Miller Industries Inc (MLR) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Miller Industries third-quarter 2025 results conference call. Please note, this event is being recorded.

各位女士、先生，大家好，歡迎參加 Miller Industries 2025 年第三季業績電話會議。請注意，本次活動正在錄影。

And now at this time, I would like to turn the call over to Mike Gaudreau at FTI Consulting. Please go ahead, sir.

現在，我想把電話交給 FTI Consulting 的 Mike Gaudreau。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. I would like to welcome you to the Miller Industries conference call. We are here to discuss the company's 2025 third-quarter results, which were released after close of the market yesterday. With us from the management team today are Bill Miller, Chairman of the Board; Will Miller, President and CEO; Debbie Whitmire, Executive Vice President and CFO; and Frank Madonia, Executive Vice President, Secretary, and General Counsel.

謝謝大家，大家早安。歡迎各位參加米勒工業公司的電話會議。我們今天來這裡是為了討論該公司2025年第三季的業績，該業績於昨天股市收盤後發布。今天與我們一同出席的管理團隊成員有：董事會主席比爾·米勒；總裁兼首席執行官威爾·米勒；執行副總裁兼首席財務官黛比·惠特邁爾；以及執行副總裁、秘書兼總法律顧問弗蘭克·馬多尼亞。

Today's call will begin with formal remarks from management, followed by a question-and-answer session. Please note, in this morning's conference call, management may make forward-looking statements in accordance with the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. I'd like to call your attention to the risks related to these statements, which are more fully described in the company's annual report filed on Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

今天的電話會議將首先由管理層致正式講話，然後進行問答環節。請注意，在今天早上的電話會議中，管理階層可能會根據 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》的安全港條款作出前瞻性聲明。我想提請您注意與這些聲明相關的風險，這些風險在公司提交的 10-K 表格年度報告以及向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他文件中均有更詳細的描述。

At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Will. Please go ahead, Will.

此時，我想把電話交給威爾。請繼續，威爾。

Thank you, Mike. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I would like to start with a brief statement before I hand the call over to Debbie to discuss our results in more detail. Third-quarter results were in line with our expectations as we continue to navigate industry-wide demand headwinds. The retail channel continues to delay purchases of new equipment due to macroeconomic uncertainty, which has left field inventory in our distribution channel elevated.

謝謝你，麥克。各位早安，感謝大家今天收看我們的節目。在將電話交給黛比更詳細地討論我們的結果之前，我想先簡單說明一下。第三季業績符合預期，我們持續應對整個產業的需求逆風。由於宏觀經濟的不確定性，零售通路持續延後購買新設備，導致我們通路的現場庫存居高不下。

Despite this, we continue to focus on the aspects of our business that we can control. In the third quarter, we took proactive steps to support our bottom line, including prudently decreasing production to reduce field inventory, rightsizing our cost for the current environment, and securing our supply chain to mitigate the effects of tariffs. We are confident that we will enter into 2026 from a position of strength, and we are excited about the opportunities ahead of us, particularly the strong interest we are seeing for our global military business.

儘管如此，我們仍將繼續專注於我們能夠控制的業務方面。第三季度，我們採取了積極措施來支持我們的盈利，包括謹慎地減少產量以減少現場庫存，根據當前環境調整成本，以及確保供應鏈安全以減輕關稅的影響。我們有信心以強勁的勢頭進入 2026 年，並對未來的機會感到興奮，特別是我們看到全球軍工業務受到的強烈關注。

Now I'll turn the call over to Debbie to review the quarter in more detail, and I'll return later to provide some comments on the current market environment and our outlook.

現在我將把電話交給黛比，讓她更詳細地回顧一下本季的情況，稍後我會回來就當前的市場環境和我們的展望發表一些評論。

Thanks, Will. And good morning, everyone. Net sales for the third quarter of 2025 were $178.7 million, representing a 43.1% year-over-year decrease, driven primarily by a drop in chassis shipments after volumes were significantly elevated in the prior-year period. Gross profit was $25.3 million or 14.2% of net sales for the third quarter of 2025 compared to $42 million or 13.4% of net sales for the prior-year period. The margin improvement was driven mainly by product mix with a higher percentage of unit deliveries compared to chassis shipments.

