Caseys General Stores Inc (CASY) 2026 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Caseys General Store's second quarter fiscal year 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode.

女士們、先生們，感謝你們的耐心等待。歡迎參加 Caseys General Store 2026 財政年度第二季財報電話會議。目前，所有參與者均處於唯讀模式。

(Operator Instructions) entation, there will be a question-and-answer session, and instructions will be given at that time. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would like now to turn the conference over to Brian Johnson, Senior Vice President Investor Relations and Business Development. Please go ahead.

（操作說明）示範結束後，將進行問答環節，屆時將給予說明。請注意，今天的會議正在錄影。現在我將把會議交給投資者關係和業務發展高級副總裁布萊恩·約翰遜。請繼續。

Good morning and thank you for joining us to discuss the results from our second quarter ended October 31, 2025. I'm Brian Johnson, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Business Development. With me today are Darren Rebelez, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Steve Bramlage, Chief Financial Officer.

早安，感謝各位參加本次會議，共同探討截至2025年10月31日的第二季業績。我是布萊恩·約翰遜，投資者關係和業務發展高級副總裁。今天陪同我出席的有董事長、總裁兼執行長達倫·雷貝萊茲，以及財務長史蒂夫·布拉姆拉格。

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 pikes 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.

在開始之前，我要提醒各位，我們在本次投資人電話會議上所作的某些陳述可能構成 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》意義上的前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性聲明包括與派克交易的潛在影響、對未來時期的預期、可能或假設的未來經營業績、財務狀況、流動性及相關來源或需求、公司供應鏈、業務和整合戰略、計劃和協同效應、增長機會以及我們門店的業績相關的任何聲明。

There are a number of known and unknown risks and 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.

存在許多已知和未知的風險、不確定性以及其他因素，可能導致我們的實際業績與這些前瞻性聲明中明示或暗示的任何未來業績存在重大差異，包括但不限於近期收購的整合、我們執行戰略計劃或從戰略計劃中獲益的能力。

The impact and duration of conflicts in oil producing regions 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.

石油生產地區衝突的影響和持續時間以及相關的政府行為，以及其他風險、不確定性和因素，這些都在我們最新的 10-K 表格年度報告和 10-Q 表格季度報告中有所描述，這些報告已提交給美國證券交易委員會，並可在我們的網站上查閱。

Any forward-looking statements made during this call reflect our current views as of today with respect to future events, and Caseys disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

本次電話會議中所做的任何前瞻性陳述均反映了我們截至今日對未來事件的看法，Caseys 不承擔任何更新或修改前瞻性陳述的意圖或義務，無論是因為新資訊、未來事件或其他原因。

A reconciliation of non-GAAP to GAAP financial measures referenced in this call, as well as a detailed breakdown of the operating expense increase for the second quarter, can be found at our website at caseys.com under the Investor Relations link. With that said, I'd like to turn the call over to Darren to discuss our second quarter results. Darren.

本次電話會議中提到的非GAAP財務指標與GAAP財務指標的調節表，以及第二季度營運費用增長的詳細分解，可以在我們的網站caseys.com的「投資者關係」連結下找到。接下來，我想把電話交給達倫，讓他來討論我們第二季的表現。達倫。

Thanks, Brandon. Good morning, everyone. Before we dive into our excellent second quarter performance, I'd like to congratulate the entire Caseys team for their hard work throughout the quarter to serve our guests and our communities.

謝謝你，布蘭登。各位早安。在我們深入探討第二季度出色的業績之前，我想祝賀 Caseys 全體員工在本季度為服務顧客和社區所付出的辛勤努力。

In addition, I want to highlight the positive impact Caseys is making with veterans and their families. For more than a decade, Caseys has partnered with two veteran-focused nonprofits for our annual roundup campaign, Children of Fallen Patriots and Hope for the Warriors.

此外，我還想強調凱西對退伍軍人及其家庭的正面影響。十多年來，凱西百貨一直與兩個專注於退伍軍人的非營利組織合作進行年度募捐活動，這兩個組織分別是「陣亡愛國者的子女」和「戰士的希望」。

Each year, it's humbling to see the support from our guests, team members, and partners at PepsiCo, and I'm proud to share that this November, we raised $1.2 million for these two outstanding organizations. As a veteran myself, I'm grateful to those who stand with our military community and support them when shopping at Caseys.

每年，看到來自百事公司的顧客、團隊成員和合作夥伴的支持，我都深受感動。我很自豪地宣布，今年 11 月，我們為這兩個傑出的組織籌集了 120 萬美元。作為一名退伍軍人，我非常感謝那些支持我們軍人社區並在凱西超市購物的人們。

Now let's discuss the results from the quarter. Diluted EPS finished at $5.53 per share, and net income was $206 million both of which are an increase of 14% from the prior year. The company generated $410 million in EBITDA, a 17.5% increase from the prior year.

現在我們來討論一下本季的業績。稀釋後每股收益為 5.53 美元，淨收入為 2.06 億美元，兩者均比上年增長 14%。該公司實現 4.1 億美元的 EBITDA，比上一年增長 17.5%。

Inside the store, the prepared food and dispensed beverage category saw guests responding well to our innovation and promotional activity within the category. We also saw margin expansion, which was primarily driven by the grocery and general merchandise category.

在店內，熟食和飲料類別的顧客對我們在該類別中的創新和促銷活動反應良好。我們也看到利潤率有所提高，這主要得益於食品雜貨和一般商品類別的推動。

This was underpinned by increased guest traffic, as effective merchandizing, along with solid store-level execution, is leading to more guests shopping at our stores. Strong execution of our fuel strategy by the fuel team, coupled with our robust store offer resulted in our fourth consecutive quarter of fuel gallon growth. This was accomplished while also growing cents per gallon margin.

這主要得益於客流量的增加，有效的商品陳列以及紮實的門市執行，吸引了更多顧客光顧我們的門市。燃油團隊對燃油策略的強大執行，加上我們強大的門市產品，使我們連續第四個季度實現了燃油銷售成長。在實現這一目標的同時，每加侖的利潤也提高了幾美分。

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 3.3% for the second quarter, or 7.5% on a two-year stack basis, with an average margin of 42.4%. The two-year stack was an acceleration from the first quarter.

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。第二季同店銷售額成長 3.3%，以兩年累計計算成長 7.5%，平均利潤率為 42.4%。兩年的累積速度比第一季更快。

Same store of prepared food and dispensed beverage was quite strong, as sales were up 4.8% or 10.3% on a two-year stack basis, with an average margin of 58.6%. Whole pies and hot sandwiches and all day parts performed well in the quarter.

同店預製食品和飲料銷售表現強勁，銷售額成長了 4.8%，以兩年累計計算成長了 10.3%，平均利潤率為 58.6%。本季度，整隻餡餅、熱三明治和全天供應的食品表現良好。

Breakfast performed exceptionally well, with our maple-waffle breakfast sandwich highlighting the innovation our culinary team is bringing to the category. Margin was down approximately 10 basis points from the prior year, as the lower margin from the CEO stores was nearly offset by improvement in waste and cost of goods management.

早餐表現特別出色，我們的楓糖華夫餅早餐三明治突顯了我們烹飪團隊為該品類帶來的創新。利潤率比前一年下降了約 10 個基點，因為 CEO 門市利潤率的下降幾乎被浪費和商品成本管理的改善所抵消。

Same store grocery and general merchandise sales were up 2.7% or 6.4% on a two-year stack basis, with an average margin of 36%, an increase of approximately 40 basis points from the prior year, primarily due to a favorable mixed shift to higher margin items such as energy drinks and nicotine alternatives within their categories.

同店食品雜貨和一般商品銷售額增長了 2.7% 或按兩年累計增長了 6.4%，平均毛利率為 36%，比上一年增長了約 40 個基點，這主要是由於其類別中高毛利率商品（如能量飲料和尼古丁替代品）的有利混合。

On the fuel side, same store gallons sold were up 0.8% with a fuel margin of [41.$0.06] per gallon. According to Opus fuel gallon sold data, the mid-continent region saw an approximate 2% decline this quarter, so we believe we are continuing to grow market share.

