Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings Inc (OLLI) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to Ollie's Bargain Outlet Conference Call to discuss the financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2024. (Operator Instructions)

早安，歡迎參加 Ollie's Bargain Outlet 電話會議，討論 2024 財年第三季的財務業績。（操作員說明）

Please be advised this call is being recorded and the reproduction of this call in whole or in part is not permitted without expressed written authorization of Ollie's. Joining us on the call today from Ollie's management are John Swygert, Chief Executive Officer; Eric van der Valk (technical difficulty)

請注意，本次通話正在錄音，未經 Ollie's 明確書面授權，不得複製本次通話的全部或部分內容。今天加入我們電話會議的 Ollie 管理層包括首席執行官 John Swygert；埃里克·范德瓦爾克（技術難度）

Certain comments made today may constitute forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the certain comments made today may constitute forward-looking statements and are made pursuant and within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as amended. Such forward-looking statements are subject to both known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. These risks and uncertainties are described in our annual reports on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q on file with the SEC and in the earnings press release.

今天發表的某些評論可能構成前瞻性陳述根據今天發表的某些評論可能構成前瞻性陳述，並且是根據經修訂的1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法》的安全港條款並在其含義範圍內做出的。此類前瞻性陳述受到已知和未知的風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與此類陳述有重大差異。這些風險和不確定性在我們向 SEC 備案的 10-K 表格年度報告和 10-Q 表格季度報告以及收益新聞稿中進行了描述。

Forward-looking statements made today are as of today's date of the call, and we do not undertake any obligation to update these statements. On today's call, the company will also be referring to certain non-GAAP financial measures Reconciliation of the most closely comparable GAAP financial measures to the non-GAAP financial measures are included in our earnings press release.

今天所做的前瞻性陳述截至今天的電話會議之日，我們不承擔更新這些陳述的任何義務。在今天的電話會議上，該公司還將提及某些非 GAAP 財務指標。

With that said, I'll turn the call over to Mr. Swygert. Please go ahead.

話雖如此，我會將電話轉給 Swygert 先生。請繼續。

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining our call today. We had another great quarter and are pleased with our results. We delivered strong earnings on higher sales, gross margin and disciplined expense control. Even more important, we also took advantage of a number of real estate opportunities that strengthen our new store pipeline and enhance our competitive positioning for the future.

謝謝大家，大家早安。我們感謝您今天加入我們的電話會議。我們又度過了一個出色的季度，並對我們的結果感到滿意。我們憑藉更高的銷售額、毛利率和嚴格的費用控制實現了強勁的利潤。更重要的是，我們也利用了許多房地產機會來加強我們的新店通路並增強我們未來的競爭地位。

In the quarter, we saw strong demand for everyday consumables such as cleaning supplies, food and candy. As we have discussed before, our growing relationships with major manufacturers of these categories is leading to strong product flow and a more consistent assortment of everyday merchandise.

本季度，我們看到對清潔用品、食品和糖果等日常消耗品的強勁需求。正如我們之前所討論的，我們與這些類別的主要製造商不斷發展的關係帶來了強大的產品流和更一致的日常商品種類。

We had a great selection of consumables, and we're ready for the strong demand. Outside of consumables, we also saw strong demand for certain discretionary related categories, such as furniture and outdoor living. We believe the warm weather in October, along with the late timing of Thanksgiving impacted our sales of seasonal goods in the third quarter.

我們有多種消耗品可供選擇，我們已準備好應對強勁的需求。除了消費品之外，我們還看到對某些非必需品相關類別的強勁需求，例如家具和戶外生活。我們認為十月溫暖的天氣以及感恩節的延遲影響了我們第三季季節性商品的銷售。

As the weather normalized and we approached the Thanksgiving holiday, we saw accelerating trends in our seasonal categories. We were pleased with our Black Friday weekend sales and the current momentum in our business. Now more than ever, consumers want value and suppliers need bigger partners.

隨著天氣恢復正常以及感恩節假期的臨近，我們看到季節性類別的趨勢正在加速。我們對黑色星期五週末的銷售和目前的業務動能感到滿意。現在，消費者比以往任何時候都更需要價值，供應商也更需要更大的合作夥伴。

We are benefiting from these two trends, and our buyers are doing an amazing job of finding a great assortment of exciting deals. We sell good stuff cheap and we have been in the closeout business for more than 42 years.

我們受益於這兩種趨勢，我們的買家在尋找各種令人興奮的交易方面做得非常出色。我們以低廉的價格出售優質商品，我們從事清倉業務超過 42 年。

Our value proposition is selling quality name brand products that people need and want for their everyday lives at prices typically 20% to 70% below the fancy stores. Anyone can sell cheap products, but we're all about real brands, real bargains. This has been our value proposition from day one and continues to be our competitive moat.

我們的價值主張是以通常比高檔商店低 20% 至 70% 的價格銷售人們日常生活中需要和想要的優質名牌產品。任何人都可以銷售廉價產品，但我們只注重真正的品牌、真正的便宜貨。從第一天起，這就是我們的價值主張，並將繼續成為我們的競爭護城河。

The growth of large retailers and suppliers have led to bigger order sizes, higher levels of excess inventory and growth in the closeout industry. Big branded suppliers are very careful about product placement and channel conflict.

大型零售商和供應商的成長導致訂單規模更大、庫存過剩水平更高以及清倉行業的成長。大品牌供應商對於產品置入和通路衝突非常謹慎。

At the same time, the larger order sizes are driving larger production quantities and a continuous cycle of excess product. Our size, scale, experience and strong financial position are increasingly important advantages we have when buying closeouts.

同時，更大的訂單規模正在推動更大的生產數量和過剩產品的持續循環。我們的規模、規模、經驗和強大的財務狀況是我們在收購清倉時所擁有的越來越重要的優勢。

With over 550 stores in 31 states, we are the largest buyer of closeouts and excess inventory. While we are getting larger, other closeout players are shrinking or going away altogether. This is leading to stronger vendor relationships and increased deal flow.

我們在 31 個州擁有超過 550 家商店，是清倉和過剩庫存的最大買家。當我們規模不斷擴大時，其他的清倉玩家卻在萎縮或完全消失。這將導致更牢固的供應商關係和更多的交易流量。

At the same time, the investments we have made in the business over the last several years have made us a more nimble organization. This has led to better execution and more consistent results. Both Eric and Rob have been an integral part of making these investments.

同時，過去幾年我們在業務上的投資使我們成為一個更靈活的組織。這帶來了更好的執行和更一致的結果。艾瑞克和羅布都是這些投資中不可或缺的一部分。

And as my time as CEO comes to a close, I could not be prouder of what we have built and the strength of our positioning going forward. Transition of the CEO role and responsibilities is progressing as planned.

隨著我作為執行長的任期即將結束，我對我們所取得的成就以及我們未來定位的實力感到無比自豪。執行長角色和職責的過渡正在按計劃進行。

Eric will become CEO and I will move to the Executive Chairman role at the beginning of fiscal 2025. Given the planned timing of things, this will be my last public earnings call. It's been an amazing 20-plus years, and I would like to thank each and every team member that has been part of our family.

埃里克將成為首席執行官，我將在 2025 財年初擔任執行主席。考慮到計劃的時間安排，這將是我最後一次公開財報電話會議。這是令人驚奇的 20 多年，我要感謝我們家庭中的每一位團隊成員。

Operating a closeout retailer is not for the faint of heart. The unpredictable nature of the model creates many ups and downs and operational challenges.

經營清貨零售商不適合膽小的人。該模型的不可預測性帶來了許多起伏和營運挑戰。

But Ollie's is a special company that was founded by passionate individuals who kept things simple and stay true to their model. I was fortunate to work with Co-Founder, Mark Butler for many years. I hope that I have made him proud during my tenure as CEO.

但 Ollie's 是一家特殊的公司，由充滿熱情的個人創立，他們使事情變得簡單並忠於自己的模式。我很幸運能與共同創辦人馬克·巴特勒共事多年。我希望在擔任執行長期間我讓他感到自豪。

Everything that we have built in stand for came from Mark and Mort, and we continue to honor their legacy by staying true to our mission of saving customers money and selling good stuff cheap. While proud of what we've accomplished, I am more excited about our growth potential and competitive positioning going forward.

我們所代表的一切都來自 Mark 和 Mort，我們將繼續履行為客戶省錢和廉價銷售好東西的使命，以紀念他們的遺產。在為我們所取得的成就感到自豪的同時，我對我們未來的成長潛力和競爭地位更感到興奮。

Our value proposition is clear. Our deal flow is strong, and our ability to execute is as good as it's ever been. We remain focused on delivering profitable growth, consistent results and enhancing shareholder value. With that said, I would now like to turn the call over to Eric.

