Valvoline Inc (VVV) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Hello, everyone. And thank you for joining the Valvoline's First Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. My name is Marie, and I will be coordinating your call to Dave. (Operator Instructions)

大家好。感謝您參加 Valvoline 2025 年第一季財報電話會議和網路廣播。我的名字是瑪麗，我將協調您與戴夫的通話。（操作員指令）

I will now hand over to your host, Elizabeth Clevinger of Investor Relations, to begin. Please go ahead.

現在我將把主持人、投資者關係部的伊麗莎白·克萊文傑 (Elizabeth Clevinger) 交給她開始。請繼續。

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to Valvoline's First Quarter Fiscal 2025 Conference Call and Webcast. This morning, Valvoline released results for the first quarter ended December 31, 2024. 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.

謝謝。早安，歡迎參加 Valvoline 2025 財年第一季電話會議和網路廣播。今天上午，Valvoline 發布了截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日第一季業績。本簡報應與該收益報告一起閱讀，該收益報告的副本可在我們的投資者關係網站 investors.valvoline.com 上取得。

Please note that these results are preliminary until we file our Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission. On this morning's call is Lori Flees, our President and CEO; and Mary Meixelsperger, our CFO,

請注意，在我們向美國證券交易委員會提交 10-Q 表之前，這些結果都是初步的。今天早上的電話會議由我們的總裁兼執行長 Lori Flees 主持；以及我們的財務長 Mary Meixelsperger，

As shown on slide 2, any of our remarks today that are not statements of historical facts are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on current assumptions, as of the date of this presentation, 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，我們今天所作的任何非歷史事實陳述均屬於前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述是基於截至本報告發布之日的當前假設，受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，否則 Valvoline 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 under the adjusted non-GAAP basis unless otherwise noted. Non-GAAP results are adjusted for key items, which are unusual, non-operational, or restructuring in nature. We believe this approach enhances the understanding of our ongoing business. A reconciliation of our GAAP to adjusted non-GAAP results in a discussion of meters with use of non-GAAP and key business measures is included in the presentation appendix. The information provided is used by management and may not be comparable to similar measures used by other companies.

在本次演示和我們的評論中，我們將根據調整後的非 GAAP 基礎討論我們的結果，除非另有說明。非公認會計準則結果根據關鍵項目進行了調整，這些項目本質上是不尋常的、非營運的或重組的。我們相信這種方法可以增進我們對正在進行的業務的理解。在演示附錄中包含了我們對 GAAP 與調整後的非 GAAP 進行調整的結果，以及對使用非 GAAP 和關鍵業務指標進行討論的結果。所提供的資訊由管理階層使用，可能無法與其他公司使用的類似指標進行比較。

With that, I will turn it over to Lori.

說完這些，我會把話題交給 Lori。

Thanks, Elizabeth. And thank you all for joining us today. Let's start with a look at our first quarter highlights on slide 3. We delivered financial results substantially in line with our expectations for the quarter. Our system-wide same-store sales grew 14% to $820 million, and our same store sales growth for the quarter was 8%. Net sales increased 11% to $414 million, and adjusted EBITDA increased 14% to $103 million.

謝謝，伊麗莎白。感謝大家今天的出席。讓我們先看一下幻燈片 3 上的第一季亮點。我們公佈的財務業績基本上符合本季的預期。我們全系統的同店銷售額成長 14%，達到 8.2 億美元，本季同店銷售額成長率為 8%。淨銷售額成長 11% 至 4.14 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 成長 14% 至 1.03 億美元。

We had a good quarter of new store additions, delivering 35 net new stores across the network. In addition, we closed our recently announced refranchising effort in Central and West Texas transferring 39 stores to a new franchise partner. This refranchising transaction, along with the two we completed in Q4, gives us great momentum to develop these markets significantly faster than we otherwise would have, while delivering long-term value to shareholders.

本季，我們新店數量成長表現良好，整個網路淨增 35 家新店。此外，我們結束了最近宣布的在中部和西部德克薩斯州的重新特許經營計劃，將 39 家商店轉讓給新的特許經營合作夥伴。這項特許經營權重新交易，連同我們在第四季度完成的兩項交易，為我們提供了巨大的動力，讓我們能夠以比原本更快的速度開發這些市場，同時為股東帶來長期價值。

Now let's turn to an update on our strategic priorities. We remain focused on three priorities: driving full potential in existing business, accelerating network growth, and targeting customer and service expansion. Actions across these three areas will enable us to deliver strong financial growth and best-in-class returns.

現在讓我們來更新一下我們的策略重點。我們仍專注於三個重點：充分發揮現有業務的潛力、加速網路成長以及擴大客戶和服務。這三個領域的行動將使我們能夠實現強勁的財務成長和一流的回報。

The highlight this past quarter was our two annual meetings where we brought together our company operations team and our franchise partners. These events are time for us to celebrate the progress we've made, align our focus for the coming year, and provide training that can be taken back to the stores. The theme for both meetings this year was elevate, as we look to elevate our performance in all aspects of the business.

上個季度的亮點是我們的兩次年度會議，在會上我們召集了公司營運團隊和特許經營合作夥伴。這些活動是我們慶祝所取得的進步、調整來年重點以及提供可帶回商店的培訓的時候。今年兩次會議的主題都是“提升”，因為我們希望提升業務各個方面的表現。

At our company meeting, which we call our family reunion, we hosted our service center managers from across the United States and Canada with our field operations management and key support team members. We recognize team members who have 20 or more years with the company. We celebrated our first company's Florida surpassed $5 million in annual sales.

在我們稱之為家庭聚會的公司會議上，我們接待了來自美國和加拿大各地的服務中心經理以及現場營運管理和關鍵支援團隊成員。我們認可在公司工作 20 年或以上的團隊成員。我們慶祝我們第一家公司的佛羅裡達州年銷售額突破 500 萬美元。

And we recognize the stores and markets with the highest customer satisfaction scores and the highest employee retention. The most impactful training sessions were focused on customer experience and employee engagement, key drivers of successful business performance and growth.

我們表彰客戶滿意度最高和員工留任率最高的商店和市場。最有影響力的培訓課程集中在客戶體驗和員工敬業度，這是成功的業務績效和成長的關鍵驅動力。

On customer experience, we continue to focus on how to educate our guest and the services their vehicles require without making a heavy sales push. Our session called Boom Town was focused on behaviors, opportunities, ownership, and mindset, or Boom; to grow the ticket in the right way. The training needs to be memorable and fun so the information can make its way back into our stores.

在客戶體驗方面，我們繼續專注於如何教育我們的顧客以及他們的車輛所需的服務，而無需進行大力推銷。我們的會議名為“Boom Town”，重點在於行為、機會、所有權和心態，或稱為“Boom”；以正確的方式增加票數。培訓需要令人難忘且有趣，這樣資訊才能回傳到我們的商店。

Our investment in this training has a huge payback, as seen by the increase in our national chain's services growth. In Q1, non-oil change revenue was again a significant contributor to ticket growth, and we see a continued runway as our team's focus on improving the presentation of these services to educate guests.

我們對此培訓的投資獲得了巨大的回報，這從我們全國連鎖店服務的成長中可見一斑。在第一季度，非換油收入再次成為機票成長的重要貢獻者，我們認為這一成長將持續，因為我們的團隊致力於改善這些服務的呈現方式以教育客人。

On employee engagement, we provided our store managers the tools to attract, train, and develop their teams and ultimately retain them. We have seen our retention rates improve significantly post-COVID, with trailing 12-month retention, once again, decreasing as we close the first quarter.

在員工敬業度方面，我們為店長提供了吸引、培訓和發展團隊並最終留住他們的工具。我們看到，在疫情過後，我們的留存率顯著提高，而隨著第一季的結束，過去 12 個月的留存率再次下降。

Our effective training, which starts with 270-hour program for all technicians helps employees feel confident in delivering our services to guests. And we also see stronger performance in vehicle served per day and non-oil change revenue service penetration in the stores with longer tenured employees.

我們為所有技術人員提供有效的培訓，從 270 小時的培訓計畫開始，可以幫助員工自信地為客人提供服務。我們也看到，員工任職時間較長的門市在每日車輛服務和非換油收入服務滲透率方面表現更為出色。

At our annual franchise workshop, we were joined by partners representing over 90% of our franchise stores, including all of the partners who recently joined our network. The engagement of our franchise community has never been higher. A significant focus of our time with franchisees was around development, as we work towards our target of 35,000-plus store network.

在我們的年度特許經營研討會上，我們有超過 90% 的特許經營店的合作夥伴參加，其中包括最近加入我們網路的所有合作夥伴。我們的特許經營社區的參與度從未如此高。我們與特許經營商合作的重點是發展，我們正努力實現 35,000 多家門市網路的目標。

With the development commitments that all of our large franchisees have made, we were focused on how to continue to build a robust pipeline. We spent time in our real estate analytics tools and how they could be further leveraged to assess new build locations. And we discussed how to convert the pipeline of acquisition targets.

