European Wax Center Inc (EWCZ) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to European Wax Centers' first-quarter fiscal-2024 earnings call. (Operator Instructions) On the call today are David Willis, Chief Executive Officer; Stacie Shirley, Chief Financial Officer; and Andrea Wasserman, Chief Commercial Officer.

早安，女士們先生們，感謝你們的支持。歡迎參加歐洲蠟中心 2024 財政年度第一季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）今天接聽電話的是執行長 David Willis； Stacie Shirley，財務長；首席商務官 Andrea Wasserman。

I would like now to turn the conference over to Bethany Johns, Director of Investor Relations. Ma'am, you may begin.

現在我想將會議交給投資者關係總監貝瑟尼·約翰斯 (Bethany Johns)。女士，您可以開始了。

Thank you, and welcome to European Wax Center's first quarter of fiscal-2024 earnings call. For today's call, David will begin with a brief review of our first-quarter performance and discuss our priorities for the balance of 2024. Then, Stacie will provide additional details regarding our financial performance and our fiscal-2024 outlook. Following the prepared remarks, the team will be available to take questions.

謝謝，歡迎參加歐洲蠟中心 2024 財政年度第一季的財報電話會議。在今天的電話會議中，David 將首先簡要回顧我們第一季的業績，並討論 2024 年剩餘時間的優先事項。 然後，Stacie 將提供有關我們的財務業績和 2024 財年展望的更多詳細信息。在準備好發言後，團隊將可以回答問題。

Before we start, I would like to remind you of our legal disclaimer. We will make certain statements today which are forward-looking within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements about the outlook of our business and other matters referenced in our earnings release issued today. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒您我們的法律免責聲明。我們今天將發表聯邦證券法含義內的某些前瞻性聲明，包括有關我們業務前景的聲明以及我們今天發布的收益報告中提到的其他事項。這些前瞻性陳述涉及許多風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果出現重大差異。

Please refer to our SEC filings as well as our earnings release issued today for a more detailed description of the risk factors that may affect our results. Please also note that these forward-looking statements reflect our opinions only as of the date of this call, and we take no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to our forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events.

請參閱我們向 SEC 提交的文件以及今天發布的收益報告，以了解可能影響我們業績的風險因素的更詳細描述。另請注意，這些前瞻性陳述僅反映我們截至本次電話會議之日的意見，我們沒有義務根據新資訊或未來事件修改或公開發布對我們的前瞻性陳述的任何修改結果。

Also during the call, we will discuss non-GAAP financial measures which adjust our GAAP results to eliminate the impact of certain items. You will find additional information regarding these non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation of these non-GAAP to GAAP measures in our earnings release. A live broadcast of this call is also available on the Investor Relations section of our website at investors.waxcenter.com.

此外，在電話會議期間，我們還將討論非公認會計原則財務措施，這些措施調整我們的公認會計原則結果，以消除某些項目的影響。您將在我們的收益報告中找到有關這些非 GAAP 財務指標的更多資訊以及這些非 GAAP 與 GAAP 指標的調整表。本次電話會議的現場直播也可在我們網站的投資者關係部分觀看：investors.waxcenter.com。

I will now turn the call over to David Willis.

我現在將把電話轉給大衛威利斯。

Thank you, Bethany, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. We began 2024 with stable frequency and spend among our current guests, signaling the resiliency and predictability of our business model. Even in an uncertain macroeconomic environment, these guests remain resilient.

謝謝你，貝瑟尼，大家早安。感謝您今天加入我們。 2024 年伊始，我們現有客人的頻率和消費保持穩定，這表明我們的業務模式具有彈性和可預測性。即使在不確定的宏觀經濟環境下，這些客人仍然保持彈性。

Net new center openings, a key growth driver for European Wax Center, were in line with our expectations as we grew center count 7.5% to 1,051 centers in 45 states. We also delivered growth of 1.3% and 4% respectively in system-wide sales in total revenue. Same-store sales were down 1.2%, and we estimate they would have been slightly positive except for weather and Easter-related center closures that impacted our top line metrics.

淨新開設中心是歐洲蠟像中心成長的主要推動力，符合我們的預期，我們在 45 個州的中心數量增加了 7.5%，達到 1,051 個。我們的全系統銷售額佔總收入的比例也分別成長了 1.3% 和 4%。同店銷售額下降了 1.2%，我們估計，除了天氣和復活節相關的中心關閉影響了我們的營收指標外，同店銷售額會略有增長。

Profit margins were strong. And due to our asset-light highly cash-generative franchise model, our cash position increased meaningfully during the quarter. In fact, with our growing liquidity in mind, this week, our Board authorized a new $50 million share repurchase program to give us flexibility as we seek opportunities to drive long-term shareholder value.

利潤率很高。由於我們的輕資產、高現金產出的特許經營模式，我們的現金狀況在本季大幅增加。事實上，考慮到我們不斷增長的流動性，本週，我們的董事會批准了一項新的 5000 萬美元的股票回購計劃，為我們尋求推動長期股東價值的機會提供靈活性。

On our year-end earnings call, we shared our focused initiatives to drive average ticket and frequency from both new and existing guests. We are still in the beginning stages of these initiatives. And as I will detail shortly, we are seeing good early reads.

在我們的年終財報電話會議上，我們分享了我們旨在提高新舊客人的平均票價和頻率的重點措施。我們仍處於這些舉措的開始階段。正如我稍後將詳細介紹的那樣，我們看到了很好的早期讀物。

As we shared last quarter, we expected that in the current macroenvironment, Q1 would be the low point in our full-year results as these efforts begin to take root. We believe that these initiatives will materialize and gain traction as we move through the year. Second-quarter trends are tracking in line with this expectation. As a result, we are reiterating our fiscal-2024 financial guidance today.

正如我們上季度分享的那樣，我們預計在當前的宏觀環境下，隨著這些努力開始紮根，第一季將是我們全年業績的最低點。我們相信，隨著這一年的發展，這些舉措將成為現實並獲得關注。第二季的趨勢符合這項預期。因此，我們今天重申 2024 財年的財務指引。

Before I dive into our strategic initiatives, I want to congratulate the entire European Wax Center team on being officially recognized as a Great Place To Work for the second year in a row. Our associates are the key to EWC's culture and success, and the leadership team and I are proud to facilitate an environment where they are free to be their authentic selves, drive performance, delight our guests and be unleashed to do their best work. Ultimately, they are focused on consistently delivering for both our franchisees and our guests, which we fully expect will translate into continued long-term growth.

在深入探討我們的策略性舉措之前，我想祝賀整個歐洲蠟中心團隊連續第二年被正式評為「最佳工作場所」。我們的員工是 EWC 文化和成功的關鍵，領導團隊和我很自豪能夠創造一個讓他們可以自由地做真實的自己、提高績效、取悅我們的客人並充分發揮自己的能力的環境。最終，他們致力於始終如一地為我們的特許經營商和客人提供服務，我們完全期望這將轉化為持續的長期成長。

And I'd like to discuss the progress we've made on our two key growth vectors, expanding net new centers and driving in-center sales as well as the plans we have for the balance of 2024. I'll start with our unit growth vector. As planned in our development schedules, our franchisees opened seven net new centers, translating to 7.5% unit growth in Q1. Our franchisee relationships continued to strengthen as we work together to further elevate European Wax Center's leadership positions. In fact, nearly all of our expected 75 to 80 net new centers in fiscal 2024 will come from existing franchisees, showcasing their excitement for the European Wax Center business model and their commitment to reinvesting in our brand.

我想討論我們在兩個關鍵成長方向上取得的進展，即擴大淨新中心和推動中心內銷售，以及我們為 2024 年剩餘時間制定的計劃。按照我們的發展計劃，我們的特許經營商淨開設了 7 個新中心，這意味著第一季單位數量增加了 7.5%。隨著我們共同努力進一步提升歐洲蠟中心的領導地位，我們的特許經營商關係不斷加強。事實上，我們預計 2024 財年新增的 75 至 80 個蠟中心幾乎全部來自現有特許經營商，這表明他們對歐洲蠟中心業務模式的興奮以及對我們品牌再投資的承諾。

We remain focused on the diversity of our franchisee base as well and expect smaller independent operators, self-funded multi-unit developers and private equity backed franchisees to each operate approximately one-third of our centers over time. Overall, our franchisees remain well capitalized and our development pipeline of over 370 locations remains robust.

我們仍然關注特許經營商基礎的多樣性，並預計隨著時間的推移，規模較小的獨立運營商、自籌資金的多單元開發商和私募股權支持的特許經營商將分別經營我們約三分之一的中心。整體而言，我們的特許經營商資本充足，我們 370 多個地點的開發管道仍然強勁。

Most importantly, these long-term commitments are a testament to the strength and resiliency of our model and give us visibility to deliver against our high-single-digit unit-growth algorithm for 2024, 2025 and beyond. Our key focus this year is on supporting top-line growth and strong four-wall economics for franchisees, particularly through new guest acquisition. We believe that a strong opening creates the best foundation for new centers and their unit economics.

