Hội nghị công bố kết quả kinh doanh Quý 3/2026 của Quest Resource Holdings (QRHC): EBITDA và biên lợi nhuận cải thiện

Điểm nhấn chính

• Doanh thu quý 3/2026 đạt 63,8 triệu USD, tăng khoảng 1% so với cùng kỳ năm trước và gần như đi ngang so với quý trước, do tăng trưởng ở mảng phi công nghiệp đã bù đắp cho sự sụt giảm sản lượng mảng công nghiệp.
• Lợi nhuận gộp đạt 11,4 triệu USD, nhìn chung đi ngang so với cùng kỳ năm trước nhưng tăng khoảng 10% so với quý 2. Biên lợi nhuận gộp cải thiện so với quý trước lên 17,8% từ mức 16,3%, so với mức 18,1% của cùng kỳ năm trước.
• EBITDA điều chỉnh tăng lên 3,4 triệu USD từ mức 2,9 triệu USD trong quý 3/2025 và 2,8 triệu USD trong quý 2/2026. Lỗ ròng theo GAAP thu hẹp xuống còn 0,5 triệu USD so với mức lỗ 1,3 triệu USD cùng kỳ năm trước.
• Doanh thu mới ròng từ việc giành được khách hàng và mở rộng thị phần chi tiêu của khách hàng đóng góp khoảng 1,7 triệu USD vào mức tăng trưởng doanh thu so với cùng kỳ năm trước, phần nào bị bù trừ bởi mức giảm khoảng 1,2 triệu USD từ một số khách hàng công nghiệp.
• Dòng tiền từ hoạt động kinh doanh lũy kế từ đầu năm đạt 4,4 triệu USD, và Quest đã sử dụng khoản tiền tương đương để trả bớt nợ vay có kỳ hạn chịu lãi suất cao hơn. Chi phí lãi vay giảm khoảng 9% từ đầu năm đến nay.
• Ban lãnh đạo dự kiến doanh thu và lợi nhuận gộp quý 4 sẽ giảm so với quý trước do yếu tố mùa vụ, nhưng kỳ vọng lợi nhuận gộp và biên lợi nhuận sẽ tăng trưởng vững chắc so với cùng kỳ năm trước.

Dữ liệu tài chính cốt lõi

Kết quả kinh doanh và hoạt động

Quest Resource Holdings Corporation cho biết danh mục của công ty đã trở nên cân bằng hơn trong quý 3/2026. Doanh thu mảng công nghiệp giảm nhẹ, nhưng biên lợi nhuận của một số khách hàng công nghiệp đã được cải thiện. Danh mục phi công nghiệp tăng trưởng so với quý trước trên nhiều thị trường bao gồm dịch vụ ăn uống, bán lẻ và dịch vụ lưu trú - nhà hàng.

Theo ban lãnh đạo, công ty đã gia hạn hợp đồng với 4 khách hàng mà không cần nhượng bộ. Quest không chốt được thương vụ mở rộng thị phần chi tiêu (wallet-share) đáng kể nào trong quý, dù các hợp đồng bổ sung quy mô nhỏ hơn vẫn tiếp diễn và ban lãnh đạo đánh giá danh mục cơ hội mở rộng thị phần chi tiêu vẫn rất lành mạnh.

Biên lợi nhuận được cải thiện trên diện rộng. Các động lực chính bao gồm kỷ luật trong định giá, hiệu quả từ mạng lưới nhà cung cấp, tối ưu hóa cấp độ dịch vụ và khả năng sinh lời ngày càng tăng từ các tài khoản khách hàng mới tiếp nhận theo chiến lược “tiếp cận và mở rộng” (land and expand) của Quest.

Chi phí SG&A giảm 8% so với cùng kỳ năm trước xuống còn 8,5 triệu USD. Lũy kế từ đầu năm, chi phí SG&A giảm 16%, tương đương mức cắt giảm gần 5 triệu USD chi phí nhờ công ty tiết giảm chi tiêu và cải thiện đòn bẩy hoạt động.

