Greetings and welcome to the Bright Horizons Family Solutions 4th Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce Michael Flanagan, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thanks, Paul, and welcome to Bright Horizons 4th Quarter Earnings Call. Before we begin, please note that today's call is being webcast, and a recording will be available under the Investor Relations section of our website, investors.brighthorizons.com. As a reminder to participants, any forward-looking statements made on this call, including those regarding future business, financial performance, and outlook are subject to the safe harbor statement included in our earnings release. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risk and uncertainty that may cause actual operating and financial results to differ materially and should be considered in conjunction with the cautionary statements that are described in detail in our earnings release, 2024 Form 10-K, and other SEC findings. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. Today, we will also refer to non-GAAP financial measures, which are detailed and reconciled to the GAAP counterparts in our earnings release, which is available on the Investor Relations section of our website at investors.brighthorizons.com. Joining me on today's call is our Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Kramer, and our Chief Financial Officer, Elizabeth Bolin. Stephen will start by reviewing our results and provide an update on the business. Elizabeth will follow with a more detailed review of the numbers before we open it up to your questions. With that, I'm going to turn the call over to Stephen.

Thanks, Mike, and good evening to everyone on the call. I am pleased to report a strong finish to 2025, closing out a year of solid growth and continued progress across the business. In the fourth quarter, revenue increased 9% to $734 million and adjusted EPS increased 17% to $1.15, both ahead of our expectations. For the full year, we delivered revenue of $2.93 billion, up 9% over the prior year, and adjusted EPS of $4.55, representing 31% growth year-over-year. These results exceeded the expectations shared at the beginning of the year and highlight the continued evolution of Bright Horizons into a diversified, integrated solutions provider of employer-sponsored education and care. The improvements in our business mix throughout 2025, combined with our growing impact on families and employers, reinforce our confidence in the durability of our model and long-term opportunity for growth. Let me now walk through the segments. First, backup care again delivered strong growth and earnings contribution in Q4 as it is done over the course of 2025. In Q4, revenue increased 17% to $183 million, driven by solid utilization across center-based, in-home, and school-age programs. Utilization during the quarter reflected a combination of unplanned care when regular arrangements were disrupted, along with more predictable care needs, such as scheduled school breaks and holiday coverage. For the full year, backup care revenue grew 19% to $728 million and sustained strong operating margins. Our service reach spans more than 1,100 employer clients and millions of eligible employees globally. Importantly, our existing clients had double-digit growth in backup users, even as their eligible populations remain relatively flat, meaning growth was driven by deeper penetration into the eligible population, underscoring the value of the benefit to an increasing number of working families. Looking forward, our focus remains on scaling the backup business by expanding unique users within existing clients, increasing frequency of use among those utilizing care and continuing to retain and add new employer clients. This growth relies upon an unmatched delivery model that combines own capacity across our full service centers and backup operations alongside a broad third-party provider network. With still well less than 10% penetration within existing clients, we have a significant opportunity to further expand active user adoption and utilization through targeted marketing, expanded capacity across use types, and our One Bright Horizons initiatives to increase awareness across our services. We remain confident that backup care will continue to be a durable source of growth and earnings while also strengthening broader employer partnerships across Bright Horizons services. Turning to full service, revenue increased six percent in the fourth quarter to $515 million, with growth driven by a combination of tuition increases and enrollment growth, tempered by our continued portfolio rationalization. We added six new centers this quarter, including four client centers, three of which were transitions of management for Stormont Vale Health and Cone Health. These additions extend our leadership in employer-sponsored child care and reaffirm the critical role on-site care plays in supporting working families and their employers. Enrollment in centers open for more than one year increased approximately 1% in the fourth quarter and occupancy averaged in the mid-60% range, broadly consistent with seasonal patterns we typically see in the back half of the year. Underlying enrollment dynamics remain similar to what we saw throughout 2025, with solid demand in many geographies, countered by more muted enrollment growth levels in some of our more challenged areas. We are pleased to see continued progress, particularly in our lower occupancy cohort, where centers operating below 40% occupancy declined from 16% to 12% of the portfolio in the fourth quarter, year-on-year. Specifically in the UK, our full-service business continued to make progress and delivered positive operating profit for the year, a significant milestone post-pandemic and a meaningful turnaround from the $30 million of annual losses we absorbed just two years ago. This progress reflects higher occupancy, more consistent staffing, and improved affordability for families aided by expanded government supports. Looking ahead, our focus remains on serving families where they work and live, continuing to invest in the quality of our services, and strengthening the long-term economics of our portfolio. We will continue to operate in locations that are important to our client partners, are strategic in delivering backup care, and in areas with strong supply-demand dynamics. At the same time, we will continue to rationalize locations where these characteristics are not present. Turning to Ed Advisory, revenue increased 10% to $36 million in the quarter, and for the full year grew 9% to $125 million, both ahead of our initial expectations. College Coach led the growth in margin performance as more families engaged with our college counseling services, while Ed Assist also continued to expand its participant base. During the quarter, we added new employer clients to the portfolio, including launches with Samsung, Estee Lauder, and Becton Dickinson, among others. Before I turn it over to Elizabeth, I want to take a moment to recognize an important milestone. 2026 marks the 40th anniversary of Bright Horizons. When our founders launched the company in 1986, they believed employers could play a meaningful role in supporting working families and that doing so would benefit children, parents, and employers alike. Over four decades, Bright Horizons has developed thoughtfully alongside changes in the workforce, employer priorities, and the needs of working families. Central to that evolution has been the development of our backup care business and the expansion of our services to support families and employees across life and career stages, broadening our impact to a much wider population. That progression reflects our ability to listen to clients, adapt to changing needs, and invest in ways to maximize impact, all while remaining grounded in our mission to support children, families, and employers. We are proud of what this organization has built over four decades, deeply grateful to our employees whose dedication make it possible and appreciative of our client partners and customers who place their trust in us. In closing, 2025 was a year of solid financial performance and meaningful progress across many dimensions of our business. We grew revenue 9%, expanded adjusted operating margins, 200 basis points, and delivered 30% earnings growth. We strengthened our balance sheet, repurchased $225 million of shares, and position the company for long-term success. As we look ahead to 2026, we are optimistic about the opportunities in front of us and look to build on the momentum we saw in 2025. Elizabeth will walk through the guidance in more detail, but at a high level, we expect revenue to be in the range of $3.075 billion to $3.125 billion and adjusted EPS to be in the range of $4.90 to $5.10 per share. With that, I will turn the call over to Elizabeth.

