World Acceptance Corp (WRLD) 2025 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to World Acceptance Corporation's fourth quarter 2025 earnings conference call. This call is being recorded. At this time, all participants have been placed in a listen-only mode.

早安，歡迎參加 World Acceptance Corporation 2025 年第四季財報電話會議。此通話正在錄音。目前，所有參與者都處於只聽模式。

Before we begin, the corporation has requested that I make the following announcement. The comments made during this conference call may contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of 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. Statements other than those of historical facts, 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.

在我們開始之前，公司要求我發表以下聲明。本次電話會議中的評論可能包含《1934 年證券交易法》第 21E 條所定義的某些前瞻性陳述，這些陳述代表了公司對未來事件的期望和信念。此類前瞻性陳述涉及本質上具有風險和不確定性的事項。除歷史事實以外的陳述以及預期、估計、打算、計劃、期望、相信、可能、將會和應該等詞語或前述詞語的任何變體和類似表達所標識的陳述均為前瞻性陳述。

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 ending 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截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日的財政年度的最新 10-K 表格的風險因素部分，以及不時向 SEC 提交或提供的後續報告中。該公司不承擔更新其所作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. Please go ahead.

現在，我很高興將發言權交給主持人、總裁兼執行長 Chad Prashad。請繼續。

Morning, and thank you for joining our fiscal 2025 year-end earnings call. Before we open up the questions, there are a few areas I'd like to highlight. We ended the year with a $1.22 billion outstanding ledger, which is a 4% decrease year over year. However, our customer base increased by 3.5%. Of note, this is the first year of year of year-over-year customer growth since fiscal year 2022. And we've returned to the largest customer base since the end of fiscal year 2022.

早安，感謝您參加我們的 2025 財政年度年終收益電話會議。在我們開始提問之前，我想強調幾個面向。我們今年的未償債務總額為 12.2 億美元，比去年同期減少了 4%。然而，我們的客戶群增加了3.5%。值得注意的是，這是自 2022 財年以來客戶數量首次年增。自 2022 財年末以來，我們已恢復最大的客戶群。

The reduced ledger and increased customer base are a result of our continued efforts to reduce our outstanding average balance per customer, which decreased 7.3% year over year following a 7.1% decrease last year. As we continue to focus on improving gross yields, which improved by over 100 basis points this year and growing the customer base through primarily new and former customers, as well as improved retention of existing customers, we continue to expect the average balance to right size in the upcoming fiscal year.

帳簿減少、客戶群擴大是我們持續努力降低每位客戶未償還平均餘額的結果，繼去年下降 7.1% 之後，今年又下降了 7.3%。由於我們繼續專注於提高毛收益率（今年毛收益率提高了 100 多個基點），並透過主要新客戶和老客戶擴大客戶群，以及提高現有客戶的保留率，我們繼續預計即將到來的財政年度的平均餘額將達到合適的規模。

On the surface, we continue to experience what may seem like sticky delinquency, which, for World, looks like overall annual delinquency in charge-off rates that appear stubborn to return to normal levels. Part of that, roughly 125 to 150 basis points of the 17.5% annually charge-off rates is due to the portfolio shrinking this year and a reduction in the denominator itself as individual credit vintages appear steady or improved overall. With normal to mid-single-digit portfolio growth, we would expect a natural 125 to 150 basis points reduction in the annualized rate, all else being equal.

從表面上看，我們繼續經歷看似頑固的拖欠現象，對於世界而言，這看起來像是年度整體拖欠，註銷率似乎很難恢復到正常水平。其中，17.5% 的年度沖銷率中大約有 125 到 150 個基點是由於今年投資組合縮水以及分母本身的減少，因為個別信貸年份總體上看起來穩定或有所改善。在投資組合維持正常至中位數個位數成長的情況下，我們預期年化利率將自然下降 125 至 150 個基點（其他條件相同）。

The other major component of our delinquency rate is the growth in new customers this year. At the end of December 2024, we increased our newest customer bucket, those with less than six months of tenure with the company, by 36% compared to December 2023. That's a $32 million increase. This is important because these newest customers for World are our riskiest customers with the highest loss rates.

