領先汽車配件 (AAP) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the Advance Auto Parts fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 earnings conference call. I would now like to turn it over to Lavesh Hemnani, Vice President of Investor Relations.

歡迎參加 Advance Auto Parts 2024 年第四季和全年財報電話會議。現在我想把發言權交給投資人關係副總裁 Lavesh Hemnani。

Good morning, and thank you for participating in today's call. I'm joined by Shane O'Kelly, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Ryan Grimsland, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. During today's call, we will be referencing slides which are available to view via webcast. The slides have also been posted to our Investor Relations website.

早安，感謝您參加今天的電話會議。和我一起出席的還有總裁兼執行長 Shane O'Kelly；以及執行副總裁兼財務長 Ryan Grimsland。在今天的電話會議中，我們將參考可透過網路廣播觀看的幻燈片。該幻燈片也已發佈到我們的投資者關係網站。

Before we begin, please be advised that management's remarks today will contain forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements regarding initiatives, plans, projections, guidance, and expectations for the future.

在我們開始之前，請注意，管理層今天的評論將包含前瞻性陳述。除歷史事實陳述之外的所有陳述均為前瞻性陳述，包括但不限於有關未來舉措、計劃、預測、指導和期望的陳述。

Actual results could differ materially from those projected or implied by the forward-looking statements. Additional information can be found under Forward-Looking Statements in our earnings release and Risk Factors in our most recent Form 10-K, and subsequent filings made with the SEC.

實際結果可能與前瞻性陳述預測或暗示的結果有重大差異。更多資訊可以在我們的收益報告中的前瞻性陳述和我們最新的 10-K 表格中的風險因素以及隨後向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中找到。

Shane will begin today's call with an update on the business and our strategic priorities. Later, Ryan will discuss 2024 results and 2025 guidance. Following management's prepared remarks, we will open the line for questions.

肖恩將在今天的電話會議上首先介紹業務進展和我們的策略重點。隨後，Ryan 將討論 2024 年的表現和 2025 年的指導。在管理階層發表完準備好的發言後，我們將開放問答專線。

Now let me turn over the call to our CEO, Shane O'Kelly.

現在，讓我將電話轉給我們的執行長 Shane O'Kelly。

Thank you, Lavesh, and good morning, everyone. I would like to begin today's call by thanking our entire team for their continued dedication and hard work during a difficult year. 2024 was pivotal for Advance. We reinforced our commitment to the blended box by taking transformative actions to divest noncore operations and optimize our asset base for growth.

謝謝你，拉維什，大家早安。在今天的電話會議上，我首先要感謝我們整個團隊在艱難的一年中持續的奉獻和辛勤工作。 2024 年對於 Advance 來說至關重要。我們採取轉型行動，剝離非核心業務並優化資產基礎以實現成長，從而加強了對混合業務的承諾。

We have rebuilt the organization under a leadership team that blends deep automotive knowledge with fundamental retail expertise. Most recently, we are excited to have Shweta Bhatia join as Chief Technology Officer; and Jeff Vining join as General Counsel.

我們在一個將深厚的汽車知識與基礎零售專業知識相結合的領導團隊的領導下重建了該組織。最近，我們很高興 Shweta Bhatia 加入並擔任技術長；傑夫·維寧 (Jeff Vining) 加入並擔任總法律顧問。

We are operating the company with a customer-first mindset. And our field and corporate teams have been empowered to prioritize actions to serve our customers' needs. In November, we introduced a three-year strategic plan with a focus on executing the basics, which will enable us to deliver adjusted operating margins of approximately 7% in 2027. We ended the year with liquidity to fuel our initiatives. And I remain optimistic about the future of Advance and our opportunities for value creation.

我們以客戶至上的理念來經營公司。我們的現場和公司團隊有權優先採取行動來滿足客戶的需求。11 月，我們推出了一項三年策略計劃，重點是執行基礎工作，這將使我們能夠在 2027 年實現約 7% 的調整後營業利潤率。我們在年底以流動性來推動我們的計劃。我仍然對 Advance 的未來和我們創造價值的機會持樂觀態度。

Moving to our results, our fourth-quarter and full-year financial performance was broadly in line with the range of revised expectations we shared in November. We reported an improvement in comparable sales during Q4, although profitability was impacted by transitory costs related to our strategic actions. We are in the early stages of stabilizing our operations and expect results to gradually improve as we move through 2025. Ryan will provide details later.

談到我們的業績，我們的第四季和全年財務業績與我們 11 月發布的修訂預期範圍基本一致。儘管獲利能力受到與我們的策略行動相關的暫時成本的影響，但我們報告第四季度的可比銷售額有所改善。我們正處於穩定營運的早期階段，預計到 2025 年業績將逐步改善。Ryan 稍後將提供詳細資訊。

Along with announcing our results this morning, we reiterated our three-year goals and provided additional detail on our first-quarter expectations. As we execute our strategic plan, we expect to get back on the path of delivering positive comparable sales growth and delivering more than 500 basis points of improved operating margin over the next three years.

今天上午，我們在公佈業績的同時，重申了三年目標，並提供了有關第一季預期的更多細節。隨著我們執行策略計劃，我們預計未來三年將重回實現可比銷售額正成長的軌道，並將營業利潤率提高 500 個基點以上。

To support this plan, leaders across the organization have set clearly identifiable milestones, and we are closely tracking against our KPIs. There is a lot of positive change happening across the company, and our teams are energized for the path forward. We fueled that energy with Accelerate 2025, our national leadership meeting which returned after a 10-year hiatus.

為了支持該計劃，整個組織的領導者都設定了清晰可辨的里程碑，我們正在密切追蹤我們的 KPI。整個公司正在發生許多積極的變化，我們的團隊為前進的道路注入了活力。我們透過「加速 2025」來激發這種活力，這是我們時隔 10 年後再次召開的全國領導人會議。

Using the theme of connect, act, and advance, we showcased how we are connecting as one team to execute key priorities to advance our turnaround. Nearly 1,500 team members and more than 400 vendor representatives participated. The event provided our field leaders an opportunity to learn about new products and engage in training to better serve our customers.

我們以「連結、行動和前進」為主題，展示了我們如何作為一個團隊連結起來，執行關鍵優先事項，從而推動我們的轉變。近1500名團隊成員和400多名供應商代表參加。此次活動為我們的現場領導提供了了解新產品和參與培訓的機會，以便更好地服務我們的客戶。

We recognized top performers and discussed how our three-year strategic plan is geared to providing access to the right part at the right place, with the right service for our customers. I would like to thank our vendor partners that participated at the event. We continue to see overwhelming support from the vendor community in our efforts to turn around the company.

我們表彰了表現最佳的員工，並討論了我們的三年策略計劃如何為客戶提供在正確地點獲得正確零件以及正確服務的機會。我要感謝參加此次活動的供應商合作夥伴。在我們努力扭轉公司局面的過程中，我們繼續得到供應商社群的大力支持。

This was evident in some of the feedback from vendors who told us that, one, they appreciate our commitment to improving operations by focusing on the basics; two, they are experiencing a new level of energy and engagement from the Advance team; and three, they appreciate our partnership approach and sense of urgency to drive results. This feedback is important, as merchandising excellence is critical to our success in the turnaround. And I am pleased to see the progress made by our team.

一些供應商的回饋明顯地表明了這一點，他們告訴我們，第一，他們讚賞我們致力於透過專注於基礎來改善營運；二是他們感受到了 Advance 團隊新水平的活力和參與度；第三，他們讚賞我們的合作方式和推動成果的緊迫感。這種回饋非常重要，因為卓越的商品銷售對於我們成功扭轉局面至關重要。我很高興看到我們團隊的進步。

Next slide. At the foundation of our strategic plan are three pillars that put us on a path to deliver consistent profitable growth. Functional teams across merchandising, supply chain, and stores have begun to implement specific plans to drive progress over the next three years.

下一張投影片。我們的策略計劃的基礎是三大支柱，它們使我們走上實現持續獲利成長的道路。商品銷售、供應鏈和商店的職能團隊已開始實施具體計劃，以推動未來三年的進展。

Importantly, to drive greater accountability across our teams, we have assigned a critical performance indicator for each pillar to track progress. In our view, the successful execution of these activities will improve the experience for our customers, team members ,and vendors, and enable the company to deliver stronger sales and profitability over the long term. Now I will provide an update on the progress within each strategic pillar.

重要的是，為了增強我們團隊的責任感，我們為每個支柱指定了一個關鍵績效指標來追蹤進度。我們認為，這些活動的成功實施將改善我們的客戶、團隊成員和供應商的體驗，並使公司能夠長期實現更強勁的銷售和獲利能力。現在我將介紹每個策略支柱的最新進展。

Let's begin with merchandising. Our team has made considerable progress over the last year, conducting line reviews for front and backroom assortment to secure quality products at the right cost. We are partnering with vendors on both product selection and growth opportunities. We expect the savings from lower product costs to build throughout the year, with a larger benefit expected to be realized in the second half of 2025.

讓我們從商品銷售開始。我們的團隊在過去的一年裡取得了長足的進步，對前廳和後廳的商品進行了生產線審查，以確保以合適的成本提供優質的產品。我們正在與供應商就產品選擇和成長機會進行合作。我們預計，產品成本降低的節省將在全年持續，預計在 2025 年下半年實現更大的收益。

Our merchant team has built strong analytical rigor to identify SKU needs based on car park characteristics, competitive insights, and deep knowledge from our field team. In the process, we are gaining a better understanding of the universe of parts required in our system, which is helping us better plan inventory across our store and DC network.

我們的商家團隊已經建立了強大的分析嚴謹性，根據停車場特徵、競爭洞察力和現場團隊的深厚知識來確定 SKU 需求。在此過程中，我們對系統所需的零件範圍有了更好的了解，這有助於我們更好地規劃整個商店和 DC 網路的庫存。

To move parts closer to the customer and to enable our store teams to access parts faster, we are focusing on improved store-based availability. Having the right parts at the store level for each designated market area or DMA will enable us to improve service levels for customers.

為了將零件更貼近客戶並使我們的商店團隊能夠更快地獲取零件，我們正致力於提高商店的可用性。在每個指定的市場區域或 DMA 的商店層級上擁有合適的零件將使我們能夠提高為客戶提供的服務水準。

During Q4, we piloted the new assortment framework in a DMA in the Southeast. We created a top-down assortment plan for each store, hub, and market hub in this DMA, which at the store level led to the replacement of hundreds of SKUs. Since launching the pilot, we have seen an improvement in performance for stores in the pilot DMA compared to a control group of stores.

