身份不明的发言人
Steven Marks（执行副总裁兼首席财务官）
身份不明的参会者
Peter Christiansen（花旗银行）
早上好。我的名字是。我的名字是Pete Christiansen。我在花旗银行的股票研究团队工作，覆盖多个不同领域。信息服务、商业服务，以及加密货币和一些借贷科技公司。现在我们很高兴展示First Advantage，这无疑是该领域一个有趣的名字，占据主导市场地位。我们邀请了首席财务官Stephen Marks。Stephen，非常感谢您的到来。很高兴有您在这里。
谢谢邀请我们，Pete。
现在，我认为这个名字确实获得了更多关注。所以我认为，可能对该领域有 renewed interest。自您上市以来已经四年了，并且通过收购Sterling进行了重大转型。我们为什么不先花几分钟时间， walk through 公司是什么以及它做什么，对于那些可能不太熟悉 first look 的人。
是的，实际上我们上市已经四年了，而Sterling在2016年9月上市也四年了。
没错，我记得。
是的。不，所以故事是平行的。真的很好。但我们的核心是，First Advantage是人力资源、科技和数据领域的领导者，围绕管理客户的风险、入职和人力资本。所以我们的核心服务套件， obviously around 背景调查，确保我们帮助客户验证他们雇佣的人，并且真正演变成一个 new industry。我们称之为“了解你的员工”。 right. 所以。所以就像。什么。背景调查多年来如何演变以及您如何完成背景调查已经演变。您现在试图，您知道， qualify about your。
您的候选人和您的员工正在变化。而以前，每个人都可能 solely focused 在他们的犯罪历史上，我们生活在一个全球化的世界中，所以。所以确保我们拥有全球 reach，确保您可以高效地进行这些，您知道，这些搜索，使用数据 both in terms of margin，而且还有 turnaround times 和招聘速度，即使知道，您知道，劳动力市场可能已经冷却，它仍然是一个高度竞争的空间，并且确保您可以在需要时 onboarding 您的员工是 great。但就像我们在 hallway 谈论的那样，这是一个 evolving landscape，您知道，随着世界上所有 tech enhancements 以及 dark web 的 advancement，了解您雇佣的人并确保他们 actually are who。
他们是谁，他们声称自己是谁。所以。所以演变成，您知道，数字身份空间。所以我们真正将自己视为一个“了解你的员工”组织，并帮助客户管理风险，雇佣 best people 而且 also，您知道， just overall operate 人力资本在适当的，您知道，合规水平。
我们真的很喜欢复杂性。我们认为复杂性意味着机会。这 clearly 是一个 end market 变得越来越复杂，需要 full suite solution， national coverage，等等，以及 regular R and D investment。也许您可以谈谈公司目前在产品开发路线图方面的一些 key priorities，然后我们将谈论 scaling 和 Sterling 的 integration after that。
是的，如果您想要复杂，它确实复杂。我认为人们没有意识到背景调查是获取数据有多么 complicated。美国有 almost 4,000 个 unique court jurisdictions，而且它们彼此不交流。事实上，有许多州，县不与州交流，州不与联邦交流。我知道当我们加入这家公司时，我们总是开玩笑，您 just assume，您去 FBI，您运行那些。FBI 有一个很好的 major crimes murders 数据库，您知道，您知道， major violent crimes，但在其他方面非常 poor，数据 reported up to 的速度。
所以 key to this，能够运营一个背景调查公司是能够以速度、质量和规模获取 that data。所以我们去年在First Advantage和Sterling之间进行了 over 1.9 亿次检查。但能够以一天或更短的 turnaround times 做到这一点，并且能够以 almost an unlimited scale 做到这一点。所以，您知道，我们进行 that investment 的原因，我们每年花费 almost 1.3 亿美元 on product tech and innovation 是为了能够 continuously automate, refine，以及 whether it's，您知道，使用我们自己的数据库， whether it's automating data flows， whether it's kind of creative ways 获取数据 acquisition 和 net output of that，这使得这成为一个 really compelling story 在我们的市场中 to our customers。
您知道，我们有客户需要在一年中的某些时间 onboarding 数千或数万人 at once。他们会在全国范围内进行 hiring event on a Saturday with First Advantage as their screening provider。他们知道他们将在 Monday morning 之前获得 most of those results。所以然后他们可以 move to what's evolved to what we call just in time hiring。所以公司已经变得更聪明 about when they want to onboard people。他们已经变得更聪明 about how much time they incur the cost before those employees are productive。所以他们想要 hire essentially just in time shipping，但 just in time hiring。
Bring those employees on at the right moment, at the last moment。他们 only do that if they can trust that the screening will get done efficiently in a way that supports that。所以当我们考虑我们 spent a lot of that 的地方，它是在 automating the data flows, automating the processes and refining the reporting。然后是一些 newer realms，您知道，a，我们谈论了 digital identity 并且我确定我们会回到 that。但 B，它是围绕 things like the candidate experience。所以您知道，10年前当我在First Advantage开始时，我们不 care about that，它 wasn't a thing。
但现在随着 smartphone 的 evolution 以及 just the way that the latest generation of workers work，他们 just want an instant gratification on their phone。所以 building the mobile experiences, building it where you can just click copies of documents on your phone, take selfies for digital identification。我们 vast majority of our screens 现在 actually completed now on a phone where before it was email, fax, web interface, whatever。所以它只是一个 totally evolving market between what the demands of the hire is, what the demands of the applicant are, and ultimately getting to a speed, quality and global reach standpoint that is second to none。
