AutoNation Inc (AN) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Ellen, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the AutoNation Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions). I would now like to turn the call over to Derek Fiebig, Vice President of Investor Relations. You may begin your conference.

早安.我叫艾倫，今天我將擔任你們的會議操作員。此時，我歡迎大家參加 AutoNation 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）。我現在想將電話轉給投資者關係副總裁德里克·菲比格 (Derek Fiebig)。您可以開始您的會議了。

Thank you, Ellen, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to AutoNation's Third Quarter 2023 Conference Call. Leading our call today will be Mike Manley, our Chief Executive Officer; and Tom Szlosek, our Chief Financial Officer. Following their remarks, we will open up the call for questions.

謝謝你，艾倫，大家早安。歡迎參加 AutoNation 2023 年第三季電話會議。今天的電話會議將由我們的執行長 Mike Manley 主持。以及我們的財務長 Tom Szlosek。在他們發表講話後，我們將開始提問。

Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that certain statements and information on this call, including any statements regarding our anticipated financial results and objectives, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks that may cause our actual results or performance to differ materially from such forward-looking statements. Additional discussions of factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially are contained in our press release issued today and in our filings with the SEC. Certain non-GAAP financial measures, as defined in our SEC rules will be discussed on this call. Reconciliations are provided in our materials and on our website located at investor.autonation.com.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒您，本次電話會議中的某些陳述和信息，包括有關我們預期財務業績和目標的任何陳述，均構成1995 年聯邦私人證券訴訟改革法案含義內的前瞻性陳述。此類前瞻性陳述涉及已知和未知的風險，可能導致我們的實際結果或業績與此類前瞻性陳述有重大差異。關於可能導致我們的實際結果出現重大差異的因素的更多討論包含在我們今天發布的新聞稿和我們向 SEC 提交的文件中。本次電話會議將討論我們的 SEC 規則中定義的某些非 GAAP 財務措施。我們的資料和我們的網站 Investor.autonation.com 上提供了對帳資訊。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Mike.

這樣，我會將電話轉給麥克。

Yes. Thanks, Derek, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. I'm going to start on Slide 3, and I'm going to provide some opening remarks before Tom takes you through the third quarter results in great detail. So as we all know, there continues to be mixed economic signals in the economy. But despite concerns of affordability, consumer demand for vehicles remains relatively healthy. And during the quarter, partly because of improved New Vehicle supply and stable Used Vehicle inventory, we saw double-digit year-over-year growth in new vehicle sales and strong sequential growth in Used Vehicle volume. And frankly, this is the first time in 8 consecutive quarters that we've seen growth in combined New and Used Vehicle volumes for automation. So I think that's very positive.

是的。謝謝德里克，大家早安。感謝您今天加入我們。我將從幻燈片 3 開始，在湯姆向您詳細介紹第三季業績之前，我將提供一些開場白。眾所周知，經濟中仍然存在混合的經濟訊號。但儘管人們對負擔能力有擔憂，消費者對汽車的需求仍然相對健康。在本季度，新車銷售量年增兩位數，二手車銷售量較上季強勁成長，部分原因是新車供應改善和二手車庫存穩定。坦白說，這是我們連續 8 個季度首次看到自動化新車和二手車銷售的成長。所以我認為這是非常積極的。

We also continue to see significant benefits of our clear focus on After-Sales, which delivered a record quarter for revenue and margin, and as a result, AutoNation delivered a solid performance in this evolving operating environment. So I'm just going to quickly look at the performance by business, and I'll start with New Vehicle sales, where volume was up 12% in total and 9.5% on a same-store basis.

我們也繼續看到我們對售後的明確關注所帶來的顯著好處，這帶來了創紀錄的季度收入和利潤，因此，AutoNation 在這個不斷變化的營運環境中提供了堅實的業績。因此，我將快速查看各業務的表現，我將從新車銷售開始，銷量總計成長了 12%，同店銷量成長了 9.5%。

And as forecasted, new vehicle margin was down sequentially in the quarter but remained above $4,000 a unit. Now during the quarter, we did see some mix impact on our margin, and that was driven by significant year-over-year volume growth in our import franchises which benefited from improved inventory flow, releasing some of the pent-up demand for those brands. And I'll touch on the inventory numbers in a minute. But basically, everything that we got, we sold. So we saw quite a large increase in our import dealership volumes in the quarter.

正如預測的那樣，本季新車利潤率環比下降，但仍保持在每輛 4,000 美元以上。在本季度，我們確實看到了對利潤率的一些混合影響，這是由於我們的進口特許經營數量同比大幅增長所推動的，這得益於庫存流動的改善，釋放了對這些品牌的一些被壓抑的需求。稍後我將談到庫存數字。但基本上，我們得到的所有東西都賣掉了。因此，本季我們的進口經銷商量出現了相當大的成長。

But I would say our sales teams tend to look at every potential deal in a very balanced way. And you'll see our combined margin performance across New and Used, which included CFS income held up very well. And in fact, it's relative to the industry in the quarter and remains well above pre-pandemic levels. I mentioned other inventory levels. So let me touch on that. Obviously, they've increased from a year ago, but they remain less than 35 days supply but we have a lot of variation, frankly, among branding categories. We have 51 days of domestic brands. So that probably answers one of the questions about what's happening in my previous time to (inaudible). So we have 51 days domestic brands as we said, 33 days of luxury and 17 days of import brands.

但我想說，我們的銷售團隊傾向於以非常平衡的方式看待每筆潛在交易。您將看到我們在全新和二手設備上的綜合利潤率表現，其中包括 CFS 收入保持得非常好。事實上，它相對於本季的行業而言，仍遠高於大流行前的水平。我提到了其他庫存水準。讓我談談這一點。顯然，它們比一年前有所增加，但供應量仍然少於 35 天，但坦白說，我們在品牌類別之間有很多變化。我們有51天的國產品牌。因此，這可能回答了有關我上次發生的事情的問題之一（聽不清楚）。所以我們說國產品牌有51天，奢侈品有33天，進口品牌有17天。

Now moving on to Used Vehicles. As you'll recall, at the beginning of the year, we spent some time talking about the fact that used vehicle inventory would be harder to source and obviously critical to success this year. So knowing that we've made continued investments to maintain and grow used vehicle inventory. I think the team in the quarter did a good job sourcing retail quality Used Vehicles and to facilitate this, we've increased our investment and we buy your car marketing and infrastructure, which you're obviously going to see in our SG&A.

現在轉向二手車。您可能還記得，今年年初，我們花了一些時間討論二手車庫存將更難採購的事實，這顯然對今年的成功至關重要。因此，我們知道我們已經持續投資來維持和增加二手車庫存。我認為本季的團隊在採購零售優質二手車方面做得很好，為了促進這一點，我們增加了投資，購買了您的汽車行銷和基礎設施，您顯然會在我們的 SG&A 中看到這些。

In addition, we have our teams looking at every potential sale in a much more holistic way considering not just the vehicle margin, but also the income from CFS and additional consideration is the sale yield of retailable trade. Now as a result, used inventory has been stable, which has helped us post the sequential used vehicle sales increase of over 5%, which would not be possible without the daily focus on vehicle sourcing which, by the way, resulted in over 90% of our total Used Vehicles being self-sourced in the quarter.

此外，我們的團隊以更全面的方式審視每筆潛在銷售，不僅考慮車輛利潤，還考慮 CFS 的收入，另外還要考慮可零售貿易的銷售收益率。現在，二手車庫存已經穩定，這幫助我們實現了二手車銷量環比增長超過5%，如果沒有每天關注車輛採購，這是不可能實現的，順便說一句，這導致了超過90% 的二手車銷量成長。本季我們的二手車總數中有 1% 是自行採購的。

Now as you know, there for volume New use is important for many reasons, but a key one for us is our industry-leading performance and customer financial services which again continued to deliver in the quarter. And then the team has done a great job to overcome a significantly higher interest rate environment and lower finance penetration by continuing to maintain and grow product sales per unit sold.

如您所知，數量新用途很重要，原因有很多，但對我們來說，一個關鍵是我們行業領先的性能和客戶金融服務，這些服務在本季度再次繼續提供。然後，該團隊透過繼續維持和增加每單位銷售的產品銷售額，出色地克服了利率大幅上升和金融滲透率較低的環境。

Now moving on to After-Sales. Here, the business continues to be one of our brightest spots. Revenue was up 12%, and our gross profit was up 14%. The greater complexity of vehicles is leading to higher values per repair order and we've also been keenly focused on growing our technician workforce, which is allowing us to serve more customers. I was also pleased with the operating cash generation in our business. It was another great quarter of cash conversion relative to net income, which Tom will talk more about later. But aside from the solid quarter from a financial perspective, there are a few other highlights I'd like to touch on before handing over.

