Caseys General Stores Inc (CASY) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the first-quarter FY 2025 Casey's General Stores earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised today's conference is being recorded.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 2025 財年第一季凱西雜貨店財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like turn the conference over to your speaker today, Brian Johnson, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Business Development. Please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給今天的發言人，投資者關係和業務開發高級副總裁布萊恩·約翰遜 (Brian Johnson)。請繼續。

Good morning and thank you for joining us to discuss the results for our first quarter ended July 31, 2024. I'm Brian Johnson, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Business Development. With me today are Darren Rebelez, Board Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Steve Bramlage, Chief Financial Officer.

早安，感謝您與我們一起討論截至 2024 年 7 月 31 日的第一季業績。今天與我在一起的有董事會主席、總裁兼執行長 Darren Rebelez；和財務長史蒂夫·布拉姆拉奇(Steve Bramlage)。

Before we begin, I'll remind you that certain statements made by us during this investor call may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include any statements relating to the ability to consummate the Fikes transaction, the potential impact of the confirmation of the Fikes transaction on the relationship with third-parties, expectations for future periods, possible or assumed future results of operations, financial conditions, liquidity and related sources or needs, the company's supply chain, business and integration strategies, plans and synergies, growth opportunities and performance at our stores.

在我們開始之前，我要提醒您，我們在本次投資者電話會議中所做的某些陳述可能構成1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的前瞻性陳述。能力有關的任何陳述：完成 Fikes 交易、確認 Fikes 交易對與第三方關係的潛在影響、對未來時期的預期、未來可能或假設的經營結果、財務狀況、流動性和相關來源或需求、公司的供應我們商店的連鎖、業務和整合策略、計劃和協同效應、成長機會和業績。

There are a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the integration of the recent acquisitions, our ability to execute on our strategic plan or to realize benefits from the strategic plan.

有許多已知和未知的風險、不確定性和其他因素可能導致我們的實際結果與這些前瞻性陳述明示或暗示的任何未來結果存在重大差異，包括但不限於最近收購的整合，我們執行戰略計劃或從策略計劃中實現收益的能力。

The impact and duration of the conflict in Ukraine and related governmental actions as well as other risks, uncertainties and factors, which are described in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q as filed with the SEC and available on our website.

烏克蘭衝突的影響和持續時間以及相關政府行動以及其他風險、不確定性和因素，這些內容在我們向 SEC 提交的最新 10-K 表年度報告和 10-Q 表季度報告中進行了描述並可在在我們的網站上找到。

Any forward-looking statements made during this call reflect our current views as of today with respect to future events, and Casey's disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. A reconciliation of non-GAAP to GAAP financial measures referenced on this call as well as a detailed breakdown of the operating expense increase for the first quarter can be found on our website at www.caseys.com under the Investor Relations link.

本次電話會議期間所做的任何前瞻性陳述均反映了我們截至今天對未來事件的當前看法，凱西不承擔任何更新或修改前瞻性陳述的意圖或義務，無論是由於新資訊、未來事件還是其他原因。本次電話會議中引用的非 GAAP 與 GAAP 財務指標的調整表以及第一季度營運費用增長的詳細細目可在我們網站 www.caseys.com 的投資者關係連結下找到。

With that said, I would now like to turn the call to Darren to discuss our first quarter results. Darren?

話雖如此，我現在想打電話給達倫，討論我們第一季的業績。達倫？

Thanks, Brian, and good morning, everyone. We're excited to discuss the first quarter results in a moment. First, however, I want to thank our team for their hard work and dedication, which enabled us to start the fiscal year off strong. I also look forward to welcoming the Fikes team to the Casey's family, and we will discuss that later in the call.

謝謝布萊恩，大家早安。我們很高興稍後討論第一季的業績。但首先，我要感謝我們的團隊的辛勤工作和奉獻精神，這使我們能夠在本財年開始時表現強勁。我也期待歡迎 Fikes 團隊加入 Casey 的家庭，我們將在稍後的電話會議中討論這一點。

As the school year begins, Casey's is proud to see projects funded by its cash for classrooms grants in action. Last year, we donated over $1 million in grants to schools across our footprint. We're grateful to our team members and guests for raising nearly $600,000 in this August campaign. This will allow us to continue to have a positive impact on schools and children in our community.

隨著學年的開始，凱西學院很自豪地看到由其課堂補助金現金資助的計畫正在實施中。去年，我們向遍布各地的學校捐贈了超過 100 萬美元的補助金。我們感謝我們的團隊成員和嘉賓在今年 8 月的活動中籌集了近 60 萬美元。這將使我們能夠繼續對社區的學校和兒童產生積極影響。

Now let's discuss the results from the quarter. Diluted EPS finished at $4.83 per share, a 7% increase from the prior year. The company generated $180 million in net income, an increase of 6% and $346 million in EBITDA, an increase of 9% from the prior year. The first quarter was another great example of the strength and resiliency of the Casey's business model, as we were able to expand gross profit dollars while growing the store base.

現在讓我們討論本季的結果。稀釋後每股收益最終為每股 4.83 美元，比上年增長 7%。該公司淨利潤為 1.8 億美元，較上年增長 6%，EBITDA 為 3.46 億美元，較上年增長 9%。第一季是凱西商業模式實力和彈性的另一個很好的例子，因為我們能夠在擴大商店基礎的同時擴大毛利。

Inside the store, we saw continued strength with our prepared food innovation as well as margin expansion, driven primarily by the grocery and general merchandise category. On the fuel side, the team is doing a tremendous job balancing volume and margin with positive same-store gallons combined with fuel margins over $0.40 per gallon. We continue to show that our three-year strategic plan is credible and achievable, and our team is doing a great job both inside and outside the store.

在店內，我們看到了預製食品創新和利潤擴張的持續強勁，這主要是由雜貨和日用百貨類別所推動的。在燃料方面，該團隊在平衡銷售和利潤方面做了大量工作，同店加侖數為正，燃料利潤每加侖超過 0.40 美元。我們不斷證明我們的三年戰略計劃是可信的、可實現的，我們的團隊在店內外都做得很好。

I would now like to go over our results and share some of the details in each of the categories. Inside same-store sales were up 2.3% for the first quarter or 7.9% on a two-year stack basis with an average margin of 41.7%. Same-store Prepared Food and Dispensed Beverage led the way as sales were up 4.4% or 10.6% on a two year stack basis, with an average margin of 58.3%. Hot sandwiches continued its momentum from the fourth quarter and bakery also performed well.

現在我想回顧一下我們的結果並分享每個類別的一些細節。第一季同店內部銷售額成長 2.3%，兩年累計成長 7.9%，平均利潤率為 41.7%。同店預製食品和配製飲料一馬當先，銷售額以兩年計算成長 4.4% 或 10.6%，平均利潤率為 58.3%。熱三明治延續了第四季的勢頭，麵包店也表現出色。

Margin was comparable to the prior year as favorability in waste was offset by a modest cheese headwind. Same-store grocery and general merchandise sales were up 1.6% or 6.9% on a two-year stack basis, with an average margin of 35.4%, an increase of approximately 130 basis points from the prior year, primarily due to good cost of goods management.

利潤率與前一年相當，因為對浪費的青睞被起司的溫和逆風所抵消。雜貨和百貨同店銷售額以兩年累計計算分別成長 1.6% 或 6.9%，平均利潤率為 35.4%，較上年增長約 130 個基點，主要得益於良好的商品成本管理。

We saw positive momentum in the category, notably in both non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages, specifically liquor, our 1,500 liquor licenses continue to be a strategic advantage for Casey's. For fuel, same-store gallons sold were up 0.7% with a fuel margin of $0.407 per gallon. We continue to outperform our geographic region on volume. As Opus fuel gallon sold data shows the Mid-Continent region down approximately 5% in the quarter, indicating that we are taking share in the category.