我們的價值主張很明確。我們的交易流量強勁，執行能力也一如既往。我們仍然專注於實現獲利成長、一致的業績和提高股東價值。話雖如此，我現在想把電話轉給艾瑞克。

Thanks, John, and good morning, everyone. We are pleased with our third quarter performance. The process improvement to investments we have made in our people, supply chain stores and marketing continue to result in better and more consistent execution. The third quarter was a great example of this. We delivered earnings that were in line with expectations despite some temporary headwinds.

謝謝約翰，大家早安。我們對第三季的業績感到滿意。我們對員工、供應鏈商店和行銷進行的投資流程改善持續帶來更好、更一致的執行。第三季就是一個很好的例子。儘管存在一些暫時的阻力，但我們的獲利仍符合預期。

We also opportunistically acquired a number of real estate sites that bolstered our new store pipeline and competitive positioning. The first of these opportunities was the forward 99 Cents Only Stores in Texas. We acquired these stores out of bankruptcy in May and shifted our organic new store pipeline to prioritize opening these first.

我們也趁機收購了一些房地產網站，以增強我們的新店通路和競爭地位。第一個機會是位於德克薩斯州的 99 Cents Only Stores。我們在五月收購了這些破產商店，並轉移了我們的有機新店管道，優先考慮首先開設這些商店。

In August, we soft opened several of these stores as a test minimizing the dead rent and reducing the operational burden of opening so quickly after assuming possession of the sites. Given these stores have been open and active with discount shoppers just a few months prior, we expect that they might ramp faster than our typical new stores.

八月，我們軟性開設了其中幾家商店，作為測試，以最大限度地減少死租金，並減輕在擁有場地後如此迅速開業的運營負擔。鑑於這些商店在幾個月前才開業並活躍於折扣購物者中，我們預計它們的擴張速度可能會比我們典型的新商店更快。

Several were top-performing stores right out of the gate. We later followed up with an official grad opening event and could not be happier with the quick ramp and performance of these stores. The second real estate opportunity is the closing Big Lots stores.

有幾家商店一開始就表現出色。後來我們舉辦了一場正式的畢業生開幕活動，並對這些商店的快速發展和業績感到非常滿意。第二個房地產機會是關閉 Big Lot 商店。

To date, we have acquired 17 store locations and were the winning bidder on an additional seven stores last Friday. Similar to the 99 Cents Only Stores, these stores are the right size, located in good trade areas, have attractive rents and leasing structures and have been serving value-oriented customers for many years.

到目前為止，我們已經收購了 17 家門市，並在上週五中標了另外 7 家門市。與 99 Cents Only Stores 類似，這些商店規模合適，位於良好的貿易區域，具有有吸引力的租金和租賃結構，多年來一直為價值導向的客戶提供服務。

We will prioritize the opening of the acquired stores that expect to have these opened by the end of the first quarter next year. With these additional stores, our new store pipeline is very strong and our store openings in 2025 will be front-loaded as a result.

我們將優先開設已收購的門市，預計明年第一季末開幕。有了這些額外的門市，我們的新店儲備就非常強勁，因此我們 2025 年的新店開業將提前完成。

Our initial plan for next year is a minimum of 56 new stores which meets our 10% (inaudible) growth goal. We will continue to evaluate the new store pipeline and opening schedule as any new opportunities unfold. 2025 will be a record year for new store openings and there is the potential for additional real estate opportunities on the horizon.

我們明年的初步計畫是開設至少 56 家新店，這可以滿足我們 10%（聽不清楚）的成長目標。隨著任何新機會的出現，我們將繼續評估新店通路和開幕時間表。 2025 年將是新店開業創紀錄的一年，並且可能會出現更多的房地產機會。

Bankruptcies and closures of retailers come with market disruption. In the short term, it could lead to increased competition for our stores going up against liquidations. This is offset by longer-term opportunities in product flow, market share and talent acquisition.

零售商的破產和倒閉伴隨著市場的混亂。從短期來看，這可能會導致我們的商店面臨清算的競爭加劇。這被產品流、市場份額和人才獲取方面的長期機會所抵消。

To support our accelerated growth, we continue to invest in supply chain. Our newly opened distribution center in Princeton, Illinois began shipping stores in July and is capable of servicing more than 150 stores.

為了支持我們的加速成長，我們繼續投資於供應鏈。我們在伊利諾州普林斯頓新開設的配送中心於 7 月開始為商店出貨，能夠為 150 多家商店提供服務。

The new facility has a number of technology and productivity enhancements that will help us scale and increase productivity over time. The Midwest is an area that contains significant growth potential for Ollie's and the newly acquired stores will help us better leverage this asset.

新工廠擁有多項技術和生產力增強功能，將幫助我們隨著時間的推移擴大規模並提高生產力。中西部是 Ollie's 具有巨大成長潛力的地區，新收購的門市將幫助我們更好地利用這項資產。

With the new DC in place, we now have the capacity to service up to 750 stores in total, which provides runway for several years of growth. A few other supply chain-related comments, the port strike was really a nonevent for us.

隨著新配送中心的到位，我們現在有能力為總共 750 家商店提供服務，這為未來幾年的成長提供了基礎。其他一些與供應鏈相關的評論，港口罷工對我們來說確實是小事一樁。

We continue to closely monitor the potential for increased tariffs our flexible buying model allows us to adjust our pricing to changes in the marketplace and pivot between different products. As a reminder, direct imports from China account for approximately 15% of our product flow in any given year.

我們繼續密切關注關稅增加的可能性，我們靈活的購買模式使我們能夠根據市場的變化調整定價並在不同產品之間進行調整。需要提醒的是，每年從中國的直接進口約占我們產品流量的 15%。

Before I turn the call over to Rob, I would like to thank the entire Ollie's team for their continued hard work and commitment. I would also like to recognize our associates in the hurricane-impacted areas. Hurricane Helena and Milton were devastating and I'm thankful that our team members are safe and doing what they can for their local communities. I'm honored to be part of an organization that has a clear purpose and an amazing culture.

在將電話轉給 Rob 之前，我要感謝整個 Ollie 團隊的持續辛勤工作和奉獻精神。我還要感謝我們在颶風影響地區的同事。颶風海倫娜和米爾頓造成了毀滅性的打擊，我很慶幸我們的團隊成員都很安全，並為當地社區盡了最大的努力。我很榮幸能成為一個有著明確目標和令人驚嘆的文化的組織的一員。

We are proud to sell good stuff cheap and save customers' money on the things they want and need. I would also like to thank John for his leadership an impressive 20-year career, which Ollie's delivered nearly unparalleled results in the retail industry. We are especially appreciative for the leadership John provided through the unexpected passing of [Park Buttler] which took place only moments before the pandemic started. He's been an incredibly strong shepherd of the business model and our culture. I appreciate John's mentorship and the trust he and the board have placed in me, to lead allies into the next phase of growth.

我們很自豪能夠以低廉的價格出售好東西，並為客戶節省購買他們想要和需要的東西的錢。我還要感謝約翰在 20 年令人印象深刻的職業生涯中的領導，奧利在零售業取得了幾乎無與倫比的成果。我們特別感謝約翰在大流行開始前不久突然去世的[帕克·巴特勒]所提供的領導。他是商業模式和我們文化的堅定倡導者。我感謝約翰的指導以及他和董事會對我的信任，帶領盟友進入下一階段的發展。

Thank you. Rob?

謝謝。搶？

Thanks, Eric, and good morning, everyone. We are very pleased with our third quarter results. We delivered a 14% increase in adjusted EPS driven by an 8% increase in sales, a 100 basis point increase in gross margin and disciplined expense control. We also opened 24 new stores in the quarter, which was a record number for us. In the third quarter, we faced a number of short-term headwinds that impacted sales.

謝謝埃里克，大家早安。我們對第三季的業績非常滿意。在銷售額成長 8%、毛利率成長 100 個基點以及嚴格的費用控制的推動下，我們的調整後每股盈餘成長了 14%。本季我們還開設了 24 家新店，這對我們來說是創紀錄的數字。第三季度，我們面臨一些影響銷售的短期阻力。

These included a shift of one flyer out of the third quarter and into the fourth quarter, the two major hurricanes, the Big Lots store closures and liquidations, and unseasonably warm temperatures. Despite these headwinds, we still delivered earnings that were in line with our expectations, and our outlook for the fourth quarter is largely unchanged.

