Upbound Group Inc (UPBD) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q3 2025 Upbound Group, Inc. earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

您好，感謝您的耐心等待。歡迎參加 Upbound Group, Inc. 2025 年第三季業績電話會議。（操作人員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄音。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Jeff Chesnut, Head of IR. Please go ahead.

現在我謹將會議交給今天的第一位發言人，投資者關係主管傑夫·切斯納特。請繼續。

Good morning, and thank you all for joining us to discuss Upbound Group's performance for the third quarter of 2025. We issued our earnings release this morning before the market opened, and the release and all related materials, including a link to the live webcast, are available on our website at investor.upbound.com.

早安，感謝各位參加本次會議，共同探討 Upbound Group 2025 年第三季的業績。今天早上開市前，我們發布了盈利報告，該報告及所有相關材料，包括直播鏈接，均可在我們的網站 investor.upbound.com 上查閱。

On the call today, we have Fahmi Karam, our CEO. As a reminder, some of the statements provided on this call are forward-looking and are subject to factors that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from our expectations. These factors are described in our earnings release as well as in the company's SEC filings.

今天參加電話會議的有我們的執行長法赫米·卡拉姆。提醒各位，本次電話會議中提供的某些陳述屬於前瞻性陳述，並受多種因素影響，這些因素可能導致實際結果與我們的預期有重大不利差異。這些因素在我們的獲利報告中以及公司提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中均有描述。

Upbound Group undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, except as required by law. This call will also include references to non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to today's earnings release, which can be found on our website for a description of the non-GAAP financial measures and the reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP financial measures.

除法律要求外，Upbound Group 不承擔公開更新或修改任何前瞻性聲明的義務。本次電話會議也將提及非GAAP財務指標。請參閱我們網站上今天發布的收益報告，其中對非GAAP財務指標進行了說明，並與最可比較的GAAP財務指標進行了調節。

Finally, Upbound Group is not responsible for and does not edit or guarantee the accuracy of our earnings teleconference transcripts provided by third parties. Please refer to our website for the only authorized webcast.

最後，Upbound Group 不負責也不編輯或保證第三方提供的獲利電話會議記錄的準確性。請參考我們網站上提供的唯一官方授權網路直播連結。

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

接下來，我會把電話交給法赫米。

Thank you, Jeff, and good morning, everyone. Our business is organized around a simple but powerful statement, which is to elevate financial opportunity for all. As the consumer environment changes, our customers' needs evolve as well, and our business is constantly adapting in response. As we accelerate the pace of innovation and capitalize on our differentiated strengths, it's critical that we have the right people to help us deliver on our mission. That's why I'm excited to share that we strengthened our executive team by adding 2 proven leaders with a deep knowledge of our consumers and a track record of building new capabilities, transforming businesses and ultimately creating value.

謝謝你，傑夫，大家早安。我們的業務圍繞著一個簡單而有力的理念展開，那就是提升所有人的財務機會。隨著消費環境的變化，客戶的需求也在不斷變化，我們的業務也不斷調整以應對這些變化。隨著我們加快創新步伐並充分利用自身差異化優勢，擁有合適的人才來幫助我們實現使命至關重要。因此，我很高興地宣布，我們透過增加兩位經驗豐富的領導者來加強我們的高階主管團隊。這兩位領導者對我們的消費者有著深刻的了解，並且在建立新能力、轉型業務和最終創造價值方面有著良好的業績記錄。

I am pleased to welcome our new Chief Financial Officer, Hal Khouri, who we announced today; and our new Chief Growth Officer, Rebecca Wooters, who we announced a few weeks ago. Hal was most recently the CFO at goeasy, a leading nonprime focused lender in Canada with relevant experience in point-of-sale financing as well as a lease-to-own retail platform. Prior to joining goeasy, Hal was the CFO for Walmart Canada Bank and JPMorgan Chase Canada Bank. And Rebecca, our new Chief Growth Officer, was previously the Chief Digital Officer for Signet Jewelers, where she transformed the business into a digital omnichannel retailer across several brands.

我很高興地歡迎我們今天宣布的新任財務長 Hal Khouri；以及我們幾週前宣布的新任首席成長長 Rebecca Wooters。Hal 最近擔任 goeasy 的財務官，goeasy 是加拿大一家領先的專注於非優質貸款的貸款機構，在銷售點融資以及租賃購買零售平台方面擁有相關經驗。在加入 goeasy 之前，Hal 曾擔任沃爾瑪加拿大銀行和摩根大通加拿大銀行的財務長。而我們新任首席成長長 Rebecca 先前曾擔任 Signet Jewelers 的首席數位官，她將這家公司轉型為一家跨多個品牌的數位化全通路零售商。

Before her role at Signet, Rebecca held several growth leadership positions at Citibank, including Chief Customer Experience Officer for the North America Consumer Group. Together with our experienced existing team, these new business leaders will help us elevate the customer experience, bringing data-driven targeted offerings to market for our customers and retailers while accelerating our growth. I'm thrilled to welcome them both to Upbound, and our whole team looks forward to working with them to drive our business forward.

在加入 Signet 之前，Rebecca 曾在花旗銀行擔任多個成長領導職位，包括北美消費者集團首席客戶體驗長。這些新業務領導者將與我們經驗豐富的現有團隊一起，幫助我們提升客戶體驗，為我們的客戶和零售商帶來數據驅動的精準產品和服務，同時加速我們的成長。我非常高興地歡迎他們兩位加入 Upbound，我們整個團隊都期待與他們合作，推動我們的業務向前發展。

Moving on to the quarter. Upbound delivered another quarter of strong results with revenue up 9% year-over-year to $1.16 billion and adjusted EBITDA up 5.7% year-over-year to $123.6 million. At Rent-A-Center, we're seeing encouraging sequential improvement in same-store sales while maintaining robust 16.2% adjusted EBITDA margins through operational efficiencies and digital enhancements.

接下來進入季度部分。Upbound 又迎來了一個強勁的季度業績，營收年增 9% 至 11.6 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 較去年同期成長 5.7% 至 1.236 億美元。在 Rent-A-Center，我們看到同店銷售額出現了令人鼓舞的環比增長，同時透過營運效率和數位化改進，保持了 16.2% 的穩健調整後 EBITDA 利潤率。

We're now expecting same-store sales to approach flat to positive comps in the fourth quarter based on these promising trends. At Brigit, we maintained impressive momentum with revenue growth of 40% and subscriber growth of 27% year-over-year, while successfully expanding the product suite.

基於這些正面的趨勢，我們預期第四季同店銷售額將趨於持平或實現成長。在 Brigit，我們維持了強勁的發展勢頭，營收年增 40%，訂閱用戶年增 27%，同時成功擴展了產品組合。

And at Acima, despite recent further tightening of our underwriting in targeted areas, we delivered the eighth consecutive quarter of GMV growth, which was 11% in the third quarter, while surpassing a milestone achievement of working with more than 100,000 merchant locations across its history.

在 Acima，儘管我們最近在特定領域進一步收緊了承保，但我們仍實現了連續第八個季度的 GMV 增長，第三季度增長了 11%，同時還超越了公司歷史上與超過 100,000 個商家合作的里程碑式成就。

Let's move to slide 4 to discuss our market and our consumers. As we noted in the past, our customers are accustomed to economic uncertainty, and they are attuned to key signals in the macro backdrop that will eventually translate into their spending priorities.

接下來我們來看第 4 張投影片，討論一下我們的市場和消費者。正如我們過去所指出的，我們的客戶已經習慣了經濟的不確定性，他們非常關注宏觀背景下的關鍵訊號，這些訊號最終會轉化為他們的消費重點。

Those signals are generally tied to demand in the labor market, where recent reports suggest job growth is slowing and price levels where the cumulative effect of inflation and the potential for tariff-related price adjustments is pressuring our consumers' collective confidence.

這些訊號通常與勞動力市場的需求有關，最近的報告顯示就業成長正在放緩，而物價水平方面，通貨膨脹的累積效應以及關稅相關價格調整的可能性正在給消費者的集體信心帶來壓力。

These dynamics impact demand from our core customers, putting top line pressure on our lease businesses as well as affecting payment behavior, both of which influence the quarterly results. Although there are near-term effects, these conditions should add more and more consumers looking for low weekly payments for quality durable goods at Rent-A-Center and Acima as well as Brigit's liquidity solutions and financial wellness tools.

這些動態會影響我們核心客戶的需求，對我們的租賃業務帶來收入壓力，同時也會影響付款行為，這兩方面都會影響季度業績。儘管短期內可能會產生影響，但這些情況應該會吸引越來越多的消費者在 Rent-A-Center 和 Acima 等平台尋找價格低廉的優質耐用商品，以及使用 Brigit 的流動性解決方案和財務健康工具。

Before getting into the details of the quarter, I want to address the lower margin and higher loss performance at Acima. While we have maintained a conservative risk posture company-wide in response to a choppy macro backdrop, recent monthly vintage yields at Acima have been under pressure, resulting in slightly higher losses and lower overall margins.

在詳細介紹本季情況之前，我想先談談Acima公司利潤率較低和虧損較高的問題。儘管我們公司在應對動盪的宏觀環境時一直保持著保守的風險姿態，但Acima最近幾個月的債券收益率一直面臨壓力，導致損失略有增加，整體利潤率有所下降。

As a result, Acima moved to an incrementally more conservative risk stance across the third quarter. While these vintages will impact losses in the fourth quarter and the underwriting changes will impact the fourth quarter GMV growth, it is important to note that we believe our tailored responses are already proving to be effective and positively impacting outcomes in the August and September vintages based on early performance indicators. Unless the macro environment sees meaningful changes, we do not expect further mitigation will be warranted to achieve Acima's targeted growth and margin profile in 2026.

因此，Acima 在第三季逐步採取了更保守的風險策略。雖然這些年份的保單會對第四季度的損失產生影響，承保變化也會影響第四季度的GMV成長，但值得注意的是，根據早期業績指標，我們相信我們量身定制的應對措施已經證明是有效的，並對8月和9月年份的保單結果產生了積極影響。除非宏觀環境發生實質變化，否則我們預計無需採取進一步的緩解措施即可實現 Acima 在 2026 年的目標成長和利潤率。

Moving to slide 5. Let's review the key themes for each segment for the third quarter. As mentioned, Acima delivered its eighth consecutive quarter of GMV growth, up 11% year-over-year and is on track to deliver high single digits to low double-digit GMV growth for the year.

切換到第5張投影片。讓我們回顧一下第三季各部分的關鍵主題。如同先前所提到的，Acima 連續第八個季度實現了 GMV 成長，年成長 11%，並有望在今年實現接近兩位數的 GMV 成長。

Revenue growth was 10.4% and the EBITDA margin was 12%, a decline from the year ago period related to the 50 basis point uptick in this quarter's lease charge-off rate and lower gross margins. Gross margins and losses were impacted by softness in recent vintages that I already mentioned.

