Vestis Corp (VSTS) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the inaugural Earnings Call for Vestis Corporation's Fiscal Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the call over to Valerie Haertel, Vice President Investor Relations.

歡迎參加 Vestis 公司第四財季和 2023 年全年收益電話會議的首次收益電話會議。 （操作員指示）我現在想將電話轉給投資者關係副總裁 Valerie Haertel。

Thank you, Chelsea, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate your participation in Vestis Corporation's Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2023 Earnings Call. With me here today are our President and CEO, Kim Scott, and our CFO, Rick Dillon.

謝謝切爾西，大家早安。我們感謝您參與 Vestis Corporation 第四季和 2023 財年財報電話會議。今天與我在一起的有我們的總裁兼執行長 Kim Scott 和我們的財務長 Rick Dillon。

As a reminder, a telephonic replay of this call will be available on the IR section of the vestis.com website. Access to the replay and materials related to today's discussion are also available on the Investor Relations website.

請注意，vestis.com 網站的 IR 部分將提供本次通話的電話重播。您還可以在投資者關係網站上取得與今天討論相關的重播和資料。

Before we begin, I would like to remind you that this call may contain forward-looking statements. And as such, as within the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include remarks about management's future expectations, beliefs, estimates, plans and prospects. Such statements are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated or implied by such statements. Such risks and other factors are set forth in our periodic and current reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We do not undertake any duty to update them.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒您，本次電話會議可能包含前瞻性陳述。因此，正如 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》所規定的那樣。其中包括有關管理層未來預期、信念、估計、計劃和前景的評論。此類陳述受到各種風險、不確定性和其他因素的影響，這些因素可能導致實際結果與此類陳述所顯示或暗示的結果有重大差異。此類風險和其他因素在我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的定期和當前報告中列出。我們不承擔任何更新它們的義務。

With that, I would like to turn the call over to Kim.

說到這裡，我想把電話轉給 Kim。

Thank you, Valerie. Good morning, and thank you for joining Vestis' first earnings call as a stand-alone public company. We completed our spin-off from Aramark on September 30, an achievement that was only made possible thanks to the hard work of our 20,000 dedicated teammates. I'd like to thank the Vestis Nation for their unwavering commitment to our customers and to each other. As we work together to deliver this tremendous outcome.

謝謝你，瓦萊麗。早安，感謝您參加 Vestis 作為獨立上市公司的首次財報電話會議。我們於 9 月 30 日完成了從愛瑪客的分拆，這項成就得益於我們 20,000 名敬業的團隊成員的辛勤工作。我要感謝 Vestis Nation 對我們的客戶以及彼此之間堅定不移的承諾。當我們共同努力實現這一巨大成果時。

Every day, our outstanding teammates bring our purpose to life inside the company, delivering uniforms and supplies that empower people to do good work and good things for others while at work. We are doing important work. Work that makes a positive difference in the lives of so many.

每天，我們優秀的團隊成員都會在公司內部將我們的目標變為現實，提供製服和用品，使人們能夠在工作中做好工作並為他人做好事。我們正在做重要的工作。工作對許多人的生活產生積極的影響。

Turning now to our Vestis results. We delivered strong financial performance in 2023 with revenue growth of 5% and adjusted EBITDA margin of 14.3%, an increase of more than 40 basis points. As Rick will touch on in more detail in a moment, we delivered this growth and margin expansion as a result of strong performance against our strategic initiatives that are focused on high-quality growth and efficient operations.

現在轉向我們的 Vestis 結果。 2023 年，我們實現了強勁的財務業績，營收成長 5%，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率達到 14.3%，成長超過 40 個基點。正如里克稍後將更詳細地談到的那樣，我們實現了這種成長和利潤率擴張，這是我們專注於高品質成長和高效營運的策略舉措的強勁表現的結果。

We saw continued positive performance trends throughout the year, and we have entered 2024 with great momentum as our strategic plan gains traction and operating leverage begins to emerge. We are pleased to share our outlook for fiscal year 2024, a revenue growth rate of 4% to 4.5%, which is well above our historical norms of approximately 2%. And we will deliver 50 to 60 basis points of EBITDA margin expansion, which will be offset by the introduction of $15 million to $18 million in public company costs in the period. As a result, we will maintain our FY '23 EBITDA margin at 14.3%, while absorbing these go-forward public company costs.

我們全年看到了持續的積極業績趨勢，隨著我們的策略計畫獲得牽引力和營運槓桿開始顯現，我們以強勁的勢頭進入了 2024 年。我們很高興分享我們對 2024 財年的展望，營收成長率為 4% 至 4.5%，遠高於我們約 2% 的歷史正常水準。我們將實現 EBITDA 利潤率擴張 50 至 60 個基點，這將被在此期間引入 1,500 萬至 1,800 萬美元的上市公司成本所抵銷。因此，我們將把 23 財年的 EBITDA 利潤率維持在 14.3%，同時吸收這些上市公司的未來成本。

Throughout 2023, we continued to establish a strong foundation for profitable growth through the advancement of our strategic initiatives that we outlined at the Vestis Analyst Day back in September. As a reminder, our strategic imperatives include the delivery of high-quality growth, efficient operations, disciplined capital allocation and a performance-driven culture. We are pleased with the progress we are making against these imperatives.

在整個 2023 年，我們透過推進我們在 9 月的 Vestis 分析師日上概述的策略舉措，繼續為獲利成長奠定了堅實的基礎。需要提醒的是，我們的策略要務包括實現高品質成長、高效營運、嚴格的資本配置和績效驅動的文化。我們對我們在應對這些迫切需求方面所取得的進展感到高興。

Our top line results reflect our strategy to grow with existing customers through cross-selling workplace supplies. And as you can see in our results, we delivered 9% growth across workplace supplies in 2023. We are grateful to our frontline route service representatives for the work they are doing to support our growth and provide these value-added services and products to our customers. With sales activity taking place across 96% of our routes in 2023.

我們的營收結果反映了我們透過交叉銷售工作場所用品與現有客戶共同成長的策略。正如您在我們的結果中看到的，2023 年我們的工作場所供應量實現了9% 的增長。我們感謝一線航線服務代表為支持我們的成長所做的工作，並向我們的客戶提供這些增值服務和產品。顧客。到 2023 年，我們 96% 的航線都會進行銷售活動。

This focus on capturing share of wallet with existing customers and driving up the revenue per stop at a customer location contributes to a higher flow-through on revenue, aiding in our delivery of margin expansion. We will continue to deliver top line growth while also improving our revenue mix. To that end, we will exit a relationship with a large direct sale customer in FY '24 and through FY '25, improving our consolidated margin by approximately 3 basis points on a fully annualized basis.

這種專注於奪取現有客戶的錢包份額並提高客戶所在地每次停靠的收入有助於提高收入流量，有助於我們實現利潤率擴張。我們將繼續實現營收成長，同時改善我們的收入結構。為此，我們將在 2024 財年和 25 財年終止與一家大型直銷客戶的關係，從而將我們的綜合利潤率按年化計算提高約 3 個基點。

We will continue to focus our energy and our resources on high-quality growth, including our key micro vertical targets we discussed in September at Analyst Day and we remain focused on optimizing our revenue mix to support density and operating leverage across our network. Our focus on efficient operations has contributed to our margin expansion, and it is establishing the foundation for a more disciplined and modernized operating environment that will serve us well in the years ahead.

我們將繼續將我們的精力和資源集中在高品質成長上，包括我們在9 月份分析師日討論的關鍵微觀垂直目標，我們將繼續專注於優化我們的收入組合，以支持整個網路的密度和運營槓桿。我們對高效營運的關注有助於我們的利潤率擴張，並且正在為更規範和現代化的營運環境奠定基礎，這將在未來幾年為我們帶來良好的服務。

Our team has activated our plan to optimize our network, to reduce empty miles and lower fuel costs, simply by serving the right customers from the single most efficient location. This will also allow us to leverage latent capacity at our existing locations. And taken together, we believe we have $30 million to $50 million of potential cost savings or redeployable capacity that will be unlocked across our system over the next 5 years. This is a tremendous opportunity to leverage the assets we already have in our system, and it gives us confidence that we can accelerate growth without a significant capital outlay.

