QVC Group Inc (QVCGA) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the Qurate Retail, Inc. 2023 Q2 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference will be recorded August 4.

歡迎參加 Qurate Retail, Inc. 2023 年第二季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）謹此提醒，本次會議將於 8 月 4 日進行錄製。

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

我現在想將電話轉給投資者關係副總裁肖恩·克萊因斯坦 (Shane Kleinstein)。請繼續。

Good morning. Before we begin, we'd like to remind everyone that this call includes certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual events or results could differ materially due to a number of risks and uncertainties, including those mentioned in the most recent Forms 10-K and 10-Q filed by our company and QVC with the SEC.

早上好。在開始之前，我們想提醒大家，本次電話會議包含1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的某些前瞻性陳述。由於許多風險和不確定因素，實際事件或結果可能會存在重大差異，包括我們公司和 QVC 向 SEC 提交的最新 10-K 和 10-Q 表格中提到的內容。

These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this call, and Qurate Retail expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in Qurate Retail's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

這些前瞻性陳述僅代表截至本次電話會議之日的情況，Qurate Retail 明確不承擔任何義務或承諾傳播本文所含任何前瞻性陳述的任何更新或修訂，以反映Qurate Retail 對此預期的任何變化，或任何此類聲明所依據的事件、條件或情況的任何變化。

Please note that we have published slides to accompany the earnings release. On today's call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted OIBDA, adjusted OIBDA margin, free cash flow and constant currency. Information regarding the comparable GAAP metrics, along with required definitions and reconciliations, including preliminary note and schedules 1 through 3, can be found in the earnings press release issued today or our earnings presentation, which are available on our website. Today speaking on the earnings call, we have Qurate Retail President and CEO, David Rawlinson; Qurate Retail Group's CFO, Bill Wafford and Qurate Retail Executive Chairman, Greg Maffei.

請注意，我們已經發布了伴隨收益發布的幻燈片。在今天的電話會議上，我們將討論某些非 GAAP 財務指標，包括調整後的 OIBDA、調整後的 OIBDA 利潤率、自由現金流和固定匯率。有關可比GAAP 指標的信息，以及所需的定義和調節，包括初步說明和附表1 至3，可以在今天發布的收益新聞稿或我們的收益演示中找到，這些信息可在我們的網站上找到。今天，Qurate Retail 總裁兼首席執行官 David Rawlinson 在財報電話會議上發表講話。 Qurate Retail 集團首席財務官 Bill Wafford 和 Qurate Retail 執行主席 Greg Maffei。

Now I'll hand the call over to David Rawlinson.

現在我將把電話轉給大衛·羅林森。

Thank you, Shane, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today and for your interest in Qurate Retail. As we've discussed, Project Athens is our strategic multiyear framework to transform Qurate Retail, focused on double-digit growth in OIBDA, free cash flow and stabilized revenue through 2024 off of the 2022 baseline. We are executing on this plan with a focus on cost and margin initiatives in 2023.

謝謝你，肖恩，大家早上好。感謝您今天加入我們並感謝您對 Qurate Retail 的興趣。正如我們所討論的，雅典項目是我們轉型 Qurate Retail 的多年戰略框架，重點關注 OIBDA 的兩位數增長、自由現金流以及到 2024 年在 2022 年基線基礎上穩定的收入。我們正在執行該計劃，重點是 2023 年的成本和利潤計劃。

Our top line results in the second quarter were largely in line with the discretionary retail industry. Consumers are still mindful of their budgets. Inflation remains a factor, particularly in Europe and now in Japan, and the home industry continues to be quite promotional, which impacted all of our businesses, most notably Cornerstone. According to the University of Michigan survey, consumer sentiment in the U.S. declined sequentially in Q2 and remained well below the past decade's average. This contributed to softened top line results against a difficult retail backdrop, offset by a moderation in our adjusted OIBDA decline and improved cash flow.

我們第二季度的營收結果與非必需零售行業基本一致。消費者仍然關注他們的預算。通貨膨脹仍然是一個因素，特別是在歐洲和現在的日本，家居行業繼續大力促銷，這影響了我們所有的業務，尤其是基石業務。密歇根大學的調查顯示，第二季度美國消費者信心指數環比下降，仍遠低於過去十年的平均水平。在零售業困難的背景下，這導致營收業績疲軟，但被我們調整後的 OIBDA 下降幅度放緩和現金流改善所抵消。

We progressed on our turnaround plan and delivered 4 important points within the Athens framework through Q2. First, we increased free cash flow, $423 million year-over-year in the first 6 months of 2023. Approximately half of this increase was from the receipt of insurance proceeds, while the other half was a result of our working capital improvements. Consistent with our communication at Investor Day last November, this cash flow improvement reflects favorable working capital from inventory reduction efforts and the subsequent benefit to our accounts payable.

我們在周轉計劃上取得了進展，並在第二季度在雅典框架內實現了 4 個要點。首先，我們的自由現金流增加了，2023 年前 6 個月同比增加了 4.23 億美元。這一增長中大約一半來自收到的保險收益，另一半則來自我們營運資本的改善。與我們去年 11 月投資者日上的溝通一致，現金流量的改善反映了庫存減少工作帶來的良好營運資金以及我們應付賬款的後續效益。

As we look to the second half of 2023, we expect to generate additional gains in adjusted OIBDA from our Athens work streams, which will continue to benefit cash flow. Second, we divested Zulily in May. One of the pillars of Athens is to optimize our portfolio. Zulily was challenging from a revenue perspective, and was a significant contributor to our OIBDA pressure with a $97 million OIBDA loss in 2022. The divestiture simplifies our portfolio, allows management to focus on our core business and benefit our ongoing liquidity profile. Zulily is included in our Q2 results through May '23.

展望 2023 年下半年，我們預計雅典工作流中調整後的 OIBDA 會產生額外收益，這將繼續有利於現金流。其次，我們在五月份剝離了 Zulily。雅典的支柱之一是優化我們的投資組合。從收入角度來看，Zulily 具有挑戰性，並且是導致我們的OIBDA 壓力的重要因素，2022 年OIBDA 損失為9700 萬美元。此次剝離簡化了我們的投資組合，使管理層能夠專注於我們的核心業務，並有利於我們持續的流動性狀況。 Zulily 包含在截至 2023 年 5 月的第二季度業績中。

Third, the rate of adjusted OIBDA decline moderated compared to the first quarter, primarily driven by higher gross margins at our video commerce businesses. QxH saw an increase in gross margin for the first time in 24 months and QVC International for the first time in 18 months. These gains were mostly from increased initial product margins due to higher average selling prices driven by pricing and better merchandise mix. We also benefited from lower inventory obsolescence and freight costs because of our inventory reduction and other cost management actions.

第三，與第一季度相比，調整後的 OIBDA 下降幅度有所放緩，這主要是由於我們的視頻商務業務毛利率較高。 QxH 的毛利率在 24 個月內首次出現增長，QVC International 的毛利率在 18 個月內首次出現增長。這些收益主要來自初始產品利潤的增加，這是由於定價和更好的商品組合推動平均售價上漲。由於我們的庫存減少和其他成本管理措施，我們還受益於庫存陳舊和運輸成本的降低。

Fourth, we retired a portion of our near-term QVC debt maturities. We repurchased $177 million or 30% of our outstanding 2024 notes and $15 million of our 2025 notes. We also settled $94 million in principal amount of exchanges of the Liberty Interactive Charter exchangeable debentures.

