美國廢棄物管理公司 (WM) 2020 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Waste Management Third Quarter 2020 Earnings Release Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

女士們，先生們，感謝您的支持，歡迎來到廢物管理公司 2020 年第三季度收益發布電話會議。（操作員說明）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。（操作員說明）

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Ed Egl, Director of Investor Relations. Thank you. Please go ahead, sir.

我現在想把會議交給今天的演講者，投資者關係總監 Ed Egl。謝謝。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, Lindsay. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our third quarter 2020 earnings conference call. With me this morning are Jim Fish, President and Chief Executive Officer; John Morris, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; and Devina Rankin, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. You will hear prepared comments from each of them today. Jim will cover high-level financials and provide a strategic update. John will cover an operating overview, and Devina will cover the details of the financials.

謝謝你，林賽。大家早上好，感謝您加入我們的 2020 年第三季度收益電話會議。今天早上和我在一起的是總裁兼首席執行官 Jim Fish；執行副總裁兼首席運營官 John Morris；執行副總裁兼首席財務官 Devina Rankin。您今天將聽到他們每個人準備好的評論。Jim 將介紹高級財務信息並提供戰略更新。John 將介紹運營概況，Devina 將介紹財務細節。

Before we get started, please note that we have filed a Form 8-K this morning that includes the earnings press release and is available on our website at www.wm.com. The Form 8-K, the press release and the schedules to the press release include important information.

在我們開始之前，請注意我們今天早上已經提交了一份包含收益新聞稿的 8-K 表格，可以在我們的網站 www.wm.com 上找到。8-K 表格、新聞稿和新聞稿的時間表包含重要信息。

During the call, you will hear forward-looking statements, which are based on current expectations, projections or opinions about future periods. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Some of these risks and uncertainties are discussed in today's press release and in our filings with the SEC, including our most recent Form 10-K and subsequent Form 10-Qs.

在電話會議期間，您將聽到基於當前預期、預測或對未來時期的意見的前瞻性陳述。所有前瞻性陳述都存在風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果出現重大差異。其中一些風險和不確定性在今天的新聞稿和我們提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中進行了討論，包括我們最近的 10-K 表格和隨後的 10-Q 表格。

John will discuss our results in the areas of yield and volume, which, unless otherwise stated, are more specifically references to internal revenue growth, or IRG, from yield or volume. During the call, Jim, John and Devina will discuss operating EBITDA, which is income from operations before depreciation and amortization. Any comparisons, unless otherwise stated, will be with the third quarter of 2019.

約翰將討論我們在收益率和數量方面的結果，除非另有說明，否則更具體地參考收益率或數量的內部收入增長或 IRG。在電話會議中，Jim、John 和 Devina 將討論運營 EBITDA，這是折舊和攤銷前的運營收入。除非另有說明，否則任何比較都將與 2019 年第三季度進行。

Net income, EPS, operating EBITDA and margin and SG&A expense results have been adjusted to enhance comparability by excluding certain items that management believes do not reflect our fundamental business performance or results of operations, including costs incurred in connection with the recently closed acquisition of ADS. These adjusted measures, in addition to free cash flow, are non-GAAP measures. Please refer to the earnings press release and tables, which can be found on the company's website at www.wm.com for reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measures and additional information about our use of non-GAAP measures and non-GAAP projections.

淨收入、每股收益、營業 EBITDA 和利潤率以及 SG&A 費用結果已經過調整，以通過排除管理層認為不能反映我們基本業務績效或運營結果的某些項目來增強可比性，包括與最近完成的 ADS 收購相關的成本.這些調整後的措施，除了自由現金流之外，都是非 GAAP 措施。請參閱收益新聞稿和表格，它們可以在公司網站 www.wm.com 上找到，以了解與最具可比性的 GAAP 衡量指標的對賬以及有關我們使用非 GAAP 衡量指標和非 GAAP 預測的其他信息。

This call is being recorded and will be available 24 hours a day beginning approximately 1 p.m. Eastern Time today until 5 p.m. Eastern Time on November 16. To hear a replay of the call over the Internet, access the Waste Management website at www.wm.com. To hear a telephonic replay of the call, dial (855) 859-2056 and enter reservation code 9177824. Time-sensitive information provided during today's call, which is occurring on November 2, 2020, may no longer be accurate at the time of a replay. Any redistribution, retransmission or rebroadcast of this call in any form without the expressed written consent of Waste Management is prohibited.

此通話正在錄音中，從下午 1 點左右開始每天 24 小時可用。東部時間今天至下午 5 點。東部時間 11 月 16 日。要通過互聯網收聽通話重播，請訪問 Waste Management 網站 www.wm.com。要收聽電話重播，請撥打 (855) 859-2056 並輸入預訂代碼 9177824。今天的電話會議發生在 2020 年 11 月 2 日，期間提供的時間敏感信息在重播時可能不再準確。未經 Waste Management 明確書面同意，禁止以任何形式重新分發、轉發或轉播此電話。

Now I'll turn the call over to Waste Management's President and CEO, Jim Fish.

現在，我將把電話轉給 Waste Management 的總裁兼首席執行官 Jim Fish。

Thanks, Ed, and thank you all for joining us. I'd like to open the call by welcoming the employees and customers of Advanced Disposal to the Waste Management family. We closed the acquisition last week, and we're excited about the opportunity ahead to create value from this deal. We're also pleased with the concurrent close with GFL Environmental on the divestiture package. I'd like to give it to Richard Burke and the Advanced Disposal team for the great job they did staying focused on operating their business safely and efficiently during the extended close period. The next phase of our journey, the hard work of combining these 2 great companies, has now begun. John will speak a bit more on this topic, but suffice to say, we're very confident in the long-term value of the acquisition, and the integration is off to a great start.

謝謝，埃德，感謝大家加入我們。首先，我想歡迎 Advanced Disposal 的員工和客戶加入 Waste Management 大家庭。我們上週完成了收購，我們對未來從這筆交易中創造價值的機會感到興奮。我們也很高興與 GFL Environmental 同時完成資產剝離計劃。我想感謝理查德·伯克 (Richard Burke) 和 Advanced Disposal 團隊所做的出色工作，他們在延長的關閉期間一直專注於安全高效地運營業務。我們旅程的下一階段，即合併這兩家偉大公司的艱苦工作，現已開始。約翰會就這個話題多說一點，但我只想說，我們對此次收購的長期價值非常有信心，整合有了一個良好的開端。

We're extremely pleased with our third quarter results, which were a testament both to our team's ability to optimize our business in a new environment as well as the progress of the economic recovery in North America. We've consistently pointed to operating EBITDA as the best measure of the health of our business. And despite the challenging backdrop, we delivered third quarter operating EBITDA results in line with last year's record performance and expanded operating EBITDA margin by 70 basis points.

我們對第三季度的業績感到非常滿意，這證明了我們團隊在新環境中優化業務的能力以及北美經濟復甦的進展。我們一直指出，運營 EBITDA 是衡量我們業務健康狀況的最佳指標。儘管背景充滿挑戰，但我們第三季度的運營 EBITDA 結果與去年創紀錄的業績一致，並將運營 EBITDA 利潤率擴大了 70 個基點。

It's been said many times that great companies are able to emerge from tough times stronger than they were going in. In that vein, WM has learned this year that we can permanently operate our business with a lower cost structure. Despite a 2.7% decline in our third quarter revenues, the team was able to improve operating expense as a percent of revenue by 110 basis points and hold SG&A expenses as a percent of revenue relatively flat. This is the second consecutive quarter where we've demonstrated this flexibility in a difficult operating environment, and we're committed to holding on to operating efficiencies and cost savings as our volumes turn positive again.

人們多次說過，偉大的公司能夠從艱難時期中脫穎而出，變得比剛開始時更強大。本著這種精神，WM 今年了解到，我們可以以較低的成本結構永久運營我們的業務。儘管我們第三季度的收入下降了 2.7%，但該團隊能夠將運營費用佔收入的百分比提高 110 個基點，並使 SG&A 費用佔收入的百分比相對持平。這是我們連續第二個季度在困難的運營環境中展示這種靈活性，並且隨著我們的銷量再次轉正，我們致力於保持運營效率和成本節約。

In addition to proactively changing the cost structure of our business, we're taking steps that propel us forward as a stronger, more differentiated company in the eyes of our customers. As I discussed last quarter, our investments in customer service digitalization, or CSD, are unquestionably the right approach, and we've accelerated these investments to reap the benefits sooner. So far this year, we've made considerable progress on this effort that will fundamentally transform our business model by offering our customers greater choice in how to interact with us and by seamlessly connecting the front-end customer experience to our back-end processes. And we've started to see the benefits.

除了積極改變我們業務的成本結構外，我們正在採取措施推動我們在客戶眼中成為一家更強大、更具差異化的公司。正如我在上個季度所討論的那樣，我們對客戶服務數字化 (CSD) 的投資無疑是正確的方法，我們已經加快了這些投資以更快地獲得收益。今年到目前為止，我們在這項工作上取得了相當大的進展，這將從根本上改變我們的商業模式，為我們的客戶提供更多與我們互動的選擇，並將前端客戶體驗無縫連接到我們的後端流程。我們已經開始看到好處。

Our online sales channel is our fastest-growing sales channel, and we've seen an increase in our conversion rates for customers signing up for new service when visiting our e-commerce site. We've also made progress in automating a variety of operational back-office and customer communication processes, which are paving the way for efficiency gains, improved customer experience and further cost reduction.

我們的在線銷售渠道是我們增長最快的銷售渠道，我們已經看到客戶在訪問我們的電子商務網站時註冊新服務的轉化率有所提高。我們還在各種運營後台和客戶溝通流程的自動化方面取得了進展，這為提高效率、改善客戶體驗和進一步降低成本舖平了道路。

To support our CSD journey, we've modified our field sales structure to expand online and inside sales functions while reducing and optimizing outside sales coverage. These adjustments are part of our long-term vision to position our team to engage with customers on the customers' terms, improving customer satisfaction and engagement. It also enables us to reduce our cost of new customer acquisition and improved sales performance at a more efficient cost. We're confident that these strategic sales coverage adjustments, coupled with our digital growth strategy, better support our customers as well as the long-term growth of the business.

為了支持我們的 CSD 之旅，我們修改了我們的現場銷售結構，以擴展在線和內部銷售功能，同時減少和優化外部銷售範圍。這些調整是我們長期願景的一部分，旨在讓我們的團隊按照客戶的條件與客戶互動，從而提高客戶滿意度和參與度。它還使我們能夠以更有效的成本降低新客戶獲取成本並提高銷售業績。我們相信，這些戰略性銷售覆蓋調整，加上我們的數字增長戰略，將更好地支持我們的客戶以及業務的長期增長。

Recycling continues to show the improved results that we expected when we started to change the business model, providing stronger financial results in the third quarter. In addition to our new highly automated MRF in Chicago, we've opened a similar facility in Salt Lake City with another to open soon in Raleigh. Using advanced technology in our recycling facilities is the blueprint for improving our cost structure, producing a higher-quality material and being flexible to changing recycling end-market demands.

回收繼續顯示我們開始改變業務模式時預期的改進結果，在第三季度提供更強勁的財務業績。除了我們在芝加哥新的高度自動化的 MRF 之外，我們還在鹽湖城開設了一個類似的設施，另一個即將在羅利開設。在我們的回收設施中使用先進技術是改善我們成本結構、生產更高質量材料和靈活應對不斷變化的回收終端市場需求的藍圖。

Recycling is only the beginning of our commitment to sustainability. Last month, we published our 2020 Sustainability Report: Building Value Together. The report describes how we are addressing challenges and opportunities related to ESG and doing so in close partnership with our customers, suppliers and communities. Through the crisis of 2020, we've remained steadfast in our commitments to protecting the environment and contributing to a circular economy.

回收只是我們對可持續發展承諾的開始。上個月，我們發布了 2020 年可持續發展報告：共同創造價值。該報告描述了我們如何應對與 ESG 相關的挑戰和機遇，以及如何與我們的客戶、供應商和社區密切合作。在 2020 年的危機中，我們始終堅定不移地履行保護環境和促進循環經濟的承諾。

WM is a leading voice in the call to create domestic end-market demand for recycled content. One of the ways we're walking the talk is our collaboration with Cascade Cart Solutions to develop and purchase residential carts made with post-consumer resin. Another way is our investment in Continuous Materials, a company which develops building materials from hard-to-recycle paper and plastics. Increasing the value of the material that we process increases the economic benefits from recycling, which drives volumes and benefits the environment.

WM 在呼籲創造國內終端市場對回收內容的需求方面處於領先地位。我們言出必行的方式之一是與 Cascade Cart Solutions 合作開發和購買用消費後樹脂製成的家用手推車。另一種方式是我們對 Continuous Materials 的投資，這是一家利用難以回收的紙張和塑料開發建築材料的公司。增加我們加工的材料的價值可以增加回收的經濟效益，從而推動產量並有利於環境。

The shift in our operating model, along with benefits from the acquisition of ADS and our progress in transforming the recycling business, position us for a strong finish to the year with positive momentum heading into 2021. We performed exceptionally well despite the difficulties presented with COVID-19. Our results in the first 9 months of the year give us confidence we can generate free cash flow in excess of $2 billion, exclusive of ADS transaction costs. As we also achieved the highest operating EBITDA margin in the company's history in the third quarter, we're confident we can exceed the high end of our guidance for full year operating EBITDA margin of 28% to 28.5%.

我們運營模式的轉變，加上收購 ADS 帶來的好處以及我們在回收業務轉型方面取得的進展，使我們能夠在今年以強勁的勢頭進入 2021 年。儘管 COVID-19 帶來了困難，但我們的表現非常出色。我們今年前 9 個月的業績讓我們相信，我們可以產生超過 20 億美元的自由現金流，不包括 ADS 交易成本。由於我們在第三季度也實現了公司歷史上最高的營業 EBITDA 利潤率，我們有信心可以超過我們全年營業 EBITDA 利潤率 28% 至 28.5% 的指導上限。

After all we've been through this year, what's most impressive is we expect to finish 2020 within a stone's throw of our all-time high 2019 operating EBITDA. For that, I'm internally grateful to our teammates who have made it happen this year in the face of difficult circumstances.

