Caseys General Stores Inc (CASY) 2025 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q4 fiscal year 2025 Casey's General Stores earnings conference call.

您好，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 Casey's General Stores 2025 財年第四季財報電話會議。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）

Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

請注意，今天的會議正在錄音。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Brian Johnson, Senior Vice President of Business Development and Investor relations. Please begin.

現在，我想將會議交給今天的第一位發言者，業務發展和投資者關係高級副總裁布萊恩·約翰遜。請開始。

Good morning and thank you for joining us to discuss the results from our fourth quarter and fiscal year ended April 30, 2025. I'm Brian Johnson, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Business Development.

早安，感謝您加入我們討論截至 2025 年 4 月 30 日的第四季度和財政年度的業績。我是布萊恩·約翰遜，投資者關係和業務發展高級副總裁。

With me today are Darren Rebelez, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer; and Steve Bramlage, Chief Financial Officer.

今天與我一起的還有董事長、總裁兼執行長 Darren Rebelez 和財務長 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 potential impact of the Fikes transaction, 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. 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, the impact and duration of the conflict in Ukraine and related governmental actions, as well as other risks, uncertainties, and factors that 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. Any forward-looking statements made during this call reflect our current views as of today with respect to future events in case it 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 in this call, as well as the detailed breakdown of the operating expense increase for the fourth quarter, can be found on our website at www.caseys.com under the Investor Relations link.

在我們開始之前，我要提醒您，我們在本次投資人電話會議中所作的某些聲明可能構成《1995 年私人證券訴訟改革法案》所定義的前瞻性聲明。這些前瞻性陳述包括與 Fikes 交易的潛在影響、對未來期間的預期、可能或假設的未來經營業績、財務狀況、流動性和相關來源或需求、公司的供應鏈、業務和整合戰略、計劃和協同效應、增長機會以及我們商店的表現有關的任何陳述。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表達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戰略計劃中實現收益的能力、烏克蘭衝突和相關政府行動的影響和持續時間，以及我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的最新 10-KQ 表和其他可在年度報告中描述的因素報告在這些因素上。本次電話會議中所做的任何前瞻性陳述均反映我們截至今天對未來事件的當前看法，如果它否認因新資訊、未來事件或其他原因而更新或修改前瞻性陳述的任何意圖或義務。本次電話會議中提及的非 GAAP 與 GAAP 財務指標的對帳表以及第四季度營運費用增加的詳細分類可在我們的網站 www.caseys.com 的「投資者關係」連結中找到。

With that said, I'd now like to turn the call over to Darren to discuss our fourth quarter and fiscal year results. Darren?

話雖如此，我現在想把電話轉給達倫，討論我們的第四季和財政年度表現。達倫？

Thanks, Brian, and good morning, everyone.

謝謝，布萊恩，大家早安。

We're excited to share our outstanding results, but before I begin, I'd like to talk about some of the good Casey's is doing. Casey's is here to make life better for our guests and communities every day. That's our purpose and it shows in the positive guest feedback we receive, the delicious food we make, and the impact we have on our communities.

我們很高興與大家分享我們出色的成果，但在開始之前，我想先談談 Casey 所做的一些好事。Casey's 致力於讓客人和社區的日常生活更美好。這就是我們的宗旨，它體現在我們收到的正面的客人回饋、我們製作的美味佳餚以及我們對社區的影響。

This fiscal year, Casey's and our partners gave back $6 million in our communities in the areas of education, veterans and first responders and food insecurity. This resulted in thousands of donations to schools, PTOs, 4-H clubs, veterans organizations, food pantries, and more.

在本財政年度，Casey's 和我們的合作夥伴在教育、退伍軍人、急救人員和糧食安全等領域為社區回饋了 600 萬美元。這為學校、家長教師組織、 4-H 俱樂部、退伍軍人組織、食品儲藏室等帶來了數千筆捐款。

Local teachers and students benefited from the 80 Cash for Classrooms Grants we were able to give, and we helped provide 8 million meals to those in need. Thank you to our 49,000 team members, guests, supplier partners, and the non-profits that make this all possible.

當地的教師和學生受益於我們能夠提供的 80 筆「教室現金」補助金，我們幫助為有需要的人提供了 800 萬頓飯。感謝我們的 49,000 名團隊成員、嘉賓、供應商合作夥伴以及使這一切成為可能的非營利組織。

I know I speak for the entire Casey's team when I say we're proud to be part of the fabric of the towns we call home.

我知道，當我說我們很自豪能夠成為我們稱之為家鄉的城鎮的一部分時，我代表了整個凱西團隊。

Before we dive deeper into the financial results for the year, I want to highlight our strategic pillar of unit growth. Fiscal 2025 was the largest store growth year in the company's history, with 35 new builds and 235 units acquired.

在我們深入探討今年的財務表現之前，我想先強調一下我們的單位成長策略支柱。2025 財年是該公司歷史上門市成長最多的一年，新建了 35 家門市，並收購了 235 家門市。

This included the largest transaction in Casey's history with the Fikes Wholesale acquisition and its 198 CEFCO convenience stores. I'm incredibly proud of our team's ability to produce record financial results while also integrating the new units.

其中包括 Casey 史上最大的交易，即收購 Fikes Wholesale 及其 198 家 CEFCO 便利商店。我為我們的團隊在整合新部門的同時創造創紀錄的財務表現的能力感到無比自豪。

Fiscal 2025 is a testament to our two pronged approach of both building and acquiring stores, which ensures predictable rateable growth while still capitalizing on great opportunities like Fikes when they come along.

2025 財年證明了我們雙管齊下的策略，即建立和收購商店，這確保了可預測的可稅率增長，同時仍然可以利用像 Fikes 這樣的重大機會。

Now let's discuss the results of this past fiscal year. Fiscal 2025 was another record year for diluted earnings per share, finishing at $14.64, a 9% increase from the prior year. The company also generated a record $547 million in net income and $1.2 billion in EBITDA, an increase of 13% from the prior year.

現在讓我們來討論一下過去這個財政年度的表現。2025 財年每股攤薄收益再創紀錄，達 14.64 美元，比前一年增長 9%。該公司還創造了創紀錄的 5.47 億美元淨收入和 12 億美元的 EBITDA，比上年增長 13%。

Our top line growth was impressive. Total inside sales grew 10.9% during the year, while inside same store sales were up 2.6% or 7.1% on a two year stack basis. Total prepared food and dispensed beverage sales grew 10.3% and same store sales were up 3.5% or 10.5% on a two-year stack basis.

我們的營業收入成長令人印象深刻。全年總內部銷售額成長 10.9%，同店銷售額則成長 2.6%，兩年累計成長 7.1%。預製食品和飲料總銷售額成長 10.3%，同店銷售額成長 3.5%，兩年累計成長 10.5%。

Total grocery and general merchandise sales were 11.2% and same store sales were up 2.3% or 5.8% on a two year stack basis. Inside margin expanded 50 basis points year over year to 41.5% as our merchants have done a tremendous job working with our vendor partners to get the right products on the shelves while maintaining a strong value proposition for our guests.

食品雜貨和日用百貨總銷售額成長 11.2%，同店銷售額成長 2.3%（兩年累計成長 5.8%）。內部利潤率年增 50 個基點至 41.5%，因為我們的商家與供應商合作夥伴進行了大量的合作，將合適的產品擺上貨架，同時為我們的客人保持了強大的價值主張。

We saw excellent results throughout the year in non-alcoholic beverages, as well as hot sandwiches. Our food innovation team remained hard at work, both creating new menu items and improving existing ones. A great example of this is the chicken wing and fry platform we're currently testing with encouraging early results.

我們在全年的非酒精飲料以及熱三明治方面都取得了優異的成績。我們的食品創新團隊繼續努力工作，既創造新的菜單，也改進現有的菜單。一個很好的例子就是我們目前正在測試的雞翅和薯條平台，其早期結果令人鼓舞。

Fuel gross profit was up 11%, with total fuel gallon sold up 13% in a fuel margin averaging $0.387per gallon over the course of the year. Our fuel team continues to grow market share, focusing on gross profit dollars while balancing fuel volume and margin.

燃料毛利成長了 11%，全年燃料銷售總量成長了 13%，燃料利潤率平均為每加侖 0.387 美元。我們的燃料團隊持續擴大市場份額，專注於毛利，同時平衡燃料量和利潤率。

Our operations team continues to run the stores efficiently while integrating a significant number of new stores this year. Same store operating expenses, excluding credit card fees were up only 1.7% for the year, impacted favorably by a reduction of same store labor hours of 2.4%. The fourth quarter marked the 12th consecutive quarter of same store labor hour reduction.

我們的營運團隊今年繼續有效率地經營門市，同時整合了大量新店。扣除信用卡費用的同店營運費用全年僅上漲 1.7%，這得益於同店工時減少 2.4%。第四季是同店工時連續第12季減少。

At the same time, guest satisfaction scores improved and team member engagement scores hit an all-time high, once again showing that operational excellence and store simplification efforts are driving efficiency to benefit guests and team members alike.

