Valvoline Inc (VVV) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Valvoline's First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. My name is Nadia, and I will be coordinating the call today.

大家好，歡迎參加勝牌 2024 年第一季財報電話會議和網路廣播。我叫納迪亞，今天我將協調通話。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

I will now handover to your host, Elizabeth Russell, Senior Director Investor Relations to begin. Elizabeth, please go ahead.

現在請主持人投資者關係高級總監伊麗莎白·拉塞爾 (Elizabeth Russell) 開始發言。伊麗莎白，請繼續。

Good morning, and welcome to Valvoline's First Quarter Fiscal 2024 Conference Call and Webcast. This morning, Valvoline released results for the first quarter ended December 31, 2023. This presentation should be viewed in conjunction with that earnings release, a copy of which is available on our Investor Relations website at investors.valvoline.com. Please note that these results are preliminary until we file our Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

早安，歡迎來到勝牌 2024 財年第一季電話會議和網路廣播。今天上午，勝牌公佈了截至2023 年12 月31 日的第一季業績。本簡報應與該財報發布一起查看，該財報的副本可在我們的投資者關係網站Investors.valvoline.com 上獲取。請注意，在我們向美國證券交易委員會提交 10-Q 表格之前，這些結果均為初步結果。

On this morning's call is Lori Flees, our CEO and President; and Mary Meixelsperger, our CFO.

今天早上的電話會議由我們的執行長兼總裁 Lori Flees 主持。以及我們的財務長瑪麗·梅克斯佩格 (Mary Meixelsperger)。

As shown on Slide 2, any of our remarks today that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on current assumptions as of the date of this presentation, and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. Valvoline assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements unless required by law.

如投影片 2 所示，我們今天的任何言論，如果不是歷史事實的陳述，都是前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述是基於截至本簡報發布之日的當前假設，並受到某些風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與此類陳述有重大差異。除非法律要求，勝牌不承擔更新任何前瞻性聲明的義務。

In this presentation and in our remarks, we will be discussing our results on an adjusted non-GAAP basis, unless otherwise noted. Non-GAAP results are adjusted for key items, which are unusual, nonoperational or restructuring in nature. We believe this approach enhances the understanding of our ongoing business. A reconciliation of our adjusted non-GAAP results to amounts reported under GAAP in a discussion of management's use of non-GAAP and key business measures is included in the presentation appendix.

除非另有說明，在本次演示和發言中，我們將在調整後的非公認會計準則基礎上討論我們的業績。非公認會計準則績效針對本質上不尋常、非營運或重組的關鍵項目進行了調整。我們相信這種方法可以增強對我們正在進行的業務的理解。在討論管理階層對非公認會計原則和關鍵業務指標的使用時，我們調整後的非公認會計原則結果與根據公認會計原則報告的金額的調節表包含在簡報附錄中。

The information provided is used by our management and may not be comparable to similar measures used by other companies. As a reminder, the Retail Services business represents the company's continuing operations, and the former Global Products segment is classified as discontinued operations for the purposes of GAAP reporting.

所提供的資訊由我們的管理層使用，可能無法與其他公司使用的類似措施進行比較。需要提醒的是，零售服務業務代表公司的持續經營業務，而前全球產品部門出於 GAAP 報告的目的被歸類為已終止經營業務。

Today, Lori will begin with a look at the key highlights from our first quarter, and Mary will then cover our financial results.

今天，洛里將首先介紹我們第一季的主要亮點，然後瑪麗將介紹我們的財務表現。

With that, I will turn it over to Lori.

有了這個，我會把它交給洛里。

Thanks, Elizabeth, and thank you all for joining us today. For the first quarter of 2024, we saw growth at the top line across the network with system-wide store sales growing 12.3% to $723 million. Profitability was in line with our expectations with adjusted EBITDA improving 23% to $90 million and adjusted EPS improving 81% to $0.29 per share. We remain on track with our full year guidance. We started the year strong with new store additions, adding 38 for the quarter, half of which were from franchise. This brings our network total to 1,890 stores. From a capital spend standpoint, we continue to focus the majority of our capital towards growth. which we expect will continue to drive a high return on invested capital. We also made additional progress on our commitment to return a substantial portion of the net proceeds from the sale of global products to shareholders through share repurchases with over $170 million return this quarter.

謝謝伊莉莎白，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。 2024 年第一季度，我們看到整個網路的營收成長，全系統商店銷售額成長 12.3%，達到 7.23 億美元。獲利能力符合我們的預期，調整後的 EBITDA 成長 23%，達到 9,000 萬美元，調整後的每股盈餘成長 81%，達到 0.29 美元。我們仍遵循全年指引。新年伊始，我們新增了 38 家新店，其中一半來自特許經營店。這使我們的網路總數達到 1,890 家商店。從資本支出的角度來看，我們繼續將大部分資本用於成長。我們預計這將繼續推動投資資本的高回報。我們在承諾方面也取得了更多進展，即透過股票回購將全球產品銷售淨收益的很大一部分返還給股東，本季回報超過 1.7 億美元。

Before Mary covers the details of our first quarter results, I'd like to share the progress we've made on the 3 pillars of our growth strategy. First, we continue to drive the full potential of our existing business. This quarter, we delivered 7.1% system-wide same-store sales growth, coming from both transaction and ticket growth. We also improved our margins through better labor management.

在瑪麗介紹我們第一季業績的詳細資訊之前，我想先分享我們在成長策略的三大支柱方面取得的進展。首先，我們持續充分發揮現有業務的潛力。本季度，我們的全系統同店銷售額成長了 7.1%，這主要來自交易和門票成長。我們也透過更好的勞動力管理提高了利潤。

Team retention rates are an important contributor to labor management. And in December, we had our lowest attrition rate since pre-COVID. Higher retention allows us to minimize recruiting and training costs while also ensuring that our stores are well staffed with team members who have more tenure delivering our best-in-class customer experience and added services.

團隊留任率是勞動力管理的重要貢獻者。 12 月份，我們的員工流動率是新冠疫情爆發前以來的最低水準。更高的保留率使我們能夠最大限度地減少招募和培訓成本，同時也確保我們的商店配備了充足的團隊成員，他們擁有更長的任期，可以提供一流的客戶體驗和附加服務。

In November, Valvoline Instant Oil Change was named #11 on the Forbes 2024 Best Customer Service list. I'm proud that our Valvoline and franchise-operated stores have been recognized for the best-in-class customer service they provide to our guests every day alongside companies like Chick-fil-A, who are also known for their great service. On accelerating network growth, as I mentioned, 2024 is off to a great start with 38 store additions.

11 月，勝牌即時換油在福布斯 2024 年最佳客戶服務排行榜上排名第 11。我很自豪的是，我們的勝牌店和特許經營店每天為我們的客人提供一流的客戶服務，與像福來雞這樣的公司一樣，這些公司也以優質的服務而聞名。在加速網路成長方面，正如我所提到的，2024 年將新增 38 家商店，這是一個很好的開始。

We continue to see a healthy mix of ground-up builds and acquisitions contributing to our growth across the system with 21 ground-up builds and 17 acquisitions this quarter. We have a robust pipeline and continue to work towards our goal of growing the network to more than 3,500 stores and a focus on accelerating franchise growth within that.

