Xpel Inc (XPEL) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the XPEL, Inc., third-quarter 2025 earnings call. (Operator Instructions) Please note this conference is being recorded.

大家好，歡迎參加 XPEL 公司 2025 年第三季財報電話會議。（操作員說明）請注意，本次會議正在錄音。

I will now turn the conference over to your host, Mr. John Nesbett of IMS Investor Relations. Sir, you may begin.

現在我將把會議交給主持人，IMS投資者關係公司的約翰‧內斯貝特先生。先生，您可以開始了。

Good morning, and welcome to our conference call to discuss XPEL's third quarter 2025 financial results. On the call today, Ryan Pape, XPEL's President and Chief Executive Officer; and Barry Wood, XPEL's Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will provide an overview of the business operations and review the company's financial results. Immediately after the prepared comments, we'll take questions from our call participants. A transcript of this call will be available on the company's website after the call. I'll take a moment to read the safe harbor statement.

早安，歡迎參加我們此次電話會議，討論XPEL 2025年第三季的財務表現。在今天的電話會議上，XPEL 總裁兼執行長 Ryan Pape 和 XPEL 高級副總裁兼財務長 Barry Wood 將概述業務營運並回顧公司的財務表現。在準備好的發言結束後，我們將立即接受電話會議參與者的提問。本次通話的文字記錄將在通話結束後發佈在公司網站上。我花點時間閱讀安全港聲明。

During the course of this call, we'll make certain forward-looking statements regarding XPEL, Inc. and its business, which may include, but not be limited to, anticipated use of proceeds from capital transactions, expansion into new markets and execution of the company's growth strategy. Such statements are based on our current expectations and assumptions, which are subject to known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed in these statements. Some of these factors are discussed in detail in our most recent Form 10-K, including under Item 1A Risk Factors filed with the SEC. XPEL undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

在本次電話會議中，我們將對 XPEL 公司及其業務做出一些前瞻性聲明，其中可能包括但不限於預期資本交易所得款項的用途、拓展新市場以及執行公司成長策略。此類聲明是基於我們目前的預期和假設，但存在已知和未知的風險因素和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與這些聲明中表達的結果有重大差異。其中一些因素已在我們最新的 10-K 表格中進行了詳細討論，包括向美國證券交易委員會提交的第 1A 項風險因素。XPEL不承擔因新資訊、未來事件或其他原因而公開更新或修改任何前瞻性聲明的義務。

Okay. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Ryan. Go ahead, Ryan.

好的。接下來，我會把電話交給瑞恩。請繼續，瑞恩。

Thank you, John, and good morning also. Welcome to our third quarter call. Q3 was a record quarter for us for revenue, which grew 11.1% to $125.4 million. Performance was led by the U.S. region, which grew also 11.1% to a record $71.7 million.

謝謝你，約翰，也祝你早安。歡迎參加我們第三季財報電話會議。第三季是我們營收創紀錄的一個季度，營收成長了 11.1%，達到 1.254 億美元。美國地區表現最為突出，成長了 11.1%，達到創紀錄的 7,170 萬美元。

We saw double-digit revenue growth in both our independent and dealership channels in the quarter. So that's encouraging. That's good momentum. Our EU region had a good quarter, revenue growing 28.8% to $16.5 million, which was a record there as well. As you recall, we saw headwinds in Q3 last year, so it was also an easier comp, but good performance.

本季度，我們的獨立通路和經銷商通路的收入均實現了兩位數成長。這令人鼓舞。這是個好兆頭。我們在歐盟地區的季度業績良好，營收成長了 28.8%，達到 1,650 萬美元，這也創下了該地區的紀錄。如你所記得，去年第三季我們遇到了逆風，所以今年的競爭也相對輕鬆，但成績依然不錯。

And as you likely know, we completed our long contemplated acquisition of our Chinese distributor in early September. Given the acquisition closed late in the quarter, we didn't see much material financial impact, but you will see elevated SG&A from acquisition-related professional fees in the quarter. And then, of course, added SG&A expense for the month of September under our ownership. We've hit the ground running and the integration is underway. I was with our team 2 weeks ago.

正如您可能知道的那樣，我們在9月初完成了對中國分銷商的收購，這項收購我們醞釀已久。鑑於收購是在本季度末完成的，我們沒有看到太大的實質財務影響，但您將在本季度看到與收購相關的專業費用導致銷售、一般及行政費用增加。當然，也要加上我們接手後 9 月份的銷售、一般及行政費用。我們已經迅速進入工作狀態，整合工作正在進行中。兩週前我和我們團隊在一起。

I can tell you that we've added amazing people to the team. Both our team and our customers are very excited about this and what it means for our business in the country. The customers were very receptive, and so it was -- is incredibly encouraging. We have a lot of work to do from the integration perspective, but obviously see a huge opportunity and really we'll continue our focus to pursue the OEM and 4S business in China. With this acquisition, along with our acquisitions of Japan, Thailand and then India prior to that, we really rounded out our footprint that we see in APAC, but then beyond.