同時，客人滿意度得分提高，團隊成員敬業度得分創歷史新高，再次表明卓越營運和門市簡化工作正在提高效率，使客人和團隊成員都受益。

The strong results in fiscal 2025 show the strength and durability that are a strategic advantage of Casey's business model, and we're confident that we can succeed in a variety of economic climates.

2025財年的強勁業績展現了凱西商業模式的戰略優勢——強勁和持久，我們有信心在各種經濟環境下取得成功。

I'd now like to turn the call over to Steve to discuss the fourth quarter and our outlook for fiscal 2026. Steve?

現在我想將電話轉給史蒂夫，討論第四季以及我們對 2026 財年的展望。史蒂夫？

Thank you, Darren, and good morning.

謝謝你，達倫，早安。

Prior to going over the fourth quarter financials, I'd also like to take a minute and recognize the hard work and the dedication of Casey's. The excellent financial results for the quarter and the full year shine a bright light on the entire organization, and the outstanding team members that we have that make it all possible.

在回顧第四季度的財務狀況之前，我還想花一點時間來表彰 Casey 的辛勤工作和奉獻精神。本季和全年出色的財務表現為整個組織以及我們優秀的團隊成員帶來了光明，是他們讓這一切成為可能。

Now as a reminder, during the prior fourth quarter, Casey's had one additional operating day due to the leap year. This unfavorably impacted the same store and total results for the current quarter by approximately 100 basis points.

提醒一下，在之前的第四季度，由於閏年，Casey's 的營業日增加了一天。這對本季同一家商店和整體業績產生了約 100 個基點的不利影響。

The current full year impact was approximately 25 basis points. The fourth quarter financial results were nonetheless outstanding as diluted EPS was $2.63, a 12% increase from the prior year. Total inside sales rose 12.4% from the prior year to over $1.4 billion with an average margin of 41.2%, which resulted in total inside gross profit dollars of $64.8 million or 12.5% from the prior year.

目前全年影響約25個基點。儘管如此，第四季度的財務表現仍然非常出色，稀釋每股收益為 2.63 美元，比上年增長 12%。總內部銷售額較上年增長 12.4%，超過 14 億美元，平均利潤率為 41.2%，總內部毛利達到 6,480 萬美元，較上年增長 12.5%。

Total prepared food and dispensed beverage sales rose by $34.8 million to $392 million, an increase of 9.7% and total grocery and general merchandise sales increased by $121 million to $1.02 billion, an increase of 13.5%.

預製食品和飲料總銷售額成長 3,480 萬美元，達到 3.92 億美元，增幅 9.7%，雜貨和日用百貨總銷售額增長 1.21 億美元，達到 10.2 億美元，增幅 13.5%。

As a reminder, we have low exposure to tariffs. There's less than 5% of what we sell inside the store is imported. Same store prepared food and dispensed beverage sales were up 1.5% for the quarter. The average margin for the quarter was 57.8%, and that's down 30 basis points from a year ago.

提醒一下，我們受到的關稅影響很小。我們店內銷售的商品中進口商品不到 5%。本季同店食品和飲料銷售額成長了 1.5%。本季平均利潤率為 57.8%，比去年同期下降了 30 個基點。

Hot sandwiches and bakery performed well in the quarter. Our margin was unfavorably impacted by the lower margin CEFCO stores by approximately 160 basis points, which was partially offset by improvements in weight and cheese costs, which were also down $0.06 per pound from the prior year to $2.06.

熱三明治和烘焙食品在本季表現良好。我們的利潤率因 CEFCO 商店利潤率較低而受到不利影響，影響幅度約為 160 個基點，但重量和起司成本的改善部分抵消了這一影響，重量和起司成本也比上年下降了 0.06 美元/磅至 2.06 美元。

Cheese therefore had an approximate 15 basis point benefit to margin. Same store grocery and general merchandise sales were up 1.8% and the average margin was 34.8%. That's an increase of 40 basis points from the same period a year ago.

因此，乳酪對利潤率的益處約為 15 個基點。同店雜貨和日用百貨銷售額成長 1.8%，平均利潤率為 34.8%。這比去年同期增加了 40 個基點。

Sales were particularly strong in our non-alcoholic beverages, specifically energy drinks. Margin expansion was primarily driven by product mix. During the fourth quarter, same store fuel gallons sold were up 0.1% with a fuel margin of $0.376 per gallon. That's up approximately $0.011 per gallon compared to the same period last year.

我們的非酒精飲料，特別是能量飲料的銷售尤其強勁。利潤率的擴大主要受產品組合的推動。第四季度，同店燃油銷量上漲 0.1%，燃油利潤率為每加侖 0.376 美元。與去年同期相比，每加侖價格上漲了約 0.011 美元。

This is inclusive of a nearly $0.02 per gallon headwind due to the CEFCO stores. Retail fuel sales were up $162 million in the fourth quarter, due primarily to a 17.8% increase in the total gallon sold to $819 million which was partially offset by a 9% decline in average retail price from $3.28 per gallon last year to $2.98 this year.

這包括因 CEFCO 商店而產生的每加侖近 0.02 美元的逆風。第四季零售燃料銷售額成長 1.62 億美元，主要原因是總加侖銷量成長 17.8% 至 8.19 億美元，但平均零售價從去年的每加侖 3.28 美元下降至今年的 2.98 美元，下降了 9%，部分抵消了這一增長。

In this lower retail fuel cost environment, we believe that our inside offering coupled with consistently competitive fuel prices is helping our comps both at the pump and inside the store. Total operating expenses were up 14.5% or $84 million in the fourth quarter.

在這種較低的零售燃料成本環境下，我們相信，我們的內部供應加上持續具有競爭力的燃料價格將有助於我們在加油站和商店內實現盈利。第四季總營運費用上漲 14.5%，即 8,400 萬美元。

Approximately 12% of the total operating expense increase is due to unit growth because we operated 246 more stores in the prior year. Included in this increase was approximately $4 million in one-time deal and integration costs associated with the Fikes transaction.

總營運費用增加的約 12% 是由於單位成長，因為我們在上一年經營了 246 家門市。此次增加的費用中包括與 Fikes 交易相關的約 400 萬美元的一次性交易和整合成本。

Insurance expense contributed approximately 3% to the increase. Same store employee expense was approximately flat as the increases in labor rates were largely offset by a reduction in same store labor hours.

保險費用對成長的貢獻約為3%。同店員工費用基本上持平，因為勞動成本的增加在很大程度上被同店勞動時間的減少所抵消。

Net interest expense in the quarter was $27.9 million. That's up $13.4 million from the prior year. That's primarily due to the financing associated with the Fikes transaction. Depreciation in the quarter was $107.4 million, up $15.1 million versus prior year, primarily due to operating more stores.

本季淨利息支出為 2,790 萬美元。這比前一年增加了 1,340 萬美元。這主要是由於與 Fikes 交易相關的融資。本季折舊為 1.074 億美元，比上年增加 1,510 萬美元，主要原因是經營更多門市。

The effective tax rate for the quarter was 23% and compares to 22.4% in the prior year due to a slight decrease in favorable permanent differences. Net income was up versus the prior year to $98.3 million, an increase of 13%.

本季有效稅率為 23%，而去年同期為 22.4%，原因是有利的永久性差異略有減少。淨收入較上年同期上漲 13%，達 9,830 萬美元。

EBITDA for the quarter was $263 million, an increase of 20.1%. Our balance sheet remains in excellent condition and we have more than ample financial flexibility. On April 30, we had total availability of $1.2 billion.

本季 EBITDA 為 2.63 億美元，成長 20.1%。我們的資產負債表依然保持良好狀態，並且擁有充足的財務彈性。截至 4 月 30 日，我們的可用資金總額為 12 億美元。

Our debt to EBITDA ratio was 1.9 times as calculated under the company's credit facilities. The company has been able to delever from the additional debt taken on for the Fikes acquisition faster than originally anticipated due to strong operating performance and cash flow generation.

根據公司的信貸安排計算，我們的債務與 EBITDA 比率為 1.9 倍。由於強勁的營運業績和現金流產生，該公司能夠比最初預期更快地擺脫因收購 Fikes 而產生的額外債務。

For the quarter, net cash generated by operating activities of $334 million less purchases of PP&E of $181 million resulted in the company generating $153 million in free cash flow. This brings our total free cash flow for the year to $585 million.

本季度，經營活動產生的淨現金為 3.34 億美元，減去 1.81 億美元的 PP&E 購買量，導致公司產生了 1.53 億美元的自由現金流。這使得我們全年的總自由現金流達到 5.85 億美元。

Return on invested capital for the fiscal year finished at 11.5%, down 60 basis points from the prior year and that's due to the capital required for the Fikes acquisition. At the June meeting, the Board of Directors voted to increase the dividend of $0.57 per share, a 14% increase marking the 26th consecutive year that the dividend has been increased.