現在轉向售後服務。在這裡，該業務仍然是我們最亮點的業務之一。收入成長了 12%，毛利成長了 14%。車輛的複雜性越高，每個維修訂單的價值就越高，我們也一直致力於發展我們的技術人員隊伍，這使我們能夠為更多的客戶提供服務。我對我們業務的營運現金產生也感到滿意。這是現金轉換相對於淨利潤的另一個重要季度，湯姆稍後將詳細討論這一點。但除了財務角度的穩健季度外，在交接之前我還想談談其他一些亮點。

Our 11 million plus customers are our core focus, and we're extending our product offerings and reach into more recurring revenue streams and we're adding new customers every day across all of our channels. And during the quarter, we increased the penetration of automation finance at our AN USA stores, where we are now financing roughly 1 in 4 AN USA vehicle sales and we have also expanded into our franchise stores. So AutoNation Finance continues to be integrated as a thoughtful and measured place and is, in fact, ahead of where we thought it would be, which is why we expanded it to our franchise businesses.

超過 1,100 萬名客戶是我們的核心關注點，我們正在擴展我們的產品範圍並進入更多的經常性收入來源，並且我們每天都在所有管道中增加新客戶。在本季度，我們提高了自動化金融在美國門市的滲透率，目前我們為大約四分之一的美國汽車銷售提供融資，我們也擴展到了我們的特許經營店。因此，AutoNation Finance 繼續作為一個深思熟慮和謹慎的地方進行整合，事實上，它超出了我們的預期，這就是我們將其擴展到我們的特許經營業務的原因。

We're also actively launching supplementary products and services to meet our customers' needs, which supports consumer vehicle usage and also attracts new customers to us. And we launched a micro lease business called AutoNation Mobility, and an e-commerce parts and accessory platform called autonation.com. These businesses, along with AutoNation's recently acquired mobile repair service complements our traditional dealership model while expanding our reach into the transportation industry. We expanded our AutoNation USA footprint with our 17th store in Hilton Head Island, and this was the fourth opening of the year, and we expect 4 more openings in the fourth quarter, including our Fort Myers facility, which opened this week.

我們也積極推出補充產品和服務來滿足客戶的需求，這支援消費者的車輛使用並吸引新客戶。我們也推出了名為 AutoNation Mobility 的小額租賃業務，以及名為 autonation.com 的電子商務零件平台。這些業務，加上 AutoNation 最近收購的行動維修服務，補充了我們傳統的經銷商模式，同時擴大了我們在運輸業的影響力。我們在希爾頓黑德島開設了第17 家門市，擴大了AutoNation USA 的業務版圖，這是今年第四家新店，我們預計第四季度還會再開設4 家新店，其中包括本週開業的邁爾斯堡工廠。

Now as you can imagine, it's not an easy task to get these greenfield businesses over and up and running. And I'd like to congratulate and thank the teams that continue to work incredibly hard on this. I'm also pleased to say that, so far these businesses are selling ahead of plan and are showing considerable growth year-over-year. And by the way, since with this project with AN USA has started, they've now sold over 70,000 vehicles. So that's not out for organic growth, I think.

現在，正如您可以想像的那樣，讓這些新建企業重新啟動並運行並不是一件容易的事。我要祝賀並感謝繼續為此付出巨大努力的團隊。我還很高興地說，到目前為止，這些業務正在提前銷售，並且比去年同期顯示出可觀的成長。順便說一句，自從與 AN USA 的這個項目啟動以來，他們現在已經售出了 70,000 多輛汽車。所以我認為這不適合有機成長。

So moving on. The exceptional service we provide to our customers did not go unnoticed as AutoNation was recognized as the top public franchise dealer group by reputation of 2023 automotive reputation report. That's an honor that we have housed 4 out of the last 5 years. And of course, that is only possible because of the 24,000 dedicated AutoNation associates who work tirelessly in our business and whom I would like to thank. So thank you all for listening, and I thank you in person as I get out into the business model.

所以繼續前進。我們為客戶提供的卓越服務並沒有被忽視，因為 AutoNation 在 2023 年汽車聲譽報告中被評為頂級公共特許經銷商集團。我們很榮幸在過去 5 年中連續 4 年獲得此殊榮。當然，這一切的實現得益於 24,000 名 AutoNation 員工的不懈努力，我要感謝他們在我們的業務中孜孜不倦地工作。感謝大家的聆聽，當我深入了解商業模式時，我親自感謝你們。

And finally, we were named best companies to work for list by U.S. News and World. So you can see customers at the central what we do. We are focused on growth, outstanding customer service and operational excellence through our business. And we're also looking to the future how the industry will evolve and what the needs of our customers will be. There is clearly an opportunity for automation to capitalize on our strong brand and footprint to retain and reactivate customers and provide them with more value and garner a larger share of wallet over a longer period of time.

最後，我們被《美國新聞與世界》評為最佳工作公司。所以你可以在我們所做的事情的中心看到客戶。我們專注於業務成長、卓越的客戶服務和卓越營運。我們也展望未來產業將如何發展以及客戶的需求是什麼。自動化顯然有機會利用我們強大的品牌和足跡來留住和重新激活客戶，為他們提供更多價值，並在更長的時間內贏得更大的錢包份額。

And now Tom will take you through the financials in greater detail. Tom?

現在湯姆將帶您更詳細地了解財務狀況。湯姆？

Yes. Thanks, Mike, and good morning, everybody. A more detailed outline of our Q3 highlights is on Slide 4 of the materials. New revenue vehicle was up 11% at $3.2 billion. Volumes in New Vehicle were up 12% and including, as Mike mentioned, 25% on imports and 5% on domestic with luxury, roughly flat volume line. Same-store volumes were up 9% and revenue per vehicle retail was stable. Used vehicle revenue declined 10% year-over-year with U.S. sales down roughly 4% and revenue per vehicle retail down 6%.

是的。謝謝，麥克，大家早安。我們的第三季亮點的更詳細概述位於材料的幻燈片 4 中。新收入成長 11%，達到 32 億美元。新車銷量成長了 12%，其中，正如麥克所提到的，進口銷量成長了 25%，國產銷量成長了 5%，而豪華車的銷量線大致持平。同店銷售成長 9%，每輛車零售收入穩定。二手車收入較去年同期下降 10%，其中美國銷量下降約 4%，每輛車零售收入下降 6%。

Importantly, as Mike mentioned, though, Used Vehicle sales improved unit-wise by over 5% compared with the second quarter. So the efforts of our investments are starting to pay dividends. Customer Financial Services revenue increased 2% to $370 million. This reflects the increase in total retail volume from 2022 and fairly stable CFS revenue PVRs. App sales was up 12% to $1.2 billion in revenue, the result of both higher value repair orders as well as improving volumes after sales gross profit margins were up 14% in the business.

但重要的是，正如 Mike 所提到的，與第二季度相比，二手車銷售量按單位計算增長了 5% 以上。因此，我們的投資努力開始獲得回報。客戶金融服務收入成長 2%，達到 3.7 億美元。這反映了自 2022 年以來零售總量的成長以及相當穩定的 CFS 收入 PVR。應用程式銷售額成長 12%，營收達到 12 億美元，既是維修訂單價值增加的結果，也是業務銷售毛利率成長 14% 後銷量提高的結果。

Third quarter earnings per share were $5.54, down 8%, while operating income was down 16% and interest expense up $44 million. Our EPS was favorably impacted by a more than 20% decline in the share count, which obviously is a reflection of our ongoing share repurchase actions. Cash from operations, as Mike mentioned, was very strong through September. It's up -- we were at $763 million, which resulted in conversion on net income of more than 95%. So the company has really impressed me in my first few days -- first few months in terms of doing the right things to drive cash generation, including the management of work capital.

