(ARKO) 2022 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the Arko Corp. Second Quarter 2020 Financial Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎參加 Arko Corp. 2020 年第二季度財務業績電話會議。 （操作員說明）作為提醒，本次會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Ross Parman, Vice President of Investor Relations and Government Affairs. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議轉交給您的主持人，投資者關係和政府事務副總裁羅斯帕曼。請繼續。

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to Arko's Second Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. On today's call are Arie Kotler, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Don Bassell, Chief Financial Officer. Our earnings press release, quarterly report as filed with the SEC and our earnings presentation are available on Arko's website at arkocorp.com.

謝謝你。早上好，歡迎來到 Arko 的 2022 年第二季度收益電話會議和網絡直播。今天的電話會議是 Arie Kotler，董事長、總裁兼首席執行官；和首席財務官 Don Bassell。我們的收益新聞稿、提交給美國證券交易委員會的季度報告和我們的收益報告可在 Arko 的網站 arkocorp.com 上找到。

Before we begin, please note that all second quarter 2022 financial information is unaudited. And during the course of this call, management may make forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by the use of words such as will, may, expect, plan, intend, could, estimate, project and similar references to future periods. These statements speak only as of today and are based on management's current expectations and beliefs and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements. Please refer to our press release, our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2022, and our other filings with the SEC, including our annual report on Form 10-K for a detailed discussion of the risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements made today.

在開始之前，請注意 2022 年第二季度的所有財務信息均未經審計。在本次電話會議期間，管理層可能會做出 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的前瞻性陳述。這些陳述可以通過使用諸如將、可能、預期、計劃、打算、可以，估計，預測和類似的參考未來期間。這些陳述僅在今天發表，並基於管理層當前的預期和信念，並涉及可能導致實際結果與這些前瞻性陳述中描述的結果大不相同的風險和不確定性。請參閱我們的新聞稿、截至 2022 年 6 月 30 日季度的 10-Q 表格季度報告以及我們向 SEC 提交的其他文件，包括我們的 10-K 表格年度報告，詳細討論可能導致的風險導致實際結果與今天做出的任何前瞻性陳述中明示或暗示的結果存在重大差異。

Please note that on today's call, management will refer to non-GAAP financial measures, including same-store measures, EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA. While the company believes these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information for investors, the presentation of this information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for our financial information presented in accordance with GAAP. Please refer to our earnings press release for reconciliations of our non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures.

請注意，在今天的電話會議上，管理層將參考非公認會計原則財務指標，包括同店指標、EBITDA 和調整後的 EBITDA。雖然公司認為這些非公認會計原則財務措施為投資者提供了有用的信息，但這些信息的呈現並不旨在孤立地考慮或替代我們根據公認會計原則呈現的財務信息。請參閱我們的收益新聞稿，了解我們的非公認會計原則措施與最直接可比的公認會計原則措施的對賬。

I would also like to note that we're conducting our call today from our respective remote locations. As such, there may be brief delays, cross talk or other minor technical issues during this call. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.

我還想指出，我們今天從各自的遠程位置進行通話。因此，本次通話期間可能會出現短暫的延遲、串音或其他小的技術問題。我們提前感謝您的耐心和理解。

And now I would like to turn the call over to Arie.

現在我想把電話轉給 Arie。

Thank you, Ross. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Arko strong results for the second quarter focus the resiliency and strength of our business model and our ability to execute our long-term growth strategy. Arko generated $31.8 million in net income, an increase of over 24% versus the prior year's second quarter.

謝謝你，羅斯。大家早上好，感謝您加入我們。 Arko 第二季度的強勁業績集中體現了我們業務模式的彈性和實力以及我們執行長期增長戰略的能力。 Arko 產生了 3180 萬美元的淨收入，與去年第二季度相比增長了 24% 以上。

Adjusted EBITDA was an over-time second quarter high for the company at $79 million, marking comparable quarter year-over-year EBITDA growth for 6 straight quarters. As these strong results, so we accomplished a lot during our first half of the year, our performance and financial strength facilitated continued investment in our stores and hiring and retention programs as well as the repurchase of common stock, which we continue to view as a great use of capital and a declaration of our third quarterly dividend. I'm extremely happy with the performance of all areas of our business.

調整後的 EBITDA 是該公司第二季度的歷史新高，為 7900 萬美元，連續 6 個季度實現 EBITDA 同比增長。由於這些強勁的業績，我們在上半年取得了很多成就，我們的業績和財務實力促進了對我們商店和招聘和保留計劃的持續投資以及普通股的回購，我們繼續將其視為大量使用資本並宣布我們的第三季度股息。我對我們所有業務領域的表現感到非常滿意。

This quarter, we navigated historic volatility and inflation by remaining focused on executing our strategy in stores and in fuel. In our stores, we maintained total market share and grew total store dollar sales. Merchandise margin increased 170 basis points to 30.4% compared to 28.7% in the second quarter of 2021. And second quarter same-store merchandise sales, excluding cigarettes, was 5.7% on a 2-year stock basis. The marketing team has done a good job managing for inflation in key categories. In particular, this quarter, we saw growing frozen food, center of the store items, beer and other tobacco products.

本季度，我們通過繼續專注於執行我們在商店和燃料方面的戰略來應對歷史性的波動和通貨膨脹。在我們的商店中，我們保持了總市場份額並增加了商店的總銷售額。與 2021 年第二季度的 28.7% 相比，商品利潤率增長 170 個基點至 30.4%。第二季度同店商品銷售額（不包括捲菸）在 2 年庫存基礎上為 5.7%。營銷團隊在關鍵類別的通貨膨脹管理方面做得很好。特別是在本季度，我們看到了冷凍食品、商店中心商品、啤酒和其他煙草產品的增長。

In terms of execution of our strategy, here is the short case study, building out frozen food offering was a strategic focus for us in prior quarters. The team moved quickly to implement this program and has executed it very well. It has rapidly gained ground and selling frozen fruit increased 81.5% compared to the prior year quarter. We also had a very strong quarter in fuel, whether prices are high or low, our strategy is consistent. We seek to manage margin and volume to optimize profitability while remaining competitive. We executed our strategy through a volatile price movement this quarter and achieved great results. Total fuel gross profit was $130.8 million, a 15.1% increase compared to $113.7 million in the second quarter of 2021. As our in-store results show, we believe that we can maintain sent per gallon growth while maintaining merchandise margin dollar growth. While we delivered excellent results with higher fuel prices, we believe that the fuel strategy also enables strong results as prices decline as they have done recently.

