Group 1 Automotive Inc (GPI) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Group 1 Automotive's 2023 Third Quarter Financial Results Conference Call. Please be advised that this call is being recorded.

早安，女士們、先生們，歡迎參加 Group 1 Automotive 2023 年第三季財務業績電話會議。請注意，此通話正在錄音。

At this time, I'd like to turn the floor over to Mr. Peter DeLongchamps, Group 1's Senior Vice President of Manufacturer Relations, Financial Services and Public Affairs. Please go ahead, Mr. DeLongchamps.

現在，我想請 Group 1 製造商關係、金融服務和公共事務高級副總裁 Peter DeLongchamps 先生發言。請繼續，德隆尚先生。

Thank you, Jamie, and good morning, everyone, and welcome to today's call.

謝謝傑米，大家早安，歡迎參加今天的電話會議。

The earnings release we issued this morning and a related slide presentation that include reconciliations related to the adjusted results we will refer to on this call for comparison purposes have been posted to Group 1's website.

我們今天早上發布的收益報告和相關幻燈片演示文稿，其中包括與我們將在本次電話會議上出於比較目的而參考的調整後結果相關的調節表，已發佈到第一組的網站上。

Before we begin, I'd like to make some brief remarks about forward-looking statements and the use of non-GAAP financial measures. Except for historical information mentioned during the conference call, statements made by management of Group 1 Automotive are forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

在開始之前，我想對前瞻性陳述和非公認會計原則財務指標的使用做一些簡短的評論。除電話會議期間提及的歷史資訊外，Group 1 Automotive 管理層發表的聲明均為根據 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》的安全港條款做出的前瞻性聲明。

Forward-looking statements involve both known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the company's actual results in future periods to differ materially from forecasted results. Those risks include, but are not limited to, risks associated with pricing, volume, inventory supply due to increased customer demand and reduced manufacturer production levels due to component shortages, conditions of markets and adverse developments in the global economy and resulting impacts on demand for new and used vehicles and related services. Those and other risks are described in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

前瞻性陳述涉及已知和未知的風險和不確定性，可能導致公司未來期間的實際績效與預測結果有重大差異。這些風險包括但不限於與定價、數量、庫存供應相關的風險，這些風險是由於客戶需求增加、零件短缺導致製造商生產水準降低、市場狀況和全球經濟不利發展以及由此對需求的影響而導致的。新車和二手車及相關服務。這些風險和其他風險在該公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中進行了描述。

In addition, certain non-GAAP financial measures, as defined under SEC rules, may be discussed on this call. As required by applicable SEC rules, the company provides reconciliations of any such non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures on its website.

此外，本次電話會議可能會討論根據 SEC 規則定義的某些非 GAAP 財務指標。根據適用的 SEC 規則的要求，該公司在其網站上提供任何此類非 GAAP 財務指標與其最直接可比較的 GAAP 指標的調整表。

Participating with me on the call today, Daryl Kenningham, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Daniel McHenry, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

今天與我一起參加電話會議的是我們的總裁兼執行長 Daryl Kenningham；麥克亨利（Daniel McHenry），資深副總裁兼財務長。

I'd now like to hand the call over to Daryl.

我現在想把電話轉給達裡爾。

Good morning, everyone. In the third quarter of 2023, Group 1 Automotive reported $169.8 million in adjusted net income. Record total quarterly revenues of $4.7 billion, an all-time quarterly revenues across all major lines of business. Our teams also delivered record quarterly adjusted diluted EPS from continuing operations of $12.07, an increase from the third quarter of 2022.

大家，早安。 2023 年第三季度，Group 1 Automotive 報告調整後淨利為 1.698 億美元。季度總收入創下 47 億美元的紀錄，創下所有主要業務季度收入的歷史新高。我們的團隊還實現了創紀錄的季度調整後持續營運稀釋每股收益 12.07 美元，較 2022 年第三季有所增長。

Starting with our U.S. operations. Our inventory levels remained relatively flat from the second quarter of 2023, no major shifts in mix, including from our brands affected by the UAW strike. In the third quarter, Stellantis was 4% of our mix; Ford, 7%; and General Motors, 10%. On a same-store basis, our used -- our U.S. new vehicle unit sales were up nearly 12%. During the third quarter, 30% of our new vehicle sales in the U.S. were presales, down a bit from 33% in the prior quarter.

從我們的美國業務開始。自 2023 年第二季以來，我們的庫存水準保持相對平穩，組合沒有發生重大變化，包括受 UAW 罷工影響的品牌。第三季度，Stellantis 占我們組合的 4%；福特，7%；和通用汽車，10%。在同店基礎上，我們的美國新車銷量成長了近 12%。第三季度，我們在美國的新車銷量中有 30% 是預售，比上一季的 33% 略有下降。

Also important to note, in a tough used vehicle environment, our used vehicle sales were up both year-over-year and sequentially, and our gross margins were up year-over-year. We saw strengthening throughout the quarter in our used vehicle margins.

同樣值得注意的是，在嚴峻的二手車環境下，我們的二手車銷量年比和季比均有所成長，毛利率也較去年同期成長。我們看到整個季度二手車利潤率都在增加。

In addition, we saw strengthening in our CPO business to nearly 25% of our mix. CPO is a key driver of loyalty and aftersales and repurchase, and we continue to focus on organic sourcing, including acquisitions through AcceleRide customer trades, which were up in the quarter, and service drive acquisitions.