我可以告訴大家，我們團隊裡新增了很多優秀的人才。我們的團隊和客戶都對此感到非常興奮，並對我們在該國的業務意義感到興奮。顧客反應非常好，這真是令人鼓舞。從整合的角度來看，我們還有很多工作要做，但顯然我們看到了巨大的機遇，我們將繼續專注於在中國發展 OEM 和 4S 業務。透過此次收購，加上我們先前對日本、泰國以及印度的收購，我們真正完善了我們在亞太地區乃至更廣闊地區的業務版圖。

We continue to see similar trends affect all the regions at different times similar to the slowness we saw in the U.S. to start 2024. Canada revenue declined from the prior year, continuing a trend of a slow market in Canada for this year. We saw really slow Q1. Q2 was better.

我們繼續看到類似的趨勢在不同時期影響所有地區，類似於我們在 2024 年初在美國看到的經濟放緩。加拿大市場收入較前一年下降，延續了今年加拿大市場疲軟的趨勢。第一季成長非常緩慢。第二季度情況有所改善。

Q3 was not as good as Q2. I wouldn't call out anything in particular, except just a broad-based slowness across the whole portfolio of customers. And then as I mentioned, Europe was up meaningfully. India and Middle East grew modestly, but this market is more tied to distributor sales. So there's a little bit of sell-in, sell-out noise there.

第三季不如第二季好。我不會特別指出什麼，只是所有客戶都普遍存在速度緩慢的問題。正如我之前提到的，歐洲股市大幅上漲。印度和中東市場成長幅度不大，但這個市場更依賴分銷商的銷售。所以這裡面存在一些關於售罄和賣出的傳聞。

But we're really bullish on what's happening there. It's a priority market for us, and there's a lot more to come. Latin America was flat due to weakness in Mexico, but really from a switch to a direct model in Brazil from a distribution model. Our expectation for Q4 revenue to be in the $123 million to $125 million range with sort of the normal cyclicality we see in U.S. and North America.

但我們對那裡的發展前景非常看好。這是一個我們優先考慮的市場，未來還有更多發展空間。拉丁美洲市場整體表現平淡，主要是由於墨西哥市場疲軟，但實際上這是由於巴西市場從分銷模式轉向直接模式所致。我們預計第四季度營收將在 1.23 億美元至 1.25 億美元之間，並呈現美國和北美常見的正常週期性波動。

Assuming we hit those numbers, that would take us to year-over-year annual growth for '25 in the 13% to 14% range. On the gross margin front, we did see a little pressure to gross margin in the quarter relative to our overall trend. We had unfavorable price increases that were out of line with the market, which cost us about 170 basis points of gross margin in Q3. Absent this specific impact, you've actually seen gross margin grow from the prior year. These aren't tariff related, and we've mitigated that going forward and we expect to see that reverse starting in Q4 and into Q1.

假設我們達到這些數字，那麼 2025 年的年增長率將達到 13% 至 14%。在毛利率方面，與整體趨勢相比，本季毛利率確實面臨一些壓力。我們經歷了不利的價格上漲，與市場不符，導致第三季毛利率下降了約 170 個基點。撇開這一特定影響不談，實際上毛利率比前一年有所增長。這些與關稅無關，我們已經採取措施緩解了這個問題，預計從第四季度到第一季情況會有所改善。

The other item that has an impact on gross margin in the near term is the nature of our China distributor transaction. We're selling through inventory acquired in the acquisition. And as we do that, we're only recognizing roughly the former distributors portion of the margin as the inventory is now on our books at an amount that approximates the distributor's former cost. So obviously, a key rationale to buy your distribution is to increase gross margins, which it will do for us in a meaningful way, but only as we sell through existing inventory. Barry will discuss a little bit more the unique structure of the transaction relative to inventory.

另一個在短期內對毛利率產生影響的因素是我們與中國分銷商的交易性質。我們正在清倉甩賣收購過程中獲得的庫存。因此，我們只能大致確認原始分銷商的利潤部分，因為庫存現在以近似於分銷商原成本的金額記入我們的帳簿。顯然，收購分銷管道的關鍵理由是提高毛利率，這確實能為我們帶來顯著的毛利率，但前提是我們必須先售罄現有庫存。Barry 將進一步討論與庫存相關的獨特交易結構。

But we did add on the order of $22 million plus or minus in inventory as part of the purchase. So you'll see inventory increase on our balance sheet, but really, that's a function of this transaction and it's structured in a way that's very favorable for us. So our underlying inventory trend and our improving inventory turns remain solid and would not interpret the balance sheet on face value to say anything else relative to inventory. With that said, we'll have great cash flow as we sell through that inventory, because the turn times to replace it and the total inventory needed to supply the customers both on our side and the former distributor side will reduce. So we'll see -- start to see relief from that in Q1 when we have both halves of the margin as both the supplier and distributor for the first time.

