Murphy USA Inc (MUSA) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

My name is Janine and I will be your conference operator for today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Murphy USA fourth-quarter 2024 earnings conference call.

我叫 Janine，今天我將擔任您的會議主持人。現在，我歡迎大家參加 Murphy USA 2024 年第四季財報電話會議。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）

I will now turn the call over to Christian Pikul, Vice President of Investor Relations. Sir, please go ahead.

現在我將電話轉給投資人關係副總裁 Christian Pikul。先生，請繼續。

Hey, thanks, Janine. Good morning, everybody. Thanks for joining us today.

嘿，謝謝你，珍妮。大家早安。感謝您今天加入我們。

With me are Andrew Clyde, Chief Executive Officer; Mindy West, Chief Operating Officer; Galagher Jeff, Chief Financial Officer; and Donnie Smith, Chief Accounting Officer.

和我一起的是執行長安德魯·克萊德 (Andrew Clyde)； Mindy West，首席營運長； Jeff Galagher，財務長；以及首席會計官唐尼·史密斯（Donnie Smith）。

After some opening comments from Andrew, Galagher will provide an overview of the financial results and our 2025 guidance. And then following some closing comments from Andrew, we will open the call up to Q&A.

在安德魯發表開場白之後，加拉格爾將概述財務表現和我們的 2025 年指引。然後，在安德魯發表一些結束語之後，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 1,995. As such, no assurances can be given that these events will occur or that the projections will be attained. 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, other recent SEC filings. Murphy USA takes no duty to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. 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 in the Investors section of our website.

請記住，本次電話會議中的一些評論（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。因此，無法保證這些事件一定會發生或預測一定會實現。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 以及其他最近的 SEC 文件。Murphy USA 不承擔公開更新或修改任何前瞻性聲明的義務。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 GAAP 的績效指標。作為我們收益新聞稿的一部分，我們提供了時間表來協調這些非 GAAP 指標與 GAAP 基礎上的報告結果，您可以在我們網站的「投資者」部分找到這些時間表。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Andrew.

說完這些，我會把電話轉給安德魯。

Thank you, Christian. Good morning, everyone.

謝謝你，克里斯蒂安。大家早安。

I'm very pleased with Murphy USA's performance in both the fourth-quarter and the full-year 2024. The business delivered just over $1 billion of EBITDA in 2024, demonstrating the sustainability of the earnings potential of the business. We plan to grow the base of sustainable earnings in the years to come as we accelerate our new store program, remain laser focused on improving store performance across the network, and relentlessly challenging ourselves to innovate and better serve our customers.

我對 Murphy USA 在 2024 年第四季和全年的表現非常滿意。該業務在 2024 年實現了略高於 10 億美元的 EBITDA，證明了該業務盈利潛力的可持續性。我們計劃在未來幾年擴大可持續盈利基礎，加快新店計劃，繼續專注於提高整個網路的門市業績，並不斷挑戰自我創新和更好地服務客戶。

Against that backdrop, overall, 2024 was a disappointing year for a number of reasons. The year got off to a slow start as rising prices and severe weather hindered transactions across most of the MUSA network. Continued pressure on food inflation in conjunction with QSR value wars pressured QuickCheck markets. Further, a well-supplied product market with low volatility and minimal logistics challenges impacted the PS&W side of our business, leading us to lower-than-expected all-in margins in 2024.

在這樣的背景下，總體而言，2024 年因多種原因而令人失望的一年。由於價格上漲和惡劣天氣阻礙了 MUSA 網路大部分地區的交易，今年開局緩慢。持續的食品通膨壓力加上 QSR 價值戰給 QuickCheck 市場帶來了壓力。此外，供應充足、波動性低且物流挑戰最小的產品市場對我們業務的 PS&W 方面產生了影響，導致我們 2024 年的全利潤率低於預期。

And although we finished the year with more new stores in the prior year, we underdelivered against our internal schedule targets, which also impacted fuel gallons and merchandise sales due to fewer store months in operation. Consequently, those collective misses translated into lower incentive related G&A because we fell short of some of our own performance goals.

儘管我們在上一年開設了更多新店，但我們未能完成內部規劃目標，而且由於門市營運月份減少，這也影響了燃油加侖數和商品銷售。因此，由於我們未能實現自己的一些績效目標，這些集體失誤轉化為較低的激勵相關 G&A。

That being said, there were a lot of bright spots, too. The Murphy branded network delivered impressive results growing per store merchandise sales in margin dollars by 3.5% and 5.9% respectively for the full-year 2024, with great momentum in the fourth quarter across center store categories, which delivered total non-nicotine margin growth of 7.2% versus the fourth quarter of 2023, reflecting the impact of the key initiatives we have spoken to before.

話雖如此，但也有很多亮點。墨菲品牌網絡取得了令人矚目的成績，2024 年全年每家門市商品銷售額利潤率分別增長 3.5% 和 5.9%，第四季度中心門市類別的增長勢頭強勁，與 2023 年第四季度相比，非尼古丁總利潤率增長了 7.2%，反映了我們之前談到的關鍵舉措的影響。

Importantly, looking at fuel performance for the full year, while the supply demand balance and other factors impacting PS&W were less favorable, retail margins were up 50 basis points to [$28.1] per gallon, reflecting structural industry pressures on the marginal player.

重要的是，縱觀全年的燃料表現，雖然供需平衡和影響 PS&W 的其他因素不太有利，但零售利潤率上漲了 50 個基點，達到每加侖 [28.1 美元]，反映出行業結構性壓力對邊際參與者的影響。

Perhaps more importantly, this improvement in retail margins occurred despite conditions that historically have been less favorable to retail margin capture, reflecting a more compressed price environment, and lower volatility within that environment.

或許更重要的是，儘管歷史上的條件對零售利潤率不太有利，但零售利潤率仍然有所提高，反映出價格環境更加壓縮，波動性更低。

Taken together, the fundamental thesis that Murphy USA remains an advantage and growing player in an industry with a long-term track record of demand stability, not only remains intact, but looks even more favorable from where we are sitting. The runway remains long for continued margin growth over time, high return organic growth investments are accelerating, and our core business performance is supported with value creating initiatives. These persistent and powerful drivers strongly support our balanced capital allocation levers of store growth and share repurchase, which has delivered significant returns to investors since our 2013 spin.

綜合起來，墨菲美國公司仍然是一個具有長期穩定需求記錄的行業中的優勢和成長型參與者，這一基本論點不僅保持不變，而且從我們目前的情況來看甚至更加有利。隨著時間的推移，利潤率的持續成長仍任重道遠，高回報的有機成長投資正在加速，我們的核心業務表現也得到了價值創造舉措的支持。這些持續且強大的驅動力強有力地支持了我們平衡的資本配置槓桿——門市成長和股票回購，自 2013 年分拆以來，這些槓桿已為投資者帶來了豐厚的回報。

I'm going to turn it over to Galagher to discuss our 2025 guidance in the context of the quarterly and full-year performance. Galagher?

我將把這個任務交給加拉格爾，讓他結合季度和全年業績來討論我們的 2025 年指引。加拉格爾？

Hello, everyone, and thank you, Andrew.

