Petco Health and Wellness Company Inc (WOOF) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon and welcome to the Petco third quarter, 2024 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note this event is being recorded.

下午好，歡迎參加 Petco 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。（操作員說明）請注意此事件正在被記錄。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Lisa Stark, Senior Director of Communications. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議交給高級通訊總監麗莎·斯塔克 (Lisa Stark)。請繼續。

Good afternoon and thank you for joining Petco's third quarter, 2024 earnings conference call. In addition to the earnings release, there is a presentation available to download on our website at ir.petco.com, summarizing our results. On the call with me today are Joel Anderson, Petco's Chief Executive Officer; and Brian Larose, Petco's Chief Financial Officer.

下午好，感謝您參加 Petco 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。除了收益發布之外，我們的網站 ir.petco.com 上還提供了一份演示文稿，總結了我們的業績。今天與我通話的是 Petco 執行長 Joel Anderson；以及 Petco 財務長 Brian Larose。

Before they begin, I'd like to remind everyone that on this call, we will make certain forward-looking statements which are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. These risks and uncertainties include those set out in our earnings materials and SEC filings. In addition today's call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures, reconciliations of these measures can be found in our earnings release, presentation and SEC filings.

在開始之前，我想提醒大家，在這次電話會議上，我們將做出某些前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受到許多風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與此類陳述有重大差異。這些風險和不確定性包括我們的收益資料和 SEC 文件中列出的風險和不確定性。此外，在今天的電話會議中，我們還將參考某些非公認會計準則財務指標，這些指標的調節表可以在我們的收益發布、簡報和 SEC 文件中找到。

And finally, during the Q&A portion of today's call, we ask that you please keep to one question and one follow up. With that, let me turn it over to Joel.

最後，在今天電話會議的問答部分，我們要求您只提出一個問題並進行一次跟進。那麼，讓我把它交給喬爾。

Thank you, Lisa. Good afternoon, everyone and thank you for joining us today. Our third quarter results came in slightly ahead of our expectations. As we more effectively navigated a dynamic consumer environment and the actions we are taking to strengthen our retail fundamentals and drive cost out are beginning to take hold.

謝謝你，麗莎。大家下午好，感謝您今天加入我們。我們第三季的業績略高於我們的預期。隨著我們更有效地駕馭充滿活力的消費者環境，我們為加強零售基礎和降低成本所採取的行動開始發揮作用。

Revenue was $1.51 billion up 1% driven by consumables and services. Gross margin expanded 130 basis points to 38.1% driven by progress on product cost margin -- management and improvements in services margin. Adjusted EBITDA was $81.2 million.

在消耗品和服務的推動下，營收達到 15.1 億美元，成長 1%。由於產品成本利潤率的進步（管理和服務利潤率的提高），毛利率增加了 130 個基點，達到 38.1%。調整後 EBITDA 為 8,120 萬美元。

While there is much more work to do, our improving results increase our conviction that we are on the right path as we position Petco to win. Throughout the quarter, I spent significant amount of time meeting with teammates across the organization from working alongside our associates in our pet care centers to visiting our distribution centers, to hosting small group listening sessions at our support centers.

雖然還有很多工作要做，但我們不斷改善的業績讓我們更加堅信，我們正走在正確的道路上，讓 Petco 能夠獲勝。在整個季度中，我花了大量時間與整個組織的團隊成員會面，從與寵物護理中心的同事一起工作，到參觀我們的配送中心，再到在我們的支援中心舉辦小組聆聽會議。

I've witnessed firsthand, the passion our people have for pets and the dedication they bring to serving our customers. Importantly, it's exciting to see the entire organization rally behind our plans to drive operational and financial performance improvement. On our call, I outlined our commitment to resetting the trajectory of our business on the last call. Today, I will share specific areas of opportunities, discuss developing plans to drive improvement and holding ourselves accountable while we're on the path to returning to long term sustainable, profitable growth.

我親眼目睹了我們的員工對寵物的熱情以及他們為客戶服務的奉獻精神。重要的是，令人興奮的是看到整個組織團結起來支持我們推動營運和財務績效改進的計劃。在我們的電話會議上，我概述了我們在上次電話會議上重置業務軌蹟的承諾。今天，我將分享具體領域的機遇，討論制定推動改進的計劃，並在我們走上恢復長期可持續、盈利增長的道路時讓我們自己承擔責任。

Our initiatives are currently focused on three critical areas, merchandizing, servicing our customers, driving efficiency across our business. Allow me to provide you with an update on each including specific examples.

我們的措施目前集中在三個關鍵領域：銷售、服務客戶、提高整個業務的效率。請允許我為您提供每個方面的最新信息，包括具體示例。

First, improving merchandise remains the greatest near term opportunity for us to strengthen profitability. I'd like to take this moment to thank our merchandizing team along with our merchant vendor partners for their collaboration and support as we take the necessary steps to make Petco a better retailer, employer and partner. We're optimizing our assortment to be aligned more closely with customer demand and make it easier for them to shop with us. In support of this, we completed a detailed review of our assortment across both consumables and supplies and have identified several opportunities to enhance our offering.

首先，改善商品仍然是我們近期增強獲利能力的最大機會。我想藉此機會感謝我們的銷售團隊以及我們的商家供應商合作夥伴在我們採取必要措施使 Petco 成為更好的零售商、雇主和合作夥伴的過程中所給予的協作和支持。我們正在優化我們的產品組合，以便更緊密地滿足客戶的需求，讓他們更輕鬆地在我們這裡購物。為了支持這一點，我們完成了對消耗品和用品的分類的詳細審查，並確定了幾個增強我們的產品的機會。

Key focus areas for us include creating more space on shelves, for faster turning SKUs as well as reducing SKUs in certain categories to simplify the customer's decision making process. In addition, I've met one on one with several of our vendors in order to directly learn how we can improve our relationships. As consumers continue to be judicious in their spend, we have to meet them where and when they want with the value they're looking for.