由於我們所有大型特許經營商都做出了發展承諾，因此我們專注於如何繼續建立強大的管道。我們花了很多時間研究房地產分析工具以及如何進一步利用它們來評估新建築的位置。我們也討論如何轉換收購目標的管道。

Our business development team has been successful, engaging with nearly 4,000 independent quick lube operators to identify attractive acquisition targets. Those targets span both company and franchise geographies. So our focus was on how to transfer and convert the opportunities within the franchise territories.

我們的業務開發團隊取得了成功，與近 4,000 名獨立快速潤滑油業者合作，以確定有吸引力的收購目標。這些目標涵蓋公司和特許經營的地域。因此，我們的重點是如何轉移和轉換特許經營區域內的機會。

But before we move on to look at our financials, I'd like to congratulate our franchise team on the recent recognitions our brand received from both Entrepreneur and Franchise Times. We were recognized as the Leading Automotive Services Retailer and number 24 overall on the Entrepreneur's Franchise 500 list for 2025. This recognition is a testament to the quality of our operating model and our franchise partners.

但在我們繼續查看財務狀況之前，我想祝賀我們的特許經營團隊，我們的品牌最近獲得了《企業家》和《特許經營時報》的認可。我們被評為領先的汽車服務零售商，並在 2025 年企業家特許經營 500 強榜單中位列第 24 位。這項認可證明了我們的營運模式和特許經營合作夥伴的品質。

Getting to spend time with our team was a great way to kick off fiscal 2025. I'd like to thank our team members and franchise partners for their work to start this fiscal year strong. The talent and capabilities of both our franchisees and team members truly differentiates our brand and provides by as a meaningful competitive advantage for Valvoline.

與我們的團隊共度時光是開啟 2025 財年的絕佳方式。我要感謝我們的團隊成員和特許經營夥伴為本財年取得良好開端所做的努力。我們的特許經營商和團隊成員的才能和能力真正使我們的品牌與眾不同，並為 Valvoline 提供了有意義的競爭優勢。

Now let's turn it over to Mary to look at our financial results.

現在我們讓瑪麗來看看我們的財務結果。

Thanks, Lori. On slide 5, let's take a look at the top-line performance for Q1. For the first quarter, net sales grew to $414 million, an 11% increase over the prior year. System-wide same-store sales grew 8% and 15.2% on a two-year stack, with company stores up 8.2% and franchised stores, up 7.8%.

謝謝，洛瑞。在投影片 5 上，我們來看看第一季的營收表現。第一季度，淨銷售額成長至 4.14 億美元，比上年成長 11%。全系統同店銷售額兩年內分別成長 8% 及 15.2%，其中公司專賣店成長 8.2%，加盟店成長 7.8%。

As a reminder, we have updated our approach to determining same-store sales beginning in fiscal 2025. The amounts shown on this slide represents the updated approach for both the current quarter and the prior year's comparison.

提醒一下，從 2025 財年開始，我們更新了確定同店銷售額的方法。此投影片上顯示的金額代表當前季度和去年同期比較的更新方法。

We are pleased to see a return to a more balanced contribution from ticket and transaction this quarter, with transaction growth contributing nearly 50% of the comp. We saw a modest benefit in the quarter from weather that impacted the latter parts of September in the Southeast, pushing some volume into early Q1.

我們很高興看到本季票務和交易的貢獻回歸到更平衡的狀態，交易成長對營收的貢獻接近50%。我們看到，9 月下旬東南部天氣對本季產生了一定影響，推動了部分銷量在第一季初成長。

Non-oil change revenue service penetration continued to be the largest contributor to the ticket component of same-store sales. Next quarter, we will lap the start of non-oil change revenue initiatives and some pricing actions. As a result, we expect to see some deceleration in the Q2 same-store sales comps that will remain for the balance of the year. In addition, in the second quarter, we will be comping up against the benefit we saw from leap day in the prior year.

非換油收入服務滲透率持續成為同店銷售額的最大貢獻者。下個季度，我們將啟動非石油變化收入計畫和一些定價行動。因此，我們預計第二季同店銷售額將放緩，並且這種趨勢將持續到今年年底。此外，在第二季度，我們將彌補去年閏日帶來的好處。

Turning to the next slide, we'll take a look at the financial drivers for the quarter. Gross margin rate increased 80 basis points year-over-year to 36.9%, driven by labor efficiency, as well as modestly lower product costs. Increased depreciation expense, primarily from new stores, offset these benefits by about 30 basis points.

翻到下一張投影片，我們來看看本季的財務驅動因素。毛利率年增80個基點至36.9%，這得益於勞動效率的提高以及產品成本的適度下降。折舊費用的增加（主要來自新店）抵消了這些收益約 30 個基點。

SG&A, as a percentage of sales, increased 40 basis points to 19.6% year-over-year. As we mentioned in Q4, we are continuing to invest in technology, which is the main driver of the deleverage in SG&A for the quarter. The timing of the annual meetings and the typical seasonality of sales drove the sequential change. Our adjusted EBITDA margin of 24.8% is a 60-basis-point improvement over prior year.

銷售、一般及行政費用佔銷售額的百分比年增 40 個基點，達到 19.6%。正如我們在第四季度提到的，我們將繼續投資於技術，這是本季銷售、一般和行政費用去槓桿的主要驅動力。年度會議的時間表和銷售的典型季節性推動了連續的變化。我們的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 24.8%，比前一年提高了 60 個基點。

On slide 7, we'll take a look at overall profitability. During the quarter, adjusted net income increased 9% to $42 million, driven by adjusted operating income growth of 14%. This was partially offset by higher net interest expense of $4 million. As you may recall, the remaining proceeds from the global product sales that were used to retire the 2030 bonds were invested through the end of the second quarter of last fiscal year.

在第 7 張投影片上，我們將了解整體獲利能力。本季度，調整後淨收入成長 9% 至 4,200 萬美元，這得益於調整後營業收入成長 14%。但 400 萬美元的淨利息支出增加部分抵銷了這一差距。您可能還記得，用於償還 2030 年債券的全球產品銷售的剩餘收益已投資至上一財年第二季末。

On a GAAP basis, net income for the quarter is $94 million and includes a $71 million pre-tax gain related to the refranchising transactions. Adjusted EBITDA increased 14% to $103 million, largely from top-line growth and improvements in gross profit, partially offset by additional SG&A over the prior year.

根據 GAAP 計算，本季淨收入為 9,400 萬美元，其中包括與再特許經營交易相關的 7,100 萬美元稅前收益。調整後 EBITDA 成長 14% 至 1.03 億美元，主要來自營業收入成長和毛利提高，但部分被上年增加的銷售、一般及行政費用所抵銷。

We saw modest impacts from the three refranchising transactions in the first quarter, and we expect a larger impact from refranchising in the remainder of the year, given the early December closing of the most recent transaction. Adjusted EPS increased 10% to $0.32 per share, primarily from the growth in earnings, partially offset by the increase in net interest expense.

我們看到第一季的三筆再特許經營交易產生了適度的影響，鑑於最近的一筆交易於 12 月初完成，我們預計今年剩餘時間內再特許經營將產生更大的影響。調整後每股收益成長 10% 至每股 0.32 美元，主要來自收益的成長，但部分被淨利息支出的增加所抵銷。

Turning to slide 8, we'll look at the balance sheet and cash position. We ended the quarter with just over $1 billion of net debt and with a leverage ratio of 3.3 times on a rating agency adjusted basis. Cash flows from operating activities were $41 million, an increase of $20 million over the prior year. Free cash flow was negative $12 million, an improvement of $8 million over the prior year, driven by an improvement in cash from operations. Share repurchases totaled $39 million for the quarter.

翻到第 8 張投影片，我們來看看資產負債表和現金狀況。截至本季末，我們的淨債務剛超過 10 億美元，經評級機構調整後的槓桿率為 3.3 倍。經營活動產生的現金流量為4,100萬美元，較上年增加2,000萬美元。自由現金流為負 1,200 萬美元，比前一年增加 800 萬美元，這得益於經營活動現金流的改善。本季股票回購總額為 3,900 萬美元。

As we look at the remainder of the year, we remain confident in our guidance with full year same-store sales comp of 5% to 7%, net store additions of 160 to 185 units, and adjusted EBITDA of $450 million to $470 million. Consistent with prior years, we expect to see 40% to 45% of adjusted EBITDA in the front half of the year, with 55% to 60% coming in the back half due to the seasonality of the business.

展望今年剩餘時間，我們對我們的預期仍然充滿信心，全年同店銷售額同比增長 5% 至 7%，淨店面新增單位數為 160 至 185 家，調整後 EBITDA 為 4.5 億美元至 4.7 億美元。與往年一致，我們預計上半年調整後 EBITDA 將達到 40% 至 45%，而由於業務的季節性，下半年將達到 55% 至 60%。

I will now turn it back to Lori for some closing remarks.

現在我將話題轉回給 Lori，請她做一些結束語。

Thanks, Mary. I'm pleased with our results for the first quarter. The fundamentals of our business remains strong, allowing us to consistently deliver compelling growth as we demonstrate the attractiveness of our customer value proposition and the robustness of our business model. Accelerating network growth enables us to drive market share gains and capture the benefits of scale.