第四，我們償還了部分近期 QVC 債務到期日。我們回購了 1.77 億美元（即 2024 年已發行票據的 30%）和 1,500 萬美元的 2025 年票據。我們還就 Liberty Interactive Charter 可交換債券的交換本金達成了 9400 萬美元的協議。

Now let me discuss each of our businesses starting with QxH. I'm pleased to report that we finalized our insurance claim related to the December 2021 fire at our former Rocky Mount, North Carolina fulfillment center. At the end of June, we received $225 million in proceeds, primarily related to business interruption, which takes our total insurance proceeds received to $660 million. The fire had a material downstream impact at QxH that has impacted our financial results over the past 18 months.

現在讓我從 QxH 開始討論我們的每項業務。我很高興地報告，我們已完成與 2021 年 12 月北卡羅來納州落基山前運營中心火災相關的保險索賠。截至 6 月底，我們收到了 2.25 億美元的收益，主要與業務中斷有關，這使我們收到的保險收益總額達到 6.6 億美元。火災對 QxH 的下游產生了重大影響，影響了我們過去 18 個月的財務業績。

We have worked through many of these pressures. Our orders-to-delivery times have improved from pre-Rocky Mount levels, but there is still room to improve our service promise and operating efficiencies, given Rocky Mount was our most efficient fulfillment center. From a merchandise perspective, our top line performance indexed to the broader industry and was affected by the macro factors I mentioned earlier. Both QxH and other retailers experienced softness from a cold Easter with the holiday being earlier than in 2022. In addition, QxH inventory was too light in certain areas like apparel and kitchen electrics in Q2. We have bolstered our inventory position across key categories going into the back half of 2023.

我們已經克服了許多這樣的壓力。我們的訂單到交貨時間較落基山之前的水平有所改善，但考慮到落基山是我們最高效的履行中心，我們的服務承諾和運營效率仍有改進的空間。從商品角度來看，我們的營收表現與更廣泛的行業掛鉤，並受到我之前提到的宏觀因素的影響。 QxH 和其他零售商都經歷了寒冷的複活節帶來的疲軟，假期比 2022 年更早。此外，QxH 第二季度服裝和廚房電器等某些領域的庫存過少。進入 2023 年下半年，我們已經加強了關鍵類別的庫存狀況。

At QxH, gross margins expanded 130 basis points in Q2, which was the first quarter of expansion since Q2 2021. Average selling price increased 5%, primarily due to price increases and our elevated product strategy. We continued to act on cost management. QxH reduced its operations direct labor force by 8% in May which is expected to generate approximately $15 million of savings in the second half of 2023. This is in addition to the headcount reductions we did in February, which are expected to generate $50 million of savings in 2023. In addition, we recently signed a new multiyear agreement with our primary domestic small parcel shipping vendor. The new rates took effect in late July. And based on forecasted volumes, we anticipate significant savings on our delivery and return cost.

QxH 的毛利率在第二季度擴大了130 個基點，這是自2021 年第二季度以來的第一個季度的擴張。平均售價上漲了5%，主要是由於價格上漲和我們升級的產品策略。我們繼續加強成本管理。 QxH 5 月份將其運營直接勞動力減少了 8%，預計將在 2023 年下半年節省約 1,500 萬美元。這是我們在 2 月份進行的人員削減的基礎上進行的，預計將節省 5,000 萬美元2023 年節省成本。此外，我們最近與我們主要的國內小包裹運輸供應商簽署了一項新的多年協議。新費率於七月底生效。根據預測的數量，我們預計將大大節省交付和退貨成本。

QxH total customer count declined 13% in the last 12 months, while average spend per customer increased 6% in both the last 12 months and in Q2. The growth in average spend per customer reflects our efforts to reengage our existing and most loyal customers. While we undergo efforts to attract and retain customers, we are focusing in the near term on leverage to increase spend.

QxH 客戶總數在過去 12 個月中下降了 13%，而每位客戶的平均支出在過去 12 個月和第二季度均增長了 6%。每個客戶的平均支出的增長反映了我們為重新吸引現有和最忠誠的客戶而做出的努力。在我們努力吸引和留住客戶的同時，我們近期的重點是利用槓桿來增加支出。

As shown on Slide 7 presentation, QxH existing customers were a little more than half of our customer base but accounted for nearly 90% of our shipped sales. They increased their average spend to more than $1,500, the highest since we formed QxH.

如幻燈片 7 所示，QxH 現有客戶僅占我們客戶群的一半多一點，但占我們出貨量的近 90%。他們的平均支出增加到 1,500 美元以上，這是我們成立 QxH 以來的最高水平。

At QVC, we defined our best customers as those who purchased 20 or more items in a year. While their count is down, they have largely performed better than the overall customer file in the last 12 months. As we said on our last call, we have many efforts underway to attract, retain and reactivate customers, especially these best customers. In June, QVC created its customer hub, a cross-functional task force that comprises the business president and heads of merchandise, programming, planning, marketing and digital. The team meets weekly to review business performance through the lens of the customer.

在 QVC，我們將最佳客戶定義為一年內購買 20 件或以上商品的客戶。雖然他們的數量有所下降，但在過去 12 個月中，他們的表現基本上優於整體客戶檔案。正如我們在上次電話會議中所說，我們正在進行許多努力來吸引、留住和重新激活客戶，尤其是這些最好的客戶。 6 月，QVC 創建了客戶中心，這是一個跨職能工作組，由業務總裁以及商品、編程、規劃、營銷和數字部門負責人組成。該團隊每週舉行一次會議，從客戶的角度審查業務績效。

We completed an in-depth customer segmentation and identified target cohorts across our new, existing and most loyal customers. We are conducting pilots for engagement, including making proactive calls to reduce churn, providing samples of beauty products to prospective customers, mailing letters from popular hosts with special offers to emerging loyal customers and sending timely e-mails to incent repeat purchases. While early, we believe we are making progress, HSN is taking a similar approach in developing more sophisticated customer analytics to better service customer cohorts with the right product and offer. Innovative and differentiated content continue to be hallmarks of our QVC and HSN brands.

我們完成了深入的客戶細分，並確定了新客戶、現有客戶和最忠誠客戶的目標群體。我們正在開展參與試點，包括主動致電以減少客戶流失、向潛在客戶提供美容產品樣品、向新興忠實客戶郵寄帶有特別優惠的熱門主機信件以及及時發送電子郵件以鼓勵重複購買。雖然我們相信我們正在取得進展，但 HSN 正在採取類似的方法來開發更複雜的客戶分析，以便通過正確的產品和服務更好地為客戶群體提供服務。創新和差異化的內容仍然是我們 QVC 和 HSN 品牌的標誌。

At QVC, we debuted Sizzlin' Summer with hosts Rick Domeier and Shawn Killinger, a 6-week series airing on Thursday nights that drove increased productivity and viewership trends. We are planning a fall version that launches this month. We also launched the Afternoon with David, a 5-week series designed to leverage the strength of our popular host, David Venable. Given the success of both, we are creating more limited series to drive excitement, urgency and sales.

在 QVC，我們與主持人 Rick Domeier 和 Shawn Killinger 首次推出了《Sizzlin' Summer》，這是一個為期 6 週的連續劇，在周四晚上播出，推動了生產力和收視率趨勢的提高。我們計劃本月推出秋季版本。我們還推出了為期 5 週的《大衛下午》系列節目，旨在發揮我們受歡迎的主持人大衛·維納布爾 (David Venable) 的力量。鑑於兩者的成功，我們正在製作更多限量系列，以提高興奮度、緊迫感和銷量。

At HSN, we collaborated with Wheel of Fortune on a week-long shopping spree that included apparel, accessories and games broadcast on HSN, hsn.com and HSN+ Vanna White wore HSN vendor Christian Siriano's dress and Select HSN signature programs were featured at Wheel of Fortune Puzzles. HSN posted its best week of 2023 during this collaboration.

