Haverty Furniture Companies Inc (HVT) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the Haverty First Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Mr. Richard Hare, Chief Financial Officer. Thank you, sir. You may begin.

您好，歡迎來到 Haverty 2023 年第一季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）提醒一下，正在錄製此會議。現在我很高興向您介紹主持人，首席財務官 Richard Hare 先生。謝謝你，先生。你可以開始了。

Thank you, operator. During this call, we'll make forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those made or implied in such statements, which speak only as of the date they are made and which we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise.

謝謝你，運營商。在這次電話會議中，我們將做出前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受風險和不確定性的影響。實際結果可能與此類聲明中做出或暗示的結果存在重大差異，這些聲明僅在作出聲明之日有效，我們不承擔公開更新或修改的義務。

Factors that could cause actual results to differ include economic and competitive conditions and other uncertainties detailed in the company's reports filed with the SEC. Our Chairman and CEO, Clarence Smith, will now give you an update on our results and then our President, Steve Burdette, will provide additional commentary about our business.

可能導致實際結果不同的因素包括經濟和競爭條件以及公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的報告中詳述的其他不確定性。我們的董事長兼首席執行官 Clarence Smith 現在將向您介紹我們最新的業績，然後我們的總裁 Steve Burdette 將提供有關我們業務的更多評論。

Good morning. Thank you for joining our first quarter conference call. Consolidated sales decreased 5.9% to $224.8 million with comparative store sales down 6.7%. Earnings per share came in at $0.74 versus $1.11 last year.

早上好。感謝您加入我們的第一季度電話會議。綜合銷售額下降 5.9% 至 2.248 億美元，比較店面銷售額下降 6.7%。每股收益為 0.74 美元，而去年為 1.11 美元。

In the face of difficult headwinds and the shift of consumer spending and inflationary pressures, I believe our teams delivered a strong performance. As we anniversary our business against the outsized demand generated by COVID, our incoming orders have declined.

面對艱難的逆風以及消費者支出和通脹壓力的轉變，我相信我們的團隊表現出色。在我們針對 COVID 產生的巨大需求開展業務週年紀念之際，我們收到的訂單有所下降。

For Q1, our written sales were down 11.7% and written comp store sales declined 12.7% for the quarter. However, this year's written sales compared to Q1 of 2019 were up 10.9% with written comp store sales up 6.9%. We are building our reputation for quality, service and design. Our free design service continues to drive increases in average sales, and these services are helping grow our special order business.

第一季度，我們的書面銷售額下降了 11.7%，本季度的書面商店銷售額下降了 12.7%。然而，與 2019 年第一季度相比，今年的書面銷售額增長了 10.9%，其中書面商店銷售額增長了 6.9%。我們正在建立我們在質量、服務和設計方面的聲譽。我們的免費設計服務繼續推動平均銷售額的增長，這些服務正在幫助我們發展特殊訂單業務。

Our strong design service and excellent sales teams along with a high quality, further separates us from the more promotional players in our industry. I share our team's enthusiasm for the new collections and merchandise hitting our floors.

我們強大的設計服務和優秀的銷售團隊以及高品質，進一步將我們與業內更多的促銷公司區分開來。我和我們的團隊一樣對新系列和商品上架的熱情。

We've developed great values and exciting new styles, which we believe will be well accepted by our customers. We've added to our curated collections and online exclusives, which greatly broaden our breadth of products.

我們開發了巨大的價值和令人興奮的新款式，我們相信它們會被我們的客戶很好地接受。我們已經添加了我們的精選系列和在線獨家產品，這極大地拓寬了我們的產品範圍。

This spring, we're bringing in several new collections of outdoor furniture and enhance new category for our stores. With the major reductions in orders from our factories, we're getting lower minimum shipments, which will put less pressure on our buying teams to bring in new products without risking over inventory problems.

今年春天，我們將推出幾個新的戶外家具系列，並為我們的商店增加新品類。隨著我們工廠訂單的大幅減少，我們的最低出貨量也降低了，這將減輕我們的採購團隊在不冒庫存問題風險的情況下引進新產品的壓力。

We are in a strong inventory position and are rightsizing our buying for what we need compared to the large orders we were required to place during the last few years.

