America's CAR-MART Inc (CRMT) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for holding, and welcome to America's Car-Mart Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2023 Conference Call. The topic of this call will be the earnings and operating results for the company's fourth quarter of fiscal year 2023. Before we begin, today's call is being recorded and will be available for replay for the next 12 months.

大家，早安。感謝您召開並歡迎參加美國 Car-Mart 2023 財年第四季度電話會議。本次電話會議的主題將是公司 2023 財年第四季度的收益和運營業績。在我們開始之前，我們正在錄製今天的電話會議，並將在未來 12 個月內重播。

As a reminder, some of management's comments today may include forward-looking statements, which inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from [management's] present view. These statements are made pursuant of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The company cannot guarantee the accuracy of any forecast or estimate, nor does it undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

提醒一下，管理層今天的一些評論可能包括前瞻性陳述，這些陳述本質上涉及風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與[管理層]目前的觀點存在重大差異。這些陳述是根據 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》的安全港條款作出的。該公司不能保證任何預測或估計的準確性，也不承擔更新任何前瞻性陳述的義務。

For more information regarding forward-looking information, please see Part 1 of the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2022, and its current and quarterly reports furnished to or filed with Securities Exchange Commission on Form 8-K and 10-Q.

有關前瞻性信息的更多信息，請參閱公司截至 2022 年 4 月 30 日的財政年度 10-K 表格年度報告的第 1 部分，以及向證券交易委員會提交或提交的 8 表格當前和季度報告-K 和 10-Q。

Participating on the call this morning are Jeff Williams, the company's Chief Executive Officer; Doug Campbell, President; and Vickie Judy, Chief Financial Officer. And now I'd like to turn the call over to the company's Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Williams.

該公司首席執行官傑夫·威廉姆斯 (Jeff Williams) 參加了今天早上的電話會議。道格·坎貝爾，總裁；和首席財務官 Vickie Judy。現在我想將電話轉給公司首席執行官傑夫·威廉姆斯。

Thank you for joining us this morning. Productivity and market share gains continue, but current profitability is not representative of where the company and the business will be in the future. Our model is flexible, and we will continue to deploy capital to maximize appropriate long-term returns. Expect to earn returns on equity at levels we were generating prior to the pandemic, the mid-teens.

感謝您今天早上加入我們。生產力和市場份額持續增長，但當前的盈利能力並不能代表公司和業務的未來狀況。我們的模式是靈活的，我們將繼續配置資本以最大化適當的長期回報。期望獲得的股本回報率將達到我們在大流行之前的水平，也就是十幾歲左右。

We're extremely excited about our company and the unique profitable opportunity in front of us. There's no other company sitting in a position to scale in this highly fragmented industry. Our book value is $79 per share. We have $500 million in equity, which we will protect as we move forward.

我們對我們的公司和擺在我們面前的獨特的盈利機會感到非常興奮。在這個高度分散的行業中，沒有其他公司能夠實現規模化。我們的賬面價值是每股 79 美元。我們擁有 5 億美元的股本，我們將在前進的過程中保護這些股本。

As discussed in our press release, competitive dynamics are rapidly moving in our favor. Our industry has had significant disruptive challenges over the last 12 to 18 months, leading to the sudden exit of two large regional competitors who were collectively serving over 80,000 customers, mostly in the Southeast region of the U.S. We will see benefits in our procurement and inventory areas, as well as in our sales and collection efforts from these two companies exiting the marketplace.

正如我們在新聞稿中所討論的，競爭動態正在迅速朝著對我們有利的方向發展。我們的行業在過去 12 到 18 個月中遇到了重大的顛覆性挑戰，導致兩家大型區域競爭對手突然退出，這兩家公司總共為超過 80,000 名客戶提供服務，其中大部分位於美國東南部地區。我們將看到採購和庫存方面的好處領域，以及我們對這兩家退出市場的公司的銷售和收款工作。

We've gone from a period of consumers having trillions in stimulus with zero inflation to no stimulus with very high inflation. Again in our industry, in particular, inflation has been especially pronounced, showing up in used car prices, parts, shop labor rates, transport services, all being at record highs. Interest rates for auto loans have escalated sharply. According to Cox Automotive, credit availability was tighter year-over-year by 8.5% across all loan and lender types in April. Consumers have been stretched and affordability has been tight. But as Vickie will talk about more in a minute, our net charge-off levels are just slightly above pre-pandemic levels back in 2019. All of these challenges are working in our favor.

我們已經從消費者接受數万億刺激且通脹為零的時期，轉變為沒有刺激且通脹非常高的時期。尤其是在我們這個行業，通貨膨脹尤其明顯，二手車價格、零部件、商店勞動力價格、運輸服務都創下了歷史新高。汽車貸款利率急劇上升。 Cox Automotive 的數據顯示，4 月份所有貸款和貸方類型的信貸供應量同比收緊 8.5%。消費者已經捉襟見肘，承受能力也很緊張。但正如 Vickie 稍後將談到的，我們的淨沖銷水平僅略高於 2019 年大流行前的水平。所有這些挑戰都對我們有利。

We have not just persevered, we have significantly improved our position. Fiscal year '23 represents steps, huge steps in the right direction. In the face of all these challenges, we've added great talent to our team and pushed on with difficult, complex, time-consuming, resource-heavy investments and initiatives. We are clearly seeing the signs of the expected benefits of our efforts. Our model is the best way to serve our customer base who needs us and the service we provide, which is evident by the increasing demand for our offering.

