600萬美元的成長主要得益於調整後EBITDA的提高、現金利息支出的減少以及轉型支出的降低。本季1.75億美元的自由現金流高於我們的內部預期，這主要是由於現金收款時間較去年12月底有所延遲，而去年1月初則有所延遲。

After beginning 2020 with the use of cash in the first quarter of approximately $200 million, we generated $366 million of free cash flow over the last 3 quarters, indicative of the strong cash generation potential of this business. This free cash flow has allowed us to pay down our ABL completely. And in conjunction with the $157 million of cash we received pursuant to the redemption of the public warrants prior to year-end, we increased our liquidity to $964 million at 12/31. And assisted by additional cash received in January from the warrant redemption of approximately $100 million, liquidity currently stands close to $1.1 billion, up from $446 million at the end of the first quarter.

2020年初，我們第一季動用了約2億美元的現金。此後三個季度，我們共產生了3.66億美元的自由現金流，這表明該業務擁有強勁的現金生成潛力。這筆自由現金流使我們能夠完全償還資產抵押貸款（ABL）。此外，加上年底前贖回公開認股權證所得的1.57億美元現金，截至12月31日，我們的營運資金增加至9.64億美元。 1月份，我們又透過贖回認股權證獲得了約1億美元的現金，目前流動資金接近11億美元，高於第一季末的4.46億美元。

Next, turning to Page 9. This slide summarizes our full year financial results. Net sales were down $60 million or 1.4% from 2019 as higher sales in EMEA and APAC were more than offset by lower sales in the Americas, which was more significantly impacted by COVID site access challenges than the other 2 regions. When looking at our full year sales result, it is instructed to bifurcate the year-over-year comparison. Sales were down 13% in the first half of 2020, but up 10% in the second half, in part driven by more challenging comps in the first half of 2019, but also demonstrating the rebound from COVID challenges and the continued resilient growth in our industry.

接下來，請翻到第9頁。本頁總結了我們全年的財務表現。淨銷售額較2019年下降6000萬美元，降幅為1.4%。歐洲、中東和非洲地區（EMEA）以及亞太地區（APAC）的銷售額成長被美洲地區的銷售額下降所抵消，而美洲地區受新冠疫情期間現場訪問挑戰的影響比其他兩個地區更為顯著。在分析全年銷售業績時，需要將年比數據分開比較。 2020年上半年銷售額下降13%，但下半年增長10%，部分原因是2019年上半年的同比基數較高，但也顯示我們已從新冠疫情的挑戰中復蘇，並展現出行業的持續韌性增長。

Despite lower full year sales, adjusted EBITDA increased $39 million or 7%, and adjusted EBITDA margin improved 110 basis points as procurement and pricing initiatives drove contribution margin improvement, and fixed costs were down $40 million, aided in part by COVID cost-saving actions launched in the second quarter.

儘管全年銷售額下降，但調整後的 EBITDA 增長了 3900 萬美元，增幅達 7%，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率提高了 110 個基點，這得益於採購和定價舉措推動了貢獻毛利的提高，固定成本下降了 4000 萬美元，部分原因是第二季度啟動了 COVID 成本節約措施。

Finally, on this page, and this is the money chart. Free cash flow improved $171 million from 2019 as we benefited from lower cash interest payments, higher adjusted EBITDA and lower transformation spending.

最後，本頁展示的是資金圖表。由於現金利息支出減少、調整後 EBITDA 增加以及轉型支出降低，自由現金流較 2019 年增加了 1.71 億美元。

Beginning on Page 10, we pivot to looking forward, including with this slide, which discusses our transition to adjusted operating profit as our primary financial metric rather than adjusted EBITDA. For avoidance of doubt, we will not be reporting adjusted EBITDA going forward. We defined adjusted operating profit as operating profit, excluding the impact of intangible amortization expense. Operating profit is a GAAP financial measure that will be included on the face of our income statement, and we show an example on the next slide, with the only adjustment as operating profit, both prospectively and for historical periods, being intangible amortization, which we will also include on the face of our income statement. We believe using adjusted operating profit will greatly simplify our communication and analysis of financial results with analysts and investors. And by eliminating all adjustments other than intangible amortization, we address all components of GAAP financial results, enhance the quality of earnings and we also, of course, eliminate the previously disclosed historical adjustments.

從第10頁開始，我們將目光轉向未來，包括本頁幻燈片，其中討論了我們將調整後的營業利潤作為主要財務指標，而非調整後的EBITDA。為避免任何疑問，我們今後將不再報告調整後的EBITDA。我們將調整後的營業利潤定義為扣除無形資產攤銷費用影響後的營業利潤。營業利潤是符合美國通用會計準則（GAAP）的財務指標，將列入我們的損益表。我們在下一張投影片中展示了一個範例，其中對營業利潤的唯一調整項目（無論是前瞻性調整還是歷史調整）是無形資產攤銷，該項也將列入我們的損益表。我們相信，使用調整後的營業利潤將大大簡化我們與分析師和投資者之間的財務表現溝通和分析。透過剔除除無形資產攤銷以外的所有調整項，我們涵蓋了GAAP財務業績的所有組成部分，提高了盈利質量，當然，也消除了先前披露的歷史調整項。

At the bottom of Slide 10, we provide a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to operating profit and then to adjusted operating profit. As you can see, net-net, the differences between adjusted EBITDA and adjusted operating profit are the historical add-backs and also other onetime adjustments and depreciation expense. And adjusted operating profit is simply operating profit less the impact of intangible amortization. Last item of note on this slide, we will also be restating our historically reported adjusted earnings per share to remove historical adjustments, except intangible amortization, and we include those reconciliations on Pages 26 and 27 in the appendix.

在第10張投影片的底部，我們提供了調整後EBITDA與營業利潤以及調整後營業利潤的調整表。如您所見，調整後EBITDA與調整後營業利潤之間的差額包括歷史調整項目、其他一次性調整項目以及折舊費用。調整後營業利潤是指營業利潤減去無形資產攤銷的影響。本投影片的最後一點是，我們將重述歷史上報告的調整後每股收益，以剔除歷史調整項目（無形資產攤銷除外），這些調節表列於附錄的第26頁和第27頁。

Next, moving to Slide 11. This slide illustrates changes in our GAAP income statement presentation going forward, which facilitates our transition to adjusted operating profit. Once again, we will specifically include operating profit, a GAAP measure, on the face of the income statement, and we will also include components of the previously used other deductions net, including amortization of intangibles. A reader will easily be able to calculate adjusted operating profit for any future or historical period with items included in the face of the income statement. And as Rob mentioned, to aid analysts and investors with this transition, which we hope is a once every 10- or 15-year transition, we have included Exhibit 99.2 to our earnings release 8-K, which includes restatements for historical periods, including quarters consistent with this presentation. It also includes revised regional segment information, including reconciliations from historical adjusted EBITDA to adjusted operating profit and quarterly and full year reconciliations from historically reported adjusted earnings per share to prospective calculation removing historical adjustments. And as always, Lynne Maxeiner, our VP of Investor Relations, and I will both be available for as any assistance and understanding in facilitating this transition.

接下來，請看第11張投影片。這張投影片展示了我們未來將如何調整GAAP損益表列報，以方便我們過渡到調整後營業利潤。我們將再次在損益表正文中明確列出營業利潤（一項GAAP指標），並列出先前使用的其他扣除項的淨額，包括無形資產攤銷。讀者可以輕鬆地根據損益表正文中的項目計算任何未來或歷史期間的調整後營業利潤。正如Rob所提到的，為了幫助分析師和投資者理解這一過渡（我們希望這一過渡每10到15年進行一次），我們在盈利報告8-K中附上了附錄99.2，其中包含歷史期間的重述，包括與本次列報一致的季度。該附錄還包含修訂後的區域分部信息，包括歷史調整後EBITDA與調整後營業利潤的調節表，以及從歷史報告的調整後每股收益到剔除歷史調整後的預期計算的季度和全年調節表。一如既往，我們的投資者關係副總裁琳恩·馬克西納和我都會隨時提供任何幫助和理解，以促進這一過渡。

Next, turning to Slide 12. This page summarizes our current financial guidance for 2021. We expect the momentum from the second half of 2020 to continue into 2021, with organic net sales up 7% at the midpoint. We project adjusted operating profit of $575 million at the midpoint, up 68% from prior year and up 26% when pro forma-ed for 2020 discrete items as we illustrate on Slide 13.