在我們的戰略執行方面，這是一個簡短的案例研究，建立冷凍食品產品是我們在前幾個季度的戰略重點。該團隊迅速採取行動實施該計劃，並且執行得非常好。它迅速取得進展，冷凍水果的銷量與去年同期相比增長了 81.5%。我們在燃料方面也有一個非常強勁的季度，無論價格是高還是低，我們的策略都是一致的。我們尋求管理利潤和數量以優化盈利能力，同時保持競爭力。我們通過本季度波動的價格走勢執行了我們的策略，並取得了不錯的成績。總燃料毛利潤為 1.308 億美元，與 2021 年第二季度的 1.137 億美元相比增長 15.1%。正如我們的店內業績顯示，我們相信我們可以在保持商品利潤率美元增長的同時保持每加侖發送量的增長。雖然我們在燃油價格上漲的情況下取得了出色的業績，但我們相信，隨著價格下跌，燃料戰略也能取得強勁的業績，就像他們最近所做的那樣。

I've been visiting stores throughout the summer, driving through Michigan, Virginia, the Carolinas and many other states. I think it's important to get out and listen to customers and associates. I see how the communities around our stores are doing as well as our competition. And I see how we are executing at the store and territory level. In our stores, customers continue to buy items that fulfill their basic needs. We believe that we are driving some of this demand with compelling past rewards promotion, offering great discounts on fuel and in-store purchases. We have a very compelling offering and continue to implement key initiatives that are resonating with our customers. One of the factors that make this company successful is our ability to identify and deliver the right combination of initiatives. The company's scale and resources allow us to pursue multiple opportunities at once. This is an advantage that we believe enable us to deliver great results for our stockholders. For example, we completed 5 store remodel this quarter. We also moved quickly to implement aspects of our remodel program across our footprint by investing in high-margin categories and foodservice, which includes converting delis to Sbarro location in our stores and an extensive bean-to-cup coffee program that follows on the yield of our successful rollout of freezers and grab and go open air coolers.

整個夏天我都在逛商店，開車經過密歇根、弗吉尼亞、卡羅來納和許多其他州。我認為走出去傾聽客戶和同事的意見很重要。我看到我們商店周圍的社區以及我們的競爭對手的表現如何。我看到了我們在商店和區域層面的執行情況。在我們的商店中，客戶繼續購買滿足其基本需求的商品。我們相信，我們正在通過引人注目的過去獎勵促銷來推動這種需求，提供燃油和店內購買的巨大折扣。我們有一個非常引人注目的產品，並繼續實施與我們的客戶產生共鳴的關鍵舉措。使這家公司成功的因素之一是我們能夠識別和提供正確的舉措組合。公司的規模和資源使我們能夠同時追求多個機會。我們相信這是一個優勢，使我們能夠為我們的股東帶來出色的業績。例如，我們本季度完成了 5 家門店改造。我們還通過投資高利潤品類和餐飲服務，迅速採取行動，在我們的足跡中實施改造計劃的各個方面，其中包括將熟食店轉變為我們商店中的 Sbarro 位置，以及一個廣泛的豆到杯咖啡計劃，該計劃遵循我們成功推出了冷凍機和露天冷氣機。

I recently visited Store 30 in Richmond, where there was a line out the door for Sbarro Pizza. This Sbarro program is clearly hit with customers. We opened 4 Sbarros this quarter and have a total of 8 open for business with 5 more under construction right now. I believe we are on pace to achieve our goal of opening 50 Sbarros by the end of the year.

我最近參觀了里士滿的 30 號商店，那裡的 Sbarro Pizza 門口排起了長隊。這個 Sbarro 計劃顯然受到了客戶的歡迎。我們本季度開設了 4 家 Sbarros，共有 8 家開業，還有 5 家正在建設中。我相信我們正在努力實現在年底前開設 50 家 Sbarros 的目標。

Over the last few quarters, we installed bean-to-cup coffee machines in a total of 548 stores, exceeding our goal of 525 store installation. This quarter, we increased iced coffee unit sales by almost 22%, and we believe that we are very competitively priced for cost-conscious consumers.

在過去的幾個季度中，我們總共在 548 家門店安裝了 bean-to-cup 咖啡機，超過了我們安裝 525 家門店的目標。本季度，我們的冰咖啡單位銷售額增加了近 22%，我們相信對於注重成本的消費者而言，我們的價格極具競爭力。

My store visits confirmed that our bean-to-cup coffee machine, along with our new beans, made consistently high-quality top of coffee. I am a serious coffee drinker, and I believe we knocked it off the park with the quality of bean and the freshness that these machines offer.

我的商店訪問證實，我們的 bean-to-cup 咖啡機以及我們的新咖啡豆，始終製作出高品質的頂級咖啡。我是一個認真的咖啡飲用者，我相信我們憑藉咖啡豆的質量和這些機器提供的新鮮度將它從公園里淘汰了。

I also want to speak about some other investments we are making. We are moving forward on treating new Dunkin' and plan to remodel 2 additional Dunkin' stores. On Subway was remodeled in Q2, for 6 Subways we modeled this year, and we remain on track to commence engineering on our new-to-industry store in Atlanta, Texas. We're extremely pleased with the continued growing consumer response to our fast rewards loyalty program. We now have approximately 1.1 million enrolled loyalty customers. We used the program, earning and redeeming points out of home about 650,000 with whom we can directly communicate and provide special offers.

我還想談談我們正在進行的其他一些投資。我們正在推進處理新的 Dunkin' 併計劃改造另外 2 家 Dunkin' 商店。 On Subway 在第二季度進行了改造，今年我們為 6 條 Subway 進行了建模，我們仍在按計劃開始在德克薩斯州亞特蘭大的新工業商店進行工程設計。我們對消費者對我們的快速獎勵忠誠度計劃的持續增長反應感到非常高興。我們現在有大約 110 萬註冊忠誠客戶。我們使用該計劃，在國外賺取和兌換了大約 650,000 點積分，我們可以直接與他們交流並提供特別優惠。

We're excited to roll out our announced loyalty app currently under development, which will announce communication in these million-plus customers and enable us to serve them customized deals as well as order and delivery, functionality and many other features.

我們很高興推出我們目前正在開發的已宣布的忠誠度應用程序，該應用程序將宣布與這些數百萬客戶的溝通，並使我們能夠為他們提供定制交易以及訂單和交付、功能和許多其他功能。

Another factor that has fueled our growth and been consistently accretive to our bottom line is our highly successful acquisition strategy. We've executed 21 acquisitions in less than 10 years, including the acquisition of Quarles Petroleum fleet fueling business, which closed in late July. Using estimated forward-looking non-GAAP measures, we expect that the acquisition of assets from Quarles Petroleum will at approximately $17.5 million of adjusted EBITDA on an annualized basis. The acquired cold asset fit seamlessly into our footprint with cardlock site in prime areas in key territories. Importantly, we believe this acquisition presents opportunities for organic growth and expansion. I want to warmly welcome the approximately 100 Quarles employees who have joined our family of community brands in connection with the acquisition. Their seasoned operators who have been stored of the Quarles's name trust over 80 years of continued operation. In terms of acquisition, cost pressure has created opportunities and advantage for a large operator like Arko. It's important to remember that the convenience store industry tends to be very resilient and has historically grown during recession.