我們不僅堅持了下來，而且還顯著提高了我們的地位。 23 財年代表著朝著正確方向邁出的巨大一步。面對所有這些挑戰，我們為我們的團隊增添了優秀的人才，並繼續推進困難、複雜、耗時、資源密集的投資和舉措。我們清楚地看到我們的努力所帶來的預期效益的跡象。我們的模式是為需要我們和我們提供的服務的客戶群提供服務的最佳方式，這一點從對我們產品的需求不斷增長就可以看出。

Just a quick update on some initiatives. As to people, we've now completed the key additions to our leadership team. The incredible talent that we've attracted to our company is as expected, serving as an accelerant in driving operational improvements through change management and completing and leveraging our initiatives that we have in process. Our ERP initiative is progressing as expected and will be completed by the end of this calendar year. It's hard to quantify the enormous benefits of us moving away from our legacy system, but the move is essential for us to become a data-driven company, better supporting operations as we serve customers. This change is foundational to efficiency improvements, elimination of manual tasks, giving us operating flexibility, allowing for future profitable growth.

只是一些舉措的快速更新。至於人員，我們現在已經完成了領導團隊的關鍵補充。正如預期的那樣，我們公司吸引了令人難以置信的人才，他們通過變革管理以及完成和利用我們正在進行的計劃來推動運營改進。我們的 ERP 計劃正在按預期進展，並將於今年年底完成。很難量化我們擺脫遺留系統所帶來的巨大好處，但此舉對於我們成為一家數據驅動的公司、在為客戶服務時更好地支持運營至關重要。這一變化是提高效率、消除手動任務、賦予我們運營靈活性、實現未來利潤增長的基礎。

Also, as we've discussed the CRM module, parts of which are being utilized currently, sits within the ERP. It will allow us to significantly increase and improve our marketing, selling and supporting customers. And as a reminder, the CRM provides the underpinning to our loan origination system and attracting a higher number of better credit score customers, which Doug will expand on in a minute.

此外，正如我們所討論的 CRM 模塊（目前正在使用其中的一部分）位於 ERP 中。它將使我們能夠顯著增加和改善我們的營銷、銷售和客戶支持。提醒一下，CRM 為我們的貸款發放系統提供了基礎，並吸引了更多信用評分更好的客戶，Doug 將在一分鐘內對此進行擴展。

Also as we've communicated, we will look to acquisitions and well-operated dealerships as a powerful use of capital. Our acquisition team has their ear to the ground, and we expect further disruptions in the competitive landscape to provide additional opportunities as we move forward. We're actively talking to a number of parties regarding some of those opportunities.

此外，正如我們所傳達的，我們將把收購和經營良好的經銷商視為資本的有力運用。我們的收購團隊密切關注實際情況，我們預計競爭格局的進一步破壞將在我們前進的過程中提供更多機會。我們正在與多方積極討論其中一些機會。

As mentioned in the press release, we have completed a large percentage of the heavy lifting related to our extensive long-term investments, and we're now set to push efficiencies and leverage our cost structure as we bring credit losses down and we bring gross margin percentages up.

正如新聞稿中提到的，我們已經完成了與廣泛的長期投資相關的大部分繁重工作，我們現在準備提高效率並利用我們的成本結構，同時降低信貸損失並提高毛利率保證金百分比上升。

I'll now turn it over to Doug. Doug?

我現在把它交給道格。道格？

Thanks, Jeff, and good morning, everyone. A big thank you to our field and corporate teams for doing a nice job on executing our strategy to be ready for the tax season. We had a multipronged approach, which included ensuring our stores were stocked, that we work through high-cost and aged inventory and reduce overall inventory levels by 25%, mainly due finding gains in efficiency while not missing our sales target. So not be an easy task, while also navigating a tricky wholesale pricing environment.

謝謝杰夫，大家早上好。非常感謝我們的現場和企業團隊出色地執行了我們的策略，為納稅季節做好了準備。我們採取了多管齊下的方法，其中包括確保我們的商店有庫存，我們處理高成本和陳舊的庫存，並將總體庫存水平降低了 25%，這主要是因為在提高效率的同時不達不到我們的銷售目標。因此，這不是一件容易的事，同時還要應對棘手的批發定價環境。

Given the rate of wholesale price decline that we saw in the last year, which was over 20% and the highest on record, one might argue that it was too much decline in too fast a time period. Especially when you consider that wholesale and retail inventory levels for our industry were at historical lows, it had all the ingredients to drive abnormal price strength above and beyond what we might experience on a seasonal basis.

鑑於我們去年看到的批發價格下降率超過 20%，是有記錄以來的最高水平，有人可能會說，在太快的時間內下降幅度太大。特別是當你考慮到我們行業的批發和零售庫存水平處於歷史低位時，它具備了推動異常價格強度超出我們季節性水平的所有因素。

Despite the average income tax refund being down 7%, the spring selling season was robust, and there were several areas that we can look back on and be proud of. For the quarter, we sold 17,655 units, a record for the best sales volume for any quarter in the company's history, which was up 7.5% over the prior year's quarter. February in particular was notable, being the best on record and having the single best sales day of 620 units. When looking at sales on a same-store sales basis, they were up 5.6%. This growth that we're seeing is really showcasing the impact of some of our more recent acquisitions and their future benefits to the organization. For the fiscal year, sales were up 4.9%.