Quest đang bắt đầu tái đầu tư vào các năng lực tăng trưởng. Công ty đã bổ nhiệm Vignesh Lal làm Phó Chủ tịch Cấp cao phụ trách Công nghệ nhằm hỗ trợ phát triển nền tảng, năng lực dữ liệu, tự động hóa và việc tiếp nhận các tài khoản khách hàng lớn trên toàn quốc.

Định hướng của ban lãnh đạo

Ban lãnh đạo dự kiến sẽ có yếu tố mùa vụ điển hình trong quý 4, đặc biệt là ở danh mục khách hàng công nghiệp. Do đó, doanh thu và lợi nhuận gộp quý 4 dự kiến sẽ giảm so với quý trước. Tuy nhiên, công ty kỳ vọng lợi nhuận gộp và biên lợi nhuận gộp sẽ tăng trưởng vững chắc so với cùng kỳ năm trước.

Quest tin rằng mức cải thiện biên lợi nhuận so với quý trước đạt được trong quý 3 là có thể duy trì trong một biên độ nhất định, mặc dù cơ cấu khách hàng và thị trường cuối có thể gây ra biến động. Sự phục hồi đáng kể về sản lượng mảng công nghiệp có biên lợi nhuận thấp hơn có thể gây áp lực lên tỷ suất biên lợi nhuận hợp nhất.

Ban lãnh đạo cũng dự kiến tổng chi phí SG&A sẽ tăng nhẹ vào năm 2027 khi Quest tái đầu tư vào hoạt động bán hàng, công nghệ và tăng trưởng. Công ty đặt mục tiêu bù đắp phần lớn mức tăng đó thông qua việc nâng cao hiệu quả hoạt động và giành được các hợp đồng kinh doanh mới.

Một số cuộc đàm phán với các thương hiệu lớn trên toàn quốc được cho là đang ở giai đoạn cuối. Những cơ hội này thuộc các lĩnh vực phi công nghiệp, bao gồm bán lẻ, dịch vụ ăn uống, khách sạn - lưu trú, nhà hàng, vận tải và logistics. Ban lãnh đạo cho biết thời điểm chuyển đổi hợp đồng vẫn khó dự đoán, nhưng bày tỏ hy vọng có thể công bố một số thương vụ thành công trong quý tới.

Rủi ro và các yếu tố cần theo dõi

• Yếu tố mùa vụ trong quý 4 dự kiến sẽ làm giảm doanh thu và lợi nhuận gộp so với quý trước, trong đó tệp khách hàng công nghiệp chịu ảnh hưởng lớn nhất.
• Sản lượng mảng công nghiệp vẫn chưa đồng đều, và một số khách hàng công nghiệp tiếp tục tạo áp lực lên mức so sánh biên lợi nhuận gộp so với cùng kỳ năm trước.
• Thời điểm chuyển đổi các cơ hội từ khách hàng lớn trên toàn quốc vẫn chưa chắc chắn do tính phức tạp của quy trình bán hàng.
• Giá dầu diesel ở mức cao và các sự kiện địa chính trị có thể tạo ra áp lực chi phí. Quest cho biết tác động đến nay vẫn ở mức hạn chế và một số chi phí nhất định có thể được chuyển sang cho khách hàng theo hợp đồng khi cần thiết.
• Chỉ số DSO duy trì ở mức gần 71 ngày sau những gián đoạn thanh toán tạm thời liên quan đến 3 khách hàng. Ban lãnh đạo cho biết các vấn đề này đã được giải quyết và duy trì mục tiêu ngắn hạn đưa DSO về khoảng 65 ngày.

Điểm nhấn phiên hỏi đáp với chuyên gia phân tích

Danh mục cơ hội khách hàng toàn quốc: Ban lãnh đạo cho biết một số cơ hội lớn trong mảng phi công nghiệp đang ở giai đoạn cuối của quy trình bán hàng. Công ty vẫn tự tin vào danh mục cơ hội tiềm năng này nhưng từ chối dự đoán thời điểm chuyển đổi thành công.