我們的重點關注領域包括在貨架上創造更多空間，以加快 SKU 週轉速度，以及減少某些類別的 SKU 以簡化客戶的決策過程。此外，我還與我們的幾家供應商進行了一對一的會面，以便直接了解如何改善我們的關係。隨著消費者繼續明智地消費，我們必須在他們想要的時間和地點滿足他們所尋求的價值。

We've implemented new processes to deliver timely product resets that allow us to offer more exciting products. We're also sharpening our approach to pricing to remain competitive in the market and drive financial outcomes for Petco. To date we put in place stronger pricing guardrails, implemented more robust reviews of our pricing gaps and established processes for promo and assessments.

我們實施了新流程來及時提供產品重置，使我們能夠提供更令人興奮的產品。我們也正在改進定價方法，以保持市場競爭力並推動 Petco 的財務成果。到目前為止，我們建立了更強有力的定價護欄，對定價差距進行了更嚴格的審查，並建立了促銷和評估流程。

An example of our merchandizing work in action is the recent launch of our welcome to the family program. Given the importance of first time pet ownership. We designed this program in partnership with our key vendors, as well as our expert vet, training and grooming teams provide dog and cat parents with guidance resources and savings on new pet essentials and services.

我們的行銷工作的一個實際例子是我們最近推出的歡迎家庭計畫。鑑於第一次養寵物的重要性。我們與我們的主要供應商以及我們的專家獸醫、培訓和美容團隊合作設計了這個計劃，為狗和貓的父母提供指導資源並節省新寵物必需品和服務的費用。

Second, to win today's retail environment, we must improve the way we service our customers across our pet care centers online and in our services platforms. For my time spent working in our pet care centers, I observed several opportunities to drive greater consistency across the entire footprint which will generate savings that can be reinvested into the customer experience and strengthen profitability.

其次，為了贏得當今的零售環境，我們必須改善線上寵物護理中心和服務平台為客戶提供服務的方式。在我在寵物護理中心工作的時間裡，我觀察到了幾個在整個足跡中提高一致性的機會，這將產生節省，可以重新投資於客戶體驗並增強盈利能力。

Let me share several examples of where we are making meaningful improvements to better serve our customers. We've set new standards for our labor model to staff our stores and in a way that allows our partners to spend more time with the customers and less time on tasks in the back of the store. This extends to store leadership where we're reducing tasking, administrative responsibilities and overall complexity for our general managers, bring them up to spend more time leading their teams and driving store productivity.

讓我分享幾個例子，說明我們正在哪些方面進行有意義的改進，以便更好地為客戶服務。我們為門市配備員工的勞動力模式製定了新標準，讓我們的合作夥伴能夠將更多時間花在與顧客相處上，而減少花在商店後面的工作上的時間。這延伸到商店領導層，我們正在減少總經理的任務分配、管理責任和整體複雜性，讓他們花更多時間領導團隊並提高商店生產力。

Additionally, leveraging automation to standardize the online order fulfillment process in our pet care centers is one area in particular I see significant potential. Finally, in services, our bed offering remains a key growth driver and differentiator for Petco. Services revenue was up 9% with strength across both hospitals and Vetco mobile clinics.

此外，利用自動化來標準化我們寵物護理中心的線上訂單履行流程是我特別看到巨大潛力的一個領域。最後，在服務方面，我們的床品仍然是 Petco 的關鍵成長動力和差異化因素。由於醫院和 Vetco 行動診所的實力強勁，服務收入成長了 9%。

As our hospital fleet continues to mature, our services team is focused on accelerating utilization to support structural margin improvement of our vet hospitals and ensure we can meet the growing demand for our customers in a timely manner. And we're leveraging our vet customer data to better understand their purchasing patterns, inform how we engage with them and ultimately drive greater wallet share. These initiatives are having a direct impact on our top and bottom line as we're creating more selling opportunities for partners while simultaneously driving greater efficiencies.

隨著我們的醫院機隊不斷成熟，我們的服務團隊專注於加快利用率，以支持我們獸醫院的結構性利潤改善，並確保我們能夠及時滿足客戶不斷增長的需求。我們正在利用我們的資深客戶數據來更好地了解他們的購買模式，告知我們如何與他們互動，並最終推動更大的錢包份額。這些措施對我們的營收和利潤產生了直接影響，因為我們為合作夥伴創造了更多銷售機會，同時提高了效率。

Turning to our third commitment, driving greater efficiencies across the business to bend the cost curve. Within merchandizing, we're taking action to improve our commercial execution. In Q3, we completed key vendor negotiations and we're pleased with the outcome as we continue to strengthen our vendor relationships and differentiated merchandizing offering. In our supply chain, we're renegotiating multi-year contracts with our shipping partners reducing split shipments and driving incremental improvements and distribution center labor to reduce cost per shipment and improve speed of shipping.

轉向我們的第三個承諾，提高整個業務的效率以彎曲成本曲線。在商品推銷方面，我們正在採取行動改善我們的商業執行力。在第三季度，我們完成了主要供應商談判，我們對結果感到滿意，因為我們繼續加強我們的供應商關係和差異化的商品銷售。在我們的供應鏈中，我們正在與運輸合作夥伴重新談判多年合同，減少分批發貨，推動增量改進和配送中心勞動力，以降低每次發貨的成本並提高運輸速度。

In that, we're closely measuring performance at the individual hospital level, providing us greater visibility into the needs of each hospital and the staffing required to maximize efficiency and productivity. We believe there is significant opportunity to improve the profitability of the existing fleet by ensuring hospitals remain staffed and are supported through marketing and merchandizing efforts. And we're taking action to professionalize our procurement team. As a start, we requested contract negotiations and conducted RFPs across a broad selection of medium to large scale indirect procurement partners.