本財年的投資資本報酬率為 11.5%，比前一年下降了 60 個基點，這是由於收購 Fikes 所需的資本所致。在 6 月的會議上，董事會投票決定將股息增加每股 0.57 美元，增幅為 14%，這是股息連續第 26 年增加。

Our first priority in capital allocation remains EBITDA accretive growth. However, now that we've arrived at a leverage level a touch below our long-term target of 2 times and we've raised the dividend, we do also anticipate approximately $125 million in share repurchases during our fiscal '26.

我們在資本配置方面的首要任務仍是實現 EBITDA 增值成長。然而，現在我們的槓桿率已略低於我們長期目標的 2 倍，而且我們已經提高了股息，我們預計在 26 財年將回購約 1.25 億美元的股票。

In addition, we're providing the following fiscal '26 outlook. The company expects EBITDA to increase between 10% to 12%. We expect inside same store sales to increase 2% to 5%, and inside margin of approximately 41%.

此外，我們也提供了以下 26 財年展望。該公司預計 EBITDA 將成長 10% 至 12%。我們預計同店銷售額將成長 2% 至 5%，利潤率將達到約 41%。

The company expects the same store of fuel gallon sold to be between negative 1% to positive 1%. Total operating expenses are expected to increase approximately 8% to 10%. We expect to open at least 80 stores in fiscal 2026 through a mix of M&A and new store construction, and that will bring the three year strategic plan period total as previously communicated to approximately 500 stores.

該公司預計同店燃油加侖銷量將在負 1% 至正 1% 之間。預計總營運費用將增加約8%至10%。我們預計在 2026 財年透過併​​購和新店建設的方式開設至少 80 家門市，這將使三年戰略計畫期間的門市總數達到先前所述的約 500 家門市。

Net interest expense is expected to be approximately $110 million. Depreciation and amortization is expected to be approximately $450 million, and the purchase of property and equipment is expected to be approximately $600 million.

淨利息支出預計約1.1億美元。預計折舊和攤提約為 4.5 億美元，購買財產和設備預計約為 6 億美元。

The tax rate is expected to be between 24% to 26% for the year. Now consistent with our past practice, we're not guiding to a fuel margin CPG, nor are we providing earnings per share. As a reminder for fiscal '26, the Fikes acquisition will be accretive to EBITDA and dilutive to earnings per share, and that will be the case in each quarter as well.

預計今年的稅率將在24%至26%之間。現在與我們過去的做法一致，我們不會指導燃料利潤率 CPG，也不會提供每股收益。提醒一下 26 財年，Fikes 的收購將增加 EBITDA 並稀釋每股收益，並且每個季度的情況也是如此。

Our May experience was as follows, inside same store sales and same store gallons sold were within the range of our annual guidance expectations. Fuel CPG margin for May was approximately $0.40, and that is inclusive of the Fikes headwind of approximately $0.02.

我們五月的經驗如下，同店銷售額和同店加侖銷售量均在我們的年度指導預期範圍內。5 月燃料 CPG 利潤率約為 0.40 美元，其中包括約 0.02 美元的 Fikes 逆風。

Current cheese costs are modestly unfavorable versus the prior year. And we do expect first quarter total operating expense to be up in the mid-teens, and that's due primarily to the timing associated with lapping the prior year acquisitions.

目前起司成本與去年相比略有不利。我們確實預計第一季總營運費用將成長 15% 左右，這主要是因為與去年收購的時間重疊。

I'll now turn the call back over to Darren.

我現在將電話轉回給達倫。

Thanks, Steve.

謝謝，史蒂夫。

I'd like to again express my gratitude and congratulate the entire Casey's team for delivering another record year. The hard work and dedication to executing our three year strategic plan continues to show up in our outstanding financial results.

我想再次表達我的感激之情，並祝賀整個凱西團隊又創下了新的紀錄。我們為執行三年策略計畫所付出的辛勤工作和奉獻精神繼續體現在我們出色的財務表現中。

In June of 2023, we laid out a plan that had three pillars: accelerate the food business, grow the number of units, and enhance operational efficiency. We are now through two years of the plan, and the entire organization is working hard to execute on our commitment.

2023 年 6 月，我們制定了一項包含三大支柱的計畫：加速食品業務、增加單位數量和提高營運效率。該計劃現已實施兩年，整個組織正在努力履行我們的承諾。

Inside the store, a robust inside offering continues to be a differentiator for Casey's. It drives store traffic as approximately three quarters of our inside transactions are not tied to fuel. This, coupled with unit growth, has shown up in the financial results as total inside sales grew nearly 11% in the fiscal year and 2.6% on the same store basis.

在商店內部，豐富的內部產品繼續成為 Casey's 的差異化因素。它推動了商店客流量，因為我們大約四分之三的內部交易與燃料無關。這一增長與單位數量的增長相結合，已在財務業績中得到體現，本財年內部總銷售額增長了近 11%，同店銷售額增長了 2.6%。

And now we have a familiar favorite back this summer with a barbecue brisket pizza, our most popular limited time offer of all time for our guests to enjoy. And fiscal 2025 was a continuation of Casey's commitment to operating the business more efficiently.

今年夏天，我們又推出了大家熟悉的燒烤牛腩披薩，這是我們有史以來最受歡迎的限時優惠，供客人享用。2025 財年是凱西致力於更有效率地經營業務的延續。

Our operational excellence team has done a terrific job identifying improvement areas to make the stores more efficient while also focusing on improving guest satisfaction and team member engagement. We're looking forward to fiscal 2026 and are excited about what the team has in store.

我們的卓越營運團隊在確定改進領域方面做得非常出色，以提高商店的效率，同時也專注於提高客人滿意度和團隊成員的參與度。我們期待 2026 財年，並對團隊的準備感到興奮。

Turning to the guests. Casey's Rewards now has over 9 million members. Our guests are taking advantage of Casey's value proposition because we're able to offer great products at a competitive price, both in our prepared foods program where single topping pizza is $1 to $2 less than a national competitor, and on the grocery and general merchandise side where we offer guests a great value with our private label products.

轉向客人。Casey's Rewards 目前擁有超過 900 萬會員。我們的客人正在利用 Casey 的價值主張，因為我們能夠以具有競爭力的價格提供優質的產品，無論是在我們的預製食品計劃中，單層披薩的價格比全國競爭對手低 1 到 2 美元，還是在雜貨和日用百貨方面，我們通過自有品牌產品為客人提供超值服務。

At the pump, our same store gallon growth continues to outpace the Opus data in our geography. We printed a healthy fuel margin of $0.387 per gallon. The new stores that we're building and buying are typically higher volume than the chain average, as evidenced by total gallon growth of 13% on the year.

在加油站，我們同店加侖油的成長率持續超過我們所在地區的 Opus 數據。我們實現了每加侖 0.387 美元的健康燃油利潤。我們正在建造和購買的新店的銷量通常高於連鎖店的平均水平，今年的總加侖增長率為 13% 證明了這一點。

I've already discussed our record-breaking store growth in fiscal 2025. With that said, we're excited about our ability to continue to execute our store growth strategy that has been so effective for us. As we look forward to fiscal 2026 and beyond, I'm very excited about the future of Casey's.

我已經討論過我們 2025 財年破紀錄的門市成長。話雖如此，我們很高興能夠繼續執行對我們非常有效的門市成長策略。展望 2026 財年及以後，我對 Casey 的未來感到非常興奮。

In 2023, we shared our strategic plan and our team is executing on that vision. Casey's still has our best in class food program, our rural footprint, our self-distribution, and our scale that has made Casey's a great company for so many years.

2023 年，我們分享了我們的策略計劃，我們的團隊正在執行這一願景。Casey's 仍然擁有一流的食品計劃、農村業務、自我分銷和規模，這些都使得 Casey's 多年來成為一家偉大的公司。

We've made it a priority to improve operating expense management, generate more free cash flow, and improve return on invested capital, all of which was on full display this fiscal year.

我們優先考慮改善營運費用管理、產生更多自由現金流和提高投資資本回報率，所有這些都在本財年得到了充分體現。

In short, we've become a better version of ourselves, and with our financial resources, people, and leadership will continue to drive shareholder value.

簡而言之，我們已經變得更好，並且憑藉我們的財務資源、人才和領導力，我們將繼續推動股東價值。

We will now take your questions.

我們現在將回答大家的提問。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）

Anthony Bonadio, Wells Fargo.

富國銀行的安東尼·博納迪奧。

So I just wanted to start off fuel margins. Fuel margins came in, I think, quite a bit better than many were expecting, despite, that CEFCO headwind that I believe you said was around $0.02 per gallon. So can you just speak to progress on synergies there? How you expect that headwind to trend in '26, and just anything else that contributed to that outperformance?

所以我只是想從燃料利潤開始。我認為，儘管 CEFCO 的逆風（我相信您說過）約為每加侖 0.02 美元，但燃料利潤率仍然比許多人預期的要好得多。那麼您能談談那裡的協同效應的進展嗎？您預期 26 年逆風趨勢會如何，還有其他什麼因素促成了這種優異表現？

This is Darren.

這是達倫。

I think again, our team really managed the fuel pricing environment really well during the quarter. And we had a we had a nice run up in wholesale costs in March and then a subsequent drop off in April. And I think that environment typically allows for us to capture a little bit more margin.