謝謝，瑪麗。我對我們第一季的業績感到滿意。我們的業務基本面依然強勁，這使我們能夠持續實現令人矚目的成長，同時展現了我們客戶價值主張的吸引力和我們業務模式的穩健性。加速網路成長使我們能夠提高市場份額並獲得規模效益。

Completing the three refranchising transactions and seeing the momentum that our new franchise partners are adding, we are confident that we're on track to achieve our new store growth goals. We're well-positioned to deliver strong and durable growth in the fiscal year 2025, and I'm happy with our start of the year.

完成三項再特許經營交易並看到我們的新特許經營合作夥伴不斷增加的勢頭，我們相信我們正朝著實現新店增長目標的方向前進。我們已做好準備，在 2025 財年實現強勁而持久的成長，我對我們的今年開局感到滿意。

With that, I'll turn it back over to Elizabeth.

說完這些，我就把話題轉回給伊莉莎白。

Thanks, Lori. Before we start the Q&A, I want to remind everyone to limit your question to one and a follow-up so that we can get to everyone on the live. With that, can the operator please open the line?

謝謝，洛瑞。在我們開始問答環節之前，我想提醒大家將你們的問題限制在一個內，並且附上後續內容，以便我們可以在直播中與每個人進行交流。那麼，接線員可以開通線路嗎？

(Operator Instructions) Steven Shemesh, RBC Capital Markets.

（操作員指示）Steven Shemesh，RBC 資本市場。

Good morning, and thanks for taking the question. What was the start-off on same store sales? So you guys have made clear that your comparison on pricing and non-oil change revenue are going to be a little bit tougher as we as we move into 2Q. Just any initial thoughts on what you're seeing, quarter-to-date, on how you expect the quarter to play out?

早上好，感謝您回答這個問題。同店銷售的起點是多少？所以你們已經明確表示，隨著我們進入第二季度，定價和非石油變動收入的比較將會變得更加困難。您對本季迄今為止的情況有什麼初步看法，您對本季的預期是什麼？

Yes, Steve, thanks for the question. We've continued to see good momentum at the beginning of the quarter, although it's been a little choppy because some of the weather that we've seen. But consistent with our history when we see difficult weather. And one, we typically get that volume back in the following week in the month of January, with some of the choppiness in weather. Especially down in the south, we've seen good recoveries subsequent to the weather.

是的，史蒂夫，謝謝你的提問。本季初，我們繼續看到良好的勢頭，儘管由於一些天氣原因，情況有些不穩定。但與我們遇到惡劣天氣的歷史情況一致。首先，儘管天氣有些不穩定，我們通常會在 1 月的下一周恢復這一產量。特別是在南部，我們看到天氣好轉後經濟出現良好的復甦跡象。

And encouragingly, we're continuing to see strong transaction growth consistent with what we saw in the first quarter, as well as we're moving into the quarter. You're right, we are lapping some key initiatives, pricing and non-oil change initiatives that we started in the second quarter of last year. So we expect to see some deceleration there.

令人鼓舞的是，我們繼續看到強勁的交易成長，與第一季的情況一致，並且正在進入本季。你說得對，我們正在推行一些關鍵舉措，包括去年第二季啟動的定價和非石油變化舉措。因此我們預計那裡會出現一些減速。

And then the other key thing I would call out for Q2 is the impact of leap day. We expect the impact of leap day to have a negative 120-basis-point impact on our comp for quarter. So it's a pretty big impact for the quarter for leap day. Last year, the full-year impact is more like 30 basis points, but we are running up against that leap day headwind as well for the second quarter.

然後，我要指出的第二季的另一個關鍵問題是閏日的影響。我們預計閏日的影響將對我們本季的業績產生 120 個基點的負面衝擊。因此閏日對於本季的影響相當大。去年，全年影響更像是 30 個基點，但第二季我們也遇到了閏日的逆風。

And Steve, I'll just comment on NOCR. While we're lapping a bunch of initiatives, we doubled down in our family reunion to talk about process. Our value proposition is about quick, easy, trusted. And we've got the technology to pull all of the information on a customer's vehicle when they're going to pull up to the bay. And that allows us, our team members to know what added services our required on the vehicle.

史蒂夫，我只想對 NOCR 發表評論。在我們推進一系列計劃的同時，我們在家庭聚會中加倍努力地討論進展。我們的價值主張是快速、簡單、值得信賴。當顧客將車輛停靠在停車位時，我們擁有提取有關車輛的所有資訊的技術。這使我們團隊成員知道車輛需要哪些附加服務。

And so as you think about, since we started talking about NOCR, we did a lot of work focused on making sure we had machines in working order to do the services and supplies, particularly on the visuals for any vehicle that will come into our store. And we shifted this focus on training and process excellence.

所以你想，自從我們開始談論 NOCR 以來，我們做了很多工作，重點是確保我們的機器能夠正常工作來提供服務和供應，特別是對進入我們商店的任何車輛的視覺效果。我們將重點轉移到培訓和流程卓越。

And I'd just say that while we're lapping an oversized contribution in the com, we still expect to have positive contribution from NOCR service penetration for some time to come. And we look at that by saying what is the cars or customers, they're coming into our store on average, what do we think their mileage gains will be and what services will be required, versus the services we deliver. And there's there is a very good opportunity there for us to continue to manage.

我只想說，雖然我們在通訊方面做出了巨大的貢獻，但我們仍然希望在未來一段時間內從 NOCR 服務的滲透中獲得積極的貢獻。我們透過以下方式來觀察這個問題：平均有多少汽車或顧客來我們的商店，我們認為他們的里程數會增加多少，需要什麼服務，以及我們提供哪些服務。這對我們來說是一個繼續管理的非常好的機會。

And it comes down to perhaps execution and training. And so, again, I think Mary's comment are right, it'll lesson in the comp, but it still will be a positive contribution as we've been talking about for the last couple of years.

這或許取決於執行和培訓。因此，我再次認為瑪麗的評論是正確的，它會給公司帶來教訓，但仍然會像我們過去幾年一直在談論的那樣，產生積極的貢獻。

Okay, that's great. Thank you. And maybe just a quick follow-up here on gross margin, Mary. You guys have previously talked about gross margin being in the ballpark of flat for the year, obviously, a really strong start to 1Q, up 80 basis points. Again, noted that pricing and non-oil change revenue contribution should be less, which should come out of that. But just any changes to how you're thinking about gross margin flowing through the full year?

好的，太好了。謝謝。瑪麗，也許我只是想快速跟進毛利率。你們之前談過，今年的毛利率大致持平，顯然，第一季開局非常強勁，上漲了 80 個基點。再次指出，定價和非石油變化收入貢獻應該較少，這應該從中得出。但是，您對全年毛利率的看法有什麼變化嗎？

We're encouraged by the first quarter results, but Lori mentioned in her remarks, it is pretty consistent with our expectations. So we saw good margin performance, but we do expect to see some deleverage impact from the refranchising transactions that we announced last year. And we certainly are continuing to work on benefits from both scale and efficiency. But overall, our guidance for the year is unchanged.

我們對第一季的業績感到鼓舞，但 Lori 在她的評論中提到，這與我們的預期非常一致。因此，我們看到了良好的利潤率表現，但我們確實預計去年宣布的再特許經營交易會帶來一些去槓桿影響。我們當然會繼續努力實現規模和效率效益。但總體而言，我們對今年的預期保持不變。

Okay. That's great. Thank you.

好的。那太棒了。謝謝。

Simeon Gutman, Morgan Stanley.

摩根士丹利的西緬古特曼 (Simeon Gutman)。

Hello, good morning. I'm going to ask my one follow-up just on the spot. First, it was a good quarter. I wanted to ask, is the word substantially, in line with the transcript and in the press release, curious what was substantial? What either missed or what was better?

你好早安。我將當場詢問我的一個後續問題。首先，這是一個好的季度。我想問一下，「實質」這個詞是否與記錄和新聞稿一致，好奇「實質」是什麼？缺少了什麼或改進了什麼？

And then the follow-up is on the prior question around the guidance range for the rest of the year. Were you always expecting -- we knew it would be above the range or at the high end. Are you saying the business is still running strong and we're not flowing upside through because it performed consistent with our expectations? Or were you being more conservative, especially given the trends are continuing in the second quarter so far? Just thinking about upside to it like underlying run rate versus conservatism?

然後，接下來的問題是有關今年剩餘時間的指導範圍。您是否一直期待著——我們知道它會超出範圍或處於高端。您是說業務仍然運作強勁，並且由於其表現符合我們的預期，因此我們並沒有出現上行趨勢？或者您是否更加保守，尤其是考慮到第二季度迄今為止的趨勢仍在繼續？只是思考它的優點，例如潛在運行率與保守主義？

Thanks.

謝謝。

So on your first question, Simeon, in terms of substantially in line, I mean, I think it was substantially in line. It's not -- no performance is ever perfect. In terms of meeting expectations, some there, as you said, there's things that are slightly above and slightly below. But overall, we were very substantially in line with our expectations for the quarter.

