Vestis Corp (VSTS) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

(Operator Instructions) Welcome to the Vestis Corporation fiscal third quarter 2025 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the call over to Stefan Neely with Valum Advisors.

（操作員指示）歡迎參加 Vestis Corporation 2025 財年第三季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）現在我想將電話轉給 Valum Advisors 的 Stefan Neely。

Thank you, operator, and thank you all for joining us on the call this morning. Leading the call with me today is Jim Barber, President and Chief Executive Officer and Kelly Jansen, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Jim and Kelly will provide prepared remarks, and then we will open the line to questions.

謝謝接線員，也謝謝大家今天早上參加我們的電話會議。今天與我一起主持電話會議的是總裁兼執行長 Jim Barber 和執行副總裁兼財務長 Kelly Jansen。吉姆和凱利將發表準備好的講話，然後我們將開放提問熱線。

Before I turn the call over to Jim, I wanted to remind everyone that today’s discussion contains forward looking statements about future business and financial expectations. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides the Safe Harbor from civil litigations for such forward looking statements.

在我將電話轉給吉姆之前，我想提醒大家，今天的討論包含有關未來業務和財務預期的前瞻性陳述。1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》為此類前瞻性聲明提供了免於民事訴訟的安全港。

Actual results may differ significantly from those projected in today’s forward looking statements due to various risks and uncertainties, including the risks described in our periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update our forward-looking statements.

由於各種風險和不確定性，包括我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的定期報告中所述的風險，實際結果可能與今天的前瞻性聲明中預測的結果有很大差異。除法律要求外，我們不承擔更新前瞻性聲明的義務。

Further, this call will include a discussion of certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliation of these measures to the closest GAAP financial measure is included in our quarterly earnings press release and corresponding supplemental materials, which are available at ir.vestis.com.

此外，本次電話會議也將討論某些非公認會計準則財務指標。這些指標與最接近的 GAAP 財務指標的對帳包含在我們的季度收益新聞稿和相應的補充資料中，可在 ir.vestis.com 上查閱。

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

說完這些，我想把電話轉給吉姆。

Thank you, Stefan. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Before I begin, I would like to thank Philip, the Board and the leadership team for helping to facilitate a smooth transition for me into the CEO role here at Vestis. Now that I’m two months into the role, my belief is that this company has tremendous potential and a team capable of achieving great things. I was attracted to this opportunity, because I spent much of my career leading businesses with similar route-based asset intensive models.

謝謝你，史蒂芬。大家早安，感謝大家的收看。在開始之前，我要感謝 Philip、董事會和領導團隊，他們幫助我順利過渡到 Vestis 的執行長職位。現在我已經上任兩個月了，我相信這家公司擁有巨大的潛力和一支能夠成就偉大事業的團隊。我被這個機會所吸引，因為我的職業生涯大部分時間都在領導採用類似基於路線的資產密集型模式的企業。

Businesses such as this succeed when they execute well at the local level driven by strong customer relationships that are built upon reliability, excellent service quality and the ability to control daily operating costs. These outcomes are produced by frontline teams of loyal and capable people supported by robust repeatable processes and technology that enhances execution.

這類企業的成功取決於其在當地良好的經營狀況，而這種良好經營狀況建立在可靠性、卓越服務品質和控制日常營運成本的能力之上，並由強大的客戶關係所驅動。這些成果是由忠誠而有能力的一線團隊在強大而可重複的流程和技術的支持下實現的，從而提高了執行力。

Since starting in June, I spent a great deal of my time getting to know the business through engaging with our teams, visiting with customers and diving deep into the operational and strategic levers that drive performance. And what is clear to me is that while Vestis has faced its share of challenges, it is a company with a fundamentally sound foundation. What I believe this business needs now is a sharp focus on commercial processes, operational discipline and a clear strategy to unlock operating leverage.

自六月開始，我花了大量時間透過與我們的團隊接觸、拜訪客戶以及深入研究推動績效的營運和策略槓桿來了解業務。我很清楚，儘管 Vestis 面臨挑戰，但它是一家基礎穩固的公司。我認為該企業現在需要的是高度關注商業流程、營運紀律以及釋放營運槓桿的明確策略。

To do this, we will focus on the key inputs that drive operating leverage. These are value based pricing, favorable product mixed and efficient cost of service. Foundational to this is our ability as an organization to efficiently utilize our assets, both our people and infrastructure to serve our customers. First is pricing. Pricing is one of the most important levers for driving improved operating leverage.

