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4addbff893b81f64131fdc712d7a6d9a
My first question is regarding the user growth. First half, the user growth is very strong. May I know -- can you share with us the quality and retention and the user profile of the new user growth in first half and about the second half growth and also next year, what is the key focuses of your strategy of user growth...
Last year, we have reinforced and reaffirmed user growth will be our key strategic focus and we have been carrying out the strategy efficiently going through the first half of this year, and have made very positive progress. As for the new user profile you asked, there is no significant change of the new user profile, ...
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A
94527064d9326679d838f6281c3dce58
My question is actually regarding your game business, which is quite solid in the second quarter. I wonder could you share more color on the performance of Princess Connect!. Specifically, what's your expectation on the longevity for this game? And secondly, can you give us some update on your game pipeline? Any game l...
Regarding Princess Connect! Re:Dive, it's like we expect this game will be having very long life cycle, and we expect this game to last quite -- to quite a long period. And for this game, our -- in many aspects, it has broke the historical record. In terms of pre-registered number, we have over 6.5 million people pre-r...
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B
8508b6f8a6c9d98107445004218e6f06
I have a question on advertising. Our ad revenue growth actually accelerated on a year-over-year basis from -- in the second quarter. Should we expect the ad revenue to sustain such strong momentum in the second half? What are the key drivers behind? Is it brand advertising? Or is it because of performance advertising,...
Overall 2020 is still full of uncertainties and lots of vitality. However, under this challenging macro environment, we still delivered a pretty good advertising growth rate at 108% year-over-year. So Bilibili has a video platform, we are one of the biggest beneficiary in the overall videolization industry trend. And w...
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A
86f010514cfbe640e9a4c50c482be50e
Just wondering what are the major difference in terms of operating know-how and the roadmap between live streaming business and all the core business. Should we consider live streaming as a business that requires some time of incubations and will reach an inflection point on user adoptions? If that's the case, how far ...
Live broadcasting business is, as we mentioned earlier, has always been a part of our content ecosystem. This is not a singular commercialization avenue for us, but also an important part of our content. A live broadcasting also provides a very good avenue for our content creators to activate and retain their followers...
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B
c2b898f6371b6c12c4f164b89d357246
Yeah. So I wanted to start obviously particularly in CPP, just outstanding demand. How do you -- I guess, how long do you think this can last and how do you position your products and brands to get more attention and to become repeat purchases and replacement purchases and what do you need to do with this increased foc...
Well, I'll start by reminding you that we were having a very good year going into COVID and the strength of our brands, the demand for our product was already ahead of expectations and certainly ahead of last year going into this pandemic. The structural changes that we clearly are seeing of how people are purchasing t...
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B
5131a5d75aeb8b7aa1a46b688ca82c82
Okay, that's great, very helpful. And then, shifting over to Telephonics, the international is coming on and margins were a little late, I guess, in the quarter. How do you see -- is this year kind of the trough? Can we see some growth adjusting for the SEG, the potential strategic alternatives as you said? And so, how...
Yeah. We've talked about for some time that the Telephonics business was bottoming. We view that process as having played out as we expected. COVID clearly has had an impact on timing of orders, but the demand for the core surveillance and reconnaissance products, particularly radar systems, we continue to see the back...
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A
d5a6c671f1ca4be6b5126b9b9e80e882
So on CPP, the strength you're seeing there, can you give us a little more granularity on what products are leading that growth? I know, you've got a very diverse portfolio and you called out outdoor lawn and garden, but you've also got some indoor lines like ClosetMaid, that I assume would have also done well, given e...
Sure. So, you sort of hit it. We have seen growth in demand of -- in both lawn and garden and the home organization side. Home organization is a -- pretty much a do-it-yourself type item where people can buy the products either at a store or online and install it. Home and garden, of course, is something that's done mo...
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B
a9d714f48bbfb5faa7edea19be1b6464
Got it. And could you talk about maybe the sequential trend in CPP? Maybe how that business performed in May and June, and maybe give us a sense of how trends and fill rates are quarter-to-date?
We continue to see trends improving. The stabilization had happened after the last time we spoke, which was late April, went into May, accelerated into the end of the quarter and continues into July. We expect this is going to continue: the market share gains of the products that we provide, the domestic manufacturinga...
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B
550e9e976794be31aa6603e0e6131f1f
Got it. And you saw a really nice rebound on the residential garage door side. I remember last quarter you called out some customer hesitancy on the retail side, individuals kind of didn't want to stand in line at major home centers. Do you think there has been more of a change in customer behavior since April or was i...
So, yes, correct. We saw a decline in April. Our orders in April were down 18%, mostly being driven by home centers, retail type sales, with some decline in the dealers. As we progressed into May, sales started to normalize on all those channels and then come June and into July, sales accelerated quite well. And the co...
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A
df337e6d2090af19ead61f4dabd87015
I guess my first question, just curious on channel inventory, particularly in CPP. How would you characterize that relative to normal? We're hearing some of the categories are pretty tight just in terms of the level of demand, kind of, in May and June and into July. So I'm just curious how you'd characterize some of yo...
So we have actually seen good demand for our products as we've already discussed. We have been able to service our customers very well. Our domestic manufacturing capability has really benefited us compared to others. So when major home centers need products, we are able to provide it to them or when any other home cen...
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B
2ac773406d2442a33459e3b5ddc15183
Okay. Okay. And then as you think of the strategic initiatives, could you just talk about kind of where you're at on the process there and just has the pandemic, through the quarter, had any impact on the timing or are you guys ahead or kind of on track there?
We continue to be on track. It's a three-year plan. Things are going on as planned, on budget, on time. Nothing has slowed down from the pandemic.
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6e0c9ecda71aaa603312aaf9d345f53e
Okay, great. And then the free cash flow performance in the quarter was really good. How should we think about free cash flow maybe in the fourth quarter? Should you also have a pretty good quarter, just given the demand strength you've seen?
Yes. So, our second half of the year, that's our Q3 that we just ended, and our Q4 is our strongest cash flow months, cash generation quarters, I should say. And we continue to expect to increase cash flow into the fourth quarter.