在燃油方面，同店燃油銷量成長了 0.8%，燃油利潤為每加侖 [41.0.06 美元]。根據 Opus 的燃油銷量數據，本季度美國中西部地區的銷量下降了約 2%，因此我們相信我們的市場份額將繼續增長。

Fuel performance remained robust, supported by strong premium and mid-grade demand, stable diesel sales, consistent pricing discipline, and solid gains in fleet volumes. The organization remains mindful of effectively managing operating expenses while maintaining or improving team member engagement and guest satisfaction.

燃油市場表現依然強勁，這得益於優質汽油和中檔汽油的強勁需求、穩定的柴油銷售、持續的價格管控以及車隊數量的穩步增長。該組織始終注重有效控制營運成本，同時維持或提高團隊成員的敬業度和顧客滿意度。

In the second quarter, same store operating expense, excluding credit card fees, increased 4.5%, lapping a 2.3% increase in the prior year. Same store labor hours were flat, even as we invested more labor hours to the kitchens appropriately to meet the strong pizza demand during the quarter. I would now like to turn the call over to Steve to discuss the financial results from the second quarter. Steve.

第二季度，不包括信用卡手續費在內的同店營業費用增加了 4.5%，超過了去年同期的 2.3%。儘管我們在本季適當地增加了廚房的工時以滿足強勁的披薩需求，但同店的勞動時間卻保持不變。現在我想把電話交給史蒂夫，讓他來討論第二季的財務表現。史蒂夫。

Thanks, Darren, and good morning. Before I begin, I also want to acknowledge the hard work and the great results from our team members. Total revenue for the quarter was $4.51 billion an increase of $559 million or 14.2% 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.

謝謝你，達倫，早安。在開始之前，我也想對我們團隊成員的辛勤工作和取得的優異成績表示感謝。本季總收入為 45.1 億美元，比上年同期增長 5.59 億美元，增幅達 14.2%，主要原因是內部銷售額增加以及燃油銷量增加，但部分被零售燃油價格下降所抵消。

Results were also favorably impacted by operating approximately 9% more stores on a year over year basis, total inside sales for the quarter. For $1.66 billion an increase of $190 million or 13% from the prior year. For the quarter, prepared food and dispensed beverage sales rose by $50 million to $468 million an increase of 12%.

與去年同期相比，門市數量增加了約 9%，而季度總銷售額也因此受益。總額達 16.6 億美元，較上年增加 1.9 億美元，增幅達 13%。本季度，預製食品和飲料銷售額成長了 5,000 萬美元，達到 4.68 億美元，增幅為 12%。

And grocery and general merchandise sales increased by $141 million to $1.19 billion an increase of 13.4%. Retail fuel sales were up $273 million in the quarter as a 16.8% increase in fuel gallons sold was partially offset by a 4.8% decline in the average retail price.

食品雜貨和一般商品銷售額增加了 1.41 億美元，達到 11.9 億美元，增幅為 13.4%。本季零售燃油銷售額成長了 2.73 億美元，燃油銷量成長了 16.8%，但平均零售價格下降了 4.8%，部分抵消了銷量成長。

The average retail price of fuel during the period was $2.96 a gallon, and that compares to $3.11 a year ago. We define gross profit as revenue less cost of goods sold, but excluding depreciation and amortization. Caseys had gross profit of $1.12 billion in the quarter, an increase of $163 million or 17% from the prior year. This is driven by both higher inside gross profit of $83.8 million or 13.5%.

該期間燃油的平均零售價格為每加侖 2.96 美元，而一年前為每加侖 3.11 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。Caseys公司本季毛利為11.2億美元，較上年同期成長1.63億美元，增幅達17%。這主要得益於內部毛利成長，達到 8,380 萬美元，增幅達 13.5%。

As well as higher fuel gross profit of $65.1 million or 20.9%. Inside gross profit margin was 42.4%, and that's up 20 basis points from a year ago. Prepared food and dispensed beverage margin was 58.6%, down 10 basis points from prior year. Cheese was $2.11 per pound for the quarter, and that compares to $2.25 a pound last year, a decrease of 6%, or an approximately 35 basis point benefit to margin.

此外，燃油毛利也增加了 6,510 萬美元，增幅達 20.9%。內部毛利率為 42.4%，比去年同期成長了 20 個基點。預製食品和飲料的利潤率為 58.6%，比上年下降 10 個基點。本季起司價格為每磅 2.11 美元，而去年同期為每磅 2.25 美元，下降了 6%，利潤率提高了約 35 個基點。

There was an approximate 130 basis point headwind from the [Sefco] stores that were partially offset by improved waste, the creative mix, and the favorable cheese cost comparison. The grocery and general merchandise margin was 36%, an increase of 40 basis points from the prior year. The change was impacted by a favorable mixed shift within the category, as well as cost of goods management, and that concludes manufacturer funded promotional activity associated with alternative nicotine products.

[Sefco] 門市帶來的約 130 個基點的不利影響被減少、創新組合和有利的起司成本比較部分抵消。食品雜貨和一般商品毛利率為 36%，比上年增長 40 個基點。這項變更受到該類別內有利的混合轉變以及商品成本管理的影響，至此，製造商資助的與替代尼古丁產品相關的促銷活動就結束了。

Fuel margin for the quarter was 41.$0.06 per gallon, that's up 1.$0.04 per gallon from prior year. This is inclusive of an approximately 1.$0.05 per gallon drag from the Sefco stores.

本季燃油利潤為每加侖 0.06 美元，比去年同期成長了 0.04 美元。這其中包括從 Sefco 商店每加侖約 0.05 美元的額外費用。

Other income was $40.9 million and that's an increase of $14.2 million or 53.4%. The increase primarily was due to wholesale fuel gross profit from the fike's acquisition, but it did also include a one-time 8 million dollarsar benefit, which is the result of a perspective change in the way that we will administer our gift card program.

其他收入為 4,090 萬美元，比去年同期增加了 1,420 萬美元，增幅達 53.4%。此次成長主要歸功於收購該公司後批發燃料毛利潤的增加，但也包括一次性 800 萬美元的收益，這是我們在管理禮品卡計劃的方式上轉變觀念的結果。

Total operating expenses were up 16.7% or $101.9 million in the quarter. Approximately 10.5% of the increase is due to unit growth. Same store employee expense accounted for approximately 2% of the increase due to increases in labor rates which were offset by flat same store labor hours. Higher variable incentive compensation contributed to approximately 1% of the increase. Net interest expense was 24.7 million in the quarter, and that's up to 12.1 million versus the prior year, which is primarily from financing thefike's transaction.

本季總營運支出成長16.7%，即1.019億美元。其中約 10.5% 的增長是由於單位數量增長造成的。由於勞動成本上漲，同店員工支出約佔總支出成長的 2%，但同店工時保持不變，抵銷了勞動成本上漲的影響。更高的浮動激勵薪酬約佔成長的 1%。本季淨利息支出為 2,470 萬，比上年同期增加了 1,210 萬，主要是由於為 thefike 的交易提供融資所致。

Depreciation in the quarter was $109 million that's up $14.6 million versus prior year, primarily due to more stores. The effective tax rate for the quarter was 24.7%, nearly comparable to the prior year. Net income was up versus prior year to $206.3 million an increase of 14%. EBITDA for the quarter was $410.1 million compared to $348.9 million a year ago, and that's an increase of 17.5%. Our financial flexibility remains excellent. On October 31, we had total available liquidity of $1.4 billion.

本季折舊額為 1.09 億美元，比上年同期增加 1,460 萬美元，主要原因是門市數量增加。本季實際稅率為24.7%，與去年同期基本持平。淨利潤較上年同期成長至 2.063 億美元，增幅達 14%。本季 EBITDA 為 4.101 億美元，而去年同期為 3.489 億美元，成長了 17.5%。我們的財務彈性依然非常出色。截至10月31日，我們共有14億美元的可用營運資金。

Also, our credit facility debt EBITDA ratio was 1.7 times. For the quarter, net cash generated by operating activities of $347 million plus purchases of PPME of $171 million resulted in the company generating $176 million in free cash flow compared to $160 million in the prior year.