因此，關於你的第一個問題，西緬，就基本一致而言，我的意思是，我認為它基本上一致。並非如此——沒有任何表演是完美的。在滿足預期方面，正如您所說，有些事情略高於預期，有些事情略低於預期。但整體而言，我們的業績基本上符合我們對本季的預期。

In terms of your second comment on the guide range for the balance of the year, we still have a lot of the year to go. We are cautiously optimistic based on the good performance we saw in Q1. Were really pleased that we've seen transaction growth tick up to a more balanced level and continue here into the early parts of Q2. And I would tell you that I certainly think that we have some upside opportunity at towards the top-end of our range, guidance range. And we're going to continue to focus on managing the business to be able to deliver really great outcomes for the year.

關於您對今年餘下時間的指導範圍的第二條評論，我們今年還有很長的路要走。基於第一季的良好表現，我們持謹慎樂觀的態度。我們非常高興地看到交易成長上升到一個更均衡的水平，並持續到第二季​​初期。我想告訴你們，我確實認為我們在範圍和指導範圍的上限方面存在一些上行機會。我們將繼續專注於業務管理，以便在今年取得真正出色的成果。

But as we sit right now, we're still very comfortable with the guidance range that we provided last quarter.

但就目前情況而言，我們仍然對上個季度提供的指導範圍感到非常滿意。

I think some of --Simeon, some of the difference maybe between (technical difficulty) could be around the transaction and the timing of the transaction for the last refranchising, I'm not sure, overall, the assumptions made for Q1 may have been consistent with what we were expecting.

我認為，西蒙，（技術難度）之間的一些差異可能圍繞交易以及上次再授權的交易時間，我不確定，總的來說，第一季的假設可能與我們的預期一致。

Second that, we drove some of the consensus of being lower than where we were expecting. But other than that, I think Mary's comments are spot on around were substantially in line, and there's always going to be pluses and minuses. But we're really pleased with where we started.

其次，我們達成的共識有些低於我們的預期。但除此之外，我認為瑪麗的評論基本上正確，而且總是有優點和缺點。但我們對我們的開始感到非常滿意。

Thanks, Lori. Thanks, Mary.

謝謝，洛瑞。謝謝，瑪麗。

Chris O'Cull, Stifel.

克里斯·奧卡爾（Chris O'Cull），斯蒂費爾（Stifel）。

Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking the questions. Lori, I know the company has been working on ways to reduce the investment outlay for new units. Can you provide an update on the amount of costs you expect to take out of the build-out, or what you're targeting for the investment outlay? Then I have a follow-up.

大家早安。感謝您回答這些問題。洛瑞，我知道公司一直在努力減少新單位的投資支出。您能否提供有關預計從建設中支出的成本數額或投資支出目標的最新資訊？然後我有一個後續問題。

Sure. It's a great question and one that we spend a lot of time on, in fact, just spent some time with our Board last week. We have always talked as we started this process a year ago, give or take, and we went through a process to redesign our prototype, which hadn't been done in quite some time. We looked at the size of the building. We looked at the structural elements that had cost and make us different than other competitors who have touted lower capital costs.

當然。這是一個很好的問題，我們花了很多時間來討論這個問題，事實上，上週我們剛與董事會討論過這個問題。大約在一年前，當我們開始這個過程時，我們就一直在談論，我們經歷了重新設計原型的過程，這個過程已經很久沒有完成了。我們查看了建築物的大小。我們研究了成本的結構性因素，並使我們有別於其他宣稱資本成本較低的競爭對手。

And really value engineered the building. We also value engineered every piece of equipment. Some of the equipment changes we're already flowing through some of the bills that will happen this week. That's actually -- those are hundreds of thousands of savings with every change, but it could be 5,000, 10,000 by element and those add up to really attractive savings.

並真正對建築進行了價值工程。我們也對每一台設備進行了價值工程。一些設備變更我們已經在流程中，其中一些將於本週發生。事實上，每次更改都可以節省數十萬，但每個元素的節省可能是 5,000 或 10,000，這些加起來確實是很有吸引力的節省。

And they don't take away from the team member experience and efficiency. And they certainly don't take away from the customer experience. They're just re-contracting with suppliers to get the best rates on the equipment that we need to serve our guests.

而且它們不會影響團隊成員的經驗和效率。而且它們肯定不會影響客戶體驗。他們只是與供應商重新簽訂合同，以便以最優惠的價格購買我們為客人服務所需的設備。

On the prototype builds, we're just getting the bids back from contractors. We have some franchisees who have already gotten bids back. And very encouraged, obviously, we haven't gone -- we're going to construction, so I don't want to overstate what the savings will be until we can actually see final build costs at the end. Cause there is plus or minuses with our contractors as they start to build. But we've always said we think 10% to 20% is certainly reasonable.

對於原型構建，我們剛剛從承包商那裡獲得了投標。我們有一些加盟商已經拿回了投標。而且非常令人鼓舞的是，顯然我們還沒有開始——我們要去施工，所以在我們真正看到最終的建設成本之前，我不想誇大節省的金額。因為當我們的承包商開始建造時，會有優點或缺點。但我們一直說，我們認為 10% 到 20% 肯定是合理的。

And I think the other thing we're looking at, we've been very open about, is really looking at rightsizing the number of base to the market. And going through an exercise of do we need to build a re-bay, or really will two bays serve the market better, drive more share and higher return.

我認為我們正在考慮的另一件事，我們對此一直持非常開放的態度，就是真正考慮如何根據市場情況調整基地數量。並且經過實踐，我們是否需要建立一個重新海灣，或者兩個海灣是否真的能更好地服務市場，帶來更多的份額和更高的回報。

So we've gone to more of -- were moving to more of a modular design. It won't impact a lot of what we have in place to open this year. But I think in future years, you'll see the mix shifts between three bay and two bay will also bring our average new unit build costs down.

因此，我們更傾向於採用模組化設計。這不會對我們今年已安排好的開業事宜產生很大影響。但我認為在未來幾年，您會看到三艙和雙艙之間的混合轉變也將降低我們的平均新單元建造成本。

And the way that we've done it is we keep flexibility to add bay, both in the way we design all of the electrical and plumbing, as well as the pit design and everything. So we can actually add a third bay should we need it, and not spend the capital today, but spend it when we need it, which actually does drive our capital costs down. And we factor in future build into the overall NPV calculations that we're expecting, and so feel really good about our new store returns.

我們這樣做的方式是，我們保持添加隔間的靈活性，包括我們設計所有電氣和管道的方式，以及坑設計和一切。因此，如果需要的話，我們實際上可以添加第三個艙室，而不是今天就花費資金，而是在需要時才花費，這實際上確實降低了我們的資本成本。我們將未來的建設納入我們預期的整體 NPV 計算中，因此對我們的新店回報感到非常滿意。

A follow-up is, are there opportunities to reduce the time it takes for a new store to reach maturity? I believe it's not three to five years. But can you shorten that in order to improve the return as well?

接下來的問題是，是否有機會縮短新店成熟的時間？我認為不是三到五年。但你能否縮短這段時間以提高回報呢？

Yes, it's definitely something we've spent some time in the last couple years as we've opened up new builds and a higher rate. I think part of what we're doing is it depends by the market. So from market is already got a good presence with the Valvoline brand, we tend to see the first year ramp be a little higher, and the ramp-to-maturity a little shorter.

是的，這確實是我們在過去幾年中花了一些時間的事情，因為我們開設了新建築並提高了利率。我認為我們所做的事情有一部分取決於市場。因此，從市場上 Valvoline 品牌已經佔據良好地位來看，我們傾向於看到第一年​​的成長速度會稍高一些，而成熟期會稍短一些。

But as we try to extend our footprint into markets that we have less presence, which by the way, there's fantastic returns in those markets, we have to balance the right marketing spend; pre-opening and then in-opening to build the car count more quickly.

但當我們試圖將足跡擴展到我們較少涉足的市場時，順便說一句，這些市場的回報非常可觀，我們必須平衡正確的營銷支出；先預開業，再開業，以更快地完成車輛計數。

So that's always, when we look at every location, we look at marketing spend for the area, and marketing spend for the new unit, and we try to adjust to bring those the maturity faster. I think if you look over time, the maturity has shortened, but it still varies by location. And that's why we've talked about it from a three- to five-year perspective.

因此，當我們審視每個地點時，我們總是會考慮該地區的營銷支出和新單位的營銷支出，並且我們會嘗試進行調整以使其更快成熟。我認為，如果隨著時間的推移，成熟度已經縮短，但它仍然因地點而異。這就是為什麼我們從三到五年的角度來討論這個問題。

Okay. Thanks, guys.

好的。謝謝大家。

Thanks, Chris.

謝謝，克里斯。

Steven Zaccone, Citi.

花旗銀行的史蒂文‧扎科內 (Steven Zaccone)

Hi, good morning. Thanks very much for taking my question. I was hoping, Lori, if you could talk a bit more about that improved transaction performance. What do you think is driving that? Are you seeing some changes in the competitive landscape? Just anything to up to chime in there.

嗨，早安。非常感謝您回答我的問題。我希望你，Lori，能不能再多談交易績效的改進。您認為是什麼原因導致的呢？您是否看到競爭格局發生了一些變化？只要有任何事都可以加入進來。

And then I'm going to follow up on Simeon's question, just on the context of same-store sales. You had some prior commentary on the last call that you could potentially have a quarter below the comp range, given the strength that you're seeing here in the first quarter and that's carried into 2Q. Is it fair to say that's off the table, that you should pretty much be in the range for the remainder of the year?