營收成長10.4%，EBITDA利潤率為12%，較去年同期下降，原因是本季租賃沖銷率上升50個基點以及毛利率下降。正如我前面提到的，近年來葡萄品質疲軟對毛利率和虧損產生了影響。

Despite continuously lowering approval rates throughout the year, Acima booked a cohort of leases in the second quarter with elevated early defaults, mainly to new customers in our e-commerce channels at select retailers.

儘管全年審批率持續下降，但Acima在第二季度還是簽下了一批租賃合同，其中早期違約率較高，主要涉及我們電子商務通路中特定零售商的新客戶。

In response, Acima implemented a targeted tightening strategy through the second and third quarters and added additional identity validation tools starting in July to drive performance improvements. Those efforts have been effective with the August vintage now performing within our acceptable yield and loss ratio ranges.

為此，Acima 在第二季和第三季實施了有針對性的收緊策略，並從 7 月開始增加了額外的身份驗證工具，以推動業績提升。這些努力已取得成效，8 月的葡萄產量和損失率目前均在我們可接受的範圍內。

We are confident Acima has successfully optimized its decisioning for the evolving macro backdrop and observed trends through October have reinforced that view. In addition, gross margins were affected by the jewelry category growth as a portion of total GMV, especially at the expense of the furniture category, which hasn't fully rebounded from the pandemic-related pull forward.

我們相信，Acima 已成功針對不斷變化的宏觀環境優化了其決策，而 10 月觀察到的趨勢也強化了這一觀點。此外，珠寶品類在總商品交易額中所佔比例的成長也影響了毛利率，尤其是家具類別的成長，因為家具類別尚未從疫情相關的提前爆發中完全恢復過來。

Acima's focus on the jewelry vertical has been intentional as it has enabled both GMV growth and diversification from the furniture category. But relative to furniture, jewelry sees a higher proportion of customers electing the first early purchase option, which is a lower margin outcome for Acima.

Acima 專注於珠寶垂直領域是經過深思熟慮的，因為這既實現了 GMV 的成長，也實現了從家具類別的多元化。但與家具相比，珠寶業選擇首批購買選項的顧客比例更高，這對 Acima 來說利潤率較低。

Even so, the category is profitable and Acima values the acquisition of new customers through this channel as Acima can subsequently introduce those customers to the direct-to-consumer marketplace for future leases in jewelry or other product categories.

即便如此，該類別仍然有利可圖，Acima 也非常重視透過此管道獲取新客戶，因為 Acima 隨後可以將這些客戶引入直接面向消費者的市場，以便將來租賃珠寶或其他產品類別。

Importantly, neither the shift in Acima's portfolio performance in the second quarter vintages nor the gross margin impact from jewelry's expansion was related to loosening underwriting standards. In fact, Acima has received 14% more lease applications year-to-date relative to the prior year period, while reducing corresponding approval rate by approximately 200 basis points.

重要的是，Acima 在第二季投資組合表現的變化以及珠寶業務擴張帶來的毛利率影響，都與放寬承保標準無關。事實上，Acima 今年迄今收到的租賃申請數量比去年同期增加了 14%，而相應的批准率卻下降了約 200 個基點。

As Acima recognized the early performance behavior, we repositioned our underwriting strategy and lowered approval rates each month to maintain the long-term lease charge-off rate inside the upper boundary of our target range.

由於 Acima 意識到了早期的業績表現，我們調整了承保策略，並逐月降低批准率，以將長期租賃核銷率保持在目標範圍的上限之內。

Acima's loss rate for this quarter and the fourth quarter will be impacted by these vintages as the tightening will limit GMV and revenue growth, creating a denominator effect that will result in higher lease charge-off rates as the final leases from these vintages run through the portfolio.

由於緊縮政策將限制 GMV 和收入成長，Acima 本季和第四季的損失率將受到這些年份的影響，從而產生分母效應，導致隨著這些年份的最終租賃在投資組合中到期，租賃核銷率上升。

Our underwriting and risk management teams are laser-focused on monitoring the health of our customers and the health of our portfolio, and we're confident that the actions already taken will help preserve a balanced and sustainable growth algorithm in the years to come.

我們的核保和風險管理團隊正全力監控客戶的健康狀況和投資組合的健康狀況，我們相信，目前採取的措施將有助於在未來幾年保持平衡和可持續的成長模式。

Moving on to Brigit. Brigit continues to move fast while building for scale. This quarter's results featured year-over-year revenue growth of 40% and active subscriber growth of nearly 27%. Brigit also tested new products to further meet the needs of our customers, such as line of credit. In parallel, Brigit has experimented with new marketing strategies to drive even more efficiency in marketing spend, all while maintaining a net advance loss rate in the 3% range.

接下來是布里吉特。Brigit 在不斷發展壯大的同時，也持續保持著快速的步伐。本季業績顯示，營收年增 40%，活躍用戶成長近 27%。Brigit 也測試了新產品，以進一步滿足客戶的需求，例如信用額度。同時，布里吉特也嘗試了新的行銷策略，以提高行銷支出的效率，同時將淨預付款損失率保持在 3% 左右。

Just as important, Brigit contributed to Upbound's bottom line by generating $9.3 million of adjusted EBITDA at a margin of more than 16% while achieving impressive top line growth.

同樣重要的是，Brigit 為 Upbound 的盈利做出了貢獻，創造了 930 萬美元的調整後 EBITDA，利潤率超過 16%，同時實現了令人矚目的營收成長。

At Rent-A-Center, the takeaway is the steady progress the team has made towards recapturing the volume that was impacted in the fourth quarter last year when we strategically exited a product category and leveraged a broad tightening strategy to maintain our optimal risk profile.

在 Rent-A-Center，我們取得的成果是團隊穩定地恢復了去年第四季受影響的銷售。當時，我們策略性地退出了一個產品類別，並採取了廣泛的緊縮策略來維持我們最佳的風險狀況。

Same-store sales for the quarter improved 40 basis points sequentially from a negative 4% to 3.6% below last year, while delivering an EBITDA margin over 16% and a lease charge-off rate that was 20 basis points improved from the third quarter of 2024. Between the current trend line and the upcoming holiday season, we believe same-store sales growth should approach flat to positive in the fourth quarter.

本季同店銷售額較上季改善 40 個基點，從去年同期的 -4% 改善至 3.6%，同時實現了超過 16% 的 EBITDA 利潤率，租賃沖銷率較 2024 年第三季改善了 20 個基點。根據目前的趨勢線和即將到來的假期季，我們認為第四季度同店銷售成長應該會趨於平穩或略有成長。

As we've said before, Rent-A-Center will continue to focus on improving efficiencies and generating strong free cash flow until broader macro conditions either improve for our core customers or create more trade-down opportunities to spur top line growth.

正如我們之前所說，Rent-A-Center 將繼續專注於提高效率和產生強勁的自由現金流，直到宏觀環境改善，有利於我們的核心客戶，或創造更多降級消費的機會，從而刺激營收成長。

Let's cover the consolidated financial results for Q3 on slide 6. Third quarter revenue of $1.16 billion was a 9% increase from the year ago period, mainly powered by growth at Acima plus the addition of Brigit. The business generated $123.6 million of adjusted EBITDA, which was up 5.7% against Q3 2024, and adjusted EBITDA margin of 10.6%, which was down 30 basis points year-over-year, driven by lower margins at the Acima segment.

讓我們在第 6 張投影片來看第三季的合併財務表現。第三季營收為 11.6 億美元，比去年同期成長 9%，主要得益於 Acima 的成長以及 Brigit 的加入。該業務的調整後 EBITDA 為 1.236 億美元，比 2024 年第三季成長 5.7%；調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 10.6%，年減 30 個基點，主要原因是 Acima 業務部門的利潤率下降。

Non-GAAP diluted EPS was $1, which is 5.3% higher than the year ago quarter. The top line adjusted EBITDA and non-GAAP diluted EPS results were each within or above the target ranges provided on last quarter's earnings call.

非GAAP稀釋後每股收益為1美元，比去年同期成長5.3%。經過調整後的 EBITDA 和非 GAAP 稀釋後每股收益均達到或超過了上季財報電話會議上給出的目標範圍。

Upbound generated more than $50 million of free cash flow in the third quarter, resulting in a year-to-date free cash flow total of $167 million. Upbound's non-GAAP tax rate this quarter was 24.5%. That was lower than our recent run rate in the 26% area due to a discrete onetime item related to provision to return adjustments. Essentially, an estimate from January was refined in September and flowed through the tax rate in the third quarter.

Upbound 第三季產生了超過 5,000 萬美元的自由現金流，使得今年迄今的自由現金流總額達到 1.67 億美元。Upbound本季的非GAAP稅率為24.5%。由於與準備金調整相關的一次性項目，該比率低於我們最近 26% 左右的運行率。本質上，1 月的估算在 9 月進行了修正，並在第三季透過稅率得以體現。

On slide 7, let's discuss our progress on the strategic priorities for 2025 that we outlined earlier this year. Acima's initiatives this quarter focused on its merchant portfolio and the customer experience. One of Acima's growth drivers has been its consistent ability to add new merchants, whether on the SMB side or even a top 25 furniture retailer like Living Spaces, which went live earlier this month.

在第 7 張投影片中，我們將討論我們今年稍早制定的 2025 年策略重點的進展。本季Acima的措施主要集中在商家組合和客戶體驗方面。Acima 的成長動力之一是其不斷增加新商家的能力，無論是中小企業還是像 Living Spaces 這樣排名前 25 名的家具零售商，Living Spaces 在本月初剛剛上線。

In Q3, we recognized a major milestone on that front as Acima activated its 100,000 merchant location. While continuing to enroll new retailers through both integrated and light touch options, Acima is also working to energize existing accounts that we believe have the potential to generate a higher volume of profitable leases.

第三季度，我們在該領域取得了重大里程碑式的進展，Acima 啟用了其第 10 萬個商家位置。在繼續透過整合和輕觸方案吸引新零售商的同時，Acima 也在努力啟動現有客戶，我們認為這些客戶有潛力產生更多獲利租賃。

By reinforcing our relationships and optimizing our value proposition, Acima has reengaged hundreds of merchants so far with more to come. For our customers, Acima rolled out upgrades to the account management tools to enable more self-service options while also adding a Refer-a-Friend program. On prior calls this year, I've described how our AI-powered leasability engine unlocks the ability for consumers to shop for durable goods in-store and online.

透過加強與客戶的關係並優化價值主張，Acima 目前已重新吸引了數百家商戶，未來也將吸引更多商家。為了方便客戶，Acima 對帳戶管理工具進行了升級，以提供更多自助服務選項，同時也增加了推薦好友計畫。在今年之前的電話會議上，我曾介紹過我們的人工智慧租賃引擎如何讓消費者能夠在實體店和網路上購買耐用品。

And now Acima has added the in-store tap to lease capability for our virtual lease cards. This means a customer can use the Acima app to shop in any store for any approved durable good within their approved limit and check out by tapping the virtual lease card. There's no retailer setup or involvement and the consumer can shop with confidence.