謝謝你，威爾。大家早安。2025 年第三季淨銷售額為 1.787 億美元，年減 43.1%，主要原因是底盤出貨量在去年同期大幅上升後出現下降。2025 年第三季毛利為 2,530 萬美元，佔淨銷售額的 14.2%，而去年同期毛利為 4,200 萬美元，佔淨銷售額的 13.4%。利潤率的提高主要得益於產品組合的最佳化，其中汽車交付量比高於底盤交付量。

SG&A expenses were $21.2 million in the third quarter of 2025 compared to $22.3 million in the third quarter of 2024. As a percentage of net sales, SG&A was 11.9%, 480 basis points higher than the prior-year period. The year-over-year decrease in overall SG&A expenses was driven primarily by our cost savings efforts and lower executive compensation expenses. This was partially offset by a $900,000 one-time cost for retirement packages offered to all US employees aged 65 and above. The total cost of the program was $2.7 million, and we expect to recognize the remainder of this one-time expense in the fourth quarter.

2025 年第三季銷售、一般及行政費用為 2,120 萬美元，而 2024 年第三季為 2,230 萬美元。銷售、一般及行政費用佔淨銷售額的11.9%，較上年同期高出480個基點。銷售、一般及行政費用較去年同期下降主要得益於我們的成本節約措施和較低的高階主管薪酬支出。這部分損失被一次性支付的 90 萬美元退休金所抵消，這筆錢用於向所有 65 歲及以上的美國員工提供退休福利。該項目的總成本為 270 萬美元，我們預計將在第四季度確認剩餘的一次性支出。

Interest expense for the quarter was $93,000 compared to $251,000 in the prior-year period, a decline of around 63%, driven primarily by a reduction in debt levels and to a lesser extent a reduction in customer floor plan financing costs. Other income for the third quarter was $312,000 compared to other income of $321,000 for the third quarter of 2024, attributable to the gain on the sale of assets and currency exchange rate fluctuations.

本季利息支出為 93,000 美元，而去年同期為 251,000 美元，下降了約 63%，主要原因是債務水準下降，其次是客戶庫存融資成本下降。第三季其他收入為 312,000 美元，而 2024 年第三季其他收入為 321,000 美元，這歸因於出售資產的收益和匯率波動。

As a result of all the factors above, net income for the third quarter of 2025 was $3.1 million or $0.27 per diluted share compared to net income of $15.4 million or $1.33 per diluted share in the prior-year period.

受上述所有因素影響，2025 年第三季淨收入為 310 萬美元，即每股攤薄收益 0.27 美元，而上年同期淨收入為 1,540 萬美元，即每股攤薄收益 1.33 美元。

Now I'd like to shift to a discussion on our balance sheet. At the end of the third quarter, we had a cash balance of $38.4 million, up $6.6 million sequentially and up $14.1 million as of the end of last year. In addition to growing our cash balance in the quarter, we also reduced our debt balance by $10 million down to $45 million during the third quarter. We have since paid down another $10 million, bringing the current debt balance down to $35 million.

現在我想轉而討論一下我們的資產負債表。第三季末，我們的現金餘額為 3,840 萬美元，比上一季增加 660 萬美元，比去年年底增加 1,410 萬美元。除了本季現金餘額增加外，我們在第三季還減少了 1,000 萬美元的債務餘額，降至 4,500 萬美元。我們此後又償還了 1,000 萬美元，使目前的債務餘額降至 3,500 萬美元。

We continue to see our receivables convert into cash at a faster rate as inventory at our distributors returns to more normalized levels. As a result, accounts receivable as of September 30, 2025, was $232.6 million compared to $270.4 million as of the end of last quarter and $313.4 million as of the end of last year.

