Murphy USA Inc (MUSA) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. I would like to welcome everyone to the Murphy USA third-quarter 2024 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝你的支持。我歡迎大家參加 Murphy USA 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）

I would now like to turn the call over to Christian Pikul, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我現在想將電話轉給投資者關係副總裁克里斯蒂安·皮庫爾 (Christian Pikul)。請繼續。

Thank you, Dustin. Good morning, everybody. Thanks for joining us. With me today are Andrew Clyde, Chief Executive Officer; Mindy West, Chief Operating Officer; Galagher Jeff, Chief Financial Officer; and Donnie Smith, Chief Accounting Officer. After some opening comments from Andrew, Galagher will provide an overview of the financial results, and then we will open up the call to Q&A.

謝謝你，達斯汀。大家早安。感謝您加入我們。今天與我在一起的有首席執行官安德魯·克萊德 (Andrew Clyde)；明迪·韋斯特，營運長；加拉格爾‧傑夫，財務長；和首席會計官唐尼史密斯。在安德魯發表開場評論後，加拉格爾將概述財務業績，然後我們將開始問答環節。

Please keep in mind that some of the comments made during this call, including the Q&A portion, will be considered forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. As such, no assurances can be given that these events will occur or that the projections will be attained.

請記住，本次電話會議期間發表的一些評論（包括問答部分）將被視為 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》中定義的前瞻性陳述。或將實現預測。

A variety of factors exist that may cause actual results to differ. For further discussion of risk factors, please see the latest Murphy USA Forms 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K and other recent SEC filings. Murphy USA takes no duty to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.

存在多種因素可能導致實際結果有所不同。有關風險因素的進一步討論，請參閱最新的 Murphy USA 表格 10-K、10-Q、8-K 和其他最近向 SEC 提交的文件。墨菲美國沒有義務公開更新或修改任何前瞻性聲明。

During today's call, we may also provide certain performance measures that do not conform to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or GAAP. We have provided schedules to reconcile these non-GAAP measures with the reported results on a GAAP basis as part of our earnings press release, which can be found on the Investors section of our website.

在今天的電話會議中，我們也可能提供某些不符合公認會計原則或公認會計原則的績效衡量標準。作為我們收益新聞稿的一部分，我們提供了將這些非 GAAP 指標與 GAAP 報告結果進行協調的時間表，您可以在我們網站的投資者部分找到該新聞稿。

With that, I will turn the call over to Andrew.

這樣，我會將電話轉給安德魯。

Thank you, Christian, and good morning, everyone. Murphy USA continued to demonstrate the benefits of its advantaged business model as we delivered strong third quarter results from our core categories, once again benefiting from our distinctive everyday low price positioning with the growing segment of value-focused consumers.

謝謝克里斯蒂安，大家早安。墨菲美國持續展現其優勢商業模式的優勢，我們的核心品類第三季業績強勁，再次受益於我們獨特的日常低價定位以及不斷增長的注重價值的消費者群體。

In addition to our strong current period results, I'm very excited about the acceleration in organic growth as current construction projects underway put us in a great place for Q4 openings and sets the foundation for more new stores and earnings growth in 2025 and beyond. Our efforts to front load our real estate pipeline have paid off as we've seen more stores exit the permitting process than expected. As such, we are updating our CapEx projections for the year as we take advantage of this beneficial timing.

除了我們當前強勁的業績之外，我對有機成長的加速感到非常興奮，因為當前正在進行的建設項目使我們為第四季度的開業奠定了良好的基礎，並為2025 年及以後更多新店和獲利成長奠定了基礎。我們提前加載房地產管道的努力已獲得回報，因為我們看到退出許可程序的商店數量比預期的要多。因此，我們正在利用這個有利時機更新今年的資本支出預測。

I want to acknowledge our asset development team who worked hard to build this high-quality pipeline and implement process improvements to ensure we would hit our goals this year and put us in a better position for ratable store growth going forward. Galagher will provide some more details on our CapEx and growth programs later in the call.

我要感謝我們的資產開發團隊，他們努力建立這條高品質的管道並實施流程改進，以確保我們能夠實現今年的目標，並使我們在未來的可評價商店成長方面處於更好的位置。加拉格爾將在稍後的電話會議中提供有關我們的資本支出和成長計劃的更多詳細資訊。

Unpacking third-quarter results, we see continued outperformance in our core nondiscretionary categories, including fuel and nicotine. We grew both fuel volumes and retail margins with total in APSM volumes up 2% and 1.1%, respectively. Retail margins were up a little over $0.03 versus the prior year, largely due to a modest falling price environment.

從第三季的業績來看，我們看到我們的核心非自由裁量類別（包括燃料和尼古丁）繼續表現出色。我們的燃料銷量和零售利潤率均有所成長，APSM 總銷量分別成長 2% 和 1.1%。零售利潤率比上年增長略高於 0.03 美元，這主要是由於價格環境溫和下跌。

All-in fuel margins were about $0.02 lower when combined with PS&W results, which behaved as we expected in a period of falling wholesale prices. In fact, the entire $0.05 per gallon difference versus the prior year quarter is attributable to the accounting and timing variance associated, with our internal supply transactions and inventory positions impacted by the year-over-year difference in price movement. For the full year, we expect PS&W contribution to land closer to the low end of the $0.02 to $0.03 per gallon range we have told investors to expect over the long term as we continue to see a long supply market with lower volatility.

與 PS&W 的結果相結合，總燃料利潤率下降了約 0.02 美元，這符合我們在批發價格下跌時期的預期。事實上，與去年同期相比每加侖 0.05 美元的差異全部歸因於相關的會計和時間差異，以及我們的內部供應交易和庫存狀況受到同比價格變動差異的影響。就全年而言，我們預計 PS&W 的貢獻將接近每加侖 0.02 美元至 0.03 美元範圍的低端，我們告訴投資者長期預期，因為我們繼續看到供應市場長期供應，波動性較低。

Looking at our merchandise results, notably, across the Murphy geographies, we are seeing the incremental benefit in basket-building categories from the customer trade down in our traffic-driving categories. In turn, we are leveraging the strengths of these core categories, including fuel, nicotine beer and lottery, to drive transactions and other more discretionary categories across the center of the store.

看看我們的商品業績，特別是在墨菲地區，我們看到購物籃類別的增量收益來自於我們的流量驅動類別的客戶交易下降。反過來，我們正在利用這些核心品類（包括燃料、尼古丁啤酒和彩票）的優勢來推動商店中心的交易和其他更自由的類別。

Performance within the nicotine ecosystem specifically remains exceptionally strong. We are continuing to grow our market share in combustible products eclipsing 20% share in Murphy markets. Similarly, we are taking share in driving sales and margin growth in traditional smokeless products and the fast-growing oral nicotine category, where collectively, we are seeing double-digit growth in sales and margin, further differentiating our performance versus peers.