我們的團隊已經啟動了優化網路的計劃，透過在單一最高效的地點為合適的客戶提供服務，減少空駛里程並降低燃油成本。這也將使我們能夠利用現有地點的潛在產能。總的來說，我們相信我們有 3000 萬到 5000 萬美元的潛在成本節省或可重新部署的能力，這些能力將在未來 5 年內在我們的系統中釋放。這是利用我們系統中已有資產的巨大機會，它讓我們有信心無需大量資本支出即可加速成長。

In FY '23, we successfully completed more than 20 last mile optimization events across our network in support of this initiative. We also organized our team for success in FY '23 in support of our strategy which has resulted in lowering operating costs across the company. This proactive initiative has prepared us well to ingest the incoming public company costs as we enter FY '24 as a stand-alone public company while maintaining our FY '23 adjusted EBITDA margin level of approximately 14.3%.

23 財年，我們在整個網路中成功完成了 20 多項最後一哩優化活動，以支持這項措施。我們還組織我們的團隊在 23 財年取得成功，以支持我們的策略，從而降低了整個公司的營運成本。這項積極主動的舉措使我們做好了充分準備，在我們作為一家獨立的上市公司進入24 財年時，能夠消化即將到來的上市公司成本，同時保持23 財年調整後EBITDA 利潤率水平約14.3 %。

We are also progressing our efforts to improve the rigor applied against merchandise management or inventory reuse as we call it, which will reduce amortization costs on our garments over time.

我們也正在努力提高商品管理或我們所說的庫存再利用的嚴格性，這將隨著時間的推移降低我們服裝的攤銷成本。

Before I turn the call over to Rick, I would be remiss if I didn't touch on the incredible culture we are building here at Vestis. I'm so inspired to come to work every day, surrounded by our exceptional teammates, who are highly engaged to deliver against our plan, who are committed to serving our customers with excellence in every interaction and who are embracing change while growing and advancing themselves each day as we teach them new and better ways to do things across our business.

在我把電話轉給 Rick 之前，如果我沒有提到我們在 Vestis 正在建立的令人難以置信的文化，那就是我的失職。我每天上班都深受鼓舞，身邊都是我們傑出的隊友，他們高度投入地執行我們的計劃，致力於在每次互動中為我們的客戶提供卓越的服務，他們在成長和進步的同時擁抱變化每天我們都會教他們新的、更好的方法來在我們的業務中做事。

I couldn't be more proud of this team and all that we are accomplishing together, blazing new trails that lead to growth and margin expansion, while building the Vestis brand and uniting around our shared purpose as an organization.

我為這個團隊以及我們共同取得的成就感到無比自豪，開闢了新的道路，實現成長和利潤擴張，同時打造 Vestis 品牌並圍繞我們作為一個組織的共同目標團結起來。

Looking ahead to 2024, we are well positioned to deliver healthy revenue growth and margin expansion that on a normalized basis is already within the long-term target range that we provided at Analyst Day.

展望 2024 年，我們有能力實現健康的收入成長和利潤率擴張，在正常化的基礎上，這已經在我們在分析師日提供的長期目標範圍內。

We will continue to advance our strategic initiatives to drive high-quality growth and enhance our operational productivity. And as Rick will share, we will deliver healthy and stable cash flows that will allow us to delever, while continuing to invest in our business. I believe our opportunity ahead is significant, and our pathway to value creation is clear.

我們將持續推動策略舉措，推動高品質成長，提高營運效率。正如里克將分享的那樣，我們將提供健康穩定的現金流，使我們能夠去槓桿化，同時繼續投資我們的業務。我相信我們未來的機會是巨大的，我們創造價值的道路也很明確。

I'll now turn things over to Rick before we take your questions.

在回答你的問題之前，我現在將把事情交給里克。

Thanks, Kim, and good morning, everyone. Before we dive into fiscal 2023 results, just a quick reminder of the accounting basis for our reporting. Fiscal '22 and '23 results are prepared on a carve-out basis as Vestis did not operate as an independent company. These results are different than the segment results reported by Aramark as they include certain allocations of Aramark corporate expenses, additional accounting adjustments and previously eliminated revenue from services provided to Aramark. The allocated costs do not fully reflect the additional costs associated with providing these services as an independent company.

謝謝金，大家早安。在我們深入了解 2023 財年業績之前，先快速提醒一下我們報告的會計基礎。由於 Vestis 並非獨立公司經營，因此 22 財年和 23 財年業績是在剝離的基礎上編制的。這些表現與愛瑪客報告的分部表現不同，因為它們包括愛瑪客公司費用的某些分配、額外的會計調整以及之前抵消的向愛瑪客提供的服務的收入。分配的成本並未完全反映與作為獨立公司提供這些服務相關的額外成本。

And I'll come back to that when we look at the actual estimates of public costs in a moment. So with that level setting, let's move on to more details on fiscal 2023. Revenue for fiscal '23 was $2.8 billion, up approximately 5% from fiscal '22. Workplace supplies were up approximately 9% year-over-year, while uniforms revenue was essentially flat. Our results reflect our focus on expanding our relationships with existing customers and the strategic shift in our approach to new business.

當我們稍後查看公共成本的實際估計時，我將回到這一點。因此，在這一水平設定之後，讓我們繼續了解 2023 財年的更多細節。23 財年的收入為 28 億美元，比 22 財年增長約 5%。工作場所用品年增約 9%，而製服收入基本持平。我們的業績反映了我們對擴大與現有客戶關係的關注以及我們新業務方法的策略轉變。

Both years include $26 million in revenue from a temporary energy fee that was implemented late in the second quarter of fiscal '22 and continued through the end of the second quarter of fiscal '23. Currency negatively impacted growth by 60 basis points in the year. From a segment perspective, U.S. sales were up 5.2% and Canadian sales were up 4.1%. The mix of growth between uniforms and workplace supplies was consistent with our consolidated growth across both segments.

這兩年都包括來自臨時能源費的 2,600 萬美元收入，該費用於 22 財年第二季末實施，並持續到 23 財年第二季末。貨幣對年內經濟成長產生了 60 個基點的負面影響。從細分市場來看，美國銷售額成長 5.2%，加拿大銷售額成長 4.1%。制服和工作場所用品之間的成長組合與我們在這兩個領域的綜合成長一致。

Moving on to adjusted EBITDA for the year. Adjusted EBITDA was $404 million in fiscal '23, an increase of approximately 8% compared to the prior year, with the U.S. up approximately 9% and Canada down 13%. The operating leverage from sales volume, pricing actions and $15 million in structural cost reductions were partially offset by increases in cost of services and other SG&A expenses.

接下來是本年度調整後的 EBITDA。 23 財年調整後 EBITDA 為 4.04 億美元，比上年增長約 8%，其中美國增長約 9%，加拿大下降 13%。銷售、定價行動和 1500 萬美元結構性成本削減帶來的營運槓桿被服務成本和其他 SG&A 費用的增加部分抵消。

Cost of services increased by 3%, half of the increase is associated with higher merchandise amortization costs, from increases in circulating inventory during fiscal 2022 to support demand recovery post COVID. The other half is attributable to increased labor and energy costs year-over-year. While energy costs remained elevated throughout the year, we did see some moderation starting in the back half of the year. SG&A expense includes an incremental $12 million in structural costs associated with establishing the leadership team and corporate functions needed for a public company.

服務成本增加了 3%，其中一半的成長與較高的商品攤銷成本有關，這是由於 2022 財年增加流通庫存以支援新冠疫情後的需求復甦。另一半則歸因於勞動力和能源成本逐年增加。儘管全年能源成本仍然居高不下，但我們確實看到下半年開始出現一些放緩。 SG&A 費用包括與建立上市公司所需的領導團隊和公司職能相關的 1,200 萬美元增量結構成本。

From a segment perspective, U.S. profitability was driven by operating leverage on revenue growth, a favorable mix towards workplace supplies as well as momentum in our operating efficiency initiatives. The decline in profitability in Canada is attributable to prior year wage subsidies and a gain on a property sale that did not repeat in the current year.

從細分市場的角度來看，美國的獲利能力是由收入成長的營運槓桿、工作場所供應的有利組合以及我們營運效率計劃的勢頭推動的。加拿大獲利能力下降的原因是去年的工資補貼和今年沒有重複的房地產銷售收益。

In addition, investments in rental merchandise inventory to support COVID demand recovery more than offset the benefits from operating leverage on revenue growth, pricing actions and the impact of operating efficiencies during the year. Overall, adjusted EBITDA margins expanded 42 basis points in fiscal 2023 to 14.3% after absorbing $12 million in incremental public company costs.

