家得寶 (HD) 2002 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone and welcome to today's Home Depot fourth quarter earnings conference call.

大家好，歡迎參加今天的家得寶第四季度財報電話會議。

As reminder, today's call is being recorded.

提醒一下，今天的通話正在錄音中。

Beginning today's discussion is Mr. Bob Burton, Vice President of Investor Relations.

開始今天的討論的是投資者關係副總裁 Bob Burton 先生。

Please go ahead, sir.

請繼續，先生。

Thank you and good morning to everyone.

謝謝大家，大家早上好。

Welcome to The Home Depot fourth quarter and year-end conference call.

歡迎來到家得寶第四季度和年終電話會議。

As we reported this morning, the earnings per diluted share results were $1.56, a 21% improvement year over year and ahead of our January guidance.

正如我們今天上午報導的那樣，每股攤薄收益為 1.56 美元，同比增長 21%，高於我們 1 月份的指導。

Adjusted for the 53rd week in fiscal 2001, diluted earnings per share increased 24% for the year.

在 2001 財年的第 53 週調整後，每股攤薄收益全年增長了 24%。

Joining us on our call today are Bob Nardelli, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of The Home Depot and Carol Tome, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, together with other Home Depot executives.

今天加入我們的電話會議的有家得寶董事長、總裁兼首席執行官鮑勃·納爾德利和執行副總裁兼首席財務官卡羅爾·托姆以及其他家得寶高管。

Carol will begin the call with the details of the financial results and then Bob will offer his comments and then we'll take your questions.

Carol 將以財務結果的詳細信息開始電話會議，然後 Bob 將提出他的意見，然後我們將回答您的問題。

As a reminder, the question and answer session is available to all interested parties although questions will be limited to analysts and investors.

提醒一下，儘管問題僅限於分析師和投資者，但所有感興趣的各方都可以參加問答環節。

We will be available for media questions following the call.

我們將在電話會議後接受媒體提問。

This conference call is being broadcast real time on the internet at www.homedepot.com with links on both our home page and under the financial information section.

本次電話會議正在互聯網上實時廣播，網址為 www.homedepot.com，鏈接在我們的主頁和財務信息部分下。

We will also offer an internet replay of the call for a five-day period and a two-day telephone replay which is available at 719-457-0820 with a confirmation code of 356142.

我們還將提供為期五天的電話網絡重播和為期兩天的電話重播，可撥打 719-457-0820，確認碼為 356142。

Before I turn the call over to Carol, let me remind you that our discussion today will include forward-looking statements relating to, among other things, our estimates and expectations for sales and earnings growth, new store openings and gross margin expansions.

在我將電話轉給卡羅爾之前，讓我提醒您，我們今天的討論將包括前瞻性陳述，其中包括我們對銷售和盈利增長、新店開業和毛利率擴張的估計和預期。

These statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from the company's historical experience and present expectations.

這些陳述受到各種風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與公司的歷史經驗和當前預期存在重大差異。

These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to fluctuations in and the overall condition of the U.S. economy, stability of costs and availability of sourcing channels, conditions affecting new store developments, the company's ability to attract, train and retain highly qualified associates, unanticipated weather conditions and the impact of competition and regulatory and litigation matters.

這些風險和不確定性包括但不限於美國經濟的波動和整體狀況、成本的穩定性和採購渠道的可用性、影響新店發展的條件、公司吸引、培訓和留住高素質員工的能力、意料之外天氣狀況以及競爭和監管和訴訟事項的影響。

Undue reliance should not be placed on such forward-looking statements, as such statements only speak on the date on which they are made.

不應過分依賴此類前瞻性陳述，因為此類陳述僅在其發表之日發表。

Additional information regarding these and other risks are contained in the company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

有關這些和其他風險的其他信息包含在公司定期向證券交易委員會提交的文件中。

I will now turn the call over to Carol.

我現在將把電話轉給卡羅爾。

Thanks, Bob and good morning, everyone. 2001 was a year of many accomplishments, as well as disappointments.

謝謝，鮑勃，大家早上好。 2001 年是有很多成就的一年，也有很多失望。

During this transformational year, Home Depot reported sales growth that fell short of our expectations.

在這個轉型的一年中，家得寶報告的銷售增長低於我們的預期。

At the same time, we continued to demonstrate financial strength and strong earnings performance.

與此同時，我們繼續展示財務實力和強勁的盈利表現。

Let me start by comments with a short overview of the year, and then I will turn to the quarter.

讓我從對這一年的簡短概述的評論開始，然後我將轉向本季度。

For the year, sales increased 8.8% to $58.2 billion, adjusted for the 53rd week in fiscal 2001, total sales grew by 10.6% in 2002.

全年銷售額增長 8.8%，達到 582 億美元，根據 2001 財年的第 53 週進行調整，總銷售額在 2002 年增長了 10.6%。

As we told you in November and again in January, we are disappointed with the sales growth as it fell short of our initial 2002 sales growth target.

正如我們在 11 月和 1 月再次告訴您的那樣，我們對銷售增長感到失望，因為它低於我們最初的 2002 年銷售增長目標。

In 2002, our sales growth was driven by 203 new stores and sales from stores that have been open for less than one year.

2002 年，我們的銷售額增長是由 203 家新店和開業不到一年的店舖的銷售額推動的。

The sales performance of these stores was in line with our expectations.

這些門店的銷售業績符合我們的預期。

Our disappointment rests with comp sales for the year as our comp sales were flat.

我們的失望在於今年的補償銷售額，因為我們的補償銷售額持平。

Comp sales for the year were impacted by a number of things.

今年的 Comp 銷售受到許多因素的影響。

First, we had strength in kitchen and bath, plumbing and paint but the strengths was off set in part by weakness due to price deflation in commodity categories like lumber.

首先，我們在廚房和浴室、管道和油漆方面具有優勢，但由於木材等大宗商品價格通縮導致的疲軟部分抵消了優勢。

Second, comps were impacted by planned cannibalization.

其次，comps 受到計劃中的蠶食的影響。

At the end of the fourth quarter, we cannibalized approximately 21% of our stores and the impact to comps for the year was approximately 4%.

在第四季度末，我們蠶食了大約 21% 的門店，對全年業績的影響約為 4%。

Third, in the first half of the year, we experienced some out of stock due to transitional disruption associated with the implementation of Spy.

第三，在今年上半年，由於與 Spy 的實施相關的過渡中斷，我們經歷了一些缺貨。

And fourth, the customer in our stores was negatively impacted by the merchandising resets we experimented with through out the year.

第四，我們商店的顧客受到了我們全年嘗試的商品重置的負面影響。

The this number of resets was unprecedented for us and we experienced a learning curve on this process as the year progressed.

這種重置次數對我們來說是前所未有的，隨著時間的推移，我們在這個過程中經歷了一個學習曲線。

As a result, we believe we are better prepared for the resets we plan to complete in 2003.

因此，我們相信我們為計劃在 2003 年完成的重置做好了更好的準備。

For the year, our gross margin rate was 31.09%, a 94 basis point improvement from last year.

全年，我們的毛利率為 31.09%，比去年提高了 94 個基點。

When comps are flat, it is difficult to leverage expenses and in 2002, we delevered expenses by 14 basis points.

當薪酬持平時，很難利用支出槓桿，在 2002 年，我們將支出去槓桿化了 14 個基點。

Given our strong gross margin performance, however, our operating margin for the year was 10.01%, a company record.

然而，鑑於我們強勁的毛利率表現，我們今年的營業利潤率為 10.01%，創下公司紀錄。

Turning to the fourth quarter, total sales declined 2% from the prior year to $13.2 billion adjusted for the #14th week which was not included in the fourth quarter of 2001, total sales for the quarter increased 5%.

談到第四季度，總銷售額較上年下降 2% 至 132 億美元，調整後的第 14 週不包括在 2001 年第四季度，該季度的總銷售額增長了 5%。

At the end of the third quarter, we offered guidance that our fourth quarter comps would be negative in the range of negative 3 to 5% as we decided to not promote aggressively into the fourth quarter, nor repeat the yellow tag clearance event of last January.