為此，我們將專注於推動經營槓桿的關鍵投入。這些是基於價值的定價、優惠的產品組合和高效的服務成本。其基礎是我們作為一個組織能夠有效地利用我們的資產（包括我們的人員和基礎設施）來服務我們的客戶。首先是定價。定價是推動提高經營槓桿的最重要槓桿之一。

This focus does not just pertain to setting prices but also ensuring that they reflect the value we deliver and the cost of our service. The right pricing requires a rigorous data driven approach and we’re building out a value-based pricing model designed to optimize product profitability. Price integrity, however, can only be successful when it is supported by service quality. And to that end, we are committed to raising our service standards to support long term customer relationships and improve customer retention.

這種關注不僅涉及製定價格，還確保價格反映我們提供的價值和服務成本。正確的定價需要嚴格的數據驅動方法，我們正在建立基於價值的定價模型，旨在優化產品獲利能力。然而，價格誠信只有在服務品質的支持下才能成功。為此，我們致力於提高我們的服務標準，以支援長期客戶關係並提高客戶保留率。

The strength of our customer relationships is built at the local level with our RSRs and we are investing in the tools, systems and processes to support and empower them and other frontline team members to succeed in providing customers the best possible experience.

我們與 RSR 在本地層面建立了牢固的客戶關係，我們正在投資工具、系統和流程，以支援和授權他們和其他第一線團隊成員成功地為客戶提供最佳體驗。

The second key driver is product mix. We are looking to evolve our sales approach to prioritize profitability over volume. In order to do this, we need to be more selective, managing the mix of the products we sell more deliberately in order to maximize capacity utilization with a focus on margin accretive growth. We are shifting our mindset from how much we grow to how well we grow. And the third driver is optimizing cost of service.

第二個關鍵驅動因素是產品組合。我們正在尋求改進我們的銷售方式，優先考慮盈利能力而不是銷售量。為了做到這一點，我們需要更加謹慎地選擇，更加慎重地管理我們銷售的產品組合，以最大限度地提高產能利用率，並專注於利潤率的成長。我們正在將思維模式從關注成長多少轉變為關注成長得如何。第三個驅動因素是優化服務成本。

Our teams have already made meaningful progress over the last few quarters in identifying and implementing a variety of different cost actions. However, there is still more work to be done. We are evaluating ways to increase our variable to fixed cost ratio, enhance plant reliability and optimize capacity utilization. And none of this can be accomplished if we don’t have a strong customer centric culture. That culture is firmly grounded in our people’s determination to serve customers supported by proper training, infrastructure and processes.

在過去的幾個季度中，我們的團隊在確定和實施各種不同的成本行動方面已經取得了有意義的進展。然而，還有更多工作要做。我們正在評估提高變動成本與固定成本比率、增強工廠可靠性和優化產能利用率的方法。如果我們沒有強大的以客戶為中心的文化，那麼這一切都不可能實現。這種文化深植於我們員工透過適當的培訓、基礎設施和流程為客戶提供服務的決心。

All of this should be underpinned by constructive management, employee and union working relationships. For the remainder of this fiscal year, I’m focused on stabilizing performance and quickly launching initiatives that we expect to result in near term financial improvement. In addition, the team and I are taking a hard look at every aspect of the business to build a roadmap for success in 2026 and beyond.

所有這些都應以建設性的管理、員工和工會工作關係為基礎。在本財政年度的剩餘時間裡，我將專注於穩定業績並迅速啟動我們預計在短期內帶來財務改善的舉措。此外，我和團隊正在認真審視業務的各個方面，以製定 2026 年及以後的成功路線圖。

As part of that roadmap, we are also laying the groundwork for investing in modernizing our technology infrastructure to better support execution and long-term priorities. Smart, scalable systems are fundamental to improving the customer experience, unlocking efficiencies and enabling data driven decision making.

作為該路線圖的一部分，我們還為投資現代化技術基礎設施奠定基礎，以更好地支持執行和長期優先事項。智慧、可擴展的系統對於改善客戶體驗、提高效率和實現數據驅動的決策至關重要。

In a moment, Kelly will walk through our third quarter financial performance in detail. But before she does that, I would also like to provide some brief context. While our results were in line with expectations, we continue to see ongoing revenue pressure as churn outpaces conversion. I believe that our improvement initiatives will soon yield positive results. However, our expectation is that the near term performance will be similar to what we saw over this last quarter.