尼古丁生態系內的表現尤其強勁。我們正在繼續擴大可燃產品的市場份額，在墨菲市場的份額已超過 20%。同樣，我們正在推動傳統無菸產品和快速增長的口服尼古丁類別的銷售和利潤增長，總的來說，我們的銷售額和利潤實現了兩位數的增長，這進一步使我們的業績與同行區分開來。

Under the Murphy banner stores, we saw a total packaged beverage sales and margin growth of 2.9% and 6.2%, respectively. Further, we saw mid-high single-digit strength in general merchandise, candy and salty snacks, each of which grew share in our markets versus broader declines registered in the Nielsen data.

墨菲旗下商店的包裝飲料總銷售額和利潤率分別成長了 2.9% 和 6.2%。此外，我們看到日用商品、糖果和鹹味零食的中高個位數強勢，它們在我們的市場中的份額都在增長，而尼爾森數據中記錄的更廣泛的下降。

In total, Murphy stores grew non-nicotine total sales and margin 2.7% and 4.8%, respectively, underscoring both the strength of our core customers in our core geographies and the relative attractiveness of our offer. These results reflect the value of 2024 initiatives, including personalization of MDR offers to encourage customers to experience different elements of the Murphy USA offer, as well as analytics-driven pricing and assortment strategies to optimize our offer and leverage price elasticities at the SKU level.

總體而言，墨菲商店的非尼古丁總銷售額和利潤率分別成長了 2.7% 和 4.8%，這凸顯了我們在核心地區的核心客戶的實力以及我們產品的相對吸引力。這些結果反映了 2024 年舉措的價值，包括個人化 MDR 優惠，以鼓勵客戶體驗 Murphy USA 優惠的不同元素，以及分析驅動的定價和分類策略，以優化我們的優惠並利用 SKU 等級的價格彈性。

On the QuickChek side, competition from QSR value pricing continued in Q3, continuing to pressure food and beverage traffic and margins and center of store baskets. Nevertheless, fuel had a great quarter in the Northeast, where total volumes were up 2.9% and fuel margin dollars were up 9.2%.

在 QuickChek 方面，來自 QSR 價值定價的競爭在第三季度持續存在，繼續對食品和飲料流量、利潤以及商店籃子中心造成壓力。儘管如此，燃料在東北地區的季度業績表現出色，總銷量成長了 2.9%，燃料利潤率成長了 9.2%。

Coffee sales were a bright spot, up 4.3% on a per-store basis, with made-to-order specialty drinks up 14% on a per store basis as QuickChek placed second nationally in CSP's annual survey of coffee programs. Overall, food and beverage sales per store were essentially flat with center of store sales down 1.2%. Recognizing the inside traffic headwinds will likely persist into 2025, we are taking intentional action to drive QuickChek traffic and further increase the competitiveness of our value offer. In fact, inside transactions at QuickChek have improved throughout the third quarter from a 6% year-over-year decline in July to a 1% decline in September.

咖啡銷售額是亮點，每家商店成長 4.3%，每家客製化特色飲料成長 14%，QuickChek 在 CSP 咖啡計畫年度調查中排名全國第二。總體而言，每家商店的食品和飲料銷售額基本上持平，商店中心銷售額下降 1.2%。我們意識到內部流量逆風可能會持續到 2025 年，我們正在採取有意識的行動來推動 QuickChek 流量並進一步提高我們價值產品的競爭力。事實上，QuickChek 的內線交易在第三季度有所改善，從 7 月的年減 6% 到 9 月的下降 1%。

We kicked off the fourth quarter with new value offers and promotions in the breakfast and lunch dayparts, featuring a $3.99 6-inch Italian spicy chicken or chicken tender sub sandwich. Additionally, we expanded our value offer in breakfast with a $5 breakfast bundle, including a breakfast sandwich, spuds and any size coffee. And while it's early in the sandwich promotion, we are seeing significant customer uptake in the 6-inch sub offer, where volumes were up 63%. And perhaps more encouragingly, we are seeing a 16% increase in total sandwich units, meaning we are seeing cross-pollination across the category. Coupled with the higher traction in the New York Giants premium subs versus their inaugural launch last year, we are very encouraged by the trips and transactions we are seeing attached to this core traffic-driving category.

我們在早餐和午餐時段推出了新的超值優惠和促銷活動，以 3.99 美元的 6 英寸意大利辣雞肉或嫩雞三明治為特色，拉開了第四季度的序幕。此外，我們還推出了 5 美元早餐套餐，包括早餐三明治、馬鈴薯和任何份量的咖啡，從而擴大了早餐的價值。雖然三明治促銷還處於早期階段，但我們看到 6 吋子產品的客戶數量大幅增加，銷售量增加了 63%。也許更令人鼓舞的是，我們看到三明治總單位數增加了 16%，這意味著我們看到了整個類別的異花授粉。再加上紐約巨人隊高級潛艇比去年首次推出的吸引力更高，我們對這一核心交通驅動類別的旅行和交易感到非常鼓舞。

To further capitalize on this momentum, we expect the newly designed and relaunched QuickChek Rewards program, which went live earlier this week, to offer additional opportunities to engage with our customers and drive sales in 2025. The new app will feature mobile ordering and delivery, in-app payment options, the ability to earn points on fuel transactions and extends deeper into more center of store categories. This is another great example of a cross-functional capability we are bringing to QuickChek based on the huge success and impact of our own Murphy Drive Rewards program. Taking these initiatives together, we expect to show incremental improvement in transactions into the fourth quarter at QuickChek, setting the stage for a more robust recovery in 2025.

為了進一步利用這一勢頭，我們預計本週早些時候上線的新設計和重新啟動的 QuickChek 獎勵計劃將在 2025 年提供更多與客戶互動並推動銷售的機會。新應用程式將具有行動訂購和交付、應用內支付選項、透過燃料交易賺取積分的能力，並更深入地擴展到更多的商店中心類別。這是基於我們自己的 Murphy Drive 獎勵計劃的巨大成功和影響，我們為 QuickChek 帶來的跨職能能力的另一個很好的例子。將這些措施結合在一起，我們預計 QuickChek 第四季的交易量將逐步改善，為 2025 年更強勁的復甦奠定基礎。

Turning to operating expense. Average per store month OpEx was up 4% in the third quarter, a sequential improvement versus the first half of 2024 as we start to lap some wage increases and other investments we made in the stores in the second half of 2023. Importantly, only half of this increase is attributable to same-store increases, meaning the other half of the growth reflects the impact of a higher mix of larger new stores and raze-and-rebuild stores in the network.