Thanks, Stephen, and hello to everyone who's joined the call tonight. I'll start with our financial highlights. Revenue in the fourth quarter was $734 million, representing 9% growth year over year and modestly ahead of our expectations. The quarter reflected solid execution across the business with continued strength in backup care and steady performance in full service and at advisory. Adjusted operating income rose 14% to $91 million, with operating margins up roughly 60 basis points over the prior year to 12.3%. Adjusted EBITDA increased 12% to $123 million, representing an adjusted EBITDA margin of 17%. And lastly, adjusted EPS of $1.15 per share, ahead of our expectations, grew 17% over the prior year. Breaking this down into the segment results, backup care revenue grew 17% in the fourth quarter to $183 million, driven by solid demand over the fall and holiday season. As Stephen mentioned, utilization continues to be driven by both predictable and planned needs as well as unexpected care disruptions. Operating margins remain strong in the quarter at 32%, in line with our expectations for the higher volume of care that we deliver in the second half of the year, while also reflecting our disciplined expense management and a favorable mix of utilization. Full service revenue of $515 million was up 6% in Q4, mainly on pricing increases, modest enrollment gains, and an approximate 175 basis point tailwind from foreign exchange centers we have closed as part of our portfolio rationalization since Q4 of 24 partially offset these gains representing an approximate 200 basis point headwind enrollment in our centers open for more than one year increased approximately one percent and occupancy levels across our portfolio averaged in the mid 60s for Q4. In the specific center cohorts we have discussed on prior calls, we continue to show improvement over the prior year period. Our top performing cohort, centers above 70% occupied, improved from 39% of those centers in Q4 of 24 to 40% of centers in Q4 of 25. And as Stephen commented, our bottom cohort of centers, those sub-40% occupied, improved from 16% in the prior year period to 12% of the total population this past quarter. Adjusted operating income of $20 million in the full service segment increased roughly 45 basis points to 4%, up $3 million over the prior year. Higher enrollment and improved operating leverage, particularly in our U.S. and U.K. operations, help drive the growth in earnings, while higher benefits costs partially offset some of these advances. Lastly, our revenue in the educational advisory segment increased 10 percent over the prior year to $36 million, with operating margins of 30 percent, consistent with Q4 of 24. Net interest expense ticked up to $12 million in Q4 of 25, also consistent with the prior year quarter, and totaled $45 million for the full year. Our non-GAAP effective tax rate was 26.4 percent in the quarter in the fourth quarter bringing the effective rate for the full year to 27 percent. Moving to the balance sheet and cash flow for the full year 2025 we generated 351 million in cash from operations compared to 337 million in 2024. Capital investments totaled 91 million in the current year 2025 as compared to 95 million in the prior year and with the continued cash build, specifically free cash flow generated in Q4, we repurchased $225 million of stock in 2025, including roughly $120 million in the fourth quarter. We ended the year with $140 million of cash and a leverage ratio of roughly 1.7 times net debt to adjusted EBITDA. Moving on to our 2026 outlook, in terms of the top line, we currently expect 2026 revenue to be in the range of $3.075 billion to $3.125 billion, or growth of 5% to 6.5%. Looking at this at a segment level, in full service, we expect reported revenue to grow in the range of 3.5% to 4.5% on enrollment gains and tuition increases, offset by approximately 200 basis points and headwind from net center closings. In backup care, we expect reported revenue to increase 11% to 13% driven by the continued expansion of use. And in net advisory, we expect to grow in the mid-single digits. In terms of earnings, we expect 2026 adjusted EPS to be in the range of $4.90 to $5.10 a share. As we look specifically at Q1 of 26, our outlook is for total top-line growth in the range of 6% to 7.5%. The segment breakdown would be full-service reported revenue growth of 5.5% to 6.5%, backup of 11% to 13%, and ed advisory in the low to mid-single digits. In terms of earnings, we expect Q1 adjusted EBS to be in the range of $0.75 to $0.80 a share. So with that, Paul, we are ready to go to Q&A.