為此，我們密切衡量各個醫院層面的績效，使我們能夠更深入地了解每家醫院的需求以及最大限度提高效率和生產力所需的人員配置。我們相信，透過確保醫院保持人員配備並透過行銷和推銷工作得到支持，有很大機會提高現有車隊的獲利能力。我們正在採取行動使我們的採購團隊專業化。首先，我們要求進行合約談判，並在廣泛選擇的中型到大型間接採購合作夥伴中進行徵求建議書。

We're pleased with the engagement and the outcomes we're seeing so far. Overall, our cost initiatives are well underway and tracking against our prior expectations, importantly, these aren't just one time savings. These initiatives are designed to fundamentally change the way we think and work to consistently identify areas of opportunity to unlock long term value. This redefinition of retail fundamentals is expected to have an enduring impact on our people and culture leading to greater accountability and transparency.

我們對迄今為止所看到的參與和成果感到滿意。總體而言，我們的成本計劃正在順利進行，並且符合我們先前的預期，重要的是，這些不僅僅是一次性的節省。這些舉措旨在從根本上改變我們的思維和工作方式，以持續識別釋放長期價值的機會領域。對零售基本面的重新定義預計將對我們的員工和文化產生持久影響，從而提高問責制和透明度。

Further ensure our success around our three initiatives of merchandizing, servicing our customers and driving efficiency, we've added two key executives. Leadership is critical to shaping the direction of the business and I'm pleased with our recent hiring of two new leaders that will help us realize our full potential. We named Joe Venezia, Chief Revenue Officer, a newly created role in charge of developing the integrated strategies for improving the customer experience and driving revenue across the organization. Joe will oversee these critical areas attribute to Petco's growth including the pet care centers, services, real estate, and customer success capabilities.

為了進一步確保我們在銷售、服務客戶和提高效率這三項措施方面取得成功，我們增加了兩位關鍵管理人員。領導力對於塑造業務方向至關重要，我很高興我們最近聘用了兩位新領導者，他們將幫助我們充分發揮潛力。我們任命 Joe Venezia 為首席營收官，這是一個新設立的職位，負責制定綜合策略，以改善客戶體驗並推動整個組織的收入成長。Joe 將負責 Petco 成長的關鍵領域，包括寵物護理中心、服務、房地產和客戶成功能力。

Dan Calista also has joined us as our Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer. In this role, Dan will be responsible for building the internal capabilities, we need to get our fundamentals right, maintaining accountability through our ongoing transformation and positioning ourselves for growth.

Dan Calista 也加入我們，擔任我們的首席策略和轉型長。在此職位上，丹將負責建立內部能力，我們需要打好基礎，透過持續的轉型保持責任感，並為自己的成長做好準備。

These hires underscore our top priority for improving profitability through structural cost out while positioning Petco for growth. It's still early days, but our actions are beginning to take hold. We're setting ourselves up to play offense as we build momentum into fiscal 2025.

這些招募凸顯了我們的首要任務是透過結構性成本削減來提高獲利能力，同時為 Petco 的成長做好準備。現在還為時過早，但我們的行動已開始發揮作用。我們正準備積極進攻，為 2025 財年積蓄動力。

Before I close, let me leave you with this. Having been in the role for over 100 days, I can say with conviction and certainty that I'm more excited today than I have ever been on our potential here at Petco. The time I spent working alongside our associates showed me how their knowledge, expertise and simply raw passion for improving the lives of pets and their parents is unlike anything else in the industry. This enthusiasm that sets us apart, makes me confident in our trajectory.

在結束之前，請允許我向您介紹這一點。擔任這一職位已超過 100 天，我可以充滿信心和肯定地說，今天我對 Petco 的潛力感到前所未有的興奮。我與我們的同事一起工作的時間向我展示了他們的知識、專業知識和對改善寵物及其父母的生活的純粹熱情與業內其他任何人不同。這種熱情使我們與眾不同，讓我對我們的發展軌跡充滿信心。

With that over to Brian, to provide more details on our financial performance and guidance. Brian?

接下來請布萊恩提供有關我們財務業績和指導的更多詳細資訊。布萊恩？

Thanks Joel and good afternoon everyone. First, I want to extend my thanks to our Petco partners for their continued dedication to delivering for our customers. Our third quarter performance demonstrates improved operational and financial execution, enabling us to deliver results ahead of our expectations. For the quarter, net revenue was $1.51 billion, up 1% year-over-year with comparable sales up 2% year-over-year.

謝謝喬爾，大家下午好。首先，我要感謝我們的 Petco 合作夥伴持續致力於為我們的客戶提供服務。我們第三季的業績顯示營運和財務執行力有所改善，使我們能夠提前實現預期的結果。該季度淨收入為 15.1 億美元，年增 1%，可比銷售額年增 2%。

Breaking this down by category, consumables grew 3%. Supplies and companion animal remain soft at down 3% but improved roughly 200 basis points sequentially on a percentage basis. Services and other which is comprised of services, wholesale and recently disposed non-core businesses delivered 5% growth. Services specifically were up 9% driven by ongoing strength in our vet hospitals, mobile clinics and grooming.

按類別細分，消耗品成長了 3%。用品和伴侶動物仍然疲軟，下降了 3%，但以百分比計算，環比提高了約 200 個基點。服務及其他業務（包括服務、批發和最近處置的非核心業務）實現了 5% 的成長。尤其是在我們的獸醫院、行動診所和美容服務持續強勁的推動下，服務成長了 9%。

Moving down the P&L, gross profit was $576 million, up 5% from prior year. Gross margin for the quarter was 38.1% up nearly 130 basis points from prior year driven by progress on product cost management and improvements in services gross margin. SG&A was $572 million increasing 2% year-over-year. As a percentage of sales SG&A rate was 37.8% up, nearly 40 basis points driven primarily by our planned step up in store labor in line with our expectations and reflecting our commitment to improving the in store customer experience.