我們的拖欠率的另一個主要因素是今年新客戶的成長。截至 2024 年 12 月底，我們的最新客戶群（即在公司任職時間不到六個月的客戶）與 2023 年 12 月相比增加了 36%。這增加了 3200 萬美元。這很重要，因為這些世界最新客戶是我們風險最高、損失率最高的客戶。

As we rolled into the fourth quarter, this growth had an expected impact on our delinquency rates, especially our 60- and 90-day buckets. With our early stage 0- to 60-day delinquent buckets, those actually improved. As of today, in April fiscal year 2026, the current month, we've actually seen improvement sequentially in our 30-, 60-, and 90-day buckets. But it's important to keep in mind that new customer growth is an investment with an outsized impact immediately to our provision for losses, as well as the short term, about one-quarter lag impact to our delinquency rates.

隨著我們進入第四季度，這種增長對我們的拖欠率產生了預期的影響，尤其是 60 天和 90 天的拖欠率。透過我們早期的 0 至 60 天拖欠率儲存桶，這些情況實際上得到了改善。截至今天，即 2026 財年 4 月，我們實際上已經看到 30 天、60 天和 90 天時間段的連續改善。但重要的是要記住，新客戶成長是一項投資，它會立即對我們的損失準備金產生巨大影響，並且短期內會對我們的拖欠率產生約四分之一的滯後影響。

We're also optimistic about the impact that improved training and quality of delinquency and loan servicing management will have on delinquency that's already underway for fiscal year 2026. Our fourth quarter benefited from a 25% increase in tax return revenue this season, nearly $7 million. I do want to further point out that our fourth-quarter EPS also benefited from a $2.8 million after-tax accrual release of share-based comp expense or roughly $0.38 per share. This release comes from a portion of forfeited performance shares and resulted in $8.13 per share this quarter, which would have been around $7.25 per share during the fourth quarter without this one-time benefit.

我們也對改善培訓和提高拖欠及貸款服務管理品質將對 2026 財年已經出現的拖欠現象產生的影響持樂觀態度。我們第四季的稅收返還收入成長了 25%，接近 700 萬美元。我確實想進一步指出，我們的第四季每股收益還受益於 280 萬美元的稅後應計股權報酬費用釋放，或每股約 0.38 美元。此次釋放來自部分被沒收的績效股份，導致本季每股收益為 8.13 美元，如果沒有這筆一次性收益，第四季每股收益將約為 7.25 美元。

Non-refinance loan volume during the fiscal year increased by 12.6% year over year, which followed a 10% increase last year while maintaining high-credit quality, low first payment default rates, and improved gross and net yields. This has continued already into April of the current month, fiscal year 2026, with to date non-refinance originations surpassing April of the most recent prior years, going all the way back to April of fiscal year 2020, including surpassing April of fiscal year 2023, which was our previous high benchmark.

本財年非再融資貸款額年增 12.6%，而去年則成長了 10%，同時維持了高信貸品質、較低的首次付款違約率以及提高的總收益率和淨收益率。這種勢頭已經持續到了 2026 財年的本月 4 月，迄今為止，非再融資發起量超過了最近幾年 4 月份的水平，一直追溯到 2020 財年的 4 月份，甚至超過了 2023 財年的 4 月份，這是我們之前的最高基準。

Of note, the April non-refinance volume here that I'm talking about is the number of originations, not dollars originated. This is an important distinction in the difference in our current strategy. It's really highlighted by comparing our April current year fiscal year 2026 originations to April of fiscal year 2023. While the number originated thus far in this April is similar to April of 2023, the average balance from this April is 24% lower than it was back in April of fiscal year '23, and the gross yield today is 800 basis points higher.