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A
4de564dbafa396dce8ce6268a2fb3af4
First question, if I could just try and get a sense when you are able -- reiterating the 2019 EBITDA outlook despite the lowering of sales, which is just obviously pretty encouraging. I was -- would love to get a sense of since a quarter ago, you've had different changes occur in your outlook, obviously you've cited so...
Hi, Michael, it's Yuval. Yeah, thanks for the question. I think, putting the growth acceleration plan in front of us, as the new platform. It's actually allowed us to put quite many projects together in order to speed up the improvement and efficiencies in our company. And I think what we got from the first quarter, th...
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B
b8703adf7660fa6685f3616870422b8a
So maybe asked another way, obviously a quarter ago, you were still -- the global growth acceleration plan, the headcount reduction, the reduction in capacity, all of those things were expected -- a part of the plan three months ago. However, three months ago, you weren't expecting as much of a softer sales backdrop an...
Yeah, so, first -- there are different dynamics here from FX rates to prices of raw materials, that also changed and provided some headwind, a tailwind. So if you were look at that. I think that we also identified some things that were less clear to us that we can achieve in this year and we will manage to have a clear...
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B
d15be73375d5cd3271c86e31a909531b
Any quantification on the raw material benefit this year relative to your outlook three months ago?
Yeah, I can say that -- if you look at it in the -- in this quarter, it was compared to last year it was 1%, approximately 1%. It will give us a few -- I think, it will be less less than 1% in the -- for the full year, but it was tailwind.
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B
6a03badc24cb7d2a3b8ee240f8712bb4
Secondly, maybe I could ask a question more broadly about your competitive position in the US. In the past, you've given out market share data that kind of puts you in the low double-digits, 10%,12% or so, maybe a little bit more in terms of your market share in the US. I think those share positions were kind of last p...
It's good comment, Michael. I think, it's been a few quarters that, and maybe more, but we are saying to the market and to ourselves, that most of our current performance in the US are in our hands to improve and to work on, and I think that is what happening in the last quarter or two. We put a new team in place, we c...
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B
9a1c8ed5c53ffe5b4c29929217a0ec0e
Alright. One last one, if I could. I think you said that in the US, the imports -- the China -- the tariffs or duties on the China imports, -- Chinese imports in the US are fully in place, but did I hear right that you said that you're also now seeing maybe an increase in imports in India and Turkey and I just wanted t...
Yeah, Mike. That's a very good point. We see a significant increase in the import from low cost manufacturers, specifically more in India -- from India, Turkey, but from others as well. In terms of the magnitude, if you look at the import data publishing -- import data from March, April, May, and compared it to the equ...
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6c8b136f9c64f4d508f4ee297e2f6fc3
Thanks. Good morning, gentlemen. I want a follow up and ask a follow up on the India and Turkey and other countries that you're seeing import into the US. Is that a -- are you seeing similar -- either landed prices or retail or however you want to measure the price point, is it still -- is it still a pricing headwind t...
Hi, Dillard, it's it's Yuval. I think it's pretty much the same. We are -- from the data that we have, we are experiencing probably the similar price points coming from different locations. I guess, -- the change from China to India is actually in the same segment with the same prices. So obviously, average price, so i...
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A
ebbde128912801c78d2dfbb46e3ade11
Okay. And then I hate to belabor the point too much here on the various low cost competition, but if it's coming in now to Canada, Australia, does they have benefit -- a little bit of some mix of hindsight and experience from what has occurred in the US, -- what might be the strategy to offset some of the volume pressu...
I think what we're experiencing is more competition in Australia and Canada, mostly in the commercial area with the high rise building and multi-units. This is where -- it's more price sensitive and we see more competition coming. It's only partial or part of our portfolio in those countries and I think we continue to ...
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B
ef1ec9d10615d0c3dd66a54262a38358
Yeah. Okay, and then lastly for me, if there's any update on any possible news with the home centers here in the US, that would great.
So, no formal news at the moment. We are still working on this relationship -- this relationship, I think it's going well so far, but not to the point that we can advise the market on a new deal or that -- or the full agreement on those relationship, but there was still keeping positive on this opportunity.
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A
40c7bfd311548af270f9bf219d6d4662
So it's fair to say then that the acceleration in the core business came from more the K&B [Phonetic] type side of the business.
Yeah, for sure. I mean, in the US, we saw a decline in IKEA this quarter as well, but the core business grew 12% and it came from K&B, in our retail side of the business and from [Phonetic] the new building, but not from their big books.
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da539e8b49a1a6e4a4fd620d61fa0ed9
Thanks. Could I get a sense of what your price mix was or average sales price this quarter versus last quarter versus a year ago?
When you when you look at the ASP, you need to take into consideration that it's, the combination of mix -- regional mix, the product mix and of course, it's affected by the different foreign exchange rates between the quarter. The period, I can say that compared to last year, there was a small decline in the price, bu...
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fc1faba6cf3281107d6b224546d7364e
I appreciate that. Particularly, given all the complexities with the different regions, maybe just focusing on the US, if you could give us a sense of what price what's your ASP, did last year, and what you expect it to do this year? What you hope it can do in 2020.
Mike, I just think -- we would like to take a look at the net numbers and we will come back to you, just a second.
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C
3caeb9826af9701ee13840dba858ba14
Okay. Maybe one -- other one while you're looking at that. The IKEA business has obviously been a lot of volatility -- a source of a lot of volatility. In the last couple of years, I think both in the US and most notably, but also Canada to a -- to a secondary extent. I was just trying to get a sense of what percent of...
Just before the numbers, Michael, I guess the fact that they're growing in their core business, I think gives a hint on where we are putting our focus and it's definitely -- everything that is in our hands and the relationship that we can build with consumers and customers is where we are putting our focus and resource...
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08f86413aa294195e652573fafa7b940
On the labor cost side, last quarter you said that you anticipated retaining most of your labor arbitrage through year-end. That is a big part of your margin expansion coming from labor savings. But here we are a couple of months later and inflation is on the rise and on the forefront of everyone's mind, do you think t...
Yes, that's our expectation, but there are some mitigating factors: - 50% of revenues come from unionized labor with above market wages and benefits, so we don't see pressure there. - We've put together a task force focused on recruiting and labor efficiencies. - We're targeting certain geographic areas that have more...