我們看到了該類別的積極勢頭，特別是在非酒精和酒精飲料方面，特別是酒類，我們的 1,500 個酒類許可證仍然是 Casey's 的戰略優勢。燃油方面，同店加侖銷量上漲 0.7%，燃油利潤為每加侖 0.407 美元。我們的銷售量繼續優於我們的地理區域。 Opus 燃油加侖銷售數據顯示，本季中大陸地區下降了約 5%，這表明我們正在搶佔該類別的份額。

Our fuel team is doing a tremendous job announcing volume growth and margin and the results continue to show it. We prudently managed operating expenses with an increase of just 0.7% on a same-store, excluding credit card fee basis. Our continuous improvement team is doing a great job identifying areas to be more efficient and it shows that same-store labor hours were down 2%.

我們的燃料團隊在宣布銷售成長和利潤率方面做了大量工作，結果繼續證明了這一點。我們審慎管理營業費用，不包括信用卡費用，同店營業費用僅成長 0.7%。我們的持續改善團隊在確定需要提高效率的領域方面做得非常出色，結果顯示同店工時減少了 2%。

I'd now like to turn the call over to Steve to discuss the financial results from the first quarter. Steve?

我現在想把電話轉給史蒂夫，討論第一季的財務表現。史蒂夫？

Thank you, Darren, and good morning. I'm very grateful for the hard work of our team during the quarter. It's been a great start to the second year in our three-year strategic plan and our first quarter results bode well for a very solid fiscal 2025.

謝謝你，達倫，早安。我非常感謝我們團隊在本季的辛勤工作。這是我們三年策略計畫第二年的良好開端，我們第一季的業績預示著 2025 財年將非常穩健。

Total revenue for the quarter was $4.1 billion, an increase of $228 million or 5.9% from the prior year, due primarily to higher inside sales as well as higher fuel gallons sold, partially offset by a lower retail fuel price. Results were also favorably impacted by operating approximately 5% more stores on a year-over-year basis.

該季度總收入為 41 億美元，比上年增加 2.28 億美元，或 5.9%，這主要是由於內部銷售增加以及銷售的燃油加侖數增加，部分被零售燃油價格下降所抵消。門市營運量年增約 5%，也對業績產生了正面影響。

Total inside sales for the quarter were $1.47 billion, an increase of $104 million or 7.6% from the prior year. For the quarter, Prepared Food and Dispensed Beverage sales rose by $32 million to $405 million, an increase of 8.7% and Grocery and General Merchandise sales increased by $72 million to $1.07 billion, an increase of 7.2%.

該季度內部銷售總額為 14.7 億美元，比上年增加 1.04 億美元，增幅為 7.6%。本季度，預製食品和配製飲料銷售額增加 3,200 萬美元，達到 4.05 億美元，成長 8.7%；雜貨和日用品銷售額增加 7,200 萬美元，達到 10.7 億美元，成長 7.2%。

As a reminder, we're lapping a $4.9 million one-time benefit related to an adjustment we made to the Casey's Rewards program in the prior year. In the quarter, this negatively impacted both Prepared Food and Dispensed Beverage same-store sales by approximately 140 basis points and margin by approximately 60 basis points. Retail fuel sales were up $128 million in the quarter, as an 8% increase in fuel gallons sold was partially offset by a 3% decline in the average retail price.

提醒一下，我們正在享受 490 萬美元的一次性福利，該福利與我們去年對凱西獎勵計劃所做的調整有關。本季度，預製食品和配製飲料的同店銷售額受到約 140 個基點的負面影響，利潤率受到約 60 個基點的負面影響。本季零售燃料銷售額成長 1.28 億美元，燃料加侖銷售成長 8%，但被平均零售價格下降 3% 部分抵銷。

The average retail price of fuel during this period was $3.31 a gallon compared to $3.40 a year ago. We define gross profit as revenue less cost of goods sold, but excluding depreciation and amortization. Casey’s had gross profit of $955 million in the quarter, an increase of $78 million or 8.8% from the prior year. This is driven by both higher inside gross profit of $57.9 million or 10.4% as well as higher fuel gross profit of $17.6 million or 5.9%. Inside gross profit margin was 41.7%, up 110 basis points from a year ago.

在此期間，燃油平均零售價為每加侖 3.31 美元，而一年前為每加侖 3.40 美元。我們將毛利定義為收入減去銷售成本，但不包括折舊和攤提。 Casey's 本季毛利為 9.55 億美元，較上年增加 7,800 萬美元，成長 8.8%。這是由於內部毛利增加至 5,790 萬美元（即 10.4%）以及燃料毛利潤增加至 1,760 萬美元（即 5.9%）所致。內部毛利率為41.7%，較去年成長110個基點。

Prepared Food and Dispensed Beverage margin was 58.3%, up 10 basis points from prior year. The category margin benefited from lower waste, but did experience a modest headwind on cheese, which was $2.09 per pound in the quarter compared to $2.04 per pound last year, that's an increase of 2% or approximately 13 basis points.

預製食品和配製飲料利潤率為 58.3%，比上年增長 10 個基點。該類別的利潤受益於浪費的減少，但起司確實遇到了適度的逆風，本季起司為每磅 2.09 美元，而去年為每磅 2.04 美元，增長了 2% 或約 13 個基點。

The Grocery and General Merchandise margin was 35.4%, an increase of 130 basis points from the prior year, and the change was primarily due to proactive cost of goods management. Fuel margin for the quarter was $0.407 per gallon, down about $0.01 per gallon from the prior year. Fuel gross profit benefited by $4.8 million from the sale of RINs, that's down $15.4 million from the same quarter in the prior year.

雜貨和百貨商品利潤率為 35.4%，比上年增加 130 個基點，這項變更主要是由於主動的商品成本管理。本季燃油利潤為每加侖 0.407 美元，比去年同期每加侖下降約 0.01 美元。燃料毛利因 RIN 銷售而增加 480 萬美元，比去年同期減少 1540 萬美元。

Total operating expenses were up 8.7% or $48.6 million in the quarter, which was lower than we expected it to be due to strong operating performance in the stores. Approximately 5% of the total operating expense increase is due to unit growth as we operated the 138 more stores than the prior year. Approximately 1% is related to one-time deal costs pertaining to the previously disclosed Fikes acquisition.

本季總營運支出成長 8.7%，即 4,860 萬美元，低於我們的預期，因為門市營運表現強勁。總營業費用增加的約 5% 是由於單位成長所致，因為我們比前一年多經營了 138 家商店。大約 1% 與先前揭露的 Fikes 收購相關的一次性交易成本有關。

Higher insurance expense, including health, property and casualty, workers' compensation and others contributed approximately 2% of the increase. Same-store employee expense accounted for approximately 1% of the increase as modest increases in wage rates were partially offset by the reduction in same-store hours. Depreciation in the quarter was $94.4 million, that's up $11.5 million versus the prior year, primarily due to operating more stores.

較高的保險費用，包括健康、財產和傷亡、工人賠償和其他費用，約佔成長的2%。同店員工費用約佔成長的 1%，因為工資率的小幅成長被同店工作時間的減少部分抵消。本季折舊為 9,440 萬美元，比前一年增加 1,150 萬美元，主要是經營更多商店。

Net interest expense was $14.1 million in the quarter, that's up $1.6 million versus the prior year, primarily due to lower interest income as we funded several acquisitions out of cash on hand and we have purchased shares in the prior year. The effective tax rate for the quarter was 24.1%, compared to 23.6% in the prior year. And the increase was driven by a one-time benefit in the prior year that was recorded due to an income tax rate reduction in Nebraska.

