美國廢棄物管理公司 (WM) 2020 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to the Waste Management Second Quarter 2020 Earnings Release Conference Call. (Operator Instructions)

女士們，先生們，感謝你們的支持，歡迎來到廢物管理公司 2020 年第二季度收益發布電話會議。（操作員說明）

Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

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, Senior Director, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

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

Thank you, Marianne. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our second 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 details of the financials.

謝謝你，瑪麗安。大家早上好，感謝您加入我們的 2020 年第二季度收益電話會議。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 of 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. We will also be discussing our updated financial outlook for 2020. This outlook excludes transaction and advisory costs and post-closing financial contributions resulting from our planned acquisition of Advanced Disposal Services, Inc., which may be also referred to as ADS.

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。我們還將討論 2020 年最新的財務展望。該展望不包括我們計劃收購 Advanced Disposal Services, Inc.（也稱為 ADS）所產生的交易和諮詢成本以及交易結束後的財務貢獻。

Once we complete this acquisition, we expect to provide an updated outlook.

一旦我們完成此次收購，我們希望提供更新的前景。

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.

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 second 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，否則更具體地指內部收入增長或來自收益率或數量的 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 年第二季度進行。

Net income, EPS, operating EBITDA margin and SG&A expense results have been adjusted to enhance comparability by excluding certain items that management believes do not fundamentally -- that do not reflect our fundamental business performance or results of operations, including costs incurred in connection with the pending acquisition of ADS. These adjusted measures, in addition to free cash flow, are non-GAAP measures. Please refer to the earnings press release and the 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 利潤率和 SG&A 費用結果已經過調整，以通過排除管理層認為從根本上沒有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，包括與待收購 ADS。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，這些表格可在公司網站 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 1:00 p.m. Eastern time today until 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on August 13. To hear a replay of the call over to 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 9164328.

此通話正在錄音中，從下午 1:00 左右開始全天 24 小時可用。東部時間今天下午 5:00。東部時間8月13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 9164328。

Time-sensitive information provided during today's call, which is occurring on July 30, 2020, may no longer be accurate at 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.

在 2020 年 7 月 30 日舉行的今天的電話會議中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 for joining us. The strength and resilience of our business was clearly demonstrated in the second quarter as our results exceeded our expectations. At the outset of the quarter, governments and businesses across the continent were responding to the pandemic with stay-at-home orders and shutdowns of broad sections of the economy, resulting in sharp volume declines in our collection and disposal business. Our immediate priorities were protecting our employees and providing safe and reliable service to our customers and communities. With a framework in place to achieve those early priorities, we then focused on optimizing our business for the new environment, and we saw measurable improvements as we progressed through the quarter.

謝謝，埃德，感謝您加入我們。由於我們的業績超出了我們的預期，我們業務的實力和彈性在第二季度得到了明確體現。本季度初，整個非洲大陸的政府和企業都在通過居家令和關閉大部分經濟部門來應對這一流行病，導致我們的收集和處理業務量急劇下降。我們的當務之急是保護我們的員工並為我們的客戶和社區提供安全可靠的服務。有了實現這些早期優先事項的框架，我們便專注於針對新環境優化我們的業務，並且隨著我們在本季度的進展，我們看到了可衡量的改進。

Year-over-year declines in operating EBITDA in the collection and disposal business improved each month of the quarter as we were able to successfully flex down our operating costs, eliminate discretionary spending and improve productivity. I'm extremely proud of our team. Clearly, the shutdown of the entire economy had a dramatic impact on the top line of our business. Yet, even with a 10% decline in our second quarter revenues, our team was able to improve operating expense as a percent of revenue by 30 basis points, hold SG&A expenses as a percent of revenue relatively flat and most importantly, deliver 10 basis points of operating EBITDA margin expansion. As we progress through the third quarter, we are firmly confident in our operating model and are well positioned to deliver on the revised expectations we have for the remainder of the year.

由於我們能夠成功降低運營成本、消除可自由支配的支出並提高生產率，因此收集和處置業務的運營 EBITDA 同比下降在本季度的每個月都有所改善。我為我們的團隊感到非常自豪。顯然，整個經濟的停擺對我們的業務收入產生了巨大影響。然而，即使我們第二季度的收入下降了 10%，我們的團隊仍能夠將運營費用佔收入的百分比提高 30 個基點，使 SG&A 費用佔收入的百分比相對持平，最重要的是，實現了 10 個基點經營 EBITDA 利潤率擴張。隨著我們在第三季度取得進展，我們對我們的運營模式充滿信心，並準備好實現我們對今年剩餘時間的修訂預期。

Our second quarter results prove that putting our people first so they can take care of our customers, communities and the environment is the right approach to ultimately rewarding our shareholders. Putting people first is fundamental, not just to our ESG philosophy but to our business strategy. On our first quarter call, we discussed the actions we took to protect our employees' health, safety and financial well-being.

我們第二季度的業績證明，將員工放在首位，這樣他們才能照顧好我們的客戶、社區和環境，這是最終回報股東的正確方法。以人為本是根本，不僅是我們的 ESG 理念，也是我們的業務戰略。在第一季度電話會議上，我們討論了為保護員工的健康、安全和財務狀況而採取的行動。

We also took steps to support our customers, particularly the small and medium-sized businesses that have been impacted most adversely during the COVID-19 pandemic. We helped our customers rightsize their service levels, temporarily paused price increases, extended payment terms and gave a free month of service to qualifying open-market small and medium business customers. While these actions had a short-term impact on our price metrics, we've strengthened our customer relationships and increased customer loyalty. Our customer churn for the second quarter was our lowest on record at 6.9%.

我們還採取措施支持我們的客戶，尤其是在 COVID-19 大流行期間受到最不利影響的中小型企業。我們幫助我們的客戶調整他們的服務水平，暫時停止漲價，延長付款期限，並為符合條件的公開市場中小企業客戶提供一個月的免費服務。雖然這些行動對我們的價格指標產生了短期影響，但我們加強了客戶關係並提高了客戶忠誠度。我們第二季度的客戶流失率為 6.9%，創歷史最低水平。

We've also seen significant increases in our Net Promoter Scores, a measure of customer loyalty. Overall, second quarter Net Promoter Scores increased 82%, and our commercial line of business score tripled. We are now turning our focus to the longer-term to ensure that we come out of this pandemic a stronger, more differentiated company.

我們還看到我們的淨推薦值顯著增加，這是衡量客戶忠誠度的指標。總體而言，第二季度淨推薦值增長了 82%，我們的商業業務線得分增加了兩倍。我們現在將重點轉向長期，以確保我們從這場大流行病中走出來，成為一家更強大、更具差異化的公司。

At our Investor Day last year, we laid out our plan to continue to invest in technology to enhance our customers' experience with us and increase the lifetime value of a WM customer. At that time, we felt we had a strong plan to achieve some big technology wins over the next several years. However, during this pandemic, several things have become abundantly clear to us. First, our customer service digitalization investments, otherwise referred to as CSD, is unquestionably the right approach. This end-to-end digitalization of our entire customer experience from the first customer contact to the service confirmation will be unmatched. And as we've seen during COVID-19, the companies with a superior end-to-end online model will truly be differentiated in the post-COVID world.

在去年的投資者日，我們制定了繼續投資技術的計劃，以提升客戶對我們的體驗並增加 WM 客戶的終身價值。當時，我們覺得我們有一個強有力的計劃來在未來幾年內取得一些重大的技術勝利。然而，在這場大流行期間，有幾件事對我們來說變得非常清楚。首先，我們的客戶服務數字化投資（也稱為 CSD）無疑是正確的方法。從第一次客戶聯繫到服務確認，我們整個客戶體驗的端到端數字化將是無與倫比的。正如我們在 COVID-19 期間看到的那樣，擁有卓越的端到端在線模式的公司將在後 COVID 世界中真正脫穎而出。

Second, it became very clear to us early in this pandemic that when we all move in unison as one organization towards the accomplishment of a goal, there is nothing we can't accomplish and accomplish quickly. No one within Waste Management thought we could move thousands of employees to a work-from-home environment in 1 week's time but we did. This gave us confidence that we can be more ambitious and agile when it comes to technology advances.

其次，在這場大流行初期，我們就非常清楚，當我們作為一個組織齊心協力實現目標時，沒有什麼是我們無法快速完成的。Waste Management 內部沒有人認為我們可以在 1 週內將數千名員工轉移到在家工作的環境中，但我們做到了。這讓我們相信，在技術進步方面，我們可以更加雄心勃勃、更加敏捷。

That's why we are now accelerating our efforts around CSD. Using the onboard units, the smart truck platform and our data and analytics capabilities, all of which we've discussed for several years, we will seamlessly connect all the WM functions required to service our customers so we can give them a completely digitalized customer experience. This will put us on par with other great companies and other industries who have separated themselves through their own digitalization efforts. We'll have more details as we roll this out, but we expect to see some early wins this year.

這就是為什麼我們現在正在加快圍繞 CSD 的努力。使用車載設備、智能卡車平台以及我們的數據和分析能力，所有這些我們都討論了幾年，我們將無縫連接為客戶提供服務所需的所有 WM 功能，從而為他們提供完全數字化的客戶體驗.這將使我們與通過自己的數字化努力脫穎而出的其他偉大公司和其他行業相提並論。我們將在推出時提供更多細節，但我們希望今年能看到一些早期的勝利。

And finally, we're excited about the milestone we reached on the Advanced Disposal acquisition last month. At the end of June, we announced a revised agreement with ADS. Additionally, earlier this week, we and ADS introduced an agreement to -- an amendment to the previously announced agreement with GFL Environmental, and GFL is now contracted to purchase all anticipated regulatory divestitures for $863.5 million. We expect both transactions to close by the end of the third quarter of 2020 once we receive regulatory approval and the approval of the ADS shareholders.

最後，我們對上個月在 Advanced Disposal 收購中達到的里程碑感到興奮。6 月底，我們宣布了與 ADS 的修訂協議。此外，本週早些時候，我們和 ADS 達成了一項協議——對先前宣布的與 GFL Environmental 達成的協議進行修正，GFL 現在簽訂合同，以 8.635 億美元的價格購買所有預期的監管資產剝離。我們預計，一旦我們獲得監管部門的批准和 ADS 股東的批准，這兩項交易都將在 2020 年第三季度末完成。

With all the additional work we've done since the deal was announced in April of 2019, we're confident in our projection to achieve more than $100 million in synergies, even though divestitures are greater than we originally expected. We are looking forward to completing this transaction, integrating the ADS team and operations and creating long-term value for our shareholders as we add 3 million additional customers to our platform and service capabilities.

自該交易於 2019 年 4 月宣布以來我們所做的所有額外工作，我們對實現超過 1 億美元的協同效應的預測充滿信心，儘管資產剝離的規模超出了我們最初的預期。我們期待完成這項交易，整合 ADS 團隊和運營，並為我們的股東創造長期價值，因為我們為我們的平台和服務能力增加了 300 萬客戶。

Turning to our full year outlook. Our second quarter results, combined with the early stages of economic recovery, provide greater clarity for our 2020 financial results. This has allowed us to again provide full year guidance based on current economic conditions and before the contribution from ADS. We now expect a revenue decline of between 4% and 5% when compared to 2019, adjusted operating EBITDA margin in the range of 28% to 28.5% and free cash flow approaching $2 billion, again completely exclusive of the impact from ADS. Our impressive cost flexing in the second quarter, combined with the recovery from the reopening of North America, both of which we anticipate will carry into the back half of the year, mitigates what certainly would have been a more significant impact from the pandemic.

轉向我們的全年展望。我們第二季度的業績，加上經濟復甦的早期階段，使我們 2020 年的財務業績更加清晰。這使我們能夠根據當前的經濟狀況和 ADS 的貢獻再次提供全年指導。我們現在預計與 2019 年相比收入下降 4% 至 5%，調整後的營業 EBITDA 利潤率在 28% 至 28.5% 之間，自由現金流接近 20 億美元，再次完全排除 ADS 的影響。我們在第二季度令人印象深刻的成本調整，加上北美重新開放後的複蘇，我們預計這兩者都將延續到今年下半年，這減輕了大流行肯定會帶來的更重大影響。

In closing, despite the challenging backdrop, we're confident in our ability to continue to meet our commitments to our customers and deliver solid 2020 results. During these unprecedented times, our business model has once again proven its resilience, and we remain focused on using this opportunity and our technology investments to create a differentiated customer experience that puts our customers at the center of everything we do to increase workplace flexibility for our people.