接下來，請看第12頁投影片。本頁總結了我們目前對2021年的財務預期。我們預計2020年下半年的成長動能將推遲到2021年，有機淨銷售額預計將成長7%（取中間值）。我們預期調整後營業利潤預計為5.75億美元（取中間值），較上年增長68%，若剔除2020年的特定項目（詳見第13頁投影片），則預期成長26%。

Adjusted operating margin is expected to be approximately 12% at the midpoint, up 420 basis points from 2020 and up 160 basis points on a pro forma basis. Of course, analysts, investors and we, internally, will have to recalibrate margin improvement goals on a relative basis using adjusted operating profit as opposed to adjusted EBITDA, with adjusted operating margin for 2021 about 180 basis points lower than the comparable adjusted EBITDA margin. But of course, the magnitude and substance of our long-term margin improvement goals are unchanged. We expect 2021 adjusted earnings per share of $1.04 at the midpoint, with disclosure of assumptions included on Slide 28 in the appendix.

調整後營業利益率預計約12%（取中間值），較2020年成長420個基點，以備考基準計算成長160個基點。當然，分析師、投資者以及我們公司內部都需要根據調整後營業利潤而非調整後EBITDA來重新調整利潤率提升目標，因為2021年的調整後營業利潤率比相應的調整後EBITDA利潤率低約180個基點。但我們長期利潤率提升目標的規模和實質內容不變。我們預計2021年調整後每股盈餘為1.04美元（取中間值），相關假設揭露請見附錄第28頁。

Finally, on this slide, we currently expect strong 2020 free cash flow of $285 million at the midpoint, up approximately $120 million from 2020. And we will provide additional detail on this improvement on Slide 14 coming up.

最後，在本頁投影片中，我們目前預計2020年自由現金流將強勁成長，中位數為2.85億美元，比2020年增加約1.2億美元。我們將在接下來的第14頁幻燈片中提供關於這項改善的更多細節。

Next, Slide 13. This slide illustrates our bridge from 2020 adjusted operating profit of $342 million to project that midpoint 2021 adjusted operating profit guidance of $575 million, growth of approximately 68%.

接下來，第 13 張投影片。這張投影片展示了我們如何從 2020 年調整後的營業利潤 3.42 億美元過渡到 2021 年調整後的營業利潤中位數預期 5.75 億美元，成長約 68%。

To the far left in the bridge, we pro forma 2020 adjusted operating profit for 2 discrete items, $92 million for the 2020 restructuring reserve and asset impairments and $21 million for SPAC transaction costs in the first quarter of 2020. Compared to the resulting $456 million 2020 pro forma figure, we project the operating improvement in 2020 -- in 2021 of about 26%. Components of this operational increase are illustrated in the bridge and include the following anticipated favorable drivers. Higher sales volume, continued contribution margin expansion from procurement pricing and loss initiatives and net benefit from restructuring of approximately $20 million, including $40 million lower cost from the 2020 restructuring program, offset by $20 million of additional restructuring and related project expense in 2021. These tailwinds are offset by higher anticipated fixed costs, as we discussed in our third quarter earnings conference call, including additional investment of $65 million for R&D and growth initiatives and an anticipated $40 million impact from various onetime COVID cost-saving actions in 2020 that don't repeat.

在圖表的最左側，我們根據兩項獨立項目對2020年調整後的營業利潤進行了預測：一項是2020年重組準備金和資產減值準備金9200萬美元，另一項是2020年第一季度SPAC交易成本2100萬美元。與2020年預測的4.56億美元相比，我們預計2020年到2021年的營業利潤將成長約26%。圖表中列出了此次營業利潤成長的組成部分，其中包括以下預期的有利因素。銷售成長、採購定價和虧損控制措施帶來的持續利潤率提升，以及重組帶來的約2000萬美元淨收益（包括2020年重組計劃節省的4000萬美元成本），均是推動業績增長的主要因素。然而，2021年新增的2,000萬美元重組及相關項目費用將抵銷這些利多因素。正如我們在第三季財報電話會議上討論的那樣，這些利好因素將被更高的預期固定成本所抵消，其中包括為研發和增長計劃追加的6500萬美元投資，以及2020年各項一次性新冠疫情成本節約措施預計帶來的4000萬美元影響（這些措施不會再次實施）。

We normally do not spend significant time explaining an other bar. But in this case, there are quite a few variances going each way included in the other bar on this bridge. Tailwinds include $26 million of the FX transaction loss from 2020 and $40 million of cost savings that we expect in 2021, not related specifically to the 2020 restructuring program.

我們通常不會花很多時間解釋另一根長條圖。但就此而言，這根長條圖包含許多雙向波動因素。利多因素包括2020年2600萬美元的外匯交易損失，以及我們預計2021年可節省的4000萬美元成本，這些成本節省與2020年的重組計劃並無直接關聯。

Headwinds offsetting headwinds include a $30 million negative foreign exchange impact on fixed costs, $25 million for global merit increases and $11 million of additional depreciation expense. Of particular note, the $51 million of historical add-backs from 2020, which included $13 million for stock compensation expense and $38 million for transformation-related adjustments, as detailed on Slide 19 in the appendix, is almost entirely offset by a combined $50 million of anticipated expense in 2021, equally split between stock compensation expense and continuing IT project implementation costs.

抵銷不利因素的因素包括：固定成本受到3000萬美元的匯率負面影響、2500萬美元的全球績效工資增長以及1100萬美元的額外折舊費用。尤其值得注意的是，2020年5100萬美元的歷史性調整項（包括1300萬美元的股權激勵費用和3800萬美元的轉型相關調整，詳見附錄第19頁）幾乎完全被2021年預計的5000萬美元支出所抵消，這5000萬美元支出平均分配給股權激勵費用和持續的IT指數實施成本。

Transitioning to Slide 14. We include a bridge for the $122 million projected increase in free cash flow from 2020 to 2021. We expect this increase will primarily be driven by higher adjusted operating profit and lower cash interest payments. These positive drivers will be partially offset by certain headwinds, including 2021 restructuring payments pursuant to the 2020 program, higher CapEx due to delayed 2020 projects and anticipated investment in operational restructuring. In addition, cash taxes are projected to increase due to expected higher profitability in several foreign jurisdictions.

切換到第14張投影片。我們納入了2020年至2021年自由現金流預計將增加1.22億美元的過渡期。我們預期這一成長主要得益於調整後營業利潤的提高和現金利息支出的減少。這些正面因素將被一些不利因素部分抵消，包括根據2020年計畫支付的2021年重組款項、由於2020年專案延期而增加的資本支出以及預期中的營運重組投資。此外，由於預計在幾個海外司法管轄區獲利能力提高，現金稅款預計也會增加。

Overall, our expected 2021 free cash flow will be somewhat normalized, except for the higher cash requirements for restructuring. And CapEx is likely slightly elevated due to push from 2020 projects and incremental spend from the operational restructuring.

整體而言，除重組所需的現金需求增加外，我們預計2021年的自由現金流將基本恢復正常。此外，由於2020年專案的進展以及營運重組帶來的額外支出，資本支出可能會略有上升。

And finally, for me, Slide 15. This slide summarizes our financial guidance for the first quarter, traditionally our lowest sales and profitability quarter and typically a quarter where we use cash. Before diving into numbers, as a reminder, relative to other quarters, last year's first quarter sales and adjusted operating profit were most significantly negatively impacted by COVID, notably in APAC. Even though it is challenging to specifically quantify the exact year-over-year COVID impact since COVID still presents headwinds in parts of our business today, clearly, last year's first quarter is the easiest comp of the 4 quarters. With that in mind, we expect 13% organic growth from the first quarter of last year. Our adjusted operating profit is projected to increase $55 million at the midpoint and adjusted operating margin is expected to increase 500 basis points.

最後，我想談談第15張投影片。這張投影片總結了我們對第一季的財務預期，第一季通常是我們銷售額和獲利能力最低的季度，也是我們通常使用現金的季度。在深入探討具體數字之前，需要提醒的是，與其他季度相比，去年第一季的銷售額和調整後營業利潤受新冠疫情的影響最為顯著，尤其是在亞太地區。儘管由於新冠疫情至今仍在部分業務領域造成不利影響，因此很難準確量化其同比影響，但顯然，去年第一季是四個季度中最容易進行比較的。基於此，我們預計第一季將比去年同期實現13%的內生成長。我們預計調整後營業利潤將增加5,500萬美元（取中間值），調整後營業利潤率預計將提高500個基點。

Adjusted earnings per share is expected to be approximately $0.11 at the midpoint, up $0.76 from last year's first quarter. This year-over-year quarterly earnings per share increase includes a $0.54 benefit from 2 discrete items in the first quarter, including the $174 million loss on extinguishment of debt and $21 million of SPAC transaction costs. In addition, interest expense in last year's -- I'm sorry, interest expense in this year's first quarter is expected to be $45 million lower than the first quarter of 2019, driving an additional $0.13 per share adjusted EPS benefit. A year-over-year benefit that does not repeat as significantly over the remaining 3 quarters due to the timing of the SPAC transaction and debt refinancing last year.