最重要的是，這些長期承諾證明了我們模型的強度和彈性，並使我們能夠清楚地實現 2024 年、2025 年及以後的高個位數單位成長演算法。我們今年的重點是支持加盟商的營收成長和強大的四牆經濟，特別是透過新客戶的獲取。我們相信，強而有力的開放將為新中心及其單位經濟效益奠定最佳基礎。

Our data-driven pre-opening playbook launched in Q1, and the centers following it are generating higher average grand opening guest lists and staffing levels. While it will take time for these improvements to move the needle on system-wide metrics, we believe they will translate into higher sales, profitability and predictability for franchisees through their ramping cycles.

我們的數據驅動的開幕前手冊在第一季度推出，隨後的中心正在產生更高的平均盛大開幕賓客名單和人員配備水平。雖然這些改進需要時間來推動整個系統的指標，但我們相信它們將在整個成長週期中轉化為特許經營商更高的銷售額、獲利能力和可預測性。

Turning to our second growth vector, driving in-center sales, which benefits system-wide sales and same-store sales growth. I'll start with the dynamics we're seeing across our guest cohorts. As I mentioned earlier, spend and frequency among our existing guests have remained stable in 2024. This includes both our less frequent guests as well as our core guests.

轉向我們的第二個成長向量，推動中心內銷售，這有利於整個系統的銷售和同店銷售成長。我將從我們在賓客群體中看到的動態開始。正如我之前提到的，我們現有客人的支出和頻率在 2024 年保持穩定。

As a reminder, core guests are comprised of the wax pass and routine guests who drive approximately 75% of our sales volume. These guests have remained committed to their personal care routines for much of the last two years, representing a recurring and durable revenue stream for our brand through various economic cycles. We are pleased with their stability, but we remain focused on growing spend and frequency among this group.

需要提醒的是，核心客人由蠟通客和常規客人組成，他們約占我們銷售額的 75%。在過去兩年的大部分時間裡，這些客人一直致力於個人護理，為我們的品牌在不同的經濟週期中帶來了經常和持久的收入來源。我們對他們的穩定性感到滿意，但我們仍然專注於增加該群體的支出和頻率。

Current customers remain loyal fans of European Wax Center's unparalleled service efficiency and expertise, but attracting first time guests remains our biggest opportunity, especially in the current macroenvironment where consumers appear more discerning with their spend. We have made real progress against the media, local marketing and operational initiatives that I outlined on our last earnings call. However, it's still too early to see the full benefits of our guest acquisition efforts.

目前的客戶仍然是歐洲蠟中心無與倫比的服務效率和專業知識的忠實擁護者，但吸引首次入住的客人仍然是我們最大的機會，特別是在當前消費者對消費顯得更加挑剔的宏觀環境下。正如我在上次財報電話會議上概述的那樣，我們在媒體、本地行銷和營運舉措方面取得了真正的進展。然而，現在要看到我們的客源獲取工作的全部效益還為時過早。

I'll now highlight a few updates on our initiatives starting with media. We engaged a new media agency in Q4 to streamline our strategy across all of our paid digital channels and search efforts and increased guest reservations in centers. We are pleased that this new strategy is driving reservations, new guests and cost efficiencies. In late Q2, we expect to begin aligning our media mix to the channels and messages driving the strongest returns. As a result, we believe the biggest impact from our improved approach will come in the back half of the year.

現在我將重點介紹我們從媒體開始的舉措的一些最新情況。我們在第四季度聘請了一家新媒體代理機構，以簡化我們所有付費數位管道和搜尋工作的策略，並增加中心的客人預訂。我們很高興這項新策略正在推動預訂、新客人和成本效率的成長。在第二季末，我們預計將開始調整我們的媒體組合，以適應帶來最強回報的管道和訊息。因此，我們相信我們改進的方法將在今年下半年產生最大的影響。

And finally, with wax pass holders generating more than twice the spend in frequency of non-core guests, we remain very focused on growing wax pass penetration. To target frequency conversion and loyalty, we successfully tested a three-plus-one wax pass offer for new guests which generated incremental sales and retention rates. As a result, we rolled out network-wide at the end of Q1 and have already seen a positive impact.

最後，由於蠟通票持有者的支出頻率是非核心客人的兩倍以上，我們仍然非常注重提高蠟通票的滲透率。為了提高頻率轉換和忠誠度，我們成功地為新客人測試了三加一蠟通優惠，從而增加了銷售額和保留率。因此，我們在第一季末在全網路範圍內推出，並已經看到了積極的影響。

Under the second bucket, local marketing. We believe one of the best ways to drive new guest acquisition is through local marketing efforts that boost center visibility and awareness. As we ended Q1, we launched partnerships with new local digital media agencies to stimulate franchisee spending. We believe the increased effectiveness and structure under the new agencies will help us demonstrate an even higher local marketing ROI and motivate additional network investment.

第二個桶，本地行銷。我們相信，推動新客人獲取的最佳方式之一是透過本地行銷工作來提高中心的知名度和認知度。在第一季結束時，我們與新的當地數位媒體機構建立了合作夥伴關係，以刺激加盟商支出。我們相信，新機構的效率和結構的提高將幫助我們展示更高的本地行銷投資回報率並激勵額外的網路投資。

We also dedicated corporate personnel and introduce franchisee tools to help simplify grassroots marketing plans and execution. Enthusiasm from the network so far has been encouraging with meaningful uptake, and we expect franchisees to ramp up their local marketing spend and efforts throughout 2024.

我們還配備專門的公司人員並引入特許經營工具來幫助簡化基層行銷計劃和執行。到目前為止，該網絡的熱情令人鼓舞，並得到了有意義的採用，我們預計加盟商將在 2024 年加大當地行銷支出和力度。

Lastly, our operational initiatives should drive new guests to the brand as well as increased spend from existing guests. First, we deepened the support of our field trainers in select markets through training, coaching and ongoing development. By optimizing the guest experience, pilot centers in this program generated improvements across our most important KPIs that impact four-wall sales and profitability. We are excited about this program's potential, and are currently increasing resources to scale it as the year progresses.

最後，我們的營運舉措應該吸引新客人加入品牌，並增加現有客人的消費。首先，我們透過培訓、指導和持續發展加深了對選定市場的現場培訓師的支持。透過優化賓客體驗，該計劃的試點中心對影響四牆銷售和盈利能力的最重要 KPI 進行了改進。我們對該計劃的潛力感到興奮，目前正在增加資源，以隨著時間的推移擴大其規模。

As I mentioned last quarter, we continue to make good progress on our proven brow tint formula. Pilot testing indicated that brow tinting attracts new guests to the brand and increases services, and therefore, dollars per ticket. We expect to launch this incremental service nationwide in the third quarter, and supported with a robust staff training program and marketing campaign.

正如我上個季度提到的，我們在經過驗證的眉色配方方面繼續取得良好進展。試點測試表明，染眉可以吸引新客人加入品牌並增加服務，從而增加每張門票的收入。我們預計在第三季在全國推出這項增量服務，並輔以強有力的員工培訓計畫和行銷活動。

Finally, we continue to advance our laser hair removal pilot. Early testing validated our hypothesis that expanding our service offering to laser could attract new guests to the brand and increase share of wallet from existing waxes. Our first six pilot centers in New York generated strong sales with minimal cannibalization of core waxing services.

最後，我們繼續推進雷射除毛試點。早期測試驗證了我們的假設，即將我們的服務範圍擴展到雷射可以吸引新客人加入該品牌，並增加現有蠟的錢包份額。我們在紐約的前六個試點中心在核心打蠟服務的蠶食最少的情況下實現了強勁的銷售。

Given our confidence in these early results, we expanded the pilot to 10 more New York centers during Q1 and expect to add a handful of Florida centers in Q2. These Q2 centers will help us better understand the operational impact of a stricter regulatory environment and further confirm our hypothesis that laser can enhance already robust four-wall economics over time.

鑑於我們對這些早期結果的信心，我們在第一季將試點範圍擴大到另外 10 個紐約中心，並預計在第二季度增加幾個佛羅裡達中心。這些第二季中心將幫助我們更了解更嚴格的監管環境對營運的影響，並進一步證實我們的假設，即隨著時間的推移，雷射可以增強本已強勁的四牆經濟性。

As mentioned on our last call, we plan to make additional deliberate investments to support this pilot in other states throughout the year, including adding dedicated personnel to our corporate leadership team. While we see this as a potential additive opportunity to expand our brand and the model, European Wax Center remains the dominant player in out-of-home hair removal with a strong and resilient core service offering waxing. As the experts in our category, we remain uniquely positioned to leverage our scale and footprint to pilot laser, and look forward to updating you on our progress.

正如我們在上次電話會議中所提到的，我們計劃全年進行額外的深思熟慮的投資，以支持其他州的這項試點，包括為我們的企業領導團隊增加專職人員。雖然我們認為這是擴展我們品牌和模式的潛在附加機會，但歐洲除毛中心仍然是戶外除毛領域的主導者，擁有強大而有彈性的除毛核心服務。作為該領域的專家，我們仍然處於獨特的地位，可以利用我們的規模和足跡來試點激光，並期待向您通報我們的最新進展。

Ultimately, we are confident in our ability to drive new guests to the brand and increased ticket value and frequency among existing guests through the initiatives I outlined. We believe that our data-driven strategies will allow us to deliver another year of top-line growth in 2024.