在第四季度，我們在東南部的 DMA 中試行了新的分類架構。我們為這個 DMA 中的每個商店、中心和市場中心製定了自上而下的分類計劃，這在商店層面導致了數百個 SKU 的替換。自啟動試點以來，我們發現與對照組商店相比，試行 DMA 中的商店的表現有所改善。

Encouraged by these results, we made the decision to roll out the new assortment framework across the top 50 DMAs over the next 12 to 18 months. This rollout will cover more than 70% of our sales, and we believe the phased approach will enable us to effectively manage the resources and implementation.

受這些結果的鼓舞，我們決定在未來 12 到 18 個月內將新的分類架構推廣到前 50 個 DMA。此次推廣將涵蓋我們 70% 以上的銷售額，我們相信分階段的方法將使我們能夠有效地管理資源和實施。

The completion of this rollout will lay a strong foundation for increased access to parts for our stores and support our goal of improving store in-stock depth to the high 90s range from the low 90s range where it is today. Improvement in the SKU depth will enable our field team to serve customers faster, driving more repeatable business for the company.

此次推廣的完成將為增加我們商店的零件供應奠定堅實的基礎，並支持我們將商店庫存深度從目前的 90 多萬提高到 90 多萬的目標。SKU 深度的提高將使我們的現場團隊能夠更快地為客戶提供服務，為公司帶來更多可重複的業務。

Next slide. In terms of supply chain, during 2024, we made significant progress on the transformation and build-out of our multi-echelon distribution network. We began our consolidation project in late 2023 when we operated 38 DCs in the US. Since then, we have closed 10 and expect to close another 12 in 2025, including four DCs on the West Coast to end the year with 16 DCs. Our ultimate goal is to operate 12 large DCs by the end of 2026, with an average footprint of approximately 500,000 square feet per facility.

下一張投影片。供應鏈方面，2024年，我們在多層分銷網絡的轉型和建設上取得了重大進展。我們在 2023 年底開始實施整合項目，當時我們在美國經營 38 個配送中心。自那時起，我們已經關閉了 10 個 DC，預計在 2025 年將關閉另外 12 個，其中包括西海岸的 4 個 DC，到年底我們將擁有 16 個 DC。我們的最終目標是到 2026 年底營運 12 個大型配送中心，每個配送中心的平均佔地面積約為 50 萬平方英尺。

As we complete the consolidation of these DCs and flow higher volume, we expect to drive incremental labor productivity measured in product lines per hour. At the end of Q4, we saw a modest improvement in this metric and continue to target consistent improvement over time. Performance in this metric is expected to be driven by effective allocation of labor in DCs, optimization of pick pack processes, and stronger collaboration with our merchant team to consolidate inbound volume.

隨著我們完成這些配送中心的整合並提高物流量，我們期望推動以每小時產品線為單位的勞動生產力的提高。在第四季末，我們看到這項指標略有改善，並將繼續致力於隨著時間的推移持續改善。預計此指標的表現將受到以下因素的推動：配送中心勞動力的有效分配、揀貨包裝流程的優化，以及與我們的商家團隊加強合作以整合入庫量。

Also in 2024, we continued our expansion of market hub stores. We currently operate 19, with 17 of them opened in 2024. During 2025, we plan to open 10 more, while simultaneously building our pipeline for openings in 2026 and 2027.

此外，在 2024 年，我們將繼續擴張市場中心門市。我們目前經營 19 家酒店，其中 17 家將於 2024 年開業。我們計劃在 2025 年再開設 10 家新店，同時為 2026 年和 2027 年的開幕做準備。

The opening of fewer market hubs in 2025 compared to 2024 is due to a temporary reprioritization of supply chain activities to complete store and DC closures, and the related rebalancing of inventory across our network. We expect to accelerate the pace of market hub openings in 2026 and continue to target 60 locations by mid-2027.

與 2024 年相比，2025 年開設的市場中心數量減少，這是因為暫時重新調整了供應鏈活動的優先順序，以完成商店和配送中心的關閉，以及我們網路中庫存的相關重新平衡。我們預計在 2026 年加快市場中心開放的步伐，並繼續以 2027 年中期達到 60 個地點為目標。

The market hubs are designed to increase our speed of service by placing approximately 85,000 SKUs closer to the customer, which increases same-day parts availability. A market hub typically supports 60 to 90 stores in its radius. Through the end of 2024, the market hubs and their network of service stores were delivering above-target comparable sales growth. While still relatively early, these results give us confidence in our strategic direction and our ability to drive stronger sales in the years to come.

市場中心旨在透過將大約 85,000 個 SKU 放置在更靠近客戶的位置來提高我們的服務速度，從而增加當天零件的可用性。一個市場中心通常支援其半徑範圍內的 60 到 90 家商店。到 2024 年底，市場中心及其服務店網路將實現高於目標的可比較銷售額成長。雖然還處於相對早期的階段，但這些結果讓我們對我們的策略方向和未來幾年推動更強勁銷售的能力充滿信心。

While we consolidate DCs and scale the growth of our market hubs, we have also begun initial work to optimize both the routing of replenishment orders from DCs and the movement of product between hubs and stores. We are in the early stages of implementing a new routing framework, following changes to our store and DC footprint. This is expected to be rolled out in stages through the year.

在我們整合配送中心並擴大市場中心成長的同時，我們也已開始初步工作，以優化配送中心補貨訂單的路線以及中心和商店之間的產品流動。隨著我們的商店和 DC 佈局發生變化，我們正處於實施新路線框架的早期階段。預計該計劃將於年內分階段推出。

This optimization is designed to increase the number of stops that our delivery trucks make on each route, while also maximizing the amount of product delivered per stop. Based on our 2025 operating plan, we expect the combination of DC labor productivity and routing optimization to drive supply chain costs lower and improve gross margin in the second half of 2025.

此項優化旨在增加我們的送貨卡車在每條路線上的停靠次數，同時最大限度地提高每次停靠運送的產品數量。根據我們的2025年營運計劃，我們預計DC勞動生產力和路線優化的結合將在2025年下半年降低供應鏈成本並提高毛利率。

Next slide. In our stores, the team is focused on improving speed of service. Faster service times enhance the utilization of our asset base, which yields higher labor productivity. During Q4, we modestly improved our time to serve. However, we are still behind our goal of delivering parts to our pro customers within 30 to 40 minutes.

下一張投影片。在我們的商店，團隊專注於提高服務速度。更快的服務時間提高了我們資產基礎的利用率，從而提高了勞動生產力。在第四季度，我們適度改善了服務時間。然而，我們仍然未能實現在 30 到 40 分鐘內將零件交付給專業客戶的目標。

Our merchandising and supply chain teams are making strides in expanding access to parts for our stores. To capitalize on this and to increase the speed and quality of service, our store leadership is putting in place a standardized store operating structure, which guides our teams on store labor scheduling and better allocates resources such as delivery trucks and driver hours.

我們的商品銷售和供應鏈團隊正在大力拓展我們商店的零件取得管道。為了利用這一點並提高服務速度和質量，我們的商店領導層正在建立標準化的商店運營結構，指導我們的團隊進行商店勞動力調度並更好地分配送貨卡車和司機時間等資源。

We started testing this new model at the end of 2024 and saw a clear divergence with improved performance in the test stores. The results of this test are encouraging when you consider that we are still in the early stages of accurately placing assortment at the store level. During Q1, we will be expanding this test to additional markets to further refine our resource allocation parameters and expect to launch the new model across all stores by the end of the year.

我們從 2024 年底開始測試這種新模式，並在測試商店中看到了明顯的差異和性能的提升。考慮到我們仍處於在商店層級準確定位商品種類的早期階段，這次測試的結果是令人鼓舞的。在第一季度，我們將把這項測試擴展到更多市場，以進一步完善我們的資源配置參數，並預計在年底前在所有商店推出新模式。

Based on feedback from field members at our national sales meeting last month, I sensed a new level of excitement around this operating model. As an example, today, our GM spend more time than necessary on hiring, staffing, and scheduling. The standardized operating model makes these activities more efficient, which frees up GM time to focus on training and customer service.

根據上個月全國銷售會議上現場成員的回饋，我感覺到人們對這種營運模式的興奮程度達到了一個新的水平。例如，今天，我們的總經理在招募、人員配置和日程安排上花費了過多的時間。標準化的營運模式使這些活動更加高效，從而使通用汽車有更多時間專注於培訓和客戶服務。

During 2025, our plan assumes a sequential improvement in time to serve as we expand the operating model throughout the country. The improved service levels will enable us to drive higher transaction volumes and position us to leverage expenses with an improvement in sales.

2025年，我們的計畫是隨著我們在全國擴展營運模式，逐步改善服務。服務水準的提高將使我們能夠推動更高的交易量，並使我們能夠透過提高銷售額來控制費用。

To conclude my section, let me provide an update on our store closure activity. Immediately on the heels of the Worldpac sale, our team diligently assessed and identified store closure opportunities to better position the company for long-term success. We made the difficult decision to close approximately 500 corporate stores and 200 independent locations.

最後，讓我來總結一下我們商店關閉活動的最新情況。在 Worldpac 出售之後，我們的團隊立即認真評估並確定了關閉門市的機會，以便更好地幫助公司取得長期成功。我們做出了一個艱難的決定，關閉大約 500 家公司商店和 200 家獨立商店。

The process consisted of four major work streams: one, communicating to individual stores and preparing the stores for closure; two, conducting liquidation sales at stores and transferring pro customers to alternate locations; three, negotiating lease terminations; and four, the physical closure and handover of stores.

流程包括四個主要工作流程：一、與各個商店溝通並為商店關閉做好準備；二、在商店進行清倉大甩賣，並將專業客戶轉移至其他地點；三、協商終止租約；四是門市實體關閉及交接。

I am pleased to report that our progress on each of these activities is meeting expectations against very aggressive timelines. We began liquidating inventory at closing stores and DC locations in late November, and expect to be largely complete over the next few weeks.

我很高興地報告，我們在每項活動中的進展都在非常緊迫的時間表內達到預期。我們於 11 月底開始清理關閉的商店和 DC 地點的庫存，預計將在未來幾週內基本完成。

We have successfully negotiated leases for more than 250 stores, with termination costs tracking favorably against expectations. And we will exit the majority of our lease obligations by the end of the year. In January, we began the physical closure of stores and expect the closures to be fully complete by the end of March, ahead of our original mid-2025 timeline.