調整後每股收益預計約為0.11美元（取中間值），較去年同期成長0.76美元。這一同比增長的季度每股收益增長包括第一季兩項獨立項目帶來的0.54美元收益，其中包括債務清償損失1.74億美元和SPAC交易成本2100萬美元。此外，今年第一季的利息支出預計將比2019年第一季減少4,500萬美元，從而額外帶來每股0.13美元的調整後每股收益成長。由於去年SPAC交易和債務再融資的時間安排，這一同比增長在剩餘三個季度中不會像第一季那樣顯著。

With that said, I turn it back over to Rob.

說完這些，我把麥克風交還給羅布。

Thanks, David. Turning to Slide 16. I wanted to provide some color on the key themes and initiatives we shared with you on our earnings calls over the past year. First, our focus is on the top line. We continue to strengthen all of our customer relationships, but especially with providers in the cloud and colocation space. Doing so has led to order increases in 2020. Though large projects with cloud and colocation customers will always ebb and flow, we are gaining greater visibility into the future needs of our customers, which will translate into our ability to meet future demand and win projects down the road. Furthermore, we continue to hone our go-to-market efforts in the IT channel area. We saw the greatest traction occur in the United States and the impact got stronger as the year went on.

謝謝，David。接下來是第16張投影片。我想就過去一年我們在財報電話會議上分享的關鍵主題和舉措做一些補充說明。首先，我們關注的是營收。我們持續加強與所有客戶的關係，尤其是與雲端服務和託管服務提供者的關係。這些努力促成了2020年訂單量的成長。儘管與雲端服務和託管客戶的大型專案總會有起伏，但我們對客戶未來的需求有了更清晰的了解，這將有助於我們滿足未來的需求，並在未來贏得更多專案。此外，我們持續優化在IT通路領域的市場推廣策略。我們在美國取得了最大的進展，而且隨著時間的推移，這種影響還在不斷增強。

Secondly, we are piloting the Vertiv Operating System, known as VOS, in 2 of our manufacturing facilities. Already, we are experiencing improved performance and favorable results as we formalize and standardize the way we work. The rollout globally, as we've said, will take time, but I'm pleased with the early results that we're seeing.

其次，我們正在兩家製造廠試用Vertiv作業系統（簡稱VOS）。隨著工作流程的標準化和標準化，我們已經體驗到效能的提升和令人滿意的成果。正如我們之前所說，在全球範圍內推廣需要時間，但我對目前的初步成果感到滿意。

David talked about margin expansion in his comments, and I'm very pleased with our performance in this area. Our sourcing capabilities have continued to improve. Our pricing initiatives have continued to yield favorable results, and our restructuring actions announced last quarter are now in full flight. The foundation we have established and the trajectory that we are on gives me confidence in our ability to achieve the expansion plans we laid out a year ago.

戴維在發言中談到了利潤率的提升，我對我們在這一領域的表現非常滿意。我們的採購能力持續增強，定價策略也持續取得良好成效，而上季宣布的重組計畫目前正全面推進。我們所建立的基礎以及我們目前的發展軌跡，讓我對我們實現一年前所製定的擴張計畫充滿信心。

Finally, and maybe my personal favorite, VPD, or Vertiv Product Development, progress. We continue to focus and fund our research and development programs. Even though we couldn't -- or had limited travel in 2020 imposed because of COVID, we still conducted the Vertiv User Experience, VUE, sessions to bring us closer to our customers and help us become more stronger strategic partners for the long term. We have seen the pace of new product and service introductions increase year-over-year. And in 2021, there'll be no difference. In addition to these real-time results, we have also started to do some seed planning in a few future targeted areas to ensure we continue to be on the cutting-edge in our industry.

最後，也是我個人最關注的一點，就是Vertiv產品開發（VPD）的進展。我們持續專注於研發專案並投入資金。儘管2020年受新冠疫情影響，我們出行受限，但我們仍然舉辦了Vertiv用戶體驗（VUE）研討會，以拉近與客戶的距離，並幫助我們成為更強大的長期戰略合作夥伴。我們看到，新產品和服務的推出速度逐年加快。 2021年，這一趨勢也將持續。除了這些即時成果之外，我們還開始在一些未來的重點領域進行初步規劃，以確保我們始終處於行業領先地位。

Now turning to Slide 17. I'm very proud of the Vertiv team and what we've accomplished over the last 12 months. We delivered on our commitments. We demonstrated we are a great company in a growing industry. We have executed on many key activities, which have implemented many strategic -- and implemented many strategic initiatives, which will serve us both well in the short-term and in the long term. To all of our employees on the call today, thank you for the dedication and tireless effort to take care of our customers. To all of our investors, thank you for your support over the past year and being with us on today's call.

現在請看第17張投影片。我為Vertiv團隊以及我們在過去12個月所取得的成就感到非常自豪。我們履行了所有承諾。我們證明了自己是一家在蓬勃發展的行業中表現卓越的公司。我們執行了許多關鍵活動，實施了許多策略性舉措，這些舉措將使我們在短期和長期發展中都受益匪淺。感謝今天參加電話會議的所有員工，感謝你們為服務客戶所付出的奉獻和不懈努力。感謝所有投資人在過去一年的支持，也感謝你們今天參加我們的電話會議。

I'll now turn the call over to the operator, who will open up the line for questions. Thank you.

現在我將把電話轉交給接線員，他/她將接通線路回答問題。謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) First question comes from Jeff Sprague with Vertical Research.

（操作說明）第一個問題來自 Vertical Research 的 Jeff Sprague。

Yes, I think the change in the reporting actually will be positive over time and simplify things. There's a fair amount of confusion here this morning, but from what I can tell, you bridged to something pretty close to where consensus was. So thanks for all the restates.

是的，我認為報告方式的改變從長遠來看實際上是正面的，而且會簡化流程。今天早上這裡確實存在一些混亂，但據我所知，你們已經很好地達成了共識。所以，感謝你們的再次說明。

I wanted to talk about the normalization of cash flow a little bit, if we could. And I understand there's some pressure here in 2021, as you lay out in the bridge. We end up with free cash flow in 2021 that's on the low side relative to adjusted EPS or EBITDA or revenues. And I just wondered your view if you give any context on once we work our way through 2021 here, some of these items normalize, how you would kind of frame up the kind of the ongoing free cash flow picture?

我想稍微談談現金流正常化的問題。正如您在過渡段中提到的，我知道2021年會面臨一些壓力。 2021年的自由現金流相對於調整後的每股盈餘、EBITDA或營收而言都偏低。我想請教一下，如果2021年的情況有所好轉，其中一些因素恢復正常，您會如何展望未來的自由現金流狀況？

Yes. Thanks, Jeff. This is David, and thanks for the feedback. So I would point out 2 things in 2020 cash flow that are somewhat anomalistic. So the first and most significant is the cash required for restructuring. So we had anticipated to have approximately a $60 million cash outlay in 2021 for restructuring programs. Our current estimate is closer to $70 million, and $50 million of that is embedded in the restructuring cash payments bridge item on Slide 14. And then we have another a $10 million to $20 million included in adjusted operating profit for 2021 projects. So that's about 20 -- or about a $70 million cash outflow. We'll always have some outflow for restructuring from a cash basis, but that's probably high by a good $50 million.

是的，謝謝傑夫。我是大衛，感謝您的回饋。我想指出2020年現金流中兩點略顯異常。首先也是最重要的是重組所需的現金。我們原本預計2021年重組項目將支出約6,000萬美元現金。我們目前的估計接近7000萬美元，其中5000萬美元已計入第14頁幻燈片中的重組現金支付過渡項目。此外，還有1,000萬至2,000萬美元已計入2021年專案的調整後營業利潤。因此，現金流出約2000萬美元，也就是約7000萬美元。我們總是會有一些現金用於重組，但這次的現金流出可能高估了5000萬美元。

The other item I'd point out is CapEx. I think historically, we've kind of provided go-forward direction of CapEx in the $75 million range, we're guiding to $95 million next year. And a lot of good projects are included in that $95 million, but it also includes some projects that were pushed from 2020. So if I were doing a model, I probably wouldn't include $95 million going forward, but I would include more than $75 million. My guess is that we will settle in right around $85 million.

我想指出的另一點是資本支出。我認為，從歷史數據來看，我們一直以來對資本支出的預期都在7,500萬美元左右，明年我們預計達到9,500萬美元。這9500萬美元中包含了很多不錯的項目，但也包括一些從2020年推遲的項目。所以，如果讓我來做模型，我可能不會把9500萬美元的預算全部納入，但我會超過7500萬美元。我估計最終會穩定在8500萬美元左右。

All the other items, including cash interest, if anything, that should decline going forward. Cash taxes probably will increase. Working capital is one item that we still have a lot of work to do, and we see some opportunity going forward. But other than restructuring and CapEx, I would say 2021 is somewhat normalized.

