(LAD) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to Lithia Motors First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎參加 Lithia Motors 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）謹此提醒，本次會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Amit Marwaha. Thank you. You may begin.

現在我想將會議交給主持人阿米特·馬爾瓦哈 (Amit Marwaha)。謝謝。你可以開始了。

Thanks for joining us for our first quarter earnings call. With me today are Bryan DeBoer, President and CEO; Chris Holzshu, Executive Vice President and COO; Tina Miller, Senior Vice President and CFO; Chuck Lietz, Senior Vice President of Driveway Finance; and finally, Adam Chamberlain, Chief Customer Officer.

感謝您參加我們的第一季財報電話會議。今天與我在一起的有總裁兼執行長 Bryan DeBoer； Chris Holzshu，執行副總裁兼營運長；蒂娜·米勒，高級副總裁兼財務長； Chuck Lietz，Driveway Finance 資深副總裁；最後是首席客戶長 Adam Chamberlain。

This discussion may include statements about future events, financial projections and expectations about the company's products, markets and growth. Such statements are forward-looking and subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to materially differ from the statements made. We disclose those risks and uncertainties we deem to be material in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We urge you to carefully consider these disclosures and not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. We undertake no duty to update any forward-looking statements, which are made as of the date of this release.

該討論可能包括有關未來事件、財務預測以及對公司產品、市場和成長的預期的陳述。此類聲明具有前瞻性，並存在風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與聲明有重大差異。我們在向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中揭露了我們認為重要的風險和不確定性。我們敦促您仔細考慮這些揭露，不要過度依賴前瞻性陳述。我們不承擔更新截至本新聞稿發布之日所做的任何前瞻性陳述的責任。

Our results discussed today include references to non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the text of today's press release for a reconciliation of comparable GAAP measures. We have also posted an updated investor presentation on our website, investors.lithiadriveway.com, highlighting our first quarter results.

我們今天討論的結果包括對非公認會計準則財務指標的參考。請參閱今天新聞稿的正文，以了解可比較的公認會計準則指標的調節表。我們也在我們的網站 Investors.lithiadriveway.com 上發布了更新的投資者演示文稿，重點介紹了我們第一季的業績。

With that, I would like to turn the call over to Bryan DeBoer, President and CEO.

說到這裡，我想將電話轉給總裁兼執行長 Bryan DeBoer。

Thanks, Amit. Good morning, and welcome to our first quarter earnings call. Our Lithia & Driveway teams remain focused on driving results and continuing on our journey to building a unique and highly profitable customer ecosystem. For LAD, the windfall of elevated GPUs for the past 4 years provided the extra capital that allowed us to grow revenue and earnings by nearly 3x and build, acquire and fund all our crucial differentiating strategic adjacencies, Driveway, GreenCars, DFC and Pendragon Vehicle Management, or PVM. These important design and scale advantages have built a definitive pathway to a higher margin and lower cost business.

謝謝，阿米特。早上好，歡迎參加我們的第一季財報電話會議。我們的 Lithia 和 Driveway 團隊仍專注於推動成果，並繼續建立獨特且高利潤的客戶生態系統。對於LAD 來說，過去4 年GPU 提升帶來的意外之財提供了額外資本，使我們能夠將收入和利潤增長近3 倍，並構建、收購和資助我們所有關鍵的差異化策略鄰接項目：Driveway 、GreenCars、DFC 和Pendragon Vehicle Management ，或 PVM。這些重要的設計和規模優勢為實現更高利潤和更低成本業務奠定了明確的途徑。

While the extra capital helped us build out our advantages, we have been clear that elevated GPUs would return to some level of normality. We remain diligent and nimble throughout this normalization process, still seeing that combined vehicle GPUs because of geographic and manufacturer mix improvements, along with our unrealized performance potential, will normalize between $4,300 and $4,500 per unit. As strange as it may seem, my team and I welcome normalization and getting back to working for our profits through providing rich and irreplaceable experiences one customer at a time.

雖然額外的資本幫助我們建立了優勢，但我們很清楚，GPU 的提升將恢復到某種程度的正常狀態。我們在整個標準化過程中保持勤奮和靈活，仍然看到，由於地理和製造商組合的改進，以及我們未實現的性能潛力，組合車輛 GPU 將標準化為每單位 4,300 美元到 4,500 美元之間。儘管看起來很奇怪，但我和我的團隊歡迎常態化，並透過一次為一位客戶提供豐富且不可替代的體驗來重新為我們的利潤而努力。

Our current global footprint, core competency of acquisitions, growing high-margin adjacencies and experienced operationally focused leadership at all levels of the organization combined to form our strategy. We are positioned to deliver strong growth through reinventing our industry's customer experiences and achieving a LAD profit equation of $2 of EPS for every $1 billion of revenue.

我們目前的全球足跡、收購的核心能力、不斷增長的高利潤鄰接關係以及組織各級經驗豐富的以營運為中心的領導力，共同形成了我們的策略。我們的定位是透過重塑產業客戶體驗並實現每 10 億美元收入對應 2 美元每股收益的 LAD 利潤方程式來實現強勁成長。

Now on to some highlights for the first quarter. Lithia & Driveway grew revenues to $8.6 billion, up 23% from Q1 of last year, helping outrun some of the declines in GPUs. Vehicle operations experienced weaker performance in January and February with declining new vehicle GPUs and used vehicle GPUs at below normalized levels. March, however, did improve exceeding our internal expectations with good momentum in unit volumes and stronger used vehicle GPUs. Our investments in adjacencies are maturing as well as the path to profitability. Financing operations produce strong results with a loss of less than $2 million in the quarter compared to $21 million loss last year and over 90% improvement.

現在讓我們來看看第一季的一些亮點。 Lithia & Driveway 營收成長至 86 億美元，比去年第一季成長 23%，幫助擺脫了 GPU 部分下滑的影響。 1 月和 2 月，車輛營運表現疲軟，新車 GPU 數量下降，二手車輛 GPU 數量低於正常水準。然而，3 月的情況確實有所改善，超出了我們的內部預期，單位銷售勢頭良好，二手車輛 GPU 更強勁。我們對週邊地區的投資以及獲利之路都在日趨成熟。融資業務取得了強勁的業績，本季虧損不到 200 萬美元，而去年虧損為 2,100 萬美元，改善幅度超過 90%。

Driveway and GreenCars burn rates have also been cut in half compared to a year ago as we continue to refine our customer e-commerce strategies, improve Driveway care center and advertising effectiveness, while continuing to convert new customers. As a result and driven by macro market conditions, we generated adjusted diluted earnings per share of $6.11, a decrease of 28% from Q1 of last year. We continue to proactively manage our business with decisive actions aligned with local market and manufacture partner trends, leaning into what we know best: execution.

隨著我們繼續完善客戶電子商務策略、改善 Driveway 護理中心和廣告效果，同時繼續轉換新客戶，Driveway 和 GreenCars 的消耗率也比一年前減少了一半。因此，在宏觀市場狀況的推動下，我們的調整後稀釋每股收益為 6.11 美元，比去年第一季下降 28%。我們繼續根據當地市場和製造合作夥伴的趨勢採取果斷行動，積極管理我們的業務，並依靠我們最了解的東西：執行力。

Let's move on to same-store sales results and vehicle operations. Total same-store sales revenues were down 2%, driven by ASP declines and gross profits declined 7%. Despite continued affordability issues from ASPs and higher interest rates, we continue to see resilience in the automotive consumer, though a bit less willing to pay a premium. MUVs across all our digital channels increased 9% quarter-over-quarter, reaching $12.3 million per month.

讓我們看看同店銷售結果和車輛營運情況。由於平均售價下降，同店總銷售收入下降 2%，毛利下降 7%。儘管平均售價和較高的利率持續存在負擔能力問題，但我們仍然看到汽車消費者的韌性，儘管支付溢價的意願稍差。我們所有數位管道的 MUV 環比成長 9%，達到每月 1,230 萬美元。

Digital transactions including Driveway grew to over 40,000 in the first quarter, up 32% compared to last year. GreenCars, the leading sustainable vehicle education channel, continues to grow as the lead generation channel and contributed over 730,000 MUVs, up 71% over last year, doing so with very little expense. Our teams have made great strides towards profitability in Driveway and GreenCars, and I want to commend Adam Chamberlain and Dianna Du Preez and their teams on the progress we have made in such a short time and their vision to achieve a profitable e-commerce channel someday soon.

第一季度，包括 Driveway 在內的數位交易量成長至 4 萬多筆，較去年成長 32%。 GreenCars 是領先的永續汽車教育頻道，作為潛在客戶開發頻道持續發展，貢獻了超過 730,000 輛 MUV，比去年增長 71%，而且花費很少。我們的團隊在 Driveway 和 GreenCars 的盈利方面取得了長足進步，我要讚揚 Adam Chamberlain 和 Dianna Du Preez 及其團隊在如此短的時間內取得的進展以及他們有一天實現盈利的電子商務渠道的願景很快。

New vehicle revenues were up 2% while gross profit declined 27% compared to the prior year. Unit volumes increased nearly 4% with ASPs declining 1%. New vehicle GPUs, including F&I, were $57.71 per unit, down $512 compared to Q4 and down $1,640 or 22% year-over-year. With the return of inventory supply, we have seen an accelerated pace of GPU normalization to nearly $150 per month. New vehicle inventory day supply was 60 days compared to 65 days at the end of Q4 and 51 days at the end of the first quarter 2023.