大家好，謝謝你，安德魯。

Let me start off by reviewing 2024 performance results and highlights in combination with the elements of our 2025 guidance. Starting with new-store growth. We completed 32 new-to-industry stores in 2024 in line with our guided range of 30 to 35 new stores. Since year end, we've opened 4 additional stores with 17 stores currently under construction, giving us a great head start on our 2025 build program. As we have discussed, we expect to increase new-store openings this year, charting up to 50 new stores in 2025 and our pipeline sets us up well for continued delivery in 2026 and beyond.

首先，我結合 2025 年指引的要素回顧一下 2024 年的績效結果和亮點。從新店成長開始。我們計劃在 2024 年開設 32 家新店，符合我們計劃開設 30 至 35 家新店的預期範圍。自年底以來，我們又開設了 4 家門市，目前有 17 家門市正在建設中，這為我們的 2025 年建設計劃提供了良好的開端。正如我們所討論的，我們預計今年將增加新店開設數量，到 2025 年將開設多達 50 家新店，並且我們的產品線為我們在 2026 年及以後的持續交付做好了準備。

We also completed 47 raise and rebuild projects last year. While our construction schedule allowed for a higher pace raise-and-rebuild activity in 2024, we're taking a more measured approach in 2025, planning for no more than 30 projects to ensure we're supporting new-store development. Our primary focus remains adding more highly productive 2,800-square-foot stores to the network as part of our long-term goal of adding around 500 new stores over the next decade.

去年我們也完成了 47 個加高重建計畫。雖然我們的施工計劃允許我們在 2024 年加快重建步伐，但我們在 2025 年將採取更加慎重的方式，計劃不超過 30 個項目，以確保我們能夠支持新店開發。我們的主要重點仍然是在網路中添加更多高效的 2,800 平方英尺商店，這是我們在未來十年內增加約 500 家新商店的長期目標的一部分。

Turning to fuel volume. Average 2024 fuel volumes of 240,600 gallons per store month came in closer to the low end of our guidance of 240,000 to 245,000 gallons. Full-year volumes were pushed a bit lower by softness in Q4 volumes, which were down 2.4% on an average per store month basis. While October volumes were flat to prior year, as we mentioned in our third quarter call, a flat to rising price profile in November and December limited our ability to deploy pricing and capture share.

轉向燃料量。2024 年每家商店每月平均燃料消耗量為 240,600 加侖，接近我們預期的 240,000 至 245,000 加侖的低端。由於第四季銷量疲軟，全年銷量略有下降，平均每家門市每月銷量下降 2.4%。正如我們在第三季電話會議上提到的那樣，雖然 10 月的銷量與去年同期持平，但 11 月和 12 月的價格走勢持平或上漲，限制了我們部署定價和占領市場份額的能力。

Additionally, year-end volumes were softer than expected, with weather events across the south in late December and the Christmas and New Year's holidays falling on a Wednesday in 2024 versus Friday in the prior year. Going forward, we expect total per store fuel volumes to remain relatively flat with the opportunity for high-performing new store gallons to more than offset legacy decline in our older smaller format stores.

此外，由於 12 月底南部地區出現惡劣天氣，且 2024 年聖誕節和新年假期恰逢週三，而上一年則恰逢週五，因此年底交易量低於預期。展望未來，我們預計每家商店的燃油總消耗量將保持相對平穩，而業績優異的新商店的燃油消耗量將有機會抵消我們較老的小型商店遺留的燃油消耗下降。

As such, average per store month fuel volumes are expected to remain within the range of 240,000 to 245,000 gallons. In 2025, we expect to sell just over 5 billion gallons of fuel in total, up 4.5% from 2024. Keep in mind though, per store fuel volumes only tell part of the story. We're adding more new stores in 2025 as prior build classes ramp up to maturity, coupled with more productive rates and rebuilds from prior years. Our share of market continues to grow.

因此，預計每家商店每月平均燃油消耗量將保持在 240,000 至 245,000 加侖範圍內。到 2025 年，我們預計燃料總銷量將略高於 50 億加侖，比 2024 年增長 4.5%。但請記住，每家商店的燃料量只能說明部分情況。隨著先前建造的店鋪逐漸成熟，再加上前幾年的生產力和重建工作不斷提高，我們將在 2025 年增加更多新店。我們的市場佔有率持續成長。

Interestingly, when compared to the 4 billion total gallons Murphy USA sold in 2014, our first full year as a public company, Murphy SA experienced total volume growth of nearly 1 billion gallons or 21% through 2024. QuickCheck accounts for a portion of that, but Murphy-only fuel volumes have grown over 500 million gallons in the past decade. That is more than double the 6.5% total volume growth seen in the states we operate, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

有趣的是，與 Murphy USA 在 2014 年（我們作為上市公司的第一個完整年度）銷售的 40 億加侖總銷量相比，Murphy SA 到 2024 年的總銷量將增長近 10 億加侖，增幅為 21%。QuickCheck 只佔其中的一部分，但過去十年中，光是 Murphy 的燃料消耗量就增加了 5 億加侖以上。根據聯邦公路管理局的數據，這一數字是我們營運所在州總運輸量增加 6.5% 的兩倍多。

So that means we're taking share in a large and growing market and building highly productive assets in the right areas to capture that growth. We remain very excited about the future potential of our business as our strategy and execution puts us in a strong position to compete and win in this growing industry.

這意味著我們正在一個龐大且不斷成長的市場中佔有一席之地，並在正確的領域建立高生產力的資產來抓住這個成長機會。我們對我們業務的未來潛力感到非常興奮，因為我們的策略和執行使我們在這個不斷發展的行業中處於有利的競爭和勝利地位。

Moving to merchandise contribution dollars. We generated $834 million in merchandizing contribution dollars in 2024, up 3.8% versus 2023, with notable acceleration and improvement in fourth quarter results. Fourth quarter merchandizing margin of $209 million, was up $11 million versus the prior year, the largest absolute year-over-year increase during 2024, driven by strength in both nicotine and non-nicotine margin contribution, which grew 6.1% and 4.4% respectively.

轉向商品捐贈美元。2024 年，我們的商品銷售貢獻金額達到 8.34 億美元，較 2023 年成長 3.8%，第四季業績明顯加速並有所改善。第四季商品銷售利潤為 2.09 億美元，比上年增加 1,100 萬美元，為 2024 年最大的絕對同比增長，這得益於尼古丁和非尼古丁利潤貢獻的強勁增長，分別增長了 6.1% 和 4.4%。

For the full year 2024, merchandizing and contribution growth was slower than we originally projected due to some trends that are likely to continue into 2025. We expect a challenging customer environment and value menu competition to continue pressuring QuickCheck markets and their [food-led] offer. We relaunched QuickCheck rewards in the fourth quarter and are seeing strong early results but expect the QuickCheck business to deliver slightly lower year-over-year contribution dollars.