此外，我們的原棕油業務也有所加強，占我們業務的比重接近 25%。 CPO 是忠誠度、售後和回購的關鍵驅動力，我們持續專注於有機採購，包括透過 AcceleRide 客戶交易進行的收購（本季有所成長）以及服務驅動的收購。

Our outstanding F&I team also achieved record quarterly revenues, capitalizing on the opportunities to sell products that are both good for our customers and good for their vehicles. Our gross profit per unit sold of $2,367 only minimally declined on a same-store sequential basis. We expect some continued pressure on finance penetration due to existing interest rates and slightly tighter lender requirements for some used vehicle buyers.

我們傑出的 F&I 團隊也實現了創紀錄的季度收入，利用銷售機會銷售對我們的客戶和他們的車輛都有好處的產品。我們的每件銷售毛利潤為 2,367 美元，與同店環比相比僅略有下降。我們預計，由於現有利率以及對一些二手車買家的貸款要求略有收緊，金融滲透率將繼續面臨壓力。

Now shifting to aftersales. We focus on the aftersales impact on the customer journey by increasing customer retention through more convenient service hours, training of our service advisers, selling service contracts with vehicle sales and improved customer relationship management software that allows us to provide targeted marketing to our customers.

現在轉向售後。我們專注於售後對客戶旅程的影響，透過更方便的服務時間、服務顧問培訓、與車輛銷售一起銷售服務合約以及改進的客戶關係管理軟體（使我們能夠向客戶提供有針對性的行銷）來提高客戶保留率。

We continue to believe that aftersales is an area of underinvestment in our industry, and we invest heavily and without reservation when we acquire new stores. With this focus, our parts and service team continues to achieve record results, notching the tenth consecutive quarter of record revenues and an all-time quarterly high in gross profit.

我們仍然認為售後是我們行業投資不足的一個領域，當我們收購新店時，我們會毫無保留地大力投資。憑藉這一重點，我們的零件和服務團隊繼續取得創紀錄的業績，連續第十個季度創紀錄的收入和歷史最高的季度毛利。

We continue to focus on the hiring and retention of technicians in this challenging labor market. Our 4-day workweek benefits our customers by extending our hours of operation during the week and a return -- in return, leads to higher technician productivity in our shops. We continue to explore avenues to increase our capacity and drive more incremental productivity. We also continue to invest in new ways to reach our customers through one-to-one marketing technology and by using artificial intelligence.

我們繼續關注在這個充滿挑戰的勞動力市場中招募和保留技術人員。我們每週工作 4 天，透過延長一週內的營業時間和回報，使我們的客戶受益匪淺，而作為回報，我們車間的技術人員生產力也會提高。我們持續探索提高產能和提高生產力的途徑。我們也繼續投資新方法，透過一對一行銷技術和人工智慧來接觸客戶。

In the third quarter, we set over 360,000 service appointments digitally and through our customer development center. We also generated over 10,000 customer appointments with just six brands using artificial intelligence. We believe these AI customers to be incremental, and expect this initiative to grow and generate more incremental service business in the future.

第三季度，我們透過客戶開發中心以數位方式設定了超過 360,000 個服務預約。我們也利用人工智慧與六個品牌進行了超過 10,000 次客戶預約。我們相信這些人工智慧客戶是增量的，並期望這項舉措在未來能夠成長並產生更多的增量服務業務。

Now let's shift to SG&A. U.S. adjusted SG&A as a percentage of gross profit increased only 88 basis points year-over-year and improved sequentially, reflecting our focus on controlling costs in this inflationary environment and the structural cost improvements made since the pandemic. Current adjusted SG&A as a percentage of gross profit of 61.4% continues to be down from 70.5% in pre-pandemic 2019.

現在讓我們轉向SG&A。美國調整後的銷售及管理費用佔毛利潤的百分比僅同比增長88 個基點，並且環比有所改善，反映了我們在通膨環境下控製成本的重點以及自大流行以來所採取的結構性成本改善措施。目前調整後的銷售、管理及行政費用佔毛利的比例為 61.4%，繼續低於 2019 年疫情前的 70.5%。

Now a quick look at the U.K. U.K. achieved record quarterly revenues, thanks to record used vehicle performance. Vehicle demand remains resilient and new vehicle availability is still constrained, keeping vehicle pricing and GPU strong. We continue to see signs of production improvement year-over-year by certain manufacturers, as demonstrated by the near 10% increase in same-store new vehicle units sold.

現在快速瀏覽英國，由於創紀錄的二手車性能，英國實現了創紀錄的季度收入。車輛需求保持彈性，新車供應仍受到限制，使車輛定價和 GPU 保持強勁。我們繼續看到某些製造商的產量同比改善的跡象，同店新車銷量成長近 10% 就證明了這一點。

Despite this increase in same-store units sold, we experienced vehicle delivery shortages from BMW, Mini and Volkswagen in the third quarter of 2023, limiting our upside potential for the quarter. The lack of vehicle deliveries from these manufacturers resulted in higher-than-anticipated SG&A as a percentage of gross profit, giving our staffing levels, assuming the sale of these vehicles.