轉向營運費用。第三季每個商店月平均營運支出成長了 4%，與 2024 年上半年相比連續改善，因為我們開始在 2023 年下半年開始增加一些薪資和在商店中進行的其他投資。重要的是，這一增長中只有一半歸因於同店增長，這意味著增長的另一半反映了網路中更大的新店和拆除重建店的更高組合的影響。

Given that we will be adding more new stores this year, next year and beyond, we expect this trend to continue and would therefore expect same-store costs to increase at about a 3% clip, which would translate into network-wide per store cost growth in the 5% to 6% range going forward. The team has done a great job this year of making QuickChek stores more efficient through demand planning and implementing a more sophisticated and efficient store labor model, a process we also expect to roll out at Murphy stores next year.

鑑於我們今年、明年及以後將增加更多新店，我們預計這一趨勢將持續下去，因此預計同店成本將以約 3% 的速度增加，這將轉化為網絡範圍內的每店成本未來增長率將在5% 至6% 之間。團隊今年做得很好，透過需求規劃和實施更複雜、更有效率的商店勞動力模型，提高了 QuickChek 商店的效率，我們也預計明年在 Murphy 商店推出這項流程。

Before I turn the call over to Galagher to provide more color on our store growth and capital allocation, I just want to reiterate, we are very pleased with third quarter results. We have a lot of irons in the fire to further optimize and grow the business in the fourth quarter, and the team is engaged and excited, all of which suggests 2025 will be another rewarding year for our team members and our shareholders.

在我將電話轉給加拉格爾以提供有關我們商店成長和資本配置的更多資訊之前，我只想重申，我們對第三季的業績非常滿意。我們在第四季度有很多工作要做，以進一步優化和發展業務，團隊很投入並且很興奮，所有這些都表明 2025 年對於我們的團隊成員和股東來說將是另一個回報豐厚的一年。

Hello, everyone, and thank you, Andrew.

大家好，謝謝你，安德魯。

As Andrew mentioned, our asset development team is firing on all cylinders and on track to deliver our strategy of strong organic growth in 2024 and 2025. We opened four new stores in the third quarter, bringing our year-to-date openings to 10, including one QuickChek store. We also reopened 16 raze-and-rebuild stores, our ongoing program to transform small kiosks into 1,400 square foot stores in Q3, which brings us to 27 raze-and-rebuild projects opened year-to-date. Since quarter end, there are an additional two new stores and four raze-and-rebuild stores that have opened.

正如安德魯所提到的，我們的資產開發團隊正在全力以赴，並有望在 2024 年和 2025 年實現強勁的有機成長策略。我們在第三季開設了 4 家新店，使年初至今新開店數量達到 10 家，其中包括 1 家 QuickChek 店。我們還重新開設了 16 家夷平重建商店，這是我們在第三季將小型售貨亭改造成 1,400 平方英尺商店的持續計劃，這使我們今年迄今開設了 27 個夷平重建項目。自季度末以來，又有兩家新店和四家夷平重建店開幕。

We've also accelerated our construction activity to its highest level in the past 10 years with 29 new stores and 15 raze-and-rebuilds currently under construction, and we've already started construction on some of our 2025 new builds. So when you add all that up, we are looking at up to 40 new stores and 47 raze-and-rebuilds scheduled for completion in 2024.

我們還將建設活動加快至過去 10 年來的最高水平，目前正在建造 29 家新商店和 15 家拆除重建商店，並且我們已經開始建造 2025 年新建的一些商店。因此，當您將所有這些加起來時，我們預計將有多達 40 家新店和 47 家拆除重建項目計劃於 2024 年完成。

However, some of these projects could potentially slip into early 2025, so our new store and raze-and-rebuild guidance remains unchanged at this time at 30 to 35 new stores and more than 40 raze-and-rebuilds.

然而，其中一些項目可能會推遲到 2025 年初，因此我們的新店和拆除重建指導目前保持不變，為 30 至 35 家新店和 40 多家拆除重建。

I want to again recognize our asset development team for finding efficiencies in the store development program and better managing risk, which has allowed us to not only achieve our 2024 new store guidance but also deliver more raze-and-rebuilds than we had planned. Additionally, the team has moved forward more projects into the fourth quarter and provided a meaningful head start to the 2025 new store class, where we will get more stores opened earlier in the year, helping to grow our EBITDA in 2025 and going forward.

我想再次表彰我們的資產開發團隊，他們提高了商店開發計劃的效率並更好地管理風險，這使我們不僅能夠實現 2024 年新店指導目標，而且還實現了比計劃更多的拆除和重建。此外，該團隊已將更多項目推進到第四季度，並為2025 年新店類別提供了有意義的先機，我們將在今年早些時候開設更多商店，從而幫助我們在2025 年及未來實現EBITDA 的成長。

As such, we are increasing our capital expenditure guidance to a range of $500 million to $525 million in 2024. Importantly, all of this increase is attributable to the stronger-than-expected organic growth, including the high level of raze-and-rebuild activities, more new stores under construction for 2024 and a head start on our 2025 new store program. We are moving toward our objective of sustainable run rate for the organization of about 50 new stores per year. And with that, we expect a similar level of capital spend in 2025.

因此，我們將 2024 年的資本支出指引提高至 5 億至 5.25 億美元。重要的是，所有這些增長都歸因於強於預期的有機增長，包括高水準的拆除和重建活動、2024 年更多在建新店以及我們 2025 年新店計劃的領先優勢。我們正在朝著每年開設約 50 家新店的可持續營運率目標邁進。因此，我們預計 2025 年的資本支出水準將達到類似水準。

To wrap up our new build program discussion, we're very pleased with both the quality of the pipeline and the performance of our new stores to provide predictable and consistent incremental EBITDA for the next several years as the stores begin their three-year ramp to maturity. New Murphy USA stores are generating attractive returns with key performance metrics well above the network average.

為了結束我們的新建設計劃討論，我們對管道的品質和新商店的業績感到非常滿意，隨著商店開始三年的增長，我們將在未來幾年提供可預測和一致的增量 EBITDA。 。新的 Murphy USA 商店正在產生有吸引力的回報，其關鍵績效指標遠高於網路平均水平。

For the 2022 and 2023 build classes, those 56 stores are having 292,000 gallons per store month and 43,000 merchandising contribution dollars per store month, which is 18% and 27% higher than the network averages, respectively. So we're building more new stores, and these stores are delivering more and outperforming our existing stores, which demonstrates why we are excited to accelerate this growth and that will be highly impactful to our company performance going forward.

