WEX Inc (WEX) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the WEX Q4 2023 Earnings Call. I would now like to welcome Steve Elder, SVP of Global Investor Relations to begin the call. Steve, over to you.

感謝您的耐心等待，歡迎參加 WEX 2023 年第四季財報電話會議。我現在歡迎全球投資者關係高級副總裁史蒂夫·埃爾德開始電話會議。史蒂夫，交給你了。

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. With me today is Melissa Smith, our Chair and CEO; and Jagtar Narula, our CFO. The press release we issued earlier this morning and a slide deck to walk through our prepared remarks have been posted to the Investor Relations section of our website at wexinc.com. A copy of the release has also been included in an 8-K we filed with the SEC earlier this morning. As a reminder, we will be discussing non-GAAP metrics, specifically adjusted net income attributable to shareholders, which we refer to as adjusted net income, or ANI, adjusted operating income and related margins as well as adjusted free cash flow during our call.

謝謝接線員，大家早安。今天和我在一起的是我們的主席兼執行長 Melissa Smith；以及我們的財務長 Jagtar Narula。我們今天早上早些時候發布的新聞稿以及演示我們準備好的言論的幻燈片已發佈到我們網站 wexinc.com 的投資者關係部分。新聞稿的副本也包含在我們今天早上向 SEC 提交的 8-K 中。提醒一下，我們將在電話會議中討論非GAAP 指標，特別是調整後歸屬於股東的淨利潤（我們稱之為調整後淨利潤或ANI）、調整後營業收入和相關利潤率以及調整後自由現金流。

Please see Exhibit 1 of the press release for an explanation and reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures. The company provides revenue guidance on a GAAP basis and earnings guidance on a non-GAAP basis due to the uncertainty and the indeterminant amount of certain elements that are included and reported GAAP earnings. I would also like to remind you that we will discuss forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

請參閱新聞稿的附件 1，以了解這些非公認會計原則措施的解釋和調節。由於包含和報告的 GAAP 收益中包含的某些要素的不確定性和不確定性，該公司提供了 GAAP 基礎上的收入指引和非 GAAP 基礎上的收益指引。我還想提醒您，我們將根據 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》討論前瞻性陳述。

Actual results may differ materially from those forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those discussed in our press release and the risk factors identified in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, filed with the SEC on February 28, 2023, and in our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and subsequent SEC filings. While we may update forward-looking statements in the future, we disclaim any obligations to do so. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, all of which speak only as of today. With that, I'll turn the call over to Melissa.

由於各種因素的影響，實際結果可能與這些前瞻性陳述有重大差異，包括我們的新聞稿中討論的因素以及我們提交的截至2022 年12 月31 日的10-K 表格年度報告中確定的風險因素。2023 年 2 月 28 日 向 SEC 提交的報告，以及我們關於 10-Q 表格的季度報告和隨後向 SEC 提交的文件。雖然我們將來可能會更新前瞻性陳述，但我們不承擔任何這樣做的義務。您不應過度依賴這些前瞻性陳述，所有這些陳述僅代表今天的情況。這樣，我會將電話轉給梅莉莎。

Thank you, Steven, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us today. Before diving into our results, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on 2023. As I've said in prior quarters, our business model is resilient, and it delivers strong results in a variety of environments. This is true over the past 10 years, during which time we have delivered a revenue CAGR of 14%. I am very proud of what we've accomplished in 2023 as we continue to achieve our long-term growth targets despite macroeconomic uncertainty, higher interest rates, higher inflation rates, a freight recession and lower fuel prices. Our incredible team of Wexers has consistently risen to the occasion. Further positioning WEX for long-term success and demonstrating our ability to grow, to deliver that growth profitably and to advance our strategic priorities.

謝謝你，史蒂文，大家早安。我們感謝您今天加入我們。在深入探討我們的業績之前，我想花點時間回顧一下 2023 年。正如我在前幾個季度所說的那樣，我們的業務模式具有彈性，並且在各種環境中都能提供強勁的業績。過去 10 年確實如此，在此期間我們的收入複合年增長率為 14%。我對我們在 2023 年的成就感到非常自豪，儘管宏觀經濟存在不確定性、利率上升、通貨膨脹率上升、貨運衰退和燃油價格下降，但我們仍在繼續實現長期成長目標。我們令人難以置信的 Wexers 團隊一直在應對這種情況。進一步定位 WEX 以取得長期成功，並展示我們的成長能力、實現盈利成長並推進我們的策略重點。

Let me start with the full year results. Revenue of $2.5 billion for the year was a new record high and grew 8% compared to the prior year despite a headwind of 5% from fuel prices and foreign exchange rates. Full year total volume processed was $225 billion, an increase of 6% year-over-year. Adjusted net income per share grew 9% year-over-year. Excluding the impact of lower fuel prices and foreign exchange rate differences, revenue grew 13% and adjusted net income per share grew 21%. Both of these growth rates were within or above our long-term target ranges as we continue to deliver strong results in the face of the headwinds I just mentioned. I'm particularly pleased about the strong performance in benefits and corporate payments, which further demonstrates the resilience of our model across many environments.

讓我從全年業績開始。儘管受到燃料價格和外匯匯率 5% 的不利影響，全年收入仍創下 25 億美元的新高，與去年相比成長 8%。全年處理總額達2,250億美元，較去年同期成長6%。調整後每股淨利年增 9%。剔除燃料價格下降和匯率差異的影響，營收成長 13%，調整後每股淨利成長 21%。這兩個成長率都在我們的長期目標範圍之內或之上，因為我們在面對我剛才提到的逆風時繼續取得強勁的業績。我對福利和企業支付的強勁表現感到特別高興，這進一步證明了我們的模式在許多環境中的彈性。

Now turning to fourth quarter results. We delivered revenue of $663 million for the quarter, an increase of 7%. Excluding the impact of fluctuations in fuel prices and foreign exchange rates, Q4 revenue grew 11%. Total volume processed across the organization in the fourth quarter grew 6% year-over-year to $56 billion, driven by the strong performance in corporate payments and benefits. Strong quarterly revenue, high margin drop-through on volumes and share repurchases resulted in adjusted net income per diluted share of $3.82 an increase of 11% compared to the same quarter last year.

現在轉向第四季業績。我們本季營收 6.63 億美元，成長 7%。剔除燃油價格和匯率波動的影響，第四季營收成長11%。受企業支付和福利強勁表現的推動，第四季度整個組織處理的總交易量年增 6%，達到 560 億美元。強勁的季度收入、銷量的高利潤下降和股票回購導致調整後每股攤薄淨利潤為 3.82 美元，與去年同期相比增長 11%。

Excluding the impact of fluctuations in fuel prices and foreign exchange rates, Q4 adjusted EPS grew 23%. In Corporate Payments, purchase volumes grew 33% year-over-year, primarily due to continued strength from our travel customers. We had a number of significant contract renewals in the quarter, including [Kiwi] and On the Beach in Europe and Flight Center in Australia. WEX continues to outpace the growth of the travel market. We're having success gaining additional pockets of spend within our existing customer base and volume growth continues to benefit from the market transitions to settling hotel transactions with virtual cards.

剔除燃油價格和匯率波動的影響，第四季調整後每股盈餘成長23%。在企業支付方面，購買量年增 33%，這主要是由於我們的旅行客戶的持續強勁。本季我們續簽了多項重要合同，包括歐洲的 [Kiwi] 和 On the Beach 以及澳洲的 Flight Center。 WEX 的成長速度持續超過旅遊市場。我們成功地在現有客戶群中獲得了額外的支出，並且銷售成長繼續受益於市場轉向使用虛擬卡結算飯店交易的轉變。

In the Benefits segment, the full transition to the public cloud positions us to improve our agility and platform strength going forward. Following open enrollment, we now have more than 8 million HSA accounts on our platform making us one of the largest providers in the country. Since we closed the acquisition of Extensive Health and Benefits line of business in September, we have quickly integrated our team. Census technology complements ours well, increasing our scale in the benefit space and expanding our benefit product offerings with their Affordable Care Act compliance independent verification capabilities. Finally, in our Mobility segment, we continue to see the positive impact from our enhanced credit policies. We were also pleased with strong sales performance, including a number of key contract wins and renewals in the quarter, adding approximately 121,000 new vehicles in signing wins with Smith Transport, Estes Express lines, Quality Carriers and [Pods] to name a few.

在優勢部分，全面過渡到公有雲使我們能夠提高未來的敏捷性和平台實力。公開註冊後，我們的平台上現在擁有超過 800 萬個 HSA 帳戶，使我們成為全國最大的提供者之一。自從我們在九月完成了對廣泛健康和福利業務線的收購以來，我們迅速整合了我們的團隊。人口普查技術與我們的技術形成了很好的補充，擴大了我們在福利領域的規模，並透過其平價醫療法案合規性獨立驗證功能擴大了我們的福利產品範圍。最後，在我們的行動領域，我們繼續看到增強的信貸政策帶來的正面影響。我們也對強勁的銷售業績感到滿意，包括本季度贏得和續簽了許多關鍵合同，與 Smith Transport、Estes Express Lines、Quality Carriers 和 [Pods] 等公司簽訂的合同增加了約 121,000 輛新車。

Overall, I'm proud of the strong progress we made executing against our strategic themes throughout 2023, which positions us for success in 2024 and beyond. A top priority for us as a company is leading in the energy transition for our mobility customers. Currently, we're focused on helping businesses navigate the energy transition and manage their vehicles in an increasingly complex mixed fleet world with over 600,000 customers worldwide, including more than 19.3 million vehicles service globally as of the fourth quarter, our partners and customers will first look to WEX for help in simplifying the process of building and managing mix fleet.