從損益表來看，毛利為 5.76 億美元，比上年成長 5%。受產品成本管理進度和服務毛利率改善的推動，本季毛利率為 38.1%，較上年同期成長近 130 個基點。SG&A 為 5.72 億美元，年增 2%。SG&A 佔銷售額的百分比上升了 37.8%，成長了近 40 個基點，這主要是由於我們計劃增加店內勞動力，符合我們的預期，並反映了我們對改善店內客戶體驗的承諾。

We expect these increased SG&A costs to continue into the fourth quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was $81.2 million with an adjusted EBITDA margin rate of 5.4% up almost 60 basis points year-over-year. All in adjusted EPS was negative $0.02 compared to negative $0.05 per share in the prior year.

我們預計這些增加的銷售管理費用將持續到第四季。調整後 EBITDA 為 8,120 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 5.4%，較去年同期成長近 60 個基點。調整後每股收益為負 0.02 美元，而前一年為每股負 0.05 美元。

Turning to the balance sheet merchandise inventories were $690 million at the end of the third quarter as we effectively controlled our inventory, which along within stock rates are in excellent shape. Liquidity remains strong at $644 million inclusive of $117 million in cash and cash equivalents and $528 million of availability on a revolving credit facility.

轉向資產負債表，第三季末商品庫存為 6.9 億美元，因為我們有效地控制了庫存，並且庫存率狀況良好。流動性仍然強勁，為 6.44 億美元，其中包括 1.17 億美元的現金和現金等價物以及 5.28 億美元的循環信貸額度。

CapEx was down $31 million year-over-year for the quarter. Year-to-date down approximately $85 million year-over-year in line with our guidance to reduce CapEx in 2024. Free cash flow was negative $10 million, a meaningful improvement year-over-year supported by lower inventory levels achieved as part of our ongoing approach through disciplined inventory management, and we remain firmly on track to deliver positive free cash flow for fiscal 2024.

本季資本支出較去年同期下降 3,100 萬美元。根據我們減少 2024 年資本支出的指導，今年迄今年減約 8,500 萬美元。自由現金流為負1000 萬美元，這是我們透過嚴格的庫存管理持續實施的方法的一部分，實現了較低的庫存水平，從而實現了同比顯著改善，並且我們仍然堅定地致力於在2024 財年實現正的自由現金流。

Before moving on to guidance, let me address the recent announcement of potential tariffs on goods imported from China, Mexico and Canada. We have a few immaterial vendors where we source directly from Mexico and Canada, which we do not expect to impact us negatively.

在繼續指導之前，讓我先談談最近宣布的對從中國、墨西哥和加拿大進口的商品可能徵收關稅的消息。我們有一些無形的供應商，我們直接從墨西哥和加拿大採購，我們預計這不會對我們產生負面影響。

Regarding China relative to broader retail, we have a lower level of exposure to imported products and we believe the proposals as currently outlined would not be meaningful to our overall business. Specific to Petco Mexico, we do not source or import any products from them, rather they source their products primarily from the US with select products exported directly to them from Asia or sourced directly from suppliers based in Mexico. Petco, Mexico remains the clear market leader in pet specialty in Mexico and an important strategic partner for us continuing to drive long term profitable growth.

就中國而言，相對於更廣泛的零售業，我們對進口產品的接觸程度較低，我們認為目前概述的建議對我們的整體業務沒有意義。具體到 Petco Mexico，我們不從他們那裡採購或進口任何產品，而是他們主要從美國採購產品，並選擇從亞洲直接出口到他們或直接從墨西哥供應商採購的產品。墨西哥 Petco 仍然是墨西哥寵物專業領域的明顯市場領導者，也是我們繼續推動長期獲利成長的重要策略夥伴。

I'll now turn to outlook. As a reminder, Petco's fiscal 2023 fourth quarter and full year included an additional week. For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, we expect revenue of approximately $1.55 billion. Adjusted EBITDA between $90 million to $95 million, which is inclusive of a minimum of $10 million in third party consulting fees associated with our transformation effort. And adjusted EPS between $0 and $0.02.

我現在轉向展望。提醒一下，Petco 的 2023 財年第四季和全年包括額外的一周。我們預計 2024 財年第四季的營收約為 15.5 億美元。調整後的 EBITDA 在 9,000 萬美元至 9,500 萬美元之間，其中包括與我們轉型工作相關的至少 1,000 萬美元的第三方諮詢費。調整後每股收益在 0 美元到 0.02 美元之間。

Additionally, for the full year, we expect net interest expense of approximately $140 million inclusive of the estimated impacts of our hedges against the forward rate curve. $273 million weighted average fully diluted shares and $130 million of capital expenditures.

此外，我們預計全年淨利息支出約為 1.4 億美元，其中包括我們對遠期利率曲線對沖的估計影響。 2.73 億美元的加權平均完全稀釋股份和 1.3 億美元的資本支出。

Stepping back, we're encouraged by the structural improvement we're seeing throughout the business. The meaningful changes we've made in the first nine months of the year sets us up for a solid finish to 2024 as we build momentum heading into 2025.

退一步來說，我們對整個業務的結構性改善感到鼓舞。我們在今年前 9 個月做出的有意義的改變，為我們在邁向 2025 年積蓄動力的同時，為 2024 年畫下堅實的句號。

Thank you for your time. And with that, we'll be happy to take your questions.

感謝您抽出時間。因此，我們很樂意回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Kaumil Gajrawala, Jefferies.

考米爾·加吉拉瓦拉，傑弗里斯。

Hey, thank you. I guess the first question, you've made a lot of progress on the cost side. What would be a target, same store sales figure where, you could start levering off this newer cost base.

嘿，謝謝你。我想第一個問題，你們在成本方面取得了很大進展。目標是什麼，同店銷售數據，您可以開始利用這個新的成本基礎。

Yeah. Thank you for the question. I'll give you some of my thoughts and Brian, if you want to add anything. Look, I think our focus right now is, as you said, even in your question is about, taking costs out of our base permanently. It's a structural change that we want embedded in our DNA to drive accountability and transparency.