與前一年相比，新車收入成長 2%，而毛利下降 27%。銷量成長近 4%，平均售價下降 1%。包括 F&I 在內的新車 GPU 售價為每台 57.71 美元，比第四季下降 512 美元，年減 1,640 美元，即 22%。隨著庫存供應的恢復，我們看到 GPU 標準化的步伐加快，達到每月近 150 美元。新車庫存日供應量為 60 天，而 2023 年第四季末為 65 天，第一季末為 51 天。

Moving on to used vehicles. Revenue was down 5% with units down only 2% and ASPs declining 3%. Used vehicle pricing is moderating in line with the recovering supply of new vehicles, and we continue to see the impact of lost production from 2020 to 2023, moving through our certified and late-model vehicles. Used vehicle GPUs including F&I were $3,901, up $150 per unit compared to Q4 and down $153 per unit compared to last year. As you may recall, Q1 and Q4 are traditionally the weakest quarters, and we are seeing more normalized seasonality trends in used cars.

繼續討論二手車。營收下降 5%，銷量僅下降 2%，平均售價下降 3%。隨著新車供應的恢復，二手車價格正在放緩，我們將繼續看到 2020 年至 2023 年生產損失的影響，包括我們的認證車輛和新車輛。包括 F&I 在內的二手車輛 GPU 售價為 3,901 美元，與第四季相比每台上漲 150 美元，與去年相比每台下降 153 美元。您可能還記得，第一季和第四季傳統上是最疲軟的季度，我們看到二手車的季節性趨勢更加正常化。

As new vehicle retailers, we are top of the procurement funnel, giving us significantly more access to inventory than used only dealers. This provides us a significant advantage as we continue to source over 70% of our used inventory directly from consumers. Our strategy of selling 1- to 20-year-old scarce vehicles also provides a vast opportunity to our new stores. To put it in perspective, nearly 2/3 of our stores have been recently acquired, and this continues to be a massive opportunity for us to gain market share and increase profitability.

作為新車零售商，我們處於採購管道的頂端，這使我們比僅使用經銷商有更多的機會獲得庫存。這為我們提供了顯著的優勢，因為我們繼續直接從消費者那裡採購超過 70% 的二手庫存。我們銷售 1 至 20 年車齡稀缺車輛的策略也為我們的新店提供了巨大的機會。從長遠來看，我們近 2/3 的門市最近被收購，這仍然是我們獲得市場份額和提高盈利能力的巨大機會。

Our used vehicle inventory day supply was 58 days compared to 64 days last year and 53 days in the previous year. F&I per unit was $2,080 in the quarter, declining $123 compared to last year. We continue to see consumers working to balance affordability due to higher ASPs increasing negative equity and high interest rates. This has created some affordability tension on monthly payments impacting F&I product penetration rates positively on financing, up 150 basis points, and negatively on service contract penetration rates, which declined 270 basis points as compared to last year.

我們的二手車庫存日供應量為 58 天，而去年為 64 天，去年為 53 天。本季每單位 F&I 為 2,080 美元，比去年下降 123 美元。由於較高的平均售價增加了負資產和高利率，我們繼續看到消費者努力平衡負擔能力。這對每月付款造成了一定的負擔能力緊張，對金融和工業產品的融資滲透率產生了積極影響，上升了150 個基點，對服務合約滲透率產生了負面影響，與去年相比下降了270個基點。

Now on to aftersales. For the quarter, revenues increased 3% and gross profit increased 7%. Customer pay revenue, which accounts for 56% of the aftersales business, was up nearly 3%. While warranty sales, which makes up 23% of the business, increased by 10%. Aftersales continues its steady performance of growth despite our primary driver of 1- to 4-year-old vehicles in the car park being the smallest in over a decade. This speaks volumes to strong upside created from the complexity of a growing number of different propulsion systems, resulting in longer warranty periods and a stickier customer attachment to new vehicle retailers.

現在來說說售後。該季度營收成長 3%，毛利成長 7%。佔售後業務56%的客戶付費收入成長近3%。而佔業務 23% 的保固銷售額則成長了 10%。儘管停車場中 1 至 4 年車齡車輛的主要駕駛員數量是十多年來最少的，但售後業務仍保持穩定成長。這充分說明了越來越多的不同推進系統的複雜性所帶來的強大優勢，導致保固期更長，客戶對新車零售商的依戀度更高。

Moving on to acquisitions and our long-term strategy. We completed the Pendragon acquisition at the end of January, establishing our partnership with Pinewood Technologies, adding a profitable fleet management business and rounding out our footprint in the U.K. by adding a net 140 locations. In addition to Pendragon, we expanded our U.S. footprint in our least dense North Central region with the addition of the Carousel Group. To date, in 2024, we have acquired $5.4 billion in annualized revenues, and I would like to personally welcome all our new associates to the Lithia & Driveway family.

接下來討論收購和我們的長期策略。我們於 1 月底完成了對 Pendragon 的收購，與 Pinewood Technologies 建立了合作夥伴關係，增加了盈利的車隊管理業務，並透過淨增加 140 個地點來完善我們在英國的足跡。除了 Pendragon 之外，我們還透過增加 Carousel Group 擴大了我們在美國人口密度最低的中北部的足跡。迄今為止，到 2024 年，我們的年收入已達到 54 億美元，我謹親自歡迎我們所有新員工加入 Lithia & Driveway 大家庭。

Acquisitions are our core competency at LAD, and we remain disciplined as we look for accretive opportunities that can improve our network. As a reminder, we target after-tax return of 15% or greater and acquire from 15% to 30% of revenue or 3 to 6x normalized EBITDA. Life to date, our acquisitions have yielded over a 95% success rate and after-tax returns of over 25%, demonstrating that LAD is not your typical high-risk roll-up strategy. Our scale allows us to find our growth through acquisitions and adjacencies through free cash flows and reasonably leveraging our balance sheet. With elevated acquisition pricing, current stock valuation and placing M&A and share buybacks at parity, we have adjusted our capital allocations to target 50% to 60% towards acquisitions and 15% to 25% towards shareholder return. We continue to monitor valuations on both acquisitions and share repurchases, being patient for strong assets priced within our acquisition hurdle rates.

收購是我們 LAD 的核心競爭力，我們在尋找能夠改善我們網路的增值機會時始終保持紀律。提醒一下，我們的目標是稅後回報率為 15% 或更高，並獲得收入的 15% 至 30% 或 3 至 6 倍的標準化 EBITDA。迄今為止，我們的收購成功率超過 95%，稅後回報率超過 25%，這表明 LAD 不是典型的高風險匯總策略。我們的規模使我們能夠透過收購和鄰接、自由現金流和合理利用我們的資產負債表來實現成長。隨著收購定價、當前股票估值的提高以及併購和股票回購的平價，我們調整了資本配置，目標是 50% 至 60% 用於收購，15% 至 25% 用於股東回報。我們將繼續監控收購和股票回購的估值，並對定價在我們的收購門檻率內的強勁資產保持耐心。

We still expect pricing to take some time to rationalize and reiterate our expectations that estimated future annual acquired revenues will be in the range of $2 billion to $4 billion a year. The foundation of the LAD strategy is our vast store network made up of the industry's most talented people, highest demand inventory and dense expansive physical network. We have built and will continue to build the most extensive network in North America and the U.K. and added important foundational adjacencies and strategic partnerships to modernize the customer experience and diversify our profitability.

我們仍然預計定價需要一段時間才能合理化，並重申我們的預期，即預計未來年收購收入將在每年 20 億美元至 40 億美元之間。 LAD 策略的基礎是我們龐大的商店網絡，由業內最有才華的人才、最高需求的庫存和密集、廣闊的實體網絡組成。我們已經並將繼續在北美和英國建立最廣泛的網絡，並增加重要的基礎鄰接和策略合作夥伴關係，以實現客戶體驗現代化並使我們的盈利能力多元化。

Operating in one of the largest retail addressable markets in the world, we have built and solidified our ability to continuously grow in all aspects of our business. Expanding consumer solutions that are simple, convenient and transparent is the heart of our strategy, allowing us to capture more of the consumer wallet share and create a sticky and natural retention of consumers within our ecosystem. Magnetic brands like Driveway and GreenCars provide a pathway to 50x more customers than our core business offer. Solutions such as Pinewood Technology, bring the ability to increase associate productivity and substantially improve our current customer experience, stitching together our robust ecosystem and placing it at our customers' fingertips.

我們在全球最大的零售市場之一開展業務，建立並鞏固了在業務各個方面持續成長的能力。擴展簡單、方便和透明的消費者解決方案是我們策略的核心，使我們能夠獲得更多的消費者錢包份額，並在我們的生態系統中創造粘性和自然的消費者留存。 Driveway 和 GreenCars 等磁性品牌提供的客戶數量比我們的核心業務多 50 倍。 Pinewood Technology 等解決方案可提高員工的工作效率，並大幅改善我們目前的客戶體驗，將我們強大的生態系統整合在一起，並將其置於客戶的指尖。

Combined with our mission, growth powered by people, financial discipline and regenerative free cash flows, we are able to respond quickly to local market dynamics while increasing the touch points throughout the customer life cycle through our adjacencies and equipping our stores with the tools necessary to improve market share, loyalty and ultimately profitability. Weaving these elements together and assuming a normalized SAAR and GPU environment, we continue to see a clear pathway to $1 billion in revenue, ultimately generating $2 in EPS.