總體而言，我對 2023 年我們在執行策略主題方面取得的強勁進展感到自豪，這為我們在 2024 年及以後取得成功奠定了基礎。作為一家公司，我們的首要任務是引領行動客戶的能源轉型。目前，我們專注於幫助企業實現能源轉型，並在日益複雜的混合車隊世界中管理其車輛，全球擁有超過60 萬家客戶，截至第四季度全球服務車輛超過1,930 萬輛，我們的合作夥伴和客戶將首先向 WEX 尋求協助，簡化建置和管理混合車隊的流程。

While the pace of transition remains fluid, we are meeting our customers where they are in their EV journeys. As part of our EV product suite, we have a new white-labeled offering help fleet managers determine which vehicles and roots may make sense to transition to EVs. In cases where it does make sense, like a sales rep driving a Sedan and returning home to charge each night, there can be substantial savings for the fleet operator. Our understanding of these dynamics uniquely positions WEX, help customers both navigate the decision to transition and effectively manage their fleets once they do.

雖然轉型的步伐仍然不穩定，但我們正在滿足客戶在電動車之旅中的需求。作為我們的電動車產品套件的一部分，我們提供了新的白標產品，可幫助車隊經理確定哪些車輛和根源可能適合過渡到電動車。在確實有意義的情況下，例如銷售代表駕駛轎車並每晚回家充電，可以為車隊營運商節省大量成本。我們對這些動態的了解使 WEX 處於獨特的地位，幫助客戶做出轉型決策並在轉型後有效管理其車隊。

We've also launched products in the market, designed to help facilitate on-route charging at public locations as well as at at-home reimbursement capabilities. Later this year, we plan to launch depot charging solutions for companies that intend to use their own infrastructure. Our EV product suite gives our customers a simple consolidated platform for mixed fleet, greatly simplifying the job as the fleet manager. Similar to the EV transition, a strategic priority has been to expand into near adjacent addressable markets, increasing our TAM.

我們還在市場上推出了產品，旨在幫助促進公共場所的途中充電以及家庭報銷功能。今年晚些時候，我們計劃為打算使用自己的基礎設施的公司推出停車場充電解決方案。我們的電動車產品套件為客戶提供了一個簡單的混合車隊整合平台，大大簡化了車隊經理的工作。與電動車轉型類似，策略重點是擴展到鄰近的可尋址市場，增加我們的 TAM。

In November, we completed our acquisition of Payzer, a leading cloud-native field service management software. As we integrate Payzer into the WEX business, we expect the platform to strengthen our relationships with customers in our mobility vertical, allowing us to match our world-class payment capabilities with integrated software that creates durable value to our customer base. We're excited to deepen and expand our offerings to approximately 150,000 mobility customers that operate field service management companies. So far, we have completed the initial stage of integration and launched our first marketing efforts targeted at current WEX customers.

11 月，我們完成了對 Payzer 的收購，Payzer 是領先的雲端原生現場服務管理軟體。當我們將 Payzer 整合到 WEX 業務中時，我們希望該平台能夠加強我們與行動垂直領域客戶的關係，使我們能夠將世界一流的支付功能與整合軟體相匹配，為我們的客戶群創造持久價值。我們很高興能夠深化和擴展我們的產品，服務於營運現場服務管理公司的約 150,000 名行動客戶。到目前為止，我們已經完成了整合的初始階段，並針對現有 WEX 客戶啟動了我們的首次行銷活動。

Over the next few quarters, we will test and learn from this initiative, and we will continue to be prudent in our decisions to allocate additional capital to this effort. That said, we're excited about the Payzer opportunity, and I look forward to providing updates on our progress going forward. Across each of our businesses, we are focused not only on driving growth but on delivering that growth profitably. To that end, we remain well positioned to generate $100 million in run rate cost savings exiting 2024.

在接下來的幾個季度中，我們將測試這一舉措並從中學習，並且我們將繼續謹慎地決定為這項工作分配額外的資金。也就是說，我們對 Payzer 的機會感到興奮，我期待提供有關我們未來進展的最新資訊。在我們的每項業務中，我們不僅專注於推動成長，而且致力於實現獲利成長。為此，我們仍然有能力在 2024 年之前節省 1 億美元的營運成本。

Last quarter, we said we were on track to achieve $75 million of cost savings on a run rate basis by the end of 2023. I am proud to say we have accomplished this goal, which was ahead of our original expectations. We have high confidence in achieving the full $100 million of cost savings in 2024. With these savings, we plan to let half flow through to earnings, which we will see in our expectations for 2024 and reinvest the remainder in the business to enhance our capabilities, including digital products, technology and risk management capabilities and tools. We also continue to drive technology innovation throughout the business.

上個季度，我們表示，到 2023 年底，我們預計將實現按運行率節省 7500 萬美元的成本。我很自豪地說，我們已經實現了這一目標，這超出了我們最初的預期。我們對在2024 年實現全部1 億美元成本節省充滿信心。透過這些節省，我們計劃將其中一半用於盈利，我們將在2024 年的預期中看到這一點，並將剩餘部分重新投資於業務，以增強我們的能力，包括數位產品、技術和風險管理能力和工具。我們也持續推動整個業務的技術創新。

The work we are doing is delivering results, and we're receiving cost savings coming through our margins. In 2023, we focused heavily on determining how AI could both optimize our business and the business of our customers. We've invested in dozens of projects around developing these capabilities. For example, we are currently using internally developed AI technology to assist in making credit decisions and detecting fraud. We believe this technology helped drive the substantial credit loss improvement that we have seen over the last two quarters.

我們所做的工作正在取得成果，我們透過利潤節省了成本。 2023 年，我們專注於人工智慧如何優化我們的業務和客戶的業務。我們圍繞著開發這些功能投資了數十個項目。例如，我們目前正在使用內部開發的人工智慧技術來協助做出信用決策和偵測詐欺。我們相信這項技術有助於推動過去兩季信用損失的大幅改善。

We're also piloting several new initiatives to finance productivity and drive efficiencies in our sales teams by using AI to prioritize the leads most likely to convert and by prioritizing deals in the sales pipeline to maximize focus on impactful deals. We are also using AI to help process benefit claims, which drives efficiency and improved customer experience by processing claims on the same day. We processed greater than 350,000 claims last year and continue to expand use cases. We expect to process more than 800,000 plans this year using AI.

我們也正在試行幾項新舉措，透過使用人工智慧來優先考慮最有可能轉換的潛在客戶，並透過優先考慮銷售管道中的交易來最大限度地關注有影響力的交易，以提高銷售團隊的生產力和效率。我們還使用人工智慧來幫助處理福利索賠，透過在同一天處理索賠來提高效率並改善客戶體驗。去年我們處理了超過 35 萬起索賠，並繼續擴大用例。我們預計今年將使用人工智慧處理超過 80 萬個計劃。

Beyond this, we have a slate of digital product releases expected throughout 2024 and look forward to updating you on these developments over the coming months. We expect these margin accretive initiatives and others to further bolster our ability to generate significant cash flow conversion, and we continue to view share repurchases as an attractive proposition.

除此之外，我們預計將在 2024 年發布一系列數位產品，並期待在未來幾個月向您通報這些最新進展。我們預計這些利潤成長舉措和其他舉措將進一步增強我們產生大量現金流轉換的能力，並且我們繼續將股票回購視為一項有吸引力的提議。

We're in the privileged position to be able to make strategic growth investments in our business and buy back shares, all while maintaining a solid balance sheet with low leverage. Jagtar will provide more detail on our 2024 guidance in a moment, but I'd like to share a few high-level takeaways as we look ahead. First, WEX is incredibly resilient to economic conditions and is well positioned for continued strong revenue growth. You will note in our guidance that we have made assumptions that include continued headwinds, such as lower than normal U.S. GDP growth and further depressed steel prices. Despite these headwinds, we expect 2024 revenue growth in the 6% to 8% range including a 2% headwind for lower fuel prices.

我們處於有利地位，能夠對我們的業務進行策略性成長投資並回購股票，同時保持低槓桿的穩健資產負債表。 Jagtar 稍後將提供有關 2024 年指導的更多詳細信息，但我想在展望未來時分享一些重要的要點。首先，WEX 對經濟狀況具有令人難以置信的彈性，並為持續強勁的營收成長做好了準備。您會在我們的指導中註意到，我們所做的假設包括持續的不利因素，例如美國 GDP 成長低於正常水平以及鋼鐵價格進一步下跌。儘管存在這些不利因素，我們預計 2024 年營收成長將在 6% 至 8% 範圍內，其中包括燃料價格下降帶來的 2% 的不利因素。

All segments of the business will benefit from the full year impact of our sales activity in 2023. Within our Mobility segment, we expect continued strong sales momentum, benefit from pricing actions, stabilization in the portfolio from the credit policy changes made a year ago, in the benefit of a full year of Payzer growth.

該業務的所有部門都將受益於我們2023 年銷售活動的全年影響。在我們的行動部門，我們預計銷售勢頭將持續強勁，定價行動將受益，一年前信貸政策變化帶來的投資組合穩定，受益於 Payzer 全年的成長。

Within our Benefits segment, we expect continued sales through our distribution channels. We expect continued growth in custodial assets and our organic customer growth and the census acquisitions. Last, but certainly not least, we expect strong growth within our Corporate Payments segment built on continued strength in our embedded payment solutions, inclusive of both share of wallet capture in our Travel and Partner Businesses as well as our investments in scaling our direct sales force becoming more meaningful to the segment.

在我們的福利部門，我們預計透過我們的分銷管道繼續進行銷售。我們預計託管資產以及我們的有機客戶成長和人口普查收購將持續成長。最後但並非最不重要的一點是，我們預計企業支付業務將強勁增長，其基礎是我們嵌入式支付解決方案的持續實力，包括我們的旅行和合作夥伴業務中的錢包份額以及我們在擴大直接銷售隊伍的投資對細分市場變得更有意義。

Second, we continue to be focused on delivering accretive EPS. This includes the high marginal contribution of incremental revenue to our businesses, our reengineering efforts that are delivering efficiencies across their enterprise and pricing optimization work that yields strong drop through to our bottom line.