隨著分銷商的庫存恢復到更正常的水平，我們看到應收帳款轉化為現金的速度繼續加快。因此，截至 2025 年 9 月 30 日，應收帳款為 2.326 億美元，而上一季末為 2.704 億美元，去年年底為 3.134 億美元。

Inventories as of the end of Q3 were $180.7 million compared to $165.5 million in Q2 and $186.2 million as of December 31, 2024. The sequential increase in inventories is due to our decision to prepurchase some materials to mitigate the effects of tariffs and slower chassis demand. Lastly, accounts payable as of September 30, 2025, was $82.2 million compared to $98 million as of June 30, 2025, and $145.9 million as of December 31, 2024.

截至第三季末，庫存為 1.807 億美元，而第二季為 1.655 億美元，截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日為 1.862 億美元。庫存較上月增加是由於我們決定預先購買一些材料，以減輕關稅和底盤需求放緩的影響。最後，截至 2025 年 9 月 30 日的應付帳款為 8,220 萬美元，而截至 2025 年 6 月 30 日為 9,800 萬美元，截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日為 1.459 億美元。

Now I'll turn the call back to Will to discuss our markets and our outlook for the remainder of 2025 and early 2026.

現在我將把電話轉回給威爾，讓他來討論我們的市場以及我們對 2025 年剩餘時間和 2026 年初的展望。

Thank you, Debbie. I'd like to provide some insight into how the steps we've taken will impact our fourth quarter. First, as part of our comprehensive cost reduction, in August, we made the decision to reduce headcount by approximately 150 positions across three of our US manufacturing facilities. While this was an extremely difficult decision to make, we made it with long-term health of the business in mind, and we thank all of those employees for their valued contributions.

謝謝你，黛比。我想就我們採取的措施將如何影響我們第四季的業績提供一些見解。首先，作為我們全面削減成本計畫的一部分，我們在 8 月決定在美國的三家製造工廠裁員約 150 人。雖然這是一個極其艱難的決定，但我們出於對公司長遠健康的考慮做出了這個決定，我們感謝所有員工的寶貴貢獻。

Next, while the tariff landscape continues to evolve, we continue to take proactive measures to mitigate potential impacts. Earlier this year, we implemented tariff surcharge on all new orders of manufactured product, along with additional price increases on accessories and parts. We are also strategically accumulating some key materials from low tariff geographies to maintain our margins and keep our cost for raw materials as low as possible.

其次，儘管關稅環境不斷變化，我們仍將繼續採取積極措施來減輕潛在影響。今年早些時候，我們對所有新訂購的製成品加收關稅附加費，同時提高了配件和零件的價格。我們也從低關稅地區策略性地囤積一些關鍵材料，以維持我們的利潤率，並將原材料成本盡可能降低。

Lastly, we are encouraged that inventory in our distribution channel continues to decrease. Despite the macroeconomic environment, we have preemptively adjusted production levels during the year to accelerate the reduction of field inventory. As we said in the second quarter, we expect to see a more normalized level of field inventory in 2026, which should position us well for when the demand environment improves.

最後，我們欣喜地看到，我們分銷管道的庫存持續下降。儘管宏觀經濟環境不佳，但我們已提前調整了年內生產水平，以加速減少田間庫存。正如我們在第二季所說，我們預計到 2026 年現場庫存水準將更加正常化，這將使我們在需求環境改善時處於有利地位。

Next, I'd like to provide a bit more color on the body and chassis inventory dynamic. As you can see on slide 7 of our presentation, chassis inventory has now crossed below body inventory, which is ideal as, historically, this has allowed -- has led to the best dynamic for maximum flexibility at the distribution level. Additionally, we believe that inventory is beginning to reach more optimal levels, which position us well for the year ahead.

接下來，我想更詳細地介紹車身和底盤庫存的動態情況。正如您在我們簡報的第 7 張幻燈片中看到的那樣，底盤庫存現在已經低於車身庫存，這是理想的，因為從歷史上看，這已經帶來了分銷層面最大靈活性的最佳動態。此外，我們認為庫存正開始達到更理想的水平，這將使我們為來年做好充分準備。

Turning to 2026, we remain incredibly confident in our outlook for a strong year. We are entering the year with a strong balance sheet, and the inventory dynamic I just spoke about give us confidence that the commercial market will begin to recover. Further, we're seeing greater demand in Europe as well as notable increase in Request for Quote or RFQ activity for our military vehicles.