我們已成功協商了超過 250 家商店的租約，終止成本超出預期。我們將在今年年底前履行大部分租賃義務。今年 1 月，我們開始關閉實體門市，預計關閉工作將於 3 月底全面完成，比我們原定的 2025 年中期時間表提前。

Regarding the independent stores, we stopped servicing 191 locations at the end of Q4. The bulk of those locations are in the West and serviced by DCs that are also being closed. Ending service to these independent locations will simplify supply chain logistics and help save costs.

關於獨立商店，我們在第四季末停止了對 191 個地點的服務。這些地點大部分位於西部，由同樣關閉的配送中心提供服務。終止對這些獨立地點的服務將簡化供應鏈物流並有助於節省成本。

On the customer side, our pro sales team has proactively reached out to customers impacted by the closures in their service area. And wherever possible, we have transitioned that pro business to a nearby store. Our pro team will continue to maintain regular dialogue with these customers and provide solutions to serve them effectively.

在客戶方面，我們的專業銷售團隊已主動聯繫其服務區域內受關閉影響的客戶。只要有可能，我們就會將專業業務轉移到附近的商店。我們的專業團隊將繼續與這些客戶保持定期對話，並提供解決方案以有效地為他們服務。

Executing closures of this magnitude has been a major undertaking, and I want to acknowledge the tremendous effort of our team. We have moved with urgency to close these locations ahead of our original timeline so that we can allow our teams to quickly pivot to long-term foundational improvements for our business.

執行如此規模的關閉是一項重大任務，我要感謝我們團隊的巨大努力。我們緊急採取行動，提前關閉這些門市，以便我們的團隊能夠快速轉向業務的長期基礎改善。

Let me now hand the call over to Ryan to discuss our financials. Ryan?

現在，讓我將電話交給瑞安來討論我們的財務狀況。瑞安？

Thank you, Shane, and good morning, everyone. I would like to thank the Advance team for their hard work over the past year and especially over the last few months, as we began executing our three-year plan. I also want to thank our frontline team for their dedication to serving our customers every single day.

謝謝你，肖恩，大家早安。我要感謝 Advance 團隊在過去一年中，特別是在我們開始執行三年計畫的最後幾個月中的辛勤工作。我還要感謝我們的第一線團隊每天竭誠為客戶服務。

As indicated last quarter, we made certain changes in the presentation of our financial statements. First, our results show a breakdown of continuing operations for the Advance business, excluding discontinued operations related to the sale of Worldpac.

正如上個季度所指出的，我們對財務報表的呈現方式做了一些改變。首先，我們的結果顯示了 Advance 業務的持續經營細目，不包括與 Worldpac 出售相關的已停止經營業務。

Second, to provide a better understanding of our performance, we report select financial measures on an adjusted non-GAAP basis to exclude the impact of certain items. Our guidance and financial plan for the next three years is based on these adjusted financial measures.

其次，為了更了解我們的業績，我們根據調整後的非公認會計準則報告精選財務指標，以排除某些項目的影響。我們對未來三年的指導和財務計劃是基於這些調整後的財務指標。

Lastly, we are providing detail on atypical items that impacted performance. These items include transitory costs and expenses associated with our strategic actions. In our view, looking at our reported results through this lens will provide a helpful understanding of our underlying performance.

最後，我們將提供有關影響性能的非典型項目的詳細資訊。這些項目包括與我們的策略行動相關的暫時成本和費用。我們認為，透過這個視角來看待我們報告的結果將有助於理解我們的基本表現。

Now let's turn to our results. As Shane mentioned, we moved with urgency to execute store closures. As a result, our fourth-quarter and full-year financials include costs associated with these closures, although comparable sales exclude closing store locations.

現在讓我們來看看我們的結果。正如 Shane 所提到的，我們緊急採取行動關閉商店。因此，我們的第四季和全年財務報表包括與這些關閉門市相關的成本，儘管可比銷售額不包括關閉門市的位置。

Fourth-quarter net sales from continuing operations were $2 billion, a 1% decrease compared with Q4 last year. Comparable stores declined 1% and exclude closing store locations that generated $74 million in liquidation sales. Our comp performance was stronger in the second half of Q4 and especially in December, as extreme winter weather conditions drove demand for failure-related items such as batteries.

第四季持續經營淨銷售額為 20 億美元，較去年第四季下降 1%。可比商店銷售額下降了 1%，不包括關閉的商店，這些商店的清算銷售額為 7,400 萬美元。由於極端冬季天氣條件推動了對電池等故障相關物品的需求，我們的公司業績在第四季度下半月，尤其是 12 月表現更為強勁。

In terms of channel performance, our pro comp was slightly negative and outperformed DIY, which declined in low single-digit range. On a two-year basis, our pro comp continued to track positive. During Q4, transactions declined in the low single-digit range in both channels, although pro performed relatively better.

在通路表現方面，我們的專業競爭對手略有下降，表現優於 DIY，而 DIY 的下滑幅度在個位數以下。從兩年來看，我們的專業薪資水準持續保持正向態勢。在第四季度，兩個通路的交易量均出現低個位數下降，但專業通路的表現相對較好。

Average ticket grew in the low single-digit range and was positive in both channels. From a category perspective, we also saw strength in filters and fluids and chemicals, while discretionary categories remain pressured.

平均票價成長幅度在個位數以下，且兩個通路均呈現正成長。從類別角度來看，我們也看到過濾器、液體和化學物質表現強勁，而非必需品類別仍面臨壓力。

Adjusted gross profit from continuing operations was $779 million or 39% of net sales, resulting in gross margin contraction of 170 basis points compared to last year. The lower gross margin was driven by two transitory factors, both of which are not included in our non-GAAP adjustments: first, approximately 180 basis points of headwind related to end-of-year inventory adjustments associated with an annual review of vendor balances and inventory associated with DCs closed during the year; and second, approximately 100 basis points headwind associated with liquidation sales.

調整後持續經營毛利潤為 7.79 億美元，佔淨銷售額的 39%，導致毛利率與去年相比收縮 170 個基點。毛利率較低是由兩個暫時性因素造成的，這兩個因素均未包含在我們的非 GAAP 調整中：首先，與年度審查供應商餘額和年內關閉的 DC 相關的庫存有關的年終庫存調整帶來了約 180 個基點的不利因素；其次，清算銷售帶來約 100 個基點的不利因素。

Without the impact of these factors, our gross margin would have been in line with the revised expectations shared in November, reflecting seasonally lower gross margin in Q4 and expense deleverage due to the lower sales volume year over year.

如果沒有這些因素的影響，我們的毛利率將與 11 月修改後的預期一致，這反映了第四季度季節性毛利率下降以及由於銷售量同比下降導致的費用去槓桿。

Adjusted SG&A from continuing operations was $878 million, or 44% of net sales resulted in deleverage of 175 basis points compared to last year and primarily driven by higher labor-related expenses. As a result, adjusted operating loss from continuing operations came in at $99 million or negative 5% of net sales.

持續經營業務的調整後銷售、一般及行政費用為 8.78 億美元，佔淨銷售額的 44%，與去年相比，導致去槓桿率降低 175 個基點，主要原因是勞動力相關費用增加。結果，調整後的持續經營虧損達到 9,900 萬美元，佔淨銷售額的負 5%。

Adjusted diluted loss per share from continuing operations was $1.18 compared with a loss of $0.45 per share in the prior year. We ended the year with negative free cash flow of $40 million compared with negative $84 million in the prior year. Free cash flow includes approximately $90 million of cash expenses associated with store closures. Adjusting for these expenses, free cash flow would have been positive.

調整後持續經營每股攤薄虧損為 1.18 美元，去年同期每股虧損為 0.45 美元。我們今年的自由現金流為負 4,000 萬美元，而前一年為負 8,400 萬美元。自由現金流包括與關閉商店相關的約 9000 萬美元的現金支出。調整這些費用後，自由現金流將為正值。

There were atypical gross margin factors that negatively impacted Q4 results, which were not included in our reported adjusted non-GAAP results. We estimate that these items amounted to approximately 280 basis points of operating margin headwind and approximately $0.68 of EPS headwind during the fourth quarter.

有一些非典型毛利率因素對第四季業績產生了負面影響，但這些因素並未計入我們報告的調整後非公認會計準則業績中。我們估計，這些項目在第四季度造成營業利潤率約 280 個基點的不利影響，每股收益約 0.68 美元的不利影響。

Next, let's recap our full-year 2024 financial performance. For the full year, net sales from continuing operations were $9.1 billion, a 1% decrease compared to last year. Full-year comparable store sales declined 70 basis points, driven by the deceleration in the second half of the year and attributed to the overall softness in consumer spending environment, including deferral in spending for maintenance items as seen across the industry in 2024.

接下來，讓我們回顧一下我們2024年全年的財務表現。全年持續經營淨銷售額為 91 億美元，較去年同期下降 1%。全年同店銷售額下降 70 個基點，原因是下半年成長減速，並歸因於消費者支出環境整體疲軟，包括 2024 年整個產業對維護項目支出的延遲。

In terms of channel performance, our full-year pro comp was positive, while DIY declined in the low single-digit range. Transactions declined in the low single-digit range, mainly driven by DIY, while pro transactions were relatively flat year over year. Average ticket grew in the low single-digit range in both channels. From a category perspective, we saw strength in batteries, filters and engine management, while sales in discretionary categories were weaker.

在通路表現方面，我們的全年專業業績為正，而 DIY 則下降了個位數。交易量下降幅度在個位數以下，主要原因是 DIY，而專業交易量較去年同期相對持平。兩個通路的平均票價均實現了低個位數成長。從類別角度來看，電池、濾網和引擎管理產品表現強勁，而其他非必需品類別的銷售則較弱。

Adjusted gross profit from continuing operations was $3.8 billion or 42.2% of net sales and an expansion of approximately 30 basis points compared to last year. Our full-year gross margin performance benefited from lapping approximately 160 basis points of inventory-related headwinds from last year. However, this benefit was partially offset by the $100 million in price investments to realign our pricing to market levels and the expense deleverage associated with lower sales volume.

調整後持續經營毛利潤為 38 億美元，佔淨銷售額的 42.2%，較去年同期成長約 30 個基點。我們的全年毛利率表現受益於去年約 160 個基點的庫存相關不利因素。然而，這項收益被 1 億美元的價格投資部分抵消，投資的目的是將我們的定價重新調整到市場水平，以及與銷售量下降相關的費用去槓桿。

Also, as indicated previously, transitory cost factors related to additional inventory adjustments, closing store liquidation sales, loss of revenue due to hurricane and system outages during the year impacted gross margin. We estimate these transitory factors collectively drove approximately 90 basis points of headwind for the full year and are not included in our adjusted non-GAAP results.

