Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to PPHC's second quarter, 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advised and your hand is raised. And to withdraw your question, please press star 1-1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would like now to turn the conference over to Matthew Mazainte, Chief Administrator Officer. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator, and good afternoon. With me today are Stuart Hall, our Chief Executive Officer, Rul Smits, our Chief Financial Officer, and Thomas Gensmer, our Chief Strategy Officer. Before we begin, please note that the following remarks and presentation include forward-looking statements and non-GAAP financial data. Forward-looking statements about the company, including those related to earnings guidance, are subject to uncertainties and risks, factors addressed in the company's SEC filings. For further details of the non-GAAP financial figures discussed in this presentation, including reconciliations to the nearest GAAP figures, please refer to the financial appendix in the investor presentation available on our website, investors.pphcompany.com. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Stuart.

Thanks, Matthew. Thanks to everyone who's joining us this afternoon. The first half of the year developed broadly as we expected, and we're pleased with both the performance of the business and the progress we've made against our overall strategy. At the highest level, revenue in the first half increased 16.3 percent year-over-year to $102.3 million. That was organic growth included in that of 4.4%. Adjusted EBITDA increased to $23.4 million, up 9.3%, representing a margin toward the top end of the range that we previously had communicated. Just as importantly, the business strengthened as the half progressed as it usually does. In the second quarter, we delivered revenue of $52.1 million, continued organic growth, and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 23.5%, an improvement from the first quarter and consistent with the seasonally adjusted numbers that we discussed on our last call. Following this performance in our recent acquisitions, we're raising our full year revenue and adjusted EBITI guidance. Roll will take you through that more thoroughly in our quarterly results and revised outlook and the underlying drivers in greater detail shortly. Halfway through the year, we're delivering how we said we would. the outlook for the business has strengthened and we retain the balance sheet capacity to continue executing our strategy. Additionally, on results, we reported a gap loss of $3.7 million in the quarter, a nearly 35% improvement year over a year. But I want to take a moment and really discuss that number because the direction to travel is significant here, and especially as we enter the second half of 2026 and the beginning of 27. The story behind it hasn't changed, but it's worth repeating plainly. The largest difference between our GAAP and our management P&L is the approximately $30 million a year non-cash share-based comp charge that resulted from our 2021 London listing, subjecting shares issued at that time to employee owners to a five-year vesting schedule. This charge will fully amortize at the end of this year, and we are looking forward to it dropping off in the positive effect we believe it'll have on our GAAP financials. Rol again, we'll jump into this in a bit more detail. On M&A, we continue to execute a discipline strategy. We closed on three deals this year, including our long desired presence in Florida with the addition of the advocacy partners on August 1st. All three transactions follow the same principles we stick to in M&A. We added a differentiated capability with each acquisition. They were margin accretive. They extended our reach where clients need us, and they link future purchase consideration to future performance. Thomas will go into these in more detail as well toward the end of the call. Before we go into the financials, a word on AI. It's a question that we hear from investors often, and it deserves a very direct answer from us. We believe PPHC is very well positioned for the continued adoption of AI across industries for three main reasons. One is our business structure. Two is the demand that AI clients and AI issues are generating for our services and three the operating leverage that ai itself provides for our senior heavy workforce first let's talk about structure we don't do hourly billing but in a very very small percentage of our engagements by default firms that build by the hour are built on a pyramid of junior staff that sell output that any capable model can reproduce now in seconds and they are in an existential period, and they need reinvention. That's not our model. Roughly 90% of our revenue is retainer-based, and our annual client retention of that revenue is 80 to 85%. That remaining revenue that we do take in on top of that is project-based, but what that just means is that it's a short-term engagement by design tied to deliverables, but it's not billed against ours. Our clients buy senior counsel that drives outcomes and on issues that are vital to their businesses, not billable time, not consumer-oriented campaigns, and not markup on entry-level hours. There's no pyramid at PPHC for AI to compress. Unlike sectors where the fear is shrinking the fee pool, our core market's expanding. Federal lobbying spending set a record last year at roughly $5 billion and grew at its fastest pace since 2008. Second, demand. When we look at AI, we don't see a threat to defend against. We actually see a tailwind driving our growth. AI is now one of the most active policy issues in the country at every level of government. At state level, we've tracked over 1,800 AI-related bills in 47 states, and that's a 12-fold increase over three years. Since 2025, our firms have been engaged by roughly 60 new clients whose core business itself is AI. That's everyone from model developers and AI-native companies to the chip designers, hyperscalers, and data center builders behind them. Companies that need some subset of our services often very early in their journey. And also, it's important to note clients across energy, technology, healthcare, and financial services are retaining us to work on the same issues because AI now touches their regulatory agenda, whether they build the technology or simply deploy it. And third is operating leverage. We're deploying AI workflows inside our own business, so our senior advisors spend less time assembling research and more time on judgment, strategy, and the advocacy services clients hire us for. Virtually none of our revenue depends on reselling the hours that AI eliminates for other firms. Commodity work gets automated. The work we do, senior-led, built-on client trust, is more and more as AI proliferates, and that's where PPHC sits. In conclusion, we think the environment remains favorable for our business, federal lobbying continues at record level, state level activity remains intense, and the 2026 midterm cycle is adding the client demand for intelligence, advocacy, and strategic communication support following this election cycle. This is exactly the operating backdrop the company was constructed for, and we continue to execute against quarter after quarter.