但作為收購的一部分，我們確實增加了價值約 2,200 萬美元的庫存。因此，您會看到我們資產負債表上的庫存增加，但實際上，這是這筆交易的結果，而且它的結構對我們非常有利。因此，我們潛在的庫存趨勢和不斷改善的庫存週轉率仍然穩健，從資產負債表的表面價值來看，我們無法得出與庫存相關的任何其他結論。也就是說，隨著庫存的清空，我們將獲得良好的現金流，因為補貨的周轉時間和我們自身以及前分銷商為客戶提供服務所需的總庫存都會減少。所以我們將看到——在第一季開始看到這種情況有所緩解，因為這是我們第一次同時作為供應商和分銷商獲得利潤的一半。

So as we get into Q1 and Q2 of next year, we'll see record gross margins for the business at the consolidated level based on these investments and changes. The SG&A continues to run hot as we invest in the channel to support these new countries. We've got some optimization to do in our corporate cost structure, but most of the costs added in the past 18 months is in the channel and in the distribution business. And now that we've really completed the build-out of those, save a little bit more investment in Brazil, we'll start to see leverage on that. China, as an example, with this acquisition will add $5 million plus or minus in annual SG&A, including intangible amortization.

因此，隨著我們進入明年第一季和第二季度，基於這些投資和變革，我們將看到公司合併層面的毛利率創歷史新高。由於我們增加對通路的投資以支持這些新國家，銷售、一般及行政費用持續高企。我們的公司成本結構還有一些優化空間，但過去 18 個月增加的大部分成本都集中在通路和分銷業務上。現在我們已經真正完成了這些項目的建設，如果我們能在巴西再投入一些資金，我們將開始看到這些項目帶來的效益。以中國為例，此次收購將使中國每年的銷售、一般及行政費用（包括無形資產攤提）增加約 500 萬美元。

But once we see the full gross margin, we'll pick up approximately $10 million in operating income from China on an annual run rate basis. So I just remind everyone that you have to consider the SG&A and the gross margin interface together when looking at the trajectory of the business, especially as we start to realize that gross margin into next year. And I think from our perspective, there's no better time in history to make these really final investments in these countries where we want to operate the most. This is a very tough environment for many people, for many of our competitors. You see a lot of folks pulling back where we're investing.

但一旦我們看到全部毛利率，我們預計每年將從中國獲得約 1000 萬美元的營業收入。因此，我提醒大家，在考慮業務發展軌跡時，必須將銷售、一般及行政費用和毛利率結合起來考慮，尤其是在我們開始展望明年毛利率的時候。我認為從我們的角度來看，現在是歷史上進行這些我們最想開展業務的國家的最終投資的最佳時機。對很多人來說，對我們的許多競爭對手來說，這是一個非常艱難的環境。你會看到很多投資人都在減少我們投資的領域。

And I think that's what you want for the long term. The investments in SG&A in these countries is very much front-end loaded. But these are the best markets in the world, and they're ones that are impossible to develop in any meaningful way without our direct participation. So investing now sets up perfectly for going forward. And certainly, as you see demand in the environment recover and we see different performance in different places, obviously.

我認為這正是你從長遠來看所希望的。這些國家的銷售、管理及行政費用投資主要集中在前期。但這些是世界上最好的市場，如果沒有我們的直接參與，這些市場不可能以任何有意義的方式發展。因此，現在投資為未來發展奠定了完美的基礎。當然，隨著市場需求的復甦，不同地區的表現也會有所不同，這是顯而易見的。

We spent the better part of 18 months on our capital allocation strategy, which we've discussed pretty freely on these calls. And this has included evaluation of a number of approaches, including expansion via M&A into adjacent products and services, really in the broader industry in which we participate. And this is looking at things that aren't directly related to what we do, but could ultimately bring more demand by bringing other customers into the fold. After a thorough review, our Board decided that continuing to invest in the core of the business is really the best strategy. There may be other adjacencies in the future.

我們花了近 18 個月的時間制定資本配置策略，我們在這些電話會議中也對此進行了相當深入的討論。這其中包括對多種方法的評估，包括透過併購擴展到相鄰產品和服務領域，實際上是在我們所參與的更廣泛的行業中。而且，這著眼於那些與我們業務沒有直接關係，但最終可能透過吸引其他客戶而帶來更多需求的事情。經過全面審查，董事會認為繼續投資核心業務才是最佳策略。未來可能會有其他鄰近區域。

There are plenty of opportunities in our core today, and we've yet to hit the full operating potential of the existing business. So once we hit that full potential, we can reevaluate those concentric rings that surround our business, but to do so today is premature. And at the end of the day, much as we like those other opportunities for growth and our desire to build a bigger business, we don't like them better than our core business. And that will guide our near-term decisions. So to that end, we will be investing more in our manufacturing and supply chain via varying approaches, direct CapEx, M&A or JV relationships.

我們目前的核心業務領域有很多機會，我們還沒有充分發揮現有業務的營運潛力。所以，一旦我們達到全部潛力，我們就可以重新評估圍繞我們業務的那些同心圓，但現在這樣做還為時過早。歸根究底，儘管我們喜歡其他發展機會，也渴望建立更大的業務，但我們並不認為它們比我們的核心業務更好。這將指導我們近期的決策。因此，為了實現這一目標，我們將透過各種方式增加對製造和供應鏈的投資，包括直接資本支出、併購或合資關係。

We have a goal of increasing gross margin by approximately 10 percentage points to around 52% to 54% by the end of 2028 through those activities. We -- with that extra gross margin running through our various businesses, particularly where we control our own distribution and get full margin, we have a goal of realizing operating margins in the mid- to high 20s. Commensurate with that, even with the cost of any of those things we'll do. We would consider investment in the range of $75 million to $150 million over this period, pretty wide range, but we've got a number of options about how we do this. And it's -- either way, it's a very favorable return without the risk or complexity of adding additional lines of business relative to our overall strategy decision.