結合我們的使命、以人為本的成長、財務紀律和可再生的自由現金流，我們能夠快速響應當地市場動態，同時透過我們的周邊地區增加整個客戶生命週期的接觸點，並為我們的商店配備必要的工具，提高市場佔有率、忠誠度並最終提高獲利能力。將這些要素編織在一起並假設標準化的 SAAR 和 GPU 環境，我們繼續看到一條通往 10 億美元收入的清晰途徑，最終產生 2 美元的每股盈餘。

Key factors underlying our future steady state and now totally within our control are as follows: first, continuing to improve our operational performance by realizing the considerable revenue and profit potential within our existing stores by increasing our share of wallet through greater customer life cycle interaction, leveraging our cost structure, personnel productivity gains and growing each store's new and used and aftersales market share. In the long term, we look to achieve an SG&A as a percentage of gross profit with adjacencies in the mid-50% range in a normalized GPU environment. Tina will be providing more color on the impact of our U.K. footprint on SG&A in a few moments.

我們未來穩定狀態的關鍵因素現在完全在我們的控制範圍之內：首先，透過更多的客戶生命週期互動增加我們的錢包份額，實現現有商店內可觀的收入和利潤潛力，從而繼續提高我們的營運績效，利用我們的成本結構、人員生產力的提高以及增加每家商店的新的、二手的以及售後市場份額。從長遠來看，我們希望在標準化 GPU 環境中實現 SG&A 佔毛利潤的百分比，接近 50% 左右。蒂娜稍後將提供更多關於我們在英國的足跡對 SG&A 的影響的資訊。

Second, continue focusing on acquiring larger automotive retail stores and the higher profitability regions of the Southeast, South Central and North Central United States. Combined with further growth in digital channels, we expect to reach a blended U.S. market share of 5%. Today, we are at a combined new and used vehicle market share of 1.2%. Third, financing up to 20% of our units with DFC and maturing beyond the headwinds associated with CECL reserves. As a reminder this is our first adjacency and it remains on track to achieve consistent profitability during the latter half of 2024.

其次，繼續專注於收購更大的汽車零售店以及美國東南部、中南部和中北部的盈利能力較高的地區。結合數位管道的進一步成長，我們預計美國綜合市場份額將達到 5%。如今，我們的新車和二手車市佔率合計為 1.2%。第三，透過 DFC 為我們高達 20% 的單位提供融資，並超越與 CECL 儲備相關的不利因素。提醒一下，這是我們的第一個鄰接項目，並且仍有望在 2024 年下半年持續獲利。

Next, maturing contributions from our horizontals, including fleet management, DMS software, charging infrastructure and captive insurance. Fifth, through size and scale, we will continue to drive down vendor pricing with solutions like Pinewood Technologies, which improved corporate efficiencies to save costs and lower borrowing costs as we pathway towards an investment-grade credit rating. And finally, ongoing return of capital to shareholders through dividends and opportunistic share buybacks. Please refer to Slide 14 of the LAD investor presentation for further details and reconciliations.

接下來，我們的橫向貢獻日益成熟，包括車隊管理、DMS 軟體、充電基礎設施和自保保險。第五，透過規模和規模，我們將繼續透過 Pinewood Technologies 等解決方案壓低供應商定價，這些解決方案提高了企業效率，在我們邁向投資級信用評級的過程中節省成本並降低借貸成本。最後，透過股利和機會性股票回購持續向股東返還資本。請參閱 LAD 投資者簡報的投影片 14 以了解更多詳細資訊和調節表。

As we approach the middle of the decade, we are well positioned to maximize our unique and powerful mobility ecosystem that is ready to deliver more frequent and richer customer experiences throughout the ownership life cycle at global scale. Our strategy, combined with our experienced and focused team, will continue to expand market share, leverage our size and scale and grow our complementary adjacencies to produce an ultimate long-term EPS to revenue ratio of over 2:1. All elements of our original design are now securely in place, and we look forward to focusing all of our attentions on execution to establish new levels of performance for our industry.

隨著我們進入本世紀中期，我們已做好充分準備，最大限度地發揮我們獨特而強大的移動生態系統的作用，該生態系統已準備好在全球範圍內的整個所有權生命週期中提供更頻繁、更豐富的客戶體驗。我們的策略，結合我們經驗豐富、專注的團隊，將繼續擴大市場份額，利用我們的規模和規模，發展我們的互補性鄰接關係，最終實現超過 2:1 的長期每股收益與收入比率。我們原始設計的所有元素現已安全到位，我們期待將所有註意力集中在執行上，為我們的行業建立新的績效水平。

With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Tina.

說到這裡，我想把電話轉給蒂娜。

Thanks, Bryan, and thank you to everyone joining us today. Our financing operations segment, primarily driven by DFC, continues to grow, and we see clear line of sight on how this adjacency is now providing incremental profitability and diversifying our business model as it matures. As a reminder, a loan originated by DFC is expected to contribute up to 3x more profitability compared to traditional indirect lending.

謝謝布萊恩，也謝謝今天加入我們的所有人。我們的融資業務部門主要由 DFC 推動，持續成長，我們清楚地看到，隨著其成熟，這種毗鄰關係現在如何提供增量獲利能力並使我們的業務模式多樣化。需要提醒的是，與傳統的間接貸款相比，DFC 發起的貸款預計將帶來高達 3 倍的獲利能力。

The financing operations segment moved toward profitability with a first quarter operating loss of $2 million, down from $21 million last year in Q1 and a portfolio balance growing to over $3.5 billion. Within the United States, DFC's penetration rate was 11.7%, up from 10% last quarter. We continue to strategically balance yields growth and risk through our underwriting and focus on high credit quality loans at market interest rates. Origination volume was $493 million during the quarter, a 15% increase compared to Q4 2023.

融資業務部門開始獲利，第一季營運虧損為 200 萬美元，低於去年第一季的 2,100 萬美元，投資組合餘額成長至超過 35 億美元。在美國，DFC 的滲透率為 11.7%，高於上季的 10%。我們繼續透過承銷策略性地平衡收益率成長和風險，並專注於以市場利率提供的高信用品質貸款。本季的發起額為 4.93 億美元，比 2023 年第四季成長 15%。

The weighted average APR on loans originated was 10.2%, essentially flat compared to the prior quarter and up 124 basis points from a year ago while originating at a consistent credit quality. Loans originated in the quarter had a rated average FICO score of 735 and a front-end [LTV] of 95%, consistent with the prior quarter. As a 100% captive auto loan portfolio, DFC can have first and last look on deals that fit our credit risk appetite, providing ample opportunity to grow while maintaining our underwriting standards, particularly in the used vehicle market.

發放貸款的加權平均年利率為 10.2%，與上一季基本持平，比去年同期上升 124 個基點，同時信貸品質保持一致。本季發放的貸款的平均 FICO 評分為 735，前端 [LTV] 為 95%，與上一季一致。作為 100% 專屬汽車貸款組合，DFC 可以對符合我們信用風險偏好的交易進行優先和最後審查，提供充足的成長機會，同時保持我們的承保標準，特別是在二手車市場。

Net provision expense increased slightly from the prior quarter to $25 million, driven by the growing portfolio. The allowance for loan losses as a percentage of loan receivables stayed flat at 3.2%. 30-day delinquency rates decreased 80 basis points from the prior quarter to 3.8%, consistent with seasonal expectations and were flat year-over-year, reflecting the maturing portfolio and continued execution from our loan servicing team. Our financing operations business continues to perform as expected, and we reiterate our expectation to break even in 2024. We remain confident in the financing operations ability to deliver long-term earnings growth to LAD and achieving our end-state financial goals with a fully scaled and seasoned portfolio.

在不斷增長的投資組合的推動下，淨撥備費用較上一季略有增加，達到 2,500 萬美元。貸款損失撥備佔應收貸款的百分比維持在 3.2% 不變。 30 天拖欠率較上季下降 80 個基點至 3.8%，與季節性預期一致，且同比持平，反映出投資組合的成熟以及我們貸款服務團隊的持續執行。我們的融資業務繼續按預期表現，並重申我們預計在 2024 年實現盈虧平衡。

Simply put, the best is yet to come as this first adjacency can take us a long way towards our 2:1 EPS to revenue target.

簡而言之，最好的時刻尚未到來，因為這第一個鄰接可以幫助我們實現 2:1 的每股盈餘與收入目標。

Moving on to SG&A. Adjusted SG&A as a percentage of gross profit was 69.4% during the quarter, mainly reflecting the higher expense profile of our U.K. business. On a same-store basis, which excludes the impact of the Pendragon stores and is more representative of our historical performance, our adjusted SG&A as a percentage of gross profit was 66.9%, a 180 basis point increase sequentially from the fourth quarter mainly driven by declining new vehicle margins and below normalized level used vehicle margins early in the quarter.

繼續討論SG&A。本季調整後的 SG&A 佔毛利的百分比為 69.4%，主要反映了我們英國業務較高的費用狀況。以同店計算（排除 Pendragon 店的影響，更能代表我們的歷史表現），我們調整後的 SG&A 佔毛利的百分比為 66.9%，比第四季連續成長 180 個基點，主要是由於本季初新車利潤率下降，二手車利潤率低於正常水準。

With the completion of the Pendragon transaction, our U.K. business represents 18% of our revenue mix and 13% of our gross profit mix in the quarter. We thought it would be helpful to provide some early insights on the financial profile of our U.K. business as it becomes a more meaningful part of our consolidated results going forward. Total vehicle gross profit per unit in the U.K. was $2,600 in the quarter, 45% lower than our North American vehicle operations. One of the main contributors of this difference is regulations around F&I in the U.K., resulting in a lower F&I per unit. Gross profit mix from aftersales is similar in the U.K. at just under 40%.