值得注意的是，我這裡所說的四月非再融資量是發起數量，而不是發起金額。這是我們當前策略差異的一個重要區別。透過將我們 2026 財年 4 月的當前年度起源與 2023 財年 4 月的起源進行比較，這一點確實很明顯。雖然今年 4 月迄今的數字與 2023 年 4 月的數字相似，但今年 4 月的平均餘額比 2023 財年 4 月低 24%，而今天的總收益率高出 800 個基點。

While the current month April's originations first payments haven't come due yet, the first pay default comparisons for the three prior months to each of these Aprils highlights an increase in our stability and performance. The Q4 originations from fiscal year '25 versus fiscal year '22, the three months prior to each of those Aprils, shows a lower first payment default rate in the most recent period, again, coupled with a much lower balance and around 800 basis points higher gross yields for those comparable periods.

雖然四月份的首筆付款尚未到期，但與前三個月四月份的首筆付款違約情況相比，我們的穩定性和績效都有所提高。25 財年第四季的貸款發放情況與 22 財年（即每個四月之前的三個月）的貸款發放情況相比，最近一個時期的首次還款違約率較低，同時餘額也低得多，且可比期間的總收益率高出約 800 個基點。

There's much to be optimistic about with the credit quality of what we're originating today, especially while growing our customer base. Our refinance loan volume has improved slightly by 3% year over year, which we're especially proud of during a period of increased refinance credit selectivity, as well as reduced large loan credit offerings. Refinance volume dipped in the fourth quarter, namely during March, which we view as a temporary reduction in demand that has already rebounded in April of the current fiscal year.

對於我們今天所發放的信貸質量，有很多值得樂觀的地方，特別是在擴大我們的客戶群的同時。我們的再融資貸款量較去年同期略有提高 3%，在再融資信貸選擇性增加、大額貸款信貸供應減少的時期，我們對此感到特別自豪。第四季度，即 3 月份，再融資量有所下降，我們認為這是需求的暫時減少，但在本財年 4 月份已經反彈。

Refinance volume in the current month, this April, has already eclipsed the full month of April of last year, both in terms of numbers, as well as dollars of refinance originations, still with a few days left of the current month. Similar to non-refinance originations, these refinance originations also carry a lower average balance compared to prior periods. Of note, the small and large loan makeup of our portfolio continues to shift towards small loans. From our peak of nearly 60% of the portfolio being large loans just two years ago, we've already reduced that down to 48% at the end of fiscal year '25 and expect the portfolio to continue to shift predominantly towards small loans. This is exemplified again by the reduction in average balance for non-refinance and for refinance customers.

本月（即 4 月份）的再融資量已經超過了去年 4 月份的全月，無論是數量還是再融資金額，而本月還剩下幾天時間。與非再融資起源類似，這些再融資起源的平均餘額與前期相比也較低。值得注意的是，我們投資組合中的小額和大額貸款組成繼續轉向小額貸款。兩年前，我們的投資組合中大額貸款佔比高達近 60%，而到 2025 財年末，我們已將這一比例降至 48%，預計投資組合將繼續主要轉向小額貸款。非再融資客戶和再融資客戶的平均餘額減少再次證明了這一點。

For new customers, marketing and acquisition channel adjustments continue to show the increased quality and applications. Approval rates for new customers have continued to improve dramatically. The third and fourth-quarter approval rates increased around 50% compared to the third and fourth quarter of fiscal '24, again, while maintaining low first payment default rates and improved gross yields, as well as significantly reducing our average loan size.

對於新客戶，行銷和獲取管道的調整繼續顯示出品質和應用的提高。新客戶的批准率持續大幅提高。與 24 財年第三季和第四季相比，第三季和第四季的批准率再次增加了約 50%，同時保持了較低的首次付款違約率和提高的總收益率，並顯著降低了我們的平均貸款規模。

Similar to refinance loan volume already in April of the current fiscal year 2026, we continue to see an increase of loan volume year over year and stability of credit quality for new customers.

與 2026 財年 4 月的再融資貸款量類似，我們繼續看到貸款量年增，新客戶的信貸品質保持穩定。

I'd also like to mention that the hard work of our special projects team for the last few years has resulted in our first World Finance credit card being piloted internally at the end of March. I've enjoyed the privilege of testing this credit card this month as we prepare wider pilots this spring and summer before offering it to our customers later this fiscal year.