展望2026年，我們依然對這一年充滿信心，相信會取得強勁的業績。我們以強勁的資產負債表進入新的一年，我剛才提到的庫存動態也讓我們相信商業市場將開始復甦。此外，我們看到歐洲的需求越來越大，而且我們軍用車輛的詢價或詢價活動也顯著增加。

We expect that interest will continue into 2026 as we begin to prepare for production of military orders in 2027. We believe military recovery vehicles could be a substantial tailwind for us in future years, and we are taking the steps needed to position the company to capitalize on the rising demand.

我們預計這種興趣將持續到 2026 年，因為我們將開始為 2027 年的軍事訂單生產做準備。我們相信，軍用救援車輛在未來幾年可能成為我們發展的強大助力，我們正在採取必要的措施，使公司能夠抓住不斷增長的需求。

In the midst of all of the proactive steps we have taken to position the business for a strong 2026, we have continued our longstanding commitment of returning capital to our shareholders. We're extremely proud that we've paid a dividend for 59 consecutive quarters, and our Board just approved a dividend payable on December 9, 2025.

在我們採取各種積極措施為公司在 2026 年取得強勁發展奠定基礎的同時，我們也繼續履行長期以來對股東回報資本的承諾。我們非常自豪地宣布，我們已經連續 59 個季度派發了股息，而我們的董事會剛剛批准了將於 2025 年 12 月 9 日支付的股息。

During the third quarter, we also repurchased approximately $1.2 million of stock, bringing our total quarterly returns to shareholders to $3.5 million. We believe that repurchasing our shares represents one of the most attractive investments we can make with our capital, which demonstrates our confidence in the company's long-term prospects.

第三季度，我們也回購了約 120 萬美元的股票，使我們本季給股東的總回報達到 350 萬美元。我們認為，回購公司股份是我們利用現有資本所能進行的最具吸引力的投資之一，體現了我們對公司長期前景的信心。

At the same time, we continue to invest in our business, prioritizing innovation, automation, and human capital. We are closely monitoring our capacity of heavy-duty recovery vehicles to ensure we are prepared to capitalize on exciting future growth opportunities. Despite current demand headwinds, we remain confident in our business and our outlook, reaffirming our previously issued 2025 fiscal year guidance for revenue in the range of $750 million to $800 million.

同時，我們繼續投資我們的業務，優先考慮創新、自動化和人力資本。我們正在密切監控重型救援車輛的運力，以確保我們做好準備，抓住未來令人振奮的成長機會。儘管目前需求面臨不利因素，但我們對我們的業務和前景仍然充滿信心，重申我們先前發布的 2025 財年收入預期，即 7.5 億美元至 8 億美元。

As always, we expect the fourth quarter will be impacted by the holidays and planned maintenance and downtime at our facilities, which we have factored into our guidance. Our revenue guidance also anticipates no change in the current regulations or unknown effects of the evolving tariff situation.

與往常一樣，我們預計第四季度將受到假期以及我們設施的計劃維護和停機時間的影響，我們已將這些因素納入我們的業績預期。我們的收入預期也預期現有法規不會發生變化，且不斷變化的關稅情勢不會產生未知影響。

While there continues to be uncertainty in the market, we are confident that our proactive steps we are taking position us well for a strong 2026. We are encouraged that field inventory continues to trend in the right direction. And as we look to next year, we're very excited about the opportunities ahead of us.

儘管市場仍存在不確定性，但我們相信，我們正在採取的積極措施將使我們為2026年的強勁發展奠定良好基礎。我們欣慰地看到，現場庫存繼續朝著正確的方向發展。展望明年，我們對未來的機會感到非常興奮。

In closing, the entire management team and I would like to thank all of our employees, suppliers, customers, and shareholders for their continued support. We will be on the road later this month at the Southwest IDEAS Conference and look forward to seeing some of you in person. At this time, we'd like to open the line for any questions.