現在，Acima 為我們的虛擬租賃卡增加了店內輕觸租賃功能。這意味著顧客可以使用 Acima 應用程式在任何商店購買其獲批限額內的任何獲批耐用商品，並透過輕觸虛擬租賃卡進行結帳。沒有零售商的參與或介入，消費者可以放心購物。

While traditional retailer integrations will remain an important acquisition channel for Acima, we're excited about serving our returning customers in a way that maximizes their privacy, convenience and confidence.

雖然傳統的零售商整合仍將是 Acima 的重要獲客管道，但我們很高興能夠以一種最大限度地保障老客戶隱私、便利性和信心的方式來服務他們。

Across the third quarter, Brigit's momentum grew as the team accelerated testing of innovative new financial solutions and trialed new customer acquisition channels. For example, Brigit's new line of credit product, which is in beta testing, offering consumers access to credit of up to $500 to provide liquidity for recent or upcoming purchases.

第三季度，隨著團隊加快測試創新金融解決方案並試行新的客戶獲取管道，Brigit 的發展勢頭日益強勁。例如，Brigit 的新型信貸產品目前處於測試階段，該產品為消費者提供高達 500 美元的信貸額度，以提供近期或即將進行的購買所需的流動資金。

The amount bridges the gap between smaller ticket BNPL offerings and the larger ticket lease-to-own solutions like those offered by Acima and Rent-A-Center. In light of these new products, Brigit is evolving its marketing strategy toward a more holistic mix, diversifying both the channels we invest in and the creative content we produce.

該金額彌合了小額 BNPL 產品與 Acima 和 Rent-A-Center 等公司提供的大額租賃購買解決方案之間的差距。鑑於這些新產品，Brigit 正在將其行銷策略發展為更全面的組合，使我們投資的管道和我們製作的創意內容更加多元化。

Our always-on creative pipeline has become a key differentiator that enables faster iteration, richer insights and more scalable growth. Brigit is expanding marketing channels beyond digital and social media platforms, including highlighting its capability in real-world locations where the use case is immediate and relevant. This is incremental to the in-store marketing collaboration between Brigit and Rent-A-Center, which when scaled can reach its nearly 1,700 stores plus Acima's hundreds of staff locations and turn thousands of Upbound's customer-facing coworkers into Brigit brand ambassadors.

我們持續不斷的創意流程已成為一項關鍵的差異化優勢，能夠實現更快的迭代、更豐富的洞察和更具可擴展性的成長。Brigit 正在拓展數位和社群媒體平台以外的行銷管道，包括重點展示其在現實世界中的能力，在這些現實世界中，應用案例是直接且相關的。這是 Brigit 和 Rent-A-Center 之間店內行銷合作的補充，當這種合作擴大規模後，可以涵蓋其近 1700 家門市以及 Acima 的數百個員工地點，並將 Upbound 的數千名面向客戶的同事轉變為 Brigit 品牌大使。

At Rent-A-Center, the third quarter yielded a number of operational improvements as the business focuses on streamlining the customer experience, improving account management and reducing the expense base by implementing efficiencies.

Rent-A-Center 第三季在營運方面取得了一系列改進，公司專注於簡化客戶體驗、改善帳戶管理並透過提高效率來降低成本。

During the quarter, we upgraded the supporting infrastructure of the rentacenter.com website to elevate its scalability and reliability for high-volume events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, while enhancing the mobile-friendly interface.

本季度，我們升級了 rentacenter.com 網站的支援基礎設施，以提高其在黑色星期五和網路星期一等高流量活動中的可擴展性和可靠性，同時增強了行動友善介面。

We put it to an early test with a major promotion in September, which had more volume than last year's Black Friday, and it performed flawlessly. And for the customers where an online transaction isn't approved, the site now invites them to their nearest store to complete the application process, which boosted Rent-A-Center's top line in the period.

我們在 9 月進行了一次大型促銷活動，對它進行了早期測試，這次促銷活動的銷量比去年的黑色星期五還要大，結果它表現完美。對於線上交易未獲批准的客戶，該網站現在邀請他們到最近的門市完成申請流程，這提高了 Rent-A-Center 在此期間的營業額。

We also launched a Refer-a-Friend campaign and revamped our loyalty reward program, which should drive deliveries entering the holiday season. The Rent-A-Center team has executed extremely well in a tough environment. Same-store sales have improved sequentially, and our guide is to work towards being flat to positive in the fourth quarter. Coworkers are fully engaged and excited for the holiday push as the stores are primed with great products.

我們還推出了「推薦好友」活動，並改進了會員獎勵計劃，這應該會推動假期季節的送貨量成長。Rent-A-Center團隊在艱難的環境下表現出色。同店銷售額環比有所改善，我們的目標是在第四季度實現持平或成長。同事們都積極投入，對即將到來的假期銷售旺季充滿期待，因為商店裡已經充滿了各種優質商品。

Relative to historical levels, our stores have a higher percentage of new inventory, which has been proven to increase conversion rates and deliveries. In addition to our great value proposition, having the right inventory at the right store offered to the right customer positions us well for the fourth quarter and heading into 2026.

與歷史水準相比，我們門市的新庫存比例更高，這已被證明可以提高轉換率和交貨率。除了我們極具價值的主張之外，在合適的商店向合適的客戶提供合適的庫存，也使我們在第四季度以及邁向 2026 年時佔據了有利地位。

All of these are separate initiatives across each of our largest segments, but they share a common set of guiding principles, which is to introduce our brands to new consumers, optimize our product suite, elevate the shopping experience and deliver value to our customers and retailers in each interaction they have with us.

這些都是我們各個最大業務部門的獨立舉措，但它們都遵循一套共同的指導原則，那就是向新消費者介紹我們的品牌，優化我們的產品組合，提升購物體驗，並在與客戶和零售商的每一次互動中為他們創造價值。

Let's now turn into the segment results and then discuss our outlook for the balance of 2025, after which I'll take some questions. Acima's GMV grew by $48 million in the third quarter compared to the year ago period, which is 11% GMV growth for the third quarter of 2024.

現在讓我們來看看各業務板塊的業績，然後討論我們對 2025 年剩餘時間的展望，之後我會回答一些問題。與去年同期相比，Acima 第三季的 GMV 成長了 4,800 萬美元，2024 年第三季的 GMV 成長率為 11%。

To deliver that growth, Acima continues to add new merchants of all sizes and across product categories. And this quarter received nearly 13% more lease applications in the year ago period. Acima's approval rate on those applications declined 280 basis points from last year's third quarter, evidence of Acima's focus on delivering top line growth balanced with prudent underwriting that evolves with the macro backdrop.

為了實現這一成長，Acima 不斷增加各種規模和產品類別的新商家。本季收到的租賃申請比去年同期增加了近 13%。與去年第三季相比，Acima 的這些申請的批准率下降了 280 個基點，這表明 Acima 專注於實現營收成長，同時保持審慎的承保，並隨著宏觀環境的變化而發展。

From an operational standpoint, furniture continues to represent our largest product category at approximately 40% of GMV in the quarter. That category is still working through the demand pull forward from the pandemic era and more recently with new tariffs.

從營運角度來看，家具仍然是我們最大的產品類別，約佔本季 GMV 的 40%。該類別目前仍在消化疫情時代以及近期新關稅帶來的需求拉動。

So the industry expectations for a more normalized level of demand are looking into the back half of 2026 at the earliest. Even so, we can grow GMV in that category by adding new merchants and by becoming a bigger share of our existing merchants business. As Acima grows its network of retailer relationships, it continues to maintain a broad and diverse lineup of merchants with the top 10 representing less than one third of the quarter's GMV.

因此，業界預計需求恢復正常水準最快也要到 2026 年下半年。即便如此，我們仍然可以透過增加新的商家以及提高現有商家業務的份額來增加該類別的 GMV。隨著 Acima 零售商關係網絡的不斷擴展，它繼續保持著廣泛而多元化的商家陣容，其中前 10 名商家的銷售額僅佔該季度 GMV 的不到三分之一。

Several of those top retailers appear only on the Acima marketplace, where our returning customers can start their next leasing journey. GMV from the marketplace was up 150% year-over-year in the third quarter and over 10% sequentially.

其中幾家頂級零售商只出現在 Acima 市場上，我們的老客戶可以開始他們的下一次租賃之旅。第三季度，市場交易總額年增 150%，季增超過 10%。

Acima revenues grew more than 10% year-over-year, which was the seventh consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. Adjusted EBITDA was down 40 basis points against the third quarter of 2024 and adjusted EBITDA margins were 12%, a decline from 13.3% in the year ago period, driven by the gross margin impact from the expansion of the jewelry segment, combined with the increase in lease charge-off rate.

Acima 的營收年增超過 10%，這是連續第七個季度實現兩位數成長。經調整的 EBITDA 比 2024 年第三季下降了 40 個基點，經調整的 EBITDA 利潤率為 12%，低於去年同期的 13.3%，這是由於珠寶業務擴張對毛利率的影響，以及租賃沖銷率的上升所致。

The LCO rate of 9.7% compared to 9.2% in the third quarter of 2024 and finished 20 basis points above our high end of our target range of 9.5%. As I noted earlier, we believe our swift and tactical actions across the quarter will maintain the loss rate within our targeted range in the medium term.

LCO 利率為 9.7%，而 2024 年第三季為 9.2%，比我們 9.5% 的目標區間上限高出 20 個基點。正如我之前提到的，我們相信，本季度我們迅速而有策略的行動將在中期內將損失率維持在我們目標範圍內。

Let's move to slide 9 and review Brigit's results for the third quarter. Brigit finished Q3 with more than 1.4 million paid subscribers, which was a 27% increase from the year ago period and a 9.4% increase sequentially.

讓我們翻到第 9 張投影片，回顧一下 Brigit 第三季的表現。Brigit 第三季結束時擁有超過 140 萬付費用戶，比去年同期成長 27%，較上季成長 9.4%。

ARPU or average revenue per user was $13.74 on a monthly basis, an 11.4% increase from the third quarter of 2024 and a 2.2% lift sequentially. ARPU's continued expansion represents the strength of marketplace performance, higher expedited transfer revenue and a mix shift to the premium subscription tier. Brigit originated approximately $390 million in cash advances this quarter. That's up 19% year-over-year and nearly 10% sequentially, reflecting the value that our customers are discovering with not only the product offerings, but also the transparent subscription-based pricing model.