儘管平均所得稅退稅下降了7%，但春季銷售旺季表現強勁，有幾個方面值得我們回顧並感到自豪。本季度，我們售出 17,655 輛，創下公司歷史上任何季度的最佳銷量記錄，比去年同期增長 7.5%。 2 月份的表現尤其引人注目，創下了有記錄以來的最高銷量，單日銷量最高達到 620 輛。以同店銷售額計算，增長了 5.6%。我們看到的這種增長確實展示了我們最近的一些收購的影響及其對組織的未來利益。本財年，銷售額增長 4.9%。

We were able to achieve our targeted reduction in inventory by 25% by finding efficiency gains in our ecosystem, like cutting the time it takes to in-fleet vehicles in half. We turned retail and wholesale inventory faster at 7.4 turns, up from 6.7 turns versus last year's fourth quarter, which got our inventory aging at a manageable and acceptable level. The team also navigated the pricing environment well.

通過提高生態系統的效率，我們實現了庫存減少 25% 的目標，例如將車隊車輛的運輸時間縮短一半。我們的零售和批發庫存周轉速度較去年第四季度的 6.7 週增至 7.4 週，這使我們的庫存老化處於可控且可接受的水平。該團隊還很好地應對了定價環境。

Wholesale pricing typically falls early in the year and starts to increase in late February, then peaking in April, which we call the spring bounce. During that time period, prices normally would flow back to their January 1 values and even climb 1 point or 2 before cooling off and then declining at a more normal rate for the balance of the year. The ability to anticipate these fluctuations and timing it around the pricing, both on your purchases and disposals, is critical when operating large fleets.

批發價格通常會在年初下降，並在二月下旬開始上漲，然後在四月達到頂峰，我們稱之為春季反彈。在此期間，價格通常會回到 1 月 1 日的價格，甚至上漲 1 點或 2 點，然後降溫，然後在今年剩餘時間以更正常的速度下降。在運營大型車隊時，預測這些波動並圍繞定價（無論是購買還是處置）進行調整的能力至關重要。

Unlike a normal pricing season, increases were seen very early, as early as the second week of the year, which is much earlier than normal. Prices then peaked at 6% or 7% above their January 1 values in early April before beginning to cool. However, when looking at small and midsized car segments, those saw increases of more than 10%, as dealers competed for vehicles to meet the affordability challenges that already exist in our industry.

與正常的定價季節不同，價格上漲的時間很早，早在一年的第二週就出現了，這比正常情況要早得多。然後，價格在 4 月初達到比 1 月 1 日價格高出 6% 或 7% 的峰值，然後開始降溫。然而，在中小型汽車細分市場中，由於經銷商競相購買車輛以應對我們行業中已經存在的負擔能力挑戰，這些細分市場的增幅超過 10%。

Our ability to plan and effectively navigate this environment is critical. During this period, our purchase price of vehicles deviated less than 3% by doing a majority of our purchasing earlier in the season. And we shifted make-and-mile mix around to avoid having materially higher sales prices that could slow our sales pace. In fact, if you looked at sales prices sequentially between the third and the fourth quarter, there was only a $42 variance in price despite working through some of our high-cost inventory. As Jeff mentioned in the press release, we are doing a better job being more strategic and efficient with our investment here in inventory.

我們規劃和有效駕馭這種環境的能力至關重要。在此期間，我們的車輛採購價格偏差不到 3%，因為我們大部分採購都是在季節早些時候進行的。我們改變了品牌和里程的組合，以避免銷售價格大幅上漲，從而減緩我們的銷售速度。事實上，如果您按順序查看第三季度和第四季度之間的銷售價格，就會發現，儘管我們處理了一些高成本庫存，但價格差異僅為 42 美元。正如傑夫在新聞稿中提到的，我們在庫存方面的投資做得更好，更具戰略性和效率。

A large part of the growth that we saw is related to our ability to drive traffic, both online and in-store with our new LOS. The ease at which customers can apply, get approved and then schedule for appointments, drove incremental traffic into our stores and contributed to the strong growth that we witnessed during the quarter. The online application volume was just up over 22% relative to the same period last year. But we know that customers have also shifted where they start the buying process. However, if I look at both online and in-store traffic, total application volume was still up over 10% versus the prior year's quarter, showing this effort with the LOS is truly accretive to our business.

我們看到的增長很大程度上與我們通過新的 LOS 來推動在線和店內客流量的能力有關。客戶可以輕鬆地申請、獲得批准，然後安排預約，這增加了我們商店的客流量，並促成了我們在本季度見證的強勁增長。在線申請量較去年同期增長了 22% 以上。但我們知道，客戶也改變了他們開始購買過程的地點。然而，如果我查看在線和店內流量，總申請量仍比去年同期增長 10% 以上，這表明 LOS 的這一努力確實為我們的業務帶來了增長。

Additionally, we're seeing incremental growth of higher scoring customers applying for credit. Jeff has alluded to this several times in the past that with credit tightening, we'll start seeing this customer profile trickle in at a greater rate, and we're prioritizing these applications given the rising cost of capital and their inherent ability to drive better performance in our receivables portfolio.

此外，我們還看到申請信貸的高評分客戶不斷增長。傑夫過去曾多次提到這一點，隨著信貸緊縮，我們將開始看到這種客戶資料以更快的速度流入，鑑於資本成本不斷上升以及它們固有的推動更好的能力，我們將優先考慮這些應用程序我們的應收賬款組合的表現。

Lastly, as a quick update on the LOS, I spoke earlier on the application volumes. And on the last call, I mentioned how the application portal was live throughout all of our stores. We're now going live by digitizing our sales process. The first store goes live this week. So what does that even mean? It means less paperwork for the customer to sign. In fact, that will be reduced by 75%, making the sales process faster. It allows for more capacity in terms of what we can process without having to change staffing levels.