是的。謝謝你的提問。如果你想補充什麼，我會告訴你我的一些想法，布萊恩。聽著，我認為我們現在的重點是，正如你所說，即使在你的問題中，永久地降低我們基地的成本也是如此。我們希望將這種結構性變革融入我們的基因中，以推動問責制和透明度。

But as it relates to a longer term and the question you're asking, I think that's something that we should leave for March as we think about the longer term, a lot's going to change. Obviously, the number is much lower right now because we're so focused on the structural elements of costs that we think are permanent and not one time.

但由於它涉及更長期的情況和你所問的問題，我認為我們應該把這件事留到三月份，因為我們考慮更長期的情況，很多事情都會改變。顯然，現在這個數字要低得多，因為我們非常關注成本的結構性因素，我們認為這些因素是永久性的，而不是一次性的。

Yeah, I would just add to that. If you look at SG&A, we've talked for two, three quarters in a row now about sort of step up in labor investments that we needed to make to improve the in store customer experience. We've done that. We've seen that actually manifest in an improved customers experience in the stores. Simultaneously, we have taken cost out of the SG&A structure through some G&A actions as well as making sure that we reduce the tasks in store, simplifying the experience for our GMs and partners in the store and again improving that customer experience.

是的，我只想補充一點。如果你看看SG&A，我們已經連續兩三個季度討論如何增加勞動力投資，以改善店內客戶體驗。我們已經做到了。我們已經看到，這實際上體現在商店中客戶體驗的改善。同時，我們透過一些 G&A 行動降低了 SG&A 結構的成本，並確保減少店內任務，簡化店內總經理和合作夥伴的體驗，並再次改善客戶體驗。

Okay, great. And --

好的，太好了。和--

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Steven Shemesh, RBC Capital Markets.

史蒂文‧謝梅什（Steven Shemesh），加拿大皇家銀行資本市場部。

Great, good evening. And thank you for taking my question. I wanted to ask on supplies and companion animals and the more discretionary segment. So still negative, but the underlying trend is improving there, wondering if you can elaborate on that if that's just that all sub segments generally just doing better or if there's any insight to glean from specific sub segments?

太好了，晚上好。感謝您提出我的問題。我想詢問供應品和伴侶動物以及更自由的部分。所以仍然是負面的，但潛在的趨勢正在改善，想知道您是否可以詳細說明，是否只是所有子細分市場總體上都做得更好，或者是否有任何從特定子細分市場中收集的見解？

Yeah. Look, I think you're asking about discretionary. I think it's more important to think about Petco in the broader business, which -- as I look at it is really two pronged. We have a huge consumables business and that's really all about being in stock. And that's where a large focus is -- of ours has been, we just implemented a new inventory management system.

是的。聽著，我認為你問的是自由裁量權。我認為更重要的是要在更廣泛的業務中考慮 Petco，在我看來，這實際上是兩個方面的。我們擁有龐大的消耗品業務，而這實際上取決於庫存。這就是我們一直關注的重點，我們剛剛實施了一個新的庫存管理系統。

We're improving shelf utilization and then as it relates to discretionary, you're right, we've seen a 200 basis points sequential improvement. But discretionary is really all about innovation, newness being trend, right, and really driving impulse buying. We'll continue to get better at that, but we're really focused on both sides of the business and getting them right.

我們正在提高貨架利用率，因為它與可自由支配的商品相關，你是對的，我們已經看到了 200 個基點的連續改進。但自由裁量其實就是創新，新穎是趨勢，對的，並且真正推動衝動購買。我們將繼續在這方面做得更好，但我們真正專注於業務的雙方並讓它們正確。

Got it. Helpful. Thank you. And maybe just as a follow up, one of one of your competitors has been talking for a few quarters now on adoption, trending in the right direction, curious if that aligns with what you guys are seeing in the market, I know that the data for adoptions is pretty spotty. And if not, has it stabilized? What are you looking for to maybe get ahead of an inflection there?

知道了。有幫助。謝謝。也許作為後續行動，您的一位競爭對手已經談論了幾個季度的採用情況，趨勢是正確的，很好奇這是否與您在市場上看到的相符，我知道數據收養情況參差不齊。如果沒有，它穩定了嗎？您正在尋找什麼來避免出現轉折點？

Yeah, look, I think everybody is looking at it a little bit differently, the market it is rather flat is what we're seeing. But, as it relate to Petco in the short term. And by that, I mean, throughout 2025 we're really in a self-help situation and that we don't have to rely on the market getting better in order for our business to get better. And so look, if the market improves, like you're talking about, that's just icing on the cake and makes us even stronger. We're really focused on what's in it, in our control and we don't need the industry success to drive near term operational and profit improvement. The market growth upside as I said.

是的，我認為每個人的看法都有點不同，我們所看到的市場相當平坦。但是，短期內與 Petco 相關。我的意思是，整個 2025 年我們確實處於自助狀態，我們不必依賴市場好轉來讓我們的業務好轉。所以，如果市場好轉，就像你所說的那樣，那隻是錦上添花，讓我們變得更強大。我們真正關注的是其中的內容，在我們的控制範圍內，我們不需要產業的成功來推動近期營運和利潤的改善。正如我所說，市場成長向上。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Got it.

知道了。

Seth Basham, Wedbush Securities.

塞思‧巴沙姆 (Seth Basham)，韋德布希證券公司。

Hi, this is Matt McCartney on for Seth Basham. Just wondering if you could talk about the pricing impact in the quarter, whether it was positive or negative and how we should think about pricing going forward as you tweak your product mix.

大家好，我是塞思·巴沙姆的馬特·麥卡尼。只是想知道您是否可以談談本季的定價影響，是正面的還是負面的，以及在調整產品組合時我們應該如何考慮未來的定價。

Yeah, thanks for the question. We don't typically talk about the impact of pricing. I will tell you that the overall environment -- I'll comment on the overall environment has been rational both from a pricing standpoint and a promotional environment.