稍後，凱利將詳細介紹我們第三季的財務表現。但在她這樣做之前，我還想提供一些簡短的背景資訊。雖然我們的業績符合預期，但由於客戶流失率超過轉換率，我們仍然看到持續的收入壓力。我相信我們的改進措施很快就會取得正面的成果。然而，我們預計近期表現將與上一季的表現類似。

I want to assure you that I’m committed to seeing Vestis improve in 2026 and look forward to sharing more details, including financial and operational goals during our fourth quarter call. Yes, there are challenges that we need to address, but there are also opportunities, and I believe we are focused on the right levers to create meaningful sustainable improvement.

我想向你們保證，我致力於看到 Vestis 在 2026 年取得進步，並期待在第四季度電話會議上分享更多細節，包括財務和營運目標。是的，我們需要應對挑戰，但同時也存在著機遇，我相信我們正專注於正確的槓桿來創造有意義的永續改進。

With that, I’ll turn it over to Kelly.

說完這些，我就把話題交給凱利。

Thank you, Jim, and good morning, everyone. Revenue during the quarter was $674 million down $24 million or 3.5% year over year compared to the third quarter of 2024. The decline in revenue was due to an $18 million decrease in rental revenue. And $6 million of lower direct sales. Within rental revenue growth from new business or conversion contributed approximately $45 million or 6.7% of revenue year over year for the third quarter.

謝謝你，吉姆，大家早安。本季營收為 6.74 億美元，與 2024 年第三季相比，年減 2,400 萬美元，降幅為 3.5%。收入下降是由於租金收入減少了 1800 萬美元。直接銷售額降低 600 萬美元。第三季度，新業務或轉換帶來的租賃收入成長貢獻了約 4,500 萬美元，佔營收的 6.7%。

We continue to see increases in sales from both our field and national account sales organizations, which collectively installed 20% more recurring revenue year over year. The revenue impact in the third quarter from Chern, or lost business, was approximately $60 million when compared with the same quarter in the prior year.

我們繼續看到現場銷售和國家帳戶銷售組織的銷售額成長，總體而言，經常性收入年增了 20%。與去年同期相比，Chern 第三季的營收影響或業務損失約為 6,000 萬美元。

On a rolling 12-month basis, our business retention as measured in revenue dollars was 91.9% at the end of Q3, a slight decrease when compared to what we reported last quarter. Year over year revenue from existing business decreased $3 million due to declines in both price and volume. Upon further analysis of the changes that have occurred in our rental business over the last year, we've observed that the volume, when measured as the throughput we see in our facilities, has indeed gone up in line with our increased commercial effort. However, the difference in pricing between contracts that we've recently obtained and those that we've offboarded has been unfavorable.

以連續 12 個月為基礎，我們第三季末的業務保留率（以收入衡量）為 91.9%，與上一季報告的數字相比略有下降。由於價格和銷量的下降，現有業務的年收入減少了 300 萬美元。透過進一步分析去年我們的租賃業務發生的變化，我們發現，以我們設施的吞吐量來衡量，其數量確實隨著我們商業努力的增加而增長。然而，我們最近獲得的合約和我們已簽訂的合約之間的價格差異並不大。

This, along with a shift to lower price products is the primary reason for our net decline in rental revenue. In our direct sales business, revenue decreased $6 million or 14% year over year, which primarily reflects the previously discussed loss of a large national account in 2024. When excluding the loss of this account, direct sales decreased approximately $1 million compared to the third quarter of last year.

這現象，加上轉向低價產品，是我們租金收入淨下降的主要原因。在我們的直銷業務中，營收年減 600 萬美元，即 14%，這主要反映了先前討論過的 2024 年失去一個大型國家帳戶的情況。若不計該帳戶的損失，直接銷售額與去年第三季相比減少了約 100 萬美元。

Cost of services in the quarter was $492 million and gross margin was 27%, down approximately 200 basis points, when compared to the third quarter of last year. Our gross margin for the quarter was negatively impacted by churn, which, as I previously discussed, carried higher pricing relative to recent new account installations. These headwinds were offset to some extent by a reduction in our delivery costs.