第三季每股收益為 5.54 美元，下降 8%，營業收入下降 16%，利息支出增加 4,400 萬美元。我們的每股盈餘受到股票數量下降超過 20% 的有利影響，這顯然反映了我們正在進行的股票回購行動。正如麥克所提到的，整個 9 月來自營運的現金非常強勁。現在我們的收入達到了 7.63 億美元，淨利潤的轉換率超過了 95%。因此，在我入職的最初幾天（最初幾個月）中，該公司在做正確的事情來推動現金生成方面給我留下了深刻的印象，包括營運資本的管理。

Mike also mentioned the integration of AutoNation Finance. This is still a pretty small business for us with roughly a $400 million portfolio but we expect significant growth as we increase the penetration of financing in our stores. As part of these efforts, we've discontinued all third-party originations and are now exclusively focused on the automation business. In September, AN Finance represented roughly 1/4 of the loan originations in AN USA stores, as Mike mentioned, we've also commenced lending in our franchise stores. And in for the third quarter, as planned, we sold most of our lower credit tier loans from the legacy CIG portfolio, which generated a pretax gain of $8 million.

Mike也提到了AutoNation Finance的整合。對我們來說，這仍然是一項相當小的業務，投資組合約為 4 億美元，但隨著我們提高商店融資的滲透率，我們預計會顯著增長。作為這些努力的一部分，我們已經停止了所有第三方來源，現在完全專注於自動化業務。 9 月份，AN Finance 約佔 AN USA 商店貸款發放的 1/4，正如 Mike 所提到的，我們也開始在我們的特許經營店提供貸款。在第三季度，按照計劃，我們出售了傳統 CIG 投資組合中的大部分較低信用等級貸款，這產生了 800 萬美元的稅前收益。

Turning to Slide 5 for some commentary on our third quarter P&L on balance, the strength in New Vehicle unit volumes and After-Sales and the stability in customer financial services more than offset the decline we experienced in New Vehicle PVRs and Used Vehicle revenue. And in this environment, we're very pleased with the 3% growth in top line from 2022. Gross profit was slightly lower in nominal terms. All in, we were down roughly 90 basis points in gross profit margin to 19%, reflecting the moderation in New Vehicle gross profit PVR but that was largely offset by growth in the aftersales gross profit, as I mentioned.

轉向幻燈片 5，對我們第三季損益表進行一些評論，總的來說，新車銷量和售後的強勁以及客戶金融服務的穩定性足以抵消我們在新車 PVR 和二手車收入方面經歷的下降。在這種環境下，我們對 2022 年以來營收成長 3% 感到非常滿意。以名義價值計算，毛利略有下降。總而言之，我們的毛利率下降了大約 90 個基點至 19%，反映出新車毛利 PVR 的放緩，但這在很大程度上被售後毛利的增長所抵消，正如我所提到的。

Adjusted SG&A increased 7% to $823 million, with generally stable core spending and incremental costs to relate to our growth initiatives, and I'll touch on that a bit more later. Third quarter floor plan interest expense of $38 million was up from $11 million in the third quarter of 2022. That's a reflection of both higher rates and borrowings, higher borrowings. It's about half and half in terms of the impact for non-vehicle debt, the interest expense was $49 million, which was up from $34 million a year ago. And again, both higher rates and increased borrowings impacted the interest and expenses as well.

調整後的 SG&A 成長了 7%，達到 8.23 億美元，核心支出和與我們的成長計畫相關的增量成本總體穩定，我稍後會詳細討論這一點。第三季平面圖利息支出為 3,800 萬美元，高於 2022 年第三季的 1,100 萬美元。這反映了利率和借款的增加。就非車輛債務的影響而言，利息支出為 4,900 萬美元，高於一年前的 3,400 萬美元。同樣，利率上升和借款增加也影響了利息和支出。

Our income tax rate was stable at 25%. So all in, this resulted in $244 million of net income compared to $336 million a year ago. And as I mentioned, our average shares outstanding of 44 million. We're more than 20% lower than a year ago. This meaningfully blunted the EPS effect of the net income decline as you can see.

我們的所得稅稅率穩定在25%。總而言之，這帶來了 2.44 億美元的淨利潤，而一年前為 3.36 億美元。正如我所提到的，我們的平均已發行股票為 4,400 萬股。我們比一年前下降了 20% 以上。正如您所看到的，這極大地削弱了淨利潤下降對每股收益的影響。

On starting on Slide 6, I'd like to build on the call Mike gave on the performance in our various revenue categories for the third quarter. As you said, New Vehicle volumes were up 12%, and this includes over 25% on imports. Revenue PVRs have remained stable for new vehicles. Gross PVRs continue to moderate, reflecting increased availability of new vehicles. And importantly, as Mike mentioned, our intentionality in pursuing higher volumes to drive the other parts of the business. New Vehicle inventory levels have increased more than 50% in both units and values from a year ago, and new units have grown from roughly 13,000 units to over 27,000 units.

從幻燈片 6 開始，我想以麥克對我們第三季各個收入類別的表現進行的電話為基礎。正如您所說，新車銷量成長了 12%，其中進口量增加了 25% 以上。新車的 PVR 收入保持穩定。總 PVR 繼續放緩，反映出新車供應量的增加。重要的是，正如麥克所提到的，我們致力於追求更高的產量來推動業務的其他部分。新車庫存水準無論是數量還是價值都比一年前增加了 50% 以上，新車數量從大約 13,000 輛增加到超過 27,000 輛。

In Used Vehicles, on Slide 7, we had a modest volume decline of 4% from a year ago with the most pronounced declines from our domestic stores, which decreased 10%, important luxury stores had less pronounced volume decline. As Mike mentioned, we have seen some nice progress since the second quarter with Used Vehicle volumes up 5% sequentially. And and this was more than twice the market's growth. There was good traction quarter-over-quarter in the $40,000 and below pricing tiers. Those tiers comprise more than 80% of our unit sales. And even on the higher-priced tiers greater than 40,000, which has better profitability. The growth was also respectable at roughly 2%. The demand is clearly there, and we're continuing our initiatives to pursue more supply.

在幻燈片 7 上的二手車方面，我們的銷量比一年前小幅下降了 4%，其中國內商店的銷量下降最為明顯，下降了 10%，重要的奢侈品商店的銷量下降不太明顯。正如 Mike 所提到的，自第二季以來，我們看到了一些不錯的進展，二手車銷售量較上季成長了 5%。這是市場成長的兩倍多。 40,000 美元及以下定價層的季度環比表現良好。這些層級占我們單位銷售額的 80% 以上。即使在 40,000 以上的更高價格層，也具有更好的盈利能力。成長率也相當可觀，約 2%。需求顯然是存在的，我們正在繼續努力尋求更多供應。

Revenue and gross profit TDRs and Used Vehicles were both down year-over-year, mostly reflecting the volume decline and the mix of sales by pricing tier. Used vehicle inventory levels were overall stable at 33 days, with growth in lower-priced tiers very strong, offset by declines in higher-priced tiers. We continue to emphasize health sourcing including trade-ins, lease expiries as well as our [iBuyer] car initiative for the quarter, our self-sourcing represented 96% of Used Vehicles acquired.

TDR 和二手車的收入和毛利均較去年同期下降，主要反映了銷售下降以及按定價層劃分的銷售組合。二手車庫存水準整體穩定在 33 天，低價位車型的成長非常強勁，但被高價位車型的下降所抵消。我們繼續強調健康採購，包括以舊換新、租賃到期以及我們本季的 [iBuyer] 汽車計劃，我們的自採購佔所收購二手車的 96%。

Now moving on to Slide 8. In Customer Financial Services. We delivered 2% revenue increase, roughly in line with vehicle sales unit growth for the quarter. For New Vehicles, higher unit volumes and stronger penetration of both finance and nonfinance products are driving stronger CFF. On the Used side, a portion of our sales with finance products declined modestly year-over-year given the interest rate environment, but still remains very high at close to 70% penetration. On nonfinancial products, we also had a similar modest decline, but still very respectable penetration.

現在轉到投影片 8。在客戶金融服務。我們的營收成長了 2%，與本季汽車銷售成長大致一致。對於新車而言，更高的銷售以及金融和非金融產品的更強滲透正在推動 CFF 走強。在二手產品方面，考慮到利率環境，我們的金融產品部分銷售額比去年同期略有下降，但滲透率仍然很高，接近 70%。在非金融產品方面，我們也出現了類似的小幅下降，但滲透率仍然非常可觀。

On Slide 9, after sales, as I mentioned, up 12% in revenue at $1.2 billion. Customer Pay, Warranty, internal and collision all experienced double-digit growth year-over-year. So it was very broad across the entire portfolio. The value per order is improving, and the number of repair orders had also increased. And we're starting to see the benefit from the investment in additional technicians. I think we've made over the course of the last few months. Our gross profit grew 14% year-over-year in our gross profit margins. We're up more than 80 basis points to 47%. And again, this is a reflection of those higher-value repair orders as well as the scale benefits we're starting to benefit from in terms of the increase in the number of quarters.