另一個推動我們增長並持續增加利潤的因素是我們非常成功的收購戰略。在不到 10 年的時間裡，我們進行了 21 次收購，包括收購 Quarles Petroleum 車隊加油業務，該業務於 7 月底結束。使用估計的前瞻性非公認會計原則措施，我們預計從 Quarles Petroleum 收購資產的調整後 EBITDA 每年約為 1750 萬美元。收購的冷資產與我們在關鍵地區黃金地段的 cardlock 站點無縫契合。重要的是，我們相信此次收購為有機增長和擴張提供了機會。我要熱烈歡迎大約 100 名 Quarles 員工加入我們的社區品牌大家庭，參與此次收購。擁有 Quarles 名字的經驗豐富的經營者信任 80 多年的持續經營。在收購方面，成本壓力為Arko這樣的大型運營商創造了機會和優勢。重要的是要記住，便利店行業往往具有很強的彈性，並且在經濟衰退期間一直在增長。

Right now, there is a robust deal pipeline in the market. We believe that the company is well positioned to use current market conditions to our advantage, given our strong financial position. Arko's total liquidity as of June 30 was approximately $727 million, composed of cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments of approximately $282 million and approximately $445 million available under line of credit. In addition, we have the extended $1.15 billion real property commitment from our real estate capital at our disposal. We are also investing in areas that we believe will have positive impact on our stores in the longer term. We are working on adding EV charging capabilities and just installed Level 3 fast chargers at Village Pantry in Marysville, Ohio. These fast chargers deployed by ChargePoint support all type of EVs. We previously announced that chargers will be installed at 2 stores in Colorado. We are in the early stages of our EV charging strategy. We are identifying grants and subsidies and exploring partnerships at the corporate level. Our ambition is to make EV drivers loyal customers as adoption increase in our store footprint.

目前，市場上有一個強大的交易渠道。鑑於我們強大的財務狀況，我們相信該公司有能力利用當前的市場條件為我們帶來優勢。截至 6 月 30 日，Arko 的總流動資金約為 7.27 億美元，包括現金和現金等價物以及約 2.82 億美元的短期投資和約 4.45 億美元的信貸額度。此外，我們還有來自我們的房地產資本的 11.5 億美元的擴展房地產承諾可供我們支配。我們還投資於我們認為會在長期內對我們的商店產生積極影響的領域。我們正在努力增加電動汽車充電功能，剛剛在俄亥俄州馬里斯維爾的 Village Pantry 安裝了 3 級快速充電器。 ChargePoint 部署的這些快速充電器支持所有類型的電動汽車。我們之前宣布將在科羅拉多州的 2 家商店安裝充電器。我們正處於電動汽車充電策略的早期階段。我們正在確定贈款和補貼，並在企業層面探索合作夥伴關係。我們的目標是讓電動汽車司機成為忠實的客戶，因為我們商店的採用率增加。

We also recently released our ESG policy, and I encourage you to visit our website to read it. We have made significant progress on this policy and look forward sharing baseline reporting with our stakeholders later this year. I want to thank all associates for their excellent work. Every year, I visit a lot of stores, and I'm always struck by how they are willing to go the extra mile.

我們最近還發布了 ESG 政策，建議您訪問我們的網站閱讀。我們在這項政策上取得了重大進展，並期待在今年晚些時候與我們的利益相關者分享基線報告。我要感謝所有員工的出色工作。每年，我都會去很多商店，我總是對他們願意多走一英里感到震驚。

One recent accomplishment was all-in efforts. Throughout this quarter, we partnered with JDC, a leading global humanitarian organization to help alleviate the refugee crisis in Ukraine and neighboring countries. Our associates help collect donations at the point of sale. We also partnered with our supplier community with a dollar per dollar match by a generous JDC donor. We collectively raised over $640,000. We are grateful for the support of our associates, customers and supplier community. We have yet again delivered excellent financial results, and I truly believe Arko is well positioned for continued success. I will turn the call over to Don.

最近的一項成就是全力以赴。在本季度，我們與全球領先的人道主義組織 JDC 合作，幫助緩解烏克蘭和鄰國的難民危機。我們的員工幫助在銷售點收集捐款。我們還與我們的供應商社區合作，由慷慨的 JDC 捐助者提供每美元一美元的匹配。我們總共籌集了超過 640,000 美元。我們感謝我們的員工、客戶和供應商社區的支持。我們再次取得了出色的財務業績，我堅信 Arko 已做好繼續取得成功的準備。我會把電話轉給唐。

Thank you, Arie, and good morning, everyone. We had excellent results this quarter. Increased merchandise contribution and fuel contribution at same stores, combined with an increase in field contribution in our wholesale segment for the best second quarter in company history. The 2021 acquisitions of ExpressStop and Handy Mart also contributed to these results. And we're excited about the Quarles acquisition, which closed in late July. We are working with the highly experienced Quarles's team on integrating our operations now. Quarles become a fourth reporting segment for the company. This will keep our financial performance easily accessible for all investors and analysts. With the acquisition, the company is now engaging in fuel hedging positions. This system manage risk associated with an immaterial number of fuel transactions that have price risk until the actual fuel is delivered to the cardlock, where several customers buy based on the formula tied to the current RAC prices on the date of sale. This hedging applies to only approximately 2 million gallons per month associated with fleet fueling operations.

謝謝你，Arie，大家早上好。本季度我們取得了出色的成績。同一商店的商品貢獻和燃料貢獻增加，加上我們批發部門的現場貢獻增加，這是公司歷史上最好的第二季度。 2021 年對 ExpressStop 和 Handy Mart 的收購也促成了這些結果。我們對 Quarles 的收購感到興奮，該收購於 7 月下旬結束。我們現在正與經驗豐富的 Quarles 團隊合作整合我們的運營。 Quarles 成為該公司的第四個報告部門。這將使所有投資者和分析師都能輕鬆獲得我們的財務業績。通過此次收購，該公司現在從事燃料對沖頭寸。該系統管理與數量無關緊要的燃料交易相關的風險，這些交易具有價格風險，直到實際燃料被交付到卡鎖，幾個客戶根據與銷售日期當前 RAC 價格相關的公式進行購買。這種對沖僅適用於與車隊加油操作相關的每月大約 200 萬加侖的燃料。

Getting into the results. Merchandise margin dollars for the second quarter of 2022 increased by $9 million versus the prior year, while margin percent increased 170 basis points to 30.4% from 28.7%. I already noted this, but I would like to reiterate this point. We recorded excellent results in an elevated fuel price environment, but we believe our resilient strategy enables the company to also achieve strong results as fuel prices decline, as we've demonstrated in prior quarters. Whether prices are high or low, we strive to manage margin and volume to optimize overall fuel margin dollars.

進入結果。 2022 年第二季度的商品保證金美元比上年增加了 900 萬美元，而利潤率百分比從 28.7% 增加了 170 個基點至 30.4%。我已經註意到這一點，但我想重申這一點。我們在燃油價格上漲的環境中取得了出色的業績，但我們相信我們的彈性戰略使公司在燃油價格下跌時也能取得強勁的業績，正如我們在前幾個季度所證明的那樣。無論價格高低，我們都努力管理利潤和數量，以優化整體燃料利潤。

Retail fuel profitability, excluding intercompany charges for the second quarter of 2022 grew 15% this quarter to $13.7 million versus Q2 2021. The company increased retail fuel margin to $0.413 per gallon versus $0.43 per gallon versus the prior year quarter, an increase of 20.4%. For the second quarter of 2022, wholesale fuel profitability, excluding intercompany charges, increased approximately $3.5 million compared to the prior year period. Fuel contribution from fuel supply locations increased by $1.9 million, excluding intercompany charges compared to the prior year period due to greater prompt-pay discounts related to higher fuel costs and greater rebates. Fuel margin cents per gallon for these locations increased to $0.072 per gallon versus $0.056 per gallon in the second quarter of 2021 or an increase of 28.6%.