在第三季度末，我們提供了指導，即我們的第四季度業績將在負 3% 到 5% 的範圍內為負，因為我們決定不積極推進到第四季度，也不重複去年 1 月的黃色標籤清除事件.

November comp sales were at the stronger end of our initial forecast and consistent with our expectation.

11 月的複合銷售額高於我們最初的預測，與我們的預期一致。

December, however, proved to be a very different story.

然而，12 月被證明是一個非常不同的故事。

Customer traffic slowed abruptly leading to slower sales and traditional gift categories such as hardware and power tools.

客戶流量突然放緩，導致銷售和硬件和電動工具等傳統禮品類別放緩。

Overall, comparable sales for the month declined double digits.

總體而言，本月可比銷售額下降了兩位數。

Given December's performance and tough year over year January comparison, we revised our forecast in early January and provided guidance that our fourth quarter comps could be down as much as 10%.

鑑於 12 月份的表現以及與 1 月份同比的艱難對比，我們在 1 月初修訂了我們的預測，並提供了指導，即我們的第四季度業績可能下降多達 10%。

Well, our January sales came back stronger than we expected and as a result, we reported a negative 6% comp for the quarter.

好吧，我們 1 月份的銷售額比我們預期的要強，因此，我們報告了本季度 6% 的負增長。

Comps were just slightly negative in January which suggests that the significant fall off in December traffic was a business anomaly.

1 月份的 Comps 略有下降，這表明 12 月份流量的顯著下降是業務異常。

For the quarter, comparable sales were negative in 10 of 11 selling categories.

本季度，11 個銷售類別中有 10 個的可比銷售額為負數。

In the month of January, 7 selling categories posted positive comps.

1 月份，7 個銷售類別發布了積極的業績。

Sales growth in our core service businesses, while positive, slowed in the quarter.

我們核心服務業務的銷售增長雖然是積極的，但在本季度有所放緩。

Including sales from our newly acquired flooring company, services gained 22% in the fourth quarter over the prior year, for 2002, services grew 26% over the prior year.

包括我們新收購的地板公司的銷售額，服務在第四季度比上年增長了 22%，2002 年服務比上年增長了 26%。

As reported, earnings per diluted share for the fourth quarter were 30 cents, flat compared with the fourth quarter of last year.

據報導，第四季度每股攤薄收益為 30 美分，與去年第四季度持平。

Adjusted to a 13-week basis, earnings per diluted share increased 11% for the quarter.

調整為 13 週後，本季度每股攤薄收益增長了 11%。

During the fourth quarter, we added 61 new Home Depot stores, including two stores in Mexico, bringing our total store count to 1,532.

在第四季度，我們新增了 61 家家得寶門店，其中包括在墨西哥的兩家門店，使我們的門店總數達到 1,532 家。

Of the stores opened during the quarter, we opened 16 in November, 15 in December and 30 in January.

在本季度開業的門店中，我們在 11 月開設了 16 家，在 12 月開設了 15 家，在 1 月開設了 30 家。

Our plan is to open 200 stores in fiscal 2003, a 13% increase over the end of the fiscal 2002.

我們的計劃是在 2003 財年開設 200 家商店，比 2002 財年末增加 13%。

In the first quarter of 2003, we planned to open 35 new stores.

2003年第一季度，我們計劃開設35家新店。

As a reminder, our store openings for 2003 are back-end weighted with about 61% of our stores to open in the second half.

提醒一下，我們 2003 年的開店是後端加權的，大約 61% 的門店將在下半年開業。

Turning to store productivity matrix, selling square footage increased 14% from last year to 166 million square feet.

轉向商店生產力矩陣，銷售面積比去年增長了 14%，達到 1.66 億平方英尺。

The average square footage per store of approximately 108,000 square feet declined slightly from last year, reflecting a changing mix in our store format as we size stores to meet the needs of the market.

每家商店的平均面積約為 108,000 平方英尺，比去年略有下降，這反映了我們的商店形式組合發生了變化，因為我們根據市場需求調整了商店規模。

Customer transactions grew to 268 million for the quarter, up 3.6% on a thirteen week basis.

本季度的客戶交易量增長至 2.68 億筆，在 13 週的基礎上增長了 3.6%。

For the year, we had over one billion customer transactions, an 8.2% increase on a 52-week basis.

全年，我們的客戶交易量超過 10 億次，比 52 週增長 8.2%。

In the fourth quarter, our average customer ticket decreased 1.3% to $47.32, while our average ticket actually increased in the majority of our selling departments, softness in our flooring category drove the decline as we did not anniversary the promotional programs of last year.

在第四季度，我們的平均客戶票價下降了 1.3% 至 47.32 美元，而我們的大多數銷售部門的平均票價實際上有所增加，我們地板類別的疲軟推動了下降，因為我們沒有紀念去年的促銷計劃。

For the year, average ticket increased 1.6% to $49.43.

全年平均票價上漲 1.6% 至 49.43 美元。

Our weighted average weekly store sales for the quarter were $652,000 compared to $723,000 last year.

我們本季度的加權平均每週商店銷售額為 652,000 美元，而去年為 723,000 美元。

This decline is due to negative comp sales and continued heavy cannibalization of our most productive divisions.

這種下降是由於負複合銷售和我們最俱生產力的部門的持續嚴重蠶食。

For the year, our weighted average weekly store sales were $772,000 versus $812,000 last year, reflecting the same factors.

今年，我們的加權平均每週商店銷售額為 772,000 美元，而去年為 812,000 美元，反映了相同的因素。

Sales per square foot for the quarter were $312.67 versus $346.99 last year, a decrease of 9.9% on a 13-week basis.

本季度每平方英尺銷售額為 312.67 美元，而去年為 346.99 美元，在 13 週的基礎上下降了 9.9%。

For the year, sales per square foot decreased 4.6% on a 52-week basis to $370.21.

今年，每平方英尺的銷售額在 52 週內下降了 4.6%，至 370.21 美元。

Gross margin for the fourth quarter was 31.95%, 114 basis points ahead of the prior year.

第四季度毛利率為 31.95%，比上年提高 114 個基點。

This margin performance reflects the following: A continued reduction in the cost of goods as we rationalize vendors and improve assortment, improved performance in shrinks, lower markdowns as we did not repeat last January's yellow tag clearance events and an increase in our direct import penetration from 7% from the fourth quarter last year to 9% this year.

這種利潤率表現反映了以下幾點：隨著我們對供應商進行合理化並改進分類，商品成本持續下降，在收縮方面的表現有所改善，由於我們沒有重複去年一月的黃色標籤清關事件而降低了降價，以及我們從從去年第四季度的 7% 到今年的 9%。

As we commented at our recent analysts meeting, our expectation for fiscal 2003 calls for only modest gross margin expansion as we anniversaried last year's strong gains.

正如我們在最近的分析師會議上評論的那樣，我們對 2003 財年的預期只要求適度擴大毛利率，因為我們是在去年的強勁增長周年紀念日。

We continue to invest in our stores and customer service and as a result, we did not leverage total expenses for the quarter.

我們繼續投資於我們的商店和客戶服務，因此，我們沒有利用本季度的總費用。

Selling and store operating expenses increased 123 basis point to 21.28% from 20.05% last year for a number of reasons.

由於多種原因，銷售和商店運營費用從去年的 20.05% 增加了 123 個基點至 21.28%。

First, we view payroll as an investment in our stores, both in terms of selling associates and store leadership positions.

首先，我們將工資單視為對我們商店的投資，無論是在銷售員工還是商店領導職位方面。

Continuing the support, even in a soft sales environment, enables better in-stock positions and customer service.

即使在疲軟的銷售環境中繼續提供支持，也可以實現更好的庫存位置和客戶服務。

Second, we had experienced higher costs associated with resets and store renovations as we invest in new signage, fixtures and general maintenance.

