World Acceptance Corp (WRLD) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to World Acceptance Corporation's third quarter 2025 earnings conference call. This call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) Before we begin, the corporation has requested that I make the following announcement.

早安，歡迎參加 World Acceptance Corporation 2025 年第三季財報電話會議。本次通話正在錄音。（操作員指示）在我們開始之前，公司要求我發表以下公告。

The comments made during this conference call may contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that represent the corporation's expectations and beliefs concerning future events. Such forward-looking statements are about matters that are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties.

本次電話會議中的評論可能包含《1934 年證券交易法》第 21E 條規定範圍內的某些前瞻性陳述，這些陳述代表了公司對未來事件的預期和信念。此類前瞻性陳述涉及本質上受風險和不確定性影響的事項。

Statements other than those of historical fact as well as those identified by the words anticipate, estimate, intend, plan, expect, believe, may, will and should or any variation of the foregoing and similar expressions are forward-looking statements.

除歷史事實之外的陳述以及預期、估計、打算、計劃、期望、相信、可能、將和應該或前述詞語的任何變體和類似表達所標識的陳述都是前瞻性陳述。

Additional information regarding forward-looking statements and any factors that could cause actual results or performance to differ from the expectations expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements are included in the paragraph discussing forward-looking statements in today's earnings press release and in the Risk Factors section of the corporation's most recent Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024, and subsequent reports filed with or furnished to the SEC from time to time. The corporation does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements it makes.

有關前瞻性陳述的更多資訊以及可能導致實際結果或業績與此類前瞻性陳述中表達或暗示的預期不同的任何因素，均包含在今天的收益新聞稿中討論前瞻性陳述的段落中以及公司最新的截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日的財政年度的 10-K 表的風險因素部分，以及隨後不時向 SEC 提交或提供的報告中。該公司不承擔更新其所作出的任何前瞻性陳述的義務。

At this time, it is my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Chad Prashad, President and Chief Executive Officer.

現在，我很高興將發言權交給主持人、總裁兼執行長 Chad Prashad。

Good morning. Thank you for joining our fiscal 2025 third-quarter earnings call. Before we open up to questions, there are a few areas I'd like to highlight. We're excited about the results we're seeing throughout the portfolio after a few years of rightsizing and derisking.

早安.感謝您參加我們的 2025 財年第三季財報電話會議。在我們開始提問之前，我想強調幾個面向。經過幾年的調整規模和降低風險後，我們對整個投資組合所取得的成果感到非常興奮。

Notably, yields have improved by over 200 basis points year-over-year. Portfolio growth in the third quarter returned to pre-pandemic norms. The loan portfolio itself continues to perform well as first-pay default rates remain low even as we've increased our growth over the last several quarters. And finally, our portfolio has returned to essentially the same size year-over-year after shrinking 10% year-over-year at the end of the third quarter last year as well as shrinking three of the last four years year-to-date.

值得注意的是，收益率年增了200多個基點。第三季的投資組合成長恢復至疫情前的水準。儘管我們在過去幾季中實現了成長，但貸款組合本身仍繼續表現良好，因為首次付款違約率仍然保持在低點。最後，我們的投資組合在去年第三季末同比縮水 10%，並且今年迄今四年中已有三年縮水，但目前已恢復到同比基本相同的規模。

Our customer base has actually increased by 4% year-over-year compared to shrinking 2.2% for the 12 months ending December of 2024 and shrinking 14% for the same period of fiscal '23. All of these results show a stabilized portfolio with both higher credit quality and higher yields as we're poised to steadily grow in fiscal '26.

我們的客戶群實際上同比增長了 4%，而截至 2024 年 12 月的 12 個月內則縮減了 2.2%，23 財年同期則縮減了 14%。所有這些結果都表明，我們的投資組合趨於穩定，信貸品質和收益率都更高，我們準備在26財年實現穩步成長。

During the third quarter of '25, we grew the portfolio by 6.6% compared to 1.5% during the third quarter of fiscal '24, and shrinking 2.8% in fiscal '23. For the customer base, we experienced 7% growth in our customer base during the third quarter which compares to 3% during the third quarter of the prior year as well as an average of 6.3% customer base growth pre-pandemic.