在我們今年經歷了這麼多之後，最令人印象深刻的是我們預計到 2020 年結束時，我們距離 2019 年的歷史最高運營 EBITDA 僅一步之遙。為此，我從內心感謝我們的隊友，他們在今年面對困難的情況下實現了這一目標。

I'll now turn the call over to John to discuss our operational results for the quarter.

我現在將電話轉給約翰討論我們本季度的運營結果。

Thanks, Jim, and good morning. Our third quarter results showcased the strong execution of our frontline team members who are safely and efficiently servicing our customers each day as well as the resilience of our business model as we manage costs and capital expenditures in this dynamic environment. The team's hard work paid off with tremendous results as we improved operating expense as a percentage of revenue 110 basis points and expanded operating EBITDA margins 70 basis points.

謝謝，吉姆，早上好。我們第三季度的業績展示了我們一線團隊成員的強大執行力，他們每天都在安全高效地為我們的客戶提供服務，以及我們在這個動態環境中管理成本和資本支出時業務模式的彈性。團隊的辛勤工作得到了巨大的回報，我們將運營費用佔收入的百分比提高了 110 個基點，並將運營 EBITDA 利潤率提高了 70 個基點。

We saw steady volume recovery across the collection and disposal business during the third quarter, improving volumes, coupled with collection and disposal yield, returning to a healthy 2.6%, generated revenue above our expectations. We were anticipating a revenue decline of 3.5% to 5.5% in the second half of the year with the majority of that decline weighted toward the third quarter, yet third quarter revenue only declined 2.7%. Of the commercial volume suspended due to the pandemic, almost 70% have resumed service, and there's further cause for optimism in the C&I business as net new business and service increases versus service decreases were both positive and showed significant sequential improvement in the third quarter.

第三季度，我們看到整個收集和處置業務的數量穩步復甦，數量增加，加上收集和處置收益率恢復到健康的 2.6%，產生的收入超出了我們的預期。我們預計今年下半年收入下降 3.5% 至 5.5%，其中大部分下降集中在第三季度，但第三季度收入僅下降 2.7%。在因大流行而暫停的商業量中，近 70% 已經恢復服務，並且 C&I 業務有進一步樂觀的理由，因為淨新業務和服務增加與服務減少都是積極的，並且在第三季度顯示出顯著的環比改善。

Residential container waste continue to be elevated mid- to high single digits compared to last year. Recovering the cost of increased waste is part of our conversation with municipalities as we work to improve the profitability of our residential business and change the structure of residential contracts. In the residential line of business, our yield improved to 3.5% as we make progress on this effort.

與去年相比，住宅集裝箱垃圾的數量繼續增加到中高個位數。在我們努力提高住宅業務的盈利能力並改變住宅合同的結構時，回收增加的廢物成本是我們與市政當局對話的一部分。在住宅業務方面，隨著我們在這方面取得進展，我們的收益率提高到 3.5%。

External volumes for the third quarter were down -- external landfill volumes for the third quarter were down just over 8% with special waste volumes down about 12% and C&D volumes down about 19% on a tough comparison, in part, due to the wildfire cleanup last year. Without the cleanup from last year, C&D volumes declined about 7%. Landfill volumes improved sequentially each month in the quarter with total landfill volumes in September down less than 4% and C&D and special waste each down about 8%. Notably, MSW volume was flat for the quarter, and September volumes increased nearly 2% year-over-year, a powerful indicator of the progress of economic recovery.

第三季度外部垃圾量下降——第三季度外部垃圾填埋量下降略高於 8%，特殊垃圾量下降約 12%，C&D 量下降約 19%，部分原因是野火去年大掃除。如果沒有去年的清理工作，C&D 量下降了約 7%。本季度垃圾填埋量每個月都在連續增加，9 月份總垃圾填埋量下降不到 4%，C&D 和特殊垃圾各下降約 8%。值得注意的是，本季度城市生活垃圾量持平，9 月量同比增長近 2%，這是經濟復甦進展的有力指標。

Moving to pricing. Third quarter core price was 3.2%. Adjusted for the impact of lower volume, core price would be 4.1%. As expected, pricing metrics are trending back toward pre-pandemic levels following the intentional customer focus steps we took to support our small business customers during spring shutdowns. We're confident that helping our customers during a difficult economic climate was the right step, and we continue to see increased loyalty from our customers.

轉向定價。第三季度核心價格為 3.2%。針對銷量下降的影響進行調整後，核心價格將為 4.1%。正如預期的那樣，在我們採取有意的以客戶為中心的步驟以在春季停工期間支持我們的小企業客戶之後，定價指標正趨向於回到大流行前的水平。我們相信，在困難的經濟環境中幫助我們的客戶是正確的一步，我們繼續看到客戶忠誠度的提高。

Third quarter churn improved 100 basis points year-over-year to 8.8%, and we saw another boost in our Net Promoter Scores for all business lines we measure. In particular, our commercial business score more than doubled driven by higher scores for reliability, flexibility and improved online resources. Our pricing results reflect 3.3% core price in both landfill and transfer businesses as we continue the positive momentum with post-collection pricing initiatives. We've been disciplined with our post-collection pricing, and we remain committed to staying the course.

第三季度客戶流失率同比提高 100 個基點至 8.8%，我們看到我們衡量的所有業務線的淨推薦值再次提高。特別是，由於可靠性、靈活性和改進的在線資源得分更高，我們的商業業務得分翻了一番以上。我們的定價結果反映了垃圾填埋場和轉運業務的 3.3% 核心價格，因為我們通過收集後定價舉措繼續保持積極勢頭。我們在收款後定價方面受到嚴格約束，並且我們仍然致力於堅持到底。

Turning to ADS. No one has been more eager than me to welcome the ADS team to Waste Management. And with the closing behind us, we're extremely confident in the value this deal will deliver. We've gotten significant clarity on the ADS business and are pleased with the recovery the business has shown as the economy has reopened. We work closely with the ADS team for many months and are hard at work on integration, giving us confidence that we will exceed the $100 million synergy target despite higher-than-originally-expected divestitures.

轉向 ADS。沒有人比我更熱切地歡迎 ADS 團隊加入 Waste Management。隨著交易的結束，我們對這筆交易將帶來的價值充滿信心。我們已經非常清楚地了解 ADS 業務，並對隨著經濟重新開放而顯示的業務復甦感到滿意。我們與 ADS 團隊密切合作了好幾個月，並努力進行整合，這讓我們相信，儘管資產剝離的規模高於原先預期，但我們仍將超過 1 億美元的協同增效目標。

As Jim mentioned, 2020 has taught us we can operate our business with a much lower cost structure than we have historically, and we're holding on to operating efficiencies and cost savings as volumes return. The 110 basis point improvement in operating expense as a percentage of revenue in the third quarter is evidence of our success. When volumes began to decline in March, we aggressively flexed our routes and trucks, parking more than 800 vehicles at peak declines. This lowered maintenance costs and allowed us to optimize volumes across the younger, lower-cost portion of the fleet. Throughout the pandemic, route reductions have outpaced volume declines in the commercial and industrial lines of business. As volumes have returned, we have been extremely disciplined in bringing back trucks into service, driving improved asset utilization and helping keep maintenance costs low.

正如吉姆所提到的，2020 年告訴我們，我們可以以比以往低得多的成本結構來運營我們的業務，並且隨著銷量的恢復，我們將堅持提高運營效率和節約成本。第三季度營業費用佔收入的百分比提高了 110 個基點，這是我們成功的證據。當 3 月運輸量開始下降時，我們積極調整路線和卡車，在高峰期停放了 800 多輛車。這降低了維護成本，並使我們能夠優化機隊中較年輕、成本較低的部分的數量。在整個大流行期間，航線減少的速度超過了商業和工業業務線的數量下降。隨著銷量的回升，我們在將卡車重新投入使用、推動提高資產利用率並幫助降低維護成本方面一直非常嚴格。

In the third quarter, lower maintenance spending resulted in a 70 basis point improvement in operating expense as a percentage of revenue. We've also been successful in improving efficiency as each week since February we service more yards, homes and hauls per hour than in the same period in 2019.

第三季度，較低的維護支出導致運營支出佔收入的百分比提高了 70 個基點。我們在提高效率方面也取得了成功，因為自 2 月以來，我們每週為比 2019 年同期更多的庭院、房屋和運輸服務提供服務。

Increased efficiency was a key driver of less overtime in the quarter while volume decreases across the collection and disposal business were in the mid-single digits over time was down 21% in the commercial and industrial lines of business and over time was down 27% in the disposal business.

效率提高是本季度加班時間減少的主要驅動因素，而隨著時間的推移，整個收集和處理業務的數量下降幅度為中等個位數，商業和工業業務線下降了 21%，隨著時間的推移下降了 27%處置業務。

The team is doing an exceptional job of managing expenses, and I'm confident we are carrying forward the lessons we've learned on safely operating our business at a lower cost structure.

該團隊在管理費用方面做得非常出色，我相信我們正在發揚我們在以較低成本結構安全運營業務方面學到的經驗教訓。

In closing, I want to thank the entire waste management team, including our new Advanced Disposal team members, for their hard work and dedication during trying times. Third quarter results exceeded our expectations on virtually all measures as we continue to demonstrate our ability to manage our operations in an uncertain environment.

最後，我要感謝整個廢物管理團隊，包括我們新的 Advanced Disposal 團隊成員，感謝他們在困難時期的辛勤工作和奉獻精神。第三季度的業績幾乎在所有指標上都超出了我們的預期，因為我們繼續展示了我們在不確定環境中管理運營的能力。

I will now turn the call over to Devina to discuss our financial results in further detail.

我現在將把電話轉給 Devina，以更詳細地討論我們的財務業績。

Thanks, John, and good morning, everyone. As Jim and John have discussed, our third quarter 2020 results have demonstrated both the strong foundation provided by our essential services and resilient business model and the value created from the hard work of our team who are delivering each day in an increasingly cost-effective way.

謝謝，約翰，大家早上好。正如 Jim 和 John 所討論的那樣，我們 2020 年第三季度的業績既證明了我們的基本服務和彈性業務模式提供的堅實基礎，也證明了我們團隊每天以越來越具有成本效益的方式交付的辛勤工作所創造的價值.

When we look at our third quarter operating and financial results, as John just said, virtually every metric exceeded the expectations we set just 3 months ago. Volumes have come back stronger than expected. We have flexed operating costs to drive improved margins, and that's far better than our targeted efforts to keep them flat, and we have seen improved customer account collection trends take hold. All of this positions us to finish the year strong with organic revenue down in the range of 3.25% to 3.75% versus the 4% to 5% we projected in July, targeted operating EBITDA margin of more than 28.5% and free cash flow in excess of $2 billion. With revenues down about 2.7% from the prior year quarter, our operating EBITDA was essentially flat on a year-over-year basis. This strong result underpinned net cash flow from operations, which was $1.029 billion, an increase of 8% compared to the same quarter last year.

正如約翰剛才所說，當我們查看第三季度的運營和財務業績時，幾乎每一項指標都超出了我們 3 個月前設定的預期。成交量恢復強於預期。我們調整了運營成本以提高利潤率，這比我們保持利潤持平的目標要好得多，而且我們已經看到客戶收款趨勢得到改善。所有這些都使我們能夠以強勁的勢頭結束今年，有機收入下降 3.25% 至 3.75%，而我們在 7 月份預計為 4% 至 5%，目標是營業 EBITDA 利潤率超過 28.5%，自由現金流量過剩20億美元。由於收入比去年同期下降約 2.7%，我們的營業 EBITDA 與去年同期基本持平。這一強勁的業績支撐了運營產生的現金流量淨額，為 10.29 億美元，比去年同期增長 8%。

Over the course of the third quarter, we saw strong recovery in our customer collections and days sales outstanding, lessening the expected headwind from working capital. Additionally, our operating cash flow for the quarter includes the deferral of payroll tax payments under the CARES Act, which provided a benefit of about $40 million. We continue to expect the full year benefit of payroll tax deferral to be $120 million.

在第三季度，我們看到客戶收款和未償銷售天數強勁復甦，減輕了營運資金帶來的預期逆風。此外，我們本季度的運營現金流包括根據 CARES 法案推遲支付的工資稅，這提供了約 4000 萬美元的收益。我們繼續預計工資稅遞延的全年收益為 1.2 億美元。

Third quarter capital spending was $343 million, a $140 million decrease from the same quarter in 2019. While we continue to prioritize investments in the long-term growth of our business, we took prudent steps to reduce and defer certain aspects of our capital spending until we had better visibility into the pace of volume recovery. The majority of the targeted reductions were the result of adjustments in landfill cell construction schedules and a decrease in the purchase of steel containers. We expect full year capital expenditures to be between $1.6 billion and $1.65 billion.

第三季度資本支出為 3.43 億美元，比 2019 年同期減少 1.4 億美元。在我們繼續優先考慮對業務的長期增長進行投資的同時，我們採取了謹慎的措施來減少和推遲資本支出的某些方面，直到我們更好地了解銷量恢復的步伐。大部分目標減少是垃圾填埋場建設時間表調整和鋼製容器採購減少的結果。我們預計全年資本支出將在 16 億美元至 16.5 億美元之間。

Our business generated free cash flow of $691 million in the third quarter. Through the first 9 months of the year, free cash flow was $1.432 billion, a conversion of cash from operating EBITDA of [45%]. And as I just mentioned, for the full year, we expect our strong operating performance, effective management of working capital and disciplined capital spending to yield free cash flow in excess of $2 billion, excluding the impact of ADS. Our strong free cash flow positions us to invest in our business and return cash to our shareholders. In the third quarter, we paid $230 million in dividends. We remain fully committed to our dividend program, solid balance sheet and balanced allocation of remaining available cash to strategic acquisitions and share repurchases.