本季服務成本為 4.92 億美元，毛利率為 27%，與去年第三季相比下降約 200 個基點。我們本季的毛利率受到了客戶流失的負面影響，正如我之前所討論的，相對於最近的新帳戶安裝，客戶流失帶來了更高的價格。這些不利因素在一定程度上被我們的運輸成本的降低所抵消。

As Jim mentioned, we have recently implemented a series of improvement initiatives, some of which are pricing, to help mitigate the impact of the decremental margin on churn and are also actively evaluating several other strategies, including the implementation of a comprehensive value-based pricing model across all markets.

正如吉姆所提到的，我們最近實施了一系列改進舉措，其中一些是定價，以幫助減輕利潤率下降對客戶流失的影響，同時也在積極評估其他幾種策略，包括在所有市場實施全面的基於價值的定價模型。

SG&A for the third quarter was $122 million a decrease of approximately $8 million year over year. The reduction in SG&A reflects a $6 million decline in stock-based compensation, along with a $4 million decrease in separation-related costs and a $3 million reduction in other administrative costs. Offsetting this overall decrease was an increase of almost $4 million in selling expense related to our field sales team.

第三季銷售、一般及行政費用為 1.22 億美元，年減約 800 萬美元。銷售、一般及行政費用的減少反映了股票薪酬減少 600 萬美元，以及分離相關成本減少 400 萬美元和其他管理成本減少 300 萬美元。與這一總體下降相抵消的是，我們的現場銷售團隊相關的銷售費用增加了近 400 萬美元。

In the third quarter, the tax rate was 9.7%, and we recorded an immaterial tax benefit during the period. Third quarter reported adjusted EBITDA was $64 million representing an adjusted margin of 9.5%. This compares to 12.4% in the third quarter of last year and 9.4% in the second quarter of 2025, when excluding the non-recurring $15 million bad debt adjustment during the same period.

第三季的稅率為 9.7%，我們在此期間記錄了一筆不重要的稅收優惠。第三季報告的調整後 EBITDA 為 6,400 萬美元，調整後利潤率為 9.5%。相較之下，去年第三季的利率為 12.4%，2025 年第二季的利率為 9.4%，同期不包括非經常性 1,500 萬美元壞帳調整。

Now moving on to cash flow and working capital. During this quarter, we generated $23 million of operating cash flow and $8 million of free cash flow, reflecting a positive improvement over the last quarter. Net cash provided from working capital was $5 million and includes an increase of approximately $13 million resulting from our efforts to reduce our inventory levels and improve working capital efficiency.

現在討論現金流和營運資金。本季度，我們產生了 2,300 萬美元的營運現金流和 800 萬美元的自由現金流，較上一季有正面的改善。營運資本提供的淨現金為 500 萬美元，其中包括由於我們努力降低庫存水準和提高營運資本效率而增加的約 1,300 萬美元。

During the quarter, we also paid $9.6 million of federal cash tax payments that we had been allowed to defer from the first half of 2025 due to certain natural disaster relief provisions. Consistent with our expectations, we spent approximately $15 million on capital expenditures in the period, and for the year, we still expect total capital investment to be around $60 million the majority of which is related to market center facility improvement.

本季度，我們還支付了 960 萬美元的聯邦現金稅，由於某些自然災害救助條款，我們被允許從 2025 年上半年開始推遲支付。與我們的預期一致，我們在此期間的資本支出約為 1500 萬美元，而對於全年而言，我們仍預計總資本投資約為 6000 萬美元，其中大部分與市場中心設施改善有關。

Looking at our balance sheet at the end of the third quarter, total debt was $1.32 billion and our principal bank debt outstanding was $1.17 billion. Our liquidity position is strong, with no debt maturities until 2027 and $290 million of available liquidity, including $266 million of undrawn revolver capacity and $24 million of cash on hand. As of the end of the third quarter, our net leverage ratio as calculated under our credit agreement was 4.50 times.

查看我們第三季末的資產負債表，總債務為 13.2 億美元，未償還的主要銀行債務為 11.7 億美元。我們的流動性狀況良好，2027 年之前沒有債務到期，擁有 2.9 億美元的可用流動性，其中包括 2.66 億美元的未提取循環信貸額度和 2,400 萬美元的現金。截至第三季末，我們根據信貸協議計算的淨槓桿率為4.50倍。

As a reminder, under our amended credit agreement, the net leverage ratio cannot exceed 5.25 times for any fiscal quarter ending prior to July 3 of 2026. Our guiding principles for capital allocation are to maintain a strong balance sheet and allocate capital to high return opportunities with a focus on delivering. Our prudent balance sheet management and working capital actions aim to provide a flexible foundation from which to support our business.