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71a7fd6766221d9a5e7f10456e19cc38
Any of the investments that you've made recently, is there anything there that would help you pass on this cost in a different way, new capabilities that you have -- that you hadn't had before? Or is that not really related to this piece of the business?
The newer investments are not necessarily directly related to passing on labor costs. However, we did upgrade our HR system to the cloud a couple years ago, which gives us much better insight and information on labor data. This helps us identify pressure points and dynamically staff, which is key in managing labor cost...
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9d48629ec7a453fade6e5afba589596d
Is labor availability a major issue for you right now? And if so, has this affected service levels in any material way?
Labor availability is always top of mind given our business, but it's still early to fully assess: - Federal unemployment stimulus of $300/week is keeping some people at home, but states are starting to roll this off. - We don't have massive labor needs right now due to muted office occupancy and travel. - We'll have ...
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B
83cd7934248e2a07fbc6c1f337091303
I'm just wondering how much we can extrapolate from the second half about the updated margin guidance as we think about what's sustainable going into next year. Is this implied second-half run rate sustainable? What are the big moving parts we really need to consider in our models going into next year relative to that ...
We're not ready to guide for FY22 yet, but here are some factors to consider: - We're confident about the second half of FY21, which is why we raised guidance. - EnhancedClean and work orders are expected to remain strong. - Office occupancy is expected to increase, driving more revenue and disinfection services. - We...
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B
c58dad79b09e9a3d5122a162bc55251f
Could you just talk -- speak to the velocity in the acquisition pipeline? I'm hearing from a lot of companies that sort of tell you the decision making is really accelerating here?
There is definitely more M&A activity now compared to last year: - We've only recently started looking at acquisitions again after pausing during the pandemic. - There are opportunities, and as a strategic buyer we have synergies that make us competitive. - M&A is a priority for us to drive growth. - We're excited abo...
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B
aa3e4c4eb96f8a279f5a3e36f4a50927
Do you expect that those will be negotiated contracts? Or as they look to increase the size, do you think, generally speaking, that your customers, as they look to increase the amount of cleaning that they do, that they got to rebid with that? And what do you think, as these things become part of the base contract and ...
We expect enhanced cleaning services to eventually be incorporated into base contracts: - This will likely happen over the next 1-2 years as contracts come up for renewal. - Margins on this work may decline from current 30% levels, but should still be higher than standard services due to training, equipment, etc. - Fo...
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A
ce12191315120d7b58510ba5edd68aee
I'm wondering, I wouldn't expect that it's in the backlog yet, but are you bidding projects that you can kind of tie to these moneys that have been allocated already? You mentioned the record backlog, I'm just kind of curious as to -- if that's kind of before the stimulus here or after the stimulus and any comments tha...
We haven't seen direct effects of stimulus funding yet, but: - There's increased activity for our Bundled Energy Solutions offerings as clients look to reduce operating expenses. - The administration's focus on decarbonization and e-mobility is driving growth in EV charging stations. - We expect these trends to be tai...
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aa285d54522dcbadecefbe8905386b3c
I was just wondering if you could give us an update there on whether you think the current pace of, let's say, the reopening of workplaces and social venues and things? I mean, should we be thinking that, that reserve might be reversed in coming quarters? And what's your -- maybe just an update on that issue, please.
Regarding the $18 million project reserve taken previously: - We are in active discussions about this. - It's difficult to comment further as the situation is ongoing. - We don't give up on reserves and continue to pursue resolution. - More updates will come in future quarters.
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aba8f9f93dbf1bb31a048cfb806c0c48
I was just wondering if you could point to any tangible results in particular, product lines or sub-sectors that where you think the greater awareness, the greater visibility has made a difference? And then secondly, maybe just a longer-term perspective. In other words, your company has been in business for over a cent...
The increased marketing and branding efforts are aimed at creating differentiation: - We're highlighting ABM's scale and resources vs regional competitors. - This was evident during the pandemic with our supply chain capabilities and expert advisory council. - We've seen a ~10% increase in website traffic and more dig...
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c5b8ae19e27853c1e8a8423ae7f8f703
Just wanted to touch a little bit on whether or not there is any particular areas that you would view as priorities or things that are kind of top of the list that you'd like to see accomplish, whether it'd be a regional selling or a service line area. How should we think about your prioritization of potential acquisit...
Our acquisition priorities are: 1. Focusing on our core businesses - janitorial, engineering, virus protection. 2. Growing our Technical Solutions (ATS) segment, which is fastest growing and most profitable. 3. Looking for scale, as integrating larger companies is more efficient. 4. Filling in geographic gaps, especia...
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A
be59f5ce0dc8288e9af82d5fb3e7342e
I was wondering if you can talk a little bit more about some of the conversations that you're having within the education space and maybe some of the commentary there or maybe what you're seeing from the benefits of funding that kind of gives you -- it seems as though it gives you greater confidence for the upcoming sc...
For the education sector: - There's a strong shift towards in-person learning for the fall. - Clean, safe buildings are a top priority for educators and parents. - We expect a strong comeback in Education revenues, unlike the gradual return in office settings. - Education could see close to 100% occupancy in fall, vs ...
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5577571cea2ad6c5ba7357abb28732c1
Wanted to talk a little bit about views of future share repurchase and how we should think about, sort of given the strength of the business versus where your stock price is now, kind of how your thoughts are evolving there?
Regarding capital allocation and share repurchases: - We're pleased with our current cash position and low leverage. - The priority is to deploy capital for long-term growth, both organic and inorganic. - We have $145 million authorization from the Board for share buybacks. - We'll maintain flexibility in capital allo...
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B
880d9e0f2b7037d41362dad15161c124
I just wanted to focus on Canada a bit. You mentioned both inflationary pressures and sort of normalizing behavior compared to the COVID impact from last year for the declines there. I'm just wondering if the read through there is that competition from sort of more operators in the market was not a factor there or just...
OK. So I'll take that. So yes, with Canada, as with all other markets, we operate in, there is competition. There's competition in all our markets. So for us is Canada is we're the same company as we were a year ago. Canada is all about, obviously, gaming now regulated in Ontario with Betway went last week and then Spi...