此外，如前所述，與額外庫存調整、關閉商店清算銷售、颶風造成的收入損失以及年度系統中斷相關的暫時性成本因素影響了毛利率。我們估計這些暫時性因素合計導致全年出現約 90 個基點的不利因素，且未計入我們調整後的非 GAAP 業績中。

Adjusted SG&A from continuing operations was $3.8 billion or 41.8% of net sales, driving a deleverage of approximately 50 basis points compared to 2023, primarily driven by higher labor-related expenses. Our full-year SG&A expenses were consistent with expectations provided at the start of the year for aggregate spending to be flat to slightly up.

持續經營業務的調整後銷售、一般及行政費用為 38 億美元，佔淨銷售額的 41.8%，與 2023 年相比，推動去槓桿率降低約 50 個基點，主要原因是勞動力相關費用增加。我們的全年銷售、一般及行政費用與年初的預期一致，即總支出持平或略有上升。

Adjusted operating income from continuing operations was $35 million and 40 basis points as a percent of net sales compared to 60 basis points last year. Adjusted diluted loss per share from continuing operations was $0.29 compared with a loss of $0.28 last year.

調整後的持續經營營業收入為 3,500 萬美元，佔淨銷售額的百分比為 40 個基點，而去年同期為 60 個基點。調整後持續經營每股攤薄虧損為 0.29 美元，去年同期每股虧損為 0.28 美元。

To conclude my discussion of full-year results, I am also pleased to report that we have successfully remediated all outstanding material weaknesses as of the end of 2024. I would like to thank our finance and accounting teams for achieving this in line with our original timeline and for their efforts in enhancing our control environment. I am excited to welcome Michael Beland as Chief Accounting Officer.

在結束我對全年業績的討論時，我還很高興地報告，截至 2024 年底，我們已成功修復所有未解決的重大缺陷。我要感謝我們的財務和會計團隊按照我們原定的時間表實現這一目標，並感謝他們為改善我們的控制環境所做的努力。我很高興歡迎邁克爾貝蘭德 (Michael Beland) 擔任首席會計官。

Certain atypical items influenced results during the year, and we believe the disclosure of these items provides a clearer picture of the underlying performance of our business. We estimate atypical items amounted to approximately 60 basis points of operating margin headwind and approximately $0.64 of EPS headwind during the year.

某些非典型項目影響了年度業績，我們相信揭露這些項目可以更清楚地反映我們業務的基本表現。我們估計，非典型專案在當年造成了約 60 個基點的營業利潤率逆風和約 0.64 美元的每股盈餘逆風。

As it relates to our cash and liquidity position, we remain committed to maintaining sufficient liquidity over our three-year planning horizon. At the end of the fourth quarter, we had approximately $1.9 billion of cash on our balance sheet. The increase in cash compared to last quarter is mainly related to proceeds from the Worldpac sale in November.

就我們的現金和流動性狀況而言，我們仍致力於在三年規劃期內保持充足的流動性。截至第四季末，我們的資產負債表上約有 19 億美元現金。與上一季相比，現金的增加主要與 11 月份 Worldpac 出售的收益有關。

Net proceeds from the transaction are now estimated at approximately $1.45 billion, following payment of transaction fees and preliminary tax assessment of the transaction. The tax liability is now estimated to be approximately $200 million lower than our prior expectation.

在支付交易費用和初步稅收評估後，該交易的淨收益目前估計約為 14.5 億美元。目前估計的稅負比我們先前預期的低約 2 億美元。

Separately, as indicated last quarter, we are incurring certain cash expenses associated with closures of stores and DCs. In aggregate, we now expect to spend approximately $300 million, which is in line with the low end of our prior expectation.

另外，如上個季度所示，我們正在發生與關閉商店和配送中心相關的某些現金支出。總體而言，我們現在預計將花費約 3 億美元，這與我們先前預期的低端一致。

This revised outlook is being driven by favorability in lease negotiations that Shane referenced earlier and lower-than-expected closure costs. During 2024, we incurred approximately $90 million of these expenses and expect the majority of the balance to be incurred in the first quarter of 2025.

這項修改後的前景受到 Shane 先前提到的租賃談判的有利因素以及低於預期的關閉成本的影響。2024 年，我們發生了約 9,000 萬美元的此類費用，預計大部分餘額將在 2025 年第一季發生。

The combination of lower-than-expected tax liability for the Worldpac transaction and store closure expenses has further enhanced our cash position and strengthened our balance sheet. Our current cash position does not include availability under our revolving credit facility, which is fully undrawn.

Worldpac 交易的稅負低於預期，加上門市關閉費用，進一步增強了我們的現金狀況，並強化了我們的資產負債表。我們目前的現金狀況不包括循環信貸額度下的可用資金，該額度尚未全部提取。

Moving to an update on full-year guidance. As a reminder, 2025 is a 53-week fiscal period, and our guidance includes the contribution from an extra week in the fourth quarter. Starting with net sales, we expect net sales in the range of $8.4 billion to $8.6 billion, which is a reduction of 5% to 8% year over year due to store closures. We expect comparable sales growth of 50 to 150 basis points on a 52-week basis.

轉向全年指導的更新。提醒一下，2025 年是一個 53 週的財務期間，我們的指導包括第四季度額外一週的貢獻。從淨銷售額開始，我們預計淨銷售額在 84 億美元至 86 億美元之間，由於門市關閉，年減 5% 至 8%。我們預計 52 週內可比較銷售額將成長 50 至 150 個基點。

We expect sequential improvement in comparable sales during 2025, with stronger growth in the back half of the year, supported by our strategic focus on improving parts availability and customer service levels. During the first half, we will be cycling through the $100 million of price investments from 2024, which will pressure comparable sales growth.

我們預計，2025 年可比銷售額將環比改善，下半年將實現更強勁的成長，這得益於我們專注於提高零件供應和客戶服務水準的策略重點。上半年，我們將從 2024 年開始循環進行 1 億美元的價格投資，這將對可比銷售額的成長帶來壓力。

Net sales also includes contribution from 30 new stores planned to be opened this year and 42 new stores opened last year that will enter our comp base. In addition, we expect the 53rd week to contribute approximately $100 million to $120 million in sales.

淨銷售額還包括今年計劃開設的 30 家新店和去年開設的 42 家新店的貢獻，這些新店將進入我們的競爭基礎。此外，我們預計第 53 週的銷售額將達到約 1 億至 1.2 億美元。

Moving to margins. Adjusted operating income margin is expected in the range of 2% to 3%. There are four main factors influencing operating margin for the year. First, following the sale of Worldpac, we will be cycling through approximately 30 basis points of intercompany margin from 2024. Second, we continue to expect to save approximately $60 million to $80 million in operating costs related to closing store and DC locations.

移至邊緣。調整後的營業收入利潤率預計在2%至3%之間。影響本年度營業利益率的主要因素有四。首先，在出售 Worldpac 之後，從 2024 年開始，我們的公司間利潤率將循環約 30 個基點。其次，我們繼續預期關閉商店和配送中心相關的營運成本將節省約 6,000 萬至 8,000 萬美元。

The full run rate of the savings will begin during Q2. And as a result, we expect approximately half of these savings to contribute to margin favorability this year. Third, gross margin expansion is expected to be the primary driver of improvement year over year, supported by product cost savings along with improvements in supply chain labor productivity and transportation cost savings.

節省措施將在第二季全面實施。因此，我們預計其中約一半的節省將有助於今年提高利潤率。第三，預計毛利率擴張將成為年比改善的主要驅動力，這得益於產品成本的節約以及供應鏈勞動生產率的提高和運輸成本的節約。

And fourth, we expect SG&A expense to be down year over year, with margin in the range of flat to slightly down. SG&A includes the impact of annual wage inflation and other field investments, offset by favorability from labor productivity and indirect cost savings.

第四，我們預期銷售、一般及行政費用將年減，利潤率將在持平或略有下降的範圍內。銷售、一般及行政費用包括年度薪資上漲和其他現場投資的影響，但被勞動生產力和間接成本節約的有利因素所抵銷。

The range of operating margin guidance assumes various scenarios for realizing benefits from our strategic activities across merchandising, supply chain, and store operations. The timing of realizing these benefits, combined with progress on sales growth, could drive variability in performance during the year. While we don't typically provide quarterly guidance, we are providing additional color on our expectations for Q1.

營業利潤率指導範圍假設了從我們的商品銷售、供應鏈和商店運營的策略活動中實現收益的各種情景。實現這些收益的時機，加上銷售成長的進展，可能會導致全年業績的變化。雖然我們通常不提供季度指導，但我們對第一季的預期提供了額外的說明。

We expect net sales of approximately $2.5 billion with comparable sales decline of approximately 2%. We are seeing more week-to-week volatility in our sales performance thus far in Q1. And as a result, our performance is tracking below expectations. We expect our trends to improve over the next few weeks as seasonal comparisons ease.

我們預計淨銷售額約 25 億美元，可比銷售額下降約 2%。到目前為止，我們第一季的銷售業績每週波動較大。因此，我們的業績低於預期。隨著季節性比較的緩和，我們預計未來幾週我們的趨勢將會改善。

Regarding profitability, we expect Q1 operating margin of approximately negative 2%, primarily driven by closure costs. Gross margin is expected to improve compared to Q4, although still declined year over year due to the margin headwind associated with liquidation sales at closing locations and lapping last year's price investments.

關於獲利能力，我們預期第一季營業利潤率約為負2%，主要受關閉成本的影響。預計毛利率將較第四季有所提高，但由於關閉門市的清算銷售和去年的價格投資重疊導致的利潤率逆風，毛利率仍同比下降。

For SG&A, we expect expenses to be slightly down year over year, including the impact of closure costs. However, the lower sales will result in higher expense deleverage compared to Q4. Adjusting for these transitory closure costs, Q1 operating margin is estimated at slightly negative, which is an improvement compared to Q4 and gives us confidence on the path for margin improvement.