此外，為支持新冠疫情需求復甦而對租賃商品庫存進行的投資遠遠抵消了營運槓桿對年內收入成長、定價行動和營運效率影響的收益。整體而言，在吸收了 1,200 萬美元的增量上市公司成本後，2023 財年調整後 EBITDA 利潤率擴大了 42 個基點，達到 14.3%。

So let's look closer at public company costs. As noted, our results include the $12 million in permanent structural costs and we expect to incur an additional $15 million to $18 million in fiscal '24, while completing the build-out of our corporate structures and our IT infrastructure that's inclusive of TSA costs. As we are completing our separation activities during '24, we will utilize a transition services agreement with Aramark to provide monthly bridge support. This support will decline throughout the year as we stand up our own functions.

那麼讓我們仔細看看上市公司的成本。如前所述，我們的業績包括1,200 萬美元的永久性結構成本，我們預計在24 財年將額外支出1,500 萬至1,800 萬美元，同時完成我們的公司結構和IT 基礎設施（包括TSA 成本）的擴建。當我們在 24 年期間完成分離活動時，我們將利用與 Aramark 的過渡服務協議來提供每月的過渡支援。隨著我們自身職能的增強，這種支持將在全年中下降。

There will, however, be some periods of overlapping costs, but we expect to be fully operational by the end of fiscal '24. So all in, we expect to see public company costs and TSA payments in the range of $27 million to $30 million for 2024, while our permanent structural cost run rate will be about $20 million to $25 million starting and as we enter 2025 post-TSA.

然而，會有一些時期的成本重疊，但我們預計將在 24 財年末全面投入營運。總而言之，我們預計 2024 年上市公司成本和 TSA 付款將在 2700 萬至 3000 萬美元之間，而從開始到 2025 年 TSA 後，我們的永久性結構成本運行率將約為 2000 萬至 2500 萬美元。

Moving on to liquidity. We generated $257 million in cash from operations during fiscal '23. An increase of approximately $24 million. The increase is primarily attributable to higher rental merchandise adds in the prior year as compared to the current year and lower year-over-year growth in receivables attributable to timing. The actual investment in, in-service inventory for the cash impact was in fiscal 2022 and the increase in amortization impacted results in 2023.

轉向流動性。 2023 財年，我們從營運中獲得了 2.57 億美元的現金。增加約2400萬美元。這一增長主要是由於前一年的租賃商品增加量高於本年，以及由於時間安排而導致的應收帳款同比增長較低。對現金影響的在役庫存的實際投資發生在 2022 財年，攤銷增加影響了 2023 年的表現。

Additionally, we saw a use of cash for accounts payable during the year, driven primarily by timing of payables heading into the spin transaction. CapEx was $78 million for fiscal '23 up slightly from 2022 and just under 3% of our total revenues. Free cash flow was $190 million, up $27 million from the prior year. We entered into a $1.8 billion credit agreement on September 29 as a part of the spin transaction. The facility includes a $300 million revolver and 2 term loans. On the last day of fiscal '23, just before the completion of the spin, we drew on the 2 term loans totaling $1.5 billion, $800 million maturing in 2 years and $700 million maturing in 5 years. The revolving credit facility was undrawn as of the end of fiscal '23.

此外，我們發現年內應付帳款使用了現金，這主要是由於應付帳款進入分拆交易的時間所致。 23 財年的資本支出為 7,800 萬美元，比 2022 年略有增加，略低於我們總收入的 3%。自由現金流為 1.9 億美元，比前一年增加 2,700 萬美元。作為分拆交易的一部分，我們於 9 月 29 日簽訂了 18 億美元的信貸協議。該貸款包括一筆 3 億美元的左輪手槍和 2 筆定期貸款。在 23 財年的最後一天，就在重組完成之前，我們動用了兩筆總額為 15 億美元的定期貸款，其中 8 億美元在 2 年到期，7 億美元在 5 年到期。截至 23 財年末，循環信貸額度尚未提領。

We ended fiscal '23 with $36 million in cash on hand and a net debt-to-EBITDA leverage ratio of 3.95x. Maximum leverage under our credit facility is 5.25x, dropping to 4.5x in March of 2025. We continue to target an optimal leverage ratio of 1.5 to 2.5 by fiscal '26. We are mobilizing to refinance the 2-year loan in the second quarter of fiscal '24. We believe our available cash, future cash generation from operations, existing credit facilities and access to credit markets provide us ample liquidity and the flexibility needed to execute our strategy, reduce our leverage and return capital to shareholders in the form of a sustained quarterly dividend as announced earlier today.

截至 23 財年，我們手頭現金為 3,600 萬美元，淨債務與 EBITDA 的槓桿率為 3.95 倍。我們信貸安排下的最大槓桿率為 5.25 倍，到 2025 年 3 月降至 4.5 倍。我們繼續目標是到 26 財年將最佳槓桿率控制在 1.5 至 2.5 倍。我們正在動員在 24 財年第二季為兩年期貸款再融資。我們相信，我們的可用現金、未來營運產生的現金、現有信貸便利和信貸市場准入為我們提供了執行策略所需的充足流動性和靈活性，降低了槓桿率，並以持續的季度股息的形式將資本返還給股東。今天早些時候宣布。

I will close with a few more details on our 2024 guidance. As Kim noted, we expect revenues to grow between 4% and 4.5%, when normalized for the $26 million impact of the temporary energy fee in 2023, our '24 guidance represents a 5% to 5.5% growth in revenue. Our adjusted EBITDA margin guidance has us absorbing an incremental $15 million to $18 million or 50 to 60 basis points of incremental public company costs in 2024.

最後，我將提供有關 2024 年指導的更多詳細資訊。正如 Kim 指出的那樣，我們預計收入將增長 4% 至 4.5%，如果對 2023 年臨時能源費 2600 萬美元的影響進行正常化，我們的 24 年指導意味著收入將增長 5% 至 5.5%。我們調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率指引要求我們在 2024 年吸收 1,500 萬至 1,800 萬美元的增量，即增量上市公司成本的 50 至 60 個基點。

Depreciation and amortization expense is expected to be $130 million to $140 million. Interest expense is expected to be $115 million to $120 million. We expect CapEx will be approximately 3% of revenue, and our effective tax rate will be approximately $26 million. We estimate we will spend $25 million in fiscal '24 on onetime spin-related costs that are not included in our adjusted margin guidance. This includes approximately $15 million in costs associated with the rebranding of our fleet and signage on our facilities.

折舊和攤銷費用預計為1.3億至1.4億美元。利息支出預計為 1.15 億至 1.2 億美元。我們預計資本支出將約為收入的 3%，我們的有效稅率將約為 2,600 萬美元。我們估計，我們將在 24 財年花費 2500 萬美元用於一次性旋轉相關成本，這些成本未包含在我們調整後的利潤指引中。這包括與我們的車隊和設施標誌的品牌重塑相關的約 1500 萬美元的成本。

We expect this process to be completed over the next 2 years with an incremental $10 million of expenses expected in fiscal '25. Finally, we expect free cash flow conversion to be greater than or equal to 100% of net income to support the pay down of debt and our quarterly dividend.

我們預計這一過程將在未來 2 年內完成，預計 25 財年將增加 1,000 萬美元的支出。最後，我們預計自由現金流轉換將大於或等於淨利潤的 100%，以支持償還債務和季度股息。

So that concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, I will turn it back to you to open the lines for questions.

我們準備好的發言就到此結束。接線員，我會將其轉回給您以打開提問線路。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question will come from Stephanie Moore with Jefferies.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將由 Jefferies 的 Stephanie Moore 提出。

Maybe just starting with the guidance for fiscal 2024. I appreciate the incremental color that you provided in terms of the lapping of the fuel surcharge. But could you kind of break out as you think about the components of that organic growth guidance and other revenue growth guidance in terms of what you expect roughly from pricing, cross-sell, new business wins as well as I think you noted you were walking away from that customer in 2023. So those puts and takes would be helpful.