在投影片 9 上，如我所提到的，售後收入成長了 12%，達到 12 億美元。客戶付費、保固、內部和碰撞均實現了兩位數的年增長。所以它在整個投資組合中非常廣泛。每個訂單的價值正在提高，維修訂單的數量也有所增加。我們開始看到投資更多技術人員所帶來的好處。我認為過去幾個月我們已經取得了進展。我們的毛利年增 14%。我們上漲了 80 多個基點，達到 47%。同樣，這反映了那些價值較高的維修訂單以及我們開始從季度數量增加中受益的規模效益。

A quick comment on the UAW strike. We obviously hope this is resolved in mutually agreeable manner. We've been preemptively building inventory where we can and After-Sales with the support of OEMs. In the third quarter, there was not much of a financial impact apart from the slight inventory build. We obviously are monitoring the situation closely.

對 UAW 罷工的快速評論。我們顯然希望以雙方同意的方式解決這個問題。我們一直在盡可能地搶先建立庫存，並在原始設備製造商的支援下進行售後服務。第三季度，除了庫存略有增加之外，並沒有對財務產生太大影響。顯然我們正在密切關注事態發展。

Slide 10, Operating income was 6% for the quarter, down from last year, but still much higher than like 200 basis points higher from pre-pandemic levels. The decrease from 22 reflects the moderation in New Vehicle gross profit per vehicle as well as higher SG&A. And the growth in SG&A reflects investments for growth including the supporting infrastructure for our AutoNation USA stores as well as for our aftermarket business. We've also had some increased advertising spend related to acquisition of vehicles via the [Walayar] initiative. There's been some inflation and some self-insurance costs for weather-related losses. Overall, normalized SG&A as a percent of gross profit we do expect to remain lower than pre-pandemic levels.

投影片 10，本季營業收入為 6%，低於去年，但仍遠高於疫情前水準約 200 個基點。較 22 下降反映了每輛車新車毛利潤的放緩以及 SG&A 的提高。 SG&A 的成長反映了成長投資，包括我們的 AutoNation USA 商店以及售後市場業務的支援基礎設施。我們也增加了一些與透過 [Walayar] 計劃購買車輛相關的廣告支出。存在一些通貨膨脹和一些與天氣相關的損失的自我保險費用。整體而言，我們預期標準化銷售及管理費用佔毛利的百分比仍低於疫情前的水準。

Slide 11. Our operating cash flow generation remains very robust. We were 105% conversion of net income for the quarter. Our cash flow from operations was $256 million in the third quarter, and we increased our non-trade floor plan by $89 million and our CapEx was $87 million. So together, these have resulted in free cash flow of $258 million for the third quarter. CapEx for the quarter was up around 10%. And reflecting a steadily increasing reinvestment ratio, we're now at roughly 1.6x depreciation. And the principal year-over-year increase in CapEx that drove that 10% has mostly been for growth, including the AN USA expansion, Some facility spending for electric vehicles and some IT-related projects.

幻燈片 11。我們的營運現金流產生仍然非常強勁。我們本季淨利的轉換率為 105%。第三季我們的營運現金流為 2.56 億美元，我們的非交易底線計畫增加了 8,900 萬美元，資本支出為 8,700 萬美元。因此，這些因素合計導致第三季的自由現金流達到 2.58 億美元。本季資本支出成長約 10%。由於再投資比率穩定上升，我們現在的折舊率約為 1.6 倍。推動 10% 成長的資本支出年增主要來自於成長，包括 AN USA 的擴張、電動車的一些設施支出以及一些 IT 相關項目。

Slide 12, shows our capital allocation for the first 9 months of 2022 and 2023. Last year, our capital allocation focus was on reinvesting in the business and share repurchases. And since the beginning of 2022, in fact, we've repurchased roughly 21 million shares, which is more than 1/3 of our outstanding share count. It was a low interest rate environment. We are enjoying recovery-driven cash flows. The M&A landscape wasn't presenting deals we viewed as attractive and we had a dislocation in our share price. And while we still believe in the longer-term value that would be great in our share price over the course of '23 as interest rates have increased and our cash flows have normalized. We've moderated the level of share repurchase activity still, when you look at it as a percentage of free cash flow, the share repurchases are relatively stable, close to 100% of free cash flow.

投影片 12 顯示了我們 2022 年和 2023 年前 9 個月的資本配置。去年，我們的資本配置重點是業務再投資和股票回購。事實上，自 2022 年初以來，我們已經回購了約 2,100 萬股股票，超過了我們已發行股票數量的 1/3。那是一個低利率環境。我們正在享受復甦驅動的現金流。併購領域並沒有出現我們認為有吸引力的交易，而且我們的股價也出現了混亂。雖然我們仍然相信長期價值，但隨著利率上升和我們的現金流量正常化，我們的股價在 23 年期間將會很大。我們仍然調整了股票回購活動的水平，當你將其視為自由現金流的百分比時，股票回購相對穩定，接近自由現金流的100%。

At quarter end, our leverage was 2x EBITDA. This is at the low end of our 2 to 3x target. Michael and I very comfortable with where we sit there. And moving forward, we'll continue to allocate capital to maximize shareholder value.

季度末，我們的槓桿率為 EBITDA 的 2 倍。這是我們 2 到 3 倍目標的低端。邁克爾和我對我們坐在那裡的位置感到非常舒適。展望未來，我們將繼續分配資本，以實現股東價值最大化。

So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Mike to wrap things up.

因此，我將把它交給麥克來完成。

Yes. Thanks, Tom. I'm just going to again before we go to the Q&A session, thank all of our associates in the business. And as I said, I think that there's been a lot of progress in terms of putting infrastructure in place, building new offerings, products and services for our customers as well, and that will take tremendous effort. So thank you all.

是的。謝謝，湯姆。在我們參加問答環節之前，我要再次感謝我們所有的業務同事。正如我所說，我認為在基礎設施到位、為我們的客戶建立新產品、產品和服務方面已經取得了很大進展，這將需要付出巨大的努力。謝謝大家。

And with that, let's start the Q&A.

接下來，讓我們開始問答。

Ellen, if you could please prompt the audience how to get in the queue.

艾倫，如果可以的話，請提示觀眾如何排隊。

(Operator Instructions) Will take our first question today from John Murphy from Bank of America.

（操作員說明）今天我們將回答來自美國銀行的 John Murphy 的第一個問題。

Maybe we have to come back to John.

也許我們必須回到約翰身上。

Okay. Let's move on to Rajat Gupta from JPMorgan.

好的。讓我們來談談摩根大通的 Rajat Gupta。

Just had a question first on parts and services. Clearly, very strong trends there. I think it was the best result amongst your peer growth. Would you be able to give us any more color there in terms of any differences you saw across the regions that might have led to the growth? As well as if you could quantify how much of it might have been driven by either the traffic or pricing or mix, any way to size that growth and expectations going forward as well? And I have 1 quick follow-up.

首先有一個關於零件和服務的問題。顯然，那裡的趨勢非常強勁。我認為這是你們同儕成長中最好的結果。您能否向我們提供更多關於您在各地區看到的可能導致成長的差異的資訊？如果您可以量化其中有多少可能是由流量、定價或組合驅動的，那麼有什麼方法可以衡量未來的成長和預期嗎？我有 1 個快速跟進。

Yes, this is Mike. The growth came from both an increase in volume. We saw as we progressed through the quarter, volume increasing as a result of the increase we had in terms of productive technicians. So a combination of that and reaching out into the vehicle park grew RR account. But then we saw value growth really across our Customer Pay, our internal work as well with the growth that we saw in New Vehicles and the sequential growth of Used and then Warranty was up as well. So it's a combination of both of those things.