在HSN，我們與Wheel of Fortune 合作開展了為期一周的瘋狂購物活動，其中包括在HSN、hsn.com 和HSN+ 上播出的服裝、配飾和遊戲Vanna White 穿著HSN 供應商Christian Siriano 的連衣裙，選擇HSN簽名節目在Wheel of Fortune 上亮相財富拼圖。 HSN 在此次合作期間創下了 2023 年表現最好的一周。

We continue to advance our strategic initiatives to expand reach across new media and digital platforms. In the second quarter, we initiated our streaming experience as QVC+ and HSN+ on VIZIO Smart TVs, combining the 5 QVC and HSN linear broadcast channels with 3 digital-only channels and original streaming-only content. We also launched QVC and HSN linear channels on Amazon's Freevee, offering approximately 40 hours a day of live video commerce programming. We are bringing our first fast channel to Freevee called the Big Dish, which will provide more focused experiences for culinary fans.

我們繼續推進戰略舉措，擴大新媒體和數字平台的影響力。第二季度，我們在 VIZIO 智能電視上推出了 QVC+ 和 HSN+ 流媒體體驗，將 5 個 QVC 和 HSN 線性廣播頻道與 3 個純數字頻道和原創純流媒體內容相結合。我們還在亞馬遜的 Freevee 上推出了 QVC 和 HSN 線性頻道，每天提供約 40 小時的直播視頻商務節目。我們正在為 Freevee 帶來第一個名為 Big Dish 的快速頻道，它將為烹飪愛好者提供更有針對性的體驗。

Moving to QVC International. In Q2, we saw gross margin expansion for the first time since Q4 2021, driven by improved initial product margins, that reflects a 5% increase in average selling price and improved product mix. QVC International is implementing a transformation plan similar to Athens that is anticipated to generate approximately $45 million to $55 million of run rate OIBDA savings by Q1 2025. One piece of this effort is a workforce reduction in Europe that recently took effect. We expect this will create $9 million of run rate savings, of which $3 million is anticipated to benefit 2023.

搬到QVC國際。在第二季度，我們看到毛利率自 2021 年第四季度以來首次出現增長，這是由於初始產品利潤率提高，反映出平均售價上漲 5% 和產品組合改善。 QVC International 正在實施一項與雅典類似的轉型計劃，預計到 2025 年第一季度，OIBDA 運行費率將節省約 4500 萬至 5500 萬美元。其中一項努力是最近在歐洲生效的勞動力削減計劃。我們預計這將節省 900 萬美元的運行費用，其中 300 萬美元預計將在 2023 年受益。

Additionally, the transformation plan is focused on optimizing the organizational structure, driving margin opportunities and improving our current broadcast and content strategies. QVC U.K. launched the integrated experience in April. This scalable initiative aims to turn QVC International into the ultimate shopping destination for specific categories with the U.K.'s initial focus on gardening. This launch demonstrates our content creation capabilities across platforms and the early signs have been encouraging. In July, QVC Germany began its version of integrated experience with a concentration on kitchen and food.

此外，轉型計劃的重點是優化組織結構、增加利潤機會以及改進我們當前的廣播和內容策略。 QVC 英國於 4 月份推出了集成體驗。這項可擴展的計劃旨在將 QVC International 打造成特定類別的終極購物目的地，而英國最初的重點是園藝。此次發布展示了我們跨平台的內容創作能力，早期跡象令人鼓舞。 7月，QVC德國推出了專注於廚房和食品的一體化體驗版本。

Moving to Cornerstone. The overall home sector remains highly promotional and demand for most home categories was soft. We also incurred increased fulfillment costs related to opening a new fulfillment center in Arizona and fixed costs related to opening new retail stores in the past year. While the rate of OIBDA decline moderated compared with Q1, it was below our expectations. The Arizona fulfillment center opened in June, so we are no longer incurring these startup and duplicate fulfillment center costs. Like our video commerce business, Cornerstone is diligently managing costs. In Q2, it eliminated 100 positions, which is expected to drive $10 million in annual savings, of which $4.5 million is anticipated to benefit 2023.

搬到基石。整體家居行業仍然高度促銷，大多數家居類別的需求疲軟。去年，我們還增加了與在亞利桑那州開設新的履行中心相關的履行成本以及與開設新的零售店相關的固定成本。雖然 OIBDA 下降幅度較第一季度有所放緩，但低於我們的預期。亞利桑那州履行中心於 6 月開業，因此我們不再承擔這些啟動和重複履行中心費用。與我們的視頻商務業務一樣，Cornerstone 也在努力管理成本。第二季度，該公司削減了 100 個職位，預計每年可節省 1000 萬美元，其中 450 萬美元預計將在 2023 年受益。

In closing, I want to reiterate our Project Athens expectations for stable revenue and a double-digit CAGR for OIBDA and free cash flow through 2024 compared to a 2022 base year. Our 2023 initiatives are primarily cost-driven and weighted towards the back half of the year, reaching run rate in 2024. We do not anticipate incurring the same level of cost for outside services in 2024. We also expect more revenue-driven opportunities in 2024. We are on track with these expectations.

最後，我想重申我們對雅典項目的預期，即與 2022 年基準年相比，到 2024 年，OIBDA 和自由現金流將保持穩定的收入和兩位數的複合年增長率。我們的2023 年計劃主要是成本驅動的，並在今年下半年進行加權，在2024 年達到運行率。我們預計2024 年外部服務不會產生相同水平的成本。我們還預計2024 年會有更多收入驅動的機會.我們正在實現這些期望。

Thank you. And now I'll turn the call to Bill to discuss the financial results of each business in more detail.

謝謝。現在我將打電話給比爾，更詳細地討論每項業務的財務業績。

Thank you, David, and good morning, everyone. Unless otherwise noted, my comments compare financial performance for the 3 months ended June 30, 2023, to the same period in 2022.

謝謝大衛，大家早上好。除非另有說明，我的評論將截至 2023 年 6 月 30 日的三個月的財務業績與 2022 年同期進行比較。

Starting with QxH. Revenue declined 8%, primarily on lower unit volume, reflecting fewer customers and reduced shipping and handling revenue. These pressures were partially offset by a 5% growth in average selling price resulting from price increases and an elevated product assortment. From a category perspective, QxH experienced declines in home, electronics, accessories and apparel, partially offset by growth in beauty. As David said, QVC U.S. inventory was light in certain categories, such as apparel and kitchen electrics. Home revenue declined 11% as we experienced lower demand largely for cookware and seasonal. These headwinds were partially offset by continued growth in food. Apparel was down 4%, which was modestly lower than in Q1. In Q2, we experienced softness in classic apparel and swimwear, partially offset by strength in denim and dresses.

從 QxH 開始。收入下降 8%，主要是由於單位數量減少，反映出客戶減少以及運輸和裝卸收入減少。這些壓力被價格上漲和產品種類增加導致的平均售價增長 5% 所部分抵消。從品類角度來看，QxH 經歷了家居、電子產品、配飾和服裝領域的下滑，但部分被美容領域的增長所抵消。正如 David 所說，QVC 美國的某些類別庫存較少，例如服裝和廚房電器。由於炊具和季節性需求下降，家庭收入下降了 11%。這些不利因素被糧食的持續增長部分抵消。服裝下降 4%，略低於第一季度。在第二季度，我們經歷了經典服裝和泳裝的柔軟性，但被牛仔布和連衣裙的強勢所部分抵消。

As I mentioned, we were also light on apparel inventory, which impacted category performance. Beauty grew 4%, which was the first quarter of growth since Q4 '21. This performance was mainly due to gains in Bath & Body and color and nails. At QVC, Beauty's rebound was driven by TSVs as well as the successful digital sales event in May. Electronics revenue declined 27% in part due to category softness in the market.