其他所有項目，包括現金利息，如果有任何變化的話，未來應該會下降。現金稅可能會增加。營運資金是我們仍需努力改善的一個方面，我們也看到了一些未來的機會。但除了重組和資本支出之外，我認為2021年基本上已經恢復正常。

Great. And just one other one for me, and I'll pass it on. On the enterprise related activity and, I guess, the small signs of some additional life that you commented on. Can you provide any additional color on your visibility there? Can you see a pipeline developing in kind of bid and proposal activity? Just wondering if you could put a little bit of kind of firmer point on that for us, how you expect the year to play out.

好的。我還有一個問題，我會轉達。關於企業相關的活動，以及您提到的一些復甦跡象。能否進一步說明一下這方面的情況？您是否看到投標和提案活動方面正在形成新的項目？我只是想了解一下，您能否更明確地預測今年的發展趨勢。

Sure. This is Rob. Yes. What I'd say is, we always talk to the fact that we take a look at our pipeline growth, that's always the leading indicator. And even that is pre-activity on quoting, as you mentioned, which is exactly that. We've seen pipeline expand, exiting out of 2020. So that gives us comfort that the enterprise will begin to recover. Activity is intense in the design area with both electrical and mechanical contractors. So again, that gives me a reason to believe that we will see that recovery. It's just a matter of if and when -- not if, but when people do kind of get out of this COVID [fog] and start spending again. But the activity looks good and gives me confidence. And then that's globally, it's not -- and we've seen probably a quicker recovery on the enterprise in, let's say, Asia, and Europe is spotty. And then Americas has probably been the lowest. But overall, the pipeline looks good, and the activity is -- we're very active there.

當然。我是羅伯。是的。我想說的是，我們一直關注的是專案儲備的成長，這始終是領先指標。正如您所提到的，這甚至還不包括報價活動，而報價活動正是如此。我們看到專案儲備在2020年底有所成長。這讓我們相信企業將會開始復甦。電氣和機械承包商的設計活動非常活躍。所以，這讓我有理由相信我們會看到復甦。這只是一個時間問題——不是“是否”，而是“何時”，人們何時才能擺脫新冠疫情的陰霾，重新開始消費。但目前的市場活動看起來不錯，這給了我信心。而且，這是全球範圍內的情況——我們看到企業在亞洲的復甦速度可能更快，歐洲的復甦則參差不齊。美洲的復甦可能是最低的。但總的來說，專案儲備看起來不錯，而且我們在那裡非常活躍。

Your next question comes from Nicole DeBlase of Deutsche Bank.

下一個問題來自德意志銀行的妮可·德布萊斯。

Maybe we can start with the outlook. Thinking about normalizing towards contribution margins beyond 2022, there's obviously still quite a bit of noise here in '21. So when you think about sustainable levels of restructuring in this business, are you guys going to be factoring in like $20 million or so a year on an ongoing basis? And I guess, similarly, is R&D kind of getting to the point where you're reaching your medium-term run rate? Or do you think that there still needs to be a step-up in R&D beyond 2021?

或許我們可以先從展望未來說起。考慮到2022年後利潤率將趨於正常化，2021年顯然仍有許多不確定因素。所以，在考慮如何維持業務的可持續重組水準時，你們是否會持續每年投入約2000萬美元？另外，研發投入是否已達到中期目標水準？還是你們認為2021年以後還需要加大研發投入？

Yes. Thanks, Nicole. This is Dave. I'll certainly address the restructuring question, and I'll ask Rob to address R&D. Our plan at this point, especially as it relates to the Vertiv Operating System is related to continuous improvement, whether you can equate that to continues restructuring, I think that's probably semantical. But we will continue to invest dollars going forward to take dollars out of the business.

是的，謝謝妮可。我是戴夫。我一定會回答關於重組的問題，也會請羅布談談研發方面的問題。我們目前的計劃，尤其是在Vertiv作業系統方面，是持續改進。至於這是否可以等同於持續重組，我認為這可能只是語義上的差異。但我們未來會繼續投入資金，以減少業務支出。

So I wouldn't want to specifically commit to a dollar amount per year. I think we mentioned for 2021, we're investing an additional $20 million on top of the 2020 restructuring program. That's probably a good starting point. But if there are projects out there with returns, we potentially could invest more than that. If there's a -- there aren't projects in any particular year, could be a little bit lower. But I think that $20 million probably is a good starting point. And as it relates to R&D, I'll pass it on to Rob.

所以我不想具體承諾每年的投入金額。我想我們之前提到過，2021年我們將在2020年重組計畫的基礎上額外投資2,000萬美元。這或許是個不錯的起點。但如果有獲利的項目，我們可能會增加投資。如果沒有——如果某一年沒有合適的項目，投資金額可能會略低一些。但我認為2000萬美元應該是比較合理的起點。至於研發方面，我會轉交給羅布處理。

Yes. And Nicole, as part of our stated strategy, and we talked about it on the road show, we plan to take R&D up to 6%. Innovation is our vector of differentiation and will allow us to get that margin expansion, and there's a lot of call adjacencies and other the areas that we can participate in. So what we expect, while you've seen a fairly large ramp to catch up to that 6%, we expect 6% of revenue going forward to be in the R&D space so that we can be that innovative leader and look at other adjacencies as well. We expect that, that will produce long-term results over time. R&D does take a little while. Some of our products in the channel space will see benefits within the year. Some of the larger projects we see within 12 to 18 months. But we're very excited about the opportunities that we have more R&D projects, I would say, than we have funding. Our collaboration efforts have proven to be successful with the colo and hyperscale allowing us to design in and drive a better margin profile.

是的。妮可，作為我們既定策略的一部分，我們在路演中也談到了，我們計劃將研發投入提高到6%。創新是我們差異化的關鍵，它將幫助我們提升利潤率，而且我們還可以參與許多相關領域和其他領域。因此，我們預計，雖然目前研發投入需要大幅提升才能達到6%，但我們預期未來研發投入將佔總收入的6%，這樣我們才能成為創新領域的領導者，並專注於其他相關領域。我們預計，隨著時間的推移，這將帶來長期的成果。研發確實需要一些時間。我們在通路領域的一些產品將在一年內見效。一些大型專案預計在12到18個月內見效。但我們非常高興的是，我們擁有的研發項目數量超過了我們的資金儲備。我們與託管資料中心和超大規模資料中心的合作已被證明是成功的，這使我們能夠設計並實現更高的利潤率。

Nicole, this is Dave, just kind of maybe putting the 2 points together. At the end of the day, we're sticking with our strategy to grow sales and hold fixed costs constant. And that creates a lot of room for both margin expansion and reinvestment. So we still plan on doing both, not just in '21, but long into the future.

妮可，我是戴夫，我只是想把這兩點結合起來。總而言之，我們堅持既定策略，即在保持固定成本不變的情況下提升銷售額。這樣就能為利潤率擴張和再投資創造充足的空間。所以我們仍然計劃同時推進這兩項戰略，不僅在2021年，而且在未來很長一段時間內都會如此。

Got it. And then just for the follow-up, what have you guys embedded for pricing for 2021? And I guess further to that, is the expectation that you can offset recent raw material inflation with pricing? Or is there any sort of price/cost headwind embedded in the guidance?

明白了。那麼，我想再補充一點，你們2021年的定價策略是什麼呢？另外，你們是否預期能夠透過價格來抵銷近期原物料價格上漲的影響？還是說，你們的定價策略中已經考慮到了價格/成本方面的不利因素？

Yes. Nicole, it's Gary Niederpruem. So I would say, if you reflect back on pricing for 2019, we had a pretty good year. I think we've told everybody we were about $20 million still positive. In 2020, we were somewhere in that $15 million to $20 million range. And our expectation is that for '21, we will have positive price as well. Certainly some headwinds coming from commodity and inflationary aspects all around the globe. But we feel pretty good about where we sit right now to continue passing price along. Whether it's going to be in the same range of what we're able to do in '19 or '20, not quite sure just yet, but we'll certainly be on the plus side of that equation from where we sit today.

是的，妮可，我是蓋瑞‧尼德普魯姆。回顧2019年的定價情況，我們那一年表現相當不錯。我想我們已經告訴大家，我們當時獲利約2000萬美元。 2020年，我們的獲利預計在1500萬美元到2000萬美元之間。我們預計2021年也能獲利。當然，全球範圍內的大宗商品價格和通膨因素會帶來一些不利影響。但我們對目前的狀況很有信心，能夠繼續將獲利傳遞給客戶。至於2020年的獲利水準能否與2019年或2020年持平，目前還不能確定，但可以肯定的是，從我們目前的狀況來看，2021年我們肯定會保持獲利。

The next question comes from Scott Davis of Melius Research.