我再次認為，我們的團隊在本季確實很好地管理了燃料定價環境。3 月批發成本大幅上漲，4 月則出現下降。我認為這種環境通常允許我們獲得更多的利潤。

I'd say the team did an excellent job of doing just that. And if you couple that with some of the progress we've made on our upstream fuel procurement capabilities, I think that overall blended us up to have a little bit stronger margin than perhaps people were expecting.

我想說團隊在這方面做得非常好。如果再加上我們在上游燃料採購能力方面取得的一些進展，我認為總體而言，我們的利潤率會比人們預期的要高一些。

And then just on guidance. Sort of thinking beyond the components you gave in the press release, can you just talk us through the build as we think about the remaining contribution from Fikes, the lap of one-time costs, and assumptions around synergies, and then as we sort of stack all those together, can you speak to the level of conservatism and guidance more broadly?

然後只是指導。除了您在新聞稿中提供的組件之外，您能否在我們考慮 Fikes 的剩餘貢獻、一次性成本以及協同效應的假設時向我們介紹一下構建過程，然後當我們將所有這些疊加在一起時，您能否更廣泛地談談保守主義和指導的水平？

This is specific to the assumptions around around Fikes from a modeling standpoint. Obviously, we'll continue -- for the first half of the year, we're going to have more of an operating expense headwind on a year over year basis just because we didn't buy them until the third quarter of fiscal '25.

從建模的角度來看，這是針對 Fikes 周圍的假設。顯然，我們將繼續——在今年上半年，我們將面臨比去年同期更多的營運費用逆風，因為我們直到 2025 財年第三季才購買它們。

And so you'll get a little bit of a sequential difference between that. We certainly are starting to gather synergies from the transaction if you think of the buckets of synergies we're assuming, price -- fuel synergies would be the first where we to Darren's point, we've started pricing really from day one.

因此你會發現它們之間存在一些連續的差異。如果您考慮我們假設的協同效應，那麼我們肯定會開始從交易中獲得協同效應，價格 - 燃料協同效應將是第一個，正如達倫所說，我們從第一天就開始定價。

The fuel in the CEFCO stores. We certainly are looking at overhead rationalization opportunities as you would expect as the second bucket. The third and fourth buckets for us, which would be, within the inside the store, some of the procurement and mix synergies, there won't be significant capture of those in this fiscal year.

CEFCO 商店中的燃料。正如您所期望的，我們當然正在尋找第二個方面的間接費用合理化機會。對我們來說，第三和第四個面向是商店內部的一些採購和組合綜效，在本財年我們不會有顯著的成效。

That's primarily due to the fact we've inherited with the transaction an existing supply chain agreement, which just makes it a little more complicated for us to immediately run a traditional Casey’s play inside the stores and then the largest bucket of synergies is coming from obviously getting kitchens into those stores so that we can put pizza.

這主要是因為我們透過交易繼承了現有的供應鏈協議，這使得我們在商店內立即運行傳統的凱西遊戲變得更加複雜，而最大的協同效應顯然來自於將廚房引入這些商店，以便我們可以提供披薩。

And that's going to be subject to remodeling timelines and with the lead times, there won't be significant synergy capture in FY26 for that bucket. And all of that would be totally consistent with how we had expected the deal at the time of closing.

這將受到重塑時間表和交貨時間的影響，2026 財年該時間段內不會產生顯著的協同效應。所有這些都與我們在交易完成時所預期的完全一致。

Chuck Grom, Gordon Haskett.

查克·格羅姆、戈登·哈斯凱特。

Great quarter. You got it to 41% combined inside margins. I was hoping you could unpack that for us both, for the grocery business and prepared foods.

很棒的一個季度。您已將內部利潤率合併至 41%。我希望你能為我們雙方，包括食品雜貨業務和預製食品業務，解釋清楚這一點。

This is Steve.

這是史蒂夫。

We obviously are going to say from a guidance perspective at the inside margin level, I mean, directionally, what's happening, certainly, as we have 12 months of Fikes mixing in that in and of itself would put some downward pressure on the margins, specifically in the prepared food category more so because of their lack of pizza business.

我們顯然會從內部利潤水平的指導角度來說，我的意思是，從方向上看，正在發生的事情當然是，因為我們有 12 個月的 Fikes 混合，這本身會對利潤率造成一些下行壓力，特別是在預製食品類別中，因為他們缺乏披薩業務。

Most of the prepared food business they have now is more protein centric than what we have. And so Fikes all by itself will mix down inside margin and would mix down prepared food margin even a little bit more. We've done a great job on the grocery side. We've seen that in the fourth quarter of offsetting some of that mix pressure from Fikes in the grocery business, specifically where things like product mix enhancements for us, the reality of what's happening in tobacco inside the stores, cigarettes decline and nicotine alternatives continue to grow strongly.

他們現在的大多數預製食品業務比我們的更以蛋白質為中心。因此，Fikes 本身會降低內部利潤率，並且會進一步降低熟食利潤率。我們在食品雜貨方面做得很好。我們已經看到，在第四季度，食品雜貨業務中抵消了來自菲克斯的部分組合壓力，具體而言，產品組合增強等方面，商店內煙草的實際情況，香煙的減少和尼古丁替代品的繼續強勁增長。

That's a mix enhancement for us. And so long story short, progress within the mothership with all of the existing initiatives we have will largely offset most of the pressure, mechanically we would have with Fikes. And so we feel like it's prudent to say around 41%.

這對我們來說是一種混合增強。長話短說，母艦內部以及我們現有的所有舉措所取得的進展將在很大程度上抵消大部分壓力，從機械上來說，我們會遇到 Fikes 的壓力。因此我們認為謹慎的說法是 41% 左右。

We're hopeful we can do a little bit better than that, but I think 41% is a very safe place for us to start with.

我們希望能夠做得更好一些，但我認為 41% 對我們來說是一個非常安全的起點。

And just to circle back on Anthony's question, do you feel like the $0.02 drag from CEFCO is something we should be continuing to model out over fiscal '26? And then when gas prices drop historically as quickly as they as they did over the past couple of months, does that tend to be a profit source for you like it is historically for like say the warehouse clubs?

回到安東尼的問題，您是否認為 CEFCO 造成的 0.02 美元拖累是我們應該在 26 財年繼續模擬的？那麼，當汽油價格像過去幾個月那樣快速下跌時，這是否會成為您的利潤來源，就像倉儲商店歷史上的利潤來源一樣？

This is Darren. Yeah, in terms of the expectations on Fikes for the year, I would still anticipate that $0.02 and drag to carry through throughout the year. And we'll continue to work on that over the course of the year, but yeah, the way we're looking at it is about $0.02 impact to the overall margin of the company.

這是達倫。是的，就對 Fikes 全年的預期而言，我仍然預計 0.02 美元將持續到全年。我們將在今年繼續努力解決這個問題，但是是的，我們認為這對公司的整體利潤率的影響約為 0.02 美元。

In terms of how margins tend to behave when retail prices drop, that is, it is in fact the case that typically, when those retail prices drop, the margins do expand because the underlying wholesale cost is typically falling faster than that retail price is dropping.

就零售價格下降時利潤率的表現而言，事實上，當零售價格下降時，利潤率通常會擴大，因為基礎批發成本的下降速度通常比零售價格的下降速度更快。

And so those margins tend to widen out. Now the opposite is also true when wholesale costs are increasing, retail prices tend to not move up as fast as the wholesale cost, and so you have a little bit of compression on the front end.

因此這些利潤空間趨於擴大。現在情況正好相反，當批發成本增加時，零售價格往往不會像批發成本那樣快速上漲，因此前端會受到一點壓縮。

Kelly Bania, BMO Capital Markets.

凱利·巴尼亞（Kelly Bania），BMO 資本市場。

Just wanted to talk about the same store sales outlook for fiscal '26 in that 2 to 5 range. I guess it's just a little lower on the low end there than the past several years I believe. I just wondering if that's just some conservatism or if there's anything you're seeing from your customers that suggests that that lower end is possible.

只是想談談 26 財年 2 至 5 範圍內的同店銷售前景。我想，與過去幾年相比，那裡的低端水平只是略低一點。我只是想知道這是否只是一些保守主義，或者您是否從客戶那裡看到任何東西來表明這種較低的價格是可能的。

And can you elaborate more on the wings test? I think I heard the word encouraging there, but what have you learned with that and is there any meaningful contribution from that built into the fiscal '26 plan?

能更詳細地介紹一下機翼測試嗎？我想我聽到了「鼓舞人心」這個詞，但是你從中學到了什麼？這對 26 財年計畫有什麼有意義的貢獻嗎？

This is Darren. First, on the same store sales outlook, I think we feel really comfortable with the range that we've been given the business is performing well, as you heard, or may progress and we can get into how -- what the case of the quarter was in terms of same store sales, but we feel good about that.

這是達倫。首先，關於同店銷售前景，我認為我們對給定的範圍感到非常滿意，正如您所聽到的，業務表現良好，或者可能會取得進展，我們可以了解本季度同店銷售的情況如何，但我們對此感到滿意。

I do think with everything going on in the world, it's reasonable to have a little bit of conservatism there on the low end. And so we factor that into the guidance, but I feel comfortable with where we're at right now. With respect to the wings, it is a test. It's only about 225 stores in total.

