Carriage Services Inc (CSV) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day. And thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Carriage Services third-quarter 2024 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions)

再會。感謝您的支持。歡迎參加運輸服務 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。（操作員說明）

I would like now to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Steve Metzger, President. Please go ahead, sir.

現在我想將會議交給今天的發言人、主席史蒂夫·梅茨格。請繼續，先生。

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss our third-quarter results. In addition to myself, on the call this morning from management are Carlos Quezada, Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors; and Kathy Shanley, Chief Accounting Officer. On the Carriage's website, you can find our earnings press release, which was issued yesterday after the market closed.

大家早安，感謝您加入我們討論我們的第三季業績。除了我自己之外，今天早上管理階層接到電話的還有執行長兼董事會副主席 Carlos Quezada；和首席會計官凱西·尚利 (Kathy Shanley)。在 Carriage 的網站上，您可以找到我們昨天收盤後發布的收益新聞稿。

Our press release is intended to supplement our remarks this morning and include supplemental financial information including the reconciliation of differences between GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures.

我們的新聞稿旨在補充我們今天早上的言論，並包括補充財務信息，包括公認會計原則和非公認會計原則財務指標之間差異的調節。

Today's call will begin with formal remarks from Carlos and Cathy and will be followed by a question-and-answer period. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that during this call we'll make some forward-looking statements, including comments about our business, projections. and plans. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties and only reflect our views as of today.

今天的電話會議將以卡洛斯和凱西的正式演講開始，然後是問答環節。在開始之前，我想提醒大家，在這次電話會議中，我們將做出一些前瞻性聲明，包括對我們業務的評論、預測。和計劃。前瞻性陳述本質上涉及風險和不確定性，僅反映我們截至目前為止的觀點。

These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to factors identified in our earnings release as well as in our SEC filings, all of which can be found on our website.

這些風險和不確定性包括但不限於我們的收益發布以及我們的 SEC 文件中確定的因素，所有這些都可以在我們的網站上找到。

Thank you, all, for joining us this morning. And now I'd like to turn the call over to Carlos.

謝謝大家今天早上加入我們。現在我想把電話轉給卡洛斯。

Thank you, Steve, and thank you everyone for joining our third-quarter earnings call.

謝謝史蒂夫，也謝謝大家參加我們第三季的財報電話會議。

We're excited to share our continued progress driven by our three strategic objectives, which have led to another strong financial performance this quarter. But first, I want to take a moment to express my sincere appreciation to every Carriage employee for their unwavering commitment to excellence.

我們很高興與大家分享我們在三大戰略目標的推動下取得的持續進展，這些目標為本季度帶來了又一次強勁的財務業績。但首先，我想花點時間向每位 Carriage 員工表示衷心的感謝，感謝他們對卓越的堅定承諾。

Your dedication truly impacts the families we serve and drives our company forward. We deeply value your support and alignment with our shared vision, values, and purpose. In today's call, I will highlight some of our key financial metrics and provide updates on some of our key initiatives. Kathy will then cover topics such as overhead, cash flow, and the progress we have made to pay down our debt and lower our leverage ratio.

您的奉獻真正影響了我們所服務的家庭，並推動我們公司向前發展。我們非常重視您的支持以及與我們共同的願景、價值觀和目標的一致性。在今天的電話會議中，我將重點介紹我們的一些關鍵財務指標，並提供一些關鍵舉措的最新資訊。然後，凱西將討論管理費用、現金流以及我們在償還債務和降低槓桿率方面取得的進展等主題。

For the third quarter, we reported total revenue of $100.7 million, a significant increase of $10.2 million or 11.3%. This marks the third consecutive time we have surpassed the $100 million revenue mark in a single quarter driven by organic revenue growth, despite the disposition of several divestiture of non-core assets to accelerate paying down our debt.

第三季度，我們的總營收為 1.007 億美元，大幅成長 1,020 萬美元，成長 11.3%。儘管為了加速償還債務而剝離了多項非核心資產，但這標誌著我們在有機收入成長的推動下連續第三次在一個季度內突破 1 億美元的收入大關。

Our most notable growth was in preneed printed cemetery sales which increased by $4.9 million to $22.9 million, a remarkable 27.1% increase compared to the same quarter last year. This robust performance is a testament to our strategic initiatives and the dedication and focus of our team setting a promising tone for our future.

我們最顯著的成長是預需要印刷的墓園銷售額，增加了 490 萬美元，達到 2,290 萬美元，與去年同期相比成長了 27.1%。這種強勁的業績證明了我們的策略舉措以及我們團隊的奉獻精神和專注力，為我們的未來奠定了充滿希望的基調。

When breaking down revenue, we observe that while total funeral home contracts experience an expected slight decrease of only 1.2%, total funeral home operating revenue saw a positive growth of $814,000 or 1.4% to $59.3 million. This growth is primarily due to our funeral home pricing strategy, which continues to boost our funeral average revenue per contract, contributing to these results on a precontract basis by $142 or 2.6%.

在細分收入時，我們觀察到，雖然殯儀館合約總額預計僅小幅下降 1.2%，但殯儀館營業總收入卻出現 814,000 美元的正增長，即 1.4%，達到 5,930 萬美元。這一增長主要歸功於我們的殯儀館定價策略，該策略繼續提高我們每份合約的殯葬平均收入，在合約前基礎上為這些結果貢獻了 142 美元或 2.6%。

This strategy has proven effective in enhancing our financial performance and reflects our sound financial analysis, planning, and execution. Our preneed funeral sales strategy boosted general agent commissions which ended at an impressive $1.6 million or 415.4% compared to $312,000 for the same quarter last year. We continue to be excited by the ongoing success of our prearranged funeral sales strategy and its positive impact on our performance.

事實證明，這項策略在提高我們的財務表現方面是有效的，並反映了我們良好的財務分析、規劃和執行。我們預先制定的葬禮銷售策略提高了總代理佣金，最終達到令人印象深刻的 160 萬美元，即 415.4%，而去年同期為 312,000 美元。我們繼續對我們預先安排的葬禮銷售策略的持續成功及其對我們業績的積極影響感到興奮。

Turning to cemetery operating revenue, our preneed cemetery sales strategy continues to deliver outstanding performance. We closed the quarter at $33 million, up by$ 8.7 million or 35.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Total cemetery field EBIDTA came in at $15.9 million, an increase of $6.9 million or 76.9% with total cemetery field EBIDTA margin of 48.1%, an increase of 11.2 percentage points from 36.9% during the same quarter last year. These results highlight the dedication to excellence and commitment that drive our preneed cemetery sales teams to protect families through education and advanced planning.

就墓地營業收入而言，我們預先制定的墓地銷售策略持續表現出色。本季收盤價為 3,300 萬美元，比去年同期成長 870 萬美元，成長 35.7%。墓園領域 EBIDTA 總額為 1,590 萬美元，增加了 690 萬美元，即 76.9%，墓園領域 EBIDTA 總額為 48.1%，比去年同期的 36.9% 增加了 11.2 個百分點。這些結果凸顯了對卓越的奉獻和承諾，推動我們的公墓銷售團隊透過教育和先進的規劃來保護家庭。

Moving on to adjusted consolidated EBIDTA, we finished the third quarter at $30.7 million, an increase of $6.5 million or 26.7% over the prior year quarter. The higher average revenue per contract in our cost management initiatives contributed to this success as reflected in our adjusted consolidated EBIDTA margin of 30.5%, an increase of 370 basis points compared to the same quarter last year.

談到調整後的綜合 EBIDTA，我們第三季的營收為 3,070 萬美元，比去年同期增加了 650 萬美元，成長 26.7%。我們的成本管理計畫中每份​​合約的平均收入較高，這體現在我們調整後的綜合 EBIDTA 利潤率為 30.5%，與去年同期相比增加了 370 個基點。

From a GAAP perspective, net income was $9.9 million, a $5.2 million increase from the prior year. Cathy will share more details related to overhead later in the call.