就 2024 年全年而言，商品銷售和捐款成長速度低於我們最初預測，因為某些趨勢可能會持續到 2025 年。我們預計，充滿挑戰的客戶環境和價值菜單競爭將繼續給 QuickCheck 市場及其 [以食品為主導的] 產品帶來壓力。我們在第四季度重新推出了 QuickCheck 獎勵計劃，並看到了強勁的早期業績，但預計 QuickCheck 業務的年度貢獻金額將略有下降。

However, our merchandizing customer remains strong at Murphy USA, driven by our core inside categories, resulting in 6.7% total contribution dollar growth in 2024. We expect that strength to continue at Murphy stores in 2025 and are forecasting around 6% total contribution dollar growth. Taken together in 2025, we're forecasting a range of $855 million to $875 million or nearly 4% growth at the midpoint, in line with the rate of growth we saw in 2024.

然而，我們的商品客戶在 Murphy USA 依然表現強勁，這得益於我們的核心內部類別，導致 2024 年總貢獻金額成長 6.7%。我們預計，到 2025 年，墨菲商店將繼續保持這種強勁勢頭，並預測總貢獻金額將成長約 6%。總體而言，我們預測 2025 年的複合成長率將在 8.55 億美元至 8.75 億美元之間，即中點成長率接近 4%，與我們在 2024 年看到的成長率一致。

Moving to OpEx. In 2024, operating expenses per store month were up 5.2%, toward the low end of our guided range of [$35,000 to $36,000]. Nearly half of the total increase was driven by new and larger stores that opened in 2024. Our operations team continues to drive efficiencies across labor, which was up only 3.9% per store. Our labor expense was driven by larger format stores, targeted wage investments, and rising minimum wage requirements in several states.

轉向 OpEx。2024 年，每家門市每月的營運費用成長 5.2%，接近我們指引範圍的低端[35,000 美元到 36,000 美元]。總成長的近一半是由 2024 年開設的新店和大型商店推動的。我們的營運團隊持續提高整個勞動力的效率，每家商店的效率僅提高了 3.9%。我們的勞動力支出受到大型商店、有針對性的工資投資以及幾個州不斷提高的最低工資要求的影響。

Looking to 2025, nearly half of our projected per store OpEx increase is again a direct outcome of our decision to build larger format stores, which are more costly to run than the network average, but most importantly, they also contribute more merchandise dollars.

展望 2025 年，我們預計每家門市營運成本成長的近一半再次直接源於我們決定建造更大規模門市，這些門市的營運成本高於網路平均水平，但最重要的是，它們也能貢獻更多的商品銷售額。

However, do keep in mind that when these stores are put into service, operating expenses running very close to the target maturity rate or -- while merchandise dollars take about three years to reach maturity. Thus, in the early years of accelerating these stores, you will see OpEx growing a little bit more than merchandizing contribution until the stores reach maturity at which point, the coverage ratio turns positive in our new larger format stores. Given these factors, our 2025 store operating expense guidance range represents a 4% to 6% increase or an average per store metric of [$36,500 per month to $37,000] per month.

然而，請記住，當這些商店投入使用時，營運費用非常接近目標成熟率，而商品美元需要大約三年才能成熟。因此，在加速這些商店發展的早期，您會看到營運支出的成長略高於商品銷售貢獻，直到商店成熟，此時，我們新的大型商店的覆蓋率變為正值。考慮到這些因素，我們 2025 年門市營運費用指引範圍代表著 4% 至 6% 的成長，或平均每家門市每月 [36,500 美元至 37,000 美元]。

Now moving the corporate cost. SG&A expense was $235 million in 2024, down 2.1% versus 2023 and below our adjusted guidance range of $240 million to $250 million. These 2024 results were driven by tightly managing home office expenses, a reduction in professional fees as some major initiative investments wound down, and lower incentive-based compensation, which Andrew mentioned earlier, a component we would expect to return to normal in 2025.

現在轉移企業成本。2024 年銷售、一般及行政費用為 2.35 億美元，較 2023 年下降 2.1%，低於我們調整後的指導範圍 2.4 億美元至 2.5 億美元。2024 年業績的取得得益於嚴格管理總部辦公費用、隨著一些重大舉措投資的減少而導致的專業費用減少以及激勵性薪酬的降低（安德魯之前提到過），我們預計激勵性薪酬將在 2025 年恢復正常。

Remember, most of the expenses associated with larger scale transformative projects such as digital transformation and QuickCheck rewards were incurred in 2023 and 2024. In 2025, we will continue making technology and capability investments to enhance our performance while driving additional leverage and efficiency from our teams. As such, we're forecasting a range of $245 million to $255 million in SG&A, ensuring we deliver incremental value to investors as we ramp up our store growth.

請記住，數位轉型和 QuickCheck 獎勵等較大規模轉型專案相關的大部分費用都是在 2023 年和 2024 年產生的。2025 年，我們將繼續進行技術和能力投資，以提高我們的業績，同時提高我們團隊的槓桿率和效率。因此，我們預測銷售、一般及行政費用將在 2.45 億美元至 2.55 億美元之間，以確保我們在加快門市成長的同時為投資者提供增量價值。

Finally, to capital spending. Total capital spending in 2024 came in at just over $500 million, above our regional guided range of 400 -- to $450 million but within our revised range of $500 million to $525 million provided on our third quarter call. Importantly, all of this increase is attributed to a purposeful acceleration of new-store growth, allowing us to get a head start on 2025 construction activity.

最後，關於資本支出。2024 年的總資本支出略高於 5 億美元，高於我們區域指引範圍 4 億至 4.5 億美元，但在我們第三季電話會議上提供的 5 億至 5.25 億美元的修訂範圍內。重要的是，所有這些增長都歸因於新店增長的有目的的加速，使我們能夠在 2025 年的建設活動中搶佔先機。

Our 2025 program will look similar in terms of total capital allocated for growth, resulting in a guided range of $450 million to $500 million. Importantly, this capital spend will deliver more new stores and more EBITDA growth in both 2025 and 2026 as in-service stores progress along their three-year ramp curve. The new store pipeline remains in good shape. We're making steady progress toward achieving a sustainable run rate of around 50 new stores each year, which at maturity should deliver roughly $40 million to $45 million of incremental EBITDA annually.

我們的 2025 年計畫在分配給成長的總資本方面將類似，指導範圍為 4.5 億美元至 5 億美元。重要的是，隨著在職門店沿著三年的成長曲線前進，這些資本支出將在 2025 年和 2026 年帶來更多新店和更多的 EBITDA 成長。新店籌備情況依然良好。我們正朝著每年開設約 50 家新店的可持續營運目標穩步前進，到成熟時，每年應能帶來約 4,000 萬至 4,500 萬美元的增量 EBITDA。

Now before I turn it back to Andrew and as mentioned in the earnings release, we continued our balanced capital allocation strategy and repurchased approximately 240,000 shares in Q4 and 938,000 shares for the full-year 2024 for a total of $446.6 million, resulting in a cash and cash equivalent balance of $47 million at the year end.

現在，在我把主題轉回安德魯之前，正如收益報告中所提到的，我們繼續實施平衡的資本配置策略，在第四季度回購了約 240,000 股，在 2024 年全年現金和現金等價物餘額為 4700 萬美元，導致年底的現金和現金等價物餘額為 4700 萬美元。

The power and impact of our share repurchase decisions are reflected in our year-end share count of around 20 million shares, meaning we have bought back nearly 60% of our shares outstanding since our spend. The exact amount of shares we purchased in any given year will depend on the number of factors, one of the most important of which is the share price.

