Charles River Associates Q2 2025 Earnings Report

Charles River Associates EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $1.88
• Consensus EPS: $1.83
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$0.05
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Charles River Associates Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $186.88 million
• Expected Revenue: $180.34 million
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$6.53 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Charles River Associates Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q2 2025
• Date: 7/31/2025
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Thursday, July 31, 2025
• Conference Call Time: 10:00AM ET

CRA International, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides economic, financial, and management consulting services worldwide. It advises clients on economic and financial matters pertaining to litigation and regulatory proceedings; and guides corporations through business strategy and performance-related issues. The company also offers consulting services, including research and analysis, expert testimony, and support in litigation and regulatory proceedings in the areas of finance, accounting, economics, insurance, and forensic accounting and investigations to corporate clients and attorneys. In addition, it offers management consulting services comprising strategy development, performance improvement, corporate strategy and portfolio analysis, estimation of market demand, environmental, social and corporate governance and sustainability strategy and analysis, design and implementation of auction and bidding, new product pricing strategies, survey and market research, valuation of intellectual property and other assets, assessment of competitors' actions, and analysis of new sources of supply. The company serves various industries, including communications and media; consumer, health, and wellness products; energy; entertainment and leisure; financial services; healthcare; life sciences; manufacturing and industries; natural resources; retail and distribution; technology; and transportation. CRA International, Inc. was incorporated in 1965 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

Charles River Associates Q2 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Revenue in Q2 rose 9% year over year to $186.9 million, with seven of 11 practices delivering growth and both North American and international operations up 9%.
• Positive Sentiment: Non-GAAP net income, EPS and EBITDA all increased by 6%, 8% and 8% year over year, marking record first-half performance and continued margin expansion.
• Positive Sentiment: CRA raised its full-year guidance to $730 million–$745 million in revenue and 12.3%–13% non-GAAP EBITDA margin, up from prior ranges of $715 million–$735 million and 12%–13%.
• Positive Sentiment: The antitrust and competition economics practice posted its highest ever quarterly revenue and advised on major transactions like the $14 billion Hewlett-Packard/JNPR merger and a $460 million pharmaceutical jury verdict.
• Positive Sentiment: CRA $46.6 million returned to shareholders in Q2, including $3.4 million in dividends and $43.2 million in share repurchases, with $14.9 million of repurchase authorization remaining.

Presentation

[Operator]

Day, everyone, and welcome to Charles River Associates Second Quarter twenty twenty five Conference Call. Please note that today's call is being recorded. The company's earnings release and prepared CFO remarks are posted on the Investor Relations section of CRA's website at crai.com. With us today are CRA's President and Chief Executive Officer, Paul Malley and Chief Corporate Development Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer, Chad Holmes. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Mr. Holmes for opening remarks. Chad, please go ahead.

[Chad Holmes, EVP & Chief Corporate Development Officer at CRA International]

Thank you, Rob, and good morning to everyone. Please note that the statements made during this conference call, including guidance on future revenue and non GAAP EBITDA margin and any other statements concerning the future business, operating results or financial condition of CRA, including those statements using the terms expect, outlook or similar terms, are forward looking statements as defined in Section 21 of the Exchange Act. Information contained in these forward looking statements is based on management's current expectations and is inherently uncertain. Actual performance and results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements due to many important factors, including the level of demand for our services as a result of changes in general and industry specific economic conditions. Additional information regarding these factors is included in today's release and in CRA's periodic reports, including our most recently filed annual report on Form 10 ks and quarterly reports on Form 10 Q filed with the SEC.

[Chad Holmes, EVP & Chief Corporate Development Officer at CRA International]

CRA undertakes no obligation to update any forward looking statements after the date of this call. Additionally, we will refer to some non GAAP financial measures and certain measures presented on a constant currency basis on this call. Everyone is encouraged to refer to today's release and related CFO remarks for reconciliations of these non GAAP financial measures to their GAAP comparable measures and descriptions of the calculation of EBITDA and measures presented on a constant currency basis. I will now turn it over to Paul for his report. Paul?