其中包括一張傳單從第三季度轉移到第四季度、兩次重大颶風、Big Lot 商店關閉和清算以及異常溫暖的氣溫。儘管存在這些不利因素，我們的利潤仍然符合我們的預期，我們對第四季度的前景基本上沒有變化。

Now let me take you through the third quarter numbers. Net sales increased 8% to $517 million, driven by new store growth. Comparable store sales declined 0.5%, with both transactions and basket down slightly.

現在讓我帶您了解第三季的數據。在新店成長的推動下，淨銷售額成長 8%，達到 5.17 億美元。可比商店銷售額下降 0.5%，交易量和購物籃均略有下降。

Demand for everyday consumer staples was strong throughout the quarter, and our best performing categories were food, candy, housewares and furniture. Ollie's Army membership increased 8% to 14.8 million members and sales to our members represented over 80% of total sales.

本季日常消費必需品的需求強勁，表現最好的類別是食品、糖果、家居用品和家具。Ollie's Army 會員人數增加了 8%，達到 1,480 萬名會員，會員銷售額佔總銷售額的 80% 以上。

Consistent with prior trends, we're seeing growth in our younger customer demographic and retention of higher income customers. We ended the quarter with 546 stores in 31 states, an increase of 8% year over year. As mentioned, we opened a record of 24 new stores and closed three stores.

與先前的趨勢一致，我們看到年輕客戶群的成長和高收入客戶的保留。截至本季末，我們在 31 個州擁有 546 家門市，年增 8%。如前所述，我們創紀錄地開設了 24 家新店並關閉了 3 家店。

Of the three closures, one was a temporary closure from a store that was flooded due to Hurricane Helene and two were store leases that we chose not to renew. We are pleased with the performance of our new stores, including the forward 99 Cents Only Stores, which are off to a solid start.

在三起關閉中，其中一處是因颶風海倫而被洪水淹沒的商店暫時關閉，另外兩處是我們選擇不續簽商店租約。我們對新店的表現感到滿意，包括前面的 99 Cents Only 店，它們已經有了一個很好的開始。

Gross margin increased 100 basis points to 41.4%, driven primarily by lower supply chain costs, partially offset by lower merchandise margin from the higher mix of consumer staples. SG&A expenses as a percentage of net sales increased 40 basis points to 29.9% due to deleverage of fixed expenses associated with the decrease in comparable store sales. Operating income increased 14% to $45 million, and operating margin increased 50 basis points to 8.6% in the quarter.

毛利率增加了 100 個基點，達到 41.4%，這主要是由於供應鏈成本下降，但消費必需品組合增加導致的商品利潤率下降部分抵消了這一影響。由於可比較商店銷售額下降相關的固定費用去槓桿化，SG&A 費用佔淨銷售額的百分比增加了 40 個基點，達到 29.9%。本季營業收入成長 14%，達到 4,500 萬美元，營業利潤率成長 50 個基點，達到 8.6%。

Adjusted net income increased 13% to $36 million adjusted earnings per share increased to $0.58. Lastly, adjusted EBITDA increased 17% to $60 million and adjusted EBITDA margin increased 100 basis points to 11.6% for the quarter.

調整後淨利成長 13%，達到 3,600 萬美元，調整後每股收益增至 0.58 美元。最後，本季調整後 EBITDA 成長 17%，達到 6,000 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率成長 100 個基點，達到 11.6%。

Turning to the balance sheet. Being a public company with a strong balance sheet is a strategic asset in the closeout industry. Not only does it enhance our credibility with vendors and allows us to make larger deals, it gives us the flexibility to pursue just about any opportunity as it arises.

轉向資產負債表。作為一家擁有強大資產負債表的上市公司，是清倉產業的策略資產。它不僅提高了我們對供應商的信譽，使我們能夠達成更大的交易，而且使我們能夠靈活地抓住任何出現的機會。

We ended the quarter with $304 million between cash on hand and short-term investments and no outstanding borrowings on our revolving credit facility. Inventories increased 14% to $607 million, primarily driven by new unit growth and the timing of receives.

截至本季末，我們的手頭現金和短期投資為 3.04 億美元，循環信貸安排中沒有未償還借款。庫存成長 14%，達到 6.07 億美元，主要是受新單位成長和接收時間的推動。

Capital expenditures totaled $31 million for the quarter and were primarily related to the development of new stores and the remodeling of the existing stores. We bought back $16 million of our common stock in the third quarter, bringing our year-to-date share repurchases to $47 million, in line with our targeted capital allocation. Turning to our outlook.

本季資本支出總計 3,100 萬美元，主要與新店開發和現有店面改造有關。我們在第三季回購了 1,600 萬美元的普通股，使年初至今的股票回購額達到 4,700 萬美元，符合我們的目標資本配置。轉向我們的展望。

Our updated guidance for fiscal 2024 is contained in the table in today's earnings press release. Our outlook for the fourth quarter is largely unchanged, and we feel good about our positioning heading into the Christmas holiday and remaining weeks of the fiscal year.

我們更新的 2024 財年指引包含在今天的收益新聞稿的表格中。我們對第四季度的展望基本上沒有變化，我們對聖誕節假期和本財年剩餘幾週的定位感到滿意。

The ranges for net sales and comparable store sales are now $2.27 billion to $2.28 billion and 2.7% to 3%, respectively. The slight narrowing of the ranges as a result of our third quarter results, the one unplanned store closure and the timing of new store openings. Our gross margin outlook of 40% is unchanged as is our outlook ranges for adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share.

淨銷售額和可比商店銷售額目前分別為 22.7 億美元至 22.8 億美元和 2.7% 至 3%。由於我們第三季的業績、一家計劃外的商店關閉以及新店開業的時間安排，範圍略有縮小。我們 40% 的毛利率展望保持不變，調整後淨利和調整後每股盈餘的展望範圍也保持不變。

Preopening expenses are now slightly higher due to renting expenses associated with the recently acquired stores and the front-end loaded new store opening schedule for next year. For new store openings, we're still targeting a total of 50 less the two closures that we chose not to renew the lease and the one temporary closure of the flood impact in North Carolina store.

由於與最近收購的商店相關的租金費用以及明年前端加載的新店開業時間表，現在開業前略高。對於新店開業，我們的目標仍然是總共 50 家，減去我們選擇不續約租約的兩家商店和北卡羅來納州因洪水影響而暫時關閉的一家商店。

We expect to open 13 stores in the fourth quarter and are targeting a minimum of 10% new unit growth for next year. Next year's store openings will be more heavily weighted to the first half with the majority of stores opening in the first and second quarters.

我們預計第四季將開設 13 家門市，明年的新店成長目標至少為 10%。明年的新店開張將更多地集中在上半年，大部分商店將在第一和第二季開業。

As John discussed, we have seen a nice acceleration in business over the last several weeks, and we're pleased with our Black Friday weekend sales.

正如約翰所討論的，過去幾週我們的業務出現了良好的成長，我們對黑色星期五週末的銷售感到滿意。

We believe that the shorter selling season between Thanksgiving and Christmas could make for a bigger holiday rush in the mid- to late December period and our current trends seem to support this. We are locked and loaded with great deals for our customers.

我們認為，感恩節和聖誕節之間較短的銷售季節可能會導致 12 月中下旬的假期高峰更加旺盛，而我們目前的趨勢似乎也支持了這一點。我們已為客戶鎖定並提供超值優惠。

Finally, just a quick reminder that this fiscal year has 52 weeks versus 53 weeks last year. The extra week last year contributed approximately $34 million in net sales and about $0.04 to diluted earnings per share. Now let me turn the call back over to John.

最後，快速提醒一下，本財政年度有 52 週，去年有 53 週。去年多出的一周貢獻了約 3,400 萬美元的淨銷售額和約 0.04 美元的稀釋每股收益。現在讓我把電話轉回給約翰。

Thanks, Rob. I would like to thank the entire Ollie's team for everything they do. It's truly the combined experience, passion and commitment from everyone that makes all successful. I cannot be proud of what we have accomplished and look forward to our future success. As we say, we are Ollie's. That concludes our prepared remarks, and we are now happy to take your questions. Operator?

謝謝，羅布。我要感謝整個 Ollie 團隊所做的一切。真正的成功是每個人的經驗、熱情和承諾的結合。我不能為我們所取得的成就感到自豪，也不能期待我們未來的成功。正如我們所說，我們是奧利的。我們準備好的演講到此結束，現在我們很高興回答您的問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Matthew Boss, JPMorgan.

馬修‧博斯，摩根大通。

Great. Thanks and John, congrats on the transition. You'll be missed.

偉大的。謝謝約翰，恭喜您的過渡。我們會想念你的。

Thanks, Matt. I'll still be around, don't forget that. [I might] disappearing.