與過去幾年我們需要下的大量訂單相比，我們的庫存狀況良好，並且正在根據需要調整我們的採購量。

In February, we opened a new location in Durham, North Carolina. We plan to open 3 stores in the fourth quarter in Concord, North Carolina, north of Charlotte, Dayton, Ohio and the store south of Richmond, Virginia. Our development and real estate teams are actively evaluating and reviewing the number of store opportunities that we're seeing in our delivery footprint.

2 月，我們在北卡羅來納州達勒姆開設了一家新店。我們計劃在第四季度在北卡羅來納州康科德、夏洛特北部、俄亥俄州代頓和弗吉尼亞州里士滿南部開設 3 家商店。我們的開發和房地產團隊正在積極評估和審查我們在交付足跡中看到的商店機會數量。

We've invested, upgraded and repositioned our stores in our last -- in our 16-state footprint over the past several years, which sets us up to be able to add to our store fleet. We have the range to serve several more states from our DCs. We think there will be a number of retail locations that will be available in the coming months that would help us reach new markets and expand our presence in existing markets.

我們投資、升級和重新定位了我們的商店——過去幾年我們在 16 個州的足跡，這使我們能夠增加我們的商店車隊。我們的範圍可以從我們的配送中心為更多的州提供服務。我們認為未來幾個月將有許多零售點可供使用，這將有助於我們進入新市場並擴大我們在現有市場的影響力。

We have a long 138-year history of gaining market share during difficult times, and we believe that we're in an exceptionally strong position with our solid balance sheet to grow our store count in our regions. While housing sales in the South are an important indicator for our business, we believe our move to personalization and customization, along with our strength in the faster-growing southern markets helped offset softer housing numbers.

我們在困難時期獲得市場份額已有 138 年的悠久歷史，我們相信我們憑藉穩健的資產負債表處於非常有利的地位，可以增加我們所在地區的門店數量。雖然南方的房屋銷售是我們業務的一個重要指標，但我們相信我們向個性化和定制化的轉變，以及我們在增長更快的南方市場的實力有助於抵消疲軟的房屋數量。

We were encouraged by the recent better selling news from homebuilders as housing prices moderate and mortgage rates improve, we expect to see some positive movement in our sales. Havertys is driven to help our customers' vision of their home come to life.

隨著房價溫和和抵押貸款利率提高，我們對最近來自房屋建築商的更好的銷售消息感到鼓舞，我們預計我們的銷售將出現一些積極的變化。 Havertys 致力於幫助我們的客戶實現他們的家園願景。

I believe that we're in the best position in our industry as well as in our history to deliver on that vision. As we deliver on that promise, we will gain share and build our return for our shareholders. I'll turn the call now over to Steve Burdette, our President.

我相信我們在我們的行業以及我們的歷史上都處於實現這一願景的最佳位置。當我們兌現這一承諾時，我們將獲得份額並為股東創造回報。我現在將電話轉給我們的總裁 Steve Burdette。

Thank you, Clarence, and good morning. While we were hoping for stronger results in the first quarter, we are appreciative of the hard work that our team members are putting in every day to ensure that we are furnishing happiness to each and every customer. Our supply chain network continues to operate with normalized lead times.

謝謝你，克拉倫斯，早上好。雖然我們希望在第一季度取得更好的成績，但我們感謝我們的團隊成員每天為確保我們為每一位客戶提供快樂而付出的辛勤工作。我們的供應鍊網絡繼續以正常的交貨時間運作。

Our inventories were down 4.7% from Q1 last year. However, our backlog continues to decrease with our average age of the own arrival backlog dropping below 6 weeks. We continue to feel that our backlog will be back to pre-pandemic levels by early summer.

我們的庫存比去年第一季度下降了 4.7%。然而，我們的積壓繼續減少，我們自己的到達積壓的平均年齡下降到 6 週以下。我們仍然認為，到初夏，我們的積壓將恢復到大流行前的水平。

We are encouraged to continue to see freight rates continuing to drop as we just finalized our contracted rates for the upcoming year beginning May 1. Our special order business was a bright spot for the quarter as we increased our business by over 40% year-over-year to be almost 30% of our total upholstery sales.

我們很高興看到運費持續下降，因為我們剛剛確定了從 5 月 1 日開始的來年的合同費率。我們的特殊訂單業務是本季度的一個亮點，因為我們的業務同比增長了 40% 以上-年幾乎占我們室內裝潢總銷售額的 30%。

Our experiment with offering more special order color options from our upholstery import leather vendors has been a hit as we look to expand other vendors. Our design business continues to show improvement as it grew to 26% of our business for the quarter.