不計 2022 年第二季度公司間費用的零售燃料盈利能力本季度比 2021 年第二季度增長 15% 至 1370 萬美元。該公司將零售燃料利潤率提高至每加侖 0.413 美元，而上年同期為每加侖 0.43 美元，增長 20.4% . 2022 年第二季度，不包括公司間費用在內的批發燃料盈利能力與去年同期相比增加了約 350 萬美元。與去年同期相比，燃料供應地點的燃料貢獻增加了 190 萬美元，不包括公司間費用，原因是與更高的燃料成本和更高的回扣相關的即時付款折扣更大。這些地點的每加侖燃油利潤美分增至每加侖 0.072 美元，而 2021 年第二季度為每加侖 0.056 美元，增幅為 28.6%。

This quarter, the company continued to realize strong margin dollar contribution from consignment locations. Fuel contribution from consignment locations grew $1.6 million compared to the prior year quarter. Fuel margin also increased $0.69 per gallon or 27.2% to $0.323 per gallon compared to the second quarter of 2021, primarily due to greater prompt-pay discounts related to higher fuel costs, greater fuel rate dates and improved RAC to retail margins. Volumes sold through consignment locations were 16% of the total gallons for wholesale. However, it accounted for approximately 47% of total fuel margin dollar contribution for wholesale. Moving on, second quarter store operating expenses increased $23.4 million or 15.1% versus prior year due to an increase in expenses at same stores, including higher personnel costs, credit card fees and as a result of our 2021 acquisitions.

本季度，該公司繼續從寄售地點實現強勁的美元利潤貢獻。與去年同期相比，來自寄售地點的燃料貢獻增加了 160 萬美元。與 2021 年第二季度相比，燃料利潤率也增加了每加侖 0.69 美元或 27.2% 至每加侖 0.323 美元，這主要是由於與更高的燃料成本、更長的燃料費率日期和改進的 RAC 零售利潤率相關的更多即時付款折扣。通過寄售地點銷售的數量佔批發總量的 16%。然而，它約佔批發燃料利潤總額的 47%。接下來，由於同一商店的費用增加，包括更高的人員成本、信用卡費用以及我們 2021 年的收購，第二季度商店運營費用比上年增加了 2340 萬美元或 15.1%。

In terms of hiring, we are seeing our applicant pool improving. While we continue to see a smaller than historical store opening pool, we are keeping up with the turnover inherent to our industry while taking additional steps to retain staff and fill vacancies through special incentives and recruiting marketing.

在招聘方面，我們看到我們的申請人池有所改善。雖然我們繼續看到開店人數少於歷史，但我們正在跟上行業固有的營業額，同時採取額外措施留住員工並通過特殊激勵措施和招聘營銷填補空缺。

Moving on to more results. Net interest and other financial expenses decreased by $4.7 million versus the prior year quarter to $7.3 million for the quarter. During the current quarter, we recorded $7.3 million in favorable fair value adjustments primarily associated with our public warrants. Adjusted EBITDA was $79 million, an increase of $3.3 million or 4.4% compared to the second quarter of 2021. Our net income was $31.8 million, an increase of almost $6.2 million or more than 24% compared to $25.6 million in Q2 2021. As of June 30, 2022, we maintained our strong liquidity position, including cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments of approximately $282 million. Our outstanding debt, excluding capital leases, was approximately $714 million, resulting in net debt of $432 million. For the quarter, net cash provided by operating activities was $42.1 million versus $47.7 million for the second quarter of 2021. Capital expenditures were $24.5 million for the quarter compared to $15.1 million in the prior year quarter.

繼續取得更多成果。本季度的淨利息和其他財務費用與去年同期相比減少了 470 萬美元，至 730 萬美元。在本季度，我們記錄了 730 萬美元的有利公允價值調整，主要與我們的公開認股權證相關。調整後 EBITDA 為 7900 萬美元，與 2021 年第二季度相比增加 330 萬美元或 4.4%。我們的淨收入為 3180 萬美元，與 2021 年第二季度的 2560 萬美元相比增加近 620 萬美元或超過 24%。截至2022 年 6 月 30 日，我們保持了強勁的流動性狀況，包括約 2.82 億美元的現金和現金等價物以及短期投資。我們的未償債務（不包括資本租賃）約為 7.14 億美元，淨債務為 4.32 億美元。本季度，經營活動提供的淨現金為 4210 萬美元，而 2021 年第二季度為 4770 萬美元。本季度的資本支出為 2450 萬美元，而去年同期為 1510 萬美元。

Higher CapEx was driven by upgrades to field dispensers and investments in our stores, including remodeling delis to facilitate our Sbarro expansion and installing bean-to-cup coffee equipment. Yesterday, in our earnings release, we noted that in the third quarter, the company initiated an internal restructuring that will include a change in tax status of certain subsidiaries, which will streamline business operations to provide long-term synergies and other cost savings, and we expect this to largely be completed by the end of the third quarter. Given the restructuring, we expect to record in the third quarter a onetime noncash tax expense of approximately $8.5 million. Our Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.02 per share of common stock to be paid on September 12, 2022, with a record date of August 29, 2022.

更高的資本支出是由現場分配器的升級和對我們商店的投資推動的，包括改造熟食店以促進我們的 Sbarro 擴張和安裝 bean-to-cup 咖啡設備。昨天，在我們的收益發布中，我們注意到，在第三季度，公司啟動了內部重組，其中包括改變某些子公司的稅務狀況，這將簡化業務運營以提供長期協同效應和其他成本節約，以及我們預計這將在第三季度末基本完成。鑑於重組，我們預計第三季度的一次性非現金稅費約為 850 萬美元。我們的董事會宣布將於 2022 年 9 月 12 日支付每股普通股 0.02 美元的季度股息，記錄日期為 2022 年 8 月 29 日。

In the second quarter, the company repurchased 3.1 million shares of common stock at an average price of $8.65 for a total of $27 million paid. We believe this is an opportunistic use of capital. There are approximately $11 million remaining under our previously announced $50 million stock repurchase program. As of August 5, there were approximately 12.1 million shares of common stock outstanding. The company continues to scale with 1,308 retail sites and 1,620 wholesale sites. As I turn the call back to Arie, I'll note that this has been another great quarter of financial results. We continue to execute as we navigate through this challenging environment.