在25財年第三季度，我們的投資組合成長了6.6%，而24財年第三季的成長率為1.5%，23財年則萎縮了2.8%。就客戶群而言，我們的客戶群在第三季成長了 7%，而去年同期的成長率為 3%，而疫情前的客戶群平均成長率為 6.3%。

We work diligently to regrow our customer base with higher credit quality customers while decreasing our overall average balance to ensure the right risk/reward profile across our customer base and to improve our yields and long-term customer profitability. Year-over-year, our average balance has decreased by almost 5.1% from December 31, 2023, and by 12.6% from December 31, 2022.

我們努力透過更高信用品質的客戶來重新擴大我們的客戶群，同時降低我們的整體平均餘額，以確保我們整個客戶群的正確風險/回報狀況，並提高我們的收益率和長期客戶獲利能力。與去年同期相比，我們的平均餘額較 2023 年 12 月 31 日下降了近 5.1%，較 2022 年 12 月 31 日下降了 12.6%。

Our yields have improved notably for the entire portfolio, driven by an improvement in yields for both our non-refinance customers as well as now, including our refinance customers. Our non-refinance volume has rebounded during the third quarter with over 18% more loans made during the third quarter compared to fiscal '24 and 53% more compared to fiscal '23.

我們整個投資組合的收益率顯著提高，這得益於我們的非再融資客戶以及現在的再融資客戶收益率的提高。我們的非再融資量在第三季有所反彈，與 24 財年相比，第三季的貸款增加了 18% 以上，與 23 財年相比增加了 53%。

All this growth comes with marked improvement in yield as well as stable early performance indicators for credit quality. For new customers, marketing and acquisition channel adjustments continue to show increased quality and applications. Our approval rates for new customers has improved dramatically. The third quarter approval rates increased by 47% compared to the same period of fiscal '24 by 80% compared to the same period of fiscal '23, all again while maintaining low first payment default rates and improving our gross yields.

所有這些成長都伴隨著收益率的顯著提高以及信貸品質早期績效指標的穩定。對於新客戶，行銷和收購管道的調整繼續顯示出品質和應用的提高。我們對新客戶的認可率大幅提高。第三季的批准率與 24 財年同期相比增加了 47%，與 23 財年同期相比增加了 80%，同時保持了較低的首次付款違約率並提高了我們的毛收益率。

With these shifts in the portfolio makeup and the weighting continuing into this current calendar year, we expect to see yields and delinquency trends continue to convert into the same revenue and income trends that we've already seen so far this year as well as into fiscal '26. We do continue to see an opportunity to improve our delinquency and charge-off rates, especially related to a large loan portfolio, part of -- which stems from our outsized investments into large loans made during fiscal years '21 and '22.

隨著投資組合組成和權重的這些變化持續到今年，我們預計收益率和拖欠趨勢將繼續轉變為我們今年迄今為止以及26財年已經看到的相同收入和收益趨勢。我們確實繼續看到了改善拖欠率和核銷率的機會，尤其是與大型貸款組合相關的機會，這部分源於我們在 21 和 22 財年對大型貸款的巨額投資。

Finally, in closing, we have an absolutely amazing team, and I'm very grateful to their commitment to our customers and to each other. They are helping our customers every day to establish credit, rebuild credit as well as meeting and immediate financial needs.

最後，我們擁有一支非常出色的團隊，我非常感謝他們對我們的客戶和彼此的承諾。他們每天都在幫助我們的客戶建立信用、重建信用以及滿足即時的財務需求。

At this time, Johnny Calmes, our Chief Financial and Strategy Officer, and I would like to open up to any questions you have.

現在，我們的財務和策略長約翰尼·卡爾姆斯 (Johnny Calmes) 和我願意回答你們的任何問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指令）

Kyle Joseph, Stephens.