最終，我們對透過我概述的舉措吸引新客人使用該品牌並提高現有客人的門票價值和頻率的能力充滿信心。我們相信，我們的數據驅動策略將使我們能夠在 2024 年實現另一個營收成長。

With that, I'd like to hand the call over to Stacie Shirley to review our financial performance and guidance. Stacie?

至此，我想將電話轉交給 Stacie Shirley，以審查我們的財務表現和指導。史黛西？

Thanks, David, and good morning. Before I begin my remarks, I'd like to remind everyone that in some instances, I will speak to adjusted metrics on this call. You can find reconciliation tables to the most comparable GAAP figures in our press release and 10-Q filed with the SEC today. As a reminder, both fiscal years 2022 and 2023 included a 53rd week. The fiscal 2024 returned to a 52-week year.

謝謝，大衛，早安。在開始演講之前，我想提醒大家，在某些情況下，我將在本次電話會議上討論調整後的指標。您可以在我們今天向 SEC 提交的新聞稿和 10-Q 中找到最具可比性的 GAAP 數據的調節表。提醒一下，2022 財年和 2023 財年都包含第 53 週。 2024財年恢復為52週的一年。

Turning now to our first-quarter financial performance. We added seven net new centers during the quarter in line with our expectations. System-wide sales grew 1.3% to $221.4 million as a result of our ramping centers. And total revenue, which includes wax and retail products we sell to the network increased 4% to $51.9 million. Same-store sales were down 1.2%.

現在轉向我們第一季的財務表現。本季我們淨新增七個中心，符合我們的預期。由於我們的擴建中心，全系統銷售額成長了 1.3%，達到 2.214 億美元。總收入（包括我們向網路銷售的蠟和零售產品）成長了 4%，達到 5,190 萬美元。同店銷售額下降 1.2%。

Excluding the impact of center closures related to inclement weather in January and a shift in Easter timing between quarters, we estimate Q1 same-store sales would have been slightly positive. As a reminder, same-store sales reflect in-center transactions and wax pass visits as they are redeemed. While system-wide sales is predominantly a cash-based metric that we recognize as payments for products, services and wax passes are received.

排除一月份惡劣天氣導致的中心關閉以及復活節時間在季度之間變化的影響，我們估計第一季同店銷售額將略有增長。需要提醒的是，同店銷售額反映了中心內交易和蠟像兌換時的參觀次數。雖然全系統銷售主要是基於現金的指標，但我們將其視為收到的產品、服務和蠟通行證的付款。

In terms of profitability, first-quarter gross margin improved approximately 290 basis points to 73.9%, primarily a result of negotiated cost savings. Q1 SG&A decreased 22% year over year to $13.5 million, and as a percent of revenue, improved 860 basis points to 26% compared to 34.6% in the prior year. This decrease was driven by the modification of certain pre-IPO equity awards that added an incremental $3.9 million in share-based compensation to Q1 last year.

就獲利能力而言，第一季毛利率提高了約 290 個基點，達到 73.9%，這主要歸功於協商的成本節約。第一季 SG&A 年減 22% 至 1,350 萬美元，佔營收的百分比從上一年的 34.6% 提高了 860 個基點至 26%。這一下降是由於某些首次公開募股前股權獎勵的修改，去年第一季的股票薪酬增加了 390 萬美元。

First-quarter SG&A this year was also positively impacted by the timing of technology, professional and laser-related expenses that we expect to shift into Q2. Q1 adjusted EBITDA dollars increased 7.4% year over year to $17.5 million. And margin improved 100 basis points to 33.7%, driven by the flow through of the cost savings I just mentioned.

今年第一季的銷售、一般行政費用也受到技術、專業和雷射相關費用的時間安排的正面影響，我們預計這些費用將轉移到第二季。第一季調整後 EBITDA 美元年增 7.4% 至 1,750 萬美元。在我剛才提到的成本節約的推動下，利潤率提高了 100 個基點，達到 33.7%。

With higher interest income in 2024, net interest expense decreased to $6.3 million from $6.9 million in the same period last year. Income tax expense was $1.2 million compared to a benefit of $500,000 last year. Despite the increase in taxes, GAAP net income improved to $3.7 million and adjusted net income grew 41.3% to $4.8 million.

隨著 2024 年利息收入的增加，淨利息支出從去年同期的 690 萬美元減少至 630 萬美元。所得稅費用為 120 萬美元，而去年的福利為 50 萬美元。儘管稅收增加，但 GAAP 淨利潤仍增至 370 萬美元，調整後淨利成長 41.3% 至 480 萬美元。

Turning to the balance sheet. We ended the first quarter with $60.4 million in cash, and net cash provided by operating activities was $10.7 million compared to approximately $100,000 in investing outflows. As David mentioned, strong free cash flow is a staple of our asset-light capital-light model. We had $393 million outstanding under our senior secured notes, and our $40 million revolver remains fully undrawn.

轉向資產負債表。第一季結束時，我們擁有 6,040 萬美元現金，經營活動提供的淨現金為 1,070 萬美元，而投資流出約 10 萬美元。正如大衛所提到的，強勁的自由現金流是我們輕資產輕資本模式的主要內容。我們的優先擔保票據項下尚有 3.93 億美元未償還，而我們的 4000 萬美元左輪手槍仍未全部提取。

Net leverage at the end of Q1 was 4.2 times adjusted EBITDA, and our guidance implies net leverage to be at or below four times at the end of this year. Our leverage expectations do not reflect any share repurchases we may execute under the new $50 million authorization approved by our Board this week. As a reminder, we fulfilled our previous $40 million repurchase authorization in Q4 2023, and believe that an additional authorization gives us flexibility to be opportunistic as we drive long-term shareholder value. We remain committed to delevering organically over time through adjusted EBITDA growth and continuously evaluating the best use of our strong free cash flow.

第一季末的淨槓桿率為調整後 EBITDA 的 4.2 倍，我們的指引意味著今年年底的淨槓桿率將等於或低於四倍。我們的槓桿預期並不反映我們根據董事會本週批准的新的 5000 萬美元授權可能執行的任何股票回購。謹此提醒，我們在 2023 年第四季履行了先前 4,000 萬美元的回購授權，並相信額外授權使我們能夠靈活地抓住機會，推動長期股東價值。我們仍然致力於透過調整後的 EBITDA 成長，隨著時間的推移，有機地去槓桿化，並不斷評估我們強大的自由現金流的最佳利用方式。

Turning now to our outlook for 2024. Given stable trends for existing guests and the expected progression of our initiatives to drive greater share of wallet and new guest acquisition, we are reiterating our full-year guidance. Our outlook assumes a stable macroenvironment, and that our focus initiatives will materialize as we progress through the year. While data points thus far have been encouraging, we are still in the early stages of these specific initiatives, and we continue to monitor how they are resonating with new and existing guests in this macroenvironment.

現在轉向我們對 2024 年的展望。我們的前景假設宏觀環境穩定，並且我們的重點措施將隨著今年的進展而具體化。雖然迄今為止的數據點令人鼓舞，但我們仍處於這些具體舉措的早期階段，我們將繼續監測它們如何在這一宏觀環境下與新老客人產生共鳴。

In terms of unit growth, we continue to expect franchisees to open 75 to 80 net new centers in 2024, driven primarily by existing franchisees and focus on markets where we have had less development activity in recent years. Based on franchisee construction schedules, we are updating the expected timing of those openings to approximately one-fourth in the first half of the year and three-fourths in the second.

就單位成長而言，我們繼續預期特許經營商將在 2024 年淨開設 75 至 80 個新中心，這主要由現有特許經營商推動，並重點關注近年來我們開發活動較少的市場。根據加盟商建設時間表，我們將這些開業的預計時間更新為上半年約四分之一，下半年四分之三。

On the top line, we continue to expect system-wide sales between $1 billion and $1.025 billion or approximately 6.5% to 9% growth on a 52-week adjusted basis, as well as 2% to 5% same-store sales growth for the year. As David noted in his remarks, we believe our top line will benefit more from our focused strategic initiatives in the second half of the year than in the first half.

在營收方面，我們繼續預期全系統銷售額將在 10 億美元至 10.25 億美元之間，即 52 週調整後成長約 6.5% 至 9%，同店銷售額成長 2% 至 5%。正如大衛在演講中指出的那樣，我們相信下半年我們的重點策略舉措將比上半年為我們帶來更多的收益。

With the rollout of these initiatives in mind, we expect system-wide sales dollars to be the lightest in Q1 and spread fairly evenly between the second and third quarters. We still anticipate that Q1 same-store sales will be the lowest this year with subsequent quarters following a consistent ramp as our top-line initiatives take root. As David mentioned, second quarter to date is tracking in line with this expectation.