我們的業務在第三季度產生了 6.91 億美元的自由現金流。今年前 9 個月，自由現金流為 14.32 億美元，來自運營 EBITDA 的現金轉換為 [45%]。正如我剛才提到的，對於全年，我們預計我們強勁的經營業績、有效的營運資本管理和有紀律的資本支出將產生超過 20 億美元的自由現金流，不包括 ADS 的影響。我們強大的自由現金流使我們能夠投資於我們的業務並將現金返還給我們的股東。第三季度，我們支付了 2.3 億美元的股息。我們仍然完全致力於我們的股息計劃、穩健的資產負債表以及將剩餘可用現金平衡分配給戰略收購和股票回購。

With the recent closing and funding of the ADS acquisition, our balance sheet and liquidity remained strong, and we are well positioned to continue our practices of sound investment and strong shareholder returns. We financed the $4.6 billion acquisition of ADS, net of the $856 million in proceeds from the divestiture to GFL Environmental, with a combination of our credit facilities and commercial paper. We continue to look for the right window to access the capital markets for long-term financing alternatives.

隨著最近 ADS 收購的結束和融資，我們的資產負債表和流動性保持強勁，我們有能力繼續我們穩健的投資和強勁的股東回報實踐。我們為收購 ADS 提供了 46 億美元的資金，扣除剝離給 GFL Environmental 的 8.56 億美元收益，並結合了我們的信貸額度和商業票據。我們繼續尋找合適的窗口進入資本市場以獲得長期融資替代方案。

Current and forecasted leverage ratios are well within the financial covenant of our revolving credit facilities, and we expect to quickly return to our targeted total debt to EBITDA of 2.5 to 3x.

當前和預測的槓桿率完全符合我們循環信貸額度的財務契約，我們預計將迅速恢復到我們的目標總債務與 EBITDA 之比的 2.5 至 3 倍。

Turning to SG&A costs. There's no doubt that the lessons we're taking to heart from the pandemic have extended to SG&A as well. While third quarter SG&A was slightly above prior year at $389 million, that increase is due to an accrual for long-term incentive compensation as well as an intentional acceleration in technology and investments that Jim mentioned earlier. Absent these 2 items, our SG&A would have been down nearly $30 million from the third quarter of 2019, demonstrating our collective commitment to reduce discretionary spending. SG&A as a percentage of revenue was 10.1% despite the revenue decline in the quarter, and we continue to target SG&A as a percentage of revenue of about 10%.

轉向 SG&A 成本。毫無疑問，我們從大流行病中汲取的教訓也延伸到了 SG&A。雖然第三季度的 SG&A 略高於去年同期的 3.89 億美元，但這一增長是由於長期激勵薪酬的應計以及吉姆之前提到的技術和投資的有意加速。如果沒有這兩項，我們的 SG&A 將比 2019 年第三季度減少近 3000 萬美元，這表明我們共同致力於減少可自由支配的支出。儘管本季度收入下降，但 SG&A 佔收入的百分比為 10.1%，我們繼續將 SG&A 佔收入的百分比定為 10% 左右。

Before turning the call over for questions, I want to provide an overview of our planned approach to updating financial guidance post ADS. With the close of the acquisition just behind us, the entire team is focused on welcoming ADS employees and serving our new customers. Each company produced outstanding third quarter results, and we are confident that we will finish 2020 strong as a collective team. Our integration plans are robust. And as John just mentioned, we're confident that we can achieve planned synergies. This is an integrated business model. And for that reason, developing estimates for the costs associated with routes from a partially divested hauling district can be difficult. We are well underway in analyzing and evaluating our financial plans for the year ahead, and we will clearly delineate a plan with our fourth quarter 2020 results that speaks to the top strategic priorities of Waste Management and the integrated value of ADS. Suffice it to say, we closed 2020 excited about the road ahead and prepared to make the value of the whole greater than the sum of its parts.

在提出問題之前，我想概述一下我們計劃在 ADS 後更新財務指南的方法。隨著收購的結束，整個團隊都專注於歡迎 ADS 員工並為我們的新客戶提供服務。每家公司都取得了出色的第三季度業績，我們有信心作為一個集體團隊，以強勁的勢頭結束 2020 年。我們的整合計劃是穩健的。正如約翰剛才提到的，我們有信心能夠實現計劃中的協同效應。這是一個集成的商業模式。出於這個原因，估計與部分剝離的運輸區的路線相關的成本可能很困難。我們正在順利地分析和評估我們來年的財務計劃，我們將根據我們 2020 年第四季度的業績明確制定一個計劃，該計劃涉及廢物管理的首要戰略重點和 ADS 的綜合價值。可以這麼說，我們在 2020 年結束時對前方的道路感到興奮，並準備讓整體的價值大於其部分的總和。

In closing, I want to thank our team for all they have accomplished. Our strong results are a testament to the resilience of both our people and our business model.

最後，我要感謝我們的團隊所取得的成就。我們強勁的業績證明了我們的員工和我們的商業模式的韌性。

With that, Lindsay, let's open the line for questions.

有了這個，Lindsay，讓我們打開問題熱線。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Tyler Brown with Raymond James.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自泰勒·布朗和雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

Devina, so I appreciate that you'll give some more details in January. But just at a high level, when we think about the moving pieces for '21 cash flow, is it basically that we take your kind of jumping-off point, maybe layer in some EBITDA growth, add in ADS? But then should we also take away for some CARES repayments and maybe a step-up in legacy CapEx? Are those kind of the big buckets, not necessarily numbers, but just the puts and takes?

Devina，感謝您在 1 月份提供更多詳細信息。但就在高水平上，當我們考慮'21 現金流量的移動部分時，我們是否基本上採用您的起點，也許在一些 EBITDA 增長中加入 ADS？但是，我們是否也應該取消一些 CARES 還款，並可能增加遺留資本支出？那些大桶，不一定是數字，而只是投入和投入？

Yes. You absolutely have those buckets right.

是的。你絕對有那些水桶。

So on CARES, is it half of it will come back next year and then another half in '22?

那麼在 CARES 上，它的一半會在明年回歸，然後在 22 年回歸另一半嗎？

Yes. That's correct. So the $120 million that we have reduced our 2020 cash outlay will repay all of -- or we'll have a full year in the year ahead for normal course of business and then 50% of this year's outlay.

是的。這是正確的。因此，我們減少了 2020 年現金支出的 1.2 億美元將全部償還——或者我們將在未來一年有一整年用於正常業務，然後支付今年支出的 50%。

Right. Okay, okay. Good. That's very helpful. And then, John, so at the Investor Day, I think you talked about $100 million in savings over the next few years from productivity, but you guys have noted that COVID has driven you guys to structurally rethink a lot of things. And it seems like this productivity is not necessarily going to go away. So I guess my question is have those savings that you talked about at Investor Day basically been captured? Or are those in $100 million savings still on the come?

正確的。好吧好吧。好的。這很有幫助。然後，約翰，所以在投資者日，我想你談到了未來幾年從生產力中節省 1 億美元，但你們已經註意到 COVID 促使你們在結構上重新思考很多事情。而且似乎這種生產力不一定會消失。所以我想我的問題是你在投資者日談到的那些節省基本上都被捕獲了嗎？或者那些節省 1 億美元的人還會來嗎？

No. I think, Tyler, I mean, listen, we're very, very pleased with what the teams have been able to do to control cost, and a lot of that's been done through efficiency over time, better maintenance and repair results, et cetera. So we've taken full advantage of it, but that's not to suggest that we don't have some more opportunity within the operating expense categories.

不。我想，泰勒，我的意思是，聽著，我們對團隊在控製成本方面所做的工作非常非常滿意，其中很多是通過隨著時間的推移提高效率、更好的維護和維修結果等來完成的.所以我們充分利用了它，但這並不意味著我們在運營費用類別中沒有更多機會。

Okay. Great. And so maybe just my last question, again, kind of a bigger question here. But I mean I think if you guys crest 28.5% margins, I think it's maybe the best margins you've ever posted. I'd have to go back and maybe look at one of Bill's old models. But over the next few years, do you feel that 30% margins are achievable? And if so, maybe what might be some of the drivers to get you there?

好的。偉大的。所以也許這只是我的最後一個問題，這裡是一個更大的問題。但我的意思是，我認為如果你們達到 28.5% 的利潤率，我認為這可能是你們發布過的最好的利潤率。我得回去看看比爾的舊型號之一。但是在接下來的幾年裡，您覺得 30% 的利潤率可以實現嗎？如果是這樣，也許是什麼驅動因素讓你到達那裡？

Sure. Well, I think what John just mentioned should give everyone confidence that the 28.5% year-to-date EBITDA margin that we have produced through really tough circumstances, this isn't kind of indication of what we can achieve. It's an indication of what's yet to come in terms of additional incremental value that can be created from here. While we look at EBITDA margin for the year, there are always puts and takes. I think what's important to know is that in the current year we look at those puts and takes and say, "Sure. Something like health and welfare expenses that were lower in the second quarter may work against us in the year ahead," but what's more important is that the operating performance and the ability to lever down on discretionary spending. Those things are indicative of long-term value creation on the margin front, and those will far outpace that health and welfare headwind that we have in 2021.

當然。好吧，我認為約翰剛才提到的應該讓每個人都相信，我們在非常艱難的情況下取得的年初至今 28.5% 的 EBITDA 利潤率，這並不能說明我們可以取得什麼成就。這表明可以從這裡創造的額外增量價值尚未到來。當我們查看當年的 EBITDA 利潤率時，總會有賣出和賣出。我認為重要的是要知道，在今年，我們會查看這些看跌期權並說，“當然。第二季度較低的健康和福利支出等因素可能會在來年對我們不利，”但更重要的是經營業績和降低可自由支配支出的能力。這些事情表明利潤率方面的長期價值創造，而且將遠遠超過我們在 2021 年遇到的健康和福利逆風。

Our next question comes from Jeff Goldstein with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Jeff Goldstein。

I want to ask on the core price is going up to 3.2% from 1.3% last quarter, at this point, are you fairly confident that you can get back to the pre-COVID core price levels of about 4% sooner rather than later as you're now just waiting to remove the last set of price concessions? Or you think that last amount of the recovery will be harder to come by and maybe a certain amount of customers will continue to be under pressure? Just how should we be thinking about that?

我想問一下核心價格從上一季度的 1.3% 上漲到 3.2%，在這一點上，你是否相當有信心你可以盡快回到 COVID 之前的大約 4% 的核心價格水平，因為你現在就等著取消最後一套價格優惠嗎？還是您認為最後的複蘇將更難實現，也許一定數量的客戶將繼續承受壓力？我們應該如何考慮呢？

No. It's a good question because there was -- there were a lot of moving parts in the second quarter, and we talked about the fact that we were supporting our small business customers in the second quarter. And that would all be reflected in price, whether it was the free month of service or whether it was deferred price increases. All that would show up on the price line, so we knew that Q2 was going to be artificially low. And Q3 has had a piece of that in there as well, so we're confident that the pricing will remain a core strength for us in Q4 and beyond, whether it is commercial or roll-off. Or more recently, John's focus and our focus as a team on residential pricing and landfill pricing, those are all going to be strengths of ours.

不。這是一個很好的問題，因為第二季度有很多活動部件，我們談到了我們在第二季度支持我們的小型企業客戶這一事實。而這一切都將反映在價格上，無論是免費服務月還是延期漲價。所有這些都會顯示在價格線上，所以我們知道第二季度將被人為壓低。第三季度也有其中的一部分，所以我們相信定價將仍然是我們在第四季度及以後的核心優勢，無論是商業還是下線。或者最近，約翰的重點和我們作為一個團隊對住宅定價和垃圾填埋場定價的關注，這些都將成為我們的優勢。

It's a little bit of -- the last question about margin. In addition to cost controls that we're confident in, we're also equally confident in our price capabilities.

這是關於保證金的最後一個問題。除了我們有信心的成本控制外，我們對我們的價格能力也同樣有信心。

Okay. That's helpful. And then I figured I'd ask with election tomorrow, just curious how you're thinking about the range of outcomes here. And while tax, I'm sure, is probably the most obvious variable, is there anything else we should -- related to regulation that you're keeping an eye on that we should be aware of as well?

好的。這很有幫助。然後我想我會問明天的選舉，只是想知道你是如何考慮這裡的結果範圍的。雖然稅收，我敢肯定，可能是最明顯的變量，但還有什麼我們應該——與你正在關注的監管相關的我們也應該知道的嗎？

I'll speak quickly to the tax impacts. When we look at a Biden win, the thing that is most apparent there is federal tax rates could increase from 21% currently to 28%. That's about a 6.5% increase in our effective tax rate based on our current modeling, and that would be about $150 million increase in the provision and about $125 million in cash taxes. Really hard to predict further than that. We know that bonus depreciation is something that seems to have bipartisan support. And so therefore, we expect 100% expensing to continue through 2022 and then the phaseout to continue thereafter. Aside from that, I'll let Jim speak to the impacts to the rest of the business.

我會很快談到稅收影響。當我們看到拜登獲勝時，最明顯的是聯邦稅率可能從目前的 21% 增加到 28%。根據我們目前的模型，我們的有效稅率大約增加了 6.5%，這將增加大約 1.5 億美元的準備金和大約 1.25 億美元的現金稅。真的很難預測。我們知道，獎金折舊似乎得到了兩黨的支持。因此，我們預計 100% 的支出將持續到 2022 年，然後逐步淘汰將繼續進行。除此之外，我會讓吉姆談談對其他業務的影響。

Yes. I would just change one word in Devina's sentence, if we look at a Biden win.

是的。如果我們看到拜登獲勝，我只想改變 Devina 句子中的一個詞。

Yes, exactly.