是的，這是麥克。增長來自於數量的增加。我們看到，隨著本季的進展，由於生產技術人員的增加，銷量增加。因此，將這一點與深入停車場相結合，RR 帳戶就增長了。但後來我們看到了客戶支付、我們的內部工作以及新車的成長以及二手車的連續成長和保固的連續成長，這些價值確實在成長。所以它是這兩件事的結合。

I have not seen a big difference in terms of the geographical distribution of that growth. If I look broadly across the market, it's roughly in line. So I don't think that there's necessarily anything from a geography perspective that's influenced it. So in summary, just a combination of increased volume but increased value per RR as well.

我沒有看到成長的地理分佈有很大差異。如果我放眼整個市場，情況大致是一致的。所以我認為從地理角度來看不一定有什麼因素影響了它。總而言之，只是增加了數量，但也增加了每個 RR 的價值。

Got it. That's clear. And then just on new cars, helpful color on the slides on how you're strategizing the overall profitability there. You mentioned in your prepared remarks that you were selling like all of inventory that was coming in. But the slide deck, but you also suggested that you were trying to push volume in order to monetize CFS and bottom services. I just wanted to make sure I'm understanding both those comments correctly, did you have to stimulate volumes with some GPU reductions in order to make sure you still get the F&I or CFS -- CFS income? Or just if you could just clarify that a bit would be helpful.

知道了。很清楚。然後就新車而言，在投影片上用有用的顏色來說明您如何制定整體獲利能力策略。您在準備好的發言中提到，您正在像所有進入的庫存一樣進行銷售。但是幻燈片，但您還建議您正在努力提高銷量，以便透過 CFS 和底層服務貨幣化。我只是想確保我正確理解了這些評論，您是否必須透過減少一些 GPU 來刺激交易量，以確保您仍然獲得 F&I 或 CFS - CFS 收入？或者只是如果你能澄清一下會有幫助。

Yes. No problem. And by the way, if -- I will try and clarify that feel free to dive in and redirect. What we asked the teams to do, we've obviously invested a lot. We recognized -- so let me just step back. As I mentioned in my opening comments, we recognized that how we manage our Used Vehicle inventory as we go through this year and get into next year is going to be critical for us to be able to continue to progress not just in terms of Used Vehicle sales for our franchise businesses, but also be able to stock up all of the incremental AN USA stores that we're opening.

是的。沒問題。順便說一句，如果——我會嘗試澄清這一點，請隨意深入探討並重新調整方向。我們要求團隊做的事情，我們顯然投入了很多。我們認識到了——所以讓我退後一步。正如我在開場白中提到的那樣，我們認識到，在今年和進入明年的過程中，如何管理二手車庫存對於我們能夠繼續取得進步至關重要，而不僅僅是在二手車方面我們的特許經營業務的銷售，而且還能夠儲存我們正在開設的所有增量AN USA 商店。

And we recognize we're investing a lot of money in that, whether it's incremental marketing or incremental infrastructure to support we buy your car. And what we ask our teams to do is to take a very holistic view in terms of volume in the marketplace, not to distress sell anything at all, but just to recognize that we have a very good record in terms of CFS performance. We have a very good record in terms of sales sourcing. And as you're looking at opportunities in the marketplace, just make sure you're taking all of those into account because one of the most profitable sources for Used Vehicles, as you know, is actually the traders that come on a New or Used car sale.

我們認識到我們在這方面投入了大量資金，無論是增量行銷還是增量基礎設施來支持我們購買您的汽車。我們要求我們的團隊做的是對市場銷售有一個非常全面的看法，而不是壓價出售任何東西，而只是認識到我們在 CFS 績效方面擁有非常好的記錄。我們在銷售採購方面擁有非常好的記錄。當您在市場上尋找機會時，請確保您考慮到所有這些因素，因為正如您所知，二手車最有利可圖的來源之一實際上是購買新車或二手車的交易者汽車銷售。

So it was really a reflection of us making sure that people are recognizing that there are multiple different sources of profit in an individual sales deal and just make sure you're reflecting that as general managers, as general sales managers in the dealerships when you're building a month. So it really was, I think, just a logical description of something that we would want them to do and take a balanced approach to business is multifaceted.

因此，這實際上反映了我們確保人們認識到單一銷售交易中有多種不同的利潤來源，並確保您作為總經理，作為經銷商的銷售經理，當您反映這一點時，重新建設一個月。所以我認為，這實際上只是對我們希望他們做的事情的邏輯描述，並採取多方面的平衡的業務方法。

Got it. Got it. That's clear. Maybe like just to finish up on the new GPU. Were you able to like -- do you see any benefit of the strike in the third? And do you expect any benefit from a slower inventory build in the fourth quarter to the GPUs? Or would you think like the strategy around like CFS and driving volume growth (inaudible) to continue decline in those GPUs here in the fourth quarter?

知道了。知道了。很清楚。也許只是為了完成新的 GPU。你能喜歡──你認為第三次罷工有什麼好處嗎？您預計第四季庫存成長放緩會為 GPU 帶來什麼好處嗎？或者您認為 CFS 等策略以及推動銷售成長（聽不清楚）會導致這些 GPU 在第四季度繼續下降？

No, there will be no benefit, and I'll put some color to that. When we saw GPUs rise across the industry, we saw them rise because all of the competitive cross-shop models were in short supply. So you have a situation where every brand was in short supply, and therefore, prices drove up. If we just have individual domestics in short supply, but the cross-shop brands consumers are looking at in addition to domestics or not, there'd be no reason. There's no potential for those domestics in my view, to get pricing as a result of the fact that they may have a few days less supply than the others.

不，不會有任何好處，我會為此添加一些顏色。當我們看到 GPU 在整個行業中崛起時，我們看到它們的崛起是因為所有具有競爭力的跨商店型號都供不應求。所以你會遇到每個品牌都供不應求的情況，因此價格上漲。如果只是個別國貨供不應求，但消費者除了國貨以外還重視跨店品牌，那就沒有理由了。在我看來，這些國內產品沒有潛力獲得定價，因為他們的供應量可能比其他國家少幾天。

And that's just in general, the pandemic was -- as we've said, it was a one term reset to the industry. And secondly, we see with (inaudible) supply in domestics. That's nowhere near the fleet that we had before the pandemic but it's certainly enough to take us through for the next few months. Obviously, what we're looking for is Tom mentioned in his speech is mutual end of the strike as soon as possible. But as we said today, we've got 55 days, I think we'll be okay.

總的來說，正如我們所說，這場大流行是對該行業的一次重置。其次，我們看到國內的（聽不清楚）供應。這與我們在大流行之前擁有的機隊相去甚遠，但肯定足以支撐我們度過接下來的幾個月。顯然，我們正在尋找的是湯姆在演講中提到的雙方盡快結束罷工。但正如我們今天所說，我們還有 55 天的時間，我想我們會沒事的。

Our next question today comes from Daniel Imbro from Stephens.

今天我們的下一個問題來自史蒂芬斯的丹尼爾·因布羅。

Good morning, everybody. Thanks for your questions. Mike, maybe I'll follow up sort of the new unit. I think you caught out strength in Port brands even as production increased. Can you talk about what you think is driving that? Is it more affordable product, just a strong lineup, trying to understand why some of the brands are outperforming so well?

大家早安。感謝您的提問。麥克，也許我會跟進新單位的情況。我認為即使產量增加，你也發現了波特酒品牌的優勢。您能談談您認為是什麼推動了這個趨勢嗎？是否是更實惠的產品，只是一個強大的陣容，試圖了解為什麼有些品牌表現如此出色？

So without diving into all of the inventory numbers, if I just think about the last few years, what we saw initially is we came into the pandemic with those import brands were holding up in terms of their inventory. And we saw a kind of delayed effect as their inventory levels got really low, and we were talking about 3, 4, 5 days of supply. So a lot of those customers for those branches couldn't find the (inaudible).

因此，在不深入研究所有庫存數字的情況下，如果我只考慮過去幾年，我們最初看到的是，當我們進入大流行時，那些進口品牌的庫存保持不變。我們看到了一種延遲效應，因為他們的庫存水準非常低，我們談論的是 3、4、5 天的供應。因此，這些分公司的許多客戶找不到（聽不清楚）。

And as we've been able to see flow increase and improve, I genuinely think there's just some pent-up demand that has been able to get unlocked as a result of that, we saw those brands rebound and rebound strongly. And I'm convinced that, that is what it was in those brands. And our turn rates are just phenomenal. As you can see, we're still very low day supply but produced great volume in the quarter, I think.