對於銷售、一般及行政費用 (SG&A)，我們預計費用將比去年同期略有下降，其中包括關閉成本的影響。然而，與第四季相比，銷售額下降將導致費用去槓桿率更高。在調整這些暫時關閉成本後，第一季的營業利潤率估計略為負值，但與第四季度相比有所改善，這讓我們對利潤率的改善之路充滿信心。

Moving to full-year EPS and free cash flow, we expect adjusted diluted EPS in the range of $1.50 to $2.50. This includes approximately $0.40 or $35 million in interest income from short-term cash investments and approximately $0.05 contribution from the 53rd week.

對於全年每股收益和自由現金流，我們預計調整後的稀釋每股收益將在 1.50 美元至 2.50 美元之間。其中包括來自短期現金投資的約 0.40 美元或 3500 萬美元的利息收入，以及第 53 週的約 0.05 美元的貢獻。

We expect free cash flow in the range of negative $25 million to $85 million at the end of the year, primarily driven by the estimated $200 million of remaining cash expenses associated with store and DC closures. Excluding these costs, we expect to generate positive free cash flow for the year.

我們預計年底自由現金流將在負 2,500 萬美元至 8,500 萬美元之間，主要原因是與商店和配送中心關閉相關的預計 2 億美元剩餘現金支出。除去這些成本，我們預計今年將產生正的自由現金流。

We expect to spend approximately $300 million of capital expenditures this year on our strategic initiatives and IT store and supply chain infrastructure. Based on our 2025 planning assumptions, we are tightening our leverage ratio expectation to a range of 3.5 to 4 times. The improvement in our leverage ratio is expected to be primarily driven by improved operating performance during 2025.

我們預計今年將在戰略計劃、IT 商店和供應鏈基礎設施上花費約 3 億美元的資本支出。根據我們的2025年規劃假設，我們將槓桿率預期收緊至3.5至4倍的範圍。預計我們的槓桿率改善主要得益於 2025 年經營績效的改善。

To conclude, I want to acknowledge that while we have reaffirmed our initial 2025 guidance set in November, we are also closely monitoring multiple developments in the external landscape. And our guidance does not assume any impact from potential changes in the consumer spending environment, tariffs, or other macro factors.

最後，我想承認，雖然我們重申了 11 月制定的 2025 年初步指導方針，但我們也密切關注外部情況的多項發展。我們的指導不假設消費者支出環境、關稅或其他宏觀因素的潛在變化會產生任何影響。

As I indicated previously, we remain focused on executing and tracking the progress of our strategic initiatives. However, variability in the timing of realizing the benefits of internal initiatives could create volatility during the year.

正如我之前所說，我們仍然專注於執行和追蹤我們的策略舉措的進展。然而，實現內部舉措效益的時間差異可能會造成年內波動。

From a top-line perspective, sales have started off weaker than expected entering the year, which is factored into our Q1 expectations. I do want to note that if the lower sales environment were to persist for longer than we anticipate, the low end of our guidance range would be a reasonable expectation for the year.

從營收角度來看，今年的銷售額開局弱於預期，這已計入我們的第一季預期。我確實想指出，如果較低的銷售環境持續的時間比我們預期的要長，那麼我們指導範圍的低端將是今年的合理預期。

We believe we have the right strategy centered on core retail fundamentals to deliver our financial objectives. Shane and I are confident in the plan and the team's ability to execute, with a greater emphasis on accountability and progress on KPIs. The implementation of activities under our strategic plan will continue through 2025 and 2026 as we expect to see the margin benefits build throughout the next three years to support our 2027 financial objectives.

我們相信，我們擁有以核心零售基本面為中心的正確策略，能夠實現我們的財務目標。Shane 和我對該計劃和團隊的執行能力充滿信心，並且更加重視責任和 KPI 的進展。我們的策略計畫下的活動將持續實施到 2025 年和 2026 年，因為我們預計利潤收益將在未來三年內不斷增加，以支持我們 2027 年的財務目標。

As we execute our turnaround and improve the performance of the business, a reduction in leverage ratio remains a top priority. Our objective is to reduce debt leverage for more than 4 times currently to approximately 2.5 times by the end of 2027. We expect to reach this target by repaying debt obligations at or before maturity, reducing lease obligations and improving profitability.

在我們扭轉局面、改善業務績效的過程中，降低槓桿率仍是首要任務。我們的目標是到2027年底將債務槓桿從目前的4倍以上降低至2.5倍左右。我們希望透過在到期日或到期前償還債務、減少租賃義務和提高獲利能力來實現這一目標。

Before moving to Q&A, I want to provide a brief update on our supply chain finance program. Our total capacity under the program currently stands at $3.5 billion, which accounts for a reduction in capacity following the recent credit rating downgrade. At the end of Q4, approximately $2.8 billion of payables related to our continuing operations were utilized in this program.

在進入問答環節之前，我想先簡單介紹一下我們的供應鏈金融計畫。目前，該計劃下我們的總容量為 35 億美元，這是由於最近信用評級下調導致容量減少。在第四季末，我們用於該計劃的與持續經營業務相關的應付款項約為 28 億美元。

We will continue to engage with our banking partners to ensure we have maximum operational flexibility in the short and long term. I want to reiterate, we are confident in our path forward. Our strong balance sheet and improved liquidity position provides a solid foundation to execute our strategic actions to improve business performance and deliver stronger shareholder returns over time.

我們將繼續與銀行合作夥伴合作，以確保我們在短期和長期內擁有最大的營運彈性。我想重申，我們對前進的道路充滿信心。我們強勁的資產負債表和改善的流動性狀況為我們實施策略行動、提高業務績效和隨著時間的推移為股東帶來更強勁的回報奠定了堅實的基礎。

Thank you, and I will now hand the call back to Shane.

謝謝，現在我將把電話交還給 Shane。

Thank you, Ryan. In closing, I want to thank everyone for joining our call today. And in particular, I want to thank our team members once again for their continued dedication to serving our customers. We have charted a path forward for our turnaround, and the entire team is energized and focused for our execution against our priorities.

謝謝你，瑞安。最後，我要感謝大家今天參加我們的電話會議。我特別要再次感謝我們的團隊成員持續致力於服務我們的客戶。我們已經為扭轉局面規劃了前進的道路，整個團隊都充滿活力，專注於執行我們的優先事項。

With that, let's open the call for questions. Operator?

現在，讓我們開始提問。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Bret Jordan of Jefferies.

（操作員指示）傑富瑞的 Bret Jordan。

Good morning, guys. Could you talk about the new merchandise -- hey, good morning -- the new assortment, I guess, impacting 70% of your volume. Could you sort of give us more detail? Is that skewed towards private label or branded? Is it consolidating existing suppliers? And I guess, some more color there.

大家早安。能談談新商品嗎？嘿，早安。我猜，新品種會影響你們 70% 的銷售量。您能給我們更多細節嗎？這是否偏向自有品牌或品牌？它是否正在整合現有的供應商？我想，那裡應該還有更多顏色。

Yeah. The way I think about it, there's kind of two bodies of work that inform this. The first is how we look at what we should have in our stores based on the vehicles in operation, the car park in and around stores. And in the past, we tended to index too heavily on what we physically sold vice what was in and around in the car park.

是的。我認為，有兩種研究可以說明這一點。首先，我們如何根據運行中的車輛以及商店內外的停車場來確定商店中應該配備哪些物品。過去，我們傾向於將過多的實體銷售量而不是停車場內外的商品作為指數。

Secondly, as we've looked at what we put in the stores, we tended to let stores self-solve a little bit. So we would consider parts available in the market as counting as being in stock. And I'll use an example. Let's just say you need spark plugs for a vehicle. If a store only had four and you needed eight, we would let the store self-solve between stores to get the eight that you needed. And we really needed to focus on being able to complete the order at an individual store level. That's a store-based availability.

其次，當我們審視我們在商店中投放的商品時，我們傾向於讓商店自行解決一些問題。因此，我們會將市場上可用的零件視為有庫存。我將舉一個例子。假設您需要車輛火星塞。如果一家商店只有四件而您需要八件，我們會讓商店在各家商店之間自行解決，以獲得您需要的八件。我們確實需要專注於在單一商店層級完成訂單。這是基於商店的可用性。

So Smriti Maheshwari, who's running our inventory programs, has been pretty dedicated in looking at those two factors, looking at the car park and then looking at the individual stores to solve it. And as you see what's in stock in the stores, we found that in common examples, there will be several hundred SKUs that need to come out of a store and several hundred products that need to go into a store, which means we can say yes to an order more frequently at that store level without having to go anywhere else to take care of the customer.

因此，負責我們庫存項目的 Smriti Maheshwari 一直非常專注於研究這兩個因素，先查看停車場，然後查看各個商店以解決問題。正如您所看到的商店中的庫存情況，我們發現，在常見情況下，一家商店需要出貨數百個 SKU，而數百種產品需要進入一家商店，這意味著我們可以在該商店級別更頻繁地答應訂單，而不必去其他任何地方來照顧客戶。

Chris Horvers, JPMorgan.

摩根大通的克里斯霍弗斯。

Thanks. Good morning, guys. So my question is, I guess, can you talk about the reporting dynamics of one-time versus not one-time? It looks like inventory liquidation is being backed out, but you have this what you're describing as transitory costs.

謝謝。大家早安。所以我的問題是，您能談談一次性和非一次性的報告動態嗎？看起來庫存清算正在被取消，但這就是你所描述的暫時成本。

So like, what makes one able to back out versus not being able to back out? And since it's an accounting question, I would just add, can you talk a little bit about the cadence of the year after your expectation in the first quarter on the comp side? Thank you.

那麼，是什麼使得一個人能夠退出，又為什麼不能退出呢？由於這是一個會計問題，我只想補充一點，您能否在對第一季業績的預期之後，談談今年的節奏？謝謝。

Yeah. Thanks, Chris. I'll answer that question there. So what we call the atypical items are items that happened within the quarter, not really tied to our strategic objectives and initiatives. But they are items that take place in the quarter.

是的。謝謝，克里斯。我會在那裡回答這個問題。因此，我們所謂的非典型項目是本季內發生的項目，與我們的策略目標和措施沒有真正的連結。但它們是本季發生的事情。

And this past quarter, as we were closing a significant number of locations, divesting Worldpac, we also were doing work on our balance sheet to ensure our inventory assumptions, estimates, everything else was appropriately reflecting the RemainCo going forward.

在過去的一個季度，我們關閉了大量門市，剝離了 Worldpac，同時我們也在完善資產負債表，以確保我們的庫存假設、估計以及其他一切都能恰當地反映未來的 RemainCo。

So the adjustments to our non-GAAP are really tied specifically to those actions we're taking on our strategic initiatives large scale. The atypical ones are items where they come up in the quarter, but we wouldn't expect that to be reflective of the ongoing business going forward. And that's how I'd kind of phrase that.