我確實認為，考慮到世界上發生的一切，在低端採取一點保守主義是合理的。因此，我們將其納入指導範圍，但我對我們目前的狀況感到滿意。對於機翼來說，這是一個考驗。總共只有大約225家商店。

So we're very encouraged with what we're seeing so far. Guest feedback has been really strong. We're continuing to learn and we're making some modifications as we look forward and there'll be more to come on that later.

因此，我們對目前所看到的情況感到非常鼓舞。客人的回饋非常強烈。我們正在繼續學習，並做出一些修改，期待未來會有更多內容。

And just wanted to ask about the EBITDA contribution from CEFCO in the quarter and what's embedded in the fiscal '26 outlook from the deal there.

我只是想問 CEFCO 本季的 EBITDA 貢獻，以及交易對 26 財年前景的影響。

This is Steve. As we have said, or do you want to say, we do expect it to be EBITDA accretive. We talked about at the time we did the transaction that the valuation multiple was based on a kind of a high $80 million pro forma EBITDA number.

這是史蒂夫。正如我們所說的，或者您想說的，我們確實預計它會增加 EBITDA。我們在進行交易時談到，估值倍數是基於 8,000 萬美元的高額 EBITDA 數字。

It's not going to be that accretive for us in the year because that was assuming all of their relatively new stores, some of which haven't been opened at the time of the deal were at full maturity. So it's going to be less than that $80 million but it will be consistently kind of double digit.

這對我們來說今年不會有太大的增值，因為這是假設他們所有相對較新的商店都已完全成熟，其中一些在交易時尚未開業。因此，這個數字將少於 8000 萬美元，但將持續保持兩位數。

Millions of accretive each quarter from an EBITDA perspective over the course of the year and it was EBITDA accretive for us in the fourth quarter as we expected it to be in FY25.

從 EBITDA 的角度來看，全年每季的 EBITDA 都增加了數百萬，並且在第四季度我們的 EBITDA 也實現了增值，正如我們預計的 25 財年一樣。

Jacob Aiken-Phillips, Melius research.

Jacob Aiken-Phillips，Melius 研究。

Bonnie Herzog, Goldman Sachs.

高盛的邦妮·赫爾佐格。

I had a quick follow up question on inside sales I guess. I'm hoping to hear a little bit more color on your inside sales for the full year of FY25, which I guess fell a little short of your lowered full year guidance. Could you talk through some of the drivers of this and maybe what fell short of your expectations? I'm curious to hear how much, illicit vape is, possibly negatively impacting traffic and your sales.

我想我有一個關於內部銷售的快速後續問題。我希望能聽到更多關於您 25 財年全年內部銷售情況的消息，我猜這比您下調的全年預期略有下降。您能否談談造成這現象的一些因素以及哪些方面沒有達到您的預期？我很好奇，非法電子煙會對流量和銷售造成多大的負面影響。

This is Darren. I'd say, for the year, we're pretty happy with where we ultimately ended up and yeah, it was a little bit below the original guide and I attribute that to a couple of things that I'd say first, our first quarter of the fiscal year came out of the gate a little bit softer than we had anticipated.

這是達倫。我想說，就今年而言，我們對最終的業績非常滿意，是的，它略低於最初的預期，我認為這是由於幾件事，首先，我們本財年第一季的業績比我們預期的要弱一些。

And so still positive, still outpacing the industry by a fairly wide margin, but just a little bit shy of our expectations. And as you know, our business is heavily skewed towards those first two quarters of the year. And so if we have a little bit of a softer start, that's going to impact the full year numbers.

因此仍然是積極的，仍然以相當大的幅度超過行業，但僅略低於我們的預期。如您所知，我們的業務嚴重偏向於每年的前兩個季度。因此，如果我們的開局稍微疲軟一些，這將影響全年的數據。

And so we had hoped to claw that back and we did make some progress on that, but we just didn't get all the way there. The second piece I'd say is when you look at the fourth quarter, I think this is important, obviously, February was a tough month for us and really for the rest of the industry, I think it's been widely reported about the adverse weather and we were certainly not immune to that.

因此，我們希望挽回損失，而且我們確實取得了一些進展，但還沒有完全實現。我想說的第二點是，當你看第四季度時，我認為這很重要，顯然，二月對我們來說是一個艱難的月份，對整個行業來說也是如此，我認為有關惡劣天氣的報道已經很廣泛，我們當然也未能倖免。

And then the leap day effect. You had about a 300 basis point impact on February costs. Now if you look at the cadence for the rest of the quarter, March came back at 3.7%. April came back at 5%, and May was in the guidance range as we alluded to earlier.

然後是閏日效應。這對二月的成本產生了約 300 個基點的影響。現在，如果你看本季剩餘時間的節奏，3 月的成長率為 3.7%。4 月成長率回升至 5%，5 月成長率也達到了我們先前提到的指導範圍。

So we feel very good about the momentum in the business. And we -- you all chalk it up to a tough month in February and just as a -- it's a fun fact. The last time we had a negative same store sales month was four years ago in February of 2021 when we cycled over another leap day.

因此，我們對業務的發展勢頭感到非常滿意。我們——你們都認為二月是艱難的一個月，這只是一個有趣的事實。我們上一次出現同店銷售額為負的月份是在四年前的 2021 年 2 月，當時我們又遇到了一個閏日。

So I think that is very much an anomaly for us and really speaks to the strength of the business.

所以我認為這對我們來說是一個非常異常的情況，並且真正體現了我們業務的實力。

Darren, just in terms of, illicit vape, is that -- have you been negatively impacted by that, like so many of your peers or not necessarily? Just curious if that's pulling out.

達倫，就非法電子煙而言，您是否像您的許多同齡人一樣受到了負面影響，還是不一定？只是好奇這是否會被撤出。

Yeah. We believe it is impacting the vape category. I mean we have seen the vape decline, as a result of that. And we were talking to the tobacco manufacturers and working on, trying to help influence increased enforcement in that space, but yeah, it is having a bit of an impact.

是的。我們相信它正在對電子煙類別產生影響。我的意思是，由於這個原因，我們看到了電子煙的衰落。我們正在與菸草製造商進行交談並努力嘗試幫助影響該領域加強執法，但是是的，它確實產生了一些影響。

I'd say the counter to that has been the acceleration of nicotine alternatives, especially the pouch business, and for us in the quarter, we were up about 54% in that business, and that was due to a lot of work from the merchandizing team in terms of resetting stores and giving more space allocation to those products and really leaning in there.

我想說，與此相反的是尼古丁替代品的加速發展，特別是袋裝業務，對於我們來說，在本季度，該業務增長了約 54％，這是由於商品銷售團隊在重新設置商店、為這些產品分配更多空間以及真正投入方面做了大量工作。

Irene Nattel, RBC Capital Markets.

艾琳·納特爾，加拿大皇家銀行資本市場。

Just continuing along with the discussion around the inside store. Obviously, lots of discussion around low income consumers and we know you're under index, but just what are you seeing in terms of consumer behavior? What is your -- what is the rewards program telling you about spending, and what kind of promotions are you creating to capture that traffic?

繼續討論商店內部的情況。顯然，關於低收入消費者的討論很多，我們知道您處於指數之下，但就消費者行為而言，您看到了什麼？您的獎勵計劃告訴您有關消費的哪些信息，您正在創建什麼樣的促銷活動來吸引這些流量？

What I'd say overall is I would say the consumer is really hanging in there and continuing to visit our stores as frequently as they have historically. We're seeing good strength from the higher income consumers. Those making over 100,000 a year.

總的來說，我想說的是，消費者確實在堅持購買，並像以前一樣頻繁地光顧我們的商店。我們看到高收入消費者表現出強勁勢頭。年收入超過 10 萬的人。

And then even on the low end, we are seeing that traffic hanging there. They are modifying some purchasing behavior. I think what's interesting that as we dug into this, there's two types of low income consumers.

即使在低端，我們也看到流量停留在那裡。他們正在改變一些購買行為。我認為有趣的是，當我們深入研究這個問題時，我們發現低收入消費者有兩種類型。

I think there's a cohort of consumers who perhaps have a family and they're really stretched to make ends meet. But we're also finding in that low-income cohort, those are a lot of younger folks that are early on in their careers and so they are lower income, but they don't behave like folks that are really stretched to make ends meet.

我認為有一群消費者可能有一個家庭，他們真的竭盡全力維持收支平衡。但我們也發現，在低收入群體中，有許多年輕人，他們正處於職業生涯的早期，因此收入較低，但他們的行為並不像那些為了維持生計而拼命掙扎的人。

So think more Gen-Z and younger millennials. And so the purchasing habits for those folks are very different than what you have for some other maybe more mature people in that income cohort. And so it's up to us to make sure we have the relevant store men in the stores to meet the needs of both, and I think we're doing that pretty effectively right now.