我們繼續看到基礎建設和收購的健康組合有助於我們整個系統的成長，本季有 21 項基礎建設和 17 項收購。我們擁有強大的管道，並將繼續努力實現將網路發展到超過 3,500 家商店的目標，並專注於加速其中的特許經營成長。

And just this week, we celebrated our 1,000th franchise store as Quality Automotive Services, or QAS a 20-year franchise partner with us opened a store in Raleigh, North Carolina. We also were recognized recently as a top franchiser in our category and #27 overall in entrepreneurs Franchise-500. We have the best franchise partners in our category and are thrilled to share this recognition with them.

就在本週，我們慶祝了我們的第 1,000 家特許經營店，作為我們 20 年特許經營合作夥伴的 Quality Automotive Services (QAS) 在北卡羅來納州羅利開設了一家商店。最近，我們也被評為該類別中的頂級特許經營商，並在企業家 Franchise-500 中總體排名第 27。我們擁有同類產品中最好的特許經營合作夥伴，並很高興與他們分享這項認可。

On our third strategic priority, we continue to see favorable contribution in same-store sales from both non-oil-change revenue service penetration and our fleet business. As part of our separation from the Global Products business, our fleet team has implemented a new CRM system, which will enable continued growth of new fleet customers as well as growth within our existing fleet customers' portfolios.

在我們的第三個策略重點上，我們繼續看到非換油收入服務滲透和我們的車隊業務對同店銷售的有利貢獻。作為我們與全球產品業務分離的一部分，我們的車隊團隊實施了新的 CRM 系統，這將使新車隊客戶的持續成長以及我們現有車隊客戶組合的成長。

Both the NOCR service penetration and fleet continue to have long runways of opportunity for ongoing improvement. Our team is focused on delivering fiscal year 2024 while also building the capabilities that ensure continued delivery of our long-term growth algorithm.

NOCR 服務滲透率和機隊仍有長期持續改進的機會。我們的團隊專注於交付 2024 財年，同時建立確保持續交付我們的長期成長演算法的能力。

Now I'll turn it over to Mary to walk us through our Q1 financial results.

現在我將把它交給瑪麗，讓她向我們介紹第一季的財務表現。

Thanks, Lori. On Slide 5, we'll take a closer look at our top line growth for the quarter. Net sales grew 12.3% to $373 million. System-wide, we saw same-store sales growth 7.1% compared to 11.9% growth for the first quarter of the prior year. You'll recall that in the first quarter of 2023, we benefited from the inflationary price increases that occurred later in fiscal year 2022. That accounts for the majority of the year-over-year deceleration in same-store sales.

謝謝，洛瑞。在投影片 5 中，我們將仔細研究本季的營收成長情況。淨銷售額成長 12.3%，達到 3.73 億美元。在整個系統範圍內，我們看到同店銷售額成長了 7.1%，而去年第一季的成長率為 11.9%。您可能還記得，在 2023 年第一季度，我們受惠於 2022 財年稍後發生的通貨膨脹價格上漲。這是同店銷售額年減的主要原因。

This quarter, both company and franchise same-store sales grew within our guidance range with 6.1% and 8% growth, respectively. The franchise side saw modestly better growth largely driven by improvements in non-oil-change revenue service penetration as franchisees continue to implement many of the best practices that have been proven out in company and franchise stores over the past year. Transaction growth contributed about 25% to the comp, driven by an increase in the customer base as well as modest contributions from miles driven.

本季度，公司和特許經營同店銷售額均在我們的指導範圍內成長，分別成長 6.1% 和 8%。特許經營方面的成長略有改善，這主要是由於非換油收入服務滲透率的提高，因為特許經營商繼續實施過去一年中在公司和特許經營店中得到證明的許多最佳實踐。由於客戶群的增加以及駕駛里程的適度貢獻，交易成長對該公司貢獻了約 25%。

As we shared in our last earnings call, we did see some customer softness at the beginning of the quarter. Ticket contributed about 75% of the comp for the quarter. Just over half of the ticket growth came from premiumization and increased non-oil-change revenue service penetration with a balance from pricing. As we mentioned in our last call, we increased pricing in early November in about 1/3 of our stores, and we have made further adjustments already in Q2.

正如我們在上次財報電話會議中分享的那樣，我們確實在本季初看到了一些客戶疲軟的情況。 Ticket 貢獻了本季營收的約 75%。超過一半的門票成長來自高端化和非換油收入服務滲透率的提高，以及定價的平衡。正如我們在上次電話會議中提到的，我們在 11 月初提高了大約 1/3 商店的價格，並且我們在第二季度已經做了進一步的調整。

Next, let's consider some of the other drivers of the financial results. Starting with gross margin rate, we saw improvement from 35.7% to 36.1% or 40 basis points year-over-year. You may recall that in the first quarter of fiscal 2023, our gross margin was pressured by increased additive and delivery costs. As Lori mentioned, during the first quarter of this year, we saw labor leverage benefiting gross profit margin as we continue to focus on this as our largest cost of sales driver.

接下來，讓我們考慮一下財務表現的其他一些驅動因素。從毛利率開始，我們看到從 35.7% 提高到 36.1%，比去年同期提高了 40 個基點。您可能還記得，在 2023 財年第一季度，我們的毛利率受到添加劑和交付成本增加的壓力。正如洛里所提到的，在今年第一季度，我們看到勞動力槓桿有利於毛利率，因為我們繼續將其作為我們最大的銷售成本驅動因素。

We continue to see improvement in SG&A as a percentage of net sales with a 60 basis point decrease over prior year. This was driven by a decrease in costs from rightsizing the stand-alone organization structure and partially offset by an increase in travel. Sequentially, we saw an increase in SG&A rate of approximately 140 basis points, which was expected for the first quarter due to the seasonality of our business including the timing of our annual meetings that occur in the first quarter each year.

我們繼續看到 SG&A 佔淨銷售額的百分比有所改善，比上年下降了 60 個基點。這是由於調整獨立組織結構而導致的成本下降，並被差旅的增加部分抵消。隨後，我們看到 SG&A 率增加了約 140 個基點，這是第一季的預期，因為我們業務的季節性，包括每年第一季舉行的年度會議的時間。

As a reminder, our adjusted EBITDA for the first half of the year typically is in the low 40s as a percentage of the full year. Depreciation and amortization increased by $6 million from the prior year quarter due to new stores and store-related IT assets placed in service, causing about 100 basis points of deleverage in gross margin and 100 basis points in leverage in adjusted EBITDA. Overall, adjusted EBITDA margin improved 220 basis points over the prior year.

提醒一下，我們上半年調整後的 EBITDA 佔全年的百分比通常在 40 左右。由於新店和與店面相關的IT資產投入使用，折舊和攤銷較去年同期增加了600萬美元，導致毛利率去槓桿化約100個基點，調整後EBITDA槓桿化約100個基點。總體而言，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率比上年提高了 220 個基點。

On Slide 7, we'll take an additional look at our profitability metrics. As Lori mentioned, bottom line results were consistent with our expectations with adjusted net income increasing 36% to $38.5 million, driven by an increase in operating income of just under 20%. Net interest expense also declined due to the interest income earned on the investment of the remaining proceeds from the global product sale and was effectively offset by a modest increase in the effective tax rate in the current year.

在投影片 7 上，我們將進一步審視我們的獲利能力指標。正如 Lori 所提到的，底線結果與我們的預期一致，在營業收入成長略低於 20% 的推動下，調整後淨利成長 36% 至 3,850 萬美元。由於全球產品銷售剩餘收益投資所獲得的利息收入也有所下降，淨利息支出也有所下降，並被本年度有效稅率的小幅上升所有效抵消。

Adjusted EPS saw growth of over 80% from $0.16 to $0.29 per share. The increase in operating income contributed about 40% of the EPS growth with the balance coming from the reduction in net interest expense and the change in share count due to the substantial share repurchases over the course of the prior year.