下一個問題來自 Melius Research 的 Scott Davis。

I didn't hear anything and didn't expect to hear anything on M&A in your prepared remarks, but it's worth asking the question. You're delevering pretty quickly. Is there an opportunity to start to play offense perhaps on bolt-ons and perhaps even stuff that's a little bit larger than what you've historically looked at?

我沒聽到您事先準備好的發言稿中提到併購，也沒指望聽到，但這個問題值得一提。您的去槓桿化速度很快。現在是否有機會開始採取主動，例如進行一些補充收購，甚至是一些規模比您以往關注的更大的收購？

Sure. Scott, thanks for the question. Our stated strategy and what we've talked about when we were out raising the pipe was we do have a robust list of potential targets that could be nice bolt-ons for adjacencies or completing a global product line. We'll continue to look at those. And if it makes sense, it hasn't been our first priority. Our first priority was to pay down debt and look at acquisitions as something as opportunistic as they come. And like Dave Cote has always said, they don't always present themselves when we want them to, but we continue to look and follow and track those companies that we might be interested in. But again, it isn't our first priority to go out and buy something. We do like the optionality that we have today, with the strengthening of our liquidity, to be able to look at various things, but we just have to take those as they come.

當然。斯科特，謝謝你的提問。我們之前製定的策略，以及我們在對外拓展業務時討論過的，是我們已經列出了一份潛在目標清單，這些目標可以很好地補充現有業務，或者完善我們的全球產品線。我們會繼續關注這些目標。如果這樣說你能理解的話，收購並非我們的首要任務。我們的首要任務是償還債務，並將收購視為一種機會。正如戴夫·科特一直說的，機會並不總是會在我們希望的時候出現，但我們會繼續關注那些我們可能感興趣的公司。但再次強調，收購並非我們的首要任務。我們喜歡目前流動性增強帶來的選擇餘地，這讓我們能夠考慮各種不同的收購目標，但我們必須順其自然。

Okay. Fair enough. And then just to be clear on the capital spending side, is it -- when you think about your spending, and I imagine there's a mix here of things you're spending on, but is it more weighted towards new capacity or kind of tuning up upgrading IT spend, et cetera, on existing capacity?

好的，沒問題。那麼，關於資本支出方面，我想確認一下——當你考慮你的支出時，我想這裡有很多方面的支出，但你的支出是更多地用於新增產能，還是更多地用於現有產能的IT升級改造等？

Yes. This is David. So I would say it's probably split in 3 different buckets, and certainly not equally split, but we are continuing investment in IT. And that's something that we'll be launching an ERP system in the Americas in 2021, and that takes continued capital.

是的，我是大衛。所以我覺得大概可以分成三個不同的部分，當然絕對不是均等分配，但我們確實在持續投資IT。其中一項就是我們將在2021年於美洲推出ERP系統，這需要持續的資金投入。

Operational, it's probably a little bit over 1/3 of the overall spending. Some of that is -- continues to be maintenance spending, but also related to some of the restructuring that we announced last year. And that CapEx will be more skewed towards the back half of '21, and we'll see benefits from that in 2022.

營運方面的支出可能略高於總支出的三分之一。其中一部分仍然是維護支出，但也與我們去年宣布的一些重組計劃有關。資本支出將更集中在2021年下半年，我們將在2022年看到成效。

And the last bucket is related to the Vertiv Product Development, our R&D initiatives. And that's something -- could be in the range of $20 million, $25 million that we would anticipate to continue going forward.

最後一個類別與Vertiv產品開發，也就是我們的研發項目有關。這部分資金預計在2000萬美元到2500萬美元之間，我們預計未來將繼續投入這筆資金。

So overall, as I mentioned to Jeff, the $95 million for this year probably is a little bit elevated. But this spending, most of it is investment-related, meaning there is a return as opposed to just continuing maintenance CapEx.

所以總的來說，正如我跟傑夫提到的，今年的9500萬美元預算可能略高。但這些支出大部分都與投資有關，這意味著會有回報，而不僅僅是持續的維護性資本支出。

The next question comes from Nigel Coe of Wolfe Research.

下一個問題來自 Wolfe Research 的 Nigel Coe。

So just curious on the switch from EBITDA to EBITA, effectively. Does that map to a way you're changing internally in the way that you're measuring and compensating execs internally or is it just like a change in presentation for us folks?

所以，我很好奇從 EBITDA 到 EBITA 的轉變。這是否意味著你們內部在衡量和獎勵高階主管的方式上也發生了變化，還是只是對我們這些普通人來說，數據呈現方式有所改變？

And I do think that some investors are struggling to compare like-for-like. So just on that regard, it looks like it was about $70 million of expenses that would have been added back in FY '20, stock-based comp, transformation costs and restructuring, those are 3 buckets that I can see. Can you just confirm that, [even a ballpark], that would be helpful?

而且我認為有些投資者在進行同類比較時確實遇到了困難。就這一點而言，看起來2020財年大約有7,000萬美元的費用需要重新計入，包括股權激勵、轉型成本和重組費用，我能想到的就這三類。您能否確認一下，即使只是個大概數字，也會很有幫助。

Yes, this is David. So Nigel, what I can say is that the way we report to the Street is going to be exactly the way we scorecard ourselves internally. So we had used adjusted EBITDA for internal basis for measuring and compensating. And we are definitely transitioning that to adjusted operating profit as well.

是的，我是大衛。奈傑爾，我可以告訴你的是，我們向華爾街報告的方式將與我們內部的績效評估方式完全一致。我們先前一直使用調整後的EBITDA作為內部衡量和薪資的依據，而我們現在也正在逐步過渡到調整後的營業利潤。

On a go-forward basis, if you were to look at 2021, adjusted operating profit versus what we had included for adjusted EBITDA for '21, so the $660 million versus the $575 million, that difference is simply depreciation. So on a go-forward basis, effectively, what we're doing is holding ourselves accountable. For capital spending and the resulting depreciation going forward.

展望未來，如果您看一下2021年的調整後營業利潤，以及我們之前計入的2021年調整後EBITDA（即6.6億美元與5.75億美元），那麼這其中的差額就是折舊。因此，展望未來，我們實際上是在對自身的資本支出及其產生的折舊進行監管。

So of course, I think a lot of the confusion comes looking at the historical and some of the historical adjustments. But going forward, the only difference between adjusted EBITDA and adjusted operating profit is going to be that depreciation. And of course, very critical is not having any adjustments going forward. So we're holding ourselves fully accountable for any expense that hits the P&L. And the only adjustment from GAAP is going to be that intangible amortization.

所以，我認為很多困惑都源自於對歷史資料和一些歷史調整的考量。但展望未來，調整後 EBITDA 和調整後營業利潤之間的唯一差異就在於折舊。當然，至關重要的是，未來不再進行任何調整。因此，我們將對任何計入損益表的費用負完全責任。而唯一與 GAAP 不同的調整項就是無形資產攤提。

Right. But what I'm saying, the specific part of that question was, if we were in FY '20, just so that investors can compare like-for-like and get an underlying incremental margin, it looks like $70 million of costs are being fully absorbed in your FY '21 plan that would have been added back ordinarily. Is that the right [direction]?

沒錯。但我的重點是，如果現在是2020財年，為了讓投資者能夠進行同類比較並獲得潛在的增量利潤，看起來你們2021財年的計劃中已經完全吸收了7000萬美元的成本，而這些成本原本應該被加回。這個方向對嗎？

I think that is directionally fair. Certainly, if you look at a couple of the items that I mentioned related to Slide 13, we will have $25 million of stock compensation costs in 2021. That is a cost that, in 2020, was treated as a historical add-back. In addition, we have about $25 million of IT-related expense that historically we -- and these are implementation costs related to new projects. That $25 million would have been included as an add-back for 2020. So that's $50 million right off the bat.

我認為這個方向是合理的。當然，如果你看一下我在第13頁幻燈片中提到的幾個項目，我們會發現2021年我們將有2500萬美元的股票補償成本。這筆成本在2020年被計入歷史成本。此外，我們還有大約2500萬美元的IT相關支出，這些是與新項目相關的實施成本。這2500萬美元在2020年也被計入歷史成本。所以，光是這兩項加起來就有5000萬美元。

The $20 million additional that you're referring to, I believe, is restructuring expense. And that is something, if you compare it to the $70 million historical add-back from the third quarter last year, also would have been treated as -- or be subject to be treated as an add-back. So if that's how you're developing the $70 million, I would agree with that math.