我們從我們的室內裝潢進口皮革供應商那裡提供更多特殊訂單顏色選項的實驗很成功，因為我們希望擴大其他供應商。我們的設計業務在本季度增長到我們業務的 26%，繼續顯示出改善。

We expect our design business to continue to grow as we create more awareness and focus on each customer's experience. A key metric for design is our average ticket, which increased for the quarter approximately 11%. We will be testing in the third quarter a new in-store point of purchase program to help elevate the customers' experience within our stores and provide our sales and design consultants with more tools to serve our customers' needs.

隨著我們提高知名度並關注每位客戶的體驗，我們希望我們的設計業務能夠繼續增長。設計的一個關鍵指標是我們的平均票價，該季度增加了約 11%。我們將在第三季度測試一項新的店內購買點計劃，以幫助提升客戶在我們店內的體驗，並為我們的銷售和設計顧問提供更多工具來滿足客戶的需求。

We continue working on expected refinements to the website. We have engaged a new business partner to identify incremental optimizations and opportunities, including a road map for meaningful personalization, a robust AB testing plan, continued technical and user experience optimizations, all driven by improved site behavior analytics.

我們將繼續致力於網站的預期改進。我們聘請了一個新的業務合作夥伴來確定增量優化和機會，包括有意義的個性化路線圖、強大的 AB 測試計劃、持續的技術和用戶體驗優化，所有這些都由改進的站點行為分析驅動。

We'll start to see some of these implementations in place before the Memorial Day promotion. Our merchandising team has brought in lots of new products in Q1 with more arriving to help elevate the excitement of our sales teams and customers heading into the Memorial Day, which is our largest promotional period for the first half of the year.

在陣亡將士紀念日促銷活動之前，我們將開始看到其中一些實施到位。我們的銷售團隊在第一季度推出了許多新產品，更多新產品到貨，以幫助提升我們的銷售團隊和客戶在陣亡將士紀念日前的興奮度，這是我們上半年最大的促銷期。

We will continue to use credit as a trigger to entice the consumers during this important holiday, but we'll be more prudent in the use of credit in the non-holiday sale periods due to the increased cost from rising interest rates.

我們將在這個重要的假期繼續使用信貸作為吸引消費者的觸發器，但由於利率上升導致成本增加，我們將在非假期銷售期間更加謹慎地使用信貸。

Finally, we continue to focus on our execution, training and retention across the organization. However, due to the drop in our backlogs and the current written trends, we will match our staffing levels to the current business trends. The expectation is that through normal attrition, this will be a reduction of over 200 positions or approximately 7% of the workforce by the end of the second quarter.

最後，我們繼續關注整個組織的執行、培訓和保留。然而，由於我們的積壓工作和當前的書面趨勢有所下降，我們將根據當前的業務趨勢調整我們的人員配置水平。預計通過正常的減員，到第二季度末將減少 200 多個職位或約 7% 的員工隊伍。

Now I'll turn the call over to Richard.

現在我將電話轉給理查德。

Thanks, Steve. In the first quarter of 2023, net sales were $224.8 million, a 5.9% decrease over the prior year quarter. Comparable store sales were down 6.7% over the prior year period. Our gross profit margin increased 10 basis points to 59.1% from 59% due to better pricing discipline and merchandising mix, reduced freight costs and a positive LIFO inventory adjustment.

謝謝，史蒂夫。 2023 年第一季度，淨銷售額為 2.248 億美元，比去年同期下降 5.9%。可比店面銷售額較上年同期下降 6.7%。我們的毛利率從 59% 上升 10 個基點至 59.1%，這歸功於更好的定價紀律和商品組合、運費成本降低以及積極的 LIFO 庫存調整。

Selling, general and administrative expenses increased $3.2 million or 2.8% to $118.4 million. As a percentage of sales, these costs approximated 52.7% up from 48.2% in the prior year quarter. We experienced increased selling, administrative and occupancy costs, which were partially offset by reduced distribution and transportation expenses during the quarter.

銷售、一般和行政費用增加 320 萬美元或 2.8% 至 1.184 億美元。這些成本佔銷售額的百分比約為 52.7%，高於去年同期的 48.2%。我們經歷了銷售、管理和占用成本的增加，這部分被本季度減少的分銷和運輸費用所抵消。

Other income and expense in the first quarter was negligible and interest income increased to $1 million during the first quarter as interest earned on our cash deposits increased this past year as interest rates have increased. Income before income taxes decreased $10.3 million to $15.4 million.