對，就是這樣。

We will -- regarding environmental regulation, it is interesting for us that -- first off, all of our focus is not necessarily on the federal elections. We tend to focus on state elections, too, because the state has such an important place. That's an important role for us, and that carries over to environmental regulation.

我們將——關於環境監管，我們感興趣的是——首先，我們所有的關注點不一定都在聯邦選舉上。我們也傾向於關注州選舉，因為州有如此重要的地位。這對我們來說是一個重要的角色，並且會延續到環境監管中。

But as it relates to the federal elections tomorrow, we've said that regulation is actually, in a strange way, a good thing for WM because we hold ourselves to a very high regulatory standard, environmental standard. And so any additional regulation actually tends to work in our favor. So to the extent that, that comes out of tomorrow's election, that could be a good thing for us.

但就明天的聯邦選舉而言，我們已經說過，監管實際上以一種奇怪的方式對 WM 來說是一件好事，因為我們堅持非常高的監管標準，即環境標準。因此，任何額外的監管實際上都傾向於對我們有利。因此，就明天的選舉產生的結果而言，這對我們來說可能是一件好事。

Our next question comes from Hamzah Mazari with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Hamzah Mazari。

Maybe for Jim. You've talked about technology for a few years now, and we see in your prepared comments some of the accelerated tax spend that you flagged. Could you maybe at a high level just talk about where you are in your tech journey? Sort of what's behind you and what's yet to come, both from a spend perspective and sort of the benefits? Do the benefits come right away? Or is there a little bit of a lag?

也許是為了吉姆。你已經談論技術幾年了，我們在你準備好的評論中看到了你標記的一些加速稅收支出。您能否在高層次上談談您在技術之旅中所處的位置？從支出的角度和收益的角度來看，你身後發生了什麼，未來會發生什麼？福利是不是馬上就來了？或者有一點滯後？

I think there's a bit of a lag here, Hamzah. We have accelerated the spend. As we mentioned, Devina mentioned it, and it's impacting SG&A cost. And we felt like this was the right year to do it. This -- I think I read somewhere that 77% of companies have done the same thing, have accelerated their digital spend.

我認為這裡有點滯後，Hamzah。我們加快了支出。正如我們提到的，Devina 提到了它，它正在影響 SG&A 成本。我們覺得今年是做這件事的正確年份。這——我想我在某個地方讀到過，77% 的公司都做了同樣的事情，加速了他們的數字支出。

Just to kind of put it in -- to be specific about what it's impacting, though, and what it's impacted so far, things like customer setup is being impacted, routing and dispatch, service confirmation, billing inquiries. All of those make up the pie of calls that come into our call centers, and the idea is that we'll give that option, at least, to our customers to be able to self-service. And then behind the scenes, there will be a real significant streamlining of really all of those processes.

只是把它放進去——具體說明它正在影響什麼，以及到目前為止它的影響是什麼，比如客戶設置、路由和調度、服務確認、賬單查詢等受到影響。所有這些構成了進入我們呼叫中心的電話，我們的想法是，我們至少會為我們的客戶提供這種選擇，以便他們能夠自助服務。然後在幕後，將對所有這些流程進行真正重要的精簡。

Today, there's a lot of steps involved. There's a lot of data entry involved. Ideally, we get to a point where you greatly reduce the amount of data entry, which reduces the amount of potential for error and then, in turn, reduces the confusion sometimes it results from those errors when a customer calls in.

今天，涉及很多步驟。涉及大量數據輸入。理想情況下，我們可以大大減少數據輸入量，從而減少潛在的錯誤數量，進而減少客戶來電時有時因這些錯誤而導致的混亂。

I would tell you that we're -- if I use kind of a baseball analogy here that we're probably in inning 3 here as it relates to this full customer service digitalization, and that will take us all the way through 2021 to fully develop, but we are moving quickly on it. And we're encouraged by what we're seeing, not just on those process changes, but also on the front end of that, which is where the customer sees it.

我會告訴你我們 - 如果我在這裡使用某種棒球類比，我們可能會在這裡進行第 3 局，因為它與這種全面的客戶服務數字化有關，這將使我們一直到 2021 年完全發展，但我們正在迅速推進。我們對我們所看到的感到鼓舞，不僅是那些流程變化，還有前端，也就是客戶看到它的地方。

As I mentioned in my script, we're seeing our biggest increases are coming in, in that e-commerce channel. So we're excited about this, and we think this is a -- has the real potential to separate us from the pack even more significantly going forward.

正如我在腳本中提到的，我們看到最大的增長來自電子商務渠道。所以我們對此感到興奮，我們認為這是一個 - 有真正的潛力讓我們在未來更加顯著地脫穎而出。

Got it. Very helpful. And then just on the volume side, anything you're seeing sort of regionally relative to your expectations that, that was a bit different? And then maybe just frame for us what does October look like I know you gave some detail on September. Just curious if the sort of the recovery that we've seen during the quarter is similar to October or if there's differences we should be aware of when looking at the commercial business.

知道了。很有幫助。然後就數量方面而言，您所看到的任何與您的期望相關的區域性情況都有所不同？然後也許只是為我們框定 10 月的樣子，我知道您在 9 月提供了一些細節。只是好奇我們在本季度看到的那種複蘇是否與 10 月份相似，或者我們在查看商業業務時是否應該注意差異。

It's interesting, Hamzah. We've -- I've read a couple of reports that have talked about volume being different in the urban settings versus rural. I would tell you this is not an urban versus a rural. The impact of COVID has not been urban versus rural. What it's really been is almost state by state and province by province, so the states that seem to be doing the best and are closest to full recovery happen to be those states that opened up most quickly. So those are states like Texas, like Florida, like Arizona, Georgia. Those states are doing best when we look at our own data. And the states that are lagging are states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, New York and then provinces like Ontario and Québec. Those have been most stringent on reopening and are the furthest behind. I would tell you, here in Texas, it's full steam ahead. We've been going out to restaurants for a number of months now, at least in our family. And we're out both nights this weekend. And it is full steam ahead here. The businesses that tend to be lagging, the sectors are still hospitality, still sports, entertainment, schools, to some degree, and then the related small businesses there that touch those sectors.

這很有趣，哈姆扎。我們已經 - 我讀過一些報告，這些報告談到了城市環境與農村環境的不同。我會告訴你這不是城市與農村。COVID 的影響並不針對城市與農村。真正的情況幾乎是一個州一個州一個省一個省地進行，所以看起來做得最好並且最接近完全恢復的州恰好是那些開放最快的州。所以那些是德克薩斯州，佛羅里達州，亞利桑那州，佐治亞州等州。當我們查看自己的數據時，這些州做得最好。落後的州是賓夕法尼亞州、密歇根州、紐約州，然後是安大略省和魁北克省。那些在重新開放方面最為嚴格，並且最落後。我會告訴你，在得克薩斯州，一切都在全速前進。我們去餐館已經好幾個月了，至少在我們家是這樣。這個週末我們兩個晚上都出去。這裡正全速前進。那些往往落後的企業，在某種程度上仍然是酒店業、體育、娛樂、學校，然後是涉及這些行業的相關小企業。

But overall, I would tell you that I think we are seeing a full reopening. I think what we're seeing is that people are just saying they can't be shut down forever. They have to -- their businesses, particularly small businesses, that is their -- that's the way they put food on the table. And so I don't expect those small businesses to continue to be shut down forever. And when will these states fully reopen? I don't know. Some of that depends on the extent of COVID and the pursuit of a vaccine. But if I had to guess, if you press me on it, I would say mid- to late 2021 you'll see most of these states and provinces be reopened.

但總的來說，我會告訴你，我認為我們正在看到全面重新開放。我認為我們看到的是人們只是說他們不能永遠關閉。他們必須——他們的企業，尤其是小企業，這是他們的——這就是他們把食物放在餐桌上的方式。所以我不希望那些小企業繼續永遠關閉。這些州何時才能全面重新開放？我不知道。其中一些取決於 COVID 的嚴重程度和對疫苗的追求。但如果我不得不猜測，如果你催促我，我會說到 2021 年中後期，你會看到這些州和省中的大部分都重新開放。

Got you. And just last question, I'll turn it over. Is the ADSW -- I know we'll get more detail, and I know you have to look at the divestitures and et cetera. But is that free cash flow accretive next year to you guys? Or do we just wait for more details at Q4? Just any high-level thoughts.

明白了最後一個問題，我會把它翻過來。是 ADSW——我知道我們會得到更多的細節，我知道你必須看看資產剝離等等。但是明年自由現金流對你們來說會增加嗎？或者我們只是在第四季度等待更多細節？只是任何高層次的想法。

Yes. Hamzah, I would say we absolutely expect the acquisition to be free cash flow accretive in the year ahead. The free cash flow impacts to the fourth quarter, we're expecting that to be more like a push, even potentially a little bit on the downside because of some of the cost to achieve and starting to make investments on the capital investment side as we integrate some of our sites. So I would say fourth quarter impacts is either flat to down on the free cash flow front. And then we really start to see the benefits of full run rate of the ADS EBITDA, combined with early indications of our synergy capture and a lower capital cost as well, as we refinance the required indebtedness.

是的。Hamzah，我想說我們絕對希望此次收購能夠在未來一年增加自由現金流。自由現金流對第四季度的影響，我們預計這更像是一種推動，甚至可能有一點下行，因為我們需要實現一些成本並開始在資本投資方面進行投資整合我們的一些網站。所以我想說第四季度的影響在自由現金流方面要么持平要么下降。然後我們真正開始看到 ADS EBITDA 的全額運行率的好處，結合我們協同效應捕獲的早期跡象和較低的資本成本，因為我們為所需的債務再融資。

Our next question comes from Kevin Chiang with CIBC.

我們的下一個問題來自 CIBC 的 Kevin Chiang。

Maybe just following up on Hamzah's question there. I think you mentioned in your prepared remarks about 70% of commercial had seen some sort of resumption. To the extent you start seeing some sort of softness, especially in provinces and states that are -- that may be more likely to lock things down again, just wondering if the lessons you've learned from the lockdowns you saw in March and April, would you approach these differently with your commercial customers? Or is the game plan you saw 6 months ago the same game plan you'd implement in another re-lockdown in some of these markets?

也許只是跟進 Hamzah 的問題。我想你在準備好的評論中提到，大約 70% 的商業廣告已經恢復。在某種程度上，你開始看到某種程度的疲軟，尤其是在那些更有可能再次封鎖的省份和州，只是想知道你是否從 3 月和 4 月的封鎖中吸取了教訓，您會以不同的方式對待您的商業客戶嗎？或者您 6 個月前看到的遊戲計劃是否與您在其中一些市場的另一次重新鎖定中實施的遊戲計劃相同？

Yes. I don't think we would approach things differently. That doesn't mean we're going to come back out with another free month of service for small customers. And to the extent that states lock down, I mean, there has been a bit of an ebb and flow there with some states. But again, the states that have -- at least from an economic standpoint have done the best in this recovery are those states that have been pretty consistent about staying open and trying to put protocols in place to protect against spikes in COVID. And those are states like Texas and like Arizona and Florida and Georgia, So I think we would handle it the same way. And -- but going forward, I don't anticipate offering another deferral of price increases or another free month of service to small businesses.

是的。我不認為我們會以不同的方式處理事情。這並不意味著我們將再次為小客戶提供另一個免費服務月。就各州的封鎖程度而言，我的意思是，有些州的情況有些起伏。但同樣，至少從經濟角度來看，在這次復蘇中做得最好的州是那些一直非常一致地保持開放並試圖制定協議以防止 COVID 激增的州。這些是像德克薩斯州、亞利桑那州、佛羅里達州和佐治亞州這樣的州，所以我認為我們會以同樣的方式處理它。而且 - 但展望未來，我預計不會再向小企業提供價格上漲或另一個免費服務月。

I think it's equally important to think about how we responded with our employees. And it goes without saying that when you look at turnover as well as employee morale and safety results that our response on the employee front, we think, was exactly what it needed to be, and we would repeat those steps. Some of the costs, though, that we incurred, particularly for the back office as we moved folks into a work-from-home mode, those were onetime, and we wouldn't look to see those repeat.

我認為考慮我們如何回應我們的員工同樣重要。不用說，當您查看人員流動以及員工士氣和安全結果時，我們認為我們在員工方面的反應正是需要的，我們將重複這些步驟。但是，我們產生的一些成本，特別是在我們將人們轉移到在家工作模式時的後台辦公室，這些都是一次性的，我們不希望看到這些重複。

Okay. That's helpful. And maybe just a second one for me. I just want to go to your sustainability report. You highlighted the progress you've made and some of the targets you have over the next few years here. At a high level, to get to some of those targets, do you see the need to maybe in the near term here see some level of capital intensity creep as you invest in some of these technologies? Or with the integration of ADS, is there any catch-up CapEx there to bring ADS up to the targets that you want to achieve as a company as a whole?

好的。這很有幫助。也許對我來說只是第二個。我只想查看你們的可持續發展報告。你在這裡強調了你所取得的進展以及你在未來幾年的一些目標。在較高的層面上，為了實現其中一些目標，您是否認為有必要在短期內看到在您投資其中一些技術時一定程度的資本密集度上升？或者通過 ADS 的整合，是否有任何追趕資本支出可以使 ADS 達到您希望作為一個整體實現的目標？

Well, 2 questions there, and I'm going to let John take the second one about ADS. The first one related to sustainability, it's a fair question. We don't necessarily see any capital creep related to our focus on sustainability. Look, we've been focused on sustainability. It's not something we've been focused on for 2 quarters. It's something we've been focused on for probably 10 years but more specifically for the last 5 years, and we managed through that. And to the extent that there's any capital needs, that just gets built into our budget.