正如我所提到的，我們的服裝庫存也很少，這影響了品類表現。美妝業務增長 4%，這是自 21 年第四季度以來的第一季度增長。這一業績主要歸功於沐浴及美體、色彩和指甲業務的增長。在 QVC，美妝業務的反彈是由 TSV 以及 5 月份成功的數字銷售活動推動的。電子產品收入下降 27%，部分原因是市場類別疲軟。

We continue to strategically pull back on electronics airtime as we focus on higher-margin fashion categories where our best customers over index. We were pleased to complete our insurance claim from the Rocky Mount fire. In late June, we received $225 million of proceeds, which is included in QxH operating income but excluded from adjusted OIBDA. As we have said previously, we intend to use excess cash flow and insurance proceeds to reduce debt. In July, we used proceeds from the claim to pay down a portion of the QVC revolver. Adjusted OIBDA declined $47 million or 20%, of which $20 million is Athens transformation-related costs and $12 million is rent expense from the sale leaseback transactions for our fulfillment centers and headquarters completed in 2022. We lapped the incremental rent expense headwind after Q2 and expect the transformation-related costs to taper down in the back half of the year. While adjusted OIBDA margin decreased 180 basis points, it was a significant improvement from the 480 basis point decline in Q1.

我們繼續戰略性地減少電子產品的播放時間，因為我們專注於利潤率更高的時尚類別，我們的最佳客戶超過了指數。我們很高興完成落基山火災的保險索賠。 6 月底，我們收到了 2.25 億美元的收益，該收益包含在 QxH 營業收入中，但不包含在調整後的 OIBDA 中。正如我們之前所說，我們打算利用多餘的現金流和保險收益來減少債務。 7 月，我們使用索賠收益支付了 QVC 左輪手槍的一部分。調整後的OIBDA 下降了4700 萬美元或20%，其中2000 萬美元是與雅典轉型相關的成本，1200 萬美元是我們的運營中心和總部於2022 年完成的售後回租交易的租金費用。我們克服了第二季度和之後的增量租金費用逆風。預計與轉型相關的成本將在今年下半年逐漸減少。雖然調整後的 OIBDA 利潤率下降了 180 個基點，但與第一季度 480 個基點的下降相比有了顯著改善。

Looking at the second quarter performance in more detail. Gross profit grew 130 basis points mainly due to favorable product margins, fulfillment and inventory obsolescence expense. Product margins increased 70 basis points, driven by price increases and a mix shift to higher-margin products. These gains were partially offset by unfavorable returns and reduced shipping and handling revenue due to lower volume.

更詳細地了解第二季度的業績。毛利潤增長 130 個基點，主要得益於良好的產品利潤率、履行和庫存報廢費用。在價格上漲和向利潤率更高的產品轉型的推動下，產品利潤率增長了 70 個基點。這些收益被不利的退貨以及由於數量減少而導致的運輸和裝卸收入減少所部分抵消。

Fulfillment expenses improved 35 basis points due to lower freight costs, reflecting less detention and demurrage costs and lower volume. These gains were partially offset by higher freight and labor rates and approximately $8 million of fulfillment center rent. Inventory obsolescence favorability was a result of a 37% year-over-year inventory reduction at QxH.

由於貨運成本下降，履行費用減少了 35 個基點，反映出滯留費和滯期費減少以及交易量減少。這些收益被較高的運費和人工費用以及約 800 萬美元的運營中心租金部分抵消。庫存過時優惠是由於 QxH 的庫存同比減少了 37%。

Operating expenses were unfavorable by approximately 50 basis points due to commissions, which is mostly reflected in expanded linear distribution. SG&A was unfavorable by approximately 270 basis points. The majority of the pressure is from transformation-related costs associated with Project Athens. In addition, we had 65 basis points of sales deleverage. Marketing expenses were essentially flat but delevered 25 basis points. These headwinds were partially offset by lower bad debt expense, reflecting provisional adjustments and lower installment counts.

由於佣金的影響，運營費用下降了約 50 個基點，這主要反映在擴大的線性分佈上。 SG&A 不利約 270 個基點。大部分壓力來自與雅典計劃相關的轉型相關成本。此外，我們還進行了 65 個基點的銷售去槓桿化。營銷費用基本持平，但去槓桿化了 25 個基點。這些不利因素被壞賬費用減少部分抵消，反映出臨時調整和分期付款數量減少。

Moving to QVC International. My comments will focus on constant currency results. Revenue declined 3%, primarily on lower unit volume and reduced shipping and handling revenue. QVC Japan and U.K. were essentially flat and were offset by declines in Germany and Italy. QVC International increased average selling price of 5% due to price increases and favorable product mix. From a category perspective, QVC International experienced declines in electronics, jewelry and apparel. Beauty grew modestly and home was flat.

搬到QVC國際。我的評論將集中於不變的貨幣結果。收入下降 3%，主要是由於單位數量減少以及運輸和裝卸收入減少。日本和英國的 QVC 基本持平，但被德國和意大利的下降所抵消。由於價格上漲和有利的產品組合，QVC International 將平均售價提高了 5%。從品類角度來看，QVC International 的電子產品、珠寶和服裝出現了下滑。美貌漸長，家平。

Adjusted OIBDA decreased 15% and adjusted OIBDA margin declined 220 basis points, primarily driven by higher administrative costs. Gross margin increased 60 basis points, mainly due to improved product margins and lower inventory obsolescence. Fulfillment was unfavorable 35 basis points, primarily due to a $4 million of rent from the sale leaseback transactions in January and increased labor costs. SG&A was unfavorable mostly due to higher fixed costs from wages, outside services and management incentive accruals. As David mentioned, QVC International has implemented workforce reductions and is executing a transformation plan that is expected to generate material OIBDA opportunities by Q1 of '25.

調整後的 OIBDA 下降 15%，調整後的 OIBDA 利潤率下降 220 個基點，主要是由於管理成本上升。毛利率增長 60 個基點，主要是由於產品利潤率提高和庫存報廢率降低。履行情況不利 35 個基點，主要是由於 1 月份售後回租交易產生 400 萬美元的租金以及勞動力成本增加。 SG&A 不利的主要原因是工資、外部服務和應計管理激勵的固定成本較高。正如 David 提到的，QVC International 已經實施了裁員，並正在執行一項轉型計劃，預計到 25 年第一季度將產生實質性的 OIBDA 機會。

Moving to Cornerstone. Revenue declined 7% in the quarter, which is a moderation in the rate of decline from Q1. The broader home industry remained highly promotional in the second quarter, requiring Cornerstone to offer promotions to stay competitive. We experienced softness in most home categories as well as in apparel at Garnett Hill. Adjusted OIBDA decreased $19 million, mainly due to increased promotional activity, higher fulfillment expenses associated with the opening of its new fulfillment center in June as well as higher fixed cost overhead, reflecting the opening of 3 new stores in the past year. Expanding Cornerstone's retail footprint has been successful, and we plan to open 3 additional retail stores by early 2024 that will bring the total to 32 stores. These headwinds were partially offset by lower inbound logistics costs.

搬到基石。本季度收入下降 7%，降幅較第一季度有所放緩。第二季度，更廣泛的家居行業仍然高度促銷，要求基石提供促銷活動以保持競爭力。我們在 Garnett Hill 的大多數家居品類以及服裝品類中都經歷了疲軟。調整後的 OIBDA 減少了 1900 萬美元，主要是由於促銷活動增加、與 6 月份新運營中心開業相關的履行費用增加以及固定成本管理費用增加（反映了去年開設了 3 家新店）。 Cornerstone 的零售足跡擴張已取得成功，我們計劃到 2024 年初再開設 3 家零售店，使門店總數達到 32 家。這些不利因素被入境物流成本降低部分抵消。

Now turning to the balance sheet. Total year-to-date capital expenditures were $105 million. For all of 2023, we continue to expect capital expenditures to be approximately $260 million. We spent $107 million on renewals of our TV distribution contracts in the first half of 2023. Our TV distribution payments can fluctuate year-over-year depending on renewal cycles, though we expect the 2-year average to be approximately $100 million. We have covered the majority of our 2023 payments already through June.