Tính bền vững của biên lợi nhuận: Quest cho rằng sự cải thiện trong quý 3 là nhờ chính sách giá, tối ưu hóa mạng lưới nhà cung cấp, hiệu quả hoạt động và biên lợi nhuận ngày càng ổn định từ các tài khoản khách hàng mới hơn. Ban lãnh đạo kỳ vọng các thành quả này sẽ tiếp tục được duy trì trong một biên độ nhất định, tùy thuộc vào cơ cấu kinh doanh.

Đầu tư cho tăng trưởng: Công ty đã chủ động trì hoãn việc thay thế nhân sự kinh doanh hoạt động kém hiệu quả trong quá trình củng cố nền tảng vận hành. Ban lãnh đạo hiện có kế hoạch bổ sung nguồn lực cho công nghệ và tăng trưởng, trong đó tự động hóa và hoạt động kinh doanh gia tăng dự kiến sẽ bù đắp phần lớn chi phí phát sinh.

Thu hồi công nợ và dòng tiền: Ban lãnh đạo đánh giá sự chậm trễ trong thu hồi công nợ của quý này xuất phát từ các vấn đề vận hành tạm thời tại phía khách hàng, chứ không phải do lo ngại về rủi ro tín dụng. Nếu không có những gián đoạn đó, Quest cho biết DSO nhiều khả năng đã đạt mục tiêu khoảng 65 ngày.

Toàn văn biên bản cuộc họp công bố kết quả kinh doanh

Toàn văn cuộc gọi công bố kết quả kinh doanh

Phần trình bày của ban lãnh đạo

Operator

Good day and welcome to the Quest Resource Holdings Corporation third quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Participants will be in listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. Should you need assistance, please signal an operator by pressing the star key followed by the zero. today's presentation there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. I would now like to turn the conference over to Nick Nelson, Investor Relations for Quest. Please go ahead.

Nick Nelson

Thank you, Operator, and thank you, everyone, for joining us for Quest Resources' third quarter 2026 earnings call. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that this conference call may contain predictions, estimates, and other forward-looking statements regarding future events or future performance of the company. Use of words like anticipate, Project, estimate, expect, intend, believe, and other similar expressions are intended to identify those forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on the company's current expectations, estimates, projections, beliefs, and assumptions and involve significant risks and uncertainties. The actual events or the company's results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, which are discussed in greater detail in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements and to consult SEC filings for additional risks and uncertainties. The company's forward-looking statements are presented as of the date made and the company undertakes no obligation to update such statements unless required by law to do so.

In addition, this call may include industry and market data and other statistical information, as well as the company's observations and views about industry conditions and developments. The data and information are based on the company's estimates, independent publications, government publications, and reports by market research firms and other stakeholders. sources. Although Quest believes these sources are reliable and the data and other information are accurate, we caution that Quest has not independently verified the reliability of the sources or the accuracy of the information. Certain non-GAAP financial measures will be disclosed during this call. These non-GAAP measures are used by management to make strategic decisions, forecast future results, and evaluate the company's current performance. Management believes the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is useful to investors' understanding and assessment of the company's ongoing core operations and prospects for the future. Unless it is stated otherwise, it should be assumed that any financials discussed in this call will be on a non-GAAP basis.

Full reconciliations of non-GAAP to GAAP financial measures are included in today's earnings release. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Perry Moss, Chief Executive Officer.