最後，作為 LOS 的快速更新，我之前談到了申請量。在最後一次電話會議上，我提到了應用程序門戶是如何在我們所有商店中上線的。我們現在正在通過數字化銷售流程來實現這一目標。第一家商店本週上線。那麼這到底意味著什麼呢？這意味著客戶需要簽署的文件更少。事實上，這將減少 75%，從而使銷售過程更快。它允許我們在無需改變人員配置水平的情況下處理更多的容量。

Subsequent standing and processing of documents will also be reduced and makes it easier for our office staff after the sale, but also provides more control at a centralized level from an underwriting perspective, but most importantly, all of the data that is now being analyzed to drive better decision-making, which will add a level of agility that we didn't have before. After rolling out our pilot store, we'll be activating other stores state by state over the coming months.

後續的文件處理和處理也將減少，使我們的辦公室工作人員在售後更容易，而且從承保的角度提供更多的集中控制，但最重要的是，現在正在分析的所有數據推動更好的決策，這將增加我們以前沒有的敏捷性。在推出我們的試點商店後，我們將在未來幾個月內逐州激活其他商店。

I'll flip over to gross margins. For the quarter, we finished at 33.4%, down about 2% versus the prior year. Wholesale loss had been one of the contributing factors, but much less so now. We've had additional improvement here again in the quarter by reducing losses by 27% versus the prior quarter, and we continue to make strides here and have an opportunity to really outperform pre-COVID norms.

我將轉向毛利率。本季度，我們的增長率為 33.4%，比上年下降約 2%。批發損失曾是促成因素之一，但現在已不再那麼重要了。本季度我們再次取得了額外的進步，與上一季度相比，損失減少了 27%，並且我們繼續取得進步，並有機會真正超越新冠疫情之前的標準。

Another, and I think our biggest opportunity as it relates to gross margins, would be what we spend on the repair of vehicles. There's basically two categories here. The first is related to making inventory frontline ready. Our reconditioning pilot that we've mentioned in the past is driving savings here. And on the prior call, we stated that our initial findings, that there would be a benefit between $300 and $500 on a per unit basis. For what we processed through the last quarter, those savings are north of $500 per unit. The issue we're having here is getting enough inventory through this channel, especially when considering what's happened with pricing during the last quarter, but we'll continue to persevere here.

另一個，我認為我們最大的機會，因為它與毛利率有關，是我們在車輛維修上的支出。這里基本上有兩類。第一個與使庫存前線做好準備有關。我們過去提到過的翻新試點正在推動這裡的節約。在之前的電話會議上，我們表示，我們的初步發現是，每單位將帶來 300 至 500 美元的收益。對於我們上一季度處理的產品，每單位節省的費用超過 500 美元。我們在這裡遇到的問題是通過這個渠道獲得足夠的庫存，特別是考慮到上個季度的定價情況，但我們將繼續堅持下去。

Second are the repairs to vehicles in our receivables portfolio, which would be associated with service contract obligations or customer repairs made to keep our customers on the road. We've seen a sharp increase on what we spend here on a year-over-year basis. While a normalized environment would yield a better outcome, there are steps we've been taking to drive better performance. I'll give you an example.

其次是我們應收賬款組合中的車輛維修，這將與服務合同義務或為保證客戶繼續上路而進行的客戶維修相關。我們發現我們在這裡的支出同比急劇增加。雖然標準化的環境會產生更好的結果，但我們一直在採取一些措施來提高性能。我給你舉個例子。

During the pandemic, we used the vehicles age and mileage as a lever within the business to combat vehicle cost. While it served its purpose upfront, some of these vehicles had higher-than-normal repair costs after the sale. We had anticipated this and, as a company, modified service contract pricing to capture what the predictive exposure would be. But the real opportunity is to get this back in line, while keeping the benefit of the higher revenue on the service contract and the benefits that it provides.

疫情期間，我們利用車齡和里程作為業務槓桿來降低車輛成本。雖然它預先達到了目的，但其中一些車輛在售後的維修成本高於正常水平。我們已經預料到了這一點，並且作為一家公司，修改了服務合同定價以捕獲預測風險。但真正的機會是讓這一點恢復正常，同時保持服務合同帶來的更高收入及其提供的好處。

An obvious solution would just be to put it back to normal in terms of what normal is on the age and miles of the vehicle that we purchased, or accelerate this by targeting new requires with lower miles than your historical average, and that's a solution we've been working on for 6 months now. Over that time period, we've augmented purchasing guidelines to procure a vehicle that's 2 years newer, with 10,000 to 12,000 less miles for the same cost. These are vehicles that we've been selling over the last 1.5 quarters. These are also -- there are also tactical solutions that we're doing at a field level to overmanage the active fleet, which will aid in containing some of these costs and pay dividends as it relates to service contract failure rates and the incidence we would need to intervene with a customer on a repair out of our warranty. We look forward to updating you in the quarters ahead and are excited to share our efforts toward the progress we're seeing here.

一個明顯的解決方案就是根據我們購買的車輛的車齡和里程數恢復正常，或者通過以低於歷史平均里程的里程數來滿足新的需求來加速這一過程，這就是我們的解決方案到現在已經工作了 6 個月了。在此期間，我們增強了購買指南，以購買更新 2 年的車輛，以相同的成本減少 10,000 至 12,000 英里的行駛里程。這些是我們在過去 1.5 個季度中一直在銷售的車輛。這些也是——我們也在現場採取戰術解決方案來過度管理現役車隊，這將有助於控制其中一些成本並支付紅利，因為它與服務合同故障率和我們將發生的事件相關。需要與客戶就超出我們保修範圍的維修進行干預。我們期待在未來幾個季度向您通報最新情況，並很高興與您分享我們為取得進展所做的努力。

I'll now turn it over to Vickie, who will cover our financial results. Vickie?