儘管同店銷量有所增加，但我們在 2023 年第三季度遇到了寶馬、Mini 和大眾的車輛交付短缺，限制了我們本季的上漲潛力。這些製造商缺乏車輛交付，導致銷售、管理及行政費用佔毛利的百分比高於預期，考慮到我們的人員配備水準（假設這些車輛已出售）。

As of September 30, our new vehicle order bank was approximately 17,700 units. As a reminder, our U.K. business mix is predominantly luxury, and those consumers are more resilient during times of economic uncertainty.

截至9月30日，我們的新車訂單量約為17,700輛。提醒一下，我們在英國的業務組合主要是奢侈品，這些消費者在經濟不確定時期更具彈性。

And now to capital allocation. We deployed a return-focused capital allocation strategy that balances the use of our capital between opportunistic portfolio management, share buybacks and the return of capital to shareholders in the form of quarterly dividends. This approach continues to benefit our shareholders, allowing us to achieve all-time high in adjusted diluted earnings per common share from continuing operations in the third quarter.

現在進行資本配置。我們部署了以回報為中心的資本配置策略，在機會主義投資組合管理、股票回購和以季度股息的形式向股東返還資本之間平衡資本的使用。這種方法繼續使我們的股東受益，使我們能夠在第三季的持續經營中實現調整後稀釋後每股普通股收益的歷史新高。

Successful portfolio management involves not only acquiring great assets, but also disposing of assets for which we believe a higher return proposition exists. In the third quarter of 2023, we disposed of eight franchises and voluntarily terminated a ninth franchise. We intend to benefit our shareholders by using the proceeds from these sales to either buy additional dealerships or buy back additional shares.

成功的投資組合管理不僅涉及收購優質資產，還涉及處置我們認為有更高回報的資產。 2023年第三季度，我們出售了八個特許經營權，並自願終止了第九個特許經營權。我們打算利用這些銷售所得收益購買更多經銷商或回購更多股票，使我們的股東受益。

Our #1 priority is growing the company. We evaluate all brands and geographies to expand our portfolio, seeking to acquire dealerships or dealership clusters in growth positioned or economically stable markets or that are economically accretive to our existing markets. In October 2023, we consummated the pending acquisition of a Subaru dealership in Manchester, New Hampshire, bringing the number of franchises owned in Manchester to five.

我們的第一要務是發展公司。我們評估所有品牌和地區，以擴大我們的產品組合，尋求在成長定位或經濟穩定的市場或對我們現有市場具有經濟增值作用的經銷商或經銷商群。 2023 年 10 月，我們完成了新罕布夏州曼徹斯特一家斯巴魯經銷店的收購，使曼徹斯特擁有的特許經營店數量達到五個。

Our recent acquisitions of Beck & Masten GMC and Kia dealerships, as well as Estero Bay Chevrolet in Florida, serve as a reminder of the strength of this portfolio optimization approach. We continue to explore ways to consolidate our holdings in highly profitable, scalable dealerships and dealership clusters. We believe this is a critical element to our growth story, which leverages our scale and proven integration capabilities, optimizes our rooftop performance and grows the company in a meaningful and incremental manner.

我們最近收購了 Beck & Masten GMC 和起亞經銷商，以及佛羅裡達州的 Estero Bay 雪佛蘭，這提醒我們這種投資組合優化方法的優勢。我們繼續探索如何鞏固我們在高利潤、可擴展的經銷商和經銷商群中的持股。我們相信，這是我們成長故事的關鍵要素，它利用我們的規模和經過驗證的整合能力，優化我們的屋頂性能，並以有意義和漸進的方式發展公司。

I will now turn the call over to our CFO, Daniel McHenry, to provide a balance sheet and liquidity overview. Daniel?

我現在將把電話轉給我們的財務長 Daniel McHenry，以提供資產負債表和流動性概述。丹尼爾？

Thank you, Daryl, and good morning, everyone. As of September 30, we had $53 million of cash on hand and another $211 million invested in our floorplan offset accounts, bringing total cash liquidity to $264 million. We also had $463 million available to borrow on our acquisition line, bringing total immediate available liquidity to $726 million.

謝謝你，達裡爾，大家早安。截至 9 月 30 日，我們手頭上有 5,300 萬美元現金，另有 2.11 億美元投資於我們的平面圖抵銷帳戶，使現金流動性總額達到 2.64 億美元。我們還有 4.63 億美元可透過收購額度借款，使立即可用流動資金總額達到 7.26 億美元。

For the first 9 months of 2023, we generated $555 million of adjusted operating cash flow and $448 million of free cash flow after backing out $107 million of CapEx. This capital was deployed through a combination of acquisitions, share repurchases and dividends.

2023 年前 9 個月，在收回 1.07 億美元的資本支出後，我們產生了 5.55 億美元的調整後營運現金流和 4.48 億美元的自由現金流。此資本透過收購、股票回購和股利的組合進行部署。

During the current quarter, we spent $65 million, repurchasing approximately 246,000 shares, at an average price of $261.89. The result of this repurchase activity is just over a 1.7% reduction in share count over the current quarter. Our share count as of today is down to approximately 13.8 million.

本季度，我們花了 6,500 萬美元，回購了約 246,000 股股票，平均價格為 261.89 美元。此次回購活動的結果是本季股票數量減少了 1.7% 以上。截至今天，我們的股票數量已降至約 1,380 萬股。

Our balance sheet, cash flow generation and leverage position will continue to support flexible capital allocation approach, including serious consideration of share repurchases, in addition to pursuing external growth opportunities.