好吧，這裡有 2 個問題，我將讓 John 回答關於 ADS 的第二個問題。第一個與可持續性有關，這是一個公平的問題。我們不一定會看到與我們對可持續發展的關注有關的任何資本蔓延。看，我們一直專注於可持續性。這不是我們兩個季度一直關注的事情。這是我們大概 10 年以來一直關注的事情，但更具體地說是過去 5 年，我們成功地解決了這個問題。如果有任何資本需求，那隻會納入我們的預算。

I think the second part of the question with regard to ADS, I mean we've obviously had a good bit of time to study their capital structure in the business, and the short answer is we don't see that as a capital drag. They've been very deliberate and intentional on how they've capitalized the business, and we feel comfortable that they're in a good spot as we start the integration.

我認為關於 ADS 問題的第二部分，我的意思是我們顯然有很多時間研究他們在業務中的資本結構，簡短的回答是我們不認為這是資本拖累。他們對如何利用業務進行了深思熟慮和有意為之，我們很高興他們在我們開始整合時處於有利地位。

Our next question comes from Kyle White with Deutsche Bank.

我們的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Kyle White。

Congrats on closing the ADS deal.

恭喜完成 ADS 交易。

Thanks, Kyle.

謝謝，凱爾。

Thank you.

謝謝。

I just want to focus a little bit -- focus on some contracts. And as you renegotiate contracts, especially on the residential side, are there any key differences that you've been able to implement into the contract structure as a result of the pandemic? Any kind of real examples of change here?

我只想專註一點——專注於一些合同。當您重新談判合同時，尤其是在住宅方面，由於大流行，您是否能夠在合同結構中實施任何關鍵差異？這裡有什麼真實的變化例子嗎？

Yes. I mean, listen, Kyle, we've been talking about residential long before COVID. And I think if you look at the results, and Jim commented on what we've done on the core price and yield side with regard to residential, I think I said this on the last call. The additional pressure, if you will, that the volumes, because of people working from home, it does present another challenge. And we're having those conversations with municipalities and with the franchises.

是的。我的意思是，聽著，凱爾，早在 COVID 之前我們就一直在談論住宅。我想如果你看看結果，吉姆評論了我們在住宅的核心價格和收益率方面所做的事情，我想我在上次電話會議上說過這個。如果您願意的話，由於人們在家工作而帶來的額外壓力確實帶來了另一個挑戰。我們正在與市政當局和特許經營商進行這些對話。

What I'm really happy about is if you look at even the margins in residential now, even with what's going on in recycling, and to some extent, what's gone on with this pandemic and the additional waste, we're still showing margin progress there. I think the conversation around the pandemic and the waits and whatnot, it seems to have leveled out, and as we said, in kind of the mid- to high single digits, depending on where you are in the country. And that's a conversation we're going to continue to have.

我真的很高興的是，如果你現在甚至看一下住宅的利潤率，即使回收方面正在發生的事情，在某種程度上，這種流行病和額外垃圾的情況，我們仍然顯示出利潤率的進步那裡。我認為圍繞大流行病和等待等問題的討論似乎已經趨於平穩，正如我們所說，中等到高個位數，具體取決於您在該國的位置。這是我們將繼續進行的對話。

Listen, it's a challenging conversation. A lot of these municipalities are facing budget constraints or whatnot, but I would tell you where we're having success is getting the price up being paid adequately for the service we're providing. Our public sector team has really done a nice job of really partnering with these municipalities and working with them on ways where they can streamline maybe some of the service offerings, still achieve what they need for their residents and still allow us to be compensated at an appropriate level.

聽著，這是一場具有挑戰性的談話。許多這些城市都面臨預算限製或諸如此類的問題，但我會告訴你我們取得成功的地方是為我們提供的服務提高價格。我們的公共部門團隊確實做得很好，與這些市政當局真正合作，並與他們合作，使他們能夠簡化一些服務產品，仍然實現他們對居民的需求，並仍然允許我們得到補償適當的水平。

That's helpful. And then going back to sustainability, you have been one of the more aggressive companies to shift to CNG fleets with I believe around 60% of your collection fleet using CNG with a target of around 70% by 2025. How should we think about this target in regards to some of the innovation that's been happening on the battery electric side? Are you considering potentially slowing down your CNG purchases to kind of wait and see how electric performs?

這很有幫助。然後回到可持續發展，您是轉向 CNG 車隊的更積極的公司之一，我相信大約 60% 的收集車隊使用 CNG，目標是到 2025 年達到 70% 左右。關於電池電動方面發生的一些創新，我們應該如何考慮這個目標？您是否正在考慮放慢購買 CNG 的速度，以觀望電力的表現？

No. Kyle, I would tell you, we're very happy with where we are on our CNG conversion. We're running right now -- because we've taken some trucks off the street, we're actually running close to 70% right now of our routed vehicles. And I think part of what you're seeing in our improved maintenance and repair numbers and whatnot is due to us running a younger, more efficient fleet that's -- the majority of which is CNG.

不。凱爾，我會告訴你，我們對我們在 CNG 轉換方面的進展感到非常滿意。我們現在正在跑步——因為我們已經把一些卡車從街上移開，實際上我們現在正在跑步接近 70% 的路線車輛。我認為你在我們改進的維護和維修數量中看到的部分原因是我們運行了一個更年輕、更高效的機隊——其中大部分是壓縮天然氣。

I will tell you, on the other alternatives, electric vehicles, in particular, we've got a number of pilots going on with different vendors. I mean that's still a developing technology. I think for the heavy-duty vehicle class, that was really a focus for us, there's still a little bit of wood to chop there. And I think when we get to the point where it's advanced, we're going to have to be very careful with who we pick as in terms of the technology leader.

我會告訴你，關於其他替代品，特別是電動汽車，我們有許多與不同供應商合作的試點項目。我的意思是這仍然是一項發展中的技術。我認為對於重型車輛類別來說，這確實是我們關注的焦點，那裡還有一點木頭要砍。而且我認為，當我們達到先進的程度時，我們將不得不非常謹慎地選擇技術領導者。

Our next question comes from Walter Spracklin with RBC Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自 RBC Capital Markets 的 Walter Spracklin。

Yes. I'd like to come back to volume and the discussion around the potential risk that we do see some jurisdictions go back into a tighter COVID-19 lockdown while others were opening quicker and just really kind of put it all together in your jurisdictions, adding it all together. Jim, just a simple question. I mean do you see the volume that you saw in the third quarter -- or the fourth quarter going to be better or worse than what you saw in the third quarter? I know one of your peers has kind of, I think, conservatively guided to a flat to technically, I guess, slightly worse volume performance in the fourth quarter. But given the cadence and seeing where your jurisdictions are, what would be your best guess in terms of fourth quarter, better or worse?

是的。我想回到數量和圍繞潛在風險的討論，我們確實看到一些司法管轄區重新進入更嚴格的 COVID-19 鎖定狀態，而其他司法管轄區則開放得更快，並且真的把它們放在你的司法管轄區中，補充說這一切在一起。吉姆，只是一個簡單的問題。我的意思是，您是否看到了第三季度的交易量——或者第四季度的交易量會比第三季度更好還是更差？我知道你的一位同行，我認為，保守地指導持平到技術上，我猜，第四季度的銷量表現略差。但是考慮到節奏並查看您的管轄範圍，您對第四季度的最佳猜測是什麼，是好是壞？

Yes. We think it will be relatively flat. I think it's such a difficult question because of how states manage their reaction to some of these spikes in COVID. We're sitting here in Texas, and I think Texas, whether you talk about the mayor here in Houston or the governor, I think Texas, actually, we went through our own spike back in July and part of August, and the state managed its way. The city of Houston managed its way through that quite well, so we didn't re-shut down as we were in April and May. We just put stronger protocols in place, and we're more -- we were tougher on those who were offending, but we did not go back and shut down businesses.

是的。我們認為它會相對平穩。我認為這是一個如此困難的問題，因為各州如何管理他們對 COVID 中的一些尖峰的反應。我們坐在德克薩斯州這裡，我認為德克薩斯州，無論你是談論休斯頓的市長還是州長，我認為德克薩斯州，實際上，我們在 7 月和 8 月的部分時間經歷了自己的飆升，並且州管理它的方式。休斯頓市很好地度過了難關，所以我們沒有像 4 月和 5 月那樣重新關閉。我們只是製定了更強有力的協議，而且我們對那些冒犯的人更加嚴厲，但我們沒有回過頭來關閉企業。

Now that's not my decision. That's the decision of the Governor of Texas and the mayors of these cities. But I think Texas is a pretty good indicator of how to handle it without crushing businesses but also making sure that we're keenly aware of the danger of a spike in COVID. I don't know whether some of these other states will handle it the same way. So as a consequence, we're projecting relatively flat volume in Q4.

現在這不是我的決定。這是得克薩斯州州長和這些城市市長的決定。但我認為得克薩斯州是一個很好的指標，說明如何在不破壞企業的情況下處理它，同時確保我們敏銳地意識到 COVID 激增的危險。我不知道其他一些州是否會以同樣的方式處理它。因此，我們預計第四季度的銷量相對持平。

I think Hamzah asked earlier, and I didn't really answer the question, how we're looking in October. And just as I said, with the quarter, October is looking pretty similar to what September looked like, so relatively flat. A few things are lower. A few things are higher. But overall, we expect that the volume will be flat from Q3 to Q4.

我想 Hamzah 早些時候問過，但我並沒有真正回答這個問題，我們在 10 月份的情況如何。正如我所說，在本季度，10 月看起來與 9 月非常相似，因此相對平穩。一些東西較低。有些東西更高。但總體而言，我們預計第三季度至第四季度的銷量將持平。

I appreciate that. Following up on the margin question, I know operating margin has been a key focus for a lot of investors across a lot of different industries as volumes come back here. And in some sectors, it's pretty obvious where operating leverage exists and how it's going to come together. When I look at Waste, I do hear you on items such as lower SG&A, lower corporate travel and so on. But I just think about what a higher volume would mean in terms of increased congestion that would come with it -- traffic congestion that would hamper fluidity in your pickup operations. I think about overtime that you had before and whether in a normal volume environment, to what extent you can manage that down, manage that better than pre-COVID and then some of the health and welfare costs that are coming in.

我很感激。跟進利潤率問題，我知道營業利潤率一直是許多不同行業的許多投資者關注的重點，因為交易量回到了這裡。在某些領域，經營槓桿存在於何處以及它將如何結合在一起是非常明顯的。當我查看 Waste 時，我確實聽到了您關於降低 SG&A、降低公司差旅等項目的意見。但我只是想一想，就隨之而來的交通擁堵加劇而言，更高的交通量意味著什麼——交通擁堵會阻礙你的取貨操作的流動性。我考慮了您以前的加班情況，以及是否在正常的工作量環境中，您可以在多大程度上控制它，比 COVID 之前更好地管理它，然後是一些即將到來的健康和福利成本。

When I put all that together, the line of sight toward clear operating leverage in the waste sector isn't as obvious. And perhaps, Jim, you can correct me there or give me a little bit of insight as to where operating leverage might come in for your business.

當我把所有這些放在一起時，廢物行業明確經營槓桿的視線並不那麼明顯。也許，吉姆，你可以在那裡糾正我，或者給我一些關於經營槓桿可能對你的業務產生影響的見解。

Well, look, we've said it. John said it in his script, and he can add color here. But what we really are -- the big takeaway for us in -- particularly in Q3, but also, to a lesser extent, in Q2 was that we now believe we can truly operate this business at a lower operating cost structure. Devina also talked about SG&A. And so in all the obvious areas, things like travel and some of the discretionary spend, we know that we can run at SG&A that's lower than previously thought.

好吧，看，我們已經說過了。約翰在他的劇本中說過，他可以在這裡添加色彩。但我們的真實情況——對我們來說最大的收穫——尤其是在第三季度，但在較小程度上，在第二季度，我們現在相信我們可以真正以較低的運營成本結構運營這項業務。Devina 還談到了 SG&A。因此，在所有明顯的領域，比如旅行和一些可自由支配的支出，我們知道我們可以在 SG&A 上運行，這比以前想像的要低。

But most importantly, when we look at what John discussed in his prepared remarks, we absolutely believe that, as we climb back to volume breakeven and then start to accelerate again, that we've learned that we can operate at a lower operating cost structure. There are -- as you mentioned, there are some things that will impact our operation such as traffic.

但最重要的是，當我們看看約翰在他準備好的發言中所討論的內容時，我們絕對相信，隨著我們重新回到銷量盈虧平衡然後開始再次加速，我們已經了解到我們可以以較低的運營成本結構運營.正如您所提到的，有些事情會影響我們的運營，例如交通。

But when I look at -- I use Houston a lot because I sit here. But I look at charts for Houston traffic every week put out by a group here of the Greater Houston Partnership, and Houston traffic is almost back to pre-COVID levels. Yet, when you look at the city of Houston for us, we are still looking similar to the rest of our business in terms of overtime.

但當我看到——我經常使用休斯頓，因為我坐在這裡。但我每週都會查看大休斯頓合作組織的一個小組發布的休斯頓交通圖表，休斯頓的交通幾乎回到了 COVID 之前的水平。然而，當你為我們審視休斯頓市時，我們在加班方面仍然看起來與我們其他業務相似。

So it gives me confidence that while traffic will certainly create some snarls in our operations that we'll be able to hang on to these efficiency gains that we're picking up. And then add to that what we're doing with digitalization, and I believe that these -- that's why we firmly believe that this is a long-term, sustainable approach to -- a new approach to our operations. John, anything to add?

所以它讓我有信心，雖然交通肯定會在我們的運營中造成一些混亂，但我們將能夠堅持我們正在獲得的這些效率收益。然後再加上我們在數字化方面所做的工作，我相信這些——這就是為什麼我們堅信這是一種長期、可持續的方法——一種新的運營方法。約翰，有什麼要補充的嗎？

The only thing, I'll use coverage. And the only thing I'd add, Walter, is we do have a lot of granular data on the density of volumes we're picking up and how that's been eroded and now come back. And to Jim's point, we're talking about 70%, give or take, of our C&I business coming back that was eroded, yet you still see a very wide gap in the efficiency and the overtime ratio. So we're almost back to kind of a normal traffic pattern in a lot of places and that some of that friction has return yet, the operating folks are doing a great job of hanging on to the savings.