當我們看到流量增加和改善時，我真誠地認為，一些被壓抑的需求因此得以釋放，我們看到這些品牌的反彈和強勁反彈。我確信，這就是這些品牌的本質。我們的周轉率非常驚人。正如您所看到的，我認為我們的日供應量仍然很低，但本季的產量很大。

That's great. And then, Tom, maybe a strategy one for you. You guys, I think, put in a bid on a U.K. asset during the quarter would have been a big international deal. Maybe you can discuss where dealership M&A fits. You obviously saw the buyback this quarter. But where a dealership M&A fits in your focus? And maybe is international becoming more of a focus for you guys as you think about the next lot of growth for AutoNation?

那太棒了。然後，湯姆，也許有一個適合你的策略。我認為，你們在本季對英國資產進行競購將是一筆重大的國際交易。也許您可以討論經銷商併購適合什麼地方。您顯然看到了本季的回購。但是經銷商併購適合您的重點嗎？當你們思考 AutoNation 的下一個成長點時，或許國際化正成為你們關注的焦點？

Yes. I mean. Thanks for the question, Daniel. I mean, the -- when you -- I'll let Mike answer the specifics on Pendragon. But when it comes to that capital allocation in general, the first thing I look at when I look at AutoNation is we have a lot of cash, they're capital to allocate. In other words, the cash generation is very strong. So we've got a lot of optionality, which I really like in, which is what attracted me to join company in the first place. And we can either reinvest in the business through CapEx and M&A and even delevering. And to the extent we think we need to, as I said, we're comfortable with where we are at debt levels right now.

是的。我是說。謝謝你的提問，丹尼爾。我的意思是，當你——我會讓麥克回答有關彭德拉貢的具體細節。但當談到一般資本配置時，當我看到 AutoNation 時，我首先看到的是我們擁有大量現金，它們是可供配置的資本。換句話說，現金生成能力非常強。所以我們有很多選擇，我真的很喜歡，這也是吸引我加入公司的首要原因。我們可以透過資本支出和併購甚至去槓桿化來再投資業務。正如我所說，在我們認為需要的範圍內，我們對目前的債務水準感到滿意。

And we also can return cash to our shareholders through dividends, which we don't have and share buybacks, which, as I said, has been one of our primary emphasis in the last couple of years given the low interest rate environment. Things moderate over time. And we have to be mindful that our number one objective is just to maximizing shareholder value, and we'll do that thoughtfully. Obviously, we'll continue to reinvest in the business and where we think there's opportunity also be thoughtful about returning to shareholders through share repurchase.

我們也可以透過股利（我們沒有）和股票回購（正如我所說，考慮到低利率環境，這一直是我們過去幾年的主要重點之一）向股東返還現金。隨著時間的推移，事情會逐漸緩和。我們必須記住，我們的首要目標只是最大化股東價值，我們會深思熟慮地做到這一點。顯然，我們將繼續對業務進行再投資，並且在我們認為有機會的情況下，也會考慮透過股票回購來回報股東。

And on the M&A front, I do think that opportunities are abundant. The trick is finding the ones that we think are good for our shareholders and where we can run them profitably and add value to the business. And we're very active in looking at all sorts of different opportunities. So I'll let Mike comment on the Pendragon one in particular.

在併購方面，我確實認為機會很多。訣竅是找到我們認為對股東有利的項目，以及我們可以在哪些方面獲利並為企業增加價值的項目。我們非常積極地尋找各種不同的機會。因此，我將讓邁克對 Pendragon 進行特別評論。

Well, by the way, I think that was a great answer question. I also there's much more to add on Pendragon. I mean when we made up memory offer on that. obviously, compared to the offers that were out there at a time that we thought it was an appropriate thing, and we think they were good assets and we did our delivering and decided to not formalize an offer at that point. I think that nothing much the same yet to close. Let's continue to do exactly as you describe.

嗯，順便說一句，我認為這是一個很好的答案。我還有很多關於 Pendragon 的內容要補充。我的意思是當我們提出內存報價時。顯然，與當時的報價相比，我們認為這是合適的事情，我們認為它們是良好的資產，我們完成了交付，並決定當時不正式提出報價。我認為沒有什麼相同的事情還沒結束。讓我們繼續按照您的描述進行操作。

Got it. That's really helpful. And I could squeeze in one more quick model clarifier. Tom, I think in your prepared remarks, you mentioned that the sale of CIG loans this quarter was an $8 million pretax gain. And if so, where was that in the P&L? Is it an SG&A offset? Or is it getting reported below the line? Just where is that $8 million gain?

知道了。這真的很有幫助。我還可以再塞入一個快速模型澄清器。湯姆，我想在您準備好的發言中，您提到本季度 CIG 貸款的出售獲得了 800 萬美元的稅前收益。如果是的話，它在損益表中的什麼位置？是 SG&A 抵銷嗎？還是線下有報道？ 800萬美元的收益到底去哪了？

Derek, help me with that. I think it's embedded in the...

德瑞克，幫我解決這個問題。我認為它嵌入在...

Yes. Yes. You can say it's in other. It's footnoted within the -- in the financial statements, which you'll see it there. Look at the financial statement footnote one, Daniel. And you'll see it there in the press release. It's included in there. It's net of other things going on.

是的。是的。你可以說它在其他地方。它在財務報表中的腳註中，您會在那裡看到它。看看財務報表腳註一，丹尼爾。您會在新聞稿中看到它。它包含在裡面。這是沒有發生其他事情的淨值。

But the number was $8 million. Was that right, Tom?

但這個數字是800萬美元。是這樣嗎，湯姆？

Correct. That's correct. Pretax gain $8 million.

正確的。這是正確的。稅前收益800萬美元。

Our next question comes from Bret Jordan from Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Bret Jordan。

This is Patrick Buckley on for Bret. Could you talk a bit more on the used sourcing environment during the quarter. It sounds like you guys successfully increased spend there. Do you see further room to grow through additional dollar spend? Or is that pretty close to the optimal run rate?

我是派崔克‧巴克利 (Patrick Buckley)，代表布雷特 (Bret) 發言。您能否多談談本季使用的採購環境。聽起來你們成功地增加了那裡的支出。您認為透過額外的美元支出還有進一步的成長空間嗎？或者這是否非常接近最佳運行率？

It's a great question. I think the balance that we struck in the quarter is probably optimal going forward. The only additional thing that we have to factor in, which may not see a lot in the scheme of things is the 4 new openings of AN USA., just to make sure that we have incremental inventory to those. But I think we've got a good balance now in terms of we buy your car, what's coming in, in trade. And as I said, we're looking at each deal and giving credit if there's a really good trade there to make sure that we can get not just the sale of whatever we're selling, but also get a second sale out of the trade. So I would say optimal balance at this moment in time. And if we're able to continue to get sequential growth, we'll obviously need to get more inventory, but I'd say balance right now is the best answer I can give you.

這是一個很好的問題。我認為我們在本季取得的平衡可能是未來的最佳平衡。我們必須考慮的唯一額外因素（在計劃中可能看不到太多）是 AN USA 的 4 個新開業，只是為了確保我們有增量庫存。但我認為我們現在在購買你的汽車以及即將到來的交易方面取得了良好的平衡。正如我所說，我們正在關注每筆交易，如果有真正好的交易，我們就會給予認可，以確保我們不僅能銷售我們正在銷售的產品，還能從交易中獲得第二次銷售。所以我想說此時此刻的最佳平衡。如果我們能夠繼續實現環比成長，我們顯然需要獲得更多庫存，但我想說，現在的平衡是我能給你的最佳答案。

Great. That's helpful. And then switching to the new side of things. Are you guys seeing any mismatch between higher content units in your inventory versus demand for more affordable lower term units?

偉大的。這很有幫助。然後轉向事物的新的一面。你們是否發現庫存中較高含量的單元與對更實惠的短期單元的需求之間存在任何不匹配？

I don't think I'm seeing any mismatch. Obviously, we look as everyone does at our turn rates across different models. I think one of the things that's happening in new that we saw in the quarter, at least I mentioned in my opening comments that I thought the team did well even though finance penetration levels were down. The reality is on the new total finance penetration on New for us remains stable, but it moved from what I would call just straight paper into leasing. And as it does that, that can help quite a lot with higher contented vehicles, obviously.