隨著 Pendragon 交易的完成，我們的英國業務佔本季收入組合的 18% 和毛利組合的 13%。我們認為，提供一些有關我們英國業務財務狀況的早期見解將很有幫助，因為它將成為我們未來合併業績中更有意義的一部分。本季英國每輛汽車的總毛利為 2,600 美元，比我們的北美汽車業務低 45%。造成這種差異的主要原因之一是英國有關 F&I 的法規，導致單位 F&I 較低。英國的售後毛利結構與此類似，略低於 40%。

Our U.K. footprint is comprised of smaller stores compared to our average North American location with a revenue average of less than $50 million per store. While knowing this leading into the investments, the smaller store size with SG&A being more fixed in nature, resulted in SG&A as a percentage of gross profit at 85% during the quarter for the U.K. As a result, we see our consolidated SG&A as a percentage of gross profit increasing to the mid- to high 60% range in the near term with our long-term targets moving to be in the mid-50% range as GPUs normalize, and we continue to optimize our business and mature our adjacencies.

與我們在北美的平均門市相比，我們在英國的門市規模較小，每家門市的平均收入不到 5,000 萬美元。雖然知道這會導致投資，但商店規模較小，SG&A 本質上更加固定，導致英國本季 SG&A 佔毛利的百分比為 85%。的毛利在短期內將增加到中高60% 的範圍，我們的長期目標將達到中高50% 的範圍，並且我們將繼續優化我們的業務並成熟我們的鄰接領域。

We see opportunity to increase profitability over time in the U.K. as we fully integrate the teams into the Lithia & Driveway culture, migrate our stores into a single platform on the Pinewood DMS system and drive higher levels of performance. As previously discussed, we are actively working on optimizing the U.K. network.

隨著時間的推移，我們看到了在英國提高盈利​​能力的機會，因為我們將團隊完全融入 Lithia & Driveway 文化，將我們的商店遷移到 Pinewood DMS 系統上的單一平台並推動更高水平的績效。如前所述，我們正在積極致力於優化英國網路。

Moving on to our balance sheet and cash flow performance. During the quarter, we completed an amendment to our main credit facility used to fund our vehicle floor plan and working capital, increasing the capacity from $4.6 billion to $6 billion and extending the maturity to 2029. This solidifies our capital structure to take us beyond $50 billion in revenue. I want to take a moment and thank all of our banking partners for their support and continued confidence in our business.

接下來是我們的資產負債表和現金流表現。本季度，我們完成了主要信貸安排的修訂，用於為我們的車輛平面圖和營運資金提供資金，將容量從46 億美元增加到60 億美元，並將期限延長至2029 年。的資本結構，使我們的資本結構超過50 美元億的收入。我想花一點時間感謝我們所有的銀行合作夥伴對我們業務的支持和持續的信心。

We reported adjusted EBITDA of $362 million in the first quarter, driven by continued strength in new vehicle sales and aftersales, offset by lower new vehicle GPUs with returning supply and higher floor plan interest expense. Unique to our industry is the financing of vehicle inventory with floor plan debt. This finance is integral to our operations and collateralized by these assets. The industry treats the associated interest as an operating expense and EBITDA and excludes the debt from the balance sheet leverage calculation.

我們報告稱，第一季調整後的 EBITDA 為 3.62 億美元，主要受到新車銷售和售後持續強勁的推動，但被退貨供應和較高的平面圖利息支出帶來的新車 GPU 下降所抵消。我們行業的獨特之處在於透過平面圖債務來融資車輛庫存。這種融資是我們營運不可或缺的一部分，並由這些資產作為抵押。該行業將相關利息視為營運費用和 EBITDA，並將債務排除在資產負債表槓桿計算之外。

Similarly, as we have ABS warehouse lines and ABS issuances to capitalize DFC, we exclude those from our leverage calculations.

同樣，由於我們有 ABS 倉庫線和 ABS 發行來資本化 DFC，因此我們將其排除在槓桿計算之外。

Adjusting for these items, we ended the quarter with net leverage of approximately 2.25x, comfortably below our target of 3x and our banking covenant requirement of 5.7x. We continue to maintain our financial discipline even with planned growth and target leverage below 3x.

在這些項目進行調整後，本季末我們的淨槓桿率約為 2.25 倍，遠低於我們 3 倍的目標和 5.7 倍的銀行契約要求。即使計劃成長和目標槓桿率低於 3 倍，我們仍將繼續維持財務紀律。

During the quarter, we generated free cash flows of $218 million. We define free cash flows as EBITDA adding back stock-based compensation less the following items paid in cash, interest, income taxes, CapEx and dividends. Free cash flows were impacted by the declining EBITDA and an increase in capital expenditures compared to prior year, mainly related to construction at recently acquired locations to meet manufacturer requirements. The benefits of our capital allocation strategy is the regenerative cash flows generated from our business, allowing us to preserve the quality of our balance sheet while supporting our growth initiatives and navigating various cross currents in today's environment.

本季度，我們產生了 2.18 億美元的自由現金流。我們將自由現金流定義為 EBITDA 加上以股票為基礎的薪酬減去以下以現金、利息、所得稅、資本支出和股息支付的項目。與前一年相比，自由現金流受到 EBITDA 下降和資本支出增加的影響，這主要與最近收購的地點的建設有關，以滿足製造商的需求。我們的資本配置策略的好處是我們的業務產生的再生現金流，使我們能夠保持資產負債表的質量，同時支持我們的成長計劃並應對當今環境中的各種逆流。

Being responsive to valuation trends, we evaluate M&A opportunities in the near term on parity with being opportunistic in our share repurchases. We have adjusted our capital allocation strategy to target 50% to 60% toward acquisitions, 25% toward internal investments which includes capital expenditures and the balance of 15% to 25% towards shareholder return. Since the end of the quarter and as of the end of last week, we have repurchased approximately 58,000 shares at a weighted average price of $264. Approximately $452 million remains available under our share repurchase authorization.

為了回應估值趨勢，我們評估近期的併購機會與股票回購中的機會主義同等重要。我們調整了資本配置策略，目標是將 50% 至 60% 用於收購，25% 用於內部投資（包括資本支出），其餘 15% 至 25% 用於股東回報。自本季末至上週末，我們已以 264 美元的加權平均價格回購了約 58,000 股股票。根據我們的股票回購授權，仍有約 4.52 億美元可用。

Our vision and ability to deliver on synergies through acquisitive growth remains unchanged, and our strategy is flexible with the consistent cash flow generation of our vehicle operations business, coupled with our ability to deliver on accretive acquisitions. The team has the necessary infrastructure and tools to drive revenues and margins toward our long-term target of achieving $2 in EPS per $1 billion in revenues and are focused on execution. Our culture and business is designed to grow and deliver consistent strong performance, and our diverse and talented members of our team give us the necessary foundation to achieve our plan and to continue driving value for our shareholders.

我們透過收購成長實現綜效的願景和能力保持不變，我們的策略靈活，車輛營運業務持續產生現金流，再加上我們實現增值收購的能力。該團隊擁有必要的基礎設施和工具來推動收入和利潤，實現我們的長期目標，每 10 億美元收入實現 2 美元每股收益，並專注於執行。我們的文化和業務旨在發展並提供持續的強勁業績，我們團隊中多元化且才華橫溢的成員為我們實現我們的計劃並繼續為股東創造價值提供了必要的基礎。

This concludes our prepared remarks. With that, I'll turn the call over to the audience for questions. Operator?

我們準備好的演講到此結束。接下來，我將把電話轉給觀眾提問。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Ryan Sigdahl with Craig Hallum.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Ryan Sigdahl 和 Craig Hallum。

I want to start on new GPUs. They declined a little bit more sequentially, I think, than you guys and us expected. But curious what you've seen in April. And then any expectation kind of for the next several quarters through the rest of this year?

我想開始使用新的 GPU。我認為，他們的下降幅度比你們和我們預期的要大一些。但很好奇你在四月看到了什麼。那麼對今年剩餘時間的未來幾季有什麼期望嗎？

Sure, Ryan. Thanks for joining us today. We did see a slight acceleration to around $150 a unit in the quarter. We also -- imports were up, which -- up about 9% in revenues and units which carried some of that which is typically a little bit lower cost cars, doesn't have quite as many trucks. So that could have been some of the influence there. The other thing I would say is we're still at about $1,000 higher, including F&I, of where we believe normalization will finally fall into line, okay? And there's still some work to go. We also have a small amount of regional differences. But all in all, I mean, that's where it started with really, the top level where GPUs fell a little bit more than what we really expected at the $100 a month.

當然，瑞安。感謝您今天加入我們。我們確實看到本季度略有加速，達到每單位 150 美元左右。我們的進口量也增加了，收入增加了約 9%，而且運輸一些通常是成本稍低的汽車的單位沒有那麼多卡車。所以這可能是其中的一些影響。我要說的另一件事是，我們仍然處於大約 1,000 美元的高位，包括 F&I，我們相信正常化最終會步入正軌，好嗎？還有一些工作要做。我們也存在少量的地區差異。但總而言之，我的意思是，這就是它真正開始的地方，GPU 的下降比我們真正預期的每月 100 美元要多一點。

Good. And if I could just ask one longer-term question. If I'm looking at Slide 14, kind of the bridge to that $100 billion of sales, $1.75, $2 of EPS. If I look back to the previous expectations, operating margins were expected to be 7% plus, now 5% plus. I guess, what's the offset there, assuming lower operating margin but similar EPS flow through?