With that, I'll hand it over to Roll for a closer look at the numbers. thank you steward i'm going to focus on four areas on overall growth and profitability on our results by segments on our cash generation but today i'm going to start with our guidance we are very pleased to update our financial guidance for the full year 2026 following the several mna transactions that we've announced and then i'm really referring to wpi on april 1st Tencredi on July 1st, and as of last week, the acquisition of the Advocacy Partners in Florida as of August 1st. Based on our ongoing expectation that we will deliver approximately 5% organic growth in combination with aforementioned acquisitions, we're now anticipating reported revenue to come out in the range of 213 to 216 million, and adjusted EBITDA in the range of 48.5 to 50.5 million at a margin between 22 and 22.5 and 23.5%. So compared to our previous guidance, this represents approximately an additional 8 million in revenue, 2.5 million in adjusted EBITDA and a margin range that is 50 basis points higher than our previous guidance. but what has not changed is that we continue to expect strong free cash flow conversion in the balance of the year consistent with our normal second half waiting first to set things up a quick overview emphasizing that we're really pleased with how the year has been progressing so far we've grown revenues by 16.3 percent including a healthy dose of organic growth alongside a profit has gone up and we've controlled our margin in a way that we're able to reiterate and strengthen the guidance that i just gave you so let's look at the financial highlights here's a chart that captures our primary kpis both for the three months and the six months revenue in the second quarter was 52 million up seven percent year over year of which 3.9 was organic and the balance came from acquisitions primarily wpi in london that was acquired in q2 We were pleased with the organic growth of 3.9%, especially because this was up against a very strong comparable of 10% organic growth in last year's Q2. So for the first half, revenue was 102 million, up 16% with organic growth of 4.4, consistent with the approximately 5% average organic growth that underpins our outlook. Then, when we go to adjusted EBDA, after six months it was at 23.4 million at a 22.9% margin, which is indeed at the top end of the range of 22 to 23% that we previously communicated for the full year. When comparing ourselves to last year, for the six months we were up 9%, and for the three months we were down 4.4%. and i want to be really very explicit about the three factors that drive the relatively modest level of q2 year-on-year adjusted ebda growth or decline rather first there is this already aforementioned relatively strong comparable from q2 to 25 when we delivered a 10 organic growth at a 26 percent margin. That's what we were battling against this quarter. Second, we saw the predicted increase of our corporate costs come through as a direct result of U.S. public company costs we are incurring due to our Nasdaq listing and also the continued build-out of our central platform and all the associated advisory costs. Finally, as a third factor, there's also the relative change in business mix between our three segments although I would say that the impact thereof is relatively light this year you will see in a later chart that I'll bring up that the underlying operating business actually remained very resilient with the blended margin of the three operating segments broadly stable so that means that the reduction in our adjusted EBITDA margin really reflected the higher holding company costs rather than changes in our operating companies such was also anticipated in our March guidance now let's move to adjusted net income for the first six months adjusted that income was 17.9 million up 15% that was a good result it was positively impacted by a reduction in our interest charges because our cash and debt positions have both improved due to debt repayments and of course having the IPO money on our balance sheet now this was partially outweighed not visible here by one of m a expenses being heavier this year to the tune of eight hundred thousand dollars year-on-year increase the final explaining factor for just that income is a tax rate but for the six months the effective tax rate was approximately even to last year however on the court by quarter basis there was a significant swing now as i explained last quarter the phasing of a tax provision across the quarters is heavily impacted by our gap results and the forecasts are off and therefore the quarterly rates are typically not really indicative of where we will land for the full year now let's go to eps a gap loss per share for the six months improved from a year ago to a negative 68 cents per share but adjusted fully diluted EPS, which is the measure most of us will look at, worth 34 cents per share for the quarter and 59 cents per share for the first half, which is down one and a half cents for the prior year. That's a modest result on EPS, but it really is actually a very good result. If one realizes that the good result in the numerator, i.e. the movement in adjusted net income, will be getting offset by by an increase in the denominator, i.e. in the share count. Reminder, our weighted average share count increased by 70% year over year, principally as a result of the Nasdaq IPO in January. That delusion provided us the capital that reduced our net debt, almost to a net cap position, and it is also funding acquisition agenda that Thomas will describe. Then there's dividends. As a reminder, in Q2, we paid our customary final dividend of 24 cents per share this year, which equaled to approximately 7 million cash