其次，我們繼續專注於增加每股盈餘。這包括增量收入對我們業務的高邊際貢獻、我們為提高整個企業效率而進行的再造工作以及為我們的利潤帶來強勁下降的定價優化工作。

Finally, our strong adjusted free cash flow underpins our ability to drive shareholder value. It enables us to invest in our market-leading products and solutions as well as invest in our share repurchase program in our disciplined M&A program, all in maintaining a healthy balance sheet. As I look across our business, I am confident in WEX's future, our momentum in the marketplace, and our continued ability to deliver our long-term aspirations. With that, I'll turn it over to Jagtar to walk through this quarter's financial performance in more detail. Jagtar?

最後，我們強勁的調整後自由現金流支撐了我們推動股東價值的能力。它使我們能夠投資於市場領先的產品和解決方案，並投資於嚴格的併購計劃中的股票回購計劃，所有這些都是為了維持健康的資產負債表。縱觀我們的業務，我對 WEX 的未來、我們在市場上的勢頭以及我們實現長期願景的持續能力充滿信心。接下來，我將把它交給 Jagtar，更詳細地介紹本季的財務表現。捷豹？

Thank you, Melissa, and good morning, everyone. As you just heard, we again delivered strong financial results this quarter while continuing to make progress on our strategic objectives. The financial results in 2023 demonstrated the resiliency of the business in the face of a number of economic headwinds. Let's start with the quarter results. Total revenue came in at $663.3 million, a 7.2% increase over Q4 2022 with more than 80% of revenue for the quarter recurring in nature. This exceeded the midpoint of our guidance by $8 million. Half of this outperformance was due to the contribution of Payzer, which closed on November 1 and was not included in our guidance, while the other half was a variety of small beneficial items.

謝謝你，梅麗莎，大家早安。正如您剛剛聽到的，我們本季再次實現了強勁的財務業績，同時繼續在我們的策略目標上取得進展。 2023 年的財務表現證明了該業務在面對一系列經濟逆風時的彈性。讓我們從季度業績開始。總營收為 6.633 億美元，比 2022 年第四季成長 7.2%，該季度超過 80% 的營收屬於經常性收入。這超出了我們指導中價值 800 萬美元。這種優異表現的一半歸功於 Payzer 的貢獻，該公司於 11 月 1 日關閉，未包含在我們的指導中，而另一半則是各種小型有益項目。

In total, adjusted operating income margin for the company was 39.6%, which is up from 38.5% last year. High incremental margins on corporate payments volume and interest earned on custodial cash balances as well as significantly improved credit and fraud losses were the primary drivers of the margin increase.

整體而言，公司調整後營業利益率為 39.6%，高於去年的 38.5%。公司支付量的高增量利潤和託管現金餘額賺取的利息以及信用和欺詐損失的顯著改善是利潤增長的主要驅動力。

From an earnings perspective, on a GAAP basis, we had net income attributable to shareholders of $84.9 million or $1.98 per diluted share in Q4. Non-GAAP adjusted net income was $163.9 million or $3.82 per diluted share, and this represents an 11% increase over the prior year. I would like to take a moment to reflect on these results in the context of the overall macroeconomic environment. Fuel prices were down 13% year-over-year in Q4, while the federal funds rate was up 100 basis points from the end of Q4 2022 to the end of Q4 2023. Our cost of financing and operating interest was up almost $35 million year-over-year.

從獲利角度來看，以 GAAP 計算，第四季股東應佔淨利為 8,490 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 1.98 美元。非 GAAP 調整後淨利為 1.639 億美元，即稀釋後每股收益 3.82 美元，比上年增長 11%。我想花點時間在整體宏觀經濟環境的背景下反思這些結果。第四季燃油價格年減 13%，而聯邦基金利率從 2022 年第四季末到 2023 年第四季末上漲了 100 個基點。我們的融資和營運利息成本同比增加了近 3500 萬美元-同比。

Yet we grew revenue and earnings significantly which reflects the reduced impact of fuel prices and interest rate volatility on our overall results and demonstrates the resiliency we have talked about repeatedly. Now let's move to segment results, starting with Mobility. Mobility revenue for the quarter was $350.1 million, a 5% decrease compared to the prior year. The domestic fuel price in Q4 was $3.76 versus $4.34 in Q4 2022. This decline in fuel prices reduced segment revenue by approximately $24.9 million.

然而，我們的收入和利潤顯著增長，這反映出燃料價格和利率波動對我們整體業績的影響減少，並證明了我們反覆談論的彈性。現在讓我們從行動性開始細分結果。該季度的行動收入為 3.501 億美元，比去年同期下降 5%。第四季國內燃油價格為 3.76 美元，而 2022 年第四季為 4.34 美元。燃油價格下降導致該部門收入減少約 2,490 萬美元。

In addition, mobility revenue growth was impacted by lower late fees, which I will discuss in a moment. These lower late fees reflect the changes we made to credit policies that have dramatically improved credit losses and financially outweigh the impact of lower late fee revenue. The net interchange rate in mobility was 1.26%, which is up 15 basis points from the prior year. The lower fuel prices compared to last year, contractual increases due to higher interest rates and renegotiated contracts with some of our merchants led to the increase in the net rate. The increase in the net interchange rate combined with growing volumes over the past several years also means the sensitivity to changes in fuel prices is increasing and now stands at $20 million of revenue impact and a $0.30 EPS impact for an annualized $0.10 change in fuel prices.

此外，行動收入的成長受到滯納金降低的影響，我稍後將討論這一點。這些較低的滯納金反映了我們對信貸政策所做的改變，這些政策極大地改善了信貸損失，並且在財務上超過了滯納金收入降低的影響。流動性淨互換率為1.26%，較上年上升15個基點。與去年相比，燃料價格較低，利率上升導致合約增加以及與我們的一些商家重新談判合約導致淨利率增加。淨交換率的增加加上過去幾年交易量的成長也意味著對燃料價格變化的敏感度正在增加，目前燃料價格每年變化0.10 美元，對收入的影響為2000 萬美元，每股收益影響為0.30美元。

It is important to note that despite the higher gross EPS sensitivity to fuel which reflects the growth and success of our mobility business. Our overall earnings sensitivity to fuel price is lower than the past as nonfuel-related revenue is an increasing portion of our overall earnings mix.

值得注意的是，儘管總每股盈餘對燃料的敏感度較高，但這反映了我們行動業務的成長和成功。我們對燃料價格的整體獲利敏感度低於過去，因為非燃料相關收入在我們整體獲利組合中所佔的比例越來越大。

As you see in our metrics, while the net late fee rate increased versus Q3, it was below the prior year results. Overall, finance fee revenue was down 20% due to lower fuel prices and 28% decline in the number of latency instances. Much of this decline is from a new portfolio that transitioned to us last year which had higher late fee instances during the transition period, while the remainder we attribute to the stricter credit policies I mentioned earlier. Again, emphasizing that the improvement in credit losses far outweighs this lost late fee revenue.

正如您在我們的指標中看到的，雖然淨滯納金率與第三季相比有所增加，但低於去年同期的結果。總體而言，由於燃料價格下降和延遲實例數量下降 28%，財務費用收入下降了 20%。這種下降很大程度上是由於去年過渡到我們的新投資組合，在過渡期間滯納金較高，而其餘部分則歸因於我之前提到的更嚴格的信貸政策。再次強調，信貸損失的改善遠超過滯納金收入的損失。

The segment adjusted operating income margin for the quarter was down 2.1% compared to last year at 43.0%. Lower fuel prices and higher interest rates hurt operating margins, although this was partially offset by significantly lower credit loss rates. In addition, the acquisition of Payzer, which contributed $4.3 million in revenue with essentially 0 adjusted operating income decreased its segment margin by 60 basis points.

本季該部門調整後營業利潤率較去年下降 2.1%，為 43.0%。較低的燃料價格和較高的利率損害了營業利潤，儘管信貸損失率的大幅降低部分抵消了這一影響。此外，收購 Payzer 貢獻了 430 萬美元的收入，調整後的營業收入基本上為零，導致其部門利潤率下降了 60 個基點。

Turning now to Corporate Payments. Total segment revenue for the quarter increased 22% from the prior year to $135 million. Purchase volume issued by WEX was $22.8 billion, which is an increase of 33% versus prior year. The net interchange rate in this segment was up 10 basis points sequentially at 52 basis points, predominantly due to the recognition of network incentives based on full year performance. Breaking this segment down further. Travel-related customer volume was $16.2 billion and grew 40% compared to last year. Revenue from travel-related customers was up 39% versus last year. This reflects continued strength in consumer travel demand in the U.S. and Europe as well as growing adoption of virtual cards and travel.

現在轉向企業支付。該季度的部門總收入較上年同期成長 22%，達到 1.35 億美元。 WEX 發行量為 228 億美元，較上年增長 33%。該細分市場的淨兌換率連續上升 10 個基點，達到 52 個基點，主要是由於基於全年業績的網路激勵措施的認可。進一步細分這個部分。旅遊相關客戶量為 162 億美元，較去年成長 40%。來自旅遊相關客戶的收入比去年增長了 39%。這反映出美國和歐洲消費者旅行需求的持續強勁以及虛擬卡和旅行的日益普及。

We believe that there is more room for growth as our OTA customers continue to emphasize their merchant model, and we expand the types of payments that we are able to support. Nontravel-related customer purchase volume grew 21% versus last year, and revenue was up 5%.

我們相信，隨著我們的 OTA 客戶繼續強調他們的商家模式，並且我們擴大了我們能夠支援的支付類型，還有更大的成長空間。非旅行相關的客戶購買量比去年增長了 21%，收入增長了 5%。

Volume growth was led by continuing strength in the partner channel, but importantly, approximately half the revenue growth came from our direct channel. Our direct business is an important channel that we have invested in over the last year and we are starting to see the positive results of this segment. The segment adjusted operating income margin was up 10.5% over the last year to 58.4%. There has been significant improvement in these margins during the year as volume accelerated. In fact, this is the second quarter in a row where more than 100% of the year-over-year revenue increase flowed through to adjusted operating income margin.