Thank you. We'll now be conducting a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star 2 to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up the handset before pressing the star keys. One moment, please, while we poll for questions.

Our first question is from Jeff Mueller with Bayard.

Yeah, thank you. Can you help us with how you're thinking about the full service margin outlook? including as you close these centers that are the 200 basis point revenue headwind, on average, are they at a loss or just how should we factor in the different drivers of full service margin outlook?

Yeah, thanks, Jeff. So as we look at 2026, we had obviously good performance this year and are building off of where we ended 2025 into 26. We mentioned a couple of things on the prepared remarks, including, you know, about 100 basis points of enrollment gain in the year that will contribute some continued performance in our U.K. business, which had certainly a strong year in 2025, and that velocity will be, you know, continues to grow, but it will be expanding at a little bit lower pace than it was able to this year. So we're looking overall at about 25 to 50 basis points of margin improvement in the full service business in 26. That captures some effect of these closures, as you're highlighting. Most of them are in a loss-making position, yes, because that's the reason for underperformance leading to a closure decision. There is some tail to those costs, even as a center ceases operations if we're running dark and or are not able to fully exit the lease or aren't paying off, you know, multiple years of lease expense in advance. So we are having some ongoing effect of that, but it does add modestly to the operating leverage as we are exiting these underperforming centers. But overall, full service 25 to 50 pips. Got it. And then just given the headlines and news stories,