我想我是少数 old enough to remember the fax days 的人之一。是的，我确实记得 faxing all my information all over the place。我们 certainly come a long way。也许您可以 just chat a little bit 您如何 staying organized internally， certainly from managing your data platforms。您有 national criminal files, Smart Hub verified。也许如果您可以 just walk through each one of those kind of components。您如何 thinking about combining them 以及什么是 kind of your go forward data approach？
是的，就像我们几分钟前谈论的那样， right. 我的意思是 core，您知道，IP 是，是 the, is the platforms that can fulfill those, those searches globally, nationally, locally, at scale, at speed with quality，您知道， with the right experiences。您知道，就像我提到的，我们花费 1.3 亿美元 on that。所以那是 over 800 professionals around the globe who are, who are，您知道， whether it's data, whether it's platform, whether it's user experience, whether it's AI。所以确保我们 staying on the forefront of the technology side。但是 then，是的，您是对的 with，您知道， leveraging data at the right point。
所以您知道，我们采取了 a unique approach relative to our industry where hey, let's own our own data。它在背景调查中 It's Not a very common thing。所以我们有 over 9 亿条 records。Between our national criminal records file， which is over 7 亿 and then our verified database which is got mostly employment but also some education verification in there, that's over 1.2 亿条 records。而那个 also compounded with our Smart hub intelligent AI router up on the front end。所以您知道， leveraging those technologies we're either to avoid going to a third party, so obviously create margin for ourselves, own the data and can use it in more creative ways。所以 that creates a competitive dynamic and also gives us some ability to make and build new product。
哦，我确定 the training capability，您可以 train a lot more products and features。
它是 and also be able to leverage those into tangential products as well。所以 certainly having a data forward approach versus 您知道， relying on third parties where 您知道 you don't own the cost，您知道，您知道 you don't own the fees。然后它 also helped us in the go to market because 您知道， when you do have a real data story, it resonates with customers。他们 understand that, they see, they see the value there。他们 obviously experience firsthand that the turnaround time benefits。但然后他们 also see that we're truly devoted to tech and to innovation and customers want to be a part of that。
拥有数据是否使您更具 price competitive versus 我在想一个 particular competitor that is known for a series of price increases over the last couple years and workplace verification, that kind of thing。拥有数据是否给您 structural advantage to provide more value for money？
嗯，他们 actually a vendor of ours because we do their screening。所以。
好的， there you go。
我确切知道您在谈论什么。不，它给了我们几件事。一， certainly it helps us from a margin standpoint rather than be solely reliant on a third party who does, who does take liberties with pricing。我们 able to control that and obviously helps our margin percentages and overall cash flow and profitability，您知道， and those areas especially where it becomes a pass through to our customers, there's a huge go to market benefit when you could say look, we can reduce your cost of ownership of your program by leveraging our data, by leveraging our fulfillment process。
所以 specifically to the employment verification space。我们没有 sign a proprietor，您知道， the, you must go to that one vendor first。First and primary source。那是我们六、七年前进行 investments 的地方， building up our own data but then I think almost more importantly, using our Smart hub technology, which builds a fulfillment route unique to each and every applicant based on years and millions of fulfillment history that it's got of where that data would be and it's got a network of data providers that input to it。所以 instead of just going to that single work number, that data source, it's got our own verified database, it's got fintech players who can do instant verification using payroll data or using banking data。