銷售成長是由合作夥伴通路的持續強勢帶動的，但重要的是，大約一半的收入成長來自我們的直接通路。我們的直接業務是我們去年投資的一個重要管道，我們開始看到該領域的積極成果。該部門調整後營業利潤率較去年增長 10.5%，達到 58.4%。隨著銷量的加速，這些利潤率在這一年中得到了顯著改善。事實上，這是連續第二季超過 100% 的年收入成長轉化為調整後的營業利潤率。

Finally, let's take a look at the Benefits segment. We continue to drive strong growth in Q4 with revenue of $178.2 million. This represents an increase of $37.5 million or 27% over the prior year. Approximately half the revenue growth is due to contributions from custodial assets, and the remainder is from the Ascensus acquisition, increases in the account base and purchase volume growth.

最後，我們來看看福利部分。我們持續推動第四季的強勁成長，營收達到 1.782 億美元。這比前一年增加了 3,750 萬美元，即 27%。大約一半的收入成長來自託管資產的貢獻，其餘則來自 Ascensus 收購、帳戶基礎的增加和購買量的成長。

SaaS account growth was 7% in Q4 versus the prior year. Benefits segment purchase volume increased 10%, leading to a 5% increase in payment processing revenue. Custodial cash assets, including those on and off balance sheet, were $3.9 billion on average in Q4 versus $3.5 billion last year. Representing an increase of 13%. Of the $3.9 billion total, approximately $1 billion was held at third-party banks with the remainder held at WEX Bank. We realized approximately $45.3 million in revenue in total from these deposits in Q4 versus $25.6 million last year. Although market interest rates declined during Q4, the blended yield of 4.6% was consistent with Q3.

第四季 SaaS 帳戶與去年同期相比成長了 7%。福利部門採購量增加 10%，導致支付處理收入成長 5%。第四季託管現金資產（包括表內和表外資產）平均為 39 億美元，去年為 35 億美元。較去年同期成長13%。在 39 億美元總額中，約 10 億美元存放在第三方銀行，其餘存放在 WEX 銀行。第四季度，我們從這些存款中總共實現了約 4,530 萬美元的收入，而去年為 2,560 萬美元。儘管第四季市場利率有所下降，但 4.6% 的綜合收益率與第三季持平。

Compared to last year, the higher yield of those assets contributed $11.1 million in revenue, while the increase in balances contributed $8.6 million. In the first full quarter of ownership, Ascensus contributed $10.7 million of revenue, which was in line with our expectations for the quarter. The integration process is going well. Recall that Ascensus was a customer prior to our acquisition. So all accounts were already on our technology platform and we are working through the remainder of the integration planned during 2024.

與去年相比，這些資產的較高收益率貢獻了 1,110 萬美元的收入，而餘額的增加貢獻了 860 萬美元。在所有權的第一個完整季度中，Ascensus 貢獻了 1,070 萬美元的收入，這符合我們對該季度的預期。整合過程進展順利。回想一下，在我們收購之前，Ascensus 是我們的客戶。因此，所有帳戶都已經在我們的技術平台上，我們正​​在完成計劃在 2024 年期間完成的剩餘整合工作。

The Benefits segment adjusted operating income margin was 33.2%, compared to 28.1% in 2022. The high flow-through on the revenue from the invested HSA deposits is the primary driver of the increase in margins. Shifting gears now I will provide an update on the balance sheet and our liquidity position. We remain in a healthy financial position and ended the quarter with $976 million in cash. We have $731 million of available borrowing capacity on the revolver and corporate cash of $172 million as defined under the company's agreement at quarter end. The total outstanding balance on our revolving line of credit and term loans was $2.9 billion.

福利部門調整後營業利益率為 33.2%，而 2022 年為 28.1%。投資 HSA 存款收入的高流量是利潤率成長的主要驅動力。現在我將提供有關資產負債表和流動性狀況的最新資訊。我們保持健康的財務狀況，本季末現金為 9.76 億美元。根據公司截至季末的協議，我們擁有 7.31 億美元的循環借款能力和 1.72 億美元的公司現金。我們的循環信貸額度和定期貸款的未償餘額總額為 29 億美元。

The leverage ratio, as defined in the credit agreement stands at 2.5x and which is at the bottom end of our long-term target of 2.5x to 3.5x. In December, we exited our interest rate hedge positions leading to an immediate cash benefit of $50 million.

信貸協議中定義的槓桿率為 2.5 倍，位於我們 2.5 倍至 3.5 倍長期目標的底部。 12 月，我們退出了利率對沖頭寸，立即獲得了 5,000 萬美元的現金收益。

As discussed in prior calls, the company-wide net exposure to changes in interest rates has declined as we've grown the custodial cash assets in our Benefits segment. As a result, we determined that these hedges were unnecessary and we could exit them at favorable terms. Exiting the hedges accelerated the cash benefit we expected to see from the hedges to upfront rather than over time, which we intend to return to shareholders through share repurchases, and we have already repurchased $35 million to date through last week in 2024. As a result, we will see an increase in interest costs in 2024, especially in Q1 when rates are expected to be highest and with the elimination of the hedges that were already set to expire midyear.

正如先前的電話會議中所討論的，隨著我們增加福利部門的託管現金資產，全公司範圍內的利率變化淨風險已經下降。因此，我們認為這些對沖是不必要的，我們可以以有利的條件退出它們。退出對沖加速了我們預期從對沖中看到的現金收益，而不是隨著時間的推移，我們打算透過股票回購將其返還給股東，截至 2024 年上週，我們已經回購了 3500 萬美元。 ，我們將看到2024 年利息成本增加，特別是在第一季度，預計利率將達到最高，並且取消了已定於年中到期的對沖。

I want to emphasize this reflects our belief in the time value of money benefit of receiving the cash earlier than we would have otherwise and returning this cash sooner to our shareholders. Going forward, we intend to continue to evaluate our overall interest rate exposures annually and make adjustments to our hedging strategy as necessary.

我想強調的是，這反映了我們對比其他方式更早收到現金並將這些現金更快返還給股東的金錢利益的時間價值的信念。展望未來，我們打算繼續每年評估我們的整體利率風險，並根據需要調整我們的避險策略。

During January, we successfully repriced $1.4 billion of term loans, reducing the spread over sulfur by 25 basis points and removed the credit spread adjustment. This will lead to interest savings of more than $5 million in 2024 on this price of debt. There were no other changes below the agreement. Next, I would like to turn to cash flow. WEX generates a significant amount of cash. Using our definition, adjusted free cash flow is $517 million for 2023. This compares to our adjusted net income of $646 million.

1 月份，我們成功地對 14 億美元的定期貸款進行了重新定價，將硫磺利差降低了 25 個基點，並取消了信貸利差調整。以此債務價格計算，到 2024 年將可節省超過 500 萬美元的利息。協議內容無其他變更。接下來，我想談談現金流。 WEX 產生大量現金。根據我們的定義，2023 年調整後自由現金流為 5.17 億美元。相較之下，我們調整後淨利為 6.46 億美元。

A reminder, as I have discussed previously, that rapid fuel price declines at the end of 2022 increased adjusted free cash flow by about $150 million to $175 million that year, which reversed during 2023. Taking this into account, adjusted free cash flow for 2023 was slightly less than adjusted net income, which is what we would normally expect. We are committed to driving strong cash generation and deploying it by both repurchasing our own shares and investing in our business with an overall goal of maintaining strong long-term growth rates.

提醒一下，正如我之前所討論的，2022 年底燃油價格的快速下跌使當年調整後的自由現金流增加了約1.5 億美元至1.75 億美元，這一情況在2023 年發生了逆轉。考慮到這一點，2023 年調整後的自由現金流略低於我們通常預期的調整後淨利。我們致力於透過回購自己的股票和投資我們的業務來推動強勁的現金產生和部署，整體目標是保持強勁的長期成長率。

For the year, we repurchased 1.7 million shares at a total cost of approximately $295 million, including approximately $150 million in the fourth quarter. As a reminder, we also extinguished a $310 million convertible debt in Q3, which further reduced fully diluted share count by 1.55 million in Q4 compared to the prior year. Going forward, we expect to continue to allocate a portion of adjusted free cash flow to repurchase shares. Finally, let's move to 2024 revenue and earnings guidance for the first quarter and the full year.

今年，我們回購了 170 萬股股票，總成本約為 2.95 億美元，其中第四季的成本約為 1.5 億美元。提醒一下，我們還在第三季取消了 3.1 億美元的可轉換債務，這使得第四季的完全稀釋股票數量比去年同期進一步減少了 155 萬股。展望未來，我們預計將繼續分配部分調整後的自由現金流用於回購股票。最後，我們來看看 2024 年第一季和全年的營收和獲利指引。

Starting with the first quarter. We expect to report revenue in the range of $650 million to $660 million. We expect adjusted net income EPS to be between $3.40 and $3.50 per diluted share. For the full year, we expect to report revenue in the range of $2.7 billion to $2.74 billion. We expect adjusted net income EPS to be between $15.90 and $16.40 per diluted share.

從第一季開始。我們預計營收將在 6.5 億至 6.6 億美元之間。我們預計調整後每股攤薄淨利潤將在 3.40 美元至 3.50 美元之間。我們預計全年營收將在 27 億美元至 27.4 億美元之間。我們預計調整後每股攤薄淨利潤將在 15.90 美元至 16.40 美元之間。

Let me spend a couple of minutes going through some of the larger assumptions in our guidance. First, a couple of high-level macro assumptions. We are basing our guidance on U.S. GDP growth of around 1.5% for the year, which we have taken into account in our growth expectations. We are also expecting interest rates to decline in line with the market, which implies 5.25 point rate cuts during the year. We have not included any future M&A activity or share repurchases, except as we have already announced them.