也許只是從 2024 財年的指導開始。我很欣賞您在燃油附加費研磨方面提供的增量顏色。但是，當您考慮有機增長指導和其他收入增長指導的組成部分時，您是否可以從定價、交叉銷售、新業務獲勝中大致預期，我想您注意到您正在步行2023 年遠離該客戶。所以這些賣權會有所幫助。

Thanks for your question, Stephanie. So we do expect a bend towards volume in FY '24 as we talked about at Analyst Day, this is not a pricing based strategy -- growth strategy. So our aim here as we grow the business in FY '24 and beyond really is to drive volume in the base through cross-selling. So we expect healthy growth coming from cross-selling as part of our strategy around workplace supplies. We will take pricing appropriately as we offsetted things like inflation and we also take value-based pricing, as Rick referenced earlier as he was giving his discussion around the future for '24.

謝謝你的提問，史蒂芬妮。因此，正如我們在分析師日所討論的那樣，我們確實預計 24 財年銷量會有所下降，這不是基於定價的策略 - 成長策略。因此，我們在 24 財年及以後發展業務的目標實際上是透過交叉銷售來提高基礎銷售。因此，我們預期交叉銷售將帶來健康成長，作為我們工作場所用品策略的一部分。我們將採取適當的定價，因為我們抵消了通貨膨脹等因素，我們也採取基於價值的定價，正如 Rick 早些時候在討論 24 世紀的未來時提到的那樣。

But we will also continue to protect and grow customers. But as you noted, we will also exit strategically at times customers. So we'll see some erosion in the base at times as we exit some of these lower-margin customers while also growing new customers in our micro verticals. So it will be a balance, quite frankly, of cross-selling new business in the micro verticals and modest pricing.

但我們也將繼續保護和發展客戶。但正如您所指出的，我們有時也會策略性地退出客戶。因此，當我們退出一些利潤率較低的客戶，同時在我們的微型垂直領域增加新客戶時，我們有時會看到客戶群受到一些侵蝕。因此，坦白說，這將是微觀垂直領域交叉銷售新業務和適度定價之間的平衡。

Rick, anything that you would add to that?

瑞克，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

No. In the weighting will lean towards the impact of cross-selling. So you see that same overweight of workplace supplies versus uniforms.

不會。權重將傾向於交叉銷售的影響。所以你會看到工作場所用品與制服同樣超重。

Yes.

是的。

Got it. No, that's helpful. And then just as a follow-up to that question, as we think about your -- you execute your strategy that you outlined at the Analyst Day, particularly with some of those micro verticals that you talked about, should we expect to see the uniforms business maybe accelerate a bit versus what we saw in fiscal 2023. Clearly, we're making really nice progress on the workplace supplies, but in uniforms just a little bit lighter.

知道了。不，這很有幫助。然後，作為該問題的後續行動，當我們考慮您的策略時，您執行了您在分析師日概述的策略，特別是您談到的一些微觀垂直領域，我們是否應該期望看到製服與我們在2023 財年看到的情況相比，業務可能會加速一些。顯然，我們在工作場所用品方面取得了非常好的進展，但制服的重量稍微輕了一點。

Should we think about uniform kind of stepping up a bit going forward or kind of continue to be out shadowed by the workplace supplies?

我們是否應該考慮進一步加強制服，還是繼續受到工作場所用品的影響？

Yes. You should expect that you will continue to see momentum in workplace supplies and a more muted uniforms number, but that is also driven by some of these decisions that we're making to strategically exit some of our direct sale business, which will have an impact on the uniforms number.

是的。您應該預期，您將繼續看到工作場所用品的成長勢頭和製服數量的減少，但這也是由我們策略性退出部分直銷業務而做出的一些決定所推動的，這將產生影響在製服號碼上。

So just keep that in mind. We are definitely still growing our uniforms business. We're targeting those micro verticals as well as other verticals and our sales team is actually -- our sales team that is driving new business is actually quite productive and performing very well.

所以請記住這一點。我們肯定仍在發展我們的製服業務。我們的目標是這些微型垂直市場以及其他垂直市場，我們的銷售團隊實際上 - 我們推動新業務的銷售團隊實際上非常有效率且表現良好。

We are just purposely at times exiting some business and also overshadowing that with the workplace supplies. So I would expect you should see a muted uniforms growth rate again in FY '24, but that is a very purposeful decision to grow very strategically under high-quality verticals and exiting some underperforming business.

我們有時只是故意退出一些業務，並用工作場所用品來掩蓋這一點。因此，我預計你會在 24 財年再次看到製服成長率放緩，但這是一個非常有目的的決定，在高品質的垂直領域進行策略性成長並退出一些表現不佳的業務。

Our next question will come from Andy Wittmann with Baird.

我們的下一個問題將由安迪·魏特曼和貝爾德提出。

I guess maybe you can comment on the size of the direct sales customer here that's giving you the 3 basis points of margin just so we can kind of have better context around the magnitude of that headwind?

我想也許你可以評論這裡的直銷客戶的規模，這給了你 3 個基點的利潤，這樣我們就可以更好地了解逆風的程度？

Yes. Sure, I'd be happy to, and Andy. It's great to hear from you. So thanks for joining us today. The customer that we're referring to is on an annualized basis, about $26 million in revenue. So it's a significant sized customer for us, and we will see that customer transition out. So about half of that will hit the FY '24 year, and about half of that will hit in FY '25. So about $13 million in this year and $13 million in the year to come. And at the macro level, that will have about a 222 basis point impact on the uniforms growth rate on a fully annualized basis, about 92 bps on our total consolidated Vestis revenue.

是的。當然，我很樂意，還有安迪。很高興收到你的來信。感謝您今天加入我們。我們所指的客戶的年收入約為 2,600 萬美元。因此，這對我們來說是一個規模很大的客戶，我們將看到該客戶轉變。因此，其中大約一半將在 24 財年實現，大約一半將在 25 財年實現。今年約 1,300 萬美元，來年約 1,300 萬美元。在宏觀層面上，這將對按年化計算的製服成長率產生約 222 個基點的影響，對我們的 Vestis 合併總收入影響約 92 個基點。

Got it. That's super helpful. I was just wondering, do you guys anticipate as you get into reporting your own results as opposed to the carve-out here. Rick, do you expect that you'll be giving an EPS measure in your guidance as well, like an adjusted EPS measure or measure. Do you expect that we're just going to work on GAAP for now and go that way?

知道了。這非常有幫助。我只是想知道，當你們開始報告自己的結果而不是這裡的剝離時，你們是否預計會這樣。里克，您是否期望在您的指導中也提供每股收益指標，例如調整後的每股收益指標或指標。您是否認為我們現在就按照 GAAP 進行工作並繼續這樣做？

Yes. We absolutely will. And I'll let Rick provide some more color here in a moment, but we actually discussed that as we were preparing for our first earnings and we made the decision, given that we had just spun out not to report that in this particular full year result for FY '24 as we were still a part of Aramark. But we will, in the future, be discussing and sharing information related to EPS. Rick, anything that you'd like to add there?

是的。我們絕對會的。稍後我會讓里克在這裡提供更多的信息，但我們實際上討論了這一點，因為我們正在為我們的第一份收益做準備，並且我們做出了決定，因為我們剛剛分拆出來，在這個特定的全年中不報告這一點這是 24 財年的結果，因為我們仍然是 Aramark 的一部分。但將來我們將討論和分享與 EPS 相關的資訊。瑞克，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Yes. Fiscal '23. We will report it -- for '24 again quarter for '24. The '23 numbers, as Kim said, there were no shares outstanding. And so you'd be reporting an EPS on a pro forma number. So it's got to be very not indicative as I said about the carve-out. On a go-forward basis, we have a share count, we'll know the dilution impact, and we'll start reporting the adjusted EPS for the quarter.

是的。 23 財年。我們將在 24 年的第二季報告這一情況。正如 Kim 所說，23 年的數據中沒有流通股。因此，您將報告預計數字的每股收益。因此，正如我所說的關於剝離的那樣，它必須非常不具有指示性。展望未來，我們有股票計數，我們將了解稀釋影響，並且我們將開始報告本季調整後的每股盈餘。

To your point, Andy, you can, of course, get there with what we provided, but you will see us report that.