我認為您提到的額外2000萬美元是重組費用。如果將其與去年第三季7,000萬美元的歷史性調整項進行比較，這筆費用也應該被視為調整項。因此，如果您是這樣計算這7000萬美元的，我同意這種計算方法。

That's exactly right. That's helpful. And then a quick one on the $65 million worth of investment spending. Where does that take R&D? I know R&D targets a specific percent of sales, but where does that mark-to-market R&D as a portion of sales in 2021?

完全正確。這很有幫助。接下來我想快速問一下這6500萬美元的投資支出。它將把研發投入到什麼領域？我知道研發投入的目標是佔銷售額的特定百分比，但以市值計算，2021年研發投入佔銷售額的比例是多少？

Yes. So -- and we'll be filing our 10-K on Monday. Our R&D expense for -- and we'll disclose R&D expense. But our R&D expense for 2020 was $230 million, which was about 5.2% of sales. That $65 million figure on Slide 13, about half of that is R&D and the other half of it is based on growth initiatives. So assuming an additional $30 million spend and the $4,775 million guidance for next year takes R&D as a percentage of sales up to close to 5.5%.

是的。我們將在周一提交10-K表格。我們的研發費用－我們會揭露研發費用。 2020年我們的研發費用為2.3億美元，約佔銷售額的5.2%。第13頁投影片上的6,500萬美元，大約一半是研發費用，另一半是基於成長計畫。因此，假設明年增加3,000萬美元的支出，並以47.75億美元的預期，研發費用佔銷售額的比例將接近5.5%。

Your next question comes from Amit Daryanani of Evercore.

你的下一個問題來自 Evercore 公司的 Amit Daryanani。

I guess I have two as well. First off, when I think about the $65 million of incremental expenses in calendar '21 that have been made, can you just talk about how you think about payback on these investments? Do I think about Vertiv inherent growth being better in the calendar '22 out-years? Or do I think about a step-up in conversion margins? How do I think about that payback on these investments over the next few years?

我也有兩個問題。首先，考慮到2021年新增的6,500萬美元支出，您能否談談您如何看待這些投資的回報？我應該考慮Vertiv在2022年及以後幾年的固有成長嗎？還是應該考慮轉換率的提升？我該如何看待這些投資在未來幾年的回報？

Sure. Amit, it's Rob here. What we've said on these investments is that they -- some -- as I mentioned earlier, some of the projects take a little bit longer than others, but the reason for investing is that we -- so we can outpace the actual market growth. So by investing in these new product categories or new product areas, it will accelerate our growth at 1.5x the market growth rate.

當然。阿米特，我是羅布。我們之前說過，這些投資項目——就像我剛才提到的，有些項目需要的時間比其他項目長一些——但我們投資的目的是為了超越市場實際成長速度。透過投資這些新產品類別或新產品領域，我們的成長速度將達到市場成長率的1.5倍。

And those things happen over a period of time, channel-type products, more IT-based products, 6 to 12 months, we began to see a payback on those. And then the larger projects -- products, typically 12 to 18 months and you begin to see the sales on those. And they could be things like a larger UPS -- UPS is larger, megawatt UPSs or larger cooling or thermal management units. So those things take typically a little bit longer to get out globally, but it will yield over the next several years, our ability to outpace the market growth rate.

這些事情都需要一段時間才能見效，渠道型產品，尤其是IT類產品，通常需要6到12個月才能開始產生回報。而大型專案－產品，通常需要12到18個月才能開始產生銷售業績。這些產品可能包括更大功率的UPS（兆瓦級UPS）或更大的冷卻/散熱設備。因此，這些產品通常需要更長的時間才能在全球範圍內推廣，但未來幾年，這將使我們有能力超越市場成長速度。

Got it. And then just as a follow-up. When I think about your web scale -- hyperscale colo customer base, can you just touch on do you think you are at this point over or under-indexed on a market share basis in that bucket? And what are the steps you can take to drive up your share gains in this market over the next few years?

明白了。還有一個後續問題。說到你們的Web規模—超大規模託管客戶群，您能否談談您目前在這個市場份額上的佔比是過高還是過低？未來幾年，您可以採取哪些措施來提昇在這個市場的佔有率？

Sure. So we always -- great question. We always kind of combine colo and hyperscale because, as we've talked about in the past, outside the U.S., the hyperscalers typically work with colo, colocation companies, for their data center builds. And inside the U.S., they typically build themselves. And then there's a mixture of that.

當然。我們總是──問得好。我們總是把託管和超大規模結合起來，因為正如我們之前討論過的，在美國以外，超大規模企業通常會與託管公司合作建造資料中心。而在美國境內，他們通常會自己建造。當然，也有兩者混合的情況。

I would say there's room for growth in both. If you just look at our overall market share, we have the ability to grow, and we think our collaboration method and model, working closely with our customers to design those products will give us the ability to take additional share. We had some very nice wins in conversion in 2020 of maybe some colocation companies we haven't worked with in the past. So we think there's plenty of room for growth. And as the expansion happens on a global basis, you'll see that the opportunities there.

我認為這兩個領域都有成長空間。單從我們的整體市場份額來看，我們有成長潛力；我們相信，透過與客戶緊密合作設計產品，我們的協作方式和模式將使我們能夠進一步擴大市場份額。 2020年，我們成功轉換了一些從未合作過的託管公司客戶，成績斐然。因此，我們認為成長空間巨大。隨著業務在全球的擴張，您將會看到更多機會。

We don't necessarily sell our full entire product set in all of the hyperscalers today. So there's room for improvement there as well, whether it's a larger battery backup system or a larger [STS] or more power distribution, there's room for growth there, too. So we're certainly not at a saturation level and have the ability to continue to grow our share there. And that's one of the reasons why we're investing in R&D so heavily.

目前，我們並非所有超大規模資料中心都銷售我們的全部產品。因此，這方面還有進步空間，無論是更大的電池備用系統、更大的儲存終端系統 (STS) 或更完善的配電方案，都存在成長潛力。所以，我們顯然還沒有達到飽和狀態，有能力繼續擴大市場佔有率。這也是我們大力投資研發的原因之一。

Your next question comes from Lance Vitanza of Cowen.

你的下一個問題來自 Cowen 公司的 Lance Vitanza。

First off, the revenue performance and the revenue guidance relative to the industry growth that you've discussed in the past suggests you're taking significant market share. So my question is, where exactly are you seeing these gains? Is this mostly from taking business away from the smaller companies that we necessarily haven't heard of? Or are you also taking share from the Schneiders and the Eatons of the world?

首先，您先前提到的營收表現和營收預期，以及產業成長情況，都顯示貴公司正在佔據顯著的市場份額。所以我的問題是，這些成長具體來自哪些方面？主要是從我們可能不太熟悉的那些小公司手中搶佔業務嗎？還是也從施耐德電機和伊頓這樣的巨頭手中奪取了市場份額？

So great question, Lance. This is Rob. What I'd say is it's a combination of both. When we look at the -- some of the share gain that we're seeing, certainly, there's a lot of regional players, smaller regional players that we compete against. And because of our global nature and filling out some product gaps that maybe we had, we're able to take that.

蘭斯，你問得好。我是羅伯。我認為兩者兼而有之。當我們審視目前市佔率的成長時，當然，我們面臨許多區域性、規模較小的競爭對手。而正是由於我們的全球化佈局以及填補了我們自身產品線的一些空白，我們才能取得這樣的成績。

But I think as it relates to Eaton and Schneider, we compete with them, and it's different in every region, right, how competitive they are or they aren't. But I would say, in general, we're -- we believe we're growing in both cases and taking some share. I know just looking at some of the channel statistics in the IT channel side of things, well, a lot of people were down. I think our overall decline in 2020 was much less than our competitors in some cases, therefore, showing that we took some share there as well. So it's kind of like being in the channel and in the colocation, hyperscale.

但就伊頓和施耐德而言，我們與他們有競爭關係，每個地區的競爭程度都不一樣。但總的來說，我們相信我們在這兩方面都在成長，並且正在搶佔一定的市場份額。我知道，如果只看IT通路方面的一些統計數據，就會發現很多公司的業績都在下滑。我認為，在某些情況下，我們2020年的整體下滑幅度遠小於競爭對手，這表明我們也搶佔了一些市場份額。所以，這有點像是在頻道、託管和超大規模資料中心領域一樣。

Great. Okay. And then my other question is actually with respect to Slide 13. I wanted to focus on this 26% projected increase in adjusted operating profit. I mean that's the metric that we're going to be looking at going forward. So I think that's where we want to focus.