從 GAAP 角度來看，淨利潤為 990 萬美元，比前一年增加 520 萬美元。Cathy 將在稍後的電話會議中分享與開銷相關的更多詳細資訊。

Our GAAP diluted EPS for the third quarter was $0.63 per share, up by $0.33 or 110% and adjusted diluted EPS for the third quarter was $0.64 per share, up by $0.31 or 93.9% versus the prior year quarter.

我們第三季的 GAAP 稀釋每股收益為 0.63 美元，比去年同期增長 0.33 美元，即 110%；調整後的第三季稀釋每股收益為 0.64 美元，比去年同期增長 0.31 美元，即 93.9%。

With the recent amendment to our credit agreement, we're all well-positioned to reduce near-term interest expense and unlock additional value for our shareholders. This marks the seventh time in the last eight quarters that we have outperformed expectations, demonstrating the long-term commitment to our focus on disciplined capital location, purposeful growth, and relentless improvement.

透過最近對我們的信貸協議的修訂，我們已經做好了減少近期利息支出並為股東釋放額外價值的準備。這標誌著我們在過去八個季度中第七次超出預期，顯示了我們對嚴格資本配置、有目的的成長和不懈改進的長期承諾。

As we look at the year through the third quarter, total revenue ended at $306.5 million, an increase of $22.8 million or 8% over the same period last year, while adjusted consolidated EBIDTA ended at $96.9 million, an increase of $16.2 million or 20.1% and adjusted consolidated EBIDTA margin of 31.6% compared to 28.5% last year, an increase of 310 basis points and adjusted delivered EPS of $2.02, an increase of $0.6 or 42.3% when compared to $1.42 during the same period last year.

綜觀全年第三季度，總營收為 3.065 億美元，比去年同期成長 2,280 萬美元，增幅為 8%；調整後合併 EBIDTA 為 9,690 萬美元，比去年同期成長 1,620 萬美元，增幅為 20.1%調整後綜合EBIDTA 利潤率為31.6%，與去年同期的28.5% 相比，增加了310 個基點；調整後交付每股收益為2.02 美元，與去年同期的1.42 美元相比增加了0.6 美元，即42.3% 。

As it relates to GAAP, net income was $23.1 million, an increase of $1.3 million or 6.1%. And GAAP diluted EPS was $1.48 per share, an increase of $0.09 or 6.5%. We are proud of these results. And after reviewing our key operational metrics and forecast, we are raising our 2024 guidance.

根據 GAAP 計算，淨利潤為 2,310 萬美元，增加 130 萬美元，即 6.1%。GAAP 攤薄後每股收益為 1.48 美元，成長 0.09 美元，即 6.5%。我們對這些結果感到自豪。在審查了我們的關鍵營運指標和預測後，我們正在提高 2024 年的指導。

We now expect to finish the year with total revenue in the range of $395million to $405 million, adjusted consolidated EBIDTA of $120 million to $125 million, and adjusted diluted EPS of $2.45 to $2.55. Adjusted free cash flow guidance will remain at $55 million to $65 million. Kathy will provide more details related to our revised guidance.

目前，我們預計今年的總營收將在 3.95 億美元至 4.05 億美元之間，調整後的綜合 EBIDTA 為 1.2 億美元至 1.25 億美元，調整後的攤薄每股收益為 2.45 美元至 2.55 美元。調整後的自由現金流指引將維持在 5,500 萬至 6,500 萬美元。凱西將提供與我們修訂後的指南相關的更多詳細資訊。

We are full steam ahead and fully committed to our strategic objectives while we continue to identify new ways to enhance our performance, creating long-term value for our shareholders. As part of this commitment, our competitive request for proposal process for urns and caskets is currently underway, marking an important milestone in our broader supply chain strategy. Our recent meetings with partner vendors were highly productive as we focus on refining our merchandise options and selling strategy to serve our clients better and enhance their experience.

我們全速前進並完全致力於我們的策略目標，同時我們繼續尋找新的方法來提高我們的業績，為股東創造長期價值。作為這項承諾的一部分，我們對骨灰盒和棺材的競爭性徵求建議流程目前正在進行中，這標誌著我們更廣泛的供應鏈策略的一個重要里程碑。我們最近與合作夥伴供應商的會議非常富有成效，因為我們專注於完善我們的商品選擇和銷售策略，以更好地為客戶服務並增強他們的體驗。

These initiatives are prime examples of our ongoing commitment to continuous improvement. They are designed to leverage our scale, leading to greater financial benefits that we expect to materialize in 2025. There's more to come from our supply chain strategy as we continue to identify both near-term and long-term opportunities.

這些措施是我們持續致力於持續改善的典型例子。它們旨在利用我們的規模，帶來我們預計在 2025 年實現的更大財務效益。隨著我們繼續尋找短期和長期機會，我們的供應鏈策略也將帶來更多成果。

Lastly, the search for a Chief Financial Officer continues with deliberate care. This continues to be a thoughtful and detailed process during which we have seen several talented candidates. However, the search remains ongoing. We're committed to finding the ideal strategic partner with the right skills and experience that aligns with our values, culture, and long-term vision.

最後，財務長的尋找工作仍在謹慎進行。這仍然是一個深思熟慮和詳細的過程，在此過程中我們看到了幾個才華橫溢的候選人。然而，搜索仍在繼續。我們致力於尋找具有與我們的價值觀、文化和長期願景一致的適當技能和經驗的理想策略夥伴。

This is a critical role for Carriage future growth, and we are determined to make the right choice to ensure we have a leader who can help drive our financial success forward. We look forward to providing additional updates as we identify the best person for this critical position.

這是 Carriage 未來發展的關鍵角色，我們決心做出正確的選擇，以確保我們擁有一位能夠幫助推動我們財務成功的領導者。當我們確定這一關鍵職位的最佳人選時，我們期待提供更多最新資訊。

Over the past two years, we have focused on building a strong foundation of Carriage, grounded in our values and centered around our three core strategic objectives: disciplined capital allocation, relentless improvement, and purposeful growth. These efforts align closely with our purpose of creating premier experiences through innovation, empower partnerships, and elevated service.

在過去的兩年裡，我們專注於為 Carriage 打下堅實的基礎，以我們的價值觀為基礎，並圍繞我們的三個核心戰略目標：嚴格的資本配置、不懈的改進和有目的的增長。這些努力與我們透過創新、增強合作夥伴關係和提升服務創造一流體驗的宗旨密切相關。

We are very proud of our significant progress. Our strong third-quarter and year-to-date financial performance represents the hard work of many talented individuals driving these efforts. And while we still have many opportunities in front of us, there is a clear sense of excitement across the Carriage organization regarding what is to come on this journey.

我們對我們所取得的重大進展感到非常自豪。我們強勁的第三季和年初至今的財務表現代表了許多有才華的人士推動這些努力的辛勤工作。儘管我們面前仍然有很多機會，但整個 Carriage 組織對這段旅程中即將發生的事情感到非常興奮。

Thank you. And with that, I will hand it over to Kathy.

謝謝。這樣，我就把它交給凱西。

Thank you, Carlos, and thank you to everyone joining us today.

謝謝你，卡洛斯，也謝謝今天加入我們的所有人。

As Carlos highlighted in his remarks, we increased our full-year guidance, given our continued strong performance for several quarters. I will start by providing the cash flow and overhead highlights for the quarter and then talk about what we can expect for the remainder of the year.