我們的股票回購決策的力量和影響反映在我們年底約 2000 萬股的股票數量上，這意味著自我們支出以來已經回購了近 60% 的流通股。我們在任何一年購買的具體股票數量取決於許多因素，其中最重要的因素之一就是股價。

Given our free cash flow generation, we intend to continue executing a balanced capital allocation strategy which result in meaningful EPS accretion in both the year of repurchase and preserving that benefit in all future years. As we grow net income, the accretion impact will be compounded going forward, underscoring our strong commitment to ongoing shareholder value creation.

鑑於我們的自由現金流產生，我們打算繼續執行平衡的資本配置策略，這將導致回購年度的每股收益顯著增長，並在未來幾年保持這一收益。隨著我們淨收入的成長，未來的增值效應將會加劇，這凸顯了我們對持續創造股東價值的堅定承諾。

And with that, I turn it back over to Andrew.

說完這些，我把麥克風交還給安德魯。

Thank you, Galagher.

謝謝你，加拉格爾。

In closing, as is our custom, we will provide a range of fuel margins, representative of our view of the industry around which investors can forecast the earnings power of the business subject to their own beliefs and expectations.

最後，按照我們的慣例，我們將提供一系列燃料利潤率，代表我們對該行業的看法，投資者可以根據自己的信念和預期預測企業的獲利能力。

As we referenced on the third quarter call, the most likely range for all-in margins in what we call a normal environment, one with stable supply dynamics and limited price volatility, has moderated in the $0.30 to $0.32 per gallon range the past few years. Reminder, the $0.34 we saw in 2022 resulted from a steeply falling price environment from a high absolute price level approaching almost $5 a gallon, coupled with benefits from a tighter supply market, and that's a concurrence of events we might expect only once in every six to eight years. In 2024, we saw neither of those conditions, and as such, we would expect margins to remain in a tighter $0.30 to $0.32 per gallon range in a normal, somewhat benign environment.

正如我們在第三季電話會議上提到的那樣，在所謂的正常環境（供應動態穩定且價格波動有限）下，全包利潤率最可能的範圍在過去幾年中一直在每加侖 0.30 美元至 0.32 美元的範圍內波動。提醒一下，我們在 2022 年看到的 0.34 美元的價格是由於價格環境從接近每加侖 5 美元的高絕對價格水平急劇下跌，再加上供應市場收緊帶來的好處，而這種事件的發生可能每六到八年才會出現一次。2024 年，我們不會遇到上述任何一種情況，因此，我們預計在正常、較為溫和的環境下，利潤率將保持在每加侖 0.30 美元至 0.32 美元的範圍內。

Within this framework, we do continue to believe challenge in-store performance and higher cost for marginal retailers will continue to result in higher equilibrium margins as we experienced in 2024 where we saw retail margins at 50 basis points. This dynamic is highly unlikely to change as the fuel pass through mechanism represents the easiest and most efficient way retailers can pass on their higher overall costs, leading to our strong belief that we would expect to see the structural upward pressure on margins continue over time.

在此框架內，我們確實繼續相信，店內業績的挑戰和邊際零售商成本的上升將繼續導致更高的均衡利潤率，正如我們在 2024 年所經歷的那樣，零售利潤率達到 50 個基點。這種動態不太可能改變，因為燃料轉嫁機制是零售商轉嫁其較高整體成本的最簡單、最有效的方式，因此我們堅信，我們預期利潤率的結構性上行壓力將持續存在。

So in 2025, using the midpoint of all other guided ranges, we would expect EBITDA of $1 billion to $1.12 billion at an all-in margin range of [$0.305 and 30 -- to $0.325] per gallon respectively. We have stated in prior years that $0.30 of all-in margin would generate about $1 billion in EBITDA.

因此，到 2025 年，使用所有其他指導範圍的中點，我們預計 EBITDA 為 10 億美元至 11.2 億美元，全利潤率範圍分別為每加侖 [0.305 美元和 30 -- 至 0.325 美元]。我們在前幾年曾表示，0.30 美元的全利潤將產生約 10 億美元的 EBITDA。

The difference in 2025 is coming primarily from two factors. Headwinds at QuickCheck stores and the three-year ramp to maturity of our new stores, as Galagher mentioned. A key component to delivering our earnings potential going forward is the portfolio of initiatives currently underway that are making the business better, as evidenced by the strong Q4 merch results.

2025年的差異主要來自兩個因素。正如 Galagher 所提到的，QuickCheck 商店面臨阻力，而我們新店需要三年才能成熟。實現我們未來獲利潛力的一個關鍵因素是目前正在進行的一系列舉措，這些舉措正在使業務變得更好，而第四季度強勁的商品業績就證明了這一點。

I'll close out with some comments on preliminary January performance as well. Per-store fuel volumes approximated 95% of prior year levels, impacted by three [named] storms over the past month, Blair, Cora, and Enzo, each of which resulted in several 100 store closures and delayed openings across our network. We talked about weather as a factor last year, but that environment, while disruptive, was nothing compared to the downtime impacting our January performance.

最後，我也會對一月份的初步表現發表一些評論。由於受到過去一個月發生的三次（指定）風暴（布萊爾、科拉和恩佐）的影響，每家商店的燃油量約為上年水平的 95%，這三次風暴分別導致我們整個網路的數百家商店關閉和開業延遲。去年我們討論過天氣因素，但那種環境雖然會造成乾擾，但與影響我們一月份業績的停機時間相比，這根本不算什麼。

That being said, retail margins are trending about $0.02 pennies higher than last January, largely offsetting the impact from lower volumes and likely resulting in fuel contribution a little bit shy of our internal plan. As you can imagine, the number of store closures also had an impact on merchandise results, but a preliminary view of the data says the business performed admirably in January, with results in close proximity to our internal plan, which is a huge testament to the spirit and tenacity of our store managers and associates who face so many challenges. So I thank you all again for your hard work and continued dedication to our customers.

話雖如此，零售利潤率比去年 1 月高出約 0.02 美分，很大程度上抵消了銷量下降的影響，並可能導致燃料貢獻略低於我們的內部計劃。你可以想像，關閉門市的數量也會對商品業績產生影響，但初步數據顯示，1 月份業務表現令人欽佩，業績非常接近我們的內部計劃，這充分證明了我們的門店經理和員工在面對諸多挑戰時所展現出的精神和毅力。因此，我再次感謝大家的辛勤工作以及對客戶的持續奉獻。

As we conclude our prepared remarks, I do think it's noteworthy to point out that we have essentially hit a major milestone, reducing our share count to about 20 million shares. As Galagher noted, the exact number of shares repurchased is a function of several factors, but the simple math highlights the next 1 million shares represents 5% of the float. Accordingly, our powerful balanced capital allocation approach is well positioned to deliver double-digit EPS growth and corresponding TSR well into the future.

在我們結束準備好的演講時，我認為值得指出的是，我們基本上已經達到了一個重要的里程碑，將我們的股票數量減少到約 2000 萬股。正如加拉格爾所指出的，回購股票的具體數量取決於多種因素，但簡單的計算表明，接下來的 100 萬股代表了流通股的 5%。因此，我們強大的平衡資本配置方法預計將在未來實現兩位數的每股盈餘成長和相應的股東總回報。

Let's now turn the call back to the operator and we'll open it up to Q&A.