我們的資產負債表、現金流量產生和槓桿狀況將繼續支持靈活的資本配置方法，包括認真考慮股票回購，以及尋求外部成長機會。

Our rent-adjusted leverage ratio, as defined by our U.S. syndicated credit facility, was 2x at the end of September. Our strong balance sheet will continue to allow for meaningful and balanced capital deployment.

截至 9 月底，我們的租金調整槓桿率（根據我們的美國銀團信貸安排定義）為 2 倍。我們強勁的資產負債表將繼續實現有意義且平衡的資本配置。

Our quarterly floorplan interest of $16.5 million was an increase of $10 million from the prior year, entirely due to higher vehicle inventory holdings. We effectively managed our floorplan interest expense by holding excess cash in our floorplan offset accounts, reducing the balance exposed to interest as well as to our portfolio of interest rate swaps, which saved us $3.4 million of interest expense versus the comparable prior year quarter.

我們的季度平面圖利息為 1,650 萬美元，比上一年增加了 1,000 萬美元，這完全是由於車輛庫存持有量增加。我們透過在佈局抵銷帳戶中持有多餘現金，減少利息以及利率掉期投資組合的餘額，有效管理了佈局利息支出，與去年同期相比，這節省了 340 萬美元的利息支出。

Non-floorplan interest expense of $26.5 million increased $6.9 million from prior year. However, our mortgage swap portfolio saved us $3.5 million versus the comparable period. As of September 30, approximately 65% of our $3.4 billion in floorplan and other debt was fixed. Therefore, an annual EPS impact is only about $0.66 for every 100-basis-point increase in the secured overnight funding rate, or SOFR, which is the benchmark reference in our floorplan and mortgage debt instruments.

非平面圖利息支出為 2,650 萬美元，比前一年增加 690 萬美元。然而，我們的抵押貸款掉期投資組合與同期相比節省了 350 萬美元。截至 9 月 30 日，我們 34 億美元的平面圖和其他債務中約 65% 已修復。因此，擔保隔夜融資利率（SOFR）每增加 100 個基點，對年度每股收益的影響僅為 0.66 美元左右，SOFR 是我們的佈局規劃和抵押貸款債務工具的基準參考。

For additional detail regarding our financial condition, please refer to the schedules of additional information attached to the news release as well as the investor presentation posted on our website.

有關我們財務狀況的更多詳細信息，請參閱新聞稿所附的附加資訊表以及我們網站上發布的投資者簡報。

This concludes our prepared remarks. I will now turn the call over to the operator to begin the question-and-answer session. Operator?

我們準備好的演講到此結束。我現在將把電話轉給接線員以開始問答環節。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question today comes from John Murphy from Bank of America.

（操作員說明）今天我們的第一個問題來自美國銀行的 John Murphy。

Daryl, I just wanted to ask a question on inventory levels. You mentioned that they are tight and constraining your sales in the U.K. But I'm just curious what your take is on inventory levels here in the U.S.? And are they sufficient? Or are they constraining sales? And maybe kind of secondly to that, where do you think inventory levels are going, so that we can understand our floorplan interest expense may go?

達裡爾，我只是想問一個關於庫存水準的問題。您提到庫存緊張並限制了您在英國的銷售。但我只是好奇您對美國的庫存水平有何看法？它們夠了嗎？還是它們限制了銷售？也許其次，您認為庫存水準會走向何方，以便我們能夠了解我們的平面圖利息支出可能會去向？

John, I think the surprising -- I guess, surprising -- maybe not so surprising thing about the inventories, Q3 over Q2, is they didn't change much on a day supply basis. I think we were up 2 days. And the mix between brands didn't change very much. We saw Stellantis coming down a little bit. We saw a little bit of remix with some of the luxuries.

約翰，我認為第三季的庫存與第二季相比，令人驚訝的——我想是令人驚訝的——也許不那麼令人驚訝的是，它們在日供應量的基礎上沒有太大變化。我想我們已經睡了兩天了。品牌之間的組合併沒有太大變化。我們看到斯特蘭蒂斯下降了一點。我們看到了一些與一些奢侈品的混搭。

But I think that it's constraining sales in probably the import brands. And when you look at our days supply, still almost single digits in those brands. And if you look at the sales growth that's there, and we still have 30% of our mix, was basically presold, which, at this point, I'm a little surprised by.

但我認為這可能限制了進口品牌的銷售。當你看到我們的日供應量時，這些品牌的數量仍然幾乎是個位數。如果你看看那裡的銷售成長，我們仍然有 30% 的產品組合基本上是預售的，在這一點上，我有點驚訝。

And the -- so I think there's probably more inventory coming in those brands. I think the luxuries are probably in about the right place. I think they've got some mix issues to deal with between EV and non-EV. And then the domestics, I think, are fine in terms of their total. We'll see what happens with the UAW impact, especially with the plans that were announced this week.

所以我認為這些品牌的庫存可能會更多。我認為奢侈品可能處於正確的位置。我認為他們需要解決電動車和非電動車之間的一些混合問題。然後國內的，我認為，就總數而言還不錯。我們將看看 UAW 的影響會發生什麼，特別是本周宣布的計劃。

And if I could sneak in one follow-up on F&I. I mean it sounds like it's a slight pressure point, still doing fairly well. But could you just remind us what part of F&I PVR is product? And what is spread-based? And what your sort of thoughts on that going forward? I mean there's a lot of good product in there the consumer benefits from. So I'm just curious what you think the risk or even opportunity is going forward there.