現在轉向資產負債表。年初至今的資本支出總額為 1.05 億美元。我們預計 2023 年全年的資本支出約為 2.6 億美元。 2023 年上半年，我們花費了 1.07 億美元用於續訂電視發行合同。我們的電視發行付款可能會根據續訂週期而逐年波動，但我們預計 2 年平均值約為 1 億美元。截至 6 月，我們已支付了 2023 年付款的大部分。

Total free cash flow for the first 6 months of 2023 was a source of $286 million versus a use of $137 million last year. The year-over-year improvement was primarily attributable to increased cash flow from operations, partially offset by higher TV distribution payments. The operating cash flow increase was largely driven by working capital improvements from inventory and payables as well as insurance proceeds.

2023 年前 6 個月的自由現金流總額為 2.86 億美元，而去年的使用量為 1.37 億美元。同比改善主要歸因於運營現金流增加，但部分被電視發行費用增加所抵消。經營現金流量的增加主要是由於庫存和應付賬款以及保險收益帶來的營運資本改善所致。

In the second half of the year, we anticipate generating additional year-over-year OIBDA gains, which will continue to benefit cash flow. Looking at our debt profile. On June 30, we had $1.4 billion drawn on the QVC revolver with $1.8 billion in available capacity. Looking at our cash balances, as of June 30, 2023, Qurate Retail had total cash of $1.5 billion, of which $649 million was at QVC, Inc. $42 million was at Liberty Interactive LLC and $358 million was at Qurate Retail Inc. We reduced debt at Qurate Retail Inc. by $201 million in the second quarter while we increased cash $197 million.

今年下半年，我們預計 OIBDA 將產生額外的同比收益，這將繼續有利於現金流。看看我們的債務狀況。 6 月 30 日，我們在 QVC 左輪手槍上提取了 14 億美元，可用容量為 18 億美元。從我們的現金餘額來看，截至2023 年6 月30 日，Qurate Retail 的現金總額為15 億美元，其中QVC, Inc. 擁有6.49 億美元。Liberty Interactive LLC 擁有4200 萬美元，Qurate Retail Inc. 擁有3.58億美元。我們減少了Qurate Retail Inc. 第二季度的債務增加了 2.01 億美元，同時我們增加了 1.97 億美元的現金。

Our leverage ratio, as defined by the QVC revolving credit facility was 2.3x. As a reminder, pursuant to Zulily's divestiture, it is no longer a co-borrower under the credit facility. Zulily repaid its $80 million of outstanding borrowings in the quarter using cash contributed by Qurate Retail. The removal of Zulily will benefit liquidity and leverage going forward. Note that covenant OIBDA includes the adjusted OIBDA of QVC and Cornerstone as well as the gains on sale leaseback transactions for the 4 quarters following such transactions and as of the beginning of this year, also includes a portion of the next 12 months of expected cost savings.

根據 QVC 循環信貸額度的定義，我們的槓桿率為 2.3 倍。提醒一下，根據 Zulily 的剝離，它不再是信貸安排下的共同借款人。 Zulily 在本季度使用 Qurate Retail 提供的現金償還了 8000 萬美元的未償還借款。 Zulily 的移除將有利於未來的流動性和槓桿率。請注意，契約 OIBDA 包括 QVC 和 Cornerstone 調整後的 OIBDA，以及此類交易後 4 個季度和截至今年年初的售後回租交易收益，還包括未來 12 個月預期成本節省的一部分。

During Q2, we repurchased $177 million of the QVC senior secured notes due in 2024 and $15 million of the QVC senior secured notes due in 2025. We made open market purchases at a discount totaling $182 million of cash spend. We took action throughout 2022 and 2023 to create liquidity and position ourselves to execute Project Athens. We are making significant progress towards improving OIBDA and cash flow and feel confident in delivering OIBDA growth in the balance of the year.

在第二季度，我們回購了1.77 億美元的2024 年到期的QVC 高級擔保票據和1,500 萬美元的2025 年到期的QVC 高級擔保票據。我們以折扣價進行了公開市場購買，現金支出總計1.82 億美元。我們在 2022 年和 2023 年採取了行動，創造流動性並為執行雅典項目做好準備。我們在改善 OIBDA 和現金流方面取得了重大進展，並對在今年餘下時間實現 OIBDA 增長充滿信心。

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

這樣，我就把電話轉給格雷格。

Thank you, Bill. I hope, as you can see, Athens initiatives are benefiting the financial results, and we believe there is more to come. We saw improvements in cash flow year-over-year largely though, due to working capital benefits plus insurance proceeds. But as OIBDA losses moderate consistent with the plan David and team outlined, we expect more OIBDA-related operating cash flow in the second half. We did divest Zulily, which we think will benefit future liquidity and focus management on our core operations. We do continue to assess incremental opportunities to improve the balance sheet. As was noted, we repaid $192 million of near-term QVC bonds at 97 -- 95% of par picking up some discount there. We settled $94 million of exchanges on the 1.75% charter bonds. These bonds have an October '23 put/call date and was pulled the -- exchange was pulled forward into this timing when we settled those recent exchanges. We have $77 million of principal remaining on those, including a $2 million additional exchange, which was done subsequent to quarter end.

謝謝你，比爾。正如您所看到的，我希望雅典的舉措有利於財務業績，而且我們相信還會有更多的成果。不過，我們看到現金流同比有所改善，這主要歸功於營運資本收益加上保險收益。但由於 OIBDA 損失溫和，符合 David 和團隊概述的計劃，我們預計下半年與 OIBDA 相關的運營現金流將增加。我們確實剝離了 Zulily，我們認為這將有利於未來的流動性並將管理重點放在我們的核心業務上。我們確實繼續評估改善資產負債表的增量機會。正如所指出的，我們以 97% 至 95% 的面值償還了 1.92 億美元的近期 QVC 債券，其中有一些折扣。我們以 1.75% 的特許債券結算了 9,400 萬美元的兌換費用。這些債券的看跌/看漲日期為 23 年 10 月，當我們結算最近的交易所時，交易所被提前到這個時間。我們還剩下 7700 萬美元的本金，其中包括在季度末後完成的 200 萬美元的額外兌換。

As was noted, we closed out our insurance claims on our warehouse fire with the $225 million final payment received in June, and that was applied to our revolver paydown in July. Our current leverage is running 2.3x and that's a sufficient cushion relative to the 4.5x covenant to revolver. We do expect to maintain long-term leverage target of 2.5x. And in the near term, we expect free cash flow will be applied to debt repayment.

正如所指出的，我們在 6 月份收到了 2.25 億美元的最終付款，結束了對倉庫火災的保險索賠，並將其用於 7 月份的左輪手槍付款。我們當前的槓桿率為 2.3 倍，相對於左輪手槍的 4.5 倍槓桿來說，這是一個足夠的緩衝。我們確實預計維持 2.5 倍的長期槓桿目標。短期內，我們預計自由現金流將用於償還債務。

And with that, operator, I'd like to open it up for questions.

那麼，接線員，我想打開它來提問。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Hale Holden with Barclays.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Hale Holden 與 Barclays 的線路。

I had 2 questions. The first one is, I guess, you alluded to it in your final comments there. But as you're thinking about the back half or a typical seasonal fourth quarter, there isn't any reason to expect that you shouldn't have a more normalized margin and sort of free cash flow profile drop down this year like we would have seen historically.