outflow. Then adjusted free cash flow for the first half was 4.1 million compared to 11.7 million in the first half of last year. This is a step down that clearly not aligns with the growth we're posting elsewhere in our P&L. So, let me be very precise about what's driving it and why we're not so concerned about the trajectory as a company with historically very high adjusted free cash flow conversion. So, the two factors. First, there's the lower cash flow in H1, which is an expected outcome of the fact that our free cash flow generation is structurally weighted towards the second half, given that in the first half we paid annual bonuses to our staff. Secondly, we had in this first half relatively high investment in working capital in 2026, primarily in accounts receivable. We already mentioned this factor in Q1 and I will admit it has taken us longer to regain ground on it. But right now we see the impact of various actions that we put on the way and we expected working capital investment to lessen as the year progresses further taken all together we're confident that adjusted free cash flow will accelerate in the second half and will convert in line with our normal pattern and that brings me to the balance sheet we ended the quarter with 36.9 million of cash against a total debt of 42 million which results in a net debt position of 5.2 million which you can compare against the 42.2 million at this point last year and this is after the 7 million dividend payment in May and after the cash consideration for the acquisition of WPI but obviously it does not yet reflect the closing payments we made early Q3 for the acquisitions of 10 credit and advocacy partners which totaled 28 million overall we remain in a position of real balance sheet strength with ample flexibility for Continued Earnings Recreative M&A now let's look at the segments starting with organic growth organic revenue growth in this chart at the top you see the organic growth for the past four years and at the bottom you see a quarterly breakouts for the past three years so going from left to right one can see that government relations here depicted in dark blue and always remaining our anchor activity 58% of our total business it accelerated its growth 6% organic growth for the half year, with 5% organic growth in the first quarter being followed by 7.4% in the second quarter. Now, then corporate communication and public affairs has shown relatively muted growth this first half year at minus 1%, with the quarter so far being plus 3% in Q1 and minus 3% in Q2. however it's important to also look back and see the strong comparable of last year especially in this last segment i.e in corporate communications and public affairs because you can see here that last year we recorded 22 percent organic growth in q2 due to an exceptional flow of post-election project work that puts this year's muted growth in a different spotlight and finally compliance and inside services which represent seven percent of our business keeps growing at double digits this year in the low to mid teens now we go to margin performance and we're introducing this new chart as it does a very clear job of showing the reason of our year-on-year margin decline in this case depicted for q2 one can see that the segments keep scoring margins at approximately the same levels as last year leading to a blended segment margin before bonus of 39.5 percent only half a point down from last year but below that blended segment margin one can see the impact that the whole cost have on a margin the whole cost went from six percent of revenue last year to 8.2 percent of revenue this year and as previously mentioned that was primarily as a result of the ipo cost and the associated investments we had to make in staff tech stack and advisors so finally the bonus pool remains actually steady at seven point eight percent and together these factors lead us to the adjusted EBITDA margin they're presenting today we believe this picture shows very clearly that the margin erosion that we currently experience is not so much a function of our business results but nearly of our whole car investments so as I did last quarter I'm going to skip the charts covering the full management P&L cash flow and net debt position but they're in this deck and the appendix for your later reference after having reviewed these financials i would like to make one more observation that reinforces the point that Stuart made earlier on the gap results in this chart one sees our gap results for a number of periods then at the bottom we also show what the gap results would have looked like had it not been for the share-based accounting charge. As we have explained in each of our filings since 2021, this share-based accounting charge is a remnant of our 2021 London listing and has no cash impact or share diluted impact. As Stuart noted, this amortization charge will fully roll off at the end of the fiscal year. So as of 2027, that single expiring item will greatly affect our DAB profitability And in many periods, we're going to likely present positive GAAP profits. As of that time, the primary remaining non-cash item sitting in between our management results and the GAAP results are going to be our non-cash M&A related charges, which all relate to the specific fact that in our M&A model, the way we structure our deals, we make significant portions of the purchase price subject to vesting and complete employment. That in itself results in P&L charges, and they're here to stay, and they'll continue to suppress the gap results. However, with the disappearance of the share-based accounting charge, we believe the gap results will look a whole lot better. And with that, I'm going to hand it over to Thomas. Thomas?