如果我能偷偷地跟進一下 F&I 的話。我的意思是，這聽起來像是一個輕微的壓力點，但仍然表現得相當不錯。但您能否提醒我們 F&I PVR 的哪一部分是產品？什麼是基於點差的？您對此有何看法？我的意思是，那裡有很多優質產品，消費者可以從中受益。所以我只是好奇你認為那裡的風險甚至機會是什麼。

John, it's Peter DeLongchamps. So the -- we were very pleased with the overall F&I business. And I think it continues to be the headwind with -- used car penetrations were down about 400 basis points year-over-year. 1/3 of our revenue and gross profit comes from the spread and the originations, 2/3 from product.

約翰，我是彼得‧德隆尚。因此，我們對整個 F&I 業務非常滿意。我認為這仍然是不利因素——二手車滲透率年減約 400 個基點。我們的收入和毛利的 1/3 來自價差和來源，2/3 來自產品。

And I'll tell you, when I look at the overall results, our product penetrations haven't varied more than 100 basis points either way on any of our product penetration. So we're really pleased with the product sales that we've had, which has certainly helped keep our PRU numbers in line.

我會告訴你，當我查看整體結果時，我們的產品滲透率變化沒有超過 100 個基點，無論哪種方式我們的任何產品滲透率。因此，我們對我們的產品銷售感到非常滿意，這無疑有助於保持我們的 PRU 數據保持一致。

John, one thing we do see is, as Pete mentioned, even though we're not -- we don't over rely on rate, when we do lose some attachment on financing, oftentimes, we're able to preserve some incrementality on the product sales.

約翰，我們確實看到的一件事是，正如皮特所提到的，儘管我們沒有過度依賴利率，但當我們確實失去了對融資的一些依戀時，我們通常能夠在融資上保留一些增量產品銷售。

So as an example, don't take this literally, but if we lose 3 points of finance penetration on used cars, we might only lose 1.5 points or so of product penetration. So there's still some we're able to preserve.

舉個例子，不要從字面上理解，但如果我們在二手車上失去 3 個百分點的金融滲透率，我們可能只會失去 1.5 個百分點左右的產品滲透率。所以我們仍然可以保留一些。

And our next question comes from Rajat Gupta from JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Rajat Gupta。

Congrats on the execution. I had a question on parts and services. Could you help us understand or help us gauge any potential impact from the part shortages, especially General Motor and Ford, where you have a little higher exposure? Any way to quantify what that impact could be? When should we start to worry about shortages hitting your stores? Any color on that would be helpful, and I have a follow-up.

恭喜執行。我有關於零件和服務的問題。您能否幫助我們了解或幫助我們衡量零件短缺的任何潛在影響，特別是通用汽車和福特，您在這兩家公司的風險敞口較高？有什麼方法可以量化這種影響可能是什麼？我們什麼時候應該開始擔心您的商店出現短缺？任何顏色都會有幫助，我有一個後續行動。

Rajat, this is Daryl. So far, the impact has been minimal. We purchased ahead and stocked up on the fastest moving parts in advance of the strike -- or advance the contract negotiations, I should say. And -- so we're still able to -- we're still living off of that extra stock.

拉賈特，這是達裡爾。到目前為止，影響很小。我們在罷工之前提前購買並儲備了運作最快的零件，或者我應該說，提前了合約談判。而且——所以我們仍然能夠——我們仍然靠額外的庫存生活。

We also were able to leverage our other stores around the country when we do have a part shortage. I don't think it's unreasonable to think that, in the next quarter, we'll start to see more part shortage issues from the two brands you mentioned.

當我們確實出現零件短缺時，我們也能夠利用全國各地的其他商店。我認為，在下個季度，我們將開始看到您提到的兩個品牌出現更多零件短缺問題，這並不是沒有道理的。

I don't know that they'll be significant. The OEMs have been fairly responsive with being able to supply us, but I don't know that it's -- I think it will probably be a bigger issue for us in Q4 than it was in Q3, but I can't say it will be severe.

我不知道它們會很重要。原始設備製造商對能夠向我們供貨方面反應相當積極，但我不知道這對我們來說可能是第四季度比第三季度更大的問題，但我不能說它會嚴厲一點。

Got it. Have you already started to feel that impact in the fourth quarter? Or does the strike need to continue for another week or so before you start to feel that?

知道了。您在第四季已經開始感受到這種影響了嗎？或者罷工需要再持續一周左右才能開始感覺？

Well, we won't have a full picture until after the quarter is over, so it's hard to say right now.

嗯，要到本季結束後我們才能得到完整的情況，所以現在很難說。

Got it. Got it. Just on SG&A then, helpful color on the slide deck around the productivity improvements. In the past, you've given us some color around how much permanent SG&A to gross reduction you expect to see. I think you mentioned like 300 to 400 basis points in the past, like this was probably more than a year ago.

知道了。知道了。就在 SG&A 上，幻燈片上圍繞著生產力改進的有用顏色。過去，您曾向我們透露您期望看到的永久性 SG&A 與總削減額的比例。我想你過去提到過300到400個基點，就像這可能是一年多前的事了。

Curious as to -- if you have any update to that based on what you're seeing in the business, even in the U.K.? Any new guide rails or guardrails we should be thinking about in terms of what normalized SG&A to gross should be for the business?