對於你的觀點，安迪，你當然可以用我們提供的東西來實現這一點，但你會看到我們報告這一點。

Okay. That makes a lot of sense. And presumably, that adjusted EPS is on the same -- includes the same adjustments as the EBITDA. I'm guessing. And then I guess yes. Okay. And then -- so then just to follow up on that here, just related to the free cash flow conversion here when you say greater than 100% of net income. In this context, however, you mean this in terms of GAAP net income. Is that correct?

好的。這很有意義。據推測，調整後的每股收益與 EBITDA 相同，包括相同的調整。我正在猜測。然後我想是的。好的。然後——所以，接下來，當你說大於淨利潤的 100% 時，就與這裡的自由現金流轉換有關。然而，在這種情況下，您指的是 GAAP 淨利潤。那是對的嗎？

Correct.

正確的。

Okay. Okay. So then, I guess, stepping back, my last question. There's a lot, Kim, that you're doing to kind of move the margin profile in a lot of different ways. As you look here over the past 3 months or so, what are the kind of key initiatives where you're really focused on today that your employees are feeling in terms of how they're going to talk to their customers or changes that they're seeing in the routes or in the plan.

好的。好的。那麼，我想，退一步來說，我的最後一個問題。 Kim，您正在做很多事情，以多種不同的方式改變利潤狀況。當您回顧過去 3 個月左右的時間時，您今天真正關注的關鍵舉措是什麼，您的員工在如何與客戶交談或改變他們的想法方面有何感受？在路線或計劃中看到。

What are the real things that today that you're working on?

你今天正在做的真正的事情是什麼？

Thanks, Andy, appreciate that question. So cross-selling the base is a very attractive margin accretive activity. So we are hyper-focused on growing share of wallet with existing customers. And we've already incurred that fixed cost. We already have route drivers serving them plants -- assets tied to those customer locations. So 1 of the single most important areas of focus that our whole team is rallied around is cross-selling existing customers so that we can capture share of wallet and leverage fixed assets and get that flow through on that revenue.

謝謝，安迪，感謝這個問題。因此，交叉銷售基礎是一項非常有吸引力的利潤增值活動。因此，我們非常注重增加現有客戶的錢包份額。我們已經產生了固定成本。我們已經有路線司機為他們的工廠提供服務—與這些客戶位置相關的資產。因此，我們整個團隊所關注的最重要的一個重點領域是交叉銷售現有客戶，以便我們能夠佔領錢包份額並利用固定資產並透過該收入獲得流動。

And I would say our team is fully mobilized. As I mentioned when I was speaking earlier, we had selling activity on 96% of our routes. I shared with you guys during Analyst Day that we were not leveraging our fantastic frontline teammates to sell our customers -- to cross-sell our customers when I joined the company a couple of years ago. So to be able to share now that we have 96% of our routes containing sales activity is tremendous momentum. And that does take the entire organization coming together.

我想說我們的團隊已經充分動員起來。正如我之前發言時提到的，我們 96% 的航線都有銷售活動。我在分析師日期間與大家分享，幾年前我加入公司時，我們並沒有利用我們優秀的一線隊友來銷售我們的客戶——交叉銷售我們的客戶。因此，現在能夠分享我們 96% 的航線都包含銷售活動，這是一個巨大的動力。這確實需要整個組織團結起來。

So service managers, frontline teammates, general managers out in market centers as well as sales teammates supporting them in marketing with collateral. So that is a full-on team effort that everyone is mobilized around. The other really very large initiative that requires the whole company to move in the same direction is our building a center of logistics excellence. So this notion of rerouting customers and conducting flow optimization across these market centers requires a tremendous amount of collaboration between facilities as we are rerouting customers. We are working very diligently to ensure that is a seamless and invisible process for the customer.

因此，服務經理、第一線隊友、市場中心的總經理以及銷售團隊成員都在透過抵押品支持他們進行行銷。因此，這是一個全面的團隊努力，每個人都動員起來。另一個需要整個公司朝著同一個方向前進的非常大的舉措是我們建立一個卓越的物流中心。因此，當我們重新安排客戶路線時，重新安排客戶路線並在這些市場中心進行流量優化的概念需要設施之間進行大量協作。我們正在非常努力地工作，以確保為客戶提供無縫且隱形的流程。

So it requires all hands on deck out in the field working together, not just to remap it from a logistics perspective using great technology and tools. But it is also a large change management undertaking that requires all of us to work together to get that done. So if I had to really choose 2 key areas of focus for us. I would say it is cross-selling workplace supplies to existing customers and leveraging those fixed assets and optimizing our network from a logistics perspective.

因此，它需要現場所有人齊心協力，而不僅僅是使用出色的技術和工具從物流角度重新規劃。但這也是一項大型變革管理工作，需要我們所有人共同努力才能完成。因此，如果我真的必須為我們選擇兩個關鍵的重點領域。我想說，這是向現有客戶交叉銷售工作場所用品，利用這些固定資產，並從物流角度優化我們的網路。

Our next question will come from Andrew Steinerman with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題將來自摩根大通的安德魯·斯坦納曼。

Could you please comment on recent trends in [ad stop], net new and client review/retention.

您能否評論一下[廣告停止]、淨新增和客戶評論/保留方面的最新趨勢。

[Ad stop], net new and what was the last one?

[廣告停止]，新的，最後一個是什麼？

Retention.

保留。

Got it. So obviously, we continue to focus on creating an amazing customer experience, and we talked a lot about -- some of the things that we're doing to enhance that experience, from training our frontline teammates and our territory managers with playbooks around how to do a great job taking care of the customer, to also providing our route drivers, our frontline teammates with tools to let them know when there's an opportunity to improve with the customer and then also to launching our customer portal, which we're getting great feedback on.

知道了。顯然，我們繼續專注於創造令人驚嘆的客戶體驗，並且我們談論了很多 - 我們正在做的一些事情來增強這種體驗，從培訓我們的一線團隊成員和我們的區域經理如何使用劇本做好照顧客戶的工作，也為我們的路線司機、我們的第一線團隊成員提供工具，讓他們知道何時有機會與客戶一起改進，然後啟動我們的客戶入口網站，我們正在做得很好反饋。

So we feel really good about the momentum around protecting and growing our customer base. We are seeing really, really great feedback from our customers around these initiatives. And so we feel very, very good about the establishment of a service excellence culture across the company. We also continue to deliver retention rates that are above 90% as we stated in our Form 10. So we continue to emphasize that greatly.

因此，我們對保護和擴大客戶群的勢頭感到非常滿意。我們看到客戶對這些措施的回饋非常非常好。因此，我們對在整個公司建立卓越服務文化感到非常非常滿意。正如我們在表 10 中所述，我們也繼續提供高於 90% 的保留率。因此我們繼續強調這一點。

And [ad stops] and net new?

還有[廣告停止]和淨新？

[Ad stops] and net new, we haven't given out those metrics specifically, but we obviously continue to add new business. We're pleased with the progress that we're seeing from our frontline sales team to do that, and we continue to see growth in our business. We're not really using -- I will be quite clear -- what's that?

[廣告停止]和淨新業務，我們沒有具體給出這些指標，但我們顯然會繼續增加新業務。我們對一線銷售團隊在這方面取得的進展感到高興，並且我們的業務持續成長。我們並沒有真正使用——我會很清楚——那是什麼？

Has [ad stop] held up?

[廣告停止]持續了嗎？

Has [ad stop] held up as a metric?

[廣告停止] 是否能作為衡量指標？

We don't actually use a metric of [ad stop]. And I think it's also important to note on your question around net new that we actually aren't communicating and we're shifting away from that net new metrics that we were using at Aramark as well. Because it doesn't reflect growth in our base. So that net new metric is a discrete metric around customers who are with you and then leave and are no longer customers, and it does not reflect the growth in the base, which is our key focus area.

我們其實並沒有使用[廣告停止]的指標。我認為同樣重要的是要注意你關於淨新的問題，我們實際上沒有進行溝通，並且我們正在放棄我們在愛瑪客使用的淨新指標。因為它並不能反映我們基礎的成長。因此，淨新指標是圍繞與您在一起然後離開且不再是客戶的客戶的離散指標，它並不反映基數的成長，而基數是我們的重點領域。

So you're going to see us shift away from the conversation around that new and talking about that metric. And you're going to hear us talk more about macro level growth that includes cross-selling and adding products and services to existing customers, and that's not reflected in that net new number.