Thanks, Ruhl. I'd like to focus my remarks on a few threads steward open because the quarter gave us important examples of each, starting with talent, because our growth strategy remains fundamentally talent-focused, recruiting and retaining the best people for our markets. First is talent via M&A, and I want to give you the strategist version of the three deals Stuart covered earlier, because both are precise examples of our stated criteria. We invest against capability and geography in that order. WPI brings economics-grounded capability and bolstered our scale in London, a win-win. On this, the early cross-sell is telling. Here's a timely example. WPI, now part of our Pagefield group, just sold an important piece of work to one of California's based clients via KP Public Affairs. Their economics expertise is globally applicable. In fact, their chief economist, Martin Beck, has started getting media attention in the U.S. for his work, including recently in Dow Jones and in Reuters, as he broadens his visibility via PPHC. Similarly, Tancredi, which closed in July, is a powerhouse addition by way of its advisory capabilities. They add geographic depth to Trailrunner and deepen our collective strength in the highest value area of communications work, crisis, litigation, and financial special situations. Another win-win. Most recently, Finally, just in fact last week, the advocacy partners gave us a strong entry into the state of Florida. We have said that we need to be in Florida for years now, given its significance, politically and economically, and we finally found the right team to bring into the group. Keep in mind, Florida's economy would rank 14th in the world. Like California, a very critical market for us. In addition to being an excellent team, they have all the features of a standout government relations firm, superb margins, and highly recurring retained revenue from a blue chip client base. You heard me say last quarter, as we expand our base in key U.S. states in Europe and beyond, we are definitely not putting dots on the map for the purposes of coverage. Indeed, we are seeking and convincing world-class entrepreneurs and market-leading practitioners who seek to join a different kind of global platform. Our unique multi-branded operating model also appeals to leading individual talents outside of an M&A situation too. Our operating brands represent distinct political relevance in their jurisdictions. They have unique firm cultures and diverse leadership, which is attractive to professionals looking for entrepreneurial issue-rich career opportunities. And our public company status and incentive stock programs makes PPHC a unique career opportunity in the sector. And finally, portfolio integration and client diversification, because the model keeps proving itself in the numbers. Our top 10 clients now represent 7.5% of revenue, down from 9.4 a year ago. That's with integration and collaboration increasingly meaningful. Extrapolating further, my favorite stat to boast, no single client is more than 2% of the business. We ended the half with approximately 1,500 clients, including roughly half of the Fortune 100, and the revenue mix continues to diversify as well. There remains no meaningful client concentration risk in our business. A quick update on our post-M&A integrations. Trailrunner is now past its first year and performing above expectations. Pine Cove continues to deliver on the Texas state-based dairy, and WPI's first quarter with Pagefield is tracking to plan. Finally, the M&A pipeline, it remains very active, dozens of firms at various stages with the same mix of capability in North America, UK, mainland Europe, Middle East and Asia. Our sweet spot is unchanged, businesses in the 10 to $30 million revenue range, which can contribute to our premium margin profile with a clear cross-selling capability into the existing portfolio. Competition for these assets remain dominated by private equity platforms, and our differentiation is the same as it's always been. The market-leading scale of our government relations business, the policy expertise across the platform, and our public company status. So with that, I'll hand it back to Stuart. Thanks so much, Thomas.