因此，請多考慮一下 Z 世代和更年輕的千禧世代。因此，這些人的購買習慣與該收入群體中其他一些更成熟的人的購買習慣非常不同。因此，我們必須確保商店裡有相關的店員來滿足雙方的需求，我認為我們現在做得非常有效。

And just as a follow on, as you're thinking about your promotional program for F26 as we head into the summer months, what are there particular elements that we should be looking for, and that you're planning on launching to target these different cohorts?

順便問一下，隨著我們進入夏季，您在考慮 F26 的促銷計劃時，我們應該尋找哪些特定的元素，您計劃推出哪些針對不同群體的促銷計劃？

We've worked with our supplier partners through our joint business planning process to create promotional plans that are focused on driving traffic. And bringing people into the store. Our food proposition is usually the tip of the spear on that and we've got a lot of great stuff going on there, primarily with pizza, as I mentioned.

我們透過聯合業務規劃流程與供應商合作夥伴合作制定了專注於推動流量的促銷計劃。並吸引人們進入商店。我們的食物主張通常是這方面的先鋒，我們在這方面有很多很棒的東西，主要是披薩，正如我所提到的。

In the prepared remarks, we've brought back our barbecue brisket limited time offer, which has been a fan favorite and our best performing LTO and we're seeing good results from that so far. We've also worked on that hot sandwich category, and even though we had really strong results last year, we just started to cycle over that.

在準備好的評論中，我們恢復了燒烤牛腩限時優惠，這是粉絲們的最愛，也是我們表現最好的限時優惠，到目前為止，我們看到了良好的效果。我們也致力於熱三明治類別，儘管去年我們的業績確實很好，但我們才剛開始循環這個類別。

And we're still up double digits in that category. And so really strong performance there. We're also seeing strong performance in bakery. As I think consumers are looking to satisfy sweet tooth, but with a little bit more of a value orientation and with Cocoa prices and therefore, candy prices moving up pretty significantly. Our guests are finding alternatives in our baker category to satisfy that need.

我們在這一類別中仍然保持兩位數的領先。所以那裡的表現確實很強勁。我們也看到烘焙業表現強勁。我認為消費者希望滿足對甜食的喜愛，但同時又更注重價值，因此可可價格以及糖果價格都會大幅上漲。我們的客人正在我們的烘焙類別中尋找替代品來滿足這一需求。

Pooran Sharma, Stephens.

普蘭夏爾馬，史蒂芬斯。

Congrats on the quarter. Yeah, I just wanted to ask about OpEx and really guidance. I think in the prepared comments, expecting 1Q to be up about mid-teens. And I think guidance calls for about 9% at the midpoint. So I was just wondering if you could help unpack that a little bit.

恭喜本季取得佳績。是的，我只是想詢問有關營運支出和實際指導的問題。我認為在準備好的評論中，預計第一季的成長率將達到十幾歲左右。我認為指導要求中間值約為 9%。所以我只是想知道您是否可以幫忙稍微解釋一下這個問題。

What kind of cadence maybe should we expect through the year? Is it kind of an even cadence downwards to hit that 9%? Any color regarding OpEx in FY26 would help.

我們該期待今年出現什麼樣的節奏？為了達到那 9%，這是否是一種均勻的下降節奏？有關 FY26 營運支出的任何顏色都會有所幫助。

The cadence is almost exclusively driven by just the year over year consolidation of Fikes. So in both the first and the second quarter of FY26, it'll be mid teams and that's purely a function of we have all of the Fikes OpEx this year in the first and second quarter, and we didn't have any of the Fikes OpEx because we didn't own them in the first and second quarter of last year.

這一節奏幾乎完全是由 Fikes 的逐年整合所推動的。因此，在 26 財年的第一季和第二季度，都將是中期團隊，這純粹是因為我們在今年第一季和第二季擁有所有的 Fikes OpEx，而我們沒有任何 Fikes OpEx，因為我們在去年第一季和第二季並不擁有它們。

It will drop quite a bit in the third quarter to a very low six digit kind of number, and that's a function of. In the third quarter of FY25, we were cycling all of the in the one-time deal related costs. And then so we had a bunch of that roll through totals it will not repeat this year.

第三季它將下降相當多，降至非常低的六位數，這是一個函數。在 25 財年第三季度，我們循環了所有一次性交易相關成本。然後，我們得到了大量的總數，今年不會再重複了。

So the first half year in mid teens, the second half, as a result of that cage, you're kind of low single digits and all of that, what we would expect would land us in the middle of that OpEx range that we have for the guide.

因此，上半年的成本在十幾歲左右，下半年，由於那個籠子，成本會處於較低的個位數，所有這些，我們預計我們的營運支出將處於我們指導的營運支出範圍的中間。

And just I guess my follow up would be on expansion. Last couple of years seems that the lever is really more tilted on M&A and as you look out to FY26, looks like you're targeting 80. I was wondering if, do you see any change in the landscape? Is it still kind of high inflation, inflationary construction costs? Are you still facing that? Is it better to lean in on M&A? We just love some color as we look out to FY26.

我想我的後續行動將會是擴張。過去幾年，槓桿似乎確實更傾向於併購，而展望 26 財年，看起來您的目標應該是 80。我想知道，您是否看到景觀有任何變化？通貨膨脹率是否仍然很高，建築成本是否也有通貨膨脹？您還面臨這樣的問題嗎？傾向於併購是否更好？展望 26 財年，我們很喜歡一些色彩。

Yeah. All things being equal, as we sit here today, M&A has been a very effective play for us because of what you mentioned, construction costs have been higher in the last couple of years, and we've been able to pretty effectively acquire stores, put capital in them to remodel them, add kitchens, and make them essentially a new Casey’s at below replacement cost.

是的。在所有條件相同的情況下，當我們今天坐在這裡時，併購對我們來說是一個非常有效的手段，正如您所提到的，過去幾年的建築成本一直在上升，而我們能夠非常有效地收購商店，投入資金進行改造，增加廚房，並以低於重置成本的價格使它們基本上成為一個新的凱西百貨。

And so we continue to look at that, but every year when we give our guidance for new store development, we make an assumption that we're about 50-50. New to industry stores and then the other half small deal M&A what we would call, single side 2s and 3s.

因此，我們會繼續關注這個問題，但每年當我們給出新店開發指導時，我們都會假設這個比例大約是 50-50。新進入行業商店，然後另一半小額交易併購，我們稱之為單邊 2 和 3。

So the larger deals are more opportunistic and those come along when they come along and then we evaluate those and see if we want to participate in that process or not, but yeah, to your point, it has been a little bit more efficient on the acquisition side, but, if that changes, we can lean heavier on the organic side because we have a pretty developed land bank that gives us that optionality either way.

因此，較大的交易更具機會性，這些交易會在適當的時候出現，然後我們會對其進行評估，看看是否要參與該過程，但是，正如您所說，在收購方面效率更高一些，但是，如果這種情況發生變化，我們可以更多地依靠有機收購，因為我們擁有相當發達的土地儲備，無論哪種方式都可以為我們提供選擇權。

Charles Cerankosky, Northcoast Research.

查爾斯·塞蘭科斯基（Charles Cerankosky），Northcoast Research。

Great quarter. If we look at the pace of kitchen installations at the acquired CEFCO stores, can you give us an idea where you're at on that and how rapidly you can go during the next few fiscal years because you you've got a lot in the pipeline?

很棒的一個季度。如果我們看一下被收購的 CEFCO 商店的廚房安裝速度，您能否告訴我們您目前處於什麼階段，以及在接下來的幾個財年中您的進展速度有多快，因為您已經有很多計劃了？

In our assumptions, we haven't built in any conversions this year, for our kitchens and a lot it is driven on permitting timeline. And because some of these stores had a food program in that, we've been very deliberate in terms of understanding how that food program behaves and how adding our pizza and some of our prepared foods into that mix ultimately works.

在我們的假設中，今年我們還沒有對我們的廚房進行任何改造，而且很多改造都是根據許可時間表進行的。由於其中一些商店有食品計劃，我們非常認真地了解該食品計劃的運作方式，以及將我們的披薩和一些預製食品添加到該食品組合中最終會如何發揮作用。

So we're in the process of assessing that. Once we have that, then we'll be in a position to develop the full scopes of work for that remodel activity because we want to make sure we've got it right, and then that permitting time will take as long as it takes before we can start with the remodeling.

因此我們正在對此進行評估。一旦我們有了它，我們就可以製定改造活動的全部工作範圍，因為我們希望確保我們做對了，然後允許時間將花費我們開始改造所需的時間。

So again, for our assumptions, we didn't bake in anything for this fiscal year and there probably wouldn't be anything material because that would mostly probably end up near the end of this fiscal year, if anything at all, and really the next two years after that would be when the bulk of the remodeling activity would occur.

因此，再次重申，就我們的假設而言，我們沒有為本財年做出任何準備，而且可能不會有任何實質性的改變，因為這很可能在本財年末左右才會發生，如果有的話，而實際上，接下來的兩年將是大部分重塑活動發生的時候。

And can you refresh us please on the existing supply contract, the CEFCO stores have when it expires and what the conversion process to self-distribution will involve?