現在我將把它交給 Vickie，她將報導我們的財務業績。維姬？

Thank you, Doug. Good morning, everyone. For the current quarter, our net charge-offs as a percentage of average finance receivables were 6.3% compared to 5.1% for the fourth quarter of fiscal year '22 and 6.1% for the pre-pandemic quarter ended 4/30/19. These are just above our prior 5-year average of 5.7% and below our 10-year average of 6.8% for fourth quarters. The primary driver of the increased charge-offs was an increased frequency of losses, but we also experienced an increase in the relative severity of losses. Recovery values were held flat in the last quarter at about 28%.

謝謝你，道格。大家，早安。本季度，我們的淨沖銷占平均財務應收賬款的百分比為 6.3%，而 22 財年第四季度為 5.1%，截至 2019 年 4 月 30 日的大流行前季度為 6.1%。第四季度的增長率略高於之前 5 年平均水平 5.7%，低於 10 年平均水平 6.8%。沖銷增加的主要驅動因素是損失頻率的增加，但我們也經歷了損失相對嚴重程度的增加。上個季度的複蘇值持平，約為 28%。

As of April 30, 2023, the allowance for loan losses was 23.91% of finance receivables net of deferred revenue. We did increase the allowance percentage in the fourth quarter, up from 23.65% to reflect the effect of the higher net charge-offs on our overall portfolio performance, as well as the uncertain macroeconomic environment and continued stress of the inflation on our consumers. This change resulted in a $3.3 million, or $2.5 million aftertax charged to the provision in the fourth quarter. We will continue to be focused on improving the loan structure with better down payments and upfront equity. The rollout of our LOS will assist us with achieving these improvements.

截至2023年4月30日，貸款損失準備為應收財務賬款扣除遞延收入的23.91%。我們確實在第四季度提高了撥備比例，從 23.65% 上升，以反映較高的淨沖銷對我們整體投資組合業績的影響，以及不確定的宏觀經濟環境和通脹對消費者的持續壓力。這一變化導致第四季度的準備金減少了 330 萬美元，即稅後 250 萬美元。我們將繼續致力於通過更好的首付和預付股本來改善貸款結構。 LOS 的推出將幫助我們實現這些改進。

Our internal applicant scores were slightly above the prior year, and we expect to be able to gain market share and attract higher credit quality consumers as other lenders above us continue to tighten credit. An early indicator of this, in the fourth quarter we saw FICO scores for customers originating during the fourth quarter, reflecting the largest percentage improvement that we've seen in several years and higher than any other quarter. This will allow us to continue to improve the percentage of the portfolio held by our highest credit quality customers.

我們的內部申請人分數略高於去年，隨著其他高於我們的貸款機構繼續收緊信貸，我們預計能夠獲得市場份額並吸引更高信用質量的消費者。這方面的一個早期指標是，在第四季度，我們看到了來自第四季度的客戶的 FICO 分數，反映了我們幾年來看到的最大百分比改善，並且高於任何其他季度。這將使我們能夠繼續提高最高信用質量客戶持有的投資組合的百分比。

Our accounts 30-plus past due was at 3.6%, flat sequentially and compared to 3% in the prior year quarter. Total collections were up 7% to $178 million and total collections per active customer per month were $586, flat with the prior year quarter. This was considered a positive given the continuing inflationary environment and income tax refunds, down overall by 7%.

我們 30 歲以上的賬戶逾期率為 3.6%，與上一季度持平，而去年同期為 3%。總收款額增長 7%，達到 1.78 億美元，每個活躍客戶每月的總收款額為 586 美元，與去年同期持平。鑑於持續的通脹環境和所得稅退稅總體下降了 7%，這被認為是積極的。

The average originating contract term for the quarter was 43.5 months compared to 42.1 for the prior year quarter, and up slightly from 42.5 months sequentially. We added 1.4 months to the originating contract term compared to the prior year's fourth quarter to accommodate the $614 or 3.5% increase in the average selling prices. And as Doug mentioned, the average retail selling price remained relatively flat with only a $42 increase sequentially from the third to the fourth quarters.

本季度的平均原始合同期限為 43.5 個月，去年同期為 42.1 個月，比上一季度的 42.5 個月略有上升。與去年第四季度相比，我們將原始合同期限延長了 1.4 個月，以適應平均售價上漲 614 美元或 3.5% 的情況。正如 Doug 提到的，平均零售售價保持相對平穩，第三季度至第四季度僅上漲 42 美元。

Our weighted average contract term for the entire portfolio, including modifications, was 46.3 months compared to 42.9 for the prior year quarter, and the weighted average age of the portfolio improved to approximately 10 months.

我們整個投資組合（包括修改）的加權平均合同期限為 46.3 個月，而去年同期為 42.9 個月，投資組合的加權平均期限縮短至約 10 個月。

Our SG&A spend increased $4.8 million over the prior year quarter and $1.1 million over the sequential quarter. Although inflationary and wage pressures have significantly impacted our SG&A spend, we're actively focused on identifying efficiencies in our processes and, where appropriate, making reductions in spend to marketing, staffing and variable costs. Our investments in people, technology platforms and strategic initiatives will eventually lead to better efficiencies in the business. The majority of our SG&A investments have been made and increases going forward will be much lower than the percentage increases we've had the last couple of years and more in line with or below general inflation.