因此，您將看到我們從圍繞新事物的對話轉向談論該指標。您將聽到我們更多地談論宏觀層面的成長，包括交叉銷售以及向現有客戶添加產品和服務，而這並沒有反映在淨新增數字中。

Our next question comes from Shlomo Rosenbaum with Stifel.

我們的下一個問題來自什洛莫·羅森鮑姆和 Stifel。

You've been focused a lot on the efforts to improve the cross-sell and you talked about 96% of the routes are selling now. Where do you think you are in terms of making the shift in the culture to a more sales-oriented culture and selling across the base? Do you think like you are really humming along. You think you're like 50% there because it's a significant change from the way that the company had operated for literally decades. And maybe you could talk about where you are now and how long do you think it would take to really be kind of firing on all cylinders?

您一直非常關注改善交叉銷售的努力，並且您談到現在 96% 的航線正在銷售。您認為在將文化轉變為更以銷售為導向的文化並在整個基地進行銷售方面，您處於什麼位置？你認為你真的在哼唱嗎？你認為你的支持率大約是 50%，因為這與公司幾十年來的運作方式相比發生了重大變化。也許你可以談談你現在所處的位置，以及你認為需要多長時間才能真正全速運轉？

So I think we still have work to do. I'm pleased with the way the team has embraced, everyone sells culture and mindset that we're working to create, Shlomo. But I think your question is a really important question that we are constantly focused on here because it is a massive cultural shift to move a company to a mindset of growth. And that is the opportunity that we found when we came here. When I joined a couple of years ago, it was very clear that, that obsession with growth was not present in this organization.

所以我認為我們還有工作要做。我對團隊所接受的方式感到滿意，每個人都推銷我們正在努力創造的文化和心態，什洛莫。但我認為你的問題是一個非常重要的問題，我們一直在這裡關注，因為這是一個巨大的文化轉變，可以讓公司轉變為成長的心態。這就是我們來到這裡時發現的機會。當我幾年前加入時，很明顯，這個組織並不存在對成長的執著。

So I think that we've made great strides as evidenced by 96% of our routes having sales activity and teammates beyond -- dedicated sales teammates, helping to sell and grow our business, particularly harvesting the base and capturing share of wallet with existing customers. But I would tell you that I think that we have a long way to go, which is encouraging because we're seeing great results well above our historical norms. You can see that reflected in our guidance as we're projecting 4% to 4.5% growth when historically, this business was growing at a meager 2% or so. And you also know we're shedding some unprofitable business at the same time. So that growth rate is even healthier than it appears.

因此，我認為我們已經取得了長足的進步，96% 的路線都有銷售活動，而且還有其他團隊成員——敬業的銷售團隊成員，幫助銷售和發展我們的業務，特別是在現有客戶中贏得基礎並贏得錢包份額。 。但我想告訴你們，我認為我們還有很長的路要走，這是令人鼓舞的，因為我們看到了遠遠超出我們歷史標準的偉大成果。您可以看到這一點反映在我們的指導中，因為我們預計將成長 4% 至 4.5%，而歷史上該業務的成長僅為 2% 左右。您也知道我們同時正在剝離一些無利可圖的業務。因此，這個成長率比看起來更健康。

So I'm pleased with where we are, but I think we can do so much better. And so we continue to bring tools and resources and really encourage and arm the team with the right, the tools that they need to get out there and grow the business. So I'd say, I don't want to gauge it at 50%, but I'd say we are maybe halfway there, maybe, honestly. And that excites me, so I don't say that as a criticism. I'd say that is we're doing a great job. I'm pleased with the progress, and there's so much more yet to come. But our teammates are responding well. They're excited. They're proud to be a part of growing this business. I think they're recognizing now the latent potential that is untapped that hasn't been unleashed here, and people are pretty (inaudible) about bringing that to life. So more to come on the culture front.

所以我對我們現在的處境很滿意，但我認為我們可以做得更好。因此，我們繼續提供工具和資源，並真正鼓勵和武裝團隊，為他們提供走出去並發展業務所需的正確工具。所以我想說，我不想將其評估為 50%，但老實說，我們可能已經完成了一半。這讓我很興奮，所以我這麼說並不是為了批評。我想說的是我們做得很好。我對所取得的進展感到滿意，而且還有更多的事情要做。但我們的隊友反應很好。他們很興奮。他們很自豪能夠成為發展這項業務的一部分。我認為他們現在正在認識到這裡尚未釋放的尚未開發的潛在潛力，並且人們非常（聽不清楚）將其變為現實。因此，文化方面還有更多內容。

Great. And then maybe this 1 is for Rick. Can you talk a little bit more about the sequential margin improvement? Obviously, there's a pretty good cadence over here. And can you talk about what changed from like June to September? And is this going to be like a consistent grind forward? Obviously, I understand the TSA and the additional public company costs, but maybe you could talk about if there are some key items that drove that margin expansion? And then maybe if there's a few other ones that we should be looking towards for the next several quarters and over the year?

偉大的。也許這個 1 是給 Rick 的。能多談談連續利潤率的改善嗎？顯然，這裡的節奏非常好。您能談談從六月到九月發生了什麼變化嗎？這會是一個持續不斷的磨礪嗎？顯然，我了解 TSA 和額外的上市公司成本，但也許您可以談談是否有一些關鍵項目推動了利潤率擴張？那麼，也許我們在接下來的幾個季度和一年中還應該關注其他一些問題？

So from a quarterly progression Q3 to Q4, there were quite a few kind of moving pieces driving that activity. And so you have -- in our fourth quarter, you have all types of things around benefits, around customer closeouts, around contest that kind of drives that Q4 increase in profitability. And it's a normal cadence. If you go back and look the last 2, 3 years, we see that normal Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 glide path. And so we expect to see that going forward in terms of your question about how you should be thinking about it. We, of course, are guiding the quarters.

因此，從第三季到第四季的季度進展，有相當多的活動推動了這項活動。因此，在我們的第四季度，你可以看到圍繞著福利、客戶清倉、競爭等各種類型的事情，這些都推動了第四季度獲利能力的成長。這是正常的節奏。如果你回顧過去 2、3 年，我們會看到正常的 Q1、Q2、Q3、Q4 下滑路徑。因此，我們希望看到您關於應該如何思考這個問題的問題進一步發展。當然，我們正在指導季度。

We did include in the earnings release, the quarterly history, so you can go and take a look at that. But the movement from Q3 to Q4 reflects also we having a full quarter of our cost-out actions reflected in our results as well.

我們確實在收益發布中包含了季度歷史記錄，所以你可以去看看。但從第三季到第四季的變化也反映出我們的成本支出行動也反映在我們的業績上。

(Operator Instructions) And our next question will come from Oliver Davies with Redburn Atlantic.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題將來自 Redburn Atlantic 的 Oliver Davies。

Just 1 for me. On margin. Can you just talk about sort of the current cost inflation you're seeing, I guess, across labor, materials and fleet and sort of how you see that evolving into 2024?

對我來說只有 1 個。在保證金上。您能談談目前您所看到的勞動力、材料和車隊成本上漲情況，以及您如何看待這種情況到 2024 年的演變嗎？

Sure. I'll start, and then I'll kick it over to Rick for some more detail. But from a labor perspective, and we talked a little bit about this in the past. We actually have pretty good predictability around labor. Because we have a unionized workforce. And so the CBA negotiations, the collective bargaining agreement negotiations are very predictable for us and we have history as a guide to determine where we think those negotiations will land and what that will equate to in terms of increased wages. So we anticipate about 5% wage inflation across the 5-year period. 5% on an annualized basis across the 5-year period as we look at our strategic plan, and that's actually fairly predictable for us and that has played through over the last couple of years.

當然。我先開始，然後將其交給 Rick 以了解更多細節。但從勞工的角度來看，我們過去也談過一些這個問題。事實上，我們對勞動力有很好的可預測性。因為我們有一支工會勞動力。因此，勞資協議談判、集體談判協議談判對我們來說是非常可預測的，我們有歷史作為指導，來確定我們認為這些談判將在哪裡進行，以及這將相當於增加工資。因此，我們預期 5 年內薪資通膨率約為 5%。當我們審視我們的策略計畫時，在 5 年期間按年化計算 5%，這實際上對我們來說是相當可預測的，並且在過去幾年中一直在發揮作用。

So that's what we're assuming in FY '24 as we put this guidance forward. We're seeing muted energy costs. I'll let Rick kind of touch on that here just in a bit, but we're seeing muted energy costs and generally a very predictable supply chain forecasting activity because we're purchasing inventory in advance and then we're issuing it over a period as we grow new business and amortizing that over a couple of years. So we have pretty good forecasting capabilities as it relates to all of our key cost drivers in the business. And we're not seeing anything surprising or unusual as we move through kind of building out the FY '24 plan.