其次，在我們投資新的標牌、固定裝置和一般維護時，我們經歷了與重置和商店翻新相關的更高成本。

And, third, we are experiencing continuing pressure in Workers' Compensation and medical expense due in part to medical cost inflation.

第三，部分由於醫療成本膨脹，我們在工傷賠償和醫療費用方面面臨持續壓力。

Pre-opening expenses were $29 million for the fourth quarter compared with $30 million for the same period last year, which was flat as a percent of sales.

第四季度開業前費用為 2900 萬美元，而去年同期為 3000 萬美元，佔銷售額的百分比持平。

While we opened 18 more stores in the fourth quarter this year than we did last year, our pre-opening cost per store is down approximately 15% due to increased efficiencies in our pre-opening process.

雖然我們在今年第四季度開設的門店比去年多 18 家，但由於我們的開業前流程效率提高，我們每家門店的開業前成本下降了約 15%。

General and administrative expenses for the fourth quarter rose 17 basis points as a percent of sales to 2.16% from 1.99% reflecting the current sales environment.

第四季度的一般和管理費用佔銷售額的百分比從 1.99% 上升 17 個基點至 2.16%，反映了當前的銷售環境。

The effective income tax rate for the quarter was 37.6% compared to 38.6% for the fourth quarter last year reflecting a higher tax credit and a lower state income tax rate.

本季度的有效所得稅率為 37.6%，而去年第四季度為 38.6%，反映了較高的稅收抵免和較低的州所得稅率。

Fourth quarter 2002 consolidated net earnings totaled $686 million, down 3% from $710 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2001.

2002 年第四季度合併淨收益總計 6.86 億美元，比 2001 財年第四季度的 7.1 億美元下降 3%。

On a 13-week basis, net earnings increased 7% versus the fourth quarter last year.

在 13 週的基礎上，淨收益與去年第四季度相比增長了 7%。

During the second half of fiscal 2002, Home Depot completed a $2 billion share repurchase program.

在 2002 財年下半年，家得寶完成了 20 億美元的股票回購計劃。

In total, we repurchased approximately 69 million shares during the open window period following our second and third quarter earnings announcement.

在第二和第三季度財報公佈後的開放窗口期內，我們總共回購了大約 6900 萬股股票。

This repurchase program had a positive impact on EPS of about a penny for the quarter and for the year.

該回購計劃對本季度和本年度的每股收益產生了約一美分的積極影響。

The diluted weighted average shares for the fourth quarter were 2.309 billion shares compared to 2.358 billion in the fourth quarter last year.

第四季度攤薄加權平均股數為23.09億股，而去年第四季度為23.58億股。

On the balance sheet, cash and short-term investments totaled $2.3 billion compared to $2.5 billion at the close of last year.

在資產負債表上，現金和短期投資總額為 23 億美元，而去年年底為 25 億美元。

This reflects investments in our business, cash spent for share repurchases which were offset by strong earnings and significant improvements in days payable outstanding.

這反映了對我們業務的投資、用於股票回購的現金被強勁的收益和未償還天數的顯著改善所抵消。

Average inventory per store was $5.4 million, up 8% from the fourth quarter last year as we got our stores back in stock and ready for Spring.

每家商店的平均庫存為 540 萬美元，比去年第四季度增長 8%，因為我們的商店恢復了庫存並為春天做好了準備。

Inventory turn over for fiscal 2002 was 5.3 times compared with 5.4 times last year.

與去年的 5.4 倍相比，2002 財年的庫存周轉率為 5.3 倍。

Our day's payable outstanding were 46 compared to 36 days in the prior fourth quarter.

與上一季度的 36 天相比，我們一天的應付賬款為 46 天。

We think we have realized the majority of the benefits from our renegotiated payment terms.

我們認為我們已經實現了重新協商付款條款的大部分好處。

Long term debt at the end of the fourth quarter was $1.32 billion compared to $1.25 billion at the end of the fourth quarter last year and our debt to equity ratio was 6.7%.

第四季度末的長期債務為 13.2 億美元，而去年第四季度末為 12.5 億美元，我們的債務權益比率為 6.7%。

The financial strength of The Home Depot remains unsurpassed in retailing.

家得寶的財務實力在零售業中仍然無與倫比。

Computed on beginning debt and equities for the trailing fourth quarter, return on invested capital was 18.8%, an improvement of 50 basis points from the fourth quarter last year.

根據第四季度的期初債務和股票計算，投資資本回報率為 18.8%，比去年第四季度提高了 50 個基點。

On a 52-week basis, the year over year improvement was 90 basis points.

在 52 週的基礎上，同比改善了 90 個基點。

Capital expenditures were $2.7 billion dollars for the fiscal year as compared to $3.4 billion last year.

本財年的資本支出為 27 億美元，而去年為 34 億美元。

Actual capital expenditures reflect construction cost savings, and a shift in the timing of spending for future store openings.

實際資本支出反映了建築成本的節省，以及未來開店支出時間的轉變。

Our overall capital spending forecast remains at $4 billion for fiscal 2003.

我們對 2003 財年的總體資本支出預測仍為 40 億美元。

In addition to new stores, the increase in capital expenditures in 2003 also reflects investments in store remodeling, technology and other initiatives.

除了新店外，2003 年資本支出的增加還反映了對店面改造、技術和其他舉措的投資。

We now own 1,260 of our stores or 82%.

我們現在擁有 1,260 家門店或 82%。

Our unincumbered real estate position supports our long-term strategy of market dominance and financial flexibility.

我們不受阻礙的房地產地位支持我們的市場主導地位和財務靈活性的長期戰略。

Before I turn the conversation over to Bob Nardelli for his remarks, I want to remind you of a change in the company's disclosure practices.

在我將談話轉給 Bob Nardelli 發表評論之前，我想提醒您公司披露做法的變化。

We will continue to give sales and earnings guidance for the year but we will no longer break our forward looking guidance down by quarter.

我們將繼續提供今年的銷售和收益指導，但我們將不再按季度細分我們的前瞻性指導。

This change reflects our long-term outlook for the business and should not be interpreted as signaling a change in our outlook for 2003.

這一變化反映了我們對業務的長期展望，不應被解釋為預示著我們對 2003 年展望的變化。

As Bob will discuss, our 2003 sales growth guidance is 9 to 12% and our 2003 earnings growth guidance is 9 to 14%.

正如 Bob 將要討論的，我們 2003 年的銷售增長指導是 9% 到 12%，我們 2003 年的收入增長指導是 9% 到 14%。

Thanks for listening and I will now turn the call over to Bob Nardelli for his remarks.

感謝您的收聽，我現在將把電話轉給 Bob Nardelli 以聽取他的意見。

Thanks Carol, and good morning everyone.

謝謝卡羅爾，大家早上好。

I would like to share some thoughts and comments on Home Depot today.

今天我想分享一些關於家得寶的想法和評論。

The company's transition that began in 2001, has really evolved into a company transformation, my team is in place and our structure is aligned.

公司從 2001 年開始的轉型，真正演變成公司轉型，我的團隊到位，結構調整。

We launched a significant number of changes in 2002 to enhance our customer service, to make our stores a more exciting and certainly an easier place to shop.

我們在 2002 年進行了大量變革，以增強我們的客戶服務，使我們的商店成為一個更令人興奮，當然也更容易購物的地方。

We are revitalizing our merchandising assortments and changing our in-store operating models.

我們正在重振我們的商品分類並改變我們的店內運營模式。

The list of transformational activities is a long one.

轉型活動的清單很長。

Let me share a few with you this morning.

今天早上給大家分享幾個。

We changed our in-store operating model to handle freight at night, it was the right thing to do, we launched and we learned.

我們改變了店內運營模式，改為在夜間處理貨運，這是正確的做法，我們推出並學習了。

The store managers are delivering a much more shoppable experience in and are committed to continually improve our operating efficiencies as a result of Spy.