我們的 SG&A 支出比去年同期增加了 480 萬美元，比上一季度增加了 110 萬美元。儘管通貨膨脹和工資壓力對我們的銷售、管理和行政支出產生了重大影響，但我們積極致力於提高流程效率，並在適當的情況下減少營銷、人員配置和可變成本的支出。我們對人員、技術平台和戰略舉措的投資最終將提高業務效率。我們的大部分SG&A投資已經完成，未來的增長將遠低於過去幾年的增長百分比，並且更符合或低於總體通脹率。

Our customer count increased by 7.6% over the prior year to over 102,000 customers, and our investments are being made to better serve this growing customer base while improving these efficiencies. At quarter end, our revolving debt was $167.2 million. We had $9.8 million in cash and approximately $121 million in additional availability under our revolving credit facilities based on our borrowing base of receivables and inventory.

我們的客戶數量比上一年增加了 7.6%，達到超過 102,000 名客戶，我們的投資是為了更好地服務這一不斷增長的客戶群，同時提高效率。截至季度末，我們的循環債務為 1.672 億美元。根據我們的應收賬款和庫存借款基礎，我們擁有 980 萬美元的現金和約 1.21 億美元的額外可用資金。

Our total securitized nonrecourse notes payable was $498.5 million, with $58 million in restricted cash related to those notes. Our total debt, net of cash to finance receivables ratio is 41.5%, down from 42.2% the last quarter end.

我們的證券化無追索權應付票據總額為 4.985 億美元，其中與這些票據相關的限制性現金為 5800 萬美元。我們的總債務（扣除現金與應收賬款融資比率）為 41.5%，低於上季度末的 42.2%。

Thank you, and I'll let Jeff close this out.

謝謝你，我會讓傑夫結束這件事。

Okay. Thank you, Vickie. The consumer demand for our offering is high and increasing, and we've been making investments to increase our operating moat. As Vickie mentioned, we're now serving over 102,000 customers. About half of those are repeat customers with a high lifetime value. Our growth in recent years has primarily come from the expansion of the customer base in existing markets, markets that we know well.

好的。謝謝你，維琪。消費者對我們產品的需求很高並且不斷增長，我們一直在進行投資以增加我們的運營護城河。正如 Vickie 提到的，我們現在為超過 102,000 名客戶提供服務。其中大約一半是具有高終生價值的回頭客。我們近年來的增長主要來自於現有市場和我們熟悉的市場客戶群的擴大。

We've also completed a few highly successful acquisitions, and we'll continue to prioritize our acquisition strategy, especially considering the current competitive marketplace disruptions, which we anticipate more of. While we constantly scrutinize capital deployment, the significant increase in the cost of capital that we've seen recently requires us to be even more diligent and we will be. Our balance sheet is very healthy, and we will keep it that way. We will continue to make prudent investments in the business, and the timing of these investments will be made in an effort to properly align expenses with sales, something we've done successfully for a long period of time. Our CapEx will be lower going forward. And to reiterate, most of our projects are completed or near completion.

我們還完成了一些非常成功的收購，我們將繼續優先考慮我們的收購戰略，特別是考慮到當前競爭激烈的市場混亂，我們預計會出現更多混亂。雖然我們不斷審查資本配置，但最近我們看到的資本成本大幅增加要求我們更加勤奮，我們也會這樣做。我們的資產負債表非常健康，我們將保持這種狀態。我們將繼續對業務進行審慎的投資，這些投資的時機將努力使費用與銷售保持一致，這是我們長期以來成功做到的。未來我們的資本支出將會降低。重申一下，我們的大多數項目都已完成或接近完成。

As to vehicle affordability, we do expect vehicle costs to flatten and normalize even in a tight supply market as we improve our processes. Sales prices and loan terms will also continue to flatten, with consumer affordability returning to pre-COVID levels over time as the job market stays strong and wages continue to increase, and other inflationary pressures ease. Improvements in affordability will result in higher customer success rates, our ultimate measure.

至於車輛的承受能力，我們確實預計，隨著我們改進流程，即使在供應緊張的市場中，車輛成本也會趨於平穩和正常化。隨著就業市場保持強勁、工資繼續上漲以及其他通脹壓力緩解，銷售價格和貸款條件也將繼續趨於平緩，隨著時間的推移，消費者的承受能力將恢復到新冠疫情前的水平。負擔能力的提高將帶來更高的客戶成功率，這是我們的最終衡量標準。

We are confident in our ability around procurement and inventory management, and we're very excited about the potential improvements in this area of our business. And as Vickie mentioned, the SG&A will level off as we move forward. We've had to make significant investments that can now be leveraged. The ERP will allow for huge efficiencies across all administrative and data functions, unleashing powerful benefits. As always, we'd like to thank all of our associates for their dedication to our purpose and for all they do to keep our customers on the road.

我們對採購和庫存管理方面的能力充滿信心，並且對我們業務這一領域的潛在改進感到非常興奮。正如 Vickie 提到的，SG&A 將隨著我們的前進而趨於平穩。我們必須進行大量投資，現在可以利用這些投資。 ERP 將提高所有管理和數據職能的效率，釋放強大的優勢。一如既往，我們要感謝所有員工為我們的目標所做的奉獻，以及他們為讓我們的客戶繼續前進所做的一切。

Thank you, and we will now turn it over to the operator for questions. Operator?

謝謝您，我們現在將其轉交給接線員詢問。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) And our first question comes from the line of John Murphy with Bank of America.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自美國銀行的約翰·墨菲。

This is Billy Healey on for John Murphy. Can I just ask you about the availability of credit for consumers in total? Like has there been any pullback in aggregate? And have others come in and backfilled with that availability?