最後，我和整個管理團隊要感謝所有員工、供應商、客戶和股東的持續支持。本月晚些時候，我們將前往西南部參加IDEAS大會，並期待與你們中的一些人見面。現在，我們開通提問專線。

Mike Shlisky, D. A. Davidson.

麥克·施利斯基，D·A·戴維森。

Hi, good morning, and thank you. Your inventory chart you just referred to, Will, it looks like things are actually below a normalized level or very, very close to normalized level at this point. I'm not sure, can you just explain to us what that means? I'm trying to figure out if 2025 has been dominated by most of your sales being without the chassis attached to them on the invoice, whether at least at 2026, there will be just a much different mix at the very least. If you sell no more tow trucks in general, there will still be a higher number of attached chassis with the higher invoice. Just a sense as to if there's a mix issue -- there's a mix benefit in '26 just from that alone.

您好，早安，謝謝。威爾，你剛才提到的庫存圖表顯示，目前庫存實際上低於正常水平，或非常非常接近正常水平。我不太明白，你能給我們解釋一下這是什麼意思嗎？我正在努力弄清楚，2025 年你們的大部分銷售額是否都以發票上未附帶底盤為特徵，至少到 2026 年，情況是否會大不相同。即使拖車整體銷售不再成長，附帶底盤的數量仍然會更多，發票金額也會更高。只是想了解是否存在混合問題——僅憑這一點，26 年就有混合優勢。

Yes. I think what you're seeing is a little bit of a mix benefit from a margin perspective in 2026 with the lower chassis revenue. I think -- or sorry, in 2025. Moving into 2026, I think you're going to see that stabilize back to more historic levels with the chassis and body mix returning to normal.

是的。我認為，從利潤率的角度來看，2026 年底盤收入下降會帶來一些混合收益。我想——或者抱歉，是2025年。展望 2026 年，我認為你會看到這種情況穩定下來，回到更接近歷史水平的水平，底盤和車身組合也將恢復正常。

The inventory, yes, the projected line that we put out there earlier this year, we're slightly below that. We are closely monitoring field inventory as well as retail -- weekly retail activity and order entry. At this time, order entry is still slightly below the weekly average of retail activity. So we're waiting to see those get a little bit more in sync before we start planning to increase production to meet current demand. But we believe we're close. Probably sometime late this quarter or early in Q1, we believe that all those factors will come together.

是的，庫存方面，我們今年稍早公佈的預測數據略低於預期。我們正在密切監控現場庫存以及零售情況——每週的零售活動和訂單輸入。目前，訂單量仍略低於零售活動的周平均。所以，我們正在等待這些方面更加協調一致，然後再開始計劃增加產量以滿足當前的需求。但我們相信我們已經接近目標了。我們認為，可能在本季末或第一季初，所有這些因素都會匯聚在一起。

Great. Thanks for that. And just to clarify again, if you sell the same number of tow trucks in 2026, you would expect to see higher top line just on --

偉大的。謝謝。再次澄清一下，如果你在 2026 年售出相同數量的拖車，那麼僅憑這一點，你就會預期總收入會更高。--

Yes. That is correct. You'll see a higher top line with the chassis revenue being a part of that, and you'll see margins go back more to historical levels with the mix.

是的。沒錯。你會發現，由於底盤收入的增加，總營收將會更高；而隨著產品組合的調整，利潤率也會恢復到歷史水準。

Okay, great. Great. And to follow up on that comment there, Will, in the fourth quarter, it sounds like it'll still be with the older mix -- with the current mix you're at or roughly the same. But is that 14% range the right space to look at for 4Q and then again back to the 13% for 2026?

好的，太好了。偉大的。威爾，關於你剛才的評論，第四季聽起來仍然會沿用之前的配樂——也就是你現在使用的配樂或大致相同的配樂。但是，對於第四季來說，14% 的範圍是否合適？而對於 2026 年來說，又是否應該回到 13% 的範圍？

Yes. I mean, I think the mix will remain the same. Don't forget that Q4 is always our shortest quarter with the holidays as well as plant shutdowns in every facility for inventory as well as maintenance. So it could have a little bit of slightly downward pressure on those margins, although the mix probably stays similar.