唯一的事情，我會使用覆蓋。沃爾特，我唯一要補充的是，我們確實有很多關於我們正在收集的體積密度的詳細數據，以及它是如何被侵蝕的，現在又回來了。對於 Jim 的觀點，我們談論的是 70%，給予或接受，我們的 C&I 業務被侵蝕回來，但你仍然看到效率和加班率之間存在很大差距。因此，我們在很多地方幾乎恢復了正常的交通模式，而且一些摩擦又回來了，運營人員在節省開支方面做得很好。

Our next question comes from Sean Eastman with KeyBanc Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自 KeyBanc Capital Markets 的 Sean Eastman。

With the Advanced Disposal deal having closed, I wanted to ask about this for a while. We haven't been able to talk to the Advanced team for some time. It's just interesting the timing of the acquisition around this pretty nice inflection they saw in average yields in 2018, then it seems like they've held on to really well through the first half of '20. So I'm just hoping you guys could sort of refresh us on that dynamic over there sort of what's driven that inflection. And then is it fair to say that once that gets folded into the WM footprint, there's potential for some additional momentum on that line as a combined company?

隨著 Advanced Disposal 交易的結束，我想問一下這個問題。我們已經有一段時間無法與 Advanced 團隊交談了。有趣的是，圍繞他們在 2018 年平均收益率中看到的這種相當不錯的拐點進行收購的時機很有趣，然後看起來他們在 20 世紀上半年一直保持得非常好。所以我只是希望你們能夠讓我們重新了解那種驅動這種變化的動力。然後可以公平地說，一旦將其納入 WM 足跡，作為一家合併後的公司，該產品線有可能產生一些額外的動力嗎？

Yes, Sean. It's a good question. A couple of questions in there. One is if you -- obviously, in our prepared remarks, we reiterated again how confident we feel about exceeding the $100 million synergy target, and that's obviously in a sort of post-COVID environment. I think Richard and the team have done a really nice job in the first half of the year as evidenced by their results and their recovery, especially in the geographies that they were in, the 16 states that Advanced was in. And as Jim mentioned in his comments, we've been comparing those recovery rates in those geographies, and the Advanced portfolio came back nicely. And as Devina mentioned in her comments, the third quarter, both companies performed really well. So if you think about -- even though we're in a COVID environment, even though the divestitures were higher, we're still very confident in our synergy number as we roll into Q4 and into 2021.

是的，肖恩。這是個好問題。裡面有幾個問題。一個是如果你 - 顯然，在我們準備好的發言中，我們再次重申我們對超過 1 億美元的協同目標充滿信心，這顯然是在一種後 COVID 環境中。我認為理查德和他的團隊在今年上半年做得非常好，他們的結果和恢復就證明了這一點，尤其是在他們所在的地區，Advanced 所在的 16 個州。正如吉姆在他的評論中提到的那樣，我們一直在比較這些地區的回收率，高級投資組合的回報很好。正如 Devina 在她的評論中提到的那樣，第三季度，兩家公司的表現都非常好。因此，如果您考慮一下——即使我們處於 COVID 環境中，即使資產剝離更高，我們仍然對我們進入第四季度和 2021 年的協同效應數字充滿信心。

Got you. That's helpful. And one for Devina, just a refresh on the financing of the transaction. Just trying to understand what happened with -- what happens with ADSW's debt. I guess basically, what is WM's combined company cost of debt at close? And are there any interest savings there built into the synergy target? Or is that separate?

明白了這很有幫助。一個是 Devina，只是對交易融資的刷新。只是想了解發生了什麼——ADSW 的債務發生了什麼。我想基本上，WM 收盤時的綜合公司債務成本是多少？協同目標中是否有任何利息節省？或者那是分開的？

Sure. So I'll start with just where we were from a leverage perspective immediately following the close, and that's about 3.15x, including pro forma EBITDA. So it really does speak to the solid financial position of Waste Management. And so when we look at that number, we think that both -- when you combine synergy capture as well as growth in both businesses, we'll be quickly to our targeted leverage ratios over the course of 2021.

當然。因此，我將從收盤後立即從槓桿角度來看我們所處的位置開始，這大約是 3.15 倍，包括備考 EBITDA。所以它確實說明了 Waste Management 穩固的財務狀況。因此，當我們查看這個數字時，我們認為，當您將協同效應捕獲以及兩項業務的增長結合起來時，我們將在 2021 年內迅速達到我們的目標槓桿率。

As it relates to ADS' debt, that was immediately repaid upon close. And simply by taking that indebtedness and replacing it with WM's debt, we see an immediate synergy value from that in the ballpark of $40 million on a gross basis. So after tax, clearly, a lower number than that. That is not something that was specifically contemplated in the $100 million of synergies. That relates to operating performance and SG&A rationalization, and we'll be executing upon those strategies over the course of the next year.

由於它與 ADS 的債務有關，因此在收盤時立即償還。只需承擔這筆債務並用 WM 的債務取而代之，我們就可以立即看到總額約為 4000 萬美元的協同價值。所以稅後，顯然，這個數字要低一些。這不是 1 億美元協同效應中具體考慮的事情。這與運營績效和 SG&A 合理化有關，我們將在明年執行這些戰略。

Our next question comes from David Manthey with Baird.

我們的下一個問題來自 David Manthey 和 Baird。

I'm sure it's hard to see through the seasonal factors of the business, but are you seeing any actual and C&D waste is seeing a surge maybe from projects that were delayed from the second quarter as those are wrapped up? And what I'm asking is, is there any chance in your mind that we could see a double dip in that part of the business?

我敢肯定，很難看穿業務的季節性因素，但您是否看到任何實際的和 C&D 廢物正在激增，可能是因為這些項目已經結束而從第二季度推遲的項目？我要問的是，在你看來，我們是否有可能看到這部分業務出現二次探底？

So I think your question was largely around special waste and projects there. And so what we're seeing with special waste, and to some degree, C&D, although C&D is a bit cloudy. The picture is cloudy because of last year and the fire volume from last year. And as John mentioned, if you normalize for that, it's maybe 7% down year-over-year as opposed to 19% down. But primarily with special waste, what we're seeing is that these large companies that own these special waste projects that there's some discretion in the timing of the initiation of those projects, so our pipeline looks quite good at this point. And the big question is when will they initiate those projects. Many of them, as you might expect, have been delayed in 2020, and we expect that they will build those projects into their budgets for 2021 after this unpredictability goes away from 2020.

所以我認為你的問題主要是圍繞那裡的特殊廢物和項目。所以我們看到的是特殊廢物，在某種程度上，C&D，儘管 C&D 有點模糊。由於去年的原因和去年的火量，圖片是多雲的。正如約翰所提到的，如果你對此進行標準化，它可能同比下降 7%，而不是下降 19%。但主要是特殊廢物，我們看到的是擁有這些特殊廢物項目的這些大公司在啟動這些項目的時間上有一定的自由裁量權，所以我們的管道在這一點上看起來相當不錯。最大的問題是他們什麼時候啟動這些項目。如您所料，其中許多項目已在 2020 年推遲，我們預計在這種不可預測性從 2020 年消失後，他們會將這些項目納入 2021 年的預算。

And second, have you discussed thoughts on when you might reinstate share repurchase? Or not yet?

其次，您是否討論過何時可以恢復股票回購？或者還沒有？

As I just mentioned, when we look at 2021 and see a clear path to leverage in our targeted range of 2.5 to 3x, we're really optimistic that we'll be able to resume share repurchases at some point in 2021. We always revisit our capital allocation plans in the fourth quarter, and we'll do that again this year with expectations for clarity on the dividend and the extent of 2021 share buyback at that time. But we will remain focused on balanced allocation to a combination of M&A and share buyback with excess free cash flow.

正如我剛才提到的，當我們展望 2021 年並看到在 2.5 到 3 倍的目標範圍內槓桿化的明確途徑時，我們真的很樂觀，我們將能夠在 2021 年的某個時候恢復股票回購。我們總是在第四季度重新審視我們的資本配置計劃，今年我們將再次這樣做，期望屆時分紅和 2021 年股票回購的範圍更加清晰。但我們將繼續關注併購和股票回購與超額自由現金流相結合的平衡配置。

Our next question comes from Noah Kaye with Oppenheimer.

我們的下一個問題來自 Noah Kaye 和 Oppenheimer。

I'd like to start with a follow-up question on pricing and would note, by the way, the 2.6% collection disposal yield is a very strong result, even pre-pandemic. But you said, I think John earlier, that core price would have been 4.1% if not for volume. Can you just disambiguate that a little bit for folks, explain that? And then really, the corollary question is, as we move into the fourth quarter here and we'll be on some of the concessions, do we see price continuing to improve sequentially?

我想從一個關於定價的後續問題開始，順便說一句，2.6% 的收集處置收益率是一個非常強勁的結果，即使是在大流行之前也是如此。但是你說過，我想約翰早些時候，如果不是數量的話，核心價格應該是 4.1%。您能否為人們稍微消除歧義，解釋一下？然後真的，必然的問題是，隨著我們進入第四季度，我們將做出一些讓步，我們是否看到價格繼續環比上漲？

So the short answer to the second part is yes. I think what we've talked about as we went through Q2 and into Q3 is that those delivery concessions were going to have an impact, but we thought making a 1-quarter concession to those customers was the right thing to do. And honestly, from everything we've seen, from the feedback from our customers around Net Promoter Score I commented on, that it's absolutely been the right move. I think what you're seeing from Q2 to Q3, in particular, in commercial and industrial, where most of those concessions were made is you saw a nice recovery. We're not all the way back up to where we were, but what we've all said throughout this pandemic when we've been chatting with you folks is that it's not a change in our strategy or our philosophy, but it was a short-term decision made to ease some of the -- what was going on with our customers. So I think when you look at the bridge between Q2 and Q3, we'll see continued momentum as we go into the fourth quarter and into next year.

所以對第二部分的簡短回答是肯定的。我認為我們在經歷第二季度和進入第三季度時所談論的是，這些交付優惠將產生影響，但我們認為對這些客戶做出 1 個季度的讓步是正確的做法。老實說，從我們所看到的一切，從我們客戶對我評論的淨推薦值的反饋來看，這絕對是正確的舉措。我認為你從第二季度到第三季度看到的情況，特別是在商業和工業領域，大部分讓步都是在這些領域做出的，你看到了一個不錯的複蘇。我們並沒有完全回到原來的狀態，但在整個大流行期間，我們一直在與大家聊天時所說的是，這不是我們戰略或理念的改變，而是短期決定是為了緩解一些 - 我們的客戶正在發生的事情。所以我認為，當你審視第二季度和第三季度之間的橋樑時，我們將看到進入第四季度和明年的持續勢頭。

Our next question comes from Jeff Silber with BMO Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自 BMO Capital Markets 的 Jeff Silber。

You talked a little bit about this in the earlier remarks, but we've been seeing a lot of headlines of state and local governments under pressure. And the thought is that the pressure might get worse because tax revenues lag. Can you just remind us what your exposure is to municipalities and what you think? Do you think the environment will get worse over the next year or 2?

你在之前的評論中略微談到了這一點，但我們已經看到很多州和地方政府的頭條新聞都面臨壓力。人們的想法是，由於稅收收入滯後，壓力可能會變得更糟。您能否提醒我們您對市政當局的了解以及您的想法？您認為未來一兩年環境會變得更糟嗎？

I'll just quickly speak to the impact of CPI, which is usually one of those pieces that can have some pressure, and that's about 35% to 40% of the revenue line. And so that is a place where we have our eye on, what we're going to do in pricing execution over the course of 2021 to overcome what may be mild pressure on that side.

我將快速談談 CPI 的影響，這通常是可能有一些壓力的部分之一，大約佔收入線的 35% 到 40%。因此，這是我們關注的地方，我們將在 2021 年期間在定價執行方面做些什麼，以克服這方面可能存在的溫和壓力。

I would add to that. Thanks, Devina. I would add to that, too. If you go back the last handful of years, which I've done over and over again, and look at CPI and our core price performance, you can see that they're not -- there's a disaggregation there, and that's been strategic. We've talked about moving away from a traditional CPI to other rate-setting mechanisms, and I think that's what you see. And as evidenced by what we're doing in residential and with some of the municipal customers in our landfills, that core price performance shows that we're moving further and further away from CPI because it's frankly not a rate-setting mechanism that aligns as well as some others when it comes to the cost of our business.

我會補充一點。謝謝，德維娜。我也會補充一點。如果你回顧過去幾年，我一遍又一遍地回顧，看看 CPI 和我們的核心價格表現，你會發現它們不是——那裡有一個分解，這是戰略性的。我們已經討論過從傳統的 CPI 轉向其他利率設定機制，我認為這就是你所看到的。正如我們在住宅和我們垃圾填埋場的一些市政客戶所做的那樣，核心價格表現表明我們正在越來越遠離 CPI，因為坦率地說，它不是一個與 CPI 一致的利率設定機制。以及其他一些涉及我們業務成本的問題。

Okay. That's helpful. And then just one quick follow-up. You mentioned the synergy targets with ADS in excess of $100 million. Can you just remind us the timing on that? Is that something you think you'll have fully done by the end of next year? Or is it going to take a little bit of time?

好的。這很有幫助。然後只是一個快速跟進。您提到與 ADS 的協同目標超過 1 億美元。你能提醒我們一下時間嗎？你認為你會在明年年底之前完全完成這些工作嗎？還是需要一點時間？

No. Well, clearly, originally, we talked about it going through '21 and into '22, and that was before maybe the delay. So the short answer is we won't get it all in '21. We feel like we've got great integration plans. The teams hit the ground running on Friday. Things are going exceptionally smooth. I looked at our -- talked to our team this morning, and customers are getting serviced. So we feel very pleased about where we sit, and I think we're going to make a lot of ground up in '21. We won't get it all, though.