我有兩個問題。我想，第一個是你在最後的評論中提到的。但當你考慮下半年或典型的季節性第四季度時，沒有任何理由認為你今年不應該有更正常化的利潤率和自由現金流狀況下降，就像我們希望的那樣歷史上看到的。

Yes. It's David. Thank you for the question. Yes, we don't -- we think you've seen some of the gross margin and the cost work. Obviously, the fourth quarter last year was relatively exceptional both because of downstream supply chain impact and because we were working through a fair amount of inventory reduction efforts through clearance. And so we had some, I would call them, extraordinary margin headwinds in the fourth quarter of last year that we don't expect to repeat. So we do think there's some margin opportunity as we go through the second half.

是的。是大衛。感謝你的提問。是的，我們不知道——我們認為您已經看到了一些毛利率和成本的變化。顯然，去年第四季度相對特殊，這既是因為下游供應鏈的影響，也是因為我們正在通過清倉來進行大量的庫存削減工作。因此，我們在去年第四季度遇到了一些，我稱之為，非凡的利潤逆風，我們預計不會重複這種情況。因此，我們確實認為下半年存在一些利潤機會。

Great. And then the second question I had was on some of the recent weakness in Japan. I was just hoping maybe you could give us some puts and takes there in terms of what we should be thinking about and how that business performs in QVC International generically.

偉大的。我的第二個問題是關於日本最近的一些弱點。我只是希望您能給我們一些看跌期權和看跌期權，以了解我們應該考慮什麼以及該業務在 QVC International 的總體表現如何。

Yes. We've seen some elevated inflation in Japan. That's come a little bit later than it has for the rest. We've had some merchandising hits and misses that have been perhaps a little less consistent than we've seen previously. But we're mostly continuing to see strength in that in that business. And we don't see any reason going forward, but we should have to be off the long-term trend in terms of the strong performance of the Japanese business. Nothing structural or underlying that's very concerning there. And that's historically been one of our strongest performers.

是的。我們看到日本通脹有所上升。這比其他的來得晚一點。我們經歷了一些銷售的成功和失敗，這些可能比我們以前看到的不太一致。但我們主要繼續看到該業務的優勢。我們看不到任何未來的理由，但就日本業務的強勁表現而言，我們應該必須偏離長期趨勢。那裡沒有什麼結構性的或潛在的非常令人擔憂的東西。從歷史上看，這是我們表現最出色的公司之一。

And our next question comes from the line of Jason Haas with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的賈森·哈斯 (Jason Haas)。

I was curious, David, if you could talk about what pressures continue to weigh on customer count and when you see that improving?

我很好奇，大衛，您能否談談客戶數量繼續面臨哪些壓力以及您何時看到這種情況有所改善？

Yes. Thank you. So a few things. The first is we reiterated Athens objectives today. There's nothing I see happening in our customer file that would preclude that, just a reminder, and I know you know this, Jason, the last 12-month data that we report both reflects lower-quality customers who came in during the pandemic who are still falling out of the file. The other thing is that it still has in it a lot of the Rocky Mount buyer impact where I think we frankly didn't have the capacity to serve some of our customers the way they deserve. What we have seen is the stabilization in the average daily customer counts, which is what we spend most of our time looking at. How many purchasing customers do we have every day, and that's actually been pretty stable as we've gone throughout this year.

是的。謝謝。所以有幾件事。首先是我們今天重申了雅典的目標。我在我們的客戶檔案中沒有看到任何情況會阻止這種情況發生，只是提醒一下，我知道你知道這一點，傑森，我們報告的最後12 個月的數據都反映了在大流行期間進入的低質量客戶，他們是仍然從文件中掉出來。另一件事是，它仍然對落基山買家產生很大影響，坦白說，我認為我們沒有能力以他們應得的方式為我們的一些客戶提供服務。我們看到的是平均每日客戶數量的穩定，這是我們花費大部分時間關注的。我們每天有多少採購客戶，實際上今年我們的採購客戶數量相當穩定。

One way to start to see that in the reported figures is I think if you look at the last quarter versus this quarter, we're just down low single digits from Q1 to Q2. So you are starting to see very real stabilization in the customer count as we reset having shed some of the excess pandemic customers. I would also tell you that 35% to 40% of our new customers we acquired in the fourth quarter. So we're putting a lot of effort into what the fourth quarter will look at.

從報告的數據中開始看到這一點的一種方法是，我認為如果你對比上一季度和本季度，我們只是從第一季度到第二季度下降了低個位數。因此，隨著我們重新調整併擺脫了一些因疫情導致的過剩客戶，您開始看到客戶數量非常穩定。我還要告訴你，我們 35% 到 40% 的新客戶是在第四季度獲得的。因此，我們正在為第四季度的研究投入大量精力。

And then finally, just a reminder about the way our customer file works, right? Our existing customers are half of the count and 90% of the sales. So how they perform matters a lot more than the total aggregate customer file. And when you look at our existing customers, they continued to be extraordinarily strong. Their average spend was up to more than $1,500. That's the best since QxH was formed in 2018. They increased their average spend 6% in the last trailing 12 months ending June 30. And in Q2, our retention rate for our existing customers was 87%. So still extraordinarily strong, one of the strongest numbers you can find in retail.

最後，只是提醒一下我們的客戶檔案的工作方式，對嗎？我們現有的客戶數量佔一半，銷售額佔 90%。因此，他們的表現比總客戶檔案更重要。當你看看我們現有的客戶時，你會發現他們仍然非常強大。他們的平均支出高達 1,500 美元以上。這是自 2018 年 QxH 成立以來最好的成績。截至 6 月 30 日的過去 12 個月裡，他們的平均支出增加了 6%。第二季度，我們現有客戶的保留率為 87%。因此仍然非常強勁，是零售業中最強勁的數字之一。

And then if you double-click on our existing customers, what we call our best customers at QVC. So a best customer is somebody who purchases more than 20x a year. Our best customers are about 18% of our account at about 75% of our sales. And when you look at the best customers, our retention rate with them is in the high -- is in the 90s. If you count them in our total file, it's in the very high 90s, and their spend has continued to grow as well. So we're doing a lot to concentrate on our existing customers and our best customers. And we think that gives us -- in addition to the sequential moderation you're seeing in the customer file, we think that the strength with those customers gives us a lot of the strength we need as we seek to deliver the second half of 2023 and as we go through 2024.

然後，如果您雙擊我們的現有客戶，我們稱之為 QVC 的最佳客戶。因此，最好的客戶是每年購買次數超過 20 次的客戶。我們最好的客戶約占我們客戶的 18%，約占我們銷售額的 75%。當你觀察最好的客戶時，我們對他們的保留率很高——在 90 年代。如果你把他們算在我們的總檔案中，你會發現他們的數字在 90 多歲，而且他們的支出也在持續增長。因此，我們正在做很多事情來專注於現有客戶和最佳客戶。我們認為，除了您在客戶檔案中看到的順序調整之外，我們認為這些客戶的實力為我們提供了我們在 2023 年下半年實現目標時所需的大量力量當我們邁入 2024 年時。

Finally, just on new, I mentioned a little bit of this in my prepared remarks, but we have a lot of efforts going against how we attract new customers. Our streaming service, it's continuing to grow. We've seen some good results from new streaming episodes and new streaming programs, bringing in some new customers. We formed a customer hub at QVC. That hub is focusing on 17 different focused customer segments prioritized in the 7 different groups by new, existing and our most loyal customers. We're doing proactive calls out to customers who we've seen churn. We're sending letters from hosts with special offers. So we have all hands on deck full-scale effort going against our customer file in the second half. And like I said, I think you can already start to see some of that working if you just look sequentially at the customer file.