現在讓我們將電話轉回給接線員，然後開始問答環節。

Bobby Griffin, Raymond James.

鮑比·格里芬、雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

This is Alessandra Jimenez on for Bobby Griffin.

這是 Bobby Griffin 的亞歷山德拉希門尼斯 (Alessandra Jimenez)。

Thank you for taking our questions. First, I just wanted to touch on the non-nicotine category. What drove that category to flip positive fact positive in the quarter? Was it driven by a change in performance at Murphy's brand or QuickCheck stores?

感謝您回答我們的問題。首先，我只想談談非尼古丁類別。是什麼促使該類別在本季實現正向轉變？這是由 Murphy 品牌或 QuickCheck 商店業績變化所致嗎？

So the Murphy stores performed very well. I mean, we saw double-digit growth in a number of our categories packaged beverage, candy, beer sales, salty snacks were up high-single digits, so really strong performance there. And look, we attribute a lot of that to the initiatives. We talked last year about the second half backloaded initiatives from digital transformation. And we believe those have really made a difference when we look at our same-store sales. QC performed also well in Q4, not as well as our expectations or plan, but certainly on the food and beverage side, we saw some strength in Q4 as well as we ended the year.

因此，墨菲商店的業績非常好。我的意思是，我們的許多類別的包裝飲料、糖果、啤酒銷量都實現了兩位數增長，鹹​​味小吃的銷量也實現了高個位數增長，因此表現非常強勁。看看吧，我們將這很大程度歸功於這些舉措。我們去年談到了下半年數位轉型的後備措施。當我們查看我們的同店銷售額時，我們相信這些確實帶來了變化。QC 在第四季度的表現也很好，雖然不如我們的預期或計劃，但在食品和飲料方面，我們在第四季度以及年底都看到了一些強勁表現。

Okay, that's helpful.

好的，這很有幫助。

And then, the implied non-nicotine gross margins declined year by year on 4Q despite better sales. Can you walk us through some of the puts and takes on that category and any of the cost pressures, whether that's the QSR promotional pressure, et cetera? And what are you assuming from a price and promotional cadence in 2025 Outlook?

隨後，第四季儘管銷量有所好轉，但隱含的非尼古丁毛利率卻逐年下降。您能否向我們介紹一下該類別的一些優點和缺點以及成本壓力，無論是 QSR 促銷壓力還是其他壓力？您對 2025 年展望中的價格和促銷節奏有何假設？

Sure, so one of the big gaps between the sales growth rate and the margin growth rate is the impact of how we report lotto in lottery, and so that's going to be the biggest driver there between those.

當然，銷售成長率和利潤率成長率之間的一個巨大差距是我們如何報告彩票的影響，因此這將是兩者之間最大的驅動因素。

In terms of the cadence, we do not expect to see anything materially different, certainly the tobacco firms represent a large component of our promotional spend, and so a lot of variants could be a function of their initiatives and what their objectives are as well. But at this stage we don't see a major change in our promotional cadence.

就節奏而言，我們預計不會看到任何實質性的不同，當然菸草公司在我們的促銷支出中佔了很大一部分，因此許多變化可能取決於他們的舉措和目標。但現階段我們的促銷節奏並沒有重大變化。

I would say on the food and beverage side at QuickCheck, we do expect to see the QSR price value wars continue throughout 2025 and some of the high impact six-inch subs for $3.99 breakfast bundles, et cetera that have been important to sustaining traffic and sales. We do expect those to continue throughout 2025.

我想說，在 QuickCheck 的食品和飲料方面，我們確實預計 QSR 價格戰將在 2025 年持續下去，而一些高影響力的六英寸潛艇堡售價為 3.99 美元的早餐套餐等對於維持客流量和銷售額至關重要。我們確實預計這種情況將在 2025 年持續下去。

I would say at some point, broadly for QSRs, not sure how sustainable that is, but the fact that we have a highly attractive fuels business that underpins our earnings potential is something they don't have and accordingly we also have the diversification of our markets.

我想說，在某種程度上，對於 QSR 來說，不確定這是否可持續，但事實上，我們擁有一個極具吸引力的燃料業務，支撐著我們的盈利潛力，這是他們所沒有的，因此，我們的市場也多樣化了。

Thank you so much, and best of luck here in 2025.

非常感謝，祝你 2025 年好運。

John Royall, JP Morgan.

摩根大通的約翰·羅亞爾。

So my first question is on the buyback. You've been pretty consistent with keeping that pace at somewhere near that 1 million shares per year, which is the level you've talked about. My question is on your willingness to let balance sheet leverage float up to stick to that commitment and maybe more of a downside case for the business in '25. Just trying to understand how you think about the buyback versus the balance sheet in an environment where, say, hypothetically we lose a couple cents of fuel margin, which I know isn't your base case, but just trying to understand how you think of it.

我的第一個問題是關於回購的。您一直非常穩定地將這個速度保持在每年 100 萬股左右，這也是您所說的水平。我的問題是，您是否願意讓資產負債表槓桿率上升以堅持這一承諾，這也許對 25 年的業務來說是一個更大的下行風險。只是想了解您如何看待回購與資產負債表，假設我們損失了幾美分的燃料利潤，我知道這不是您的基本情況，但只是想了解您是如何看待它的。

Sure, it's a really good question. What I would say is we're committed to the 50, 50 balanced capital allocation approach. So any leverage that we take on I would not -- have you think about it as we're leveraging up to buy back shares or leveraging to maintain a 50, 50-capital allocation plan. We have levered up from time to time as the earnings power of the business has grown. Our leverage right now is well below 2 times, so that's always something that we can look to do. You rightly note that fuel margin volatility is the single greatest factor in the volatility of the earnings of the business and that's one of the things we clearly lay out with our Board as we establish our plan, our capital allocation framework for not just the coming year but the next three to five years and what we can do to maintain that commitment.

當然，這是一個非常好的問題。我想說的是，我們致力於 50、50 平衡的資本配置方法。因此，我們不會利用任何槓桿——你會認為我們正在利用槓桿回購股票或利用槓桿來維持 50、50 的資本配置計畫。隨著業務獲利能力的成長，我們不時增加槓桿。我們目前的槓桿率遠低於 2 倍，因此這是我們始終可以考慮做的事情。您正確地指出，燃油利潤率波動是企業獲利波動的最大單一因素，這是我們在製定計劃時向董事會明確闡述的事情之一，我們的資本配置框架不僅針對來年，而且針對未來三到五年，以及我們可以採取哪些措施來保持這一承諾。

This is a business that is built to win in all cycles, right? All the things we focus on are about making our business better, we can win in any environment, and so we saw ourselves honestly like we did this last year. I mean, margins were [$0.01] lower than our expectations because the fuel environment was a lot longer and looser than our expectations. So honestly, it was down a $0.01 versus our expectation and we didn't miss a beat. So I hope that provides a little color and context behind our commitment there.