本季淨利息支出為 1,410 萬美元，比上一年增加 160 萬美元，主要是由於利息收入下降，因為我們用手頭現金資助了幾項收購，並且我們在上一年購買了股票。本季的有效稅率為 24.1%，去年同期為 23.6%。這一增長是由上一年因內布拉斯加州所得稅率降低而記錄的一次性福利所推動的。

Net income was up versus the prior year to $180.2 million, an increase of 6.5%. EBITDA for the quarter was $345.8 million compared to $316.9 million a year ago, and that's an increase of 9.1%. Our balance sheet is in excellent condition, and it's given us the ability to seamlessly make the pending acquisition of Fikes. On July 31, we had total available liquidity of $1.2 billion, and our leverage ratio calculated in accordance with our senior notes is 1.5 times.

淨利潤比上年增長 6.5%，達到 1.802 億美元。該季度的 EBITDA 為 3.458 億美元，與去年同期的 3.169 億美元相比，成長了 9.1%。我們的資產負債表狀況良好，這使我們能夠無縫地完成即將完成的對 Fikes 的收購。截至7月31日，我們的可用流動性總額為12億美元，以我們的優先票據計算的槓桿率為1.5倍。

For the quarter, net cash generated by operating activities of $281 million less purchases of property and equipment of $100 million resulted in the company generating $181 billion of free cash flow. This compares to generating $160 million in the prior year.

本季度，經營活動產生的淨現金為 2.81 億美元，減去購買財產和設備的 1 億美元，導致公司產生 1,810 億美元的自由現金流。相比之下，去年的收入為 1.6 億美元。

At the August meeting, the Board of Directors voted to maintain the quarterly dividend at $0.50 per share, investing in EBITDA and ROIC accretive growth investments remains our primary capital allocation priority and with the pending acquisition of Fikes, we do not expect to repurchase shares until the leverage ratio is in line with our long-term target of 2 times.

在8 月的會議上，董事會投票決定維持每股0.50 美元的季度股息，投資於EBITDA 和ROIC 增值成長投資仍然是我們的主要資本配置優先事項，由於Fikes 的收購尚未完成，我們預計不會回購股票，直到槓桿率符合我們2倍的長期目標。

We are not updating our previously communicated fiscal year guidance until after the Fikes transaction closes with the exception of our store growth target. We now expect store growth to be approximately 270 units for the fiscal year, and that's up from our previously disclosed 100 units. We will make some modest adjustments to our current newbuild schedule to ensure that we can expeditiously capture the expected synergies from this transaction via remodeling projects.

在 Fikes 交易完成之前，我們不會更新先前傳達的財政年度指導，但我們的商店成長目標除外。我們現在預計本財年商店數量將增加約 270 家，高於我們先前揭露的 100 家。我們將對目前的新建計劃進行一些適度調整，以確保我們能夠透過改造專案迅速從本次交易中獲得預期的協同效應。

As a reminder, the Fikes transaction has a gross purchase price of $1.145 billion with approximately $165 million in acquired tax benefits, for a net purchase price of $980 million, and the transaction will be financed through a combination of balance sheet cash and external financing. The transaction includes 198 CEFCO convenience stores with 148 of them being in Texas and the remaining 50 in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi.

需要提醒的是，Fikes 交易的總購買價為11.45 億美元，其中獲得的稅收優惠約為1.65 億美元，淨購買價為9.8 億美元，交易將透過資產負債表現金和外部融資相結合的方式進行融資。此交易包括198家CEFCO便利商店，其中148家位於德州，其餘50家位於阿拉巴馬州、佛羅裡達州和密西西比州。

The financial performance includes approximately $400 million of fuel gallons sold, approximately $400 million in inside sales and it generated a 2023 pro forma adjusted EBITDA of $89 million. We expect the company's pro forma leverage level to reach approximately 2.4 times at closing, and that's based on our current leverage calculation in our notes. We will quickly reduce this to approximately 2 times within the first 12 months of closing through a combination of modest but prudent deleveraging growth and synergy capture.

財務表現包括約 4 億美元的燃油加侖銷售量、約 4 億美元的內部銷售，2023 年預計調整後 EBITDA 為 8,900 萬美元。我們預計該公司預計收盤時的槓桿水平將達到約 2.4 倍，這是基於我們在註釋中目前的槓桿計算得出的。我們將透過適度但審慎的去槓桿化成長和獲得協同效應的結合，在交易完成後的前 12 個月內迅速將這一數字降低至大約 2 倍。

Our results for August were as follows: both inside and fuel same-store sales were within the range of our annual outlook. CPG was near $0.40 per gallon. Current cheese costs remain unfavorable versus the prior year by about 10%. In our second quarter, total operating expense expectation is as follows. We expect to be within our annual range, and that will be inclusive of several million dollars of certain one-time deal costs that we will incur during the quarter associated with the Fikes transaction.

我們 8 月份的業績如下：同店內部銷售額和燃料銷售額均在我們的年度預期範圍內。 CPG 接近每加侖 0.40 美元。目前的起司成本仍比去年低 10% 左右。我們第二季的總營運費用預期如下。我們預計這將在我們的年度範圍內，並且這將包括我們將在與 Fikes 交易相關的季度中產生的數百萬美元的某些一次性交易成本。

I would now like to turn the call back over to Darren.

我現在想把電話轉回達倫。

Thanks, Steve. I'd like to thank the entire Casey's team for another strong quarter. We're off to a great start to our fiscal year, and the team is doing an outstanding job on executing on the three-year strategic plan. One of the pillars of our strategic plan is to grow the number of units.

謝謝，史蒂夫。我要感謝整個凱西團隊的另一個強勁季度。我們的財年有了一個良好的開端，團隊在執行三年戰略計劃方面表現出色。我們戰略計劃的支柱之一是增加單位數量。

The initial target of at least 350 new units is expected to be accomplished nearly 18 months early with the closing of the announced acquisition of Fikes and in CEFCO convenience stores. As we noted in our announcement, these are highly strategic and high-quality assets in a great geography in Texas, as well as further in the South.

隨著宣布收購 Fikes 和 CEFCO 便利商店的交易完成，預計將提前近 18 個月完成至少 350 個新單位的初始目標。正如我們在公告中指出的，這些資產是德克薩斯州以及南部地區優越地理位置的高度戰略性和高品質資產。

We're excited about integrating the business and welcoming the Fikes team into the Casey's family. In addition, we're raising our three-year store growth target to approximately 500 stores.

我們很高興能夠整合業務並歡迎 Fikes 團隊加入 Casey 的大家庭。此外，我們還將三年門市成長目標提高到約 500 家門市。

Another pillar of the plan is to accelerate the food business. The hot sandwich lineup that launched earlier in calendar 2024 continues to drive growth as the category was up approximately 70% in the quarter. We brought back a popular promotion for the summer with $0.99 fountain drinks, and the results were strong, with cold dispensed beverages outpacing the category's growth.

該計劃的另一個支柱是加速食品業務。 2024 年初推出的熱三明治系列繼續推動成長，該類別在本季度增長了約 70%。我們在夏季推出了一項受歡迎的促銷活動，推出 0.99 美元的噴泉飲料，效果非常好，冷飲的增長速度超過了該類別的增長。

Our Prepared Foods team continues to innovate and create craveable food at the right price points to provide Casey's guests with products that they want.

我們的預製食品團隊不斷創新，以合適的價格創造令人垂涎的食品，為凱西的客人提供他們想要的產品。

The third pillar of our strategic plan is to enhance operational efficiency. Our continuous improvement team working with store operations is delivering great results. The first quarter marked the ninth consecutive quarter with a reduction in same-store labor hours. These reductions are the result of simplifying the operation and removing non-value-added work from the stores.