我還想提一下，經過我們特別專案團隊過去幾年的辛勤工作，我們的第一張世界金融信用卡已於三月底在內部試行。我很榮幸能夠在本月測試這張信用卡，我們準備在今年春季和夏季進行更廣泛的試點，然後在本財年晚些時候將其提供給我們的客戶。

We've done a tremendous amount of research and vetting of competitor platforms, products, and their successes and failures of the years as we reviewed several potential acquisition opportunities. We're confident in our strategy to control our own credit card and market it prudently to select customer types. Our main goals are to use this product to slowly and wisely better align yield with risk, especially in rate cap states we're currently in, help customers manage both installment and revolving credit, lower our overall cost of acquisition and cost of service, allow existing customers to maintain a relationship with World when they pay off their loan, and/or move out of our footprint states, as well as expand our markets. Our approach is to be prudent on the road to serving the one in three Americans with low to no credit.

在審查幾個潛在的收購機會時，我們對競爭對手的平台、產品以及他們多年來的成功和失敗進行了大量的研究和審查。我們對控制自己的信用卡並謹慎地向特定客戶類型推銷的策略充滿信心。我們的主要目標是使用該產品緩慢而明智地更好地將收益與風險結合起來，特別是在我們目前所處的利率上限州，幫助客戶管理分期付款和循環信貸，降低我們的總體收購成本和服務成本，允許現有客戶在還清貸款時與 World 保持關係，和/或搬出我們的業務覆蓋州，並擴大我們的市場。我們的方法是謹慎地為三分之一信用低或沒有信用的美國人提供服務。

Finally, we have an absolutely amazing team here at World, and I'm very grateful for their commitment to their customers, as well as to each other. They are helping our customers every day to establish credit and rebuild credit, all while maintaining -- all while meeting an immediate financial need.

最後，我們在 World 擁有一支非常出色的團隊，我非常感謝他們對客戶以及彼此的承諾。他們每天都在幫助我們的客戶建立信用和重建信用，同時滿足他們的迫切財務需求。

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

現在，我們的財務和策略長 Johnny Calmes 和我想回答您的任何問題。

(Operator Instructions) Kyle Joseph, Stephens.

（操作員指示）凱爾·約瑟夫，史蒂芬斯。

Hey. Good morning, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. Just, I know there's a lot going on in the in the first quarter with tax refunds and everything, but just want to get a sense if you've seen any sort of shift in consumer behavior, call it, since, I don't know, mid, late February really when tariff noise really got loud, whether it's on the demand or the credit side?

嘿。大家早安。感謝您回答我的問題。只是，我知道第一季有很多事情要做，例如退稅等等，但我只是想了解一下，您是否看到消費者行為發生了任何轉變，自從二月中旬或下旬關稅聲音真正變得很大以來，無論是在需求方面還是信貸方面？

I would say, we haven't seen any significant increase or decrease in demand or change in payment. So to that extent, that hasn't hit us yet.

我想說，我們沒有看到需求或支付有任何顯著的增加或減少。所以從這個程度上來說，我們還沒有受到太大影響。

Got it. And then the portfolio, the mix shift to smaller loans, is that really a function of your underwriting or consumer demand or customer mix shift? And I think I heard you right, saying you would expect this trend to continue, right?

知道了。然後，投資組合轉向小額貸款的轉變，這真的是承保或消費者需求或客戶組合轉變的結果嗎？我想我沒聽錯，您說您預計這種趨勢會持續下去，對嗎？

Yeah, great question. So it's really more of a return to the World's roots, so historically, roughly 60% or higher of our portfolios in small loans, where we would graduate a small portion of customers to large loans. We hit a peak of around 60% of the portfolio being large loans a few years ago. The strategy for the last couple of years has really been to return to the bread and butter of the company, which is focusing on small loan customers, so more of a shift in who we're marketing to and how we're underwriting loans than it is in customer demand.