Unknown Speaker

Thanks, Nick, and thanks, everyone, for joining this afternoon. Our third quarter results reflect the progress we've been making in building a more balanced and diversified business. Improved performance across our broader portfolio, combined with the continued benefits of our operational excellence initiatives drove adjusted EBITDA growth both sequentially and compared to the prior year. While revenue was relatively flat, gross profit increased sequentially and flowed through to the bottom line. incredibly proud of the entire Quest team for staying focused on what we can control. We're pleased with the quarter and will stay disciplined as we move into a seasonally softer period. Through the first half of the year, our progress came from two sources, stabilizing volumes within our industrial portfolio and growing contributions from new customer wins and wallet share expansions, many of them outside the industrial sector. In the third quarter, our performance was more balanced.

Industrial revenues softened modestly, which led to the slight sequential decline in total revenue, but we saw meaningful margin improvement with several of our industrial customers. Meanwhile, the non-industrial portion of our portfolio grew sequentially and continues to perform across markets like food service, retail, hospitality, and more. That's exactly the type of balance our diversification strategy is designed to deliver, and it is encouraging to see it in our results. During the quarter, we renewed contracts with four customers. These renewals reflect the value we deliver and the trust we've built, and those relationships make it easier to grow with our customers and continue to expand share of wallet across the portfolio. Over the past year, we've also onboarded several new customers outside the industrial sector. As those accounts and our recent wallet share expansions mature, they contribute to both revenue and margin.

We are optimistic about our sales pipeline and trends so far in October have been consistent with our expectations. Several of our discussions with large national brands are now well advanced. A number of them in markets where Quest doesn't operate today and winning them would add another counterweight to industrial seasonality. Adding brands of this caliber would also bring additional credibility in the market as we pursue other national accounts. While While the timing of the conversion is difficult to predict, we believe our value is being recognized more broadly than ever. Gross margin was 17.8% in the quarter, a meaningful step up from the second quarter. This improvement was driven by ongoing optimization of our service network. disciplined pricing and maturing margins from recently onboarded accounts, and several of our industrial customers contributed to it.

Compared to the prior year, gross margin was down slightly from 18.1%, reflecting margin pressure from certain industrial customers that was partially offset by improvements across the rest of the business. We believe the drivers behind our sequential improvement can be sustained, and we'll keep working to build on them. Operationally, we continue to execute well, and our operational excellence initiatives are delivering real results across the business. Brett and his team continue to do a terrific job optimizing our cost structure and improving our cash cycle, and he'll walk through those details shortly. On the cost side, diesel prices remain elevated amid ongoing geopolitical events, but the impact on our results has been limited to date. While we've seen attempts to push through surcharges, we've been successful at fighting them on behalf of our customers. As a reminder, our contract structure continues to allow us to pass through certain costs where needed.

Having made significant progress building a more efficient operating foundation, we are now investing in our team and capabilities to capture the opportunities in front of us. We recently welcomed Vignesh Lal as our Senior Vice President of Technology. Vignesh is a technology leader who already knows our business well, and we're thrilled to have him on the team. We're excited about what this addition will bring as we continue to enhance our technology platform and the data capabilities we deliver to our clients, and strengthening our ability to scale as we add larger national accounts. Looking ahead, we remain cautiously optimistic about our customer portfolio, though we're mindful of the typical fourth quarter seasonality, which is most pronounced within our industrial base. We believe the continued growth and diversification of our non-industrial business will help counterbalance these dynamics. As we head into the fourth quarter, we'll stay focused on converting our pipeline into new wins, expanding share of wallet with existing customers, building on this quarter's margin gains, and continuing to strengthen cash generation and our balance sheet.

With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Brett to review our third quarter financial results in greater detail.

Brett Johnston

Brett? Thanks, Perry, and good afternoon, everyone. Revenue for the third quarter was $63.8 million, a slight increase of approximately 1% from one year ago. essentially flat compared to the sequential second quarter. The year-over-year increase was primarily driven by net new business of approximately $1.7 million from new client wins and wallet share expansions with existing customers. This was partially offset by a decline of approximately $1.2 million in revenue from certain clients in the industrial end market. Sequentially, solid growth across the broader non-industrial portion of the portfolio brought offset by softer industrial volumes. Coming into the quarter, we had expected another quarter of sequential revenue growth, which we achieved across the majority of our business, but the improved industrial volumes from Q1 to Q2 did not carry over into Q3. While revenue was slightly softer than we expected, we continued to do a nice job driving margins and profitability.