讓我花幾分鐘來回顧我們指南中的一些更大的假設。首先，一些高階宏觀假設。我們的指引是基於美國今年 1.5% 左右的 GDP 成長率，我們已將這一點納入了成長預期。我們也預期利率將與市場一致下降，這意味著年內降息 5.25 個百分點。我們沒有包括任何未來的併購活動或股票回購，除非我們已經宣布了這些活動。

Mobility revenue growth, excluding the change in fuel prices, is expected to be at the high end of our long-term target, which is 4% to 8%, including approximately 2% for the contribution in Payzer. Fuel prices are expected to be lower in 2024 than in 2023, which is a headwind to revenue and earnings that is embedded in our guidance. We are assuming an average fuel price of $3.50 in the first quarter, and $3.55 for the year, which compares to $3.86 for Q1 2023 and $3.82 for the full year 2023.

排除燃油價格的變化，行動收入成長預計將達到我們長期目標的上限，即 4% 至 8%，其中包括 Payzer 的約 2% 的貢獻。預計 2024 年的燃料價格將低於 2023 年，這對我們的指導中包含的收入和收益來說是一個阻力。我們假設第一季的平均燃油價格為 3.50 美元，全年平均燃油價格為 3.55 美元，而 2023 年第一季的平均燃油價格為 3.86 美元，2023 年全年的平均燃油價格為 3.82 美元。

The fuel price decline is expected to reduce revenue and earnings per share by approximately $18 million and $0.27 per share in Q1 and $54 million and $0.81 per share for the full year compared to 2023 using the new sensitivity that I mentioned earlier. Again, this fuel price impact is already embedded in our guidance. Melissa mentioned some of our growth drivers earlier, which I will reiterate, including strong continuing sales engine, pricing optimization, full year benefit impact of Payzer and stabilization in the portfolio from the credit policy changes made a year ago, which will also reduce the revenue drag from lower late fees that we saw in 2023.

使用我之前提到的新敏感性，與2023 年相比，燃油價格下跌預計將導致第一季的收入和每股收益減少約1800 萬美元和每股0.27 美元，全年減少約5400 萬美元和每股收益和收益0.81 美元。同樣，燃料價格的影響已經納入我們的指導中。梅麗莎早些時候提到了我們的一些成長動力，我將重申這一點，包括強勁的持續銷售引擎、定價優化、Payzer 的全年效益影響以及一年前信貸政策變化帶來的投資組合的穩定性，這也將減少收入這是由於我們在 2023 年看到的滯納金較低所致。

Corporate Payments segment is expected to grow high single digits. Similar to 2023 results, we expect the net interchange rate to come down slightly, mainly due to customer mix. We see significant demand for travel and expect to improve nontravel revenue growth in 2024. Finally, the Benefits segment is expected to grow 10% to 15%. We have completed the open enrollment season, giving us confidence in the continued growth of this business. Anticipated growth in custodial assets and tailwinds from organic growth and the census acquisition are expected to more than offset the loss of an individual Medicare Advantage customer. We are on track to remove $100 million of operating costs on a run rate basis by the end of 2024 as we previously outlined.

企業支付業務預計將實現高個位數成長。與 2023 年的結果類似，我們預期淨兌換率將略有下降，這主要是由於客戶組合所致。我們看到旅行需求龐大，預計 2024 年非旅行收入成長將有所改善。最後，福利業務預計將成長 10% 至 15%。我們已經完成了公開招生季，這讓我們對這項業務的持續成長充滿信心。託管資產的預期成長以及有機成長和人口普查收購帶來的推動力預計將足以抵消個人 Medicare Advantage 客戶的損失。正如我們之前概述的那樣，我們預計在 2024 年底前按運行率消除 1 億美元的營運成本。

We expect adjusted operating income margins to trend up through the year as we get the benefit of these cost savings measures and the impact of pricing initiatives that -- and scale that Melissa spoke about earlier. As I mentioned earlier, our decision to exit the swaps, pulled cash forward, but also results in higher interest expense in 2024. The impact is $0.19 per share in Q1 and $0.52 per share for the full year. Again, this is reflected in our guidance. As we have discussed, we aim to balance our fixed and floating rate assets and liabilities such that we would not expect material changes to overall adjusted earnings this year if there are changes in benchmark interest rates, although there could be impacts to individual segments. All of this leads to EPS growth in the range of 7% to 11%, isolating out our fuel price degradation and FX, we would expect adjusted EPS growth to be in the range of 13% to 17%.

我們預計，隨著我們受益於這些成本節約措施以及梅麗莎之前談到的定價舉措和規模的影響，調整後的營業利潤率將在全年呈上升趨勢。正如我之前提到的，我們退出掉期的決定雖然提前了現金，但也導致 2024 年利息支出增加。第一季的影響為每股 0.19 美元，全年為每股 0.52 美元。這再次反映在我們的指導中。正如我們所討論的，我們的目標是平衡我們的固定利率和浮動利率資產和負債，這樣，如果基準利率發生變化，我們預計今年的整體調整後收益不會發生重大變化，儘管可能會對個別部門產生影響。所有這些導致每股收益成長在 7% 至 11% 範圍內，排除燃油價格下降和外匯影響，我們預計調整後每股收益成長將在 13% 至 17% 範圍內。

As I complete my prepared remarks, I would like to emphasize again how pleased we were with our results Q4 and our outlook for 2024. We have great confidence in our ability to win new customers, expand with existing customers and bring new products to market all leading to continued long-term growth of the company. With that, operator, please open the line for questions.

在完成準備好的演講時，我想再次強調我們對第四季度的業績和 2024 年的展望感到非常滿意。我們對贏得新客戶、擴大現有客戶以及將新產品推向市場的能力充滿信心。從而帶動公司的持續長期發展。那麼，接線員，請開通提問線路。

(Operator Instructions). Our first question comes from the line of Darrin Peller with Wolfe Research.

（操作員說明）。我們的第一個問題來自沃爾夫研究中心的達林‧佩勒 (Darrin Peller)。

Maybe just touch a little more on the confidence in underlying just fundamentals given corporate payment yields fell a bit year-over-year? And maybe just a little more on the Benefits segment. When you think about guidance relative to recent trends, I'd love to hear a little more color on that first, if you don't mind.

鑑於企業支付收益率同比略有下降，也許只是多談談對基本面的信心？也許只是在福利部分再多介紹一點。當您考慮與近期趨勢相關的指導時，如果您不介意的話，我很想先聽到更多關於這一點的資訊。

Sure. Good morning. And I'm going to start -- with part of our confidence in next year is line of sight. We ended 2023, we grew revenue 13%, excluding fuel prices in FX. And if you look at the midpoint of our guidance for '24, it's 9% on the same basis. And going into that, if you go into -- I won't go into the segment now, Jagtar, if he wants to. But that across the business and one of the most important things for us is to continue the sales momentum that we had in 2023. We'll get a benefit of the sales tail of what we sold this year, and we expect our sales professionals to continue to deliver in 2024. We also have pricing levers that we're going to continue to use, which we did in mobility in '23, and we'll continue to in '24.

當然。早安.我要開始──我們對明年的信心部分來自於視線。截至 2023 年，我們的收入成長了 13%（不包括外匯燃料價格）。如果你看看我們 24 年指導的中點，在同樣的基礎上它是 9%。說到這一點，如果你進入——我現在不會進入這個部分，賈格塔，如果他願意的話。但在整個業務中，對我們來說最重要的事情之一就是繼續保持 2023 年的銷售勢頭。我們將從今年銷售的產品中受益，我們希望我們的銷售專業人員能夠在2024 年繼續交付。我們還將繼續使用定價槓桿，我們在23 年在行動領域做到了這一點，我們將在24 年繼續這樣做。

We'll Get the benefit of the annualization on the changes we made from our credit policies, which will give us a lift from a comparability standpoint, both on late fees and on attrition. And then we'll get a full year benefit of the acquisitions. And specifically, you asked about corporate payments. On the corporate payment side, we are expecting to see lift on the nontravel part of our business, and you can see that has come true sequentially. Each quarter, we've come up a little bit over the last couple of quarters, and we're expecting that momentum to continue into 2024.

我們將受益於我們對信貸政策所做的改變的年化，這將使我們從可比性的角度來看，在滯納金和人員流失方面都有所提升。然後我們將獲得全年的收購收益。具體來說，您詢問了公司付款問題。在企業支付方面，我們預計我們業務的非旅行部分會有所提升，您可以看到這一點已經逐漸實現。過去幾季我們每季都會取得一些進步，我們預計這種勢頭將持續到 2024 年。

And that's coming from the pipeline that we have on our embedded payments product as well as the success we've had with our direct sales force, which is becoming a more meaningful part of the business. And then we expect our travel business to become a little bit more muted in -- and from a growth perspective in 2024 compared to '23, which was bullish we're coming off a 40% spend volume growth in the fourth quarter of 2023. And so we're expecting, as you go through the course of 2024, that, that growth will moderate.

這來自我們的嵌入式支付產品的管道以及我們的直銷團隊所取得的成功，這正在成為業務中更有意義的一部分。然後，我們預計我們的旅遊業務將變得更加平靜——從成長的角度來看，與23 年相比，2024 年我們的旅遊業務將變得更加平靜，這對我們在2023 年第四季的支出量成長40% 的前景是樂觀的。因此，我們預計，隨著 2024 年的到來，這種成長將會放緩。

Okay. All right. That's a great -- Go ahead, Jagtar. I'm sorry.

好的。好的。太棒了——加油，捷格塔。對不起。

No. I was just going to -- I think Melissa had all the key points. I was just going to reiterate, I think, Darrin, you are focused on benefits and corporate payments and the question, I would say, of benefits, right? In '23, we've got a lot of benefit from interest rates of our 32% growth in '23, a little bit more than half of it came from rates, not expecting that to repeat in '24. So if you take that out, and look at what's left, right? We've got a little bit of benefit from census. I mentioned the customer that's leaving.