第二季度，該公司以平均 8.65 美元的價格回購了 310 萬股普通股，共支付了 2700 萬美元。我們認為這是對資本的機會主義使用。在我們之前宣布的 5,000 萬美元股票回購計劃下，剩餘大約 1,100 萬美元。截至 8 月 5 日，已發行普通股約 1210 萬股。該公司繼續擴大規模，擁有 1,308 個零售站點和 1,620 個批發站點。當我將電話轉回 Arie 時，我會注意到這是財務業績的又一個季度。在這個充滿挑戰的環境中導航時，我們將繼續執行。

Thanks, Don. I will close by saying that we believe we have the right long-term strategy in place as well as execution capability that make me confident about delivering growth for the long term. Our business has performed exceptionally well in a challenging environment. Our model is very resilient, and I believe we're well positioned to deliver future value to our stockholders. We are very excited about the second half of this year. We will now take your questions.

謝謝，唐。最後我要說的是，我們相信我們擁有正確的長期戰略以及執行能力，這使我對實現長期增長充滿信心。我們的業務在充滿挑戰的環境中表現異常出色。我們的模式非常有彈性，我相信我們有能力為我們的股東創造未來的價值。我們對今年下半年感到非常興奮。我們現在將回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Kelly Bania with BMO Capital Markets.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自於 BMO Capital Markets 的 Kelly Bania。

This is Ben Wood on for Kelly. We wanted to start with the retail gallon same-store sales decline. And how did that come in relative to your own internal expectations for the quarter? And if you could just give us a cadence of same-store gallon sales over the quarter? Just trying to get a sense of how maybe peak gas and prices may have impacted gallons.

這是凱利的本伍德。我們想從零售加侖同店銷售額下降開始。相對於您對本季度的內部預期，這又是如何產生的？如果你能給我們一個季度同店加侖銷售的節奏？只是想了解峰值汽油和價格可能如何影響加侖。

Sure. Thank you. Well, as I mentioned on the call, higher prices did lead to lower volumes. There is no question about it, especially the market that we currently operate. But as I mentioned always, our strategy is to optimize margin. And that's basically what we did over here. We stay very competitive in the market we do business. And when price goes to $5, which I've never seen, by the way, through my entire career, obviously, in those markets, people driving less, coming more often to the store by driving less, and that's what really led to that. But as you can see, there is the overall results at the end of the day were to increase profitability while staying competitive over here.

當然。謝謝你。好吧，正如我在電話會議上提到的，更高的價格確實導致了交易量的減少。毫無疑問，尤其是我們目前經營的市場。但正如我一直提到的，我們的策略是優化利潤。這基本上就是我們在這裡所做的。我們在我們開展業務的市場中保持非常有競爭力。當價格達到 5 美元時，順便說一句，在我的整個職業生涯中，很明顯，在那些市場上，人們開車少了，開車少了，來商店的次數多了，這就是真正導致這種情況的原因.但正如你所看到的，最終的總體結果是提高盈利能力，同時保持競爭力。

Great. That's helpful. And then I guess -- following up on that, on the wholesale side, down look equally kind of challenged. What opportunities are you seeing for wholesale growth? Or does that more or less track in line with retail?

偉大的。這很有幫助。然後我猜 - 在批發方面跟進，向下看起來同樣受到挑戰。您認為批發增長有哪些機會？或者這或多或少與零售業一致？

Those wholesale accounts, most of them are mom and pop. And the challenge that we saw in retail or at least a slowdown when price actually hit a $5 national leverage, I mean, they sold the same thing. And as you can see, their gallons are down probably at the same percentage that our gallons were down. But at the same time, we -- last time we sold $5 was sometime in the mid-June. And as you can see from the beginning of July, prices are down dramatically. I mean, we're talking around almost $1. And we see right now, all of a sudden, we see trends coming in a different direction. I mean, we see volume up right now because of that. And I think those guys are going to enjoy the same thing as we see over here on the retail side.

那些批發帳戶，其中大多數是媽媽和流行音樂。我們在零售中看到的挑戰，或者至少是當價格實際上達到 5 美元的國家槓桿時的放緩，我的意思是，他們賣出了同樣的東西。正如你所看到的，他們的加侖下降可能與我們的加侖下降的百分比相同。但與此同時，我們——上次我們賣出 5 美元是在 6 月中旬的某個時候。正如您從 7 月初開始看到的那樣，價格急劇下降。我的意思是，我們談論的價格接近 1 美元。我們現在看到，突然之間，我們看到趨勢朝著不同的方向發展。我的意思是，我們現在看到交易量因此而增加。而且我認為這些人會享受與我們在零售方面看到的一樣的東西。

Okay. That's super helpful. And if I could sneak in just one more question on the merchandise inside store side, I'm wondering if you could just give us any more commentary on inflation in the quarter and what impact that had on prices. Were you able to pass everything through? And are you seeing more price increases coming down the line on the supplier side?

好的。這非常有幫助。如果我可以再問一個關於店內商品的問題，我想知道你是否可以就本季度的通貨膨脹以及這對價格的影響給我們提供更多評論。你能通過一切嗎？您是否看到供應商方面的價格上漲更多？

There's no question that we -- during the last quarter, we saw price increases, and we were able , of course, to continue to be very competitive, while have to increase some prices in some cases. I think what we actually were able to do is increase promotions with our oil customers and make sure that we actually provide great prices to all our customers. That's the reason we saw an increase in loyal customers. And as we continue during inflation, we see the difference between a loyal customer to a nonroyal customer. The loyal customers are spending over $90 more than the nonloyal customer. And I think that's going to continue to basically be the trend over here as we continue to go through inflation.

毫無疑問，我們在上個季度看到了價格上漲，當然，我們能夠繼續保持非常有競爭力，但在某些情況下不得不提高一些價格。我認為我們實際上能夠做的是增加與我們的石油客戶的促銷活動，並確保我們實際上為所有客戶提供優惠的價格。這就是我們看到忠誠客戶增加的原因。隨著我們在通貨膨脹期間繼續，我們看到了忠誠客戶與非皇室客戶之間的區別。忠誠客戶比非忠誠客戶多花費 90 美元以上。而且我認為隨著我們繼續經歷通貨膨脹，這基本上將繼續成為這裡的趨勢。

Our next question comes from the line of Bobby Griffin with Raymond James.

我們的下一個問題來自 Bobby Griffin 和 Raymond James。

I guess, Arie and Don, the first question for us is back on retail gallons. And more just kind of curious, as you guys look at the strategy of maximizing fuel gross profit dollars, is there a certain level of gallon decline that you think starts to hurt the inside the store business from a traffic standpoint or something? So just anything there to help us circle up on how you think about balancing the gallon decline versus the GP when you think about inside the store as well.

我想，阿里和唐，我們的第一個問題是零售加侖。更多的只是有點好奇，當你們看到最大化燃料毛利潤美元的策略時，是否存在一定程度的加侖下降，從交通的角度或其他方面開始損害店內業務？因此，當您考慮商店內部時，只要有任何東西可以幫助我們了解您如何平衡加侖下降與 GP 之間的關係。

Sure, sure, sure. So as I mentioned earlier, Bobby, the $5 mark, this is something that I don't think any one of us still during our career other than the people in California, of course. And we watch this very, very carefully. That's the reason I mentioned. We maintain our in-store market share, and this is based on IRI data. And this is something that we're always watching. We're always watching and making sure that we stay competitively. So when we talk about gallons down in lieu of increasing profitability, it's not that the gallons were there. It's not that -- I don't believe we lost market share. It's just the markets that we did business, people just drove less just because they don't have the discretionary income over there. I think that's really the reason for that. I don't believe that that impact any of our in-store visits. And as I said, I mean, we remain market share in the markets that we actually do business.