按月計算，每位用戶平均收入 (ARPU) 為 13.74 美元，比 2024 年第三季成長 11.4%，季增 2.2%。ARPU 的持續成長反映了市場表現的強勁、快速轉帳收入的增加以及向高級訂閱層級的轉變。本季度，Brigit發放了約3.9億美元的現金預付款。與去年同期相比成長了 19%，環比成長了近 10%，這反映出我們的客戶不僅從產品中發現了價值，而且從透明的訂閱定價模式中也發現了價值。

For the third quarter, Brigit's cash advance loss rate was 3.3%, which was up 30 basis points from the year ago period due primarily to Brigit testing into new marketing channels and new custom segments who are overall profitable. The sequential increase was in line with the seasonal trends and reflected a similar increase in 2024 from the second quarter to the third quarter.

第三季度，Brigit 的現金預支損失率為 3.3%，比去年同期上升了 30 個基點，這主要是由於 Brigit 測試了新的行銷管道和新的客戶細分市場，而這些管道和細分市場總體上是盈利的。這一環比成長符合季節性趨勢，並反映出 2024 年第二季到第三季也將出現類似的成長。

As we test out new products and gain traction with more consumers, the loss rate will fluctuate seasonally and should remain in the low single-digit range. Brigit recorded $57.7 million of revenue for the third quarter, which represents an increase of 40% from the year ago quarter. Subscriptions were nearly 70% of Brigit's third quarter revenue with expedited transfer fees and marketplace income representing the balance.

隨著我們測試新產品並逐漸獲得更多消費者的認可，損失率會隨季節波動，但應該保持在個位數低水準。Brigit 第三季營收為 5,770 萬美元，比去年同期成長 40%。訂閱收入佔 Brigit 第三季營收的近 70%，其餘則來自加急轉帳費和市場收入。

Brigit realized adjusted EBITDA of $9.3 million for the third quarter, representing an adjusted EBITDA margin of 16.1%, which was an expected decrease from last quarter's results as Brigit's marketing and customer acquisition spend ramped up across the quarter.

Brigit 第三季調整後 EBITDA 為 930 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 16.1%，與上季相比有所下降，這是由於 Brigit 在本季加大了行銷和客戶獲取方面的投入。

When we announced the Brigit acquisition in last December, we guided to a full year 2025 results of $215 million to $230 million of revenue and $25 million to $30 million of adjusted EBITDA before reclassification of administrative costs to Upbound's Corporate segment. I'm pleased to share that after adjusting for the January 31 closing date, Brigit is tracking to achieve or exceed the midpoint of the ranges we provided.

去年 12 月我們宣布收購 Brigit 時，我們預計 2025 年全年營收為 2.15 億美元至 2.3 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 2,500 萬美元至 3,000 萬美元（未將管理費用重新分類到 Upbound 的企業部門）。我很高興地告訴大家，在調整了 1 月 31 日的結算日期後，Brigit 的表現有望達到或超過我們提供的預期範圍的中點。

On slide 10, we'll review Rent-A-Center's performance. In the third quarter, the Rent-A-Center segment reported $461 million of revenue, down 4.7% from a year ago quarter due in part to a higher store count in the third quarter of 2024 as we sold 55 stores to a franchisee last September. This outcome was consistent with expectations we highlighted on our last call.

在第 10 張投影片中，我們將回顧 Rent-A-Center 的表現。第三季度，Rent-A-Center 部門報告收入為 4.61 億美元，比去年同期下降 4.7%，部分原因是 2024 年第三季門市數量較去年 9 月有所增加，因為我們將 55 家門市出售給了加盟商。這一結果與我們在上次電話會議中強調的預期一致。

Same-store sales were down 3.6% year-over-year, mostly stemming from certain underwriting adjustments we implemented in the fourth quarter of last year. Rent-A-Center third quarter same-store sales improved sequentially from the second quarter as the team's revenue enablement initiatives are showing promising early returns.

同店銷售額年減 3.6%，主要原因是我們在去年第四季實施了一些承保調整。Rent-A-Center 第三季同店銷售額較第二季較上季成長，因為團隊的營收提升計畫已展現出令人鼓舞的早期成效。

For example, on deliveries, which are a leading indicator of near-term future revenues, they were up 3.8% in the third quarter compared to a year ago period. Rent-A-Center's adjusted EBITDA was $74.7 million, down 5.5% from the third quarter of 2024, due primarily to less rental income off a smaller lease portfolio value.

例如，作為近期未來營收的領先指標，第三季的出貨量比去年同期成長了 3.8%。Rent-A-Center 的調整後 EBITDA 為 7,470 萬美元，比 2024 年第三季下降 5.5%，主要原因是租賃組合價值減少導致租金收入減少。

The loss rate for the third quarter finished at 4.7%, which improved 20 basis points from the year ago period, while holding flat sequentially, in line with the guidance given on our prior call. Rent-A-Center's adjusted EBITDA margin was 16.2%, which was down 10 basis points from the year ago period, but up 160 basis points sequentially, thanks to the team's effort to realize operational efficiencies, focused on account management while also beginning to comp over last year's changes.

第三季虧損率為 4.7%，較去年同期改善 20 個基點，較上季持平，與我們先前電話會議上給出的預期一致。Rent-A-Center 的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率，這得益於團隊努力提高營運效率，專注於客戶管理，同時也開始彌補去年的變化。

Let's review our liquidity and capital allocation priorities on slide 11. We finished the third quarter with over $350 million in liquidity between cash on hand and our revolver availability. Our net leverage ratio was approximately 2.9x on September 30, generally consistent with Q1 and Q2.

讓我們在第 11 頁回顧我們的流動性和資本配置優先事項。第三季末，我們的流動資金（包括手頭現金和循環信貸額度）超過 3.5 億美元。截至 9 月 30 日，我們的淨槓桿率約為 2.9 倍，與第一季和第二季基本一致。

During August, we capitalized on favorable market conditions to refinance our Term Loan B, which now matures in 2032. In the same transaction, we also upsized the facility to $875 million and used the incremental $75 million to reduce our revolver balance and enhance liquidity.

8 月份，我們利用有利的市場條件對我們的 B 類定期貸款進行了再融資，該貸款現在將於 2032 年到期。在同一筆交易中，我們還將授信額度增加到 8.75 億美元，並將新增的 7,500 萬美元用於減少循環信貸餘額並提高流動性。

Our business has generated approximately $167 million of free cash flow year-to-date, up notably from approximately $122 million in the prior year. Due to recent changes in tax policy, Upbound's near-term liquidity should be supplemented by about $150 million in savings from cash tax payments.

今年迄今為止，我們的業務已產生約 1.67 億美元的自由現金流，較上年的約 1.22 億美元顯著成長。由於近期稅收政策的變化，Upbound 的近期流動性應該會因現金稅款支付節省約 1.5 億美元而得到補充。

The bonus depreciation provisions in the new tax legislation will help drive a tax benefit of $50 million in 2025 and approximately $100 million in 2026 compared to the company's previous forecast. That cash flow supports our capital allocation priorities, which are designed to position the company for sustainable growth by investing in our business, strengthening our balance sheet through deleveraging and supporting our shareholder return program, which currently focuses on our regular dividend of $1.56 per share as well as opportunistic buybacks. We are confident that our disciplined capital allocation strategy will fund responsible and profitable growth while creating long-term shareholder value.

新稅法中的額外折舊條款將有助於該公司在 2025 年獲得 5,000 萬美元的稅收優惠，並在 2026 年獲得約 1 億美元的稅收優惠，與該公司先前的預測相比。此現金流支持我們的資本配置優先事項，旨在透過投資我們的業務、透過去槓桿化來加強我們的資產負債表以及支持我們的股東回報計劃，使公司實現永續成長。該計劃目前側重於每股 1.56 美元的常規股息以及機會性回購。我們相信，我們嚴謹的資本配置策略將為負責任且獲利的成長提供資金，同時創造長期的股東價值。

Let's move to slide 12 and review our financial outlook, starting with a quick update on the economic backdrop and consumer behavior. As we signaled on our last call, we expected certain suppliers to our Rent-A-Center segment would respond to broader macroeconomic factors with price changes, which we recently received.

讓我們翻到第 12 張投影片，回顧一下我們的財務前景，先快速了解經濟背景和消費者行為。正如我們在上次電話會議中指出的那樣，我們預計 Rent-A-Center 業務部門的某些供應商會因更廣泛的宏觀經濟因素而調整價格，而我們最近也確實收到了這些調整。

Although Rent-A-Center's inventory costs will be modestly increasing, we are modeling corresponding refinements to the weekly payment rate and the lease terms to deliver affordability to our customers and stability to our margins. Acima will use similar levers as appropriate based on observed price changes at its merchants.

儘管 Rent-A-Center 的庫存成本將略有增加，但我們正在對每週付款率和租賃條款進行相應的調整，以確保客戶能夠負擔得起，並保持利潤率的穩定。Acima 將根據其商家觀察到的價格變化，酌情使用類似的手段。

Across the year, our customers have shown both resilience and prudence in their decision-making. As we look ahead to the holiday season with optimism, we remain aware that market dynamics and consumer sentiment can shift rapidly.

在過去一年中，我們的客戶在決策過程中展現了韌性和謹慎。儘管我們滿懷樂觀地展望即將到來的假期，但我們也意​​識到市場動態和消費者情緒可能會迅速變化。

Accordingly, we will remain nimble and flexible as we navigate the balance of the year. With that background and in light of Acima's underwriting tightening mentioned earlier, we are adjusting the updated full year guidance we provided last quarter. Revenue should be in the range of $4.6 billion to $4.75 billion, adjusted EBITDA in the $500 million to $510 million range and non-GAAP EPS in the range of $4.05 to $4.15.

因此，我們將保持靈活敏捷，應對今年剩餘的挑戰。鑑於上述背景以及前面提到的 Acima 承保收緊，我們正在調整上個季度提供的最新全年業績指引。營收應在 46 億美元至 47.5 億美元之間，調整後 EBITDA 應在 5 億美元至 5.1 億美元之間，非 GAAP 每股收益應在 4.05 美元至 4.15 美元之間。

At the segment level, for the fourth quarter, we expect our recent tightening actions at Acima to yield GMV growth in the mid-single-digit area while still delivering full year GMV growth in the high single digits to the low double-digit area that we guided to earlier this year. Acima's top line should be up low double digits with EBITDA margins slightly lower than a year ago period as the underperforming vintages flow through the P&L.

從業務板塊來看，我們預計第四季度Acima近期採取的緊縮措施將使GMV增長達到個位數中段水平，同時仍能實現我們今年早些時候預測的全年GMV增長在個位數高段至兩位數低段水平。由於表現不佳的年份酒會影響損益表，Acima 的營收應該會實現兩位數的低成長，但 EBITDA 利潤率會略低於去年同期。

Loss rates should be slightly worse sequentially and peak in the fourth quarter in the 10% area before improving in the first quarter of 2026 as the softer second quarter and early third quarter 2025 vintages work their way through the portfolio. Rent-A-Center should see a low to mid-single-digit decline year-over-year on the top line, while the lease charge-off rate will be better than last year and relatively flat sequentially.