最後，儘管背景充滿挑戰，但我們相信我們有能力繼續履行對客戶的承諾，並在 2020 年取得可觀的業績。在這些前所未有的時期，我們的商業模式再次證明了它的彈性，我們仍然專注於利用這個機會和我們的技術投資來創造差異化的客戶體驗，將我們的客戶置於我們所做的一切工作的中心，以提高我們工作場所的靈活性人們。

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

有了這個，我會把電話轉給約翰討論我們本季度的運營結果。

Thanks, Jim, and good morning, everybody. Our team has remained focused on the fundamentals of providing safe, reliable and efficient service to our customers despite the challenging backdrop. Our focus on execution paid off in the second quarter as we improved efficiency across the commercial, industrial and residential lines of business. By calibrating our cost to the current volume environment, we achieved total operating -- total company operating EBITDA of 28.8%, a 10 basis point improvement over 2019.

謝謝，吉姆，大家早上好。儘管面臨挑戰，我們的團隊仍然專注於為客戶提供安全、可靠和高效服務的基本原則。隨著我們提高了商業、工業和住宅業務線的效率，我們對執行的關注在第二季度得到了回報。通過根據當前的數量環境校准我們的成本，我們實現了總運營——公司總運營 EBITDA 為 28.8%，比 2019 年提高了 10 個基點。

The volume recovery trend we are seeing is encouraging. Volume declines in the collection and disposal business improved throughout the second quarter. Through the first few weeks of July, we've seen further volume improvements despite certain areas of the country slowing their plans to reopen. We've adopted a proactive approach to service restoration, and to date, we have resumed service for more than half of the commercial and industrial volumes that were suspended with the March shutdowns. While we are seeing some markets recover faster than others, we're encouraged that commercial businesses, the backbone of the U.S. economy, are showing strong signs of recovery.

我們看到的銷量恢復趨勢令人鼓舞。整個第二季度，收集和處置業務的銷量下降有所改善。在 7 月的前幾週，儘管該國某些地區放慢了重新開放的計劃，但我們已經看到了銷量的進一步改善。我們採取了積極主動的方法來恢復服務，迄今為止，我們已經恢復了因 3 月停運而暫停的一半以上的商業和工業量的服務。雖然我們看到一些市場比其他市場復甦得更快，但令我們感到鼓舞的是，作為美國經濟支柱的商業企業正在顯示出強勁的複蘇跡象。

While residential container wastes have declined from their peak increases, they are still elevated by mid-single digits when compared to last year. This strengthens our case with municipalities as we work to improve the profitability of our residential business and change the structure of residential contracts. It will take some time to reshape this business, but we are making headway.

雖然住宅集裝箱垃圾的增幅已從高峰期回落，但與去年相比仍以中等個位數增長。這加強了我們與市政當局的合作，因為我們致力於提高住宅業務的盈利能力並改變住宅合同的結構。重塑這項業務需要一些時間，但我們正在取得進展。

Turning to landfill volume. External volumes for the quarter were down a little more than 18% or around 13% if you adjust for natural disaster volumes in 2019. Similar to what we experienced with our collection volumes, our landfill volumes improved throughout the quarter with June being the best month, down 11% compared to June of 2019, adjusted for work days and natural disasters. Looking specifically at MSW volume, which tends to be the most resilient and a good indicator of trends particularly during a recovery, the quarter was down right at 9% while June improved to a 3.5% decline.

轉向垃圾填埋量。如果對 2019 年的自然災害量進行調整，本季度的外部量下降略高於 18% 或 13% 左右。與我們的收集量相似，我們的垃圾填埋場量在整個季度都有所改善，其中 6 月是最好的月份，與 2019 年 6 月相比下降了 11%，並根據工作日和自然災害進行了調整。具體來看 MSW 數量，它往往是最具彈性的，也是趨勢的良好指標，尤其是在復蘇期間，該季度下降了 9%，而 6 月份下降了 3.5%。

Moving to pricing. We have taken intentional customer-focused steps to help our small business customers in this tough economic climate, which we believe will generate long-term customer loyalty, and we're already seeing signs of it in our numbers. As Jim mentioned, our Net Promoter Score has increased. We took these steps knowing that there would be downward pressure on pricing metrics in the second quarter, but we see these consequences as short term as we stay disciplined in executing our pricing programs.

轉向定價。我們有意識地採取了以客戶為中心的措施來幫助我們的小型企業客戶應對當前嚴峻的經濟環境，我們相信這會產生長期的客戶忠誠度，而且我們已經在我們的數據中看到了這種跡象。正如吉姆所提到的，我們的淨推薦值有所增加。我們採取這些步驟時知道第二季度的定價指標會面臨下行壓力，但我們認為這些後果是短期的，因為我們在執行定價計劃時會保持紀律。

Second quarter core price was 1.3%. This includes almost 3% core price in the landfill business and 3.1% in the transfer business as we continue the positive momentum with post-collection pricing initiatives. We remain committed to the pricing discipline we have worked hard to instill to cover our rising costs and protect our margins. In July, core prices started to trend back toward pre-pandemic levels.

第二季度核心價格為 1.3%。這包括垃圾填埋場業務近 3% 的核心價格和轉運業務 3.1% 的核心價格，因為我們通過收集後定價舉措繼續保持積極勢頭。我們仍然致力於我們努力灌輸的定價紀律，以彌補我們不斷上升的成本並保護我們的利潤。7 月，核心價格開始回升至大流行前水平。

Our impressive cost flexing drove the solid results for the quarter. We improved operating expenses as a percentage of revenue by 30 basis points compared to the prior year. The team increased efficiency across all collection lines of business, along with significantly decreasing overtime hours, reducing routes and optimizing the fleet. Overtime costs decreased 30% in the collection line of business in the second quarter, driven by reductions in the commercial and industrial businesses.

我們令人印象深刻的成本彈性推動了本季度的穩健業績。與上一年相比，我們將運營費用佔收入的百分比提高了 30 個基點。該團隊提高了所有收集業務線的效率，同時顯著減少了加班時間，減少了路線並優化了車隊。受商業和工業業務減少的推動，第二季度催收業務的加班成本下降了 30%。

With regard to maintenance, our focus on asset utilization for our fleet is yielding results. We reduced downtime by 23% in the second quarter, achieving 99% fleet availability. Year-to-date, the improvement in downtime hours has resulted in $5 million of savings. We're also flexing down our post-collection operating cost by reducing variable expenses such as overtime and heavy equipment operating hours. Second quarter overtime costs decreased by 39% across the landfill, transfer and recycling businesses. The team has done a good job of managing costs through this pandemic, and we expect that to continue through the second half of 2020.

在維護方面，我們對車隊資產利用率的關注正在取得成果。我們在第二季度將停機時間減少了 23%，實現了 99% 的車隊可用性。年初至今，停機時間的減少已節省了 500 萬美元。我們還通過減少加班費和重型設備工作時間等可變費用來降低收款後的運營成本。第二季度，垃圾填埋場、轉運和回收業務的加班成本下降了 39%。該團隊在此次大流行期間很好地控制了成本，我們預計這種情況將持續到 2020 年下半年。

And lastly, let me briefly touch on recycling. The good news is that in the second quarter, we continued the trend of improving operating EBITDA for the business. For the quarter, we improved the bottom line by nearly $8 million, driven by a stronger blended commodity rate of $57 per ton, our focus on operating expenses and continued progress toward a fee-for-service model. We remain confident that our strategy for recycling, including our recent investment in MRF technology in Chicago is pushing our recycling business toward operational, environmental and economic sustainability.

最後，讓我簡要談談回收。好消息是，在第二季度，我們繼續改善業務運營 EBITDA 的趨勢。本季度，我們將利潤提高了近 800 萬美元，這得益於每噸 57 美元的強勁混合商品價格、我們對運營費用的關注以及向按服務收費模式的持續進展。我們仍然相信，我們的回收戰略，包括我們最近在芝加哥對 MRF 技術的投資，正在推動我們的回收業務朝著運營、環境和經濟的可持續發展方向發展。

So overall, our second quarter results exceeded our expectations as we demonstrated our ability to proactively manage our operations in uncertain times. I am extremely proud of the hard work of the men and women on the front lines who were instrumental in flexing costs down while continuing to provide high-quality service to our customers.

因此，總的來說，我們第二季度的業績超出了我們的預期，因為我們展示了我們在不確定時期主動管理運營的能力。我為一線男男女女的辛勤工作感到非常自豪，他們在降低成本方面發揮了重要作用，同時繼續為我們的客戶提供高質量的服務。

And with that, I'll now turn the call over to Devina to further discuss our second quarter financial results and full year outlook.

有了這個，我現在將電話轉給 Devina 進一步討論我們第二季度的財務業績和全年展望。

Thanks, John, and good morning. We're pleased with our second quarter financial results, which reflect the resilience of our business model, the strong execution of our frontline team members who safely and efficiently serve our customers and communities each day and the solid proactive steps our team has taken to manage costs and capital expenditures in this dynamic environment. Our strong performance in the second quarter positioned us to deliver on our top financial priorities of strong adjusted EBITDA margins and robust net cash provided by operating activities and free cash flow.

謝謝，約翰，早上好。我們對第二季度的財務業績感到滿意，這反映了我們業務模式的彈性、每天安全高效地為我們的客戶和社區服務的一線團隊成員的強大執行力，以及我們團隊為管理所採取的積極主動的步驟在這種動態環境中的成本和資本支出。我們在第二季度的強勁表現使我們能夠實現我們的首要財務優先事項，即強勁的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率以及經營活動和自由現金流提供的強勁淨現金。

As we started to assess the impacts of COVID-19 on our business several months ago, we quickly focused on the EBITDA margin impacts that revenue declines in our highest margin industrial, commercial and landfill lines of business might have on our near-term results. We initially estimated that 2020 adjusted EBITDA margins could be impacted by as much as 100 basis points. In the second quarter of 2020, which we expect to have the toughest revenue comparisons of the year, we managed cost to deliver an adjusted EBITDA margin that meaningfully exceeded those initial expectations. With the benefit of this strong performance and our economic outlook, we now expect 2020 adjusted EBITDA margin to be in the range of 28% to 28.5% or flat to down 50 basis points on a year-over-year basis.

幾個月前，當我們開始評估 COVID-19 對我們業務的影響時，我們迅速關注 EBITDA 利潤率的影響，即我們利潤率最高的工業、商業和垃圾填埋業務線的收入下降可能對我們的近期業績產生影響。我們最初估計，2020 年調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率可能會受到多達 100 個基點的影響。在 2020 年第二季度，我們預計將進行今年最艱難的收入比較，我們管理成本以實現調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率，這大大超出了最初的預期。得益於這種強勁的表現和我們的經濟前景，我們現在預計 2020 年調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率將在 28% 至 28.5% 之間，或同比持平至下降 50 個基點。

Our strong adjusted EBITDA result is the largest single contributor to our cash flow results in the second quarter. Our net cash flow from operations was $856 million or about 24% of revenue in the quarter. As we saw at the end of March, there is pressure on working capital from a slowdown in customer receipts, which we attribute to customers taking steps to protect their own financial positions.

我們強勁的調整後 EBITDA 結果是我們第二季度現金流量結果的最大單一貢獻者。我們的運營現金流淨額為 8.56 億美元，約佔本季度收入的 24%。正如我們在 3 月底看到的那樣，客戶收款放緩給營運資金帶來壓力，我們將此歸因於客戶採取措施保護自己的財務狀況。

We are taking proactive steps to work with our customers to ensure that these pressures on working capital are managed and balances are collected for services provided. In spite of these efforts, we expect that a delay in the timing of cash receipts from customers could create an $80 million to $100 million headwind in the working capital contributions to free cash flow in 2020.

我們正在採取積極措施與客戶合作，以確保管理這些營運資金壓力並為所提供的服務收取餘額。儘管做出了這些努力，我們預計，延遲從客戶那裡收到現金的時間可能會給 2020 年自由現金流的營運資金貢獻帶來 8000 萬至 1 億美元的逆風。

Our operating cash flow for the quarter also reflects the impact of the deferral of payroll tax payments as provided for by the CARES Act. This deferral benefited our current quarter cash flow by about $40 million, and we expect the full year benefit to be $125 million.