第一季度的其他收入和支出可以忽略不計，第一季度的利息收入增加到 100 萬美元，這是因為去年利率上升，我們的現金存款賺取的利息增加了。所得稅前收入減少 1030 萬美元至 1540 萬美元。

Our tax expense was $3.1 million during the first quarter of 2023, which resulted in an effective tax rate of 19.8%. The primary difference in the effective tax rate and the statutory rate is due to the state income taxes and the tax benefit from vested stock awards.

2023 年第一季度，我們的稅收支出為 310 萬美元，實際稅率為 19.8%。實際稅率和法定稅率的主要區別在於州所得稅和既得股票獎勵的稅收優惠。

Net income for the first quarter of 2023 was $12.4 million or $0.74 per diluted share on our common stock compared to net income of $19.4 million or $1.11 per share in the comparable quarter last year. Now looking at our balance sheet. At the end of the first quarter, our inventories were $114.3 million, which was down $4.1 million from year-end.

2023 年第一季度我們普通股的淨收入為 1240 萬美元或每股攤薄收益 0.74 美元，而去年同期的淨收入為 1940 萬美元或每股 1.11 美元。現在看看我們的資產負債表。第一季度末，我們的庫存為 1.143 億美元，比年底減少 410 萬美元。

At the end of the first quarter, our customer deposits were $46.4 million, which was down $1.6 million from year-end and down $52.1 million versus the Q1 2022 balance. We ended the quarter with $120.2 million of cash and cash equivalents, and we have no funded debt on our balance sheet at the end of Q1 2023.

第一季度末，我們的客戶存款為 4640 萬美元，比年底減少 160 萬美元，與 2022 年第一季度餘額相比減少 5210 萬美元。我們在本季度末擁有 1.202 億美元的現金和現金等價物，並且在 2023 年第一季度末我們的資產負債表上沒有融資債務。

During the first quarter of 2023, we amended and extended our retail program agreement with Synchrony Bank, who provides our customers with credit alternatives to purchase our products. We extended our agreement for an additional 7-year term and replace the LIBOR rate with a certain U.S. treasury securities rate as the interest rate benchmark.

在 2023 年第一季度，我們修改並延長了與 Synchrony Bank 的零售計劃協議，Synchrony Bank 為我們的客戶提供購買我們產品的信貸替代方案。我們將協議延長 7 年，並以特定的美國國債利率取代 LIBOR 利率作為利率基準。

Looking at some of our uses of cash flow, capital expenditures were $6.7 million in the first quarter, and we also paid $4.5 million of regular dividends during the quarter. During the first quarter, we didn't purchase any common shares under our existing stock buyback program, and we have approximately $20 million of existing authorization in our buyback program.

從我們對現金流的一些用途來看，第一季度的資本支出為 670 萬美元，我們還在本季度支付了 450 萬美元的定期股息。在第一季度，我們沒有根據現有的股票回購計劃購買任何普通股，我們在回購計劃中有大約 2000 萬美元的現有授權。

Our earnings release list out several additional forward-looking statements indicating our future expectations of certain financial metrics. I'll highlight a few, but please refer to our press release for additional commentary. We expect our gross margins for 2023 to be between 58.5% and 59%.

我們的收益發布列出了幾個額外的前瞻性陳述，表明我們對某些財務指標的未來預期。我將強調一些，但請參閱我們的新聞稿以獲取更多評論。我們預計 2023 年的毛利率將在 58.5% 至 59% 之間。

We anticipate gross profit margins will be impacted by our current estimates of product and freight costs and changes in our LIFO reserve. Our fixed and discretionary-type SG&A expenses for 2023 are expected to be in the $289 million to $292 million range. And the variable-type costs within SG&A for 2023 are expected to be in the range of 19.5% to 19.7%, with the increases over 2022, primarily being inflation-driven.

我們預計毛利率將受到我們目前對產品和運費的估計以及我們後進先出儲備的變化的影響。我們 2023 年的固定和酌情型 SG&A 費用預計在 2.89 億美元至 2.92 億美元之間。預計 2023 年 SG&A 內的可變類型成本將在 19.5% 至 19.7% 的範圍內，與 2022 年相比有所增加，主要受通貨膨脹驅動。

Our planned CapEx for 2023 has increased to $53.1 million. As previously disclosed, we're in the process of purchasing our Florida distribution center for approximately $28.2 million. We anticipate closing on this transaction in the second quarter of this year. Anticipated new or replacement stores, remodels and expansions account for an additional $16.7 million. Investments in our distribution network are expected to be $5.8 million and investments in our information technology are expected to be approximately $2.5 million.