我們戰略計劃的第三個支柱是提高營運效率。我們的持續改善團隊與商店營運部門合作，並取得了巨大的成果。第一季是同店工作時間連續第九個季度減少。這些減少是簡化營運和消除商店中非增值工作的結果。

We're excited about the impact this is having on our guest experience as our overall guest satisfaction scores improved 320 basis points over the same period last year.

我們對這對我們的賓客體驗產生的影響感到非常興奮，因為我們的賓客滿意度總體得分比去年同期提高了 320 個基點。

On the fuel side of the business, I'm extremely proud of the team's ability to balance fuel gallons with gross profit dollars. Growing same-store gallons while posting $0.01 per gallon above $0.40 is a testament to the team and the tools we have in place.

在業務的燃料方面，我對團隊平衡燃料加侖與毛利的能力感到非常自豪。增加同店加侖數，同時每加侖售價 0.01 美元高於 0.40 美元，證明了我們的團隊和我們所擁有的工具。

During the quarter, we also released our fourth annual sustainability report in July, which is available on our website. Our team continues to make progress on making Casey's become a more sustainable business, and we're excited to share our sustainability journey with our shareholders.

在本季度，我們也於 7 月發布了第四份年度永續發展報告，可在我們的網站上取得。我們的團隊在使 Casey's 成為更具永續性的企業方面不斷取得進展，我們很高興與股東分享我們的永續發展之旅。

We will now take your questions.

我們現在將回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Michael Montani, Evercore ISI.

邁克爾·蒙塔尼，Evercore ISI。

Yes. Hi, and thank you for taking the question. Just wanted to ask a two-part, if I could. First, I was hoping that you all could discuss the underlying health of your consumer in light of some of the crosscurrents that we've been seeing lately.

是的。您好，感謝您提出問題。如果可以的話，我只是想問兩個部分。首先，我希望大家能夠根據我們最近看到的一些矛盾來討論消費者的潛在健康狀況。

And then secondly, on the gross margin front, I just wanted to dig a little deeper into the second quarter on prepared meal and grocery margin. Is it possible to enact hedging or take modest pricing to offset what we're seeing with cheese costs, Steve?

其次，在毛利率方面，我只是想更深入地了解第二季的預製食品和雜貨利潤率。史蒂夫，是否有可能進行對沖或採取適度的定價來抵消我們所看到的起司成本？

Yeah. Thanks, Michael. I'll go ahead and talk about the consumer, I'll let Steve address the cheese costs and hedging. With respect to the consumer, just as a reminder, about three quarters of our guests make over $50,000 a year in income. And so we consider those to not be low income. So about a quarter of our guest base is in lower income.

是的。謝謝，麥可。我將繼續討論消費者，我將讓史蒂夫解決起司成本和對沖問題。就消費者而言，提醒一下，我們大約四分之三的客人的年收入超過 50,000 美元。因此我們認為這些收入不低。因此，我們大約四分之一的客人收入較低。

For that three quarters of the guest base, we're not seeing really any change in purchasing bag, they're continuing to come to the store with the same level of frequency and essentially purchasing as they have typically.

對於這四分之三的顧客群來說，我們在購買包包方面並沒有看到任何變化，他們繼續以相同的頻率來商店，基本上像平常一樣購買。

The lower income consumers are modestly changing their purchasing habits. I wouldn't say that they're coming in less frequently than they had before, but they're opting to not buy as many units or items in their basket as they had previously. So there's a little bit of pressure there. But overall, Michael, I'd say, our guest base is hanging in there pretty good.

低收入消費者正在適度改變他們的購買習慣。我不會說他們來的頻率比以前少，但他們選擇不再像以前那樣購買購物籃中那麼多的單位或物品。所以那裡有一點壓力。但總的來說，邁克爾，我想說，我們的客戶群保持得很好。

Michael, hey, good morning. This is Steve. On the margin question, specifically on cheese, we're about a quarter of our requirements are hedged out the remainder of the year at this point in time the remainder of the fiscal year. And for sure, we obviously per the script do expect more inflation on cheese here in the second quarter even than we had in the first. But I would just remind you that when we think about margin broadly.

邁克爾，嘿，早安。這是史蒂夫。在保證金問題上，特別是在起司方面，我們大約四分之一的需求在本財年剩餘時間的此時點進行了對沖。當然，我們顯然根據劇本確實預計第二季度起司的通膨率甚至會比第一季更高。但我只想提醒您，當我們廣泛考慮利潤時。

We're really trying to manage the inside of the store total profitability to a level that we're comfortable with. We don't necessarily drive the bus specifically on the prepared food margin per se, and we're quite comfortable with the gross profit dollar growth that we're generating with the pricing we currently have, we've made a little bit of adjustments on price and a couple of items against prepared food.

我們確實在努力將商店內部的總獲利能力管理到我們滿意的水平。我們不一定專門針對預製食品本身的利潤來駕駛巴士，而且我們對我們目前的定價所產生的毛利美元增長感到非常滿意，我們已經做了一些調整價格和一些針對預製食品的項目。

But we're proud of our value proposition that we have in that category, both retail price and quality of the product combined. And we've had such strength in cost of goods management on the grocery business. It obviously has flattered the overall inside margin, and it gives us, frankly, that much more room to continue leaning into the value offer on the prepared food side. I would expect we would continue to pay attention to inside margin more than either of the two individual categories here.

但我們對我們在該類別中的價值主張感到自豪，無論是零售價格還是產品品質。我們在雜貨業務的貨物成本管理方面擁有如此強大的實力。顯然，它使整體內部利潤更加豐厚，坦率地說，它給了我們更多的空間來繼續傾向於預製食品方面的價值提供。我希望我們會繼續關注內部保證金，而不是這裡的兩個單獨類別中的任何一個。

Thank you and good luck.

謝謝你，祝你好運。

Bobby Griffin, Raymond James.

鮑比·格里芬、雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

Hey, guys. Good morning. Thanks for taking the question. Another good quarter. So Dan, I guess, first, I wanted to move over to the OpEx side and maybe talk a little bit more about the continuous improvements you guys are seeing, been a strong success story. Can you just unpack some newer examples of what's driving it?

嘿，夥計們。早安.感謝您提出問題。又一個好季度。所以丹，我想，首先，我想轉向營運支出方面，也許更多地談談你們所看到的持續改進，這是一個巨大的成功故事。您能舉出一些新的例子來說明它的驅動力嗎？

I think in the past, we've used examples of taken the cash of the bank or maybe the laundry, but just it seems that the team continues to find nuggets to drop down for savings. So just curious kind of what is on the kind of cards today and what is left there?

我認為在過去，我們已經使用了拿走銀行現金或洗衣店現金的例子，但團隊似乎仍在繼續尋找可以節省的金塊。所以只是好奇今天的卡片上有什麼以及還剩下什麼？

Yeah. Bobby, happy to. The team does a great job of identifying opportunities to just operate our stores more efficiently. And what I'd tell you is a lot of them aren't as -- the things going forward aren't as significant and as an individual initiative as some of the bigger things like removing trips to the bank and doing laundry and those sorts of things. But more recently, a couple of things that were implemented was the digital production planner in our stores.

是的。鮑比，很高興。團隊在尋找更有效地經營我們的商店的機會方面做得非常出色。我要告訴你的是，其中很多事情並不像一些更大的事情那麼重要，也不像個人倡議，例如取消去銀行和洗衣服之類的事情的事情。但最近，我們商店實施了一些數位化生產計劃。

And that's in the kitchen where the kitchen manager is responsible for forecasting the production of all of our food items in the store, that historically was a manual process with a lot of paper and a lot of manual accounting and then having to take that paper into the back office, entering into a system and their accuracy issues, and it just took a lot of manager time, that's all digital now.