不。好吧，很明顯，最初，我們談到了它從 21 年到 22 年，那可能是在延遲之前。所以簡短的回答是我們不會在 21 年全部搞定。我們覺得我們有很好的整合計劃。這些團隊在周五開始運行。事情進展得異常順利。我看著我們——今天早上與我們的團隊交談，客戶正在接受服務。所以我們對我們的坐姿感到非常高興，我認為我們將在 21 年取得很大進展。不過，我們不會得到這一切。

Our next question comes from Michael Hoffman with Stifel.

我們的下一個問題來自 Stifel 的 Michael Hoffman。

Playing a little bit of cleanup here near the end. So I got a few questions just to clarify, some things we've been hearing. Devina, I get that we can't get a profit guidance yet because of the integration challenges. Can you tell us what the 2 months of revenue would be in the fourth quarter for ADS and then what the rollover is into '21? Hello?

快結束時在這裡進行一些清理工作。所以我有幾個問題只是為了澄清我們一直在聽到的一些事情。Devina，我知道由於整合方面的挑戰，我們還無法獲得利潤指導。你能告訴我們第四季度 ADS 的 2 個月收入是多少，然後是 21 年的展期嗎？你好？

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the operator. Please stand by. We are experiencing some technical issues. Again, please hold. (technical difficulty)

女士們，先生們，我是接線員。請待命。我們遇到了一些技術問題。再一次，請稍等。（技術難度）

Michael, we're back. Can you hear us? Sorry. We figured that most of your questions have been asked, so we went ahead and...

邁克爾，我們回來了。你可以聽見我們嗎？對不起。我們認為您的大部分問題都已被問到，所以我們繼續......

Yes. Well, I'm playing cleanup, so I've got to come back to some of the stuff that's been discussed and get some clarity. Devina, on Advanced, I get we don't have EBITDA. You need to get through some budgeting and what have you. But can you tell us what 2 months of revenues would be in 4Q and what the rollover would be into '21?

是的。好吧，我正在清理，所以我必須回到已經討論過的一些內容並弄清楚一些。Devina，關於 Advanced，我知道我們沒有 EBITDA。您需要完成一些預算編制以及您有什麼。但是你能告訴我們第 4 季度的 2 個月收入是多少，以及到 21 年的展期是多少？

So the rollover is an interesting question. 2 months, we're looking at about $275 million of revenue on a gross basis. On a divested basis, we're in the ballpark of $225 million, but it's really hard for us to know for sure. On a rollover basis, you would just extend that off of the 10 months, but we're not yet speaking to expectations for yield and volume for their business because we're still in the planning processes.

所以翻轉是一個有趣的問題。2 個月後，我們的總收入約為 2.75 億美元。在剝離的基礎上，我們大約有 2.25 億美元，但我們真的很難確定。在滾動的基礎上，您只需將其延長 10 個月，但我們還沒有談到對他們業務的收益率和數量的預期，因為我們仍在規劃過程中。

Okay. So if I just took -- it's $225 million divided 2 and then multiply it by 10, that's what I should roll over?

好的。因此，如果我只是拿 - 它是 2.25 億美元除以 2，然後乘以 10，這就是我應該滾動的金額？

Yes. But we have yet to assess the intercompany impact. So if you think about the integration of the sites that are in markets where we will now take ADS volume into a Waste Management landfill, we don't know those impacts to the net revenue of the business.

是的。但我們尚未評估公司間的影響。因此，如果您考慮整合我們現在將 ADS 量放入廢物管理垃圾填埋場的市場中的站點，我們不知道這些對業務淨收入的影響。

Fair enough. Fair enough. Do you still spend -- plan on spending $40 million on the ERP this year?

很公平。很公平。您是否仍計劃今年在 ERP 上花費 4000 萬美元？

So we have -- to date, that number is in the ballpark of $25 million, I believe, and we are on pace. The reason the number is lower than we had initially expected, it's not because we slowed anything down. It's actually because we saw some ability to reduce our costs with T&E on the third-party support that we had, and so we have a lower cost in the current year. We do, at this point, expect to spend more in the coming year on acceleration of our work efforts, both on the HR side and the finance side.

所以我們 - 迄今為止，這個數字在 2500 萬美元左右，我相信，我們正在加快步伐。這個數字低於我們最初預期的原因並不是因為我們放慢了速度。這實際上是因為我們看到了通過第三方支持降低 T&E 成本的能力，因此我們今年的成本較低。在這一點上，我們確實希望在來年投入更多資金來加快我們在人力資源方面和財務方面的工作努力。

Perfect. And then cash flow from ops is going to be about $100 million better than your 2Q revision of the numbers. How much of that's working capital versus you're running the business better, it's profit? So...

完美的。然後來自運營的現金流將比您對數字的第二季度修訂高出約 1 億美元。其中有多少是營運資金與你更好地經營業務，它是利潤？所以...

When we look at it, the cash flow from ops piece is -- I would say you kind of split it down the middle. You've got lift in operating EBITDA above expected levels, and that's both on the revenue side and the margin side. And then the remainder of it has to do with the cash collections taking hold that I mentioned earlier. We had projected an $80 million to $100 million headwind from DSO in the year, and we now have worked pretty hard to offset almost all of that. Though at this point, we're projecting that we get that to a moderated level of, say, a headwind of $20 million to $40 million.

當我們看它時，運營部分的現金流是——我想說你有點把它分成兩部分。您的運營 EBITDA 高於預期水平，這既體現在收入方面，也體現在利潤方面。然後剩下的部分與我之前提到的現金收集有關。我們曾預計今年 DSO 將帶來 8000 萬至 1 億美元的逆風，而我們現在已經非常努力地抵消了幾乎所有這些逆風。儘管在這一點上，我們預計我們會達到一個適度的水平，比如 2000 萬到 4000 萬美元的逆風。

Okay. That's great. And then just to be clear, your incremental margins before we entered this were kind of like 40% around collection and in the 60s in disposal. And what your message is, is you've proved that you can permanently lift the incremental margin.

好的。那太棒了。然後要明確一點，在我們進入這個之前，你的增量利潤率大約是 40% 左右的收集和 60 年代的處置。你的信息是什麼，你已經證明你可以永久提高增量利潤率。

That's right. I think that when we look at the incremental margin of the business, while the traditional returns from a margin perspective on an LOB perspective are important, but what's equally important is our ability to get leverage on the cost side. And what you've seen strong execution on in 2020 is that getting the most expensive work hour out of the day and getting the most expensive mile off the road. And so both on the labor and maintenance front, we've seen really strong leverage, and that really does benefit us both on collection and disposal. John mentioned in his prepared remarks disposal overtime hours being down, approaching 30%. So really strong results on the cost side give us really a lot of confidence that we're going to have better incremental margins on the volume return.

這是正確的。我認為，當我們看業務的增量利潤率時，雖然從 LOB 角度看利潤率的傳統回報很重要，但同樣重要的是我們在成本方面獲得槓桿的能力。你在 2020 年看到的強大執行力是讓一天中最昂貴的工作時間和最昂貴的一英里遠離道路。因此，在勞動力和維護方面，我們都看到了非常強大的槓桿作用，這確實使我們在收集和處置方面受益。約翰在他準備好的發言稿中提到處理加班時間下降，接近 30%。因此，成本方面非常強勁的結果讓我們非常有信心，我們將在銷量回報方面獲得更好的增量利潤率。

Okay. And then, Jim, you shared that you thought if the states get to full reopening by the middle of the year a trend. Is this an appropriate way to think about cadence without getting into numbers? First quarter's negative volume, 2Q is positive. They even each other out. Second half is positive. The year is positive.

好的。然後，吉姆，你分享了你認為各州是否能在年中全面重新開放是一種趨勢。這是在不考慮數字的情況下考慮節奏的合適方法嗎？一季度為負，二季度為正。他們甚至互相淘汰。下半年是積極的。年為正。

I'm not sure I'd say they even each other. I mean, look, you remember that a little bit of the first quarter of '20 was impacted, not a lot. But certainly, 2 or 3 weeks of the first quarter was impacted. And then obviously, second quarter was a huge impact. So I wouldn't say they would even each other out. We haven't fully determined what our volume is going to look like for 2021 yet. But just based on what you were saying there, I think first quarter is going to be -- certainly going to be less impacted than second quarter. So the year-over-year comp might be difficult in Q1, but we do have that second half of March that is an easy comp. And then obviously, you have a very easy comp when you get to Q2 and Q3.

我不確定我會說他們甚至彼此。我的意思是，看，你記得 20 世紀第一季度受到了一點影響，但影響不大。但可以肯定的是，第一季度有 2 到 3 週受到了影響。然後很明顯，第二季度產生了巨大的影響。所以我不會說他們會互相平分。我們還沒有完全確定 2021 年的銷量。但根據你在那裡所說的話，我認為第一季度將會——肯定會比第二季度受到的影響更小。因此，第一季度的同比比較可能很困難，但我們確實有 3 月的下半月，這是一個簡單的比較。然後很明顯，當你進入 Q2 和 Q3 時，你有一個非常簡單的組合。

Okay. And then if you added back in your environmental fee number, the $42 million, the right way -- and that's because you gave back these and did things like that, I think, if I understand correctly, then your yield would have been like 3.4% in the quarter. Have I interpreted that correctly?

好的。然後，如果你把你的環境費數字加回來，4200 萬美元，正確的方法——那是因為你把這些還給了我，做了類似的事情，我想，如果我理解正確的話，那麼你的收益應該是 3.4本季度的百分比。我的解釋正確嗎？

I'm not sure we've done the math there. But look, there was -- there were a lot of gives to our customers for all the right reasons in Q2 and Q3. And that's why we have said we are confident in our ability to capture price going forward.

我不確定我們在那裡做過數學計算。但是看，有 - 在第二季度和第三季度，出於所有正確的原因，我們的客戶得到了很多幫助。這就是為什麼我們說我們對未來捕捉價格的能力充滿信心。

Great. Last one for me. You talk about people first. Talk about the COVID fatigue and how that sort of is managed through as a business given the essential service aspect of this and the day-to-day sort of presence of this?

偉大的。最後一個給我。你先說人。談談 COVID 疲勞，以及如何通過企業管理這種疲勞，因為它的基本服務方面以及它的日常存在？

So Michael, I would tell you, listen, the vast majority -- you mentioned essential workers. The vast majority of our folks have never gone home, and we have -- are certainly following all of the safety protocols as they ebbed and flowed. And I think the proof is, is that when you look at where some of our employees have been affected, by and large, it's not been from inside the workplace. It's been from outside the workplace. So the protocols we've put in place have clearly been helped to prevent any spread within our districts.

所以邁克爾，我會告訴你，聽著，絕大多數——你提到了基本工人。我們的絕大多數人從未回家過，而且我們已經 - 當然在他們潮起潮落時遵守所有安全協議。我認為證據是，當你查看我們的一些員工受到影響的地方時，總的來說，它不是來自工作場所內部。它來自工作場所之外。因此，我們制定的協議顯然有助於防止我們地區內的任何傳播。

I would say, in terms of fatigue, I certainly think in the beginning there was a lot more unknown than there is today. I think with all the assistance we've provided to the field, I think the field would tell you now that we're operating a little bit of a new normal. But as evidenced by turnover, Devina mentioned morale, operating -- I mean when you look at all this, it would suggest that our teams continues to perform really well and not really be fatigued, if you will. I know it is certainly a stress on everybody, but I think our team has done an excellent job of managing through it. The leadership has done a great job at the field level and here in Houston of managing through it. So I would tell you it's the new normal for now until we get a solution for this.

我想說，就疲勞而言，我當然認為一開始的未知數比今天多得多。我認為，在我們為該領域提供的所有幫助下，我認為該領域現在會告訴你，我們的運作有點像新常態。但正如營業額所證明的那樣，Devina 提到了士氣、運營——我的意思是，當你看這一切時，這表明我們的團隊繼續表現得非常好，而且不會真的感到疲勞，如果你願意的話。我知道這對每個人來說都是一種壓力，但我認為我們的團隊在管理它方面做得非常出色。領導層在實地層面以及在休斯敦的管理方面都做得很好。所以我會告訴你，在我們找到解決方案之前，這是目前的新常態。

Well, we've provide, Michael, a lot -- in addition to financial support for all of our teammates, we provide a lot -- through our HR group, we've provided emotional support for employees. And certainly, we're seeing an increased demand for that year-over-year. I think it's -- though it's been amazing how our teams performed under these circumstances. And I do believe that by taking that financial -- that big financial worry off the table for them, that has helped them emotionally as well. So -- but yes, you're right. I mean we talk about the term people first all the time, and it is at the top of our list.

好吧，邁克爾，我們提供了很多——除了對我們所有隊友的經濟支持，我們還提供了很多——通過我們的人力資源團隊，我們為員工提供了情感支持。當然，我們看到需求逐年增加。我認為這是——儘管我們的團隊在這種情況下的表現令人驚訝。而且我確實相信，通過讓他們擺脫財務上的巨大財務擔憂，這也在情感上幫助了他們。所以——但是，是的，你是對的。我的意思是我們一直在談論“以人為本”這個詞，而且它位於我們列表的首位。

Our next question comes from Michael Feniger with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Michael Feniger。

Devina, you mentioned how CPI 30%, 35% of your business could be mild pressure in 2021. The good news is you guys are talking about the momentum really in commercial and industrial. Do you usually implement like 50%, 67% of that book of PIs for 2021? Does it usually happen in Q4 and early 2021? And as Jim mentioned, some pockets of weakness, like education, entertainment, hospitality. How do we think about the ability to implement some PIs with some of your fragile customers? Is it more of -- I'm sure it's not a one size fits all. So is there a percentage of your book that you guys are looking at, and that's more of a wait and see as the recovery broadens out?