好的。如果我能問一個長期問題就好了。如果我看投影片 14，它就像是通往 1000 億美元銷售額、1.75 美元、每股收益 2 美元的橋樑。如果我回顧先前的預期，營業利潤率預計為 7% 以上，現在為 5% 以上。我想，假設營業利潤率較低但每股盈餘相似，那麼那裡的抵銷額是多少？

Sure. About half of that is the bringing on of Pendragon. So the dilution of lower margins from the United Kingdom affected to some degree. And I think the rest is more conservative that we -- that other things that are below operating margins such as interest costs or possibly buybacks can influence things a little bit more as well.

當然。其中約一半是潘德拉貢的加入。因此來自英國的較低利潤的稀釋在一定程度上受到了影響。我認為其餘的事情比我們更保守——低於營業利潤率的其他事情，例如利息成本或可能的回購，也會對事情產生更大的影響。

Our next question comes from Bret Jordan with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自布雷特·喬丹和傑弗里斯。

Could you talk a little bit more about F&I? I mean, obviously, it's hard to attach extended warranties to customers that can barely afford the rate side of the equation. But do you see much downside in F&I? Or are we sort of stable at the run rate in the first quarter?

能多談談 F&I 嗎？我的意思是，顯然，很難為那些幾乎無力承擔等式的費率方面的客戶提供延長保固。但您認為金融與工業有許多缺點嗎？或者我們第一季的運行速度是否穩定？

We were down $124 a unit. New was down a little bit more at $180. So we're seeing a lot better incentives when it comes to fleet and finance, which takes away some of our profitability because of flat fees. So that has a little bit to do with it. And then obviously, as we continue to penetrate with DFC, that influences a little bit as well. We were up to what about 11.5% penetration rate, which is quite nice. But it does influence -- that's in finance, obviously. Whereas when we don't get the reserve from our third-party lenders, it does lower GPUs a little bit. We believe a normalized state, Bret, is probably in the $1,900 range, okay, because there is some impact that will come from ASPs, which just is a given throughput of a lower cost amount means a lower finance income. But outside of that, I think we're seeing a nice trend there towards that normalized state.

我們每單位下降了 124 美元。 New 價格進一步下跌，至 180 美元。因此，我們在車隊和財務方面看到了更好的激勵措施，但由於固定費用，這降低了我們的部分獲利能力。所以這與它有一點關係。顯然，隨著我們繼續滲透 DFC，這也會產生一些影響。我們的滲透率約為 11.5%，這相當不錯。但它確實有影響力——顯然是在金融領域。然而，當我們沒有從第三方貸方獲得準備金時，GPU 確實會稍微降低。我們認為，正常化狀態 Bret 可能在 1,900 美元的範圍內，好吧，因為 ASP 會產生一些影響，這只是較低成本金額的給定吞吐量意味著較低的財務收入。但除此之外，我認為我們看到了朝向正常化狀態的良好趨勢。

Okay. And then you talked about the trend in the quarter of January, February seeing some below normalized levels and March improving. Could you talk about the U.K. trend in the quarter?

好的。然後您談到了一月份季度的趨勢，二月看到一些低於正常水平的趨勢，三月有所改善。您能談談英國本季的趨勢嗎？

Chris, do you want to talk about the U.K.?

克里斯，你想談談英國嗎？

Yes, you bet. Bret, so U.K. kind of has an anomaly every quarter, and the anomaly in the first quarter tends to be a massive March with a lot of deliveries with the plate changeover that you have. So you have a kind of a very modest January, a very modest February and then a monster March, and that came to fruition like we expected. The focus, though, longer term, obviously is continue to figure out how to get kind of more consistency in the business in each of the quarters and try to match a little bit more relatively to some of the performance that we see in the U.S. outside of the F&I performance, which is much more regulated in the U.K. than it is in the U.S.

是的，你敢打賭。布雷特，所以英國每季都會出現異常情況，而第一季的異常情況往往是三月份的大規模交付，以及您所擁有的板塊轉換。所以，你經歷了一個非常溫和的一月，一個非常溫和的二月，然後是一個猛烈的三月，這就像我們預期的那樣實現了。不過，從長遠來看，重點顯然是繼續弄清楚如何使每個季度的業務更加一致，並嘗試與我們在美國以外地區看到的一些表現更加匹配。美國嚴格得多

Okay. And Bryan, a follow-up question, is leasing going to be a headwind to F&I because there's just less attachment as leasing comes back? Or is that not material for you?

好的。布萊恩（Bryan）是一個後續問題，租賃是否會成為 F&I 的逆風，因為隨著租賃的回歸，附著力會減少？或者這對你來說不重要？

It is, and that was one of the things that I had mentioned, that with subvented leasing, and that's where a lot of the incentive dollars are still going, we're basically at a normalized state of incentive dollars in leasing, which obviously is in flat fees. So it does impact our F&I. I think it's important to also point out that finance incentives are still off somewhat. So they're about half of where they normally are, which means that those finance customers still aren't getting quite the benefits of manufacturer incentives of lower, more affordable pricing. And then most importantly, for cash buyers, it's still down like 80%, meaning that the incentives that are coming on the hood for cash directly to the consumer is still down considerably. And I think that obviously can be good tailwinds in the future as that begins to come back.

是的，這是我提到的事情之一，透過補貼租賃，這就是大量激勵資金仍在使用的地方，我們基本上處於租賃激勵資金的正常化狀態，這顯然是以固定費用形式。所以它確實影響了我們的 F&I。我認為還需要指出的是，財政激勵措施仍然有所不足。因此，它們的價格大約是正常水平的一半，這意味著這些金融客戶仍然沒有從製造商的更低、更實惠的價格激勵中獲益。最重要的是，對於現金購買者來說，這一數字仍然下降了 80% 左右，這意味著直接向消費者提供現金的激勵措施仍然大幅下降。我認為，隨著這種情況開始捲土重來，這顯然會成為未來的良好推動力。

Our next question is from John Murphy with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的約翰·墨菲。

I just wanted to follow up on the comment you made, Tina, about sort of some pressure on the used business early in the quarter. And it just seems like there's pressure on used vehicle pricing which has been reasonably as expected, but it also seems like there's a bit of volatility in that business. I was just wondering if you could kind of expand on that. And if there's anything that is unusual in the first quarter that might normalize going forward? And it just sounds like things are a little bit more volatile there than usual.

蒂娜，我只是想跟進您關於本季度初二手業務面臨的一些壓力的評論。二手車定價似乎面臨壓力，這符合預期，但該業務似乎也存在一些波動。我只是想知道你是否可以對此進行擴展。第一季是否有任何不尋常的事情可能會在未來正常化？聽起來那裡的情況比平常更不穩定。

Yes. John, it's Chris. I'm going to jump in on this and maybe just talk about the trend that we talked about in Q4, which was -- I think the term I used was we were in a bit of a firefight trying to procure used cars back in Q4, which put a lot of pressure on margins in really the back half of 2023 and into the first couple of months in 2024. I think as our teams have kind of adjusted to ensuring that every vehicle that we can take in on trade generates about $1,800 more than a vehicle that we buy in auction, overall gross profit dollars, I think there's a big focus.

是的。約翰，是克里斯。我要切入這一點，也許只是談談我們在第四季度討論的趨勢，我認為我使用的術語是我們在第四季度試圖採購二手車時陷入了一場交火。 2024 年頭幾個月的利潤率造成了很大壓力。在拍賣中購買的車輛，總體毛利美元，我認為這是一個很大的焦點。

And we saw that trend continue to recover throughout Q1 both in GPUs, where I think we had the strongest GPU in March than we had the last 12 months. And also on a same store comp basis. It was the first time in February that we saw a positive comp in same-store used cars in like 15 months or something like that. So I think we've kind of got our arms around this. It is very volatile. It is really finicky. But being a top of funnel used car dealer, obviously -- or new car dealer, where we get first access to most trades is a huge benefit that we need to continue to capitalize on.

我們看到 GPU 的趨勢在整個第一季繼續恢復，我認為 3 月我們擁有比過去 12 個月最強的 GPU。並且也是在同店比較的基礎上。這是我們在 2 月第一次看到同店二手車在大約 15 個月或類似情況下出現積極的競爭。所以我認為我們已經解決了這個問題。它非常不穩定。實在是太挑剔了。但顯然，作為漏斗二手車經銷商或新車經銷商，我們可以首先進入大多數交易，這是我們需要繼續利用的巨大優勢。

And then just one follow-up on partner service. Plus 3.2% is nothing to sneeze at, but it was a little bit lower than we were expecting. Do you foresee the ability to get a little bit deeper in the age spectrum and sort of broaden retention a bit to get that up into the mid-single digits? Or do you think as we're seeing, Bryan, as you mentioned, the shrinkage or this very low 0 to 4 car population, it's going to be challenged for the next couple of years?

然後只是對合作夥伴服務的一項後續行動。另外3.2%也不容小覷，但比我們的預期低。您是否預見到有能力在年齡範圍內更深入一些，並稍微擴大保留率，使其達到中位數？或者你認為正如我們所看到的，布萊恩，正如你所提到的，收縮或非常低的 0 到 4 輛汽車保有量，在接下來的幾年裡會面臨挑戰嗎？

John, this is Bryan. I think we're really positive of what's happening in aftersales. Most importantly, at 3.2%, when the car park is so much smaller as our main driver of the business, which is 1- to 4-year-old vehicles, if you think about the 10 million less units that are available for us to be up in same-store sales is big, which means we're digging into older model vehicles, I think it also speaks volumes to the fact -- and I think 3% is probably a low point of the next coming few years.