我認為我沒有看到任何不匹配的地方。顯然，我們和每個人一樣看待不同模型的周轉率。我認為我們在本季度看到的新情況之一是，至少我在開場白中提到，儘管財務滲透水平下降，但我認為團隊表現良好。現實情況是，對我們來說，New 的新總金融滲透率保持穩定，但它從我所說的直接紙本業務轉變為租賃業務。顯然，這樣做對滿意度較高的車輛有很大幫助。

So I think that was beneficial for us on the new side. And as I said, on new side, that's where we saw penetration rates drop. So nothing that stands out to me. When I look at inventory, the only differences I see in terms of turn rates at the moment are electric vehicles versus other powertrains where we are seeing improvements in turn on electric vehicles, but they are still roughly take twice other powertrains turn twice as fast at the moment.

所以我認為這對我們新方面來說是有利的。正如我所說，在新的方面，我們看到滲透率下降。所以沒有什麼對我來說很突出。當我查看庫存時，我目前在轉動率方面看到的唯一差異是電動車與其他動力系統相比，我們看到電動車的轉動速度有所改進，但它們仍然大約需要兩倍於其他動力系統的轉動速度兩倍此時此刻。

Our next question comes from John Murphy from Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的約翰·墨菲。

Can you hear me now?

你聽得到我嗎？

Yes.

是的。

Sorry, it seems like we're not paying our phone bill here, I apologize. First question, Mike, you mentioned something when you're talking about the Used car business about how you might be willing to accept lower grosses because there's -- you can make it up on the CFS side and there might be a retailable vehicle that comes in trade. It sounds like that's kind of also alluding to that you might go a little bit deeper into the -- maybe the third turn of the vehicle as opposed to just the second turn. Can you kind of maybe comment on what you were getting at there and how institutionalized that process is and maybe accepting lower grosses and trying to make it up or growing the business, if you will, on the CFS and on that third turn?

抱歉，我們這裡似乎不付電話費，抱歉。第一個問題，麥克，當您談論二手車業務時，您提到了一些事情，即您可能願意接受較低的總收入，因為您可以在CFS 方面進行彌補，並且可能會出現一種可零售的車輛交易中。聽起來這也暗示著你可能會更深入地了解——也許是車輛的第三個轉彎，而不是第二個轉彎。您能否評論一下您在那裡得到了什麼以及該流程的製度化程度，也許可以接受較低的總收入並嘗試彌補或發展業務（如果您願意的話）在 CFS 和第三輪上？

Yes, of course, John, I don't -- what I don't want to do is create any confusion. So what we ask our sales teams to do is to obviously look at the overall growth that they generate. We want them to continue to hold or grow market share for the brands that they represent, but also grow new-to-use ratios within their business. So I think sometimes, particularly when you've got a high interest rate environment, as you're constructing a deal in the showroom, there's multiple different ways that a sales executive or sales manager and construct that deal in an appropriate fashion for the customers.

是的，當然，約翰，我不——我不想造成任何混亂。因此，我們要求銷售團隊要做的就是明顯地專注於他們所產生的整體成長。我們希望他們繼續保持或增加其所代表品牌的市場份額，同時提高其業務中的新使用率。因此，我認為有時，特別是當您處於高利率環境時，當您在陳列室中建立交易時，銷售主管或銷售經理可以採用多種不同的方式以適合客戶的方式建立交易。

So that means that as you're looking at that, you take a lot of things into account, is does it represent CFS income and also does it represent an opportunity to get a trade. But one of the big dynamics that we have seen is and Tom alluded to this as a shift in terms of average mix of Used Vehicle sales. So it's also the fact that we were up sequentially. That was all really driven by vehicles under $20,000. So if I think about Used Vehicles, $20,000, 20 to $40,000 and $40,000 above. Under $20,000 still a huge amount of interest, a lot of growth if you've got the inventory there, broadly flat to down 20 to 40 and then 40-plus down.

因此，這意味著當您考慮這一點時，您會考慮很多因素，它是否代表 CFS 收入，是否代表獲得交易的機會。但我們看到的一個重大動態是，湯姆提到這是二手車銷售平均組合的轉變。所以這也是我們連續上升的事實。這些實際上都是由 20,000 美元以下的車輛驅動的。因此，如果我考慮二手車，20,000 美元、20 至 40,000 美元以及 40,000 美元以上。 20,000 美元以下仍然有很大的興趣，如果你有庫存的話，會有很大的增長，大致持平到下降 20 到 40，然後下降 40 以上。

So as we're thinking about trade, what we're doing is we are, I think, investing more in trades to be able to keep our inventory at that sub-$20,000 level as well. So all of that we take into consideration because, as you know, sourcing a vehicle and we buy your car comes with a heap of cost, right, not just your advertising costs, not just your commission cost, your sales executive and the other costs associated with that channel. So as we think about the business in a balanced way, let's just make sure we're maximizing all the channels available to us, whilst you are making an acceptable total gross profit per unit per unit sold. So I think we're very clear with our teams that profit per unit is very, very important, but we also recognize that it balanced.

因此，當我們考慮貿易時，我認為我們正在做的是在貿易上進行更多投資，以便能夠將我們的庫存也保持在 20,000 美元以下的水平。因此，我們會考慮所有這些，因為如您所知，採購車輛並且我們購買您的汽車會帶來大量成本，對吧，不僅僅是您的廣告成本，不僅僅是您的佣金成本，您的銷售主管和其他成本與該頻道相關聯。因此，當我們以平衡的方式考慮業務時，我們要確保最大限度地利用所有可用的管道，同時每單位銷售的總毛利可以接受。因此，我認為我們的團隊非常清楚，單位利潤非常非常重要，但我們也意​​識到它是平衡的。

Okay. That's helpful. And then just a second question on After-Sales. And you may have gone into this. But the increased technician headcount. I was wondering if you can quantify that and how are you finding these techs? I mean it seems like everybody is finding, I mean hard time sourcing them. And is there more opportunity with whatever you're doing there to increase the headcount or the tech count even more?

好的。這很有幫助。然後是關於售後的第二個問題。你可能已經研究過這個問題了。但增加了技術人員人數。我想知道你是否可以量化這一點以及你如何找到這些技術？我的意思是，似乎每個人都在尋找，我的意思是很難找到它們。無論您在那裡做什麼，是否有更多機會增加員工人數或技術數量？

Yes. I can't give you -- I would give you, if I could remember the exact increase, but it's fairly significant in terms of the headcount. So let me while I try and drag that number out of my memory, let me just tell you how is in it and what we're doing. And the first thing is that as we go basically dealership by dealership to understand what the opportunity is, whether that is increased penetration in their vehicle park, whether it's to improve customer service by reducing customer wait times. And I think once you've done that, you understand exactly what you lead for in terms of productive technicians.

是的。我不能告訴你——如果我能記得確切的成長的話，我會告訴你的，但就員工人數而言，這是相當大的。因此，當我嘗試將這個數字從我的記憶中刪除時，讓我告訴你它的情況以及我們正在做什麼。首先，我們基本上逐一去了解機會是什麼，是否會增加其停車場的滲透率，是否會透過減少客戶等待時間來改善客戶服務。我認為一旦你做到了這一點，你就會準確地理解你在高效能技術人員方面所領導的目標。

And then we have pulled together a group of our more senior service directors, led our HR teams to put together what I think is a great campaign for attracting and recruiting technicians. But you're quite right. We have to be in this area, we have to constantly make sure that our pay packages, our benefits are fully aligned, if not better than marketplace because you're right, it's an in-demand an in-demand profession. And it's not just about trying to hire more. It's also about, as you know, keeping the ones that you've got. I'm going to say and Derek, you may have to circle back from memory, I think we've added over.

然後，我們召集了一批更高級的服務總監，領導我們的人力資源團隊開展了一場我認為是吸引和招募技術人員的偉大活動。但你說得很對。我們必須進入這個領域，我們必須不斷確保我們的薪酬方案、我們的福利完全一致，即使不能比市場更好，因為你是對的，這是一個炙手可熱的職業。這不僅僅是試圖僱用更多員工。正如你所知，這也是關於保留你所擁有的。我要說的是，德里克，你可能得回憶一下，我想我們已經添加了。

14% same-store.

同店 14%。

14%. Thank you for the (inaudible).

14%。謝謝你（聽不清楚）。

Okay. On that, I mean those stalls exist to put those people into. You're not paying $150, $200,000 of CapEx. I mean, there's room to -- there's capacity to put them in. So Cap goes up. Is that a fair statement?