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

Thanks, Chad, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. CRA's long term performance is indicative of the company's overall quality and demonstrates its ability to capitalize on growth opportunities in the market. We extended our run of strong performance into the 2025, building on seven consecutive years of record annual revenue and a best ever first quarter start to fiscal twenty twenty five, revenue in the second quarter increased by 9% year over year to $186,900,000 Our performance was broad based with seven of 11 practices growing year over year. Our antitrust and competition economics, energy, intellectual property, and labor and employment practices each posted double digit revenue growth.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

Additionally, our North American and international operations contributed to the quarter's revenue growth, increasing 9.47%, respectively. CRA continues to grow revenue and grow it profitably, improving profit margins and profit dollars over the past five years. The 2025 builds on this trend, surpassing the record setting 2024 for non GAAP net income, EPS and EBITDA by 6%, eight percent and eight percent respectively. During the second quarter, we welcome more than 50 new consultants, while improving consultant utilization on a year over year basis to 76%. We are especially pleased with the level of consultant productivity as the second and third quarters are typically periods of meaningful seasonal transitions, highlighted by inflows and outflows within our junior consultant ranks.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

The increase in utilization was supported by the continued replenishing of our sales pipeline. In the 2025, project lead flow increased by 2% year over year. Adjusting for the transition projects relating to the IP team that joined CRA in the 2024, project lead flow through the 2025 increased by 5% year over year. Revenue in the second quarter from CRA's legal and regulatory services increased by nearly 11%. This growth was supported by activity in the broader legal market as total case filings and total court judgments increased 176% respectively, compared to the 2024.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

Capitalizing on ongoing merger related activity continued demand for antitrust services, our antitrust and competition economics practice established a new high for quarterly revenue. The practice continues to support clients on high profile mergers as worldwide M and A activity reached nearly $2,000,000,000,000 during the 2025, an increase of 33% compared to year ago levels and the strongest opening period for deal making since 2022. During the second quarter, for example, CRA's competition practice provided critical economic analysis and expert testimony across multiple antitrust jurisdictions to support Hewlett Packard Enterprises and Juniper Networks in securing regulatory approval for their $14,000,000,000 merger, including clearing US federal and global antitrust hurdles. Members of our competition practice also provided economic analysis and testimony in a Delaware court that supported a successful $4.00 $6,000,000 jury verdict for a major pharmaceutical client. Relying in part on the CRA analysis, the court found that the defendant's bundling of drugs had unlawfully foreclosed competition resulting in punitive damages.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

In Q2, CRA's intellectual property practice advised on multiple high stakes litigation and valuation matters covering a broad range of industries and legal forms. For example, CRA's intellectual property and life sciences teams collaborated on a patent infringement case involving a new life saving transcatheter aortic valve technology where hundreds of millions in damages are at stake. CRA's IP expert quantified the patient life years saved due to this innovation and then valued these saved life years to determine a range of reasonable royalty rates. Concurrently, CRA's life sciences team provided support by interpreting medical studies related to the patented technologies benefit. In another IP matter, a CRA expert provided testimony regarding investments in a US domestic industry and public interest in an international trade investigation involving the manufacture of cochlear implants.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

The case resolved favorably for CRA's clients immediately prior to trial. CRA's labor and employment practice continues to be valued partner for clients in early stage assessments and mediation assistance in both discrimination and wage and hour litigation matters. For example, during the second quarter, a CRA expert opined in a class action lawsuit against the customer service support software company alleging underpayment of female employees in violation of the California Equal Pay Act. The CRA project team analyzed human resources and payroll data and submitted a rebuttal report demonstrating the flaws in the opposing experts' work. Within our management consulting services, revenue increased roughly 5% year over year, led by the continued strong performance of our energy practice.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

During the quarter, CRA's energy practice continued to experience strong demand across a wide range of service areas. The team is actively supporting utilities, developers, and investors as they navigate a rapidly evolving energy landscape shaped by policy shifts and accelerating load growth. Approximately half of the practice's work remains focused on utilities where we are helping clients reassess strategy and capital investment plans. Much of this activity is being driven by changes in federal renewable incentives and a surge in data center related electricity demand, both of which are prompting utilities to pivot and pursue new regulatory filings to realign their long term plans. As power availability becomes a gaining factor for data center development in key markets, the team is increasingly helping clients shape integrated approaches to infrastructure planning, contracting, and energy sourcing.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