是的，很好的問題。因此，這實際上更像是回歸世界的根源，從歷史上看，我們的投資組合中大約 60% 或更高是小額貸款，而我們將一小部分客戶升級為大額貸款。幾年前，我們的投資組合中大額貸款的比例達到了頂峰，約佔 60%。過去幾年的策略其實是回歸公司的核心業務，即專注於小額貸款客戶，因此，更多的是我們的行銷對象和貸款承銷方式的轉變，而不是客戶需求的轉變。

Got it. Makes sense. And then last one for me, the revenue growth on the tax front, I mean, obviously, that's really strong. What's driving that is that? Is that a function of marketing? Are there any sort of changes in the competitive dynamics in that market? Obviously, it's a good thing, but just want to know what what's the driver there.

知道了。有道理。對我來說最後一個是稅收方面的收入成長，顯然，這非常強勁。是什麼在推動這一切？這是行銷的功能嗎？該市場的競爭動態有什麼變化嗎？顯然，這是一件好事，但我只想知道背後的驅動因素是什麼。

Yeah, so we've been doing market research for the last couple of years around the product we're offering, pricing, and customer demand. This year, we increased prices and experienced very little, if any, reduction in demand throughout the tax season. So overall revenue is up around 25%. I believe the number that we filed was down around 3% or 4%.

是的，過去幾年我們一直在圍繞我們提供的產品、定價和客戶需求進行市場調查。今年，我們提高了價格，但整個納稅季節的需求幾乎沒有減少。因此總收入成長了約 25%。我相信我們提交的數字下降了約 3% 或 4%。

Okay, got it. Great. Thanks for taking my questions.

好的，明白了。偉大的。感謝您回答我的問題。

(Operator Instructions) John Rowan, Janney Montgomery Scott.

（操作員指示）約翰·羅文、詹妮·蒙哥馬利·斯科特。

Hey, guys. Forgive me if you just answered this, but can you just let me know why the insurance and other income was up so much? I assume it's tax prep, but it was about $5 million up year over year. Just give me an idea of what that came from.

嘿，大家好。如果您只是回答這個問題，請原諒我，但是您能否告訴我為什麼保險和其他收入增加這麼多？我猜這是稅務準備，但比去年同期增加了約 500 萬美元。請告訴我這是怎麼回事。

Yeah, so Chad just walked through that, right? So it's the tax prep revenue. So I think insurance revenue is actually down a little bit. It's all driven by the tax prep business.

是的，查德剛剛走過那裡，對嗎？所以這是稅務準備收入。所以我認為保險收入實際上有所下降。這一切都是由稅務規劃業務所推動的。

Okay. And then the allowance was down a little bit sequentially. Any reason why that went down?

好的。隨後，津貼額度逐漸下降。發生這種情況的原因是什麼？

Largely, it is going to be the runoff of the portfolio.

很大程度上，這將是投資組合的流失。

Okay. And what are your expectations for share repurchases going forward?

好的。您對未來的股票回購有何預期？

Probably more than we've done this year, but that's part of the negotiations we have with our banks, and a lot of it also depends on our bonds have a limit on how much we can repurchase, this cap at 50% of consolidate net income. But we're coming up to the point where we need to take those out, and that'll give us more flexibility to do more than that 50% of net income.

可能比我們今年做的還要多，但這是我們與銀行談判的一部分，而且很大程度上還取決於我們的債券回購限額，這個上限是合併淨收入的 50%。但我們現在已經到了需要將其剔除的階段，這樣我們就能更有彈性地實現超過 50% 的淨收入。

So we've already purchased over $100 million, I think $115 million of the bonds. Probably, we have about $185 million outstanding.

因此，我們已經購買了超過 1 億美元，我想是 1.15 億美元的債券。可能，我們還有大約 1.85 億美元的未償還債務。

That's right, yeah.

沒錯，是的。

Okay. All right. Thank you very much.

好的。好的。非常感謝。

With no further questions, this will conclude our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Chad Prashad for any closing remarks.

如果沒有其他問題，我們的問答環節就結束了。我想將會議交還給 Chad Prashad 並請他做最後發言。

Thank you for taking the time to join us today. This concludes the fiscal year-end 2025 earnings call for World Acceptance Corporation.

感謝您今天抽出時間來參加我們的活動。至此，World Acceptance Corporation 2025 財政年度結束收益電話會議結束。

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

謝謝。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。