此外，我們的信貸債務與 EBITDA 比率為 1.7 倍。本季，經營活動產生的淨現金為 3.47 億美元，加上 PPME 收購款 1.71 億美元，公司自由現金流為 1.76 億美元，去年同期為 1.6 億美元。

In December, the board of directors voted to maintain the quarterly dividend at $0.57 per share. During the second quarter, we repurchased approximately $31 million in shares, and we now expect to repurchase approximately $200 million.

12月，董事會投票決定維持每股0.57美元的季度股利。第二季度，我們回購了約 3,100 萬美元的股票，目前預計將回購約 2 億美元。

In the in the fiscal year in total, up from our previous expectation of approximately 125 million, and that's due to stronger earnings and higher cash flows. Consistent with our normal second quarter call practice, we are updating certain full year financial metrics.

本財年總收入高於我們先前預期的約 1.25 億，這主要歸功於更強勁的盈利和更高的現金流。按照我們正常的第二季電話會議慣例，我們將更新一些全年財務指標。

Fiscal 2026 EBITDA is now expected to increase 15% to 17%. The company now expects inside same store sales to increase between 3% to 4%. And we expect an inside margin of 41% to 42%. The tax rate is now expected to be 24% to 25%. The remainder of our annual guidance provided at the beginning of fiscal '26 remains unchanged.

預計 2026 財年 EBITDA 將成長 15% 至 17%。該公司目前預計同店銷售額將成長 3% 至 4%。我們預期內部利潤率為 41% 至 42%。預計稅率將達24%至25%。我們在 2026 財年初發布的年度業績指引其餘部分保持不變。

Our results for November were as follows, same store volumes, both inside and outside the store were consistent with our revised annual guidance expectations. Fuel CPG was in the low 40s, and current cheese costs are slightly favorable versus the prior year.

11 月份的業績如下：同店銷售額（包括店內和店外銷售額）與我們修訂後的年度預期一致。燃油消費價格在 40 美元左右，目前的起司價格比前一年略有優勢。

As a reminder, we will now have lapsed the closing of the fike's acquisition, and therefore the 3rd quarter we'll have Fike's results in both periods. As such, we expect third quarter operating expense to be up mid-single-digits. I'd now like to turn the call back over to Darren.

提醒一下，Fike 的收購交易已經完成，因此第三季我們將收到 Fike 在兩個期間的業績報告。因此，我們預計第三季營運支出將出現中等個位數的成長。現在我想把電話轉回給達倫。

Thanks Steve. Throughout the quarter, we built on the momentum from the summer months and our insidecoms accelerated on a two year sack basis. [Pole pies] are performing exceptionally well, as we saw a very strong response to our thin crust Thursdays and our College Football Saturdays promotions.

謝謝你，史蒂夫。本季度，我們延續了夏季的良好勢頭，內部溝通也以兩年來的速度加速成長。 [招牌披薩]表現特別出色，我們的薄皮週四特惠和大學橄欖球週六促銷活動都獲得了非常熱烈的反響。

Whole pies grew faster than the prepared foods category, while the category also printed a strong margin, which shows we can be creative with our promotional activity and balanced margin performance. We also saw positive traffic to the stores, as guests continue to believe Caseys has a strong value proposition.

整餡餅的成長速度超過了預製食品類別，同時該類別也實現了強勁的利潤率，這表明我們可以在促銷活動方面發揮創意，並保持利潤率的平衡。我們也看到門市客流量呈現正向成長趨勢，因為顧客仍然認為 Caseys 具有很強的價值主張。

In the forecourt, we continue to gain market share as our same store gallons growth outpaced Opus data in our region again. Our ability to drive guests to the pump with our strong inside offering remains a strategic advantage for the company.

在加油站，我們的市佔率持續成長，同店加油量成長再次超過了本地區的 Opus 數據。我們憑藉強大的店內服務吸引顧客到加油站的能力，仍然是公司的策略優勢。

I would again like to express my gratitude to the entire Caseys team for an excellent quarter. As we look to close out our three year strategic plan, I cannot ask for a better team to execute the plan and deliver industry leading results. We will now take your questions.

我再次衷心感謝凱西團隊在本季的出色成績。在我們即將完成三年戰略計劃之際，我找不到比這更好的團隊來執行該計劃並取得行業領先的成果。現在開始回答各位的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Ed Kelly, Wells Fargo.

（操作員說明）艾德凱利，富國銀行。

Yeah, hi, good morning, everyone, and thank you for taking. Good morning. I wanted to, just start on fuel. I mean, obviously the backdrop has been challenging. You've been outperforming, can you just maybe talk a bit.

是的，大家好，早安，謝謝大家抽出時間。早安.我只想先加滿油。我的意思是，很顯然，背景條件很有挑戰性。你表現一直很出色，能不能稍微講幾句？

About the sustainability of that and then Q3 is off to a good start. I mean, it seems like rack prices have helped. Do you expect margins to just kind of revert back in short order and then stepping back on all this, has anything changed fundamentally either with your approach here, or the competitive backdrop that we should be aware of?

關於其可持續性，第三季開局良好。我的意思是，貨架價格似乎起到了一定的作用。您是否預期利潤率會在短期內恢復正常？再回顧一下，無論是您的策略還是競爭環境，是否有任何根本性的變化是我們應該注意的？

Yeah, hey, good morning. This is Steve. I'll maybe start on a couple of those, certainly nothing has changed, with our approach. Maybe start with that. I think some of the results that the team has had so much success delivering are directly related to how consistent we have been with our approach of trying to balance, profitability and volume to the pad. They've done an excellent job of having consistent offer available to guests and we firmly believe that contributes for sure to the to the success that we've had.

是啊，嘿，早安。這是史蒂夫。我或許會著手處理其中幾個，當然，我們的方法沒有改變。或許可以從那裡開始。我認為團隊取得如此巨大成功的原因之一，是我們始終堅持平衡獲利能力和產量的方法。他們為客人提供了始終如一的優惠，做得非常出色，我們堅信這肯定有助於我們取得成功。

Our flytrap around our performance relative to the rest of the market, begins with the store, and so the fact that the vast majority of our guests are coming to the store to go inside the store, three out of four of our transactions, don't involve a pur don't involve the purchase of fuel, gives us a lot of stickiness with those guests.

我們相對於市場其他企業的表現而言，其致勝之道始於門市。事實上，絕大多數顧客來到門市只是為了進店消費，我們四分之三的交易都不涉及購買燃油，這讓我們對這些顧客產生了很強的黏性。

Our guests we believe are a little less elastic. Than the average guest because they're already coming to the pad for the inside of the store offers so that has certainly helped our outperformance relative, to the market that that we're in.

我們認為我們的客人比較缺乏彈性。相較於一般顧客，因為他們本來就是衝著店內優惠來的，所以這無疑有助於我們在所處的市場中取得優異的業績。

As it relates to The seasonality of margins I guess is how I would address the question. Generally speaking, the winter, for us, the third and fourth quarters, we're going to have seasonally lower margins than we do in the first half of the year. That's been the case for a while. We don't have any reason to expect that would be significantly different, but beyond.

至於利潤率的季節性問題，我想我會這樣回答。總的來說，對我們而言，冬季、第三季和第四季度，我們的利潤率通常會比上半年低。這種情況已經持續了一段時間。我們沒有任何理由預期情況會有很大不同，但遠不止如此。

The recognition of what happens seasonally, we really don't, prognosticate around what's going to happen with forward-looking margins and beyond what the November experience has been.

我們認識到季節性因素，但我們並不真正預測未來利潤率以及 11 月的經驗將如何影響未來。

And then maybe just a quick follow-up on OpEx up 4.5% on the same store basis, which is a little higher than maybe what we expected. Can you just maybe speak to that quickly and how we should be thinking about the back half?