謝謝，馬特。我還會在身邊，別忘了這一點。 [我可能]會消失。

Always, always. So could you maybe speak to the cadence of 3Q comps maybe parsing through best you can, some of the transitory headwinds that you faced -- and then on November and 4Q, maybe best you can, if you could elaborate on November trends that you've seen in the business. And just your confidence in above algorithm comps in the fourth quarter despite consolidation disruption in the shortened calendar, just how you kind of put it all together?

永遠，永遠。那麼，您能否談談第三季度比較的節奏，也許可以盡您所能地解析您所面臨的一些短暫的逆風，然後在11 月和第四季度，也許您可以最好地闡述一下11 月的趨勢。儘管縮短的日曆中的整合中斷，但您對第四季度上述演算法比較的信心，您如何將它們放在一起？

Matt, it's Rob. I'll take that one. From a quarterly flow on the comps for August was down slightly, which was better than our plan because the flyer shift shifted out of August in that month. September was up slightly positive which we thought was really good considering that was the month in which the -- we were impacted by the hurricanes, which was about call it, a 50 basis point impact to our comp overall for the quarter. And then lastly, we ended in October.

馬特，這是羅布。我會接受那個。從季度流量來看，8 月的比較略有下降，這比我們的計劃要好，因為傳單班次從該月的 8 月移出。9 月份略有積極增長，我們認為這確實很好，考慮到我們受到颶風影響的月份，這對我們本季度的整體業績產生了 50 個基點的影響。最後，我們在十月結束。

And October was the softest month of the quarter. It was down, call it, negative low single digits. And that's really where the warm weather started to impact us in our seasonal categories. Coming into the fourth quarter, our trends are good. We were pleased with the Black Friday weekend and holiday, we've seen, as we're getting closer to the Christmas holiday, our trends continue to strengthen.

十月是本季最疲軟的月份。它下跌了，可以稱之為負低個位數。這確實是溫暖的天氣開始影響我們季節性類別的地方。進入第四季度，我們的趨勢良好。我們對黑色星期五週末和假期感到滿意，我們看到，隨著聖誕節假期的臨近，我們的趨勢繼續加強。

And from an over algo perspective from the fourth quarter, Remember, we do have that flyer shift that flipped -- shifted out of August and shift it into this quarter. So that gives us about an extra 100 basis points of comp. And that flyer is still sits ahead of us today.

從第四季的整體演算法角度來看，請記住，我們確實有翻轉的傳單轉變——從八月轉移到本季。因此，這為我們提供了大約 100 個額外的基點。那張傳單至今仍擺在我們面前。

Great. And then maybe, Eric, as a follow-up, could you just elaborate on the white space unit growth opportunity, multiyear, you see just puts and takes to consider relative to the 10% plus unit growth for next year. And just as the fleet expands, what are you seeing from vendor related.

偉大的。然後，埃里克，作為跟進者，您能否詳細說明多年以來的空白單位增長機會，您會看到相對於明年 10% 以上的單位增長而言，需要考慮的看跌期權和收益。隨著機隊規模的擴大，您從供應商看到了什麼？

You lost audio.

你失去了音頻。

Let me unmute my line here, see if that helps here.

讓我在這裡取消線路靜音，看看是否有幫助。

Hello, can you guys hear me? Yes, can you hear me.

你好，你們聽得到我說話嗎？是的，你聽得到我說話嗎？

(technical difficulty)

（技術難度）

One moment ladies and gentlemen, please standby. Your conference call will resume momentarily.

女士們先生們請稍等一下。您的電話會議將立即恢復。

Your line is open and unmuted. Can you hear me?

您的線路處於開放狀態且未靜音。你聽得到我嗎？

I can hear you. You want me to ask the second question?

我聽到你的聲音。你要我問第二個問題嗎？

No one moment, Matthew.

沒有一刻，馬修。

Conference room, your line is unmuted. Can you hear me?

會議室，您的線路已取消靜音。你聽得到我嗎？

We can hear you. Can you hear us?

我們能聽到你的聲音。你聽得到我們說話嗎？

Yes, we can hear you now.

是的，我們現在可以聽到你的聲音。

(inaudible) our mobile, we got whatever phone problems we're having which is dialed to my mobile number now.

（聽不清楚）我們的手機，我們遇到任何電話問題，現在都會撥打我的手機號碼。

Okay. So go ahead with your question, Matthew.

好的。所以，繼續你的問題，馬修。

Okay. Great. So Eric, could you elaborate on the white space unit growth opportunity multi-year? Any growth governors to consider relative to the 10% unit growth minimum that you cited for next year? And just with the greater size and scale, what are you seeing with vendor relationships and closeout opportunities?

好的。偉大的。艾瑞克（Eric），您能否詳細說明多年來空白單位的成長機會？相對於您所提到的明年 10% 的單位成長最低限度，有哪些成長調控因素需要考慮？隨著規模和規模的擴大，您對供應商關係和清倉機會有何看法？

Sure, Matt. As we look into '25 and '25 and beyond, but certainly in '25, we've looked at real estate on really an opportunistic basis, and there are a lot of opportunities out there in this moment. In addition to Big Lots, there are several other retailers that are in either state of distress or liquidation and we're looking at all of the real estate. We're in the process, whether it's through an option process or working direct with landlords if we're able to. And opportunistically, we'll accelerate beyond the 10%.

當然，馬特。當我們展望 25 年、25 年及以後，但當然在 25 年時，我們實際上是在機會主義的基礎上看待房地產，此時此刻存在著許多機會。除了 Big Lot 之外，還有其他幾家零售商要么陷入困境，要么處於清算狀態，我們正在關注所有房地產。我們正在這個過程中，無論是透過選擇流程還是在可能的情況下直接與房東合作。機會主義地，我們將加速超過 10%。

Can't really talk too much beyond '25 as the pipeline is built out for '25 at this point, moving into '26.

25 年後真的不能談論太多，因為此時管道是為 25 年建造的，即將進入 26 年。

The governor in this moment, we've invested in infrastructure to support opening as many as 75-ish to 80 stores, and that's an operational kind of self-imposed governor based on the infrastructure we have in place today. So what I don't want to do is get ahead of ourselves and guide '25 in any way, shape or form, but we are giving direction (inaudible) growth with opportunities to accelerate beyond that.

此刻的州長，我們已經投資了基礎設施，以支持開設多達 75 家到 80 家商店，這是一種基於我們今天擁有的基礎設施的自我實施的運營型州長。因此，我不想做的就是超越自己並以任何方式、形式或形式指導“25”，但我們正在為（聽不清楚）成長提供方向，並提供加速超越這一目標的機會。

What we've been seeing in terms of closeout flow and product availability is that our size and scale have been actually very helpful in giving us access to more closeouts. We've developed more direct relationships, some larger important vendor relationships, especially in the consumables world and our ability to be able to take all of the deal is a differentiator, it's a somewhat competitive advantage.

我們在清倉流程和產品可用性方面看到的是，我們的規模和規模實際上非常有助於我們獲得更多清倉。我們已經建立了更直接的關係，一些更大的重要供應商關係，特別是在消耗品領域，我們能夠接受所有交易的能力是一個差異化因素，這是一種競爭優勢。

And I'll just remind you and everyone that -- and Rob stated in his remarks that our balance sheet remains very strong in an environment that we're working in today, that strong balance sheet attracts vendors to us to sell with great payment terms and liquidity and the insurance that they will get paid.

我只是提醒大家，羅佈在他的演講中指出，在我們今天工作的環境中，我們的資產負債表仍然非常強勁，強勁的資產負債表吸引了供應商以良好的付款條件向我們出售產品以及流動性和他們將獲得報酬的保險。

Peter Keith, Piper Sandler.

彼得·基思，派珀·桑德勒。

Thanks. Good morning, John, Mike, congratulations to you. I know you're not leaving, but it has been a great pleasure working with you on these types of calls. I did want to dig into the dynamic around the Big Lots store closures. I think you called it out as a headwind to Q3. I wonder if there's any quantification there.

謝謝。早安，約翰，麥克，恭喜你們。我知道您不會離開，但很高興與您一起處理此類電話。我確實想深入了解 Big Lot 商店關閉的動態。我認為你稱之為第三季的逆風。我想知道是否有任何量化。

And then we do have a lot more closures happening in Q4. Could that be a potential headwind as well that we should be contemplating as the quarter progresses?

第四季確實有更多的工廠倒閉。隨著本季的進展，這是否也是我們應該考慮的潛在阻力？

Thanks, Peter. This is Rob. I'll take that question. So when we had our third quarter call, there were only about 300 announced closures that Big Lots had announced with about 100 of those store closures impacting us. That impact for the third quarter ended up being in the range of 50 basis points of drag against our comp.