考慮到這些措施的推出，我們預計第一季全系統的銷售額將是最低的，並且在第二季和第三季之間分佈相當均勻。我們仍然預計，隨著我們的頂線計劃紮根，第一季同店銷售額將是今年最低的，隨後幾季將持續成長。正如大衛所提到的，迄今為止第二季度的業績符合這一預期。

We continue to expect total revenue between $225 million and $232 million. On a full-year basis, revenue as a percent of system-wide sales will be impacted by the 2024 removal at a COVID-related surcharge for franchisees. However, even without the surcharge in place, we expect underlying cost savings to drive gross margin expansion in fiscal 2024.

我們仍然預計總收入在 2.25 億美元至 2.32 億美元之間。從全年來看，收入佔全系統銷售額的百分比將受到 2024 年特許經營商取消新冠肺炎相關附加費的影響。然而，即使沒有徵收附加費，我們預計潛在的成本節約也將推動 2024 財年毛利率的擴張。

From an expense standpoint, on a full-year basis, we expect advertising as a percent of revenue to be flat to last year. However, we currently plan for advertising expense to be approximately 400 basis points higher year over year in Q2 to align our spend with the ramp of seasonal traffic and to drive initiatives we've described.

從全年支出的角度來看，我們預計廣告佔收入的百分比將與去年持平。然而，我們目前計劃第二季的廣告費用年增約 400 個基點，以使我們的支出與季節性流量的成長保持一致，並推動我們所描述的舉措。

As shared on our last call, we expect to invest approximately $4 million of operating expenses, a significant portion of which is foundational and one-time in nature, to support the expansion of our laser hair removal pilot. We plan to incur these expenses at a greater pace in Q2 and further increase them over the balance of the year. We've seen encouraging results in the early stages of this pilot, but above all, we remain focused on our strong, resilient and profitable core service offering, waxing.

正如我們在上次電話會議中所分享的那樣，我們預計將投資約 400 萬美元的營運費用，其中很大一部分是基礎性的一次性費用，以支持我們雷射除毛試點計畫的擴展。我們計劃在第二季以更大的速度承擔這些費用，並在今年剩餘時間內進一步增加。我們在該試點的早期階段看到了令人鼓舞的結果，但最重要的是，我們仍然專注於我們強大、有彈性和盈利的核心服務產品——打蠟。

Including these incremental laser costs, our adjusted EBITDA outlook remains approximately $75 million to $80 million. Absent the laser investment, we would expect to drive adjusted EBITDA margin expansion in 2024. We expect approximately $28 million of interest expense this year, and currently believe our 2024 effective tax rate will be approximately 25% before discrete items. Given our capital structure, we expect our blended statutory tax rate will be approximately 20% and expect it to increase over time as pre-IPO shareholders exchanged Class B shares for Class A shares. As a result, we expect adjusted net income between $22 million and $25 million.

包括這些增量雷射成本，我們調整後的 EBITDA 前景仍約為 7,500 萬至 8,000 萬美元。如果沒有雷射投資，我們預計將在 2024 年推動調整後 EBITDA 利潤率的擴張。鑑於我們的資本結構，我們預計我們的混合法定稅率約為 20%，並預計隨著 IPO 前股東將 B 類股票交換為 A 類股票，該稅率將隨著時間的推移而增加。因此，我們預計調整後淨利潤將在 2,200 萬美元至 2,500 萬美元之間。

In summary, we remain confident in our resilient asset-light model, recurring predictable visits from our core guests and our well-capitalized franchisee base. We are pleased with the progress we continue to make on our strategies to drive in-center sales growth in 2024. We believe we are making investments in the right areas to extend our position and continue taking share as the undisputed leader in the highly fragmented out-of-home hair removal category.

總而言之，我們對我們的彈性輕資產模式、我們的核心客人的定期可預測的訪問以及我們資本充足的加盟商基礎仍然充滿信心。我們對2024 年推動中心內銷售成長的策略繼續取得進展感到高興。份額。

We'd now like to open up the call for questions. Operator?

我們現在要開始提問。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Randy Konik, Jefferies.

（操作員說明）Randy Konik，Jefferies。

Hey. Good morning, everybody. I guess, David, first is just a clarification. When you look at the first quarter same-store sales and you talked about the weather headwind, the Easter shift, and you talked about slightly positive would have been the result, does that mean at 0.1% or 1% type comp? Just that. And then, when you talk about in the guidance, I think the second and third quarter is suppose to be equal in terms of your same-store sales assumption, are you in-tracking a range of that annual guidance of 2% to 5% right now? Is that what we should take away?

嘿。大家早安。我想，大衛，首先只是一個澄清。當您查看第一季同店銷售並談到天氣逆風、復活節轉變，並談到結果會略有積極時，這是否意味著 0.1% 或 1% 類型的比較？只是。然後，當您在指導中談到時，我認為就同店銷售假設而言，第二季度和第三季度應該是相同的，您是否正在跟踪 2% 至 5% 的年度指導範圍現在？這是我們該拿走的東西嗎？

Good morning, Randy. This is Stacie. So a couple of things. We didn't -- we weren't more descriptive or repair scripted as it relates to that slightly positive. As you know, these are estimates. And so, that's where we came out when you take the combination of both of those impacts.

早安，蘭迪。這是史泰西。有幾件事。我們沒有——我們沒有更多的描述性或修復腳本，因為它與稍微積極的方面有關。如您所知，這些只是估計值。因此，當你綜合考慮這兩種影響時，我們就會得到這樣的結果。

As it relates to the guidance we gave on Q2 and Q3, it wasn't same-store sales, it was system-wide sales. So we would expect both Q2 and Q3 to be more similar. In the past, Q2 is usually the heaviest quarter. But as a result of the ramp of the initiatives, we would expect both of those quarters to be a little more in line than what they've been in the past.

由於它與我們在第二季和第三季給出的指導相關，因此它不是同店銷售，而是全系統銷售。因此，我們預計第二季和第三季會更加相似。過去，第二季通常是最繁忙的季度。但由於這些措施的不斷推進，我們預計這兩個季度的情況將比過去更加一致。

Got you. Okay. And then, just as we think about over the, let's say, the medium term, a couple of things. As we think about the ability to drive venue growth, how do you think about the different levers of price versus frequency of guests versus service-per-visit growth? Or just give us your perspective there. And then, I'd love to understand in the laser test that you've done so far, are you getting a different type of guest or are they trying to loop in some waxing services when they do laser? Just curious on what type of behaviors they're exhibiting in the laser test units versus the non-laser units that are out there. Thanks.

明白你了。好的。然後，正如我們思考中期而言，有幾件事。當我們考慮推動場館成長的能力時，您如何看待價格與客人頻率與每次造訪服務成長的不同槓桿？或者只是向我們提供您的觀點。然後，我很想了解您迄今為止所做的雷射測試中，您是否遇到了不同類型的客人，或者他們在進行雷射時是否試圖加入一些打蠟服務？只是好奇他們在雷射測試裝置與現有的非雷射裝置中表現出什麼類型的行為。謝謝。

Yeah. Randy, thanks for the question. As it relates to driving revenue growth, either the mix between price and frequency in dollars per ticket, generally, we expect to drive more tickets and dollars per ticket. Let me double click on that. So when we talk about our field trainer support program, this is where we deploy field trainers into different markets, and we're seeing an immediate impact on our ability to influence wax pass conversion, retail attachment. So for the guests that are coming into those centers, we're able to drive better retention rates, visit frequency and dollars per transaction.

是的。蘭迪，謝謝你的提問。由於它與推動收入成長有關，無論是價格還是每張門票的頻率之間的組合，一般來說，我們預計會帶來更多的門票和每張門票的美元。讓我雙擊它。因此，當我們談論我們的現場培訓師支援計劃時，這就是我們將現場培訓師部署到不同市場的地方，我們看到這對我們影響蠟道轉換和零售配件的能力產生了直接影響。因此，對於進入這些中心的客人，我們能夠提高保留率、訪問頻率和每筆交易的金額。

What we've really modeled is on the backside of what we internally refer to as operation elevate, is to bring in our marketing team to really drive local grassroots marketing on the back side of operation elevate. That's intended to drive more momentum and ultimately drive more guests. So it is a combination approach, Randy, but we're confident in our ability to move the needle without just having to rely on taking price.

我們真正模仿的是我們內部所說的營運提升的背後，是引入我們的行銷團隊，在營運提升的背後真正推動當地的基層行銷。此舉旨在推動更多動力並最終吸引更多客人。因此，蘭迪，這是一種組合方法，但我們對我們無需依賴價格就能取得進展的能力充滿信心。

As it relates to laser, it is our hypothesis in this initial pilot program was that we could attract more new guests to the brand and drive greater share of wallet from our existing wax guest. The six center pilot was expanded to 10 centers because we saw enough data to confirm that. The third data point is we wanted to ensure that cannibalization of our core waxing services were contained within acceptable levels, and we're also seeing that.