然後我將跟進西緬的問題，僅關於同店銷售額的背景。在上次電話會議上您曾表示，考慮到您在第一季度看到的強勁表現以及這種強勁勢頭延續到了第二季度，本季度的業績可能會低於可比範圍。是否可以說這是不可能的，那你今年剩餘時間的表現應該基本上都在這個範圍內？

Sure. I'll cover the first one. I'll let Mary cover the same-store sales range for the rest of the year.

當然。我將介紹第一個。我會讓瑪麗負責今年剩餘時間的同店銷售範圍。

I think when we look at performance in Q1, we were pretty clear on last quarter's guide or discussion that we knew we would have some increased transaction flow from the push out, given the two hurricanes that happened and hit most of the southeast region. More outsized on the franchise, but still hitting some of our company stores. So we knew that transactions would be quite strong in October.

我認為，當我們回顧第一季的業績時，我們對上個季度的指導或討論非常清楚，考慮到發生的兩次颶風襲擊了東南地區的大部分地區，我們知道我們的交易流量會有所增加。在特許經營上規模更大，但仍在衝擊我們公司的一些商店。因此我們知道十月份的交易會非常強勁。

We also had, as you may recall a year ago, we talked about softness in the -- starting last financial year, just given some marketing agency changes. So we knew going into October that we'd have a really strong transaction growth in October. When we looked at the rest of the quarter, we still had very good transaction growth. And really the most of that comes from the compounding effect of growing our customer base.

您可能還記得，一年前我們曾討論過從上個財年開始的疲軟趨勢，原因是一些行銷機構發生了變化。因此，我們知道，進入十月份，我們的交易量將實現強勁增長。當我們回顧本季的剩餘時間時，我們的交易量仍然成長良好。而其中的大部分其實來自於我們客戶群不斷增長的複合效應。

So as we acquire new customers into our location, when we serve them well, and we -- our customer satisfaction scores are 200 basis points higher year over year than they have been. And when that happens, our retention rate a strong and we are building on the base. So the biggest contributor to transaction growth is our active customer base growing year over year.

因此，當我們吸引新客戶並為他們提供良好的服務時，我們的客戶滿意度分數就會比去年同期高出 200 個基點。當這種情況發生時，我們的保留率就會很高，而且我們正在基礎上進一步發展。因此，交易成長的最大貢獻者是我們活躍客戶群的逐年成長。

Obviously, we know how much new stores contribute as well. But I would say there's nothing competitive wise that is creating an outsized impact. These are just the core fundamentals of our business. In fact, I'd just say that there's not really been any change in what we're seeing from a competitive standpoint, apart from the typical pullback that starts after the busy drive season.

顯然，我們也知道新店的貢獻有多大。但我想說，從競爭角度來看，沒有任何事物能夠產生巨大影響。這些只是我們業務的核心基礎。事實上，我只想說，從競爭的角度來看，除了繁忙的駕駛季節之後開始的典型回調之外，我們所看到的情況並沒有發生任何變化。

So we feel really good about our performance, really good about our ability to acquire new customers and retain the customers we've served. Mary, you want to comment on -- (multiple speakers)

因此，我們對我們的表現感到非常滿意，並對我們獲取新客戶和留住現有客戶的能力感到非常滿意。瑪麗，你想評論——（多位發言者）

Sure. On your question on same-store sales in a range, there's always the risk of a significant weather event happening at the end of a quarter that can shift volume between quarters. In January, we actually saw the significant weather events happen, early in the second week of the month, and that shifted a lot of volume in the third week of the month.

當然。關於您提到的同店銷售額範圍問題，季度末總是存在重大天氣事件的風險，這可能會改變季度間的銷售量。一月份，我們實際上看到重大天氣事件發生，發生在該月第二周初，而這在該月第三週引起了很大的變化。

But those types of timing things can happen during the quarter. Do I think that it's a probability or likelihood? No, I don't. But I think there's always a remote possibility that those types of events could happen.

但這些類型的時間安排事情可能會在本季發生。我是否認為這是一個機率或可能性？不，我不知道。但我認為，這類事件發生的可能性始終很小。

We feel good about our guidance for the for the full year. We had a strong start to the first quarter, and we've continued to see good momentum in the early part of the second quarter.

我們對全年業績預期感到滿意。我們第一季開局強勁，第二季初也持續保持良好勢頭。

I did mention that we're lapping some pricing and non-oil change initiatives that we started in the second quarter of last year. That will cost some deceleration. And then again, leap day, we'll have a significant year- over-year impact on Q2, well in excess of 100 basis points. So those are really the highlights in terms of same-store sales.

我確實提到過，我們正在推行去年第二季開始實施的一些定價和非石油變化措施。這需要花費一些減速的時間。再說，閏日會對第二季產生顯著的年比影響，遠超過 100 個基點。所以這些確實是同店銷售的亮點。

Okay. Thanks for all the detail. The brief follow-up I had was just on gross margin. I know someone asked earlier, but on the last call you had talked about some risk with some of your, I guess, you'd say people you're selling waste oil to, adjusting our pricing. Has anything changed in that scenario? It sounds like your gross margin attrition is the same, but just help us understand if anything's coming in a little bit better or worse than expected?

好的。謝謝你的詳細說明。我的簡短跟進只是關於毛利率。我知道之前有人問過，但在上次通話中，您談到了一些風險，我想您會說，您向某些人出售廢油，他們會調整我們的定價。那個場景有什麼改變嗎？聽起來你們的毛利率損失是一樣的，但能否幫助我們了解一下是否有任何情況比預期好一點或差一點？

Nothing has really changed. We've worked hard to be able to minimize the impact from the waste oil collection challenges. Typical with what we've seen historically when the revenue from waste oil collection goes down, it typically is correlated with the underlying product costs declining as well.

什麼都沒有真正改變。我們一直努力將廢油收集挑戰帶來的影響降至最低。從歷史上看，當廢油收集收入下降時，通常與基礎產品成本的下降有關。

And you might have noticed in my comments, I said we saw some modest benefits in margin for the Q1 from lower product cost. And so, we did not see and did not expect to see lower waste oil recovery in Q1. We expect more of that in Q2.

您可能已經注意到，在我的評論中，我說過，由於產品成本降低，我們看到第一季的利潤率略有提升。因此，我們沒有看到、也沒有預料到第一季廢油回收率會下降。我們預計第二季會出現更多此類情況。

But again, I do believe that we'll see a correlation with some modestly lower product cost as well. And I don't expect it to have a significant impact on us for the year.

但我再次相信，我們也會看到與一些略低的產品成本之間的相關性。我預計它不會對我們今年產生重大影響。

Okay. Thanks for that detail.

好的。謝謝你的詳細說明。

Justin Kleber, Baird.

賈斯汀·克萊伯，貝爾德。

Good morning, everyone. Sorry about that. Thanks for taking the questions. So first of all, just on guidance, 14% EBITDA growth here in 1Q. The midpoint of the full year guide implies sub-2% over the balance of the year. It seems like a fairly big change even if we take into account the greater headwind from refranchising.

大家早安。很抱歉。感謝您回答這些問題。首先，僅根據指引，第一季的 EBITDA 成長率為 14%。全年指引的中點意味著今年剩餘時間的成長將低於 2%。即使我們考慮到重新特許經營帶來的巨大阻力，這似乎也是一個相當大的變化。

So can you maybe unpack what's changing? It doesn't sound like waste oil dynamics are a major headwind here. So is the pacing of the investment spend waited for the back half of the year or are you just maintaining a conservative approach to guidance?

那麼你能解釋一下到底發生了什麼變化嗎？聽起來廢油動力學並不是這裡的主要阻力。那麼，投資支出的節奏是否會等到今年下半年再說，還是只是保持保守的指導方針？

So Justin, thanks for the question. I don't think you can discount the impacts that refranchising will have for the balance of the year. From a Q1 perspective, we saw some modest impact from refranchising, but we didn't close on the largest of the three transactions until early December of the quarter. And so we had the benefit of both 39 stores in our quarterly results for most of the quarter.

賈斯汀，謝謝你的提問。我認為你不能忽視重新特許經營對今年餘額的影響。從第一季的角度來看，我們看到了重新特許經營帶來的一些適度影響，但直到本季 12 月初，我們才完成三筆交易中最大的一筆。因此，在本季的大部分時間裡，我們的季度業績都受益於 39 家門市的收益。

If I were to take out and show the quarter on a pro forma basis for refranchising, I would remove an additional $12 million of revenue and an additional $3 million of EBITDA for the quarter. And I have to do a similar pro forma adjustment for last year's first quarter. Taking out the refranchise stores, I would have reduced revenue by about $24 million and EBITDA by about $5 million for the first quarter of last year.

如果我要取出並以形式上顯示該季度的特許經營權，我將刪除該季度的額外 1200 萬美元收入和額外 300 萬美元的 EBITDA。我還必須對去年第一季做類似的形式調整。如果除去重新特許經營的商店，我將減少去年第一季的收入約 2,400 萬美元，EBITDA 約 500 萬美元。

And so I think when you looked at the balance of the year on a pro forma basis for refranchising, you would expect to see sales and EBITDA growth numbers that are very consistent with our trend on longer term. But I think that the year-over-year compare with those stores in last year and out of the current year is going to cause that EBITDA growth to be substantially lower on a reported basis.