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B
8ebe01c97e53cb9cd9c0e19cd2b2e6e9
Maybe to start, if you could talk about the 20 million to 25 million of cost reductions. Just to be clear on the timing, are those all happening in '22? So you'll receive the full benefit in 2030? And then given the cost reductions, is 25% EBITDA margin something that's achievable in '23?
Thanks, Bernie. Alinda here. We started the process and we've -- it was a continuous process anyway since our listing to look at our cost base. In my presentation, I make references. 2022 is where we really started to focus. We will see it in the last quarter coming to fruition. But the impact of the 20 million to 25 m...
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B
2341dd1c54c8a4eb86e5a26e6ced4353
Understood and would just love some commentary in terms of what you're seeing from the customer LTVs and -- because of the macro? And what -- in the COVID comparisons, whether it's players turning off altogether, whether people are playing less and engaging less, if it's smaller bet size, less handle. We just like to s...
First of all, listen, it's across the globe. Because we're global, it's not just one country, it's across the globe. So you see different effects in different markets. But definitely from our point of view is it's just that the discretionary spend of our customer is has come down. But in other markets, they -- we've go...
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B
b25c1808b2ba88d8a5ae86fa1c295f48
The -- I guess just to double click on the macro again. It seemed like the online casino player was historically been fairly resilient in times of sort of economic distress. And while we have inflation, we also have strong employment. And of course, you're global and I'm looking from a U.S. lens. So I guess if we could...
So first of all, gaming's not immune, right. It's resilient but again, we've never seen inflation like this in 40 to 50 years. In our now 20 years, we haven't seen it yet. We've seen downturns in 2008 with financial crisis, but not something that's affected our customer's discretionary spend. So -- but because we're gl...
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B
2ee2810bca627b04df25d751e97806d8
Fair enough. Inflation's brutal. I agree with you. I guess so. When your players are strained, I mean, how do you adjust your playbook or your app to sort of account for that weakness? I mean, how does that sort of change your whole target? How does that change your promotional activity? What adjustments have you made ...
Then I guess that becomes to your customer accounts again. And it's having more customers spending slightly less but in different markets they are different player. There are baskets, etc., for that. So from our point of view, remember, this business is a mass market business. This is not a business of high valued cust...
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B
f184991bc8c16349cd0174daa5e24165
The last question for me is on the U.S. market. I'm sorry if I missed this. Are you -- just sort of the timeline, I guess, on DGC. It seems like it's been hanging out there for a while. Curious -- sorry again, Neal, you mentioned this, but just where you are in closing that transaction. And then maybe just reexamine, g...
Hi, there. Richard here. So the closing of the DGC acquisition is still on track for our target, our goal of having that done by the end of the year. As you mentioned before, there are a number of licenses that Super Group needs to be granted before that time. So we're obviously working to the timelines of the regulato...
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A
78e1d70cfd815f44c17219a637121da3
Circling back to the macro, can you talk about what regions you're sort of seeing impacting that due to the higher dollar? Because just trying to reconcile with what you're seeing. I know you're global versus what we heard last week from some of the North American operators where they're not seeing an impact and you al...
OK. So I'll just say because we -- we're the same company as we always have been. So because we're in the global marketplace across the world, of course, we have currency fluctuations but coming out of Africa, APAC, etc., right. So from us, those currencies are always swinging against the dollar's or the euro's, right....
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B
069fe91a93efcab2fbe8d10cc4e4be7c
And then it seems that you're going -- you're getting live in Ontario this week. Is there a margin drag or anything we should be thinking about from paying like a higher tax rate or anything now that you're going to be, I guess, on the legalized or not legalized, but regulated -- you'll be a regulated operator in Ontar...
Yeah. So it -- I mean, like previously stated as well, the initial introduction into the regulatory environment is always a bit of an impact on the margin, but we've got all systems in place to make sure that margin is recovered toward the end of the year with the most important impact is that even though you've got --...
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A
1bbfa55176f9dca0465775f801769484
Got it. And then just one more for me. Just as we look out to next year sort of the countries the Netherlands, Germany, where you're having the regulatory headwinds, I mean, do you expect to be operating in those countries next year? And can that actually become a tailwind or how should we think about that?
No. Well, Germany, we're still operating in Germany. So just there's no casino in Germany but Netherlands, we're still working with the regulator but it's not in any of our guidance for 2022.
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c0d3d4c9b0d0fab4ed5c2fee1e604e34
What about what about '23 would you be expected to be operating there?
Yeah, yeah. So Germany, yes. And then Netherlands, we have said it all depends on the regulators in that market.
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B
b2610f52a6be4c67384ed01dfcd68012
OK. So that would be an additional market you're live in for next year.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But Germany, we're currently live with now. We just don't have iCasino. So it depends on the iCasino and the taxes that they want in Germany will then depend if it's feasible for us to do iCasino, iGaming in Germany.
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B
d7bb6270a0d634e415f0072cfab9dbfa
Jonathan, I wonder if we could circle back to the transaction and talk about the decision to pursue an Up-C corporate structure as opposed to a Full-C conversion maybe kind of what were the puts and takes there and what kind of the benefits might be to an Up-C versus a full corporate conversion?
Sure. Thank you. So, the Up-C structure really provides multiple benefits. For us, it allows us to have access to a broader investor base, obviously together with the IDR simplification, we also will have a line [Phonetic] interest between the sponsors and our public equity holders. But in addition, it also, because ul...
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A
8298e8835679a43d162fa40dc3bf479b
I guess, moving on to the TGP expansion, I know you've talked about a turnaround period at some point during next year and you've kind of already provided guidance for what the full year throughput volumes will be, just wonder if you all could maybe provide a little more clarity in terms of the actual timing of when th...
Sure. Thanks for the question. We're still in the planning phases of the turnaround. And that's -- so it's still moving around, as far as the actual duration of the turnaround itself, again, this is a maintenance turnaround that was already in the plan as it was built in and we're actually taking advantage of the maint...
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B
6910d9ac4148ba90784a9a4d8ef1582d
On the saltwater disposal business, obviously, understanding it's new to the structure, can you just talk about the capex requirements for that business to continue to grow at over the next couple of years and how that kind of fits in with your ongoing maintenance and kind of sustaining capex program of well tie-ins on...