這就是我們在 24 財年提出此指導意見時的假設。我們看到能源成本低迷。我會讓里克稍微談談這個問題，但我們看到能源成本低迷，而且供應鏈預測活動通常非常可預測，因為我們提前購買庫存，然後透過我們發展新業務並在幾年內攤銷的時期。因此，我們擁有相當好的預測能力，因為它與我們業務中的所有關鍵成本驅動因素有關。當我們制定 24 財年計劃時，我們沒有看到任何令人驚訝或不尋常的事情。

Rick, anything that you would want to add there?

瑞克，您還有什麼要補充的嗎？

On the energy costs, as I noted, we did see moderation that's moderation relative to 2022, which was kind of at some of the peak highs. So when you looked at our energy for 2023, we obviously saw high energy costs in the first half. We saw those costs year-over-year kind of moderate in the back half. The view forward is a bit choppy. And so in our guidance, we've assumed we stay elevated. So kind of at that on average for 2023 and our position to take whatever actions we need to, should we see another spike.

在能源成本方面，正如我所指出的，我們確實看到了相對於 2022 年的放緩，2022 年處於一些高峰。因此，當您查看 2023 年的能源時，我們顯然會看到上半年的能源成本很高。我們發現下半年這些成本比去年同期比較溫和。前方的視野有點崎嶇。因此，在我們的指導中，我們假設我們保持在較高水準。 2023 年的平均水平是這樣，如果我們看到另一個峰值，我們將採取我們需要採取的任何行動。

So we haven't forecasted. We continue to get better, which you saw us talking about, you see it actually in the Q4 results. But we kind of took that average cost and assumed. We hold that line during the year. As you -- and we monitor energy costs. And on any given week, the forward view is up or down, depending on economic factors.

所以我們還沒有預測。我們繼續變得更好，你看到我們在談論這一點，你實際上在第四季度的結果中看到了這一點。但我們採取了平均成本並進行了假設。我們全年都堅守這條線。作為您，我們監控能源成本。在任何特定的一周，前瞻性觀點都會上升或下降，這取決於經濟因素。

Our next question comes from Manav Patnaik with Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的馬納夫帕特奈克。

This is Ronan Kennedy on for Manav. I guess as a follow-up to that, on the assumptions for wage and energy inflation. How would you characterize the macro environment and the demand backdrop now? Anything to call out demand-wise within your key verticals versus in terms of stronger or weaker demand? And then Rick just touched on the expectations for energy, et cetera. What are you assuming from a broader macro outlook standpoint for '24?

我是馬納夫的羅南肯尼迪。我想作為工資和能源通膨假設的後續行動。您如何評估目前的宏觀環境和需求背景？在您的關鍵垂直領域內，與需求的強弱相比，有什麼需要指出的嗎？然後里克剛剛談到了對能源的期望等等。從更廣泛的宏觀前景角度來看，您對 24 世紀有何假設？

So from a demand perspective, we've been very focused on cross-selling existing customers in products and services that they're currently self-serving for themselves today. So there -- for us, there's plenty of demand that can be created. We are seeing in our retention numbers as we look at customer trends, we are seeing some closures of business. We're seeing sales businesses taking place and that business changing hands. And that feels pretty stable.

因此，從需求的角度來看，我們一直非常注重向現有客戶交叉銷售他們目前為自己服務的產品和服務。因此，對我們來說，可以創造大量的需求。當我們觀察客戶趨勢時，我們在保留數字中看到，我們看到一些業務倒閉。我們看到銷售業務正在發生，業務易手。這感覺相當穩定。

So nothing erratic to report there as it relates to kind of customer behavior. We're pretty well diversified, as you guys know, across many different end markets. So we feel pretty comfortable that we're insulated around any kind of 1 particular segment or industry that might be declining. And if we continue to harvest share of wallet with existing customers. There's plenty of space here regardless of what might be happening from a macro environment perspective. You guys will recall, I'm sure at Analyst Day, we sized this market out at a $48 billion market across all of the products and services that we offer. So there's a lot of room to find places to grow as we're looking at various trends across the end sector.

因此，沒有什麼需要報告的，因為它與客戶行為有關。如你們所知，我們在許多不同的終端市場上都非常多元化。因此，我們感到非常放心，我們與任何可能正在衰退的特定細分市場或產業保持隔離。如果我們繼續從現有客戶那裡獲得錢包份額。無論從宏觀環境的角度來看會發生什麼，這裡都有足夠的空間。你們還記得，我相信在分析師日，我們將這個市場規模定為 480 億美元，涵蓋我們提供的所有產品和服務。因此，當我們關注整個終端行業的各種趨勢時，有很大的空間可以找到成長的地方。

So we feel pretty good about that from a macro perspective. We feel good about having a solid understanding of the cost drivers in our business and what we think is happening from a macroeconomic perspective related to those drivers, whether that be energy or labor or other supply chain costs related to our formats. We think we've got a good view of that. So we see a pretty path forward for us through FY '24 with a good understanding of the things that might be headwinds that are facing us.

因此，從宏觀角度來看，我們對此感覺非常好。我們對業務中的成本驅動因素以及我們從宏觀經濟角度認為與這些驅動因素相關的情況有深入的了解感到很高興，無論是能源、勞動力還是與我們的業態相關的其他供應鏈成本。我們認為我們對此有很好的看法。因此，我們在 24 財年看到了一條美好的前進道路，充分了解了我們可能面臨的不利因素。

We think we've got great plans to offset any of those headwinds through good operational efficiency actions that we're taking. And also, we've demonstrated our ability to price as appropriate as we may see those inflationary impacts emerge.

我們認為我們已經制定了宏偉的計劃，可以透過我們正在採取的良好營運效率行動來抵消這些不利因素。而且，我們已經證明了我們有能力在可能出現的通膨影響下進行適當的定價。

Rick, anything that you would add there?

瑞克，您還有什麼要補充的嗎？

I think I would just say we haven't assumed in the plan broadly a market downturn, well certainly, not the looming recession. And so all the things that Kim described, is kind of how we would respond to -- we're not recession proof, but we do like our mix in that environment of workplace supply, we're less employee-centric, still actually more margin accretive.

我想我只想說，我們在計劃中並沒有假設市場普遍低迷，當然，也沒有假設迫在眉睫的經濟衰退。因此，金所描述的所有事情都是我們的應對方式——我們不能抵禦經濟衰退，但我們確實喜歡在工作場所供應環境中的混合，我們不太以員工為中心，實際上更多利潤增值。

So we feel good about where we're positioned, but we take all the necessary actions, as Kim described, to preserve profitability should that occur.

因此，我們對自己的定位感到滿意，但正如金所描述的那樣，我們會採取一切必要的行動，以便在這種情況發生時保持盈利能力。

Yes. I mean, we'll be agile and monitor closely what's happening in various end markets and adjust our kind of targeted sales activity to move and flow where the demand exists.

是的。我的意思是，我們將保持敏捷，密切監控各個終端市場發生的情況，並調整我們的目標銷售活動，以便在有需求的地方進行移動和流動。

That's very helpful. And then if I may, as a follow-up. Can you just reconfirm with regards to the progression through the targeted margin expansion up to '28. How we should think about that kind of sequentially year-to-year and the key contributors, if it's initially you will be leveraging that sales growth until you start to see more benefits from the field and the workforce optimization or the operating efficiencies, et cetera.

這非常有幫助。然後，如果可以的話，作為後續行動。能否再次確認截至 28 年目標利潤率擴張的進展？我們應該如何考慮這種逐年順序和關鍵貢獻者，如果最初您將利用銷售成長，直到您開始看到來自現場和勞動力優化或營運效率等的更多好處。

Yes. So as we've talked about before, we didn't build this thing as a hockey stick. So there's no massive kind of betting on the comp in the back 2 years and assuming that we're going to generate 500 bps of margin in 2 years. This is a slow and steady wins the race base hit game for us. In FY '24, which is really the first year of our 5-year plan that we've articulated to the market, as I mentioned earlier, we are ingesting our public company costs, and we're ingesting that very effectively and we planned for that. So we're really pleased to see that we are going to, at a minimum, hold the line on margins from FY '23, through FY '24 while absorbing those pubco costs.