我們的目標是透過這些活動，到 2028 年底將毛利率提高約 10 個百分點，達到 52% 至 54% 左右。我們—透過各種業務的額外毛利，特別是那些我們控制自己分銷並獲得全部利潤的業務，我們的目標是實現 20% 到 20% 的營業利潤率。與此相稱，即使考慮到我們將要做的事情的成本。在此期間，我們將考慮投資 7,500 萬美元至 1.5 億美元，範圍相當廣泛，但我們有很多方式來實現這一目標。無論如何，相對於我們的整體策略決策而言，這是一個非常有利的回報，而且沒有增加額外業務線的風險或複雜性。

Secondly, we will continue to pursue service business acquisitions within our core with a focus on dealership services with our current product set. Those opportunities are comparatively few in number and relatively small in scale for the most part. But as we can identify and acquire them, this will remain a core part of the strategy. Finally, even with the aforementioned investments, we do expect to have excess cash considering healthy balance sheet, strong cash flow and appetite for modest leverage. Assuming all that remains true, there'll likely be an opportunity to return cash to shareholders.

其次，我們將繼續在我們核心業務範圍內尋求服務業務收購，重點是利用我們現有的產品組合為經銷商提供服務。這些機會數量相對較少，規模也相對較小。但只要我們能夠識別並獲取它們，這仍將是該策略的核心部分。最後，即使進行了上述投資，考慮到健康的資產負債表、強勁的現金流和適度的槓桿意願，我們預計仍將擁有多餘的現金。假設以上情況屬實，那麼很可能有機會向股東返還現金。

Share repurchases look particularly attractive at the moment, given our view of the valuation of the business. Turning to business. We have a number of exciting things going on. We've talked in the past year about our product line additions, color films, windshield films. And we'll spend the next year getting these to their full potential.

鑑於我們對公司估值的看法，目前股票回購看起來特別有吸引力。轉入正題。我們有很多令人興奮的事情正在進行中。過去一年，我們一直在討論產品線的拓展，包括彩色薄膜和擋風玻璃薄膜。接下來的一年，我們將竭盡全力讓這些設備發揮出全部潛力。

We have a very robust product line now, and our focus will be less on adding additional products and more on selling more of what we already have and iterating to the next generation of the products that we already have, like entering new channels, new products and the launch of new products and the development of new products are expensive, and our focus will be getting a return on the investments that we've made. Our OEM business interest is strong with the global car manufacturers. Although our bottom line performance from our existing programs has missed our expectations and it's certainly a drag on results due to disruptions that plague the manufacturers or creating consistent spikes in demand, which challenge us on the cost side. We get better at how we manage this environment with each passing month and a subsequent project, and it remains an important focus for us and an important growth driver of the business going forward. Part of that is our referral personalization platform where we're selling installations online to consumers on behalf of our partners, namely some of the OEMs.

我們現在擁有非常強大的產品線，我們的重點將不再是增加新產品，而是更多地銷售我們已有的產品，並迭代我們已有的產品，使其發展到下一代。進入新通路、推出新產品、開發新產品成本很高，我們的重點是獲得投資回報。我們與全球汽車製造商的OEM業務關係十分密切。儘管我們現有專案的最終業績未達預期，而且由於製造商面臨的各種幹擾或需求持續激增，導致成本方面出現挑戰，這無疑拖累了業績。隨著時間的推移和後續專案的發展，我們越來越擅長管理這種環境，它仍然是我們關注的重點，也是公司未來發展的重要驅動力。其中一部分是我們的推薦個人化平台，我們代表我們的合作夥伴（即一些原始設備製造商）在線上向消費者銷售安裝服務。

We've been driving increased volumes to our aftermarket network for installations in a model that no one's ever done before. We continue to have more interest from others in expanding this program, and it's become quite valuable to many of our installer partners as a source of volume, while the retail aftermarket remains very sluggish. We expect to continue to expand this going into next year and beyond. And finally, a discussion of our investments in DAP. Our SaaS platform has taken a back seat to other initiatives.

我們一直在努力提高售後市場網路的安裝量，這種車型是以前從未有人嘗試過的。我們不斷收到其他方面對擴大該計劃的興趣，而且該計劃已成為我們許多安裝合作夥伴的重要收入來源，而零售售後市場仍然非常低迷。我們預計明年及以後將繼續擴大這一規模。最後，我們討論了在DAP的投資。我們的SaaS平台項目已被其他項目擱置。

The work on this continues unabated. We received -- we redirected some of our team to our personalization platform as we've launched that in earnest, but we continue to advance on DAP in a way that we know will make our customers more efficient and ultimately sell more products benefiting them and us. Our view is even in the aftermarket channel, due to the friction and inefficiency of how the channel operates, there is substantial consumer demand that just slips through the fingers of the collective industry. And our goal with this project is to solve for that. So I think a really important time for us.