正如卡洛斯在演講中所強調的那樣，鑑於我們連續幾個季度的強勁表現，我們提高了全年指導。我將首先提供本季的現金流量和管理費用亮點，然後討論我們對今年剩餘時間的預期。

Q3 2024 results included cash provided by operating activities for Q3 2024 was $20.8 million, which was down $1.9 million from the prior year quarter of $22.7 million. Adjusted free cash flow for Q3 2024 was $20 million, which was down $1.4 million from the prior year quarter of $21.4 million, primarily driven by the company's shift and revenue mix towards preneed cemetery sales which have a slower cash conversion cycle and $813,000 of expense coming from Trinity.

2024 年第三季業績包括 2024 年第三季經營活動提供的現金為 2,080 萬美元，比去年同期的 2,270 萬美元減少 190 萬美元。2024 年第三季調整後的自由現金流為2,000 萬美元，比上年同期的2,140 萬美元減少了140 萬美元，這主要是由於公司向預需要墓地銷售的轉變和收入組合推動的，該銷售的現金轉換週期較慢，即將產生813,000 美元的費用來自三一。

We paid $15 million towards our outstanding debt this quarter as we continue to drive down our leverage ratio, which is now at 4.3 times, down from 5.3 times at Q3 of 2023. This reduction in leverage illustrates our commitment to disciplined capital allocation, along with the impact of our strong performance. We experienced a reduction in interest expense for the quarter of $1.2 million as a result of a more favorable fee schedule provided by the amendment to our credit agreement and our continued focus on reducing our debt.

本季我們支付了 1500 萬美元的未償債務，因為我們繼續降低槓桿率，槓桿率目前為 4.3 倍，低於 2023 年第三季的 5.3 倍。槓桿率的降低反映了我們對嚴格資本配置的承諾，以及我們強勁業績的影響。由於信貸協議修訂提供了更優惠的費用表以及我們繼續致力於減少債務，本季利息支出減少了 120 萬美元。

Turning to our progress as it relates to capital expenditures, year to date, we have invested $6.7 million for growth CapEx, $5 million for maintenance CapEx, and $2.2 million for Trinity.

談到我們在資本支出方面的進展，今年迄今為止，我們已投資 670 萬美元用於成長資本支出，500 萬美元用於維護資本支出，以及 220 萬美元用於 Trinity。

Now shifting to overhead, overhead was $14.2 million for the quarter versus $12.8 million in the prior year quarter, resulting in just over a $1.3 million increase in overhead. The overhead variance was driven by $813,000 relating to Project Trinity costs as we prepare for our exciting implementation of this new ERP and customer experience platform early next year and $400,000 of accrued expense for leadership and development opportunities as we focus on the continued education of our team to ensure the successful implementation of our various initiatives. Overhead as a percentage of revenue was 14.1% for the third quarter of 2024, which is down 10 basis points from the prior year quarter of 14.2%. If you exclude costs associated with Project Trinity, overhead as a percent of revenue was 13.1% versus 14% in the prior year quarter, which is within our previously communicated range.

現在轉向管理費用，本季管理費用為 1,420 萬美元，而去年同期為 1,280 萬美元，導致管理費用增加略高於 130 萬美元。間接費用差異的原因是與Project Trinity 成本相關的813,000 美元，因為我們為明年初令人興奮地實施這個新的ERP 和客戶體驗平台做準備，以及400,000 美元的領導力和發展機會應計費用，因為我們專注於團隊的持續教育確保我們各項措施的成功實施。2024 年第三季管理費用佔營收的百分比為 14.1%，比去年同期的 14.2% 下降 10 個基點。如果排除與 Project Trinity 相關的成本，管理費用佔收入的百分比為 13.1%，而去年同期為 14%，這在我們先前通報的範圍內。

Now let's shift to what we can expect for the remainder of the year. Although we have increased our revenue guidance as we continue to grow our businesses organically, the growth is projected to be primarily driven by preneed cemetery sales which are collected over time. Additionally, the timing of certain payments for taxes, interest, and an additional payroll will also impact our adjusted free cash flow. For these reasons, adjusted free cash flow for the year will remain within the range of $55 million to $65 million.

現在讓我們轉向今年剩餘時間的預期。儘管隨著業務的不斷發展，我們提高了收入指引，但預計成長將主要由隨時間推移收集的預需墓地銷售推動。此外，某些稅費、利息和額外工資的支付時間也會影響我們調整後的自由現金流。由於這些原因，今年調整後的自由現金流將保持在 5,500 萬美元至 6,500 萬美元的範圍內。

For the full year, we expect to spend about $7 million for growth CapEx, $8 million for maintenance CapEx, and $3 million for Trinity or roughly $18 million, which is slightly lower than our initial expectation of $20 million. For overhead, as we continue to focus on our strategic objectives, we expect to experience slightly elevated overhead costs driven by Trinity. However, in the long term, as previously communicated, we anticipate overhead efficiencies after implementation is complete and in connection with other internal initiatives. For the full year, we expect adjusted overhead to finish within the 13% to 14% of revenue, which is within our expected range.

全年，我們預計成長資本支出約為 700 萬美元，維護資本支出為 800 萬美元，Trinity 支出為 300 萬美元，約 1,800 萬美元，略低於我們最初預期的 2,000 萬美元。對於管理費用，隨著我們繼續專注於我們的策略目標，我們預計在三位一體的推動下管理費用將略有上升。然而，從長遠來看，正如之前所傳達的，我們預計實施完成後並與其他內部計劃結合起來會產生間接費用效率。對於全年，我們預計調整後的管理費用將佔收入的 13% 至 14%，這在我們的預期範圍內。

We expect the leverage ratio to end the year in the 4.3 times to 4.6 times range, primarily due to the timing of our bond interest payment, cash tax payment, and the extra pay period previously mentioned. We expect to see a reduction in interest expense of approximately $1 million to $1.5 million in Q4 2024 as a result of a more favorable fee schedule provided by the amendment to our credit agreement and our continued focus on paying down our debt.

我們預計年底槓桿率將在 4.3 倍至 4.6 倍範圍內，主要是由於我們的債券利息支付、現金稅支付以及前面提到的額外支付期的時間安排。由於我們的信貸協議修訂提供了更優惠的費用表以及我們繼續專注於償還債務，我們預計 2024 年第四季的利息支出將減少約 100 萬至 150 萬美元。

That concludes my prepared remarks. And I will turn it back over to the operator to open it up for questions.

我準備好的發言就到此結束。我會將其轉回給接線員以供提問。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Alex Paris, Barrington Research.

亞歷克斯·帕里斯，巴靈頓研究中心。

Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions and congratulations on the beat and raise in the quarter.

大家早安。感謝您提出問題，並祝賀本季的進展和加薪。

Thanks very much, Alex.

非常感謝，亞歷克斯。

First off, I wanted to talk about the guidance. You had a super strong Q3 and you raised full-year guidance. Given the results year to date and the updated guidance, consensus Q4 estimates at the midpoint will need to come down a bit again at the midpoint. Couple of questions.

首先，我想談談指導。您的第三季表現非常強勁，並且提高了全年指導。考慮到今年迄今的結果和更新後的指引，第四季度中點的共識預測將需要再次下調。有幾個問題。

Why would revenue be down sequentially in the fourth quarter? Did Q3 borrow something from Q4 perhaps related to preneed? I suspect. Number two, what are the underlying assumptions for the balance of the year? And then three, what would it take to be at the high end of the updated range? Because the revenue range is about $10 million, the EBITDA range is about $5 million, and the adjusted EPS range is about $0.10. So everything I just said was based on the midpoint. But what would it take to be at the high end?

為什麼第四季營收會季減？Q3 是否從 Q4 借用了一些可能與 prene 有關的內容？我懷疑。第二，今年剩餘時間的基本假設是什麼？第三，要達到更新範圍的高端需要什麼？由於收入範圍約為 1000 萬美元，因此 EBITDA 範圍約為 500 萬美元，調整後的 EPS 範圍約為 0.10 美元。所以我剛才所說的一切都是基於中點。但要怎麼達到高端呢？

Well, that's a great question, Alex. I appreciate it. When you think about where we are, the third quarter, as you know, it's always been the lowest quarter of every year when you have a normalized and seasonalized year. I thought that would be the case.