然後，或許可以快速跟進營運支出，同店營運支出成長了 4.5%，這比我們預期的要高一些。您能否簡單談談這一點，以及我們應該如何考慮下半程的比賽？

Yeah, listen, our full year around expectations, full year expectations are unchanged, we did not change the 8% to 10%, expectation for full year total OpEx and so we are pretty much where we thought we would be exiting. The first half of the year related to OpEx, the timing of lapping the fikes transaction is going to naturally step down the year over year change, that we'll experience in OpEx in the second half of the year and we're trying to give some visibility into that with the third quarter expectation of mid-single-digits, we've been, we've had a very long success run here quarter-wise of, reducing same store labor hours, in the store they were flat this year or this quarter.

是的，聽著，我們全年的預期沒有改變，我們對全年營運支出總額的預期仍然是 8% 到 10%，所以我們基本上達到了我們預期的退出目標。上半年與營運支出相關的因素，由於與 Fikes 交易的交割時間，自然會減緩同比變化，而下半年營運支出也將受到影響。我們預計第三季營運支出將出現中等個位數的成長，並試圖讓大家對此有所了解。我們一直以來都成功地減少了同店的工時，今年或本季同店的工時基本上持平。

I'm sorry, that's very consistent with our expectations is eventually we were going to come to the end of that multi-year effort to literally drop. Hours to the bottom line with the promotions that we had in the store, especially the pizza promotions on Saturdays, we prudently added some labor back into the store and so it's kind of how we ended up flat, with the same store labor hours, but total OpEx, very consistent with our expectation beyond what.

很抱歉，這完全符合我們的預期，我們最終會結束這項多年的努力，徹底失敗。考慮到我們在店內開展的促銷活動，特別是周六的披薩促銷活動，我們謹慎地增加了一些人工投入，因此最終我們實現了收支平衡，雖然門店人工投入時間不變，但總運營支出卻非常符合我們的預期，甚至超出了預期。

We enumerated in the in the press release, there were some miscellaneous things, higher insurance costs, higher utility costs, legal was a little bit higher for us, advertising was a little bit higher, but by and large I think, total OpEx performance very consistent with expectations.

我們在新聞稿中列舉了一些雜項，例如更高的保險成本、更高的公用事業成本、更高的法律費用、更高的廣告費用，但總的來說，我認為總營運支出表現與預期非常一致。

Thank you. Chuck Grom, Gordon Haskett.

謝謝。查克·格羅姆，戈登·哈斯克特。

Hey guys, this is Ryan Bolger on for Chuck here. Thanks for taking the question and good to talk to you today. My question, I'm sorry, my question was going to be on the mixed dynamic as you see these Cco stores roll into the base of the comp base next quarter. Obviously we've been talking about the impact on margins for a while, but I was just wondering if you could speak to anything you would expect to see in terms of how that would play out with.

大家好，我是 Ryan Bolger，這裡是 Chuck 的頻道。感謝您回答問題，很高興今天能和您交談。抱歉，我原本想問的是關於混合動態的問題，因為您會看到這些 Cco 門市在下個季度併入同店銷售基數。顯然，我們已經討論對利潤率的影響有一段時間了，但我只是想知道，您能否談談您預計會看到哪些方面會如何發展。

Mixed differences there traffic and take, etc. And any impact that could have on comps as they roll into the base next quarter. Thanks.

流量和消費等方面存在一些差異。以及這些差異可能對下個季度基數調整後的同店銷售額產生的影響。謝謝。

Yeah, Ron, this is Darren. Clearly the CEO stores are carrying a lower margin than the Casey stores of both in prepared foods and in grocery and general merchandise, and that's because they're still CEO stores. They're not Casey stores yet. Now that effort in terms of rebranding will start to kick off in earnest, at the beginning of the calendar year. We'll start, converting the, their larger stores have kitchens in them already. Those are a little bit easier. From a conversion standpoint, and then we'll, once we get those done, then we'll start to convert the other stores, so we would expect that that trajectory will change a bit on the prepared food size in particular once we get those kitchens in and they're rebranded to Casey's and they get our full assortment with private label and all the rest.

是的，榮恩，這是達倫。顯然，CEO 商店在預製食品、雜貨和一般商品方面的利潤率都低於 Casey 商店，這是因為它們仍然是 CEO 商店。它們還不是凱西便利商店。現在，品牌重塑工作將在年初正式啟動。我們將從改造開始，他們的大型門市已經設有廚房。這些稍微容易一些。從轉型角度來看，一旦這些門市完成轉型，我們就會開始轉型其他門市。因此，我們預計，一旦這些廚房投入使用，門市重新命名為 Casey's，並獲得我們全系列的自有品牌產品以及其他所有產品，預製食品的規模將會發生一些變化。

So, we expect that margin to accrete over time, but as it stands right now. Their margin rate in prepared foods is about half of what, the Mothership Casey's prepared foods margin is, so it is going to have an impact. I was really proud of the team this quarter in terms of managing the rest of the business, whether it's through, cost of goods management, waste management.

因此，我們預計隨著時間的推移，這一利潤率會不斷提高，但就目前的情況而言。他們的預製食品利潤率大約是 Mothership Casey's 預製食品利潤率的一半，所以這將會產生影響。本季度，我對團隊在其他業務管理方面的表現感到非常自豪，無論是在商品成本管理還是廢棄物管理方面。

And overall execution so that we mitigated that impact from. From the CEO stores onto the overall Casey's portfolio.

整體執行情況良好，從而減輕了這種影響。從執行長門市到整個 Casey's 品牌組合。

Yeah, no, I was just curious if there'd be anything on the comp side as they roll into the comp base, next quarter.

是的，我只是好奇隨著下個季度計入比較基數，比較基數方面會不會有什麼變化。

Well, as we roll through, I mean, we haven't done that math yet, but I mean there will, there will certainly be an impact. It's a, when they blend it in. It blended in and there was an impact to the margin so as we cycle over that, we'll see that it should blend up a little bit, but we'll have to see when we can get there. Okay.

嗯，隨著事態發展，我的意思是，我們還沒有進行這方面的計算，但我的意思是，肯定會產生影響。當他們把它融合在一起時，就變成這樣了。它融入其中，對邊際效益產生了影響，所以當我們循環處理時，我們會看到它應該會稍微融合一些，但我們還得看看什麼時候才能達到那個程度。好的。

Got it. Thank you.

知道了。謝謝。

Thank you. Bonnie Herzog, Goldman Sachs.

謝謝。邦妮·赫爾佐格，高盛集團。

All right, thank you. Good morning, everyone. I had a question on your guidance. You did update your EBITDA guidance for this fiscal year, which is great to see, especially considering, the strong results in the first half, but your guidance does still imply a sequential deceleration in.

好的，謝謝。各位早安。我有一個關於您指導的問題。您更新了本財年的 EBITDA 預期，這很好，尤其考慮到上半年的強勁業績，但您的預期仍然暗示著下半年將出現環比放緩。

Eva dog growth in the second half. So just hoping to hear some of the drivers of that. And then, as you mentioned, you lapped the fike's acquisition in November. But is there anything else contributing, I guess, to the implied deceleration in growth?

伊娃狗狗在下半年的成長。所以，我只是想聽聽這背後的驅動因素。然後，正如你所提到的，你在 11 月搶先一步收購了 fike。但我想，還有其他因素導致了成長放緩嗎？

Thank you.

謝謝。

Yeah, hi, Bonnie, good morning. This is Steve. I mean, I'll just start with that. It, it's obviously been a very strong first half of the year for us, and that played played a part in this, but as it relates to the second half specifically, we've tried to be pretty clear with people just mechanically. The way the math has worked right, we're not going to, we do not expect the same absolute level of year over year ebtgrowth in the second half that we had in the first half just because we already have fikes sitting in the base now. There's really no change in expectation for us from the mothership performance per se, and the fike. Performance is generally on plan as well, and so I don't, we're not trying to message any different expectation for kind of second half experience vis a vis first half experience other than mechanically, but the math is naturally going to come down just because we have a higher number in the prior year, second half, period.