這項工作仍在持續進行中。我們已經將部分團隊成員調派到個人化平台，因為我們已經正式推出了該平台，但我們仍在繼續推進 DAP，我們知道這將使我們的客戶更加高效，並最終銷售更多產品，從而使他們和我們都受益。我們認為，即使在售後市場管道，由於通路運作方式的摩擦和低效，也存在著巨大的消費者需求，而這些需求卻從整個產業的指縫間溜走。而我們這個計畫的目標就是解決這個問題。所以我認為這對我們來說是一個非常重要的時刻。

A lot of moving pieces and different things going on, but we feel very good about the decisions we've made and about our strategy going forward. We're really pleased to have this acquisition in China complete. It was a tremendous amount of work. Obviously, more work to come, but it really helps cement our direct distribution model in the most important global car markets of the world. And so it's quite an accomplishment, and it will pay tremendous dividends for us.

雖然有很多變數和不同的事情正在發生，但我們對我們所做的決定以及未來的策略感到非常滿意。我們非常高興在中國完成此次收購。工作量非常大。顯然，未來還有更多工作要做，但這確實有助於鞏固我們在世界最重要的全球汽車市場的直接分銷模式。所以這是一項了不起的成就，它將為我們帶來巨大的回報。

And I thank everybody on our team and everybody else who's been involved in getting that done. So very pleased with that. So with that, I'll turn it over to Barry.

我感謝我們團隊的每一位成員，以及所有參與完成這項工作的其他人。對此我非常滿意。那麼，接下來就交給巴里了。

Thanks, Ryan, and good morning, everyone. Just a couple more bullet points on our top line performance. our total window film product line grew 22.2% in the quarter, and this continues really to be a nice growth driver for us. Our total installation revenue increased a little over 21% in the quarter. And this includes product and service for our dealership services business, our corporate-owned stores and our OEM business, all had solid performance in the quarter, notwithstanding the OEM choppiness Ryan mentioned.

謝謝你，瑞恩，大家早安。關於我們的營收表現，還有幾點需要補充。本季度，我們的窗膜產品線整體成長了22.2%，這仍然是我們強勁的成長動力。本季我們的總安裝收入成長略高於 21%。這包括我們經銷商服務業務、公司自營門市和 OEM 業務的產品和服務，儘管 Ryan 提到 OEM 業務波動較大，但所有這些業務在本季度都表現穩健。

And our corporate store performance, as we've said in the past, is a decent indicator of how the aftermarket is doing. On a year-to-date basis, our total revenue grew 13.1%. Our total SG&A expenses grew 20.8% in the quarter to $35.7 million, and this was 28.4% of total revenue. We did have approximately $1.3 million in added acquisition related to SG&A and approximately $0.8 million in bad debt and some other costs that are not expected to reoccur. On a year-to-date basis, SG&A grew 18.2% to $102.7 million.

正如我們之前所說，我們公司門市的業績可以很好地反映售後市場的狀況。今年迄今為止，我們的總收入成長了 13.1%。本季我們的銷售、一般及行政費用總額成長了 20.8%，達到 3,570 萬美元，佔總營收的 28.4%。我們新增了約 130 萬美元的銷售、管理及行政費用，以及約 80 萬美元的壞帳和其他一些預計不會再次發生的成本。今年迄今為止，銷售、一般及行政費用增加了 18.2%，達到 1.027 億美元。

Our EBITDA did decline in the quarter at 8.1% to $19.9 million, and our EBITDA margin finished at 15.9%. On a year-to-date basis, our EBITDA grew 4.6% to $57.8 million, and our year-to-date EBITDA margin was 16.3%. Net income for the quarter decreased 11.8% to $13.1 million, reflecting a 10.5% net income margin and EPS for the quarter was $0.47 per share. On a year-to-date basis, net income grew 3.7%, reflecting a 10.7% net income margin and our year-to-date EPS was $1.37 per share. I thought it'd be useful to give a brief overview of the structure of the China transaction given its complexity.

本季我們的 EBITDA 下降了 8.1%，至 1,990 萬美元，EBITDA 利潤率為 15.9%。今年迄今，我們的 EBITDA 成長了 4.6%，達到 5,780 萬美元，今年迄今的 EBITDA 利潤率為 16.3%。本季淨利潤下降 11.8% 至 1,310 萬美元，淨利潤率為 10.5%，本季每股收益為 0.47 美元。今年迄今為止，淨收入增長了 3.7%，淨利潤率為 10.7%，今年迄今的每股收益為 1.37 美元。鑑於中國交易的複雜性，我認為簡要概述其結構會很有幫助。

We -- first, we formed a new entity in which we have a 76% interest. This new entity then acquired the assets of our Chinese distributor. The purchase consideration for this totaled just under $53 million before discounting for time value of money. And there are essentially 3 components to the consideration. First, obviously, there was a cash upfront.