因此，我認為，當您以再特許經營的形式查看年度餘額時，您會看到銷售額和 EBITDA 成長數字與我們長期趨勢非常一致。但我認為，與去年和今年的門市相比，報告的 EBITDA 成長率將大幅下降。

We'll make sure that we call it out for you all. We did say last quarter that the full year impact of last year was about $100 million in sales and about $25 million in earnings. So I think if you put that $25 million on earnings back and you get back to a more normalized EBITDA growth level. And that's the primary driver of the deceleration and the growth rate.

我們一定會向大家發出呼籲。我們上個季度確實說過，去年全年的影響是銷售額約 1 億美元，收益約 2,500 萬美元。因此我認為如果你將這 2500 萬美元重新投入收益，你就會回到更正常的 EBITDA 成長水平。這是減速和成長率的主要驅動因素。

Okay. That's very helpful, Mary. Thanks for framing the refranchising impacts. And my follow-up, just related to the tailwind from premiumization. If I look at your latest STD, it shows your premium oil mix is about 80%. Curious how much higher do you think that penetration can realistically go? And then also, just if you could share any insights on maybe how that 80% breaks down between fully synthetic versus some synthetic blends?

好的。這非常有幫助，瑪麗。感謝您闡述重新特許經營的影響。我的後續問題與高端化帶來的順風有關。如果我查看您最新的 STD，它顯示您的優質油混合物約為 80%。好奇您認為滲透率實際上可以達到多少？另外，您是否可以分享一些見解，關於這 80% 在完全合成和一些合成混合物之間是如何分解的？

Yeah. I think the point is that when we reported in the STD, we include both MaxLife, which is our synthetic blend and our full synthetic. And so, as we're seeing, and we've been looking at consumer behavior, we're seeing continued trade-up to from conventional to both the MaxLife product as well as the full synthetic. And we see trade-up from MaxLife into full synthetic. And that continues to be a very positive tailwind for us that will continue.

是的。我認為重點在於，當我們在 STD 中報告時，我們同時包括了 MaxLife（我們的合成混合物）和我們的全合成混合物。因此，正如我們所看到的，並且我們一直在關註消費者行為，我們看到消費者正在從傳統產品升級到 MaxLife 產品以及全合成產品。我們看到 MaxLife 已升級為全合成產品。這對我們來說仍然是一個非常積極的順風，並且將繼續下去。

Some of that is driven -- it is really two key drivers. The biggest one is that the car parc, as it evolves, there are more vehicles coming into that four- to six-year window when we start to see an oversized percentage of the car parc that are requiring -- were recommending full synthetic. And so that sets an easy education for the customers.

其中有些是受驅動的——實際上有兩個關鍵驅動因素。最大的問題是，隨著汽車保有量的發展，在未來四到六年的時間裡，將會有更多的汽車進入市場，而我們開始看到，有很大比例的汽車需要——我們推薦全合成汽車。這為客戶提供了一個簡單的教育。

But the other factor that's contributing is the age of the vehicle, which I think has clicked over 12 years now. And when we get to older vehicles with high mileage, high mileage being over 100,000 miles, we tend to educate the customers around how to take care of their vehicles so that it can stay on the road for even longer. And that creates a trade-up environment, even for customers that we have seen for years.

但另一個影響因素是車輛的年齡，我認為現在已經超過 12 年了。當我們遇到行駛里程數較高的舊車時，高里程數是指超過 100,000 英里的車輛，我們傾向於教育客戶如何保養他們的車輛，以便車輛能夠在路上行駛更長時間。這也創造了一種升級的貿易環境，甚至對那些我們已經合作多年的客戶也是如此。

So both of those things, we've always talked about it being 100 basis points to 150 basis points of comp tailwind for many years to come. I think that still remains to be true.

因此，對於這兩件事，我們一直在談論它在未來許多年內將成為 100 個基點到 150 個基點的同店順風。我認為這仍然是事實。

Fair enough. Thanks so much for the insights and best of luck.

很公平。非常感謝您的見解並祝您好運。

Thank you.

謝謝。

David Bellinger, Mizuho.

瑞穗的戴維貝林格 (David Bellinger)。

Thank you all. Good morning. I will go back to your Q2 comments on the detail again. Maybe we could take a bigger step back here, right. It seems like the Q2 comp is mainly impacted by the comparison, the leap day shift. If you ex out all that, it still seems like every transaction piece of the business is running pretty strong quarter-to-date. Is that all correct?

謝謝大家。早安.我將再次回顧您對第二季度細節的評論。也許我們可以在這裡退後一步，對吧。看起來第二季的業績主要受到閏日變動的影響。如果除去所有這些因素，看起來本季迄今該業務的每一筆交易運作都相當強勁。這些都正確嗎？

And then, second part of it is, you mentioned some of the transaction flow being pushed out from the hurricane coming from the weather. It is that all in the system now? And we should look at potentially post-Q2 back-half of the year getting to promote a more normalized transaction growth level?

然後，第二部分是，您提到一些交易流因天氣原因被颶風推後。現在系統裡就全這樣了嗎？我們是否應該關注第二季後半年能否實現更正常化的交易成長水準？

So on the first part of your question, David, in terms of on the Q2 comp, if I understand your question correctly, from a comp deceleration perspective, we certainly expect to see continued transaction growth. We certainly will see offset to that transaction growth from leap day and lapping leap day. So it won't be -- once we get here through the end of February, we're going to see some offset of the transactions because we had the extra day in the quarter last year.

因此，關於您問題的第一部分，戴維，就第二季度的同比而言，如果我理解正確的話，從同比減速的角度來看，我們當然預計交易將繼續增長。我們肯定會看到閏日和重疊閏日對交易成長的抵銷。所以不會——一旦我們到達二月底，我們將看到一些交易的抵消，因為去年該季度我們有額外的一天。

And that will affect transactions more significantly than it will affect ticket, because ticket of what we would expect to see some relative consistency over the quarter timeframe. So I'm not sure if that answers the first part of your question in terms of the deceleration of the comp and the impact of that deceleration on transactions.

這將對交易產生比對票務更大的影響，因為我們預計票務在本季度時間範圍內會出現相對的一致性。因此，我不確定這是否回答了你問題的第一部分，即公司減速以及減速對交易的影響。

No, that's fair enough. But it's not like you've seen a step change on the transaction growth side as you entered Q2 being -- (multiple speakers)

不，這就夠公平了。但進入第二季後，交易成長方面並沒有明顯的變化。——（多位發言者）

No.

不。

The other pieces of the business through these one-time like shifts. The underlying growth rate on the transaction side has not changed materially?

業務的其他部分也透過這些一次性的轉變進行。交易側底層成長率沒有發生實質變化？

No, we continue to see strong -- see a good performance in terms of the transaction contribution to the overall comp.

不，我們繼續看到強勁——就交易對整體公司的貢獻而言，表現良好。

And I think also still balanced. So again, while we're going to lap some of the ticket items, we're still having growth on the ticket side. So I think your question is right in that one. We're seeing continued good transaction growth as we're into Q2. And we're continuing to see good ticket growth, although slightly lower than what we would have seen in the past 12 months because of some of the lapping activity on NOCR improvement, as well as some pricing actions.

我認為它仍然是平衡的。因此，雖然我們會對部分票務項目進行審核，但票務方面我們仍在成長。所以我認為你的問題是正確的。進入第二季度，我們看到交易量持續良好成長。我們繼續看到良好的票價增長，儘管由於 NOCR 改進方面的一些重疊活動以及一些定價行動，票價增長略低於過去 12 個月的水平。

And then your -- second part of your question on the transaction are -- go ahead, David.

然後你關於交易的問題的第二部分是——請繼續，大衛。

No, go ahead. Sorry.

不，繼續吧。對不起。

I was just going to say on the second part of your question in terms of transaction growth for the balance of the year, we are comping against a weaker transaction growth in the back half of last year. So when we get to the back half of the year, my expectation would be we'll continue to see some good balance between transactions and ticket in the back half, especially given that we're going to be comping up against some weaker numbers from fiscal '24.

關於你問題的第二部分，就今年餘額的交易成長而言，我們正與去年下半年較弱的交易成長進行比較。因此，當我們進入下半年時，我預計我們將繼續看到下半年交易和票務之間保持良好的平衡，特別是考慮到我們將與 24 財年的一些較弱數據進行比較。

Yeah, understood. That's very helpful. Just to shift over to changing gears onto the buybacks. You've repurchased almost $40 million this quarter alone. That's really towards the low-end of your full year guidance. But how should we think about buybacks over the balance of the year? And what would allow you to potentially go to the high-end of the range or even above is very good to see to the marketplace, or just how are you thinking about that change over the balance of the year?