好的。那麼我的另一個問題其實是關於第13張投影片的。我想重點討論一下調整後營業利潤預計將成長26%這個數據。我的意思是，這是我們接下來要關注的指標。所以我認為這是我們應該關注的重點。

And I guess the question is, what should we think the potential there is for that kind of growth to be sustained beyond 2021? And I'm not asking for guidance, but I'd love to get your thoughts there.

所以我想問的是，我們該如何看待這種成長動能在2021年後持續下去的潛力？我不是尋求指導，只是想聽聽大家的想法。

And if nothing else, perhaps we could talk about the $40 million of COVID savings that are sort of being restored in 2021. Well, clearly, that, I would think, that's not going to be recurring in '22 and beyond. On the other hand, it does sound like the growth in the R&D investments are going to continue to increase for the next several years. But that being said, I mean, how should we be thinking about kind of that 26% growth? Is that their anomaly or just indicative of what the earnings potential is for this business?

如果說還有什麼值得討論的，或許我們可以談談2021年正在逐步恢復的4000萬美元新冠疫情節省開支。顯然，我認為這種情況在2022年及以後不會再出現了。另一方面，研發投資的成長似乎將在未來幾年持續下去。但話雖如此，我們該如何看待這26%的成長率呢？這只是個例外，還是只是反映了這家公司的潛在獲利能力？

Yes, this is David. I'll take a shot and then ask Rob to comment as well. So one thing that I do want to reaffirm for everybody on the call and all investors and analysts is that we are still fully committed to the margin improvement goals that we have talked to historically. So just because we're switching to adjusted operating profit from adjusted EBITDA, it doesn't change the intermediate and long-term goals that we have for margin expansion.

是的，我是David。我先說幾句，然後請Rob也說說。我想再次向所有參加電話會議的人員、投資者和分析師重申一點：我們仍然完全致力於實現我們先前提出的利潤率提升目標。因此，儘管我們將調整後的EBITDA改為調整後的營業利潤，但這並不會改變我們中長期利潤率擴張的目標。

Now we will have to recalibrate. So I think we historically have talked about getting to 17% adjusted EBITDA. And I think an equivalent number for adjusted operating profit is somewhere between 15% and 16%, but we're committed to using 16% for that intermediate goal, and there's no reason we can't get to 20% in the long run. So I think we've used that as kind of the long-term hurdle. That has not changed with this transition to adjusted operating profit. And so I think that very much works into your question about the future expectations for adjusted operating profit growth.

現在我們需要重新調整目標。過去我們一直討論的是調整後 EBITDA 達到 17% 的目標。我認為調整後營業利潤的相應目標應該在 15% 到 16% 之間，但我們承諾將 16% 作為中期目標，而且從長遠來看，達到 20% 並非不可能。所以，我認為我們一直把 20% 當作長期目標。即使轉向調整後營業利潤，這個目標也沒有改變。因此，我認為這與您關於未來調整後營業利潤成長預期的問題密切相關。

Certainly, we see the growth in adjusted operating profit being enhanced and growing with the top line. So as long as we continue to grow that top line in -- above market while expanding margins, there's no reason, mathematically, that we can't continue similar growth going forward.

當然，我們看到調整後營業利潤的成長與營收成長同步提升。因此，只要我們繼續保持營收高於市場平均水平並擴大利潤率，從數學角度來看，我們完全有可能在未來繼續保持類似的成長動能。

Your next question comes from Andrew Obin, Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行的安德魯‧奧賓。

David Ridley-Lane on for Andrew Obin. I wanted to ask about what your guidance assumes around the services revenue, given that you're still having site access issues here in, I guess, January, February?

David Ridley-Lane 代替 Andrew Obin 發言。我想問一下，鑑於你們在1月或2月仍然面臨網站訪問問題，你們對服務收入的預期是基於哪些假設？

I'll take a first stab at that and then, David, finish that off. But we will continue to deal as COVID is an issue with site access and -- but we expect that year-over-year, we've got in the plan that we will be growing our services revenue as part of our overall growth strategy. Again, could be to overall COVID, we can't predict what that looks like, but we've been able to navigate pretty well around that. There's just various areas and hotspots that we'll have to deal with from time to time. But we do expect to have and built into our plan is growth in the services for 2021.

我先嘗試一下，然後由大衛來完成。我們將繼續應對新冠疫情對網站訪問的影響——但我們預計，根據我們的整體成長策略，服務收入將逐年增長。當然，疫情的影響難以預測，我們無法預測具體情況，但我們目前應對得相當不錯。只是我們會不時遇到一些特殊情況和熱點問題。但我們確實預計，2021年服務收入將實現成長，這已納入我們的計劃。

Got it. And then as a follow-up. Maybe could you talk a little bit more about what you're seeing in the enterprise space? What are the areas that you're seeing the improved demand and what's still weak?

明白了。那麼，作為後續問題，您能否再詳細談談您在企業領域觀察到的情況？哪些領域的需求有所改善，哪些領域仍疲軟？

Yes. I would say it's going to be by industry vertical, right? We're still seeing, of course, travel and entertainment being one that hasn't recovered. I'm not sure when that will recover. Certainly, other verticals like retail, big-box stores, we've seen the spending began there as people continue to compete for that kind of e-tail local distribution.

是的。我認為應該按行業垂直領域來劃分，對吧？當然，我們仍然看到旅遊和娛樂產業尚未復甦。我不確定它何時才能復甦。當然，其他垂直領域，例如零售、大型連鎖商店，我們已經看到消費開始復甦，因為人們仍在爭奪這種線上和線下融合的配送管道。

Certainly on the financial vertical, we see spending beginning to pick up there in the financial space. And then the other areas of positive signs is around education and government spending would be the other ones that we would see from there. So while some sectors are down. In general, those are kind of the areas that we're seeing some bright spots in today.

當然，在金融領域，我們看到支出開始回升。其他出現正面跡象的領域還包括教育和政府支出。雖然有些行業有所下滑，但總體而言，這些領域目前呈現出一些亮點。

Your next question comes from Mark Delaney, Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題來自高盛的馬克·德萊尼。

Yes. First, just hoping to dig into the demand environment a little bit more. The company reported very strong backlog growth of at least 32%, and that's now at a high level. As you're thinking about the backlog into 2021, do you think you're going to be able to sustain backlogs at this type of a high level or perhaps even grow it? Or would you think you're potentially going to work the backlog down a little bit this year?

是的。首先，我只是想更深入地了解需求環境。公司報告稱，積壓訂單成長非常強勁，至少達32%，目前處於高位。展望2021年的積壓訂單，您認為能否維持目前的高水平，甚至有所成長？或者您認為今年可能會略微減少積壓訂單？

Mark, I'll start and then I'll let David come in. We're seeing and continue to see strong demand both in Q3 and Q4. If you listen to both hyperscale and colocation, their business is going quite well, and that's a big driver in driving our backlog on projects. I think our global expansion, what we're seeing in China in the telecom side of things. Certainly, India now has come on the radar map to -- for hyperscale and colocation. So I guess what I'd say is we expect upper single-digit growth in the order rates and expect to continue to see that to happen.

馬克，我先來，然後讓大衛接著說。我們看到，第三季和第四季的需求都很強勁，而且這種強勁勢頭還將持續下去。如果你關注超大規模資料中心和託管資料中心，你會發現它們的業務發展得相當不錯，這極大地推動了我們專案訂單的成長。我認為，我們的全球擴張，以及我們在中國電信領域的發展，都對我們大有裨益。當然，印度現在也進入了我們的視野——無論是超大規模資料中心還是託管資料中心。所以，我想說的是，我們預期訂單成長率將達到接近兩位數，並且預期這一趨勢將持續下去。

That's helpful. And my follow-up question was on the channel opportunity. And Rob, you mentioned a few times throughout the call about some strength that you're seeing in that market begin to materialize. Is that more a function of the macroeconomic environment and some of those types of customers coming back? Or would you attribute it as well to some of the company-specific efforts that Vertiv has underway to better penetrate those channel customers?

這很有幫助。我的後續問題是關於通路機會的。羅伯，你在通話中多次提到，你看到該市場的一些優勢開始顯現。這更多是宏觀經濟環境和部分顧客回歸的結果嗎？還是也歸功於Vertiv正在進行的一些旨在更好地滲透通路客戶的公司特定措施？

Yes. Great question, Mark. No, I attribute it to kind of the execution and some of the programs and some of the products that we brought out. We've got some unique products in our power distribution, IT power distribution side. We've been pretty aggressive on our lithium-ion offerings and making sure that that's available. So some of the programs that we've targeted are paying off. And we've had, as we mentioned, quarter-to-quarter -- year-over-year still was down. But quarter-to-quarter, we've seen the improvements. So we feel like we're on the right trajectory with both new product intros, the programs that we're offering, we've certainly simplified our partner portals, project registration being that, hopefully, easier button for our customers to come diverted for that. But we're taking that same, and we've kind of globalized that same strategy to Europe, which is a little bit further behind and then driving it into the rest of Asia and China. So as you know, this is a big part of our strategy. This does take time. We've chosen to do it organically. And -- but we believe that our current strategy and trajectory will yield the results ultimately that we're looking for.