Devina，你提到 2021 年 CPI 30%，你的業務的 35% 可能是溫和的壓力。好消息是你們正在談論真正的商業和工業發展勢頭。您通常會在 2021 年實施 PI 書中的 50%、67% 嗎？它通常發生在第四季度和 2021 年初嗎？正如吉姆提到的，一些弱點，比如教育、娛樂、招待。我們如何考慮與您的一些脆弱客戶一起實施某些 PI 的能力？它是否更多——我敢肯定它不是一刀切的。那麼你們正在看的書有一定比例嗎，隨著復甦的擴大，這更像是觀望？

I'll speak to the first part. So our annual PIs for that part of our business are typically in July and October and so really wasn't much of an impact in 2020 in terms of our deferred price increases because we deferred those beginning in April and continued that through June. So our PI activity was normal course of business beginning in July with the exception of the items that Jim has mentioned. So when we think about the year ahead, that's when you can start to see those pressures take hold. And then with that, I'll turn the rest over to John.

我先講第一部分。因此，我們這部分業務的年度 PI 通常在 7 月和 10 月發布，因此就我們推遲的價格上漲而言，2020 年的影響確實不大，因為我們推遲了從 4 月開始的價格上漲，並一直持續到 6 月。所以我們的 PI 活動是從 7 月開始的正常業務過程，除了 Jim 提到的項目。因此，當我們考慮來年時，您就會開始看到這些壓力持續存在。然後，我會把剩下的交給約翰。

Yes. Michael, I would say, I think you said it well, is we've got some pockets that Jim referenced, lodging, some parts of education, travel, et cetera, restaurants that are still in some form of a business slowdown, if you will, and I think that's right. I mean, Jim said, what we did in Q2 is not necessarily what we're going to repeat. But I think going forward, that is a case-by-case basis on understanding what's going on with each of those customers in those segments and making the appropriate long-term decision.

是的。邁克爾，我想說，我認為你說得很好，我們是否有吉姆提到的一些口袋，住宿，教育的某些部分，旅遊等等，餐館仍然處於某種形式的業務放緩，如果你會的，我認為這是對的。我的意思是，吉姆說，我們在第二季度所做的不一定是我們要重複的。但我認為展望未來，這是一個個案的基礎，了解這些細分市場中每個客戶的情況，並做出適當的長期決策。

That's really helpful. Have you guys -- is there a rough estimate of how we should think about that base? You guys have such a diverse customer base. But like you just said, lodging, travel, education, maybe restaurants. Is there kind of a percentage that we can say this is kind of the pockets of risk while the other businesses are obviously moving in the right direction?

這真的很有幫助。你們有沒有粗略估計我們應該如何考慮該基地？你們有如此多樣化的客戶群。但就像你剛才說的，住宿、旅行、教育，也許還有餐館。是否有某種百分比我們可以說這是一種風險，而其他業務顯然正在朝著正確的方向發展？

I think it's -- Michael, part of why this industry is such a great investment for shareholders is because we are so diversified that one sector going down doesn't really have a dramatic impact on us. So now obviously, in April and May, when you had multiple -- the entire economy going down, it was going to have an impact on us. But even then, you're still talking about a certain percentage of the economy being essential services, and we provide service to them.

我認為——邁克爾，這個行業對股東來說是一項如此巨大的投資，部分原因在於我們是如此多元化，以至於一個行業的下滑並沒有真正對我們產生巨大影響。所以現在很明顯，在四月和五月，當你有多個 - 整個經濟下滑時，它會對我們產生影響。但即便如此，你仍然在談論一定比例的經濟是基本服務，我們為他們提供服務。

So I think when we look at that piece that has lagged, it's probably -- I mean we talked about schools being 8% to 10% of our commercial business, and those have come back in many cases, in most cases, maybe not fully. Some have come back fully. Some are coming back on a hybrid basis. The sports teams are trying. As we saw last night on the football game, the Pennsylvania teams have been at 0 fans. Looked like last night, they had -- 7,500 fans was probably good for that game, but it's coming back slowly. But the beauty of this industry is that we represent all sectors of the economy. And many of those sectors are deemed essential and they have been there since March. And those that are not essential are recovering reasonably quickly, some less than others. But we feel confident that, as we showed in our volume numbers, that 2021 will be the eventual emergence of all of these businesses.

所以我認為，當我們審視滯後的部分時，它可能是——我的意思是我們談到學校占我們商業業務的 8% 到 10%，而且在很多情況下，這些已經回來了，在大多數情況下，可能還沒有完全恢復.有些人已經完全回來了。有些人以混合方式回歸。運動隊正在努力。正如我們昨晚在足球比賽中看到的那樣，賓夕法尼亞隊的球迷人數為 0。看起來像昨晚，他們有——7,500 名球迷可能對那場比賽有好處，但它正在慢慢恢復。但這個行業的美妙之處在於我們代表了經濟的所有部門。其中許多部門被認為是必不可少的，並且自 3 月以來就一直存在。那些不是必需的恢復得相當快，有些恢復得比其他的要慢。但我們有信心，正如我們在數量上顯示的那樣，2021 年將是所有這些業務的最終出現。

That makes sense. And I might have missed this. You guys clearly performed very well in the third quarter, and I think you said ADS did, too. Are there going to be financials on ADSW since they were a stand-alone entity for the months of Q3? And how should we think about -- you guys went through this very lengthy, long DOJ process, some commercial customers a bit -- are a little fragile right now. Can you go out and reprice the ADSW book right away? Or is it kind of have to be a wait and see and take it quarter by quarter?

這就說得通了。我可能錯過了這個。你們顯然在第三節表現得非常好，我想你們也說過 ADS 也做得很好。ADSW 是否會有財務數據，因為它們在第三季度是一個獨立的實體？我們應該如何考慮——你們經歷了這個非常漫長的 DOJ 流程，一些商業客戶有點——現在有點脆弱。你能馬上出去給 ADSW 書重新定價嗎？還是必須拭目以待，一個季度一個季度地採取行動？

So with respect to whether or not you'll see a full set of ADS financials for the third quarter, the quick answer to that is no. What I would say is that when we give guidance in 2021 related to the combined business, we'll give a lot of transparency and color about the pieces of the puzzle that get to the combined outlook.

因此，關於您是否會看到第三季度的全套 ADS 財務數據，快速回答是否定的。我要說的是，當我們在 2021 年提供與合併後的業務相關的指導時，我們將對實現合併後的前景的拼圖提供很多透明度和色彩。

Our next question comes from Mark Neville with Scotiabank.

我們的下一個問題來自加拿大豐業銀行的馬克內維爾。

First, great quarter, and congrats on getting ADS done.

首先，偉大的季度，並祝賀完成 ADS。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Just perhaps my first question, just around the cost conversation and the structural improvement. I'm just curious. As long as you come back -- again, presumably some costs come back. But the steps that you've taken through the pandemic and sort of what you've done, has all that been sort of fully optimized? Or is there still sort of cost improvement to come in the coming quarters from the actions that you've taken to maybe partially offset some of that cost come back?

也許只是我的第一個問題，圍繞成本對話和結構改進。我只是好奇。只要你回來——再一次，大概會回來一些成本。但是，您在大流行期間採取的步驟以及您所做的一切是否都得到了充分優化？或者，在未來幾個季度，您採取的可能部分抵消部分成本的行動是否還會帶來成本改善？

Yes. I mean certainly, when -- as volumes continue to return, there's some incremental cost. But I think is what you've seen from us through Q2 and then in Q3, we've been able to certainly overcome that. And we've expanded margins the way we have, and that's in light of us losing volume in our highest-margin business. So the natural thought would be as that business starts to come back, we continue to keep a close eye on cost control, both on the operating side and on the SG&A side, that we've got some more runway there.

是的。我的意思是，當然，當——隨著銷量繼續回升，會有一些增量成本。但我認為你在第二季度和第三季度從我們這裡看到的是，我們肯定能夠克服這一點。我們已經按照現有的方式擴大了利潤率，這是因為我們在利潤率最高的業務中損失了銷量。因此，自然的想法是，隨著業務開始復蘇，我們將繼續密切關注運營方面和 SG&A 方面的成本控制，我們在那裡有更多的跑道。

I think the additional leverage that you see is the continued execution on optimal work week, continued execution on maintenance service delivery, optimization and then the cost reductions that we should get in the overall structure, whether it be back office or front line, as a result of the technology investments that we're making taking hold.

我認為你看到的額外槓桿是繼續執行最佳工作週，繼續執行維護服務交付，優化，然後是我們應該在整體結構中獲得的成本降低，無論是後台還是前線，作為我們正在進行的技術投資的結果。

Now Jim spoke fully to the fact that those will take some time, but we do expect to see those begin to take hold in 2021. And there's additional leverage from all of those initiatives combined.

現在吉姆充分說明了這些需要一些時間的事實，但我們確實希望看到這些在 2021 年開始生效。所有這些舉措結合起來還有額外的影響力。

Okay. Maybe just a question on price. Again, I appreciate there's parts of the business that are still feeling some pressure. But again, there's other parts of your business where you're taking some sort of structural actions around municipal landfill price. I guess my question just would be -- maybe not the quantum, but more in terms of the length of time or the visibility that you have around price or the strength in price, just from some of the structural actions that you're taking.

好的。也許只是價格問題。再次，我很欣賞業務的某些部分仍然感到壓力。但同樣，在您的業務的其他部分，您正在圍繞市政垃圾填埋場價格採取某種結構性行動。我想我的問題只是 - 也許不是量子，而是更多的時間長度或你對價格或價格強度的可見性，只是來自你正在採取的一些結構性行動。

I think your question might be related to -- and in some ways related to what we're doing with our differentiation efforts. And so we believe that there's -- not only is there this price strength that we've shown, which is, in large part, intended to recover cost increases and at the same time expand margin. But there's also a piece of that now going forward, which we really haven't tapped into yet, that's really related to a differentiated service offering. And when you're differentiated, you can charge more for your services, and your customers are willing to accept that because they truly view you as being differentiated. That's really what we hope to get out of customer service digitalization, and we are very much in the early innings there.

我認為你的問題可能與——並且在某些方面與我們在差異化方面所做的工作有關。因此，我們相信 - 不僅是我們所展示的這種價格優勢，這在很大程度上是為了彌補成本增加，同時擴大利潤率。但現在還有一部分正在推進，我們還沒有真正涉足，這與差異化服務產品有關。當您與眾不同時，您可以為您的服務收取更多費用，而您的客戶願意接受這一點，因為他們真正認為您與眾不同。這確實是我們希望從客戶服務數字化中得到的，而且我們還處於早期階段。

Okay, okay. Maybe just one last one then on the synergy, the $100 million target. Devina, you mentioned, I think, $40 million of savings is from refinancing the debt. When you talk about confidence in exceeding the $100 million, is that sort of driven by that? Or is it, again, I guess, the $100 million on the operations?

好吧好吧。也許只是最後一個關於協同效應，即 1 億美元的目標。Devina，你提到過，我認為 4000 萬美元的儲蓄來自債務再融資。當你談到超過 1 億美元的信心時，是不是受此驅動？又或者，我猜，是運營上的 1 億美元？

Yes. No. Just to clarify, if I misspoke, the $40 million is incremental to the $100 million. The $100 million is from operating and SG&A as well as CapEx execution.

是的。不。澄清一下，如果我說錯了，4000 萬美元是 1 億美元的增量。這 1 億美元來自運營和 SG&A 以及資本支出執行。

Right. So when you talk about exceeding the $100 million, that's, again, aside from the $40 million?

正確的。所以當你談到超過 1 億美元時，那又是在 4000 萬美元之外？

That's correct.

這是正確的。

There are no further questions in queue at this time. I'll turn the call back over to our presenters.

目前隊列中沒有其他問題。我會把電話轉回給我們的主持人。

Well, thank you. In closing today, I'd like to recognize 3 of our areas that have had to contend with natural disaster after natural disaster. And in doing so, they've done it with amazing patience and professionalism. First off, our Gulf Coast area took a direct hit from 3 separate hurricanes this year. And many of our teammates were displaced from their homes, and several of our facilities incurred pretty significant damage. But through all of that, they've persevered and they've gotten the job done, which was amazing in and of itself.

嗯，謝謝。在今天的閉幕式上，我想表彰我們的 3 個地區，這些地區不得不在一次又一次的自然災害中應對自然災害。在這樣做的過程中，他們以驚人的耐心和專業精神做到了這一點。首先，我們的墨西哥灣沿岸地區今年遭受了 3 場獨立颶風的直接襲擊。我們的許多隊友都流離失所，我們的一些設施遭受了相當大的破壞。但通過所有這些，他們堅持不懈，完成了工作，這本身就很了不起。

And similarly, our Northern and Southern California areas have really almost had to come to accept that wildfires are just a devastating normal these days. We've had wildfires the last several years and certainly including last year and then again this year, but the team hasn't wavered. They've provided outstanding service and really demonstrated love for their customers and their communities. In fact, you may have heard about the story of one of our drivers who literally saved the life of an elderly woman in Paradise, California last year.

同樣，我們北加州和南加州地區現在幾乎不得不接受野火只是一種毀滅性的常態。過去幾年我們經歷過野火，當然包括去年和今年，但團隊並沒有動搖。他們提供了出色的服務，真正展現了對客戶和社區的熱愛。事實上，您可能聽說過我們的一位司機去年在加利福尼亞州天堂拯救了一位老年婦女生命的故事。

So to those 3 areas, Northern California, Southern California and Gulf Coast, they should be commended for the job that they've done through this really unfortunate series of natural disasters.

因此，對於這 3 個地區，北加州、南加州和墨西哥灣沿岸，他們在經歷這一系列非常不幸的自然災害時所做的工作應該受到讚揚。

Thank you to all of you. God bless you, and thank you to all of you for joining us this morning, and we will talk to you next quarter.

謝謝大家。上帝保佑你們，感謝你們所有人今天早上加入我們，我們將在下個季度與你們交談。

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

今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連接。