由於它與雷射有關，我們在這個初始試點計劃中的假設是，我們可以吸引更多新客人加入該品牌，並從我們現有的蠟客人那裡獲得更大的錢包份額。六個中心試點擴大到了 10 個中心，因為我們看到了足夠的數據來證實這一點。第三個數據點是我們希望確保我們的核心打蠟服務的蠶食被控制在可接受的水平內，我們也看到了這一點。

The ultimate bellwether for laser for this brand is is it accretive on both top line and bottom line. And while we're incredibly encouraged with the initial results, we want to get smarter in some other states where the regulatory environment is a bit stricter than in New York. So that's what's leading us to expand the laser pilot to Florida.

對於這個品牌來說，雷射的最終風向標是它是否能同時增加營收和利潤。雖然我們對初步結果感到非常鼓舞，但我們希望在其他一些監管環境比紐約更嚴格的州變得更聰明。這就是我們將雷射試點擴展到佛羅裡達州的原因。

We're taking it to our corporate-owned centers in Florida, and we'll continue to monitor. We have strong interest from our network to further expand into other states. So we will continue to evaluate on laser potential within the brand. I hope that helps, Randy.

我們正在將其帶到佛羅裡達州的企業中心，我們將繼續進行監控。我們對我們的網絡進一步擴展到其他州抱有濃厚的興趣。因此，我們將繼續評估該品牌內的雷射潛力。我希望這有幫助，蘭迪。

Yeah, it helps. Thank you so much.

是的，有幫助。太感謝了。

Of course.

當然。

Scot Ciccarelli, Truist.

斯科特·西卡雷利，真理論者。

Good morning, guys. Thanks for the time. If that's for, let's say, for comps to hit the low end of your annual guide, you need positive low single digits in 2Q, ramping that to mid single digits for the balance of the year. And then, by our math, to hit the high end, you basically need a steeper slope with an exit rate of really high single digits, almost even double digit. So I guess, the questions are, can we assume that you are posting positive low single digits today? And second, is that fair assumptions regarding the slope of the curve you guys are thinking about for the balance of the year?

早上好傢伙。謝謝你的時間。如果這是為了讓比較達到年度指南的低端，那麼您需要在第二季度實現正的低個位數，並在今年剩餘時間內將其提高到中個位數。然後，根據我們的數學計算，要達到高端，你基本上需要一個更陡的斜率，退出率必須達到非常高的個位數，甚至幾乎是兩位數。所以我想，問題是，我們可以假設您今天發布的數據為正低個位數嗎？其次，關於你們正在考慮的今年剩餘時間的曲線斜率的假設是否公平？

Good morning, Scot. I think that what you said is pretty reasonable, right? What we've said is that it will be a a steady and consistent growth as we progress through the year as a result of these initiatives that we have in place that we'll continue to monitor. And so, I think your basis of your cap is pretty reasonable. It's definitely more back-end loaded as it relates to most importantly, these initiatives and continuing to resonate this into the guests. And then, for Q2, what we've said is we're in line or in tracking with the expectations that we put forward as 2% to 5%.

早安，史考特。我覺得你說的很有道理吧？我們所說的是，由於我們採取了這些舉措，我們將繼續監控這一年的進展，這將是一個穩定、持續的成長。所以，我認為你的上限基礎是相當合理的。它肯定有更多的後端負載，因為它與最重要的這些舉措相關，並繼續引起客人的共鳴。然後，對於第二季度，我們所說的是我們與我們提出的 2% 至 5% 的預期一致或追蹤。

But Stacie, just just to be clear, the current plans in place in terms of the change of marketing, et cetera, the expectation is that can get you to mid-single-digit to high-single-digit exit rate by the end of the year, fourth quarter?

但史黛西，我要澄清的是，目前在行銷變革等方面製定的計劃，預計到年底可以讓你達到中個位數到高個位數的退出率今年，第四季？

Yeah. I mean, as you do your math right, as a negative 1%, 2%, and then, you have to see how you would have to ramp to get to that 2%, 5%. Again, that's I think, a reasonable assumption as how you would get there.

是的。我的意思是，當你計算正確時，作為負 1%、2%，然後，你必須看看如何才能達到 2%、5%。再說一遍，我認為這是一個關於如何實現這一目標的合理假設。

Yeah, Scott, let me just add on to that. So our reiterating the guide assumes a stable macro, and that the initiatives we've been discussing will in fact, drive the results and impact as we progress through the year. But there's a couple of proof points that we are seeing that is informing this reiteration of the guide. One is the National Media Agency retained in Q4. They laid the groundwork, and we're seeing this drive reservations, new guests and cost efficiencies. And they're working on optimizations of that strategy that we expect to drive further impact as we move through the year.

是的，斯科特，讓我補充一下。因此，我們重申該指南的假設是宏觀經濟穩定，而且我們一直在討論的舉措實際上將隨著我們今年的進展而推動結果和影響。但我們看到有幾個證據點可以為該指南的重申提供依據。其中之一是第四季保留的國家媒體機構。他們奠定了基礎，我們看到這推動了預訂、新客人和成本效率的提高。他們正在努力優化該策略，我們預計這項策略將在今年內產生進一步的影響。

I just touched on Randy's question. Our field trainer support program, we're incredibly excited about this. We had the pilot we launched in Q4. We expanded to a few additional centers late Q1. Really important takeaway for us is the improvements we're seeing in four-wall KPIs are actually, the franchisees are able to sustain those after our field trainers have done their work and leave these markets. So our goal with this program and intention is to further scale this program as we move through the year.

我剛剛談到蘭迪的問題。我們的現場培訓師支援計劃，我們對此感到非常興奮。我們在第四季度推出了試點計畫。我們在第一季末擴展到了幾個額外的中心。對我們來說，真正重要的收穫是我們在四面牆 KPI 中看到的改進實際上是，在我們的現場培訓師完成工作並離開這些市場​​後，特許經營者能夠維持這些改進。因此，我們這個計劃的目標和意圖是在今年內進一步擴大這個計劃的規模。

Fairly smaller datasets that we had talked on previous calls about our NCO playbook. This is a data-driven playbook that's very prescriptive about the spend required before the center opens, staffing required, the training of the staffing in for. This was launched late Q1 in those centers that opened following the new playbook.

我們在之前的 NCO 行動手冊電話會議上討論過的相當小的數據集。這是一本數據驅動的手冊，對中心開業前所需的支出、所需的人員配備以及人員培訓進行了非常詳細的說明。這是在第一季末在新劇本之後開業的中心推出的。

We're seeing them open with more new guests in their filed day one, properly trained staff and as we would have expected, a faster ramp in both tickets and revenue for these new centers. And then finally, one last data point, Scott, is our local digital agencies we brought on April 1. We've had just over 400 of our centers sign up and start leveraging these new agencies, and we're seeing early leads that are very encouraging. So I wanted to give at least a few examples of these early proof points. Those, combined with our second-quarter date trends are what give us confidence in reaffirming the full-year outlook.

我們看到它們在開業的第一天就迎來了更多的新客人，訓練有素的員工，正如我們所期望的那樣，這些新中心的門票和收入都將更快增長。最後，斯科特，最後一個數據點是我們在 4 月 1 日引入的本地數位代理商。鼓舞。所以我想至少給一些這些早期證據點的例子。這些與我們第二季的日期趨勢相結合，使我們有信心重申全年前景。

Got it. Super helpful, guys. Appreciate it.

知道了。非常有幫助，夥計們。欣賞它。

Sure.

當然。

Dana Telsey, Telsey Advisory Group.

達納‧特爾西，特爾西諮詢小組。

Hi. Can you just review regionally, did you see anything different by region in terms of what you saw? California, for example? How is that performance versus the rest?

你好。您能否按地區進行回顧，您看到的地區與您所看到的地區有什麼不同嗎？例如加州？與其他性能相比，該性能如何？

And then, in terms of pricing and labor costs. Anything changing in terms of pricing and labor costs in terms of you taking price going forward? And is there anything we should be mindful of with the new marketing agency that impacts second quarter, third quarter, and fourth quarter that could be meaningful? Thank you.

然後，在定價和勞動力成本方面。就您未來的定價而言，定價和勞動成本方面有什麼變化嗎？對於影響第二季、第三季和第四季的新行銷機構，我們有什麼應該注意的、可能有意義的事情嗎？謝謝。

So from a geography standpoint, Dana, and sorry, good morning, nothing really to call out. There was weather throughout the -- in different places, hit a little bit harder. So that's probably the only thing that I would say. But from a California perspective, not so much top line. We continue to have the challenges from the increasing cost of labor and construction, but those are things that we've just continued to deal with.

所以從地理的角度來看，達納，抱歉，早安，沒什麼好說的。整個過程中，不同地方的天氣都比較嚴重。所以這可能是我唯一要說的。但從加州的角度來看，收入並沒有那麼高。我們仍然面臨著勞動力和建築成本不斷增加的挑戰，但這些都是我們剛繼續應對的問題。

Yeah, Dana, I would just add. As it relates to labor costs, no major headlines in terms of across the network. There's obviously isolated markets that have seen elevated minimum wage rates go into effect earlier this year. And in select markets, we've seen franchisees take price in those markets to accommodate the elevated labor costs. Maybe, Andrea, you want to touch on how we're thinking about pricing overall?