Sure. And I guess, it's important to note as far as the water business goes, we've been kind of running the midstream business for some period of time both the obviously the Hess Infrastructure Partners, Hess Midstream, but also some of the Midstream assets that sat with Hess. So, these are not new assets to us, we've ...
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B
24d1d9d512362d36aca48434901fd3f0
I guess my first question has to do with the visibility of your software business. As I understand from your verbiage and your earnings, as well as, what you said today, you seem to be blaming most of your poor performance on the pandemic. But if you look at Vocera, they had a great quarter with the pandemic. And if I ...
First of all, with respect to Vocera's performance in the second quarter, I'm happy for Vocera and I'm happy for their shareholders. I'm glad that they had a good quarter. One of the things that's happening as a result of this pandemic has been a huge impact. Hospitals have had to, on a very quick basis and on a short-...
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B
6f0fbf021b433913851a240b2eb2ab0c
I guess, last quarter, you wrote that the company was worth $10 exclusive of software. Basically, the stock is trading now at $9.60 and according to my numbers -- you know, your numbers, you've spent $218 million on the software business. I would say it's closer to $300 million. Anyway, between $11 and $15 a share and ...
Well, first of all, I don't agree with the numbers you threw out there, so I'll have to see if you could send me backup or something because both of us are sitting here shaking our heads, saying we never -- don't agree with that. Hey, Brad, we're not going to get credit for Spok Go until shareholders can see a lot of s...
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3f9095150cbefa6956275a86001bdcb7
Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my question. Congrats on the Spok Go win. Can you give us a little bit more color as it relates to the profile of that customer, kind of the scale and scope of that engagement, and how you're pricing it, which might then give us a little bit more visibility on to kind of the opportunity tha...
No. We're going to do that, like I said, in my opening comments, Ryan, when we report third-quarter results in late October.
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C
5d9a4ab0c1cb396defe10c4ae5b5fa28
OK. Do you have any more color that you'd like to or could provide as it relates to the total opportunity set for the company in general, or how you're intending to price Spok Go more generally and more broadly?
Yeah. We have a pipeline that we review on a regular basis and it continues to grow. I'm not going to give the specifics of that pipeline in terms of how many deals, what the average deal size, or what the total is, but it has grown consist -- considerably in this quarter. And we expect that'll continue to grow and tha...
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6b1b0b4555b52bdd5e647aa8af4d1543
How should we think about the size of 3-nanometer? Given the big capex plan that you are also outlining, should we think that 3-nanometer, once it ramps up fully, would be substantially bigger than 7-nanometer in terms of peak revenues?
Well, Gokul, let me answer your question by saying that we do expect the 3-nanometer will be widely used in HPC-related applications in addition to the smartphones. So, with this kind of engagement with our customer, we do expect our revenue will be bigger, certainly. There's no doubt about it.
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2737614dc2bd5afce99460106f62628c
Could you talk a little bit about CPU -- x86 CPU, obviously, which is something on everybody's mind. Could you talk a little bit about how do you think it would be exposed to this market as well as we go into the 3-nanometer era?
Gokul, we don't specifically name one of our HPC's applications, such as CPU to say that what is the growth rate. But let me tell you that, CPU, networking and AI accelerator will be the main growth area in the HPC applications.
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C
9d3f357eb6784d81d0867f40aa30983b
Should we say -- should we think that the x86 market share continues to move up a lot as we get into 3-nanometer?
Again, we don't specifically comment on very specific area. We work with our customer continuously and to supply the very good technology to support their business.
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C
65b38fc04b5aa0fddfcaf9c9e5b6c3eb
Do we expect a pickup in the automotive vertical? And then, also in looking at the mature nodes, will auto benefit our mature nodes? And then ADAS and other trends in automotive, how do we see?
Well, let me say that, now we see the automotive industry need a lot of semiconductor component, and that's including the leading-edge technology for the ADAS system and also some of the mature technology for a lot of applications like sensor, like power management IC. We do see right now a little bit shortage on the a...
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9dc0ff2b0fa95f90336ce032541f7b95
Given the tightness, will we consider to add capacity for the mature nodes?
We always work with our customer to plan [Phonetic] our technologies, capacity, all those kind of thing. For mature node, we used to convert some of the large capacity into specialties. Right now, the trend stays the same.
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B
75d947c5123f588e7a8147bc88698b4e
The gross margins you've improved 4 points year-over-year. Part of that utilization, but depreciation also was up 45% NT dollar to get you 6 points. So, could you discuss if you've had a breakthrough on the cost reduction side? And if -- now, I think last quarter you said about 50%. But given what you've seen on cost r...
Randy, this is Wendell. You just mentioned that our depreciation increased 45% year-over-year. I think the number should be 15% year-over-year. Now, in terms of gross margin in the long-term, we believe 50% gross margin is reasonable and achievable. There are six factors affecting our profitabilities: the ramp of leadi...
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B
7ac1e179a8cd2f71c85dc2aa8559c612
Was it up 15 days? Historically, you draw down within the fourth quarter, but maybe the trend-wise inventory was rising into early in the year.
Right. And that's partially because some -- as -- we have a very high utilization in the fourth quarter, but some of the wafers will be shipped in the first quarter as opposed to shipped in the fourth quarter.
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4261c5ff4a5f98b32dd1717ac20b75e5
Your observation that in the past two quarters our gross margin has come in at the high-end or slightly above the high-end of our guidance. Revenue at the high-end and the currency appreciation is there. So, Sebastian is -- question is, first, is the first quarter gross margin guidance too conservative? And what about ...
Okay. Sebastian, if we compare fourth quarter to first quarter, 54% in the fourth quarter and the mid-term of our guidance for first quarter is 51.5%. The 2.5 percentage point difference, actually mainly come from the utilization, as well as the unfavorable foreign exchange rates. So, at this moment, we are still stick...
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A
4e5831ad7a15006f87589cbda3a0a7a2
Apparently that -- at least that's a significant upside surprise to me and I think also to the consensus estimate. So, the last time I think when the Company raised the capex from $10 billion to $12 billion level to the -- like a $15 billion to $17 billion level, then that resulted in a 30% revenue growth in 2020. And ...