對於 2022 年和 2023 年的建造級別，這 56 家商店每個商店每月的庫存為 292,000 加侖，每個商店每月的商品銷售貢獻為 43,000 美元，分別比網絡平均水平高 18% 和 27%。因此，我們正在建造更多的新商店，這些商店正在交付更多產品，並且表現優於我們現有的商店，這說明了為什麼我們很高興能夠加速這種成長，這將對我們公司未來的業績產生巨大影響。

Turning to share repurchase. We bought back 244,000 shares in the second quarter and remain committed to ongoing share repurchases. We continue to execute against the existing Board authorization to repurchase up to 1.5 billion of our stock, which extends through 2028. Through the third quarter, we have bought back nearly 700,000 shares for $320 million, leaving about $1.1 billion remaining under our Board authorization.

轉向股票回購。我們在第二季回購了 244,000 股股票，並繼續致力於持續的股票回購。我們繼續執行董事會現有的授權，回購最多 15 億股股票，有效期持續到 2028 年。截至第三季度，我們已斥資 3.2 億美元回購了近 70 萬股股票，董事會授權剩餘約 11 億美元。

You may have noticed we ended the quarter with a $41 million balance on our revolver. As we continue to allocate cash toward growth, share repurchases and operations, from time to time, we will access our revolver to manage our daily liquidity needs. As a reminder, we typically see $400 million moving in and out of the business in any given week. And depending on the timing of receipts, vendor payments, tax payments and the day of the week the period ends, managing liquidity with the revolver becomes a more common place as we efficiently allocate funds for both growth and share repurchase.

您可能已經注意到，本季末我們的左輪手槍餘額為 4,100 萬美元。隨著我們繼續將現金分配給成長、股票回購和運營，我們將不時動用左輪手槍來管理我們的日常流動性需求。提醒一下，我們通常會在任何一周內看到 4 億美元的資金進出業務。根據收據時間、供應商付款、納稅以及期間結束的日期，隨著我們有效地分配資金用於成長和股票回購，用左輪手槍管理流動性變得更加常見。

One last guidance measure to address before I turn the call back over to Andrew. In addition to increasing our capital expenditure guidance, we're also tightly managing our expenses and investments. With our ongoing cost control efforts and more targeted investments, we are reducing our SG&A guidance to a range of $240 million to $250 million versus the prior range of $255 million to $265 million.

在我將電話轉回給安德魯之前，我需要解決的最後一項指導措施。除了增加我們的資本支出指導之外，我們還嚴格管理我們的支出和投資。透過持續的成本控制努力和更有針對性的投資，我們將 SG&A 指引值降低至 2.4 億至 2.5 億美元，而先前的範圍為 2.55 億至 2.65 億美元。

Thank you. And with that, I will turn the call back over to Andrew.

謝謝。然後，我會將電話轉回給安德魯。

Thanks, Galagher. As usual, I'll close with a preliminary view of October performance. Per store fuel volumes are flat to prior year at retail-only margins of about $0.27. October merchandise trends are showing performance broadly in line with the third quarter with total sales and margin up 2% to 3%. As mentioned, between our promotional activities at QuickChek and the relaunch of QC Rewards, we are looking to build momentum in Q4 as we head into 2025.

謝謝，加拉格爾。像往常一樣，我將以十月份表現的初步看法作為結束。每家商店的燃油量與去年持平，純零售利潤約為 0.27 美元。 10 月商品趨勢表現與第三季基本一致，總銷售額和利潤率成長 2% 至 3%。如前所述，在 QuickChek 的促銷活動和 QC Rewards 的重新推出之間，我們希望在進入 2025 年時在第四季度建立勢頭。

Looking at year-to-date performance, average per store month volumes are flat with retail margins about $0.015 higher than last year or about $0.28 versus $0.265, while all-in fuel margins are about $0.01 lower or just a little under $0.30 per gallon year-to-date in 2024 versus $0.31 per gallon in 2023.

從今年迄今的業績來看，每家店月平均銷量持平，零售利潤率比去年高出約0.015 美元，或比去年高出約0.28 美元，而去年每加侖燃油利潤率低約0.01 美元或略低於0.30 美元。

A couple of thoughts to share as we put this into the context of the broader $0.30 to $0.34 per gallon fuel margin range we use for our modeling purposes. As we noted previously, the upper end of the range requires one or both of two market dynamics to occur.

當我們將其置於用於建模目的的每加侖 0.30 美元至 0.34 美元的更廣泛燃油利潤範圍的背景下時，有一些想法需要分享。正如我們之前指出的，該範圍的上限需要兩種市場動態中的一種或兩種發生。

First, a steeply falling price environment like the one we witnessed in Q3 of 2022, where retail margins are elevated, more than offsetting the timing variance in PS&W. This has occurred about once every six to eight years, and you can certainly see this coming as prices run up.

首先，價格急劇下跌，就像我們在 2022 年第三季看到的那樣，零售利潤率上升，足以抵消 PS&W 的時間差異。這種情況大約每六到八年發生一次，隨著價格上漲，您當然可以看到這種情況的發生。

(inaudible) volatile environment where wholesale prices are well above our Opus load transfer price. This contrasts with the long oversupplied market where refiners discounted the rack. And again, there are indicators, like an increase in Colonial line space values, more significant prolonged refinery outages and the like.

（聽不清楚）不穩定的環境，批發價格遠高於我們的 Opus 負載轉移價格。這與長期供應過剩的市場形成鮮明對比，煉油廠對貨架有折扣。同樣，還有一些指標，例如殖民管線空間值的增加、更顯著的長期煉油廠停駛等。

In 2024, we have seen neither of these conditions despite the geopolitical headlines. As such, we would expect margins to remain in a tighter $0.30 to $0.32 per gallon range in a more normal, somewhat benign environment. And within this framework, we do continue to believe challenged in-store performance, declining fuel volumes and higher costs for marginal retailers will continue to result in higher equilibrium margins, and as such, we would expect to see structural upward pressure on margins over time.

到了 2024 年，儘管地緣政治頭條新聞不斷，但這些情況我們都沒有看到。因此，我們預計在更正常、較為良性的環境中，利潤率將保持在每加侖 0.30 美元至 0.32 美元的更窄範圍內。在這個框架內，我們仍然相信，店內業績面臨挑戰、燃油量下降和邊際零售商成本上升將繼續導致均衡利潤率上升，因此，隨著時間的推移，我們預計利潤率將面臨結構性上行壓力。

As we put this in the context of a walk forward to our 2028 goal of $1.3 billion in EBITDA, we don't require this upward pressure that creates higher industry margins to achieve our goal as new and rebuilt stores and capability investments at scale fully paved the way. Rather, it's an upside case, and we continue to believe there is significantly more upside on fuel margins than downside.

當我們在向 2028 年 13 億美元 EBITDA 的目標邁進時，我們不需要這種創造更高行業利潤率的上行壓力來實現我們的目標，因為新店和重建店以及大規模的能力投資已經完全鋪平道路。相反，這是一個上行情況，我們仍然認為燃料利潤率的上行空間明顯大於下行空間。

And with that, I'll turn the call back to the operator for Q&A.