不，我只是想——我認為梅麗莎已經掌握了所有要點。我只是想重申一下，達林，你關注的是福利和公司付款，以及我想說的福利問題，對吧？ 23 年，我們從 23 年 32% 的利率成長中獲益匪淺，其中一半多一點來自利率，預計不會在 24 年重演。所以如果你把它拿出來，看看剩下的是什麼，對吧？我們從人口普查中得到了一些好處。我提到了要離開的顧客。

But if you net those two out, what you find is that the underlying business continues to perform as it did in '23, and we feel really good about that. And then on the corporate payment side, right, as Melissa mentioned, a little more growth in our non-travel business mainly because we've got good visibility to the partners that we work with as well as increase in confidence in our direct business. I pointed out in my prepared remarks that, that direct business was about half the growth in the nontravel part this quarter. And so we're really pleased with the events we've made there and expect that to continue into 2024. So we feel good about it.

但如果你將這兩者剔除，你會發現基礎業務繼續像 23 年那樣表現，我們對此感覺非常好。然後在企業支付方面，正如梅麗莎所提到的，我們的非旅行業務有更多的成長，主要是因為我們對合作夥伴有了良好的了解，並且對我們的直接業務信心增強。我在準備好的發言中指出，直接業務約佔本季非旅行部分成長的一半。因此，我們對在那裡舉辦的活動感到非常滿意，並預計這種情況將持續到 2024 年。所以我們對此感覺良好。

That I guess just my very quick follow-up would be on the corporate payment side. Just to make sure we're clear. The medium-term targets I mean there's obviously a lot of puts and takes on this year on the high single-digit core payments growth. But when we think about the medium term, it's still 10% to 15% if you could just make sure -- reiterate if you still have conviction in that. And then I guess with all these moving parts, it probably is clear that why it would reaccelerate. But what would be your conviction in the driving forces of that back to 10% to 15% again?

我想我的快速跟進將是在公司支付方面。只是為了確保我們清楚。中期目標 我的意思是，今年顯然有很多關於高個位數核心支付成長的決定和承擔。但當我們考慮中期時，如果你能確定——重申一下，如果你仍然堅信這一點，那麼它仍然是 10% 到 15%。然後我想有了所有這些移動部件，很可能很清楚為什麼它會重新加速。但您對再次回到 10% 至 15% 的驅動力有何看法？

Yes. I would describe those as long-term targets, the 10% to 15%. But as you're going into this year, you're moderating off from a really strong travel growth here. And so that's -- our expectation is that, that's going to decline in the course of the year. We'll see how that actually plays out, but that's the assumption we have in our guidance. We also are seeing some really good ramp that's happening outside of travel. So you ask about confidence on our ability to hit our long-term growth targets. It's because of the ramp we're seeing outside of travel as well.

是的。我將這些描述為長期目標，即 10% 到 15%。但隨著今年的到來，這裡真正強勁的旅遊成長正在放緩。因此，我們的預期是，這一數字在今年將會下降。我們將看看實際情況如何，但這是我們在指導中的假設。我們也看到旅行之外發生了一些非常好的增長。因此，您詢問我們對實現長期成長目標的能力的信心。這是因為我們在旅行之外也看到了坡道。

Our next question comes from the line of Sanjay Sakhrani with KBW.

我們的下一個問題來自 KBW 的 Sanjay Sakhrani。

I guess first question just on the guide and sort of the macro forecast. It sounds like you guys are being pretty conservative with the GDP outlook. I'm just curious if there's something you're seeing or is that just being intentionally conservative. Just trying to get a little color there.

我想第一個問題只是關於宏觀預測的指導和排序。聽起來你們對 GDP 前景相當保守。我只是好奇你是否看到了一些東西，或者只是故意保守。只是想在那裡得到一點顏色。

Yes, Sanjay. So what we do during our planning process is we go out to a pretty large bank group economists at Moody's, S&P, the Fed, other institutions that are that are publishing GDP forecast. And when we could average that up against the 20 institutions that we survey, we see about 1.5% is the average. And so we use that in our planning process. We're not trying to kind of make up what we think GDP is going to do. We really use it based upon what external parties are saying.

是的，桑傑。因此，我們在規劃過程中所做的就是向穆迪、標準普爾、聯準會以及其他正在發布 GDP 預測的機構的相當大的銀行集團經濟學家尋求幫助。當我們對我們調查的 20 家機構進行平均時，我們發現大約 1.5% 是平均值。所以我們在規劃過程中使用它。我們並不是試圖虛構 GDP 的預期結果。我們確實根據外部各方的說法來使用它。

And I guess like what you've seen year-to-date with the weather and stuff, I mean, there's nothing that has led you to be more cautious or anything like that?

我想就像你今年迄今為止所看到的天氣和其他東西一樣，我的意思是，沒有什麼能讓你更加謹慎或類似的事情嗎？

No. And from a trend perspective, there's nothing that we've seen. Same-store sales was down in the fourth quarter in North American fleet, which was included in our numbers by 1.5% over the road has been down throughout the course of the year for 2%. And we just are assuming that the over-the-road market is stable in our numbers as opposed to seeing a significant rebound. So there's a little bit -- I'd say just a little bit of weakness that are coming through. Some of that we think is weather-related. And we'll know more as you see that play out in the first quarter. But anything that we've seen coming through January.

不。從趨勢的角度來看，我們什麼也沒看到。北美車隊第四季的同店銷售額下降了 1.5%，全年下降了 2%。我們只是假設公路市場的數據是穩定的，而不是看到顯著反彈。所以，我想說的是，有一點點弱點正在出現。我們認為其中一些與天氣有關。當你看到第一季的表現時，我們會知道更多。但我們一月份所看到的一切都是如此。

WEX has been in line with expectations in January.

WEX 一月份的表現符合預期。

Yes.

是的。

Got it. And then Melissa, you have talked about the benefit of the annualized benefit of the acquisitions. Maybe you could just talk a little bit about the contribution. And then Payzer, I know it wasn't really added to earnings, but maybe sort of what you guys expect in 2024?

知道了。然後梅麗莎，您談到了收購的年化收益的好處。也許你可以簡單談談貢獻。然後是 Payzer，我知道它並沒有真正增加到收益中，但也許是你們對 2024 年的預期？

Payzer itself, we are expecting that to continue to grow at the rate it was. So plus 20% in our guidance in 2024, when you accumulate both the acquisitions, it's in our long-term target at 2% to 3% of overall revenue growth, and it really is not material to earnings. Because Payzer came in, we talked about the fact that was dilutive last year, that they're moving it to accretion during the course of the year. So didn't really have much impact from an earnings perspective, but it's giving us a two different lift in revenue.

Payzer 本身，我們預計它將繼續以原來的速度成長。因此，加上我們 2024 年指引中的 20%，當你累積這兩項收購時，我們的長期目標是佔整體收入成長 2% 到 3%，這對獲利來說確實並不重要。因為 Payzer 進來了，我們談到了去年稀釋的事實，他們在這一年中將其轉向增值。因此，從獲利角度來看，並沒有產生太大影響，但它為我們帶來了兩種不同的收入提升。

Our next question comes from the line of Ramsey El-Assal with Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的拉姆齊·阿薩爾 (Ramsey El-Assal)。

I wanted to ask in the nontravel part of corporate payments. How much exposure you have to political ad spending in 2024? recall that, that was a vertical that you were exposed to, I believe. And I'm just curious how much you think that's going to benefit you this year, given it wasn't really in numbers last year as there wasn't a lot of political spending?

我想問企業支付的非旅行部分。 2024 年您的政治廣告支出有多少？回想一下，我相信這是您所接觸過的垂直領域。我只是好奇你認為今年這會為你帶來多少好處，因為去年的政治支出不多，所以數字並不大？

It's actually a really good memory. It was part of our model many years ago. It is actually not part of our model now. And so we really don't expect or not planning to have any meaningful impact based on the election.

其實這真的是一段非常美好的回憶。許多年前，它是我們模型的一部分。它實際上現在不是我們模型的一部分。因此，我們確實不期望或不打算根據選舉產生任何有意義的影響。

Okay. And then I also wanted to ask about the strong sales momentum in mobility, and just ask you to kind of break that down a little bit for us in terms of what's driving that. It seems like you're having some success in the marketplace is that sales investment incentive structures? Is it other factors that might be helping you to convert some customers out there in the marketplace?

好的。然後我還想問一下行動領域強勁的銷售勢頭，請您為我們稍微解釋一下推動這一勢頭的因素。看來你們在市場上取得了一些成功，是因為銷售投資激勵結構嗎？是否還有其他因素可以幫助您在市場上轉換一些客戶？

Yes. It's been a long legacy of ours to deliver from a sales perspective and across the business. But in mobility, we've had a multichannel approach where we're pulling in business for our partners with which there's over 20 branded relationships, the names that you would recognize. And then on top of that, under direct channels. What I would say for the course of the last couple of years, there's been a significant conversion where that business is coming from, where is much more size is coming through the business digitally. And so a lot of the work and change in work has come from increasing our marketing effort, changing ways that the business comes through, so it's coming through more fluidly through our digital channels.

是的。從銷售角度和整個業務範圍內提供服務是我們的悠久傳統。但在行動領域，我們採用了多通路方法，為我們的合作夥伴爭取業務，我們與這些合作夥伴有超過 20 個品牌關係，這些名字你都認識。然後最重要的是，在直接管道下。我想說的是，在過去幾年中，業務來源發生了重大轉變，透過數位化方式實現了更大規模的業務。因此，許多工作和工作變化都來自於增加我們的行銷力度，改變業務的運作方式，因此它可以透過我們的數位管道更加流暢地進行。

And so we've seen the benefit of that with the fact that we are actually bringing in order with left sales costs associated with that. And so when I talk about the success of that, I feel like we've done a great job pivoting and marketing in a different way into that part of the business. And we changed our credit practices in the course of the last year. And so that really required us to reboot applications volume activity in the course of the year. And you can see the benefit of that has come through really every quarter. The improved applications that are coming, some of the smaller accounts are getting -- have grown the size of the customers that are coming in are larger than they were a year ago, and therefore, we believe more profitable. And so we -- I feel good about not just the numbers that we're bringing from a sales perspective, but the quality of what we're bringing in.