嗨，邦妮，早安。這是史蒂夫。我的意思是，我先從這個開始吧。顯然，今年上半年我們表現非常出色，這在某種程度上促成了這一結果，但就下半年而言，我們已經努力在機制上向人們解釋得非常清楚。根據目前的數學計算結果，我們預計下半年的年比EBITD成長率不會像上半年那樣達到絕對水平，僅僅因為我們現在已經累積了一定的基數。就母艦的性能而言，我們的期望並沒有什麼變化，對吧？整體表現也符合計劃，因此，除了技術層面之外，我們並沒有試圖傳達任何與上半年不同的下半年體驗預期，但數字自然會下降，僅僅因為我們上一年下半年的數字更高。

Okay, and then maybe just a quick follow-up just because y's acquisition, it's been a year. Can you just remind us, your M&A strategy, where you're at, and sort of what the market's like right now. Obviously, it's still very fragmented. Just any color there would be helpful in terms of what you're seeing and how actively you're potentially pursuing further M&A. Thanks.

好的，那麼可能還需要簡單跟進一下，因為y的收購已經過去一年了。您能否簡單介紹一下貴公司的併購策略、目前的進展以及當前的市場狀況？顯然，它仍然非常分散。任何顏色都可以幫助你了解你所看到的情況，以及你未來可能積極尋求進一步併購的程度。謝謝。

Yeah, Bonnie, this is Darren. We're, we really haven't had any change in our strategy or our approach to M&A as we focus on a small deal kind of tucking acquisitions and that's sort of normal course we have our dedicated M&A team that is on that full time and and we're seeing good results from that group and very consistent with what we've expected the larger. Type of M&A is more opportunistic and those are fewer and further between typically and you know it for us it's not just a matter of buying something for the sake of buying it if we need the the right level of asset quality that we can we're we're able to put our kitchens into those stores and really run our play so. Well, we do see a lot more out there than we're willing to buy because they're just not the right quality for us. There is some activity out there we are.

是的，邦妮，這是達倫。實際上，我們在併購策略或方法上沒有任何改變，我們專注於小型交易，進行一些小規模的收購，這很正常。我們有專門的併購團隊全職負責這項工作，我們看到團隊取得了良好的成果，與我們對大型併購的預期非常一致。這種併購類型更具機會主義性質，這類併購通常較少且較為罕見。你知道，對我們來說，這不僅僅是為了買而買的問題。如果我們想要獲得合適的資產質量，我們就能將我們的廚房設備安裝到這些門市中，真正開展我們的業務。嗯，我們看到市面上有很多類似的產品，但我們不願意購買，因為它們的品質不符合我們的要求。我們這邊有一些活動。

We are participating in in some of those processes, but again we set a fairly high bar for ourselves in terms of the asset quality, so we'll probably say no to more things than we ever say yes to.

我們正在參與其中一些流程，但我們對自己的資產品質設定了相當高的標準，所以我們可能會拒絕比接受更多的事情。

Thank you. Bobby Griffin, Raymond James.

謝謝。博比·格里芬，雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

Good Morning buddy. Thanks for taking the questions and congrats on a a solid first half.

早安，兄弟。感謝您回答問題，並祝賀您上半季表現出色。

Darren, I just wanted to maybe circle back on the OpEx side and, in particular the same store OpEx, and you guys, as you noted, have done, incredible work on the hours basis, but maybe that's in the later innings. So when we look at like the year-to-date same store OpEx of call it averaging out around high. Thres is that the right level for this business going forward, with the store growth plans and kind of the expansion opportunities you have across Texas and whatnot, or do you still think there are opportunities to maybe push that down to closer to 3 or high 2s on the same store basis?

達倫，我只是想再談談營運效率的問題，特別是同一家門市的營運效率。正如你所指出的，你們在工時方面做得非常出色，但這可能已經是後期的事情了。所以，當我們查看今年迄今為止的同店營運支出時，會發現它的平均水平很高。考慮到門市成長計畫以及在德州等地的擴張機會，這個水準對於這家企業未來的發展是否合適？或者您仍然認為有機會將同一家門市的利潤率降低到接近 3 或 2 的水平？

Well, Bob, we haven't, guided beyond this year, so I'm not going to really try to forecast that right now. I would say that like I said the last couple of quarters, I think a lot of the hour reduction.

鮑勃，我們還沒有對今年以後的情況進行預測，所以我現在不打算對此進行預測。我想說，就像我過去幾季所說的那樣，我認為工時減少是主要原因。

Work has largely been completed that now, having said that work is never done, to be clear, we have a team that's dedicated to looking at in-store processes and always striving to become more efficient, but I would say at this stage, a lot of that will be fine tuning and tweaking as opposed to larger, reductions in labor hours, the other thing I, I'd remind everybody about in this quarter in particular, our traffic was up.

目前工作已基本完成，但需要明確的是，工作永無止境。我們有一個團隊致力於研究店內流程，並不斷努力提高效率。不過，我想說的是，現階段，很多工作都將是微調和調整，而不是大幅減少工時。另外，我想提醒大家，尤其是在本季度，我們的客流量有所成長。

1.5% our whole pie sales were up 8% in units and so as we grow the business on the same store basis there's natural, there's a natural inflection point where some more labor needs to get added into the stores to meet the demand, at the same time we've had the highest overall satisfaction scores from our guests that we've ever had in this most recent quarter, so.

1.5% 我們的餡餅銷量成長了 8%，因此，隨著我們在同店基礎上發展業務，自然會遇到一個轉折點，需要增加門市的勞動力以滿足需求。同時，在最近這個季度，我們獲得了顧客有史以來最高的整體滿意度評分。

I don't want to get overly fixated on the labor number or on the OpEx number per se. We certainly manage it and we keep it close, but I think the combination of driving traffic, delivering outsized growth in our highest margin categories, and having really great.

我不想過度關注人工成本或營運成本本身。我們當然能夠做到，而且我們一直保持著密切的關注，但我認為，透過吸引流量、在利潤最高的類別中實現超額成長以及擁有真正優秀的團隊，我們才能取得成功。

Overall satisfaction scores from our guests is a really winning combination and very hard to do in retail, and we're doing it right now and so, that's what we're really focused on and when our gross profit dollar growth is growing at the pace it is our EBITDA growth is growing at the pace it is, that's how we know we're doing it the right way. And so we're very comfortable with where we are at this point from an OpEx perspective.

顧客的整體滿意度評分是一個非常成功的組合，在零售業中很難做到，而我們現在正在做到這一點，所以，這就是我們真正關注的重點。當我們的毛利成長速度和 EBITDA 成長速度都達到目前的水準時，我們就知道我們做對了。因此，從營運支出角度來看，我們對目前的狀況非常滿意。

Understand. Very helpful. And then maybe just as my follow-up on a different subject, alternate nicotine, there was some obvious manufacturer promotions during the quarter, but just curious, as you and the team have set out on the new calendar year, what are your expectations from promo activity in that category? Do you continue to expect it to be, growing from a promotional basis or, see higher promo potential going forward?

理解。很有幫助。然後，我想就另一個主題——取代尼古丁——再補充一點。本季有一些明顯的製造商促銷活動，但我很好奇，既然您和您的團隊已經開始了新的一年，您對該類別的促銷活動有何預期？您是否仍然預期它會以促銷為基礎成長，還是認為它未來有更大的促銷潛力？

Yeah, I, I'm not sure about the promotional activity going forward. I'll, we'll still have more work to do with the manufacturers to understand how they're thinking about that as well. What I would say though is that overall that category has been growing really fast over the last few years as volumes in combustible cigarettes go down. And so we would expect that that trend that trend will continue.

是的，我不太確定接下來的推廣活動會如何進行。我們還需要與製造商做更多工作，以了解他們對此的看法。不過我想說的是，過去幾年裡，隨著可燃香菸銷量的下降，這一品類整體成長非常迅速。因此，我們預計這種趨勢將會持續下去。

And as combustibles continue to erode and more people seek other nicotine alternatives for them and right now that that business is working well for us, I think we shared a couple of quarters ago that we reset all of the back bars in our stores to reduce the space allocated to combustible cigarettes and increase the space available for those nicotine alternatives really to meet the guests. Need where they are, and that play is working well for us, so we would expect that longer-term trend to continue.