Let me pull it together with the same framing we used last quarter, because a quarter on, it still holds up. First, stability. The retainer base, the client retention, and the lack of meaningful revenue new concentration, all as Thomas spoke of just now. Second, profitability. First, I have adjusted EBITDA up year over year with margins holding steady and well inside of our full-year guidance range. The gap picture is improving on schedule, as we noted twice, with the approximately 30 million share-based comp charge from the London listing fully amortizing at the end of this year and putting us on a path to have gap results more closely reflect our management P&L. Third, growth. Our base delivered 4.4% organic growth in the first half against a very tough comparable, and our discipline M&A continues with three deals closed year-to-date and a robust pipeline that remains under active consideration. Four of the most important, and I always mention this, is our people. The reason any of this works, 200-plus of our 476 employees have some form of equity instrument, including more than 150 with outright stock ownership. This model is built around keeping our best talent as employee owners, bringing the next generation into ownership, and aligning the interests of our employees with the overall success of the business. The first half played out the way we told you it wouldn't and the way we expected it to, with steady organic growth, disciplined M&A, margins at the high end of our previous guidance, and a balance sheet that gives us room to keep executing on our strategy. So, as always, I appreciate your time and your continued interest at DPHC, and we'll turn it over to the operator for questions.

Thank you. And as a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. And to withdraw your question, please press star one one again. And our first question is going to come from Jason Tilchen with CG. Your line is open.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for taking my questions. To start, with the three deals you've completed so far this year, can you now give us a refreshed look at your top priorities in terms of an M&A checklist and how the sort of most active part of your current pipeline aligns with that checklist?

Jason, I'll let Thomas add any flavor he wants, but this is Stuart. I'll take that first. Thank you for being here with us today. In short, you know, it remains as we've repeatedly laid it out, which is, you know, as Thomas said, again, geography capability, along with the people in the margin profile that, you know, make it fit the overall mix of the company properly. So is it complimentary in one way or another or not? I think, you know, obviously, you know, we still maintain a very healthy pipeline. We continue to evaluate opportunities regularly and I think that again you know we will continue to look at geographic expansion as well as again capability adds. I would probably say you know in terms of our actual business mix you know we like where we sit now. I think adding you know our first lobbying property in quite a while in the advocacy partners last week was significant, you know, in that I think, you know, again, it shows and I hope it demonstrates to people that we're committed to, you know, our base of government relations as our highest margin business. And we're going to continue to pursue those along with other, you know, selected communications assets, which either enhance the corporate comms side of the equation or, again, are additive to our public affairs comms. Thomas, you got anything you want to add to that?

Yeah, I mean, I'd only add that to emphasize Stuart's point that we really like the lobbying anchor because of just the nature of the client relationship and the fact that's where we started from, where the differentiation versus our sort of peer set is, without giving too much away, sort of there are some key geographies that we're still, that we still see both immediate client need and, you know, positive growth. And we've managed so far to do the international thing without, you know, without margin depreciation.

All the margin depreciation we've seen has just been at the whole company level based on the listings.

And so London into Europe, into other places where we can still maintain this premium and unlock new client wallets. It's really important. They also are small sized enough that they could be aqua hires. They could be outright hires or, you know, in the case of like the Florida or the Tancredi, they were sort of sweet spot sized partnerships of a relatively small set of people. So we'll continue to deploy the firepower and the and the hiring around key talent when it when it comes available.

OK, that was very, very helpful. I guess the follow up there, understanding that because of sort of business secrets and whatnot, you may not be able to share full details. But in terms of geography, when we spoke sort of six months ago, you know, the UK and Florida were both on that sort of priority list. But those being checked off, is it fair to say that maybe New York, the Middle East, Southeast Asia are all sort of have shifted up that list? And similarly, on the tech side, is there anything with the evolving sort of AI landscape? Is there anything from a capability standpoint that you're certainly looking at adding via M&A rather than doing organically?

On the second question, you're sharp on the list. that's sort of right and the reshuffling only sort of broader points of europe i continue to sort of emphasize the need of brussels as to our operating companies and clients um on the ai side um you know there's so much innovation happening there we'll get something something or more every day about platforms that are targeting our space or adjacencies so we feel comfortable having been um you know really promoting the usage of a mix of tools across the different operating companies and holding our powder a little bit because there's still a lot to be sorted in how you know this will be you know we've we've invested in some tools for our group you know for users and promoted some work cases and or watching how clients are demanding and restricting usage so it's super interesting nothing to invest in yet but for that okay great very helpful and And then one last quick one for Rule.

I know there was a lockup that was set to unlock, I should say, around six months after the U.S. listing. Can you just provide some additional detail on the exact timing of when that happened or when that is going to happen in the near future here and the magnitude of that as well?