我們—首先，我們成立了一家新公司，我們持有該公司 76% 的股份。這家新公司隨後收購了我們中國分銷商的資產。此次收購的總對價略低於 5,300 萬美元（未計入貨幣時間價值折現）。考慮此因素主要包括三個面向。首先，很顯然，需要預付現金。

Second, there was deferred consideration or really cash payable over a 4-year period. And thirdly, there was consideration contingent on future sales of what we considered as excess inventory as of the close date. This excess inventory was part of the inventory acquired and the contingency is structured such that we pay some consideration if the excess inventory is sold at a profit, but we effectively are not penalized if any of the excess inventory is sold at a loss or has never sold and needs to be written off. As Ryan mentioned, in the overall transaction, we effectively added approximately $22 million in inventory if you consider inventory acquired and inventory contributed by minority holders. The first 2 items, the cash upfront and the deferred consideration are about 75% of the total consideration.

其次，有延期支付對價或實際現金支付，期限為 4 年。第三，還有一部分對價取決於我們認為截至交割日剩餘庫存的未來銷售情況。這部分過剩庫存是已購入庫存的一部分，並且應急措施的結構是，如果過剩庫存售出獲利，我們將支付一定的費用；但如果過剩庫存售出虧損，或者從未售出需要註銷，我們實際上不會受到處罰。正如瑞安所提到的那樣，在整個交易中，如果將收購的庫存和少數股東貢獻的庫存考慮在內，我們實際上增加了約 2,200 萬美元的庫存。前兩項，即預付現金和延期支付的對價，約佔總對價的 75%。

And for various customary legal reasons unique to the transaction, only a portion of the cash paid upfront was actually remitted and the rest of the upfront payment will be paid very soon. And this is important to understand when you look at our balance sheet as we've broken these components out there. The remaining upfront payment still payable and the contingent consideration is reflected in the short term. And other short-term liabilities on the balance sheet. The deferred consideration, the cash payable over a 4-year period is reflected in other long-term liabilities.

由於該交易特有的各種慣例法律原因，實際上只匯出了部分預付款，其餘預付款將很快支付。這一點很重要，因為在查看我們的資產負債表時，我們已經將這些組成部分分解出來了。剩餘的預付款仍需支付，或有對價將在短期內反映出來。以及資產負債表上的其他短期負債。遞延對價，即在 4 年期間支付的現金，反映在其他長期負債。

So as Ryan mentioned, we're certainly happy to get this deal behind us. It was somewhat a complicated deal, and there was a lot of hard work done by several people to make this happen. We have a great team in the region, and we are really looking forward to watching them grow that market. Our cash flow provided by ops was $33.2 million for the quarter compared to $19.6 million in Q3 last year, which was a record for us. And you may notice, if you're looking at our balance sheet, a decent size increase in our AP and accrued liabilities line, there's nothing unusual there as this is related primarily to timing.

正如瑞恩所說，我們當然很高興能完成這筆交易。這是一筆比較複雜的交易，很多人為此付出了很多努力才得以實現。我們在該地區擁有一支優秀的團隊，我們非常期待看到他們拓展這個市場。本季營運產生的現金流為 3,320 萬美元，而去年第三季為 1,960 萬美元，創下歷史新高。如果您查看我們的資產負債表，可能會注意到應付帳款和應計負債項目有相當大的成長，這沒什麼不尋常的，因為這主要與時間有關。

We've got extended terms with most of our raw material suppliers. So timing of payments can create some fluctuation, but it's all in the normal course of business. I'll also add that we did see a slight improvement in our cash conversion cycle in the quarter. So all in all, a solid quarter for us, and we look forward to closing out the year strong. And with that, operator, we'll now open the call up for questions.

我們與大多數原料供應商都簽訂了延期付款協議。因此，付款時間可能會造成一些波動，但這都是正常的商業行為。我還要補充一點，本季我們的現金週轉週期確實略有改善。總而言之，這對我們來說是一個穩健的季度，我們期待以強勁的勢頭結束今年。好了，接線生，現在我們開始接受提問。

(Operator Instructions) Jeff Van Sinderen, B. Riley.

（操作員說明）Jeff Van Sinderen，B. Riley。

Just curious if we could circle back to one of the things you touched on in the prepared comments. I think you pointed out that there were some out-of-line price increases you experienced. Maybe you could touch on how those manifest, how you mitigated and -- also then, if you could kind of dovetail that into leaning into taking more of the manufacturing in-house.

我很好奇我們是否可以再討論一下您在準備好的評論中提到的其中一點。我想你曾指出過，你遇到了一些不合理的漲價情況。或許您可以談談這些問題是如何表現出來的，您是如何緩解這些問題的，以及——另外，如果您能把這些與更多地將生產環節轉移到公司內部結合起來就更好了。

Yes, Jeff, sure. So we did experience some price increases that really manifest in the quarter. I think in our remarks, we called out that was about 170 basis point impact to gross margin. I think that -- I guess the best way to characterize that is, I think if you look at the industry overall, it's been a challenging time for people and a lot of decisions made on how best to run your own business and where you may want to make up margin for lack of demand. Obviously, not impacting this and not impacting us is the overall tariff environment.