最後，就新而言，我在準備好的發言中提到了一點，但我們有很多努力不利於吸引新客戶。我們的流媒體服務正在持續增長。我們看到新的流媒體劇集和新的流媒體節目取得了一些良好的成果，帶來了一些新客戶。我們在 QVC 建立了一個客戶中心。該中心專注於 17 個不同的重點客戶群，按新客戶、現有客戶和我們最忠誠的客戶優先分為 7 個不同的群體。我們正在主動致電那些我們發現流失的客戶。我們正在向房東寄來包含特別優惠的信件。因此，下半年我們將全力以赴，全力應對我們的客戶檔案。就像我說的，我認為如果您按順序查看客戶文件，您已經可以開始看到其中的一些工作。

That's great. And can you talk about the relative performance of HSN versus QVC?

那太棒了。您能談談 HSN 與 QVC 的相對性能嗎？

Yes. So HSN, I would say, is if -- you really have to start the story going back to last year. We started with the inventory efforts. HSN was a much bigger part of that effort in QVC on a percentage basis. And so that business has had the more significant swings both in terms of clearance and margin and in terms of inventory and getting the right inventory for the right time. And so I would say they lagged QVC. We've had some real inventory in merchandise improvements at QVC in the first half. I think HSN is on a similar path. We're tracking a little bit behind because it took them a little bit longer to get clean on inventory and so to bring in new inventory. And so we're expecting HSN to have stronger performance in the back half, both on a margin perspective, but also on a sales perspective as we get to the type of merchandise we want.

是的。所以我想說，HSN 是如果——你真的必須從去年開始講故事。我們從庫存工作開始。從百分比來看，HSN 在 QVC 的努力中所佔的比例要大得多。因此，該業務在清倉和利潤方面以及在庫存和在正確的時間獲得正確的庫存方面都出現了更顯著的波動。所以我想說他們落後於 QVC。上半年，我們在 QVC 的商品改進方面有一些實際庫存。我認為 HSN 也走著類似的道路。我們的追踪有點落後，因為他們花了更長的時間來清理庫存並引入新庫存。因此，我們預計 HSN 在下半年會有更強勁的表現，無論是從利潤角度還是從銷售角度來看，因為我們得到了我們想要的商品類型。

The other thing that's been true about HSN is we've seen bigger positive variation when we do large events. I talked about the Wheel of Fortune event, we had a foodie fest event. We've had some nice celebrity collaborations, Lionel Richie, Debbie Gibson that we're going to continue in the second half. So we actually feel pretty good. Though it was -- it's been a bit weaker than QVC in the first half, we actually feel pretty good about the momentum going into the second half of HSN.

HSN 的另一件事是，當我們舉辦大型活動時，我們看到了更大的積極變化。我談到了命運之輪活動，我們舉辦了一場美食節活動。我們已經與萊昂內爾·里奇（Lionel Richie）、黛比·吉布森（Debbie Gibson）等一些名人進行了很好的合作，我們將在下半年繼續合作。所以我們實際上感覺很好。雖然上半場比 QVC 稍弱一些，但我們實際上對 HSN 下半場的勢頭感覺很好。

Our next question comes from the line of Carla Casella with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自卡拉·卡塞拉 (Carla Casella) 與摩根大通 (JPMorgan) 的對話。

So cash at Liberty Interactive moved up about $67 million this quarter. Is that from the Zulily sale? Or was there some other source of cash at that entity?

因此，Liberty Interactive 本季度的現金增加了約 6700 萬美元。這是 Zulily 特賣的嗎？或者該實體還有其他現金來源嗎？

That was from the sale of our stake in comScore.

這是我們出售 comScore 股份的結果。

Okay. And then it sounds like this was the final insurance payment. Is that correct?

好的。然後聽起來這就是最後的保險付款了。那是對的嗎？

Correct.

正確的。

Okay. And then you mentioned that you'd use some proceeds after quarter end to pay down the revolver. Can you give us how much that was? And let us know if you bought back any bonds after the quarter end?

好的。然後您提到您將在季度末後使用一些收益來償還左輪手槍。你能告訴我們那是多少錢嗎？請告訴我們您在季度末後是否回購了任何債券？

It was immaterial, Carla.

這並不重要，卡拉。

Okay.

好的。

Bill, I'll let you answer on the revolver, but it was the insurance claim proceeds that were applied to the revolving paydown, Carla.

比爾，我會讓你回答左輪手槍的問題，但用於循環付款的是保險索賠收益，卡拉。

Okay. But was it all -- did you use all of the proceeds?

好的。但這就是全部——你用完了所有收益嗎？

No. The -- we paid the revolver down by I think it was within $177 million range.

不，我們付了左輪手槍的首付，我認為在 1.77 億美元範圍內。

Okay. That's great. And then there was some comment about the -- well, on the media rights spend, there was some comment about one, I guess, right or agreement that you exited. Can you just give us any more color on that proceeds and/or why exit is the way you think about that media rights changing?

好的。那太棒了。然後有一些關於——嗯，關於媒體版權支出的評論，我猜，有一些關於你退出的權利或協議的評論。您能否給我們更多關於該收益的信息和/或為什麼退出是您認為媒體權利變化的方式？

You say that again, Carla?

你再說一遍，卡拉？

I thought I heard comments about there, the media. When your -- in your discussion of the media rights, there was one contract that sounded like you exited and took in some proceeds from. Did I misunderstand that? And if there's any -- I'm just wondering if there's any change in how you think about the media business, just given the increased move to online spending -- or online consumer spending?

我想我聽到了媒體的評論。當您在討論媒體權利時，有一份合同聽起來像是您退出並從中獲得了一些收益。我誤解了嗎？如果有的話——我只是想知道，鑑於在線支出或在線消費者支出的增加，您對媒體業務的看法是否有任何變化？

Yes. I'm not exactly sure what you're referring to, maybe we can clarify if you send us a note. We haven't -- our basic go-to-market on the media right side hasn't changed substantially. Our commission structure remains the same. There's some variability now that streaming is becoming a big part of -- bigger part of that, and we have the variability in the go-to-market now that e-commerce remains a big part of our go-to-market. So we have digital marketing spend variations, but no big changes to sort of structurally our commission structure with our carriers and that sort of thing.

是的。我不太清楚您指的是什麼，如果您給我們留言，也許我們可以澄清。我們沒有——我們在媒體右側的基本進入市場並沒有發生重大變化。我們的佣金結構保持不變。現在存在一些變化，流媒體正在成為其中的重要組成部分，而且我們在進入市場方面也存在變化，因為電子商務仍然是我們進入市場的重要組成部分。因此，我們的數字營銷支出有所變化，但我們與運營商的佣金結構等結構上沒有重大變化。

Okay. Great. That's actually what I was looking for. I know my question was very poorly worded. Just one last one. International and the domestic, there seems to be a lot of similarities between the business. I'm just wondering how intertwined each of your international businesses are. Do you do all of your programming in each market? Are they -- do you use a lot of the shared resources between the U.S. and international markets?

好的。偉大的。這實際上就是我一直在尋找的。我知道我的問題措辭非常糟糕。只剩下最後一張了國際和國內，業務之間似乎有很多相似之處。我只是想知道你們的每項國際業務是如何相互交織的。你們的所有節目都是在每個市場進行的嗎？你們是否使用了美國和國際市場之間的大量共享資源？

Yes. Thank you for that. I'd say it's a mixture. So we're doing a lot more with how we understand our programming, how we understand our pricing, how we view things like product strategy. Obviously, in the context of the Project Athens, we've built substantial amounts of new analytical capability across all of those. And so we have multiple ways of sharing learning both across QVC and HSN in the U.S. and with all of the international businesses. And so that's why you've seen, I think, some things like gross margins going up in basic concert, average sale price going up in basic concert.