您能否向我們介紹 CEFCO 商店現有的供應合約何時到期，以及轉換為自主分銷的過程將涉及哪些內容？

Yeah. I believe that contract ends at the end of '27. So we've got a couple of years left on that. We're working with the incumbent supplier right now on that agreement. And so there'll be more to come on on that as we progress through.

是的。我相信合約將於 27 年底結束。因此我們還有幾年的時間來實現這一目標。我們目前正在與現任供應商就該協議進行合作。隨著我們不斷前進，還會有更多相關內容。

Chuck, I'd say it's correct and it's at the end of 2026, not 2027.

查克，我認為這是正確的，是在 2026 年底，而不是 2027 年。

Krisztina Katai, Deutsche Bank.

克里斯蒂娜·卡泰，德意志銀行。

Congrats on a really nice quarter.

恭喜您度過了一個非常愉快的季度。

I wanted to ask on private label. So across food retail, Casey’s continues to be a source of strength. So can you dig into maybe how your private brands have been performing? Are you seeing any new opportunities across categories as we think about some of the CPGs that still struggle with with volume recovery and just any update on the work that you're doing for your tiered offering?

我想問自有品牌。因此，在整個食品零售業中，Casey 繼續成為強大的力量來源。那麼您能否深入了解您的自有品牌的表現如何？當我們考慮一些仍在努力恢復銷售量的 CPG 時，您是否看到了跨類別的新機會，以及您在分層產品方面所做工作的任何更新？

We've got a lot of work going on with our private label products right now and when we first launched our private label several years ago, we really kind of targeted national brand equivalent. And it was really somewhat of a one size fits all, and we had some really good success with that.

目前，我們在自有品牌產品方面開展了大量工作，幾年前我們首次推出自有品牌時，確實瞄準的是與國家品牌相當的產品。這實際上是一種適合所有情況的萬能方案，而且我們確實取得了一些成功。

We're evolving that assortment and that approach to more of a tiered approach where we'll have a premium tier. So more premium products, higher quality ingredients, more differentiated products in that premium tier. The middle tier will be more that national brand equivalent, and that will have a more value oriented tier that would be more commoditized.

我們正在改進這種產品組合和方法，使其更加分層化，並設有高級層級。因此，高端產品種類較多、原料品質較高、產品差異化程度較高。中間層將比國家品牌更具競爭力，並且將具有更注重價值的層級，商品化程度更高。

And so we're in the process of refreshing the assortment across all of those tiers. And I think that gives us some really good opportunity to drive incremental business, drive some margin at the same time.

因此，我們正在更新所有層級的商品種類。我認為這為我們提供了非常好的機會來推動增量業務，同時提高利潤。

And then just to follow up on the strong fuel profitability, you continue to -- you're working on fuel 3.0 and as you buy fuel further upstream. So can you update us where you are on that work and just how is the Fikes team performing?

然後，為了保持強勁的燃料獲利能力，你將繼續——你正在研究燃料 3.0，並進一步購買上游的燃料。那麼，您能否向我們介紹一下這項工作的進展以及 Fikes 團隊的表現如何？

Yeah. Everything's been going according to plan on the fuel 3.0 as we call it, and really I think we've mentioned on previous calls that the Fikes fuel supply team has been doing this for a very long time. And so we really integrated those folks into the Casey’s team and working together on that supply.

是的。我們所說的燃料 3.0 一切都按照計劃進行，而且我認為我們在之前的電話會議中提到過，Fikes 燃料供應團隊已經這樣做了很長時間。因此，我們真正將這些人融入了 Casey 的團隊，並共同致力於這項供應。

So I think it's been working well so far. There's tremendous opportunity to continue to grow that, but first things first, we want to make sure we were able to get our own capabilities solid and then integrate that team.

所以我認為到目前為止它運作良好。我們有巨大的機會繼續發展，但首先，我們要確保我們能夠鞏固自己的能力，然後整合團隊。

But we have about 3% of our fuel supply was through that in the quarter. So making progress and we'll continue to grow that as time goes on.

但本季我們的燃料供應約有 3% 是透過這種方式實現的。因此，我們將繼續取得進步，並隨著時間的推移而不斷成長。

Bobby Griffin, Raymond James.

鮑比·格里芬、雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

I guess first I just -- and congrats on a great quarter, too. I guess first, I just want to touch quickly on the OpEx. Two follow ups. Do you get the $26 million in one time and integration costs back in FY26, or is there a little carryover that will impact the first and second quarter?

我想首先我只是——也祝賀您度過了一個美好的季度。我想首先，我只想快速談談營運支出 (OpEx)。兩次跟進。您是否會在 26 財年一次性收回 2,600 萬美元並收回整合成本，還是會有少量結轉影響第一季和第二季？

There'll be a little bit of impact, Bobby. I mean I will probably be somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 million to $7 million over the course of a year on integration, related costs, and that's probably radical, and there's a lot of that is kind of ongoing integration work. So not zero but a lot less.

會有一點影響，鮑比。我的意思是，我可能會在一年的時間裡花費大約 500 萬到 700 萬美元用於整合及相關成本，這可能是一筆很大的開支，其中很多都是正在進行的整合工作。所以不是零，而是少很多。

And then does the plan assume a labor hour reduction again or are we kind of at the point where we've pulled out there and we're kind of just flattish labors or even modest growth in labor hours?

那麼該計劃是否再次假設工時減少，或者我們已經到了退出的階段，我們的勞動量只是持平，甚至工時只是適度增長？

But yeah, there is a modest labor hour reduction assumption built into the plan that, I'd remind everybody that when we started this fiscal year, we said we would have about a 1% reduction, each year over the three year period.

但是的，該計劃中確實包含適度減少工時的假設，我想提醒大家，當我們開始這個財政年度時，我們說過在三年內每年將減少約 1%。

And we've been well ahead of that pace. We were over 2% last year. So we're running a little bit ahead of schedule. So it probably won't be as much as we had been the last couple of years, but there will still be some improvement over the course of the year.

而我們已經遠遠領先這個速度。去年我們的成長率超過了2%。因此我們的進度比計劃提前了一點。因此，它可能不會像過去幾年那麼多，但在今年內仍會有一些改善。

John Royall, JPMorgan.

摩根大通的約翰·羅亞爾。

So my first question is just on the $125 million of share buybacks. If that number comes to fruition, it's the largest number I think we've seen since fiscal '18. So my question is how do you arrive at that number? Is the idea to kind of allocate capital fully within cash flows and sort of plug the buyback?

所以我的第一個問題是關於 1.25 億美元的股票回購。如果這個數字得以實現，我認為這是我們自 2018 財年以來見過的最大數字。所以我的問題是，你是如何得出這個數字的？這個想法是不是要在現金流範圍內充分分配資本並推動回購？

Is there any cash draw in the assumptions and should we expect that number to flex up and down depending on where you shake out in the EBITDA guidance range?

假設中是否存在任何現金提取，我們是否應該預期該數字會根據您在 EBITDA 指導範圍內的位置而上下波動？

This is Steve. When we think about capital allocation, I think it's just a -- it's a function of how we prioritize, right? So we've tried to be very consistent with saying that if we have opportunities to make EBITDA, ROIC enhancing investments from a growth perspective, we'll do that first and foremost.

這是史蒂夫。當我們考慮資本配置時，我認為這只是——它是我們如何確定優先順序的功能，對嗎？因此，我們一直試圖保持一致，如果我們有機會從成長角度進行 EBITDA、ROIC 增強投資，我們就會先這樣做。

That the 80 units would be reflective of that in the FY26 guide. We're at the target leverage level already a touch below that. So we're not going to proactively look to take that down faster than it normally would happen.

這 80 個單位將反映 FY26 指南中的情況。我們目前所處的槓桿水平已經略低於該水平。因此，我們不會主動尋求以比正常情況下更快的速度將其拆除。

We don't feel like that's the right cost of capital answer for us. We're really proud of increasing the dividend for the 26th consecutive year, and then so that's something that will continue to tend. And then the reality is that the company grows, but we're throwing off more operating cash flow and in a particular year that doesn't have a significant transaction included in it, all the Fikes, we will throw off more operating cash flow and we can reinvest within a discrete period of time.

我們認為這不是我們所需的正確的資本成本答案。我們為連續第 26 年增加股利而感到自豪，而且這一趨勢還會持續下去。而現實情況是，公司正在發展，但我們會拋出更多的經營現金流，在某個沒有重大交易的年份，我們會拋出更多的經營現金流，我們可以在一段不連續的時間內進行再投資。

And we've tried the message that when that happens, we will return capital in the form of share repurchase. So that's what you're seeing in the FY26 assumption. There is no draw from a debt standpoint to fund that. That would all be funded with operating cash flow on hand, and it would essentially be not diluted for us for both FY26 and going back and into FY25 and mopping up dilution from FY25 when we didn't do any share repurchase either.