我們本季度的經營現金流也反映了 CARES 法案規定的延遲支付工資稅的影響。這種延期使我們當前季度的現金流受益約 4000 萬美元，我們預計全年收益為 1.25 億美元。

Second quarter capital spending was $436 million, $142 million lower than the second quarter of 2019. While we continue to prioritize investments in the long-term growth of our business, we have decreased our capital spending to align with the current economic outlook. 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 will not reduce the amount of capital allocated to our fleet in 2020 but are considering the current volume environment as we finalize our planning for truck builds and deliveries in 2021.

第二季度資本支出為 4.36 億美元，比 2019 年第二季度減少 1.42 億美元。雖然我們繼續優先投資於我們業務的長期增長，但我們已經減少了資本支出以適應當前的經濟前景。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。我們不會在 2020 年減少分配給我們車隊的資本數量，但在我們最終確定 2021 年卡車建造和交付計劃時正在考慮當前的數量環境。

At the beginning of the second quarter, we targeted a 10% decrease in capital spending from the initial range of $1.7 billion to $1.8 billion for 2020. The team has worked hard to execute on this plan for focused and disciplined reductions in capital expenditures, and in spite of the volume recovery that's tracking above our prior expectations and our plan to accelerate the pace of CSD, we expect to deliver on this goal and have revised our 2020 outlook for full year capital expenditures to between $1.55 billion and $1.65 billion.

在第二季度初，我們的目標是將 2020 年的資本支出從最初的 17 億美元減少 10% 至 18 億美元。該團隊一直在努力執行這項計劃，以有針對性和有紀律地減少資本支出，儘管數量恢復超出了我們之前的預期，而且我們計劃加快 CSD 的步伐，但我們希望實現這一目標，已將我們 2020 年的全年資本支出展望修改為 15.5 億美元至 16.5 億美元。

In the second quarter of 2020, our business generated $423 million of free cash flow. Despite the challenges from COVID-19, our cash conversion was in the low 40% range, an increase compared to the second quarter of 2019.

2020 年第二季度，我們的業務產生了 4.23 億美元的自由現金流。儘管 COVID-19 帶來了挑戰，但我們的現金轉換率仍處於 40% 的較低範圍內，與 2019 年第二季度相比有所增加。

For the full year, we expect our solid operating performance and disciplined capital spending to yield free cash flow approaching $2 billion, excluding the impact of ADS. As a reminder, when we originally established our 2020 free cash flow outlook, we excluded impacts of ADS, including advisory and integration planning costs, from the target. We plan to provide a more complete view of the free cash flow impacts of the acquisition post close. Through June 30, our operating cash flow and free cash flow included $45 million paid for integration planning efforts.

對於全年，我們預計我們穩健的經營業績和嚴格的資本支出將產生接近 20 億美元的自由現金流，不包括 ADS 的影響。提醒一下，當我們最初制定 2020 年自由現金流展望時，我們從目標中排除了 ADS 的影響，包括諮詢和整合計劃成本。我們計劃在收購結束後提供更完整的自由現金流影響視圖。截至 6 月 30 日，我們的運營現金流和自由現金流包括為整合規劃工作支付的 4500 萬美元。

Our strong free cash flow positions us to invest in our business and return cash to our shareholders. In the second quarter, we paid $230 million in dividends. We remain fully committed to our dividend program, a strong balance sheet that provides certainty through any economic cycle and balanced allocation of remaining available cash to strategic acquisitions and share repurchases. In the near term, as we further develop our outlook for volume recoveries and position ourselves for a successful close of the ADS acquisition, we will continue to conserve cash and focus on a modest deleveraging towards our long-term targeted range of 2.5 to 3x total debt to EBITDA.

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。第二季度，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，一個強大的資產負債表，可以在任何經濟周期中提供確定性，並將剩餘可用現金平衡分配給戰略收購和股票回購。在短期內，隨著我們進一步發展我們對交易量恢復的展望並為成功完成美國存託憑證收購做好準備，我們將繼續保存現金並專注於適度去槓桿化以達到我們 2.5 至 3 倍的長期目標範圍EBITDA 的債務。

Turning to SG&A costs. Second quarter SG&A was $353 million, a decrease of $32 million compared to the same period last year. SG&A as a percentage of revenue was 9.9% despite the significant revenue decline in the quarter. These results include lower incentive compensation accruals as well as the steps we have taken to reduce discretionary spending in response to business impacts related to COVID-19.

轉向 SG&A 成本。第二季度 SG&A 為 3.53 億美元，與去年同期相比減少 3200 萬美元。儘管本季度收入大幅下降，但 SG&A 佔收入的百分比為 9.9%。這些結果包括較低的應計激勵薪酬，以及我們為應對與 COVID-19 相關的業務影響而採取的減少可自由支配支出的措施。

Even as the business environment begins to improve, we're maintaining extreme discipline in evaluating our ongoing level of spending for nonessential costs such as consulting, travel and entertainment. Our cost management actions were partially offset by an increase in our bad debt expense of $12 million in the quarter. In light of the trend we have seen in our receivables and the acceleration of CSD which will increase SG&A spending in the back half of year, we expect full year adjusted SG&A to be slightly higher than 10% of revenue. We're confident we're on the right path with CSD to continue to differentiate our service and provide long-term value to our customers and shareholders.

即使商業環境開始改善，我們在評估諮詢、差旅和娛樂等非必要成本的持續支出水平時仍保持嚴格的紀律。我們的成本管理措施被本季度壞賬費用增加 1200 萬美元所部分抵消。鑑於我們在應收賬款方面看到的趨勢以及 CSD 的加速將增加下半年的 SG&A 支出，我們預計全年調整後的 SG&A 將略高於收入的 10%。我們相信我們與 CSD 走在正確的道路上，以繼續提供差異化服務，並為我們的客戶和股東提供長期價值。

Finally, our strong balance sheet and liquidity position us well for the current economic environment as well as funding the acquisition of ADS. Current and forecasted post-acquisition leverage ratios are well within the financial covenant of our revolving credit facilities, and we have more than $3 billion of available capacity under our primary revolving credit facility. Additionally, this week, we closed on a $3 billion 364-day revolving credit facility that positions us to immediately fund the transaction at close and then look for the right window to access the capital markets for long-term financing alternatives.

最後，我們強大的資產負債表和流動性使我們能夠很好地適應當前的經濟環境，並為收購 ADS 提供資金。當前和預測的收購后杠桿率完全符合我們循環信貸額度的財務契約，並且我們的主要循環信貸額度下有超過 30 億美元的可用能力。此外，本週，我們完成了 30 億美元的 364 天循環信貸安排，這使我們能夠在交易結束時立即為交易提供資金，然後尋找合適的窗口進入資本市場以獲得長期融資方案。

Our solid financial results this quarter demonstrate both the resiliency of our business and the success we are having in dynamically managing our costs. I want to thank the entire Waste Management team for their hard work, which allows us to deliver on our commitments to our customers, communities and shareholders.

本季度我們穩健的財務業績證明了我們業務的彈性以及我們在動態管理成本方面取得的成功。我要感謝整個廢物管理團隊的辛勤工作，這使我們能夠兌現對客戶、社區和股東的承諾。

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

有了這個，瑪麗安，讓我們打開問題熱線。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Brian Maguire, Goldman Sachs.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自高盛的 Brian Maguire。

This is Derrick Laton on for Brian. I appreciate the color and the details you provided so far on the exit rate volumes for 2Q and how things were looking in June. And it sounds like things maybe are still sequentially improving through the first 2 weeks of July. But just hoping maybe if you could quantify any of those numbers and amongst the different lines of business, if you could.

這是布萊恩的德里克·拉頓。我很欣賞你到目前為止提供的關於第二季度退出率數量的顏色和細節，以及 6 月份的情況。聽起來情況可能在 7 月的前兩週仍在逐步改善。但只是希望如果你能量化這些數字中的任何一個，以及在不同的業務範圍內，如果可以的話。

Sure, yes. We are, to your point, seeing July continue to accelerate, albeit at a slightly slower pace. I mean, look, this kind of went from 0 to -- not 70 miles an hour, but probably 0 to 60 miles an hour pretty fast, and now we're moving back towards 70 miles an hour.

當然，是的。就您的觀點而言，我們看到 7 月繼續加速，儘管速度略有放緩。我的意思是，看，這種速度從 0 到 - 不是每小時 70 英里，但可能非常快地從 0 到 60 英里，現在我們正在回到每小時 70 英里。

The one area that John focused on was really MSW. That has really been impressive. The second area that's -- we're down 3.5% in MSW. The other one that was surprising to us because we expressed some concern about it in the first quarter was commercial. And at its low point, the commercial line of business was down as much as 15%, even more in some areas, and that has returned to down kind of 5% or 6%. So it's really rebounded, and it continues now through July to show improvement.

約翰真正關注的一個領域是城市固體廢棄物。這真是令人印象深刻。第二個領域——我們的城市固體廢物下降了 3.5%。另一個讓我們感到驚訝的是商業，因為我們在第一季度表達了一些擔憂。在最低點，商業業務下降了 15%，在某些地區甚至更多，現在已經恢復到下降 5% 或 6%。所以它真的反彈了，現在一直持續到 7 月，以顯示出改善。

The one that kind of is starting to jump a bit right now that's good for us is special waste. It had been down -- even through June, it had been down pretty significantly on a year-over-year basis. And when I looked at the rolling week numbers, which compare to prior year, just yesterday, those numbers are starting to really show improvement in special waste. So we're now actually up double digits there in special waste, whereas we had been down deep in the double digits previously. So we are pleased with the progress we're showing on virtually all of our waste streams in our collection lines of business.

那種現在開始有點跳躍的對我們有好處的是特殊廢物。它一直在下降——即使到 6 月，它也比去年同期下降了很多。就在昨天，當我查看與前一年相比的滾動週數時，這些數字開始真正顯示出特殊廢物的改善。所以我們現在實際上在特殊浪費方面上升了兩位數，而我們之前一直下降到兩位數。因此，我們對我們在收集業務線中幾乎所有廢物流方面取得的進展感到高興。

I appreciate the details. Certainly, it's encouraging. And then maybe if I could just get one follow-up. Just the updated guidance for the year, for 2020 with the revenues expected to be down 4% to 5%, just hoping maybe if you could help us better understand kind of the moving parts there. Does that basically assume that pricing yields will hold flat from 2Q levels for the rest of the year? And maybe just the moving parts between pricing yield and volume and what your expectations are there.

我很欣賞細節。當然，這是令人鼓舞的。然後也許如果我能得到一個後續行動。只是更新了今年的指南，2020 年的收入預計將下降 4% 到 5%，只是希望你能幫助我們更好地了解那裡的活動部分。這是否基本上假設定價收益率將在今年剩餘時間內與第二季度的水平持平？也許只是定價收益率和數量之間的移動部分以及你的期望。

Yes, it's a great question. We're not specifically giving outlook for the back half of the year on the price and volume component. But what I would say, Jim just gave tremendous color with regard to the improving volume outlook. And I think that, that coupled with the fact that the Q2 execution on pricing was intentional and focused on being customer-centric, and so we certainly expect an improving result in the back half of the year on price.

是的，這是一個很好的問題。我們沒有具體給出今年下半年的價格和數量部分展望。但我要說的是，吉姆剛剛對改善的銷量前景給出了極大的色彩。而且我認為，再加上第二季度的定價執行是有意的並且專注於以客戶為中心，因此我們當然預計今年下半年的價格會有所改善。

So you can expect that the yield component gets back to closer to normal levels, our outlook for 2020 and an improving volume trend. When we look at the back half specifically, we're projecting that you have a decline in revenue of -- in the range of 3.5% to 5.5%. And that's more significant in Q3 and then tapers in Q4 to about half the Q3 levels what we're projecting.

因此，您可以預期收益率部分會回到更接近正常水平、我們對 2020 年的展望以及數量趨勢的改善。當我們具體看後半部分時，我們預計您的收入將下降 3.5% 至 5.5%。這在第三季度更為重要，然後在第四季度逐漸減少到我們預測的第三季度水平的一半左右。

I do want to point out, particularly given what we're seeing in the market today, that fuel prices did have a 2% impact on the revenue line in Q2. Difficult to predict that specifically. We weren't predicting any added pressure on the top line from fuel in the back half of the year, so that's certainly out of our control and not necessarily representative of the strong execution of the business, which we're really encouraged to see the momentum that we saw at the end of Q2 and beginning into Q3.