我們計劃的 2023 年資本支出已增加到 5310 萬美元。正如之前披露的那樣，我們正在以大約 2820 萬美元的價格收購我們的佛羅里達配送中心。我們預計將在今年第二季度完成此項交易。預期的新店或更換店、改建和擴建佔額外的 1670 萬美元。對我們的分銷網絡的投資預計為 580 萬美元，對我們的信息技術的投資預計約為 250 萬美元。

Our anticipated effective tax rate for 2023 remains at 25%. This projection excludes the impact from vesting of stock awards and any potential new tax legislation. This completes my commentary on the first quarter financial results. Operator, we would like to open the call up for questions at this time.

我們預計 2023 年的有效稅率將保持在 25%。該預測不包括股票獎勵歸屬和任何潛在的新稅法的影響。我對第一季度財務業績的評論到此結束。接線員，我們想在這個時候打開問題電話。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Anthony Lebiedzinski with Sidoti & Company.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Sidoti & Company 的 Anthony Lebiedzinski。

So first, just going back to Q1, if you could just give us a little bit more details, please, as far as the written sales trends. Just curious to see if you guys saw any notable variation month-to-month. Obviously, I know President Day is the key holiday within the quarter. But just wanted to get a sense as to whether the business was kind of steady or was there much difference month-to-month? And as far as product categories, if you can also comment on that as well. How that trended, that would be very helpful.

所以首先，回到第一季度，請就書面銷售趨勢向我們提供更多詳細信息。只是想看看你們是否每個月都看到任何顯著的變化。顯然，我知道總統日是本季度的關鍵假期。但只是想了解一下業務是否穩定，或者每個月之間是否有很大差異？至於產品類別，如果您也可以對此發表評論。趨勢如何，這將非常有幫助。

Sure, Anthony, it's Richard. On the written sales trends, we're pretty consistent during the quarter of January, February and March were all low single digits. January was -- February was almost mid-single digits -- excuse me, slightly above double digit and then low double digit in March. So fairly consistent on the written side.

當然，安東尼，是理查德。在書面銷售趨勢上，我們在 1 月、2 月和 3 月的季度非常一致，都是低個位數。 1 月——2 月幾乎是中個位數——對不起，3 月略高於兩位數，然後是低兩位數。所以在書面方面相當一致。

The delivery side is a little different. Our deliveries were up in January, very low single digits, and then we were down mid-single digits in February and very low double digits in March. So that pattern was somewhat different.

交貨方面有點不同。我們的交付量在 1 月份上升，非常低的個位數，然後我們在 2 月份下降了中等個位數，在 3 月份下降了非常低的兩位數。所以那個模式有點不同。

And just in terms of our category -- revenue by category, we did see an increase in case goods in the first quarter. It went from 31% up to 35% in terms of deliveries and sales. Upholstery flipped from 46.5% down to 42.6%. Mattresses were pretty flat at 8.2% to 8.3% and that kind of rounded out the revenue mix.

就我們的類別而言——按類別劃分的收入，我們確實看到第一季度的案例商品有所增加。在交付和銷售方面，它從 31% 上升到 35%。內飾從 46.5% 下降到 42.6%。床墊在 8.2% 到 8.3% 之間相當持平，這樣就完善了收入組合。

All right. And then Memorial Holiday is obviously an important holiday for furniture shopping. So how would you describe your strategy as far as demand levers for this holiday versus last year? I know you said that you'll use credit, although obviously, it's got more expenses. So maybe if you could just talk about what your strategy is here for the key Memorial Day holiday.

好的。然後陣亡將士紀念日顯然是家具購物的重要假期。那麼，與去年相比，您如何描述這個假期的需求槓桿策略？我知道你說過你會使用信用卡，雖然很明顯，它有更多的費用。所以也許你可以談談你在陣亡將士紀念日這個重要假期的策略是什麼。

Yes, Anthony, this is Steve. We've -- we're going to have the same pretty much promotional calendar going for the Memorial Day as we did last year from a sale period as far as pricing, et cetera. And then from a credit side of things, we will be using the 60 months during that time period.