嗯，這是一個很好的問題，亞歷克斯。我很感激。當你想到我們所處的位置時，如你所知，第三季度始終是每年正常化和季節性化的年份中最低的季度。我以為會是這樣。

We had a few surprises on the third quarter, which includes large sales above our expectations from preneed cemetery. And so as we were forecasting the fourth quarter and we're pretty close, we, of course, got the October in the books and we know what that's looking like. We wanted to be very cautious and optimistic about -- elections are coming up just a couple of months, economic data coming up. You hear news about discretionary spending being decreasing, and we wanted to keep it somewhat within the -- well, we wanted to increase our outlook, keep it within reasonably expecting of achievement range.

第三季我們遇到了一些驚喜，其中包括預需要墓地的大量銷售超出了我們的預期。因此，當我們預測第四季時，我們已經非常接近了，當然，我們已經在書中預測了 10 月的情況，我們知道那會是什麼樣子。我們希望對即將到來的選舉和經濟數據保持非常謹慎和樂觀。你聽到有關可自由支配支出正在減少的消息，我們希望將其保持在——嗯，我們希望提高我們的前景，將其保持在合理預期的成就範圍內。

As it relates to what it takes to get to the higher end of our outlook, I truly believe that's really where we're going to be end up at the end of the day. We could have tightened a little bit more of the range. We just wanted to keep it somewhat consistent. But our expectation is to be more on the higher side of the range than the middle point.

因為它關係到我們要達到更高的目標，所以我堅信這就是我們最終要達到的目標。我們本來可以把範圍收緊一點。我們只是想讓它保持一致。但我們的預期是更多地處於該範圍的較高側而不是中間點。

That's great. Thank you for that. And if you were at the higher end, fourth-quarter revenue would not necessarily be a sequential line -- sequential decline. It would be flattish sequentially.

那太棒了。謝謝你。如果你處於高端，第四季的收入不一定是連續的——連續下降。順序會很平坦。

So second question-related, what were the monthly trends in Q3, particularly on the funeral side? I know cemetery has been going gangbusters here. But what would it -- look, last quarter, for example, you had said that July volumes, the first month of the third quarter, were up slightly but you still expected it to be down for the full quarter. So same question. What was the trend in volumes in funeral during Q3? And then, since October is in the books, what does October look like?

與第二個問題相關的是，第三季的每月趨勢是什麼，特別是在葬禮方面？我知道這裡的墓地一直很熱門。但會怎樣——例如，上個季度，您曾說過 7 月份（第三季度的第一個月）銷量略有上升，但您仍然預計整個季度會下降。同樣的問題。第三季葬禮數量的趨勢如何？那麼，既然書裡有十月，那十月又是什麼樣子呢？

Yeah, that's another great question. So we continue to see -- as you remember, at the beginning of the year, our expectation was to have a declining -- decline of volume from a comparable perspective due to the pull forward effect from COVID. And that has been the case from Q1, Q2, and naturally Q3, Q3 being the lowest decline that we have seen for this year at 1.2% on total contract volume. However, you could see that same trend -- July, August, and September. But October picked up a little bit more on the decline. So that's one of the reasons why we also wanted to be cautious. Not too much, but enough to decide to not extend the range too much and to keep the numbers as tight as we could.

是的，這是另一個很好的問題。因此，我們繼續看到——正如你所記得的，在今年年初，我們的預期是，由於新冠疫情的拉動效應，從可比較的角度來看，交易量會下降。第一季、第二季和第三季都是如此，第三季是我們今年看到的最低降幅，總合約量下降了 1.2%。然而，您可以看到同樣的趨勢——七月、八月和九月。但十月的跌幅有所回升。這就是我們也想保持謹慎的原因之一。不是太多，但足以決定不將範圍擴大太多，並盡可能保持數量緊張。

We don't expect -- it's a little off honestly on October to have like a 2.5% on decline. However, there is two businesses we closed down, right? We closed down a cremation business out of Bakersfield. So that from a comparison perspective, you see that volume going away. And then we have a business in Buffalo, New York, that we also showed that the building. That building was not providing the business that we required. It was not really giving any positive EBIDTA. And so actually, we got some savings while the volume is negative. So not too concerned about that, to be honestly with you. And we continue to be very optimistic about being more a normalized year through 2025.

老實說，我們並不認為 10 月會出現 2.5% 的下降。但是，我們有兩家企業倒閉了，對嗎？我們關閉了貝克斯菲爾德的一家火葬場。因此，從比較的角度來看，您會看到該數量正在消失。然後我們在紐約州布法羅有一家企業，我們也展示了這棟建築。那棟大樓沒有提供我們所需的業務。它並沒有真正帶來任何積極的 EBIDTA。事實上，當交易量為負數時，我們節省了一些錢。所以說實話，我不太在意這個。我們仍然對 2025 年成為更正常化的一年持非常樂觀的態度。

Got you. And then a related question to the shutdowns that you just talked about, on the Q2 conference call, you had already closed a couple of divestitures for around $11 million in proceeds. You talked about some excess real estate that that could be sold as well. That doesn't have any EBITDA associated with it. And then in total, this might have been on the Q&A, you had the opportunity to get to $20 million to $30 million in relatively -- with a relatively minor impact on EBIDTA. Wondering did you close any other divestitures in the third quarter? And what are your expectations for the balance of the year?

明白你了。然後是與您剛才談到的關閉相關的問題，在第二季度的電話會議上，您已經完成了幾項資產剝離，收益約為 1100 萬美元。您談到了一些多餘的房地產也可以出售。這沒有任何與之相關的 EBITDA。總的來說，這可能是在問答環節，你有機會獲得相對 2000 萬到 3000 萬美元的資金，對 EBIDTA 的影響相對較小。想知道您在第三季是否完成了任何其他資產剝離？您對今年剩下的時間有何期望？

Hey. Good morning, Alex. This is Steve. So we did close a real estate-focused transaction in Q3 and we have a couple of opportunities here in Q4. So the previously communicated range of $20 million to $30 million, we're still on target for that. And I think at the end of the day when we're looking at total EBIDTA that we give up with these transactions for full year '24, it's around probably $3.5 million and we do anticipate the proceeds to be on the high end of the $20 million to $30 million range.

嘿。早安，亞歷克斯。這是史蒂夫。因此，我們確實在第三季度完成了一項以房地產為重點的交易，並且在第四季度我們有一些機會。因此，先前傳達的 2000 萬至 3000 萬美元的範圍，我們仍然處於目標之中。我認為最終，當我們考慮 24 年全年這些交易所放棄的 EBIDTA 總額時，它可能約為 350 萬美元，我們預計收益將達到 20 美元的高端百萬到三千萬美元不等。

Great. And that $20million to $30 million range you expect -- at the high end, do you expect to complete that in 2024?

偉大的。您期望的 2000 萬至 3000 萬美元範圍——在高端，您預計在 2024 年完成嗎？

Hello?

你好？

Yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah, we do. We expect to close them in 2024.

是的，對不起。是的，我們願意。我們預計將於 2024 年關閉它們。

Great. And then last question. It seems to me you're a little ahead of schedule in your debt reduction. You had previously communicated a year-end target of 4.50 to 4.75 times. And now you're saying 4.3 to 4.6 by year end. To what do you attribute that to, first off? And second off, when would you think you'd become more engaged in the M&A market?