它 got other large data providers in the network and we have the ability to plug in new data as it comes along and pull out data and the algorithms are consistently adjusting that dial of where it sends the data to ultimately to create the cheapest cost for our customer, which gives us a great go to market standpoint because then we can go out there saying hey, this is a pain point for you。We can promise you savings and we showcase it to them every quarter when we do our QBRs。但然后 also for us, rather than just have a straight pass through, we can create margin out of those alternative data sources, certainly our own data and it's net margin beneficial to us。
所以 happier customer, more profitable company。这是一个很好的平衡
那 extend your capabilities or at least your potential in the post onboarding opportunity set。或者那是，是 that more think of that more separate？
它现在有点 separate now having all the innovation resources, certainly it's beneficial and there's synergies there。The post onboarding is certainly an area that's evolving。The risks are changing I think but 您知道， it requires change management at companies to say hey, we're now going to monitor our employees for criminal history。That piece has been more challenging。Where we've seen post employment monitoring really be attractive is in transportation。所以我们做 a lot of continuous monitoring, whether it's on MVR records, but also ongoing compliance monitoring around both drivers and vehicles。所以我们有一个服务套件，我们称之为 Road Ready。
它 got about a dozen products, a lot of them are post employment more tied to sustained monitoring of drivers of vehicles。您知道， things like that。Certainly in healthcare there's a whole monitoring suite we have around, we call heal, but it's around healthcare Healthcare licensure, making sure that your employees are staying compliant with their healthcare。There's no board findings, things like that that would make them non compliant。而且我们也 seeing it in financial services，您知道， around just some other areas where you want to make sure that 您知道 you're, you're more in the Regulated spaces。
但 your employees are compliant。它 less around criminal which is maybe where，您知道， back at the time of the IPO we thought the industry might be going right。但 there are plenty of other places where post employment has taken a good foothold。
所以它是 in addition on the, on the financial services side 我只是。因为我熟悉。所以 in addition to things like broker check and like that, you're able to find incremental check opportunity。那很有趣。您确实提到了 go to market a bit。Take。Certainly walk us through the current go to market Strategy with Sterling 5. 0。我们想听听那个。
是的。是的。所以是的， with FA 5. 0，我的意思是 honestly。One of, one of。我知道您很好。我 got, we got the marketing covered over here。One of the first places we integrated was our go to market and 您知道， if there was ever a positive out of having a six month，您知道， doj second request review is we had a lot of time to get the infrastructure in place and be ready to execute。所以我们 couldn't work through names and we couldn't work through customer specific items and things like that, but we could have all the infrastructure。
所以我们，您知道，我们在 31 日 8am 关闭。By 9am 我们的 executives were having outreach calls to major Sterling customers。所以我们 were a hyper focused on the customer retention aspect of this。所以您知道，而且我们真的很自豪，您知道， between our messaging just through the public markets and in press releases through our kind of executive engagement, but just through our overall integration approach to preserve 96 plus percent retention。自从我们在二月份宣布收购以来，已经 18 个月了。所以它 both a validation that our messaging was right, but also that in 10 months after we've closed we haven't screwed anything up in terms of the integration that would cause customers to want to go elsewhere。