損失率應該會逐季略有惡化，並在第四季度達到 10% 左右的峰值，然後在 2026 年第一季度有所改善，因為 2025 年第二季度和第三季度初的較軟年份的債券會逐漸消化掉。Rent-A-Center 的營收年比將出現低至中等個位數的下降，而租賃沖銷率將好於去年，並且環比基本持平。

At Brigit, we expect revenue to be up high single digits sequentially with low double-digit adjusted EBITDA margins driven by the ramp-up in marketing and customer acquisition spend that I mentioned earlier. For corporate costs, we expect the impact to adjusted EBITDA in Q4 to be consistent with the year ago period.

在 Brigit，我們預計營收將環比實現高個位數成長，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率將達到低兩位數，這主要得益於我之前提到的行銷和客戶獲取支出的增加。對於公司成本，我們預計第四季度調整後 EBITDA 的影響將與去年同期一致。

Also at the corporate level, our net interest expense in Q4 should be in line with Q3. We expect the tax rate to be approximately 26% with an average diluted share count for the year of approximately 58.8 million shares. We'll provide a more in-depth update on our 2026 outlook on our next call, but I'd like to share our early look for Acima. Absolute dollar growth will depend on how strong the holiday shopping season is in the fourth quarter and obviously, the macro backdrop entering the year.

此外，從公司層級來看，我們第四季的淨利息支出應該與第三季持平。我們預計稅率約為 26%，全年平均稀釋股份數約為 5,880 萬股。我們將在下次電話會議上提供關於 2026 年展望的更深入更新，但我想先分享我們對 Acima 的初步看法。美元絕對成長將取決於第四季度假日購物季的強勁程度，以及年初的宏觀經濟背景。

So assuming a stable macro environment, we're projecting to achieve the growth and margin profile for Acima that we've targeted in the past, including annual GMV and revenue up in the high single-digit to low double-digit territory, losses in the 9% to 9.5% area for the year with adjusted EBITDA margins in the low to mid-teens range.

因此，假設宏觀環境穩定，我們預期 Acima 將實現我們過去設定的成長和利潤目標，包括年度 GMV 和營收成長達到高個位數到低兩位數，全年虧損在 9% 到 9.5% 之間，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率在 10% 到 15% 之間。

Let's wrap up with a few key takeaways. Upbound's progress this quarter underscores that our digital transformation is moving at pace with new technologies and AI-powered solutions already enhancing customer experiences and operational efficiency.

最後，我們總結幾個關鍵要點。Upbound 本季的進展表明，我們的數位轉型正在快速推進，新技術和人工智慧解決方案已經提升了客戶體驗和營運效率。

Innovation remains at the heart of our strategy as we continue to launch new products, refine our platforms and explore fresh approaches to serve our customers better. Importantly, our rich consumer data set built from millions of interactions provides unique insights that drive smarter decision-making and unlock new opportunities for growth. The management team is coming together with the addition of Hal and Rebecca, 2 seasoned leaders who will help us capitalize on new opportunities for growth.

創新仍然是我們策略的核心，我們將繼續推出新產品，改進我們的平台，並探索新的方法來更好地服務我們的客戶。重要的是，我們透過數百萬次互動建立的豐富消費者資料集提供了獨特的見解，從而推動更明智的決策並釋放新的成長機會。隨著 Hal 和 Rebecca 這兩位經驗豐富的領導者的加入，管理團隊正在不斷壯大，他們將幫助我們抓住新的成長機會。

These strengths, combined with our talented team's commitment and dedication, position Upbound to deliver value to our customers, merchants and shareholders across all market cycles.

這些優勢，加上我們才華橫溢的團隊的承諾和奉獻精神，使 Upbound 能夠在所有市場週期中為我們的客戶、商家和股東創造價值。

Thank you all for your time this morning. Operator, you may now open the line for questions.

感謝各位今天上午抽出時間。接線員，現在可以開始接聽提問電話了。

(Operator Instructions) Kyle Joseph, Stephens.

（操作說明）Kyle Joseph，Stephens。

Hey good morning, guys, thanks for taking my questions. So I mean just, I just want to get a sense for the underwriting changes at Acima obviously you guys talked about GMB and I think the mid single-digits in the in the fourth quarter, but you know how do we think about growth in that segment given the underwriting changes? Should we think about that being a little bit suppressed, call it for the next 12 months until we lap those underwriting changes.

嘿，早安，各位，謝謝你們回答我的問題。所以我的意思是，我只是想了解一下Acima的承保變化情況。顯然，你們談到了GMB，我認為第四季度實現了個位數的中段成長，但是考慮到承保變化，我們該如何看待該領域的成長？我們是否應該考慮在未來 12 個月內稍微抑制一下這種抑制，直到承保政策改變為止？

Thanks for the question. Yeah, look, I think for Acima's GMV very pleased with the quarter up 11%, especially when you think about it comping over last year's percentage. The underwriting changes will impact GMV in the 4th quarter. Our guide for the 4th quarter is mid up mid single-digits.

謝謝你的提問。是的，你看，我認為Acima的GMV本季成長11%，我非常滿意，尤其是考慮到這是與去年同期相比的成長。承保政策的改變將對第四季的商品交易總額產生影響。我們對第四季的預期是中上個位數成長。

Keep in mind also that we had also had a 15% growth in the fourth quarter last year, so you are comping off a decent number. A long-term I think we will get back into the high single-digits, low double-digits throughout 2026, as we stated in our prepared remarks.

還要記住，我們去年第四季也實現了 15% 的成長，所以你的數據是基於一個相當不錯的數字計算的。從長遠來看，我認為到 2026 年，我們將恢復到個位數高點到兩位數低位的成長水平，正如我們在準備好的發言稿中所述。

The environment, we are very aware of the environment. It's very uncertain out there with a lot of different moving parts in the macro backdrop, especially when you think about our core consumer. So we are very mindful of the environment we're in.

我們非常重視環境保護。在宏觀背景下，外部環境充滿不確定性，各種因素都在變化，尤其是考慮到我們的核心消費者群體。所以我們非常注重我們所處的環境。

Despite that, our ability to continue to add new merchants into the mix and continue to add both small and medium sized businesses as well as the regional win that we announced today and onboarded earlier this month. That's what gives us confidence that we can continue to grow in that high single-digit low double-digit area really throughout 2026.

儘管如此，我們仍然有能力繼續增加新的商家，繼續增加中小企業，以及我們今天宣布的區域性勝利和本月初完成的入駐。正是這一點讓我們有信心，在 2026 年全年，我們能夠繼續保持高個位數或低兩位數的成長。

Yeah it's helpful and yeah, kind of on the macro uncertainty kind of seeing different loss trends across your segments, so I mean just, yeah, I would love to get kind of how you're thinking about the consumer and is it, so specific that it, the assema consumer is seeing different trends than the rack consumer or just, want to get your sense for, how the consumer is doing given all the uncertainty.

是的，這很有幫助。是的，在宏觀不確定性方面，我們看到各個細分市場出現了不同的損失趨勢。所以，我想了解您是如何看待消費者的，具體來說，例如，assema 消費者和一般消費者的趨勢是否不同？或者，我只是想了解一下，在所有這些不確定性的情況下，消費者的狀況如何。

Sure, yeah, the consumer, we've characterized it in the past, Kyle, as, still stressed, and I think that continues to be the case. You have the impact of inflation now for a few years, and that takes a toll on a consumer that is generally cash strapped.

當然，沒錯，凱爾，我們過去曾說過，消費者仍然承受著壓力，我認為這種情況還會持續下去。未來幾年通膨的影響將會持續，這對原本就資金緊張的消費者來說無疑是雪上加霜。

And if you think about our core consumer, especially on the Rent-A-Center side, making somewhere between $25,000 and $30,000 of annual income. Acima may be a little bit higher than that in the $50,000 to $60,000 range and bridges somewhere in between, that cumulative effect of inflation definitely hurts disposable income and it has an impact on both demand and payment behavior.

如果你想想我們的核心消費者，特別是 Rent-A-Center 的消費者，他們的年收入在 25,000 美元到 30,000 美元之間。Acima 的價格可能略高於這個水平，介於 5 萬到 6 萬美元之間，介於兩者之間。通貨膨脹的累積效應肯定會損害可支配收入，並對需求和支付行為產生影響。

Of course it also helps us from a standpoint of trade down which we saw, ending last year and into the beginning of this year, but Generally speaking, consumer confidence is pretty low. You got wage growth slowing. You've got the job market seeming to slow down a bit. A round of layoffs being announced this week and last week. You have the tariff inflation potential, and I have a government shutdown.

當然，從貿易下滑的角度來看，這也對我們有所幫助，我們看到去年年底到今年年初貿易下滑的趨勢，但總的來說，消費者信心仍然很低。薪資成長放緩了。就業市場似乎有些放緩。本周和上週都宣布了一輪裁員。你們面臨關稅上漲的風險，但我這邊卻面臨政府停擺。

So you've got a lot of things that are kind of pointing to a lot of uncertainty in the market, which is really why we decided to go ahead and take an even more conservative stance from an underwriting standpoint and You mentioned the difference between Rent-A-Center and Asia. I think there is a difference between the consumers, as I just mentioned.

所以有許多跡象顯示市場存在很大的不確定性，這正是我們決定從核保角度採取更保守立場的原因。您提到了 Rent-A-Center 和亞洲之間的差異。我認為消費者之間存在差異，正如我剛才提到的。

There's obviously some overlap, but there is a difference between the consumers and, from an underwriting standpoint, with Rent-A-Center you're thinking about, consumer whether it's new or returning, whether it comes through our store or online.

顯然兩者之間存在一些重疊，但消費者和承保人之間存在差異。從核保的角度來看，Rent-A-Center 的消費者指的是新客戶或退貨客戶，無論是透過我們的商店還是在線上購買的商品。

Whereas Acima, you also have the retailer component in there and you have a more diversified product category mix and you throw in kind of what we're seeing this year, Rent-A-Center, we had a broad base cuts last year and so it's benefiting from that this year and our loss rates have been relatively stable sequentially and down year over year.

而Acima則不然，它還包含零售商部分，產品類別組合更加多元化，再加上我們今年看到的Rent-A-Center，去年我們進行了大幅度的裁員，因此今年它從中受益，我們的損失率環比相對穩定，同比下降。

And with the seamount, we started seeing it in the second quarter and we had to adjust kind of slightly after run a center. So there is some overlap, but there are some differences and obviously depending on what when we actually tightened, you start seeing that through the P&L and some of the ratios.

而隨著海山的出現，我們在第二節開始看到它，我們在跑完中鋒位置後不得不稍作調整。所以兩者之間存在一些重疊，但也存在一些差異，顯然，這取決於我們實際收緊的措施，你會開始從損益表和一些比率中看到這一點。

Yeah, it really helpful. One last one for me, on, the rack segment, good, it seems like some positive developments there guiding towards, com, turning towards flat or positive, what, what's driving that? Is it a function of lapping underwriting? Is it e-com growth, just what's the reason for the outlook for improvement there?