Okay. Sebastian, it's too early to talk about -- specifically about 2022. But as C.C. mentioned, in the next five years our target CAGR is between 10% to 15%. So that's already higher than the original target of 5% to 10% CAGR that we used to have before the last conference call. And that's also because of the higher c...
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B
e9d6f75a2b38246d254fdcfaef9993f9
My first question is, if your customer has its own design rule nodes with different metal and poly pitch spec from TSMCs one. Can this customer use a in-house manufacturing in TSMC foundry based on the same design or it needs to redesign the chip-based on TSMC 5-nanometer, 3-nanometer design rule?
Andrew, we always work closely with our customer to support their design into TSMC's process technologies. So, we can manufacture inside TSMC.
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B
29535881739416d0a6cedcd980b71b3a
Since our 3-nanometer, 4-nanometer nodes work you're ramping out next year. What about second half this year? Will we have something like 5-nanometer plus or revision in 5-nanometer process node for second half this year?
Andrew, we always continue to improve the technologies. Last year, we introduced our 5-nanometer to the market. This year, we continue to improve it and next year we will improve further. So we never stop.
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7bee44192d983e0e652b90da2654e991
Does your $25 billion to $28 billion capex guide include investment for infrastructure in US?
Yes, it does. The US fab starts construction this year.
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A
2f6d60407c0ac7149c67c158eba9d8c7
With our increase in capex guidance -- that we guided for in 2021 versus 2020 being an increase, does that also mean an increase in the capex we spend on EUV?
No, we do not disclose that details.
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C
310d846fa3c3f8d11336147b9f6b0302
C.C., you mentioned that how capital intensity is going to be high all the way through 3-nanometer, but you also said long-term capital intensity should be in the mid-30s. So I'm just trying to square that by -- what do you mean by long-term? Because it looks like if the 3-nanometer is still going to be high in the nex...
We mean long-term meaning three to five years. I think 2010 to 2014 can be an example. During that period of time, the capital intensity rose from 38% to 50%, maintaining at high-40s for a couple of years and came down afterwards. Something like that should be a reference.
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A
c91ef837b533180fcf74714e8062caf8
Your first question is in terms of the capex. He wants to know that, are we -- with capex, are we having to spend capex earlier now and is this because of EUV that we need to spend more capex earlier?
Well, let me answer the question. The answer is yes, because of there is a long lead time for the EUV tools. The tools are very complicated and the supply chain for the EUV takes long time to prepare for it. And as a result, TSMC also had to plan in advance. That's longer than the normal tools we used to have.
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A
fe3cff51704a163f0abd46549e779124
So, even with the higher growth in depreciation, Gokul is asking, are we still comfortable with the 50% gross margin?
Yeah. 50% gross margin as a long-term target we think it's reasonable and achievable.
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A
e5a59ceb2f8b84fe2494d90ac82204cc
So, Randy is asking in the US, in Arizona, we target 20,000. Do we -- will we continue to build it out into a mega fab-type of site? And he also wants to know in China, and I guess, you're referring to Nanjing, do we have plans to further expand the capacity in Nanjing?
Yeah. This is Mark. Let me take your question. Yeah. We recently acquired a big piece of land in Phoenix, 1,100 acres. Definitely that was the long-term plan to have a mega-scale production sites. But currently our plan is only work on the Phase I production -- I'm talking 2024 with 20,000 wafer per month. And we'll --...
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5c2978e80effcb1dc9d8d6418107268f
Randy is asking about 2021 growth -- first growth outlook by platform and then growth outlook by the back-end, and then, between the back-end InFO, CoWoS by segment.
Okay. Randy, for 2021 by platform, we think HPC and automotive growth will be higher than the corporate average growth. Smartphone and IoT will be similar to the corporate average growth in US dollar terms. In terms of our back-end business, we expect it to grow slightly higher than the corporate in 2021. We do not dis...
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0078e0b2aa038a1ad23b0792094b07e5
I think Mark said that the Company has noted its 5-nanometer demand also stronger than you thought three months ago. So, any [Phonetic] value if you can give us more details about which applications are you seeing as stronger-than-expected demand?
High-performance computing. Oh, let me just add a little bit color on this. High-performance computing as Wendell just said will be the major growth driver of our business. And this field is currently under exciting changes. The high-performance computing's architectures, as you know, from different customers, everybod...
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A
685b973c132f1e43a81dbceb9552de54
Sebastian, your question is then in looking at the capex, looking at our revenue guidance, the capital intensity this year been about -- around 50%, then the free cash flow growth may slow this year. So, what is the outlook for the dividend? Do we still use 70% of free cash flow as the cash dividend formula?
Right. Sebastian, our dividend policy has two parts, 70% of free cash flow, but not to be lower than the previous periods. So we remain committed to a sustainable and steadily increasing cash dividend. During the periods of higher investment, the focus will be more on sustainable. And as we harvest the growth, the focu...
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e31537e4c56a92fdff9647978adc9cd4
So, given that you're paying the -- investors getting the dividend in this quarter and -- which is that earnings you made like three quarters earlier, so if we do the calculation simulation, which means that in the next 24 months the investor will probably still getting the TWD2.5 per quarter. Is that a fair calculatio...
It's at least, at least.
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6007eadb3cf9d79b88deaa07f33e37ca
As you weigh a potential partial IPO of U.S. MI versus a full sale of the company, can you discuss what some of the key considerations would be in terms of making that decision?
Well, Ryan, I think the baseline is whichever provides the best long-term shareholder value. And that's based obviously on the price on a full sale versus what we think the execution is on the IPO. One of the -- the core plan is the -- a partial IPO that preserves the ability for a tax-free spin-off of U.S. MI shares t...
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A
bf9e5a240863ba0db412079db34f9c0f
Got it. And then I guess can you help us think about any -- I guess if you did do a full sale, how to think about the tax consequences that might emerge from that, as you separate MI from the rest of the company?
Ryan, I think the main thing is you lose some tax consolidation. There wouldn't be, I think, a taxable gain. But Dan, do you want to cover the implications of Ryan's question? Sure. In the case of the full sale, there wouldn't be meaningful tax considerations for us. We've got a fairly high basis in U.S. MI. The real ...