是的，謝謝你的提問。我們通常不會談論定價的影響。我會告訴你，整體環境——我會評論整體環境，從定價角度和促銷環境來看都是理性的。

Great. Thanks. I was just wondering then if you could talk about the services margin and what drove the improvement there this quarter?

偉大的。謝謝。我只是想知道您是否可以談談服務利潤率以及是什麼推動了本季的改善？

Yeah, a couple things. First, I'll talk in overall gross margin if you look at our gross margin improvement year-over-year of 130 basis points, that was with mix going against us. So, although supplies and CA was down 3% versus 5% last quarter, it was still a negative mix year-over-year, the two biggest drivers of the gross margin improvement for the company were number one, our cost actions taking hold and seeing improvement throughout the cost ecosystem.

是的，有幾件事。首先，我將談談整體毛利率，如果你看看我們的毛利率比去年同期提高了 130 個基點，那是在混合因素對我們不利的情況下。因此，儘管供應量和 CA 比上季度的 5% 下降了 3%，但同比仍然是負組合，公司毛利率改善的兩個最大驅動因素是第一，我們的成本行動和看到整個成本生態系統的改善。

Number two was that services gross margin improvement that you talked about. And that's a function of a number of things. First and foremost, would be maturation of the vat hospitals and all the great work that the team is doing there going hospital by hospital. And as Joel indicated in his prepared remarks, we believe we have ample opportunity to improve the profitability of the existing best fleet.

第二是你談到的服務毛利率的增加。這是多種因素的作用。首先也是最重要的是，增值稅醫院的成熟以及團隊在逐家醫院所做的​​所有偉大工作。正如喬爾在他準備好的演講中指出的那樣，我們相信我們有充足的機會來提高現有最佳機隊的盈利能力。

Second would be the continuation of strength in our Vetco mobile business, so Vetco mobile is all a -- it's a volume and utilization business and we continue to actually increase the top line in that business. And with that drags along incremental margin improvement and then the grooming business also remains strong for us.

其次是我們的 Vetco 行動業務的實力持續增強，因此 Vetco 行動業務是一個數量和利用率業務，我們將繼續實際增加該業務的收入。隨之而來的是利潤率的逐步提高，美容業務對我們來說也仍然保持強勁。

Great. Thank you. I'll pass it along.

偉大的。謝謝。我會把它傳遞下去。

Thanks Matt.

謝謝馬特。

Michael Lasser, UBS.

麥可拉瑟，瑞銀集團。

Good evening. Thank you so much for taking my question. So Joe, it seems like your initial priority is to come in custom cost focused on retail fundamentals. So A, how much of an opportunity for savings is there? If you could size that, that would be great.

晚安.非常感謝您回答我的問題。所以喬，看來您的首要任務是專注於零售基本面的客製化成本。那麼A，有多少儲蓄的機會呢？如果你能確定這個尺寸，那就太好了。

And B, how much are you of that? Are you going to have to reinvest in the business to drive sustainable same store sales growth? Because as we know, this is a very competitive market with some reinvigorated players who are all looking to address the addressable market here. Thank you.

B，你對此有多少錢？您是否需要對業務進行再投資以推動可持續的同店銷售成長？因為據我們所知，這是一個競爭非常激烈的市場，一些重新煥發活力的參與者都在尋求解決這裡的潛在市場問題。謝謝。

Hey, thanks Michael and good to hear your voice. Look, I think at the phase we're at right now, Michael, none of what we're taking out at this point in time is stuff that we see, we need to reinvest. We think we still have significant more cost out opportunities. And as we get down to that second wave of stuff, certainly, that's when we'll start to look at things to reinvest, like, more marketing to drive top line growth. But at this point in time, our real focus right now is about, taking costs out of the business. That's not just one time in nature that has to be reinvested in the business, but it's a permanent cost out. And that's kind of how we're thinking about it, Michael.

嘿，謝謝邁克爾，很高興聽到你的聲音。聽著，我認為在我們現在所處的階段，邁克爾，我們目前所採取的一切都不是我們看到的、我們需要再投資的東西。我們認為我們仍然有更多的成本削減機會。當然，當我們開始著手第二波工作時，我們將開始考慮進行再投資，例如進行更多行銷以推動收入成長。但目前，我們真正的重點是降低業務成本。這不僅是一次需要對業務進行再投資的事情，而且是一項永久性的成本支出。這就是我們的想法，麥可。

All right, thanks Michael.

好的，謝謝麥可。

Steven Zaccone, Citi.

史蒂文·扎科內，花旗銀行。

Hi, this is Ariana on for Steve. Thank you for taking our question. My first question is, how is the business trended thus far in 4Q? And are there any call outs for holiday performance relative to the implied 4Q outlook for revenue growth?

大家好，我是史蒂夫的阿麗亞娜。感謝您提出我們的問題。我的第一個問題是，到目前為止，第四季的業務趨勢如何？相對於隱含的第四季營收成長前景，假期表現是否有任何需要注意的地方？

Look, I'm not going to get into kind of inner quarter trends and stuff. I mean, that's clearly reflected in our guide. We're pleased with the start of the quarter and you can see by the guide, the sequential improvement from Q3, is a nice improvement. And so that's kind of where we're tracking for now and I think we've got momentum going into the back half of the quarter here.

聽著，我不會討論季度內的趨勢之類的東西。我的意思是，這清楚地反映在我們的指南中。我們對本季的開始感到滿意，您可以透過指南看到，與第三季相比的連續改進是一個很好的改進。這就是我們目前正在追蹤的情況，我認為我們在本季後半段有動力。

Thank you. And then my follow up is, how do you think about the ability to regain market share in 2025 and in the medium term, like aside from better growth in the category, what you see is the specific drivers to have customers re engage with Petco.