我確實想指出，特別是考慮到我們今天在市場上看到的情況，燃油價格確實對第二季度的收入線產生了 2% 的影響。很難具體預測。我們沒有預測今年下半年燃料會給收入帶來任何額外壓力，所以這肯定是我們無法控制的，不一定代表業務的強勁執行，我們真的很高興看到我們在第二季度末和第三季度開始看到的勢頭。

Your next question comes from the line of Walter Spracklin, RBC Capital Markets.

你的下一個問題來自 RBC 資本市場的 Walter Spracklin。

So I'd like to start with margins. Obviously, you've guided to impressive cost control, doing much better than what you had thought you would be able to do, which is great. Just curious on the structural nature of this. When volumes start to come back, can we see operating leverage such that you can maintain -- I don't know, Jim, you alluded to a better organization or a strong organization post COVID. Does that mean you can run and you expect to run at margins above historical trends once Advanced Disposal is integrated? Or would you see that when volumes come back, resources would have to come back as well and get you back to a more normalized kind of historical levels?

所以我想從邊距開始。顯然，你已經引導到令人印象深刻的成本控制，比你想像的要好得多，這很棒。只是好奇這個的結構性質。當銷量開始回升時，我們能否看到運營槓桿，以便您可以維持——我不知道，吉姆，你提到了一個更好的組織或一個強大的組織後 COVID。這是否意味著一旦集成 Advanced Disposal，您就可以運行並且期望以高於歷史趨勢的利潤率運行？還是您會看到，當交易量回升時，資源也必須回升並使您回到更正常的歷史水平？

Yes. Walter, I'll start this one. I think it's a really interesting question. Rather than specific on post-ADS margin, I'm going to focus really on WM base business because we're going to wait to give any financial outlook for the integration of ADS until post close.

是的。沃爾特，我會開始這個。我認為這是一個非常有趣的問題。我不會具體針對 ADS 後的保證金，而是真正關注 WM 基礎業務，因為我們將等到收盤後才給出 ADS 整合的任何財務前景。

So when we think about the strong margin execution in the second quarter, I mean, hats off to our operators and the frontline for doing a tremendous job, and I think what you saw in those results is that we got the most expensive hour out of the route and we got the most expensive truck off of the street. And so through efficiency, through improved maintenance, improved downtime, there were really fundamental tremendous improvements in the operating nature of the business. And those are things that the team is working hard to see how we hold on to in a post-COVID environment with improvement in volume outlook in commercial and industrial collection. I do think the residential collection margin impacts that we've talked about, we're focused more on the price side of that equation to be sure that we recover the increase in our cost to serve, but looking for efficiency in that part of the business as well.

因此，當我們考慮第二季度強勁的保證金執行時，我的意思是，向我們的運營商和前線人員致敬，他們做了出色的工作，我認為你在這些結果中看到的是，我們得到了最昂貴的時間路線，我們得到了街上最昂貴的卡車。因此，通過提高效率、改進維護、減少停機時間，業務的運營性質確實有了根本性的巨大改進。這些是團隊正在努力了解我們如何在後 COVID 環境中堅持並改善商業和工業收藏量前景的事情。我確實認為我們已經討論過的住宅收集利潤率影響，我們更多地關注該等式的價格方面，以確保我們收回增加的服務成本，但在這部分尋找效率業務也是如此。

In terms of the strong execution in Q2 and how we think about that for the remainder of the year, I think of the improving volume trends and price. Price is really an important piece of that because we delivered this margin result in spite of having lower contributions from core price, which we see really flow all the way through on margins, so particularly impressive when you consider that aspect.

就第二季度的強勁執行以及我們對今年剩餘時間的看法而言，我想到了銷量趨勢和價格的改善。價格確實是其中的一個重要部分，因為儘管核心價格的貢獻較低，但我們仍實現了這一利潤率結果，我們看到核心價格確實一直在影響利潤率，所以當你考慮這個方面時，特別令人印象深刻。

There are certain elements of the cost structure that increase in the back half of the year. As an example, fuel tax credits were something that we got a benefit for in the fourth quarter of 2019. Instead of that being a second half of the year phenomenon this year, those are spread -- those benefits are spread over the course of the year. So that has some margin pressure in the back half, as does the increased acceleration of spend on CSD, which Jim spoke about. So really strong execution in operations, and we expect that to continue particularly with the improving volume backdrop.

成本結構的某些要素在今年下半年有所增加。例如，燃油稅抵免是我們在 2019 年第四季度獲得的收益。這不是今年下半年的現象，而是分散的——這些好處分散在一年中。因此，這在後半部分有一些利潤壓力，吉姆談到的 CSD 支出加速增加也是如此。如此強大的運營執行力，我們預計這種情況將繼續下去，尤其是在銷量增加的背景下。

Okay. That's great and encouraging as well. So moving on to price. I know you just alluded to it.

好的。這很好，也很鼓舞人心。所以繼續談價格。我知道你只是提到了它。

Can you speak to what happened with core price? As you mentioned, you did not get the benefit of core price. And what is the risk? And how does it work that -- you implied here that it is going to come back. Does that just come back because of the overall macro environment and easier to drive forward? Or is there something more detailed to that in addition to what you had mentioned with regards to residential and recapturing some of those higher volume through higher pricing?

你能談談核心價格發生了什麼嗎？正如您提到的，您沒有獲得核心價格的好處。風險是什麼？它是如何工作的——你在這裡暗示它會回來。是不是因為整體宏觀環境的原因才回來，更容易向前推進？或者除了你提到的關於住宅和通過更高的價格重新獲得一些更高的銷量之外，還有更詳細的內容嗎？

Yes. I mean, I think there's a couple of points to make here with respect to price, and maybe the first one would be to your last point there. I mean there is this price discipline that we've talked about this morning that remains. We certainly haven't lost any price discipline. But we felt like that it was absolutely the right approach to take during the quarter to pause on these price increases and some fees and also to really help small business emerge out of this by giving them a free month of service.

是的。我的意思是，我認為這裡有幾點關於價格，也許第一點就是你在那裡的最後一點。我的意思是，我們今天早上談到的價格紀律仍然存在。我們當然沒有失去任何價格紀律。但我們認為，在本季度暫停這些價格上漲和一些費用，並通過為他們提供一個月的免費服務，真正幫助小企業擺脫困境，這絕對是正確的方法。

I mean that's -- I can't imagine if I were a small business owner sitting in my living room opening my mail and getting the -- my big price increase from Waste Management. That would not have gone over well with me as a small business owner. So it was unquestionably the right approach to take in Q2. And honestly, into Q3, that will persist to a lesser degree because some of these small businesses have not reopened.

我的意思是——我無法想像如果我是一個小企業主，坐在客廳裡打開我的郵件並收到——我從廢物管理公司的價格大幅上漲。作為一個小企業主，這對我來說不會很好。因此，這無疑是第二季度採取的正確方法。老實說，進入第三季度，這種情況將持續到較小程度，因為其中一些小企業還沒有重新開業。

And what we told them with respect to the free month of service was that we would give you your free month of service once you reopen. So I'm sitting in downtown Houston, and there are a lot of small businesses that have not opened in the central business district here. I suspect it's the same in other big cities.

關於免費服務月，我們告訴他們的是，一旦您重新開放，我們將為您提供免費服務月。所以我坐在休斯頓市中心，這裡的中央商務區有很多沒有開業的小企業。我懷疑其他大城市也一樣。

So we will still see some of that weakness in pricing, but the point that I think Devina was really touching on was that when you think about price discipline and once we get past this short-term COVID effect, the price discipline is still there. John talked about it, too, in terms of landfills and transfer. That is something that is truly ingrained in our culture, and so we don't kind of kick that to the curb. When COVID goes away, that becomes immediately reestablished. But there is a -- there was, of course, in Q2, a big impact from this more kind of sympathetic approach to these customers, and we'll see some of that in Q3 as well.

所以我們仍然會看到定價方面的一些弱點，但我認為 Devina 真正觸及的一點是，當你考慮價格紀律時，一旦我們克服了這種短期的 COVID 效應，價格紀律仍然存在。約翰也談到了垃圾填埋場和轉移方面的問題。這是我們文化中真正根深蒂固的東西，所以我們不會把它踢到路邊。當 COVID 消失時，它會立即重新建立。但是，當然，在第二季度，這種對這些客戶更有同情心的方法產生了巨大影響，我們也會在第三季度看到其中的一些影響。

Your next question comes from the line of Sean Eastman, KeyBanc Capital.

您的下一個問題來自 KeyBanc Capital 的 Sean Eastman。

So compliments on a good second quarter performance here. I just wanted to drill in on the second half. I mean I'm just trying to understand where you see the big swing factors in the second half '20. So visibility has clearly improved around the volumes, but I'm just curious where you think some conservatism is still warranted in that second half outlook and just maybe where you guys don't want to get over your skis just yet as we think about trajectory here from a revenue margin perspective in the second half.

因此，在這裡對第二季度的良好表現表示讚賞。我只是想鑽研下半場。我的意思是，我只是想了解您在 20 世紀下半年看到的重大波動因素在哪裡。因此，圍繞體積的能見度明顯提高了，但我只是好奇你認為在下半年的前景中仍然需要一些保守主義的地方，以及你們可能不想在我們考慮軌跡時克服滑雪的地方從下半年的收入利潤率角度來看。

Yes. Sean, I'll start that, and then I think the others can add some color. I think the place that we start that discussion is on the top line. And as I mentioned, the outlook for the back half of the year is currently revenues being down 3.5% to 5.5%. When you look at how we finished June and see July coming together, we do think that there's some potential for optimism in the top line results for the back half of the year. But it's appropriate for us to be reserved in going too far in terms of how quickly we start to see the recovery, certainly with the number of case increases that have been seen across the southern part of the United States.

是的。肖恩，我會開始，然後我認為其他人可以添加一些顏色。我認為我們開始討論的地方是最重要的。正如我所提到的，今年下半年的前景目前是收入下降 3.5% 至 5.5%。當你看看我們如何結束 6 月並看到 7 月齊聚一堂時，我們確實認為今年下半年的頂線結果有一些樂觀的潛力。但是，就我們開始看到復甦的速度而言，我們應該有所保留，不要走得太遠，尤其是在美國南部地區病例數量增加的情況下。

And so that's really where that back half question mark starts, but we feel really good that 4% to 5% is representative of how we'll finish the year.

所以這真的是後半問號開始的地方，但我們感覺很好，4% 到 5% 代表了我們將如何結束這一年。

In terms of the cost part of the equation, it really does come down to the operating cost leverage as the biggest driver. There are certain elements of cost, overtime being one of them, which John spoke a lot about in terms of our ability to flex the number of overtime hours. That translated into $45 million of operating cost savings in the second quarter, and that's a tremendous result. But ensuring that as we see volumes grow back and whether it be the efficiency part of the business, increased traffic on the roads, thinking about how we manage the work day, that $45 million of savings is something that we have our eye on.

就等式的成本部分而言，它確實歸結為運營成本槓桿是最大的驅動因素。有一些成本因素，加班就是其中之一，John 在我們靈活調整加班小時數方面談到了很多。這在第二季度轉化為 4500 萬美元的運營成本節省，這是一個巨大的結果。但是，當我們看到銷量回升時，無論是業務效率的一部分、道路交通的增加，還是考慮我們如何管理工作日，確保節省 4500 萬美元是我們所關注的。

Other elements of the labor line, which is the biggest single component of our cost structure, is really where we're focused. The pieces that are in SG&A, we have at hand. I would tell you that the results that you saw in the second quarter, we're confident that we can continue to deliver. As I mentioned, the increased investment in CSD in the back half of the year means that those costs will increase, but that's an intentional investment for the long-term growth and customer-centric nature of our business.

勞動力線的其他要素是我們成本結構中最大的單一組成部分，這才是我們真正關注的地方。SG&A 中的零件，我們手頭有。我會告訴你，你在第二季度看到的結果，我們相信我們可以繼續交付。正如我所提到的，今年下半年對 CSD 的投資增加意味著這些成本將會增加，但這是對我們業務的長期增長和以客戶為中心的性質的有意投資。

Yes. And one quick thing and then, I think, John wants to touch on OpEx, too. But Sean, when you think about the conversation we just had about price, obviously, it was uniquely soft. I mean -- but that softness dissipates over the next quarter or 2 back to much more of a normalized level of price increases and where we've been prior to COVID. So that certainly is upside for us.