提醒一下，根據我們修改後的信貸協議，在 2026 年 7 月 3 日之前的任何財政季度，淨槓桿率不得超過 5.25 倍。我們的資本配置指導原則是維持強勁的資產負債表，並將資本配置給高回報機會，重點是實現目標。我們審慎的資產負債表管理和營運資本行動旨在為我們的業務提供靈活的基礎。

As Jim mentioned, our results were in line with expectations. However, we continue to see ongoing pressure from customer losses and lower penetration, partially offset by new business wins and cost actions.

正如吉姆所說，我們的結果符合預期。然而，我們仍然看到客戶流失和滲透率下降帶來的持續壓力，但新業務的成長和成本行動部分抵消了這種壓力。

We believe several of our fourth quarter initiatives will be fruitful as we remain focused on driving sustainable improvement in our operating leverage. However, I expect our near-term financial performance to continue to reflect trends similar to what we saw in Q3. Our goal is to finalize the operating plan for 2026 over the balance of the remaining fiscal year, and we look forward to providing details of our expectations for the coming year during the next call.

我們相信，由於我們仍專注於推動經營槓桿的可持續改善，我們第四季的幾項措施將會取得豐碩成果。不過，我預期我們的近期財務表現將繼續反映出與第三季類似的趨勢。我們的目標是在剩餘的財政年度內完成 2026 年的營運計劃，我們期待在下次電話會議中提供有關來年期望的詳細資訊。

Now, I would like to turn the call back to the operator for your question.

現在，我想把電話轉回給接線員來回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Manav Patnaik, Barclays.

（操作員指示）巴克萊銀行的 Manav Patnaik。

Yeah, apologies. Sorry, Rona Kennedy on for Manav. Thanks for taking my question. Jim, may I ask, you alluded to spending a great deal of time with the business against your teams, visiting customers, diving deep into operational and strategic levers. We just have a recap of your an initial assessment of the strengths and weaknesses. I know you highlighted the opportunity, but also foundationally the culture and potential work to be done there.

是的，抱歉。抱歉，Rona Kennedy 替換 Manav。感謝您回答我的問題。吉姆，請問一下，您提到要花大量時間與您的團隊一起開展業務、拜訪客戶、深入研究營運和策略槓桿。我們只是對您的優勢和劣勢進行初步評估。我知道您強調了機遇，但同時也強調了那裡的文化和潛在的工作。

Sure. I appreciate that. I guess, I would say that it’s important to know why I came here. I think that having spent about forty years of my career in these network based businesses that have heavy assets in them, I saw Vestis as the same thing before I came across. And so my background in understanding how to create this operating leverage in these businesses was why I came, a big piece of it.

當然。我很感激。我想，知道我為什麼來這裡是很重要的。我認為，在我的職業生涯中，大約有四十年的時間都是在這些擁有大量資產的網路型企業中度過的，因此，在遇到 Vestis 之前，我認為它和 Vestis 是一樣的。因此，我之所以來到這裡，很大一部分原因就是因為我懂得如何在這些企業中創造經營槓桿。

And I think Vestis could have used some of what I learned over my career to help them as they move forward. So that’s first why I came. So the second comment after about eight weeks would be the networks are very, very similar, the two of them. Both of them should be designed the same way to get at this leverage point. Both of them should be found on great service to our customers.

我認為 Vestis 可以利用我在職業生涯中學到的一些知識來幫助他們前進。這就是我來這裡的首要原因。因此，大約八週後的第二條評論是，這兩個網絡非常非常相似。兩者應採用相同的設計以達到此槓桿點。他們兩人都致力於為我們的客戶提供優質的服務。

The core of that is going to be around making sure your plants are reliable, that they’re invested in properly because they’re the engine of the network. I think also to that end, I do think that the human capital and the employees in this business make a difference. I think we’ve got some opportunity in our areas of turnover in this business and plants that make it as not as optimal as it could be.

其核心是確保您的工廠可靠，並且對其進行適當的投資，因為它們是網路的引擎。我認為，為此，我確實認為這個行業的人力資本和員工發揮著重要作用。我認為我們在這個業務的營業額領域和工廠中還存在一些機會，但這些機會並沒有達到最佳狀態。

And I think that in the very end, I think we’ve got the foundation already after about eight weeks to understand that in 2026, we’re going to create different value going up in this business that you’ve seen after the last couple of quarters. So I think the alignment is great quite frankly and I think there’s so many similarities.