是的。正如我們之前討論過的，我們並沒有將這個東西打造為曲棍球棒。因此，假設我們將在 2 年內產生 500 個基點的利潤，那麼在過去的 2 年裡，我們不會對公司進行大量押注。對我們來說，這是一場緩慢而穩定的贏得比賽的基礎熱門遊戲。在 24 財年，這實際上是我們向市場闡述的 5 年計劃的第一年，正如我之前提到的，我們正在消化上市公司的成本，而且我們正在非常有效地消化這些成本，我們計劃為了那個原因。因此，我們非常高興地看到，我們將至少從 23 財年到 24 財年保持利潤率，同時吸收這些 pubco 成本。

But what you'll also see is there's some really good strong underlying performance taking place here with 50 to 60 basis points of margin expansion happening to the underlying business, and we're using that to offset the ingestion of those pubco costs. But if you look at what's happening, you can definitely see margin coming through, and you can see operating leverage emerging in the business. As we are taking advantage of cross-selling the customer base and leveraging fixed assets. And so we are getting flow through on that revenue.

但您還會看到，這裡正在發生一些非常好的強勁的基礎業績，基礎業務的利潤率擴大了 50 到 60 個基點，我們正在用它來抵消這些 pubco 成本的吸收。但如果你看看正在發生的事情，你肯定可以看到利潤的增加，並且你可以看到業務中出現的營運槓桿。因為我們正在利用交叉銷售客戶群並利用固定資產。所以我們正在利用這些收入。

That revenue is creating margin expansion. And we're also working very steadily around our flow optimization and driving efficiency through these logistics initiatives that we've talked about. All of these things are in motion. So there's not new initiatives that need to gain traction or that will start taking place 3 years from now to help deliver that plan. All of the initiatives required to get to that FY '28 margin are moving now. So we are optimizing flows. We are cross-selling the customer. And it just gets stronger and stronger as we add revenue to every stop. We just continue to leverage those fixed assets and get the flow through.

該收入正在創造利潤擴張。我們也透過我們討論過的這些物流計劃，非常穩定地圍繞流程優化和提高效率進行工作。所有這些事情都在運動。因此，沒有新的舉措需要獲得牽引力，也沒有三年後開始實施的措施來幫助實現該計劃。實現 28 財年利潤率所需的所有措施現已開始實施。所以我們正在優化流程。我們正在對客戶進行交叉銷售。隨著我們每一站的收入增加，它會變得越來越強大。我們只是繼續利用這些固定資產並讓資金流通過。

So you should think about this as a very slow and steady wins the race base hit game. You're going to continue to see us just turning away at these initiatives and the margin is going to continue to flow and operating leverage will continue to open. So you'll see, again, it's muted in '24 purposely because we're ingesting the pubco costs, the underlying performance is there, and you'll see that just continue to move through '28.

因此，您應該將其視為一款非常緩慢且穩定的贏得比賽的基礎熱門遊戲。你將繼續看到我們拒絕這些舉措，利潤將繼續流動，營運槓桿將繼續開放。所以你會再次看到，它在 24 年故意被靜音，因為我們正在吸收 pubco 成本，潛在的表現就在那裡，你會看到它在 28 年繼續前進。

Our last question will come from Scott Schneeberger with Oppenheimer.

我們的最後一個問題將由史考特·施內伯格和奧本海默提出。

It's Daniel on for Scott. Just a quick 1 on the trends you've been seeing in small to medium-sized enterprises versus national accounts. If you can please discuss recent trends there and how you see that develop into next year?

丹尼爾替補斯科特。簡單介紹一下您在中小型企業與國民帳戶中看到的趨勢。如果可以的話，請討論一下最近的趨勢以及您認為明年的趨勢如何？

Thanks for your question, [Scott]. It's good to hear from you. So we are very focused on both groupings of customers. As we've talked about earlier, they both add great value. So our national account customers can really form the backbone of your supply chain and create density. So we've got a team out there hunting and harvesting national account customers. And those customers, as you know, stay more than 20 years with us. So they're very valuable customers and the lifetime value is great. But we also know that small to medium enterprise customers are very margin accretive and there's great propensity to cross-sell the base once you bring those customers into your house. And so we continue to focus very heavily on the experience in creating an outstanding customer experience with those SME customers.

謝謝你的提問，[斯科特]。很高興收到你的來信。因此，我們非常關注這兩類客戶。正如我們之前談到的，它們都增加了巨大的價值。因此，我們的國民帳戶客戶可以真正成為您供應鏈的支柱並創造密度。因此，我們有一個團隊在尋找和收穫國民帳戶客戶。如您所知，這些客戶已與我們合作超過 20 年。所以他們是非常有價值的客戶，終身價值非常高。但我們也知道，中小型企業客戶的利潤率非常高，一旦您將這些客戶帶入您的家中，就有很大的傾向進行交叉銷售。因此，我們繼續非常注重為這些中小企業客戶創造卓越的客戶體驗。

So that we cannot only retain them, but we can cross-sell the base. We are analyzing [recent quotes] when we're losing customers in that segment in the small to medium enterprise segment. We typically get that data through our inbound call center, and we're able to tie recent quotes to that. I would say trends in the SME space about 1/4 of those inbound calls when we're losing customers on the SME side of the business are tied to business closures or they're tied to business sales.

這樣我們不僅可以保留它們，還可以交叉銷售基礎。當我們在中小型企業細分市場失去客戶時，我們正在分析[最近的報價]。我們通常透過入站呼叫中心來獲取這些數據，並且我們能夠將最近的報價與其聯繫起來。我想說，中小企業領域的趨勢是，當我們失去中小企業客戶時，大約 1/4 的來電與企業倒閉或企業銷售有關。

So I find that to be an interesting trend that we're observing and continuing to monitor as we're seeing transition taking place with SME businesses. But some of that is related to selling the business, not closing the business. And so we're able to win those customers and retain them, but it's an interesting trend that we're keeping an eye on. Otherwise, I would say the trend is great that SME customers are very open to outsourcing additional workplace supplies. And so we are seeing a tremendous response as we're out cross-selling the existing customer base, we are seeing a tremendous response for outsourcing related to these workplace supplies and services that we're very actively focused on.

因此，我發現這是一個有趣的趨勢，我們正在觀察並繼續監控，因為我們看到中小企業正在轉型。但其中一些與出售業務有關，而不是關閉業務。因此，我們能夠贏得這些客戶並留住他們，但這是我們正在密切關注的一個有趣的趨勢。否則，我想說，中小企業客戶對於外包額外的工作場所用品非常開放，這一趨勢是巨大的。因此，當我們交叉銷售現有客戶群時，我們看到了巨大的反響，我們看到了與我們非常積極關注的這些工作場所用品和服務相關的外包的巨大反響。

So there's a real willingness to give that up and allow others to do that so that our customers can take care of their core business and focus on what matters most to them.

因此，我們真正願意放棄這一點並允許其他人這樣做，以便我們的客戶可以照顧他們的核心業務並專注於對他們最重要的事情。

This concludes the Q&A portion of today's call. I would now like to turn the floor over to Kim Scott, President and CEO, for closing remarks.

今天電話會議的問答部分到此結束。現在我想請總裁兼執行長 Kim Scott 致閉幕詞。

So thank you for joining our call today and for your interest in Vestis. We are really pleased with our FY '23 performance and the great progress that we are making against our strategic plan. And so the opportunities for us are tremendous as we move forward and our future remains bright. So thank you for joining us today.

感謝您今天加入我們的電話會議以及對 Vestis 的興趣。我們對 23 財年的業績以及我們在策略計畫方面取得的巨大進展感到非常滿意。因此，隨著我們的前進，我們的機會是巨大的，我們的未來仍然光明。感謝您今天加入我們。

Thank you. This concludes today's Vestis Corporation Fiscal Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Please disconnect your lines at this time, and have a wonderful day.

謝謝。今天的 Vestis 公司第四季和 2023 年全年收益電話會議到此結束。請此時斷開線路，祝您有美好的一天。