是的，安東尼，這是史蒂夫。我們已經 - 我們將為陣亡將士紀念日提供與去年從銷售期到定價等方面相同的促銷日曆。然後從信用方面來看，我們將在此期間使用 60 個月。

But what I made a comment to is we will not be using in the nonpromotional periods. We will just focus it around the Memorial Day event, the 2-week holiday event kind of leading up to it.

但我的評論是我們不會在非促銷期間使用。我們將只關注陣亡將士紀念日活動，這是一個為期兩週的假期活動。

Got you. Okay. And a couple of other questions, if I could. So you talked about outdoor furniture as a new category. Is this going to be in stores and online or just online and as far as like the number of SKUs that you plan to offer? Can you give us a sense of that? I just wanted to see what the potential opportunity could be.

明白了好的。如果可以的話，還有其他幾個問題。所以你說戶外家具是一個新品類。這將在商店和網上還是僅在網上，就您計劃提供的 SKU 數量而言？你能給我們一個感覺嗎？我只是想看看潛在的機會是什麼。

Anthony, it will be both. We are adding product to about half of our stores that will be in stock and exclusive to us, and we also will be offering some online opportunities that will be available. Most of that's going to be later this quarter and next month, it's really set up for later in the year. And we think it will be an important add to our stores, particularly the ones that are in Florida and Texas. It's not going to be a big category. We're going to be careful with it, but it's going to be addition.

安東尼，兩者都會。我們正在將產品添加到我們大約一半的商店，這些商店將有庫存並為我們獨家提供，我們還將提供一些可用的在線機會。其中大部分將在本季度晚些時候和下個月進行，它實際上是為今年晚些時候準備的。我們認為這將成為我們商店的重要補充，尤其是在佛羅里達州和德克薩斯州的商店。這不會是一個大類別。我們會小心處理它，但這將是附加的。

Understood. Yes. And then lastly, as far as share repurchases. So Richard, I know you said you have $20 million left on the buyback. I know over time, you guys have done a terrific job of returning cash to shareholders through share repurchases as well as dividends. But specifically, as far as share buybacks, I haven't seen anything last couple of quarters. How should we think about share repurchases here on a go-forward basis?

明白了。是的。最後，就股票回購而言。所以理查德，我知道你說過你還有 2000 萬美元用於回購。我知道隨著時間的推移，你們在通過股票回購和股息向股東返還現金方面做得非常出色。但具體而言，就股票回購而言，我在過去幾個季度沒有看到任何東西。在未來的基礎上，我們應該如何考慮這裡的股票回購？

Well, we review that every quarter with our Board, and we have a meeting coming up in May. That's to be determined.

好吧，我們每個季度都會與董事會一起審查，我們將在 5 月份召開會議。這是要確定的。

Our next question comes from the line of Cristina Fernández with Telsey Advisory Group.

我們的下一個問題來自 Cristina Fernández 與 Telsey Advisory Group 的對話。

I have a couple of questions. The first 1 is on the SG&A expenses. They increased at least the fixed side, about 300 basis points in the first quarter relative to last year. And the overall margin came in around the 6.4%. So in the past, you've talked about maintaining a double-digit operating margin. I wanted to see your outlook, was there anything specific to the first quarter? I know that the volume tends to be a little bit light, but that will allow you to get closer to that double-digit operating margin as we move through the rest of the year?

我有一些問題。第一個是 SG&A 費用。他們至少增加了固定方面，第一季度相對於去年增加了約 300 個基點。整體利潤率約為 6.4%。所以在過去，你曾談到要保持兩位數的營業利潤率。我想看看你的展望，第一季度有什麼具體的嗎？我知道銷量往往有點低，但這將使您在今年餘下的時間裡更接近兩位數的營業利潤率？

Cristina, this is Richard. So yes, our variable G&A component was up, I believe, to 20% this past quarter. The volume was pretty low, which really exacerbated that percentage with the attrition and the headcount reduction that Steve mentioned, I believe, of approximately 7% of the workforce of 20%, that should help us on an ongoing basis.