因此，我們對非公認會計準則的調整實際上與我們大規模採取的策略性舉措息息相關。非典型項目是本季出現的項目，但我們預計這不會反映未來的持續業務。這就是我表述的方式。

For the sequence of the quarters going forward, I would expect sequential improvement every quarter going forward as our initiatives start to take hold. Q1, obviously, we gave expectations because it is a messy quarter with the store closures taking place. We're going to close 500 locations and another 200 independents within the quarter. That's going to have a pretty meaningful impact on the quarter.

對於未來幾季的順序，隨著我們的舉措開始發揮作用，我預計未來每季都會出現連續的改善。顯然，我們對第一季做出了預期，因為這是一個混亂的季度，商店紛紛關閉。我們將在本季關閉 500 家門市和另外 200 家獨立門市。這將對本季產生相當大的影響。

But as these initiatives take hold and as we start to roll these out, the assortment work that we're doing, that takes time to roll out over 50 DMAs. The work merchandising is doing our merchandising excellence. The timing that that starts to hit COGS really push us forward.

但隨著這些舉措的實施和我們開始推廣這些舉措，我們正在進行的分類工作需要時間來推廣超過 50 個 DMA。商品銷售工作正在實現我們的商品銷售卓越。開始影響 COGS 的時機確實推動了我們前進。

Also, our assumption around the macro environment, the macro environment of consumer is still being a little bit pressured in the first half, where we expect the macro to improve a little bit in the back half of the year. That also is implied within our guidance. So I just expect sequential improvement over the quarters going forward.

此外，根據我們對宏觀環境的假設，上半年消費宏觀環境仍面臨一些壓力，我們預計下半年宏觀環境會略有改善。這也隱含在我們的指導中。因此我只是預計未來幾季會出現連續的改善。

Simeon Gutman, Morgan Stanley.

摩根士丹利的西蒙古特曼。

Good morning, everyone. I wanted to ask the 7%, '27 goal, the EBIT margin. You kind of laid out comps grow. I don't know, I use 3% mid-single. Can you talk about leveraging SG&A in there? Or is it a lot of gross margin improvement maybe back to the mid-40s?

大家早安。我想問的是 7%、27% 的目標，也就是息稅前利潤率。你佈置的公司會成長。我不知道，我用的是3%中路。您能談談其中如何利用銷售、一般及行政費用 (SG&A) 嗎？或者毛利率是否有很大的提高，可能回到 40 年代中期？

And then as part of that question, Shane, I want to ask the importance I get of setting a strategic goal for the company versus not setting that guidance at all, and maybe allowing the business to over-deliver. And I know I'm speaking looking backwards, where there's some bad memories of old guidance numbers but -- or is there just something here, an unlock of gross margin that the business will naturally get such that that target is very attainable? Thanks.

然後作為這個問題的一部分，Shane，我想問一下，我認為為公司設定戰略目標有多重要，而不是根本不設定指導方針，而可能允許企業超額完成任務。我知道我正在回顧過去，對舊的指導數字有一些不好的回憶，但是——或者這裡是否存在某種東西，企業將自然獲得毛利率的釋放，從而使該目標非常容易實現？謝謝。

Yeah, I'll start, Simeon. I appreciate the question, and I'll let Shane jump in. From a 7%, where we're getting it from, mid-40s margin rate is about what we're targeting there and below 40 on the SG&A rate as a rate of sales. That's how I would think about modeling that to get to the 7%.

是的，我先開始，西緬。我很感謝你提出這個問題，我讓 Shane 來回答。從我們的 7% 來看，40% 左右的利潤率是我們的目標，而銷售、一般及行政費用率 (SG&A) 低於 40% 的銷售額。這就是我所考慮的建模方式，以達到 7% 的目標。

When we look at our initiatives, specifically merchandising excellence work that we're doing, that pillar is going to drive significant COGS improvement, as well as the supply chain productivity and consolidating those DCs down, getting productivity there.

當我們審視我們的舉措，特別是我們正在進行的商品銷售卓越工作時，這一支柱將推動 COGS 的顯著改善，以及供應鏈生產力的提高和那些 DC 的整合，從而提高那裡的生產力。

With store improvement, we will get productivity out of our stores. You'll see that in even our guide for this year, where we will get productivity that will offset the inflationary impacts on SG&A. And we'll continue that work over the next couple of years as well. But from a rate perspective, lower than 40 on SG&A, mid-40s on margin rate would be the assumption.

透過商店改進，我們將提高商店的生產力。您甚至會在我們今年的指南中看到這一點，我們將獲得能夠抵消通膨對銷售、一般和行政費用 (SG&A) 的影響的生產力。我們還會在接下來的幾年裡繼續這項工作。但從利率角度來看，銷售、一般及行政費用低於 40% 且利潤率在 40% 左右是假設。

Yeah. And Simeon, on the other part of your question, fair push. Ryan and I have been reticent to put out broader long-term guidance, and we effectively took a year before we did it. And as we thought about the 7%, obviously aware that getting over our skis and putting numbers out there that would be difficult to attain, it could create issues that the company has seen in the past.

是的。西緬，關於你問題的另一部分，公平地推論。瑞安和我一直不願提出更廣泛的長期指導，我們實際上花了一年時間才做出這個決定。當我們考慮 7% 這個目標時，我們顯然意識到克服困難並提出難以實現的數字，這可能會引發公司過去遇到的問題。

But the way we thought about it is, where we're looking to take the company we view as a very reasonable trajectory. We think that for a company of our size in the industry that it's in with the characteristics that are part of what goes on in aftermarket auto parts, that getting to 7% over a three-year period is appropriate, both externally but also internally in terms of how we grade and hold our team accountable.

但我們的想法是，我們希望帶領公司走向我們認為非常合理的發展軌跡。我們認為，對於我們這種規模的公司來說，在行業中，由於其特點是售後汽車零件行業，所以在三年內達到 7% 的增長率是合適的，無論是從外部還是從內部，就我們如何評級和讓我們的團隊承擔責任而言都是如此。

The idea that we're doing it over a period of years, the idea that we were willing to do the very tough foundational items to get there -- and think about that in terms of selling Worldpac and doing store closures -- the residual business that we have and the pillars that we've outlined we think put us on a path that makes us comfortable articulating that 7%.

我們計劃用幾年的時間來實現這一目標，我們願意完成非常艱難的基礎工作以實現這一目標——從出售 Worldpac 和關閉門店的角度來考慮——我們認為，我們擁有的剩餘業務和我們所概述的支柱將使我們走上一條讓我們可以輕鬆地表達那 7% 的道路。

Kate McShane, Goldman Sachs.

高盛的凱特·麥克沙恩。

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking our question. It sounds like the vendor feedback has been solid, certainly since the meeting that you just highlighted in your prepared comments. How much progress are you making in improving your cost with the vendors? And what will that look like as we go throughout the year?

嗨，早安。感謝您回答我們的問題。聽起來供應商的回饋很可靠，尤其是自從您剛才在準備好的評論中強調的會議以來。您在改善與供應商的成本方面取得了多大進展？那麼，隨著時間的流逝，這情況會如何呢？

Yeah. So Ryan talked about how it layers in over the year. But I'll comment on just the high-level perspective. When we got together in January at our Accelerate event with 400 vendors, first, we hadn't done an event of that scale in a decade.

是的。因此，Ryan 談論了這一年中它是如何層層疊加的。但我僅從高層次的角度進行評論。當我們在一月份與 400 家供應商一起參加 Accelerate 活動時，首先，我們十年來都沒有舉辦過如此規模的活動。

And letting our vendors interact with all of our leaders and outside sales team members, they have clear energy to see us succeed. I think having another leg of the stool makes the industry better from their perspective and both in terms of a growth outlet and just in terms of the number of healthy players that they participate with.

讓我們的供應商與我們所有的領導和外部銷售團隊成員互動，他們有明確的動機看到我們成功。我認為，從他們的角度來看，擁有另一條腿會讓這個行業變得更好，無論是在成長管道方面，還是在參與的健康參與者數量方面。

And that was reciprocal, by the way. Our sales team eager to be with vendors, learn about new products, understand approaches that we can collectively take in the market. So that theme has been consistent since my arrival here, to see it visually and to now see that coming into play when we have discussions, both in terms of where we can grow together, where we can be effectively positioned from a cost perspective, where we can jointly take costs out in terms of how logistics flow, how we order products, where we can take advantage of new offerings relative to what we have today. All of those are now moving forward and I think with enthusiasm from both us and the vendors.

順便說一句，這是相互的。我們的銷售團隊渴望與供應商合作，了解新產品，並了解我們可以在市場上共同採取的方法。自從我來到這裡以來，這個主題一直沒有改變，我直觀地看到它，現在看到它在我們討論時發揮作用，無論是在我們可以共同成長的地方，我們可以從成本角度進行有效定位的地方，我們可以在物流流程、我們如何訂購產品方面共同降低成本的地方，我們可以在哪些方面利用與我們今天擁有的相比新的產品。所有這些現在都在向前推進，我認為我們和供應商都對此充滿熱情。

Yeah. And Kate, I'll just add. From a numbers perspective, we're very pleased with what we're receiving in that partnership and how we're working through that. It's both a cost and improving our cost and terms, but also improving our promotional pricing. That also has an impact on the COGS this year.

是的。還有凱特，我只想補充一下。從數位角度來看，我們對在此次合作中所獲得的成果以及我們的工作方式感到非常滿意。這既是一種成本，也改善了我們的成本和條款，同時也改善了我們的促銷價格。這也對今年的銷貨成本產生了影響。

But we are seeing positive movement there on the cost perspective. You'll see that play out sequentially quarter over quarter as those costs start to come through. Some of that work we did in '24, and that will start to come through in Q2. And in Q3 and Q4, you'll start to see a lot of that work really start to show up in our rate.

但從成本角度來看，我們看到了正面的動向。隨著這些成本開始顯現，您會看到這種情況逐季度連續顯現。我們在 24 年完成的一些工作將在第二季開始顯現。在第三季和第四季度，您將開始看到許多工作真正開始體現在我們的利率中。

Remember, though, from a leverage/deleverage, just a reminder, in Q1, we're cycling the price investments. So from a leverage/deleverage, you'll see an impact just as we cycle that. That will start to dissipate as we get closer to the back half of the year, and then we'll be cycling over it. And you'll really start to see the change in leverage/deleverage in the back half of the year.