由於 Spy，商店經理正在提供更多的購物體驗，並致力於不斷提高我們的運營效率。

We centralized merchandising.

我們集中銷售。

We rationalized our product assortment eliminating approximately 19,000 SKUs while, at the same time, adding a similar amount of new SKUs and providing innovation in customer driven merchandise.

我們合理化了我們的產品分類，消除了大約 19,000 個 SKU，同時增加了類似數量的新 SKU，並在客戶驅動的商品方面提供了創新。

We had a number of significant resets in our stores.

我們的商店進行了許多重大的重置。

These were long overdue in key product categories such as appliances, flooring, faucets and mill work.

這些在電器、地板、水龍頭和工廠等關鍵產品類別中早該出現了。

We made improvements in technology again, assisting the store managers in the area of simplification allowing our associates to spend more time in transaction with our customers as opposed to tasks.

我們再次對技術進行了改進，在簡化方面協助商店經理，使我們的員工能夠將更多時間用於與客戶進行交易而不是任務。

As Carol said, the operating programs we set in motion a year ago are continuing to show improvement through expanding our gross margin, effective expense control and certainly working capital efficiencies.

正如卡羅爾所說，我們一年前啟動的運營計劃通過擴大我們的毛利率、有效的費用控制和當然的營運資本效率，繼續顯示出改善。

Our strong earnings performance and financial conditions are evident from her comments.

從她的評論中可以看出我們強勁的盈利表現和財務狀況。

But, again, we did not meet our initial sales growth expectation of 15 to 18% for the year and as we indicated, our customer service level was not at the level of expectation throughout the year for The Home Depot.

但是，再一次，我們沒有達到我們對今年 15% 到 18% 的初始銷售增長預期，而且正如我們所指出的，我們的客戶服務水平沒有達到家得寶全年的預期水平。

For 2003, our focus is very simple, it's on sales, it's on service and it's on execution.

對於 2003 年，我們的重點非常簡單，就是銷售、服務和執行。

Let me share with you why we are excited about this coming year.

讓我與您分享為什麼我們對來年感到興奮。

Current surveys tell us that customers recognize The Home Depot as the leader in home improvement and shop us most frequently, twice the rate of our nearest competitor.

目前的調查告訴我們，客戶認為家得寶是家居裝修領域的領導者，並且購買我們的頻率最高，是我們最接近的競爭對手的兩倍。

A recent independent study by the Forrester Research pointed out that women customers enjoy shopping at The Home Depot as much as any other home improvement retailer.

Forrester Research 最近的一項獨立研究指出，女性顧客喜歡在 The Home Depot 購物，與任何其他家居裝修零售商一樣。

We recognized that both men and women are critical to the home improvement projects.

我們認識到男性和女性對家居裝修項目都至關重要。

Our own studies show that about 50% of store visits are made by couples, shopping jointly for projects in home improvement.

我們自己的研究表明，大約 50% 的商店訪問是由夫妻共同購買的，他們共同購買家居裝修項目。

We are, as I said at our last analysts meeting, a very inclusive company.

正如我在上次分析師會議上所說，我們是一家非常包容的公司。

We are not going to become exclusive in our forward strategy.

我們不會在我們的前進戰略中成為排他性的。

We are not going to drop a gender to add a gender.

我們不會為了添加性別而刪除性別。

We clearly understand our heritage and we also understand the need to evolve in our decor and fashion area to meet customer-backed requirements.

我們清楚地了解我們的傳統，我們也了解我們的裝飾和時尚領域需要發展以滿足客戶支持的要求。

Now, with the power of our brand, we plan to enhance our overall advertising programs.

現在，憑藉我們品牌的力量，我們計劃加強我們的整體廣告計劃。

On Sunday, during the Grammy Awards, we launched a new advertising campaign, the theme, "You Can Do It, We Can Help."

週日，在格萊美頒獎典禮期間，我們推出了一個新的廣告活動，主題是“你可以做到，我們可以提供幫助”。

It's not about good marketing, it's about sharing our history and our commitment and pride for the future.

這不是關於良好的營銷，而是關於分享我們的歷史以及我們對未來的承諾和自豪感。

In 2003, the frequency of our catalogs will increase by a third.

2003 年，我們的目錄出現頻率將增加三分之一。

The number of pages contained in each catalog will also grow equally.

每個目錄中包含的頁數也將同樣增長。

In the year, our total rating points will be up more than 50% as we work in harmony with our supplier and vendor base.

在這一年中，由於我們與供應商和供應商基礎和諧相處，我們的總評分將提高 50% 以上。

We'll improve our competitive position on three fronts: Stores, merchandising and service.

我們將在三個方面提高我們的競爭地位：商店、銷售和服務。

For many years, we invested in building stores to serve large metro markets, we out-stored the competition nearly 2-to-1.

多年來，我們投資建立商店以服務於大型地鐵市場，我們幾乎以 2 比 1 的比例超越了競爭對手。

In 2003, we'll build on this convenience advantage, both in the sense of geographic locations and also in the sense of store formats.

2003 年，我們將利用這種便利優勢，無論是在地理位置上還是在商店形式上。

We'll build stores to meet the needs of our neighborhoods, both in location and also in merchandising.

我們將建立商店以滿足我們社區的需求，無論是在位置上還是在商品銷售方面。

We are the market leader in 22 of the top 25 markets and in the three where we are not, we are at parity.

我們是前 25 個市場中的 22 個的市場領導者，在我們不是的三個市場中，我們處於同等地位。

Of the 145 markets where Home Depot competes, our market share ranges from a 3% to a 26% level.

在 Home Depot 競爭的 145 個市場中，我們的市場份額從 3% 到 26% 不等。

So clearly, you can see that even in our most mature area, we have significant opportunity to add new customers and capture additional business.

很明顯，您可以看到，即使在我們最成熟的領域，我們也有很大的機會來增加新客戶並獲得更多業務。

For example, in the Northeast corridor alone, we have identified about $60 billion in uncaptured market potential.

例如，僅在東北走廊，我們就發現了約 600 億美元的未開發市場潛力。

On a base of 160 stores between New York and Boston, we expect to open more than 50 stores in the next few years to maintain our competitive advantage, to respond to customer loyalty.

在紐約和波士頓之間的 160 家門店的基礎上，我們預計未來幾年將開設 50 多家門店，以保持我們的競爭優勢，以響應客戶忠誠度。

In 2003, we will open 200 stores, not because it's tradition but because of the opportunity to reach more customers and stay competitive in growing markets.

2003 年，我們將開設 200 家門店，這不是因為這是傳統，而是因為有機會接觸更多客戶並在不斷增長的市場中保持競爭力。

We have developed a new very sophisticated analytical tool that enhances our store site selection and store format process.

我們開發了一種新的非常複雜的分析工具，可以增強我們的商店選址和商店格式流程。

We are excited about the data, we are excited about the analysis and the support it will give us on a going-forward basis.

我們對數據感到興奮，我們對分析以及它將在未來為我們提供的支持感到興奮。

More than a quarter of our stores are over 7 years old and most of them have relatively high annual volume as Carol indicated, over a billion transactions last year alone, all of this compounding wear and tear.

我們超過四分之一的商店已有 7 年以上的歷史，而且正如 Carol 所指出的，其中大多數的年交易量相對較高，僅去年一年的交易量就超過了 10 億次，所有這些都加劇了磨損。

As Carol mentioned and we shared with you at the analysts meeting, we are increasing our 2003 capital spending plan to $4 billion.

正如卡羅爾所提到的，我們在分析師會議上與您分享，我們正在將 2003 年的資本支出計劃增加到 40 億美元。

Of that, $250 million alone has been committed in support of remodeling programs that will protect and enhance our existing stores in key market areas, blunting competitive in-roads.

其中，僅 2.5 億美元就用於支持改造計劃，這些計劃將保護和增強我們在關鍵市場區域的現有商店，削弱競爭優勢。

Our merchants and our store managers are working diligently to reset more of our stores in key categories, like appliances, decor, mill work and making our stores exciting and fashionable.