好的。就這一點而言，我的意思是那些攤位的存在就是為了讓這些人進去的。您無需支付 150 美元、200,000 美元的資本支出。我的意思是，有空間--有能力把它們放進去。所以上限上升了。這是一個公平的說法嗎？

Absolutely fair. Our by utilization is about 55% at the moment. So we ordination has built some beautiful, beautiful dealerships. And a part of building dealerships as they put plenty of capacity in there. We are not sure capacity even in terms of value.

絕對公平。目前我們的利用率約為 55%。所以我們設立了一些非常非常漂亮的經銷店。也是建立經銷商的一部分，因為他們在那裡投入了大量的產能。即使就價值而言，我們也不確定容量。

Our last question today comes from David Whiston from Morningstar.

今天我們的最後一個問題來自晨星公司的大衛惠斯頓。

You mentioned in the slide deck that you increased your tech headcount. I was just curious if you had to do any aggressive spending on compensation or advertising to make that happen?

您在幻燈片中提到您增加了技術人員數量。我只是好奇你是否必須在薪資或廣告上投入大量資金才能實現這一目標？

No. As I mentioned before, we obviously check very regularly market-by-market pay and benefit packages to make sure that we are competitive with market. Like everybody else, like everybody else, we are for signing bonuses in the marketplace. And we also do a lot of work and there's more we can do in this area, frankly, but we do a lot of work in terms of recognition, seniority, tenure and those things. But it's something that it's something that we recognize it, as I said, it's a very high demand, in-demand protection. And we just work very hard as the others.

不會。正如我之前提到的，我們顯然會非常定期地逐個市場地檢查薪酬和福利方案，以確保我們在市場上具有競爭力。和其他人一樣，我們也支持市場上的簽約獎金。我們還做了很多工作，坦白說，我們在這個領域還有更多工作可以做，但我們在認可、資歷、任期等方面做了很多工作。但這是我們所認知的，正如我所說，這是一種需求非常高、需求很大的保護。我們只是像其他人一樣努力工作。

And I believe last quarter, you were talking about wanting to get more recurring business from your customers. Service would be a big part of that, of course, especially on the Customer Pay side. I'm just curious, how do you convince consumers who normally haven't been considering using the dealer or service any more than they have to, to start doing so?

我相信上個季度，您談到希望從客戶那裡獲得更多經常性業務。當然，服務將是其中的重要組成部分，尤其是在客戶付費方面。我只是很好奇，你如何說服那些通常不會考慮使用經銷商或服務的消費者開始這樣做？

So let me just -- I'm going to give you an answer to the question in a slightly different way, and will help build out some of the things I'm trying to communicate, obviously poorly, but let's start with the (inaudible) day you've got a car at some point, you're going to need a service, right? And so what we are trying to do is build out service channels for you that suit the needs for you as an individual. You may want to do that work yourself, which is why we've now got anparts.com, we'll provide you the parts.

所以讓我——我將以稍微不同的方式給你一個問題的答案，並將幫助構建一些我試圖傳達的東西，顯然很糟糕，但讓我們從（聽不清）開始）有一天您擁有一輛車，您將需要服務，對嗎？因此，我們正在努力為您建立適合您個人需求的服務管道。您可能想自己完成這項工作，這就是為什麼我們現在有了 anparts.com，我們將為您提供零件。

You may not want to use a franchise environment. You may want to use a nonfranchise environment. Or you may live 30 miles away from the closest franchise. That's why we have AutoNation mobility services, the reason we bought repair it. And if you do want to use the franchise environment, that's why we have a franchise environment. So I kind of look at it that says customers have different ways of getting that service work done and it's about us giving and providing them channels that are appropriate for them at the right convenience and the right cost. So you're right. There is what -- if you talk to Christian, our Head of After-Sales, there is this what I call a (inaudible) line where customers are making the decision to stay in the franchise channel or do I not spending the franchise channel. And we obviously target those people very aggressively to say, hey, it remains a fantastic channel for you. But if you want something else, then when we introduce you to repair with AutoNation mobile services.

您可能不想使用特許經營環境。您可能想要使用非特許經營環境。或者您的住所可能距離最近的特許經營店 30 英里。這就是我們擁有 AutoNation 行動服務的原因，也是我們購買維修服務的原因。如果您確實想使用特許經營環境，這就是我們擁有特許經營環境的原因。因此，我認為客戶有不同的方式來完成服務工作，而我們要以適當的便利性和適當的成本為他們提供適合他們的管道。所以你是對的。如果你與我們的售後服務主管克里斯蒂安交談，你會發現有一條我稱之為（聽不清）的熱線，客戶可以在這條熱線中決定留在特許經營渠道，還是不花特許經營渠道的費用。顯然，我們非常積極地針對這些人說，嘿，這對您來說仍然是一個絕佳的管道。但如果您想要其他東西，那麼當我們向您介紹使用 AutoNation 行動服務進行維修時。

Okay. And just one last thing on M&A. You mentioned it's becoming more attractive. Are sales just becoming more reasonable? Or are there other variables at play here that change?

好的。關於併購的最後一件事。你提到它變得越來越有吸引力。銷售是否變得更合理？還是還有其他變數在運作並且改變？

Sorry, you broke up, could you just repeat again?

抱歉，你們分手了，可以再說一次嗎？

I think in the slide deck, you mentioned M&A is becoming more attractive. And is that just solely because sellers are becoming more reasonable in their asking prices? Or are there other variables causing that change?

我認為在幻燈片中，您提到併購變得越來越有吸引力。這只是因為賣家的要價變得更合理嗎？或者有其他變數導致這種變化嗎？

Yes. This is Tom. I mean I'm relatively new to the environment. And obviously, and as we work with our corporate development team on pursuing lots of different opportunities, whether it's stores, franchises or some of the other things that Mike has mentioned. I would say that seller expectations have probably not moderated in any meaningful way as you can expect, as a seller.

是的。這是湯姆。我的意思是我對這個環境還比較陌生。顯然，當我們與企業開發團隊合作尋求許多不同的機會時，無論是商店、特許經營權還是麥克提到的其他一些東西。我想說的是，作為賣家，賣家的期望可能並沒有像你所期望的那樣以任何有意義的方式減弱。

And particularly with their P&Ls for the last couple of years being able to sell off of pandemic level P&L. I mean the expectation is pretty high. The trick for us is in evaluating the opportunities figuring out what the moderation is going to be normalization impacts are going to be. And I think that's the point I was trying to make is that those expectations have to start moderating as we cycle out of what was a pretty frantic period of time here for the whole U.S. and Globe, not just in the retail auto but in many other industries. So that's kind of the point I (inaudible) hopefully, that's clear for you, David.

特別是他們過去幾年的損益表能夠以大流行水準的損益表出售。我的意思是期望值相當高。我們的訣竅是評估機會，找出適度的影響將會是什麼。我認為我想表達的一點是，隨著我們走出整個美國和全球的一段相當瘋狂的時期，這些期望必須開始緩和，不僅在零售汽車領域，而且在許多其他領域行業。所以這就是我（聽不清楚）希望你明白的一點，大衛。

Yes. Go ahead, Mike.

是的。繼續吧，麥克。

No, no, I was -- I don't think anything I was going to add in now. Did that answer the question, David? So I think that was the last question.

不，不，我——我不認為我現在要添加任何內容。大衛，這回答了問題嗎？所以我認為這是最後一個問題。

Yes. Let me by the way, Derek, I'll be doing the mental math on technicians and I think your number was wrong. So we probably have to circle because my recollection is it's something in the order of between 4 to 500 takes that we've put on over a period of time. So just circle back to make sure we've covered that off. But with that, I'd like to bring the call to a close.

是的。順便說一句，德里克，我將對技術人員進行心算，我認為你的數字是錯誤的。所以我們可能必須繞一圈，因為我的記憶是我們在一段時間內拍攝了大約 4 到 500 個片段。所以請回過頭來確保我們已經解決了這個問題。但我想結束這通通話。

Thanks, everybody, for being on the call, and we look forward to seeing you in the next quarter. And as I said, thanks to all of our team. Thank you, everyone. Bye-bye.

感謝大家的接聽電話，我們期待在下個季度見到您。正如我所說，感謝我們團隊的所有人。謝謝大家。再見。

That concludes today's conference call. Thanks very much for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.

今天的電話會議到此結束。非常感謝您的加入。現在您可以斷開線路。

Thank you, everyone. Bye-bye.

謝謝大家。再見。