凱爾約瑟夫、史蒂芬斯。

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Just thinking about growth versus credit quality in the macro environment, obviously, inflation is lingering and there is still good loan demand, but it really sounds like a lot of your kind of return to growth has been driven by new customers. Is that fair? And then going forward, is this kind of the type of environment where you can see sustaining portfolio quality while also growing the portfolio?

嘿，早安。感謝您回答我的問題。僅考慮宏觀環境下的成長與信貸質量，顯然通貨膨脹依然存在，並且貸款需求仍然良好，但聽起來你們的成長回報很大程度上是由新客戶推動的。這樣公平嗎？那麼展望未來，在這種環境下，您是否能夠看到投資組合品質的維持和投資組合的成長？

Yeah. Good morning, Kyle. So a lot of our growth has been from non-refinance customers, so that includes our former customer base as well. While we have increased our approval rates and overall booking rates of our new customers, they still remain, I would say, within the normal range from a historic perspective.

是的。早安，凱爾。因此，我們的很大一部分成長來自非再融資客戶，這也包括我們以前的客戶群。雖然我們提高了新客戶的批准率和整體預訂率，但從歷史角度來看，我認為它們仍然在正常範圍內。

Over time, over the last year or two, we've really focused in on attracting former customers to return to us as well as increasing the retention of our current customers. So to that point, from a risk perspective in the current macro environment, we're not anymore weighted towards new customers now than we have been in the past, pre-pandemic especially.

隨著時間的推移，在過去的一兩年裡，我們真正專注於吸引以前的客戶回頭客，以及提高現有客戶的保留率。因此，從當前宏觀環境下的風險角度來看，我們現在不再比過去（尤其是在疫情之前）更重視新客戶。

We're certainly less weighted towards new customers today than we were from 2018 on through like 2021 or so. In terms of credit quality in the macroeconomic environment, we've moved and shifted toward smaller loans over the last two to three years than we were doing in fiscal '21 and fiscal '22, which allows us a little more flexibility and how we're underwriting and the type of loan products that we are setting our customers with to make sure that we can recognize the product matches, the risk of the customers, especially with new customers.

與 2018 年至 2021 年左右相比，我們現在對新客戶的重視程度肯定有所降低。就宏觀經濟環境中的信貸品質而言，與21財年和22財年相比，我們在過去兩到三年內已經轉向小額貸款，這使我們在承保方式和為客戶提供的貸款產品類型方面擁有更大的靈活性，以確保我們能夠識別產品匹配度、客戶風險，尤其是新客戶的風險。

So in this environment, I don't anticipate unemployment to move up dramatically or even on the inflation side to see any real additional demands on our customers' pocketbooks that would have any real significant change in the way that we expect them to be able to repay their loans. So I don't really anticipate anything in the short term to have any significant impacts negatively.

因此，在這種環境下，我預計失業率不會大幅上升，甚至通貨膨脹也不會上升，從而不會對我們客戶的錢包產生任何真正的額外需求，也不會對我們預期的他們償還貸款的方式產生任何真正的重大變化。因此我並不認為短期內會發生任何重大的負面影響。

Got it. I think it's a good segue to, yeah, on the portfolio yield, you highlighted, I think, a 200-basis point improvement. Is that a function of mix? Is that a function of credit quality and kind of give us a sense for -- do you see that being stable going forward at the new base level?

知道了。我認為這是一個很好的過渡，是的，就投資組合收益率而言，我認為您強調了 200 個基點的改善。這是混合的功能嗎？這是信用質量的函數嗎？它能給我們一種感覺嗎—您是否認為它在新的基準水平上會保持穩定？

Yes. I'll take that. It's primarily mix, right? So you can see that our large loan portfolio as a percent of the mix has shrunk to 48.2%, where it was 55.2% last year. So year-over-year, our large loans have shrunk close to 14%, while our small loans have grown close to 14%. So that's the largest part of it. But yeah, certainly, credit quality will have a part in that as well. Yes, we're not accruing interest on our nonperforming loans. So that does help us well.