在廚房裡，廚房經理負責預測商店裡所有食品的產量，從歷史上看，這是一個手動過程，需要大量紙張和大量手動會計，然後必須將這些紙張帶入後台辦公室，進入系統及其準確性問題，這花費了經理大量的時間，現在都是數位化的。

So they scan items, labels print, the system does forecasting, there's no math being done by store managers, no paperwork being done by store managers anymore. So that takes a lot of time away that they were having to spend on that and gives them some more time back to work with their teams in the kitchen.

因此，他們掃描物品，列印標籤，系統進行預測，商店經理不再做數學計算，商店經理不再做文書工作。因此，這節省了他們不得不花在這上面的大量時間，並讓他們有更多時間與廚房團隊一起工作。

Another initiative is what we call 5S and essentially, it's a way of organizing and structuring the inventory in the kitchens and the rest of the store to be efficient to reduce footsteps in the kitchen to make sure inventory levels or appropriate ordering is done accurately.

另一項舉措是我們所說的 5S，本質上，它是一種組織和建造廚房和商店其他部分庫存的方法，以有效減少廚房中的腳步，確保準確地完成庫存水平或適當的訂購。

And you see that come through in the results with not only some labor savings, but also waste improved in the quarter, inventory supplies was down in the quarter. So a lot of those efforts are starting to yield results, not only in the OpEx line, but in some of the margin lines as well.

您可以看到，結果不僅節省了一些勞動力，而且本季的浪費也得到了改善，庫存供應在本季度有所下降。因此，其中許多努力開始產生成果，不僅在營運支出方面，而且在一些利潤方面也是如此。

Very good. That's helpful. And I guess, secondly for my follow-up. When you look at the prepared food business, are you seeing any notable difference in your different geographic markets by population. And I guess I'm just asking in the context of some of the fears around QSR pricing investments that are taking place. So in the markets where you operate with a little bit larger population go up against more of the named QSRs that we know. Are you seeing any type of difference in the performance of the Prepared Foods business?

非常好。這很有幫助。我想，其次是為了我的後續行動。當您觀察預製食品業務時，您是否發現不同地理市場的人口有顯著差異。我想我只是在圍繞 QSR 定價投資正在發生的一些擔憂的背景下提出這個問題。因此，在您經營的人口較多的市場中，您會遇到更多我們所知道的指定 QSR。您是否發現預製食品業務的表現有任何類型的差異？

Yeah. Bobby, I can't say that we are seeing any sort of difference. What I can tell you is that in spite of a lot of the value offers that are happening in QSR, those are primarily lunch daypart focused. And our lunch daypart was actually the strongest daypart we had in Prepared Foods this quarter. And I think it's a reflection of the innovation that the team has done on the sandwich lineup that we've talked about, but also keeping that price point low. So we've got a really strong value proposition, particularly for the level of quality that we’re producing in our kitchens right now, and I think that’s resonating with the guests.

是的。鮑比，我不能說我們看到了任何差異。我可以告訴你的是，儘管 QSR 提供​​了許多價值優惠，但這些優惠主要集中在午餐時段。我們的午餐時段實際上是本季預製食品中最強勁的時段。我認為這反映了團隊在我們討論過的三明治系列上所做的創新，同時也保持了較低的價格點。因此，我們有一個非常強大的價值主張，特別是對於我們現在在廚房生產的品質水平，我認為這引起了客人的共鳴。

Very good. Appreciate the details. Best of luck going forward.

非常好。欣賞細節。祝你好運。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Bonnie Herzog, Goldman Sachs.

邦妮·赫爾佐格，高盛。

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. I just had a question on inside same-store sales, which I guess, grew 2.3%, but maybe it was a little softer than we were expecting, especially in grocery and general merchandise, which I guess, same-store sales growth for that was up just 1.6%. So hoping you guys could just maybe lay out some of the puts and takes there? And maybe any changes to how value is being perceived in the store, given the signs of the pressure on the consumer and actually maybe even more pressures building on the middle-income consumer?

謝謝。大家早安。我只是有一個關於同店內部銷售的問題，我猜，增長了 2.3%，但可能比我們預期的要軟一些，尤其是在雜貨和日用百貨方面，我猜，同店銷售的增長僅上漲1.6% 。所以希望你們能在那裡列出一些看跌期權和看跌期權嗎？考慮到消費者面臨壓力的跡象，甚至中等收入消費者面臨的壓力可能更大，商店中人們對價值的感知是否會發生任何變化？

Yeah. Sure, Bonnie. There's a couple of things going on in this quarter from a same-store sales perspective. I think the first one being we're just cycling a really strong quarter from a year ago. It was next to our strongest quarter of the year last year. So we knew going in that -- the first quarter was going to be a little bit of a steeper hill to climb and that proved to be the case.

是的。當然，邦妮。從同店銷售的角度來看，本季發生了一些事情。我認為第一個是我們剛剛經歷了一年前非常強勁的季度。這是僅次於去年我們最強勁的季度。所以我們知道，第一季將是一個更陡峭的山坡，事實證明確實如此。

The second thing was kind of a little bit of an anomaly that we experienced this year. If you look back at the last 13 months, we've had only three months that had negative traffic in our stores. Every other month has been positive.

第二件事是我們今年經歷的有點反常。如果你回顧過去 13 個月，我們的商店只有三個月會出現負客流量。每隔一個月都是積極的。

Each one of those months has corresponded to us cycling over -- an over $1 billion jackpot in either the Mega Millions or the Powerball lottery. And so two of those three months in this -- the recycle over just happened to be in this quarter. And we saw a little bit of softness in traffic, and we can directly point to those lost lottery transactions as some of that softness.

這些月份中的每一個月都對應著我們騎車過去——超級百萬彩票或強力球彩票中超過 10 億美元的頭獎。因此，這三個月中的兩個月——回收正好發生在本季。我們看到流量有些疲軟，我們可以直接將那些遺失的彩券交易視為這種疲軟的一部分。

Now as you know, lottery as a commissioned sales product. So that doesn't really factor into our same-store sales. But we carry it because it does drive traffic. And so we're attributing some of that softness to that dynamic with lottery. Those things are going to happen from time to time. And last year, we got to enjoy the additional traffic this time, we have to fight through that a little bit. But as Steve mentioned, August seemed to go back into the range of the annual guidance. So we don't feel like there's anything systemic. It's just more of a cycling anomaly.

現在如你所知，彩票作為一種委託銷售產品。因此，這並沒有真正影響我們的同店銷售。但我們攜帶它是因為它確實會帶來流量。因此，我們將這種疲軟歸因於彩票的動態。這些事情會時不時發生。去年，我們這次享受了額外的流量，我們必須克服這一點。但正如史蒂夫所提到的，八月似乎又回到了年度指導範圍內。所以我們不覺得有什麼系統性的東西。這更像是一種自行車異常現象。

With respect to value, like, I mentioned earlier, right, we're not seeing that pressure on the middle income or higher income consumers translate. I'll just give you one data point. If you look at fuel. Our E15 fuel volume was down about 10%. Our E85 volume was down 2%. Premium fuel sales were up almost 9%, that's not the behavior that we see when consumers are under stress.

就價值而言，就像我之前提到的那樣，我們沒有看到中等收入或高收入消費者面臨的壓力轉換。我只給你一個數據點。如果你看燃油。我們的 E15 燃油量減少了約 10%。我們的 E85 銷量下降了 2%。優質燃油銷售量成長了近 9%，這不是我們在消費者面臨壓力時看到的行為。

They'll typically gravitate more towards those higher ethanol blends because they're cheaper, they'll pull back on premium sales because it's more expensive. We're just not seeing that behavior. So I think at the lowest end, there is some moderating behavior. But overall, we're just not seeing that pressure translate into sales impact just yet.