謝謝，彼得。這是羅布。我來回答這個問題。因此，當我們召開第三季電話會議時，Big Lot 僅宣布關閉約 300 家商店，其中約 100 家商店的關閉對我們產生了影響。第三季的影響最終與我們的比較相比下降了 50 個基點。

Since that time, they've announced another 250 store closures, give or take, for a cumulative total of 550 store closures. These closures commence very late in the third quarter and will be taking place through the end of the holiday season. So we embedded a similar amount of drag, so call it 50 basis points in our fourth quarter guide.

從那時起，他們宣布關閉 250 家商店，累計關閉 550 家商店。這些關閉將於第三季末開始，並將持續到假期結束。因此，我們嵌入了類似的阻力，因此在我們的第四季度指南中將其稱為 50 個基點。

Okay. Very helpful. And then related to the store acquisitions, so I guess the math is I think you've acquired 17and then you've got a potential seven more Big Lots stores that could be up to 24. I guess what's your thinking around these? I was intrigued to hear that the 99 Cents Only Stores are opening up quite strong does that inform any thinking around these stores that you're buying now and how they could open up in early 2025?

好的。非常有幫助。然後與商店收購相關，所以我想數學是我認為你已經收購了 17 家，然後你還有潛在的 7 家 Big Lot 商店，最多可能達到 24 家。我猜你對這些有什麼想法？我很高興聽到 99 美分專賣店的開業勢頭非常強勁，這是否讓您對現在購買的這些商店以及它們如何在 2025 年初開業有任何想法？

It certainly does inform how we think about it. We think that the stores could ramp very quickly. We're excited about these acquisitions. It's a great lease economics, good customer demographic, strong street visibility and great box sizes. So we're we're really excited about these.

它確實告訴我們如何思考它。我們認為商店的擴張速度會非常快。我們對這些收購感到興奮。這是一個很好的租賃經濟效益、良好的客戶群、強大的街道能見度和巨大的盒子尺寸。所以我們對這些感到非常興奮。

Okay, sounds good. Thanks so much.

好吧，聽起來不錯。非常感謝。

Brad Thomasm, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Brad Thomasm，KeyBanc 資本市場。

Good morning. And John, all the best to you as well. I wanted to first ask about just operations and how you plan the organization for this accelerating square footage growth just to ensure that these new stores are as strong as they can be out of the gate and how other stores don't suffer as you get inventory to this accelerating amount of square footage growth? And then I know you don't have a lot of commentary on 2025 financially, but just at a high level, if there's any margin puts and takes that we should be thinking about? Thanks.

早安.約翰，也祝你一切順利。我想先詢問有關營運的問題，以及您如何規劃組織以應對面積加速增長的情況，以確保這些新商店在開業時足夠強大，以及其他商店如何在您獲得庫存時不會受到影響面積的加速增長？然後我知道您對 2025 年的財務狀況沒有太多評論，但只是在較高層面上，我們是否應該考慮任何保證金賣出和收取的情況？謝謝。

Sure, Brad. It's Eric. I'll take the first question. We have invested in our infrastructure anticipating both supporting the 10% unit growth plan going forward as well as the potential to accelerate in '25. Project management resource is one of the bigger areas that we've invested in, which is construction and our new store setup teams, ensuring that we're hiring ahead making sure we have the leadership in place, infrastructure and store leadership in general.

當然，布拉德。是埃里克。我來回答第一個問題。我們對基礎設施進行了投資，預計將支持未來 10% 的單位成長計劃以及 25 年加速的潛力。專案管理資源是我們投資的較大領域之一，即建設和新店設置團隊，確保我們提前招聘，確保我們擁有到位的領導力、基礎設施和整體商店領導力。

And then the DC network, which I talked a little bit about in my opening remarks, is another one that we've gotten a head on with now the -- you see network able to support 750 stores. We have no concern about bandwidth throughput on the DC side as well.

然後，我在開場白中談到的 DC 網絡是我們現在已經掌握的另一個網絡，您會看到該網絡能夠支持 750 家商店。我們也不關心 DC 側的頻寬吞吐量。

From an earnings outlook on 2025, we typically don't give too much color on our third quarter call around that. What I would say is that when you think about 2025, it's firmly going to be steeped in the long term, our long-term algo working our way back to 14% EBITDA. And there's potential for outsized EPS growth because of the front loading of the store opening schedule, which is something we haven't seen for several years here.

從 2025 年的獲利前景來看，我們通常不會在第三季的電話會議上給出太多的色彩。我想說的是，當你考慮 2025 年時，它肯定會陷入長期困境，我們的長期演算法將努力回到 14% 的 EBITDA。由於開店計畫的提前，每股收益有可能大幅成長，這是我們幾年來從未見過的情況。

Great. Thanks.

偉大的。謝謝。

Chuck Grom, Gordon Haskett.

查克·格羅姆，戈登·哈斯克特。

Hey, good morning. Thanks very much. Can we just double-click on the acceleration in your business over the past few weeks? And I guess, can you also dig into why you think the consolidated calendar could accelerate business in the coming weeks. And I think, Rob, you said that you still have one flyer to come. Can you just confirm that?

嘿，早安。非常感謝。我們可以雙擊您的業務在過去幾週的加速發展嗎？我想，您是否還可以深入探討為什麼您認為合併日曆可以在未來幾週內加速業務發展。我想，羅布，你說過你還有一張傳單要來。能確認一下嗎？

Yes. It's Eric. So from where we sit today, there is a lot of meaningful business still in front of us with the calendar shift in the condensed calendar. The flyer shift is in front of us, meaning it's ahead of us and it's planned in a week when you look at how the -- we expect the business to flow. It's (inaudible) in a week that is very, very meaningful, and we're putting some great deals out there to attract customers into the stores on a somewhat [last-minute] basis as we approach the holiday.

是的。是埃里克。因此，從我們今天坐的位置來看，隨著精簡日曆中的日曆轉換，我們仍然有很多有意義的業務擺在我們面前。傳單轉移就在我們面前，這意味著它在我們之前，並且計劃在一周內進行，當你看看我們預計業務將如何流動時。這是（聽不清楚）非常非常有意義的一周，隨著假期的臨近，我們將在最後一刻推出一些超值優惠，以吸引顧客進入商店。

Also, keep in mind that between now and Christmas, there are two additional shopping days even though there were fewer in the total season. So we're reading the business to date and the business to come and we feel good about where we're at.

另外，請記住，從現在到聖誕節，儘管整個季節的購物日較少，但還有兩個額外的購物日。因此，我們正在研究迄今為止的業務和未來的業務，我們對自己所處的位置感覺良好。

Okay. Great. And then just on Ollie's Army, over 80% of sales. You talked earlier in your prepared remarks about getting younger with your customer. I was wondering if you could dig into that a little bit more for us. It seems like a big opportunity for you guys.

好的。偉大的。然後光是《Ollie's Army》就佔了超過 80% 的銷售額。您之前在準備好的演講中談到了與客戶一起變得年輕化。我想知道您是否可以為我們深入研究。這對你們來說似乎是一個很大的機會。

Sure. Yes. Ollie's Army. We continue to see strength in attracting younger customers. Our strongest growth segment now consistently for several quarters, has been the 18 to 45-year-old segment.

當然。是的。奧利的軍隊。我們繼續看到吸引年輕客戶的優勢。18 至 45 歲年齡層是我們連續幾季成長最強勁的細分群體。

So that's very encouraging. We do believe that our digital marketing efforts are continuing to pay off. We've made investments over several years now, including bringing on a new advertising agency that specializes in retail digital marketing programs and it seems to be going very, very well for us. And then we're also pretty good product that is more attractive to the other customer that also lends itself to attracting those customers.

所以這非常令人鼓舞。我們確實相信我們的數位行銷努力正在持續獲得回報。我們已經進行了幾年的投資，包括引進一家專門從事零售數位行銷計劃的新廣告公司，這對我們來說似乎進展得非常非常順利。然後，我們也是非常好的產品，對其他客戶更具吸引力，也有助於吸引這些客戶。

That's great. Thank you.

那太棒了。謝謝。

Thanks Brad.

謝謝布拉德。

Scot Ciccarelli, Truist.

斯科特·西卡雷利，真理論者。

Good morning guys, Scot Ciccarelli. I know you talked about the negative impact of the Big Lot store liquidations, but what are your early reads from a sales capture perspective from the sales that are orphan from those closed stores? And then another question about kind of the go-forward earnings flow-through. Any kind of notable investments that are going to be needed that would create a headwind to margin. Rob, obviously, you just talked about above algo for '25.