是的。我接受。它主要是混合的，對嗎？所以你可以看到，我們的大型貸款組合佔貸款組合的百分比已縮減至 48.2%，而去年是 55.2%。因此，與去年同期相比，我們的大額貸款縮減了近 14%，而小額貸款增加了近 14%。這是其中最大的部分。但是，信用品質當然也會起到一定作用。是的，我們沒有對不良貸款提列利息。這確實對我們很有幫助。

Very helpful. Thanks. And then one last one for me, just given where we are in the quarter. Any insight you guys have on tax refunds, how you're thinking about this season in terms of timing and magnitude versus last year?

非常有幫助。謝謝。對我來說還有最後一個問題，考慮到我們本季的狀況。你們對退稅有什麼見解？與去年相比，今年的退稅時間和幅度如何？

Yeah. I mean I think it's still a little too early to tell. I think we're off to a good tax season. We've made a number of operational changes over the last couple of years that have really taken hold and taken root in our branches throughout the country. So kudos to our operators, I think they've done a wonderful job there. From a marketing perspective, same thing.

是的。我的意思是，我認為現在說這個還為時過早。我認為我們即將迎來一個好的報稅季節。過去幾年來，我們進行了許多營運變革，這些變革已在全國各地的分支機構中真正紮根。所以，我們要向我們的操作員表示敬意，我認為他們做得非常出色。從行銷角度來看，也是一樣的。

So I think we've seen early signs are at least the same or increased customer demand or interest in the product with us. But it's still -- it's early. We haven't quite hit our biggest weeks yet that we normally file, which will be this week into the first couple of weeks of February. So I would say it's early to tell, but we're cautiously optimistic.

因此我認為我們已經看到的早期跡象至少是客戶對我們的產品的需求或興趣相同或增加。但現在還為時過早。我們還沒有到達通常提交的最大周，也就是本周到二月的頭幾週。因此我想說現在下結論還為時過早，但我們持謹慎樂觀的態度。

Great. Thank you very much for answering my questions.

偉大的。非常感謝您回答我的問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指令）

John Rowan, Janney.

約翰羅文、詹尼。

Good morning, guys. So it feels like you guys you're obviously kind of reembracing the small loan portfolio, kind of the history of the company. I'm curious, I mean, are you guys marketing to customers that I want to say jettison, but we're not really the core focus as you're growing the large loan portfolio. Are you going back to former customers? Are you marketing to them? And what are you marketing to them?

大家早安。所以感覺你們顯然正在重新擁抱小額貸款組合，這有點像公司的歷史。我很好奇，我的意思是，你們是否在向那些我想說拋棄的客戶進行行銷，但隨著你們擴大大型貸款組合，我們並不是真正的核心焦點。您會回到以前的客戶那裡嗎？你在向他們行銷嗎？您向他們推銷什麼？

Is it the same economics that we grew to know in the history of the company, meaning the yields, the periods in which you market or refinance and then also the typical refinancing rates that the company has had for 20 or so years. I'm just curious if you're basically remarketing the same small loan product to the same customers that may have left the company during the growth of the large portfolio growth?

這是否與我們在公司歷史上了解到的經濟狀況相同，即收益率、行銷或再融資的期間以及公司 20 年左右的典型再融資利率。我只是好奇，您是否基本上向那些在投資組合大規模成長期間可能離開公司的相同客戶重新行銷相同的小額貸款產品？

Yeah. Good morning, John, great question. So there's a little bit of, yes, there's a lot of, no, to that answer. So we are moving back to our smaller loan customers, not quite as small on the whole, as you would have seen pre-2020.

是的。早安，約翰，這個問題問得很好。因此，對於這個問題的答案，有一點是肯定的，但有很多不是。因此，我們正在重新轉向小額貸款客戶，但總體而言，貸款規模並不像 2020 年之前那麼小。

To give you some context, leading up to 2020, our average new non-refinance customer was seeking around a $650 loan. Today, that's closer to around $800 to $850, which is still down a good bit from the $1,100, $1,150 that we were lending back in calendar '22 and part of '21. So while we've come back down, it's still not as low as it used to be.