我們已經嘗試傳達這樣的訊息：當這種情況發生時，我們將以股票回購的形式返還資本。這就是您在 FY26 假設中看到的。從債務角度來看，沒有資金可以支持這個目標。這些資金都將由手頭上的經營現金流提供，並且對於我們 26 財年以及 25 財年來說基本上不會被稀釋，並且可以在我們沒有進行任何股票回購的情況下彌補 25 財年的稀釋。

And then my follow-ups just on the diesel side. I know it's not a huge needle mover for you always, but, it was called out as a source of strength on the volume side in the third quarter. So I just wondering how those trends are evolving this quarter.

接下來我將重點放在柴油方面。我知道這對你來說並不總是一個巨大的推動力，但是，它被稱為第三季銷售方面的力量來源。所以我只是想知道本季這些趨勢是如何發展的。

Yeah. Well, last quarter, diesel was was positive for us. It, but again it's only about 16% of our mix. So it's not a huge contributor, but it does help move the needle. And we did see some increased traffic from over the road truckers. We have a little bit of softness in February with the weather conditions, like I mentioned before, but, overall, it's been trending up and we continue to lean in on that for a source of incremental volume.

是的。嗯，上個季度，柴油對我們來說是有利的。但同樣，這僅占我們混合物的 16% 左右。因此，它雖然貢獻不大，但確實有助於推動進程。我們確實看到公路卡車運輸量增加。正如我之前提到的，由於天氣原因，二月的銷量略有疲軟，但總體而言，銷量呈上升趨勢，我們將繼續依靠這一趨勢來增加銷量。

Michael Montani, Evercore ISI.

邁克爾·蒙塔尼，Evercore ISI。

Congrats on the quarter.

恭喜本季取得佳績。

I just wanted to ask, first off on top line and then at a margin follow up. So just on the top line front, can you, parse out a little bit, traffic and ticket? How that played out for the quarter and then for the year? And then based on some of your early vendor negotiations, et cetera, how do you see that working into the 2% to 5% guidance that you've put forward for fiscal '26?

我只是想問一下，首先問的是頂線問題，然後再問邊際問題。那麼，就第一行而言，您能否稍微分析一下交通和罰單的情況？這在本季和全年表現如何？然後根據您早期與一些供應商的談判等等，您認為這將如何實現您為 26 財年提出的 2% 至 5% 的指導？

I'll start on the traffic and ticket in the quarter. Traffic in the quarter was a touch negative, but that's all because of February, right back to Darren's point. The traffic, the weather, it was kind of mid single digit negative in the month of February because the weather and then positive for us and progressively better. In both the March and April, but if you're looking at the kind of the total growth for the quarter, it was essentially ticket and very modestly negative traffic, but again, it's really a February dynamic for us.

我將在本季開始處理交通和罰單問題。本季的流量略有下降，但這都是因為二月的因素，回到達倫的觀點。交通、天氣，二月的氣溫都處於負數中段，因為天氣狀況對我們有利，而且逐漸好轉。在三月和四月都是如此，但如果你看一下該季度的整體成長情況，它基本上是票務和非常輕微的負流量，但同樣，這對我們來說確實是二月份的動態。

I was just saying, then, how does that inform your view for the year in the 2 to 5 guide? What are the assumptions for that?

那麼，我剛才說的是，這對您對 2 至 5 年指南的看法有何影響？對此有何假設？

Yeah. Positive traffic, is built into that guide for the year. We're trying to be conservative back to Darren's earlier conversation around the guests, but we do continue to have some ticket growth in there, more tickets than traffic, as you would expect, right?

是的。積極的流量已納入年度指南中。我們試圖保守地回顧達倫之前關於嘉賓的談話，但我們的門票數量確實繼續有所增長，門票數量比客流量還多，正如您所期望的那樣，對嗎？

We have good visibility into some of the inflationary pressures that we have right now in both the grocery and the prepared food businesses. And we're trying to remain prudent. And how we all set those and preserve margin and maintain the value proposition, but we've got modestly positive traffic and a little bit more kind of ticket improvement through both the mix and price and within that guide.

我們對食品雜貨和熟食行業目前面臨的一些通膨壓力有清楚的認識。我們正在努力保持謹慎。以及我們如何設定這些並保持利潤並維持價值主張，但我們透過組合和價格以及在該指南範圍內獲得了適度的積極流量和更多的票務改善。

Brad Thomas, KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc.

布拉德‧湯瑪斯（Brad Thomas），KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc.

Congrats on the strong quarter. I was hoping we could circle back to talking about the economy a bit more. You just alluded to this a little bit, but just as we think about inflation, what are you seeing? How are you thinking about that potentially impacting your consumer as tariffs continue to flow through?

恭喜本季業績強勁。我希望我們能夠再多談經濟問題。您剛才稍微提到了這一點，但是當我們考慮通貨膨脹時，您看到了什麼？隨著關稅持續實施，您認為這可能會對您的消費者產生什麼影響？

And then in the second part of that, just wondering as you look at the house spending bill, if there's any items in particular that you might you think might affect Casey’s?

然後在第二部分，我只是想知道，當您查看房屋支出法案時，是否有任何特定項目您認為可能會影響凱西的？

Yeah. I'd say on the inflation front, we haven't seen a lot of inflation just yet on the commodity side of things. Actually, for the most part, we've ended up fairly flat, and that primarily impacts the prepared food and dispensed beverage business.

是的。我想說，在通膨方面，我們目前還沒有看到大宗商品方面出現太多的通膨。實際上，在大多數情況下，我們的業績都相當平穩，這主要影響了預製食品和飲料業務。

On the grocery general merchandise business, outside of tobacco and almost exclusively cigarettes, we're not seeing a lot of inflation there either. So I would say at this point, we're not seeing a flow through of any sort of tariff impact as of yet.

在雜貨百貨業務方面，除了菸草和幾乎全部的香菸之外，我們也沒有看到太多的通貨膨脹。因此我想說，目前我們還沒有看到任何關稅影響。

And so right now, I think we're in pretty good shape. And again, as I mentioned before, the fine behavior of most of our guests has stayed pretty consistent throughout the quarter. And I'm not aware of any specific house provisions that would really impact the consumer.

所以現在，我認為我們的狀況非常好。而且，正如我之前提到的，我們大多數客人的良好行為在整個季度都保持相當一致。我不知道有任何具體的房屋規定會真正影響消費者。

There is some stuff on accelerated depreciation that would certainly be a tailwind for us if it were to come to fruition, but outside of that, I'm not aware of anything directly consumer related.

如果加速折舊能夠實現，肯定會為我們帶來一些好處，但除此之外，我不知道還有什麼與消費者直接相關的事情。

And if I could follow up about Texas and Florida, these are obviously newer states for you where you're still learning a lot. I was wondering if you could talk about any new learnings on the likelihood that the Casey’s models continue to be very successful as they go into those new states, and any new thoughts on if fuel margins can be as high in these states for you as they are in your prior states?

如果我可以繼續談論德克薩斯州和佛羅裡達州，那麼這些州對你來說顯然是較新的州，你仍然在學習很多東西。我想知道您是否可以談談關於凱西模型在進入這些新州後繼續取得成功的可能性的任何新認識，以及對於這些州的燃料利潤率是否能像您之前所在的州一樣高，您有什麼新想法？

Yeah. I'd say with Texas and Florida, they're behaving exactly as we thought they would. And so far, I think in the three proof of concept stores that we have converted in Texas, they've been really well received, particularly our pizza has performed exceptionally well in those markets and again, while we're in different states, we tend to be in those smaller towns and rural communities.

是的。我想說，德州和佛羅裡達州的表現正如我們想像的那樣。到目前為止，我認為我們在德克薩斯州改造的三家概念驗證店都受到了熱烈歡迎，尤其是我們的披薩在這些市場表現非常出色，而且，雖然我們在不同的州，但我們往往在那些較小的城鎮和農村社區。

And so that is right in our wheelhouse. That is absolutely Casey’s country and there's a little bit of nuance between one state and another. But by and large, they're behaving exactly like we expected. So on the fuel side, those margins and those geographies have tended to be a little bit thinner than what you get in the Midwest.

這完全在我們的掌控之中。那絕對是凱西的國家，而且各州之間存在一些細微差別。但總的來說，他們的表現正如我們預期的那樣。因此，在燃料方面，這些利潤和地理位置往往比中西部地區要薄一些。

The counter to that is that the volumes have been much higher, and that is all exactly what we expected and what we modeled when we did the deal. So we were expecting higher volumes and lower margins, and that's exactly what we're getting right now.

與此相反的是，交易量一直高得多，這正是我們在進行交易時所預期和模擬的。因此，我們預期銷售量會更高，利潤率會更低，而我們現在的情況也確實如此。

I would now like to turn the conference back to Darren Rebelez, the CEO, for closing remarks.

現在，我想請執行長 Darren Rebelez 致閉幕詞。

Okay. Thank you for taking the time today to join us on the call. I'd also like to thank our team members once again for their contributions in delivering another record year. Thank you.

好的。感謝您今天抽空參加我們的電話會議。我還要再次感謝我們的團隊成員為實現另一個創紀錄的一年所做的貢獻。謝謝。

And this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。