好奇——根據您在行業中（甚至在英國）所看到的情況，您是否對此有任何更新？我們應該考慮什麼新的指導方針或護欄，以正常化的銷售、管理和行政費用（SG&A）總額為企業的標準？

Rajat, it's Daniel here. I think an important statistic to note that I don't think is in our investor deck is that we're still 7% down in terms of head count in the U.S. versus 2019 on a same-store basis. And with that, we have added 11% more technicians. So the element related to SG&A is down even more than 7% in terms of head count.

拉賈特，我是丹尼爾。我認為需要注意的一個重要統計數據是，與 2019 年相比，我們在美國的同店員工人數仍下降了 7%，但我認為這並不存在於我們的投資者數據中。至此，我們增加了 11% 的技術人員。因此，就員工數量而言，與 SG&A 相關的要素甚至下降了 7% 以上。

And at this time, I don't see any of that head count returning. Clearly, 30% additional productivity per salesperson. Again, I don't see us going back to the ways that we were pre-pandemic. So I think all of that cost reduction -- that people head count that's added is added permanently.

目前，我沒有看到任何人員回歸。顯然，每位銷售人員的工作效率提高了 30%。再說一次，我不認為我們會回到大流行前的狀態。所以我認為所有成本的降低——增加的人員數量都是永久性的。

In terms of the guidance, I guess, that we've given, pre-pandemic, whole company, we were at 74% SG&A as a percent of growth. I don't see that ever being above 70%, all subject to recession or major changes in the industry.

就指導而言，我猜，我們在大流行前給整個公司的指導，我們的 SG&A 佔成長的百分比為 74%。我認為這一比例不會超過 70%，所有這些都會受到經濟衰退或產業重大變化的影響。

Our next question comes from David Whiston from Morningstar.

我們的下一個問題來自晨星公司的大衛‧惠斯頓。

Really impressed by the used vehicle performance. I wanted to just look at both sides of it really. Like how are you convincing the consumer, who is really struggling with used affordability, to pay over $30,000? But then on the procurement side, how are you keeping the GPU up as well?

二手車的性能給我留下了深刻的印象。我真的很想看看它的兩面。例如，您如何說服那些在二手車負擔能力方面苦苦掙扎的消費者支付超過 30,000 美元的費用？但在採購方面，如何維持 GPU 的正常運作呢？

David, Daryl. I think we're being smarter about what we're sourcing and how we're sourcing. We implemented some new technology about a year ago, which helps us with acquisition, and it helps us with pricing.

大衛、達裡爾.我認為我們在採購什麼以及如何採購方面變得更加明智。大約一年前，我們實施了一些新技術，這有助於我們進行收購，也有助於我們定價。

And it's much more responsive. It takes more of our, for lack of a better word, our gut instinct out of it and relies much more heavily on data and market intelligence on a mass basis, not just on a car-by-car basis. And we're, I believe, leveraging that better today than we ever have. So I think we're probably getting some incrementality out of our used car performance that we have not seen in the past.

而且它的反應速度更快。由於缺乏更好的詞，它更多地需要我們的直覺，並且更加依賴大眾的數據和市場情報，而不僅僅是逐輛車的數據和市場情報。我相信，我們今天比以往任何時候都更好地利用這一點。因此，我認為我們可能會從二手車性能中獲得一些我們過去從未見過的增量。

And so I think that's the results of what you're seeing, and I believe that's really the difference. We added some additional training in our dealerships around the country and some staffing around the country to try to help with the execution on used cars about a year ago as well, and I think some of that is coming to fruition. So I believe those are things that are helping us.

所以我認為這就是你所看到的結果，我相信這就是真正的區別。大約一年前，我們在全國各地的經銷商中增加了一些額外的培訓，並在全國各地增加了一些員工，以試圖幫助執行二手車，我認為其中一些即將取得成果。所以我相信這些都是對我們有幫助的事。

And we get -- I mean, you know this, we -- just the advantage we have of being able to source things organically is just a real advantage for us. And so we're -- compared to the used car pure plays. And so we're extremely fortunate to be able to do that.

我們得到——我的意思是，你知道這一點，我們——我們能夠有機地採購東西的優勢對我們來說是一個真正的優勢。因此，我們與純粹的二手車相比。因此，我們非常幸運能夠做到這一點。

And staying on that topic, I mean, on the consumer side, though, they're really struggling. Are they -- have you changed your mix in any way to make it worthwhile to them to pay up? Or are you just able to get...

繼續討論這個主題，我的意思是，在消費者方面，他們確實在苦苦掙扎。他們是否——你是否以任何方式改變了你的組合，讓他們值得付費？或者你能得到...

The ASPs are down a little bit, almost $2,000, I believe, year-over-year. So we are seeing that the pricing is coming down some. And we're responding with the right stock to be able to do that, and that's how we were able to preserve our gross margins. And so I think we're being more responsive with what we're stocking given the market today, that there's more pressure on it from a price and payment perspective.

ASP 略有下降，我相信比去年同期下降了近 2,000 美元。所以我們看到價格有所下降。我們正在以合適的庫存來應對這一目標，這就是我們能夠維持毛利率的方式。因此，我認為考慮到當今的市場，我們對庫存的反應更加敏感，從價格和付款的角度來看，它面臨更大的壓力。

Our next question comes from Michael Ward from Benchmark.