can you just comment on health and safety protocols, any changes that you're making or considering, and then just how you think about any sort of like local market or licensing risks or private-public partnership for UPK opportunities that could be impacted from

those issues. Thank you. Thank you for the question, Jeff. As you'll know, and those who we interact with know, our number one priority continues to always be delivering high quality care and education for families and ultimately for the clients that we serve. You know, when we have any incident at a center, we take it incredibly seriously. What I would say is that enrolled families at other centers tend to focus on the experience that they are having at their individual center and the relationships that we enjoy with our clients. We focus on transparency and also strong communication so that we can express to them exactly what has occurred and then ultimately the actions that we are taking to make ourselves even stronger going forward. So overall, to be very direct with you, we continue to see strong retention of families in our centers. We continue to see stability in our client base. And so overall, while we take these incidents very seriously, you know, from a business impact perspective, I would say at this point, our view is that that is not the case. You referenced the relationships that we may have with UPK. So for example, in New York City in particular, and what I would say is that we enjoy contracts in the majority of our centers for UPK. We have received feedback from the regulator, having visited almost all of our UPK centers, you know, in recent months that we continue to perform at a high level. There is never a guarantee that contracts will ultimately be renewed over time. On the other hand, we feel confident in our position at this point within the New York City market and our ability to continue to deliver for the large number of families that we do.

Beautiful perspective.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next question is from Manav Patanayak with Barclays.

Thank you. Elizabeth, maybe just firstly on the guide, if you could help us with the assumption on pricing and enrollment growth in the full center business, and then also just if you want to just knock out the margins for the other two businesses in 1Q in the full year? Sure. So overall, we're

looking at price increases, which vary as I'm sure most on the call know. We make individual localized decisions on this, but on average, the price increases for 26 are approximately 4%, And we are looking at overall enrollment for the year plus 100 basis points give-take. So those are the two primary components there. The price increase reflects what we see in the wage offsetting around the 3% or so range against that 4% for wages. As it relates to the overall margin in the other businesses, so backup, we would be looking at our long-term average, just to reiterate that, we would expect to be 25 to 30 percent operating margin over time. We certainly have been performing well against that, and we would look in 26, we would look to be seeing that in the upper half of that range, so call it 27, 28 percent to 30 percent for the year. So that's what we're seeing in backup care. And then in our ed advisory business in the, you know, similar to this year overall in the low 20s.

Got it. And maybe just, you know, back to New York City, I guess, you know, with the new mail and the free childcare proposals and stuff, I wanted to just get your take, you know, if you've spoken to the administration, you're involved in there, you know, just some color on what your New York City exposure is. I know in the past with pre-K and those kinds of things, you benefit from wraparound care, but I'm not sure what these proposals look like. Sure. So, as I shared,

we, at the majority of the centers that we have in New York City proper, we participate in UPK, and that is a good relationship with the city in terms of a good demonstration of the power of private-public partnerships. It's an environment where, you know, the city funds at a level that supports quality and likewise is an environment that is open to working with private providers like us. So New York City has been, in our opinion, a really good example of where UPK can work well both for the city but also for Bright Horizons and the families that we serve. The expectation going forward is there have been conversations about moving to younger age groups, so the twos, so 2K. And there's an indication that it would likely look similar to the UPK program that's in place, only for younger age groups. The expectation also is that they are going to be starting with a pilot that is focused on the neediest areas of the city and then potentially expand in the way they did previously to a much broader aspects of the city. In terms of the relationship, yes, I mean, I think we, as one of the largest providers in New York City of UPK, we certainly have a good and ongoing relationship with the folks that manage those programs and continue to feel like we have a good sense of how this may unfold over time.