我們的商家和商店經理正在努力重新設置我們在關鍵類別中的更多商店，例如電器、裝飾、工廠工作，並使我們的商店令人興奮和時尚。

We are adding new sign packages and we are improving significantly our point of purchase visual merchandising displays, a significant enhancement for the future.

我們正在添加新的標誌包，我們正在顯著改進我們的購買點視覺營銷展示，這是未來的一項重大改進。

In 2002, we completed an unprecedented number of major resets across our stores and that will continue this year.

2002 年，我們在門店內完成了前所未有的重大重置，並將在今年繼續。

For example, today, Design Place is in 873 stores and we have targeted an additional 556 more.

例如，今天，Design Place 在 873 家商店中，我們已將目標定為另外 556 家。

For example, we are seeing tremendous response in the appliance area last year and another specific example is in our new fashion forward rug resets where we are seeing unit volume increase year over year.

例如，我們在去年的家電領域看到了巨大的反響，另一個具體的例子是我們新的時尚前衛地毯重置，我們看到單位數量逐年增加。

Our pro initiative, which we had talked about, is now in 1,135 stores and really is a unique competitive differentiator.

我們已經討論過的我們的專業計劃現在在 1,135 家商店中，確實是一個獨特的競爭優勢。

As I said earlier, we are an inclusive company and we will reflect that inclusiveness on our customer base.

正如我之前所說，我們是一家包容性公司，我們將在我們的客戶群中體現這種包容性。

Our tool rental centers are an extension of our pro initiative.

我們的工具租賃中心是我們專業倡議的延伸。

We have tool rental centers in over 600 of our stores.

我們在 600 多家商店設有工具租賃中心。

In the comps in the tool rental centers are 12 times the company average.

在工具租賃中心的補償中，是公司平均水平的 12 倍。

We are the largest tool renter provider as measured in number of outlets.

按網點數量衡量，我們是最大的工具租賃供應商。

We are very pleased with our performance in our recently acquired flooring companies.

我們對我們最近收購的地板公司的表現感到非常滿意。

This allows us to enter a whole new --[OUTSIDE INTERFERENCE] I'm sorry, we have somebody on the line.

這使我們可以進入一個全新的--[外部干擾] 對不起，我們有人在線。

Our ownership of these new flooring stores represent a tremendous opportunity to participate in a whole new vertical channel for our company from the single home builder to the mass builder and the response has been tremendously positive to date.

我們對這些新地板店的所有權代表了一個巨大的機會，可以參與我們公司從單一住宅建築商到大規模建築商的全新垂直渠道，迄今為止反應非常積極。

Our expanded appliance set is now in 743 stores and we'll put it in an additional 671 stores this year.

我們擴展的電器套裝現在在 743 家商店中銷售，今年我們將在另外 671 家商店中推出。

We have had considerable market share growth in this category as we broke from the traditional sell it from the rack to a 1,500 to 2,000 square foot lay-down area.

當我們從傳統的貨架銷售模式轉變為 1,500 到 2,000 平方英尺的鋪裝區域時，我們在這一類別中的市場份額實現了可觀的增長。

We have moved to the third player in the industry in a relatively short period of time.

在相對較短的時間內，我們已經成為行業的第三大玩家。

We are excited about an even greater relaunch in 2003 with an exclusive arrangement to offer a pro-appliance package.

我們對 2003 年更大規模的重新啟動感到興奮，並獨家安排提供專業的設備包。

This will be great products at great prices targeted directly to the professional contractor and will be displayed directly across from our pro desk.

這將是直接面向專業承包商的價格優惠的優質產品，並將直接在我們的專業服務台對面展示。

Our central merchandising team has made great strides in building strong partnerships with loyal vendors.

我們的中央銷售團隊在與忠誠的供應商建立牢固的合作夥伴關係方面取得了長足的進步。

Today's assortments are better balanced than ever before.

今天的分類比以往任何時候都更加平衡。

Our store managers are in stock and ready for Spring.

我們的商店經理有貨，準備迎接春天。

Let me give you a few examples of what I mean.

讓我舉幾個例子來說明我的意思。

We have over 200,000 Deere tractors, in excess of 750,000 walk-behind mowers either in our stores or flowing to our stores.

我們擁有超過 200,000 台 Deere 拖拉機，超過 750,000 台手扶式割草機在我們的商店或流向我們的商店。

This Spring will have more color and a broader assortment of goods than we have ever carried at The Home Depot.

今年春天，我們在家得寶（The Home Depot）所攜帶的顏色和商品種類將更加豐富。

We have an exciting new tropical line and we will clearly demonstrate a stronger presence in visual merchandising in our lawn and garden area.

我們有一個令人興奮的新熱帶產品線，我們將清楚地展示在我們的草坪和花園區域的視覺營銷中更強大的存在。

Our assortments emphasize the greatest brands in the business line 3M, American Standard, Black and Decker, Bosch, G.E., Glidden, Maytag, Rubbermaid, Scott, Shaw, and Stanley.

我們的產品系列著重於 3M、American Standard、Black and Decker、Bosch、G.E.、Glidden、Maytag、Rubbermaid、Scott、Shaw 和 Stanley 業務線中最偉大的品牌。

As we shared with you, 85% of our products that are carried in our store carry national brand names, names of choice and preference by our customers.

正如我們與您分享的那樣，我們商店中 85% 的產品都帶有國家品牌名稱、客戶選擇和偏好的名稱。

We are also excited about adding new brands and growing our assortment, for example, John Deere as the excluding home improvement carrier at The Home Depot.

我們也對增加新品牌和擴大產品種類感到興奮，例如，約翰迪爾作為家得寶的獨家家居裝修運營商。

We have developed strategic alliances with national brands and highly recognized names like Anderson, Disney, Ecco, Honda, Phillips, and Toro along with proprietary brands like Bear, Husky, Mill's Pride, Hampton Bay, the best in the industry and are helping us fill out each of these product categories.

我們與安德森、迪斯尼、Ecco、本田、菲利普斯和托羅等國家品牌和知名品牌建立了戰略聯盟，以及貝爾、赫斯基、米爾的驕傲、漢普頓灣等行業最佳品牌，並正在幫助我們填補這些產品類別中的每一個。

Now, as we shared with you our stores and store managers are getting significant improvement in tools that they need to help deliver sales and service and execution for 2003.

現在，正如我們與您分享的那樣，我們的商店和商店經理在他們需要幫助交付 2003 年銷售、服務和執行的工具方面得到了顯著改進。

As technology frees up hours in our store through initiatives like self check-out and certified receiving, we are committed to redeploy those hours back on to the sales floor for the benefit of our customers where high associate contact is required.

隨著技術通過自助結賬和認證收貨等舉措節省了我們商店的時間，我們致力於將這些時間重新部署到銷售現場，以造福於需要高度聯繫的客戶。

We will again, dedicate over 19 million hours to train our associates in the area of sales and product knowledge.

我們將再次投入超過 1900 萬小時的時間來培訓我們的員工在銷售和產品知識方面的知識。

In addition to merchandising this Spring, we will invest hours in key departments to support seasonal ramp up as evidenced as we have already done in lawn and garden for power equipment.

除了在今年春季進行商品銷售外，我們還將在關鍵部門投入數小時以支持季節性增長，正如我們已經在草坪和花園中為電力設備所做的那樣。

Finally, we are supporting our store managers and selling associates in 2003 with enhanced compensation packages and exciting new special initiatives.

最後，我們在 2003 年通過增強的薪酬方案和激動人心的新特別舉措來支持我們的商店經理和銷售人員。

We have just completed, this week the last of a week long store manager forum.

我們剛剛完成，本週最後一個為期一周的商店經理論壇。

Every, and I repeat, every store manager in our company has now attended a one-week long leadership forum.

我重複一遍，我們公司的每一位商店經理現在都參加了為期一周的領導論壇。

From my participation and conversations with our store managers, I know they are energized.