然後，我會將電話轉回給接線生進行問答。

(Operator Instructions) Anthony Bonadio, Wells Fargo.

（操作員說明）安東尼·博納迪奧，富國銀行。

Nice quarter. So I want to start off with NTI stores. I think Galagher, you mentioned as many as 40 NTI stores this year now versus that initial 30 to 35 number, which is not something we've been used to hearing from you guys. So can you maybe just talk about what went right this year that allowed you to contemplate beating your target? And then any early thoughts on how you're planning NTIs for '25 as we think about both magnitude and cadence?

不錯的季度。所以我想從 NTI 商店開始。我想 Galagher，您提到今年 NTI 商店數量已達到 40 家，而最初的數字是 30 到 35 家，我們不習慣從你們那裡聽到這個數字。那麼，您能否談談今年發生了什麼讓您考慮實現目標的正確事情？然後，當我們考慮幅度和節奏時，您對如何規劃 25 年的 NTI 有何早期想法？

Yes, this is Andrew. Look, the first thing is we have been working on building up the pipeline. We've made the point on several calls that we've been a little disappointed in not hitting the number. Part of it was a function of the pipeline. Part of it was a process of stores moving through the pipeline, especially tied up in the permitting part of the process.

是的，這是安德魯。看，第一件事是我們一直在努力建立管道。我們在幾次電話中都指出，我們對沒有達到這個數字感到有點失望。其中一部分是管道的功能。其中一部分是商店通過管道的過程，特別是與該過程的許可部分相關。

So we've built up a pipeline that gives us confidence of a 50-store per year build class in the future, and we are seeing some breaks in the permitting process. And we just had more to come as we use the term shovel-ready in the fourth quarter that we move forward and that really front loads Q1. And the benefit of running -- front-loading Q1 is you get that earnings for the entire 12-month period versus having your entire portfolio back-end loaded.

因此，我們已經建立了一條管道，讓我們對未來每年建造 50 家商店的水平充滿信心，並且我們看到許可流程中出現了一些突破。當我們在第四季度使用“準備就緒”一詞時，我們還有更多的事情要做，我們會向前邁進，並且真正在第一季提前加載。運行前加載第一季的好處是您可以獲得整個 12 個月期間的收益，而不是後端加載整個投資組合。

So confidence around the pipeline, a little more certainty around the permitting process, and importantly, a more ratable build throughout the year are things that we should look forward to. And on top of that, the increased performance of those per store metrics that Galagher went over, all of which continue to get amplified with the improvement initiatives that we have underway.

因此，我們應該期待對管道的信心，對許可流程的更多確定性，以及更重要的是，全年建設的評級更高。最重要的是，加拉格爾審查的每家商店指標的績效有所提高，所有這些指標都隨著我們正在進行的改進舉措而繼續得到放大。

Thanks, Anthony. The only thing I would add to that is, as Andrew mentioned, we are -- the cadence is very important. Getting more opened earlier in the year gives us confidence that we can deliver the number. We're not ready to give guidance for 2025 yet, but we are moving closer to our objective of 50 NTIs a year. So we'll move toward that in 2025, and you should see that soon.

謝謝，安東尼。我唯一要補充的是，正如安德魯所提到的，我們——節奏非常重要。今年稍早開幕的更多飯店讓我們有信心實現這一目標。我們尚未準備好提供 2025 年的指導，但我們正在接近每年 50 個 NTI 的目標。因此，我們將在 2025 年朝著這個目標邁進，您很快就會看到這一點。

Got it. That's helpful. And then just on inside contribution, if I take the low end of your contribution guidance for the year, that now implies something like 3% to 4% growth in Q4, which does represent an acceleration from what you just (inaudible). So can you just talk about the drivers of that acceleration a little bit more? And then how to think about underlying contributions from same-store sales and margins?

知道了。這很有幫助。然後就內部貢獻而言，如果我採用你們今年貢獻指導的低端，那麼現在意味著第四季度的增長約為 3% 至 4%，這確實代表了你剛才的加速增長（聽不清楚）。那麼您能多談談加速的驅動因素嗎？那麼如何考慮同店銷售額和利潤率的潛在貢獻呢？

Yes. Well, I think, again, let's separate the Murphy banner from the QuickChek banner. I mean the Murphy banner continues to benefit from our traffic driving categories, fuel, nicotine, beer, and even lottery, even with the online gaming, et cetera, going on. That's helping center of the store on the Murphy side, which is really important. And we read the headlines around packaged beverage and salty snacks and what's happening there.

是的。好吧，我再次認為，讓我們將 Murphy 橫幅與 QuickChek 橫幅分開。我的意思是，墨菲橫幅繼續受益於我們的流量驅動類別、燃料、尼古丁、啤酒，甚至彩票，即使線上遊戲等仍在繼續。這對墨菲一側的商店中心有幫助，這非常重要。我們閱讀有關包裝飲料和鹹味零食的頭條新聞以及那裡發生的事情。

We're not seeing that on the Murphy side. We're seeing the opposite because we're getting the flow through into the stores. And with more raze-and-rebuild stores, with a bigger center of store, with the new 2,800 center of the store, we feel really good about that.

我們在墨菲這邊沒有看到這一點。我們看到了相反的情況，因為我們正在將流量引入商店。隨著更多的商店被夷為平地和重建，更大的商店中心，以及新的 2,800 名商店中心，我們對此感覺非常好。

The QuickChek business is food and beverage-led. And as we've talked and, again, we read about in the news constantly, a lot of value war is going on in that space, breakfast daypart, coffee daypart, lunch sandwiches, et cetera. And so having food and beverage sales flat essentially on a per store basis, I guess, feels good in this environment but certainly didn't meet our expectation and our plan going into the year where we just didn't anticipate the persistent inflation and the level of kind of price wars, some of which we're reading about are alleviating. And I think as you see our coffee program and some of the numbers we talked about there, by being a value brand to start with, we didn't have to take some of the same steps to maintain traction in that environment.

QuickChek 業務以食品和飲料為主導。正如我們所討論的，我們不斷在新聞中讀到，這個領域正在發生很多價值戰，早餐時段、咖啡時段、午餐三明治等等。因此，我想，在這種環境下，每家商店的食品和飲料銷售基本上持平，感覺很好，但肯定沒有達到我們的預期和我們進入這一年的計劃，我們只是沒有預料到持續的通貨膨脹和價格戰的程度，我們正在讀到的其中一些價格戰正在緩解。我認為，正如您看到我們的咖啡計劃和我們在那裡討論的一些數字一樣，透過成為一個價值品牌，我們不必採取一些相同的步驟來保持在這種環境下的吸引力。

Center of store has been an area at QC that, with the lighter traffic on the food and beverage side, has been down, and you see some of the more industry-type numbers on packaged beverage, salty snacks, et cetera. I think our promotional activity and the results we're seeing there, coupled with the launch of QuickChek rewards, which we think is going to be as impactful in its categories as Murphy Drive Rewards was within its core categories, is going to really allow us to build that momentum. So as we go into 2025, we're going to have a real clear picture. And so we'll have a higher level of confidence and certainty around the guidance we give in February, knowing that we missed our guidance that we gave in February this year.