確定，確定，確定。所以正如我之前提到的，鮑比，5 美元大關，我認為除了加利福尼亞的人們之外，我認為我們中的任何人在我們的職業生涯中都沒有。我們非常非常仔細地觀察這一點。這就是我提到的原因。我們維持我們的店內市場份額，這是基於 IRI 數據。這是我們一直在關注的事情。我們一直在關注並確保我們保持競爭力。因此，當我們談論降低加侖而不是提高盈利能力時，並不是說加侖就在那裡。不是這樣——我不相信我們失去了市場份額。這只是我們做生意的市場，人們只是因為那裡沒有可支配收入而開車少了。我認為這才是真正的原因。我認為這不會影響我們的任何店內訪問。正如我所說，我的意思是，我們仍然在我們實際開展業務的市場中佔有市場份額。

But as you can see, we were able to increase profitability inside the stores because of that. I mean people are coming more often to the stores right now. They may have like small purchases, but they're actually coming in more often. And that's the reason while gallons are down, we make sure that we have the right items. We make sure we have the right promotions. We're working with manufacturers to be able to actually put the right promotion in place. That's also the reason why we are investing our time on reformatting our stores with coffee, with launches, with food service. Those are the things that we have to do while people are driving less. Again, I think that what we saw in June, that was something -- it's really historically. I never saw anything like this in my life. And I think that right now in July, you're going to see that it's actually turning in another direction when price of fuel is basically almost $1 less.

但正如你所看到的，我們能夠因此提高商店內部的盈利能力。我的意思是現在人們來商店的頻率更高了。他們可能喜歡小額購買，但實際上他們進來的頻率更高。這就是在加侖量下降的情況下，我們確保我們擁有正確的物品的原因。我們確保我們有正確的促銷活動。我們正在與製造商合作，以便能夠真正實施正確的促銷活動。這也是我們投入時間用咖啡、新品發布和食品服務來重新格式化我們的商店的原因。這些是我們在人們減少駕駛時必須做的事情。再說一次，我認為我們在 6 月看到的，那是一些東西——它真的是歷史性的。我一生中從未見過這樣的事情。而且我認為現在在 7 月，你會看到它實際上正在轉向另一個方向，當時燃料價格基本上低了近 1 美元。

Okay. That's very helpful. And then, Don, on the store operating expenses, I think in the press release, you called out $8.4 million of personnel cost increase. Is that all just per hour cost? Or is there more hours being ran in the stores right now? Just trying to think of the difference between the labor side on a per hour basis and the number of hours you're running inside the stores.

好的。這很有幫助。然後，唐，關於商店運營費用，我認為在新聞稿中，你呼籲增加 840 萬美元的人員成本。這只是每小時的費用嗎？還是現在商店裡的營業時間更長？試著想想每小時的勞動力和你在商店裡運行的小時數之間的區別。

Yes. Great question because it's a combination of a couple of things. Number one, obviously, the average wage we're paying is up as everybody is experiencing across the market. There are more hours being worked because the applicant pool is getting a little bit better, although not where we want it. But there's another factor in there, too. We're doing things -- we're still offering incentives. One of the things that we did, which I think our existing associates appreciate it is we offered a $500 for 500 hours for all employees so that we -- That's part of the numbers, too. So we offered that for anybody employed as of Memorial Day. So not just new employees, but employees who have not gotten any recognition for that are also getting something too. So I think it's a combination of all 3. But I think one of the biggest drivers is the hourly wage itself going up.

是的。很好的問題，因為它是幾件事的結合。第一，顯然，我們支付的平均工資隨著市場上每個人的經歷而上漲。有更多的工作時間，因為申請人池正在變得更好，儘管不是我們想要的。但其中還有另一個因素。我們正在做事——我們仍在提供激勵措施。我們所做的其中一件事，我認為我們現有的同事對此表示讚賞，我們為所有員工提供了 500 小時 500 美元的費用，因此我們 - 這也是數字的一部分。因此，我們為陣亡將士紀念日之前受僱的任何人提供了該服務。因此，不僅是新員工，那些沒有得到任何認可的員工也得到了一些東西。所以我認為這是三者的結合。但我認為最大的驅動因素之一是小時工資本身的上漲。

Okay. And then lastly from us, just on the realignment and streamlining, any early expectations about the savings that you think you could gain from that over a multiyear period? Or anything there to help us think about what the potential benefit could be once that's all done in the third quarter or into 2022?

好的。最後來自我們，就調整和精簡而言，您認為您可以在多年期間從中獲得節省的任何早期期望？或者有什麼可以幫助我們思考一旦在第三季度或 2022 年全部完成後潛在的好處是什麼？

Yes. We expect at a minimum, just at a minimum over $0.5 million a year, but we think it could be much higher than that. But at a minimum, from a starting place, we think it will be over $0.5 million.

是的。我們預計至少每年至少超過 50 萬美元，但我們認為可能會比這高得多。但至少，從一開始，我們認為它將超過 50 萬美元。

Our next question comes from the line of Anthony Bonadio with Wells Fargo. Please proceed.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Anthony Bonadio。請繼續。

Congrats on the beat. So I just quickly wanted to ask on fuel margins. The OPUS data sort of continued to accelerate into July as prices have declined, which I think makes sense given what we've seen historically. Is that in line with what you guys are seeing so far in the first 5 weeks of Q3? And then how should we be thinking about what a more sustainable level looks like, assuming gas prices sort of level out again at some point in the foreseeable future?

祝賀節拍。所以我很快就想問問燃料利潤。隨著價格下跌，OPUS 數據在 7 月份繼續加速，鑑於我們從歷史上看到的情況，我認為這是有道理的。這與你們在第三季度前 5 週迄今為止所看到的一致嗎？然後我們應該如何考慮更可持續的水平，假設天然氣價格在可預見的未來某個時候再次趨於平穩？

I can't comment on Q3. The only thing I can comment on, Anthony, is that, yes, with price of fuel come down, and this is something that we saw historically, people are driving more, and we see an increase in gallons. There is absolutely a correlation between price of fuel declining and correlation of people driving more and getting out there. And I just think that at the end of the day, we are not relying only on fuel. I just want to make sure that everybody remember that. If you're looking on our insights inside sales, excluding cigarettes, and this is something very, very important, because we are a little bit different than some others. The health of our business is very, very good. We deliver increase of 170 basis points increase inside the stores. If you're really looking at the end of the day, our gross profit inside the store in lieu of that was $3.4 million up gross profit on a same store. And I think that's what you can see. I mean this is with $5 price of fuel, as you can imagine, what we are going to see when price of fuel is down for more than $1.