偉大的。然後是最後一個問題。在我看來，你們的債務減免有點提前了。你們之前傳達的年終目標是4.50至4.75倍。現在你說年底時會達到 4.3 到 4.6。首先，您將其歸因於什麼？其次，您認為您什麼時候會更參與併購市場？

Thank you. Thanks again for that question, Alex. It's a very good question. So yeah, we're a little bit ahead of where we thought we would be. We have been able -- our approach to disciplined capital location has been some very significant successful results. As a consequence to that, we have been able to allocate more cash to paying down our debt. And of course, the amendment provided a much better result than expected as well.

謝謝。再次感謝你提出這個問題，亞歷克斯。這是一個非常好的問題。所以，是的，我們比我們想像的要領先一些。我們已經能夠－我們嚴格的資本配置方法已經取得了一些非常重大的成功成果。因此，我們能夠分配更多現金來償還債務。當然，修正案也提供了比預期好得多的結果。

And please don't forget that what we also did through the amendment, as we reported on Q2, was the alignment between the adjusted numbers from the strategic review process and fees that -- not fees but separation agreement out in the first quarter of 2024. So that alignment also allows to have a full financial leverage calculation ratio with the bank leverage calculation ratio. And so that decrease those numbers as well. So that's why it feels a little bit ahead than we expected.

請不要忘記，正如我們在第二季度報告的那樣，我們也透過修正案所做的是策略審查流程中調整後的數字與費用之間的一致性，這些費用不是費用，而是2024 年第一季度製定的離職協議。因此，這種一致性也允許擁有完整的財務槓桿計算比率與銀行槓桿計算比率。因此這些數字也會減少。這就是為什麼感覺比我們預期的要提前一些。

We do believe we will continue to be other than the Q4 for the timing of those payments that we have to do with our bond and interest deals, the extra payroll, and tax payments. We truly believe we will continue to accelerate paying down our debt, especially as we close the divestitures that Steve just mentioned by the end of the quarter, we should be able to be in a very good spot as we kick off 2025.

我們確實相信，在與債券和利息交易、額外工資和納稅有關的付款時間上，我們將繼續與第四季度不同。我們堅信，我們將繼續加速償還債務，特別是當我們在本季末完成史蒂夫剛剛提到的資產剝離時，我們應該能夠在 2025 年開始時處於一個非常好的位置。

Our expectation, and we have verbally heard the support from the banks that we will be able to go back to full M&A shape in 2025. So that's our goal and that's the expectation.

我們的期望，並且我們已經口頭聽到銀行的支持，我們將能夠在 2025 年恢復全面的併購狀態。這就是我們的目標，也是我們的期望。

John Franzreb, Sidoti & Company.

約翰‧弗蘭茲雷布 (John Franzreb)，西多蒂公司 (Sidoti & Company)。

Good morning, everyone, and thanks for taking the questions.

大家早安，感謝您提出問題。

I would like to go back to the preneed cemetery sales. I understand you collect some of the revenue over time and I'm assuming some upfront. Should we be thinking about that business at an elevated level? Are the changes that you made there sustainable, so that that it can continue with this kind of a revenue run rate? Or is that an anomaly that we've seen in the last two quarters?

我想回到之前的墓園銷售。據我所知，隨著時間的推移，您會收取一些收入，並且我假設有一些預付款。我們是否應該在更高的層面上思考這項業務？您在那裡所做的改變是否可持續，以便能夠以這種收入運行率繼續下去？或者這是我們在過去兩個季度看到的異常情況？

Well, so good morning, John. When you think about when we started with cemetery preneed sales, that was back second half really of 2020, we put the structure, created the compensation plans, got the recruiting going, and we really kick off our cemetery preneed strategy in 2021. It has been an evolution of performance through every -- quarter to quarter since then.

嗯，早上好，約翰。當你想到我們開始進行墓地預售銷售時，那是在 2020 年下半年，我們制定了結構，制定了薪酬計劃，進行了招聘，並在 2021 年真正啟動了墓地預售戰略。從那時起，每季的業績都在不斷演變。

What has happened since 2024, now we have more than 2.5 years of CRM that is working better than -- and we're still working on tweaking a few things. All of it is new when it comes to preneed cemetery sales at Carriage but it's working better than before. Marketing is doing an incredible job, generating leads that are now more efficient, more firm than ever before.

自 2024 年以來發生的情況，現在我們的 CRM 已經運行超過 2.5 年了，而且我們仍在努力調整一些東西。對於馬車的墓地銷售來說，所有這些都是新的，但效果比以前更好。行銷正在做著令人難以置信的工作，現在比以往任何時候都更有效率、更堅定地產生潛在客戶。

And of course, Shane Pudenz, our Senior Vice President of Cemetery and -- Cemetery Sales and Marketing, I'm sorry, continues to recruit the right people. We've made some changes. If you go back to our announcement in last summer -- not last summer but the summer of 2023, we have some overhead challenges and leadership challenges in some cemeteries.

當然，很抱歉，我們的公墓和公墓銷售與行銷高級副總裁謝恩·普登茲（Shane Pudenz）繼續招募合適的人才。我們做了一些改變。如果你回顧我們去年夏天的公告——不是去年夏天，而是在 2023 年夏天，我們在一些墓地面臨著一些管理挑戰和領導力挑戰。

Since then, we have been able to recruit all the right leaders in the right cemeteries, all the right customers and provide the training, the lead generation, and of course, the programs to sustain sales. We believe the growth we have received this year is sustainable from the point of view that we'll continue to grow, maybe not at the same rate. Keep in mind that since Carriage is somewhat new on the preneed cemetery world, we had a lot to capture from. I do think we will continue to grow, and I've always been talking about low-double digits, so between 10% to 20% on a year-on-year basis over the next probably four to five years. And that has been true for -- since we started.

從那時起，我們已經能夠在合適的墓地招募所有合適的領導者、所有合適的客戶，並提供培訓、潛在客戶開發，當然還有維持銷售的計劃。我們相信，從我們將繼續成長的角度來看，今年的成長是可持續的，但可能不會以同樣的速度成長。請記住，由於馬車對於即將到來的墓地世界來說有點新，所以我們有很多東西可以捕捉。我確實認為我們將繼續成長，而且我一直在談論低兩位數的成長，因此在接下來的四到五年內，年成長將在 10% 到 20% 之間。自從我們成立以來，情況一直如此。

Impressive number, Carlos. It's very impressive.

令人印象深刻的數字，卡洛斯。這是非常令人印象深刻的。

And then when we think about the sequential outlook in the quarter, that was pointed out, it's kind of muted relative to historical patterns, where it's typically the start of the winter and maybe more seasonality kicks in. Is there any reason that you see that not playing out other than the anomaly that you said that October was?

然後，當我們考慮本季的連續前景時，有人指出，相對於歷史模式，它有點溫和，通常是冬季的開始，可能會出現更多的季節性因素。除了您所說的 10 月份的異常情況之外，您認為這種情況沒有發生還有什麼原因嗎？

No, I do think there will be seasonality in 2025. I think, depending on the winter for Q4, what happens with that. And it's been interesting to see how in some areas the winter starts late; in some other, starts early. So that's very difficult to predict. However, at the end of the day, once you put all the fourth quarter together, we end up being somewhere around the same trends. And so I continue to expect first quarter of the year being the highest quarter, fourth quarter being the second highest quarter for a full year, second quarter being the third, and third quarter being the fourth. This sort of quarter is really an exception because of the large sales I mentioned, but I do expect to have a normalized seasonality in 2025.

不，我確實認為 2025 年將會出現季節性。我認為，這取決於第四季度的冬季，會發生什麼。有趣的是，有些地區的冬天來得較晚。在其他一些方面，則很早就開始了。所以這很難預測。然而，歸根結底，一旦你把第四季的所有數據放在一起，我們最終就會處於相同的趨勢。因此，我仍然預計今年第一季是全年最高的季度，第四季是全年第二高的季度，第二季度是第三季度，第三季度是第四季度。由於我提到的銷售額很大，這個季度確實是一個例外，但我確實預計 2025 年會出現正常化的季節性。

Fair enough. And you highlighted the contract volume was down 1.2%. Do you think that when we start to hit the fourth quarter that we've anniversaried all the COVID impacts?