調整後每股收益成長超過 80%，從每股 0.16 美元增至 0.29 美元。營業收入的成長對每股盈餘成長的貢獻約為40%，其餘部分來自淨利息支出的減少以及上一年大量股票回購所導致的股票數量變化。

Turning to Slide 8. We'll look at the balance sheet and cash position. During the first quarter, we returned just over $170 million to shareholders via share repurchases. That leaves $40 million remaining on the current $1.6 billion authorization. We anticipate the completion of the current authorization in the near term.

轉向投影片 8。我們將查看資產負債表和現金狀況。第一季度，我們透過股票回購向股東返還略多於 1.7 億美元。目前 16 億美元的授權還剩下 4,000 萬美元。我們預計目前授權將在短期內完成。

As we have provided before, we anticipate share repurchases being an important part of our capital allocation strategy. We will continue to evaluate after the completion of the current authorization as we target a 2.5x to 3.5x rating agency adjusted leverage ratio. In the upcoming quarter, we expect to make an offer to repurchase the 2030 Notes as required by the asset sale covenant triggered by the sale of the Global Products business.

正如我們之前所提供的，我們預期股票回購將成為我們資本配置策略的重要組成部分。我們將在目前授權完成後繼續評估，目標是評級機構調整後的槓桿率達到 2.5 倍至 3.5 倍。在下個季度，我們預計將根據出售全球產品業務引發的資產出售契約的要求，提出回購 2030 年票據的要約。

For Q1, cash flow from operating activities was $21.9 million and capital expenditures were $42.3 million resulting in negative free cash flow of $20.4 million, consistent with our expectations. CapEx was up modestly over the prior year and working capital investment increased due to the timing of payments. We continue to have a strong cash position and earned interest income of $8 million during the quarter.

第一季度，經營活動現金流為 2,190 萬美元，資本支出為 4,230 萬美元，自由現金流為負 2,040 萬美元，與我們的預期一致。資本支出比前一年小幅增長，營運資本投資因付款時間而增加。我們繼續擁有強勁的現金狀況，本季賺取了 800 萬美元的利息收入。

I'll now turn it back over to Lori to wrap up.

現在我將把它轉回給 Lori 來總結。

Thanks, Mary. We continue to deliver results consistent with our transition to a high-growth retailer, driven by growth in both our same-store sales and the addition of new stores, and we are making progress across all 3 of our strategic pillars. As we wrap, I want to thank our team and our franchise partners for their continued hard work to start fiscal year 2024.

謝謝，瑪麗。在同店銷售成長和新店增加的推動下，我們繼續取得與向高成長零售商轉型相一致的業績，並且我們正在所有三個策略支柱上取得進展。在本文結束時，我要感謝我們的團隊和特許經營合作夥伴為 2024 財年的開始而持續努力。

Now I'll turn it back over to Elizabeth to begin the Q&A.

現在我將把它轉回伊麗莎白以開始問答。

Thanks, Lori.

謝謝，洛瑞。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

With that, please open the line.

這樣，請打開線路。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Our first question today goes to Steven Zaccone of Citi.

我們今天的第一個問題是向花旗銀行的史蒂文·扎科內提出的。

Our first question was on the ticket versus transaction performance in the quarter. Could you just elaborate a little bit more how your outlook for the year has changed versus when you spoke to us in November, I think it was more 50-50. So just curious there. And then along those same lines, you had a comment about adjusting pricing in the second quarter. Could you just elaborate on that also?

我們的第一個問題是關於本季的門票與交易表現。您能否詳細說明一下，與您在 11 月接受我們採訪時相比，您對今年的展望發生了怎樣的變化？我認為現在的變化更多是 50-50。所以只是好奇而已。然後，按照同樣的思路，您對第二季調整定價發表了評論。也能詳細說明一下嗎？

Sure, Steve. I'll start with ticket. We did see in the quarter about 25% of the comp come from transactions. And we do expect longer term to see a more balanced contribution from transactions versus ticket. The first quarter was impacted by a day mix change that caused just under 100 basis points of impact on the transaction side. So if you exclude that day mix impact, we would have been more like 1/3 coming from transactions and 2/3 coming from ticket.

當然，史蒂夫。我先從票開始。我們確實在本季度看到約 25% 的收入來自交易。我們確實預計從長遠來看，交易與門票的貢獻將更加平衡。第一季受到日間組合變化的影響，對交易方面造成了近 100 個基點的影響。因此，如果排除當天的混合影響，我們可能會發現 1/3 來自交易，2/3 來自門票。

Long term, we still expect to see a more balanced approach from transactions and ticket, but we are continuing to benefit from some pricing changes, just under half of the ticket portion of our comp store sales growth came from pricing with just over half coming from premiumization and non-oil-change revenue service penetration improvements. So I would tell you that I think longer term, I'm still expecting to see more of a balance short term in the quarter, we did see a little bit of a heavier tilt toward ticket for the quarter. As it relates to the second part of your question.

從長遠來看，我們仍然希望看到交易和門票更加平衡，但我們將繼續受益於一些定價變化，我們的比較商店銷售增長中的門票部分略低於一半來自定價，略多於一半來自定價優質化和非換油收入服務滲透率的提高。所以我想告訴你，我認為從長遠來看，我仍然期望在本季度看到更多的短期平衡，我們確實看到本季度的門票有一點更嚴重的傾斜。因為它與你問題的第二部分有關。

Yes, I'll just comment. First, I think when we talked about this year, we said there would long term or earlier -- last quarter, we said long term, we would be getting a balance between transaction. But fiscal '24, we would see an overweight on the ticket side, given a number of initiatives that we've been working. Just recall, focus on optimizing discounting, which improves the net price and also just continued work on NOCR and then the tailwind for premium mix.

是的，我就評論一下。首先，我認為當我們談論今年時，我們說過長期或更早——上個季度，我們說過長期來看，我們將在交易之間取得平衡。但考慮到我們一直在採取的一系列舉措，24 財年我們將看到門票方面的增持。回想一下，重點是優化折扣，這會提高淨價，並且繼續進行 NOCR 工作，然後是溢價組合的順風車。

As it relates to pricing, Steven, we continue to benchmark our pricing, and we have multiple pricing tests. And I think our actions are very consistent with what we've been talking about in the last few quarters, which is we look at our pricing by store, by region based on the competitive dynamics as well as just based on the acquisitions that we may have done in stores, and we continually adjust our pricing to get to our target rates.

由於涉及定價，史蒂文，我們繼續對定價進行基準測試，並且我們進行了多次定價測試。我認為我們的行動與我們在過去幾季一直在談論的內容非常一致，即我們根據競爭動態以及我們可能進行的收購，按商店、按地區來查看定價。已經在商店完成了，我們不斷調整定價以達到我們的目標價。

When I say target rates, we have a target pricing list that we're trying to optimize all stores to for all 3 tiers of our oil change services, and we continue to make changes there. Recently, we've been benchmarking our added services. And there are a couple of services where we did not take inflationary increases last year because they weren't coming through the supply, and we have recently benchmarked relative to others and made some adjustments across all our stores.

當我說目標費率時，我們有一個目標定價清單，我們正在努力優化所有商店的所有 3 層換油服務，並且我們將繼續在那裡進行更改。最近，我們一直在對我們的附加服務進行基準測試。去年我們沒有考慮一些服務的通膨增長，因為它們不是透過供應來的，我們最近相對於其他服務進行了基準測試，並對我們所有的商店進行了一些調整。

So those are things that we continue to do. We will continue to do it. And -- we have -- our long-term and current year guidance is between 6% and 9% same-store sales. And we see both this year ticket being a very good part of that. In future years, we expect ticket to contribute roughly half and pricing to be a big component of that.