我無法對第三季度發表評論。安東尼，我唯一可以評論的是，是的，隨著燃料價格的下降，這是我們從歷史上看到的，人們開得更多，我們看到加侖增加。燃料價格下降與人們開車更多和離開那裡的相關性之間絕對存在相關性。而且我只是認為，歸根結底，我們不僅僅依賴燃料。我只是想確保每個人都記住這一點。如果您正在查看我們對銷售的見解，不包括香煙，這是非常非常重要的事情，因為我們與其他一些人有點不同。我們業務的健康狀況非常非常好。我們在商店內增加了 170 個基點。如果你真的在看一天結束的時候，我們在商店內的毛利潤是 340 萬美元，而不是同一家商店的毛利潤。我認為這就是你可以看到的。我的意思是這是 5 美元的燃料價格，正如你可以想像的那樣，當燃料價格下跌超過 1 美元時，我們將看到什麼。

Got it. That's helpful. And then I guess just piggybacking on that, on merch margins, obviously, another solid quarter. It sounded like mix was a big contributor based on what you guys said in the PR in the prepared remarks. Can you just help us understand how much of that 170 basis points came from mix versus other factors? And then to what extent your different initiatives, things like the grab and go coolers, the new coffee machines are starting to play a role there?

知道了。這很有幫助。然後我想只是捎帶這個，在商品利潤上，顯然，另一個穩固的季度。根據你們在 PR 中在準備好的評論中所說的話，聽起來 mix 是一個很大的貢獻者。您能否幫助我們了解這 170 個基點中有多少來自混合與其他因素？然後你的不同舉措在多大程度上開始發揮作用，比如隨取隨用的冷卻器，新的咖啡機？

Sure, sure. So the bigger driver this quarter, were actually frozen foods, as I mentioned, 81.5% with an increased margin of over 7%. -- sorry, a sweet snack was up also over 17.8% with an increase of 7%. And again, the same thing goes to the salty snacks, Alcohol, we see an increase in beer sales. I think the only thing we see right now is that given inflation, people may not buy 24 packs, they may go to 12 packs or 6 packs, but we see an increase in alcohol sales as well as well as OTP. OTP was another driver. I always mention that cigarettes continue to decline and cigarettes, of course, have a lower margin. However, OTP increased this quarter an additional 1.6% with margin basically increase of 4.22%. And that's a lot. Those categories are really the categories that are driving the increase in margin. And I believe we're going to continue to see that moving forward because of that.

一定一定。因此，本季度更大的驅動因素實際上是冷凍食品，正如我所提到的，81.5%，利潤率增加超過 7%。 ——對不起，甜食也漲了17.8%以上，漲了7%。同樣，鹹味零食酒精也是如此，我們看到啤酒銷量有所增加。我認為我們現在看到的唯一一件事是，考慮到通貨膨脹，人們可能不會購買 24 包，他們可能會購買 12 包或 6 包，但我們看到酒精銷售量和 OTP 都在增加。 OTP 是另一個驅動因素。我總是提到香煙繼續下降，當然，香煙的利潤率較低。然而，本季度 OTP 增加了 1.6%，利潤率基本增加了 4.22%。這很多。這些類別確實是推動利潤率增長的類別。我相信我們將因此繼續看到這一點。

Our next question comes from the line of Mark Astrachan with Stifel.

我們的下一個問題來自 Mark Astrachan 和 Stifel。

Two quick questions for me. One, Arie, could you maybe talk a bit about the general drivers of heightened retail fuel margin that we're continuing to see today relative to pre-pandemic levels, just sort of broader strokes on why we're here? And I think we generally get kind of how to think about the ebbs and flows of gas prices up and down. And then Second question, maybe building or asking slightly different some of the other questions on the same-store sales or even traffic into stores and trying to get a sense of relative magnitude of impact from higher fuel costs in June. So maybe if you could talk about cadence through the second quarter, we can kind of get a sense of how to think about it going forward and kind of looking backwards, if that makes sense.

給我兩個快速的問題。一，Arie，你能否談談我們今天看到的相對於大流行前水平的零售燃料利潤率提高的一般驅動因素，只是更廣泛地說明我們為什麼在這裡？而且我認為我們通常會了解如何思考汽油價格的漲落。然後是第二個問題，可能就同店銷售甚至商店客流量建立或提出略有不同的其他一些問題，並試圖了解 6 月份燃料成本上漲的相對影響程度。因此，也許如果您可以談論第二季度的節奏，我們可以了解如何向前思考並向後看，如果這有意義的話。

Sure. I had a hard time hearing the full question, Mark, the line was a little buzzy. I'm going to comment first of all on second quarter, as you said, with basically high fuel prices. As I said earlier, I think high fuel prices, especially in the market that we do business, we are a role in secondary markets, a lot of small town. I think that the issue is that -- I'm going to repeat it again. People were just driving less. And again, this is just because there's less money in their pockets. Again, I think that did not impact our in-store sales. Our in-store sales, as I said, are in line with our expectations.

當然。我很難聽到完整的問題，馬克，線路有點嗡嗡聲。正如你所說，我將首先評論第二季度，燃料價格基本上很高。正如我之前所說，我認為燃油價格高，尤其是在我們做生意的市場中，我們在二級市場中扮演著角色，很多小城鎮。我認為問題在於——我要再重複一遍。人們只是開車少了。再說一次，這只是因為他們口袋裡的錢少了。同樣，我認為這並沒有影響我們的店內銷售。正如我所說，我們的店內銷售符合我們的預期。

And I think the only difference is that the change in behavior over here was really that people came more often, and they just did small trips versus the trips that they did in the pandemic -- before the pandemic, people were coming in more often during the pandemic, people came less often, but bought big sizes, lot of sizes over there. And I think what we see right now is that it's coming back again. I think that we see people coming more often, driving less, but coming more often and just buying smaller baskets over here. I don't think this is, again, unless price of fuel will jump again over $5. I don't think this is something that will actually impact. As a matter of fact, I think, actually, it's going to improve our business dramatically as price of gas will be below the $4.

而且我認為唯一的區別是，這裡的行為變化實際上是人們來的更頻繁，他們只是進行小規模旅行，而不是他們在大流行期間進行的旅行——在大流行之前，人們在大流行期間來得更頻繁大流行，人們來的次數減少了，但是在那邊買了大號，很多號。我認為我們現在看到的是它又回來了。我認為我們看到人們來得更頻繁，開車更少，但來得更頻繁，只是在這裡買更小的籃子。我認為這不會再次發生，除非燃料價格再次超過 5 美元。我認為這不會真正產生影響。事實上，我認為，實際上，由於汽油價格將低於 4 美元，這將極大地改善我們的業務。

Mark, let me jump in. I don't think Arie could hear the first question about the increased margin level. One of the things also, I think, when we talked about this to think about is even though margins increased, I mean credit cards have gone up a tremendous amount. They went up $4.1 million due to higher retail prices. So most of our fuel is bought on credit cards. So when you see higher margin, we have to think of it after credit cards as the way most people think about it. We've also got a lot of increased cost due to inflation just to run the site, which were different than we had.