很公平。您強調合約量下降了 1.2%。您認為當我們開始進入第四季度時，我們是否已經度過了所有新冠疫情影響的周年紀念日？

I think we'll experience a decline in the fourth quarter, maybe not aligned to the 1.2% in the third quarter. I'm hoping that it is less. But it's also for us a little bit more analytical than just the pull forward effect because we're in the process of reviewing pricing throughout the funeral homes. And this is a quarterly meeting that happens. I shared some of that in our last call and what happens is that we're improving pricing by evaluating through a data, if that's the right pricing for that specific business in that specific community and with the competition around it and based on our market share gains or losses.

我認為我們將在第四季度經歷下降，可能與第三季的 1.2% 不一致。我希望它能少一些。但對我們來說，這也比前拉效應更具分析性，因為我們正在審查整個殯儀館的定價。這是每季舉行的一次會議。我在上次電話會議中分享了其中的一些內容，所發生的情況是，我們正在透過數據評估來改進定價，這是否適合該特定社區中的特定業務以及周圍的競爭並基於我們的市場份額收益或損失。

And so we're adjusting, right? In some cases, we increase prices. In some cases, we leave the price flat. In some cases, we decrease price because we may be losing volume. So some of those, volume losses may be blended within the pull forward effect as we continue to adjust and maximize and find the perfect balance between price and volume growth.

所以我們正在調整，對嗎？在某些情況下，我們會提高價格。在某些情況下，我們會保持價格不變。在某些情況下，我們會降低價格，因為數量可能會減少。因此，隨著我們繼續調整和最大化並找到價格和銷售成長之間的完美平衡，其中一些銷售損失可能會混合在前拉效應中。

Now we're focusing on more volume growth and pricing because I believe we've been able to do some pretty significant progress in getting the price to where it's absorbing most of the inflationary cost we have experienced over the last probably two years. And so now, it's business by business, making sure that we're not leaving any family behind that we were able to keep those families and continue to grow market share business by business.

現在我們專注於更多的銷售成長和定價，因為我相信我們已經能夠取得一些相當重大的進展，使價格達到吸收我們在過去可能兩年中經歷的大部分通膨成本的水平。所以現在，我們要逐一開展業務，確保我們不會丟下任何一個家庭，這樣我們才能留住這些家庭，並繼續逐一業務地擴大市場份額。

Okay. And one last question, I will get back into queue. It's something that Kathy said that that caught my attention about overhead cost being 13% to 14%. I guess, two things about it. Is that a full-year number or fourth-quarter number? And is that a GAAP -- on a GAAP basis on an adjusted basis?

好的。最後一個問題，我將回到隊列中。凱西說的這件事引起了我的注意，管理費用為 13% 到 14%。我想，有兩件事。這是全年數字還是第四季數字？這是根據公認會計原則（GAAP）－根據調整後的公認會計原則（GAAP）嗎？

I would say it's on an adjusted basis. We are taking out the unique items, more specifically with regard to Trinity, and what we're looking for is a more normalized 13% to 14% in 2025.

我想說的是，這是經過調整的。我們正在剔除獨特的項目，更具體地說是關於 Trinity 的項目，我們希望在 2025 年實現更加標準化的 13% 至 14%。

Okay. Thank you for clearing that for me.

好的。謝謝你幫我解決了這個問題。

Okay. And John, just to add --

好的。約翰，補充一下--

Yes, sir.

是的，先生。

I'll just add on that. We -- our purpose statement in the three strategic objectives, call for a few additional positions, right? We created a continuous improvement department within Carriage. We created a supply chain department. And when I say department, it's really one person in each one of these. So we created supply chain, and we're really, really -- and customer care. I apologize for that. I skipped that one.

我就補充一下。我們在三個策略目標中的目的聲明要求增加一些職位，對嗎？我們在 Carriage 內部創建了一個持續改進部門。我們創建了供應鏈部門。當我說部門時，實際上每個部門都有一個人。所以我們創建了供應鏈，我們真的非常非常關心客戶。我對此表示歉意。我跳過了那個。

So there's an additional overhead compared to what we had in 2023. But you could see on the results that the focus on experience, the focus on improvement, the focus on growing with purpose. And showing organic growth in this industry is not easy. It's quite challenging. And we've been able to show that we can. It is a result of some of those additional team members, and of course, the focus that everybody else at Carriage has in making this happen.

因此，與 2023 年相比，還有額外的開銷。但你可以從結果中看到，注重經驗、專注改進、注重有目標的成長。在這個行業實現有機成長並不容易。這是相當具有挑戰性的。我們已經能夠證明我們可以。這是其中一些額外團隊成員的結果，當然，還有 Carriage 的其他每個人都致力於實現這一目標。

Liam Burke, B. Riley.

利亞姆·伯克，B.萊利。

Thank you. Good morning, Carlos. Good morning, Steve, and Kathy.

謝謝。早安，卡洛斯。早上好，史蒂夫和凱西。

Can we go back to funeral home and margins? There are a couple of things in your discussion both in the Q&A and prepared statements in terms of working with vendors to get down costs or to -- and also your pricing strategy being market specific and where you sit in terms of volumes. Could you give me a sense is using this quarter's EBIDTA margin of 37% as a benchmark? Do you think you can move off up from that level or is this just to maintain the steady state of the high-30%s EBIDTA?

我們可以回到殯儀館和邊緣嗎？在問答和準備好的聲明中，您討論了一些內容，包括與供應商合作降低成本，以及您針對特定市場的定價策略以及您在銷售方面的情況。您能否以本季 37% 的 EBIDTA 利潤率為基準給我一個感覺？您認為您可以從該水平上調，還是只是為了維持 30% 的高 EBIDTA 的穩定狀態？

That's a great question, Liam. When you think about the Carriage model has always been very decentralized, right? And will continue to be somewhat decentralized, but more to a central-led operation, especially as it relates to supply chain. And while we're not going to be choosing the vendor for each one of the businesses, we are creating agreements that are beneficial -- more beneficial than ever before between the largest vendors of caskets and urns across the United States.

這是一個很好的問題，利亞姆。當你想到運輸模式一直都是非常去中心化的，對吧？並將繼續保持一定程度的分散化，但更多的是中央主導的運作，特別是與供應鏈相關的運作。雖然我們不會為每項業務選擇供應商，但我們正在美國最大的棺材和骨灰盒供應商之間制定有益的協議——比以往任何時候都更有利。

When we did our analysis, we realized that, that provides a significant opportunity to expand our margins but not just focus on expanding the margins. It is also a focused on generating more volume by making sure we provide better pricing to those families and, and keep those families in our funeral homes.

當我們進行分析時，我們意識到，這為擴大我們的利潤提供了重要的機會，但不僅僅是專注於擴大利潤。它還致力於透過確保我們為這些家庭提供更好的價格並將這些家庭留在我們的殯儀館來產生更多的數量。

And so it's not just about expanding the margins, it's also about what tools can we create to maximize the number of people that visit our businesses in each one of the markets. And so I wouldn't commit yet to say this is something to expand, our current funeral home margins. But I would say that the margins we have today are -- on the funeral home side are within a range of sustainability for 2025.

因此，這不僅僅是擴大利潤，還涉及我們可以創建哪些工具來最大限度地增加每個市場中訪問我們企業的人數。因此，我還不會承諾說這是擴大我們目前殯儀館利潤的事情。但我想說，殯儀館方面，我們今天的利潤處於 2025 年可持續發展的範圍內。

Great. Thank you, Carlos. And just going back to preneed, is this a function of a larger sale of -- the growth in the preneed sales, is this a function of a larger salesforce or a more productive salesforce?