早安，夥計們，斯科特·西卡雷利。我知道您談到了 Big Lot 商店清算的負面影響，但從銷售捕獲的角度來看，您對那些關閉商店的孤立銷售的早期解讀是什麼？然後是關於未來收益流動的另一個問題。任何類型的顯著投資都會對利潤率造成不利影響。Rob，顯然，您剛剛談到了 25 年的上述演算法。

But just as we kind of think about the longer-term growth opportunity, whether it's DCs, whether it's technology, anything we should be kind of thoughtful of.

但正如我們思考長期成長機會一樣，無論是資料中心，無論是技術，還是我們應該考慮的任何事情。

Scot, it's Rob. I'll take that. We're relatively early days post liquidation. The first round of liquidation is only around about a month ago. We've seen some glimmers of pickup since the nearby stores have closed.

史考特，我是羅布。我會接受的。我們處於清算後相對較早的階段。第一輪清算距今僅一個月左右。自從附近的商店關門以來，我們已經看到了一些提貨的跡象。

But it's not -- it's too early to give a solid readout on it yet. From an investment perspective for the accelerated growth. We've already made a bunch of those investments this year and readying ourselves for next year. So there's no -- you're not going to see any significant investment in SG&A, significant investment in technology. We have what we need in place.

但事實並非如此——現在給出可靠的數據還為時過早。從投資角度看是加速成長。今年我們已經進行了大量投資，並為明年做好準備。所以，你不會看到任何對SG&A 的重大投資，對科技的重大投資。我們已經準備好了我們需要的東西。

One thing that you'll see over the years with accelerated growth is we'll continue to make supply chain investments in the form of distribution centers. And that the faster that we grow the sooner we'll get to our fifth distribution center which is still a couple of years off at this point.

多年來，隨著加速成長，您會看到的一件事是，我們將繼續以配送中心的形式進行供應鏈投資。我們發展得越快，就能越早到達第五個配送中心，而目前距離第五個配送中心還需要幾年的時間。

To add a little bit of color. We have the ability to expand two of our existing buildings as well. The building in Texas, the building in Illinois, both have an opportunity to expand 200,000 square feet each. So we don't necessarily have to run fast into a fifth building. We could expand those two buildings. And we -- from a road map standpoint, we have thought process around that in years 2026 and beyond.

加入一點顏色。我們還有能力擴建兩棟現有建築。德州的大樓和伊利諾伊州的大樓都有機會擴建 200,000 平方英尺。所以我們不一定要快速跑進第五棟大樓。我們可以擴建這兩棟建築。從路線圖的角度來看，我們已經圍繞著 2026 年及以後的情況進行了思考。

Understood. Thanks.

明白了。謝謝。

Kate McShane, Goldman Sachs.

凱特麥克肖恩，高盛。

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking our question. We wanted to ask a couple of questions around gross margin. Can you just talk about how mix impacted the margin in the quarter, just given the strength in some of the consumables and if that's increased as a mix of overall sales? And just how should we -- how long will you benefit from the lower freight costs?

嗨，早安。感謝您提出我們的問題。我們想問幾個有關毛利率的問題。您能否談談混合如何影響本季的利潤率，僅考慮到一些消耗品的實力以及是否隨著整體銷售額的混合而增加？我們應該如何—您能從較低的貨運成本中受益多久？

Kate, this is Rob. From a mix perspective, I would say that consumables had a 20-point drag on the quarter, in addition to what we contemplated when we originally guided our margin. Can you repeat the second question? I didn't get the second question.

凱特，這是羅布。從混合角度來看，除了我們最初指導利潤率時考慮的因素之外，我想說的是，消耗品對本季的拖累有 20 個點。你能重複第二個問題嗎？第二個問題我沒聽懂。

Yes. Just how many more quarters can we see a benefit from freight?

是的。我們還能在多少季度看到貨運帶來的好處？

I would say that this is the last quarter of significant benefit of freight. You know, we're constantly doing what we can to make ourselves more efficient throughout our business. And that's true of supply chain as well. So you'll see little improvement in terms of contracting and how we flow product and operations with our distribution centers. But they're going to be fairly muted relative to what we've seen in the pick up coming off of the supply chain crunch from the last couple of years.

我想說，這是貨運顯著效益的最後一個季度。您知道，我們一直在盡我們所能提高整個業務的效率。供應鏈也是如此。因此，您會發現合約方面以及我們如何與配送中心流動產品和營運方面幾乎沒有任何改進。但與我們在過去幾年中看到的供應鏈緊縮所帶來的回升相比，它們的影響將相當減弱。

Jeremy Hamblin, Craig-Hallum Capital Group.

傑里米·漢布林 (Jeremy Hamblin)，克雷格·哈勒姆資本集團。

Thanks for taking, taking the question here.I wanted to start by asking about preopening expense. Rob, I think you noted it's going to be a little bit higher than what you had previously anticipated, which I think was about $17 million for the year.

感謝您接受，在這裡提出問題。Rob，我想您已經指出，這將比您之前的預期高一點，我認為今年的預期約為 1700 萬美元。

I wanted to see if you could quantify, given the stores that you're bringing on, how much that would change here in '24. And also as we look ahead to '25, if you can kind of give us an early read of how we should be thinking about that year.

我想看看你能否量化，考慮到你正在開設的商店，24 年這裡會發生多大的變化。另外，當我們展望 25 年時，您能否讓我們提前了解我們應該如何思考這一年。

And then my second question is just getting a bit more granular on the performance of the new stores, understanding how are the 99 Cents Only legacy stores performing relative to the typical Ollie's and then what you're thinking about in terms of the Big Lots legacy stores versus your typical Ollie's?

然後我的第二個問題是更詳細地了解新商店的表現，了解 99 Cents Only 傳統商店相對於典型的 Ollie's 的表現如何，然後你對 Big Lot 傳統商店的看法如何商店與典型的奧利商店相比？

Sure. From a preopening perspective, for the fourth quarter, there's about an additional, call it, $0.01 of EPS drag relative to the Big Lot stores. We take those stores over and pay the dead rent as soon as we acquire the lease. So that's contemplated in our guidance for this year. For next year, no really big changes in how we're thinking about reopening aside from just the front loading of expense that you're seeing a little bit in the fourth quarter as well there. But it's kind of status quo for next year, we'd expect.

當然。從開業前的角度來看，第四季相對於 Big Lot 商店，每股收益大約有 0.01 美元的額外拖累。我們一獲得租約就接管這些商店並支付死租金。因此，我們今年的指導意見中就考慮到了這一點。對於明年，除了您在第四季度看到的一些前期費用外，我們對重新開放的考慮方式沒有真正的重大變化。但這是明年的現狀，我們預期。

Yes. Jeremy, just a little more color on we call them warm stores for new stores or stores that were open somewhat recent past. You remember a lot of the real estate that we take on in our organic pipeline in second-generation real estate. And the retailer that we're replacing has been out of business for five-plus years oftentimes, and we have to kind of rack or brands remember even do they were because some of this is some very cold boxes.

是的。傑里米（Jeremy），稍微多一點色彩，我們稱它們為“溫暖的商店”，用於新商店或最近開業的商店。您還記得我們在第二代房地產的有機管道中承接的許多房地產。我們要取代的零售商經常已經關閉五年多了，我們必須記住貨架或品牌，因為其中一些是非常冷的盒子。

So what we found with 99 Cents is that there were customers showing up to the stores that thought the store was still 99 Cents and discovered that it wasn't anymore, we're not disappointed because it is a discount-oriented customer.

所以我們發現 99 Cents 的情況是，有些顧客來到商店時以為這家商店仍然是 99 Cents，但發現它不再是了，我們並不失望，因為他們是折扣導向的顧客。

And our business model though somewhat different from 99 Cents was similar enough that the customers found it to be appealing and attractive. And it's too early to quantify what all that means, but I said in my opening remarks that we were very happy with the additional response of customers with almost no marketing or grand opening event. We were doing volume in some of these stores that was kind of the equivalent of a post grand opening halo period. We would expect the same for Big Lots stores, we believe. We haven't opened any that we've acquired in the various auctions yet, but we expect to see something similar.

我們的商業模式雖然與 99 Cents 有所不同，但非常相似，以至於客戶發現它具有吸引力和吸引力。現在量化這一切意味著什麼還為時過早，但我在開場白中表示，我們對幾乎沒有行銷或盛大開幕活動的客戶的額外反應感到非常滿意。我們在其中一些商店的銷量相當於盛大開業後的光環時期。我們相信 Big Lot 商店也會有同樣的情況。我們還沒有打開在各種拍賣中獲得的任何東西，但我們希望看到類似的東西。

These boxes will have been cold for 90 days, maybe 120 days. So we would expect something similar or a fairly quick ramp.