Our next question is from Andrew Steinerman with JPMorgan.

Hi. So Brighter Risen's continuing employees at the corporate clients engage and use. I was wondering, how do the corporate clients feel about that, kind of the increased spend that comes as employees realize and use their backup? And do you see any tightening of backup benefits in terms of, like, use cases that are allowed by corporations?

Sure. Happy to answer that, Andrew. So first, it's fair to say that we're very pleased with the 19% growth that we experienced this year, and that is in addition to the last several years of very strong growth. And as you'll know, the majority of, you know, the revenue that we derive is directly from the employer's support of these programs because there's really a limited copay that goes along with it at the employee level. But I think that we have done a really good job of articulating to employers the value in terms of productivity that backup provides to their employees and then ultimately accrues to them as employers. And so I think that strong ROI has really held us in good stead as it relates to the continued investments that they're making. I would also observe that within the benefits portfolio that HR manages, backup is still a pretty modest line item, especially as it compares to some of the more traditional and larger benefits that they manage. And so while the increases are significant for us and obviously for the progress that we have continued to make, from any one employer's perspective, it's still a pretty modest line item, despite the fact that on a percentage basis for them, it is growing more significantly. But again, I think our teams have done a really good job of ensuring that we are focused on ROI. And secondly, the feedback from employees around the backup benefit continues to be incredibly strong.

Our next question is from George Tong with Goldman Sachs.

Hi, thanks. Good afternoon. You mentioned occupancy average mid-60s in 4Q. Based on your guide for this year, can you describe how you expect occupancy to unfold over the course of

2026 by quarter, roughly? Yeah, so the seasonal pattern would be pretty consistent where we see a lift in enrollment in the first half of the year, particularly in Q2, is where it would be peaking, you know, in the high, it was in the high 60s in 2025, so being ticked up, it would tick up a bit above that. And then in the second half, it would be back down into the mid-60s for the second half of the year, Q3, and ending the year similar to Q4 as Q3. So it's a lift in Q1 in Q2, and then similar to the pattern you saw this year. Got it. So by 4Q this year,

would you expect it to be better than mid-60s from 4Q last year, or do you think you've reached

the steady state and mid-60s is a reasonable year end? Yeah, it would be still in the mid-60s exiting 26 because with a growth rate of just 100 basis points in a year, we're making headway against that gradually, but it wouldn't be getting beyond the mid-60s by the end of the year. Still growth to come, though. We are hardened by the continued interest, and we have, you know, the overall number of enrollment in the 100 basis point range masks the improvement in the middle and lower cohorts, which are growing, you know, low to mid-single digits because they're more under enrolled than the top cohort, which is very well enrolled. And in fact, can't really take any more enrollment and may see some cycling. So overall, we're pleased with the ongoing momentum. It's modest and it's year by year, quarter by quarter, but we are seeing growth and think that that will continue to allow us to move beyond the mid-60s over time. That won't happen, we wouldn't expect in 26, but certainly has the opportunity down the road.

Got it. Very helpful. Thank you.

Our next question is from Tony Kaplan with Morgan Stanton.

Thanks so much. I was hoping you could start just maybe giving additional color on the closures. Just wondering if there were any sort of commonalities on why the centers couldn't get up to a higher level of utilization. And I'm sure there were a number of things that you tried. And so just wanted to understand the reason for that. But were there a number of leases that came up this year? Just trying to understand also, like, how to think about, you know, closures for maybe 27 as well.