In the third quarter, gross profit dollars totaled 11.4 million, essentially flat compared to the prior year, but sequentially up approximately 10%. This resulted in a gross margin of 17.8% compared to 18.1% in the prior year. and up sharply from 16.3% sequentially. The slight year-over-year decline in gross profit dollars and gross margin is isolated to margin pressure with select industrial clients. This was partially offset by improved gross profit across the remainder of the business, where our operating initiatives and wallet share expansion continue to take hold. Sequentially, we saw meaningful and broad-based margin improvements across most of the portfolio from the ongoing optimization initiatives. Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, we would anticipate gross profit and margin to be up solidly compared to the prior year. However, it is a good time to remind everyone that our business does experience seasonality in Q4.

So sequentially, revenue and gross profit will decline. However, we will be well-positioned entering 2027 as we build off the momentum gained in 2026. Over time, we'll continue to support our margin profile by focusing on what we can control. growing in non-industrial markets, optimizing service levels across the portfolio, Winning incremental wallet share with existing customers. And executing our land and expand strategy to grow margin levels at recently onboarded accounts. Moving on to SG&A, which came in at $8.5 million, amounting to an 8% reduction compared to the prior year. The year-over-year decrease was driven by lower bad debt expense and facility rent. as well as the accumulation of cost savings initiatives across multiple departments. On a sequential basis, SG&A was up modestly from the second quarter, primarily due to higher business expenses during the period.

Year-to-date, SG&A is down 16% compared to the prior year, which amounts to almost 5 million in cost reductions as we have right-sized the business and improved operating leverage. Looking forward, we do expect that total SG&A will likely be up slightly next year as we begin to reinvest in growth. But we expect to offset much of that through additional efficiencies and new business wins, which will demonstrate improvements to our operating leverage. GAAP net loss for the quarter was $0.5 million, an improvement from a net loss of $1.3 million in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA was $3.4 million, up from $2.9 million in the third quarter of 2025, and $2.8 million in the second quarter, reflecting the strong flow-through of our sequential profit gains. Moving on to a review of the cash flows and balance sheet. We ended the quarter with approximately $1 million in cash and approximately $17.4 million in availability on our ABL credit facility.

Cash used in operating activities was $0.3 million as of the third quarter, with the timing of collections with a few specific clients impacting the quarter. Year to date, we have generated $4.4 million of operating cash flow, which we have used to reduce the balance of our higher interest term debt by approximately the same $4.4 million. Debt reduction remains a key priority, and with interest expense already down roughly 9% year-to-date, Each payment further improves our cash generation in the future. Our DSOs finished the quarter at roughly 71, essentially flat with the second quarter, and our working capital days were also flat sequentially. During the quarter, we worked through three unique and short-term collection challenges with a few specific clients, including one large client that saw temporary payment interruptions as it brought its payment processing in-house. All of these three issues have since been resolved, however for the quarter, they led to a brief pause in our progress towards our previously stated target for DSO and largely masked the additional improvements in billing efficiencies and collection gains that were made across the rest of the portfolio. To reiterate, we remain confident in our path to our near-term DSO target of the mid-60s.

Overall, as Perry noted, we are encouraged by the more balanced performance across our portfolio. The organic initiatives we've taken to diversify the business and increase productivity across the organization are driving improved profitability. even as volumes from the industrial portions of portfolio remain uneven. Our financial priorities are unchanged, investing in our talent and growth opportunities, optimizing our cost structure, leveraging our operational excellence initiatives to drive cash flow, and paying down debt. On the cash cycle, we were able to quickly resolve the one-time issues, and we have already moved past this quarter's timing headwinds. We believe that positions us for stronger cash generation and further debt reduction as we close out the year and head into 2027. With that, I'll turn the call back over to Perry for some closing comments before we open it up for Q&A.