嗯，明白了。這非常有幫助。只是將重點轉向回購。光是本季你就回購了近 4,000 萬美元。這實際上接近您全年預期的低端。但我們該如何考慮全年的回購呢？什麼能讓您有可能進入高端甚至更高的範圍，這對市場來說是非常好的，或者您如何看待今年餘下的這種變化？

Sure. So you'll see on that when we issue our 10-Qs that subsequent to the end of the quarter, we did some additional buyback as well. We did about $20 million of additional buyback since the end of Q1. So the fiscal year-to-date, we are more in the $60 million in terms of total buybacks.

當然。因此，當我們發布 10-Q 時，您會看到，在本季度結束後，我們也進行了一些額外的回購。自第一季末以來，我們額外回購了約 2,000 萬美元。因此，本財年迄今為止，我們的總回購金額已超過 6,000 萬美元。

And we've looked opportunistically. We saw weakness in the in the share price after our last quarter fall, and we're taking advantage of that. We think that there's significant undervaluation of the business in the marketplace that we thought it was -- made a lot of good sense for us to accelerate some of that buyback to take advantage of that.

我們一直在尋找機會。在上個季度下跌之後，我們發現股價疲軟，我們正在利用這一點。我們認為，市場上對該業務的估值嚴重低估，因此，加速部分回購以利用這一機會對我們來說非常有意義。

Perfect. Thank you.

完美的。謝謝。

Peter Keith, Piper Sandler.

彼得·基思，派珀·桑德勒。

Hi, Alexia Morgan on for Peter Keith. Thanks for taking our question. My first question would be on the promotional environment. We've heard from our checks that it -- the promotions have come down a bit or promotions have moderated recently. Can you talk about what you saw there in Q1 just as it related to prior quarters and then how you're thinking about promotions in Q2?

大家好，我是 Alexia Morgan，代替 Peter Keith。感謝您回答我們的問題。我的第一個問題是關於促銷環境。我們從檢查中得知，最近促銷活動有所減少或有所緩和。您能否談談您在第一季看到的情況以及它與前幾季的關係，以及您對第二季促銷活動的看法？

Sure. I think we're not seeing any significant change on the competitive standpoint from a promotional standpoint. We feel really good about our performance. I think in the last couple of quarters, we've talked about some episodic activity from our competitors outside of our Quick Lube segment. And it's been pretty transitory in nature and that had a material impact on our business.

當然。我認為從促銷的角度來看，我們沒有看到競爭方面有任何重大變化。我們對我們的表現感到非常滿意。我想在過去的幾個季度裡，我們談論了 Quick Lube 部門之外的競爭對手的一些偶發活動。從本質上來說，它是相當短暫的，但對我們的業務產生了重大影響。

Now, whether we think about discounting in the category or discounting by books in our category. And I think as we step back and reflect, we have a very high-quality brand. And that really attracts customers for trial. And then we have a best-in-class customer experience once they're there, which enables us to continue to capture share of the do-it-for-me market and outperform the market overall.

現在，我們是否考慮按類別折扣或按我們類別中的書籍打折。我認為，當我們回顧並反思時，我們會發現我們擁有一個非常高品質的品牌。這確實吸引了顧客試用。一旦客戶到達，我們就會有一流的客戶體驗，這使我們能夠繼續佔領代客服務的市場份額並超越整個市場。

So again, we're not seeing any outsize competitor actions, promotional or marketing, that's having a significant impact on us. And we're really pleased on how our marketing team is driving really good return on ad spend.

因此，我們再次強調，我們沒有看到任何競爭對手的超大規模行動、促銷或行銷活動對我們產生重大影響。我們對我們的行銷團隊如何實現良好的廣告支出回報感到非常高興。

Great. Thank you. And then my follow-up, just more on unit growth, specifically on the franchise side. Are you still on track to -- for your longer-term target, 150 franchisee opened the year by 2027? Or how you're thinking about the bridge to that?

偉大的。謝謝。然後我的後續問題是更多地關注單位增長，特別是在特許經營方面。您是否仍在朝著您的長期目標前進——到 2027 年開設 150 家特許經營店？或者您如何思考通往該橋樑的？

Yes. As I've mentioned in my remarks, we have really strong engagement from our franchise partners. In the US, we have about 40 partners. And then our workshop, we had the most engagement and focus on development. All of our large franchisees and many of the smaller ones have committed to upsize development agreements. And our pipeline for new units is very strong.

是的。正如我在演講中提到的，我們的特許經營夥伴的參與度非常高。在美國，我們大約有40個合作夥伴。然後在我們的研討會上，我們得到了最多的參與並專注於發展。我們所有的大型特許經營商和許多較小的特許經營商都已承諾擴大開發協議。我們的新單位儲備非常充足。

So the momentum of both the existing partners that we've been working with, as well as the new partners we welcome to the network, it really has increased our confidence in our new unit growth goals. Overall, we stated we wanted to get to 250 new units by fiscal '27 with, give or take, 100 coming from company and 150 coming from franchise.

因此，我們一直合作的現有合作夥伴以及我們歡迎加入網路的新合作夥伴的勢頭確實增強了我們對新單位成長目標的信心。總的來說，我們的目標是到 27 財年達到 250 個新單位，其中約 100 個來自公司，150 個來自特許經營。

And I think the momentum that our franchisees have, as well as some of the things we were doing to support them, give us a lot of confidence. We're on track to hit those goals.

我認為我們的特許經營者所擁有的勢頭以及我們為支持他們所做的一些事情給了我們很大的信心。我們正在順利實現這些目標。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thomas Wendler, Stephens.

托馬斯·溫德勒，史蒂芬斯。

Hey. Good morning, everyone. I just want to touch on the waste oil one more time. Sounds like that didn't really flow through or become an issue for the margin this quarter. But I think it was mentioned, maybe, impacting 2Q. So maybe you could touch on that. And then, just maybe your thoughts on how the company could be impacted if we see increasing oil prices. Thank you.

嘿。大家早安。我只是想再一次談廢油的問題。聽起來這並沒有真正實現，也沒有成為本季利潤的一個問題。但我認為有人提到，可能會影響第二季。所以也許你可以談談這一點。然後，您可能想問如果油價上漲，公司會受到怎樣的影響。謝謝。

Yeah, good questions. In terms of waste oil, for Q2 and beyond, our expectation is that there'll be very little impact because we think that the -- any reduction in waste oil recoveries will be offset by lower product costs. And so we're really expecting it to have negligible impact in the balance of the year.

是的，好問題。就廢油而言，對於第二季及以後，我們預計影響將很小，因為我們認為廢油回收的任何減少都將被產品成本的降低所抵消。因此，我們確實預計它對今年的餘額的影響可以忽略不計。

As it relates to rise, rising oil prices, it typically would take a while for any kind of increases in crude oil to pass through into the base oil markets, and those base oil markets then, impacting the cost of our lubricant products. That also has an impact by inventory that's in the system that has to flow through as well.

就油價上漲而言，原油價格的任何上漲通常都需要一段時間才能傳導至基礎油市場，然後這些基礎油市場就會影響我們潤滑油產品的成本。這也會對系統中必須流通的庫存產生影響。

So rising crude prices, at this point in the year, would likely not have a really significant impact to us until the back half of the year. And we would, of course, be looking at opportunities for us to offset any increases through any efficiencies. And then, we always would have the opportunity to potentially look at our pricing and pass through pricing as well.

因此，今年此時原油價格上漲可能要到下半年才會對我們產生真正重大的影響。當然，我們也會尋找機會透過提高效率來抵銷任何增加的費用。然後，我們總是有機會潛在地審視我們的定價並傳遞定價。

Our expectation is that any increases would impact competitors in the same way that it would impact us. And the markets always behaved pretty rationally when it comes to passing through cost increases from a pricing perspective. So I wouldn't expect it to have a significant impact on our results for the year if we did see some increases.

我們預計，任何成長都會對競爭對手產生與對我們相同的影響。從定價角度來看，當轉嫁成本上漲時，市場總是表現得相當理性。因此，如果我們確實看到一些成長，我預計它不會對我們今年的業績產生重大影響。

Mary, I appreciate the color. Thank you.

瑪麗，我很欣賞這個顏色。謝謝。

Bret Jordan, Jefferies.

布雷特·喬丹，傑富瑞。

Hey. Good morning, guys. Could you talk about seasonality of the non-oil change business. Obviously, you'd think using batteries and wipers would benefit from the winter weather we've been having. But could you talk about the mix there and what the weather impact has been?

嘿。大家早安。您能談談非換油業務的季節性嗎？顯然，您會認為使用電池和雨刷會受益於我們所經歷的冬季天氣。但是您能談談那裡的混合物以及天氣的影響嗎？

Yeah, and that's a great question. When you look at our services, they're very -- there are a few things that are highly seasonal. Wipers, obviously, we have an outsized demand for those as we get into wet weather seasons, in the spring, and also in the fall.

是的，這是一個很好的問題。當你查看我們的服務時，你會發現它們非常——有些東西具有很強的季節性。顯然，隨著春季和秋季進入潮濕天氣季節，我們對雨刷的需求非常大。

Battery, definitely, impacts in the winter. We've seen a significant uptake in battery -- in our battery and our battery penetration, which we would expect. In the summer, our air conditioning recharge services, obviously, when that starts to become into play.