During the second quarter, the energy practice advised an electric utility on how to structure its response to anticipated large load request. It also led a buy side due diligence for a client evaluating the acquisition of a data center asset and supported multiple developers on siting strategy and utility engagement. Our life sciences practice continued to adeptly navigate challenging industry dynamics, posting a slight decline in the second quarter, but expanding year over year for the 2025. In the second quarter, the practice continued to support clients' strategic initiatives across a range of strategy, policy, and expert witness projects. For example, the practice continues to work in the immune oncology space, helping clients to assess opportunities and develop launch strategies for new products and combination therapies.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

Overall, I'm grateful to all of my colleagues for their hard work during the second quarter as we helped our clients address their most important challenges. Combined with the first quarter, the start of fiscal twenty twenty five represents the best first half of revenue in the company's history. Year to date, on a constant currency basis relative to fiscal twenty twenty four, CRA generated total revenue of $367,600,000 and non GAAP EBITDA of $47,700,000 resulting in a margin of 13%. Given our strong first half results and a healthy pipeline, we are increasing our revenue guidance and raising the lower end of our profit guidance. For full year fiscal twenty twenty five, on a constant currency basis relative to fiscal twenty twenty four, we expect revenue in the range of $730,000,000 to $745,000,000 and non GAAP EBITDA margin in the range of 12.3% to 13.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

This new guidance compares with prior revenue range of $715,000,000 to $735,000,000 and non GAAP EBITDA margin in the range of 12% to 13%. As the remainder of our fiscal year ends on 01/03/2026, resulting in a fourteenth week in the 2025. While we are pleased with CRA's strong start to fiscal twenty twenty five, we remain mindful that uncertain global macroeconomic, business and political conditions can affect our business and our client needs. With that, I'll turn the call over to Chad for a few additional comments. Chad?

[Chad Holmes, EVP & Chief Corporate Development Officer at CRA International]

Thanks, Paul. As a reminder, more expansive commentary on our financial results is available on the Investor Relations section of our website under Prepared CFO Remarks. Before we get to your questions, I will provide a few additional metrics related to our performance in the 2025. In terms of consultant headcount, we ended the quarter at nine thirty seven, consisting of 159 officers, five fifty seven other senior staff, and two twenty one junior staff. This represents a 3.2% year over year decrease compared with the nine sixty eight consultant headcount reported at the end of Q2 fiscal twenty twenty four.

[Chad Holmes, EVP & Chief Corporate Development Officer at CRA International]

Adjusting for the effects of portfolio optimization actions completed over the past year, our current consultant headcount is flat year over year. Over the next couple of months, we look forward to welcoming the remainder of our 2025 analyst class, which in total will consist of more than 100 recent college graduates as we continue to feed those practices that are able to capitalize on growth opportunities. Non GAAP selling, general and administrative expenses, excluding the 2.4% attributable to commissions to non employee experts, was 16.3% of revenue for the 2025 compared with 16.4% a year ago. The effective tax rate for the 2025 on a non GAAP basis was 29% compared with 29.4% on a non GAAP basis for the 2024. Turning to the balance sheet.

[Chad Holmes, EVP & Chief Corporate Development Officer at CRA International]

DSO stood at 110 days at the end of the second quarter, consistent with the one hundred and ten days at the end of the 2024. DSO in the second quarter consisted of seventy three days of billed and thirty seven days of unbilled. With respect to our capital and capital deployment during the quarter, we concluded the quarter with $19,400,000 of cash and $120,000,000 of borrowings under our revolving credit facility, resulting in a net debt of $100,600,000 The borrowings were used to manage working capital needs during the first two quarters, including the funding of annual bonus payments as we have done in prior years. In addition to the normal bonus cycle, the 2025 saw cash outlays of $13,500,000 for talent investments and $1,200,000 for capital expenditures. During the second quarter, we returned $46,600,000 of capital to our shareholders, consisting of $3,400,000 of dividend payments and $43,200,000 for repurchases of approximately 231,000 shares.