是的。一件快速的事情，然後，我想，約翰也想談談運營支出。但是肖恩，當你想到我們剛剛就價格進行的談話時，顯然，它非常溫和。我的意思是——但這種疲軟會在下個季度或第二個季度消散，回到正常化的價格上漲水平，以及我們在 COVID 之前的水平。所以這對我們來說肯定是有利的。

And -- but we knew the downside was going to be there, and it was the right thing to do.

而且 - 但我們知道不利因素將會存在，這是正確的做法。

And then, of course, volume, which we talked about early on in this call, we think that volume, while it has started to slow from the really steep increase that we saw in June, it still is increasing. And I talked about special waste showing some really nice improvement and then MSW and commercial. Industrial has lagged a little bit. It showed a nice tick up, but we are seeing some differences by geography. And it's interesting when you look at kind of the southern part of our network versus the northern part of our network. The northern part of our network, whether it was the U.S. or Canada, tended to shut down a bit more quickly and reopen a little later. And so we think there's some real opportunity.

然後，當然，我們在本次電話會議的早些時候談到了交易量，我們認為交易量雖然已經從我們在 6 月份看到的真正急劇增長開始放緩，但它仍在增加。我談到了特殊廢物顯示出一些非常好的改進，然後是 MSW 和商業。工業有點落後。它顯示出不錯的增長，但我們看到了一些地理差異。當您查看我們網絡的南部與我們網絡的北部時，這很有趣。我們網絡的北部，無論是美國還是加拿大，往往關閉得更快一些，重新開放的時間更晚一些。所以我們認為有一些真正的機會。

I was in Boston a couple of weeks ago. And honestly, Boston, for the first time in -- since COVID, really started -- is starting to feel open. I mean we were in restaurants, eating inside. And so those businesses are starting to reopen. And so while Boston and our New England area is still down relative to some of the areas in the South, that will provide more of a kind of a spike upturn in volume for markets like New England, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania.

幾週前我在波士頓。老實說，自從 COVID 真正開始以來，波士頓第一次開始感到開放。我的意思是我們在餐館裡，在裡面吃飯。因此，這些企業開始重新營業。因此，雖然波士頓和我們的新英格蘭地區相對於南部的一些地區仍然處於下降狀態，但這將為新英格蘭、新澤西、紐約、賓夕法尼亞等市場提供更多的銷量激增。

Sean, the only thing I would add to your point about getting over our skis, I think when you look at -- and as Jim mentioned, we're looking at this literally on a daily basis by region, by line of business, is making sure that we continue to hold tight on the reins in terms of adding cost back. And I think when you look in some of the numbers we all referenced in our prepared remarks and even as late as yesterday, looking at the ratio of volume coming back and what we're still able to do on the cost side, specifically overtime, as Devina mentioned, that's the area where we are absolutely focused on.

肖恩，關於克服我們的滑雪板，我想對你的觀點補充一點，我想當你看到——正如吉姆提到的，我們每天都在按地區、按業務線來看待這個問題，是確保我們在增加成本方面繼續嚴格控制。我認為，當你查看我們在準備好的發言中甚至直到昨天都提到的一些數字時，看看恢復量的比例以及我們在成本方面仍然能夠做的事情，特別是加班費，正如 Devina 提到的，那是我們絕對關注的領域。

I will tell you, the ratios of volumes coming back versus overtime is still favorable. And I think that's why when you think about us having the margins we had in Q2 compared to where we lost the volume, which was really landfill, commercial and industrial, for the team to hold that -- to hold those margins, and there's puts and takes, Devina mentioned some of them, it is really impressive. But I think getting out over our skis, that -- we are absolutely focused on making sure we keep the reins very tight on OpEx as we watch this volume shift.

我會告訴你，返回量與加班量的比率仍然是有利的。而且我認為這就是為什麼當你考慮我們在第二季度擁有的利潤率與我們失去數量的地方相比，這實際上是垃圾填埋場，商業和工業，讓團隊保持 - 保持這些利潤率，並且有看跌期權並採取，德維納提到其中一些，它真的令人印象深刻。但我認為走出我們的滑雪板，那 - 我們絕對專注於確保我們在觀察這種體積變化時對 OpEx 保持非常嚴格的控制。

Got it. Super helpful. Next one for me, hopefully a little quicker. Could you help bridge us from the down 100 basis points year-over-year margin outlook you provided on the 1Q call to the revised flat to down 50 basis points? Just any granularity between the volume recovery, cost control in that bridge would be appreciated.

知道了。超級有幫助。下一個給我，希望快一點。您能否幫助我們從您在第一季度電話會議上提供的同比下降 100 個基點的利潤率展望過渡到修訂後的持平下降 50 個基點？卷恢復之間的任何粒度，該橋中的成本控制都將受到讚賞。

Yes. I don't know that I can get super granular for you, but what I would tell you is you've hit on 2 of the primary factors. So volume recovery outpaced our expectations, and so that certainly had some upside impact on the margin decremental impact that we had originally predicted. And then cost control, particularly on the operating line, was even better than expected based on what we know the margins of these lines of business to be.

是的。我不知道我能否為您提供超精細的信息，但我要告訴您的是，您已經找到了兩個主要因素。因此，銷量恢復超出了我們的預期，因此這肯定會對我們最初預測的利潤率下降產生一些上行影響。然後成本控制，特別是在運營線上，根據我們所知道的這些業務線的利潤率，甚至比預期的要好。

I mentioned overtime specifically. Health and welfare costs are another example where we saw some value to the results. From a granularity perspective, I guess what I would tell you is that health and welfare by itself, as an example, is just one of those cost categories that's difficult to predict, but it had a marked contribution. And around 25 to 50 basis points is what we see as a benefit for the year in health and welfare costs alone.

我特別提到了加班。健康和福利成本是我們看到結果具有一定價值的另一個例子。從粒度的角度來看，我想我會告訴你的是，例如，健康和福利本身只是那些難以預測的成本類別之一，但它有顯著的貢獻。大約 25 到 50 個基點是我們認為僅在健康和福利成本方面今年的收益。

Your next question comes from the line of Hamzah Mazari, Jefferies.

你的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Hamzah Mazari。

My first question is just around the election. If U.S. tax reform goes away, is that a $300 million headwind to you? I guess pre tax reform, the free cash flow base, I think, was 1 point -- close to $1.7 billion, then it went to $2 billion. That was a big step change. And then you also have bonus depreciation potentially going away, too. So maybe if you could frame for us how to think about that potential tax headwind. Clearly, we don't know what will happen with the election.

我的第一個問題是關於選舉的。如果美國稅改取消，這對您來說是 3 億美元的逆風嗎？我猜稅前改革，自由現金流基數，我認為是 1 個百分點——接近 17 億美元，然後達到 20 億美元。這是一個很大的變化。然後你也有可能消失的紅利折舊。因此，也許您可以為我們構建如何考慮潛在的稅收逆風的框架。顯然，我們不知道選舉會發生什麼。

Yes. I think Hamzah, that last point is really the most important one for us. And rather than get too granular in terms of specifically measuring what we think tax reform could do, I think we all know that we went from a 35% rate to 22%, and so that dramatic change in the tax rate to ongoing business, that's going to have consequences. The bonus depreciation that you mentioned could have consequences.

是的。我認為 Hamzah，最後一點對我們來說真的是最重要的。我認為我們都知道我們從 35% 的稅率上升到 22%，所以稅率的巨大變化對持續經營業務的影響，而不是過於具體地衡量我們認為稅收改革可以做什麼，那是會有後果。你提到的紅利貶值可能會產生後果。

But just none of us are going to be able to predict the outcome of the election or then any follow-on impacts to tax policy should there be a change in -- a significant shift in who's in office. So I think you've framed it well. I think all of the pieces that you mentioned are the ones that we are paying attention to and the level of impact to cash is something that is significant and therefore, we'll have a close eye on that, but not trying to predict it at this point.

但我們誰都無法預測選舉結果，或者如果發生變化對稅收政策的任何後續影響 - 執政者的重大轉變。所以我認為你已經很好地構築了它。我認為你提到的所有部分都是我們正在關注的部分，對現金的影響程度非常重要，因此，我們將密切關注這一點，但不會試圖預測它這點。

Got it. Understood. And then just on customer churn, it was pretty good. Traditionally, half of customer churn for the sector has been bankruptcies. And so with stimulus running out, I appreciate you guided revenue growth down 4% to 5%. But do you think that we're out of the woods on commercial? Specifically, do you think that small business bankruptcies are going to be a potential risk as you think about your revenue growth over the next 12, 13 months? Anything you're hearing from your customers? Or I realize you don't have a crystal ball, but -- so any comments you can make high level would be appreciated.

知道了。明白了。然後就客戶流失而言，這非常好。傳統上，該行業一半的客戶流失是破產。因此，隨著刺激措施的結束，我感謝您指導收入增長下降 4% 至 5%。但是你認為我們已經脫離商業困境了嗎？具體來說，在您考慮未來 12、13 個月的收入增長時，您認為小企業破產是否會成為潛在風險？您從客戶那裡聽到了什麼？或者我知道你沒有水晶球，但是 - 所以你可以提出任何高水平的評論，我們將不勝感激。

Yes. Hamzah, this is John. So we've mentioned early on when we were in the Q1 and the early innings of this that we were seeing cancellations just under 1%. We're seeing that number's crept up to about 2.5%, a little bit north of that, but it's leveled out there. So we're not seeing big numbers in terms of cancellations.

是的。哈姆扎，這是約翰。所以我們在第一季度和早期階段就提到過，我們看到的取消率不到 1%。我們看到這個數字攀升至約 2.5%，略高於該數字，但已趨於平穩。因此，就取消而言，我們並沒有看到很大的數字。

What we have seen and what we talked about is, obviously, folks turning off their service or pausing their service and then gradually turning it back on. I think the one number we can center around is, whether it's commercial or industrial, we are over 50% recovered in terms of units. And honestly, if you look at commercial, we all know education is a fairly good-sized chunk of our -- of the portfolio there. And with the uncertainty there -- actually, our commercial recovery is over 60% if you net out the education facilities, which we all know is kind of a moving target at this point.

顯然，我們所看到和談論的是人們關閉他們的服務或暫停他們的服務，然後逐漸將其重新打開。我認為我們可以關注的一個數字是，無論是商業還是工業，我們都恢復了 50% 以上的單位。老實說，如果你看商業，我們都知道教育是我們投資組合中相當大的一部分。由於存在不確定性——實際上，如果扣除教育設施，我們的商業復甦率超過 60%，我們都知道，目前這是一個移動目標。

Got it. Lastly, I'll turn it over, just on the ADSW transaction, synergies over $100 million on a smaller revenue base. Maybe you could just frame for us where you're seeing the upside come from. And the $100 million does not include revenue synergies, correct?

知道了。最後，我會把它翻過來，就 ADSW 交易而言，在較小的收入基礎上產生超過 1 億美元的協同效應。也許你可以為我們構建你看到上行空間的地方。而這 1 億美元不包括收入協同效應，對嗎？

The -- that's correct. What I would tell you, Hamzah is, obviously, this process, particularly around COVID, has taken a little bit longer. And I guess the silver lining is it's afforded us the opportunity to do that much more work, and we have that much more confidence in our integration plans. And it's given us the opportunity to look more closely at a granular level, not just about kind of the normal SG&A and corporate overhead synergies, but really getting a little bit further into the details and have that much more confidence in what we're going to be able to execute against in the field, and that's really what's driving that number.

沒錯。我要告訴你的是，Hamzah 顯然，這個過程，特別是圍繞 COVID，花費了更長的時間。我想一線希望是它讓我們有機會做更多的工作，我們對我們的整合計劃更有信心。它讓我們有機會在更細粒度的層面上更仔細地觀察，而不僅僅是正常的 SG&A 和公司間接費用協同效應，而是真正深入了解細節並對我們的目標更有信心能夠在現場執行對抗，這才是推動這個數字的真正原因。

Your next question comes from the line of Kyle White, Deutsche Bank.

你的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Kyle White。

I wanted to go back to some of the regional differences that you briefly touched on. Is it possible to describe how the recovery has progressed in some of the states that were first reopened and now are seeing a bit of rise in COVID cases, states such as Florida, Georgia or Texas. Have you seen any stalling in the recovery in these states? Any sort of declines in recent weeks?