這是一項旨在在所有周期中取勝的業務，對嗎？我們所關注的所有事情都是為了讓我們的業務變得更好，我們可以在任何環境中獲勝，所以我們誠實地看待自己，就像去年一樣。我的意思是，利潤率比我們的預期低 [0.01 美元]，因為燃料環境比我們的預期要長得多，也寬鬆得多。所以說實話，它比我們的預期低了 0.01 美元，但我們沒有錯過任何機會。所以我希望這能為我們在那裡的承諾提供一些色彩和背景。

It does. Thank you, Andrew.

確實如此。謝謝你，安德魯。

And then my second question is on CapEx and perhaps I'm misinterpreting something here and please let me know if I am, but on the third quarter call, you had raised the CapEx guide for '24 to $500 million to $525 million and then I think you had set a similar level -- to expect a similar level in 2025. You ended up at the low end of that range in '24 and actually lower in '25, so it looks like maybe something more than just some activity moving between the two years.

然後我的第二個問題是關於資本支出的，也許我誤解了一些東西，如果是的話請告訴我，但在第三季度電話會議上，您已將 24 年的資本支出指南提高到 5 億美元至 5.25 億美元，然後我認為您設定了一個類似的水平——預計 2025 年也會達到類似的水平。你在 24 年處於該範圍的低端，實際上在 25 年更低，因此看起來可能不僅僅是兩年之間的一些活動。

Could you talk about the CapEx coming in lower both this year and next if I'm interpreting it correct?

如果我的理解正確的話，您能否談談今年和明年的資本支出是否會下降？

Hey, John, this is Galagher. I'll take that one quickly.

嘿，約翰，我是加拉格爾。我很快就拿到了那個。

And we guided that range. There's a little bit of uncertainty in the opening schedules for our stores. So the $500 million to $525 million was a number, assuming we could really deliver our full potential of stores in December. Some of that [split] in 2025. We're going to be relatively flat. We hit around $500 million in 2024, we're planning $500 million in 2025, and the difference you see is a switch from more raise and rebuilds in 2024, shifting to more new-store openings and organic growth in 2025.

我們引導了該範圍。我們的商店開業時間表有些不確定。因此，5 億到 5.25 億美元是一個數字，假設我們真的能在 12 月充分發揮我們商店的潛力。其中一些將在 2025 年[分裂]。我們將會相對平穩。我們在 2024 年達到了 5 億美元左右，我們計劃在 2025 年達到 5 億美元，而您看到的差異是，從 2024 年的更多增資和重建轉向 2025 年的更多新店開設和有機增長。

Irene Nattel, RBC Capital Markets.

艾琳·納特爾，加拿大皇家銀行資本市場。

Just wondering, what kind of discussions are you having with your vendors at this point around promotional support in 2025 as everyone is trying to -- is facing the challenge consumer, and also around just underlying inflation rates from the vendors in 2025?

只是想知道，當每個人都在努力應對消費者的挑戰時，您目前與供應商就 2025 年的促銷支援進行了哪些討論？同時，您也討論了 2025 年供應商的潛在通膨率？

Yeah, that's great. I mean, we won't get into any detail around commercial arrangements, et cetera. I mean, the one thing that our vendors value Murphy USA and QuickCheck for is the high volumes per store that we generate. We represent for many of them very, very strong, stable base load volume, just like our fuel businesses. It's really no different.

是的，太棒了。我的意思是，我們不會談論任何有關商業安排等的細節。我的意思是，我們的供應商重視 Murphy USA 和 QuickCheck 的一個原因是我們每家商店的銷售量都很高。對於其中的許多企業來說，我們代表著非常強勁、穩定的基本負載量，就像我們的燃料業務一樣。真的沒什麼不同。

And that's really important. You think about the candy category and its strong performance in Q4. I mean, the manufacturers really benefit from that commitment to everyday low price and driving that volume, so that commitment over time, the credibility we've established positions as well for those type of discussions.

這確實很重要。您可以考慮一下糖果類別及其在第四季度的強勁表現。我的意思是，製造商確實受益於對每天低價和推動銷售的承諾，因此隨著時間的推移，這種承諾以及我們在此類討論中建立的信譽。

As part of our digital transformation initiative, we did have some initiatives around contract management, and we have seen benefits from those as well. So most often, the type of discussion we have with the vendor may look different than other partners is what can we do together to drive our mutual businesses forward in a positive, way, and for them, given some of the pressures and headwinds they've had, they really value a retailer like us who can drive volume on a sustainable basis that makes it a win-win for both parties. And that's really our philosophy working with them.

作為數位轉型計畫的一部分，我們確實在合約管理方面採取了一些舉措，也從中看到了好處。因此，大多數情況下，我們與供應商的討論類型可能與其他合作夥伴不同，我們可以共同做些什麼來以積極的方式推動我們共同的業務向前發展，而對於他們來說，考慮到他們面臨的一些壓力和阻力，他們真的很看重像我們這樣能夠以可持續的方式推動銷量的零售商，從而實現雙方的雙贏。這確實是我們與他們合作的理念。

That's very helpful, thank you.

這非常有幫助，謝謝。

And just around underlying expectations for price inflation this year?

以及對今年物價通膨的潛在預期？

It's one of those wildcards, every day you got to say I don't know about something and inflation's probably one of those. My sense personally is that we're going to continue to see more elevated inflation. We certainly don't know if all the tariff discussions really translate into more tariffs and therefore higher cost or if it's a negotiating ploy for something else and they're delayed and they never come into existence. Certainly, some of the government initiatives that drove higher spending, kept labor rates elevated, we may see some of that decline.

這是那些未知因素之一，每天你都會說「我不知道」某件事，通貨膨脹可能就是其中之一。我個人的感覺是，我們將繼續看到通貨膨脹進一步上升。我們當然不知道所有關稅討論是否真的會轉化為更多的關稅，從而導致更高的成本，或者這是否是為了其他目的的談判策略，而且它們被推遲並且永遠不會實現。當然，一些政府措施推動了支出增加，使勞動力價格保持高位，我們可能會看到一定程度的下降。

One of my colleagues made the comment the other day that this business is meant to win despite the new cycle and we see a new cycle every single day and honestly we just stay focused on what we can do, control what we can control, and that's really the key message our leadership gives to our team. And if we see higher inflation, we're going to see pressure on our consumer. We saw a lot of trade down this last year to Murphy.

前幾天，我的一位同事評論說，儘管新的周期在不斷變化，但這項業務注定會取得成功，我們每天都會看到一個新的周期，老實說，我們只是專注於我們能做的事情，控制我們能控制的事情，這確實是我們的領導層傳達給我們的團隊的關鍵信息。如果通貨膨脹率上升，我們的消費者就會面臨壓力。去年我們看到很多與墨菲的交易。

One thing I'll tell you is that in the last quarter and looking year over year, even our low-income consumers spent the exact same amount per month from our static panel on the loyalty side. So we're hoping we're well positioned if there is continued inflation and certainly hope it goes down for the benefit of our consumers.

我要告訴你的一件事是，在上個季度以及同比去年同期，即使是我們的低收入消費者，從我們忠誠度方面的靜態面板上每月的消費金額也完全相同。因此，我們希望，如果通貨膨脹持續存在，我們能夠處於有利地位，當然也希望通貨膨脹能夠下降，以造福我們的消費者。

One quick thing to add to that and in addition to Andrew’s comment about the trading into Murphy, our capabilities around the rewards programs now are very strong. And so as the customer seeks more value both on the Murphy side and now the QuickCheck side, we can target what resonates with them. And so in an inflationary environment, we actually know a lot more about our customers than we did a year ago and can offer them the right product at the right price, which we believe will continue to help our business.