這是約翰·墨菲的比利·希利。我能問一下消費者可獲得的信貸總量嗎？總體而言是否有任何回調？其他人是否也加入並補充了該可用性？

Yes. I think we're certainly seeing credit restrictions, and the Cox report for April indicated that the credit is tighter by about 8.5% compared to this time last year. We're certainly seeing that in our markets.

是的。我認為我們肯定會看到信貸限制，考克斯 4 月份的報告表明信貸比去年同期收緊約 8.5%。我們確實在我們的市場上看到了這一點。

And as Vickie alluded to, the credit scores of customers we're seeing, especially in the fourth quarter, have come up significantly, which would be another indication that credit is certainly tightening above us in our markets.

正如維琪提到的，我們看到的客戶信用評分，特別是在第四季度，已經顯著上升，這將是另一個跡象，表明我們市場上的信貸肯定正在收緊。

Okay, great. And if I could follow up, just on the state of your average consumer, what are you seeing there? Are you seeing any improvement at all? Or are your consumers still struggling?

好的，太好了。如果我可以跟進一下普通消費者的狀況，您看到了什麼？您看到任何改善嗎？或者你的消費者還在苦苦掙扎嗎？

Our customers historically have always struggled in good times and in bad. It's something that we deal with constantly. It is a little tighter now with inflation. But the shock of inflation, we've certainly worked through that.

歷史上，我們的客戶無論順境還是逆境都總是在掙扎。這是我們經常處理的事情。現在由於通貨膨脹，情況有點緊縮。但我們確實已經度過了通貨膨脹的衝擊。

There was initial period back in summer of last year where it was a real sudden shock. But I think consumers have adjusted. So -- but there is some additional strain. Inflation is real. But our customers have always made ends meet, especially with our help keeping them on the road. But it is a lot better than it was back in the summer of last year.

去年夏天的最初一段時期，確實是一次突然的衝擊。但我認為消費者已經做出了調整。所以——但是還有一些額外的壓力。通貨膨脹是真實存在的。但我們的客戶始終能夠維持收支平衡，尤其是在我們的幫助下，他們能夠繼續前行。但比去年夏天的時候好多了。

Yes. Additionally, I'd add -- this is Doug, that what we saw in the fourth quarter with FICO scores we mentioned about the -- that customer dynamic is changing. If we looked at it from a FICO score basis, we've had the highest influx of a better credit customer for fourth quarters, that if you go back 5 or 6 years -- even if you compare that to any quarter on record over the last 5 or 6 years, that credit profile was better. So that's also really encouraging to see, especially when you have the sort of volume that we did last quarter.

是的。此外，我想補充一點——這是道格，我們在第四季度看到我們提到的 FICO 分數——客戶動態正在發生變化。如果我們從 FICO 評分的基礎上來看，我們在第四季度擁有最多的優質信用客戶，如果你回溯 5 或 6 年，即使你將其與有記錄以來的任何季度進行比較過去五六年，信用狀況更好。因此，這也確實令人鼓舞，特別是當你擁有我們上季度的銷量時。

Great. That's really helpful. One more, if I may. Just on -- I know you talked about your efforts towards, like reconditioning and getting -- hopefully flattening out those vehicle costs over time. Can you just talk to like, in total, the availability of supply of what you'd call reasonably priced vehicles? Has that improved at all?

偉大的。這真的很有幫助。如果可以的話，再來一張。剛才——我知道你談到了你的努力，比如翻新和獲得——希望隨著時間的推移，這些車輛成本會趨於平緩。您能談談您所說的價格合理的車輛的總體供應情況嗎？這一切有改善嗎？

Repeat the last part of the question, of what price vehicles?

重複問題的最後一部分，什麼價位的車輛？

Reasonably priced.

合理的價格。

Reasonably priced vehicles.

價格合理的車輛。

Reasonably priced, yes.

價格合理，是的。

Yes, so it's tight. We're all retailers out there fighting for the same piece of inventory. As rates have continued to go up, we're all out there targeting a piece of inventory. And there's a lot of people that are now encroaching in our space for vehicles that we would normally target. And so we're having to get more creative.

是的，所以很緊。我們都是零售商，都在爭奪同一份庫存。隨著價格持續上漲，我們都瞄準了庫存。現在有很多人正在侵占我們通常瞄準的車輛空間。所以我們必須變得更有創意。

What's been interesting is over the last quarter, we had two large competitors exit the marketplace who also participated in that space. So it has sort of been like a release valve on the procurement side. We have seen the ease in purchasing because we have less competition, right?

有趣的是，在上個季度，我們有兩個大型競爭對手退出了市場，他們也參與了該領域。所以它有點像採購方面的釋放閥。我們已經看到購買變得容易，因為我們的競爭較少，對嗎？

So someone who -- if you combine those two companies, just slightly smaller than us, like that has been sort of a godsend, especially out where the territories that they occupied in the southeast part of the United States, where there's a lot of our procurement activity goes on. So there's that.

因此，如果你把這兩家公司合併起來，只比我們小一點，那麼這就是天賜之物，特別是在他們佔領的美國東南部地區，那裡有我們的很多公司。採購活動仍在繼續。所以就是這樣。

And then additionally, they serve a different type of customer. With this higher price asset, it is making it easier to offload those cars as well, and it gives us an opportunity for growth there as well.