我想回到您簡要提到的一些地區差異。是否可以描述一些最初重新開放且現在 COVID 病例有所上升的州（如佛羅里達州、佐治亞州或德克薩斯州）的複蘇進展情況。您是否看到這些州的複蘇停滯不前？最近幾周有什麼下降嗎？

So it's an interesting question that we expected to be asked today. When I look at our commercial line of business, and I look at those states that you just mentioned, so the big 4 kind of in terms of spike -- case spike have been Texas, Arizona, Georgia, Florida, right? And so when I look at -- 3 of those are our best 3 in terms of year-over-year comparisons. Our best 3 in terms of year-over-year comparisons right now are Texas, Georgia and Arizona. Those are the best 3 out of 17 areas. Those are the top 3 in terms of commercial yards year-over-year comparison.

所以這是一個有趣的問題，我們預計今天會被問到。當我查看我們的商業業務線時，我查看了您剛才提到的那些州，所以就峰值而言，四大州——案例峰值是德克薩斯州、亞利桑那州、佐治亞州和佛羅里達州，對吧？因此，當我看到 - 其中 3 個是我們在同比比較方面最好的 3 個。就同比比較而言，我們目前最好的 3 個州是德克薩斯州、佐治亞州和亞利桑那州。這些是 17 個區域中最好的 3 個。就商業碼頭同比而言，這些是前三名。

So I would tell you that the spike -- and when you walk around Houston, what's happening is that everybody is wearing a mask. But businesses have not, all of a sudden, going back to April or May. They're staying open, but people are just more diligent about wearing masks. And we're starting to see those cases level off. I heard Scott Gottlieb last week on a business council call talk about the fact that you're starting to see, particularly in Arizona and Texas, those cases level off.

所以我會告訴你，峰值——當你在休斯頓走動時，發生的事情是每個人都戴著口罩。但企業並沒有突然回到四月或五月。他們保持開放，但人們只是更勤於戴口罩。我們開始看到這些案件趨於平穩。我上週在一次商業委員會電話會議上聽到斯科特·戈特利布 (Scott Gottlieb) 談到這樣一個事實，即您開始看到，尤其是在亞利桑那州和得克薩斯州，這些案件已經趨於平穩。

So our business is actually quite strong there. And as I said just a few minutes ago, where we've seen a little bit of a lag are in those areas that closed pretty quickly and then have stayed closed the longest, such as New England, such as kind of the greater Mid-Atlantic area, Pennsylvania. But those are also starting to show some rebound as well, particularly as they start to move where some of these other states already are, which is a reopening of businesses just with kind of a mask rule in place. So we're pretty encouraged by what we're seeing with respect to commercial reopenings. It's the one thing that probably stood out to us the most because we were least certain about it when we discussed it at the end of Q1.

所以我們的業務實際上在那裡非常強大。正如我幾分鐘前所說的那樣，我們已經看到一些滯後的地方是那些關閉得很快然後關閉時間最長的地區，例如新英格蘭，例如更大的中部地區大西洋地區，賓夕法尼亞州。但這些也開始顯示出一些反彈，特別是當它們開始轉移到其他一些州已經存在的地方時，這是在實施某種面具規則的情況下重新開放企業。因此，我們對商業重新開放的情況感到非常鼓舞。這可能是對我們來說最突出的一件事，因為我們在第一季度末討論它時對此最不確定。

That's very helpful. I wanted to also go back to the pricing discussion a bit. And just I'm curious if you could talk about the competitive environment and pricing behavior, especially among some of the smaller players. Anything notably different recently as a result of the kind of volume impact that some of these players may be experiencing?

這很有幫助。我還想稍微回到定價討論。我很好奇你是否可以談談競爭環境和定價行為，尤其是在一些較小的參與者中。由於其中一些玩家可能正在經歷的那種數量影響，最近有什麼顯著不同嗎？

I mean look, I -- we haven't seen anything over the last couple of months, but I really can only speak to our own price discipline. And I would tell you, as I said earlier, that we are -- we haven't lost an ounce of price discipline. What we -- what you've seen in terms of price erosion, if you want to call it that, was intentional, and that, we will recover. It's just we're driving ourselves to get through this -- hopefully, this short-term impact from COVID.

我的意思是看，我 - 在過去的幾個月裡我們沒有看到任何東西，但我真的只能談談我們自己的價格紀律。我會告訴你，正如我之前所說，我們 - 我們沒有失去一盎司的價格紀律。我們 - 你所看到的價格侵蝕，如果你想稱之為，是故意的，而且我們會恢復。只是我們正在推動自己度過難關——希望是 COVID 帶來的短期影響。

Your next question comes from the line of Tyler Brown, Raymond James.

你的下一個問題來自雷蒙德詹姆斯的泰勒布朗。

Devina, hate to beat on the pricing optics here, but can you isolate the revenue dollar impact that the price increase in fee suspensions had in the quarter?

Devina，不想在這裡打敗定價光學器件，但您能否分離出本季度費用暫停價格上漲對收入美元的影響？

We hadn't specifically quantified that. I mean, I think the best way to think about it is the delta between the yield that we reported and the 2.5% guide that we would have given for the year. And I think that delta is fully representative of what you could say that the price impact was for the quarter.

我們沒有具體量化。我的意思是，我認為最好的思考方式是我們報告的收益率與我們今年給出的 2.5% 指導值之間的差值。而且我認為 delta 完全代表了你所說的價格對本季度的影響。

Okay. So not only -- yes? Sorry, go ahead.

好的。所以不僅 - 是嗎？對不起，繼續。

The only thing I'd add -- I was just going to say, the only thing, this is John, I would add is if you look at the -- if you look at landfill and transfer station, I would point you to that in terms of the -- where we've remained disciplined, I mean. So the impact has really been commercial and industrial, but the other lines of business, we continue to show like performance.

我要補充的唯一一件事——我只是想說，唯一一件事，這是約翰，我要補充的是，如果你看看——如果你看看垃圾填埋場和轉運站，我會指出就我們一直遵守紀律而言，我的意思是。所以影響確實是商業和工業，但其他業務，我們繼續表現出類似的表現。

Right, right. So not only was there a dollar contribution that was unusually low, but -- and correct me if I'm wrong here, but you also had a bit of a denominator problem. I mean your volumes were down 10%. So I'm guessing that was also a driver in the pricing optics. So I mean, just to be -- I mean, I know there's been a lot of talk about this, but to be just crystal clear, there has not been a change in your fundamental pricing strategy?

是的是的。因此，不僅美元貢獻異常低，而且 - 如果我在這裡錯了，請糾正我，但你也有一些分母問題。我的意思是你們的銷量下降了 10%。所以我猜這也是定價光學的驅動因素。所以我的意思是，只是 - 我的意思是，我知道有很多關於這個的討論，但非常清楚，你的基本定價策略沒有改變？

Not at all.

一點也不。

Absolutely not.

絕對不。

Okay. And then, John, so I appreciate the resi container weight comments. And I know we talked about this last quarter, but what is the level of urgency around resi pricing specifically? I know you talked that it will take time. But if I take a walk back in history, didn't you guys meaningfully move resi pricing? I think it was around the financial crisis, if I recall. So can this be a material driver in '21?

好的。然後，約翰，所以我很欣賞 resi 容器重量評論。我知道我們在上個季度討論過這個問題，但具體而言，resi 定價的緊迫程度如何？我知道你說過這需要時間。但是，如果我回顧一下歷史，你們沒有有意義地調整 resi 定價嗎？如果我記得的話，我認為那是在金融危機前後。那麼這會成為 21 年的物質驅動因素嗎？

Listen, Tyler, I mean, we've talked about the added weights and the pressure that's put on the line of business. Here's what I can tell you, is that the additional weights that have come via this pandemic are certainly another discussion point we need to have with some of those residential customers. But we started this program before that.

聽著，泰勒，我的意思是，我們已經討論了增加的重量和給業務線帶來的壓力。我可以告訴你的是，這次大流行帶來的額外重量肯定是我們需要與其中一些住宅客戶討論的另一個討論點。但我們在那之前就開始了這個項目。

Now I can't speak to what happened back in the financial crisis. I'll trust you on that one. I'm sure we probably had some efforts at the time. What I can tell you is that, and Jim has mentioned this a few times, we've seen, obviously, a lot of pressure on the residential line of business. We've seen margin erosion.

現在我無法談論金融危機時發生的事情。我會相信你的。我敢肯定我們當時可能做出了一些努力。我可以告訴你的是，吉姆已經多次提到這一點，我們顯然已經看到住宅業務面臨很大壓力。我們已經看到利潤率下降。

My plan with the team -- and we have this down through the contract, by region, by area, to execute against long before this pandemic started. I will tell you what this pandemic has certainly helped us with is -- when you talk about further moving that line of business to automation, containerizing, being able to capture the waste, being able to price and get paid for the services, including disposal that you provide for, this is certainly an opportunity to highlight that.

我與團隊的計劃——我們通過合同，按地區、按地區，在這場大流行開始之前很久就執行了。我會告訴你這場大流行病對我們的幫助是什麼——當你談到進一步將該業務線轉向自動化、集裝箱化、能夠捕獲廢物、能夠為服務定價並獲得報酬時，包括處理你提供的，這當然是一個強調這一點的機會。

Right. Okay. Yes. No, that's fantastic. And then just my last one here, Devina. So I know 2021 seems like it's a long way away. But will the CARES Act represent, call it, an idiosyncratic headwind to cash flow next year? Is that something that we need to start contemplating?

正確的。好的。是的。不，那太棒了。然後是我在這裡的最後一個，Devina。所以我知道 2021 年似乎還有很長的路要走。但 CARES 法案是否會代表明年現金流的特殊逆風？這是我們需要開始考慮的事情嗎？

Yes, that's definitely something that we've got our eye on. The $125 million that I talked about for the CARES Act deferral of payroll taxes, that's something that hits us in 2021 because you effectively have a doubling of that obligation in the year ahead. But I think that yes, it's half of next year -- half in 2021 and then another half in 2022.

是的，這絕對是我們關注的事情。我談到的 1.25 億美元用於 CARES 法案延期支付工資稅，這將在 2021 年對我們產生影響，因為你實際上在未來一年將這一義務增加了一倍。但我認為是的，它是明年的一半——2021 年一半，2022 年另一半。

What I think is really important though, is that the flow-through impacts -- the really strong revenue acceleration that you should start to see in 2021 as some of the COVID-19 volume impacts and those pricing policy decisions that we made in the second quarter, we anniversary those. I think the flow-through of that to cash flow should help us to offset that year-over-year headwind, but you're exactly right, Tyler.

不過，我認為真正重要的是，流量影響——你應該在 2021 年開始看到真正強勁的收入加速增長，因為 COVID-19 的一些銷量影響和我們在第二季度做出的定價政策決定季度，我們週年慶那些。我認為將其轉化為現金流量應該有助於我們抵消同比逆風，但你是完全正確的，泰勒。

There's also somewhat of a corollary there on -- to the CARES Act with working capital and DSO. I mean we're obviously seeing an impact this year, and that's not unexpected at all or not surprising at all. So you'd like to think that as we get into 2021, the DSO starts to normalize.

那裡還有一些推論——關於具有營運資金和 DSO 的 CARES 法案。我的意思是我們今年顯然看到了影響，這一點也不出乎意料或者一點也不令人驚訝。所以你會認為，隨著我們進入 2021 年，DSO 開始正常化。

Your next question comes from the line of David Manthey, Baird.

您的下一個問題來自 Baird 的 David Manthey。

Building on a previous comment. Last quarter, you detailed the weekly upward trajectory of your roll-off business as sort of evidence of the improvement you were starting to see, and based on your comments, I assume that trend continued. But in the geographies like there in Texas or here in Florida, where the COVID cases have worsened, are you seeing actual declines in any lines of business? Or were you indicating you're just seeing a leveling off in the pace of recovery?