隨著可燃香菸的銷量持續下滑，越來越多的人開始尋找其他尼古丁替代品，而目前這項業務對我們來說進展順利。我想我們在幾個季度前已經宣布，我們重新調整了商店裡所有櫃檯的佈局，減少了分配給可燃香煙的空間，增加了尼古丁替代品的空間，以便更好地滿足顧客的需求。我們需要他們待在現在的位置，而且這種策略對我們來說效果很好，所以我們預計這種長期趨勢將會持續下去。

Thank you. Chuck Sarankkowski, North Coast Research.

謝謝。Chuck Sarankkowski，北海岸研究公司。

Good morning everyone. Great quarter. Can you talk about the declining cost of a gallon of gasoline, and your customers' behavior in store? You said earlier that, 3 out of the 4 store visits, don't include gasoline, but is there an interplay, between declining cost of fuel and, say, more prepared. Food store visits and bigger prepared food purchases, and also, how about, The influence of lower gas prices on your in-store promotions.

大家早安。很棒的季度。您能否談談汽油價格下降以及顧客在店內的行為？你之前說過，4 次購物中有 3 次不包括加油，但是燃油價格下降和人們準備更充分之間是否存在某種相互作用呢？食品店的客流量和預製食品的大量購買，以及汽油價格下降對店內促銷活動的影響。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Yeah, Chuck, clearly any time we have lower absolute fuel prices that leaves guests with more discretionary income and and dollars to spend. So we always like that scenario. But what I would say more broadly is that I think guests in general are just being a little more discerning about where they spend their money because there's a lot of other cost pressures outside of our stores that folks are dealing with right now and so what we're seeing. Is people are appreciating the value proposition that that they experience at Casey's and you know we see it in a couple of different areas when you look at our whole pie business as an example when we run promotions we get great uptake on the promotions which would speak to the value but we also see that people are trending more towards higher priced items, so specialty pizzas as opposed to single topping pizzas. So those are more expensive, but they're getting the right value equation, the quality of the product and the price.

是的，查克，很明顯，任何時候燃油價格絕對值下降，都會讓客人有更多可支配收入和錢可以花。所以我們一直都喜歡這種情況。但更廣泛地說，我認為顧客們普遍在花錢方面更加謹慎，因為除了我們的商店之外，人們現在還面臨著許多其他方面的成本壓力，所以我們看到了這種情況。人們越來越欣賞 Casey's 的價值主張，這一點我們從幾個不同的領域中都能看到。以我們的整個餡餅業務為例，當我們進行促銷活動時，促銷活動的參與度很高，這說明了產品的價值。但我們也看到，人們越來越傾向購買價格較高的產品，例如特色披薩，而不是單料披薩。所以這些產品價格更高，但它們物有所值，兼顧了產品品質和價格。

Same with our bakery category where people are trading up to multi packs versus single items, those cost more but on a per unit basis those are less so we think that people are really picking and choosing where they're going to spend their money and where the the best intersection of quality and value come together is where people are really spending their money and so. Low fuel prices certainly help, and I think a more robust in-store offer and getting that value equation right is probably the bigger driver of the results inside the store.

烘焙食品類別也是如此，人們傾向於購買多件裝而不是單件裝，雖然單件裝價格更高，但單位價格更低，所以我們認為人們確實會仔細挑選花錢的地方，而質量和價值的最佳結合點，正是人們真正願意花錢的地方。低油價當然會有幫助，但我認為，更強大的店內優惠和正確的價值等式可能是推動店內業績成長的更大因素。

Thank you. Good luck in the second half.

謝謝。祝你下半季好運。

Thanks, Chuck.

謝謝你，查克。

Puran Sharma, Stephens.

Puran Sharma，Stephens。

Good morning and thanks for the question here. Maybe just wanted to, peer more into cheese. Could you maybe update us on how much you have hedge? I think last quarter, you said you were about 70% locked up for the year. Just wondering if there's any update to that.

早安，感謝您的提問。或許只是想更深入地了解一下起司。您能否告知我們您的對沖投資規模？我記得上個季度你說過，你今年的預算已經鎖定了大約 70%。想知道這件事有沒有最新進展。

Yeah, hey, good morning, this is Steve. We continue to chip away at locking in favorable rates, favorable prices for ourselves, but the team is really doing a good job of staying on top of that and being advantageous for us. So as we sit here today, we're about 80%, 80% locked for the next four quarters. So the second half of this fiscal year. In the first half of what would be our fiscal '27 and you know we only lock something in if it's either favorable on a year over year cost basis or neutral and so we're generally neutral or favorable on 80% of of what we think we need to buy here for the next 4 consecutive quarters.

是啊，嘿，早上好，我是史蒂夫。我們一直在努力爭取鎖定對我們有利的利率和價格，但團隊在這方面做得非常好，始終掌握著主動權，並為我們爭取到了有利條件。所以就目前而言，未來四個季度的收益已經鎖定了約 80%。所以，指的是本財年的下半年。在我們 2027 財年的上半年，你知道，我們只會在成本同比有利或持平的情況下才會鎖定某些東西，因此，對於我們認為接下來連續 4 個季度需要購買的東西，我們通常有 80% 是持平或有利的。

Great. I appreciate the color there. I guess on my follow-up, maybe just wanted to peer into, to guidance here and understand that, seasonally second half does step down from first half, but just given your commentary earlier on how November is trending fuel margin wise, would it be fair to assume kind of more of a 3Q weighted split for the second half, so like maybe let's say like a 55-45 split in 3 and 4Q just given the favorability in fuel margins you've seen in November.

偉大的。我喜歡那裡的顏色。我想就後續問題，或許只是想深入了解一下這裡的指導意見，並理解雖然季節性因素導致下半年業績確實會低於上半年，但鑑於您之前對11月份燃油利潤率趨勢的評論，是否可以合理假設下半年業績會更接近第三季度的加權比例，例如，考慮到115月燃油利潤率的良好表現，假設第三季度和第四季度的業績為第55月？

Listen, I think it would not be wise for me to go there. I think it's fair to assume that we were low 40s CPG for the month of November, and we'll probably leave it at that. I think historically you can look at kind of a waiting between Q3 and Q4, and that's probably as good of a, as good of a crystal ball as anybody would have around kind of how those quarters seasonally will behave.

聽著，我覺得我去那裡不太明智。我認為可以合理地假設我們 11 月份的 CPG 銷售額在 40 美元左右，我們可能就此打住吧。我認為從歷史數據來看，你可以觀察第三季和第四季之間的這段時間，這可能是目前為止對這兩個季度季節性走勢最準確的預測方法了。

Yeah, I would just add that you know there's a lot that can happen in the fuel market from a commodity standpoint that that's 100% out of our control. So you know what happens in November is really no indicator of what could happen in January.

是的，我還要補充一點，從商品角度來看，燃料市場有很多事情可能發生，而這些是我們完全無法控制的。所以你知道，11月發生的事情並不能真正預示1月份會發生什麼。

So, we kind of play that, one month at a time.

所以，我們就按月來安排。

Thank you. Benjamin Wood, BMO.

謝謝。班傑明·伍德，BMO。

Good morning guys. This is Ben, on behalf of BMO and [Kellybana].

各位早安。我是BMO的代表Ben，[凱利巴納]

Thank you for taking our questions. First we just wanted to start with, could you give us an update on what the last 12 month, EBITDA contribution was from CEO and maybe how that came in relative to your internal plan and then following up on kind of Bonnie's question. As we think about the com the composition of new store growth over the next 12 months, is that more NTIs or acquisitions, and then can you just walk us through, how you're thinking about the potential returns more recently on your new industry builds versus your potential acquisitions?