所以那是 mission number one and then certainly mission number two was getting just the go to market, messaging and marketing aligned。所以我们的 marketing teams have been integrated。我们的，我们的，您知道，我们的 vertical establishment, getting our general manager structure in place。All of that we did early in the process。它 resonating well I think as you've kind of heard，您知道， Q4 right after we closed，您知道， number of units of enterprise bookings was a record。Q1 the number of dollars of enterprise bookings was a record。您知道，我们 had, we had several marquee deals that powered that。
所以我们 feel really good about。
我相信那听起来 Like a pro forma basis。
是的，不，我们回到了历史。Sterling added them together。我的意思是 we had some really big deals sign and look, if those customers were concerned about our integration approach, about what we were doing and how we were doing it, they wouldn't have signed。而且它 was from multiple verticals, different competitive dynamics, different geographic dynamics。所以我们 feel really good about where we are。然后事实是，您知道， things like digital identity that we're able to add to the pipeline with new product or even be able to now cross sell，您知道， products from one company to the other。
您知道我们刚刚在七月份宣布，现在我们的 first advantage tax services credits，您知道， WATSI credit services that we've been offering which is it's not the biggest product but very good margin but very impactful to customers because it's a。They make a lot of money on these things。我们 now able to cross sell that into the Sterling base now just getting that pipeline rolling。所以我们 really approaching the integration to our customers as how can we find things that are additive so rolling them out as upgrades。所以我们知道我们 launched our click chat call customer care initiative that's really seen as an upgrade to Sterling customers。
There's also some really nice things that Sterling was doing on how they were acquiring some of that 4, 000 different court data that will roll out to the first advantage customers and they won't see a cost benefit to that。They will see a huge turnaround time。您知道， one of the largest cities in the country and is still one of the most manual courthouses you'll ever see。It's not this one, but there's other。There's a couple of them。Sterling just had a better, a more creative way of acquiring that data。我们 now able to leverage that to first advantage customers。
They'll see the benefit whether from turnaround time。所以他们 can now in that market know that their turnaround time speed will vastly improve there。他们 can get to the just in time hiring in that core market。
您知道您确实触及了 upsell cross sell 中的一堆领域，并且我确实想现在 go through some of the growth algorithm components。但 upsell cross sell 是 algo 的最大组成部分。也许谈谈您在 overall trends 中看到的情况，您在哪里看到客户 kind of gravitating to 也许什么没有工作，什么正在工作，以及您对此最兴奋的是什么？
是的。所以 upsell cross sell 真的是三种。那里有三种 growth 的 vectors。所以两个 easy ones to really understand are 您知道， gaining share of wallet。所以 whether that's a US customer, where we're going to grow internationally。所以我们 get their Europe business, we get their Asia business or a lot of companies in the US we might have certain subsidiaries or certain regions or certain business groups，您知道， gain again gaining that share of wallet and we've been very successful there。您知道， international rollouts take a little longer because you're navigating a more complex web of integration of compliance, complexity, etc。
但 that's been very successful cross selling new products。所以我认为那是，那是 kind of the, I think that that gives us the, the bigger white space, that's the more of the evolving area。Selling our i9 products, selling the tax credit product。那是 where the, the digital identity growth is, is most opportunistic。什么 been the most powerful，您知道， piece though has been package density which really is conceptually helping our customers dial up and dial in their risk management profile to the appropriate space。所以 oftentimes a customer may start with a very basic package just going to check criminal records，您知道， do a Social Security number verification and that's really it。