這些是我們繼續做的事情。我們將繼續這樣做。而且 - 我們的長期和今年的指導是同店銷售額 6% 到 9% 之間。我們認為今年的門票是其中非常重要的一部分。未來幾年，我們預計門票將貢獻約一半，而定價將成為其中的重要組成部分。

Okay. That's all helpful detail. Just a brief follow-up then if we stick with same-store sales. Is there anything to be mindful of from a performance in the second quarter relative to the overall year? I know the 1-year compare is a little bit tougher. And then we've heard about some choppy trends across retail in terms of weather, but anything you can say on second quarter performance relative to the full year would be helpful.

好的。這些都是有用的細節。如果我們堅持同店銷售，那麼只需進行簡短的跟進即可。第二季的表現與全年相比有什麼值得關注的地方嗎？我知道一年的比較有點困難。然後，我們聽說零售業在天氣方面出現了一些波動趨勢，但您對第二季相對於全年表現的任何看法都會有所幫助。

Yes, Steven. We've certainly seen some choppiness in January and the start of the second quarter. primarily weather related. I think you're aware that we saw some pretty significant arctic cold across the country in January that really lasted for a couple of weeks. Typically, our business is nondiscretionary. And so when we see those kind of weather impacts to our business, we typically see pent-up demand that occurs after that weather pattern clears. And in fact, that's what we're experiencing now with some of the weather-related weakness we saw earlier in the month of January, we've seen that bounce back nicely. So I would tell you that there hasn't really been any surprises for us in terms of where sales are trending, and we're feeling good about the guidance that we've provided for the full year.

是的，史蒂文。我們在一月份和第二季初確實看到了一些波動。主要與天氣有關。我想你知道，一月份我們在全國範圍內看到了一些相當嚴重的北極寒冷，這種寒冷確實持續了幾週。通常，我們的業務是非全權委託的。因此，當我們看到此類天氣對我們的業務產生影響時，我們通常會看到在天氣模式消失後出現的被壓抑的需求。事實上，這就是我們現在所經歷的，我們在一月份早些時候看到了一些與天氣相關的疲軟，我們已經看到這種情況很好地反彈。因此，我想告訴您，就銷售趨勢而言，我們並沒有真正感到任何意外，而且我們對全年提供的指導感到滿意。

The next question goes to Simeon Gutman of Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題將問摩根士丹利的西蒙古特曼。

This is Michael Kessler on for Simeon. Maybe first on unit growth, it was pretty solid in Q1 on both sides, company and franchise. So just curious, your visibility for the rest of the year in the pipeline and then any updates we've talked to take in the past about some of the actions you've taken to further improve visibility in the pipeline on the franchisee side, both with existing franchisees and also sourcing new ones. So just love an update on how that's going.

我是西蒙的麥可凱斯勒。也許首先是在單位成長方面，第一季雙方、公司和特許經營權都相當穩健。所以只是好奇，您在今年剩餘時間裡在管道中的可見性，以及我們過去談論過的關於您為進一步提高特許經營商方面的管道中的可見性而採取的一些行動的任何更新與現有的特許經營商合作，並尋找新的特許經營商。所以只是喜歡了解進展的最新情況。

Sure. Thanks, Michael. We did, as I mentioned, have a really strong start to 2024 with 38 total new additions and an even split between franchise and company. The Q4 typically tends -- at least on the acquisition side, tends to be a strong quarter. I wouldn't say every calendar quarter 1, but calendar Q4 is typically strong as acquisitions tend to try to close out, particularly on the franchise side, where their calendar and fiscal aligned to the end of the year. So we did expect these. These were in the pipeline. We had full visibility of them, and it was a really strong start.

當然。謝謝，麥可。正如我所提到的，我們確實在 2024 年有了一個非常強勁的開局，總共新增了 38 個新項目，特許經營權和公司之間的比例均勻。至少在收購方面，第四季通常會是一個強勁的季度。我不會說每個日曆季度的第一季度，但日曆第四季度通常都很強勁，因為收購往往會試圖結束，特別是在特許經營方面，他們的日曆和財務與年底保持一致。所以我們確實期待這些。這些正在醞釀中。我們對他們有充分的了解，這是一個非常好的開始。

You should expect we're very much feel great about the guidance we've given of $140 million to $170 million for the year, of which $55 million to $70 million will come from our franchise partners. That should, unlike last year be more balanced throughout the year, although Q2 January through March, given the weather you can have a seasonally lower number of new builds or new adds in the quarter. But we expect that to be pretty balanced, and we feel really good about the guidance rates that we've provided.

你應該預料到，我們對今年 1.4 億至 1.7 億美元的指導感到非常滿意，其中 5500 萬至 7000 萬美元將來自我們的特許經營合作夥伴。與去年不同，全年應該會更加平衡，儘管第二季從一月到三月，考慮到天氣因素，該季度的新建或新增數量可能會季節性減少。但我們預計這會相當平衡，而且我們對我們提供的指導利率感覺非常好。

Now you mentioned just broadly, we have then very clear in our acceleration of the network to get over 3,500 units, we're going to really increase the number of new units coming on the franchise side. We've been very clear that we're working to get to 150 million units per year by 2027. And we continue to make progress against that. Now that comes from both the existing franchise partners we have and our conversations with them have been very positive.

現在您廣泛地提到，我們非常明確地加速網路建設，以達到 3,500 多個單位，我們將真正增加特許經營方面的新單位數量。我們非常明確地表示，我們正在努力在 2027 年實現每年 1.5 億台的銷售量。並且我們將繼續朝著這個目標取得進展。現在，這來自我們現有的特許經營合作夥伴，我們與他們的對話非常積極。

And we continue to look for ways that we can support them with more detailed retail analytics, some real estate support, business development, pipeline generation from an M&A perspective, et. cetera. And so we feel really good about the ramp that we will get from our existing partners.

我們繼續尋找方法，透過更詳細的零售分析、一些房地產支援、業務開發、從併購角度產生管道等來支持他們。等等。因此，我們對從現有合作夥伴所獲得的收益感到非常滿意。

And then the second part is about recruiting, again, just a handful of more scale franchise partners to develop some white space regions or to help transition existing franchise players who are at points in their career where they want to cash out on the significant wealth that's been created through the franchise that they've built with us and bring in new partners who want to develop the areas that those businesses sit in.

然後第二部分是關於招募一些規模更大的特許經營合作夥伴來開發一些空白區域或幫助現有的特許經營者轉型，他們在職業生涯中想要兌現巨大的財富是透過他們與我們建立的特許經營權創建的，並引入了想要開發這些業務所在領域的新合作夥伴。

Now we did expect that was going to take time. One is you've got to line up the transition timing as well as the white space timing with those conversations. But the conversations continue and progress. And again, we feel very good about the progress that we're making.

現在我們確實預計這需要時間。一是你必須將轉換時間以及空白時間與這些對話對齊。但對話仍在繼續並取得進展。再次，我們對所取得的進展感到非常滿意。

And maybe just a follow-up on capital allocation and shareholder returns. I know Q2 will be a big one there with the repurchase of the Notes plus the buyback. I'm sure you're probably thinking through what may happen after that. But given I think where leverage is today, which is pretty healthy in the range or maybe at the lower end of the range that you've outlined is like -- I guess I'm curious kind of the range of options that are on the table, including maybe even relevering up to accelerate returns once you exhaust the buyback? Or is this more conservative, just kind of see how it plays out, just kind of what are the decision factors as you approach that post Q2?