我認為，最終，大約八週後我們已經打下了基礎，可以理解到 2026 年，我們將在這個業務中創造不同的價值，正如您在過去幾個季度中看到的那樣。所以坦白說，我認為這種一致性非常好，而且有很多相似之處。

The acronyms are different, I’d tell you that. But at the end of the day, it’s the same type of business taking care of customers. So that’s after eight weeks of view of

我要告訴你的是，它們的首字母縮寫是不同的。但歸根結底，這和照顧客戶是同一類型的業務。這是經過八週的觀察

Got it, thank you. Appreciate that. And then may I confirm it sounds like there's going to be a shift from, I think volume or the amount of growth to the profitability. It sounds like, changes to capital allocation and investment levels. Can you just give cognizant, that we'll get the financial and operational update on strategy on the fourth quarter call it sounds like, but what are the kind of the main things we can think about for changes coming for now?

知道了，謝謝。非常感謝。然後我可以確認一下，這聽起來像是將從數量或增長量轉向獲利能力。這聽起來像是資本配置和投資水準的變化。您能否告知我們，聽起來我們會在第四季度電話會議上獲得有關策略的財務和營運更新，但是目前我們可以考慮哪些主要的變化？

I guess, I would start with the fact that my past has looked through the lens of penetration of the customer base that you already have and in this business that's about $2.8 billion of revenue. And looking back, it really hasn't grown the way in my opinion it should be, and there's lots of factors to that. We can talk about those later going forward, but at the end of the day, we've got to be able to create the value for our customers that allow that penetration growth to happen, and that should then be supplemented by conversion and a betterment of term and you're going to get growth in three different ways.

我想，首先我要從我過去的經驗開始，透過對現有客戶群的滲透來看，這個業務的收入約為 28 億美元。回過頭來看，它確實沒有按照我認為應該的方式發展，這其中有許多因素。我們可以稍後再討論這些問題，但最終，我們必須能夠為我們的客戶創造價值，從而實現滲透率的成長，然後透過轉換和改善期限來補充，您將透過三種不同的方式獲得成長。

Second comment is there's no question I think that. We're going to create some new tools around here. Kelly mentioned in some of her comments opening the value price -- value based pricing model. We need that. We've already got teams in play building the cost models beneath it in eight weeks. I'm confident that's going to come very quickly for us to be able to price differently, because quite frankly in these networks, the key is to match the type of volume you want to your network and your customers that creates operating leverage.

第二條評論是，毫無疑問我是這麼認為的。我們將在這裡創建一些新工具。凱利在她的一些評論中提到了價值價格——基於價值的定價模式。我們需要這個。我們已經讓團隊在八週內建立其下的成本模型。我相信我們很快就能實現不同的定價，因為坦白說，在這些網路中，關鍵是將您想要的數量類型與您的網路和客戶相匹配，從而創造營運槓桿。

And so I think in eight weeks again the similarities for me keep coming forward between my past and invest this now and we're going to stick to those and we'll keep investing in those, and I think you'll hear a lot of those specifically underpinning not how and why we're going to get better in 2026, but by an issue that we talk about here on this call today.

因此，我認為八週後，我的過去和現在的投資之間會再次出現相似之處，我們會堅持這些，我們會繼續投資這些，我想你會聽到很多具體的內容，這些內容不是關於我們如何以及為什麼會在 2026 年變得更好，而是關於我們今天在電話會議上討論的一個問題。

Tim Mulrooney, William Blair.

提姆·馬爾羅尼、威廉·布萊爾。

Hi, good morning. This is Luke McFadden on for Mulrooney, thanks for taking our questions today. Maybe one just kind of thinking more at a macro level, non-farm payrolls for July came in a bit light, and both the May and June readout were revised lower. I'm just curious to hear what you're seeing in terms of hiring behavior amongst your customer base and whether you can characterize net wear levels as a headwind, tailwind, or mutual to the quarter.

嗨，早安。我是盧克麥克法登 (Luke McFadden)，代替馬爾羅尼發言，感謝您今天回答我們的問題。也許人們只是從宏觀層面來思考，7 月的非農就業數據略顯疲軟，5 月和 6 月的數據都被下調。我只是好奇地想聽聽您對客戶群的招聘行為的看法，以及您是否可以將淨磨損水平描述為本季度的逆風、順風或相互影響。

I would just kind of say neutral from my perspective, and I think that, I think our job in any of these networks is to deal with headwinds or tailwinds properly and just focus on our modeling getting it better and creating the leverage we're talking about here. But I would say neutral at this point, obviously I'd take tailwinds, but neutral is fine for now.