從我的參與和與我們商店經理的交談中，我知道他們充滿活力。

The meetings were electric and represented a tremendous opportunity to share best practices and to socialize at this event.

這些會議是電動的，代表了分享最佳實踐和在此活動中進行社交的絕佳機會。

At a time when other companies are pulling back on P&L and retrenching from strategy, we continue to be able to forge forward based on the strength of our balance sheet and our commitment to the future.

在其他公司撤出損益表並縮減戰略的時候，我們將繼續能夠基於我們的資產負債表實力和我們對未來的承諾繼續前進。

I am now ready to take questions from the audience.

我現在準備回答聽眾的問題。

Thank you.

謝謝你。

The question and answer session will be conducted electronically, if you would like to ask a question, please do so by pressing the star key followed by the digit 1 on your touch-tone telephone.

問答環節將以電子方式進行，如果您想提問，請按星號鍵，然後按按鍵電話上的數字 1。

If you are using a speaker-phone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment.

如果您使用的是免提電話，請確保您的靜音功能已關閉，以便您的信號能夠到達我們的設備。

We will proceed in the order in which you signal us and will take as many questions as time permits.

我們將按照您向我們發出信號的順序進行，並會在時間允許的情況下回答盡可能多的問題。

Once again, please press star/one to ask a question.

再次，請按星號/一號提問。

Our first question comes from the line of Bud Bugatch from Raymond James.

我們的第一個問題來自 Raymond James 的 Bud Bugatch。

Good morning, Bob.

早上好，鮑勃。

Good morning, Bud.

早上好，巴德。

Your inventory per store is about $5.4 million, I think you said, is that about where you want it now, do you have the inventory where you are comfortable with it?

你每家商店的庫存大約是 540 萬美元，我想你說過，這就是你現在想要的，你有沒有讓你滿意的庫存？

Bud, we, as Carol indicated average store inventory increased in 2002.

Bud，我們，正如 Carol 所指出的，2002 年的平均商店庫存增加了。

As we were going through the implementation of Spy and going through the resets and Jerry Edwards and his merchants were taking out 19,000 SKUs and adding them back, we do feel comfortable with our inventory and we do believe it will support our sales projection for this year.

由於我們正在實施 Spy 並進行重置，而 Jerry Edwards 和他的商家正在取出 19,000 個 SKU 並將它們添加回來，我們確實對我們的庫存感到滿意，我們相信這將支持我們今年的銷售預測.

I think you said last quarter that in-stocks were running at 97% the way you measure it, any update on where that is now?

我想你上個季度說過，按照你衡量的方式，庫存的運行率為 97%，關於現在的情況有什麼更新嗎？

Bud, that latest data we reviewed, as a matter of fact, at our weekly QMI call, that in stock position is holding and we are very comfortable with it and obviously we will continue to improve throughout the year.

Bud，事實上，我們在每週的 QMI 電話會議上審查了最新數據，庫存頭寸保持不變，我們對此感到非常滿意，顯然我們將在全年繼續改善。

I guess my last is, transactions per store have continued to fall, I think if my math is right, somewhere just under 180,000 per average store in this quarter, any idea when that metric will start to turn back up on a quarterly basis?

我想我的最後一個是，每家商店的交易量持續下降，我想如果我的數學是正確的，本季度每家商店的平均交易量略低於 180,000，知道該指標何時開始每季度開始回升嗎？

Bud, we certainly would expect that number to come back throughout the year, as we get the resets behind us and working closely with Jerry Edwards and John Costello.

芽，我們當然希望這個數字會在全年恢復，因為我們已經完成了重置並與 Jerry Edwards 和 John Costello 密切合作。

As I indicated, the frequency of catalogs and the page count along with our media coverage, I'm convinced that we'll reposition these stores almost in a new grand opening fashion and get our loyal customers back in to experience these new resets and exciting new merchandise.

正如我所指出的，目錄的頻率和頁數以及我們的媒體報導，我相信我們將以一種新的盛大開業方式重新定位這些商店，並讓我們的忠實客戶重新體驗這些新的重置和令人興奮的新商品。

Thank you, and good luck on the year.

謝謝你，祝你今年好運。

Thank you, Bud.

謝謝你，巴德。

And our next question, we'll here from Dan Wewer from CIBC World Markets.

我們的下一個問題是來自 CIBC World Markets 的 Dan Wewer。

Carol, a couple of questions related to the same-store sales issues.

Carol，關於同店銷售問題的幾個問題。

I think you discussed the impact number deflation and of store cannibalization.

我認為您討論了影響數字通貨緊縮和商店自相殘殺的問題。

First I was curious, to make sure I understand correctly, are we saying that the cannibalization rate was worse in 2002 than it was in 2001 and that's what was contributing to the weak fourth quarter sales?

首先我很好奇，為了確保我理解正確，我們是說 2002 年的蠶食率比 2001 年更糟，這就是導致第四季度銷售疲軟的原因嗎？

Well, Dan, I walked through the drivers of comps for the year with great specificity.

好吧，丹，我非常具體地介紹了這一年的比賽車手。

If you would like me, I can go back and review those.

如果你喜歡我，我可以回去複習這些。

Maybe I'm wrong.

也許我錯了。

I thought that the cannibalization rate or the hit was 4 points in the previous year.

我以為上一年的蠶食率或命中率是4分。

I wasn't sure if there was a change there or not.

我不確定那裡是否有變化。

There is really no change.

真的沒有變化。

As we laid out at the analysts conference in early January and early this morning, the results of cannibalization has about a 4% impact to comps.

正如我們在 1 月初和今天凌晨的分析師會議上所闡述的那樣，蠶食的結果對 comps 的影響約為 4%。

So if you want to ticket out for the year, if this would be helpful to you, we are reporting a flat comp for the year.

因此，如果您想出票，如果這對您有幫助，我們將報告該年度的平票。

If you start at the top, our gross comps were 8%.

如果您從頂部開始，我們的總收入為 8%。

We lost 4 points because of cannibalization and we lost 4 points because of disruption due to in stock and resets and number prices, et cetera.

由於自相殘殺，我們損失了 4 分，由於庫存、重置和數量價格等原因造成的中斷，我們損失了 4 分。

For the year, we are reporting zero.

對於這一年，我們報告為零。

I wasn't sure if we were supposed to subtract out for the previous year as well and was looking at it that way.

我不確定我們是否也應該減去前一年的數據，並且是這樣看待的。

The other question I have, just looking at the lumber.

我的另一個問題，只是看木材。

Just looking at the random links numbers, we are guesstimating that the rate of deflation was maybe a half a point.

只看隨機鏈接數，我們猜測通貨緊縮的速度可能是半個點。

Is that consistent with what you are seeing?

這與您所看到的一致嗎？

For the year, we think the impact to comps was about a point, if that is your question.

對於這一年，我們認為對比賽的影響大約是一個點，如果這是你的問題的話。

And for the fourth quarter, about the same as well?

第四季度，也差不多？

A little less than that, a little less, yes.

比那個少一點，少一點，是的。

And just the final question I had was on the full scale remodels, the type A remodels.

我的最後一個問題是關於全面改造，A 型改造。

Is there any situation where Home Depot would consider, you know, increasing the number of the old stores that undergo the major remodels because it looks like the returns on investment could be very very high from this initiative.

您知道，家得寶是否會考慮增加進行重大改造的老店的數量，因為看起來這項舉措的投資回報率可能非常高。

Let me jump in and respond to that, Dan.

讓我跳進去回應一下，丹。

Our team has really done one heck of a good job in analyzing those stores that we have targeted from a competitive standpoint, from a geographic standpoint, from a leadership standpoint and, certainly, from an age and traffic standpoint, and, again, this is something new for The Home Depot, taking on the number of resets that we targeted.

我們的團隊從競爭的角度、地理的角度、領導力的角度，當然還有年齡和客流量的角度分析了我們瞄準的那些商店，確實做得很好，而且，再次，這是家得寶的一些新東西，承擔了我們的目標重置次數。

So I think we really want to focus on about 40 of these major resets.