也許只是資本配置和股東回報的後續行動。我知道第二季將是一個重大事件，包括票據回購和回購。我相信您可能正在考慮之後會發生什麼。但考慮到我認為今天的槓桿率在這個範圍內相當健康，或者可能在你概述的範圍的下限，我想我對選項的範圍感到好奇表，包括甚至可能在回購耗盡後增加槓桿以加速回報？或者這是更保守的，只是看看它如何發揮作用，只是當你接近第二季度後的決策因素是什麼？

Yes, Michael, I'd start just in terms of our target leverage ratio, which is an adjusted leverage ratio based on how rating agencies or S&P, in particular, measures, our leverage. And just for everyone's information, if you forgot the rating agency adjusts for both operating leases, as well as employee benefit plan obligations. So when you make those adjustments, the sum of the outstanding liabilities related to those operating leases and pensions is about $400 million, which is about a full turn of leverage. We actually are just slightly above the high end of our targeted leverage range.

是的，邁克爾，我首先從我們的目標槓桿率開始，這是根據評級機構或標準普爾（特別是標準普爾）衡量我們槓桿率的方式調整的槓桿率。僅供大家參考，如果您忘記了評級機構會根據經營租賃以及員工福利計劃義務進行調整。因此，當你進行這些調整時，與這些營業租賃和退休金相關的未償負債總和約為 4 億美元，相當於槓桿的一整週。實際上，我們僅略高於目標槓桿範圍的上限。

So our first capital allocation priority will be to get us within that range that we've targeted and then we'll look at using the balance sheet as well as our operating cash flows to provide further returns to shareholders. My expectation is it will take us a little bit of time short term here in the next couple of quarters to get that range -- that target leverage range back into below the high end of our expectations and then -- of what we're targeting. And from there on, I would expect that we would, again, be focused on capital allocation to return cash to shareholders via share repurchases once we're back within that targeted leverage ratio.

因此，我們的首要資本配置優先事項將是使我們處於目標範圍內，然後我們將考慮使用資產負債表和營運現金流為股東提供進一步的回報。我的預期是，在接下來的幾個季度中，我們需要一些短期時間才能讓目標槓桿範圍回到我們預期的上限以下，然後達到我們的目標。從那時起，我預計，一旦我們回到目標槓桿率範圍內，我們將再次專注於資本配置，透過股票回購向股東返還現金。

The next question goes to Daniel Imbro of Stephens, Inc.

下一個問題將詢問 Stephens, Inc. 的 Daniel Imbro。

Maybe l want to start on gross margins. We saw a little bit of a larger step down maybe 4Q to 1Q on the gross margin side than we have seasonally in the past, especially with the easy comparison last year. Can you just talk through maybe the drivers of gross margin like labor? And how you're thinking about that line item for the rest of the year as comps maybe improved with using comparison?

也許我想從毛利率開始。我們看到第四季到第一季的毛利率比過去的季節性下降幅度更大，特別是與去年的簡單比較相比。能否談談勞動力等毛利率的驅動因素？您如何看待今年剩餘時間的該訂單項，因為使用比較可能會改善比較？

Yes, absolutely, Daniel. I will tell you, we saw year-over-year gross margin leverage of about 40 basis points. And if you take out the depreciation impact, we actually saw 140 basis points of leverage before the impact of higher levels of depreciation. And that's certainly one of the things that impacted margins sequentially from Q4 to Q1 as well, is the depreciation impact. We're pleased with the labor leverage we saw in the quarter. We saw some very meaningful labor leverage that was offset modestly by some operating expense deleverage. That's really timing related in the quarter. It is a seasonally low quarter from a sales perspective.

是的，絕對如此，丹尼爾。我會告訴你，我們的毛利率槓桿比去年同期約為 40 個基點。如果剔除貶值的影響，在更高程度的貶值影響之前，我們實際上看到了 140 個基點的槓桿。這當然也是從第四季到第一季連續影響利潤率的因素之一，那就是折舊的影響。我們對本季看到的勞動力槓桿率感到滿意。我們看到了一些非常有意義的勞動力槓桿，但這些槓桿被一些營運費用去槓桿化所適度抵消。這確實與本季的時間安排有關。從銷售角度來看，這是一個季節性低迷的季度。

And we also have done a better balancing, if you would, of managing our maintenance expenses throughout the year. We also, with new stores opening, saw some deleverage from those new stores as well. So there was no surprises for us in terms of how we managed, I would say, for the balance of the year. We will likely continue to see leverage at the margin line, although I wouldn't expect to see as much labor leverage as we saw in the first quarter necessarily.

如果您願意的話，我們也更好地平衡了全年的維護費用管理。隨著新店的開業，我們也看到了這些新店的一些去槓桿化。因此，我想說，在今年剩下的時間裡，我們的管理方式並不令人意外。我們可能會繼續看到槓桿率處於邊際線，儘管我預計勞動力槓桿率不會像第一季那麼高。

Yes, Daniel, I'll just add. Q1, we have to manage our labor, and there's always a step down as folks transition from the summer jobs back into college. And then as our volume starts to drop, we have to manage that labor pretty extensively. So when you see the difference Q4 to Q1, some of that is literally just the leverage of the cars coming through the stores and how we balance labor. But the year-over-year compare from a margin perspective was really strong, and our teams have made a lot of progress since last year. We would have talked about the fact that we were focused on labor management and optimization and better scheduling, as you'll recall from previous earnings calls.

是的，丹尼爾，我補充一下。 Q1，我們必須管理我們的勞動力，隨著人們從暑期工作過渡回大學，總是會有一個階梯。然後，隨著我們的數量開始下降，我們必須對勞動力進行相當廣泛的管理。因此，當您看到第四季度與第一季的差異時，其中一些實際上只是透過商店的汽車的槓桿作用以及我們如何平衡勞動力。但從利潤角度來看，年比比較非常強勁，自去年以來我們的團隊取得了巨大進步。我們將討論這樣一個事實，即我們專注於勞動力管理和優化以及更好的調度，正如您在之前的財報電話會議中所記得的那樣。

And really, a lot of the improvement year-over-year is a testament to that, although some of those low-hanging fruit improvements happened in Q2. So the year-over-year compare from a labor management won't be quite as strong because you'll have started to see some of the labor impact hitting in Q2. So this is the last cycle. Though we still have opportunity, and we continue to manage the labor line, which is our largest cost of sales item. And the biggest thing we're proud of is that our attrition rates are so low.

事實上，同比的許多改進都證明了這一點，儘管其中一些容易實現的改進發生在第二季度。因此，勞動力管理的同比比較不會那麼強勁，因為您將開始看到第二季度出現的一些勞動力影響。所以這是最後一個週期。儘管我們仍然有機會，但我們繼續管理勞動力線，這是我們最大的銷售成本項目。最令我們自豪的是我們的員工流動率非常低。

As I mentioned, we've got the lowest attrition rate ending the quarter that we've had since pre-COVID, which is really a testament to the work our team has been doing across the recruiting side and setting expectations and how we attract talent to also how we onboard and train the talent to ensure that we can keep the technicians that we're training in the stores for longer. And those things are the things that we're really proud about. And then our central ops team that we put in place has really been driving with operations, some of the tools that have enabled them to manage that so effectively.