是的，達納，我想補充一下。由於涉及人工成本，全網沒有出現重大頭條。顯然，有一些孤立的市場今年稍早開始實施提高最低工資標準。在某些市場，我們看到特許經營商在這些市場上定價以適應勞動成本的上升。也許，安德里亞，您想談談我們如何考慮整體定價？

Sure. Hi, Dana. So as a reminder for everybody, we did recommend price increases in 2021, and again in 2022. But as you know, our franchisees set their own prices, and some have taken prices up over the past year as well. Based on the always on analysis and monitoring and evaluating of the situation that we continue to do, we don't plan to recommend a system-wide price increase this year.

當然。嗨，達納。因此，提醒大家，我們確實建議在 2021 年提價，並在 2022 年再次提價。基於我們對情勢的持續分析、監測和評估，我們不打算建議今年全系統漲價。

But we continue to put science behind that. We would consider different pricing scenarios market by market. And we're looking across our own costs, our four-wall margins for our franchisees, the pricing elasticity that we see consumers to exhibit, the transactions trends that we experience and what the competition is doing. So all of that is factoring into the way that we are continuing to look at the landscape.

但我們繼續以科學為後盾。我們會根據市場考慮不同的定價方案。我們正在審視我們自己的成本、我們為特許經營商提供的四面牆利潤、我們看到消費者表現出的定價彈性、我們經歷的交易趨勢以及競爭對手正在做什麼。因此，所有這些都影響著我們繼續看待情況的方式。

Got it. Thank you.

知道了。謝謝。

Lorraine Hutchinson, Bank of America.

洛琳‧哈欽森，美國銀行。

Thank you. Good morning. I was curious what the feedback was from franchisees around the NCO program? And has that alleviated any concerns they may have on the profitability ramp of future centers given the higher cost to open?

謝謝。早安.我很好奇加盟商對 NCO 計畫有何回饋？鑑於開設成本較高，這是否減輕了他們對未來中心獲利能力提升的擔憂？

Well, I tell you, Lorraine, good morning. Those franchisees that launched with the new NCO playbook, I would say, are fully endorsing it. They're seeing good early results. Very small data set as we turn this on midway through Q1. But we also put in place, Lorraine, two things. There's two concerns that franchisees had that we wanted to address. One is the ramp and profitability of an NCO. And I think this data, this playbook, helps address that and gives them the best chance to ramp with more momentum, get to faster break even, and ultimately, a faster ramp to the very attractive 50% cash-on-cash returns.

好吧，我告訴你，洛林，早安。我想說，那些推出新 NCO 劇本的特許經營商都完全認可它。他們看到了良好的早期結果。當我們在第一季中途開啟此功能時，資料集非常小。但洛林，我們也做了兩件事。我們想要解決特許經營商的兩個擔憂。一是 NCO 的成長和獲利能力。我認為這些數據、這本劇本有助於解決這個問題，並為他們提供了最好的機會，以更大的動力實現成長，更快地實現收支平衡，並最終更快地實現非常有吸引力的50% 現金回報率。

The other thing that we're doing, we are sensitive to franchisees' concern that we oversaturate or overdevelop a market. So we aligned with our Franchise Advisory Council to come up with mutually agreed upon market impact guidelines. So our real estate models already factored in and modeled if we were going to develop a particular location, what impact that would have on surrounding centers. We've always worked under the assumption and parameters that a 5% to 10% cannibalization would be acceptable for multi-unit growth concept.

我們正在做的另一件事是，我們對特許經營者對我們市場過度飽和或過度開發的擔憂很敏感。因此，我們與特許經營諮詢委員會合作，制定了雙方商定的市場影響指南。因此，我們的房地產模型已經考慮並建模瞭如果我們要開發一個特定位置，會對週邊中心產生什麼影響。我們一直在這樣的假設和參數下工作：對於多單位成長概念來說，5% 到 10% 的蠶食是可以接受的。

So we've aligned with our Franchise Advisory Council to say it's a given site that's selected by a franchisee is expected to have an outside impact on the surrounding centers, we'll look for another location. So we're really trying to address this both ways. Giving those NCOs the best opportunity to drive profitable growth while protecting the profitability of surrounding franchise locations.

因此，我們與我們的特許經營諮詢委員會一致表示，特許經營者選擇的特定地點預計會對周圍的中心產生外部影響，我們將尋找另一個地點。所以我們真的在努力從兩個方面解決這個問題。為這些 NCO 提供推動獲利成長的最佳機會，同時保護週邊特許經營地點的獲利能力。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Korinne Wolfmeyer, Piper Sandler.

科琳·沃爾夫邁耶，派珀·桑德勒。

Hey, good morning, team. Thanks for taking the questions. My first one is, I'm just wondering if there's any way you could better quantify the Easter and weather impact? And maybe, you could give us some color on how many centers were actually closed on the Easter holiday? And then, how many centers and how many days were closed due to weather? And maybe, that could help give us a little bit more comfort that there's not some other impact going on like the macro or weaker episodic guest trends that may also be contributing to that lower same-store sales. Thanks.

嘿，早上好，團隊。感謝您提出問題。我的第一個問題是，我只是想知道是否有什麼方法可以更好地量化復活節和天氣的影響？也許，您可以告訴我們有多少中心在復活節假期實際上關閉了？那麼，有多少個中心因天氣而關閉了多少天？也許，這可以讓我們多一點安慰，因為沒有其他影響，例如宏觀或較弱的偶發客人趨勢，也可能導致同店銷售額下降。謝謝。

Good morning. And appreciate the question, Korinne, but we've not broken it out between those two pieces. What I can tell you from a weather perspective, nearly 300 store days is what we calculated in January across those 12 different states. And so, it was very impactful for sure, but we've not quantified it any further than that. And then, of course, on Easter, we're closed that day.

早安.感謝 Korinne 提出這個問題，但我們還沒有在這兩部分之間進行分解。我可以從天氣角度告訴您，我們在 1 月計算出這 12 個不同州的商店營業日數接近 300 個。因此，它確實非常有影響力，但我們還沒有進一步量化它。當然，在復活節那天我們會關門。

Got it. Thanks so much. That's helpful. And then, I think in the prepared remarks, you talked a little bit about a spending shift from Q1 to Q2. Is there a way you can quantify that? And then, maybe help give us a little bit more color on how we should be thinking about the margin cadence for the remainder of the year? Thank you.

知道了。非常感謝。這很有幫助。然後，我認為在準備好的發言中，您談到了從第一季到第二季的支出轉變。有沒有辦法可以量化這一點？然後，也許可以幫助我們更多地了解我們應該如何考慮今年剩餘時間的保證金節奏？謝謝。

Sure. So from a from a gross margin perspective, I'll start there. We had saw a very significant increase in Q1 as a result of these negotiated cost savings that we've had. I would expect to continue to see an improvement over the balance of the year, not to the size of what we saw in Q1. It was definitely outsized. Certainly, as we get to the back half, we're going to start anniversarying some of those cost savings that we started to see at the end of 2023.

當然。因此，從毛利率的角度來看，我將從這裡開始。由於我們透過協商節省了成本，第一季我們看到了非常顯著的成長。我預計今年剩餘時間將繼續有所改善，而不是達到第一季的規模。這絕對是超大的。當然，當我們進入下半年時，我們將開始紀念我們在 2023 年底開始看到的一些成本節省。

From the other, I guess, guidance that we provided, we didn't quantify the impact of the shift in timing of professional fees and technology. The biggest thing to take into account in Q2 is what we said about advertising that we would expect about a 400 basis point increase as a percentage of revenue for the quarter as we are, again, ramping up these initiatives to support that, and then also getting more in line with just the seasonal traffic.

我想，從我們提供的其他指導來看，我們沒有量化專業費用和技術時間轉變的影響。第二季要考慮的最重要的事情是我們所說的關於廣告的內容，我們預計該季度收入佔收入的百分比將增加約 400 個基點，因為我們再次加大這些舉措來支持這一點，然後更加符合季節性交通。

Great. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝。

You're welcome.

不客氣。

Simeon Gutman, Morgan Stanley.

西蒙古特曼，摩根士丹利。

Good morning. I want to ask about a new center productivity. I think it's hard for us to get the correct math. And then, following up, getting to the looks like you need to do three comps the rest of the year to get to the guidance range, at least the low end. You had about 100 stores coming into this year. You'll have another 100 through this year. So the ability to get to that comp range with nearly 20% more units as well and how that may interact with the trajectory of the year.

早安.我想詢問一下新中心的生產力。我認為我們很難得到正確的數學結果。然後，接下來，看起來你需要在今年剩下的時間裡進行三輪比較才能達到指導範圍，至少在低端。今年約有 100 家商店開幕。今年你還會有另外 100 個。因此，能夠以增加近 20% 的單位達到該補償範圍，以及這如何與今年的軌跡相互作用。

Yeah, Simeon. So on the new center productivity, as I mentioned earlier, it's a very small data set. At least those centers that open with our NCO playbook requirements. But we're very pleased. I mean, their ticket trajectory, their revenue trajectory, a few weeks to a few months in some cases with some of these centers is -- looks like centers pre-COVID in terms of what is the productivity of these new centers.