商店中心一直是 QC 的一個區域，隨著食品和飲料方面的客流量減少，該區域已經下降，並且您會看到包裝飲料、鹹味零食等方面的一些更具行業類型的數字。我認為我們的促銷活動和我們在那裡看到的結果，再加上 QuickChek 獎勵的推出，我們認為該獎勵在其類別中的影響力將與 Murphy Drive 獎勵在其核心類別中一樣，將真正讓我們建立這種勢頭。因此，當我們進入 2025 年時，我們將看到一幅真正清晰的圖景。因此，我們將對 2 月給予的指導有更高的信心和確定性，因為我們知道我們錯過了今年 2 月給予的指導。

Bonnie Herzog, Goldman Sachs.

邦妮·赫爾佐格，高盛。

All right. I wanted to ask about your fuel volumes, which were up by, I guess, a modest 50 bps on a same-store basis in the quarter. This is despite an easy year-over-year compare. So could you talk through the drivers of a bit of the slowdown that you're seeing? And really Andrew, your outlook for industry fuel volumes over the next few years. Also, could you maybe talk about any benefit you might have seen in the quarter and possibly in October from the hurricanes, I guess, Helene and Milton?

好的。我想問一下你們的燃油量，我猜，本季同店燃油量小幅增加了 50 個基點。儘管同比比較很簡單，但情況還是如此。那麼您能談談您所看到的經濟放緩的驅動因素嗎？安德魯，您對未來幾年行業燃料產量的展望。另外，我想，Helene 和 Milton，您能否談談您在本季度以及可能在 10 月可能從颶風中看到的任何好處？

Yes. So look, I think if you go back on a three-year stack, I mean, you look at one-year numbers, two-year numbers, three-year numbers, in the period where we gained the most significant market share, we're still holding on to close to 5% on a three-year stack basis. So we know in high prices and falling price environments, that's ultimately when we take the most share. And as we've said before, in low prices, like we're seeing now, we give a little bit of that back. And Murphy Drive Rewards has been a significant contributor into not giving as much back as we would have given back in, say, 2015 after the price falloff in 2014. So we're actually -- view this as positive, especially given kind of the macro trends around relatively flat fuel gallons.

是的。所以看，我認為如果你回顧三年的數據，我的意思是，你看看一年的數字、兩年的數字、三年的數字，在我們獲得最大市場份額的時期，我們三年堆疊基礎上仍保持接近5%。所以我們知道，在高價格和價格下跌的環境下，最終我們會獲得最大的份額。正如我們之前所說，以低廉的價格，就像我們現在看到的那樣，我們會回饋一點。在 2014 年價格下跌之後，Murphy Drive Rewards 的回饋力道沒有像 2015 年那麼多，這是一個重要原因。所以我們實際上認為這是積極的，特別是考慮到燃料加侖相對平穩的宏觀趨勢。

With respect to the two hurricanes, first of all, our team did an incredible job keeping stores open to the last possible safe moment for our teams and getting them opened very quickly. And we saw the typical pre-storm buy followed by a dip in the days where maybe some stores couldn't reopen due to power being out, but with generators getting to the stores quickly, getting those volumes back up. So no real appreciable impact from the stores and minimum damage thankfully to the stores and no impact materially to our team members.

對於兩次颶風，首先，我們的團隊做了令人難以置信的工作，讓商店在最後可能的安全時刻保持開放，並讓它們很快開業。我們看到典型的暴風雨前購買量隨後出現下降，其中一些商店可能由於斷電而無法重新營業，但隨著發電機迅速到達商店，使這些銷量回升。因此，商店沒有產生真正明顯的影響，謝天謝地，對商店的損害最小，對我們的團隊成員也沒有重大影響。

Our Tampa terminal, also, the team did an incredible job of preparing it. It was the last to close and the first to reopen. And our fuel transport providers, which we use third parties for, did a great job reallocating trucks. So despite all the headline news, there is really no material impact to us from a fuel gallons standpoint from the two storms.

我們的坦帕航站樓團隊在準備方面也做了令人難以置信的工作。它是最後一個關閉的，也是第一個重新開放的。我們使用第三方的燃料運輸提供者在重新分配卡車方面做得很好。因此，儘管有這麼多頭條新聞，但從燃油加侖的角度來看，這兩場風暴實際上並沒有對我們產生實質影響。

Okay. That's helpful and good to hear. And then I had to make a comment and share that I absolutely love that you're rebranding your tobacco business to nicotine. So hoping to hear a little more color on some of the strength you're seeing there and if you have plans, I guess, to change your back bar, either this year still or early next year, to add essentially more space for smoke-free nicotine products. And in the context of that, ultimately, do you see further upside to your nicotine margins over the next few years?

好的。這很有幫助，而且很高興聽到。然後我不得不發表評論並分享我絕對喜歡你將煙草業務重新命名為尼古丁。因此，希望聽到更多關於您在那裡看到的一些強度的信息，如果您有計劃，我猜，改變您的後欄，無論是今年還是明年初，以增加更多的煙霧空間-免費尼古丁產品。在這種背景下，最終，您認為未來幾年尼古丁利潤會進一步上升嗎？

Sure. I mean when we talk to investors, many have taken the position that nicotine broadly or the tobacco category, as we called it previously, is a growing category. And certainly, oral nicotine, noncombustible products are a significant portion of that growth. So it's just changing the times. It's interesting when we acquired QuickChek, they had already deemed the category nicotine on their side.

當然。我的意思是，當我們與投資者交談時，許多人都認為尼古丁或我們之前所說的菸草類別是一個不斷增長的類別。當然，口服尼古丁、不可燃產品是這一增長的重要組成部分。所以這只是時代的改變。有趣的是，當我們收購 QuickChek 時，他們已經將尼古丁這個類別視為自己的一邊。

So in terms of color, we'll continue to provide the same color that we have in the past, right? We're growing share across the categories. We're constantly making updates to our back bar, optimizing space there, working closely with the manufacturers on that. So in terms of a complete revamp of our back bar, I don't see that coming. It will just be the continued evolution as we've been a leader on a lot of the products.