Yeah. Yeah, so, you know, I think the common themes probably of the centers that have been circled up foreclosure. And, in fact, we have closed already in 26, you know, close to half of what we would expect to close for the year. We'd expect to be in the range of 45 to 50 or so closures this year overall, and we've closed more than 20 already in this quarter. And the circling up of those has been a combination of the things that you mentioned, Tony, which is some were within a year or two or three of the end of their lease, And so the underperformance, the lagging enrollment, and the overall economics of operating compared to covering the fixed costs was not sensible. And so we were able to, in many cases, move the families and the staff to other nearby centers and to accommodate the needs of everyone in that way. And so that's obviously the best case scenario where we can rationalize portfolio and retain the enrollment and the staff as well. Also, there certainly were some cases where the underperformance is so significant and there is no particular lease action. The lease is not coming up for still several more years. but we have elected to stop operations and do this, you know, either combine or just stop operations because the demand is not sufficient. The operations are, you know, quite, you know, the operating performance is quite low and therefore we are shutting down operations and may have some tail of costs that carries on for a couple of years. If we are not able to sublease the space, we will certainly work to do that, but it's not the most amenable market for that. But I think it's just a decision point of persisting, looking at the client relationships. Is there, you know, is there client interest in full-time care? Is there client interest in backup care? Is there a landlord negotiation that can get us a more tolerable occupancy cost? Are there other, you know, and of course the main ones, which are can we enlist more enrollment by more parent awareness and more marketing conversion? But all of those things go into a decision, which is a tough one to make.

Great. And then for my follow-up on backup care, I guess anecdotally we're aware of at least one employer who added days during COVID and now is cutting back on days going back to sort of pre-COVID levels. And so I wanted to understand if that is just a one-off situation or if there is sort of a larger trend of cutting back on days. And what I'm trying to get at is if you're seeing any changes in the drivers of growth in backup care, like going forward versus like recent years, are you seeing sort of more growth from, you know, new employers signing on as opposed to those adding days or any difference in usage, et cetera? I just wanted to understand directionally the backup care drivers, and if that is something that is changing.

Sure. So, Tony, what I would say is, no, the drivers in 2026 and moving forward, we expect actually will look very similar to the last several years. So, the vast, vast majority of the growth comes from the existing client base. Of course, we continue to add clients, But that is not a large source of growth, given the maturation that is required of a new client. And it takes time for the benefit to become known and then ultimately used in a more mature way. So when we think about the drivers, number one is continuing to increase the number of unique users. And so, as I shared, you know, we grew that at, you know, sort of mid-double-digit rate. And so, getting more penetration within our existing base is a really critical component. I would say that to the question around program design and policy changes, it was not actually the norm for most of our employers to change their program parameters even during COVID. We had a select number that really had some outsized programs that have come back into more of our normalized program policy. But the reality is in the current operating environment, you know, most of those who use do not use their full bank, whether it be an outsized bank or even a more traditional sized bank. So, again, it's this combination of continuing to drive users, continuing to drive their frequency of use, understanding that most do not use their full bank. And those become the two most important determinants of the continued growth algorithm.

Thank you. Thank you.

As a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. Our next question is from Josh Chan with UBS.

Hi, good afternoon, Steve and Elizabeth. I guess around your expectation to grow enrollment 100 basis points in 2026, which is similar to kind of the exit rate in Q4, have you seen kind of a solid or pretty stable fall enrollment season during Q4 to kind of inform you of that? I'm just wondering how the enrollment season kind of progressed.

I would say that, you know, we had a bit of a slowdown in the second half of the year. We were a little faster growth in one age of 25, and then it tapered in the second half. So it was the momentum coming through the fall and into the rest of the year was similar to what we had expected and stable going into next year. I'd say that maybe the notable element as we're looking ahead is a little bit of an uptick in younger age group enrollment. The mix is not dramatically different, but it's an uptick in younger age interest. And so that's always a positive, of course, for just growing the younger children into the older age groups as they stay with us. So that's one of the elements of, you know, positive outlook that we are seeing. And we've talked last, you know, throughout 2025, I know it is last year, and we're talking about Q4, but some of the supports that we are seeing outside the U.S. has certainly helped to improve affordability to families in the countries that we operate where government funding for child care is available to all families. It's means tested, but it's available to all families at some level, and that enables more families to afford care. So that has driven some good stability also in the enrollment outlook.