馬克，讓我跳進去。我認為 Arie 聽不到關於提高保證金水平的第一個問題。我認為，當我們談到這一點時要考慮的一件事是，即使利潤增加了，我的意思是信用卡已經大幅上漲。由於零售價格上漲，它們上漲了 410 萬美元。所以我們的大部分燃料都是用信用卡購買的。因此，當您看到更高的利潤率時，我們必須將其視為大多數人對信用卡的看法。由於通貨膨脹，我們還因為運營網站而增加了很多成本，這與我們之前的情況不同。

You have increased labor costs, you have all kinds of costs going through. So these are things that our competitors are talking about. We've been in an area of increased margin. And I think no one knows what the future is going to hold, but there's a lot of cost drivers that kind of support some of what we're seeing because of the increased costs between labor, credit cards and also lower business that has happened since the pandemic started.

你增加了勞動力成本，你有各種各樣的成本。所以這些是我們的競爭對手正在談論的事情。我們一直處於利潤率增加的領域。而且我認為沒有人知道未來會怎樣，但有很多成本驅動因素支持我們所看到的一些情況，因為勞動力、信用卡之間的成本增加以及此後發生的業務下降大流行開始了。

Our next question comes from the line of Karru Martinson with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自傑富瑞的 Karru Martinson。

Historically, I feel like the industry has been able to hold or even expand margin as gas prices come down. Given the kind of unprecedented spike we had this summer, do you feel that those dynamics are still holding? Or is this a different situation?

從歷史上看，我覺得隨著天然氣價格的下降，該行業已經能夠保持甚至擴大利潤率。鑑於我們今年夏天經歷了前所未有的飆升，你覺得這些動力仍然存在嗎？或者這是不同的情況？

Yes, I think the dynamic is still holding. I think as you mentioned, it really depends also -- volatility is great. It's always good to have volatility. But like you mentioned, historically, when price dropped dramatically, like in a very short period, and that's what we saw from the beginning of July. The same thing. I mean the price dropped really, really dramatically. Basically in almost a couple of weeks, price dropped by over $0.50, $0.60. And that's something that always is very, very helpful to maintain margin.

是的，我認為這種動態仍然存在。我認為正如你所提到的，這也取決於 - 波動性很大。有波動總是好的。但就像你提到的，從歷史上看，當價格急劇下降時，比如在很短的時間內，這就是我們從 7 月初看到的情況。同樣的事情。我的意思是價格下降得非常非常劇烈。基本上在近幾週內，價格下跌超過 0.50 美元，0.60 美元。這對於維持保證金總是非常非常有幫助的。

Okay. And then when you look out, certainly recognizing you just did the year 21st acquisition. What's the landscape look like today for additional tuck-ins for you guys or perhaps even a larger more transformative acquisition?

好的。然後當你向外看時，肯定會認出你剛剛完成了第 21 年的收購。對於你們來說，今天的情況如何，或者甚至是更大的更具變革性的收購？

Sure. That's a good question. So I can tell everybody over here that the pipeline is very, very active. The pipeline is very, very active because a lot of small chain or midsized chain probably having a hard time operating in this environment. To be a very, very savvy operator. And I think that's a great opportunity for us. I mean this is one of our best areas that we practice over the past 10 years. We have enough liquidity. We have the deal-making ability, of course, and the strategic partnership with Oak Street, of course, will help us tremendously over the next few months basically to go after those acquisitions and there's some meaningful acquisitions out there that, of course, we are exploring.

當然。這是個好問題。所以我可以在這裡告訴大家，管道非常非常活躍。管道非常非常活躍，因為許多小型連鎖店或中型連鎖店可能很難在這種環境中運營。做一個非常非常精明的操作員。我認為這對我們來說是一個很好的機會。我的意思是這是我們在過去 10 年中實踐的最佳領域之一。我們有足夠的流動性。我們當然有交易能力，當然，與橡樹街的戰略合作夥伴關係將在接下來的幾個月裡極大地幫助我們進行這些收購，當然還有一些有意義的收購，我們正在探索。

Our next question comes from the line of Hale Holden with Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自 Hale Holden 和 Barclays 的觀點。

Kind of on the same theme there. I was wondering as you're considering M&A options, if either the higher financing costs that's out there in the market or the above normal kind of gas spread that's out there, fuel cost spread that's out there changes the way you're thinking about valuations or if you've seen sellers kind of bring down their valuations?

那裡有同樣的主題。我想知道，當您考慮併購選擇時，如果市場上較高的融資成本或高於正常類型的天然氣價差、燃料成本價差會改變您對估值的思考方式或者如果你看到賣家降低了他們的估值？

Sellers don't bring down valuation, as you can imagine. Everybody got a big expectation given that we see what is happening out there in terms of the amount of transaction out there. We believe that our strategy of pursuing deals at reasonable valuations are going just to continue. I mean we are not going to overpay for deals as we never paid over the past 21 acquisition that we did. I just think sellers' expectation is one thing. I think the market will determine who is out there.

正如你可以想像的那樣，賣家不會降低估值。每個人都抱有很大的期望，因為我們看到了那裡發生的交易量。我們相信，我們以合理估值尋求交易的策略將繼續下去。我的意思是我們不會為交易支付過高的費用，因為我們在過去的 21 次收購中從未支付過費用。我只是認為賣家的期望是一回事。我認為市場將決定誰在那裡。

And as you mentioned, interest rate is going up. Our agreement with Oak Street, we have a commitment with Oak Street of $1.15 billion available basically for the next year, plus the cash on hand that we have in the line of credit that are available at a very, very attractive rate. I think this is something that's going to put us basically in a very, very good spot. As you guys remember, we raised our bonds at the fixed rates for a little bit over 7 years. And I think that makes us very, very attractive in terms of the valuation that we can actually put on those deals.

正如你提到的，利率正在上升。我們與橡樹街達成協議，我們與橡樹街承諾明年基本可用 11.5 億美元，再加上我們在信貸額度中以非常非常有吸引力的利率可用的手頭現金。我認為這將使我們基本上處於一個非常非常好的位置。你們還記得，我們以固定利率提高債券的時間超過 7 年。而且我認為這使我們在實際可以進行這些交易的估值方面非常非常有吸引力。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our question-and-answer session. And I'd like to turn the call back to Arie Kotler for any closing remarks.

女士們，先生們，我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將電話轉回給 Arie Kotler 以發表任何結束語。

Thank you, operator. And again, thank you, everybody, for joining us today. I would like to, of course, make sure that you guys enjoy the rest of the summer. I wish you all the best. And while you're enjoying the rest of the summer, just make sure you stop at one of our stores to try one of our excellent iced coffee cups. Enjoy the rest of the day. Thank you.

謝謝你，接線員。再次感謝大家今天加入我們。當然，我想確保你們享受夏天剩下的時間。祝你一切順利。在您享受餘下的夏天時，請確保您在我們的一家商店停下來嘗試我們優質的冰咖啡杯之一。享受一天的剩餘時間。謝謝你。

This concludes today's conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。