從我的角度來看，我只能說是中立的，我認為，我認為我們在任何一個網路中的工作都是正確處理逆風或順風，並專注於我們的建模，使其變得更好並創造我們在這裡談論的槓桿作用。但我現在想說的是中立，顯然我會順風，但目前中立就好了。

Understood, and then maybe, looking at free cash flow. It looks like working capital was a big source of cash in the fiscal fourth quarter of last year, and was also a source in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2023. Are you expecting a similar dynamic here in the fourth quarter of this year?

明白了，然後也許看看自由現金流。看起來營運資金是去年財年第四季的一大現金來源，也是 2023 財年第四季的一大現金來源。您是否預計今年第四季也會出現類似的情況？

What I can tell you is that I think we had a great quarter related to working capital management and, obviously contributed to positive cash flow in the third quarter, and we're going to continue to manage our working capital very tightly and our cash in general. So, I certainly expect us to focus, to have cash as a focus going forward.

我可以告訴你的是，我認為我們在營運資本管理方面度過了一個非常出色的季度，並且顯然為第三季度的正現金流做出了貢獻，我們將繼續嚴格管理我們的營運資本和整體現金。因此，我當然希望我們能夠集中精力，將現金作為未來的重點。

(Operator Instructions) George Tong, Goldman Sachs.

（操作員指示）高盛的 George Tong。

Hi, thank you. Good morning. This is Anna Wu on for George Tong. I wanted to start with a high-level question, wondering if you could share some thoughts around the overall health and the competitive landscape of the uniform rental industry in the near term. And additionally, can you provide some color around the sales environment in each of your end markets, and I have a follow up after this. Thank you.

你好，謝謝。早安.我是 Anna Wu，為 George Tong 報道。我想從一個高層次的問題開始，想知道您是否可以分享一些關於制服租賃行業近期整體健康狀況和競爭格局的看法。此外，您能否提供有關每個終端市場的銷售環境的一些信息，然後我會跟進。謝謝。

Could you repeat the second part of the question for me, please? I missed it.

您能為我重複問題的第二部分嗎？我錯過了。

Just can you provide some color around the self environment in each of your end markets?

您能否為每個終端市場的自我環境提供一些資訊？

Sure. Let me take the first half. Look, the health of this segment in my opinion is one that -- I think continues to be one that is just fine. And what I mean by that is, if I look at the last month or the last quarter we just finished, what I saw was that almost 45% of our growth came from non-programmers in this business. And that is a stat I’m not used to having in my background, which means that the total addressable market continues to grow.

當然。我先說前半部。看，我認為這個部分的健康狀況是 - 我認為它仍然很好。我的意思是，如果我回顧我們剛剛過去的上個月或上個季度，我會發現我們幾乎 45% 的成長來自這個行業中的非程式設計師。這是我在我的背景中不常見的統計數據，這意味著整體可尋址市場將繼續成長。

And I think that’s a great positive step forward. I think ultimately, the products and the industry itself secondarily, I don’t see as one that megatrends are after. I think that the other -- I think very positive, I found in this industry already is this concept of the network itself. And inside of our organization at Vestis, it’s essentially not one network, it’s 120 closed loop networks. And what that means is that we can experiment differently.

我認為這是一個非常積極的進步。我認為，最終，產品和產業本身是次要的，我不認為大趨勢所追求的是這些。我認為另一個——我認為非常積極的是，我發現這個行業已經存在網路本身的概念。在我們 Vestis 組織內部，基本上不是一個網絡，而是 120 個閉環網絡。這意味著我們可以進行不同的實驗。

We can put projects and initiatives in flight in parallel versus kind of a serial nature to it. We’ve already begun that. And that you start to get into these businesses, that the general managers have really great breadth perspective to grow in this business profitably. We’re just going to help them tune the lens a little bit better to make sure that the work that they’re putting into their individual networks creates value for our shareholders. The second half, it was something about the sales side.

我們可以並行地開展專案和計劃，而不是採用串列的方式。我們已經開始了。當你開始涉足這些業務時，總經理們就會擁有非常廣闊的視野，能夠在這些業務中獲利成長。我們只是要幫助他們更好地調整鏡頭，以確保他們在各自的網路中投入的工作能為我們的股東創造價值。下半部是關於銷售方面的。

What specifically is your question?