Okay. Yep. Thank you. That makes sense. And then in terms of your center count, I guess, how many centers are you aiming to open next year? And at what point do you feel like you can get to kind of net neutral center count in the future?

Yeah. So in 26, we'd look to be opening plus minus 20 or so. And I think I mentioned closing 45 to 50. So we would be in a net closure position, as you say, in 26. It will go a long way. Getting underperformers closed throughout the rest of this year will go a long way toward addressing that bottom cohort we mentioned there's 12% of centers in the bottom cohort about you know just under 90 of those or so are our P&L centers that we control the bottom line and even after the closures in the early part of this year it's you know it's already ticked down meaningfully to you know in the neighborhood of 70 so we will be in a good position to have made progress through many of the centers, but I'd still say we would probably be in another year beyond 26, 27 before we're meaningfully net positive.

Great. Thank you for the color and the time.

Thank you, Josh.

Our next question is from Stephanie Moore with Jefferies.

Hi. Good afternoon. Thank you.

Hi.

I was hoping you could talk a little bit about what you're seeing from just an overall pricing standpoint, general appetite from parents and customers on tuition increases, how you view kind of pricing going forward now that inflation is kind of, you know, arguably a bit under control, labor's in a little bit better position. So, we'd just love to get your kind of updated view on general pricing trends.

Yeah, I mean, it's obviously the economy has been, and many families have been quite stressed with the level of inflation in general. Over the last many years, child care has for many years been a higher than inflation cost service, mainly because of the labor intensity that goes into it. And the pandemic really added some fuel to that with significant increases to the labor cost as some significant wage steps were made early on in the pandemic. And we continue to do increases, but they're much more market level increases over the last couple of years. So I think the parents are understanding that the cost of care is very much driven by personnel costs. We mentioned benefits costs on this call in particular because it is one of the important cost, wage, and benefits is an important element of the total rewards package for our teachers. It's one of the things that's attractive to them about our employee value proposition and why they work here, but it is a cost that we need to be continuing to bake into the overall cost structure and the tuition recovery over time. So we feel like our algorithm will continue to hold. Parents understand where the increases are coming from. And I think that our measured approach to tuition increases that tries to balance the economics covering costs in the center as well as attracting enrollment, retaining enrollment, and bringing as economic value to families and to our client partners as we can will ultimately carry the day. So we're always looking for ways that we can be, you know, effective in making the cost of care affordable to families, but transparent about the fact that it does increase with, primarily with those personnel costs each year.

Absolutely. No, I think that's fair. And just as a follow-up, and I do apologize if I missed this, but I'm wondering if you guys could give an update on, you know, getting back to 70% enrollment or what you view as an optimal enrollment level, just kind of update and timeline there.

Sure. So, we are in the mid-60s right now across the portfolio, and about half of our centers operate above 70%, and actually they operate above 80% on average. And so I would say that our target would still be to aim for 70%. Many centers perform just fine below that, 60, 70%. It's not a magic number, but it is certainly one that we aspire to in terms of critical mass in a center, the right kind of mix of age groups that bring the operating efficiency that is natural in a child care center where this labor intensity is as high as it is. And so our view at 100 basis points a year of enrollment gain, we will be making headway on that and getting closer to 70%. But the other factor there is as we continue to rationalize the portfolio and we have fewer centers that are operating sub 40%, we will naturally be drifting up, if you will. But it's really having the enrollment that's the most important factor. And it's that the top group is doing well. It's doing great. They're sustaining enrollment above 80%, even as the natural age up and cycling happens. So that is the most heartening part of it. It's that middle cohort of, call it, 40% of our centers that have the real opportunity to be adding, you know, 5, 10, 15 base points of children, 5, 10, 15 percentage points of enrollment to, you know, to really get us closer to that 70% average.

Great. Well, thanks again for joining us on the call and wishing you all a good night.

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you again for your participation.