因此，我們已經看到了這樣做的好處，因為我們實際上正在整理與此相關的剩餘銷售成本。因此，當我談到這一點的成功時，我覺得我們在以不同的方式轉向這部分業務並進行行銷方面做得非常出色。我們在去年改變了我們的信用做法。因此，這確實需要我們在這一年中重新啟動應用程式量活動。您可以看到每個季度都帶來了好處。即將推出的改進應用程序，一些較小的客戶正在獲得——已經增加了進來的客戶規模比一年前更大，因此，我們相信利潤會更高。因此，我不僅對我們從銷售角度帶來的數字感到滿意，而且對我們帶來的產品品質感到滿意。

Our next question comes from the line of Andrew Jeffrey with Truist Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自 Truist Securities 的 Andrew Jeffrey。

I appreciate you taking the questions. Lisa, I'm curious about your comments about e-card attach in travel. And I wonder if you could talk about different use cases. I know the merchant model is one of the drivers, but are there other use cases to which you're referring, that's driving attach? And then I wonder if you can expand a little bit in the same vein, just in corporate, the -- you saw good volume growth and a little bit slower revenue growth this quarter ,a little better than 3Q and just sort of the dynamics of e-card acceptance and attach in that segment would be really helpful.

感謝您提出問題。麗莎，我很好奇您對旅行中附加電子賀卡的評論。我想知道您是否可以談談不同的用例。我知道商家模型是驅動因素之一，但是您提到的還有其他用例嗎？即驅動附加？然後我想知道您是否可以以同樣的方式擴大一點，就在企業方面，您看到本季度銷量增長良好，但收入增長稍慢一些，比第三季度好一點，只是一些動態電子卡接受並附加在該部分將非常有幫助。

Yes. And your last point better than is 2Q and 3Q and you can look sequentially, it's improved each quarter. Going back to the travel question. There's two real primary drivers of the volume growth that we're seeing within travel that we were trying to highlight. One is the fact that we've been working with our partners to shift volume to us in most of our partners or many of them use multiple providers. And so we've been working with them to make sure that we're set up in a way that creates the value to them to move volume to us.

是的。最後一點比第二季和第三季更好，你可以按順序查看，每季都有所改進。回到旅行問題。我們在旅遊領域看到了兩個真正的主要推動因素，我們試圖強調這一點。一是我們一直在與合作夥伴合作，將大多數合作夥伴的流量轉移給我們，或其中許多合作夥伴使用多個提供者。因此，我們一直在與他們合作，以確保我們的設置方式能夠為他們創造價值，從而將銷售轉移給我們。

And then the second part of that is the migration what you're talking about, which is largely this migration to the merchant model where the virtual card transaction actually is in play. Otherwise, people are paying the hotel directly. And we have benefited to both of those things, and you can see that coming through the 40% increase in travel spend we saw in the fourth quarter.

第二部分是您所說的遷移，這主要是向虛擬卡交易實際發揮作用的商家模式的遷移。否則，人們會直接向酒店付款。我們從這兩件事中受益，你可以看到我們第四季的旅行支出增加了 40%。

And then on the nontravel side, I would say, as I mentioned earlier, we saw really good results out of our direct investments. So we did get good volume growth overall. A lot of that volume growth was in the partner channel, and that's just our partner is performing well. But we had started making investments in the direct business, late '22 accelerating into '23. And so we expected to start to see the impact of that as we go through '23. And so in the fourth quarter, we did what we expected would start to see impact. And the rate is a little higher or a bit higher on the direct channel. So that drove, like I said, half the revenue benefit in the fourth quarter in the nontravel side. So it's an area that we continue to invest in, we continue to watch, and we continue to be excited about.

然後在非旅遊方面，我想說，正如我之前提到的，我們從直接投資中看到了非常好的結果。因此，我們總體上確實取得了良好的銷售成長。銷售量的成長很大一部分來自合作夥伴管道，而這只是我們的合作夥伴表現良好。但我們已經開始對直接業務進行投資，從 22 世紀末加速到 23 世紀。因此，我們預計在 23 年後將開始看到其影響。因此，在第四季度，我們做了我們預期會開始看到影響的事情。而且直通通路的費率會高一點或高一點。正如我所說，這推動了第四季度非旅遊部門收入收益的一半。因此，這是一個我們持續投資、持續關注、持續感到興奮的領域。

Our next question comes from the line of Dave Koning with Baird.

我們的下一個問題來自戴夫·科寧和貝爾德的對話。

Yes. Good job. On the mobility segment guidance, the high end of the range, I guess, two questions, first of all, how do you kind of see that through the year? I assume Q1 starts a little lower. And then secondly, gallons and transactions have been pretty flat the last few quarters. Is that what's going to accelerate? Or is it something else around yield or account fees or finance revenue?

是的。好工作。關於行動細分市場的指導，我想是範圍的高端，有兩個問題，首先，您如何看待這一年的情況？我認為第一季的起點要低一些。其次，過去幾季的加侖數和交易量相當平穩。這樣會加速嗎？還是與收益率、帳戶費用或財務收入有關的其他因素？

Yes. So let me (inaudible) first your question about how it goes through the year. So you're absolutely right. We expect that to accelerate over the course of the year. I'd say there's a few things driving the mobility segment. The first is the acquisition of Payzer, and I think Melissa mentioned this earlier, that adds about 2 points of the growth. right? If you back off of Payzer, there's a couple of things that we saw in '23 that we think we start to lap in '24.

是的。首先讓我（聽不清楚）問你這一年的狀況。所以你是完全正確的。我們預計這一趨勢將在今年加速。我想說有一些因素推動了行動出行領域的發展。第一個是收購Payzer，我想Melissa之前提到過這一點，這增加了約2個百分點的成長。正確的？如果你退出 Payzer，我們在 23 年看到的一些事情我們認為我們在 24 年開始圈速。

So the first thing we saw was lower late fees that was roughly 3 percent-ish drag on '23 revenue in the mobility segment. And that was the result of the new -- the tighter credit that we had in 2023. Obviously, as I said in my prepared remarks, we think that was decision because the credit benefit outweighed the drag in late fees. But as we get through '24, we're not further tightening credit policy, so we'll start to lap that, and that won't be a drag. That also same thing also impacted gallons in 2023 because we were tightened credit for certain customers, combined with weakness in the OTR segment. we saw some low gallon volume growth in 2023. Again, that's something we will start to lap those items in '24, Hence, our assumption of acceleration in '24 on both gallons and revenue.

因此，我們首先看到的是滯納金的降低，這對 23 年行動領域的收入造成了約 3% 左右的拖累。這是新政策的結果——我們在 2023 年實行了更緊縮的信貸。顯然，正如我在準備好的發言中所說，我們認為這是決定，因為信貸帶來的好處超過了滯納金的拖累。但隨著 24 世紀的到來，我們不會進一步收緊信貸政策，因此我們將開始採取這項措施，這不會成為一個拖累。同樣的事情也影響了 2023 年的加侖數，因為我們收緊了對某些客戶的信貸，再加上 OTR 領域的疲軟。我們在 2023 年看到了一些較低的加侖銷售成長。同樣，我們將在 24 年開始關注這些項目，因此，我們假設加侖和收入在 24 年都會加速。

Got you. That was very helpful. And then secondly, it looks like there's no buybacks in the guidance just based on how you kind of guided Q1 and then full year being higher. What's the plan for use of cash this year? I mean, is it just to pay down debt given the higher rates now without the swaps?

明白你了。這非常有幫助。其次，根據您對第一季和全年更高的指導方式，指導中似乎沒有回購。今年現金使用計畫如何？我的意思是，考慮到現在利率較高而沒有掉期，這只是為了償還債務嗎？

So our intention is to use the cash both for acquisitions and for share buyback. And obviously, like we've been buying back stock. We bought back 1.7 million shares last year. And so we have like a strong emphasis that we believe that our stock is still at a good value, and we'll continue to place emphasis there. That being said, we will also, at the same time, look at pipelines for M&A transactions and evaluate that as another use of capital.

因此，我們的目的是將現金用於收購和股票回購。顯然，就像我們一直在回購股票一樣。去年我們回購了170萬股。因此，我們強烈強調，我們相信我們的股票仍然具有良好的價值，我們將繼續強調這一點。話雖如此，我們也將同時研究併購交易的管道，並將其作為資本的另一個用途進行評估。

Great. Well, it's great to see it's not in guidance. It's kind of an upside driver.

偉大的。嗯，很高興看到它不在指導範圍內。這是一種上行驅動因素。

Our next question comes from the line of Trevor Williams with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自特雷弗威廉斯和傑弗里斯的對話。

Great. I wanted to ask on benefits. Melissa, maybe if you could revisit the longer-term growth algorithm in the 15% to 20% targets you guys had laid out earlier in 2023. And account growth has slowed the last couple of quarters. I'm curious if you think high single-digit account growth is kind of the right normalized level that we should be thinking about going forward? And just if that's the case, how we bridge from that to the 15%-plus longer-term target?

偉大的。我想問一下福利。梅麗莎，也許您可以重新審視您在 2023 年早些時候制定的 15% 至 20% 目標中的長期增長演算法。過去幾個季度，帳戶增長已經放緩。我很好奇您是否認為單位數的高帳戶增長是我們未來應該考慮的正確的標準化水平？如果確實如此，我們如何實現 15% 以上的長期目標？

Sure. If you look at Devenir's last report, they've got long-term HSA growth at 10%. So still in the double digits. I think that there are also cycles for that. What we found going through just most recent open enrollment season is we had more non decisions than we did the year before, which was like a really strong sales cycle. And so I think they're going to have anomalies within each of the sales cycles. But over the long term, we do feel good about our ability to grow accounts. And then on top of that, what we're seeing now, which we think will continue, is that the custodial asset base will outpace the growth of the accounts.