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A
2fcf798dc7c770bdbc5559515323a470
All right. And then just last one. I guess what level of confidence do you have that if you do sell U.S. MI, that 100% of the proceeds will be available to the holding company versus regulators through the Form A process requiring some amount to be contributed to GLIC?
So Ryan, I mean this has come up a lot, and it's a difficult question to answer. There is no law, statutory law authority that gives regulators -- so our principal regulators are Delaware for GLIC, New York, obviously, for the New York subsidiary, and Virginia for GLAIC, there's no legal authority that gives regulators...
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56e18a75fccf623a0b40ce82a1d81c50
I appreciate you taking my question. I think at this point, you've set yourself up pretty well with a clear runway toward addressing the 2021 debt obligations, assuming a successful IPO of U.S. Mortgage Insurance. But I'm curious to hear about your strategy for dealing with some of the obligations, let's say, over 2022...
Well, certainly, I think we're in good shape on the 2021. In terms of the AXA amounts, they're not due until 2022 and there are significant other sources of cash. We do have potential cash flow next year from GMA and from U.S. MI in terms of dividends or other options with either of those. So I think we're feeling reas...
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A
8bab69162e470c017cfb65d6901c6b1e
I appreciate that color. Thanks. If I could squeeze in a second one here. And I recognize your ability to speak to U.S. MI is limited right now. But in your prepared remarks, you had mentioned that the ratings for U.S. MI were very important from a competitive standpoint. I was curious if you could elaborate on that ju...
Josh, that's a good question. I would say -- and I'll ask Rohit Gupta, and Rohit is president and CEO of U.S. MI. He's been in that role as long as I've been here for eight years. He's done an outstanding job running U.S. MI. And so he's now going to be a speaker going forward. So I'll let him give you a little bit of ...
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A
41be9acb81c36e7ea17aae3b882f28af
Thanks. Good morning. First question, Tom, just for you, regarding the potential Oceanwide transaction. Is there anything you've learned since the January 5 call that -- I guess, just anything incremental on Oceanwide's ability to source funding to complete the transaction? Because I think the market is reacting to you...
Well, look, the Oceanwide merger agreement is still in effect. I said in my comments, I believe Oceanwide continues to work on the financing, particularly the financing outside of China with Hony Capital. I think there are ongoing challenges in the geopolitical landscape that are out of Oceanwide and Genworth's control...
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8f7c61f96c52ea4e923ccb9b8701d2bd
OK. And anything you can comment on just regarding the potential Long-Term Care joint venture with Oceanwide in China, and maybe how you would capitalize your portion of that potential joint venture?
That's a great question. And I would say, and I think we've been consistent over the four years, that a key driver for why Oceanwide was and is willing to pay 543 is because of the huge potential in China. There are 250 million Chinese today, 60 and older. That will double to 500 million by 2050. And I think the govern...
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06bf1ed81f6187ed37d4e8e48b17ac79
OK. Got it. Thank you. Last one for me. The $50 million annualized cost savings. Do you have an idea or can you tell us the split between holding company expense reductions and subsidiary expense reductions?
There was a split. I'll ask Dan to give you a little bit more detail on that. Dan? Sorry. I could not hear the question. Could you repeat? The question, Dan, was $50 million of expense reductions in January. What was subsidiary operating company's expense reductions versus the corporate overhead? think that was the q...
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C
203c4f791989e564b54f12d820b096de
Thanks. Good morning. A couple of MI questions for you. I appreciate you sharing the singles impact on the premium. Could you further elaborate and share the quarter costs for your XOLs as well as the quarter costs for ILNs?
I'll let Rohit answer those. Good questions, Geoff -- Geoffrey. Sure, Tom. Thanks, Geoff. So I think from a reinsurance perspective, we have not outlined the cost in our disclosures, but I would generally articulate the cost being back at pre-COVID levels. And that is for the 2021 excess of loss reinsurance that Dan m...
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9db97cf231f4adee253bdbf175fbf059
OK. And then with respect to your comment on the reserve strengthening, I understand that the average is now up to 7%. Are you saying also that you're 7% in the fourth quarter? Or was it a higher number than 7% that brought up the average as well as the strengthening charge?
Yes. So Geoff, what I would say is we are in an unprecedented environment here when we just think about our overall roll rates and our reserve factors. The forbearance programs we have today are very different than the forbearance programs, we used to have pre-COVID. You are familiar with the numbers, less than 5% of o...
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A
50b74543a4e9ef88ba291e0e328b4644
Right. I'm asking, I guess, specifically, what was the assumption for Q4, though? What's kind of your run rate exiting the year? Are you at a 7% assumption, as we go into the beginning of the year? Or is it a higher number that helped bring up the overall average for the last nine months?
Yes. So we are at 7%, as we end the fourth quarter for COVID delinquencies. And for non-COVID delinquencies, that number would be higher because non-COVID delinquencies were non forbearance. And 7% for news as well.
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A
3cda86278f72c08ec68fc608609cb209
I'm hoping that you can provide some details on where you think hospital systems are in terms of preparedness for the new RO-APM reimbursement model.
I think, quite frankly, it varies across the board. I think that there are some institutions that have been more rapid in embracing hypo and ultra hyperfractionation. They're larger utilizers from a product technology and mix case mix standpoint of SBRT in general. I think they by nature or by kind of, their more proac...
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B
158397e33a9f58b2a755187e1061172c
And an additional question is with the current labor market has Accuray been impacted with any worker shortages at all?
No, not from an operational standpoint. Again, the headwinds that people see now related to labor challenges and supply chain, etc. We're cognizant of that. We have not really had significant problems in those areas. We continue to execute well, both Suzanne and I have terrific faith in our operations team. And so no, ...
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A
cd1f4251bd228f1a6b4710a51b7e4a47
Okay. That's helpful. And then last question for me is, are you seeing any disruptions due to the supply chain? And do you have any plans on how do you combat these disruptions if there are any?
Again, I mean, there's really no company that you can see or look at today that isn't feeling some impact of these macro level kind of, trends. But again, we are working diligently. Our ops team is working diligently. Our sourcing team is working diligently to make sure that we can continue to supply, continue to insta...