我們的下一個問題來自 Benchmark 的 Michael Ward。

First one, a quick one. Are you seeing any change at all in credit availability for consumers? And then the second question is more kind of strategic. It seems like you're selling off some of the smaller stores and you're growing some of the bigger ones. And I'm guessing like that should imply that the parts and service departments get bigger. Am I reading that correctly?

第一個，很快的。您是否發現消費者的信貸可用性有任何變化？第二個問題更具策略性。看起來你正在出售一些較小的商店，而你正在發展一些較大的商店。我猜這應該意味著零件和服務部門會變得更大。我讀得正確嗎？

Mike, I'll take your second question, and then Pete will take your first question. This is Daryl. You're reading it correctly. You're reading exactly correctly. We're looking for our portfolio. We want to generally operate in clusters and generally with higher revenue rooftop stores where we can build and develop scale on a better basis. And that certainly helps us feed our parts and service business, which, for us, we consider one of our real strengths and something we invest heavily in.

麥克，我將回答你的第二個問題，然後皮特將回答你的第一個問題。這是達裡爾。你讀得正確。你讀得完全正確。我們正在尋找我們的投資組合。我們希望總體上以集群形式運營，並且總體上希望擁有更高收入的屋頂商店，以便我們可以在更好的基礎上建立和發展規模。這無疑有助於我們滿足我們的零件和服務業務的需求，對我們來說，我們認為這是我們真正的優勢之一，也是我們大力投資的領域。

So yes, absolutely. And when you look at our acquisitions over the last couple of years, whether it's Beck & Masten, or Toyota North Austin, or Estebero Bay Chevrolet, they are large, high-revenue stores. And for Beck & Masten and Toyota North Austin, they're right in the middle of a cluster of other stores that we own.

所以是的，絕對是的。當你看看我們過去幾年的收購時，無論是 Beck & Masten、豐田北奧斯汀還是埃斯特貝羅灣雪佛蘭，它們都是大型、高收入的商店。對於 Beck & Masten 和豐田北奧斯汀來說，它們位於我們擁有的其他商店群的中間。

So ability to leverage scale and our ability to grow and leverage our SG&A base and drive more parts of service are all key benefits in that case. And then on the F&I question and the buyers and the lending environment, I'll ask Pete to speak to that.

因此，在這種情況下，利用規模的能力以及我們發展和利用 SG&A 基礎以及推動更多服務部分的能力都是關鍵優勢。然後關於 F&I 問題以及買家和貸款環境，我將請 Pete 談談。

Mike, what we've seen with credit is it's certainly available. And I think that our strategy of partnering with the big banks in all different credit tiers is certainly paying a dividend for us right now.

麥克，我們所看到的信用是它肯定是可用的。我認為，我們與所有不同信用等級的大銀行合作的策略現在肯定會為我們帶來獎金。

There has been some tightening clearly on loan-to-value and some of their metrics. But with the way we run our business with audit and compliance, our loss ratios are in line or better than with all of our lenders. So we've had great partnerships. And I ask our operators all the time, if we lost car deals due to credit? And it's -- that's a resounding no.

貸款成數及其一些指標明顯收緊。但根據我們在審計和合規方面開展業務的方式，我們的損失率與所有貸方一致或更好。所以我們建立了良好的合作關係。我一直問我們的運營商，我們是否因為信用而失去了汽車交易？這是——這是一個響亮的否定。

We're also seeing the OEM captives really, really -- or get more aggressive right now. And I think that really helps us as new car dealers, obviously, give us an avenue to be able to rely on and support from them that they've stepped up with some additional programs and support as well.

我們也看到原始設備製造商真的被俘虜了——或者現在變得更加激進。我認為這確實對我們作為新車經銷商有幫助，顯然，為我們提供了一個能夠依賴和支持他們的途徑，他們也加強了一些額外的計劃和支持。

Daryl, if I could follow up on the dealership issue. You have a couple of good charts in the slides in there about the parts business and the growth and the benefits AcceleRide and EV sales.

達裡爾，我能否跟進經銷商問題。幻燈片中有一些關於零件業務、成長以及 AcceleRide 和電動車銷售的好處的很好的圖表。

As vehicles become more complex, especially on the battery electric side, the service has to be done at the dealers because there is no independent aftermarket. Are your stores able to service some of these other start-up EV companies that are service constrained, call it, like a Rivian?

隨著車輛變得越來越複雜，特別是在電池電動方面，由於沒有獨立的售後市場，服務必須在經銷商處完成。您的商店是否能夠為其他一些服務受限的新創電動車公司（例如 Rivian）提供服務？

Well, I hope that we have all the work we can do with our own brands. We haven't had any discussions with anybody like a Rivian or anything like that around any repair work or warranty work or anything like that.

嗯，我希望我們能用自己的品牌做所有我們能做的工作。我們還沒有與像 Rivian 這樣的人或類似的人就任何維修工作或保固工作或類似的事情進行過任何討論。

Could we -- I'm certain that if we work on the brands we do, we could work on those. But our focus is on the brands that we have relationships with today, Mike.

我們可以——我確信，如果我們致力於我們所做的品牌，我們就可以致力於這些品牌。但我們的重點是今天與我們有關係的品牌，麥克。

Mike, can I just add two thing to that. It's Daniel here. We do the collision work for the EV. So we are approved that some of our collision centers for work and those start-up companies or more established EV operators.