他們通常會更傾向於那些更高的乙醇混合物，因為它們更便宜，他們會減少溢價銷售，因為它更貴。我們只是沒有看到這種行為。所以我認為在最低端，存在一些調節行為。但總的來說，我們還沒有看到這種壓力轉化為銷售影響。

Okay. That's helpful. And if I may, just a quick follow-up question, just maybe more in private label. Just curious to hear a little more color on how your private label business has been performing. Are you still getting the same lift in the store? Have you, I guess, made any more progress on building out your tiered offering? I'm just thinking about whether it's a little more premium or value, etc.? Thank you.

好的。這很有幫助。如果可以的話，我想問一個快速的後續問題，也許更多的是自有品牌。只是想知道更多有關您的自有品牌業務表現的資訊。您還在商店裡搭乘同樣的電梯嗎？我猜您在建立分層產品方面取得了更多進展嗎？我只是在想是不是溢價多一點還是價值多一點等等？謝謝。

Yeah. With the private label, I'd say, we've we pretty much held steady from where we've been historically. The percentage of sales, units and gross profit dollar contribution from private label has been what it's been for about the last year or so. So no change there. The team is working hard on that process of tearing out our private label offering. We're not ready for prime time yet, so that's still work in progress. But we're still on that trajectory, and we will get that done here in the not-so-distant future.

是的。我想說，對於自有品牌，我們幾乎保持了歷史上的穩定。自有品牌對銷售、銷售和毛利的貢獻與去年左右持平。所以那裡沒有變化。團隊正在努力淘汰我們的自有品牌產品。我們還沒準備好迎接黃金時段，所以工作仍在進行中。但我們仍然走在這條軌道上，並且我們將在不遠的將來實現這一目標。

And Bonnie, I'd probably add just from a margin contribution standpoint. The private label business for sure has contributed to mixing up the overall margin and the inside of the stores, specifically in grocery, we’re probably a 100 basis points to good on the grocery margin because of the penetration of -- we've got over 325 SKUs, I think, at this point on private label, and that's worth over 100 basis points of margin to us in that category.

邦妮，我可能只是從利潤貢獻的角度來補充。自有品牌業務肯定導致了整體利潤率和商店內部的混合，特別是在雜貨店，我們的雜貨店利潤率可能高出 100 個基點，因為我們已經我認為，目前自有品牌擁有超過325 個SKU ，這對我們來說在該類別中價值超過100 個基點的利潤。

Chuck Cerankosky, Northcoast Research.

查克·塞蘭科斯基，北海岸研究中心。

Good morning, everyone. Great quarter. When you look at this period ahead of closing on the Fikes acquisition, will you be looking at any other deals?

大家早安。很棒的季度。當您在 Fikes 收購完成之前審視這段時期時，您會考慮其他交易嗎？

Well, Chuck, I'd say we're always looking at deals. So this wouldn't preclude us from looking at others. Just practically speaking, if we're talking about larger deals comparable in size to what this one is, we probably have to think really hard about going down that path, just from a balance sheet perspective. We have a capacity to do it. It's whether we want to take on that amount of leverage to be available to do it.

嗯，查克，我想說我們一直在尋找交易。所以這並不妨礙我們關注其他人。實際上，如果我們談論的交易規模與本次交易相當，我們可能必須從資產負債表的角度認真考慮走這條路。我們有能力做到這一點。問題在於我們是否願意利用足夠的槓桿來做到這一點。

But aside from that, the M&A team will continue their work on the small acquisitions that we always do. And we'll also continue our organic growth, our new-to-industry stores will pull back a little bit, just to help us manage the balance sheet a little bit. But aside from that, we're going to continue on the trajectory. And deals take time, and you have to be in the market to be in the market, so to speak. So we will continue to be looking and see what's out there.

但除此之外，併購團隊將繼續我們一貫所做的小型收購工作。我們也將繼續我們的有機成長，我們的新行業商店將稍微縮減，只是為了幫助我們管理資產負債表。但除此之外，我們將繼續沿著這條軌道前進。交易需要時間，可以這麼說，你必須進入市場才能進入市場。因此，我們將繼續尋找並看看那裡有什麼。

As a follow-up, Darren, what kind of CapEx will Fikes need to update kitchens, et cetera?

作為後續行動，Darren，Fikes 需要什麼樣的資本支出來更新廚房等？

And we'll also continue our organic growth on our new-to-industry stores are we'll we'll pull back a little bit just to help us manage the on the balance sheet a little bit. But aside from that, we're going to continue on the trajectory and no deals take time and you have to be in the market to be in the market, so to speak.

我們也將繼續我們的新行業商店的有機成長，我們將稍微縮減一點，以幫助我們管理資產負債表上的一點。但除此之外，我們將繼續沿著這條軌道前進，任何交易都需要時間，可以這麼說，你必須進入市場才能進入市場。

So so we will continue to be looking in and see what's out there as a follow up there. And Bob would kind of CapEx will flakes need to update kitchens, et cetera?

因此，我們將繼續關注並了解後續情況。鮑伯會認為資本支出需要更新廚房等嗎？

I'll answer that, Chuck. We anticipate about $145 million, specifically to kind of renovate/retrofit, but the Fikes stores that are going to get kitchens, the majority of them will end up with the Casey's kitchen in them. That will be spread over three to four years, realistically, kind of from closing just because of the permitting timeline, but $145 million, $150 million kind of true incremental CapEx is our current belief.

我會回答這個問題，查克。我們預計大約需要 1.45 億美元，特別是用於翻新/改造，但要配備廚房的 Fikes 商店，其中大多數最終都會配備凱西的廚房。實際上，這將在三到四年內完成，只是因為時間允許，但我們目前認為真正的增量資本支出為 1.45 億美元、1.5 億美元。

Great. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝。

Krisztina Katai, Deutsche Bank.

克里斯蒂娜·卡泰，德意志銀行。

Hi. Good morning. Thank you for taking the question. I wanted to ask about some of the recent retail price adjustments that you took in grocery and general merchandise. As consumers are increasingly gravitating towards value, just how do you see Casey's position pricing product-wise today to continue that positive traffic growth to stores? And how are you leveraging the loyalty program and then increasingly private label to help reinforce that value proposition?

你好。早安.感謝您提出問題。我想詢問一下你們最近對雜貨和百貨商品進行的一些零售價格調整。隨著消費者越來越傾向於價值，您如何看待凱西今天在產品定價上的定位，以繼續商店客流量的正面成長？您如何利用忠誠度計劃以及越來越多的自有品牌來幫助強化這一價值主張？

Yeah, Krisztina. We're trying to be prudent on our pricing for sure. I mean you got a couple of different things going on. We're still experiencing those quarterly price increases or cost increases being passed on by the tobacco manufacturers and so as has been our practice.

是的，克里斯蒂娜。我們肯定會努力謹慎定價。我的意思是你發生了一些不同的事情。我們仍在經歷菸草製造商轉嫁的季度價格上漲或成本上漲，我們的做法也是如此。

We continue to pass those on to the consumer, that's probably the bulk of the pricing action that we've been taking in grocery and general merchandise. There's been a couple of other categories, candy in particular, some snacks that we've had some cost increases, and we've had to pass that on. But by and large, we are trying to keep retail pricing consistent, and our merchandising team has done a fantastic job working with our suppliers to manage the cost of goods.

我們繼續將這些傳遞給消費者，這可能是我們在雜貨和百貨商品中採取的大部分定價行動。還有其他一些類別，特別是糖果，一些零食，我們的成本有所增加，我們不得不將其轉嫁給我們。但總的來說，我們正在努力保持零售價格的一致性，而且我們的銷售團隊在與供應商合作管理商品成本方面做得非常出色。

And I’d say just a data point for you, if you were to look over the last four years since COVID hit, CPI is up about 23% over that time period. And our Grocery and General Merchandise pricing is up only 16% and some of that is the impact of private label, mixing into that and having lower retail. Some of that is just us being conservative on passing those prices on the consumer. And I think it reflects in our same-store sales performance relative to others in the industry that we have visibility to.