是的。謝謝你。我想說這是一個混合物。因此，我們在如何理解我們的編程、如何理解我們的定價、如何看待產品策略等方面做了更多的工作。顯然，在雅典計劃的背景下，我們已經在所有這些方面建立了大量新的分析能力。因此，我們有多種方式在美國的 QVC 和 HSN 以及所有國際企業分享學習成果。我認為這就是為什麼你會看到一些事情，比如基本音樂會的毛利率上升，基本音樂會的平均售價上升。

Each market has a number of things that may get differentiated. And so most of the day-to-day operating decisions are made closer to the customer within the market while we continue on the big structural strategic choices and moves to operate across to make sure we're getting scale across the whole franchise that we're getting best practices spread throughout all of the markets. Only other thing I would say is one thing we've started doing a lot more of that I think has proven effective is using some of the smaller markets as a test bed. AI is a good example of where we're doing that. And then as we see success and as we perfect whatever the new discipline is then scaling that back across the U.S. And so that's been the other way we tried to use some of the international markets, especially the U.K.

每個市場都有許多可能會有所差異的事情。因此，大多數日常運營決策都是在更貼近市場內客戶的情況下制定的，同時我們繼續進行重大的結構性戰略選擇並轉向跨領域運營，以確保我們在整個特許經營範圍內實現規模化。我們正在將最佳實踐傳播到所有市場。我要說的另一件事是，我們已經開始做更多我認為已證明有效的事情，那就是使用一些較小的市場作為試驗台。人工智能就是我們這樣做的一個很好的例子。然後，當我們看到成功並完善新規則時，就會將其擴展到美國各地，這就是我們嘗試利用一些國際市場（尤其是英國）的另一種方式。

Our next question comes from the line of William Reuter with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的威廉·路透 (William Reuter)。

The first is you did some bond repurchases during the quarter. You mentioned opportunities for the balance sheet. Do you expect that you'll continue to complete open market repurchases of those? Do you have hopes of refinancing those if financial results improve. What are your thoughts for the 2024s?

首先是您在本季度進行了一些債券回購。您提到了資產負債表的機會。您預計會繼續完成這些產品的公開市場回購嗎？如果財務業績改善，您是否希望為這些項目進行再融資？您對 2024 年有什麼想法？

Ben, do you want to answer that?

本，你想回答這個問題嗎？

Yes, sure. It's Ben Oren. I think we'll be consistent with what we've said in the past, which is that we expect to handle those with some mixture of free cash flow and revolver. And as we kind of move forward into 2024, see where rates are and where funding costs are. At this time, we've got very attractive coupons. And so to the extent that cash can handle those maturities or revolver draw, which is our best funding source, we're going to lean towards that and then turn out when things get better.

是的，當然。這是本·奧倫。我認為我們將與過去所說的保持一致，即我們希望處理那些自由現金流和左輪手槍混合的情況。當我們邁入 2024 年時，看看利率和融資成本在哪裡。這時候我們就拿到了非常誘人的優惠券。因此，在現金可以處理這些到期或左輪手槍抽籤的情況下，這是我們最好的資金來源，我們將傾向於這一點，然後當情況好轉時就會出現。

Great. And then there's clearly some pretty massive divergence of category performance. I guess, can you talk a little bit about your lead times and your ability to shift your inventory mix to areas like beauty that are doing better and away from categories like home that are suffering right now?

偉大的。而且類別表現顯然存在相當大的差異。我想，你能談談你的交貨時間，以及你將庫存組合轉移到美容等表現更好的領域，而不是像家居這樣目前正在遭受損失的類別的能力嗎？

Yes. Thank you. It's a great question. General lead times in this business are 6 to 9 months. I think we're -- in some categories, we're able to do a bit better than that. I think the good thing about where we are going into the second half is we've actually -- the larger trends are not a surprise. So beauty has been relatively strong in the broader market all of this year. And so we've been able to see that as it developed. Likewise, electronics has been relatively weaker as we've gone through this year. So while there is variability, it's not -- at this point, it's not unpredictable variability and differentiation. I think we we've seen relative stability in how the categories have performed relative to each other. And so we think we have a fair amount of insight going into the second half about what's happening in the broader market.

是的。謝謝。這是一個很好的問題。該業務的一般交貨時間為 6 至 9 個月。我認為我們——在某些類別中，我們能夠做得更好一點。我認為我們進入下半年的好處是我們實際上——更大的趨勢並不令人意外。因此，今年以來，美妝在大盤中表現相對強勁。所以我們已經能夠看到它的發展。同樣，今年以來，電子產品的表現相對較弱。因此，雖然存在變異性，但在這一點上，它並不是不可預測的變異性和差異化。我認為我們已經看到各個類別之間的表現相對穩定。因此，我們認為我們對下半年更廣泛市場的情況有相當多的了解。

I would -- the one other thing I'd say is that you probably can't pick up on just by looking at the category performance, there's actually much more variation going in within categories or the cross categories. So part of what we're seeing is a trade down to necessities where people care a lot about price, but then a trade up if people still really want things. It's the hollowing out of the middle within categories, the sort of barbell effect, that's probably been the most notable thing we've seen as we've gone throughout the first half.

我想說的另一件事是，您可能無法僅通過查看類別表現來了解，實際上類別內或跨類別之間存在更多變化。因此，我們看到的部分情況是，人們非常關心價格，因此人們會減少購買必需品，但如果人們仍然真正想要東西，就會增加購買量。這是類別中中間的空心化，類似於槓鈴效應，這可能是我們在整個上半場看到的最值得注意的事情。

All right. And then just lastly for me. David, you gave some helpful commentary on stabilization of customers and those COVID cohorts starting to roll off. I guess you also talked a little bit about what you're doing in terms of new customer acquisition. Do you expect that we will be at a -- is there a date when you believe maybe we will see an increase in the number of actively engaged customers? Do you think that by the end of the year, we could actually see growth?

好的。最後對我來說。大衛，你對客戶的穩定和那些開始減少的新冠肺炎人群發表了一些有用的評論。我想您也談到了您在獲取新客戶方面所做的事情。您是否預計我們會在某一天您認為我們會看到積極參與的客戶數量有所增加？您認為到今年年底，我們真的可以看到增長嗎？

Yes, it's a good question. I would certainly expect to see moderation over the next quarter or 2 on the type of design you're seeing in the 12 months. It makes a little bit harder to get you full detail in the full 12 months trailing because things just have to cycle through. I would say what we have seen is a real ability to move the needle across specific initiatives with new customers. Some of those are still relatively small, and so we're just beginning to scale some of them. But there's no reason to believe based on the data we are seeing and the reaction we're having to some of our early initiatives that we can eventually get to new customer growth, I think in all brands, but especially in the QVC and HSN U.S. brands.

是的，這是一個好問題。我當然希望看到您在 12 個月內看到的設計類型在下一個或兩個季度有所緩和。獲取過去 12 個月的完整詳細信息會有點困難，因為事情必須循環進行。我想說的是，我們所看到的是真正有能力推動新客戶的具體計劃。其中一些仍然相對較小，因此我們剛剛開始擴展其中一些。但根據我們看到的數據以及我們對一些早期舉措的反應，沒有理由相信我們最終能夠實現新客戶增長，我認為在所有品牌中，尤其是在美國的 QVC 和 HSN。品牌。

All right, operator, I think we're done with those questions. Thank you, investors, for your interest in Qurate, and we look forward to speaking with you next quarter, if not sooner.

好的，接線員，我想我們已經回答完這些問題了。感謝投資者對 Qurate 的興趣，我們期待在下個季度（甚至更早）與您交談。

Excellent. Thank you.

出色的。謝謝。

Thank you, everyone.

謝謝大家。

And this concludes today's conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

今天的會議到此結束，大家可以掛斷電話了。感謝您的參與。