麥克，我可以補充兩件事嗎？我是丹尼爾在這裡。我們為電動車做碰撞工作。因此，我們批准了我們的一些碰撞中心的工作以及那些新創公司或更成熟的電動車營運商。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Daniel Imbro from Stephens Inc.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 Stephens Inc. 的 Daniel Imbro。

Congrats on the quarter. Daryl, I want to start -- or a follow up on the service side. So obviously, trends remain strong there. You talked about parts availability. Let's go over to labor side. So you've been able to hire and retain for a while here with the 4-day workweek, but I think you guys have been testing some new comp plans. Just curious how the reception has been? Is that helping you kind of maintain your lead on the hiring side? And has anything changed materially on the technician availability or retention?

恭喜本季。達裡爾，我想開始——或者服務方面的後續行動。顯然，那裡的趨勢仍然強勁。您談到了零件的可用性。讓我們轉到勞工方面。因此，你們已經能夠通過每週 4 天的工作時間在這裡聘用和留住員工一段時間了，但我認為你們已經在測試一些新的薪酬計劃了。只是好奇接待情況如何？這是否有助於您保持在招募方面的領先地位？技術人員的可用性或保留率是否發生了重大變化？

Daniel, thank you. Yes, we are still focused on attracting technicians and have had some success over the last year attracting them. Our turnover rate with technicians is down year-over-year. And then we are also piloting some different compensation plans that are -- we hope will make us a more attractive place to work, and we hope will give technicians more certainty in their compensation.

丹尼爾，謝謝你。是的，我們仍然專注於吸引技術人員，並且在去年吸引他們方面取得了一些成功。我們的技術人員流動率逐年下降。然後我們還在試行一些不同的薪酬計畫——我們希望這能讓我們成為一個更具吸引力的工作場所，我們希望能讓技術人員的薪酬更有確定性。

And right now, we've got that in about four stores that we're piloting and measuring. We want to make sure we maintain our productivity and our throughput, as well as employee retention and engagement, obviously, are super important there. So yes, we're testing that.

現在，我們已經在大約四家商店進行了試點和測量。我們希望確保保持我們的生產力和吞吐量，以及員工保留率和敬業度，顯然，這在那裡非常重要。所以是的，我們正在測試這一點。

We're also taking a hard look at our shop productivity, Daniel. There's traditional metrics around how much work we can put through our existing shop base. But then, are there some other levers we can pull to either increase the capacity of those shops or increase the throughput and productivity of those shops? And so we're taking a look at some things we might be able to do there.

丹尼爾，我們也認真審視我們工作坊的生產力。關於我們可以在現有車間基礎上完成多少工作，有一些傳統的衡量標準。但是，我們是否可以利用其他一些槓桿來增加這些商店的容量或提高這些商店的吞吐量和生產力？因此，我們正在研究我們可以在那裡做的一些事情。

So -- we -- at the end of the day, we still see lots of room to run. And aftersales, we see lots of opportunity in aftersales. And we continue to want to invest there and think that there's going to be continued growth there for a long time into the future.

所以——我們——最終，我們仍然看到很大的運行空間。至於售後，我們看到售後有很多機會。我們繼續希望在那裡投資，並認為未來很長一段時間在那裡將持續成長。

That's helpful. I appreciate it. And then, Daniel, maybe one, is you're having about cap allocation. So you've made good progress, obviously, on the portfolio optimization. But curious what you're seeing. Are seller multiples continuing to compress in the M&A market as we move further from peak same-store earnings? And I guess with the stock multiple compressing and the cash flow generation, where do share repurchases kind of fall in your capital priorities from here just as you look at how to spend that free cash?

這很有幫助。我很感激。然後，丹尼爾，也許是你正在考慮的上限分配問題。顯然，您在投資組合優化方面取得了良好進展。但很好奇你看到了什麼。隨著我們距離同店獲利高峰越來越遠，併購市場的賣方倍數是否會持續壓縮？我猜想，隨著股票倍數壓縮和現金流的產生，當您考慮如何使用這些自由現金時，股票回購在您的資本優先事項中會落在哪裡？

Daniel, as Daryl said, our key priority is to continue to grow the company. I think it's fair to say there's a lot of potential acquisitions on the market at the moment. I think the market is more buoyant at the moment than probably it has ever been.

丹尼爾，正如達裡爾所說，我們的首要任務是繼續發展公司。我認為可以公平地說，目前市場上有許多潛在的收購。我認為目前市場比以往任何時候都更加活躍。

Quality acquisitions are still more expensive, and I think that the prices will continue to compress. We're going to remain balanced in terms of capital allocation as and when we think it's opportunistic to buy our stock back. We'll continue to buy our stock back, and I think that was clearly messaged in our prepared remarks.

優質收購仍然比較昂貴，而且我認為價格將繼續壓縮。當我們認為回購股票是機會主義時，我們將在資本配置方面保持平衡。我們將繼續回購我們的股票，我認為我們在準備好的演講中已經明確傳達了這個訊息。

And ladies and gentlemen, with that, we'll be concluding today's question-and-answer session as well as today's conference call and presentation. We do thank everyone for joining today's conference. You may now disconnect your lines.

女士們、先生們，我們今天的問答環節以及今天的電話會議和演示就到此結束。我們非常感謝大家參加今天的會議。現在您可以斷開線路。