除了安德魯關於與墨菲交易的評論之外，還有一點要補充，我們現在在獎勵計劃方面的能力非常強大。因此，當客戶在 Murphy 端和 QuickCheck 端尋求更多價值時，我們可以針對引起他們共鳴的內容。因此，在通貨膨脹的環境下，我們實際上比一年前更了解我們的客戶，並且可以以合適的價格為他們提供合適的產品，我們相信這將繼續對我們的業務有所幫助。

Corey Tarlowe, Jefferies.

科里‧塔洛 (Corey Tarlowe)，傑富瑞 (Jefferies)。

Could you talk a little bit about your expectations for your performance of some of the new stores, would be curious to get your thoughts around maybe the planned roll out and the metrics that you are targeting for these new units.

您能否談談對一些新店業績的期望，我很好奇您對這些新店的計劃推出和目標指標的看法。

Absolutely. So, one thing, we look at is, by build class, how are the new industry stores performing from a merch sales margin fuel gallon standpoint. The 2022 class [NTIs] delivered 310,000 gallons per store month last year. The 2023 class 316,000.

絕對地。因此，我們要看的一件事是，按建造類別，從商品銷售利潤率燃料加侖的角度來看，新行業商店的表現如何。去年，2022 級 [NTI] 每家商店每月交付 310,000 加侖。2023屆，316,000人。

And so if you think about the steady state, the average, those are really high-performing stores, which is why we're so disappointed in not hitting our expectations about getting the new stores up and we own that. Same on the merchandise side, the '22 classes ramped up more significantly to over $225,000 in sales per store month. This is just on the Murphy side, and the '23 is within 10% of that while it's still ramping up.

因此，如果你考慮穩定狀態、平均水平，你會發現這些都是真正表現優異的商店，這就是為什麼我們對未能達到開設新店的預期感到如此失望，我們對此負有責任。商品方面也是一樣，22 個班級的銷售額成長更為顯著，每家商店每月的銷售額超過 225,000 美元。這只是墨菲方面的情況，而 '23 的差距在 10% 以內，並且仍在增加。

So we're really pleased with the new-store performance. We've got very attractive markets that were putting those stores into and as Galagher noted, we feel very good about the pipeline and continuing to build that up. I think one of the challenges for the team now is can we make up in '26, '27, and '28 some of the myths that we had in '24 to be able to get right in line with our 2028 EBITDA goals.

因此，我們對新店的表現非常滿意。我們擁有非常有吸引力的市場，這些市場正在開設這些商店，正如加拉格爾所指出的那樣，我們對通路建設和繼續建設感到非常滿意。我認為團隊現在面臨的挑戰之一是，我們能否在 26 年、27 年和 28 年彌補 24 年的一些誤解，以便能夠完全實現我們的 2028 年 EBITDA 目標。

Got it. That's very helpful.

知道了。這非常有幫助。

Just my follow-up would be just on SG&A. Is there anything in -- with SG&A in particular where you think that there's further efficiency opportunity that that's worth calling out?

我的後續問題只是關於銷售、一般和行政費用 (SG&A)。您認為在銷售、一般和行政費用方面是否有值得進一步指出的效率提升機會？

There is, and frankly we built some of that into our year-over-year plan. We need to continue to invest in technology and other business initiatives to make our business better, but that also means that we've got to retire systems, get the benefits from the efficiencies that are in there as well. And so, that's fully built into the expectations and our guidance for this year.

是的，坦白說，我們已將其中一些內容納入了我們的年度計劃中。我們需要繼續投資於技術和其他業務計劃，以使我們的業務變得更好，但這也意味著我們必須淘汰現有系統，並從現有的效率中獲益。因此，這完全符合我們對今年的預期和指導。

Anthony Bonadio, Wells Fargo.

富國銀行的安東尼·博納迪奧。

So just wanted to ask about contribution guidance in a little more detail. Thinking through that new 3% to 5% number, can you just walk us through the build in a little bit more detail? I realize the environment isn't great out there right now, but it seems like at minimum compare should be easier, you've got support from NTIs, raise and rebuilds, and it seems like some emerging self-help, so just understanding how all of those pieces flow through would be helpful.

所以只是想更詳細地詢問一下貢獻指導。考慮到新的 3% 到 5% 的數字，您能否更詳細地向我們介紹建置流程？我意識到現在的環境並不是很好，但至少比較起來應該更容易，你得到了 NTI 的支持，提高了重建能力，而且似乎有一些新興的自助措施，所以只要了解所有這些部分是如何流動的就會有所幫助。

Sure, so, on the -- maybe the QuickCheck side, start there. We do expect to see some persistent headwinds there and a little bit of a drag on that. So we'd like to think that these QSR price wards resolved themselves and '26 and beyond really pick up there and our efforts are preserving traffic and holding volume in those cases. We are seeing solid performance in the first couple of months of QuickCheck rewards with significant uptick from members there.

當然，也許從 QuickCheck 方面開始。我們確實預計那裡會出現一些持續的阻力，並且會受到一點拖累。因此，我們認為這些 QSR 價格問題已經解決，26 年及以後價格問題將真正得到解決，而我們的努力就是在這些情況下保持客流量和保持銷售。我們看到 QuickCheck 獎勵在頭幾個月表現穩健，會員數量顯著增加。

Nicotine's always going to be one of those categories. I don't think I can go a call without highlighting the fact that we still see a significant amount of illicit product being sold in stores, especially small stores in all of our markets, so there may be a little conservative view on that, but we'd like to see the FDA and justice Department do a better job of cracking down and enforcing on those illicit and illegal products.

尼古丁永遠是這些類別之一。我認為我不能不強調這樣一個事實：我們仍然看到大量非法產品在商店中銷售，特別是我們所有市場中的小商店，因此對此可能持保守態度，但我們希望看到 FDA 和司法部更好地打擊和執行這些非法和非法產品。

We've got the benefit of the raise and rebuilds from last year, the NTI number honestly, when you don't hit the store months that you expected in the prior year, you're not as far along in the ramp in the current year to achieve those benefits that you wanted. Some of the merchandise number reflects the delay in pushing out some of those store months within the course of the year. It's not about hitting the number for the year. It's about hitting the store months when you want to hit them so that in the next year, they're (inaudible) point that you expected.

我們從去年的成長和重建中獲益，老實說，NTI 數字是這樣的，當你沒有達到去年預期的店鋪月份時，你在今年的增長速度就無法達到你想要的水平。部分商品數量的下降反映了部分商店在一年內推出部分商品月份的延遲。這並不是要達到全年的數字。這是關於在您想要的月份進入商店，以便在明年，它們達到您期望的（聽不清楚）點。

And I would add to that, Andrew, we're also really intent on improving the store performance of our existing network. You've heard us talk about our store productivity initiative, and we're currently in a proof-of-concept right now going over after what we believe to be the largest wedge of opportunity, which is fuel dispenser health. Obviously, it's a fuel focused business, us having our pumps in service, flowing fast is important to us because it's important to our customers.