約翰，這是布萊恩。我認為我們對售後的情況非常樂觀。最重要的是，在 3.2% 的情況下，當停車場比我們業務的主要驅動力（1 到 4 年車齡的車輛）小得多時，如果你考慮一下可供我們使用的 1000 萬輛汽車，同店銷售額的成長很大，這意味著我們正在深入研究舊型號車輛，我認為這也說明了這一事實——而且我認為3% 可能是未來幾年的低點。

But when we think about after sales growth, the complexity of vehicles is getting crazy, okay? Let alone the fact that it's not just a BEV. Now we got BEVs in most manufacturers. We got plug-in hybrids. We got hybrids. We got ICE engines. And all the products are new, meaning that there's a higher breakage rate when there's new products, okay? I mean, we've got the major advantage of longer warranty periods now, which is massive, okay? We've got the factory-trained technicians and, most importantly, the specialty tools that others can't do. So the stickiness to new car dealers, we think, is a heck of a lot higher than what it was in the past and should bode well for us in the future regarding attachment and same-store sales growth.

但當我們考慮售後成長時，車輛的複雜性變得越來越瘋狂，好嗎？更不用說它不僅僅是一輛純電動汽車了。現在大多數製造商都配備了純電動車。我們有插電式混合動力車。我們得到了混合動力。我們有內燃機。而且所有的產品都是新的，也就是說新產品的破損率會比較高，好嗎？我的意思是，我們現在擁有更長保固期的主要優勢，這是巨大的，好嗎？我們擁有經過工廠訓練的技術人員，最重要的是，我們擁有其他人無法做到的專業工具。因此，我們認為，對新車經銷商的黏性比過去高得多，這對我們未來的依附性和同店銷售成長來說是個好兆頭。

Our next question comes from Rajat Gupta with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Rajat Gupta。

I just had a question on the U.K. business. We saw that the wholesale losses were once again very high in the first quarter, like $21 million gross profit loss. I mean, curious, was that all related to U.K. related inventory liquidation? Or was there something else going on? Just curious what happened there? And then how should we think about the inventory situation into the second quarter? Then I have a quick follow-up.

我剛才有一個關於英國業務的問題。我們看到第一季的批發損失再次非常高，毛利損失達到 2,100 萬美元。我的意思是，好奇，這一切都與英國相關的庫存清算有關嗎？還是還有其他事情發生？只是好奇那裡發生了什麼事？那我們該如何看待第二季的庫存情況呢？然後我會進行快速跟進。

Yes. Rajat, this is Bryan. Most of our problems in the U.K., remember, were only Jardine and it happened in Q4. We worked through most of that in the United Kingdom. So most of those losses are relative to what's happening in the United States.

是的。拉賈特，這是布萊恩。請記住，我們在英國遇到的大多數問題都只是怡和，而且發生在第四季。我們在英國完成了大部分工作。因此，大部分損失與美國發生的情況有關。

So what drove like the short wholesale loss in the first quarter? We didn't notice that at other companies. So curious -- or was it just like excess inventory into the regions? Or what drove the material change there versus the last quarter?

那麼是什麼導致了第一季的短期批發虧損呢？我們在其他公司沒有註意到這一點。很好奇——或者只是像這些地區的庫存過剩一樣？或者是什麼推動了與上一季相比的重大變化？

Yes. Look, I think the big thing was in January, we really tried to clean up inventory so we could go buy fresh inventory. And I think that's what we saw. And Chris mentioned that we got the benefits of that coming out of those divestitures. So cleaning up inventory truly in the month was -- at the first part of the quarter was the real disconnect. And now we're starting to see some of those tailwinds coming in March and hopefully again in April.

是的。聽著，我認為一月份最重要的是，我們確實嘗試清理庫存，這樣我們就可以去購買新的庫存。我認為這就是我們所看到的。克里斯提到，我們從這些資產剝離中獲得了好處。因此，當月真正清理庫存是在本季的第一部分，而這才是真正的脫節。現在我們開始看到一些有利因素在三月到來，並希望在四月再次出現。

Got it. That's helpful. And then we saw some press reports around headcount cuts in the U.K. Was that a part of a planned reduction when you announce Pendragon? Or was there something incremental given what's going on in the region right now?

知道了。這很有幫助。然後我們看到一些關於英國裁員的新聞報導 當您宣布 Pendragon 時，這是否是計劃裁員的一部分？或者考慮到該地區目前正在發生的情況，是否有一些增量措施？

Yes. Rajat, let me jump in on that. This is Bryan again. We obviously have structured headcount reductions in the United Kingdom. I think everything is still pretty new and in flux there. So I think it's premature to be able to figure out exactly what that's going to look like. I think more importantly, we're a sizable company today where, as a company, if we cut SG&A by 1%, it's $50 million or $1.40 in EPS.

是的。 Rajat，讓我插話一下。這又是布萊恩。顯然，我們在英國進行了結構性裁員。我認為一切都還很新並且不斷變化。所以我認為現在能夠準確地弄清楚它會是什麼樣子還為時過早。我認為更重要的是，我們今天是一家相當大的公司，作為一家公司，如果我們將 SG&A 削減 1%，那麼每股收益將減少 5000 萬美元，即 1.40 美元。

I think where Chris, Adam and our operational teams are really focused today is how do they -- how do we push that into the 3% to 5% range and save $150 million to $250 million after coming off some cuts over the last few years as well. And I think when we think about the Lithia & Driveway model, it's about finding productivity increases that can come through technology and can come through just heavy lifting and rolling up our sleeves. So that's where we're focusing the bulk of our efforts. And obviously, the U.K. will have their own efforts, but we really believe that there is a good 3% to 5% of fat that's still in the store and would encourage each of our stores to continue to look for those opportunities.

我認為 Chris、Adam 和我們的營運團隊今天真正關注的是他們如何將其提高到 3% 到 5% 的範圍，並在過去幾年進行一些削減後節省 1.5 億到 2.5 億美元以及。我認為，當我們考慮 Lithia & Driveway 模式時，我們會發現生產力的提高可以透過技術來實現，也可以透過舉重和捲起袖子來實現。所以這就是我們大部分努力的重點。顯然，英國也會做出自己的努力，但我們確實相信商店裡仍然有 3% 到 5% 的脂肪，這會鼓勵我們的每家商店繼續尋找這些機會。

Our next question comes from Douglas Dutton with Evercore ISI.

我們的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Douglas Dutton。

So I have a question on the Driveway finance book, now at about $3.3 billion. Is there a level that this book has to be at to achieve that profitability target by the end of the year? Is that $3.7 billion, $4 billion? Is it more or less? Just curious there.

我有一個關於 Driveway 金融書籍的問題，目前價值約 33 億美元。這本書必須達到一個水準才能在年底前實現獲利目標嗎？那是37億美元還是40億美元？是多了還是少了？只是好奇那裡。

Thanks, Doug. This is Chuck. Relative to the size of our book, we feel very comfortable that we can achieve the profitability at that $3.3 billion. As a credit business, most of our revenue streams are fixed, and we've already subsequently fixed our cost of funds. So this is a business that's very predictable. It's very consistent. And we feel very confident even at sort of about a $3.5 billion level that we can achieve our path to profitability in this year, which we're very excited about.

謝謝，道格。這是查克。相對於我們的帳簿規模，我們對能夠實現 33 億美元的獲利感到非常滿意。作為信貸業務，我們的收入來源大多是固定的，而且我們隨後也固定了資金成本。所以這是一項非常可預測的業務。這是非常一致的。即使在 35 億美元左右的水平上，我們也非常有信心在今年實現盈利，對此我們感到非常興奮。

Chuck is very humble. I'm going to give him some big kudos here. It's been a 4-year journey to get to profitability. And I think from this point forward, we're looking like we can achieve profitability on a month basis without any outlying changes, which is great. As a side note, in March, we did make over $2 million in the month, okay? There was a little bit of anomaly that still showed -- would have showed profitability.

張策很謙虛。我要在這裡向他致以崇高的敬意。實現獲利經歷了四年的歷程。我認為從現在開始，我們看起來可以在沒有任何外圍變化的情況下實現每月盈利，這很棒。順便說一句，3 月份，我們確實賺了超過 200 萬美元，好嗎？仍然存在一些異常現象——本來可以顯示出獲利能力。

But things look good. Delinquencies are down. And the pains that we took and the times of elevated GPUs were the right time because those are massive barriers to entry to anyone getting into this business is you have to establish CECL reserves, okay? So now we're finally to the point where our net interest margins are outrunning those CECL reserves, and now we can play around with penetration rates to truly capture that additional $1,500 or so. On every car deal that we put into DFC over the life of that loan, it's $1,500 more than what we make on sending it to a third party.

但事情看起來不錯。拖欠率下降。我們所付出的努力和 GPU 提升的時代正是正確的時機，因為對於任何人進入這個行業來說，這些都是巨大的障礙，你必須建立 CECL 儲備，好嗎？因此，現在我們的淨利差終於超過了 CECL 儲備，現在我們可以利用滲透率來真正捕捉額外的 1,500 美元左右。在貸款期限內，我們向 DFC 存入的每筆汽車交易，比我們將其轉給第三方所賺取的收入高出 1,500 美元。

Excellent. And then just one more for me here. As we get through the year-end and less vehicles are coming off lease from the past 2 or 3 years, how should we think about used vehicle sales and GPUs reacting to this lack of supply? You mentioned the firefight analogy earlier. Is it going to continue to be a firefight like that, where profitability is crimped? And do you see offsets to that on presumably better new vehicle volumes?