基於之前的評論。上個季度，您詳細說明了滾降業務的每週上升軌跡，作為您開始看到改善的證據，並且根據您的評論，我認為這種趨勢仍在繼續。但是在像得克薩斯州或佛羅里達州這樣的地區，COVID 病例已經惡化，您是否看到任何業務線的實際下降？或者您是否表示您只是看到復甦的步伐趨於平穩？

Yes, it's really the latter, it's really the latter. We're not seeing declines in any line of business. We're seeing, as I mentioned, a nice increase in special waste, some of that's through our couple of coal combustion residual projects, but not seeing declines anywhere. It's just, by geography, it's leveling a little bit where we saw big, big spikes up in June, and it's starting to accelerate a little bit in some of those places that were slower to reopen.

是的，真的是後者，真的是後者。我們沒有看到任何業務線出現下滑。正如我所提到的，我們看到特殊廢物有很大的增加，其中一些是通過我們的幾個燃煤殘渣項目，但沒有看到任何地方的下降。只是，從地理位置上看，我們在 6 月份看到大幅上漲的情況有點趨於平穩，並且在一些重新開放較慢的地方開始加速一點。

Okay. And last quarter, you said that 10% of your commercial customers had a change in service and less than 1% canceled. Could you give an update on those data points for the second quarter? Are they in the same ballpark?

好的。上個季度，您說您的商業客戶中有 10% 的服務發生了變化，只有不到 1% 的客戶取消了服務。您能否更新第二季度的這些數據點？他們在同一個球場嗎？

Yes, Dave. I mentioned earlier that the 1% number crept up to about 2.5% and has leveled off there. It's a little higher than that, to be exact. But what we've seen is that is -- and those are the customers that have been impacted and identified as having a COVID impact. So 2.5%, 2.6%, I think, is about right where we leveled off at in terms of cancellations.

是的，戴夫。我之前提到過，1% 的數字攀升至 2.5% 左右，並在那裡趨於平穩。確切地說，它比那個高一點。但我們所看到的是——那些受到影響並被確定為具有 COVID 影響的客戶。因此，我認為 2.5%、2.6% 大約是我們在取消方面趨於平穩的水平。

Your next question comes from the line of Noah Kaye, Oppenheimer.

你的下一個問題來自奧本海默的 Noah Kaye。

To start with, Jim, you mentioned expecting to see some early wins from the CSD effort that you engaged in, investment in development. But what type of customers do you expect are likely to value those offerings more? Any way to dimension out as well what you think this could contribute to organic growth?

首先，吉姆，你提到希望看到你參與的 CSD 工作和開發投資的早期成果。但是您認為哪種類型的客戶可能更看重這些產品？有什麼方法可以說明您認為這可能有助於有機增長嗎？

Yes. I think there's going to be, in the near term, more of a cost impact, bottom line impact and then more of a top line impact longer term as we truly kind of differentiate ourselves. And it's -- and by the way, it's why we kind of chose to accelerate this. We've talked about it. We talked about it at Investor Day last year, so this isn't a strategy that's unfamiliar to you.

是的。我認為，在短期內，隨著我們真正使自己與眾不同，將會有更多的成本影響、底線影響，然後是更多的長期頂線影響。它是 - 順便說一下，這就是我們選擇加速的原因。我們已經談過了。我們在去年的投資者日談到了它，所以這對你來說並不是一個不熟悉的策略。

It's just one that we've chosen to accelerate for a couple of reasons. One is that we really felt like we learned that when we do accelerate something, we can make it happen quickly for all -- as I said in my script, all in unison behind it. So I do think there will be some changes in how our customer does business with us, and that will impact us a bit on the cost side. And then over time, we think that, that really starts to separate us from the pack.

這只是我們出於幾個原因選擇加速的一個。一是我們真的覺得我們了解到，當我們確實加速某事時，我們可以讓所有人迅速實現它——正如我在我的劇本中所說的那樣，所有人都在它背後齊心協力。所以我確實認為我們的客戶與我們開展業務的方式會發生一些變化，這會對我們在成本方面產生一些影響。然後隨著時間的推移，我們認為，這真的開始使我們與眾不同。

Yes. Makes sense. And then just to go back to the residential line of business. John, I appreciate your commentary around levers for both pricing and technology investment. But since you've got this very granular plan, can you maybe just share with us the target or goal for your profitability improvement in the residential line of business?

是的。說得通。然後回到住宅業務。約翰，我很欣賞你關於定價和技術投資槓桿的評論。但是既然你有了這個非常細化的計劃，你能不能和我們分享一下你在住宅業務領域提高盈利能力的目標？

So I think what Jim has mentioned and/or Devina on other calls is that we've been sub 10% from an EBIT line, and clearly getting well above that is the direction we're going to go. I see -- I certainly see opportunities to get into the high teens or 20% over time. And we're making some headway. And to be real specific, I probably -- when Tyler asked the question, when I look at -- even for Q2 with the elevated weights, we still, on a same-store sales comparison, made margin improvement quarter-over-quarter in Q2.

因此，我認為 Jim 和/或 Devina 在其他電話中提到的是，我們的息稅前利潤線低於 10%，顯然遠高於該水平是我們要走的方向。我明白了——我當然看到了隨著時間的推移進入十幾歲或 20% 的機會。我們正在取得一些進展。確切地說，我可能——當泰勒問這個問題時，當我看到——即使是權重增加的第二季度，我們仍然在同店銷售比較中，使利潤率環比提高Q2。

So we feel really confident about that plan. And I think the granularity is going to be helpful for us as we look at investment opportunities in that residential line of business going forward to make sure we're deploying the dollars the right way. And I've said on other calls, we don't want to do it for practice. We want to make sure we get the right returns, the right margins and the right protections in those agreements. And in some cases, we're going to have to make some tough decisions. We're fully willing to do that.

因此，我們對該計劃充滿信心。而且我認為粒度將對我們有所幫助，因為我們會著眼於該住宅業務線的投資機會，以確保我們以正確的方式部署美元。我在其他電話中說過，我們不想為了練習而這樣做。我們希望確保我們在這些協議中獲得正確的回報、正確的利潤率和正確的保護。在某些情況下，我們將不得不做出一些艱難的決定。我們完全願意這樣做。

Your next question comes from the line of Jeff Silber, BMO Capital Markets.

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

I know it's late. I'll just ask a couple of quick ones. You talked a little bit about pricing from a competitive perspective. I'm just wondering, are you seeing any smaller haulers closed or under pressure that might provide some M&A tuck-in opportunities?

我知道已經晚了。我只問幾個快速的。你從競爭的角度談了一點定價。我只是想知道，您是否看到任何較小的運輸商關閉或面臨壓力，可能會提供一些併購機會？

I don't know that I've seen -- or I haven't heard of any that have closed. I have heard of some places where they're running short on drivers. So that's not necessarily a great indication for them. And that -- and I can't tell you whether that is a longer-term trend, which we've talked a lot about previously that gen Z and millennials don't want to drive trucks and so therefore, there's this pressure on the pool. I don't know whether that's it or whether it is -- or what the pressures are coming from. But I have heard that. I have not heard though of any closures.

我不知道我見過 - 或者我沒有聽說過任何已經關閉的。我聽說有些地方缺少司機。所以這對他們來說不一定是一個很好的跡象。而且 - 我不能告訴你這是否是一個長期趨勢，我們之前已經談過很多，Z 世代和千禧一代不想開卡車，因此，有這種壓力水池。我不知道是不是這樣，也不知道是什麼——或者壓力來自哪裡。但我聽說過。我還沒有聽說過任何關閉。

Okay. That's very interesting on the drivers. One number you don't talk about much is internalization. I know it's ticked up the last couple of quarters. Is that because we're seeing less third-party disposal coming in? Or are you truly disposing more of your own collected waste?

好的。這對司機來說非常有趣。您很少談論的一個數字是內在化。我知道它在過去幾個季度有所上升。那是因為我們看到第三方處置越來越少了嗎？還是您真的在處理更多自己收集的垃圾？

It's probably a bit of both, Jeff. This is John. I think in the table, it was up about 200 basis points, maybe 180 basis points for the quarter and 190 year-to-date, I might have been inverted, but almost 200 basis points. So clearly, when we're seeing some volume pressure at the landfill, we're always reevaluating what's the best use of our network and those landfill assets. So without having a number in front of me, it's probably a combination of both, some third-party volumes that were -- that went out in Q2 and our decision to backfill some of those volumes where it made sense for us.

可能兩者兼而有之，傑夫。這是約翰。我認為在表格中，它上漲了大約 200 個基點，本季度可能上漲了 180 個基點，年初至今上漲了 190 個基點，我可能已經倒轉了，但差不多 200 個基點。很明顯，當我們在垃圾填埋場看到一些體積壓力時，我們總是在重新評估我們的網絡和那些垃圾填埋場資產的最佳用途。因此，在我面前沒有數字，它可能是兩者的結合，一些第三方卷在第二季度出現了——我們決定在對我們有意義的地方回填其中一些卷。

Your next question comes from the line of Michael Hoffman, Stifel.

您的下一個問題來自 Stifel 的 Michael Hoffman。

So I'm going to ask the first question a different way. Devina, the original guidance was 2.5% for the year -- yield. You did 2.2% in the first quarter. If you hadn't had the pandemic, what was the budget for second quarter yield? And is that...

所以我要用不同的方式問第一個問題。Devina，最初的指導是當年的 2.5%——收益率。你在第一季度做了 2.2%。如果沒有大流行，第二季度收益率的預算是多少？那是……

Yes, we don't necessarily budget, Michael, our yield quarter-to-quarter. We certainly have that 2.5%. You saw some of the early impacts on the Q1 results that you just mentioned from COVID-19 because there were some early steps on fees, as an example, to proactively engage with the customers in the right way, given what we were seeing.

是的，邁克爾，我們不一定按季度預算我們的收益率。我們當然有 2.5%。你看到了你剛才提到的 COVID-19 對第一季度結果的一些早期影響，因為有一些早期的費用步驟，例如，根據我們所看到的情況，以正確的方式主動與客戶互動。

I would tell you we've tried to estimate where we think the yield number ends up coming in for 2020. And it's just a really difficult number because of the impact of units on the measure. But what we focus more on is that core price execution, and we expect healthy recovery in core price execution in the back half of the year.

我會告訴你，我們已經嘗試估計我們認為 2020 年的產量數字最終會出現在哪裡。由於單位對度量的影響，這只是一個非常困難的數字。但我們更關注的是核心價格執行，我們預計下半年核心價格執行將健康復蘇。

Okay. John, on recycling, if the trend holds, there's an $80 million year-over-year gain in revenues in that business. So when I'm thinking about the 4% to 5% down revenue, I got to account for that. And then I -- and then there's a follow-on question about fuel that I got account for to sort of think about the down revenue.

好的。約翰，在回收方面，如果這種趨勢持續下去，該業務的收入將同比增長 8000 萬美元。因此，當我考慮收入下降 4% 至 5% 時，我必須考慮到這一點。然後我 - 然後有一個關於燃料的後續問題，我得到了考慮收入下降的問題。

Well, I think, Michael, certainly, there was a bit of a tailwind in Q2 with fiber prices specifically, OCC going up. But as you probably know, we've already seen that retract back. And while we had a good quarter in Q2, I would tell you, just a little bit under half of that was driven by price. The rest of it was really Brent and team doing a great job on managing operating expenses and SG&A and other ancillary costs.

嗯，我認為，邁克爾，當然，第二季度有一些順風，特別是光纖價格，OCC 上漲。但正如您可能知道的那樣，我們已經看到它收回了。雖然我們在第二季度有一個不錯的季度，但我會告訴你，其中只有不到一半是由價格驅動的。剩下的就是布倫特和團隊在管理運營費用和 SG&A 以及其他輔助成本方面做得很好。

So that's what drove the other half of that improvement. So we're not -- we still think recycling is going to be a tailwind in the back half of the year, not as big though because that revenue number is not going to hold through the balance of the year, we don't think.

這就是推動另一半改進的原因。所以我們不是 - 我們仍然認為回收將成為今年下半年的順風，但不會那麼大，因為收入數字不會在今年餘下時間保持不變，我們認為.

Okay. And then could you share with us what your fuel -- average fuel cost was in 2Q '20 versus '19 and then what it was in 3Q '19 so we can try and accurately model that, given it moved that much?

好的。然後你能否與我們分享你的燃料 - 20 年第二季度與 19 年的平均燃料成本以及 19 年第三季度的平均燃料成本，因此我們可以嘗試準確地模擬它，因為它移動了那麼多？

Ed can get you the specifics after the call, Michael. But what I would tell you is the fuel impact to the quarter was $60 million to the revenue line.