[Chad Holmes, EVP & Chief Corporate Development Officer at CRA International]

We currently have $14,900,000 available under our share repurchase program. We concluded the 2025 with total liquidity of $145,900,000 consisting of $19,400,000 of cash and cash equivalents and a further $126,500,000 of availability on our line of credit. That concludes my prepared remarks. Before we open the call for questions, Paul has a few final comments. Paul?

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

Thanks, Chad. Before we start the Q and A, I want to take a moment to welcome the newest members of CRA's executive leadership team. As we announced last week by press release and effective August 4, Eric Nirenberg has been promoted to executive vice president, chief financial officer, and treasurer. Brian Langan has been promoted to executive vice president and chief strategy and business transformation officer. Stani David has been promoted to Principal Accounting Officer in addition to her current roles as CRA's Chief Accounting Officer and Controller. These leadership transitions reflect the breadth and depth of CRA's management talent and signal our commitment to long term strategic priorities.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

I also want to thank Chad for his help and leadership as interim CFO. He will continue to serve as CRA's executive vice president and chief corporate development officer. Chad and I look forward to working with our newly promoted colleagues as we continue executing our strategic plan to maximize CRA's long term value per share. And with that, we will open the call up for questions. Operator, please go ahead.

[Operator]

Thank you. At this time, we'll be conducting a question and answer session. Our first question comes from Mark Riddick with Sidoti and Company. Please proceed with your question.

[Marc Riddick, Senior Equity Analyst at Sidoti & Company, LLC]

Thank you. Good morning.

[Chad Holmes, EVP & Chief Corporate Development Officer at CRA International]

Good morning, Mark.

[Marc Riddick, Senior Equity Analyst at Sidoti & Company, LLC]

So I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about maybe some of the drivers around the guidance raise? And it's certainly encouraging, but I was sort of curious as to maybe how you feel about the levels of visibility this time of year relative to maybe what they've been historically, and if there were any particular things that sort of underpin that a bit.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

Sure. We begin with just again a strong 2025, and that's a continuation of a really strong fiscal twenty twenty four. So we've had great continuity across our portfolio in delivering profitable revenue growth. So we begin with that. We're also quite excited about the level of lead flow activity coming into the firm through the 2025.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

With respect to has our visibility changed standing here today, I would say no. But what we can't foresee is any kind of disruption associated with the geopolitical environment in the months and quarters ahead. But with everything that we see before us, we remain bullish about CRA's future.

[Marc Riddick, Senior Equity Analyst at Sidoti & Company, LLC]

Great. And I was sort of curious as to whether you're seeing much in the way of any particular shift in M and A regulatory needs with the current administration, whether that's changed much over the last few months or whether clients are engaged in a different form. And the other part of this, I guess, maybe the size of some of the deals that you've seen. Are you getting the sense that some the deals that you're working on have been larger? Are they sort of taking longer to sort of go through the process?

[Marc Riddick, Senior Equity Analyst at Sidoti & Company, LLC]

Or are they kind of similar to what they've been historically?

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

Yeah. I mean, I guess you've got to start with highlighting that our antitrust and competition economics practice again posted its best quarter ever. So their demand profile remains really strong both here in North America and internationally. I think it's difficult to answer your question just because of the small sample set we have to compare to. There's clearly been a lot of discussions about what's going on in The US regulatory bodies and what's going on abroad.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

But to say we have seen a noticeable shift just in these first seven months of fiscal twenty twenty five, I don't think I can say that. Deal levels in terms of size, no, no real change in the aggregate size of the deals, of the complexity, but we're getting called, on all these large prominent matters. And so we're pretty excited with that. And until we see any kind of sizable shift, we're going to continue business as usual.

[Marc Riddick, Senior Equity Analyst at Sidoti & Company, LLC]

Okay, great. And then have you seen much or maybe you can give us an update as to how you're feeling about the pricing environment or if you've seen much of the change through the year, if you're getting much of the wave of additional pushback in science in particular areas that we should think.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

Sure. So I can start with the rate increases that we put in for fiscal twenty twenty five appear to have gone through. We appear to be realizing these improvements in rates on our new projects in fiscal twenty twenty five. So we're quite pleased with that. I think clients continue, as they always have, to demand value.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

So you may increase rates, but commensurate with those increase in rates, you also have to think about how you are providing more efficient, services to our clients and you're doing that in the most cost effective manner possible. So we've always been asked about efficiency and value delivery and I think just the continued growth and success of the firm says that we're doing a pretty good job on meeting those expectations.