安德魯，我想補充一點，我們也確實致力於提高現有網路的商店績效。您已經聽過我們談論我們的商店生產力計劃，我們現在正在進行概念驗證，以研究我們認為最大的機會點，即加油機的健康狀況。顯然，這是一項以燃料為中心的業務，我們的泵浦正常運作、快速流動對我們來說很重要，因為這對我們的客戶很重要。

So we've organized a lot of resources. We're in the market right now piloting 20 stores, getting ready to roll out to another 80 with a proof-of-concept to really try to find what are the opportunities out there, what are the gaps to achieve that, both in the stores in the home office, and what is the cost benefit to inform a broader rollout.

所以我們組織了很多資源。我們目前正在市場上試行 20 家商店，準備透過概念驗證推廣到另外 80 家商店，以真正嘗試找到哪些機會、在總部商店中實現這一目標的差距是什麼，以及在更廣泛的推廣中成本效益是什麼。

Now it's too early to call out overall value capture potential, but we have identified some really interesting opportunities, especially within maintenance, I'll say, which should not only reduce dispenser downtime but also reduce costs as well. And in fact we found one opportunity in particular that could generate over a $1 million in cost savings on an annualized basis, and we absolutely believe that it's doable at our stores.

現在談論整體價值獲取潛力還為時過早，但我們已經發現了一些非常有趣的機會，特別是在維護方面，我想說，這不僅可以減少分配器的停機時間，還可以降低成本。事實上，我們發現了一個特別的機會，每年可以節省超過 100 萬美元的成本，我們絕對相信這在我們的商店是可行的。

So trust me, when I say in operations, we are putting a lot of resources and effort behind this initiative and we have a really thorough bodacious and bold, but yet very practical plan forward and other store improvement initiatives that are SPE related but not necessarily (inaudible) underway because if nothing else, this initiative is really showing a bright light on areas of opportunities within the stores and has really created a renewed sense of urgency around going after it. So a lot more to come there, but we are really working on this.

所以相信我，當我說在運營中時，我們為這項計劃投入了大量的資源和精力，我們有一個非常全面、大膽但又非常實用的計劃，以及其他與 SPE 相關但不一定（聽不清）正在進行的商店改進計劃，因為即使沒有別的，這項計劃確實為商店內部的機遇領域帶來了曙光，並真正創造了一種新的緊迫感。因此還有很多事情要做，但我們正在努力。

Really helpful. Thanks, guys.

真的很有幫助。謝謝大家。

And then just maybe switching gears to gallons, it looks like those fell off pretty precipitously in November, December from where you guys are running in October. So maybe just some more thoughts on what drove that. And then given we're coming off a year where [APS] and gallons are actually down slightly and given the softness you're seeing so far in January, just more on what gives you confidence in your ability to drive gallon growth in '25.

然後也許只是換到加侖，看起來這些在十一月、十二月從十月的運行情況急劇下降。所以也許只是對導致這現象的原因有一些更多的想法。然後考慮到我們剛剛過去的一年 [APS] 和加侖實際上略有下降，並考慮到您在 1 月份迄今為止看到的疲軟態勢，這更多地讓您對推動 25 年加侖增長的能力充滿信心。

Yeah, I'll take that one as well.

是的，我也要這個。

Looking at volume, fourth quarter really was a tale of winter storms and holidays falling midweek. Also, as Andrew mentioned, that lack of volatility, which just did not allow us to create price separation from our competitors. In fact, speaking of volatility, the number of cost changes greater than $0.05 a gallon in the fourth quarter was less than half the number we saw in the prior year. And instead of that October price fall off and overall volatility that we benefited from in fourth quarter of '23, what we got was an unfavorable and really choppy price profile for '24.

從交易量來看，第四季確實是冬季風暴和周中假期的故事。此外，正如安德魯所提到的，缺乏波動性使得我們無法與競爭對手形成價格差距。事實上，說到波動性，第四季每加侖超過 0.05 美元的成本變化數量還不到去年同期的一半。然而，我們並沒有像 23 年第四季那樣從 10 月的價格下跌和整體波動中獲益，而是遭遇了 24 年不利且波動劇烈的價格狀況。

So for the quarter, fuel volumes were pressured, but still above industry as we were all fighting those multiple headwinds and the strong margins served to offset those volume softness. In January, as we said, started off weak, two really severe winter storms crossing a large portion of our network where at one point we had 500 stores down and unlike hurricanes where you get the benefit of pre-buying and post-buying as evacuees leave and then return, and winter storms, what you really get is sheltering in place and no one moves at all.

因此，就本季而言，燃料銷售面臨壓力，但仍高於行業水平，因為我們都在應對多重不利因素，而強勁的利潤率抵消了銷售疲軟的影響。正如我們所說，一月份一開始形勢就比較弱，兩場非常嚴重的冬季風暴席捲了我們網絡的大部分地區，一度導致 500 家商店停業，與颶風不同，颶風期間撤離人員離開後可以享受預購和後購的優惠，而冬季風暴期間，人們真正得到的是就地避難，根本沒有人移動。

But as Andrew said, the margins were trending in January $0.02 above last year. I will say February, a little better on margin and volume, margins today above $0.30 a gallon, but winter storms hitting the Northeast, in fact, today, resulting in a full day of school closures, we can't control the weather, but we can focus on controlling our controllables and we are executing well, I will tell you that.

但正如安德魯所說，1 月的利潤率比去年同期高出 0.02 美元。我想說，二月份的利潤率和交易量會好一點，今天的利潤率超過每加侖 0.30 美元，但事實上，今天冬季風暴襲擊了東北部，導致學校停課一整天，我們無法控制天氣，但我們可以專注於控制我們的可控因素，而且我們執行得很好，我會告訴你的。

And look, first quarter weakness is not unusual and would rather experience these weather challenges in the first quarter than in the summer, and we have a lot of year left, so we're confident in our ability to deliver. We're confident in the ability of our NTIs to come on stream and help us and with a little market help as well, we're in a really great position to capture volume.

而且，第一季的疲軟並不罕見，我們寧願在第一季經歷這些天氣挑戰，而不是在夏天，而且我們還有很多年要度過，所以我們對我們的交付能力充滿信心。我們相信，我們的 NTI 能夠投入生產並幫助我們，再加上一點市場幫助，我們就處於非常有利的位置來獲取銷售。

Thank you. That concludes our Q&A session. I will now turn the call back to our CEO, Mr. Andrew Clyde, for closing remarks.

謝謝。我們的問答環節到此結束。現在，我將把電話轉回給我們的執行長安德魯·克萊德先生，請他作最後發言。

Great. Well, thank you, all, for tuning in. As we put 2024 behind us, we have a lot of exciting initiatives and things to look forward to in 2025 and look forward to updating you across the year at the conferences and at our NDRs as well (technical difficulty)--

偉大的。好吧，謝謝大家的收看。隨著 2024 年的結束，我們有很多令人興奮的舉措和事情值得在 2025 年期待，並期待在全年的會議和 NDR 上向您通報最新情況（技術難度）——

Thank you for tuning in and I always appreciate your support.

感謝您的收看，我始終感謝您的支持。