這些盒子將冷藏 90 天，也許 120 天。因此，我們預計會出現類似的情況或相當快的成長。

Great. Thanks for the color and the best wishes in the holiday season.

偉大的。感謝您的色彩和節日期間最美好的祝愿。

Anthony Chukumba, Loop Capital Markets.

安東尼·楚昆巴 (Anthony Chukumba)，Loop 資本市場。

Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. So in terms of the Big Lots and the 99 Cents Only Stores, are there any noticeable differences from your core store base? In other words, like, are they significantly bigger or smaller in size? Are they more in sort of urban locations relative to your stores? Just anything that you think is worth pointing out in terms of any differences?

早安.感謝您提出我的問題。那麼，就 Big Lot 和 99 Cents Only 商店而言，與你們的核心商店群相比，有什麼明顯的差異嗎？換句話說，它們的尺寸明顯更大還是更小？相對於您的商店，它們是否更多地位於城市位置？您認為有哪些差異值得指出？

Sure, Anthony. It's Eric. The 99 Cents Stores were slightly smaller than the average store that we opened. They were in the mid-20s, and our average typically runs a little over 30,000 square feet. So there are slightly smaller.

當然，安東尼。是埃里克。99 Cents 商店比我們開設的普通商店稍小一些。他們的年齡是 20 多歲，而我們的平均面積通常略高於 30,000 平方英尺。所以還有稍微小一點的。

There were a couple of them that were actually sub-20,000 feet, which is very unusual for us but the majority of them were above 20 and again, average in the mid-20s. For the Big Lots stores, the gross square footage of the total box is very similar to ours, but they have larger backrooms. So we're making some adjustments to the selling square footage in some of those stores to ensure that it's more similar to our box size. But I would expect the Big Lots stores to be slightly smaller on average in terms of selling square footage than our average store.

其中有幾個實際上低於 20,000 英尺，這對我們來說很不尋常，但大多數都在 20 英尺以上，平均在 20 多英尺左右。對於 Big Lot 商店來說，整個盒子的總面積與我們的非常相似，但他們有更大的後室。因此，我們正在對其中一些商店的銷售面積進行一些調整，以確保其與我們的盒子尺寸更相似。但我預期 Big Lot 商店的平均銷售面積會比我們的平均商店略小。

Got it. And then just one quick follow-up. So you talked about that flyer that shifted out of the third quarter into the fourth quarter. Any -- and maybe this is too granular, but any thought in terms of what the comp hit might have been from that? Or another way to think about what the comp benefit will be in the fourth quarter?

知道了。然後只是一個快速跟進。所以你談到了從第三季轉移到第四季的傳單。任何——也許這太細粒度了，但是有沒有想過這可能會帶來什麼影響？或者用另一種方​​式來思考第四季的比較收益是什麼？

For the third quarter, we think that it was slightly less than 100 basis points, but just about there. For the fourth quarter, we'd expect about 100 basis points of improvement.

對於第三季度，我們認為略低於 100 個基點，但也差不多了。對於第四季度，我們預計將改善約 100 個基點。

Got it. Thanks so much and good luck with the rest of the holiday selling season.

知道了。非常感謝，祝假期銷售季剩餘時間一切順利。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Melanie Nunez, Bank of America.

梅蘭妮‧努涅斯，美國銀行。

Hi, thanks for taking my question. I just wanted to talk on gross margin for a second. I know you talked about some of the mix impact. Just anything to think about for 4Q in terms of the merch margin and how your mix changes in this quarter. Thanks.

您好，感謝您提出我的問題。我只想談談毛利率。我知道您談到了一些混合影響。就第四季度的商品利潤以及本季的產品組合變化而言，需要考慮的任何事情。謝謝。

Our fourth quarter guidance carries over a little bit of the mix. We thought that, that was prudent because we have seen our consumers responding to consumer staples. I think I mentioned in an earlier question, the supply chain improvement is much more muted as we lap costs. Aside from that, everything else is pretty status quo. Shrink is pretty stable.

我們的第四季指引延續了一些混合的情況。我們認為這是謹慎的做法，因為我們已經看到消費者對消費必需品的反應。我想我在之前的問題中提到過，隨著成本的下降，供應鏈的改善變得更加微弱。除此之外，其他一切都維持現狀。收縮相當穩定。

So we're planning to shrink pretty stable, albeit at a higher level. But nothing else really to comment on the gross margin.

因此，我們計劃相當穩定地縮減規模，儘管規模較高。但對於毛利率沒有什麼好評論的。

Simeon Gutman, Morgan Stanley.

西蒙古特曼，摩根士丹利。

This is Zach on for Simeon. Inventory was up 14% in the third quarter, a bit higher than sales growth of 7.8%. And you did call out new unit growth and the timing of receipts. So it seems like it's mostly just normal course of business. But can you speak to the -- if there was any pull forward of product for the holiday season or also perhaps in front of any potential tariffs.

這是紮克替補西蒙。第三季庫存成長 14%，略高於銷售成長 7.8%。您確實指出了新單位的成長和收入的時間。所以看起來基本上只是正常的業務流程。但您能否談談假期期間的產品是否有任何提前或可能在任何潛在關稅之前。

Nothing significant to call out about inventory growth. We have been playing a little bit of catch-up in inventory growth for the last couple of years relative to our unit growth, and we feel really good and confident about our 14% unit inventory growth. We are locked and loaded with deals for the holiday season.

庫存成長沒有什麼值得注意的地方。相對於我們的單位庫存成長，過去幾年我們一直在追趕庫存成長，我們對 14% 的單位庫存成長感到非常好和充滿信心。我們已經鎖定並加載了假日季節的優惠。

Edward Kelly, Wells Fargo.

愛德華凱利，富國銀行。

Hi, good morning, everyone and congrats as well, John, on a successful career there. My first question, can you -- I wanted to ask you about SG&A and labor. You made some changes around the workforce, full-time, part-time curious as to what you're seeing there, sort of like cost versus benefit. And then as we think about like going forward into '25 and beyond, are you still comfortable with the leverage point on SG&A at around a 1% comp? Or is that just kind of inching a little bit higher based upon some of the changes on labor?

大家早上好，也祝賀約翰，在那裡取得了成功的職業生涯。我的第一個問題是——我想問你關於SG&A 和勞動力的問題。你對員工隊伍做了一些改變，全職、兼職都對你在那裡看到的東西感到好奇，有點像是成本與效益。然後，當我們考慮進入 25 年及以後時，您仍然對 SG&A 的槓桿點在 1% 左右感到滿意嗎？或者說，這只是基於勞動力方面的一些變化而略有上升？

Sure, Ed, I'll take the questions. We are still in the early stages of testing the benefits to the full-time part time, mix change. Just to remind everybody, we're currently 60% part time and are moving to 50-50 ratios. So we're in a few dozen stores testing that change. We also are testing a leadership structure change that we believe will help us to better execute the stores alongside the full-time part-time mix change.

當然，艾德，我會回答問題。我們仍處於測試全職兼職、混合變化的好處的早期階段。只是提醒大家，目前我們的 60% 是兼職人員，並且正在轉向 50-50 的比例。因此，我們在幾十家商店中測試了這項變化。我們也正在測試領導結構的變化，我們相信這將有助於我們在全職兼職組合變化的同時更好地執行商店。

So a lot of the stores better covered from a leadership standpoint. It will help us to better execute.

因此，從領導力的角度來看，許多商店都得到了更好的覆蓋。它將幫助我們更好地執行。

We ultimately look at this as expense neutral. We look at our investment in leadership in a full-time person being more productive and career-oriented person offsets the wage investment that we make in full-time people and is net neutral. The leverage point for SG&A is closer to 2% going forward based on the investments we've made in the business.

我們最終認為這是費用中立的。我們認為，我們對全職人員領導的投資是更有生產力和以職業為導向的人，抵消了我們對全職人員的薪資投資，並且是淨中性的。根據我們對該業務的投資，SG&A 的槓桿點未來接近 2%。

Great. Okay. And just a quick follow-up related to the Big Lots opportunity. Any sort of thoughts on the Big Lots planned going forward? And I ask this question because they've had some stores were liquidated that are no longer going to close.