[Marc Riddick, Senior Equity Analyst at Sidoti & Company, LLC]

Great. And last one for me, just sort of curious as to the share repurchase activity, if there was any particular timing we should be thinking about that? Like was that sort of throughout the quarter or late in the quarter? How that registers to kind of where share count ended at the end of the quarter?

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

Sure.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

We have historically been very bullish on buying back CRA shares. That bullishness hasn't changed in fiscal twenty twenty five. We began the year quite optimistic about our outlook across the portfolio of services. And we have a plan, in terms of what we expect to deliver, on that outlook. And Q1 was a relatively small open window for share repurchases.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

So the majority of our share repurchase activity took place in Q2 and from really the launch of the open window until roughly about two weeks remaining into the quarter. And we put a pretty good dent in those share repurchases. The levels that we bought at and the prices that we purchased, we think still pose great value. And I think the updated guidance says that our outlook continues to align with our expectation.

[Marc Riddick, Senior Equity Analyst at Sidoti & Company, LLC]

Great. Thank you very much.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

Thank you, Mark.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Kevin Steinke with Barrington Research. Please proceed with your question.

[Kevin Steinke, Managing Director at Barrington Research Associates]

Hey, thanks and good morning.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

Good morning, Kevin.

[Kevin Steinke, Managing Director at Barrington Research Associates]

Wanted to start out by talking about the energy practice. You spent quite a bit of time in your prepared remarks talking about the demand drivers there. So I assume you're adding headcount there, but any plans or thoughts of scaling that practice even more given the demand drivers perhaps even through acquisitive or inorganic efforts?

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

Sure. What the energy practice has been doing over the last couple of years is really been remarkable. A lot of credit goes to the leadership group within our energy practice. They're doing it with a lot of grassroot effort, looking to supplement the skill sets they have through senior hires, looking through the promotion of internal candidates. So all of this has been through the hard work of Jim McMahon and the broader leadership group in the practice.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

With respect to larger inorganic opportunities, we continue to look. But we are not going to take on any kind of larger acquisition unless it fits nicely with the long term strategic goals of the practice. We're not chasing revenue and we're not chasing profits there. We want to chase strategic fit. And thus far, we haven't found the perfect match, but we continue to look.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

I would love to be able to invest even more dollars, in the practice, but they're doing a pretty remarkable job with the investments that they've enjoyed to date.

[Kevin Steinke, Managing Director at Barrington Research Associates]

Okay, yeah, makes sense. Great. So just curious about the management appointment you talked about specifically the creation of that Chief Strategy and Business Transformation Officer role. You know, what's the need you see there for that position and maybe what you hope to accomplish through that appointment.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

Sure. I'm really excited on the press release that we issued last week about these promotions. That press release follows a pretty comprehensive search that CRA conducted reviewing internal candidates, reviewing external candidates, and the promotion of Eric, Brian, and Sandy. We feel provides the highest value add for our colleagues, our clients, and the shareholders alike. Across all of these promotions, what we're trying to do is we're trying to raise the value of our the services that corporate is providing to our consulting colleagues.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

So with that, I'm asking Eric, I'm asking Brian, to shift more of their focus to higher value strategic initiatives that the practices have underway and having corporate, see in what areas we can help either funding or expedite these initiatives. So it's just more the continued evolution of CRA's growth and prosperity that we're just shifting a lot of the corporate focus to higher value added strategic initiatives. I've been working with Brian Langan for about twenty years, and to no surprise, many of the services that we're asking Brian to do going forward, he has already been doing for the last several years. And serving as the operations director of the competition practice, a unit that makes up roughly 45% of the entity is no small feat in of itself. So really excited about all three promotions and the value they can provide to CRA.