Yes. Yeah, that half-year lockup actually started on the time for IPO end of January. So that's now over because it's expired at the end of July. we have of course since being sold in a blackout period sorry I please it's not been able to trade and we'll need to see you know to what extent people are looking to sell you know right now our expectation as management is that we're not going to see a whole lot of selling but okay we We want to see how that develops now in these days after the announcement of the results when we're out of our blackouts.

Great. Thank you very much.

Thank you. And our next question will come from Scott Schneeberger with Oppenheimer. Your line's open.

Hi, Scott. Thanks very much. Hey, Stuart. Good afternoon, all. And, Stuart, a great overview on AI. I thought that that was very well laid out. I think I'll start. This sounds like a question for Roll, but Stuart, I'd like to hear your thoughts, too. With the new guidance and, you know, obviously unannounced acquisitions aside, what's making you – what are some drivers that would put you feeling good at the high end? What are some things out there that make you nervous maybe toward the low end? Thanks.

So I think that's – Yeah, go ahead, and then I'll provide just a tad of color after you're done.

Yes, absolutely. I mean, Scott, I think the variability of our guidance is really driven by, you know, the unknown about our project work. Our project work can go up, can go down. We've had many years where certain big projects suddenly come up, and it's very hard to predict for those. So I would say that is, first and foremost, the biggest driver of change. All the other bits, we actually have a very good visibility on.

The only thing I'd like to add to that, too, is that, you know, the one thing that is extremely encouraging is to have had lobbying, you know, grow at 6%. And it wasn't all federal. You know, our assets did pretty well across the globe that we defined as government relations. So, you know, and that converts, again, at a much higher profit rate than comms does. So, you know, as a result, you know, we get more uplift on average from lobbying growth. And it really, you know, is demonstrating the first half of this year was really positive. So I think that, you know, as much as anything, you know, provides me some level of comfort within the range as roles provided. And I think, you know, more of the point is that, you know, we've seen this pattern before with PA comms, you know, in even numbered years getting a little bit, you know, quote, flattish, you know, in, you know, the first and second quarters of an even numbered year. We saw a pretty big pickup toward the very end of 24, but, you know, you never want to, as Roll says, you never want to count your chickens before you hatch. But we've seen these patterns before, but the lobbying uplift really, to me, is what's driving my positive feelings about the year.

Great, thanks. That segues nicely to my next question, which was just that. I mean, looking at second quarter of last year, I'm on slide 23 for reference, but it was really strong second quarter last year, and you grew nicely on top of that. But what is driving, the question is, what is driving the strength in lobbying, you know, maybe beyond seasonality or odd and even number of years? Clearly, there's some tailwind. What are you seeing maybe across some of those?

Yeah, I think, Scott, there's a macro trend against it where we just continue to see government be more active at every level. I think one thing we're seeing, too, is some uplift, too, from the fact that our state government operations continue to get more robust as well. You know, a lot of states are going through constitutional office elections. Obviously, legislative seats are up, too, this year, just like the federal level. But, you know, we've really, I think, seen the macro trend that really is kind of the basis of all of PPHC, or at least its original founding, which was the growth of the size of government and the activity that, you know, any social or economic, you know, changing factor, whether it be technology, be practices, et cetera, that are new, you know, will drive political interest and lead people to obviously have to, you know, look after their interests. So I think, you know, again, you go back to the AI example, you know, that's not all of that growth, but it's significant that there's an issue that wasn't as heavily in the ecosystem last year, but this year has really come to the fore at every level of our practices, state, federal, and local. So, I think there's a macro trend there. I think the micro trend is probably that, you know, again, you know, frankly, in the federal sector, I mean, the president does drive a certain level of activity across a number of issue areas. And, you know, that continues to pace as well in Washington. But again, we're kind of seeing this across the board.

Great. Thanks. And just last one from me. It's referencing a slide 32. Just, you know, client base, nearly half the Fortune 100. It's quite impressive.