是的。我的意思是，我認為成分比例會保持不變。別忘了，第四季總是我們最短的季度，因為有假期，而且所有工廠都會停工進行庫存盤點和維護。因此，利潤率可能會略微承壓，儘管產品組合可能保持相似。

Okay, great. And then maybe lastly, I wasn't sure you can go into exactly the folks that were -- took a retirement during the quarter. I wasn't sure if those were very senior folks or if they were production or they were SG&A. But just a sense of the SG&A run rate going forward, will the fourth quarter be a clean SG&A? It sounds like there's still some severance here, but what is the clean SG&A kind of quarterly run rate here?

好的，太好了。最後，我不確定是否可以詳細說明本季有哪些人退休了。我不確定那些人是高階領導，還是生產人員，或是銷售、管理及行政人員。但就未來的銷售、一般及行政費用 (SG&A) 運作率而言，第四季的 SG&A 費用是否會維持正常水準？聽起來這裡還有一些遣散費，但是乾淨的銷售、一般及行政費用季度運行率是多少？

That will -- you'll start to see clean SG&A probably in Q1 as the retirements are taking -- they're staggered throughout the remainder of this year. It was about a 50-50 split on salaried and hourly employees. So it was offered to all employees over the age 65. It was a split between the two. So there were some senior individuals in the sales offices that took part in it as well as some senior people in our manufacturing facilities as well.

那將會——隨著退休人員陸續退休，你可能會在第一季看到更清晰的銷售、一般及行政費用——他們的退休將在今年剩餘的時間裡分階段進行。員工中領固定薪水的和拿小時工資的各佔一半左右。因此，這項福利提供給了所有65歲以上的員工。這是兩人之間的分歧。因此，銷售辦事處的一些高階主管以及製造工廠的一些高階主管都參與了這項活動。

Okay, great. If I could just also maybe ask one last one to kind of sum it up because I believe you mentioned it in your comments, Will, but -- all the factors that have driven increased record demand over the last bunch of years, older vehicles, more time on the road, more cell phone use behind the wheel, unfortunately, et cetera, are all those factors still intact at this time and into 2026? Has anything changed as to the reason to buy a tow truck 12 months ago versus today?

好的，太好了。威爾，如果我還能再問最後一個問題來總結一下的話，因為我相信你在評論中提到過——過去幾年推動需求創紀錄增長的所有因素，例如老舊車輛、行駛時間更長、開車時更多地使用手機等等，所有這些因素在目前以及到 2026 年是否仍然存在？12個月前購買拖車的理由與今天相比有什麼變化嗎？

No, I don't believe so. I think all of those factors that drive the demand at the retail level for the use of the equipment are all still intact.

不，我不這麼認為。我認為所有推動零售層面設備使用需求的因素都依然存在。

Okay. Well, thanks so much. I will pass it along.

好的。非常感謝。我會轉達。

Absolutely, Mike. Thank you so much for the questions.

當然，麥克。非常感謝大家的提問。

Thank you very much. That appears to be our last question. I will now turn the conference back to William Miller for any additional remarks.

非常感謝。看來這是我們最後一個問題了。現在我將把會議交還給威廉·米勒，請他補充發言。

Thank you. I'd like to thank you all again for joining us on the call today, and we look forward to speaking with you on the fourth-quarter conference call. If you would like information on how to participate and ask questions on the call, please visit our Investor Relations website, millerind.com/investors or email investor.relations@millerind.com. Thank you and may God bless you all.

謝謝。再次感謝各位今天參加我們的電話會議，我們期待在第四季電話會議上與大家再次交流。如果您想了解如何參與電話會議以及提問，請造訪我們的投資者關係網站 millerind.com/investors 或發送電子郵件至 investor.relations@millerind.com。謝謝，願上帝保佑大家。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線了。