電池在冬天肯定會產生影響。我們看到電池的銷售量和電池滲透率都有了顯著的成長，這是我們預料之中的。在夏季，我們的空調充電服務顯然開始發揮作用。

But most of the services that we have, it's really driven by the miles driven of the vehicle. So tire rotations every 5,000 miles it -- when we when we look at air filters, and cabin air filters, and the things that drive most of the non-oil change revenue because they're highly recurring; most of those that have limited seasonality.

但我們提供的大多數服務實際上都是由車輛行駛里程決定的。因此，每行駛 5,000 英里輪胎換位一次——當我們查看空氣過濾器和車廂空氣過濾器時，它們就是推動大部分非換油收入的東西，因為它們是高度重複性的；大多數季節性有限的。

Okay. And then, you talked about the independent quick lube operators and a potential, I guess, acquisition partner. What are the evaluation trends there? Are they looking at these businesses, seeing a lot of franchise quick lube additions in the market making them inclined to sell? Or how do you -- with both average multiple for those independents?

好的。然後，您談到了獨立的快速潤滑油業者以及潛在的收購夥伴。那裡的評價趨勢是怎樣的？他們是否正在關注這些業務，看到市場上有大量特許經營快速潤滑油增加，從而傾向於出售？或者您如何—計算這些獨立人士的平均倍數？

The multiple definitely varies based on the quality of the asset and the real estate location. But we're not seeing -- I think post-COVID, when employment and the turnover of people was really high and supply chain was more challenging, we had a lot of independent operators just putting their hands up saying, okay, this is too difficult. I don't have all the support in place. And so we went through a period of time when there may have been more interest.

倍數肯定會根據資產品質和房地產位置而變化。但我們沒有看到——我認為在疫情過後，當就業和人員流動率非常高並且供應鏈更具挑戰性時，我們有很多獨立運營商只是舉手說，好吧，這太難了。我沒有得到所有的支持。因此，我們經歷了一段人們可能對此更感興趣的時期。

But I don't -- I think we've gone back to a normal course. And people just getting to an age and or a point in their career where they are not transitioning the business down to the next generation and they're looking to exit. So I don't think there's any significant changes that are driving more or less of the independent operators in terms of them wanting to transition.

但我不這麼認為——我認為我們已經恢復正常了。人們剛剛達到某個年齡或職業生涯的某個階段，他們不會將業務轉移給下一代，所以他們正在考慮退出。因此，我認為，就獨立運營商的轉型意願而言，不存在任何重大變化。

I do think that when we come into a market and we start to build, some of the independents, it impacts them and then they express more interest because they see us slowly taking business away from them and adding business from dealers. And that sometimes will precipitate a raising of the hand. And if the location is additive, then we're very interested.

我確實認為，當我們進入一個市場並開始建設時，一些獨立公司會對他們產生影響，然後他們會表達更多的興趣，因為他們看到我們慢慢地從他們手中奪走業務，並增加來自經銷商的業務。有時這會促使人們舉手。如果該位置具有附加作用，那麼我們會非常感興趣。

But I don't think there's any significant changes in that dynamic, other than it's still incredibly fragmented. There's still 4,000 independent quick lube operators out there. Not all of them do we want to own. But if it's in the right real estate location that's complementary to our network, we have a playbook.

但我不認為這種動態有任何重大變化，除了它仍然非常分散。目前仍有 4,000 名獨立快速潤滑操作員。並非所有這些都是我們想要擁有的。但如果它位於與我們的網路互補的正確的房地產位置，我們就會有一個劇本。

We know how to do that, whether it's a onesie, twosie-owner or something of more scale. It is a great return on invested capital. It has a faster path to maturity because you're buying a business that's already existing and you're building upon it. So we love those. Obviously, we're selective when we buy them.

我們知道如何做到這一點，無論是連身衣、雙人衣還是更大規模的衣服。這是對投資資本的豐厚回報。它擁有更快的成熟之路，因為你購買的是已經存在的企業，然後在其基礎上進行建造。所以我們喜歡這些。顯然，我們在購買時會有所選擇。

Okay. Thank you.

好的。謝謝。

David Lantz, Wells Fargo.

富國銀行的戴維·蘭茲。

Hey, good morning, and thanks for taking my questions. So SG&A per company operated store grew high single-digits in Q1. But considering the franchising activity in the recently closed acquisition, curious how you're thinking about these trends throughout the balance of the year?

嘿，早上好，感謝您回答我的問題。因此，第一季每家公司自營商店的銷售、一般及行政開支均實現了高個位數成長。但考慮到最近完成的收購中的特許經營活動，好奇您如何看待全年的這些趨勢？

Yes. So we talked last quarter, David, about -- we expected to see some deleverage in SG&A, partially due to a refranchising, but really driven by some of the investments that we are making in technology. So we really -- since we sold the products, the business are focusing on systems that are retail-focused that can help us to support the continued growth in scaling of the business over time.

是的。所以，戴維，我們在上個季度談到過——我們預計銷售、一般及行政費用會有所去槓桿，部分原因是特許經營權的重新授予，但實際上是受到我們在技術方面進行的一些投資的推動。因此，自從我們銷售產品以來，我們一直將業務重點放在以零售為中心的系統上，這可以幫助我們支持業務規模的持續成長。

So we've replaced our ERP system, we're in the process of replacing our HRIS system. Both with systems that are really you have the ability to help us from a from a pure play retail perspective to drive growth in the business.

因此，我們已經更換了 ERP 系統，並且正在更換 HRIS 系統。這兩個系統實際上都能從純零售角度幫助我們推動業務成長。

So I do expect to see some modest deleverage in SG&A over time. It should be over the remainder of the year. And it is primarily being driven by our technology investments.

因此我確實預期隨著時間的推移，銷售、一般及行政開支將出現適度的去槓桿。它應該會持續一年餘下的時間。這主要得益於我們的技術投資。

And the only other thing I did want to add for some clarity in terms of some of the questions we've had about the cadence of earnings, and what our expectations are for the balance of the years. In my comments, I did say that we expect the first half of this fiscal year to be produced 40% to 45% of our overall earnings.

我唯一想補充的是，為了澄清我們對獲利節奏以及對未來幾年的預期的一些疑問。我在評論中確實說過，我們預計本財年上半年的收益將占我們整體收益的 40% 至 45%。

And because of the refranchising impact, I do expect that to be the towards the top of that range in the front half, relative to the 55% to 60% in the back half. So I just wanted to provide some clarity in terms of the cadence of earnings as well.

而且由於特許經營權重新授予的影響，我確實預計前半部分的比例將接近該範圍的上限，而後半部分的比例則為 55% 到 60%。所以我只是想就盈利節奏方面提供一些澄清。

Got it. That's really helpful. (multiple speakers)

知道了。這真的很有幫助。（多位發言者）

Did you have another question, David?

大衛，你還有其他問題嗎？

Yeah, just one more. Can you talk about fleet performance in the quarter? And any additional color you can provide around account wins as well?

是的，還剩一個。能談談本季的船隊表現嗎？您還可以提供有關帳戶獲勝的任何其他資訊嗎？

Yeah, fleeted continues to be a great business. Our investments in both team and capabilities that our fleet managers look for is really paying off as the growth continues to outpace our consumer transaction growth. The business -- our service proposition is really attractive to fleets, and we've had some success growing the account base. But continue to focus on increasing penetration and ensuring as we grow our network of stores, the fleet customers that we're already serving know that we can handle more of their portfolio as their geographies span ours.

是的，車隊繼續是一項偉大的業務。隨著我們的成長繼續超過我們的消費者交易成長，我們對車隊經理所尋求的團隊和能力的投資確實獲得了回報。業務－我們的服務主張對車隊確實很有吸引力，而且我們在擴大客戶群方面取得了一些成功。但繼續專注於提高滲透率，並確保隨著我們門市網路的擴大，我們已經服務的眾多客戶知道，由於他們的地域範圍跨越我們，我們可以處理更多的產品組合。

I think we have a significant market opportunity to continue to drive same-store sales coming from fleet. That's some of the transactional growth that we've been driving and expect to continue to drive. And at our franchise workshop, we did have discussion with franchisees around how we can partner and support them. We're actually helping all of our large franchisees as it relates to administrative support, in terms of billing with the franchisees, but also, some regional sale support.

我認為我們有巨大的市場機會來繼續推動來自車隊的同店銷售。這是我們一直在推動並期望繼續推動的交易成長的一部分。在我們的特許經營研討會上，我們確實與特許經營商討論瞭如何與他們合作並為他們提供支持。實際上，我們正​​在為所有大型特許經營商提供行政支持，包括向特許經營商結算，以及一些區域銷售支援。

Just taking the tools and programs that have been very successful in company markets. And ensuring that our franchisees get the benefit of those.

只需採用在公司市場上非常成功的工具和程序。並確保我們的加盟商能夠從中受益。

Got it. Thanks so much.

知道了。非常感謝。

We currently have no further questions so I will hand back to Elizabeth Clevinger for closing remarks.

我們目前沒有其他問題，因此我將把發言交還給伊麗莎白·克萊文傑做結束語。

Thank you all for joining us today. This concludes our call.

感謝大家今天的參與。我們的通話到此結束。

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

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的加入。現在您可以斷開線路了。