不過請記住，從槓桿/去槓桿的角度來看，在第一季度，我們正在循環價格投資。因此，從槓桿/去槓桿的角度來看，您會在我們循環時看到影響。隨著我們接近下半年，這種狀況將會開始消散，然後我們就會循環往復。您將在今年下半年真正開始看到槓桿/去槓桿的變化。

But I would expect that the benefit from that work the merchants are doing with our vendor partners to be a sequential improvement throughout the year and more in the back half.

但我預計，商家與我們的供應商合作夥伴共同開展的工作所帶來的好處將在全年持續改善，並在下半年進一步提升。

Steven Forbes, Guggenheim.

史蒂文福布斯，古根漢。

Good morning, Shane, Ryan. I was hoping to maybe explore the critical metrics that you're referencing behind the initiatives. And so maybe for my question, if we could focus on the time to serve. Curious, Shane, if you could sort of talk about how much variability there is in this metric today across the core DMAs you serve? Meaning are there any DMAs where the target time to serve is consistently being achieved?

早上好，Shane，Ryan。我希望能夠探索您在這些舉措背後所引用的關鍵指標。所以對於我的問題，我們是否可以集中討論服務時間。好奇，Shane，您能否談談目前在您服務的核心 DMA 中該指標的變化有多大？這意味著是否存在可以持續實現目標服務時間的 DMA？

And if so, can you frame up for us like how the current comp performance of the business compares between those DMAs where you're hitting those delivery time windows versus where you're currently not, as we think about like what the real opportunity is from a productivity standpoint as we look ahead to the years '26 and '27?

如果是這樣，您能否為我們描述一下，在您達到交付時間窗口的 DMA 和目前未達到交付時間窗口的 DMA 之間，當前的業務表現如何？當我們展望 26 年和 27 年時，我們會思考從生產力的角度來看真正的機會是什麼？

Yeah. Great question, Steven. I'm going to come up for just a second and then borrow into your question. As we develop these three pillars, these pillars are around helping us be successful and sell more products. And as we looked at what was preventing that, we found that we didn't always have the right part. So that's -- think about -- that's Bret's question around, what are we doing to make sure we've got the parts physically in stores that a customer wants.

是的。很好的問題，史蒂文。我只想停留片刻，然後回答你的問題。當我們開發這三大支柱時，這些支柱將幫助我們取得成功並銷售更多產品。當我們查看阻礙這一過程的原因時，我們發現我們並不總是擁有正確的零件。所以，想想看，這就是布雷特的問題，我們要做什麼來確保我們在商店裡有顧客想要的零件。

The right place refers to how it flows there in terms of what we're doing in our supply chain effort. And then the right service -- and this is everything from who picks up the phone and what their expertise looks like. But then importantly, as you've noted on the critical metric, it's how long it takes to get there.

正確的地方指的是，就我們在供應鏈工作中所做的事情而言，它如何流向那裡。然後是合適的服務——這包括接電話的人以及他們的專業知識。但重要的是，正如您在關鍵指標上所指出的，實現目標需要多長時間。

And in the pro world, when you have a car on the lift and you've diagnosed what the issue is, and sometimes, there's a customer in the waiting room, when we get the call, hey, do you have this part, yes or no. The next question is, when can I get it?

在專業領域中，當您的汽車在升降機上並且您已經診斷出問題所在時，有時診室裡會有一位顧客，當我們接到電話時，嘿，你們有這個部件嗎，是或否。下一個問題是，我什麼時候可以得到它？

And it needs to be within the timeframe that helps that shop both get the car on and off the lift for the customer, but also keeping their techs productively employed. And so what we found was, before we really measured it, we would lose orders because we get calls from shops. They'd say, hey, we like you, Advance. We'd give you this order. But I can't afford to wait -- pick the timeframe -- two hours. I can't wait until tomorrow. I need that part now.

而且，它需要在一定的時間範圍內，以便該店既能為客戶把車裝上或卸下升降機，又能保證技術人員高效工作。因此我們發現，在真正衡量之前，我們會因為接到商店的電話而丟失訂單。他們會說，嘿，我們喜歡你，Advance。我們會給你這個訂單。但我等不起——選擇時段——兩小時。我已經等不及明天了。我現在需要那個零件。

And so as we looked at the aggregate measurement, which we've talked about today, which we think it's higher than where we want it -- we put out 30 to 40 -- there is a broad spectrum across stores. We have stores where we're adjacent to a customer. We can literally walk them -- we can walk a part across the street.

因此，當我們查看今天討論的總體衡量標準時，我們認為它高於我們想要的水平——我們給出了 30 到 40 個——各個商店的範圍很廣。我們的商店與顧客相鄰。我們真的可以步行過去——我們可以步行穿過馬路。

And we absolutely get more sales from customers when our time to serve is lower than both that aggregate timeframe at a shortened basis. And so we see that. And so we want to replicate that across the network because we know it makes a difference.

當我們的服務時間低於縮短的總時間範圍時，我們絕對可以從客戶那裡獲得更多的銷售。我們看到這一點。因此，我們希望在整個網路中複製這一點，因為我們知道這會帶來影響。

And from a common sense perspective, that's exactly what you'd want to see. But pro customer knows reliably that when a car is on the lift, they get a part from us, and they get that car service quickly, we're more likely to get more orders.

從常識角度來看，這正是您希望看到的。但專業客戶確信，當汽車上架時，他們會從我們這裡獲得零件，並且他們會快速獲得汽車服務，我們更有可能獲得更多訂單。

Seth Basham, Wedbush.

塞思‧巴沙姆，韋德布希。

Thanks a lot, and good morning. Good to see the progress resetting the business. My questions are around the first quarter in terms of the volatility you're seeing. What's driving that? Is it weather? What's tax refund season's early read? And as we think about atypical costs in the quarter, can you help us quantify those? Thank you.

非常感謝，早安。很高興看到業務重置的進展。我的問題是關於第一季您所看到的波動性。是什麼原因導致的呢？是天氣嗎？退稅季節的早期讀物是什麼？當我們考慮本季的非典型成本時，您能幫助我們量化這些成本嗎？謝謝。

Sorry, can you repeat the last part of that question on atypical, Seth? Sorry.

抱歉，塞斯，你能重複一下關於非典型問題的最後一部分嗎？對不起。

Yeah, quantifying atypical costs that aren't backed out of adjusted results.

是的，量化調整結果中未剔除的非典型成本。

Yeah, absolutely. All right. So first, the volatility. A lot of it is weather related also in the quarter. We see week-over-week volatility; one week doing great, one week down. We see a lot of weather -- it's been colder in different areas. So we have seen weather impacted.

是的，絕對是如此。好的。首先，波動性。本季的許多情況也與天氣有關。我們看到週環比波動；一週表現很好，一週表現不佳。我們經歷了許多天氣變化——不同地區的氣溫都變得更冷了。因此我們看到天氣受到了影響。

We have noticed -- we have been tracking tax refunds. I think last week, they were down 50% year over year in distribution. So it looks like the refunds are slightly delayed in the quarter. But we track that regularly. We're ready. We believe the stores are prepared. We've got the right inventory levels prepared for as the season breaks. When the weather does break, we're ready to capitalize on it. So that's driving some of the volatility.

我們注意到——我們一直在追蹤退稅。我認為上週他們的分銷量比去年同期下降了 50%。因此看起來本季的退款略有延遲。但我們會定期跟蹤。我們準備好了。我們相信商店已經準備好了。我們已經為季節休息做好了適當的庫存準備。當天氣轉好時，我們已準備好利用它。所以這導致了一定的波動。

We also think the consumer is still a little pressured as well. And so the consumer is pressured right now, especially the consumer at our cohort. We feel like there's a lot of pressures around that from inflation and other things that are still impacting their ability to purchase discretionary items, make trade-offs.

我們也認為消費者仍然面臨一些壓力。因此，消費者現在面臨壓力，尤其是我們這群人的消費者。我們感覺到通貨膨脹和其他因素帶來很大壓力，這些壓力仍然影響著他們購買非必需品和做出權衡的能力。

And so we're monitoring that and how the consumer reacts in this environment. Confidence report came out yesterday, not favorable. So we're monitoring that to see how much of that has impacted some of the volatility in the quarter as well going forward.

因此，我們正在監控這一點以及消費者在這種環境下的反應。昨天公佈的信心報告並不樂觀。因此，我們正在監控這一點，以了解其對本季以及未來的波動有多大影響。

As far as atypical items, so atypical items in Q4 specifically was about 280 basis points on gross margin, about $0.68 on EPS and the adjusted EPS. On a full-year basis, that was about, let's say, full year was 90 basis points on gross margin, 60 basis points on operating income margin, and about $0.64 on the EPS. And I think in the slides that we provided give you a good depiction of those impacts.

就非典型項目而言，第四季度的非典型項目具體影響了毛利率約 280 個基點、每股收益和調整後每股收益約 0.68 美元。從全年來看，全年毛利率約為 90 個基點，營業利潤率約為 60 個基點，每股收益約為 0.64 美元。我認為我們提供的幻燈片很好地描述了這些影響。

Greg Melich, Evercore ISI.

格雷格·梅利奇（Greg Melich），Evercore ISI。

Hi, thanks. You mentioned a little bit of ticket growth, average ticket. How much of that was inflation, and how much of that might have been mix or items in basket? And just curious where you feel about your price gaps now in the market?

你好，謝謝。您提到了票價、平均票價略有增加。其中有多少是通貨膨脹，又有多少可能是混合或籃子中的物品造成的？我只是好奇您對目前市場上的價格差距有何看法？

Great question. We actually feel our pricing is in a good place, very competitive now. Again, where a rare strategy of just having a competitive everyday price. And that $100 million investment, I think, put us in a good position, both on the DIY and on the pro side. Inflation is about 1%.

好問題。我們確實覺得我們的定價處於一個很好的位置，現在非常有競爭力。再次，這是一種罕見的策略，即擁有具有競爭力的日常價格。我認為，這 1 億美元的投資使我們在 DIY 和專業方面都處於有利地位。通貨膨脹率約1%。

Hey, Greg, obviously, we'll keep an eye on what the market is doing, and that could be on inflationary trends. We'll keep an eye on what the market is doing as it relates to tariffs. We're a rational actor. Where there's an opportunity to pass along pricing, we're going to pass along pricing.

嘿，格雷格，顯然，我們會密切關注市場動向，這可能是通膨趨勢。我們將密切關注與關稅相關的市場動向。我們是理性的行動者。只要有機會傳遞定價，我們就會傳遞定價。

Michael Lasser, UBS.