偉大的。好的。以及與 Big Lot 機會相關的快速跟進。對於 Big Lot 計劃的未來有什麼想法嗎？我問這個問題是因為他們已經清算了一些不再關閉的商店。

It's like, I don't know, 70 stores or so that are now going to remain open. I think some of the discounts that they're running on these liquidations has been decreasing versus where they were historically, and there's been talk coming out of, I think, Big Lots around maybe a strategy that might lean a bit more on the closeouts. So I'm just kind of curious as to how you're thinking about this going forward as you sort of look at your competitive landscape?

我不知道，大約有 70 家商店現在將繼續營業。我認為他們在這些清算上運行的一些折扣與歷史上的水平相比一直在減少，而且我認為，有傳言稱，大批量可能會採取一種可能更多地依賴清算的策略。所以我有點好奇，當你檢視你的競爭格局時，你是如何看待這個問題的？

Yes. It's hard to say. We're focused on running our business. We're not real focused on Big Lots except to the extent that the liquidations are somewhat disruptive. We're excited as they do closed stores for the opportunity to pick up market share because the share basket is fairly meaningful between our customers.

是的。很難說。我們專注於經營我們的業務。我們並不真正關注 Big Lot，除非清算具有一定的破壞性。我們很興奮，因為他們關閉商店是為了有機會獲得市場份額，因為共享籃子對我們的客戶來說相當有意義。

The category mix is somewhat similar, although they play very heavy in the big-ticket businesses where we don't play. So we're excited for the opportunity and we think we're very, very strong closeout deep discount player with a very loyal customer that attracts new and younger customers on a day-to-day basis with a very strong loyalty program, and we like our chances in terms of the competitive environment, whether it's Big Lots or anyone else out there that chooses to go after the deep discount closeout business.

類別組合有些相似，儘管它們在我們不涉足的大宗業務中發揮著重要作用。因此，我們對這個機會感到很興奮，我們認為我們是非常非常強大的清倉深度折扣玩家，擁有非常忠誠的客戶，透過非常強大的忠誠度計劃每天吸引新的和年輕的客戶，我們就像我們在在競爭環境中的機會一樣，無論是Big Lot 還是其他選擇追求深度折扣清倉業務的人。

Great. Thanks guys and good luck this holiday.

偉大的。謝謝大家，祝這個假期好運。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Mark Carden, UBS.

馬克卡登，瑞銀集團。

Morning. Thanks so much for taking the questions. So on tariffs, your commentary has been helpful. How do you think about the balance of incremental purchasing costs relative to the potential for higher demand that could come -- if customers become more pressed in their spending.

早晨。非常感謝您提出問題。因此，關於關稅，您的評論很有幫助。如果客戶的支出壓力更大，您如何看待增量採購成本相對於可能出現的更高需求潛力的平衡。

I guess I'm not understanding your question, the impact.

我想我不明白你的問題，影響。

Just in terms of -- yes, just in terms of the incremental costs that could come from higher purchasing that basically would be impacted by when you think about your imports in China versus prices across the board for customers going up and seeing more customers looking to trade into Ollie's, if that makes sense.

只是就 - 是的，只是就增加採購可能產生的增量成本而言，這基本上會受到當你考慮在中國的進口產品與客戶全面上漲的價格以及看到更多客戶尋求購買時的影響。交易到奧利的，如果這有意義的話。

We generally thrive on disruption and the tariffs are one of those disruptive events. We think that if anything, the tariffs could create an additional closeout opportunity where some other traditional retailers may be priced out of goods because of the incremental tariffs that we may be able to get that -- get those products at a bargain and share those bargains with our customers. So being a price follower, it positions us well to navigate through the tariff situation.

我們通常依靠顛覆而繁榮，而關稅就是這些顛覆性事件之一。我們認為，如果有的話，關稅可能會創造一個額外的清倉機會，其他一些傳統零售商可能會因為我們可能能夠獲得的增量關稅而被定價出局——以便宜的價格購買這些產品並分享這些便宜貨與我們的顧客。因此，作為價格追隨者，我們可以很好地應對關稅情況。

Got it. That's helpful. And then I know it's early days, but any takeaways from your initial credit card rollout in Pennsylvania -- and just how does this customer compare to your typical Ollie's Army number?

知道了。這很有幫助。然後我知道現在還為時過早，但是從您在賓夕法尼亞州首次推出信用卡的過程中可以獲得什麼啟示 - 以及該客戶與您典型的奧利軍隊號碼相比如何？

Yes, Mark, it's Eric. The rollout is going well. We -- we're in about 70 stores. Now it's a test and learn phase. We're trying to understand best what's the most effective way to continue to roll out the program in 2025.

是的，馬克，我是艾瑞克。推出進展順利。我們大約有 70 家商店。現在是測驗和學習階段。我們正在努力了解在 2025 年繼續推出該計劃的最有效方法是什麼。

We'll take probably most of '25 to complete the rollout. It's going better than expected in certain ways. The approval rates are a bit higher than we expected and the spend is higher than we expected. So it's off to a very good start. I can't answer the question on how the demographics compare.

我們可能需要 25 年的大部分時間才能完成部署。在某些方面它比預期的要好。支持率比我們預期高一些，支出也比我們預期高。所以這是一個很好的開始。我無法回答有關人口統計數據如何比較的問題。

That's a good question. It's something we haven't studied yet, but we will.

這是個好問題。這是我們還沒有研究的東西，但我們會的。

Great. Thanks so much. Good luck guys.

偉大的。非常感謝。祝大家好運。

Paul Lejuez with Citi.

花旗銀行的保羅‧勒胡埃斯 (Paul Lejuez)。

Hey, thanks guys. Curious if maybe you could talk a bit more about the buying environment, where you're seeing increased availability. I think you mentioned in the consumables category, but also curious if there are any pockets where you're not seeing as great of availability? And then second, just as we think about the gross margin structure longer term, is there anything to think about as consumables take up or a larger percentage of sales, how do you think about gross margin targets, any different, if at all?

嘿，謝謝大家。我想知道您是否可以多談談購買環境，您看到了可用性的增加。我想您在消耗品類別中提到過，但也很好奇是否有任何地方您認為可用性不高？其次，正如我們從長遠考慮毛利率結構一樣，隨著消耗品佔據或占銷售額的更大比例，是否有什麼需要考慮的，您如何看待毛利率目標，是否有不同（如果有的話）？

Yes, Paul, this is John. With regards to the overall deal flow, it's been pretty wide all the way around all of our departments. We're not seeing a shortage in any category. It's been pretty strong and it continues to flow very well. There is a small period of time where there's a little bit of slowness in HBA, but that has turned around, and we're seeing some good deal flow in the HBA front.

是的，保羅，這是約翰。就整體交易流程而言，我們所有部門的交易流程都相當廣泛。我們沒有看到任何類別的短缺。它非常強大，並且繼續流動得很好。有一段時間，HBA 的發展有點緩慢，但情況已經好轉，我們看到 HBA 領域出現了一些不錯的交易流。

But overall, we're very excited about what we're seeing. I do believe that with the disruption that's been out there and the changes that are taking place in the marketplace, we're seeing a lot more product go out there with regards to the overall deal flow. Rob can answer you on the overall margin and the impact of the consumables.

但總的來說，我們對所看到的感到非常興奮。我確實相信，隨著市場的顛覆和變化，我們看到在整體交易流程中出現了更多的產品。Rob 可以回答您關於整體利潤率和消耗品的影響的問題。

From a gross margin perspective, we're not thinking about the gross margin target is much different. The algo is 40, remains 40. We would say we are seeing a slightly higher drag relative to consumer staples, but we love those businesses because it has built in frequency and customer visits that bring our customers back for the consumables as well as the great deals. The drag on the gross margin, we think we'll be able to offset operational efficiencies through supply chain.

從毛利率的角度來看，我們並沒有考慮毛利率目標有多大不同。演算法是 40，仍然是 40。我們會說，相對於必需消費品，我們看到的阻力略高，但我們喜歡這些業務，因為它建立了頻率和客戶訪問量，使我們的客戶回頭購買消費品和超值優惠。我們認為我們將能夠透過供應鏈抵消對毛利率的拖累。

Thank you so much.

太感謝了。

I'm not showing any further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the call back over to Eric.

我目前不會提出任何進一步的問題。我想把電話轉回給埃里克。

I would like to thank everyone for their time and interest in Ollie's. We look forward to updating you on our continued progress on our next earnings call. Thank you.

我要感謝大家的時間和對奧利的興趣。我們期待在下一次財報電話會議上向您通報我們的持續進展。謝謝。

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's presentation. You may now disconnect, and have a wonderful day.

謝謝女士們、先生們，今天的演講到此結束。您現在可以斷開連接，並度過美好的一天。