是的，傑夫，當然可以。因此，我們確實經歷了一些價格上漲，這些上漲在本季中反映得尤為明顯。我認為我們在發言中提到，這會對毛利率造成約 170 個基點的影響。我認為——我想最好的描述方式是，如果你縱觀整個行業，你會發現這段時間對人們來說充滿挑戰，許多人都在思考如何最好地經營自己的業務，以及如何彌補需求不足造成的利潤損失。顯然，不影響這一點，也不影響我們的，是整體關稅環境。

So that's been a challenge for some suppliers. and looking for extra margin in other places. So I really can't characterize it more than that, except that we've got a very robust set of suppliers. And so where there's outsized price increases, that don't make sense for the market. We have plenty of options on how we mitigate that.

所以這對一些供應商來說是個挑戰，他們只能在其他方面尋找額外的利潤空間。所以我真的無法再做更多描述了，只能說我們擁有一批非常強大的供應商。因此，當價格出現過大上漲時，這對市場來說是不合理的。我們有很多方法可以緩解這個問題。

And so that was -- that happened, but it's been mitigated. We'll start to see that reverse in Q4. And I think broadly speaking to the second point, we have a desire and see incredible opportunity to invest further to be a highest quality and lowest cost provider of the products. And if you have the best supply chain and the best distribution and the best brand, I think you're in pretty good shape for the long term. And so I wouldn't characterize what we're doing there in a very discrete way.

事情就是這樣發生了，但影響已經減輕了。我們將在第四季度開始看到這種情況逆轉。我認為，就第二點而言，我們總體上希望並看到了巨大的機會，可以進一步投資，成為品質最高、成本最低的產品供應商。如果你擁有最好的供應鏈、最好的分銷管道和最好的品牌，我認為從長遠來看，你的處境會相當不錯。因此，我不會非常具體地描述我們在那裡所做的事情。

Certainly, there's elements of the supply chain we could take in-house and do that in a number of ways. But we also have a number of really good partners that we could form deeper partnerships with. And so we have a very broad mandate to do that, and we have a lot of ways to win by doing that. And this is not an overnight thought either. This is something that's been in the works for some time in terms of our analysis.

當然，供應鏈中的某些環節我們可以收回公司內部，並且可以透過多種方式來實現。但我們也有一些非常優秀的合作夥伴，我們可以與他們建立更深層的合作關係。因此，我們擁有非常廣泛的授權來做到這一點，而且我們有很多方法可以透過這樣​​做來取得勝利。而且這也不是一時興起的想法。就我們的分析而言，這件事我們已經研究了一段時間了。

And so I wouldn't characterize just one way to do that. But what we know is that we can drive substantial gross margin improvement in this business over time by investing in it. And I think the big picture is that until we've done that and we've maximized the business that we have, we need to prioritize those investments versus pursuing other lines of business in which we have a less competitive advantage and less experience. And so that's the direction and the decision that we and the Board have made, and we have a great team who will now execute on that.

因此，我不會只描述實現這一目標的一種方法。但我們知道，透過投資，我們可以逐步提高這項業務的毛利率。我認為，從大局來看，在我們實現這一目標並最大限度地發揮現有業務之前，我們需要優先考慮這些投資，而不是追求我們競爭優勢較小、經驗較少的其他業務領域。所以，這就是我們和董事會所做的方向和決定，我們有一個優秀的團隊將負責執行。

Okay. And then curious on the rollout of your colored films. I noticed some marketing around that. It seems pretty exciting. Any color you can give us, I guess, on early dealer embracement of that?

好的。然後，我對你們彩色薄膜的推出情況很感興趣。我注意到這方面有一些行銷活動。看起來很令人興奮。您能否透露一下經銷商早期接受這種做法的情況？

And how impactful do you expect the colored films to be to your business over the next year or 2?

您預計彩色膠片在未來一兩年內會對您的業務產生多大的影響？

Yes, it's a great question. So the rollout has been great. It's been well received. Our team has done an amazing job, probably the best product rollout that we've ever done in our history when you -- and I say that from external-facing standpoint, but also an internal standpoint, which the rest of the world would appreciate, but I certainly do. I think it's -- our view on it has been relatively conservative.

是的，這是一個很好的問題。所以推廣工作進展順利。它廣受好評。我們的團隊做得非常出色，這可能是我們歷史上最好的產品發布——我這麼說不僅是從對外角度，也是從對內角度，全世界都會欣賞這一點，當然，我個人也深有體會。我認為——我們對此的看法一直比較保守。

I think the question is what is the growth opportunity within that space given the sort of aftermarket color change business has been around for a long time. So do we see this as something that we can just take share in? Or do we see this as something where the underlying demand is going to grow? Our initial view was there was certainly a market in which we could take share. I think what we're seeing a little bit of is that I think the market is going to grow.