感謝您回答我們的問題。首先，我們想先問一下，您能否向我們介紹一下過去 12 個月 CEO 對 EBITDA 的貢獻情況，以及這與你們的內部計劃相比如何？然後，我們再來回答 Bonnie 的問題。當我們思考未來 12 個月新店成長的組成時，是更多的新建門市還是收購？您能否簡要介紹一下，您最近是如何看待新建門市與潛在收購的潛在回報的？

Yeah, man, I'll go ahead and start with the store growth piece. I'll let Steve talk about Seth Kali but. The store growth we expect always a balance between new to industry and M&A and so typically when we set our new store goal for the year, well, we gotta go into it planning for a 5,050 split. Now acquisitions can be a little bit lumpy, so we, that number is usually wrong, but we go into it with that expectation and that plan and we have the ability to do that. If acquisitions run a little bit hot.

好的，夥計，我先從店鋪增長這部分開始吧。我會讓史蒂夫談談塞思·卡利，但…我們預期門市成長始終需要在新店開張和併購之間取得平衡，因此，當我們設定年度新店目標時，我們通常會以 5,050 的比例進行規劃。現在收購可能會有些波動，所以我們通常給出的數字是不準確的，但我們會帶著這樣的預期和計劃去做，而且我們有能力做到這一點。如果收購活動進行得有點過火。

Then, we usually throttle back the new industry builds and, get to our target and then that allows us to land bank for, the situations where maybe acquisitions slow down a little bit then we have the ability to flex the other way and accelerate new to industry builds so we can maintain that consistent rateable growth.

然後，我們通常會放緩新建工業用地的速度，達到我們的目標，這樣我們就可以儲備土地，以應對收購速度可能稍微放緩的情況，那時我們有能力採取相反的策略，加快新建工業用地的速度，從而保持持續的應稅增長。

So that's kind of how we we view store growth from a return standpoint, we're always looking to achieve that mid-teens return after a few years when the stores start to to mature. We have a long tracker track record of achieving that and we're really format agnostic meaning whether that's a new industry or an acquisition, we still have the same return expectations either way.

所以，從回報的角度來看，我們就是這樣看待門市成長的，我們總是希望在幾年後，當門市開始成熟時，能夠達到十幾個百分點的報酬率。我們長期以來一直追蹤並實現這一目標，而且我們對形式並不挑剔，這意味著無論是進入新產業還是進行收購，我們對回報的預期都是一樣的。

See, yeah, listen, I, what I would say on spikes, is we're right where we thought we would be, so their own plan for us. The plan is very consistent with kind of pro forma, assumptions that we had at the time we bought them. LTM is a little misleading. I'm not going to go there just because if you think of the first two quarters that we've done pikes, a lot of deal costs there, it was kind of a wash from an EBITDA basis the second half of last fiscal year.

你看，是的，聽著，關於尖峰，我想說的是，我們現在的情況和我們預想的一樣，所以他們對我們的計劃就是這樣。該計劃與我們當初購買這些資產時所做的預測和假設非常一致。LTM這個概念有點誤導人。我不想深入探討這個問題，因為如果你想想我們前兩個季度所做的交易，那裡有很多交易成本，從上個財年下半年的 EBITDA 來看，這些成本基本上都被抵銷了。

But for this fiscal year, there, we said that would be EBITDAcretive, healthy EBITDA secretion it is, would not be EPS secretive because of the interest that is still the case, we continue to realize synergies, primarily from fuel and SG&A as we sit here at this point in time to Darren's earlier comment. The biggest group of of the 45 million of synergies we're we're ultimately trying to get is going to come from inside the stores and. You know that's dependent on the timing with which we can remodel the sources, so we won't, we will certainly not fully realize synergies this fiscal year and that was never the expectation, but, right where we thought it would be well on our way to ultimately, getting to $89 million to $90 million of kind of fully synergized EBITD, but we won't see all of that this fiscal year because of the timing of remodels.

但就本財年而言，我們曾表示這將對 EBITDA 產生正面影響，實現健康的 EBITDA 成長，但不會因為市場興趣而對 EPS 產生負面影響。目前，我們仍在繼續實現協同效應，主要來自燃料和銷售、一般及行政費用，正如 Darren 先前的評論所述。我們最終想要實現的 4500 萬協同效應中，最大的一部分將來自門市內部。你知道，這取決於我們改造資源的時機，所以我們肯定無法在本財年完全實現協同效應，這從來都不是我們的預期。但是，我們原本以為最終能夠達到 8,900 萬至 9,000 萬美元的完全協同 EBITD，但由於改造的時機問題，我們無法在本財年實現所有這些目標。

Great, thank you. And then just as a follow-up, could you give us an update on what the latest is thinking around your wing test, and then, as you're thinking about timing a broader roll out, what are you guys looking for at this point? Are you still trying to refine the offering or the labor, or are there calendar events like the Super Bowl or or March Madness that might be a little bit more conducive to a broader launch?

太好了，謝謝。那麼，作為後續問題，您能否向我們介紹一下關於機翼測試的最新進展？另外，在考慮何時進行更大規模的推廣時，你們目前在尋找什麼？您還在努力完善產品或人員配置，還是有像超級盃或瘋狂三月這樣的重要賽事，可能更有利於更廣泛的產品發布？

Yeah, Ben, with the wings like we've talked about, we still had some menu refinements that we're working on some procedural, gaps we're trying to close. I think a lot of that work has been wrapped up. We're, we've got some new flavor profiles that we just literally in the last week got back into the test stores and we've broadened that that store base a little bit to.

是的，本，就像我們之前討論過的，關於雞翅，我們還有一些菜單上的改進工作要做，我們正在努力完善一些流程，填補一些空白。我認為大部分工作已經完成了。我們有一些新的口味，就在上週，我們剛剛將它們重新投放到測試商店，並且我們也稍微擴大了測試商店的範圍。

To make sure we've got that right so we're, I'd say a lot of the development type work we think is largely done we're validating that as we speak and then we would proceed to start rolling out so we haven't really announced the timeline for that just yet but I think that that work is well underway and so I think we're getting closer to the finish line there.

為了確保我們做對了，我認為很多開發工作基本上已經完成，我們正在進行驗證，然後才開始推廣。我們還沒有正式公佈具體的推廣時間表，但我認為這項工作進展順利，我們離目標越來越近了。

Thank you. Brad Thomas, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

謝謝。Brad Thomas，KeyBanc Capital Markets。

Good morning and thanks for taking my question and congrats on a strong quarter here. I wanted to first ask a big picture question about competition. You know this is something that comes up a lot in our conversations with investors about the growth of many of the private convenience stores. It seems like your results are clearly very insulated today, but I was wondering, Darren, if you could talk a little bit more about your confidence level in your insulation from some of that competition.

早安，感謝您回答我的問題，也恭喜你們本季業績優異。我首先想問一個關於競爭的宏觀問題。你知道，當我們與投資者討論許多私人便利商店的成長時，這個問題經常被提及。看來你今天的成績顯然非常穩定，但我想問達倫，你能不能再多談談你對自己不受某些競爭影響的信心程度？

Yeah, Look, I think, from a competitive standpoint, we have a little bit of a mixed bag. I and what I mean by that is, yeah, there's certainly some rural areas where we don't face a lot of the larger regional players that you're referring to. We do have some of those larger regional players that we compete with every single day in some of our larger markets. I'll just use, our home market of Des Moines, Iowa as an example. It's probably one of the most competitive convenience store markets in the country.

是的，你看，我認為，從競爭的角度來看，我們的情況有點喜憂參半。我的意思是，是的，確實有一些農村地區，我們不會遇到你提到的那些大型區域企業。在一些較大的市場中，我們每天都會與一些規模較大的區域性企業競爭。我就以我們位於愛荷華州得梅因的本土市場為例吧。這可能是全國競爭最激烈的便利商店市場之一。

And so we face three of those regional competitors as we speak in this market, and we perform exceptionally well here. We have that in a number of different markets Texas, in Missouri, in, Illinois, so.

因此，目前我們在這個市場上面臨三個區域競爭對手，而我們在這裡的表現非常出色。我們在德州、密蘇裡州、伊利諾州等多個不同的市場都有這種模式。

I feel very comfortable in our ability to compete at the highest level with the regional players in the industry. And, we have a differentiated offer, they do well at what they do and we do well at what we do and those things aren't always the same, but, I think we can look market by market where we have that more intense competition and we do very well there.