瑞銀集團的麥可拉瑟。

Good morning. Thank you so much for taking my question. In light of your DIFM business being down slightly in the fourth quarter, it does seem like there were some share losses. So where do you think those share losses occurred in terms of the type of customer?

早安.非常感謝您回答我的問題。鑑於你們的 DIFM 業務在第四季度略有下滑，似乎確實存在一些份額損失。那麼，從客戶類型來看，您認為這些份額損失發生在哪裡？

Also are you seeing any evidence that the store closures and the restructuring plan are having an impact on the psychology of your DIFM consumer, where they might be pulling back because of some of the uncertainty with the transformation?

另外，您是否看到任何證據表明商店關閉和重組計劃正在對 DIFM 消費者的心理產生影響，他們可能會因為轉型帶來的一些不確定性而退縮？

And then lastly, it's totally understandable that Advance has a lot of opportunity to improve its KPIs versus where it's been. But is improving versus where it's been enough, given that your competitors during this time are also going to make advancements that may keep the performance gap where it is? Thank you very much.

最後，與過去相比，Advance 有許多機會來改善其 KPI，這是完全可以理解的。但是，考慮到你的競爭對手在此期間也將取得進步，從而保持現有的性能差距，與之前的水平相比，改進是否足夠了？非常感謝。

Hey, Michael. Thanks. A lot to unpack there. Let's start in the middle on store closures and psychology. Obviously, in the moment when you first unveiled a store closure action of that magnitude, I think everybody pauses for a second and say, hey, how do I think about this? For us, there's some good news in that the closures for the West Coast were complete in the sense that we exited the market in total. So there's not a residual psychology to worry about.

嘿，麥可。謝謝。那裡有很多東西需要解開。讓我們從商店關閉和心理學的中間部分開始。顯然，當你第一次宣佈如此大規模的關閉門市行動時，我想每個人都會停下來思考一下，然後說，嘿，我該如何看待這件事？對我們來說，好消息是西海岸的關閉已經完成，這意味著我們完全退出了市場。因此，無需擔心殘留心理。

On the East Coast, because the closures were not holistic markets but rather individual stores, we still have and maintain a very prominent presence in those markets. And so we don't see a psychological impact from that. I'll give you an example.

在東海岸，由於關閉的不是整體市場而是個別商店，因此我們在這些市場仍然佔有並保持著非常突出的地位。因此我們並未看到其造成心理影響。我給你舉個例子。

I talked to one of our field leaders about the number of closures. And I said, how many do you have? He goes, well, I have a couple in my market. And I said, well, how do you feel about it? He goes, actually, I have been trying to close those stores for a while. They're underperforming locations. They haven't been able to turn it around, whatever the interstate moved, whatever the case happens to be.

我與我們的一位現場領導討論了關閉的數量。我說，你有幾個？他說，好吧，我的市場上有幾件這樣的。我說，那麼，你對此有何感想？他說，實際上，我已經嘗試關閉那些商店一段時間了。它們是業績不佳的地點。無論州際關係如何變化，無論案件如何發展，他們都無法扭轉局面。

And so the receptivity at the -- from our own field level is, hey, that's actually been a good thing for me to prune some stores that weren't in good locations because our outside sales team members are still enforced in the market. So that psychology impact isn't a factor. So let's talk about that.

因此，從我們自己的現場層面來看，接受度實際上是件好事，因為我可以修剪一些位置不太好的商店，因為我們的外部銷售團隊成員仍然在市場上工作。因此心理影響不是一個因素。那我們來談談這個吧。

On the KPIs, to your last part, we're obviously geared towards getting better. I think we compete in a very good industry. We have very good competitors out there. But it's a big -- I use the expression, there's a big ocean of auto parts.

關於 KPI，對於您提到的最後一部分，我們顯然致力於做得更好。我認為我們在一個非常好的行業中競爭。我們擁有非常強大的競爭對手。但這是一個很大的——我用這個表達方式來說，汽車零件是一個浩瀚的海洋。

So our success doesn't have to come one for one at the failure or diminishment of the performance of other players. So we can be successful, and they can be successful. And I think that's something that I think is a positive move for us.

因此，我們的成功並不一定是建立在其他參與者的失敗或表現下降之上。這樣我們就能成功，他們也能成功。我認為這對我們來說是一個積極的舉措。

And then I think you asked about where the store losses are going on the DIFM basis. My sense on the West, it was part and parcel. On the East, there's not a sort of a particular thing that we would say, gosh, it's this particular type of pro or larger small. I think it's just been a general headwind for us across the pro landscape.

然後我想您問的是，根據 DIFM 計算，商店損失的去向。我對西方的感覺是，它是不可或缺的一部分。在東方，我們不會對某種特定的事情說，天哪，這是這種特殊類型的專業或更大或更小的事情。我認為這對我們整個職業領域來說都是一個普遍的逆風。

Michael Baker, D.A. Davidson.

麥可貝克，地方檢察官戴維森。

Hi, thanks. Quick two-parter. One, if you could talk about the comp lift that you're seeing around the hub stores, similar to what others have asked about what you're seeing with the merchandise assortment and the time to serve. Just curious what kind of improvement you're seeing there?

你好，謝謝。快速兩部分。首先，如果您可以談談您在中心商店周圍看到的競爭提升，類似於其他人詢問的商品分類和服務時間方面的情況。只是好奇您在那裡看到了什麼樣的改進？

And then secondly, your guidance assumes the economy gets better in the second half of the year. We're all sort of amateur economists here. But just curious what you're seeing or what led you to believe that the economy will get better in the second half of 2025? Thank you.

其次，您的指導假設下半年經濟會好轉。我們都是業餘經濟學家。但我只是好奇您看到了什麼或是什麼讓您相信經濟將在 2025 年下半年好轉？謝謝。

Yeah. Great question, Michael. Thanks for asking. I'll take the first part on the hub stores, and Ryan can jump in on the guidance. What we did on the hub stores is, we set up test and control groups. So we measure the hub store, and then we measure the radius of impacted stores and see what the comp sales is versus control.

是的。很好的問題，麥可。謝謝你的詢問。我將負責中心商店的第一部分，Ryan 可以提供指導。我們在中心商店所做的是，設立測試組和對照組。因此，我們測量中心商店，然後測量受影響商店的半徑，並查看與對照商店相比的銷售額。

And we are seeing both broadly and in terms of the number of hub stores and across time, that when a hub store is there, there is a positive impact to comp relative to control for hub stores, by the way. And the hub store itself grows because now that's a large, skewed facility that functions as a store, but also a positive comp relative to control for the service stores.

順便說一句，從總體上看，從樞紐店的數量和時間來看，當有樞紐店時，相對於對樞紐店的控制，對競爭對手有積極的影響。中心商店本身也在成長，因為現在它是一個大型的、傾斜的設施，可以作為商店使用，但相對於服務商店的控制也是一種積極的補償。

And it makes sense. It makes sense because you've seen this market paradigm in other players in the market. It makes sense because everything else being equal, you've now put an 85,000 SKU facility that can service these stores, sometimes, as quickly as within the hour for parts that they otherwise wouldn't have been able to get.

這是有道理的。這是有道理的，因為你已經在市場上的其他參與者身上看到了這種市場模式。這是有道理的，因為在其他所有條件相同的情況下，您現在已經建立了一個擁有 85,000 個 SKU 的設施，可以為這些商店提供服務，有時甚至可以在一小時內為他們提供原本無法獲得的零件。

And so we're pleased with that, and we are going to continue to roll forward with the market hubs. We've got 19 open. We'll get 10 more this year. And then we'll continue, and we put out 60 as our next sort of guidepost for that by mid '27. On the guidance, Ryan?

我們對此感到高興，我們將繼續推動市場中心的發展。我們有 19 個開放。今年我們將再獲得 10 個。然後我們會繼續，到 27 年中期我們會推出 60 作為我們的下一個指導方針。關於指導，瑞安？

Yeah. As far as the back half of the year, we're not saying significant, but we're saying normal market conditions in the back half, which would be a slight improvement from the front half where the consumer is pressured.

是的。就下半年而言，我們並不是說會有顯著的變化，但我們認為下半年的市場狀況將恢復正常，與上半年消費者面臨壓力的情況相比會略有改善。

I think that's consistent with what external market forecasts are for us and what others in the industry are predicting. And obviously, we'll monitor the consumer, monitor the changes in that environment, and update accordingly as that progresses.

我認為這與外部市場對我們的預測以及業內其他人的預測一致。顯然，我們會監控消費者，監控環境的變化，並隨著進度進行相應更新。

Okay. I'm going to close with a quick comment for everybody. First, thanks for joining the call. As we go on this turnaround journey, Ryan and I have been at it with the team for just over a year.

好的。最後，我想向大家簡短地發表一下評論。首先，感謝您參加電話會議。當我們踏上這段扭轉乾坤的旅程時，瑞恩和我與團隊一起努力已經一年多了。

If you look at the strategy going with the blended box as our approach and as you think about our willingness to do the hard things that we need to do to get this company on the right trajectory, selling Worldpac, closing stores, combining the supply chain, cutting costs, restructuring the organization, we're doing all of those things. We have firm footing in terms of we're in a good industry. We have a great cash position. And so those put us in good stead, and then we've got great people.

如果您將混合盒策略視為我們的方法，並考慮到我們願意做我們需要做的艱難的事情，以使這家公司走上正確的軌道，出售 Worldpac、關閉商店、合併供應鏈、削減成本、重組組織，我們正在做所有這些事情。我們處於一個良好的行業，並且基礎牢固。我們的現金狀況良好。這些都為我們帶來了好處，而且我們也擁有了優秀的人才。

And I want to end by thanking all of the men and women at Advance every day who've continued through these tough moves and by the way, endorsed the moves in terms of putting Advance on a footing to be in the auto markets industry as the player that our legacy harkens back to. We've been around for a long time. We look forward to being around. And thanks, everybody, for joining the call today.

最後，我要感謝 Advance 公司的所有員工，感謝他們每天堅持克服這些困難，並支持這些舉措，使 Advance 公司在汽車市場行業站穩腳跟，成為我們傳承下來的參與者。我們已經存在很久了。我們期待您的光臨。感謝大家今天參加電話會議。

This concludes today's call. Thank you very much for your attendance. You may now disconnect your lines.

今天的電話會議到此結束。非常感謝您的出席。現在您可以斷開線路了。