謝謝。然後我的後續問題是，您如何看待 2025 年和中期內重新獲得市場份額的能力，除了該類別的更好增長之外，您看到的是讓客戶重新與 Petco 互動的具體驅動因素。

Well, look, I hopefully, what you took away from my remarks is that I'm more bullish than ever on my decision to join Petco. The passion I saw from our associates, the way everybody here has just embraced us in turning this business around and getting back to retail disciplines. Certainly then sets us up for growth in '25 and beyond. And as far as specific numbers and everything, we'll outlay that for you as we get into March and next year. But hopefully you sense in my tone in my prepared remarks, how excited I am and the progress we've made in an extremely short period of time.

好吧，我希望你從我的言論中了解到的是，我比以往任何時候都更加看好我加入 Petco 的決定。我從我們的同事身上看到了熱情，這裡的每個人都支持我們扭轉業務並回歸零售紀律。當然，這將為我們在 25 年及以後的成長做好準備。至於具體的數字和一切，我們將在進入三月和明年時為您支出。但希望您能從我準備好的發言中的語氣中感受到我是多麼興奮以及我們在極短的時間內取得的進展。

Thanks Ariana.

謝謝阿麗亞娜。

Steve Forbes, Guggenheim.

史蒂夫·福布斯，古根漢。

Hey guys, this is Julio Marquez on for Steve Forbes. I wanted to touch on the vet hospitals an opportunity for efficiency enhancements. I think you mentioned, in a need for full time staffing, maybe some improvement on the merchandizing side. So any color you can provide there on staffing and merchandizing and maybe the anticipated to lift and finally any way to contextualize, maybe the end state margin for the vet clinics and I guess maybe the scaling to get there. Thank you.

大家好，我是史蒂夫·福布斯的胡里奧·馬爾克斯。我想為獸醫醫院提供一個提高效率的機會。我想你提到過，需要全職人員，也許在銷售方面需要一些改進。因此，您可以在人員配置和商品推銷方面提供任何顏色，也許是預期的提升，最後是任何與背景相關的方式，也許是獸醫診所的最終狀態利潤，我想也許是達到目標的規模。謝謝。

Yeah, if I heard you right, your question was about the hospitals. Look, we've made a lot of progress this year, Steven who joined us earlier this year and leads our hospital operations team has just done a great job of delivering better profitability, helping us invest better in terms of staffing, utilization rates, etcetera, etcetera.

是的，如果我沒聽錯的話，你的問題是關於醫院的。看，我們今年取得了很大的進步，今年早些時候加入我們並領導我們醫院運營團隊的史蒂文在提供更好的盈利能力方面做得很好，幫助我們在人員配置、利用率等方面更好地投資，等等。

So, the progress we're making there is fantastic and it certainly resulted in sales continuing to grow. I mean, our hospitals and Vetco were up 17% this last quarter and really pleased the progress we're making with, hospitals and vets overall.

因此，我們在那裡取得的進展是驚人的，這無疑導致了銷售額的持續成長。我的意思是，我們的醫院和 Vetco 上個季度增長了 17%，我們對醫院和獸醫整體取得的進展感到非常滿意。

Is there a second part to that question, I missed on there.

這個問題還有第二部分嗎，我錯過了。

Maybe on the merchandizing opportunities there. And just if -- how you guys are thinking about like the end state margin for the bad hospital business and maybe, the scaling to get there. Is it more like intermediate kind of thing or long term kind of thing?

也許是那裡的推銷機會。假設——你們如何考慮糟糕的醫院業務的最終狀態利潤率，以及實現這一目標的規模。它更像是中期的事情還是長期的事情？

Yeah. Look, I think on the merchandizing piece, it's us getting better at [RX]. It's us getting better at connecting our vets back into the stores and the grooming and the recommendations there, our product that's something we're just still in our infancy on and we can get better. As far as the ultimate goal on margins, there's just still so much improvement there that we're no nowhere close to the peak there of what the ultimate margin is. Our hospitals are rather still in their infancy and we'll continue to improve as our utilization rates go up.

是的。聽著，我認為在商品行銷方面，我們越來越擅長[接收]。我們在將獸醫與商店、美容和推薦聯繫起來方面做得越來越好，我們的產品還處於起步階段，我們可以做得更好。就利潤率的最終目標而言，仍有很大的改進，我們距離最終利潤率的峰值還差得很遠。我們的醫院仍處於起步階段，隨著利用率的提高，我們將繼續改進。

Thank you.

謝謝。

You bet.

你打賭。

Zach Fadem, Wells Fargo.

札克法德姆，富國銀行。

Hey guys, this is David Lance on for Zach. Thanks for taking our questions. So I guess how should we think about the potential glide path of gross margin improvement from here? And is there any color you can provide around Q4 outside of lapping the 130 basis points inventory write down.

大家好，我是札克的大衛·蘭斯。感謝您回答我們的問題。所以我想我們應該如何思考毛利率改善的潛在下滑路徑？除了 130 個基點的庫存減記之外，您還可以在第四季度左右提供任何顏色嗎？

Thanks for your question. We're not going to get into guiding for the rest of the year on gross margin. I will tell you we're encouraged by what we saw in Q3. As I mentioned earlier, there were two fundamental drivers in the improvement year-over-year. Number one was the cost actions beginning to take hold. Number two was the improvement in the services business. And again, that's with mix going against us. So we are starting to see those actions take hold. Joe talked about those being not one time in nature but being fundamental to our D&A and how we operate and run the company. So beyond that though, we're not going to give anything forward.

謝謝你的提問。我們不會對今年剩餘時間的毛利率進行指導。我會告訴你，我們對第三季的情況感到鼓舞。正如我之前提到的，同比改善有兩個基本驅動因素。第一個是成本行動開始生效。第二是服務業的改善。再說一遍，混合對我們不利。因此，我們開始看到這些行動得以落實。喬談到，這些本質上不是一次性的，而是我們的 D&A 以及我們如何經營和經營公司的基礎。除此之外，我們不會提供任何進展。

Got it. Okay. That's helpful. And then --

知道了。好的。這很有幫助。進而--

Sorry, go ahead.

抱歉，請繼續。

No, go ahead, David.