正如我所提到的，本季結束時，我們的員工流失率是新冠疫情爆發前以來最低的，這確實證明了我們的團隊在招聘方面所做的工作、設定的期望以及我們如何吸引人才以及我們如何入職和培訓人才，以確保我們能夠將正在培訓的技術人員留在商店更長時間。這些是我們真正感到自豪的事情。然後，我們組建的中央營運團隊確實在推動運營，其中一些工具使他們能夠如此有效地管理營運。

Understood. I appreciate all the color. And then maybe a follow-up on the comp growth outlook. So you said there was 100 basis points of a negative impact from the calendar in the fiscal first quarter. That will improve I guess, can you remind us how winter weather historically should impact non-oil-change revenue? Would you see a higher service battery attachment here in the second quarter where that becomes more of a positive tailwind for the ticket growth? Just trying to think about what are the impacts as you see that pent-up demand come back into the stores.

明白了。我欣賞所有的顏色。然後也許是對公司成長前景的跟進。所以你說第一財季日曆帶來了 100 個基點的負面影響。我想這會有所改善，你能提醒我們歷史上冬季天氣會如何影響非換油收入嗎？您是否會在第二季度看到更高的服務電池連接，這對門票增長更具積極推動力？只是想一下，當你看到被壓抑的需求重新回到商店時會產生什麼影響。

Yes. Great question, Daniel. Battery sales typically tip up when you get cold when the cold weather really sets in. Normally, we see that in December. In December, it was fairly muted because it was a milder December this year for the majority of our regions. But in January, we definitely have -- I think, all of retail was impacted by pretty broad-based arctic cold coming in and making people not wanting to go out and schools being closed, et cetera. That's actually created, we can see, some of that pent-up battery demand pushing into January and February, as they get back in their cars and realize that their battery needs to be replaced.

是的。好問題，丹尼爾。當寒冷天氣真正到來時，電池銷售通常會上升。通常情況下，我們會在 12 月看到這種情況。 12 月的天氣相當平靜，因為對於我們大多數地區來說，今年的 12 月天氣較為溫和。但在一月份，我們確實——我認為，所有零售業都受到了相當廣泛的北極寒冷的影響，導致人們不想出去，學校關閉等等。我們可以看到，這實際上是由一些被壓抑的電池需求推向一月和二月，因為他們回到車上並意識到他們的電池需要更換。

So we are -- we do see those seasonal things. Battery is a small piece of our overall ticket as an average, but we do see those things and as we would have expected with the colder weather.

所以我們確實看到了那些季節性的東西。平均而言，電池只占我們整體門票的一小部分，但我們確實看到了這些事情，正如我們在寒冷的天氣中所預期的那樣。

And the next question goes to Kate McShane of Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題是向高盛的凱特·麥克沙恩提出的。

We wanted to ask about your initiative on reducing costs of the new builds and where you are, I guess, in that process? And how we should think about unit economics going forward as a result of this initiative.

我們想詢問您在降低新建築成本方面的舉措以及您在這個過程中的進展？以及我們應該如何考慮這項措施帶來的單位經濟效益。

Thanks, Kate. As we mentioned in our last earnings, we've been both working internally on the design of our stores and taking out elements of the design that add costs, but don't add value. Some of those things will take time to cycle through. We're in the process now of reviewing some of the opportunities with our franchise partners and getting -- and doing some compares around build costs and site costs that they've had.

謝謝，凱特。正如我們在上一份財報中提到的，我們一直在內部進行商店的設計，並剔除增加成本但不增加價值的設計元素。其中一些事情需要時間來完成。我們現在正在與我們的特許經營合作夥伴一起審查一些機會，並圍繞他們所擁有的建造成本和場地成本進行一些比較。

So what I would say is we still believe there's opportunity, things that we can implement. We are implementing things to reduce the cost of converting an acquisition store to a Valvoline store, as an example. Some of those things will start to show in our capital cost for new builds, but the -- sorry, the capital cost for conversions for new units. But the new builds will take us time to implement, and we'll share more when we have locked that down and can definitively share the difference or the delta that should be expected.

所以我想說的是，我們仍然相信有機會，有我們可以實施的事情。例如，我們正在實施一些措施來降低將收購商店轉變為勝牌商店的成本。其中一些事情將開始體現在我們新建建築的資本成本中，但抱歉，新單位轉換的資本成本。但新的建置將需要我們時間來實施，當我們鎖定它並可以明確地分享應該預期的差異或增量時，我們將分享更多。

But we -- there's opportunity and the teams are working to work with the contractors as well as the permitting companies and the landlords to line everything up so we can capture it.

但我們——有機會，團隊正在與承包商、許可公司和房東合作，將一切安排好，以便我們可以抓住它。

And in terms of unit economics, Kate, with the current construction costs, we continue to see mid-teens returns substantially higher than our weighted average cost of capital and still feel really good about the relative unit economics of the ground up for new builds that we're doing from a company perspective as well, we're continuing to see growth in new builds from our franchise partners as well. So any benefit we receive from lower overall capital cost will simply help us to increase that return even further.

就單位經濟效益而言，凱特，按照目前的建築成本，我們繼續看到十幾歲左右的回報率大大高於我們的加權平均資本成本，並且仍然對新建築的相對單位經濟效益感到非常滿意。我們也是從公司的角度出發，我們也繼續看到我們的特許經營合作夥伴的新建築的成長。因此，我們從較低的總體資本成本中獲得的任何好處都將幫助我們進一步提高回報。

The next question goes to Bret Jordan of Jefferies.

下一個問題將問 Jefferies 的布雷特喬丹 (Bret Jordan)。

Could you give us any updates on the non-oil-change offerings? What's been particularly successful or what you see sort of adding to that product list?

您能給我們提供有關非換油產品的任何最新資訊嗎？什麼是特別成功的，或者您認為哪些產品會添加到該產品清單中？

Sure. On the non-oil-change revenue, really the performance year-over-year is about having a more tenured team in the store that knows how to sell the product and just getting more consistent on how that service is presented and performed. So we continue to see gains as we focus on training, making sure the equipment to do the service is updated in the store and is available to be used. Supply chain, we have had supply chain issues, as you know, over the past several years post-COVID and just getting our supply chain back in line. So we have the right air filters for all the vehicles that we serve, the right cabin air filters, et cetera.

當然。就非換油收入而言，實際上，同比表現取決於店內擁有更資深的團隊，他們知道如何銷售產品，並且在如何呈現和執行服務方面更加一致。因此，我們繼續看到收益，因為我們專注於培訓，確保提供服務的設備在商店中得到更新並且可供使用。供應鏈，如你所知，在新冠疫情發生後的過去幾年裡，我們遇到了供應鏈問題，只是讓我們的供應鏈恢復正常。因此，我們為我們服務的所有車輛提供合適的空氣濾清器、合適的機艙空氣濾清器等等。

And then process execution, so making sure that the team is trained and understands why the service is necessary. And when we quartile our stores, we know we have opportunity. The top quartile stores perform 50% better from a non-oil-change revenue ticket contribution roughly double or roughly 50% better. And so part of it is how do you do the training and the tools and rise up the back end of our store base to perform like the top quartile.

然後流程執行，確保團隊接受過培訓並了解為什麼需要該服務。當我們對商店進行四分位時，我們知道我們有機會。排名前四分之一的商店由於非換油收入門票貢獻的表現提高了 50%，大約提高了一倍或大約提高了 50%。因此，其中一部分是如何進行培訓和工具，以及如何提升我們商店基地的後端，以達到排名前四分之一的水平。

Now the car park is aging, which is a tailwind given many of our OEM recommended services become more relevant with the mileage of the vehicle going up. So really, what we see is visuals, so things like wiper blades, cabin air filters, air filters. Those are the things, where visually we can show the customer that they need to be replaced. That's just basic process execution in supply chain. And that's where we see a lot of improvement.