克里斯蒂娜，這是理查德。所以是的，我相信，我們的可變 G&A 部分在上個季度上升到了 20%。數量非常低，這確實加劇了這一比例，史蒂夫提到的人員流失和裁員，我相信，大約佔 20% 勞動力的 7%，這應該會持續幫助我們。

And so that's kind of why we're guiding back down to the 19.5% to 19.7% of G&A. On the guidance that came down on the G&A for the nonvariable is mostly related to advertising and warehousing costs. So we expect to match our levels of written business to the current trends. We'll adjust slightly our advertising strategy and then we don't expect to see demerge-type expenses that we saw in the prior year. So we think that will certainly help us out in the future on the nonvariable piece.

這就是為什麼我們將 G&A 的比例降到 19.5% 到 19.7% 的原因。關於非變量 G&A 的指導意見主要與廣告和倉儲成本有關。因此，我們希望將我們的書面業務水平與當前趨勢相匹配。我們將略微調整我們的廣告策略，然後我們預計不會看到去年出現的拆分型支出。所以我們認為這肯定會在未來幫助我們解決非可變問題。

To clarify then on the gross margin, the 50 basis points of improvement in the guidance for the year, where exactly is that coming from?

那麼要澄清毛利率，今年指導的 50 個基點的改善，究竟是從哪裡來的？

It's in a number of places. I mean reduction in freight cost is driving that primarily. And we're seeing those rates return back to pre-pandemic levels, if not better.

它在很多地方。我的意思是降低運費是主要推動因素。我們看到這些比率恢復到大流行前的水平，如果不是更好的話。

And secondarily, just the overall LIFO impact. Last year, in the first quarter, we had, I believe, about $1 million expense we booked. In the first quarter of this year was approximately $1 million pickup. So we should see some improvement in LIFO. The last 2 years, we've had significant expense, and we would expect to see some recovery of that ongoing this year.

其次，只是整體後進先出的影響。去年第一季度，我相信我們預訂了大約 100 萬美元的費用。今年第一季度的提貨量約為 100 萬美元。所以我們應該看到 LIFO 的一些改進。在過去的 2 年裡，我們付出了巨大的開支，我們預計今年會看到一些持續的複蘇。

And then my last question, any thoughts around the the impact of Bed Bath and Beyond on your business. I know that they're not a direct competitor, but we've seen other furnishing company be a little bit more promotional. So did you expect any impact near term and perhaps longer term, talk about the real estate strategy and any opportunity that could arise from those boxes coming on the market?

然後是我的最後一個問題，關於 Bed Bath and Beyond 對您的業務的影響的任何想法。我知道他們不是直接競爭對手，但我們看到其他家具公司的促銷力度更大一些。那麼，您是否預計近期或長期會產生任何影響，談論房地產戰略以及這些箱子上市可能帶來的任何機會？

Well, they have not impacted our sales. We really don't overlap with Bed Bath & Beyond's merchandising, but we are very interested in looking at the opportunities for store locations in existing markets and some target markets that we can add.

嗯，他們沒有影響我們的銷售。我們確實與 Bed Bath & Beyond 的商品銷售沒有重疊，但我們非常有興趣在現有市場和我們可以添加的一些目標市場中尋找商店位置的機會。

As you know, there are several hundred of them that will all be done through auction and also working with some of the landlords. We're interested in it. We're very active in evaluating it. We think this could be an opportunity for us similar to what we've done in the past. So we've been very good at converting existing retail boxes to Havertys. We've done it with Linens 'n Things, H. H. Gregg, [SanMar], Circuit City, HomeLife, and we've got some of those buildings in our portfolio today. So we think there could be opportunities there, and we're very closely evaluating those potentials.

如您所知，其中有數百個將全部通過拍賣完成，並與一些房東合作。我們對此很感興趣。我們非常積極地評估它。我們認為這對我們來說可能是一個類似於我們過去所做的機會。因此，我們一直非常擅長將現有零售盒轉換為 Havertys。我們已經通過 Linens 'n Things、H. H. Gregg、[SanMar]、Circuit City、HomeLife 做到了這一點，我們今天的投資組合中有其中一些建築。所以我們認為那裡可能有機會，我們正在非常密切地評估這些潛力。

There are no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the call back over to Mr. Hare for any closing remarks.

目前沒有其他問題。我想將電話轉回給 Hare 先生，聽取任何結束語。

Well, we appreciate your participation in today's call, and we look forward to talking to you in the future when we release our second quarter results later this year. Have a great day.

那麼，我們感謝您參與今天的電話會議，我們期待在今年晚些時候發布第二季度業績時與您交談。祝你有美好的一天。