是的，西蒙。因此，正如我之前提到的，關於新中心的生產力，這是一個非常小的資料集。至少那些按照我們的士官手冊要求開放的中心。但我們非常高興。我的意思是，他們的門票軌跡、收入軌跡，在某些情況下，其中一些中心需要幾週到幾個月的時間——就這些新中心的生產力而言，看起來就像是新冠疫情之前的中心。

Now, having said that, our guides, Simeon, I think you'd mentioned 100 centers this year. Our guide for unit development is 75.

現在，話雖如此，我們的導遊 Simeon，我想您今年提到了 100 個中心。我們的單位開髮指南是 75。

100 coming in.

100人進來了

Oh, I got you. 75 to 80 for the full year. But we do expect to hit within our guidance. We fully acknowledge this is a quarter-over-quarter-over-quarter improvement in our comp. And the initiatives that we've talked about in the early data points are giving us that confidence, that these will materialize and drive greater impact as we progress quarter to quarter to quarter.

哦，我找到你了。全年75至80。但我們確實預計會達到我們的指導範圍內。我們完全承認我們的業績比上一季有所改善。我們在早期數據點中討論的舉措給了我們信心，隨著我們每季的進展，這些舉措將實現並產生更大的影響。

Thanks for that. On expenses, I think Stacie said -- I was going to ask how much expense has shift from Q1 to Q2? I don't think you're quantifying. And then, the IPO awards, just refresh what that was from? And then, is this new run rate going forward or do we see some of that expense come back at any point?

感謝那。關於費用，我想史黛西說——我想問從第一季轉移到第二季有多少費用？我不認為你在量化。然後，IPO獎項，刷新一下它的來歷？然後，這個新的運行率是否會繼續下去，或者我們是否會看到其中一些費用在任何時候都會回來？

So in Q1 last year, there was almost $4 million of, let's say, a one time or not one time, but an outsized amount related to the pre-IPO grants. So that, you can completely take that out as it relates to the ongoing run rate. And so, what you would see quarter over quarter is pretty consistent. It's, I think we'd call it out as roughly, $2 million, something like that.

因此，去年第一季度，有近 400 萬美元（可以說是一次性或非一次性）與首次公開募股前補助金相關的巨額金額。因此，您可以完全刪除它，因為它與持續的運行率有關。因此，您會看到季度與季度之間的情況非常一致。我想我們會稱之為大約 200 萬美元，類似的東西。

Got it. Okay. Thanks, everyone. Good luck.

知道了。好的。感謝大家。祝你好運。

Thanks, Simeon.

謝謝，西蒙。

Jonathan Komp, Baird.

喬納森康普，貝爾德。

Yeah. Hi. Good morning. If I could just follow up on the plan for unit development here in 2024, I think three quarter is back half weighted, it's more weighted to the back half than we've typically seen. Could you maybe just comment on any individual circumstances leading to the shape of the year and really visibility to that second half ramp?

是的。你好。早安.如果我能跟進 2024 年的單位開發計劃，我認為四分之三的權重是後半部分，後半部分的權重比我們通常看到的要高。您能否對導致今年情況的任何個別情況以及下半年坡道的真正可見性發表評論？

Yeah, Jon, good question. Thank you. It is more back half weighted than what we saw last year. There were six centers that we had scheduled to open in Q2 that are going to move to the back half of the year. Three of those in the Northeast just had some permitting delays. Three of those lease negotiations with landlords took an extended period of time. We have every confidence all six of those centers will open in 2024.

是的，喬恩，好問題。謝謝。與我們去年看到的相比，它的後半加權更多。我們原計劃在第二季開設六個中心，但這些中心將移至今年下半年。其中三個位於東北部的航班只是在允許的情況下出現了一些延誤。其中三項與房東的租賃談判花了很長一段時間。我們完全有信心所有六個中心將於 2024 年開業。

So while we are back half loaded, I don't have any concerns that this is going to push further as of today, Jon. Our franchisees remain committed developing with the brand. They continue to make solid cash-on-cash returns. So hopefully, that addresses your specific question.

因此，雖然我們已經恢復了一半的負載，但我並不擔心從今天起這會進一步推進，喬恩。我們的特許經營商仍然致力於與品牌一起發展。他們繼續獲得穩健的現金回報。希望這能解決您的具體問題。

Yeah, that's really helpful. Maybe just one other broader question. If you think about, really the right same-store sales run rate for this business over time. So not directly tied to 2024. But over time, how are you thinking about same-store sales? I know at one point, the view was towards high-single-digit comps. I don't know if you have any updated thoughts relative to that. Thanks again.

是的，這真的很有幫助。也許只是另一個更廣泛的問題。如果您考慮一下，隨著時間的推移，該業務的同店銷售運行率確實是正確的。所以與 2024 年沒有直接關係。我知道，在某一時刻，人們的觀點是傾向於高個位數的競爭。不知道您對此是否有任何更新的想法。再次感謝。

Yeah, appreciate the question. Clearly that is where our long term algorithm is. That's what we have spoken about. And to get there, it's a low single digit for mature centers and high single digit for ramping. And we believe that we still have the opportunity to get back there. And as we progress through the year, we'll get closer, especially on the mature centers, getting back to that long-term ramp, assuming that, again, the things that David talked about before, a stable environment, as well as these initiatives really starting to materialize. So we still believe that that is something that we can achieve in this model.

是的，感謝這個問題。顯然這就是我們的長期演算法。這就是我們已經討論過的。為了達到這個目標，對於成熟的中心來說，這是一個較低的個位數，而對於成長來說，則是一個較高的個位數。我們相信我們仍然有機會回到那裡。隨著這一年的進展，我們將更加接近，特別是在成熟的中心，回到長期的成長，假設大衛之前談到的事情，一個穩定的環境，以及這些倡議真正開始實現。所以我們仍然相信這是我們可以在這個模型中實現的目標。

Okay, thanks. Thanks again.

好的謝謝。再次感謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

John Heinbockel, Guggenheim Partners.

約翰·海因博克爾，古根漢合夥人。

Hey, David. Can you expand on the field training initiative, right, in terms of what they're specifically working on? I don't know if they're training wax specialists, managers, et cetera. You talked about KPIs, right? So what are the KPIs that you think are most critical?

嘿，大衛。您能否擴展現場培訓計劃，對吧，就他們具體從事的工作而言？我不知道他們是否在訓練蠟專家、經理等。您談到了 KPI，對吧？那麼您認為最關鍵的 KPI 是什麼呢？

And then, lastly, I'm just curious, right, obviously, you're going to have multiple trainers doing a lot of stores. I'm just curious, ultimately, is this a 50-person effort? Is it 100 person? What's the size of it if you think about it?

最後，我只是很好奇，顯然，你將會有多名培訓師在許多商店進行培訓。我只是好奇，最後這是50人的努力嗎？是100人嗎？如果你想一下，它的大小是多少？

Yeah, John, thanks for the question. So today we have we have less than 10 field trainers. So I want to give this some level of context. While we would like to expand this team, we're not signaling a fundamental change in our OpEx structure. I think the impact these folks can drive in center flows through very nicely both to our revenue and ultimately to our EBITDA line.

是的，約翰，謝謝你的提問。所以今天我們只有不到 10 位現場培訓師。所以我想給一些背景資訊。雖然我們希望擴大這個團隊，但我們並不表示我們的營運支出結構將會發生根本性變化。我認為這些人可以對我們的收入和最終的 EBITDA 線產生非常好的影響。

When I look at a given market, so John, the way we're approaching this is go to a given market and that market may be, it's a larger franchisee group. Maybe it's one franchisee. If it's a market that has a collection of smaller groups, the combination of our field business consultant and field trainers really deploying to that market, and they live in that market for weeks at a time. So instead of just checking on the centers or doing a quarterly business review, they embed themselves in the markets to evaluate, are the centers properly staffed? Are they following the playbooks? And really hands on coaching, mentoring, guiding the very playbooks that we put out to the network.

當我考慮一個特定的市場時，約翰，我們處理這個問題的方式是進入一個特定的市場，而這個市場可能是一個更大的特許經營者群體。也許是一位特許經營商。如果這是一個擁有較小群體的市場，那麼我們的現場業務顧問和現場培訓師的組合就會真正部署到該市場，並且他們一次會在該市場中生活數週。因此，他們不是只是檢查中心或進行季度業務審查，而是將自己融入市場來評估中心是否配備了適當的人員？他們遵循劇本嗎？並真正親自指導、輔導和指導我們向網路發布的劇本。

The KPIs that we're focused on and that we're moving the needle on are wax pass conversion, guest retention. So we measure guest retention. Is that guest visited your center? Did they either rebook or rebook to visit that center within the next 60 days? And driving retail attachment.