出色的。然後這裡再給我一個。隨著年底的到來，過去 2 或 3 年中租賃的車輛越來越少，我們應該如何考慮二手車銷售和 GPU 對供應不足的反應？您之前提到過交火的類比。這樣的交火會繼續下去，獲利能力會受到影響嗎？您是否認為新車銷量可能會增加，從而抵消了這種影響？

Yes. Thanks, Doug, for your questions, too. This is Bryan again I think most importantly, inventory supply, I believe, boils back down to people, okay? It's a belief and it's the ability to find vehicles. And whether there's less off-leased vehicles or not, it's not what's most important. We can find vehicles with good people that are mining for cars deeper through this 5 to 6 channels that we typically mine vehicles. There is 10 million less units available out there, which is a given.

是的。道格，也謝謝你提出的問題。這又是布萊恩，我認為最重要的是，庫存供應，我相信，歸結為人，好嗎？這是一種信念，也是找到車輛的能力。而無論租賃車輛是否減少，這都不是最重要的。我們可以透過我們通常開採車輛的 5 到 6 個管道，找到正在更深層次開採汽車的優秀人員的車輛。可用單位少了 1000 萬個，這是理所當然的。

But remember this, we're in the plus 9-year-old vehicles, which is really important to remember of the 37 million units that are available -- that are being sold out there a year today, which is depressed still by about 10%, okay? 63% of the vehicles of the 37 million vehicles are over 9 years old, okay? That's where we focus our money. Those units turn at 4x the speed of a certified vehicle. They turn at 2x the speed of a core vehicle. And we make about the same amount of money on about half the investment, meaning that the vehicles average selling price is about half. Obviously, if you combine those together, the return on a value auto vehicle can be as much as 5 to 8x over what it is on a certified vehicle.

但請記住這一點，我們使用的是 9 歲以上的汽車，這一點非常重要，要記住現有的 3700 萬輛汽車今天一年就被售空，仍然下降了大約 10 輛。的？ 3700萬輛汽車中有63%的車齡超過9年，好嗎？這就是我們集中資金的地方。這些裝置的轉動速度是經過認證的車輛的 4 倍。它們的轉彎速度是核心車輛的兩倍。我們用大約一半的投資賺了同樣的錢，這意味著車輛的平均售價約為一半。顯然，如果將這些綜合起來，價值汽車的回報率可能是經過認證的車輛的 5 到 8 倍。

So when it comes to Lithia & Driveway, that's our real focus, and we get those vehicles as of trade-ins off of our core vehicle product. So a little bit of a waterfall effect. Hopefully, that gives you some color on that, Doug.

因此，當涉及 Lithia 和 Driveway 時，這是我們真正的重點，我們透過以舊換新的方式從我們的核心車輛產品中獲得這些車輛。所以有點瀑布效應。希望這能讓你對此有所了解，道格。

Our next question comes from Chris Bottiglieri with BNP.

我們的下一個問題來自法國巴黎銀行的 Chris Bottiglieri。

One follow-up question and one bigger-picture question. Thanks for the help on the color for Pendragon. Can you give us a sense for the restructuring, like you closed the used car store, there's a headcount number you defined. Can you give us a sense like what the impact on SG&A gross will be in used? Like how many units you'd be giving up by closing these businesses? Just on how to model the business, that seems pretty disruptive. That would be helpful color, if you could provide any.

一個後續問題和一個宏觀問題。感謝您對 Pendragon 顏色的幫助。您能為我們介紹一下重組的情況嗎？您能否讓我們了解一下對 SG&A 總額的影響將會如何？例如，如果關閉這些業務，您將放棄多少單位？僅就如何建立業務模型而言，這似乎相當具有破壞性。如果你能提供的話，那將會很有幫助。

Yes. This is Chris again. I think right now, we're right in the middle of that restructuring and really getting our arms around the business and really trying to focus the teams on evaluating what performance in each one of the locations looks like. And so yes, like some of the things that you alluded to are happening. We're right in the middle of those, like the car store shutdown and actually submit -- potentially selling some of those assets out. But we're going to continue to work through that in Q2 and have a solid plan that we're really focused on, getting to kind of what more of a steady-state business would look like in the second half of 2024 here.

是的。這又是克里斯。我認為現在，我們正處於重組過程中，真正全力以赴地開展業務，並真正努力讓團隊集中精力評估每個地點的績效。是的，就像你提到的一些事情正在發生。我們正處於其中，例如汽車商店關閉並實際提交——可能會出售其中一些資產。但我們將在第二季度繼續解決這個問題，並製定一個我們真正關注的可靠計劃，在 2024 年下半年實現更穩定的業務。

Great. Then I have a bigger picture question. So you guys are the best class operator and your estimated gross is only 300 basis points below pre-COVID despite some mix benefit from larger stores, and your GPUs have more room to fall. So my question is, it would seem that most of the dealers pre-COVID in aggregate were barely profitable. Hard to tell if it's understated as small business isn't private. But if profitability goes back to pre-COVID or even lower for these private dealers, what do you think happens in the industry? Like what are some of the puts and takes? How does this benefit look in that scenario?

偉大的。然後我有一個更大的問題。因此，你們是最好的營運商，儘管大型商店帶來了一些混合效益，但你們的估計總收入僅比新冠疫情前低了 300 個基點，而且你們的 GPU 有更大的下降空間。所以我的問題是，在新冠疫情之前，大多數經銷商似乎幾乎沒有獲利。很難判斷這是否被低估，因為小企業不是私人的。但如果這些私人經銷商的獲利能力回到疫情前甚至更低，您認為該產業會發生什麼事？例如有哪些看跌期權和看跌期權？在這種情況下，這種好處看起來如何？

Well, Chris, you're being awfully generous there. This is Bryan. I think for us, if you've been around Lithia & Driveway long enough, we keep our heads down. And most important, we stay pretty humble. So I don't know if we're best in class operators. I do know that our design is quite special and is different than what the independent operators or our fellow peers are doing. Most importantly, I think today, looking at our results, I would challenge our teams to continue to dig deeper in terms of market share, in terms of cost cutting, in terms of keeping margins and really expanding the customer experience to be able to grow in loyalty.

嗯，克里斯，你真是太慷慨了。這是布萊恩。我認為對我們來說，如果您在 Lithia & Driveway 待了足夠長的時間，我們就會保持低調。最重要的是，我們保持謙虛。所以我不知道我們是否是一流的運營商。我確實知道我們的設計非常特別，與獨立運營商或我們的同行所做的不同。最重要的是，我認為今天，看看我們的結果，我會挑戰我們的團隊繼續在市場份額、削減成本、保持利潤和真正擴展客戶體驗方面進行更深入的挖掘，以實現增長在忠誠中。

So we have a lot of opportunity, Chris, and we're not going to sit here and pat ourselves in the back when we're sitting here with -- hurrying to try to figure out how to respond to declining GPUs. We obviously had planned well for those things, but we're not done, okay? The achievement of a $2 of EPS for every $1 billion of revenue is not something that my team and I take lightly. It's something that is 100% our focus. It is about EPS and the results and bringing that back to shareholders. And we do that through great customer experiences that create more loyalty, higher market share and better profitability.

所以，克里斯，我們有很多機會，當我們坐在這裡急於想辦法應對 GPU 效能下降時，我們不會坐在這裡拍拍自己的背。顯然我們已經為這些事情計劃好了，但我們還沒有完成，好嗎？每 10 億美元收入實現 2 美元每股收益並不是我和我的團隊可以掉以輕心的事情。這是我們 100% 關注的事情。它關乎每股收益和業績並將其返還給股東。我們透過卓越的客戶體驗來實現這一目標，從而創造更高的忠誠度、更高的市場份額和更好的獲利能力。

So I would say, relative to where independent competitors, we love the industry. We're not here to try to disrupt what they're doing. We're here to conquest market share in our own way. And we obviously have Driveway, GreenCars and other assets within our design that allows us to conquest market share outside of the Lithia footprint. And all of our focuses are really that. We do have some hangover from the Western market still, and I think that does dilute some of our results and what our performance looks like. But again, we're not here to make excuses. We're here to take action.

所以我想說，相對於獨立競爭對手，我們熱愛這個產業。我們來這裡不是為了試圖破壞他們正在做的事情。我們來這裡是為了以自己的方式征服市場份額。顯然，我們的設計中擁有車道、綠色汽車和其他資產，使我們能夠征服 Lithia 足跡之外的市場份額。我們所有的關注點都是如此。我們確實仍然受到西方市場的影響，我認為這確實削弱了我們的一些業績和表現。但再次強調，我們不是來找藉口的。我們來這裡是為了採取行動。

Our next question comes from Ron Josey with Citi.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的 Ron Josey。

I wanted to focus a little bit more on newer sales channels, Bryan, and ask about Internet specifically with having sales up 8% sequentially to 41,000 units, traffic reaching 12.3 million across all of the properties. Just talk to us about the overall platform for online awareness strategy here. I think there was comments a few quarters ago just about a lot more traffic than you knew what to do with. So would love to hear an update there. And then lastly, I think you mentioned called burn rates for cut in half as you refine your e-commerce strategy. Just any insights on these improvements would be very helpful.