現在停車場正在老化，這是一個順風車，因為我們的許多 OEM 推薦服務隨著車輛行駛里程的增加而變得更加相關。事實上，我們看到的是視覺效果，例如雨刷片、機艙空氣濾清器、空氣濾清器等。這些是我們可以直觀地向客戶展示它們需要更換的東西。這只是供應鏈中的基本流程執行。這就是我們看到很大改進的地方。

When it comes to OEM services, it's about the tenure of the team, and it's about the equipment in the store. And those are the things that we've been making sure that our maintenance team, for example, is ahead of.

說到代工服務，關乎的是團隊的任期，關乎到店裡的設備。這些是我們一直在確保我們的維護團隊領先的事情。

We look for breakdown -- we breakdown the barriers, if you will, to what is preventing us from servicing a vehicle. And when we find those opportunities, we either focus on the training or the things necessary to overcome those barriers. For example, every time a customer comes in, part of our 18-point check is a battery test. And this requires us to use a battery tester, which we put on the vehicle to read the health of the battery.

我們尋找故障——如果你願意的話，我們會打破阻礙我們維修車輛的障礙。當我們找到這些機會時，我們要么專注於培訓，要么專注於克服這些障礙所需的事情。例如，每次有客戶進來時，我們的 18 點檢查的一部分就是電池測試。這需要我們使用電池測試儀，我們將其安裝在車輛上以讀取電池的健康狀況。

Now we have not been as consistent in testing. And what we've learned is that a customer typically doesn't buy the battery on the spot. They actually take the advice and then return to us, either because they may have had issues with their battery started, and we were the one to tell them and they had a battery issue or they may go out and determine whether or not our pricing is competitive, which is very competitive. And then they come back to us for just a battery service at another time.

現在我們的測試並沒有那麼一致。我們了解到，客戶通常不會當場購買電池。他們實際上接受了建議，然後返回給我們，要么是因為他們的電池啟動時可能出現問題，而我們是告訴他們他們遇到電池問題的人，要么他們可能會出去確定我們的定價是否合理有競爭力，這是非常有競爭力的。然後他們會在另一個時間回到我們這裡尋求電池服務。

We also found that our battery testers need to be placed in a specific part on the battery and the newer vehicles have a plastic casing where that can get in a way with a good test. And so when we find those issues, we update training, and we make sure we have an online training module that goes out that all of our company-operated and franchise operated store, a team members need to go through so that they actually know how to attach those battery testers in some of the newer vehicles. When I say newer, I mean 5 years or younger, 5 or 6 years or younger.

我們還發現，我們的電池測試儀需要放置在電池的特定部分，而較新的車輛有一個塑膠外殼，這可能會妨礙良好的測試。因此，當我們發現這些問題時，我們會更新培訓，並確保我們有一個線上培訓模組，我們所有的公司經營和特許經營商店的團隊成員都需要通過該模組，以便他們真正知道如何將這些電池測試儀安裝在一些較新的車輛上。當我說較新時，我的意思是 5 歲或更小，5 或 6 歲或更小。

So those are the things that we're doing on non-oil-change revenue. And I would just say we still -- while some of the improvements we've made, I would call low-hanging fruit, we still have a lot of opportunity, and it's just the basic disciplines.

這些就是我們在非換油收入上所做的事情。我想說的是，雖然我們已經做了一些改進，我稱之為唾手可得的成果，但我們仍然有很多機會，而且這只是基本原則。

Okay. Great. And then on regional performance, was there any dispersion to note and I guess, maybe a spread between softer regions versus stronger regions in the comp?

好的。偉大的。然後，在區域表現方面，是否存在任何需要注意的分散情況，我猜，可能是比較中較軟的區域與較強的區域之間存在差異？

Yes. No, this is something that we do look at, obviously, weather can -- in this time of the year can slide volume, car volume around based on regional weather patterns. But in general, we don't see any significant differences across the U.S. and Canada in terms of performance. We also -- we look for demographic demographics around a store, we look for customer patterns, and we see things really staying fairly consistent with the exception of when weather may push or slide out customers from coming in from 1 week to the next. But other than that, no significant or material differences.

是的。不，這是我們確實關注的事情，顯然，天氣可以——在一年中的這個時候，可以根據地區天氣模式來調整交通量、汽車交通量。但總的來說，我們認為美國和加拿大在表現上沒有任何顯著差異。我們也——我們尋找商店周圍的人口統計數據，我們尋找顧客模式，我們發現一切都保持相當一致，除了天氣可能會推動或減少顧客從一周到下一周的情況。但除此之外，沒有顯著或實質的差異。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

And our next question goes to David Lantz of Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題是向富國銀行的戴維·蘭茨提問。

So I was just curious if you could walk through the building blocks to the 6% to 9% system-wide comp outlook inside some of the expected benefits from non-oil-change revenues and premiumization?

因此，我只是很好奇，您是否可以透過建造模組來了解非換油收入和高端化的一些預期收益中 6% 至 9% 的全系統比較前景？

Yes In the building blocks from a same-store sales perspective. We saw -- from a ticket perspective, we saw the benefits from premiumization and non-oil-change revenue, as I had mentioned, we also saw benefit from price. And then on the transaction side, we certainly benefited from expansion of our customer base as well as a nice benefit from miles driven, although a lesser benefit than what we saw in the expansion of the customer base then we saw that just under 100 basis point impact of unfavorable impact from the day mix on the transaction side.

是 從同店銷售角度來看的建置模組。我們看到——從門票的角度來看，我們看到了高端化和非換油收入的好處，正如我所提到的，我們也看到了價格的好處。然後在交易方面，我們當然受益於客戶群的擴大以及行駛里程的良好收益，儘管比我們在客戶群擴展中看到的收益要小，然後我們看到略低於 100 個基點日內組合對交易面的不利影響。

So again, on ticket, it was premiumization, non-oil-change revenue penetration improvements and then pricing, which includes some improvements in discounting that we saw for the quarter in addition to price increases that we took as well. And of course, all of those are across the system from a system-wide same-store sales benefit.

因此，在門票方面，首先是高端化、非換油收入滲透率的提高，然後是定價，其中包括我們在本季度看到的折扣方面的一些改進，以及我們也採取的價格上漲。當然，所有這些都是來自整個系統的同店銷售收益。

Okay. That's helpful. And then just...

好的。這很有幫助。然後就...

Sorry, David, sorry. I was just going to add, as you think about the guidance that we've provided in the 6% to 9% for the year, we've said that that's going to be more skewed towards ticket, but more balanced than what we saw in the last year. And as you think about that, we have premiumization, which has been consistently driving between 100 and 150 basis points. We have NOCR, which has been driving 100 to 150 basis points. And then you've got pricing adding to the ticket inclusive of any optimization of discounting, and then you've got the transaction increase, so when you look at all those variables, you can see why ticket will be a slightly higher contributor in this year. But overall, really feel strong about the 6% to 9% system-wide same-store sales growth.