Ed 可以在電話後為您提供詳細信息，Michael。但我要告訴你的是，燃料對本季度的影響為收入線 6000 萬美元。

In 2Q?

在二季度？

Yes.

是的。

Okay. And then just important clarification on the synergies. Just to be clear, it's a free cash flow number and it's a mixture of OpEx savings, interest expense savings, capital spending. Would presume the interest expense number is up because rates are down versus the expectation. And then there's some incremental gains to be gathered in OpEx and CapEx. That's the way to think about the pieces. That's why you can stand by it.

好的。然後只是對協同作用的重要說明。需要明確的是，這是一個自由現金流量數字，是運營支出節省、利息支出節省和資本支出的混合體。假設利息支出數字上升，因為利率低於預期。然後在 OpEx 和 CapEx 中收集一些增量收益。這就是思考這些片段的方式。這就是為什麼你可以忍受它。

I would tell you, Michael, that obviously, when we recut the deal, which was really a month ago, obviously, there's a reduced purchase price. There's higher synergies that we commented on despite over $100 million more of divestitures. And certainly, there's going to be a lower cost of CapEx, but I'll let Devina speak to the financing piece.

邁克爾，我會告訴你，很明顯，當我們重新達成交易時，實際上是一個月前，很明顯，購買價格有所降低。儘管有超過 1 億美元的資產剝離，但我們評論了更高的協同效應。當然，資本支出成本會降低，但我會讓 Devina 談談融資部分。

Yes. I think what's really important, Michael, is that the $100 million and the confidence in the more than $100 million of synergies is not reflecting our savings in the interest line. The savings in the interest line is what we were thinking about in terms of the returns on this investment getting over our hurdle rate and cost of capital.

是的。邁克爾，我認為真正重要的是 1 億美元和對超過 1 億美元協同效應的信心並沒有反映我們在利息方面的節省。利息線的節省是我們考慮的，即這項投資的回報超過我們的最低利率和資本成本。

We -- it's early for us to be able to speak to specifically how much of an interest savings there might be. But certainly, when we look at the requirement to redeem the bonds -- and on a weighted average basis, those were above 3.6%. And if you compare that to current interest rate, there certainly is some value to be had there. It's just too early for us to say. We are really excited to be in a position to be able to fund the transaction at close, but this will be a phased process for us, and we can't yet tell you what the long-term financing might look like.

我們 - 我們現在能夠具體說明可能節省多少利息還為時過早。但可以肯定的是，當我們查看贖回債券的要求時——在加權平均基礎上，這些要求高於 3.6%。如果您將其與當前利率進行比較，那肯定會有一些價值。現在說還為時過早。我們真的很高興能夠在交易結束時為交易提供資金，但這對我們來說將是一個分階段的過程，我們還不能告訴你長期融資可能是什麼樣子。

Fair enough. And then a mechanical question. The votes on the 25th assume DOJ gets that, so there's a consent order not far behind that or about the same time. What happens after that? Do you close it right away? Or is there -- is this a dry and clean close at the end of September? But just mechanically, what are we looking at?

很公平。然後是機械問題。25 日的投票假設 DOJ 獲得了這一點，因此在緊隨其後或大約在同一時間有一項同意令。之後會發生什麼？你馬上關閉它嗎？還是有——這是 9 月底幹乾淨淨的結束嗎？但就機械而言，我們在看什麼？

I mean I'm not sure I know the answer to that. I mean we -- because there's a number of pieces here involved. But what we did say was this would be the end of Q3, which basically means some time between the 25th of August and the 30th of September, which is a pretty narrow window, and it's hard though to say. While we want to do it on a certain date, because we just don't have enough certainty to say whether we're going to do it at the end of a month or at the end of a quarter, that's not our objective. Our objective is to work through with the DOJ and of course, with ADS and get this final.

我的意思是我不確定我是否知道答案。我的意思是我們——因為這裡涉及到很多部分。但我們確實說過，這將是第三季度末，這基本上意味著 8 月 25 日到 9 月 30 日之間的某個時間，這是一個非常狹窄的窗口，但很難說。雖然我們想在某個日期進行，因為我們沒有足夠的把握來確定我們是要在月底還是在季度末進行，但這不是我們的目標。我們的目標是通過與 DOJ 的合作，當然還有與 ADS 的合作，並獲得最終結果。

Your next question comes from the line of Michael Feniger with Bank of America.

你的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Michael Feniger。

I'll try to keep it short. Just, Jim, I know you guys have moved away from CPI over the years. Can you just remind us of the CPI exposure? I understand you're driving pricing at the residential level in different contracts. But I'm just curious with the CPI. How much of that's in your control really in the next 6 to 12 months?

我會盡量保持簡短。只是，吉姆，我知道你們這些年來已經遠離 CPI。你能提醒我們CPI風險嗎？我了解到您在不同合同中推動住宅級別的定價。但我只是對 CPI 感到好奇。在接下來的 6 到 12 個月內，有多少是您真正可以控制的？

Well, Mike, it's John. I would tell you that if you look at our pricing performance, regardless of what CPI has done over the last quarters, handful of years, we've moved further and further away from that. And I think the example you gave is probably the best one, which is, historically, the residential or franchise pieces of the business have been tied to CPI or some fraction of that. And I think our ability to drive 3% core price in residential, especially in this quarter, is evidence that we're moving further and further away from that.

嗯，邁克，是約翰。我會告訴你，如果你看看我們的定價表現，不管 CPI 在過去幾個季度、幾年裡做了什麼，我們已經越來越遠離它。我認為你給出的例子可能是最好的例子，從歷史上看，該業務的住宅或特許經營部分與 CPI 或其中的一部分掛鉤。而且我認為我們推動住宅核心價格上漲 3% 的能力，尤其是在本季度，證明我們離這一目標越來越遠。

Got it. And just like help me understand. Like we talked about the top line. You guys provided a lot of color on Q3 versus Q4. How should we think of the business as we kind of like exit 2020 with the first half? When we think of your mix of your businesses when -- with residential right now being your highest yield, how does that kind of impact overall profitability going forward?

知道了。就像幫助我理解一樣。就像我們談到了頂線。你們在第三季度和第四季度提供了很多顏色。我們應該如何看待業務，因為我們有點像上半年退出 2020 年？當我們考慮你的業務組合時——住宅現在是你的最高收益，這對未來的整體盈利能力有何影響？

Well, that's a bit of a hard question because there is a lot in the mix here. I mean it is interesting though because -- in terms of a true kind of year-over-year comparative basis, whether you're looking at EBITDA or whether you're looking at revenue or whatever you're looking at, I honestly don't think we get to a fair apples-to-apples year-over-year comparison until the first quarter of '22 because I think '20 -- obviously, '20 is disadvantaged, and then '21 will be greatly advantaged versus prior year.

嗯，這是一個有點難的問題，因為這裡有很多問題。我的意思是這很有趣，因為——就真正的同比比較而言，無論你是在看 EBITDA 還是在看收入，或者你在看什麼，老實說，我不在 20 世紀第一季度之前，我認為我們可以進行公平的同比比較，因為我認為 20 年代——顯然，20 年代處於劣勢，然後 21 年代將比之前的優勢更大年。

So what we're kind of looking at is when do we get to a true positive comparison versus 2019. And I think that probably happens some time -- maybe as early as Q2 of next year. It probably won't be Q1, but certainly, Q2 looks like it could happen. Q2 or Q3 is when I think we truly get to a positive comparison versus the same quarter in 2019.

因此，我們關注的是什麼時候才能與 2019 年進行真正的積極比較。我認為這可能會在某個時間發生——可能最早在明年第二季度。它可能不會是第一季度，但可以肯定的是，第二季度看起來可能會發生。第二季度或第三季度是我認為我們真正與 2019 年同一季度進行積極比較的時候。

And then to your question about what pieces are going to be moving in the right direction. We've talked about a whole lot of them on the call this morning. Definitely, residential. John talked about kind of sub-10% EBIT margins and a lot of work being applied to that. CPI is not representative of -- really of our cost structure anymore, and so starting to move municipalities away from that price metric for us.

然後是關於哪些部分將朝著正確的方向發展的問題。今天早上我們在電話中討論了很多。毫無疑問，住宅。John 談到了低於 10% 的息稅前利潤率以及為此開展的大量工作。CPI 不再代表——真的代表我們的成本結構，因此開始讓市政當局遠離我們的價格指標。

Some of what John has talked a lot about -- I would tell you this is kind of all in John's court. But starting to institutionalize some of the changes that we've seen on the operations side and maybe the same is true for SG&A. There's some expense that we just don't need. We don't need to have as much travel expenses as we thought we did. The Teams product that we use a lot, the Microsoft product is a very, very good product. And so I think that will be a replacement for that.

約翰經常談論的一些事情——我會告訴你，這就是約翰法庭上的一切。但是開始將我們在運營方面看到的一些變化製度化，也許 SG&A 也是如此。有些費用我們根本不需要。我們不需要像我們想像的那樣有那麼多的旅行費用。我們經常使用的 Teams 產品，Microsoft 產品是非常非常好的產品。所以我認為這將是它的替代品。

And then as we think about some of these wins that we've discussed with customer service, digitalization, that will start to really have a positive impact on it. So there's a whole lot of pieces here that go into this. But we think, by the time we get to 2021, kind of mid- 2021, we're going to start seeing some positive comparisons to that 2019 period.

然後，當我們考慮我們與客戶服務、數字化討論過的一些勝利時，這將開始真正對其產生積極影響。所以這裡有很多內容。但我們認為，到 2021 年，大概是 2021 年年中，我們將開始看到與 2019 年那個時期的一些積極比較。

Our next question comes from the line of Kevin Chiang, CIBC.

我們的下一個問題來自 CIBC 的 Kevin Chiang。

Just one quick one for me. I noticed that you changed your methodology for core price, and that did result in a revision to your Q1 numbers. I was wondering, was this purely a methodology change? Or did this bring to light any untapped opportunities that you might not have been harvesting before in terms of pricing opportunities as you look ahead here and as volumes continue to recover?

對我來說只是一個快速的。我注意到你改變了核心價格的方法，這確實導致了對第一季度數字的修改。我想知道，這純粹是方法論的改變嗎？或者，當您在這裡展望未來並且隨著銷量繼續恢復時，這是否揭示了您之前在定價機會方面可能沒有收穫的任何未開發機會？

This was purely a measurement change. And we have actually made the decision in the fourth quarter and then just made an error in reporting our Q1 with everyone in the work-from-home mode and forgot that we had made the change in the fourth quarter and reverted to our old measure. But the only difference in this is we got more precise data as we've been able to use technology more effectively across the network to measure units. And as we got more precise, we were able to give you a more accurate and representative measure of core price, and that's what we're using today.

這純粹是一種測量變化。實際上，我們在第四季度做出了決定，然後在向所有人報告第一季度在家工作模式時犯了一個錯誤，忘記了我們在第四季度做出了改變，並恢復了原來的衡量標準。但唯一的區別是我們獲得了更精確的數據，因為我們已經能夠更有效地跨網絡使用技術來衡量單位。隨著我們變得更加精確，我們能夠為您提供更準確和更具代表性的核心價格衡量標準，這就是我們今天使用的。

At this time, there are no further questions. I would now like to turn the conference over to Jim Fish for any closing remarks.

目前，沒有進一步的問題。我現在想將會議轉交給 Jim Fish 作閉幕詞。

Thank you. So in closing today, I really want to reiterate what both John and Devina have said. I want to recognize the men and women in our operations around North America. They have not missed a single day since the start of this pandemic, and they are, of course, absolutely essential to keeping all of our streets clean, ensuring that we are good stewards of our environment through recycling, providing a safe, reliable service that is absolutely critical to all citizens. So thank you to all of our men and women in our operations. And thank you all for joining us.

謝謝。所以在今天結束時，我真的想重申 John 和 Devina 所說的話。我想表彰我們在北美開展業務的男女員工。自從這場大流行開始以來，他們沒有錯過任何一天，當然，他們對於保持我們所有街道的清潔、確保我們通過回收利用成為環境的好管家、提供安全、可靠的服務絕對必不可少對所有公民都至關重要。因此，感謝我們運營中的所有男男女女。感謝大家加入我們。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's Waste Management Second Quarter 2020 Earnings Release Conference Call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

女士們，先生們，今天的 Waste Management 2020 年第二季度收益發布電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。