Not doing sex offender, not doing global sanctions, not going deep into criminal history, not doing national or federal or anything like that。所以您知道， being verticalized in our go to market approach has really helped us showcase to our customers, hey, where are you weak? Where are you strong? Benchmark them against the top logos in their industry。而 upsell cross sell has been the most powerful piece of that and consistent driver of upsell cross sell growth just through package density。Package density, package density。而 that trend's not changing by the way because what we've seen happen is we have a client in the retail, sorry, hospitality space a couple of years ago, someone was recording something in their, in their facilities。
They shouldn't have immediately hit board level attention。他们 called us saying hey, what, what are we doing wrong? We showed, we, we showed, hey, we've been telling you for years you've been doing a weak search, 300% scope increase。他们 will never unwind that。Right? 所以非常强大，非常，非常 sticky。但然后我认为 where the most opportunity comes from is certainly that 您知道， the new products, the new innovation。所以 digital identity being，您知道， the number one opportunity there that we see。但您知道， also being able to cross sell the products that were unique within first advantage and sterling to the opposite，您知道， to the, to the Other install base is also a fair amount of white space。
我确实想一秒钟谈论 digital identity。但回到 package density， obviously it makes sense。Increase the scope, get more data sources involved given in the world that we're living in today。但 are they also going deeper, maybe further back? Are they seeing any benefit from there? 因为我认为我们正在看到一些好处 from。
这是一个 combination。就像我说的，一个非常简单的搜索可能是一个三年的犯罪历史。Okay。Only county of residence or whatever。我们可以 develop names and addresses。所以 go，您知道， find out that that person's been using，您知道， Stephen with a PH instead of a V in certain circumstances to help circumvent some of this。或者 marks with an X not KS in certain circumstances。Right。所以我们 can, we can develop additional names to make sure we have the coverage for that。我们可以 develop addresses。所以 Stephen didn't tell you about that apartment he lived in in，您知道， wherever New Orleans and got into trouble。
我们也可以使用我们的 national criminal file 来帮助 expand the scope to a national level。所以我们总是可以 go。There's, there's tons of avenues to go deeper and we've got a，您知道， with 1.9 亿，您知道， annual screens, we've got a ton of operational data that we can build those cases on to help customers get there。而它 not just on criminal。Right。您可以在 education or employment 上 go deeper。您可以去，您知道， deeper whether on global sanctions and things like that。所以他们 certainly there。然后我认为，您知道， on the cross sell side，您知道， the one, the one area that this administration seems to be really enforcing from a regulatory standpoint is the right to work。
所以我们也看到了很多兴趣 in our i9 product offering which is the，您知道， e verify us，您知道， being able to work legally in the U. S. that's a great service because it's, it's a super easy workflow when it integrates into our Profile Advantage Applicant Experience Canada doesn't even know why they're being asked the question, but they're being pre qualified for their i9 and then we're able to leverage that into our digital identity searches。Well, I'm not imagining we'll be talking about in a second and really have this very cohesive risk management profile。
Right。我想谈谈 digital identity where First Advantage's capabilities are now where you want to take them。我实际上今年做了一些招聘，并且 leveraging the First Advantage Sterling kind of Platforms for sure。但它是， it's funny now I have to every, every time I check off a portion of the hiring process that to verify a photo each time, it's pretty amazing。而且我认为 Covid obviously saw this explosion of ID fraud and people having multiple jobs at the same time, that kind of thing。ID verification 目前在市场上的 state 是什么，您从现有客户群中看到的 pickup？您是否觉得您拥有 right capabilities in house to really grow this portion of the business？