對不起，大衛，對不起。我只是想補充一點，當你想到我們今年提供的 6% 至 9% 的指導時，我們說過這將更加偏向門票，但比我們看到的更加平衡在過去的一年。正如你所想，我們有高端化，它一直在推動 100 到 150 個基點之間的成長。我們有 NOCR，它一直在推動 100 到 150 個基點。然後，您將定價添加到門票中，包括任何折扣優化，然後您的交易量就會增加，因此，當您查看所有這些變數時，您可以明白為什麼門票在這方面的貢獻略高年。但總體而言，我們對全系統同店銷售額 6% 至 9% 的成長感到非常強勁。

Got it. Okay. That's helpful. And then you mentioned that the fleet business contributed to comps in the quarter. I was just curious if you could give a few more specifics around there in terms of top line performance versus the chain average and any account wins that you had in the quarter?

知道了。好的。這很有幫助。然後您提到車隊業務對本季的業績做出了貢獻。我只是好奇您能否提供更多關於頂線業績與環比平均水平的具體信息，以及您在本季度獲得的任何客戶勝利？

Sure. We don't -- we haven't been reporting fleet out specifically on a quarter-to-quarter basis. I can say that we continue to see great opportunity and our fleet business is growing both on the ticket side as well as on the vehicle served per day side faster than our overall business. So it's definitely contributing to both non-oil-change revenue growth, the premium mix as well as the transaction growth from a same-store sales perspective.

當然。我們沒有－我們還沒有專門按季度報告機隊情況。我可以說，我們繼續看到巨大的機會，我們的車隊業務在票務方面以及每天服務的車輛方面的增長速度都快於我們的整體業務。因此，從同店銷售的角度來看，它肯定對非換油收入成長、溢價組合以及交易成長做出了貢獻。

The next question goes to Jim Chartier of Monness, Crespi, Hardt.

下一個問題將詢問 Monness、Crespi、Hardt 的 Jim Chartier。

First, the day mix pressure in first quarter, is that going to be positive to second quarter, or is that more spread out across the year?

首先，第一季的日間組合壓力，這會對第二季產生正面影響，還是會在全年中更加分散？

No, it will reverse to positive in the second quarter. We'll see a benefit from day mix in Q2.

不，第二季將轉為正值。我們將在第二季度看到日間組合的好處。

Okay. Great. And then you mentioned the implementation of the new CRM system, can you just help us understand what the incremental capabilities of the system are? And then where you see the biggest opportunities in terms of driving transactions and margins?

好的。偉大的。然後您提到了新的CRM系統的實施，您能幫我們了解系統的增量能力是什麼嗎？那麼您認為在推動交易和利潤方面最大的機會在哪裡？

So I'll cover -- I think your question on CRM is specific to fleet, but your margin and transaction, was that also specific to fleet or more broad.

所以我會說——我認為您關於 CRM 的問題是針對機隊的，但您的利潤和交易也是針對機隊或更廣泛的。

I guess it was on the new CRM system -- so CRM on the fleet.

我猜是在新的 CRM 系統上——所以 CRM 在車隊上。

Okay. So from a CRM system, as we separated from global products, we used to share a CRM system with them, and we use it for many different aspects of our business. One, all of our business development work in contact with potential new franchisees as well as independents. We use that system, and so they also converted. But on the fleet side, we have an inside sales team that is constantly outreaching. We have marketing that goes out when customers can come directly or we can approach customers that we get, and it allows them to be very efficient. So from an inside sales standpoint, that system.

好的。因此，從 CRM 系統來看，當我們與全球產品分離時，我們過去與他們共享 CRM 系統，並將其用於我們業務的許多不同方面。第一，我們所有的業務開發工作都與潛在的新特許經營商以及獨立經銷商聯繫。我們使用該系統，因此他們也進行了轉換。但在車隊方面，我們有一個不斷外展的內部銷售團隊。當客戶可以直接來或我們可以接近我們獲得的客戶時，我們就會進行行銷，這使得他們非常有效率。因此，從內部銷售的角度來看，該系統。

And I think there are some new capabilities relative to the old system we had because it's been more built for our use. And so I think it will create more efficiency in our inside sales team, which allows us to sign up and follow up with existing -- sign up new fleet accounts and follow up with existing fleet accounts more efficiently and keep track of all of those.

我認為相對於我們的舊系統有一些新功能，因為它更適合我們的使用。因此，我認為這將為我們的內部銷售團隊創造更高的效率，這使我們能夠註冊並跟進現有的車隊帳戶，更有效地跟進現有的車隊帳戶，並追蹤所有這些帳戶。

And as our fleet customer base grows, you can imagine how important a CRM system is as we do account management as well as following up on all leads for new fleet accounts. So it's really -- it will make our team more efficient and allow them to do more sales and more account management more efficiently.

隨著我們車隊客戶群的成長，您可以想像 CRM 系統在我們進行客戶管理以及追蹤新車隊客戶的所有潛在客戶時有多麼重要。所以這確實會讓我們的團隊更有效率，讓他們更有效地進行更多的銷售和更多的客戶管理。

Okay. And then with transactions becoming a bigger part of the comp going forward, it kind of implies an acceleration in growth in transactions. What do you see as the biggest drivers to accelerate the transaction growth?

好的。然後，隨著交易成為未來競爭的更大組成部分，這在某種程度上意味著交易成長的加速。您認為加速交易成長的最大推動力是什麼？

So I think on a same store -- on an overall perspective, obviously, as we grow the network that's going to drive transaction growth. But on a same-store sales perspective, really, the things that we're doing around marketing optimization and really leaning into best practice from a high-growth retail perspective, not just looking at what's done in our category, but what's being done in high-growth retail more broadly. And using some of those tactics will drive customers. Two is fleet, we expect fleet to continue to be a contributor to transaction growth in the...

因此，我認為在同一家商店中，從整體角度來看，顯然，隨著我們網路的發展，這將推動交易成長。但從同店銷售的角度來看，實際上，我們正​​在圍繞行銷優化所做的事情，並從高成長零售的角度真正傾向於最佳實踐，不僅關注我們的類別中所做的事情，還關注其他領域正在做的事情更廣泛的高成長零售業。使用其中一些策略將吸引客戶。二是機隊，我們預計機隊將繼續為該地區的交易成長做出貢獻。

And the other piece, Lori, is really just continued benefit from miles driven. We'll continue to see lesser but continuing benefit as we see miles driven continue to increase.

另一件事，洛里，實際上只是從行駛里程中持續受益。隨著行駛里程的不斷增加，我們將繼續看到雖然較少但持續的好處。

Yes. And the last one, I think, to add is around the speed of service. So we continue to look at our process and the technology that we use in stores to make our process and our best-in-class customer experience easier and faster to deliver, and we know that if we can take a minute out of that service time, it's more cars that can go through the days during peak periods. And so that, we believe, will continue to be provide us a tailwind on transactions going forward. So it's all 4 of those things, Jim, that will drive the transaction side.

是的。我認為最後一個要補充的是服務速度。因此，我們繼續關注我們在商店中使用的流程和技術，以使我們的流程和一流的客戶體驗更容易、更快速地交付，我們知道，如果我們能從服務時間中抽出一分鐘，是更多的車可以度過高峰期的日子。因此，我們相信，這將繼續為我們未來的交易提供動力。所以吉姆，這四件事將推動交易方面的發展。

We have no further questions. I will now hand back to Elizabeth for any closing comments.

我們沒有其他問題了。我現在將把任何結束語交還給伊麗莎白。

Thank you all for your time today and for your thoughtful questions. We look forward to our ongoing discussions. This concludes our call for today.

感謝大家今天抽出寶貴的時間並提出深思熟慮的問題。我們期待著我們正在進行的討論。我們今天的呼籲到此結束。

Thank you. This now concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的加入。現在您可以斷開線路。