Can you speak to mix of lobbying versus strategic communication and maybe hit on cross sales since you have this great base and and and how that's working within the organization thanks well you want to comment on that yes um now in relative size is that your first question about the relative size between strategic communication lobbying and yeah mix essentially wrong yes exactly no listen we expect actually now for remember this year of course the mix to remain roughly the same given that every bought a little bit of strategic comms and a bit of lobbying and margin wise I also suspect that this year is going to be fairly I'd say level you know compared to prior year and you know we had the provided that one extra chart now where you can really see that actually overall the business has delivered very very resilient margins overall and that it was indeed more the corporate overhead has gone up a little bit driving our overall margin down but now I would say for our overall business picture the three segments I don't anticipate too

much change in relative weight and more in margins of each of these segments I guess Scott the other piece of your question was really you know alluding to cross sell and intercompany business development and again I think that momentum continues to pick up. You know, we see, you know, I'm not going to quote any exact internal metrics for you, but, you know, the fact is that there's more and more work that is going out now that is involving more than one company under a unified contract vehicle, meaning that they are pulling on the best of the best from each of the disciplines, whether that be, you know, a researcher slash data scientist combined with a comms group combined with a lobbying effort at whatever level it's needed at. Seeing a lot more of that moving across the transom, a lot more activity driven by our chief client officer's efforts for a full year now that are really starting to pay fruit to really pull people together and practice horizontals across the globe in which people are really more directly now in touch with their colleagues and working regularly every week, every month together on these larger, you know, cross-company mandates. So we really feel like, you know, it's all coming together. I think one year in, a little plus with Trailrunner, you know, our firm belief that their skill sets were absolutely needed and integral to the government relations and public affairs side has proven absolutely correct. You know, they've gotten a good bit of inbound from their sister companies and vice versa. We're certainly seeing that sometimes their skill sets might be a little more, lend themselves a little more toward PA, I mean, toward, you know, their skill sets rather than PA comms.

And our lobbyists and others government affairs practitioners are recognizing that so again you know I think the interplay between those two sides has been firmly validated a year in great thank y'all thank you and our next question comes from Samuel Dindal with the full your lines open hi guys that you're well I those I sure and take questions me please firstly on senior talent hire is obviously a good progress there are more people picking up the phone to you now given your your US listed and the good progress you're making I I think there's

no doubt about it you know I think we've seen both more inbound from the sell side for firms you know from bankers again because of raised awareness our activity in the M&A market, which obviously doesn't hurt to think that someone might be a good fit with us and to refer us for a look at things. But on the talent intake side, I don't think there's any doubt about that as well. Made some key ads, Trailrunner Sports added Alden Mitchell, the former interim athletic director at Stanford, to be the head of the sports division there. We've had some other selected ones, but again, really, really quality ads, you know, they're setting us up well for the future. But again, I think people are interested in being part of this platform at a time where, you know, many people, especially, you know, in the comms industry are with platforms that, you know, may be, you know, in some level of distress, whether that's because of AI or just, you know, refocusing their efforts in other areas.

Brilliant. And then just lastly from me, I think you previously said on M&A, three to four deals a year may be the right level. I think you've done three this year already. That's very good. Do you still think that's the right level or do you think you could go a bit quicker than that or is there an integration element that you want to go?

I mean, yes, Anne, there's an integration element for sure that all of them, I think, were, it's always dangerous to call yourself a well-oiled machine because things change, but the integration efforts sort of start from day one and the rationalization of everything. um three to four still feels like the pace that we will operate at um and that's not saying there'll be one more but you know it's it's just um how we have been at this for 10 years and how we see the organization evolving each day um yeah i think we're opportunistic at a faster pace we always uh i i indicated in my in my remarks how that sort of sweet spot is 10 to 30 million dollars in revenue. There are still things out there that we would always bucket as sort of, you know, transformational that are bigger, but we stay sort of focused in our lanes and our regions and the pipeline remains strong. So we're pleased with both the pace of how they're coming online and then obviously the integration success thereafter.

The only quick thing I'd add to what Thomas said is that, you know, we have a really low leverage ratio. You know, we've been, you know, we're not finance. We've been paying for our acquisitions for this year from IPO and balance sheet cash. So, frankly, you know, Sam, if the right thing, as Thomas alluded to, comes along or things, you know, we're not going to hesitate, you know, as long as we maintain, you know, a prudent leverage ratio, you know, and a low leverage ratio, which we've always liked. you know, we're not going to, you know, shy away from, you know, trying to see those things work and certainly to give them every shot if they meet our metrics.

Brilliant. Thank you.

Thank you. And I am showing no further questions in the queue at this time.

Well, thanks, everybody, for joining us today. Obviously, through our investor relations, people, primarily Matthew Mazzani here at the company, who's our Chief Administrative Officer. We're always happy to schedule follow-up and talk further, and we appreciate your time, your attention, and your interest in PPHC.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.