那麼在顏色方面，我們會繼續提供與過去相同的顏色，對吧？我們在各個類別中的份額都在成長。我們不斷更新後吧台，優化那裡的空間，並與製造商密切合作。因此，就我們後酒吧的徹底改造而言，我認為不會發生這種情況。這將是持續的發展，因為我們一直是許多產品的領導者。

With respect to upside, I think there's going to be upside in at least three areas. One, as other retailers kind of deemphasized the traditional products and with the price increases that you see from the manufacturers, our everyday low price becomes more and more and more relevant. And so we will continue to pick up share and grow contribution margin dollars in the traditional products.

關於上行空間，我認為至少在三個領域會有上行空間。第一，隨著其他零售商不再強調傳統產品，隨著製造商的價格上漲，我們每天的低價變得越來越重要。因此，我們將繼續提高傳統產品的份額並增加邊際貢獻。

Two, especially with the oral nicotine products and their higher contribution margin per use equivalent, that change in -- from growth associated with that will be positive. And it may show up in a higher unit margin or it may not, depending on how much the traditional products grow in relation to that, but it will absolutely grow more contribution margin dollars.

第二，特別是口服尼古丁產品及其每使用當量較高的貢獻邊際，與此相關的成長的變化將是正面的。它可能會出現在更高的單位利潤率中，也可能不會，這取決於傳統產品相對於此的成長程度，但它絕對會增加更多的貢獻利潤率。

And the third area of possible tailwinds for us would be if other retailers, manufacturers and distributors and the FDA and the DOJ would take a more responsible approach towards the illicit and illegal products in the marketplace. And as we mentioned, the state took (inaudible) and we saw a significant uplift across the tobacco, nicotine categories in that state. And so we see that as an opportunity down the road as some have projected almost 80% of vapor products are considered illicit or illegal products.

對我們來說，第三個可能有利的領域是其他零售商、製造商和分銷商以及 FDA 和 DOJ 對市場上的非法和非法產品採取更負責任的態度。正如我們所提到的，該州採取了（聽不清楚），我們看到該州的菸草、尼古丁類別顯著增加。因此，我們認為這是一個未來的機會，因為有些人預計近 80% 的蒸汽產品都被視為非法或非法產品。

Bobby Griffin, Raymond James.

鮑比·格里芬、雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

Congrats on a good quarter. Andrew, I want to first circle back just on the consumer behavior. Clearly, a lot of different moving parts in today's economy. We've talked in past calls about the QSR promotional pressure and things like that. But on a high level, how would you characterize it all versus 2Q or 1Q? Is it starting to get stable when you look at the consumer pressure. Just curious kind of what you would characterize it on a sequential basis to help us frame it up as we're heading into 2025.

恭喜季度表現良好。安德魯，我想先回顧一下消費者行為。顯然，當今的經濟中有許多不同的活動部件。我們在過去的電話中討論過 QSR 促銷壓力以及類似的事情。但從較高的層面來看，與第二季或第一季相比，您如何描述這一切？當你觀察消費者壓力時，它是否開始變得穩定？只是好奇你會按順序描述它的特徵，以幫助我們在進入 2025 年時建造它。

On a sequential basis, it does feel like it's stabilizing somewhat. Certainly, the (inaudible) promotional deal had been out there. So sequentially, as we see some of the retailers announcing, whether it's a coffee program or a sandwich program, backing away from some of those, that's going to be positive. We're having to make a trade-off with the $3.99, 6-inch promotional subs. So we're seeing a shift in mix from 12-inch to 6-inch, but the uplift we're seeing on that is more than breakeven to positive. So the customer is definitely value-focused. We see some of that play off in the center of the store with the basket not being maybe as complete.

從順序來看，它確實感覺有所穩定。當然，（聽不清楚）促銷優惠已經在那裡了。因此，正如我們看到一些零售商所宣布的那樣，無論是咖啡計劃還是三明治計劃，放棄其中一些計劃，這將是積極的。我們不得不對 3.99 美元的 6 吋促銷低音炮進行權衡。因此，我們看到產品組合從 12 英寸轉向 6 英寸，但我們看到的提升不僅僅是盈虧平衡，而是正值。所以客戶絕對是注重價值的。我們看到其中一些在商店的中心進行，而籃子可能不那麼完整。

But I think with some uncertainty in the economy, we'll continue to see the value customer behaving as we've seen over the last couple of quarters. I think it's going to be some of the competitive relief that we certainly expect to see later in 2025, but Q1, Q2, we probably expect to continue to see competitive value offers from a broader set of QSRs.

但我認為，由於經濟存在一些不確定性，我們將繼續看到價值客戶的行為，就像過去幾季所看到的那樣。我認為這將是我們預計在 2025 年稍後看到的一些競爭緩解，但在第一季、第二季度，我們可能會預計將繼續看到更廣泛的 QSR 提供​​的競爭價值。

Certainly, on the Murphy -- yes, I was going to say on the Murphy side, we continue to see the core fuel nicotine, beer, lottery categories driving consumers, and we're continuing to see the trade down to Murphy from other retailers as evidenced in our share growth there. And the good news is it represents a higher proportion of our total network and a higher proportion of our future growth as well. So while we're doing concrete steps to intentionally address some of the traffic headwinds at QuickChek, those same types of steps at Murphy are having even more compounding benefit.

當然，在墨菲方面 - 是的，我要說在墨菲方面，我們繼續看到核心燃料尼古丁、啤酒、彩票類別推動消費者，並且我們繼續看到其他零售商向墨菲的交易正如我們在那裡的份額增長所證明的那樣。好消息是它在我們整個網路中所佔的比例更高，並且在我們未來的成長中也佔有更高的比例。因此，雖然我們正在採取具體措施來有意解決 QuickChek 的一些交通阻力，但 Murphy 採取的相同類型的措施正在帶來更多的複合效益。

Okay. I appreciate that. And then can you talk about something we first talked about in March? I think you guys identified some opportunities, I believe you phrased it like pulling up the bottom quartile of each quartile of their stores and EBITDA. Just curious where we are in that journey?

好的。我很欣賞這一點。那麼您能談談我們在三月首次討論過的事情嗎？我認為你們發現了一些機會，我相信你們的措辭就像拉起他們商店和 EBITDA 的每個四分位數的底部四分之一。只是好奇我們在這段旅程中處於什麼位置？

Are we still kind of in the identified stage of finding the stores and finding the opportunities? Are we moving towards more into the execution side of that where that starts to flow through in '25? Just anything there on one of those initiatives that we were talking about.

我們是否仍處於尋找商店和尋找機會的確定階段？我們是否會更多地轉向執行方面，也就是 25 年開始流動的地方？只是我們正在談論的其中一項舉措的任何內容。

Bobby, this is Mindy. I'm happy to take that question. Thank you for remembering and asking. Actually, we have made progress on that initiative. We've done the work to really separate our stores into groups based on those structural factors that we can (inaudible) stores on the like-for-like basis and assess the variability in performance. The good news is we do see variability.