是的，真的很有幫助。最後，關於機架部分，情況不錯，似乎有一些積極的發展趨勢，正朝著平穩或積極的方向發展，是什麼因素在推動這一趨勢？這是重疊承保的結果嗎？是電子商務的成長嗎？如果是，那麼推動電子商務前景改善的原因是什麼？

Yeah, Rent-A-Center had a really nice quarter in a pretty tough environment, especially when you think about, kind of being our seasonally low quarter in in the summer months and so to see the improvement in same source sales, still negative, but an improvement of 40 basis points from the last quarter.

是的，Rent-A-Center 在相當艱難的環境下取得了非常不錯的季度業績，尤其考慮到這通常是夏季的淡季，所以看到同店銷售額有所改善，雖然仍然是負增長，但比上個季度改善了 40 個基點。

And as you said, our guide is now to be approaching flat to hopefully slightly positive in the in the 4th quarter, and I think what we could point to is a lot of great execution by the team. We've also done some strategic initiatives around refer a friend.

正如你所說，我們的指導方針是第四節接近持平，希望能夠略有成長，我認為這主要歸功於球隊出色的執行力。我們也圍繞著「推薦朋友」開展了一些策略性舉措。

We've also revamped our loyalty program. And we're trying to push folks from online into the store, and that's had a positive impact on our results. It's had a positive impact on conversion rates as well as our loss performance.

我們也改進了會員忠誠度計劃。我們正努力將線上顧客吸引到實體店，這已經對我們的業績產生了正面的影響。它對轉換率和我們的虧損情況都產生了正面影響。

And so, and I mentioned in our prepared remarks that, we feel really good about our inventory position going into. To into the holiday season. So all that plus comping some of the changes that we made last year, really we'll start comping those in the 4th quarter. That's what gives us the confidence that we're going to continue to improve. Rent-A-Center is definitely stabilized and hopefully inflecting towards positive in the 4th quarter.

所以，正如我在事先準備好的演講稿中提到的，我們對目前的庫存狀況感到非常滿意。進入假日季。所以，所有這些，再加上我們去年做出的一些改變，實際上我們將在第四季開始進行這些改變的調整。正是這一點讓我們有信心繼續進步。Rent-A-Center 目前營運狀況已趨於穩定，希望第四季能轉好。

John Hecht, Jefferies.

約翰‧赫克特，傑富瑞集團。

Morning guys. Thanks very much for taking my questions. Really focusing on Bridget, good RRU growth year over year and quarter to quarter. I mean, I guess what are you learning about that customer, the customer acquisition opportunities, the cross sell opportunities? Maybe you did provide you some detail on this in the prepared remarks, but I'm wondering if you can give us a little bit more about what you're learning and the opportunity that presents.

早上好，各位。非常感謝您回答我的問題。重點關注 Bridget，RRU 同比成長和季度環比均表現良好。我的意思是，我想問你從這位客戶身上了解到了什麼？例如客戶獲取機會、交叉銷售機會？或許您在準備好的發言稿中已經提供了一些細節，但我很想知道您能否再多談談您正在學習的內容以及這為您帶來的機會。

Morning, John. Thanks for the question. Yeah, Bridget continues to, outperform our expectations really across the board, we mentioned it on the last couple calls around, their ability to really adapt and listen to their customer base and develop products and that really address people's concerns and address people's worries, and that's what we're seeing, you ask what You know what are we seeing that's, working, and I think the answer to that is the cash flow underwriting piece.

早安，約翰。謝謝你的提問。是的，Bridget 的表現一直超乎我們的預期，我們在最近幾次電話會議上都提到過，他們能夠真正適應市場變化，傾聽客戶的需求，並開發出真正能解決人們的擔憂和顧慮的產品，而這正是我們所看到的。你問我們看到了哪些行之有效的方法，我認為答案是現金流承保方面。

I think that that level of transparency, that insight into the customer and getting to know them, that's something that we think we can leverage across our platform, whether it's through their new product offerings or eventually into the Acima and Rent-A-Center business. And as far as other things that we're picking up on, as we said, we are testing out new marketing channels just trying to broaden our base and really drive subscriber growth. We've had two consecutive quarters now of over 25% subscriber growth.

我認為這種程度的透明度，這種對客戶的洞察和了解，是我們能夠在整個平台上加以利用的優勢，無論是透過他們的新產品，還是最終擴展到 Acima 和 Rent-A-Center 的業務。至於我們正在關注的其他方面，正如我們所說，我們正在測試新的行銷管道，努力擴大我們的用戶基礎，並真正推動訂閱用戶成長。我們已經連續兩個季度實現了超過 25% 的用戶成長。

We want to continue to push more and more subscribers and then once we come in, have them, stick around and the retention rates have definitely improved as we've gotten more and more content. Into the bundle as well as, developing that line of credit product that we've talked about now that goes up to $500 of advance at a time.

我們希望繼續吸引更多訂閱用戶，一旦他們加入我們，他們就會留下來。隨著我們獲得越來越多的內容，用戶留存率確實有所提高。同時，我們也將推出我們剛才提到的信用額度產品，該產品一次最高可預支 500 美元。

So very happy with where Bridget is both from a top-line growth and a sub subscriber growth. We've leaned into some of the marketing channels and marketing expense, but pleased that they're still able to generate mid-teens IAA margins and really ready for a big holiday push where we hope to have even more subscribers join the platform.

我對 Bridget 目前的發展狀況非常滿意，無論是營收成長還是訂閱用戶成長。我們已經增加了一些行銷管道和行銷支出，但令人欣慰的是，它們仍然能夠產生十幾個百分點的 IAA 利潤率，並且已經為即將到來的假日季做好了充分準備，我們希望屆時能有更多的訂閱用戶加入該平台。

Okay, that's helpful. And then the appointment of the Chief Revenue Officer with the focus on AI endeavors, maybe can you give us an update of what you're learning in terms of the application of AI and how that can benefit the business in the intermediate term.

好的，這很有幫助。接下來，公司任命了首席營收官，專注於人工智慧領域的發展。您能否向我們介紹一下您在人工智慧應用方面所了解的情況，以及人工智慧如何在短期內為公司帶來益處？

Sure, as Chief Growth Officer, I can give her a new title, John with the Chief Revenue Officer, but no, having having her Rebecca join has been has been fantastic. She's been in the building now for a month, and you know what she brings is a whole new perspective on data analytics driving a lot of the decisions we're going to make and you hopefully pushing the ball forward on the on the AI front and pushing our road map on the AI front even further and faster.

當然，作為首席成長官，我可以給她一個新的頭銜，約翰可以給她首席營收官的頭銜，但不，麗貝卡的加入真是太棒了。她到公司已經一個月了，你知道，她帶來了全新的數據分析視角，這將影響我們做出的許多決策，希望她能推動人工智慧領域的發展，並讓我們的人工智慧路線圖走得更遠、更快。

So we've developed a set of hopefully high impact use cases that we want to roll out from an AI standpoint while also, being very mindful of cost, but no, that's going to really push our growth forward and really enhance our capabilities.

因此，我們開發了一系列有望產生重大影響的用例，我們希望從人工智慧的角度推出這些用例，同時也非常注重成本，但這確實將推動我們的成長並真正增強我們的能力。

So, we're focused on enhancing the customer experience across all of our major brands and then also giving our co-workers the tools to better serve our customers and our partners. And hopefully along the way getting some efficiencies, across the across the organization. So she's done it before. She has a very relevant experience in this area, a proven track record of transformation and especially digital transformation. So we're excited to have her as part of the team.

因此，我們致力於提升旗下所有主要品牌的客戶體驗，同時也為我們的同事提供工具，以便更好地服務我們的客戶和合作夥伴。希望在過程中，能提高整個組織的效率。所以她以前就做過這件事。她在該領域擁有非常相關的經驗，在轉型，尤其是數位轉型方面，有著卓著的成就。所以我們很高興她能加入團隊。

Great, thank you very much.

太好了，非常感謝。

Vincent Caintic, BTIG.

Vincent Caintic，BTIG。

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions and thanks for all the detail of this morning, particularly in a bonus appreciation that's very interesting. If I could switch back to Acima and then another credit question.

嘿，早安。感謝您回答我的問題，也感謝您今天早上提供的所有細節，特別是額外補充的內容，非常有趣。如果我能切換回 Acima，然後再問一個信用問題。

So first off, maybe a bit of a broader one, Looking back through that June or July impact or when there was perhaps a negative inflection, if you could talk in more detail about maybe what you were seeing at that time, was it particular customers or particular categories that you had to tighten during that time and then in terms of the GMV growth, so it's nice to see that you still had 11% GMV growth and still having, mid-single-digits for fourth quarter.

首先，或許可以更廣泛地談談，回顧六月或七月的影響，或者說當時可能出現的負面轉折點，您能否更詳細地談談您當時觀察到的情況，例如，您是否需要在那段時間收緊某些特定客戶或特定類別？另外，就GMV成長而言，很高興看到您仍然實現了11%的GMV成長，並且第四季度仍然保持了中等個位數的成長。

Maybe if you could break out, how much of that growth is, coming from new merchants versus maybe some pressure and some of the existing customers and existing merchants if you could break out the, where the continued growth is coming from.

或許你可以分析一下，這其中有多少成長來自新商家，又有多少成長來自現有客戶和商家的壓力，如果你能分析一下，就能知道持續成長的動力來自哪裡。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Sure, good morning, Vincent. Thanks for the question. I'll start with your first one around the, Acima and credit through the really throughout the second quarter and into the into the 3rd quarter. And as we said in our prepared remarks, we've been lowering our approval rates pretty consistently this year.

當然，早上好，文森。謝謝你的提問。我將從你的第一個開始，圍繞著Acima和信貸，貫穿整個第二季度，並進入第三季度。正如我們在準備好的演講稿中所說，今年我們的批准率一直在穩步下降。

We've been down -- a 200 basis points or 300 basis points year over year, pretty much all year long, but what we saw was a combination of things. I think the biggest drivers overall softness in performance and overall softness in yields.

我們一直處於下滑狀態——同比下降 200 或 300 個基點，幾乎全年都是如此，但我們看到的是多種因素共同作用的結果。我認為最大的驅動因素是整體業績疲軟和整體收益率疲軟。

And so as I said, when we saw that through our early performance indicators we reacted relatively quickly and tried to tackle those in certain pockets, including the ecom business that we called, we called out during the prepared remarks.

正如我所說，當我們透過早期績效指標看到這一點時，我們做出了相對迅速的反應，並試圖解決某些領域的問題，包括我們在準備好的發言中提到的電子商務業務。

But picking off those pieces wasn't enough. We started seeing worse and worse performance into June and into July, and so we had to take, I would say, more drastic underwriting tightening in the month in the summer months, and we really saw the impact of that in in August, which, again this is a pretty short-lived asset.