所以， great question。首先，感谢您的业务，但 no。所以 that 您 absolutely right。我认为我们所有人生活的 virtual environments 的组合， right, Interviewing, even remote work, hybrid work, has created new risks。我认为 technological evolution，我认为 AI 的负面，您可以 fake a resume, a cv。现在有了 deep fake technology，您可以 just fake a whole Persona and interview on someone else's behalf。所以我认为 risks have rapidly evolved。而且我认为在过去的 6, 812 个月里，我认为公司已经开始 very quickly realize those risks。
我们举办投资者日的那一天，碰巧《华尔街日报》有一篇文章，强调了美国 300 家公司雇佣了来自朝鲜的人，直到他们入职后才知道。而那些公司，他们正在使用 fake IP addresses, fake resumes, stolen identities, synthetic identities, all of those things to, in a lot of those cases, they weren't trying to do something nefarious, but they were trying to earn US dollars and send them back home。在其中的一些 scenarios 中，它变成了一个 infosec problem。所以 risks are becoming very, very real。
而且我认为 fortunately for our marketing budget，我认为公司正在 starting to get educated on those very rapidly on what those risks are。所以 digital identity 的 whole concept 真的是那个 kyp, know your people concept that I was talking about at the onset and our product solution and where，您知道， where first advantage can really fit in well with that is，您知道， when you onboard someone, we're at the middle of a lot of what companies are trying to do, right? 您 trying to screen someone, you're trying to interview them, then you're trying to background check them, onboard them right to work, check them, post onboard。
在所有这些 points of time，有机会 sell a digital identity solution。但 where companies have，您知道， and look, you can，您知道，我们有过 partnerships, whether it's Sterling's with ID Me first advantages with Yoti that we've talked about publicly before。Those become point solutions。如果您直接去 and then it becomes Citi's obligation to figure out all right, did was their candidate Persona, identity swap out between those phases。Where we fill a unique point of the position is we can sit in the middle there and help make sure and do that validation for you。
Hey, was this person the right。 The person you interviewed? Does it validate to their identity? It was this the same person? Was this the same person that we background checked? Is this the same person you onboarded? Is this the same person we submitted to。 To the，您知道， the DHS for your i9e verify search? 所以我们 starting to get a lot of traction on that。我们 seen use cases in terms of a financial services client not。Not Citi that may want to use it six to eight times every time they onboard person at each and every one of those stages at a retailer。
它 might be one to two, but it is a quickly evolving market。我们认为 we have all the resources we need in house to do it。但 very similar to kind of our employment verification space。我们采取了 this open marketplace approach。所以我们 don't just use one provider。我们 haven't built our own tech。我们 leveraging a network of identity solutions provider。Because the provider networks are rapidly evolving too。The tech at the clears, the ID mes，您知道， a few of those guys are just rapidly evolving。所以我们 want to be open to identify the right and best tech provider and solution there。
我们可以 plug them into our process and then our customers leverage the benefit of that。我们 also obviously can leverage the margin side of having multiple providers。而且 at the same time, we don't have to build it。所以我们 feel like we're positioned really, really well。Obviously the market's getting very rapidly educated on the risk。它是一个 huge TAM that we're trying to tap into。然后，您知道，我们 very optimistic。The pipeline's building rapidly。您知道，当您与我们的 customer success teams 交谈时，当他们与客户进行 QBRs 时，您知道， roughly 50% of the time is being devoted to these types of risks and what our product solutions are。
所以我们 demoing it。
50%?