當然。如果你看一下 Devenir 的最新報告，他們的 HSA 長期成長率為 10%。所以仍然是兩位數。我認為這也是有周期的。我們發現，在最近的公開招生季節，我們比前一年做出了更多的非決定，這就像一個非常強勁的銷售週期。因此，我認為他們在每個銷售週期內都會出現異常情況。但從長遠來看，我們確實對自己增加客戶的能力感到滿意。最重要的是，我們現在看到的（我們認為這種情況將會持續下去）是託管資產基礎將超過帳戶的成長。

And that is a meaningful shift. As we've added that capability, the revenue per account has gone up pretty significantly. And so the ability to create a new source of revenue that is a multiplier effect to the base of our portfolio. And then on top of that, we are continuing to cross-sell into that customer base, the products that we've added, which are COBRA product, our benefit registration product, the most recently, the Ascensus capability. And so when you aggregate all those pieces and then the expectations that healthcare costs are going to go up and so that spend balances are going to increase, meaning the actual purchase volume will also be higher than accounts.

這是一個有意義的轉變。隨著我們添加該功能，每個帳戶的收入顯著增加。因此，創造新收入來源的能力對我們的投資組合基礎產生乘數效應。除此之外，我們繼續向該客戶群交叉銷售我們添加的產品，包括 COBRA 產品、我們的福利註冊產品，以及最近的 Ascensus 功能。因此，當您匯總所有這些部分時，醫療保健成本將會上升，因此支出餘額將會增加，這意味著實際購買量也將高於帳戶數量。

Those were what drove our expectations as the long-term growth rates of this segment, which is something that we'll keep talking about in the course of the year. Obviously, we're guiding below that in 2024 based on what we're seeing right now. We do feel very good growth rates, though, competitively that we are winning our fair share in the marketplace.

這些推動了我們對該細分市場長期成長率的預期，這是我們今年將繼續討論的問題。顯然，根據我們現在所看到的情況，我們的 2024 年指導值將低於這一水平。不過，我們確實感覺成長率非常高，我們在市場上贏得了公平的份額。

That's helpful. And for Jagtar, the payment processing rate in fuel for the year, that was up about 14 basis points, and you've referenced the last couple of quarters, the benefit that you've gotten from the escalators tied to interest rates. Could you give us a sense just for how much of a tailwind the interest rate escalators were for the year and with what you're expecting in terms of interest rates for 2024? Just how much of that tailwind you would expect to reverse this year?

這很有幫助。對於 Jagtar 來說，今年的燃料支付處理率上升了約 14 個基點，您提到了過去幾個季度，您從與利率掛鉤的自動扶梯中獲得的好處。您能否讓我們了解今年利率自動扶梯的順風程度以及您對 2024 年利率的預期？您預計今年這種順風勢會扭轉多少？

Yes. So I would say the increase in the interchange rate mobility was a mix between the tailwind of interest rates and also price negotiations we've had with merchant vendors where we've been able to improve price and Melissa talked about pricing optimization earlier. So it's a combination of the two. We expect next year, I'd mentioned the assumptions around five quarter point rate reduction. So we expect that to be a slight drag on mobility revenue next year. The way I think about it is 100 basis point movement in rates on an annualized basis is about a $50 million impact on mobility revenue. So that's the way I would model it.

是的。因此，我想說，匯率流動性的增加是利率的順風和我們與商家供應商進行的價格談判的結合，我們已經能夠提高價格，梅麗莎早些時候談到了定價優化。所以它是兩者的結合。我們預計明年，我提到了關於降息五個百分點的假設。因此，我們預計這將輕微拖累明年的行動收入。我的想法是，按年計算，費率變動 100 個基點將對出行收入產生約 5,000 萬美元的影響。這就是我建模的方式。

Our next question comes from the line of James Faucette with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 James Faucette。

Just a couple of follow-up questions for me. First, within mobility and the Fleet business, can you talk about what you're seeing on the same-store basis? And what are the drivers there? And can you give us any color on how -- what bearing you might be seeing across customer sets?

我還有幾個後續問題。首先，在行動和車隊業務方面，您能談談您在同店基礎上看到的情況嗎？那裡的驅動因素是什麼？您能否告訴我們您在客戶群中可能會看到什麼軸承？

In the fourth quarter numbers, we saw a negative 1.5% same-store sales in North American fleet and a negative 2% over the road on same-store sales. I said this earlier, but one of the things that we're curious about is whether weather had an impact on that. So we'll see how that plays out in the course of this year. Because it was pretty broad brush. It wasn't -- it was -- if you look across the various SICs, it was pretty much the same across every category, which is unusual. And so from our perspective, we think that was probably more weather related. On the over-the-road side and that we continue to hear from our customers the same things have stabilized. They're coming off a better comp. But we're -- they're not anticipating to seeing a big rebound anytime soon, and that's what we factored into our guidance, just this idea of stability.

在第四季的數據中，我們看到北美車隊的同店銷售額負 1.5%，公路同店銷售額負 2%。我之前說過，但我們好奇的事情之一是天氣是否對此產生影響。因此，我們將看看今年的情況如何。因為它是相當廣泛的刷子。事實並非如此，而是，如果你縱觀各種 SIC，你會發現每個類別的情況都幾乎相同，這很不尋常。因此，從我們的角度來看，我們認為這可能更多地與天氣有關。在公路方面，我們繼續從客戶那裡聽到同樣的情況已經穩定下來。他們的比賽表現更好。但我們——他們預計不會很快看到大幅反彈，這就是我們在指導中考慮的因素，只是這種穩定的想法。

Yes. Got it. Makes sense. And then just -- like I know it's small and super early, but just since you launched the venture capital fund, I always think that, that's kind of an interesting opportunity and exercise for WEX. Just any early views or learnings as you start to go down that and the types of potential investments that you're looking at?

是的。知道了。說得通。然後，就像我知道的那樣，規模很小，而且非常早，但自從你們推出創投基金以來，我一直認為，這對 WEX 來說是一個有趣的機會和鍛鍊。當你開始研究這個問題以及你正在考慮的潛在投資類型時，有什麼早期的觀點或經驗嗎？

For us to reinforce the idea that was the right path. We've got a lot of early-stage companies that are out there, many of them are pre-revenue. And it's given us an ability to learn in that marketplace without putting a lot of capital into it. And so far, I would say what we have made just a few investments. The companies that we've invested in are still out there in the marketplace, proving out their value propositions.

讓我們強化這個想法：這是正確的道路。我們有很多處於早期階段的公司，其中許多還沒有獲利。它使我們能夠在該市場中學習，而無需投入大量資金。到目前為止，我想說的是我們只進行了一些投資。我們投資的公司仍然存在於市場中，證明了它們的價值主張。

They all have interesting ones that are solving very specific niches in the marketplace. And what we're able to do is then expose that to our customers and get a sense of what's going to get traction, what isn't. And so our objective is to have a open network where we're exposing through APIs, many different types of functionality, some of which will own, some of which we're partnering with others on. And these investments allow us an avenue to do that.

他們都有有趣的產品來解決市場中非常具體的利基市場。然後我們能夠做的就是向我們的客戶展示這一點，並了解什麼會受到關注，什麼不會。因此，我們的目標是建立一個開放的網絡，透過 API 公開許多不同類型的功能，其中一些功能將由我們自己擁有，其中一些功能我們正在與其他人合作。這些投資為我們提供了實現這一目標的途徑。

Our final question comes from the line of Chris Kennedy with William Blair.

我們的最後一個問題來自克里斯·肯尼迪和威廉·布萊爾的對話。

Just a quick one on pricing. It's been mentioned a few times this morning, but can you talk about kind of what the impact was last year and some of the levers that you have going into 2024?

只是簡單介紹一下定價。今天早上已經多次提到這一點，但您能否談談去年的影響以及您在 2024 年採取的一些措施？

Yes. The place we're talking about pricing, just really specific is in our mobility segment. It's the place that we continue to experiment within that customer segment or different ways of packaging and pricing to those customers. And also, you've seen the benefit of renegotiation of merchant rates. And so as we've gone into contract renewals with our merchants, we've been able to, on average, negotiate up on rates.

是的。我們談論定價的地方，非常具體的是我們的行動領域。在這裡，我們繼續在該客戶群中進行試驗，或為這些客戶提供不同的包裝和定價方式。而且，您也看到了重新協商商家費率的好處。因此，當我們與商家續約時，平均而言，我們能夠就費率進行談判。

And as Jagtar said, we've also got the benefit of interest rate escalators that were in there as well. And so when we talk about pricing, it's this idea that we think that we'll continue to get benefit on the merchant rates. We also will continue to experiment with different ways of pricing into our existing customer base. and we'll get a lift to that course of the year.

正如 Jagtar 所說，我們也受益於那裡的利率自動扶梯。因此，當我們談論定價時，我們認為我們將繼續從商家費率中受益。我們也將繼續嘗試針對現有客戶群的不同定價方式。我們將順利完成今年的課程。

Yes. And I would add. So I'm hesitant to give out a specific dollar amount related to pricing impact. But what I would say from a dollars perspective, we expect a similar impact in '24 that we saw in '23 from pricing. And most -- a lot of voice is -- almost all of which is already baked in because we've completed those negotiations and price changes.

是的。我想補充一點。因此，我對於是否給出與定價影響相關的具體金額猶豫不決。但我想說的是，從美元的角度來看，我們預計 24 年定價會產生與 23 年類似的影響。大多數——很多聲音——幾乎所有這些都已經被考慮在內，因為我們已經完成了這些談判和價格變化。

I would now like to turn the call over to Steve Elder for closing remarks.

我現在想將電話轉給史蒂夫·埃爾德 (Steve Elder)，讓其致閉幕詞。

Yes. I just want to say thank you to everyone for hanging with us a few extra minutes this morning and look forward to speaking with you again next quarter.

是的。我只想對大家表示感謝，感謝大家今天早上與我們一起度過了幾分鐘，並期待下個季度再次與大家交談。

This concludes today's call. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線。