Unknown Speaker

Perry? Great. Thank you, Brad. In the third quarter, the more balanced and efficient business we've built delivered a sequential step-up in gross margin and adjusted EBITDA growth both year over year and sequentially. Looking ahead, we're encouraged by the quality of opportunities in our pipeline and the investments we're making in our team to capture them. While we remain mindful of a seasonality and the broader macro environment, we are cautiously optimistic that our increasingly diversified portfolio combined with the initiatives within our control, positions us for the future growth. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to our operator to move us to Q&A.

Operator

Thanks. Thank you. We'll now begin the question and answer session. To join the question queue, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing any keys. If at any time your question has been answered and you'd like to withdraw from the queue, please press star then two. The first question is from Erin with Craig Hallam. Please go ahead.

Phần hỏi đáp

Aaron Spychalla

Yes. Hi, Perry and Brett. It's Aaron Spahalo. Thanks for taking the questions. Maybe first, just on the pipeline, so it sounds like continued confidence, just tough to call timing, but some opportunities late stage. Could you maybe give a little bit more detail? You kind of talked about some new markets. You know, anything you can share there as you look to further diversify the end markets in the business?.

Unknown Speaker

Sure, I'll address that one, Aaron. So, you know, we're talking about some late-stage large national brands, and these large national brands are certainly a bit more complex to sell through. So, you know, when I refer to late stage, we are, it's about as late as we can get in the stage. And I don't want to get ahead of myself, but we, you know, we feel very confident and bullish about some of these opportunities that essentially are right on the goal line. Right. I can't predict when they'll convert, and I wouldn't attempt to, but we're right where we expect to be. And hopefully we'll be able to at least make some announcements next quarter.

Aaron Spychalla

All right. And, you know, any details you can give on, you know, where some of these end markets might be or, you know, just curious if there's any other color there. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker

So, you know, it's consistent with our strategy to continue to diversify our portfolio. I don't want to get too specific, but they're in non-industrial sectors. And as we have said, we're focused on retail, food service, hospitality, restaurants, transportation, and logistics. So they're all within those four categories.

Aaron Spychalla

Okay, great, thanks. And then on some of the contract renewals, Any kind of wallet share gains that are noteworthy there and didn't hear anything but any – you know, any concessions or kind of customer attrition that you might've seen there or anything?.

Unknown Speaker

Yeah, I mean, obviously we don't get specific on contracts. contract terms, but these, I will tell you the renewals did not did not come with concessions. So, we felt very good about it. What I think it reflected is the confidence that these customers have, both on our service execution and our model. And we continue to grow the business through share wallet opportunities. I didn't mention any this quarter. We didn't, you know, it's a timing issue. We didn't really close any what I would consider significant share of wallet in Q3.

While we did have some smaller opportunities, you know, added to the book of business. I won't mention every single share of wallet opportunity because some of them are pretty not material, but they reflect the confidence that our customers have in our service execution. So, you know, like the new sales pipeline, share of wallet pipeline is also looking really healthy.

Aaron Spychalla

Great, good, thanks for that, Collier. And then on the margin gains you saw in industrial, can you just talk about some of the drivers behind that and initiatives you had?.

Brett Johnston

have there where you're at with some of those. Yes. Hey, Aaron. This is Brett. I'll take that one. So as a reminder, what I think we were most excited about with the quarter is not just the gains in the industrial side. We really saw broad-based gains on margin across the portfolio. So that came with... some increased pricing, but through better efficiencies gained and some improvements on the vendor network side as well. So, it was really broad-based. Some of those industrial volumes are just the timing of bringing on additional performances to those clients. And we've talked about that in previous quarters that we would expect to see some margin improvements overall with those.

So, you know, just like Perry talked, it's just about executing what we've committed to.

Aaron Spychalla

Good. Thanks for the color. I'll turn it over.