哦，是的，不，有一个，有一个故事我听说过，您知道，Scott，我们的 CEO 上周在西海岸，并且告诉我们，您知道，他参加了一个 QBR，那家公司有一个问题非常类似于那篇《华尔街日报》的文章。而他们的董事会 mandated they have to have a solution in place。在 10 天内。所以它 becoming very real。The pipeline's building very rapidly and we're very optimistic that in 2026 we'll have a lot more good data to share and financials on it。但我们 very optimistic on it and I think this is an area that will evolve very rapidly just because the risks, I mean technology is making the risks evolve so rapidly。
更多复杂性。这就是我们喜欢的。是的，但令人惊讶的是，HR 现在是如何成为， for, for, for things like that 的攻击向量。
HR 也往往是 slower adopters 之一。所以我认为 to your point on complexity and where we fit in，您知道，我们可以成为 trusted advisor，您知道，我们可以 make it say we, we have the full scale solution instead of you having to figure out how to handle what we would call point solutions。Right。Doing a single ID verification with an ID company becomes a point solution because then it's up to the company to link it all together to triangulate that person through the various processes。所以您知道，我们 optimistic about where we sit。
我们 sit in a very opportunistic part of that onboarding process where we can help coordinate，您知道， that the linkage of that Persona through those various phases and that's, that's certainly an area that we're hoping evolves very well for us over the next couple of years。
您相信这个领域是 first advantage 最大的钱包份额机会吗？
我不知道那个。我认为它 certainly one of the best areas to grow through cross sell and upsell for us。您知道 just given, given your existing base。我的意思是 to be honest, our largest consumer right now of digital identity was new logo for digital identity。我们 actually sold them digital identity first and then sold them background screening second。所以它给了我们，它给了我们 just a lot more market opportunity, new things to sell。我们的 sales team loves having new toys。您知道，它是，它是，它是 kind of best of all worlds there and obviously a lot still has to evolve to get, to get to its kind of critical mass and start really realizing the financial benefits。但 very optimistic about where it's taken us。
那很令人兴奋。我确实想触及 new logo growth。您如何看到市场演变，尤其是现在有了 Sterling。那如何改变了您的，您的 right to win on the new logo side 并且也许谈论一些您看到的 trends。
是的，我的意思是 look what we liked about both companies culture is sales were very productive in both。Right。所以当我们做 diligence 时。Both Companies were producing 4, 5, 6% new logo growth every year。Had a vertical focus, very sales forward。现在 obviously we've taken that best of breed, best athlete approach。所以我们 feel like we've got a very, very capable go to market crew obviously yielding early, early success from that。Whether it's the，您知道， the number of bookings, the size of the bookings, our average booking size is going up, which we like。
所以我们 selling more density earlier on, which certainly helps。但您知道，我们也 feel, look, our size and scale gives us a very compelling competitive story when it comes to go to market。您知道，我们 got best tech, we're spending，您知道， obviously far more there and we're able to invest in digital identity and AI and data and applicant。我们 don't have to prioritize one over the other。我们 able to invest in all obviously from a marketing standpoint we've got very capable, best in class resources。而且 look at the end of the day our brand name is going to be up there。
所以我不认为有一个 major RFP that we're excluded from by nature。所以我们 feel really good about it。您 power that the new logo growth with the ability to then bring in a client and then farm them through upsell cross sell into a bigger client。Feel really, really good about it。而且 at the same time that we want to grow new clients have not lost any focus on our existing clients。我回到那个 96% retention。那是一个 KPI that we talk about，您知道， obsessively internally because that's really the measure of how we're doing。
我确实想，我们还剩五分钟。我确实想 certainly touch on two, two points here。Base growth, Base growth has had some puts and takes in the last 12, sorry, eight quarters。而且 obviously the employment market is going through some shifts and has been for some time。您 just walk。提醒我们一些您在 combined basis 上看到的 dynamics， both on a pro forma basis。Base growth 上的一些 puts and takes 是什么，以及我们如何思考 exiting this year？
嗯，我几乎想回到我们 IPO 的四周年纪念日，并 kind of put the last four years。Right。我们走出了 pandemic, great onboarding, great resignation，您知道， war for talent, whatever we want to call it。所以 base growth，您知道， ballooned。Right, right。一个 key, a key economic point we always look at is the number of job Openings to those unemployed。那 was well over 2. 2 to 1 back in 2020, early early 22, late 2021。那是 not sustainable。所以我们有这个，您知道， ballooning effect essentially of just of churn in the market and vertical by vertical, that's kind of steadied back out。