Bryan，我想更專注於新的銷售管道，並特別詢問網路的情況，銷量環比增長 8%，達到 41,000 套，所有房產的流量達到 1230 萬。請在這裡與我們討論線上認知策略的整體平台。我認為幾個季度前就有評論說流量比你知道的要多得多。所以很想聽聽那裡的更新。最後，我想您提到了在完善電子商務策略時將燒錢率降低一半。對這些改進的任何見解都會非常有幫助。

You bet, Ron, I may touch on it briefly and let Adam chime in a little bit as well since he and Dianna are the ones driving the successful results in driving GreenCars. I think when we think about top of funnel, what we're doing is adapting to the omnichannel. And I think it's taken some of the stores a little bit longer to get into that rhythm that customers truly should have the optionality to do things in their home or in the dealership. And I think that's a result of a 32% increase in total transactions that were done online year-over-year. That's big input with only about a 9% top of funnel improvement. So good improvements there.

你敢打賭，羅恩，我可能會簡單地談一下，並讓亞當插話一下，因為他和戴安娜是駕駛綠色汽車取得成功的人。我認為，當我們考慮漏斗頂部時，我們正在做的是適應全通路。我認為一些商店花了更長的時間才進入顧客真正應該可以選擇在家裡或經銷商做事的節奏。我認為這是在線交易總額同比增長 32% 的結果。這是一個很大的投入，但漏斗頂部的改進僅約為 9%。那裡有很好的改進。

When it comes to Driveway, we did reduce our burn by 50%, which is good. I'll let Adam talk a little bit about where do we go from there, but we're sure hoping that we can reduce it by another 50% over the coming periods. And I think from my standpoint, the work that Adam and Dianna and the teams in Driveway have done over the last 90 to 180 days is constructive. They have their pulse of multiple different levers to pull. And I can see a pathway again to get to breakeven and even profitability in the mid- to near future. Adam, any additional thoughts?

說到車道，我們確實減少了 50% 的消耗，這很好。我會讓 Adam 談談我們接下來的方向，但我們確信希望在未來一段時間內能再減少 50%。我認為從我的角度來看，Adam 和 Dianna 以及 Driveway 團隊在過去 90 到 180 天內所做的工作是建設性的。他們有多種不同的槓桿來拉動他們的脈搏。我可以再次看到一條在中短期內實現損益兩平甚至獲利的途徑。亞當，還有其他想法嗎？

This is Adam. Yes, just to pick up, Bryan, where you left off. We've managed to drive down the burn rate, as you said, by about 50% year-on-year, and we see further enhancements possible really through 2 levels. We've become much more efficient in our marketing spend, so marketing spend is down about 40% year-on-year. And we've become much more efficient in our transaction processing through things like automated sales force process and things like that. So yes, we're working hard and see further improvements possible, Bryan.

這是亞當。是的，布萊恩，我只是從你上次停下的地方繼續。正如您所說，我們已經成功地將燒錢率同比降低了約 50%，我們認為透過 2 個等級確實可以進一步提高。我們的行銷支出變得更加高效，因此行銷支出比去年同期下降了約 40%。透過自動化銷售流程等，我們的交易處理變得更有效率。所以，是的，我們正在努力工作，並看到可能的進一步改進，布萊恩。

Our next question comes from Colin Langan with Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的科林·蘭根。

Just want to follow up. You mentioned new GPUs down $150 a month -- on a monthly basis. If I look at same store, I think it's actually closer to like $110, $115. Isn't some of that pace going to be reflected in Pendragon's impact? Is there -- is it like about $100...

只是想跟進。您提到新 GPU 每月降價 150 美元——按月計算。如果我看一下同一家商店，我認為實際上更接近 110 美元、115 美元。難道這種速度不會在 Pendragon 的影響力中得到體現嗎？有沒有——大概100美元左右...

You nailed it, Colin. Yes, you nailed it. This is Bryan. I mean, the difference between same-store and in total is basically about $40, okay? And it's about -- I think it's about $300 or $400 in aggregate. And it's coming from the U.K. dilution from lower GPUs in the United Kingdom.

你成功了，科林。是的，你成功了。這是布萊恩。我的意思是，同店和總計之間的差異基本上約為 40 美元，好嗎？我認為總共約為 300 或 400 美元。它來自英國較低 GPU 的稀釋。

Okay. So when we're thinking about the U.S. new GPU decline, it actually is kind of the same pace as it was the end of last year? Or actually has that gotten worse, too?

好的。那麼，當我們考慮美國新 GPU 的下降速度時，它實際上與去年年底的速度相同嗎？或者實際上情況也變得更糟了？

I think it's somewhat similar. I mean, it's -- I think it's a little bit worse. But again, I think the reason we displayed it as it was, is it was tough in January and February. And then we saw a little bit of recovery again in March in both new and used.

我覺得有點相似。我的意思是，我認為情況更糟。但同樣，我認為我們按原樣展示它的原因是一月和二月的情況很艱難。然後我們在三月看到新的和二手的再次出現一點復甦。

Got it. And then you mentioned that the target for SG&A. it sounds like it's still mid-50% even with the Pendragon addition. Because coming on at 85% in the U.K.

知道了。然後您提到了 SG&A 的目標。聽起來即使添加了 Pendragon，它仍然是 50% 左右。因為在英國的普及率為 85%

Correct.

正確的。

I mean so what are the -- so do you think you could get that U.K. business to be the same profit level? Or is it just there's more room to go on the U.S. business that could kind of keep you on that target?

我的意思是，那麼您認為您能讓英國業務達到相同的利潤水平嗎？或者只是美國業務有更多的發展空間，可以讓您繼續實現這個目標？

So remember, the mid-50% is including the adjacencies. So -- and in terms of the U.K., I don't think we see a world where SG&A is similar to what the United States are. They just don't have the leverage of throughput. They do have some big advantages. Their average personnel cost is quite a bit different than the United States. But I wouldn't see that the U.K. could get to those normalizations. Most of it is coming in the United States from network improvements, meaning reaching potential within the stores by growing market share and cutting costs, okay, as well as the adjacencies that I spoke to at the beginning of the answer.

所以請記住，中間 50% 包括鄰接區域。因此，就英國而言，我不認為我們看到的 SG&A 與美國相似。他們只是沒有吞吐量的槓桿作用。他們確實有一些很大的優勢。他們的平均人員成本與美國有很大不同。但我不認為英國能夠實現這些正常化。其中大部分來自美國的網路改進，這意味著透過增加市場份額和削減成本來發揮商店內的潛力，以及我在答案開頭談到的鄰近地區。

Our next question comes from David Whiston with Morningstar.

我們的下一個問題來自晨星公司的大衛‧惠斯頓。

Just curious with all the waiting for a Fed interest rate cut, even if we do get even just one this year, do you think that's going to matter much to your customers? Or do they need to get multiple cuts to really bring a lot of people back?

只是好奇大家都在等待聯準會降息，即使我們今年只降息一次，您認為這對您的客戶來說會很重要嗎？或者他們需要多次裁員才能真正讓很多人回來？

Our customers are surprisingly resilient. I mean, we've been quite shocked of their ability to adapt. I mean, we now have an average rate at DFC about 10.2%. Our average rate as an organization is about 10%. We're at 7% on new vehicles and about 12% on used vehicles. I don't know that 0.25 or 0.50 is going to make much difference. I think it's more general economic factors at this stage that they feel comfortable with their jobs. They feel comfortable with their family and their affordability levels.

我們的客戶具有驚人的彈性。我的意思是，我們對他們的適應能力感到非常震驚。我的意思是，我們現在 DFC 的平均利率約為 10.2%。我們作為一個組織的平均比率約為 10%。我們對新車的稅率為 7%，二手車的稅率為 12%。我不知道 0.25 或 0.50 會有多大差別。我認為現階段他們對自己的工作感到滿意是更普遍的經濟因素。他們對自己的家庭和負擔能力感到滿意。

Okay. And on the balance sheet, given you will do -- continue to do some acquisitions, do you want to pay down that revolver balance at all? Or are you just going to let that sit there for a while and keep growing?

好的。在資產負債表上，假設您將繼續進行一些收購，您是否想償還左輪手槍餘額？或者你只是想讓它在那裡停留一段時間並繼續成長？

Well, you did probably notice, David. I mean, we are carrying some pretty big cost from M&A most recently. Our leverage is still quite nice, sitting at a little over 2x, which is good. And if you remember, our covenants allow us to go all the way to 5.75. So we sit quite nicely to be able to constructively do M&A or balance that depending on stock price with share buybacks. You will find that we will be more constructive than we probably are in the past because we have put those 2 things at parity. But in terms of debt paydown, if that's the best use of capital, then we would also use it to pay down debt.

好吧，你可能已經注意到了，大衛。我的意思是，我們最近因併購而承擔了相當大的成本。我們的槓桿率仍然相當不錯，略高於 2 倍，這很好。如果你還記得的話，我們的契約允許我們一路走到 5.75。因此，我們能夠很好地進行建設性的併購或根據股價與股票回購來平衡。你會發現我們會比過去更有建設性，因為我們已經將這兩件事放在同等地位。但就債務償還而言，如果這是資本的最佳利用，那麼我們也會用它來償還債務。

We have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. I'd now like to turn the call back over to Bryan DeBoer for closing comments.

我們的問答環節已經結束。我現在想將電話轉回給 Bryan DeBoer 以徵求結束意見。

Thank you, everyone, for joining us today, and we look forward to updating you on Lithia & Driveway second quarter results in July. Bye-bye, everyone.

感謝大家今天加入我們，我們期待在 7 月向您通報 Lithia & Driveway 第二季業績的最新情況。再見，大家。

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and we thank you for your participation.

今天的會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路，我們感謝您的參與。