我想說的只是一個數據點，如果你查看自新冠疫情爆發以來的過去四年，CPI 在此期間上漲了約 23%。我們的雜貨和日用百貨定價僅上漲了 16%，部分原因是自有品牌的影響，混合了自有品牌以及零售額較低。其中一些原因只是我們在將這些價格轉嫁給消費者方面持保守態度。我認為這反映在我們相對於我們所了解的行業其他公司的同店銷售業績中。

Got it. That's helpful. And then just as a follow-up, and I know your geographies have a bit different competition, but one of your larger dollar store peers announced some pricing actions that they're taking in order to be more price competitive. So how do you see promotions and markdowns playing out in the food and consumables industry? And how do you think that is potentially going to impact Casey's, if at all? Thank you.

知道了。這很有幫助。作為後續行動，我知道你們所在的地區有一些不同的競爭，但你們的一家較大的一元商店同行宣布了他們正在採取的一些定價行動，以更具價格競爭力。那麼您如何看待食品和消費品產業的促銷和降價活動呢？如果有的話，您認為這可能會對凱西產生怎樣的影響？謝謝。

Yeah. I think as consumers get a little more pinched and some of these other retailers have taken -- have been more aggressive on taking price over the last couple of years. I think they're starting to pull back a little bit, that I'm not as concerned about that, frankly, at least from the dollar store perspective. We do sell some similar items, but they're usually different pack sizes a lot of different categories that we don't sell.

是的。我認為，隨著消費者變得更加拮据，而其他一些零售商在過去幾年中更加積極地定價。我認為他們開始有所退縮，坦白說，我並不那麼擔心，至少從一元商店的角度來看。我們確實銷售一些類似的商品，但它們通常有不同的包裝尺寸和許多不同的類別，我們不銷售。

We sell some things that they don’t sell. So we track pretty closely how we perform when we’re next to some of those other competitors. And our businesses really performed well and independent of how they’re doing. So if they get more aggressive on price, I’m not so sure that that’s going to make a big difference to our business, just given the diversity of assortment that we have versus them.

我們賣一些他們不賣的東西。因此，當我們與其他一些競爭對手並肩作戰時，我們會非常密切地追蹤我們的表現。我們的業務確實表現良好，並且獨立於他們的表現。因此，如果他們在價格上變得更加激進，我不太確定這會對我們的業務產生重大影響，因為我們與他們相比擁有品種的多樣性。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Corey Tarlowe, Jefferies.

科里·塔洛，杰弗里斯。

Great. Thanks. Darren, I was keen to get your perspective just on the broader M&A that we've seen in the industry. Obviously, you recently announced the Fikes wholesale and CEFCO acquisition. But I'm curious as to hear your perspective on sort of the runway here for acquisitions in the space, why you think we've been seeing so much recently? And any other color you can provide on what you're seeing largely as it relates to M&A?

偉大的。謝謝。達倫，我很想聽聽您對我們在業界看到的更廣泛的併購的看法。顯然，您最近宣布了對 Fikes 批發和 CEFCO 的收購。但我很好奇你對這個領域收購的看法，為什麼你認為我們最近看到了這麼多？對於您所看到的主要與併購相關的內容，您還可以提供任何其他顏色嗎？

Yeah. Sure, Corey. I think it's a variety of things. In the case of Fikes and CEFCO, I think is a well-run business. They are doing a great job. I think it's just simply a matter of having a family business. They've been in the business for a very long time, and they just decided it was time to monetize that business and to move on to other things.

是的。當然，科里。我認為這是各種各樣的事情。就 Fikes 和 CEFCO 而言，我認為這是一家經營良好的企業。他們做得很好。我認為這只是擁有家族企業的問題。他們已經從事這個行業很長時間了，他們只是決定是時候將這項業務貨幣化並轉向其他事情了。

So I don't think there's anything more complicated than that. And given that our industry is comprised largely of businesses, like, Fikes just smaller scale typically but family-owned and independent operators, there's always going to be that opportunity.

所以我認為沒有什麼比這更複雜的了。鑑於我們的行業主要由企業組成，例如 Fikes，通常規模較小，但都是家族企業和獨立營運商，因此總會有這樣的機會。

The other component and probably the thing that's driving a lot of the M&A activity is just simply the challenging environment that we're operating in. And it's been going on ever since COVID. It's just been harder and harder to run a really good and profitable convenience store business and scale is mattering more than it ever has. And so with the fragmented nature of the industry and much smaller players, those smaller players are under a lot of pressure.

另一個因素，也許是推動大量併購活動的因素，就是我們所處的充滿挑戰的環境。經營一家真正優秀且獲利的便利商店業務變得越來越困難，規模比以往任何時候都更重要。因此，由於該行業的分散性和參與者的規模要小得多，這些較小的參與者面臨著很大的壓力。

If we look at industry breakevens according to MAX, breakeven cents per gallon is a $0.15 a gallon right now. And at the bottom decile, it's closer to $0.40 a gallon. So there's a lot of operators out there that are just really struggling to survive, and that creates a great opportunity from an M&A perspective for folks like us who have the capacity and the ability to acquire and integrate those businesses.

如果我們根據 MAX 的數據來看產業損益平衡點，目前每加侖的損益平衡點是 0.15 美元。最低十分之一的價格接近每加侖 0.40 美元。因此，有許多業者正在為生存而苦苦掙扎，從併購的角度來看，這為像我們這樣有能力收購和整合這些業務的人創造了絕佳的機會。

Great. Thanks. That's very helpful. And then just on labor, I wanted to ask about your perspective there as well. And I know you've mentioned some wage inflation yet continued reduction in, I believe, labor hours. Curious what you've seen from a wage inflation perspective and if you expect that to moderate as we go forward?

偉大的。謝謝。這非常有幫助。關於勞工問題，我也想問您的看法。我知道你提到了一些工資上漲，但我認為勞動時間持續減少。好奇您從薪資通膨的角度看到了什麼，以及您是否預計隨著我們的前進，這種情況會有所緩和？

Yeah. Hey, Corey. This is Steve. I'll try that one. We're running 3% to 4% wage rate inflation across our footprint now. And I think we would all agree that, that is consistent with kind of our historical experience, excluding the period of time, obviously, when COVID drove that number much higher. So it feels like a more normal wage rate environment.

是的。嘿，科里。這是史蒂夫。我會嘗試一下。目前，我們的薪資成長率為 3% 至 4%。我想我們都會同意，這與我們的歷史經驗是一致的，顯然，不包括新冠疫情導致這一數字大幅上升的那段時間。所以感覺這是一個比較正常的薪資環境。

We're certainly benefiting from more applications, generally fewer openings, generally, there's all kinds of benefits for us as that rolls through to less over time in the stores, less training costs in the stores because turnover generally has improved and we would attribute for sure, a large portion of the turnover improvement to all of the store simplification initiatives, we have to make those jobs better and easier for people, but there's an element of the labor markets a little bit friendlier as well. So we don't see any impending change from kind of that 3% to 4% wage rate increase in our geography at this point.

我們當然受益於更多的申請，通常更少的空缺，一般來說，對我們來說有各種各樣的好處，因為隨著時間的推移，商店裡的員工數量會減少，商店中的培訓成本也會減少，因為營業額普遍有所改善，我們將歸因於當然，營業額改善的很大一部分歸功於所有商店簡化舉措，我們必須讓這些工作對人們來說更好、更容易，但勞動市場也有一個更友善的因素。因此，目前我們所在地區的工資率不會出現任何即將發生的 3% 至 4% 的變化。

Great. Thank you very much and best of luck.