偉大的。謝謝你，卡洛斯。回到預需要，這是更大的銷售的函數 - 預需要銷售的成長，這是更大的銷售隊伍或更高效的銷售隊伍的函數嗎？

It's a function of three things, both of which you mentioned. So it is a larger salesforce. It is a more efficient and productive salesforce. But we also have two off cycle or not normal large sales. For us, large sales are not as big as other competitors. But we did have almost $1.5 million sale in one cemetery, and this is probably the largest sale the cemetery ever had. And we had another one in another cemetery of $400,000. So combined, that is just shy of $2 million.

這是你提到的三件事的函數。所以這是一個更大的銷售團隊。這是一支效率更高、生產力更高的銷售團隊。但我們也有兩次非週期或不正常的大額銷售。對我們來說，大銷量並不像其他競爭對手那麼大。但我們確實在一個墓地進行了近 150 萬美元的拍賣，這可能是該墓地有史以來最大的一筆拍賣。我們在另一個墓園裡又建了一處價值 40 萬美元的墓地。加起來，不到 200 萬美元。

So $2 million are pretty much not normal and difficult to repeat or predict from a large sale perspective. We do have a very strong strategy for large sales within the range of, let's call it, $100,000 to $0.5 million. But when you go about the $0.5 million, it's more challenging to say we're going to be able to repeat that.

因此，從大銷售的角度來看，200 萬美元幾乎不正常，也很難重複或預測。我們確實有一個非常強大的大額銷售策略，我們稱之為 10 萬美元到 50 萬美元。但當你談到 50 萬美元時，說我們能夠重複這一點就更具挑戰性了。

That's one of the reasons why the strength of the performance of the cemetery sales teams in the third quarter came out that impressive. And so just keep that in mind for your numbers.

這就是為什麼第三季墓地銷售團隊的表現令人印象深刻的原因之一。因此，請記住您的數字。

George Kelly, Roth Capital Partners.

喬治凱利，羅斯資本合夥人。

Hey, everybody. Thanks for taking my questions. So maybe to start a follow up on one of the prior questions. You mentioned in 2025 you expect to have the financial flexibility again to be able to contemplate getting back in the M&A market. So I'm just curious what does the market look like right now. What have you seen with respect to multiples? And just any kind of commentary on the M&A environment would be helpful.

嘿，大家。感謝您回答我的問題。因此，也許可以開始跟進之前的問題之一。您提到，您希望在 2025 年再次擁有財務彈性，以便能夠考慮重返併購市場。所以我只是好奇現在的市場是什麼樣的。關於倍數，你看到了什麼？對併購環境的任何評論都會有所幫助。

Yeah. Good morning, George. So yeah, it’s -- the past year, while we have been focused on paying down debt, we have been really working to continue our relationships with the different partners that we are looking to work with next year. So we think it looks good for 2025.

是的。早上好，喬治。所以，是的，過去的一年，雖然我們一直專注於償還債務，但我們一直在努力繼續與明年希望合作的不同合作夥伴的關係。所以我們認為 2025 年看起來不錯。

We have got a group of businesses that we are focused on as we get back to growth for next year. And we do think that as interest rates come down, the environment becomes a little bit more friendly for folks that we will see more and more folks out there looking to execute on their succession plans.

當我們明年恢復成長時，我們有一些重點關注的業務。我們確實認為，隨著利率下降，環境對人們變得更加友好，我們將看到越來越多的人尋求執行他們的繼任計劃。

So what we have also been doing this year is really preparing to accelerate growth over the next five years. So Carlos has alluded to this, but from systems to people to teams to approach, we are making sure that the integration playbook is really refined so that we can grow at an accelerated rate.

因此，我們今年一直在做的事情實際上是為未來五年的加速成長做準備。卡洛斯已經提到了這一點，但從系統到人員到團隊再到方法，我們正在確保整合策略真正得到完善，以便我們可以加速成長。

I think the other thing that we have talked about that we are excited about is the, call it, a little under four years right before we got back to paying down debt, we only did seven transactions. But those seven transactions today account for 25% of all of the company’s revenue and about 38% of all of the company’s EBITDA. So we did that in a very short period of time with very few transactions. And that blueprint is the one that we are going to follow as we get back to growth next year. So like I said, we are just -- as Carlos mentioned in his opening remarks, it’s kind of full steam ahead for us and we are excited to get out of the gate next year.

我認為我們談論過的另一件讓我們感到興奮的事情是，就在我們重新償還債務之前不到四年的時間裡，我們只做了七筆交易。但如今這七筆交易占公司總營收的 25%，約占公司 EBITDA 的 38%。所以我們在很短的時間內用很少的交易做到了這一點。當我們明年恢復成長時，我們將遵循這一藍圖。正如我所說，正如卡洛斯在開場白中提到的那樣，我們正全力以赴，我們很高興明年能夠邁出這一步。

That's really helpful. So what I'm hearing is you've been kind of building the pipeline even while you -- over the last couple of years, while you've been focused on debt pay down and the assets you're looking at are meaningful. They're large. You're kind of focused on larger assets. Is that a fair characterization?

這真的很有幫助。所以我聽到的是，即使在過去幾年裡，你一直在建立管道，而你一直專注於償還債務，你正在尋找的資產是有意義的。它們很大。你有點專注於更大的資產。這是一個公平的描述嗎？

That's right. If you kind of -- like I said, if you look at what we have done from ‘19 to Greenlawn in ‘23, everything we are focused on will fit into those -- a couple of different categories, very, very large with a Fairfax or a Greenlawn, and really nice combos like what we have in Charlotte and up outside of Dallas. And then there will be some smaller tuck-in businesses that make a lot of sense for us based on significant presence in certain markets. That’s going to be our focus moving forward.

這是正確的。如果你——就像我說的，如果你看看我們從 19 年到 23 年格林勞恩所做的事情，我們關注的一切都將適合這些——幾個不同的類別，非常，非常大，有費爾法克斯或格林勞恩，還有非常好的組合，就像我們在夏洛特和達拉斯郊外的那樣。然後會有一些規模較小的內嵌業務，這些業務對我們來說很有意義，因為它們在某些市場上佔有重要地位。這將是我們前進的重點。

Okay. That's great. And then second question, also kind of a follow-up, I guess to one of the prior questions. Carlos, you mentioned -- I am thinking high level here for 2025. And you mentioned your expectation that you can continue on the preneed cemetery side, you can keep doing kind of low-double digit growth for the foreseeable future. I am curious about, in 2025, just sticking to that kind of high level, how should we think about the funeral business? Is there more pricing tailwind to be realized next year? And do you anticipate like volumes to grow next year?

好的。那太棒了。然後第二個問題，也是對先前問題之一的後續問題。卡洛斯，你提到過——我正在考慮 2025 年的高水準。你提到你希望你可以繼續在預需要的墓地方面，在可預見的未來你可以繼續保持低兩位數的增長。我很好奇，到了2025年，僅僅停留在那種高水準上，我們該如何思考殯葬業務？明年是否會實現更多的定價順風？您預計明年的銷售量會出現同樣的成長嗎？

That's a very good question, George. So when you think about the funeral home side business, if the volumes go flat just from a comparison perspective related to the pull-forward effect, that will be a phenomenal thing, right, because now we have a good baseline. The pricing will make a significant difference as it has continued to be a significant difference. They make up revenue that we lost through that 1.2%, for example, in the third quarter on volume loss.

這是一個非常好的問題，喬治。因此，當你考慮殯儀館方面的業務時，如果僅從與拉動效應相關的比較角度來看，銷量持平，那將是一件現象級的事情，對吧，因為現在我們有了一個很好的基線。定價將產生顯著差異，因為它仍然存在顯著差異。它們彌補了我們在第三季因銷售損失而損失的 1.2% 的收入。

However, I do think where the strategy is more compelling is our passion for service program is going to be rolled out in the first quarter of 2025. That’s an experience approach to elevating service for families. That’s going to be a significant piece to gaining market share in every business and business by business. Of course, it’s going to be a rollout throughout the year. It’s not going to be everybody on the first quarter, but we will -- we should be able to see the impact as we continue to grow that.