我們重點關注並正在努力推進的 KPI 是蠟道轉換率和賓客保留率。所以我們衡量客人的保留率。這位客人來過您的中心嗎？他們是否重新預訂或重新預訂在接下來的 60 天內訪問中心？並推動零售依戀。

So it's a different approach than just a couple of times a year, four times a year touch base with the franchisee on here's your opportunities to drive improvement in your centers. It's very much a hands on approach, and we're very pleased with kind of the early reads thus far. We've been we had the one pilot center in Q4 of last year. We went to another market late Q1 of this year. And so, our goal and plan is to further scale this program as we progress through the year.

因此，這是一種不同的方法，而不是每年幾次、四次與加盟商接觸，這是您推動中心改進的機會。這在很大程度上是一種實踐方法，我們對迄今為止的早期閱讀感到非常滿意。去年第四季我們就有了一個試點中心。今年第一季末我們去了另一個市場。因此，我們的目標和計劃是隨著今年的進展進一步擴大該計劃的規模。

All right. Maybe, as a follow to that. Right. If we take -- if you think about the ramp and system-wide sales right from where we are now to, let's say, the fourth quarter, and you put it into four buckets, right, you got core and non-core, and then, you got right traffic and spend. Where do you think the biggest ramp, the most significant ramp is going to come in those buckets?

好的。也許，作為這一點的後續。正確的。如果我們考慮一下從現在到第四季度的成長和全系統銷售額，然後將其分為四個部分，對吧，你有核心和非核心，然後，你就獲得了正確的流量和支出。您認為最大的坡道、最重要的坡道會出現在這些桶子裡的哪裡？

John, can you clarify core and non-core?

約翰，你能澄清一下核心和非核心嗎？

Right. Well, I think you said, right, core is -- I want to make it simple as opposed to wax pass and casual. So I think about core as 75%, non-core, I think 25%, right. So if I think about that, 75% and the 25%, and then, I think about right traffic and spend in each of those. So those four buckets. If you said this one or one or two are going to drive disproportionate ramp, what would that be?

正確的。嗯，我想你說過，對，核心是——我想讓它變得簡單，而不是蠟通和休閒。所以我認為核心是 75%，非核心是 25%，對吧。因此，如果我考慮一下，75% 和 25%，然後，我會考慮每個方面的正確流量和支出。所以這四個桶子。如果你說這一個或一兩個將驅動不成比例的坡道，那會是什麼？

I don't know that there's one that's going to drive a disproportionate ramp. If I think of our existing guests, so both core and non-core, I see a decent part of this ramp through the year coming from the existing guest file. So of our core guests, we wanted to get a greater share of wallet. So our probably best opportunity there, they're already coming on a regular cadence is probably drive better retail attachment or an add-on service. The opportunity for our non-core guests that are coming less frequency is can we get them on a wax pass to get them on that regular routine.

我不知道有人會駕駛不成比例的坡道。如果我想到我們現有的客人，無論是核心還是非核心，我認為全年增長的很大一部分來自現有的客人文件。因此，我們希望在我們的核心客人中獲得更大的錢包份額。因此，我們可能最好的機會是，他們已經定期出現，可能會推動更好的零售配件或附加服務。對於來得頻率較低的非核心客人來說，我們可以為他們提供蠟通行證，讓他們按照常規進行日常活動。

So if I look at as we expect the ramp, I think the lion's share of that is going to come from the existing guest file, getting more visits and more dollars per ticket. And I think we talked briefly on this in our prepared remarks, I think we have a huge opportunity in terms of attracting more new guests to the brand.

因此，如果我按照我們預期的方式看待坡道，我認為其中大部分將來自現有的賓客檔案，從而獲得更多的訪問量和每張門票更多的美元。我想我們在準備好的發言中簡要討論了這一點，我認為我們在吸引更多新客人加入該品牌方面有巨大的機會。

In this environment, we get that consumers that are not already on a waxing routine might be a little more challenging to convince them to start waxing. But we're very pleased with the early reads from our national media program and we're encouraged with the very early reads of our local digital agency program. So hopefully, that gives you a little more color, John, how we're thinking about it.

在這種環境下，我們發現尚未進行除毛程序的消費者可能很難說服他們開始除毛。但我們對我們的國家媒體計劃的早期閱讀感到非常滿意，並且我們對我們當地數位機構計劃的早期閱讀感到鼓舞。約翰，希望這能讓你對我們的想法有更多的了解。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) Kelly Crago, Citi.

（操作員指示）Kelly Crago，花旗銀行。

Hi, everyone. Thanks for taking our question. I just wanted to focus in on the comp performance in 1Q. So ex the timing shifts and closures, the slightly positive comp, it was below how consensus is modeling. So I'm just curious how the comp performance was relative to your plan going into the quarter. You mentioned and we talked a lot about the weakness that you saw from new guests. Was that what you expected given you did have this partnership with this new media agency.

大家好。感謝您提出我們的問題。我只是想關注第一季的表現。因此，除了時間變化和關閉之外，稍微積極的補償，它低於共識的建模方式。所以我只是好奇比較表現與您進入本季度的計劃有何關係。您提到過，我們也討論了許多您從新客人身上看到的弱點。鑑於您確實與這家新媒體機構建立了合作夥伴關係，這就是您所期望的嗎？

And then, just secondly, any color -- more color on that episodic guest performance versus expectations given there are some there are more susceptible to fluctuations in the macro.

其次，任何顏色——客串表演與預期相比的更多顏色，因為有些更容易受到宏觀波動的影響。

Great. Thanks, Kelly. As far as the comp in Q1, so we don't really provide one. As you know, we don't provide specific quarterly guidance or what our internal expectations are. However, we did say on our call in March, we expected Q1 to be the low point of the year due to the rollout of these initiatives and those taking -- starting to materialize. And of course, at that point, we were aware of weather and the impact of Easter. And so, we still maintain that expectation that Q1 is going to be the low point for the year. And we reiterated, as you know, the guide for 2% to 5% for the full year. So that's where we're sitting today.

偉大的。謝謝，凱利。至於第一季的補償，所以我們並沒有真正提供。如您所知，我們不提供具體的季度指導或我們的內部期望。然而，我們確實在 3 月的電話會議上表示，由於這些舉措的推出以及那些開始實現的舉措，我們預計第一季將成為今年的最低點。當然，那時我們就意識到天氣和復活節的影響。因此，我們仍然維持第一季將是今年低點的預期。如您所知，我們重申了全年 2% 至 5% 的指導方針。這就是我們今天坐的地方。

Yeah, Kelly, I would just add. In terms of the episodic guests in Q1, we actually saw that part of the file remain stable in terms of her visit frequency and her spend. Our biggest opportunity is as we talked earlier is really attracting more new guests to the brand and we expect more new guests added to our file as we progress through the year. Again, part, related to our National Media Agency, but we expect more momentum to come from the local digital agencies and these local grassroots efforts. We're seeing already that the franchisees embracing this grassroots marketing playbook are making a difference in their centers.

是的，凱利，我想補充一下。就第一季的間歇性客人而言，我們實際上看到部分文件在訪問頻率和支出方面保持穩定。正如我們之前所說，我們最大的機會是真正吸引更多新客人加入品牌，我們預計隨著今年的進展，將會有更多新客人添加到我們的檔案中。同樣，部分與我們的國家媒體機構有關，但我們預計更多的動力來自當地的數位機構和這些當地的基層努力。我們已經看到，採用這種草根行銷策略的特許經營商正在為他們的中心帶來改變。

Got it. And just one more for me on the cadence of the comps, extra shift. Did you, in the closures, can you just give in color on maybe how the comp performance progressed through the quarter to better understand the run rate exiting 1Q?

知道了。對我來說，還有一點關於比賽的節奏，額外的輪班。在關閉中，您是否可以簡單地說明本季度的比較績效進展情況，以便更好地了解第一季的運行率？

Yeah. We don't provide the monthly performance metrics. However, obviously January was where we were significantly impacted, as I mentioned before. Estimated about a 300 store days of closures, and then, of course, in March, it was the shift, but we haven't quantified it further than that. Other than say in Q2, we are tracking to where we think the expectations that we have for the year.

是的。我們不提供每月績效指標。然而，正如我之前提到的，顯然一月份我們受到了重大影響。估計商店將關閉 300 天，當然，在 3 月份，情況發生了轉變，但我們還沒有進一步量化。除了第二季之外，我們正在追蹤我們對今年的預期。

Thank you.

謝謝。

I show no further questions in the queue at this time. I would now like to turn the call back to David Willis for closing remarks.

目前我在隊列中沒有顯示任何其他問題。我現在想將電話轉回給大衛威利斯，請他發表結束語。

Thanks, Michelle, and thank you everyone for your time on the call today. We look forward to speaking with you in the days and weeks to come, and to delivering on our long-term growth objectives. Thanks for attending the call.

謝謝米歇爾，也謝謝大家今天抽空參加電話會議。我們期待在未來幾天或幾週內與您交談，並實現我們的長期成長目標。感謝您參加電話會議。

This does conclude today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。