是的，馬克，問得好。不，我認為這主要歸功於我們的執行力，以及我們推出的一些專案和產品。我們在配電和IT配電領域擁有一些獨特的產品。我們一直積極推廣鋰離子電池產品，並確保其供應充足。因此，我們重點推進的一些項目正在取得成效。正如我們之前提到的，儘管季度環比同比仍然下降，但季度環比來看，我們看到了改善。所以我們感覺，無論是新產品的推出，還是我們提供的項目，我們都走在正確的道路上。我們簡化了合作夥伴入口網站，專案註冊流程也得到了優化，希望這能為客戶提供更方便的入口。我們將同樣的策略推廣到歐洲（歐洲市場目前發展稍微落後），然後逐步擴展到亞洲其他地區和中國。如您所知，這是我們策略的重要組成部分。這需要時間。我們選擇循序漸進地發展。而且——但我們相信，我們目前的策略和發展方向最終會達到我們所期望的結果。

(Operator Instructions) Your next question comes from Andy Kaplowitz of Citi.

（操作員說明）您的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的 Andy Kaplowitz。

Can you give us a little more color into the continued strength you're seeing specifically in EMEA? You've been talking about working on some large colocation projects for a while now. Do these projects continue through '21? And I know in the past, you've talked about regional data sovereignty driving growth. So how sustainable are these trends there? And what else is going on in the region that's leading to such good performance in EMEA specifically?

您能否更詳細地介紹一下您在 EMEA 地區觀察到的持續強勁成長？您之前提到過一些大型資料中心託管項目，這些項目會持續到 2021 年嗎？我知道您之前也說過區域資料主權是推動成長的關鍵因素。那麼，這些趨勢在該地區是否具有永續性？此外，該地區還有哪些因素促成了 EMEA 地區如此出色的表現？

Absolutely, Andy. And great catch on the EMEA side of things. What we see typically with hyperscale and colo is typically rushing to various parts of the world. And so there'll be, well, let's say, maybe not as much spending in the U.S. going on or growth. We have seen that in Europe. And I firmly believe the data sovereignty, people want data centers in their country, governments want that data there. They don't want it filling in data centers in the U.S. nor in China.

沒錯，安迪。你對歐洲、中東和非洲地區（EMEA）的分析非常到位。我們通常看到的是，超大規模資料中心和託管資料中心都在湧向世界各地。因此，在美國，相關的支出和成長可能不會像在美國那麼強勁。我們在歐洲已經看到了這種情況。我堅信資料主權的重要性，人們希望資料中心位於本國，政府也希望資料留在本國。他們不希望數據被美國或中國的數據中心佔據。

So I think there's a lot of build-out. If you take -- just look at the number of data centers, number of cellphone users, number of broadband access in Europe versus what you've got in the U.S., I think we have a lot of runway ahead of ourselves as it relates to Europe and the builds that still have to happen there.

所以我認為還有很多建設空間。如果你看看歐洲的資料中心數量、手機用戶數量、寬頻存取數量，再對比一下美國的情況，我認為就歐洲而言，我們還有很大的發展空間，那裡還有很多建設工作要做。

The Brexit thing has driven lots of data center builds and parts that we didn't think were necessarily going to happen. So we continue to see strength, I think, over the next couple of years in the European side of things. We have taken some share there. We've had some new customers that we haven't traditionally done business with in the past. So the customer acquisition has been good there. But I'll tell you, if you look at globally, I'm pretty excited about, whether it's Europe or Middle East and Africa, South America, again, a lot of chatter and talk in India around colocation, hyperscale finally coming there. They're so underserved.

英國脫歐推動了許多我們原本認為不會發生的資料中心建設專案。因此，我認為未來幾年歐洲市場將繼續保持強勁勢頭。我們已經在歐洲市場佔據了一定的份額，也獲得了一些我們過去從未合作過的新客戶。所以，我們在歐洲的客戶拓展情況良好。但放眼全球，無論是歐洲、中東、非洲或南美洲，我都感到非常興奮。此外，印度也正在熱議託管和超大規模資料中心即將進入印度市場。印度的資料中心服務嚴重不足。

So I think we've got a lot of runway in other parts of the world, plus what's still happening here in the U.S. Not that the U.S. isn't going to grow, it's going to continue to grow. But I think we'll see outside, Europe's leading the way now. But I think you'll begin to see some of the Asia countries, and certainly, India begin to pop up on the radar screen as nice area. So all in all, I look at the next several years as we've got a fairly healthy market in front of us.

所以我認為我們在世界其他地區還有很大的發展空間，再加上美國本土的發展動能。當然，美國經濟不會停止成長，它還會繼續成長。但我認為我們會看到，歐洲目前處於領先地位，但一些亞洲國家，尤其是印度，將會開始嶄露頭角，成為我們關注的焦點。總而言之，我認為未來幾年我們面前的市場相當健康。

Very helpful. And then actually following-up on Asia Pac. Just in terms of margin, you've talked about some margin pressure there coming from product mix, timing of large projects. How should we think about the margin progression going forward? Do large products start to ramp and that will help your margin there? You've talked about supply chain stresses, does that hurt you in Asia Pac? Any more color would be helpful.

非常有幫助。接下來我想跟進一下亞太地區的情況。就利潤率而言，您提到產品組合和大型專案的時間表給該地區帶來了一些利潤壓力。我們該如何看待未來的利潤率走勢？大型產品開始量產是否會提振利潤率？您也提到了供應鏈壓力，這是否會對亞太地區的業績造成影響？如果能提供更多細節就更好了。

Yes. I'll start off there. And then, David, if you want to come in over the top. I would say, in general, we're probably weighted more towards the telecom side of things in parts of Asia Pac. And that tends to be kind of lower than fleet average margin that we see as we continue to drive innovation and invest in innovation specifically in China, we expect to be able to get paid for that innovation as we go forward. So we're certainly focused on getting that closer to the fleet average. But there is a mix difference as it relates to the types of products we're selling there today.

是的，我就先從這裡開始。然後，David，如果你想補充更多的話。總的來說，我們在亞太地區的電信業務佔比可能更高。這方面的利潤率往往低於我們目前看到的平均水平，因為我們將持續推動創新，尤其是在中國，我們預計未來將能夠從這些創新中獲得回報。所以我們當然致力於讓利潤率更接近平均。但就我們目前在這些地區銷售的產品類型而言，兩者之間存在一些差異。

So channel is going to be an important part of our success there. And specifically, China, I think, is the driver from a margin perspective as it relates to areas of focus, being more local and driving that local innovation is going to be an important part of what we're doing in 2021 and beyond.

因此，通路將是我們在中國成功的關鍵因素。具體而言，我認為從利潤率的角度來看，中國市場是推動我們業務發展的驅動力。就我們關注的重點領域而言，更本土化並推動本土創新將是我們2021年及以後工作的重要部分。

David, any other thoughts?

大衛，還有其他想法嗎？

No, I think you hit it pretty well, Rob. And certainly, there is lower margin you get with certain lower -- larger projects, but we have tailwinds from a mix perspective from both the channel and some of the initiatives to grow services. We certainly aren't relying on mix to be a huge margin-enhancement opportunity going forward. I think we're assuming relatively flat, but there is that potential it could actually be a tailwind for us.

不，我覺得你說的很對，羅布。當然，某些規模較小的專案利潤率會較低，但從通路和一些服務成長措施來看，我們在產品組合方面都有好因素。我們當然不會指望產品組合在未來成為利潤率大幅提升的契機。我認為我們目前預期利潤率會保持相對平穩，但它也有可能成為我們利潤成長的助力。

There are no further questions at this time. This concludes our question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Rob Johnson for any closing remarks.

目前沒有其他問題了。問答環節到此結束。現在我將會議交還給羅伯·約翰遜，請他作總結發言。

Thank you, operator, and I'm going to close the call by thanking our 20,000 employees around the world for working hard every day to take care of our customers. We appreciate everyone's time today. Please stay safe, and we look forward to speaking with you again soon. Thank you very much for your support.

謝謝接線員，我謹代表全球兩萬名員工，感謝他們每天辛勤工作，竭誠為客戶服務，結束今天的通話。感謝大家今天抽出寶貴時間。請注意安全，期待很快與您再次通話。非常感謝您的支持。

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

會議已結束。感謝您參加今天的報告。您可以斷開連線了。