[Kevin Steinke, Managing Director at Barrington Research Associates]

Okay, great. And on the hiring front, new people you're bringing in from college campuses, you mentioned bringing in over 100 recent college graduates in the coming months. Would you characterize that as a fairly typical class or a little larger or smaller? I'm just kinda wondering how that relates to your, obviously, overall demand trends of the business and your view and your need to continue staffing up.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

Sure, we enjoyed a really successful on campus recruiting season that began in the 2024, and we are welcoming those individuals now in the 2025. So I think it was pretty typical of what we normally do. We've been receiving a lot of questions about headcount just because in aggregate headcount seems to be relatively flat. That doesn't mean that we are not hiring and investing for growth. As we do with our portfolio, we always are planting seeds of growth, trying to invest in areas that we see are gaining traction, and then also trying to redeploy investments that are maybe struggling to gain traction.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

So there's many practices that are growing heads and there's some that aren't enjoying as much success, currently in the market that we are slower in increasing their headcount. So net net, you're seeing a flat, head count, but as the utilization has picked up and as you see with really healthy revenue growth, it does not mean that CRA has gone into any kind of profit maximization mode. Our goal is still to maximize long term value per share and the practices that are able to benefit from headcount expansion are getting it. A great example are these four practices or five practices that we highlighted that grew double digit. All of them are expanding on their heads.

[Kevin Steinke, Managing Director at Barrington Research Associates]

All right, yeah, thanks for the commentary. I will turn it back over.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

Thank you, Kevin.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Andrew Nicholas with William Blair. Please proceed with your question.

[Andrew Nicholas, Research Analyst - Global Services at William Blair]

Hi, good morning. Appreciate you taking my question.

[Andrew Nicholas, Research Analyst - Global Services at William Blair]

A lot of my questions have been asked and answered, so I'll just maybe leave it to one multipart here on the antitrust business. I guess, curious if you're seeing any kind of major divergence in terms of growth or performance between the M and A related and non M and A related work within antitrust? And then second, if you could provide an update on talent retention and kind of recruiting conditions in that business specifically. Thanks, Paul.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

Sure. I think what I would start with is many of the merger matters that the antitrust competition economics practice is being retained on, many of the antitrust matters that it's being retained on are very long lived projects. So the incremental addition of projects in a given year, is sometimes not indicative of the maybe the larger trend or the performance of the firm. But our matters that existed prior to Q2 continue to generate benefits for the firm, and keeping large portions of the practice busy. The practice is also taking in both new merger matters and new antitrust enforcement matters.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

So to date, we haven't seen any kind of dramatic shift in the mix or the productivity of that business unit. With respect to headcount additions, it's been or subtractions, it's been relatively stable. You know, as we've talked about numerous times, not just because of the recent activity in our marketplace, but if you strive to be a first rate organization and provide high value added services, guess what? Your people are always gonna be recruited by your competitors in the marketplace. And Q1 and Q2 is no different.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

So our individuals always have opportunities and alternatives. And it's been our job as a corporation to make sure the environment is exciting and rewarding enough for them to elect to stay here. It's not because we are paying more money. Money is clearly an important component, to being competitive in the marketplace. But this is a state of the world that we've grown quite accustomed to it.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

I still do not like losing any colleagues to a competitor, but it is not something that we've had to deal with on any large scale basis in the past and during Q1 and Q2.

[Andrew Nicholas, Research Analyst - Global Services at William Blair]

Thank you.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

Great. Thank you, Andrew.

[Operator]

Have reached the end At of the question and answer this point, I'd like to turn the call back over to Paul Malley for closing comments.

[Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO at CRA International]

Thank you, Rob. And again, thanks to everyone for joining us today. We appreciate your time and interest in CRA. We'll be participating in meetings with investors in the coming months and we look forward to updating you on our progress on our third quarter call. With that, that concludes today's call. Thank you.

[Operator]

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and we thank you for your participation.

Participants

Executives

• Chad Holmes, EVP & Chief Corporate Development Officer
• Paul Maleh, Chairman, President & CEO

Analysts

• Marc Riddick, Senior Equity Analyst at Sidoti & Company, LLC
• Kevin Steinke, Managing Director at Barrington Research Associates
• Andrew Nicholas, Research Analyst - Global Services at William Blair