此外，他們還為不同類型的客戶提供服務。有了這種價格較高的資產，出售這些汽車也變得更加容易，這也為我們提供了增長的機會。

Our next question comes from the line of [Derek Fulmer] with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 [Derek Fulmer] 和 Jefferies 的對話。

Could you talk about the impact of lighter tax refunds on this quarter's performance, and if there are anticipated to be any lingering impacts from this dynamic moving forward? Seems like the trickle down on FICO scores may have overshadowed this dynamic in the performance.

您能否談談減少退稅對本季度業績的影響，以及預計這種動態的發展是否會產生任何揮之不去的影響？ FICO 分數的下降似乎掩蓋了業績的這種動態。

Well, the refunds were down about 7% for the year. And with the inflationary pressures that consumers are feeling, our tax refund payments were less than they had been, pre-pandemic. So there's just indications that consumers are a little tighter on cash, a little more stretched than they've been in the past. But we fully anticipated that. Not surprised at all.

嗯，今年的退款下降了約 7%。由於消費者感受到通脹壓力，我們的退稅金額比大流行前要少。因此，有跡象表明，消費者的現金比過去更加緊張，更加緊張。但我們完全預料到了這一點。一點也不驚訝。

But collections during tax time, as a percent, were lower than pre-pandemic, and that's just based on affordability and other inflationary pressures on the pocketbooks of consumers, but we're working through that. And again, charge-offs are in good shape, and we're optimistic looking forward.

但納稅期間的稅收收入百分比低於大流行前，這只是基於消費者錢包的負擔能力和其他通脹壓力，但我們正在解決這個問題。再次強調，沖銷情況良好，我們對未來持樂觀態度。

Yes. I think the flat amount collected per customer is some indication of that as well, so...

是的。我認為每個客戶收取的固定金額也說明了這一點，所以......

Our next question comes from the line of Tom [Luedtke] with [CIA].

我們的下一個問題來自湯姆 [Luedtke] 與 [CIA] 的對話。

It's (inaudible) that's an advisory. I wanted to ask if you could give us kind of a profile of the companies that have exited the market. Is this the death by a thousand lashes with everything seemingly going against the industry? With interest rates up, car prices up, labor shortages, price of everything increasing. So could -- not to pick on anyone specifically, but what has caused them to exit the market? And how do you compare and contrast that to what you're doing?

這是（聽不清）這是一個建議。我想問您是否能給我們介紹一下已經退出市場的公司的概況。難道這一切似乎都與行業背道而馳，就意味著千錘百煉嗎？隨著利率上升，汽車價格上漲，勞動力短缺，一切的價格都在上漲。也可以——不是專門針對任何人，但是什麼導致他們退出市場呢？您如何將其與您正在做的事情進行比較和對比？

Yes. I don't -- we don't know specifically what caused the exits. But the things you mentioned certainly played into it. Interest rates are much higher than they were a year ago. The cost of operating the business, especially the cost of the car, is much higher than it's been historically. And so we don't know specifically the issues with these two competitors.

是的。我不知道——我們不知道具體是什麼導致了退出。但你提到的事情確實起到了作用。利率比一年前高得多。經營業務的成本，尤其是汽車的成本，比歷史上高得多。所以我們不知道這兩個競爭對手的具體問題。

But for us, we focus on cash flows. We focus on operating efficiently at the dealership level. We focus on a very clean and strong balance sheet. We're not over levered. We have a lot of equity on the balance sheet, which is extremely important in times like these. So -- and then we've got -- over half of our business is to repeat customers, and most of that is in markets that we've been in for a very long period of time.

但對我們來說，我們關注的是現金流。我們專注於經銷商層面的高效運營。我們專注於非常乾淨和強大的資產負債表。我們沒有過度槓桿化。我們的資產負債表上有很多股本，這在這樣的時期極其重要。因此，我們超過一半的業務是回頭客，其中大部分是在我們已經涉足很長時間的市場中。

So we've got some real advantages in attracting and retaining a good solid customer base that we know well and have known well for a long time. We're improving our product offering and doing a lot of things corporately to invest in the support of consumers. And I'm not sure if other companies have the ability to go out and invest in the face of some of these challenges like we have, to not only persevere as I said earlier, but to actually be in a much stronger position by utilizing that balance sheet, investing in areas that are going to make a difference in customer success.

因此，我們在吸引和留住我們熟知且長期熟知的良好、穩固的客戶群方面擁有一些真正的優勢。我們正在改進我們的產品供應，並共同開展許多工作來投資於消費者的支持。我不確定其他公司是否有能力像我們一樣面對這些挑戰，不僅堅持下去，而且通過利用這些挑戰，實際上處於更有利的地位資產負債表，投資於能夠對客戶成功產生影響的領域。

Okay, that's helpful. The one thing I'd like to follow up with is that the people that have exited the marketplace, how long have they been in business? I mean are these people that have been in the business 5, 10 years? Or longer, 20, 30 years?

好的，這很有幫助。我想跟進的一件事是，那些退出市場的人，他們從事這個行業多久了？我的意思是這些人已經在這個行業工作了 5 年、10 年嗎？或者更長，20年、30年？

Yes. Longer than 15 years.

是的。超過15年。

And I'm showing no further questions, and I'd like to turn the conference back over to Jeff Williams for any further remarks.

我不會提出任何進一步的問題，我想將會議轉回傑夫·威廉姆斯（Jeff Williams）進行進一步的評論。

Okay. Well, again, thank you for joining us, and thanks to all of our associates making a difference every day in the lives of other associates and our customers. So thank you, and have a great day.

好的。好吧，再次感謝您加入我們，並感謝我們所有的員工每天都在為其他員工和客戶的生活帶來改變。謝謝你，祝你有美好的一天。

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。您現在可以斷開連接。