你的問題具體是什麼？

So just each of you in the markets vertical like hospitalities or restaurants, and how do you, think about working, provide some colors around the selling environment there?

那麼，你們每個人在垂直市場，例如酒店業或餐廳業，你們如何考慮工作，為那裡的銷售環境提供一些色彩？

Yeah, it's, it hasn't shifted quarter over quarter. You're still into hospitality, into healthcare, retail. Same ones going forward again, I still like the non-programmer side of it, because I'm not used to that, and that also can probably lead this to other growth avenues that I might not have seen in my background. So that’s how I think about both of those.

是的，它每個季度都沒有變化。您仍然涉足酒店業、醫療保健業和零售業。同樣的事情再次發生，我仍然喜歡非程式設計師的一面，因為我不習慣這一點，而且這也可能為我帶來我可能在我的背景中沒有見過的其他成長途徑。這就是我對這兩者的看法。

Yes, super helpful. Thank you so much. And just a quick follow-up. On the previous earnings calls, we learned that the company has retained strategic advisors for some potential transactions. Is that due an option on the table for you? And just wondering if there are any updates regarding the alternative options for the business at this stage.

是的，非常有幫助。太感謝了。這只是一次快速的跟進。在先前的財報電話會議上，我們了解到該公司已經為一些潛在的交易聘請了策略顧問。這是您可以選擇的選項嗎？我只是想知道現階段是否有關於業務替代方案的最新消息。

No, I can I’ll just look forward on that. I can tell what we’re doing. We’ve already had three sets of advisers, I think, can help us speed this up coming from the outside to help the core business, not any transactions or anything else. I mean, we’re focused on the tools we’ve already talked about in cost models and pricing tools that are coming into play right now.

不，我可以，我只是期待這一點。我知道我們在做什麼。我認為，我們已經有三組顧問可以幫助我們加快這一進程，從外部幫助核心業務，而不是任何交易或其他任何事情。我的意思是，我們專注於我們已經討論過的成本模型和定價工具，這些工具目前正在發揮作用。

We’ve got some work in the technology area, I think, can help us going forward, and we’ve got some opportunity from other outside looks. But all of those are going to be supplemental to what we’re going do as a leadership team and group around here. But for the rest of it, I’m looking forward to optimizing this business, not quite the outside just yet.

我認為我們在科技領域所做的一些工作可以幫助我們前進，而且我們從其他外部視角也獲得了一些機會。但所有這些都將是我們作為領導團隊和小組所做工作的補充。但對於其餘部分，我期待優化這項業務，目前還不只是外部業務。

(Operator Instructions) This concludes the Q&A portion of today’s call. I’d like to turn the call back to Jim Barber for closing remarks.

（操作員指示）今天電話會議的問答部分到此結束。我想請吉姆‧巴伯 (Jim Barber) 作最後發言。

This is Kelly. Before we give it to Jim, I just wanted to mention that we put some revised materials out on our website. You can access those after the call at ir.vestis.com. Jim?

這是凱利。在將其交給吉姆之前，我只想提一下，我們在網站上發布了一些修訂的資料。通話結束後，您可以造訪 ir.vestis.com 存取這些內容。吉姆？

Thanks, Kelly. Let me just say this quickly to close is that I think that we’re on the right track already after eight weeks. I’m really anxious to come forward and next time, we talk discuss the Q4 results. We’ve got a lot of activities going the right way there and then really excited to roll out a plan for 2026 that all of our stakeholders, I think, will stand behind and be supportive of and we’ll be proud to deliver on everybody’s behalf. So I appreciate the time this morning. Thanks.

謝謝，凱利。最後，我想快速說一下，我認為經過八週的努力，我們已經走上了正確的軌道。我真的很想來，下次我們來討論一下第四季的業績。我們有很多活動正在順利進行，並且非常高興地推出 2026 年計劃，我認為我們所有的利益相關者都會支持這個計劃，我們將自豪地代表所有人實現這個計劃。我很感謝今天上午的時間。謝謝。

Thank you. And this concludes today's Vestis Corporation fiscal third quarter 2025 earnings conference call. Please disconnect your line at this time and have a wonderful day.

謝謝。今天的 Vestis Corporation 2025 財年第三季財報電話會議到此結束。請此時斷開您的線路並祝您有美好的一天。