然而，我確實認為該策略更引人注目的地方是我們將在 2025 年第一季推出熱情的服務計劃。這是一種提升家庭服務的體驗方法。這將是每個企業和每個企業獲得市場份額的重要一環。當然，這將是全年推出。不會是第一季所有人都受到影響，但我們會——隨著我們繼續發展，我們應該能夠看到影響。

The second thing, we have been testing -- I won’t share too much about it, but we have been testing ways to enhance our website visits and improve our e-commerce strategy. I do believe for funeral homes, and I believe that’s going to be significant. The results we have seen over a 60-day period is compelling enough for us to do a full rollout for 2025. And so that’s going to be another significant story.

第二件事，我們一直在測試——我不會透露太多，但我們一直在測試增強網站訪問量和改進電子商務策略的方法。我確實相信殯儀館，而且我相信這將意義重大。我們在 60 天內看到的結果足以讓我們在 2025 年全面推出。這將是另一個重要的故事。

And the third piece to this one, George, is pre-arranged funeral sales. That strategy continues to be on the early stages of performance. And when you think about it, even though we signed the agreement in May of 2023, the launch started really in September, a slow rollout business by business in September of 2023. And it’s just been over a little full year of fully being rolled out.

第三件，喬治，是預先安排的葬禮銷售。該戰略仍處於實施的早期階段。仔細想想，儘管我們在 2023 年 5 月簽署了協議，但發布實際上是在 9 月開始的，是 2023 年 9 月按業務緩慢推出的。全面推出剛剛過去一年多的時間。

We still have a lot of counselors to hire for selling pre-arranged funeral. We still need to find funeral directors that have a license, of course, to sell pre-arranged funeral in some states that have regulation around pre-arranged funeral with the license. And still have some other strategies related to alliteration in our partnership with Precoa and NGL continues to grow, continues to be to know each other better, to continue to partnership growth and collaborate in such a way that I have high expectations from that point of view.

我們仍然需要聘請許多顧問來銷售預先安排的葬禮。當然，我們仍然需要找到有執照的殯葬承辦人，才能在一些對持有許可證的預先安排的葬禮有監管的州銷售預先安排的葬禮。在我們與Precoa 和NGL 的合作夥伴關係中，還有一些與頭韻相關的其他策略繼續發展，繼續更好地了解彼此，繼續合作夥伴關係的發展和協作，從這個角度來看，我對此抱有很高的期望。

I believe if we would use baseball as a metaphor for this one, I know Mel used to like to use those metaphors and it’s probably appropriate after last night’s game. We are probably on the fifth inning of pre-arranged funeral.

我相信，如果我們用棒球來比喻這個比喻，我知道梅爾過去喜歡用這些比喻，而且在昨晚的比賽之後，這可能是合適的。我們可能正在進行預先安排的葬禮的第五局。

Okay. That's great. And then last question for me is kind of similar. Curious, again, high level for 2025, what are the head wind -- most significant headwinds and tailwinds with respect to margin? You've been, this year, fairly consistent above that kind of 30% consolidated EBIDTA margin. And I know you've got -- I don't think you brought it up on this quarter's conference call, but that $2 million of cost savings that you've articulated before for next year, any other kind of major headwinds or tailwinds for margin next year?

好的。那太棒了。對我來說，最後一個問題有點類似。再次好奇，2025 年的高水準是什麼？今年，您的綜合 EBIDTA 利潤率相當穩定地高於 30%。我知道你已經——我認為你沒有在本季度的電話會議上提到這一點，但你之前曾闡述過明年將節省 200 萬美元的成本，以及任何其他類型的主要不利因素或有利因素明年利潤率？

Nothing that we could forecast, other than unexpected black swan events or things from an economical perspective that we have no control over. We believe the 30% is sustainable. We certainly are creating the systems process and management of cost to that performance, and I feel pretty positive about that.

除了意想不到的黑天鵝事件或從經濟角度來看我們無法控制的事情之外，沒有什麼是我們可以預測的。我們相信這 30% 是可持續的。我們當然正在創建系統流程並管理該績效的成本，我對此感到非常積極。

Alex Paris, Barrington Research.

亞歷克斯·帕里斯，巴靈頓研究中心。

Hey, guys. Sorry, just one more question and a point of clarification. Kathy, you said adjusted overhead in the range of 13% to 14% of revenue for this year. I think you also said for next year. What are you excluding from overhead in terms of the adjusted overhead projection? For example, Trinity, you said Trinity will be $3 million for the full year. So that gets excluded also.

嘿，夥計們。抱歉，還有一個問題並需要澄清一下。凱西，您說調整後的管理費用佔今年收入的 13% 至 14%。我想你也說過明年。就調整後的開銷預測而言，您從開銷中排除了哪些內容？比如說，Trinity，你說Trinity全年的收入是300萬美元。所以這也被排除在外。

And then just a related question, I'm just trying to get to fourth quarter estimate. What was adjusted overhead as a percentage of revenue year to date for the nine months?

然後是一個相關的問題，我只是想了解第四季度的估計。今年迄今的九個月中，調整後的管理費用佔收入的百分比是多少？

Okay. So other things that were excluded for the full year include things like severance expenses and Project Kirby. Those would be the things that would be excluded from a full-year perspective, which we do not expect to reoccur in 2025.

好的。因此，全年排除的其他事項包括遣散費和星之卡比計劃等。從全年角度來看，這些事情將被排除在外，我們預計這種情況在 2025 年不會再次發生。

Got you. And how much was severance and Project Kirby for fiscal 2024? You said that Trinity would be about $3 million impact for the full year. What was the severance impact? And what was the Project Kirby impact?

明白你了。2024 財政年度的遣散費和柯比計畫的金額是多少？您說過 Trinity 全年的影響約為 300 萬美元。遣散費有何影響？卡比計劃的影響是什麼？

Combined, they're about $11.5 million.

總計約 1150 萬美元。

So Trinity severance and Kirby is about $11.5 million?

那麼 Trinity 和 Kirby 的遣散費大約是 1,150 萬美元？

No. Trinity is by itself. Project Trinity through [September]. Yes.

不。三位一體本身就是。三位一體計劃透過[九月]。是的。

And ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions in queue at this time. I'd like now to turn the conference back to Carlos for any additional or closing remarks.

女士們、先生們，目前沒有其他問題了。現在我想將會議轉回卡洛斯，請他發表補充或結束語。

Thank you, operator. This quarter's performance reflects the hard work, the commitment to our purpose statement, our strong partnerships, and the dedication of every Carriage team member.

謝謝你，接線生。本季度的業績反映了每位 Carriage 團隊成員的辛勤工作、對我們宗旨的承諾、強大的合作夥伴關係以及奉獻精神。

We are proud of our progress, and we are energized by what lies ahead as we continue to elevate our services, grow with purpose, and deliver meaningful experiences to those we serve. We're building on our legacy and unlocking new potential every day. Thank you for your trust in Carriage, and we look forward to sharing more success with you when we report the fourth quarter and full year.

我們為我們的進步感到自豪，我們對未來充滿活力，因為我們將繼續提升我們的服務，有目標地成長，並為我們服務的人提供有意義的體驗。我們每天都在繼承我們的傳統並釋放新的潛力。感謝您對 Carriage 的信任，我們期待在報告第四季和全年業績時與您分享更多成功。

Have a great day, everyone.

祝大家有美好的一天。

And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect and have a great day.

女士們、先生們，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並度過愉快的一天。