鮑比，這是明迪。我很高興回答這個問題。謝謝你的記得和詢問。事實上，我們在這項舉措上已經取得了進展。我們已經完成了根據這些結構因素將我們的商店真正分成幾組的工作，我們可以（聽不清楚）在同類基礎上進行商店並評估績效的變化。好消息是我們確實看到了改變。

We have 30 clusters of similar stores and because we now see variability in like-for-like stores that says that the variance should be controllable at least to some degree. And we're also now able to attribute most of that addressable variability to some 11 different performance drivers.

我們有 30 個類似商店的集群，因為我們現在看到同類商店之間存在差異，這表明差異至少在某種程度上應該是可控的。我們現在也能夠將大部分可尋址的可變性歸因於大約 11 個不同的效能驅動因素。

And of those drivers, fuel sales influenced by dispenser health represents our largest theoretical upside. So what we're going to be doing next is a proof-of-concept test beginning as early as actually next week to a small set of stores with a plan to roll out to a larger set (inaudible).

在這些驅動因素中，受加油機健康狀況影響的燃油銷售代表了我們最大的理論優勢。因此，我們接下來要做的是概念驗證測試，最快在下週開始在一小部分商店中進行，並計劃推廣到更大的商店（聽不清楚）。

And that proof of concept really will let us assess what is really feasible at the store, what gaps do we have getting that benefit both at the store and at the home office and will help to inform a larger rollout. So we're still in the testing and learning phases, and we're in the early days of that, but we will continue to be able to refine what's really possible for upside capture, what investments also are we going to have to put against that in order to get that benefit capture and also how do we make that benefit sustaining as we go forward.

這個概念驗證確實可以讓我們評估在商店中什麼是真正可行的，我們在商店和家庭辦公室獲得這種好處有哪些差距，並將有助於為更大規模的推廣提供資訊。因此，我們仍處於測試和學習階段，而且還處於早期階段，但我們將繼續能夠完善哪些真正可能實現上行捕獲，以及我們還必須進行哪些投資為了獲得這種利益，以及我們如何使這種利益在我們前進的過程中持續下去。

So yes, we should see some benefit for that in the next year. But again, we're trying to keep our expectations conservative at this point because there is no perfect store. And even though you might find some theoretical opportunity, trying to figure out what is actually realistic to expect and what gaps do we have at the store and in home office to actually get that potential, we're still trying to figure that out.

所以，是的，我們應該會在明年看到一些好處。但同樣，我們目前試圖保持保守的期望，因為沒有完美的商店。即使你可能會找到一些理論上的機會，試圖弄清楚什麼是實際可以預期的，以及我們在商店和家庭辦公室中存在哪些差距來真正發揮這種潛力，但我們仍在努力弄清楚這一點。

But I think as we come into next year, after having done this pilot, we will be a lot more informed about what the actual potential is, and we will be able to start really putting some numbers behind this and giving you some more concrete guidance of what we can expect and when we can expect to get the benefit.

但我認為，當我們進入明年時，在完成這個試點之後，我們將更加了解實際潛力，並且我們將能夠開始真正在這背後提供一些數字，並為您提供一些更具體的指導我們可以期望什麼以及何時可以期望獲得好處。

Yes. Bobby, one thing I would add to that, those inherent structural, uncontrollable factors absolutely make up the top half of that range that we presented in our investor deck. So we're working on the bottom half of that range, and as Mindy said, proving that out.

是的。鮑比，我要補充的一件事是，那些固有的結構性、不可控因素絕對構成了我們在投資者平台中呈現的範圍的上半部。因此，我們正在研究該範圍的下半部分，正如明迪所說，證明這一點。

The other thing is if there's one thing this incredible team of people does is they're always looking for the next opportunity and pushing it forward. But we also have a few things that we want to complete with excellence, like our digital transformation initiative that continues to roll into Q1 of next year, our in-store experience initiative where we've remodeled stores and taken the learnings of that into our store of tomorrow, and then some other common systems work that we're doing across the enterprise.

另一件事是，如果這支令人難以置信的團隊所做的一件事是他們總是在尋找下一個機會並推動它前進。但我們也有一些我們希望出色完成的事情，例如我們的數位轉型計劃將繼續推進到明年第一季度，我們的店內體驗計劃，我們對商店進行了改造，並將從中學到的經驗融入到我們的業務中。

And so there's a pacing mechanism there, also reflecting things that we've started that are delivering real tangible benefits to the bottom line that we want to finish with excellence. And Mindy leading the initiative with Galagher, rightly focusing on the biggest upside opportunity on fuel can make a huge difference because that is one of our traffic-driving categories that impacts the entire store at Murphy. So more to come on that in February, but it's really something that we're not going to probably see fully baked in until 2026.

因此，那裡有一個節奏機制，也反映了我們已經開始的事情，這些事情正在為我們希望以卓越的方式完成的底線帶來真正有形的好處。明迪(Mindy) 與加拉格爾(Galagher) 一起領導了這項計劃，正確地關注燃料方面最大的上行機會可以產生巨大的影響，因為這是我們影響整個墨菲商店的流量驅動類別之一。因此，2 月還會有更多內容推出，但這確實是我們可能要到 2026 年才能看到完全成熟的東西。

Best of luck here in the fourth quarter.

祝第四季好運。

Thank you. Seeing as there are no more questions in the queue, that concludes our question-and-answer session. I'll now turn the call back over to Andrew Clyde for closing remarks.

謝謝。鑑於隊列中沒有更多問題，我們的問答環節就結束了。現在我將把電話轉回給安德魯·克萊德（Andrew Clyde）做總結發言。

Great. Well, thanks, everyone, for joining. It's great to see a quarter come together despite all the noise and uncertainty out there in the marketplace and with consumers. And I think it's just evidence that our brands are delivering on a value offer that just continues to resonate. Our capability investments are continuing to translate into real results that are meaningful to the business and the consumers. And our teams across the enterprise are doing a great job in terms of preparing us for future growth in that walk to $1.3 billion in 2028.

偉大的。好的，謝謝大家的加入。儘管市場和消費者存在著許多噪音和不確定性，但很高興看到四分之一的人走到一起。我認為這只是證明我們的品牌正在提供持續引起共鳴的價值。我們的能力投資正在繼續轉化為對企業和消費者有意義的實際成果。我們整個企業的團隊在為 2028 年實現 13 億美元的未來成長做好準備方面做得非常出色。

So big thanks to all the teams out there that have went through a lot in Q3 with the hurricanes and the initiatives and everything that's going on. So congratulations to them, and we look forward to speaking with investors soon. Thank you.

非常感謝所有在第三季經歷了颶風、舉措以及正在發生的一切的團隊。祝賀他們，我們期待盡快與投資者交談。謝謝。

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的加入。您現在可以斷開連線。