Operator

Once again, if you have a question, please press star then 1. Next question is from Jerry Sweeney with Roth Capital. Please go ahead.

Gerard Sweeney

Good afternoon, Brett and Perry. Thanks for taking my call. Yes. Just to follow up on the margin side, it sounds as though these gains are sustainable, all things being equal. I mean, obviously, pricing is pricing. You're working with your vendors, you're optimizing that, and then I guess there's probably some internal efficiencies. But suffice to say, these are sustainable improvements.

Brett Johnston

Yes, Jerry, and the other thing I did mention is what we talked about all along is the land and expand approach, right? Get in. Those margins are going to be lower over time. So that's another factor that's played into this margin improvement that we've made across this year is optimizing that book of business. that new book of business that we brought online. But certainly, we look at this more confidently from a margin standpoint. There's always going to be mix. We've talked about if industrial volumes come back meaningfully, those can weigh down overall margins. But we've got some mix things on the other side that can help bring those up as well.

So we do, we are confident within a range, these margins continuing.

Gerard Sweeney

Got it. The other aspect is, I mean, you did highlight maybe next year going into, like, re-enrollment. investment mode. And, you know, I, with the sales pipeline and everything else, Yes, was that a little bit of a hindrance in driving sales in the short term as you were a little bit more focused on expenses? And adding to that group, would that potentially accelerate some sales or help uncork that? What should we think about on that front? Yes.

Unknown Speaker

Yes, that's a really good question, Jerry. And I would tell you that this was really part of our strategy. I don't know if you recall the very first earnings call I was on, but I made a comment and I said, you know, if you have water trickling through a pipe, you probably don't see any. any leaks, but once you pressurize the pipe, that's when the leaks will spring. And it came at a time when we onboarded a number of customers. So, you know, our intention was to build a strong foundation and an efficient foundation before we pressurize that pipe again. So partly to address the cost reduction initiatives that we had, there were, you know, we had some sales, sales resources that just weren't performing. So, you know, we moved them out and we intentionally did not replace them.

So we kept our best team in place. Yes. So, you know, we now have a very sound foundation. We've got our processes defined. We can take on that new business So there's a lot of things at play. So, yes, we intend to invest in growth. We also intend to invest in technology. But we think those two things can really offset a large portion of any incremental cost. You know, the technology will help us to automate, become more efficient, do a lot more with fewer resources.

And we certainly expect that, you know, added resources on the sales team will pay for themselves or they probably won't be, you know, long-term members of the team. Got it.

Gerard Sweeney

That's kind of how we get started. That's helpful. I know, listen. Business owners. that's kind of how we're going Business isn't linear, so I get that and respect that. Maybe one for Brett. well on the cash flow or collections this sounded like discreet issues in terms of, especially one of them sounded like they brought payment system in house. And this was more of a, operational dysfunction on the other end as opposed to bad payments? And then secondarily, if those payments had come in or those collections had come in, what potentially could have been the cash flow this quarter? Yes.

Brett Johnston

Yes, so you're right on. These were not self-inflicted issues with collections or anything that's at risk of collections. We've resolved those, as I mentioned in the script earlier. That was a positive that we were able to get those resolved before we got on here and talked to them. So we're in a good position to really end the quarter and the year strongly there. And in terms of what could have been, without speaking to a specific dollar range, I can tell you we most likely would have been at our target of mid 60s DSO. I'm really proud that we were able to hold DSOs relatively flat, given those real short-term challenges, and it really speaks to what the team has been able to do in terms of billing efficiencies, other improvements broadly across the clients with pulling in collections and getting more current. continue to be really impressed of what we've been able to accomplish. Okay, great. I appreciate all that detail.

Thanks, guys.

Operator

This concludes the question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Perry Moss for any closing remarks.

Unknown Speaker

Thank you, Operator. And thank you and thanks to everyone for joining this afternoon. We really appreciate your continued support and interest in Quest. And we look forward to updating everyone next quarter.

Operator

Thank you. The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

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