我非常有信心我們有能力與業界區域性企業在最高水準上競爭。而且，我們的產品和服務是有差異化的，他們在他們所做的事情上做得很好，我們在我們所做的事情上也做得很好，雖然這些事情並不總是相同的，但我認為我們可以逐個市場地來看，在競爭更激烈的市場中，我們做得非常好。

That's helpful. And if I could ask a follow-up on the state of the consumer, this has been an unusual quarter with the government shutdown and an impact on Snap. Curious if there was anything that you've seen in your business from a consumer perspective.

那很有幫助。如果我可以再追問消費者的狀況，由於政府停擺，本季對 Snap 來說是一個不尋常的季度。很好奇從消費者角度來看，您在業務中是否遇到過什麼問題。

I shared a little bit before about what we're seeing more broadly with the consumer with respect to Snap. Snap is a very low percentage of our business. It's a little bit less than 2% of our sales are SNAP eligible, so we really.

我之前簡單分享了一下我們目前在Snap消費者方面觀察到的整體情況。Snap 在我們業務中所佔比例非常低。我們銷售額中只有不到 2% 符合 SNAP 資格，所以我們真的…

The government shutdown, while unfortunately it really didn't have much of an impact on our business at all that that we could discern from the numbers.

雖然政府停擺很不幸，但從數據上看，它對我們的業務並沒有造成太大影響。

Thank you.(Operator Instructions) Mike Montani, Evercore.

謝謝。 （操作說明）Mike Montani，Evercore。

Yes, hey, good morning, just wanted to ask if you could unpack a little bit further some color, Darren, on, state of the consumer and the case-shaped economy and, in particular I guess with guide, it seems to imply about 50 bits of DL for the back half of the year even though compares get a bit easier optically into the 4th quarter. And we thought you could have like 20 to 40 bits of tailwind from Sefco stores getting into the comp. So just wanted to understand maybe if you could break out, how the comp progressed over the quarter, a little more color about what you see in November, and then just some high level commentary about that consumer.

是的，嘿，早上好，Darren，我只是想問一下，你能不能再詳細解釋一下消費者的狀況和經濟形勢，特別是，我想，就指南而言，這似乎意味著今年下半年下載量約為 50 比特，儘管從視覺上看，第四季度的比較會變得容易一些。我們當時認為，Sefco 商店加入競爭可能會帶來 20 到 40 個百分點的順風。所以我想了解一下，您能否詳細分析本季同店銷售情況的變化，再詳細說說您在 11 月份看到的情況，以及您對消費者的一些高層次評論。

Yeah, I guess as we saw the the comp progress through the quarter, it was really, that that trajectory was more a reflection of the comps we're recycling, so it kind of stepped down.

是的，我想隨著我們對整個季度比較數據的觀察，實際上，這種趨勢更多地反映了我們正在重複使用的比較數據，所以它有所下降。

August, September, October, but when you look at the two year stack, it really was the other way. It accelerated, so, we had a very, tough comp in, October, and we cycled that, and that was probably our lowest comp sales month of the quarter from an inside perspective, but like I said, on the 2 year stack basis we were about 6.5 last quarter, we were 7.5% this quarter. So I feel really good about the strength of the business and the trajectory it's on.

八月、九月、十月，但如果你看這兩年的數據，情況就完全相反了。情況加速惡化，所以10月份的同比數據非常糟糕，我們經歷了這樣的局面，從內部來看，那可能是本季度同比銷售額最低的月份，但就像我說的，以兩年累計數據計算，上個季度我們增長了約6.5%，本季度增長了7.5%。所以我對公司的實力和發展軌跡感到非常滿意。

From a consumer perspective, again, I think, and we've done some research on this.

從消費者的角度來看，我認為，而且我們也對此進行了一些研究。

There's sentiment out there among consumers and then there's how they behave, and I think broadly speaking, if you look at different income cohorts, the middle and upper income cohorts are feeling fairly good about the economy, there's some.

消費者的情緒是存在的，他們的行為又是另一種情況。我認為總的來說，如果你觀察不同的收入群體，你會發現中高收入群體對經濟狀況相當樂觀，確實有一些人持樂觀態度。

That that have a negative view, but the majority would have either a neutral or positive view of the economy. The majority in those cohorts would feel at least neutral or more financially secure. The lower income is under more pressure from both of those perspectives, but.

有些人對經濟持負面看法，但大多數人對經濟持中立或正面看法。這些群體中的大多數人至少會感到中立，或者經濟狀況更加穩定。從這兩個角度來看，低收入者面臨的壓力更大，但是…

They also say that they intend to maintain their visit frequency to convenience stores, so that's encouraging for us. And again, what the actual behavior we're seeing in the stores is that they're still coming as frequently as they were, as evidenced by our traffic increasing over the quarter. They're still buying, as evidenced by our same store sales performance relative to others in space.

他們也表示打算保持光顧便利商店的頻率，這對我們來說是個好消息。此外，我們在門市實際觀察到的情況是，顧客仍然像以前一樣頻繁光顧，本季客流量的成長就證明了這一點。他們仍在購買，從我們同店銷售業績相對於其他同類門市的表現就可以看出這一點。

But they are being more discerning about where they spend the money and how they spend it, and I think for us with our prepared food proposition in particular, it represents a really strong value relative to other alternatives out there, particularly in the QSR space. And so we're finding more people gravitate to us, because of that strong value proposition and. We continue to maintain that, so I feel very good about the spot we're in right now from a guest perspective.

但他們對錢花在哪裡以及如何花更加謹慎，我認為對我們來說，特別是對於我們的預製食品方案而言，它代表著相對於市場上其他替代方案，特別是快餐領域而言，非常強大的價值。因此，我們發現越來越多的人被我們吸引，因為我們擁有強大的價值主張。我們一直保持著這種狀態，所以從顧客的角度來看，我對我們目前的處境感到非常滿意。

We had just done a deep dive actually on your last point about the share gain potential for prepared meals where you all stood out positively and I was curious if there's anything you could add that helps to bridge us to the chicken wings in terms of LPOs or other innovations down the pipeline.

實際上，我們剛剛就您最後一點關於預製餐市場份額增長潛力進行了深入探討，你們的表現都非常出色。我很好奇，您是否可以補充一些內容，幫助我們將雞翅產品與採購訂單或其他未來的創新聯繫起來。

Well, we certainly think that the wings have the potential to create another occasion for the guests, and.

我們當然認為，這些雞翅有可能為客人創造另一個機會，而且。

It would, I would expect that from a quality and pricing perspective to really represent a great value proposition for the guests and that's the feedback we're getting so far in the test market so I would expect that to perform well when we go to a broader roll out and again our pizza proposition has always been there we people are people recognize us for that and as they become more value conscious. They are, they're gravitating more towards us and so again relative to comparable quality products out there and we're, we compete more with QSR from a quality perspective, our value is much stronger than than most out there and it's resonating with the guests.

從品質和價格的角度來看，我預計這將真正代表對顧客來說極具價值的主張，這也是我們目前在測試市場得到的反饋，所以我預計當我們進行更廣泛的推廣時，它將表現良好。此外，我們的披薩主張一直存在，人們也因此認可我們，而且隨著他們越來越注重價值。他們確實越來越傾向於我們，而且相對於市場上同等品質的產品，我們（從品質角度來看，我們更多地與快餐店競爭）的價值遠高於市場上的大多數產品，這引起了顧客的共鳴。

Great. Thank you and good luck.

偉大的。謝謝，祝你好運。

Thank you. I show no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the call back over to Darren for closing new remarks.

謝謝。我目前沒有其他問題。現在我想把電話交還給達倫，讓他做最後的總結發言。

All right, thank you for taking the time today to join us on the call. Before we go, I want to thank our team members once again for all their hard work this quarter. We wish them and everyone on the call and listening in a happy holiday season.

好的，感謝您今天抽出時間參加我們的電話會議。在我們結束之前，我想再次感謝我們團隊成員在本季付出的辛勤努力。我們祝福他們以及所有參與電話會議和收聽節目的人們節日快樂。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating and you may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與，您現在可以斷開連接了。