不，繼續吧，大衛。

Okay. Can you talk about the 3% decline in services and companion animal in the context of the broader market?

好的。能談談大盤背景下服務和伴侶動物3%的下降嗎？

I would contextualize it this way. Just as we said earlier, we're in self-help mode here and when we think about the market, we're not passively waiting for the market to recover and supplies and companion animal. We're taking actions. Part of the cost actions are in those two categories. The assortment actions are in those two categories and we see a lot of room for improvement for us regardless of how the market performs overall.

我會這樣結合上下文。正如我們之前所說，我們處於自助模式，當我們考慮市場時，我們並不是被動地等待市場復甦並供應和伴侶動物。我們正在採取行動。部分成本行動屬於這兩類。分類行動屬於這兩類，無論市場整體表現如何，我們都看到很大的進步空間。

Got it. Thank you.

知道了。謝謝。

Simeon Gutman, Morgan Stanley.

西蒙古特曼，摩根士丹利。

Hi, this is Lauren Ng on for Simeon Gutman. We wanted to ask about the consumables improvement in Q3. Just curious to know if this was ticket driven. Are you seeing new pet owners or customers coming to Petco? Just any color on the improvement there? Thank you.

大家好，我是西蒙古特曼的勞倫吳。我們想詢問第三季耗材的改進情況。只是想知道這是否是票驅動的。您是否看到新的寵物主人或顧客來到 Petco？只是有什麼顏色上的改進嗎？謝謝。

Yeah, look, consumer was something I talked about a couple of questions ago and that business, is all about being in stock. And I think it's a combination of our new inventory management system that's now fully in place in Q3, it's about the teams getting better at flowing inventory, better shelf utilization and then just being priced competitively. So all those actions we're taking are starting to show up in better sales and that's what you saw start to happen in Q3.

是的，你看，消費者是我之前討論過的幾個問題，而這個業務就是有庫存。我認為這是我們新的庫存管理系統的結合，該系統現在已在第三季度完全到位，它是關於團隊更好地流動庫存，更好的貨架利用率，然後只是具有競爭力的定價。因此，我們正在採取的所有這些行動都開始在更好的銷售中顯現出來，這就是您在第三季度看到的開始發生的情況。

I would just add one thing to that and that's fresh frozen continues to be really strong for us. That was up 20% year-over-year in the quarter. So that continues to be strong.

我只想補充一件事，那就是新鮮冷凍對我們來說仍然非常強大。該季度年增 20%。所以這仍然很強勁。

Great. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝。

Thanks Lauren.

謝謝勞倫。

Kendall Toscano, Bank of America.

肯德爾·托斯卡諾，美國銀行。

Hi, thanks for taking my question. I just wanted to go back to you, you talked before about opportunities in merchandizing and negotiating better terms from your suppliers and it may still be early but just curious if there's any update on what the response has been from vendors and how receptive they've been to your efforts there. Thanks.

您好，感謝您提出我的問題。我只是想回覆您，您之前談到了銷售機會以及與供應商談判更好條款的機會，可能還為時過早，但我只是好奇供應商的反應是否有任何更新以及他們的接受程度如何去過你在那裡的努力。謝謝。

Yeah, thanks for the question, Kendall. Look, I actually think I commented on specifically in my prepared remarks, the discussions with our vendors have been really well received. I personally have met with some of our merch vendor partners myself. And the key to all that is transparency and openness and talking to them about what they need as much as what we need. We've had just really successful discussions there as we build our joint business plans for 2025. And I'm really pleased with the progress our merchant teams have done.

是的，謝謝你的提問，肯德爾。看，我實際上認為我在準備好的發言中具體評論了，與我們供應商的討論非常受歡迎。我親自會見了我們的一些商品供應商合作夥伴。所有這一切的關鍵是透明度和開放性，並與他們討論他們的需求以及我們的需求。我們剛剛在那裡進行了非常成功的討論，並制定了 2025 年的聯合業務計劃。我對我們的商人團隊的進展感到非常滿意。

Got it. Thanks for the help there. Another question I had was just on an another one that may still be early to ask, but curious if there's any update on the vet hospitals and when you're thinking about potentially returning to rolling those out, since you're kind of positive for this year in the foreseeable future. Curious on the timeline of that.

知道了。感謝那裡的幫助。我的另一個問題只是關於另一個問題，這個問題可能還為時過早，但很好奇獸醫院是否有任何更新，以及當您考慮可能返回推出這些更新時，因為您對今年，在可預見的未來。很好奇這件事的時間表。

Yeah, the vet hospitals are a key growth driver for us and they're also a key differentiator for us as all our vet hospitals are Petco owned. As far as what the specific growth for next year will be, we'll lay that out for you in detail as we get into March. But we do expect that to continue to be a growth driver for us.

是的，獸醫醫院是我們的關鍵成長動力，也是我們的關鍵差異化因素，因為我們所有的獸醫院都是 Petco 擁有。至於明年的具體成長是多少，我們將在三月為您詳細介紹。但我們確實預計這將繼續成為我們的成長動力。

And I would just add Kendall the decision to open a handful this year was not because that's not strategic, not because we don't believe it's a short, medium and long term opportunity. There's may because we wanted to make sure we continue to strengthen our balance sheet, generate free cash flow and get the company back in the position of strength so that we can invest in those high ROI projects going forward.

我想補充一點，肯德爾今年決定開設幾家並不是因為這不具戰略意義，也不是因為我們不認為這是一個短期、中期和長期的機會。可能是因為我們希望確保繼續加強我們的資產負債表，產生自由現金流並使公司重新處於強勢地位，以便我們可以投資於未來的高投資回報率項目。

This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Lisa Stark for any closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回麗莎·斯塔克（Lisa Stark）發表閉幕詞。

Thank you for your time and for your question. That concludes today's earnings call. Thank you.

感謝您抽出時間並提出問題。今天的財報電話會議到此結束。謝謝。

The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連線。