当然，当 that steadies that out 时，它 comes through as negative base for us。但 what we've really been seeing over the last three, four quarters is that pace of change rapidly，您知道， tempering down and seen a lot more sequential stability in the numbers, the last number of quarters。所以是的，它 comes through as negative based, but that, that pace of negative base has been, has been feathering down and getting really to this neutral state。所以我们 really getting into that now where we see most of the verticals have normalized out internationally, certainly normalized out far before the US and saw good international momentum last quarter, up 7%。
That includes base being positive。Look, things like tariffs have probably put a little bit of a sour on the retail vertical。但 that's why we like our new vertical diversity from the Sterling acquisition where we've got health care not relying on holidays。它 still a factor in our year, but we're not reliant on it anymore。所以我认为，我认为，您知道， again, the stability is kind of where we see it at。它 certainly not back to the point where we were pre pandemic where there's kind of a consistent base growth。我们 still think we're a ways away from that because haven't seen investment hiring return yet。
那 does impact base。但您知道， certainly what our customers are telling us is to expect more of the same，您知道， hiring at a very similar pace that we've been hiring the last number of quarters, which again we're fine with because even if base is neutral, we're still driving new logo, we're still driving upsell cross sell, we're still, we're still driving retention。
它只是，它不再 holding you back anymore。正确 Detriment。在收购 Sterling 之前，您 certainly had a vertical over indexation to transportation and retail。Things like the NTEC in general。现在有了 Sterling， more healthcare obviously and then financial services for sure。您如何思考 vertical diversification going forward？您是否正在努力增加 that forward 或者您感觉 kind of happy where things are now？
我们 certainly happy that we have more diversification and obviously we can drive some of that through product investment, making sure that we've got the products to serve those growth verticals。所以，您知道， road ready the healthcare, unique products, things like that, because，您知道， those verticals were very bullish on long term。您知道， that's how we want to grow everywhere。There's no real，您知道， we're not trying to exclude any markets。我们认为 we've got a very，您知道， compelling product suite that can help us grow all over the place。但 certainly we like healthcare, we like transportation。他们 been very resilient。There's a lot of density in those because of the regulatory environment that oversees them。但 we'll continue to grow throughout the vertical pie chart。
我确实想谈谈我们在 integration 方面的情况以及您在资本配置方面所做的一些努力。您现在处于 phase one right now or getting nearing the end of phase one，并且您在收购后 clearly focus on deleveraging and creating all these synergies。Phase two is at a new leverage level, but it sounds like you'll be in more of a position to lean more on perhaps inorganic growth strategies。那是我们如何思考 progression 的吗？
是的。所以 really the story for kind of 20, 25, 2026, more or less, as we're, as we're completing the integration, getting the synergies through the program, we've already at 4700 万美元 through last quarter。我们 got a 65 to 8000 万美元 target and getting that leverage back towards our target range of two to three times。我们的 focus is going to be，您知道， organic growth，您知道， integration, synergies, deleveraging。您知道， once we get leverage into that, into that target range, we can certainly open up the, the capital allocation playbook。但它是， it's hard to say what that's going to be because I don't know what the market's going to look like，您知道，您知道， two years from now。
但 certainly we'll have more flexibility in our capital allocation priorities，您知道， when that time hits。Until then, core focus still integrate the businesses, get the synergies, keep customer retention where it is, right。然后 deleveraging, which we're already off to a really good start。我们've already paid down 4500 万美元。The debt repriced the debt with a 50 basis point lower interest rate。所以 feel like we're making really good progress there, but still have a good ways to go。
Certainly it is progress on a number of fronts here and it sounds like，您知道， all engines could be firing at the same time pretty soon。所以 fingers crossed。但 anyway, thank you。Stephen Marks, CFO of First Advantage。Great to have you。
谢谢。
非常感谢。