為了給您一些背景信息，截至 2020 年，我們的平均新非再融資客戶尋求的貸款約為 650 美元。如今，這一數字接近 800 至 850 美元，但仍比我們在 2022 年和 2021 年部分時間借出的 1,100 美元、1,150 美元有所下降。因此，雖然我們已經回落，但仍然沒有像以前那麼低。

On the economic side, we have worked to get our yields up close to where they used to be. Again, the loans are not quite as small as they used to be. So the yields are not going to be quite as high as they used to be, the gross yields.

在經濟方面，我們努力使收益率接近以前的水平。再一次，貸款金額不再像以前那麼小了。因此收益率（總收益率）不會像以前那麼高。

And then on the refinance side, I don't see us ever being able to return to a super high refinance rate that you would see back pre-2010. Certainly not even back to what you would see pre-2015. Part of that is the product itself is a little bit different. So our average term is longer than it used to be.

而在再融資方面，我認為我們永遠不可能回到2010年之前的超高再融資利率。肯定不會再回到 2015 年之前的狀態。部分原因是產品本身有點不同。因此我們的平均任期比以前更長。

So for a new customer walking in the door, you're looking at around 12 months for a term. All of our loans today are closer to about 18 months for an average term. So we're typically not going to see customers refinance more than once or twice within a year, just given the [length] of that loan, right? So we're not in a period where we're looking at 6-month term loans or 7-month term loans and for refinances in a year. So it's moved on to a different product from that perspective.

因此，對於走進門的新客戶，您需要查看大約 12 個月的期限。我們今天所有貸款的平均期限都接近 18 個月。因此，考慮到貸款期限，我們通常不會看到客戶在一年內再融資超過一兩次，對嗎？因此，我們目前還未處於考慮 6 個月定期貸款或 7 個月定期貸款以及一年內再融資的期間。因此從這個角度來看，它已經轉向不同的產品。

From an overall performance perspective, though, we are still really focused on: one, the small loan customer from a growth perspective for new and former customers, and we do continue to market to those former customers who've left us over the last couple of years to return for smaller dollar loans. On the larger loan side, we are actively and continue to -- actively continue to work to make sure that large loan portfolio is really well underwritten and also secured.

不過，從整體業績來看，我們仍然真正關注的是：第一，從新客戶和老客戶的成長角度來看，小額貸款客戶，我們確實會繼續向那些過去幾年離開我們、回來申請小額美元貸款的老客戶進行行銷。在較大額度的貸款方面，我們正在積極並將繼續積極努力，以確保大額貸款組合得到良好的承保和保障。

Okay. Can I just make sure I understood one of the answers. Particularly with the duration. So on a small loan today, what's the stated contractual length when the loan is underwritten? And when are you marketing a refinance, right? What's the contractual life versus the actual life of -- the average life of the portfolio basically?

好的。我能否確保我理解了其中一個答案？特別是持續時間。那麼，對於今天的小額貸款，貸款承保時規定的合約期限是多久？您什麼時候推銷再融資，對嗎？合約期限與實際期限（即投資組合的平均期限）相比如何？

Yeah. So the typical new loan will be, let's say, around 12 months with roughly 45% of our customers choosing to refinance in the first year. It's probably the best way to articulate that.

是的。因此，典型的新貸款期限約為 12 個月，約 45% 的客戶選擇在第一年再融資。這或許是表達這一點的最佳方式。

Yeah, I think the expected life is probably more around 7 to 8 months where the contractualized by 12 to 13 months for the portfolio.

是的，我認為預期壽命可能在 7 到 8 個月左右，而投資組合的合約期限為 12 到 13 個月。

Okay. Yeah. That's what I need to know. All right, thank you very much.

好的。是的。這就是我需要知道的。好的，非常感謝。

Concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Chad Prashad for any closing remarks.

結束我們的問答環節。我想將會議交還給 Chad Prashad 並請他作最後發言。

Thank you, guys, for taking the time to join us today, and this concludes our third-quarter earnings call for World Acceptance Corporation.

感謝大家今天抽空參加我們的會議，World Acceptance Corporation 第三季財報電話會議就到此結束。

The conference has 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。