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8b533d7add57728f9569e6d56e1031d7
Hi. Good afternoon. Congratulations on a strong start to fiscal '22. Just two questions, follow-up from the ASTRO Investor Day. The first is -- it's great to hear about the progress and the plans in your journey toward a true online adaptive solution, and you talked about two parallel paths of development and internal ...
Yes. I don't know that there are any key milestones that you need to have on your radar, but I mean, it is our goal, especially based on the very positive feedback of what we did show to customers at the ASTRO, that we're on the right track. We are pursuing, again, a solution for our customers that have RaySearch treat...
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d686d3a9e395c0a29a3dcfd413fe726f
Fantastic. And then just one follow-up. As we're all looking to try and value is the China JV and as that opportunity is, and that collaboration is going to be unleashed in 2022. I think one of the underappreciated elements is the Type B system and the opportunity that Accuray has to sell that China manufactured Type B...
No, Josh thanks for the questions. Absolutely the market that we talked about for a value segment product is incremental to what we're participating in now. The $300 million that we talked about at Investor Day were really was the annual opportunity in two locations: India and also Brazil, where we think that both of t...
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B
828bc01764315a48cc826620523fc09b
Great. Thanks for the answers. Maybe a follow-up to Josh's questions on neurosurgery specifically. And when we think about that opportunity, just wondering what the investment behind neurosurgery will be just as you referenced at Analyst Day that would be my first question. And then the second question would be on just...
Anthony, Susan and I are going to divide and conquer. I'll take the second question, which is the RO-APM update. So I think the big takeaway was they did confirm that they are going forward on January 1. That one -- there -- I think there might have been some continued speculation out there, about, given COVID environm...
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B
9fed1b2af75511f251a26b9248cdd2c8
So I guess, first, I mean, maybe can we just get a quick update with the extended backlogs on any changes in cancellation rates. I believe when we talked last time in the last quarter you guys had noticed any really material changes, but there was expectations for a little bit better capacity coming online this quarter...
It's a great question, Bobby and nothing is materially changed the amount of demand we're getting even though we're producing more furniture every month is keeping the backlog out a lot farther than we'd like and customers are not thrilled with that, but that is the state of the industry. So it's not just the La-Z-Boy ...
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8be71cbef81e0a88d5bc33223eb66ee5
Okay, that's helpful. And good news that the cancellation rates have materially changed. If we look at the 4Q sales guidance versus the prior commentary around it, those elements little bit lower, is that just a function of the challenges in the supply chain just continuing longer than your original expectations? And i...
That's exactly right, Bobby, we will continue to increase raw production capacity. We've been doing it month-to-month here since -- basically since we opened up again back at the beginning of May, and that March will continue on through end of this summer event. But at any given time as Kurt said with a variety of inpu...
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A
1aede20fdca8e929d19bcc1c8d9a8d83
Understood. Okay, that's very helpful. And I guess lastly for me, just two-part question on the written business. So if we look at the trends for the 350-ish network galleries, basically network galleries. Was there just some -- was there some weird ebbs and flows during the quarter, because even on a two-year stack ba...
Yes, I would say similar to what we heard around most of the industry on November and December started to slow. Again, we're at -- an industry that generally grows 2% to 3% or at 18% year-to-date, written same-store sales. But November and December, I think most of our industry saw some slowing still growth, right? But...
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B
8d6c35aaa0818362e30f29efca04466c
So first, I just wanted to follow-up, as far as the January reacceleration in the same-store sales still encouraging to see. Is this -- would you say this is partly may be attributable to the stimulus checks that went out or do you think there's other factors that play here? And if you could maybe comment on what you s...
Well, I can't give you an exact data on what caused the uptick. Was it vaccine starting to be given to people and they felt more comfortable, shopping was it a mild January that kept people out. The stimulus checks probably had some impact, although I don't -- I'm not sure how -- what proportion of our customers will r...
intermediate
[ "direct", "intermediate", "fully_evasive" ]
B
d6c40377e4e1268fee7b6a24d0b847fc
Got it. Okay, thanks for that. I mean, sort of, and controlled the weather for sure. As far as Joybird, I was just wondering if there is any -- you feel there's room for additional synergy improvements, we talked about gross margin improvements, just wondering how we should think about the sustainability of Joybird's p...
Yes. So I'll take that in two pieces. And certainly, the gross margin improvements, we've been working for a long time on a lot of individual pieces that are really coming together. And our plan is that, that gross margin improvement should stay very sustainable going forward. Of course, obviously subject like any busi...
direct
[ "direct", "intermediate", "fully_evasive" ]
A
b0a3c66323d1cf2e9d35191922bcfc40
Got it. Okay, great. And then last question from me here, so as far as the record high cash balance. So what would you say would be the top priorities for usage of that cash going forward here?
Certainly. Certainly a healthy chunk of our focus. Well, I'll start by saying, we will continue to be conservative, because this pandemic thing isn't over yet, and that's always been our nature, but no doubt we are building a really significant chest. And with that it provides us an opportunity to look at investments i...
direct
[ "direct", "intermediate", "fully_evasive" ]
A
e4afcea50827a97c89de7d977728e2b8
Hi, good morning. It's Brad Thomas with KeyBanc Capital Markets. And first of all, Kurt congratulations to you on a tremendous career and your leadership of La-Z-Boy. And Melinda and Bob, congratulations to you both on your promotions. All very well deserved. So wanted to follow-up on the Joybird comments and wondering...
So, Brad. I think the -- obviously, one of our interests in Joybird when we bought them was we felt it was a business that could grow faster than our core, and we still believe that. And we don't know in any of the businesses we're in and even Joybird. What is the COVID factor right now for volume? And how long is that...
intermediate
[ "direct", "intermediate", "fully_evasive" ]
B
d1f4ec740335b499f6b70ae94054163d
That's helpful, Kurt. Thank you. And the next topic I wanted to talk about a bit is what you're seeing on the raw material front. This is a question that comes up a lot with investors about how much risk there is in the economy from inflation. Can you talk a little bit about what you're seeing from a raw material stand...
Sure. So obviously given demand we're seeing pressure on raw material input costs. And honestly all supply chain costs including freight, pretty much across the board back in October, we announced pricing and that of course was only on new written orders. So it's going to be -- we're in fourth quarter before those writ...
direct
[ "direct", "intermediate", "fully_evasive" ]
A