偉大的。非常感謝您，祝您好運。

Karen Short, Melius Research.

凱倫·肖特，Melius 研究公司。

Hi, everyone. This is Jacob Aiken-Phillips on for Karen. So we just have two questions. The first is on the fuel supply chain. Any update or color you can give on the upstream pipeline and capabilities you've been developing and maybe how the Fikes team will fold into that? And then the second is any update you can give on pounds of cheese used in the Prepared Foods business?

大家好。我是雅各布·艾肯·菲利普斯（Jacob Aiken-Phillips）代表凱倫。所以我們只有兩個問題。第一個是燃料供應鏈。您可以對您一直在開發的上游管道和功能提供任何更新或顏色嗎？第二個問題是您可以提供有關預製食品業務中使用的起司磅數的最新資訊嗎？

Yeah. I'll go ahead and take the fuel supply. Can you say again the second question?

是的。我會繼續去獲取燃料供應。你能再說一次第二個問題嗎？

Update on pounds of cheese in the Prepared Foods business that you use?

您使用的預製食品業務中起司的磅數有最新情況嗎？

Okay. Thanks. Yeah. On the fuel supply, we had said that we would begin with our, what we call Fuel 3.0, where we begin to buy product further upstream into the supply chain and supply that ship it of a pipe into dedicated space. We did execute on that in the first quarter. We took baby steps to be completely honest to make sure everything went according to plan and happy to report that it did. So we're continuing to grow into that capability.

好的。謝謝。是的。在燃料供應方面，我們說過我們將從燃料 3.0 開始，我們開始在供應鏈的上游購買產品，並透過管道將其運送到專用空間。我們確實在第一季執行了這一點。我們採取了一些小步驟，完全誠實地確保一切都按計劃進行，並很高興地報告它確實如此。因此，我們正在繼續發展這種能力。

One of the exciting things about the Fikes transaction is that this comes with a fuel terminal, and they have a team who's been doing this for 10 or so years. So we're actually acquiring some expertise in this area and a different asset that we can leverage to our benefit. So very excited about the additional benefit that we pick up with the Fikes transaction. Steve --

Fikes 交易中令人興奮的事情之一是，它配備了一個燃料終端，而且他們有一個團隊在這方面已經做了 10 年左右。因此，我們實際上正在獲得該領域的一些專業知識以及我們可以利用的不同資產來為我們帶來利益。對於我們透過 Fikes 交易獲得的額外好處感到非常興奮。史蒂夫——

Just for cheese, cheese is the single largest commodity that we consume in our Prepared Foods business. I think most folks are familiar with that. We used a little over 40 million pounds of cheese for perspective in the last fiscal year that obviously goes up as store count goes up, but we're also trying to manage waste to offset some of that. So we spent a little over $100 million in total, in aggregate on cheese on the last fiscal year for some perspective.

僅就起司而言，起司是我們預製食品業務中消耗的最大單一商品。我想大多數人都熟悉這一點。在上一財年，我們使用了略多於 4000 萬磅的奶酪，隨著商店數量的增加，這一數字顯然會增加，但我們也在努力管理浪費，以抵消其中的一部分。因此，從某種角度來看，上一財年我們在起司上總共花了 1 億多美元。

Anthony Bonadio, Wells Fargo.

安東尼·博納迪奧，富國銀行。

Hey. Good morning, guys. So sort of piggybacking on the labor questions. I know same-store OpEx has continued to trend pretty strongly. But I did want to ask about the Department of Labor overtime rule. I believe that's set to step up in January. I know there's a lot of uncertainty still around what that ultimately looks like. But just maybe some thoughts on possible impact to your business if that does go into effect and how you're thinking about mitigating?

嘿。早安，夥計們。這是對勞工問題的順應。我知道同店營運支出持續呈現強勁趨勢。但我確實想問一下勞工部的加班規則。我相信這一點將在一月加強。我知道最終的結果仍然存在著許多不確定性。但如果這確實生效，也許只是對您的業務可能產生的影響的一些想法，以及您如何考慮減輕影響？

Yeah. Anthony. Maybe I'll start with that. This is Steve. So due to the pending step up in January should have a de minimis impact for us at the current wage level that they've talked about, it would be a couple of million dollars on an annual basis to us. Most of our impacted team members are already above that threshold. So the first certainly year in, I would say, would all be kind of washed out in our normal course, 3% to 4% wage increases that we had talked about earlier.

是的。安東尼.也許我會從那裡開始。這是史蒂夫。因此，由於 1 月即將實施的加薪，按照他們所說的當前工資水平，對我們的影響應該是微不足道的，每年對我們來說將是數百萬美元。我們大多數受影響的團隊成員已經超過了這個閾值。因此，我想說，第一年肯定會在我們的正常過程中被淘汰，我們之前討論過的 3% 到 4% 的工資增長。

Got it. That's helpful. And then just on gallon trends. Obviously, you guys continue to underperform or outperform versus what we've seen in a lot of your peers. Just maybe some more thoughts on what's driving that and how you think about maybe the halo effect from what the strong insight store proposition driving traffic to the pump?

知道了。這很有幫助。然後就是加侖趨勢。顯然，與我們在許多同行中看到的情況相比，你們的表現仍然不佳或優於。也許只是更多地思考是什麼推動了這一點，以及您如何看待強大的洞察商店主張推動流量增加所產生的光環效應？

Yeah. Anthony, I think you hit it on the head, all things being equal, I think guests are going to choose where they shop based on the inside offer, and you've got to be competitive on fuel. And I think our fuel team does a really good job of having a consistent approach to pricing. So over time, consumers can trust that they know what they're going to get when they come to Casey's for fuel, from a pricing perspective.

是的。安東尼，我認為你擊中了要害，在所有條件相同的情況下，我認為客人會根據內部報價選擇購物地點，而且你必須在燃料方面具有競爭力。我認為我們的燃料團隊在採用一致的定價方法方面做得非常好。因此，隨著時間的推移，消費者可以相信，從定價的角度來看，他們知道當他們來到凱西購買燃料時會得到什麼。

And so they don't have to shop around as intensely as maybe with some other brands. And then there's the added benefit of coming into the store for all the other offers, and it is a convenience store after all. And to the extent that you can combine trips, that just makes it even more convenient. And so just as a reminder, about three quarters of our transactions are non-fuel related.

因此，他們不必像其他一些品牌那樣頻繁地貨比三家。然後還有一個額外的好處，就是可以進入商店享受所有其他優惠，畢竟它是一家便利商店。如果您可以組合旅行，那就更方便了。提醒一下，我們大約四分之三的交易與燃料無關。

So people are coming to our stores all the time for the store offer. And when they need fuel, it just becomes how much more convenient to get their fuel while they’re there. And like I said, we have a consistency in pricing that allows us to capture those sales.

因此，人們一直來到我們的商店購買商店優惠。當他們需要燃料時，在現場獲取燃料就會變得更加方便。正如我所說，我們的定價保持一致，這使我們能夠獲得這些銷售。

Helpful. Thanks, guys.

有幫助。謝謝，夥計們。

I'm not showing any further questions. I'd like to turn the call back over to Darren for any closing remarks.

我不會提出任何進一步的問題。我想將電話轉回給達倫，讓他作結束語。

Alright. Thank you, and thanks for taking the time today to join us on the call. Before we sign off, I just want to once again thank our team members for all their hard work this quarter. Great job.

好吧。謝謝您，也謝謝您今天抽空參加我們的電話會議。在我們結束之前，我想再次感謝我們的團隊成員本季的辛勤工作。幹得好。

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's presentation. You may now disconnect and have a wonderful day.

女士們、先生們，今天的演講到此結束。您現在可以斷開連接並度過美好的一天。