但僅僅拆解這些碎片是不夠的。6 月和 7 月，我們的業績開始越來越差，因此，我認為，我們不得不在夏季的幾個月裡採取更加嚴厲的承保收緊措施，而我們在 8 月份真正看到了這些措施的影響，要知道，這是一種相當短暫的資產。

You can start seeing the results pretty quickly when you make some of these some of these changes and And we saw that. So again it's a combination of just overall macro tightening as well as certain pockets in our portfolio and the good news is we reacted very quickly. We've already had a conservative kind of posture in underwriting, so.

當你做出這些改變之後，很快就能看到效果，我們也看到了這一點。所以，這又是宏觀經濟整體收緊以及我們投資組合中某些特定領域因素共同作用的結果，好消息是我們反應非常迅速。我們在核保方面一直採取比較保守的態度。

So again we're only about 20 basis points above our high end of our target range. We think we'll peak in the 4th quarter in the 10% area and then it will start coming down into into the first part of 2026 and then improve from from from there.

所以，我們目前只比目標區間的上限高出約 20 個基點。我們認為第四季將達到峰值，約為 10%，然後從 2026 年上半年開始下降，之後會逐漸好轉。

As far as the GMV goes, yeah, I think, as you said, very nice to see, despite all the tightening that we've done this year to still grow 11% in the quarter coming off of again a strong comp last year as well as far as

至於GMV，是的，正如你所說，儘管我們今年採取了各種緊縮措施，但仍然在本季度實現了11%的增長，這非常令人欣喜，尤其是在去年同期基數較高的情況下。

The growth is coming from, the bucketed, I think about 90% is coming from new merchants and about 10% is coming from productivity of existing merchants and really that 10% of productivity is coming from our staff locations as we continue there, that transition from the legacy now to the Acima platform and ramping up, the larger accounts from a staff perspective and then direct to consumer, you've heard us talk a little bit about direct to consumer over the last few quarters that grew over 150%.

成長主要來自各個方面，我認為大約 90% 來自新商戶，大約 10% 來自現有商家的生產力提升，而這 10% 的生產力提升實際上來自我們各地的員工，因為我們正在繼續從傳統平台過渡到 Acima 平台，並逐步擴大員工規模，服務更大的客戶。此外，還有直接面向消費者的業務，在過去的幾個季度裡，我們已經談到了直接面向消費者的業務，其成長超過 150%。

This quarter is getting close to about 7% of our overall GMV, so that's becoming a bigger and bigger part of our story and the GMV story and we're going forward as we continue to innovate on new tools to give more power to the consumer using our using our app, so.

本季已接近我們整體 GMV 的 7%，因此它在我們整體 GMV 中的地位越來越重要，我們將繼續創新，開發新工具，讓使用我們應用程式的消費者擁有更大的權力。

So we definitely had to take a little bit of a step back and it's going to hurt a little bit of growth, but we think that's the right thing to do given all the uncertainty that I mentioned and focus on making sure that our losses stick within our target range and that we're able to generate the right profitability for the leases that we book.

所以我們肯定需要稍微退後一步，這肯定會對成長造成一些影響，但考慮到我提到的所有不確定因素，我們認為這是正確的做法，我們要專注於確保我們的損失保持在目標範圍內，並且能夠為我們預訂的租賃產生合適的盈利能力。

Okay, great. That's super helpful detail. Thank you. Switching to Bridget but kind of a similar question, since it's a new business for us, so try to -- if you could help us on how to think about this environment, and how the business operates in this environment, of, maybe some macro uncertainty would a see headwinds be similar for Bridget or conversely, it's actually a time for Bridget to be leaning in, and be growing when perhaps the consumer is stressed. Thank you.

好的，太好了。這個細節非常有用。謝謝。轉而討論 Bridget，但問題有點類似，因為這對我們來說是一項新業務，所以如果您能幫助我們思考如何看待這種環境，以及業務在這種環境下如何運作，那就太好了。例如，一些宏觀經濟的不確定性是否會給 Bridget 帶來類似的阻力，或者相反，這實際上是 Bridget 應該積極進取、在消費者可能感到壓力的情況下實現成長的時機。謝謝。

I think more the latter, Vincent. I think it's a time for us to lean in and help our consumers. Obviously we have a lot of tools and financial literacy tools, budgeting tools, but also the liquidity tools become more and more in demand, and you know. We talked a little bit about that new product that we're very proud of and it's still early days and still in testing mode, but the adoption of that product has been, has surpassed our expectations, so.

文森特，我比較傾向於後者。我認為現在是我們挺身而出，幫助我們的消費者的時候了。顯然，我們有很多工具和金融知識工具、預算工具，但流動性工具的需求也越來越大，你知道的。我們稍微談到了我們非常引以為傲的新產品，雖然它還處於早期階段，仍在測試階段，但該產品的採用率已經超出了我們的預期。

So no, I think this environment lends itself really across all of our brands. I mentioned it during our prepared remarks that, some of these things will have some short-term and near-term impacts to our P&L, but the environment is very conducive for consumers looking for, low weekly payments, looking for deals, looking for access to either durable goods on the rental center and Acima side or just general liquidity for everyday needs on the bridge side.

所以，不，我認為這種環境非常適合我們所有的品牌。我在事先準備好的發言稿中提到，其中一些因素會對我們的損益表產生一些短期和近期影響，但目前的環境非常有利於消費者尋求低週付款、尋找優惠、在租賃中心和Acima方面獲取耐用品，或者在過橋方面獲取滿足日常需求的流動資金。

So no, I think this is a time for us to make sure we're there for our consumers, especially as things potentially could get worse from here. I do think it lends itself very well for all of our brands, including Bridget.

所以，不，我認為現在是我們確保為消費者提供服務的時候，尤其是考慮到情況可能會進一步惡化。我認為它非常適合我們所有的品牌，包括 Bridget。

Hoang Nguyen, TD Cowen. The fool is yours.

Hoang Nguyen，TD Cowen。這個傻瓜是你的。

Thank you, and thanks for including me. I want to touch a little bit on Rent-A-Center looks like it's a very opposite performance versus Acima this quarters infecting to the positive side. I guess my question is, I mean, is this it? Is there any other headwinds in the coming quarters for Rent-A-Center that that we may want to take note and what gives you the confidence from here that maybe Rent-A-Center is now pastor Ham and, should we turn to somewhat, the growth level that you, indicated like in your investor there.

謝謝，也謝謝你們邀請我。我想稍微談談 Rent-A-Center，它本季的表現與 Acima 截然相反，而且是朝著正面的方向發展。我想問的是，這就是全部了嗎？未來幾季，Rent-A-Center 是否還有其他需要注意的不利因素？是什麼讓您如此確信 Rent-A-Center 現在可能已經像 Ham 牧師一樣，並且，如果我們稍微轉向您之前提到的增長水平，就像您提到的投資者一樣？

Thanks hong. Good morning. Yeah, outside of just the general macro that we've mentioned and we've touched on the on the call, as I said, Rent-A-Center really performed well this quarter coming off a tough second quarter and a tough 1st quarter after the underwriting changes we made last year and tried to recapture some of that some of that volume, but as I said in our prepared remarks, the team is very energized here around some of the promotions and some of the inventory we have on hand for the for the 4th quarter.

謝謝Hong。早安.是的，除了我們提到的宏觀經濟因素以及我們在電話會議上談到的內容之外，正如我所說，Rent-A-Center在本季度表現非常出色，此前我們經歷了艱難的第二季度和第一季度，這主要是由於去年我們進行了承保調整，並試圖重新奪回部分業務量。但正如我在事先準備好的演講稿中所說，團隊對一些促銷活動以及我們為第四季準備的一些庫存都充滿熱情。

So nothing major from a headwind standpoint. Great to see the trends improve in Q3 and really now we're gearing up for a big holiday season with a lot of great products in their losses are stable to down year over year. When you look at our delinquency, they're also down year over year.

所以從逆風角度來看，沒有什麼大問題。很高興看到第三季的趨勢有所改善，現在我們正在為即將到來的假期季節做準備，屆時將推出許多優秀的產品，其虧損與去年同期相比保持穩定或有所下降。從我們的拖欠率來看，拖欠率也較去年同期下降。

So I feel like from an underwriting standpoint we've got that kind of locked in and now we just need to go push on delivery. And I know the team is ready to do that, so I wouldn't point to anything from a headwind standpoint. I think the takeaway from the Rent-A-Center business is very positive coming out of, a rough first half of the year and, starting to cop over some of the comp over some of the changes we made in 2024.

所以我覺得從承保的角度來看，我們已經基本敲定了這一點，現在我們只需要加快交貨速度。我知道球隊已經做好了準備，所以我不會從逆風的角度指出任何問題。我認為，Rent-A-Center 的業務在經歷了艱難的上半年後，整體趨勢非常積極，並且開始從一些比較中受益，這得益於我們在 2024 年做出的一些改變。

Got it. And maybe another question on the Asima side, I think in the second half of last year you also mentioned a some sort of softening in, I guess the lower end of your consumers there. I guess, and then you tighten a little bit, I guess versus last year, I mean, how should we think about, the degree of titan that you guys are doing this time or have done this time versus last time. And how serious a problem it is this time versus last year.

知道了。關於 Asima，我可能還有一個問題。我想問的是，去年下半年你們也提到過，你們的低端客戶群出現了一些疲軟的跡象。我想，然後你們又收緊了一些，我想和去年相比，我的意思是，我們該如何看待你們這次所取得的成就與上次相比的差距呢？與去年相比，今年的問題有多嚴重？

Yeah, I think there is. I think the deterioration that we saw in the second and 3rd quarter definitely was worse than last year hung, but I think, as I said, our risk posture has been relatively conservative now for quite some time, even last year and into this year, and we've had to adjust even further, I think the cuts that we've made over the summer are a little bit more broad-based than what we did last year.

是的，我覺得有。我認為我們在第二季和第三季看到的惡化程度肯定比去年同期要嚴重，但正如我所說，我們的風險承受能力在相當長的一段時間內一直相對保守，即使是去年和今年也是如此。我們不得不進一步調整，我認為我們在夏季採取的削減措施比去年更加廣泛。

And maybe to a certain degree we may be over tightened at this point, but I'd rather take that position with all the uncertainty in the market, get our metrics back down into our losses back down into kind of the high end of that. Range and see how this plays out over the next few months, maybe some of the things that I mentioned as far as the macro solve themselves and then maybe we'll feel like we can then get back to where we were pre Q2 of this year.

或許在某種程度上，我們目前的政策可能過於緊縮，但我寧願在市場充滿不確定性的情況下採取這種立場，讓我們的指標回到虧損的低位，回到之前的較高水平。看看未來幾個月情況會如何發展，也許我提到的一些宏觀問題會自行解決，然後我們或許就能回到今年第二季之前的水平了。

But generally speaking, the team is very focused on our portfolio, the health of the consumer, and feel like we've corrected what we've seen earlier this year and position now to grow from this point going forward.