所以我認為我們真的很想專注於這些重大重置中的大約 40 個。

If they go well, we certainly have other candidates available, but for the time being, we focused on these 40 type As in the back half of this year.

如果進展順利，我們當然還有其他候選人，但目前，我們在今年下半年專注於這 40 種 A。

Good luck.

祝你好運。

Thank you.

謝謝你。

Thank you.

謝謝你。

And moving on, we'll hear from Danielle Fox from JP Morgan.

繼續前進，我們將聽取摩根大通的 Danielle Fox 的來信。

Thanks and good morning.

謝謝，早上好。

Can you discuss the timing of P&L investments, things like labor and systems in 2003?

您能否討論一下 2003 年損益投資的時間安排，比如勞動力和系統？

Are they concentrated in any particular quarter or season and what will be determining the pace of the rollout?

他們是否集中在任何特定的季度或季節？什麼將決定推出的速度？

Let's start by talking about labor.

讓我們從勞動力開始。

As Bob pointed out, as technology improvements occur in our stores, we will redeploy the hours back on to the selling floor.

正如 Bob 指出的那樣，隨著我們商店的技術改進，我們將把時間重新部署到銷售區。

It is starting to happen now with the self-checkout stations that are being installed in our stores.

現在開始在我們的商店安裝自助結賬台。

But we won't really see the benefit of technology until the back half of the year in that redeployment.

但是，直到今年下半年在重新部署中，我們才能真正看到技術的好處。

Right now though, Danielle, we are investing hours in our seasonal departments like gardens.

但現在，丹妮爾，我們正在花園等季節性部門投入大量時間。

This is an incremental investment that we are making because we think this is the right thing to do for the customer experience in our store.

這是我們正在進行的一項增量投資，因為我們認為這是為我們商店的客戶體驗做的正確的事情。

We are also looking at the labor models in certain select stores to make sure that we have the right management structure and if we deem that we need to make a change in that structure, we'll make that investment now.

我們還在研究某些精選商店的勞動力模式，以確保我們擁有正確的管理結構，如果我們認為需要改變這種結構，我們現在就會進行投資。

Okay, and on the systems side?

好的，在系統方面？

The redeployment, as I mentioned, will happen on the latter half of the year.

正如我所提到的，重新部署將在下半年進行。

And then, Bob you mentioned that there is a new compensation package.

然後，鮑勃你提到有一個新的補償方案。

Could you just give us a sense of what's changed?

你能告訴我們發生了什麼變化嗎？

I would be happy to, Danielle.

我很樂意，丹妮爾。

I have Dennis Donovan in the room.

房間裡有丹尼斯·多諾萬。

I would just preface it by saying, as we shared with you at the analysts meeting, the employer of choice survey gave us some tremendous insights into what our associates are looking for, particularly in the stores.

我只想說，正如我們在分析師會議上與您分享的那樣，首選雇主調查為我們提供了一些關於我們的員工正在尋找的東西的深刻見解，特別是在商店中。

And, therefore, we took that data and have responded in what we think is a very exciting package.

因此，我們收集了這些數據，並以我們認為非常令人興奮的一攬子方案做出了回應。

Dennis?

丹尼斯？

Yeah, as you know, Danielle and I talked about this earlier at our meeting, we made a number of enhancements last year in our bonus plan.

是的，如你所知，Danielle 和我早些時候在我們的會議上談到了這一點，去年我們在獎金計劃中做了一些改進。

We introduced stock sharing, which is profit sharing throughout all of the stores and we have gone back into this and are enhancing this as we looked forward into 2003.

我們引入了股票分享，即所有商店的利潤分享，我們已經回到了這一點，並在展望 2003 年時加強了這一點。

For example, with our store managers, we are significantly increasing their bonus opportunity, a store manager at a 50% target bonus now can earn up to 65% of their base with this enhanced model.

例如，對於我們的商店經理，我們正在顯著增加他們的獎金機會，目標獎金為 50% 的商店經理現在可以通過這種增強模型賺取高達 65% 的基數。

It's being very well received throughout the entire company with our store managers.

我們的商店經理在整個公司都非常受歡迎。

So if they max out, it's going to deliver significantly more dollars, and then with our success sharing plan, what we have done here is put a very achievable threshold so we get a lot of stories in the game.

因此，如果他們最大限度地發揮作用，它將帶來更多的資金，然後通過我們的成功分享計劃，我們在這裡所做的就是設置一個非常可實現的門檻，因此我們在遊戲中獲得了很多故事。

We focus exclusively and sale this is year.

我們專注於今年的銷售。

We have also increased the cap, we have doubled it so we can put more money in the pool and we have migrated this to semiannual payouts so we can get people in the game through the entire year.

我們還提高了上限，我們將上限翻了一番，這樣我們就可以在池中投入更多資金，並且我們已經將其遷移到半年支付一次，這樣我們就可以讓人們在整個一年中都參與到遊戲中。

We have done a number of other things like 401k eligibility kicking in at an earlier time frame after 90 days with the associates and, as you recall, last year, we did some innovative things with the stock option plan with retirement features so we think, based on Bob's comments with the data that we have seen and the employer of choice survey, this is going to move the needle for us in 2003.

我們已經完成了許多其他事情，例如在與員工合作 90 天后的較早時間範圍內啟動 401k 資格，並且，您還記得，去年，我們對具有退休功能的股票期權計劃做了一些創新的事情，所以我們認為，根據 Bob 對我們所見數據和首選雇主調查的評論，這將在 2003 年對我們產生影響。

Danielle, we are excited about the payout this year at a number of stores. 95% of our store managers will be receiving a payout and we are not changing from our tradition of having stock options participation down to the assistant store manager level.

丹妮爾，我們對今年許多商店的付款感到興奮。我們 95% 的門店經理將收到付款，我們不會將參與股票期權的傳統降低到助理門店經理級別。

We have committed to expense those and we certainly are not going to pull away from awarding store managers all the way down to assistant store managers in the sharing of the success of this company.

我們已承諾支付這些費用，並且我們當然不會放棄將商店經理一直獎勵到助理商店經理來分享這家公司的成功。

And also, too, Danielle, get them looking at share owner interest makes them a big part of the ownership of this company.

此外，丹妮爾，讓他們關注股東權益使他們成為這家公司所有權的重要組成部分。

Great, thank you.

太好了謝謝。

And our next question today comes from Matt Fassler from Goldman Sachs.

我們今天的下一個問題來自高盛的馬特法斯勒。

Thanks a lot and good morning.

非常感謝，早上好。

Taking a look at the gap between the totals and same store sales, it looks like your new store performance was actually pretty strong versus prior quarters.

看看總數和同店銷售額之間的差距，看起來您的新店業績與前幾個季度相比實際上相當強勁。

Can you give us a sense as to new space productivity in the fourth quarter compared to the levels that you saw earlier in the year?

與今年早些時候看到的水平相比，您能否讓我們了解第四季度的新空間生產力？

Matt, you are right.

馬特，你是對的。

As you look at the numbers, new store productivity was up and we are very pleased with that.

當您查看這些數字時，新店的生產力提高了，我們對此感到非常滿意。

And it tells us that the traction from the new programs that we are putting into the old stores is actually working in the new stores because they are opening up with these new programs.

它告訴我們，我們投入到舊商店的新計劃的吸引力實際上正在新商店中發揮作用，因為他們正在通過這些新計劃開放。

Fair enough.

很公平。

Second question, Bob, in your comments, you discussed your plans to open, I think, 50 stores in the Northeast corridor, in the Boston-New York zone.

第二個問題，鮑勃，在您的評論中，您討論了在波士頓-紐約地區的東北走廊開設 50 家商店的計劃。

With that in mind, can you give us a sense, as you consider cannibalization and you consider incremental openings to further penetrate strong markets, how do you think of the economics of the impact of cannibalization on existing stores?

考慮到這一點，您能否給我們一個感覺，當您考慮蠶食並考慮增加開業以進一步滲透強大的市場時，您如何看待蠶食對現有商店的影響的經濟學？

In other words, I understand that you only open stores that would meet your hurdles in and of themselves but how do you aggregate the impact of the very profitable stores, the impact on the very profitable stores that you have in those markets when you think about the returns on that investment?

換句話說，我知道您只開設能夠滿足您自身障礙的商店，但是您如何匯總利潤豐厚的商店的影響，以及當您考慮時對您在這些市場中的利潤豐厚的商店的影響該投資的回報？

I will start taking first crack at the question.

我將開始對這個問題進行第一次破解。

When we go to our real estate committees Matt, we look at the stores on a market basis, not on a store basis but on a market basis and we look at the returns on a market basis because it's critically important to us to get the right return on investment, as you pointed out, but you don't want to look at it one store at a time, you want to look at it on aggregate by market.

當我們去找我們的房地產委員會時，馬特，我們以市場為基礎，不是以商店為基礎，而是以市場為基礎來看待商店，我們以市場為基礎來看待回報，因為對我們來說，獲得正確的正如您所指出的，投資回報率，但您不想一次只看一家商店，而是要按市場總體上看。

Frank Blake (ph.)~ is here, maybe he has something to add.

Frank Blake (ph.)~ 來了，也許他有什麼要補充的。

That is exactly right.

這是完全正確的。

We would not be basing it on the individual store, we would be looking at the total impact.

我們不會將其基於個別商店，我們會關注整體影響。

And do you need to see the market ROI stay flat to higher in order to make investment?

為了進行投資，您是否需要看到市場投資回報率保持平穩或更高？

We are all about increasing the rate of return on the investments that we make.

我們都致力於提高我們所做投資的回報率。

Now clearly we give our markets the opportunity to reach the hurdle over time, you don't expect it on day one, of course as you would expect, but over time we need to see that increase.

現在很明顯，隨著時間的推移，我們為我們的市場提供了跨越障礙的機會，當然，正如您所期望的那樣，您在第一天就不會期望它，但隨著時間的推移，我們需要看到這種增長。

Matt, let me just amplify, Carol mentioned our monthly real estate executive committee meeting and I am very excited.

馬特，讓我放大一下，卡羅爾提到了我們每月的房地產執行委員會會議，我很興奮。

I mentioned in my comments, the new tools that Frank and his organization have brought to the table down to the zip code levels that really gives us a better view of the market than what we have had in the past.

我在評論中提到，弗蘭克和他的組織已經將新工具帶到了郵政編碼級別，這確實讓我們比過去更好地了解市場。

It allows us to get very granular in sight selection, we lay on top of that not only the average income per family, the population growth, but then we also add to that, you know, the merchandising assortment in that particular neighborhood.

它使我們能夠非常精細地選擇視線，我們不僅基於每個家庭的平均收入、人口增長，而且還添加了那個特定社區的商品分類。

So we are now, I think, doing a much more sophisticated job in site selection to Carol's and Frank's points, looking at market potential in growth, putting in the most recent census data so I'm continually encouraged with the level of data and technology and sophistication going into this.

因此，我認為，我們現在在選址方面做得比卡羅爾和弗蘭克的觀點要復雜得多，著眼於增長的市場潛力，輸入最新的人口普查數據，因此我不斷受到數據和技術水平的鼓舞和復雜的進入這個。

Got you.

得到你。

That's very helpful.

這很有幫助。

Thank you.

謝謝你。

Thank you, Matt.

謝謝你，馬特。

And we'll hear next from Aram Rubinson from Banc of America.

接下來我們將聽到來自美國銀行的 Aram Rubinson 的發言。

Aram here.

亞蘭在這裡。

Hi, Aram.

嗨，阿拉姆。

I have two questions.

我有兩個問題。

One, the average ticket I noticed, ticked down, that does not happen all that often.

一，我注意到的平均票，打勾，這種情況並不經常發生。

I wonder if you could assess the merchandising of the stores, whether you think that's a mix issue or whether your general price points might be down for the prior year and I wonder if you could comment on that and then I have a follow up?

我想知道您是否可以評估商店的商品銷售，您是否認為這是一個混合問題，或者您的總體價格點是否可能比前一年下降，我想知道您是否可以對此發表評論，然後我會跟進？

That average ticket was down purely because of flooring.

平均票價下降純粹是因為地板。

Flooring is a big ticket category for us.

地闆對我們來說是一個重要的類別。

We did not have very good strength in the flooring category in the fourth category because we are anniversarying programs last year that we did not repeat.

我們在第四類的地板類別中沒有很好的實力，因為我們去年是周年紀念節目，我們沒有重複。

Jerry Edwards is here, he may have a few other comments on flooring.

Jerry Edwards 在這裡，他可能對地板還有其他一些意見。

We were distorted by the effect of flooring.

我們被地板的效果扭曲了。

In fact, average ticket in most other categories was improved over the prior year.

事實上，大多數其他類別的平均票價比去年有所提高。

Absolutely.

絕對地。

As you know, Aram, average ticket for the year was up.

如你所知，阿拉姆，今年的平均票價上漲了。

Okay, the follow-up question is on advertising, I want a little more clarification.

好的，後續問題是關於廣告的，我想再澄清一點。

To get 50 points more of exposure, what does that cost and what do you think advertising is as a percent of sales?

為了獲得 50 分以上的曝光率，這需要多少成本？您認為廣告佔銷售額的百分比是多少？

It seems like it would certainly be moving up.

似乎它肯定會向上移動。

Aram, let me ask John Costello who is in the room and who has recently joined us now in the last three months and responsible for our new campaign to comment on that in general and Carol can certainly reconfirm that everything that I alluded to is in the forecast projection for this year.

Aram，讓我問一下房間裡的 John Costello，誰在過去三個月裡最近加入了我們，負責我們的新活動，總體上對此發表評論，Carol 當然可以再次確認我提到的所有內容都在今年的預測預測。

John?

約翰？

That's right.

這是正確的。

And those increases were generated by a change in mix and internally generated efficiencies which enabled us to generate that kind of impact in a very efficient way.

這些增長是由組合的變化和內部產生的效率產生的，這使我們能夠以非常有效的方式產生這種影響。

I think we have time for one more question.

我想我們還有時間再問一個問題。

And that question will come from Theresa Donahue from Newburger Berman.

這個問題將來自 Newburger Berman 的 Theresa Donahue。

Good morning, everyone.

大家，早安。

I had a quick question on Carol's indication on the SG&A.

我有一個關於 Carol 對 SG&A 的指示的簡短問題。

I believe you stated that you had some higher costs involved in those resets in terms of merchandise cost fixtures, et cetera, and maintenance.

我相信您說過，在商品成本固定裝置等方面，您在這些重置和維護方面涉及一些更高的成本。

And I'm wondering what that means for operating margins to go forward as you continue to remodel more stores?

而且我想知道隨著您繼續改造更多商店，這對營業利潤率意味著什麼？

Theresa, the impact of continuing to remodel and resign and reset our stores is in the guidance that we gave for 2003.

特蕾莎，繼續改造、辭職和重置我們的商店的影響在我們為 2003 年提供的指導中。

Okay.

好的。

But that is a net long term embedded negative impact to a slight extent, though?

但這在某種程度上是一個淨長期嵌入負面影響，雖然？

In terms of dollars, absolutely.

絕對以美元計。

Okay, thanks.

好的謝謝。

You're welcome.

別客氣。

Okay.

好的。

That concludes our fourth quarter conference call.

我們的第四季度電話會議到此結束。

I'd like to thank everyone for calling.

我要感謝大家的來電。

We do have a replay number.

我們確實有一個重播號碼。

I will give you that number, once again, it is 719-457-0820 with a confirmation code of 356142.

我會給你那個號碼，再一次，它是 719-457-0820，確認碼是 356142。

We appreciate your calling in, have a good day.

感謝您的來電，祝您有美好的一天。