但總的來說，團隊非常關注我們的產品組合、消費者的健康，並且感覺我們已經糾正了今年早些時候出現的問題，現在正處於從這一點開始向前發展的有利位置。

Bobby Griffin, Raymond James.

博比·格里芬，雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

Good morning guys, thanks for taking the questions. Okay, I guess first, can you maybe talk about the pathway for seeming to return back to kind of that growth algo in 206 with the current credit environment, and I guess what I'm asking is the GMD growth picking up next year that you guys are kind of flagging that you think is a possibility is that predicated on credit conditions changing?

各位早安，感謝你們回答問題。好的，我想首先，您能否談談在當前的信貸環境下，如何才能恢復到 2006 年的成長模式？我想問的是，你們提到的 GMD 成長明年可能會回升，這是否取決於信貸條件的變化？

And it's more just on the function that we are going to, you are tightening, so you're seeing that come down here in 4Q. So I would think that GMV growth would carry forward unless you see some opportunities for like new customer wins or further trade down or something. So maybe just help us connect those dots.

而且，這更取決於我們即將採取的措施，你們正在收緊，所以你們會看到第四季度的情況有所改善。所以我認為，除非出現贏得新客戶、客戶進一步降級消費或其他機會，否則GMV成長將會持續下去。所以，或許您能幫我們把這些線索連結起來。

Yeah, Bobby, thanks for thanks for the question. I definitely think it will be harder for us to achieve those, and I think if you think about the cadence for 2026, we may start off a little bit slow, but then ramp up in the in the second half of the year as we start comping some of these changes that we've been talking about this morning.

是的，鮑比，謝謝你的提問。我絕對認為我們實現這些目標會更加困難，而且我認為，如果你考慮一下 2026 年的節奏，我們可能會開始得有點慢，但然後在下半年加快步伐，因為我們將開始實施我們今天早上一直在討論的一些變化。

But you said it. I mean, what gives us confidence in hitting the high single-digits and low double-digits is our ability to grow our merchant count, continue to focus on our existing merchants and increasing productivity there, whether it's through smarter and more personalized marketing efforts across the board.

但你確實這麼說了。我的意思是，我們之所以有信心實現接近兩位數的成長，是因為我們有能力增加商家數量，繼續專注於現有商家並提高他們的生產力，無論是透過更聰明、更個人化的全方位行銷活動。

And then our direct to consumer channel, all those things, but really the adding the merchants piece of it is going to be the key for us to continue the growth at Acima, including some of the more pronounced wins that we mentioned on the call earlier this morning.

還有我們的直接面向消費者的管道，所有這些，但真正重要的是增加商家部分，這將是我們繼續在 Acima 實現成長的關鍵，包括我們今天早上在電話會議上提到的一些更明顯的勝利。

So yes, there are going to be some headwinds from a credit standpoint, but I think just our ability again to add merchants into our network and some of the tools that we're building for our returning customers, I think that's what gives us the confidence to get back into that high single-digit, low double-digit range for GMB into 2026.

所以，從信貸角度來看，確實會有一些不利因素，但我認為，我們能夠再次將商家加入我們的網絡，以及我們正在為老客戶打造的一些工具，正是我們有信心在 2026 年將 GMB 的增長恢復到接近兩位數甚至接近兩位數的水平。

Okay, and then maybe on just the tax benefits and the tax changes. I mean, I know you guys talked about your standard capital allocation policy, but you know leverage is still close to turn above the target. You mentioned some more uncertainty out there today.

好的，那麼或許就只考慮稅收優惠和稅收變化。我的意思是，我知道你們談到了標準的資本配置政策，但你們也知道槓桿率仍然接近目標值。您提到今天市場上仍然存在一些不確定因素。

So is the right way to think of that is first call really is back into the leverage, or is there capital calls on the business outside of growth that you need from an investment in systems or something as we go into 26 just trying to understand near term capital needs and uses of cash a little bit better.

所以，正確的思考方式是，第一次調用真的回到了槓桿作用，還是說除了成長之外，企業還需要資金來投資系統或其他方面？隨著我們進入第 26 期，我們只是想更了解近期的資金需求和現金用途。

Yeah, I don't think our priorities change, Bobby. I think, we're always looking for ways to reinvest in the business to spur growth and sustainable growth, so I don't think that changes. The $150 million or so that we mentioned on the call based on the new tax policy definitely gives us a little bit more flexibility around that growth, but also gives us a little bit more flexibility to pay down debt a little bit faster while also leaving us some dry powder for optionality whether it's tuck in M&A or opportunistic, share buybacks.

是的，我認為我們的優先事項不會改變，鮑比。我認為，我們一直在尋找對業務進行再投資的方法，以刺激成長和永續成長，所以我認為這一點不會改變。我們在電話會議上提到的基於新稅收政策的約 1.5 億美元，無疑為我們的成長提供了更大的靈活性，同時也讓我們能夠更快地償還債務，同時也為我們留下了一些可用於其他用途的資金，無論是進行併購還是進行機會主義的股票回購。

But our mode right now, just given everything that we've talked about this morning is probably going to be on the conservative side and using that excess cash to either invest in the business or pay down some debt, but a really nice tailwind for us from a from a free cash flow standpoint being able to, improve free cash flow this year and then obviously over $100 million next year from a from a cash tax standpoint, it's a big benefit.

但鑑於我們今天早上討論的所有情況，我們目前的策略可能會比較保守，將多餘的現金用於投資業務或償還部分債務。從自由現金流的角度來看，能夠改善今年的自由現金流對我們來說是一個非常好的順風，從現金稅收的角度來看，明年超過 1 億美元的收益顯然也是一個巨大的優勢。

Bill Reuter, Bank of America.

比爾·羅伊特，美國銀行。

Good morning. I just have to you previously just mentioned opportunistic M&A. I would think, given all the uncertainty, the profitability of potential businesses may be difficult to get a good handle on, and it might lead to a little more caution. However, you do have the $150 million coming in as you just mentioned or lower tax payments. Can you talk a little bit about how you're viewing M&A at this point?

早安.我只是想提一下你之前提到的機會主義併購。我認為，鑑於種種不確定因素，潛在企業的獲利能力可能難以準確掌握，這可能會導致企業更加謹慎。但是，正如你剛才提到的，你將有 1.5 億美元的收入，或者可以減少稅收支出。能否談談您目前對併購的看法？

Yeah, I think you know building off what I just mentioned on Bobby's question, I think we're always looking to expedite our strategic plan, whether it's, through technology or some of the AI fronts or just doing a little tack on acquisitions that, improve our product offering to our core customer.

是的，我想，正如我剛才在回答鮑比的問題時提到的，我們一直在尋求加快戰略計劃的實施，無論是透過技術、人工智慧領域，還是透過一些收購來改進我們為核心客戶提供的產品。

But as I mentioned, I think in our last call, we also have a lot of opportunity with the with the big brands that we have now to reinvest in those, and we have plenty of growth opportunities with what we have and we're still in the early days of integrating the Bridget offerings, so.

但正如我上次提到的，我認為我們在上次電話會議中也談到，我們現在有很多機會對現有的大品牌進行再投資，而且我們擁有的資源也帶來了大量的成長機會，我們目前仍處於整合 Bridget 產品組合的早期階段。

So you know we like being in the mix. We like taking looks. Nothing imminent at this point, as I mentioned, our stance is going to be more conservative and probably paying down debt, but we also like to be actively looking on ways to, add on to our product mix and our product offerings, looking to serve our customers in different ways. So I never rule it out, but at this point in time, we are focused on delevering.

所以你知道我們喜歡參與其中。我們喜歡四處看看。正如我之前提到的，目前還沒有什麼迫在眉睫的事情，我們的立場會更加保守，可能會優先償還債務，但我們也樂於積極尋找各種方法來豐富我們的產品組合和產品供應，以不同的方式服務我們的客戶。所以我從不排除這種可能性，但目前，我們的重點是去槓桿化。

Got it. And then just secondarily, you mentioned new merchant growth being probably a core part of trying to get to that low double-digit growth of the seam in the next year. Have there been, I guess how does the pipeline look for new potential customers versus maybe where that pipeline was a year ago, and that's all for me. Thank you.

知道了。其次，您提到新商家的成長可能是明年將該產業兩位數低成長率的核心部分。我想問的是，與一年前相比，現在尋找潛在客戶的通路狀況如何？這就是我想問的全部。謝謝。

Sure, yeah, look, I think the pipeline is strong and we've talked about before, the lead time to winning some at least on the on the bigger names. There's a long lead time and it takes effort both on the from an RFP standpoint as well as integrating and from a point of sale standpoint, so our focus right now is trying to be less reliant on integration with retailers and developing tools where we can operate, grow volumes, either through returning customers or through technology.

當然，是的，你看，我認為人才儲備很充足，我們之前也討論過，至少在贏得一些大牌球星方面，所需的時間已經足夠了。前期準備時間很長，從 RFP 的角度以及整合和銷售點的角度都需要付出努力，因此我們目前的重點是盡量減少對與零售商整合的依賴，並開發我們可以運營的工具，透過回頭客或技術來增加銷量。

So the pipeline is good. We're not waiting around for integrations. We are doing things either direct to consumers, as I mentioned, or through our returning customer base to help grow GMV, but our bread and butter is growing merchants, and that's going to be and continue to be an important acquisition channel for us. And so our sales team is hyper focused on growing merchant count and the pipeline remains strong.

所以管道狀況良好。我們不會坐等整合完成。正如我之前提到的，我們透過兩種方式來促進業務成長：直接面向消費者，或透過回頭客群來幫助提升 GMV，但我們的主要收入來源是發展商家，這將會是並將繼續是我們重要的客戶獲取管道。因此，我們的銷售團隊正全力以赴增加商家數量，銷售管道依然強勁。

Thanks a lot.

多謝。

Thanks for your question. This does conclude the Q&A portion of this session. I would now like to turn it over to Fahmi Karam, CEO for closing remarks.

謝謝你的提問。本次問答環節到此結束。現在我謹將發言權交給執行長法赫米·卡拉姆，請他作總結發言。

Thank you, operator, and thank you to everyone who joined us today for an update on our Q3 performance and our outlook for the balance of 2025.

感謝接線員，也感謝今天所有參加我們第三季業績更新和2025年剩餘時間展望會議的各位。

Before we conclude, I'd like to again welcome our two new senior leaders to the organization and extend my sincere gratitude to all of my colleagues at Upbound. Thank you for your unwavering contributions and support of our mission, our values, and our customers. Thanks everyone. Have a great day.

在結束之前，我想再次歡迎兩位新任高階領導加入本組織，並向 Upbound 的所有同事表示衷心的感謝。感謝您一直以來對我們的使命、價值觀和客戶的堅定支持和貢獻。謝謝大家。祝你有美好的一天。

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.

感謝您參加今天的會議。節目到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線了。