我認為問題在於，考慮到售後改色業務已經存在很長一段時間了，這個領域有哪些成長機會。所以，我們是否認為這是我們可以參與其中的事情？或者我們認為這方面的潛在需求將會成長？我們最初的看法是，肯定存在著我們可以佔據市場份額的市場。我認為我們現在看到的是，市場將會成長。

I think as the products now are better and they can be delivered in an even better way and marketed better, there's probably more new interest in that than I would have thought. And you see -- I think you'll see more engagement too from whether it's the dealership channel and the OEM channel wanting to offer more options to consumers that maybe you can't do with a limited color palette in a traditional automotive setup. And so I think though if those get traction, you have the opportunity for a substantial expansion of that. So early days for us, but I think I'm quite pleased and we expect to see more from that going forward.

我認為，由於現在的產品更好了，而且可以以更好的方式交付和更好地進行行銷，因此人們對這方面的興趣可能比我想像的要大。而且我認為，經銷商通路和 OEM 通路也會更加積極地參與進來，因為他們都希望為消費者提供更多選擇，而這在傳統的汽車配置中，由於顏色選擇有限，可能無法實現。所以我覺得，如果這些措施被推廣，就有機會大幅擴張。對我們來說，現在還處於早期階段，但我認為我很滿意，我們期待未來能看到更多成果。

(Operator Instructions) Steve Dyer, Craig-Hallum.

（操作說明）史蒂夫戴爾，克雷格-哈勒姆。

This is Matthew Raab on for Steve. In the PR, you called out the mid- to high 20% operating margin by 2028. Given the investment in manufacturing, that implies 10 points of expansion over the next few years. I guess whether it'd be organic or inorganic growth, what are the revenue assumptions underpinning that margin expansion?

這裡是馬修·拉布，替史蒂夫為您報道。在新聞稿中，您提到到 2028 年營業利潤率將達到 20% 到 20% 之間。考慮到對製造業的投資，這意味著未來幾年將成長 10 個百分點。我想，無論是有機成長還是無機成長，支撐利潤率擴張的收入假設是什麼？

Well, I think we've been pretty consistent that we think that a low double-digit sort of organic revenue growth even with all the noise and the weakness that we see that continuing out for us certainly through the midterm. So it doesn't -- we're not sort of making any change to our kind of midterm view that, that's the sort of revenue growth we think we should be able to generate.

我認為我們一直堅持認為，即使面臨各種幹擾和疲軟的市場環境，我們也能實現兩位數的低有機收入成長，而且我們認為這種成長勢頭肯定會持續到中期。所以，我們並沒有改變我們對中期業績的看法，也就是我們認為我們應該能夠實現的收入成長水準。

Okay. That's helpful. And then maybe just a couple of housekeeping items. Maybe, Ryan, if you could just give an update on the sentiment across the aftermarket in dealer channel. Q4 guiding to 15% growth in the quarter, obviously, good.

好的。那很有幫助。然後可能還需要一些家事用品。Ryan，或許你可以更新經銷商通路售後市場的整體狀況。預計第四季將增長15%，這顯然是個好消息。

But any other further detail you have there would be great.

如果您還有其他細節，那就太好了。

Yes. I mean, I think it's a real challenge. I mean if you look at sort of our peers in the aftermarket and other places, there's a real mix sentiment. What we found interestingly is that the weakness in the sort of trough in sentiment has sort of bounced around globally. Obviously, you had the U.S., you've got sort of Canada now.

是的。我的意思是，我認為這確實是個挑戰。我的意思是，如果你看看我們在售後市場和其他領域的同行，你會發現他們的態度真是褒貶不一。我們發現一個有趣的現象，那就是市場情緒低谷的疲軟態勢在全球反覆出現。顯然，以前有美國，現在還有加拿大。

You had Europe maybe at some point last year. And we've kind of seen it more negative and then recover some. I think if you look at the retail automotive business in the U.S., they're certainly back in the mode of looking for extra gross profit as things are tougher there and just compression in margins and challenges with affordability and tariff impacts into new car pricing and all that. And so that's negative in the sense that, that's still a headwind for the consumer where you have upward pressure on pricing and affordability. Maybe we get some relief from sort of the interest rate situation in terms of the affordability overall.

去年某個時候，你可能去過歐洲。我們看到情況往往比較糟糕，然後又有所改善。我認為，如果你觀察美國的汽車零售業務，你會發現他們肯定又回到了尋求額外毛利的模式，因為那裡的情況更加嚴峻，利潤率受到壓縮，而且新車價格受到負擔能力和關稅等因素的影響。因此，從某種意義上說，這是負面的，因為這仍然對消費者構成不利影響，價格和購買力面臨上漲壓力。或許利率情勢能緩解一些壓力，進而提升整體的消費能力。

But it's positive for us in the sense that when it's tougher for dealers, there's more push to find other ways to make money in the things that we do provide more value on a percentage basis when it's harder overall. So I think from that standpoint, that's actually quite positive.

但從某種意義上說，這對我們來說是積極的，因為當經銷商處境艱難時，他們會更有動力去尋找其他賺錢的方式，而我們所做的，在整體形勢更加艱難的情況下，按百分比計算，能提供更多價值的產品。所以從這個角度來看，我認為這其實是件好事。

I just think it's -- we've never been in an environment where you get more differing views on what's happening. I don't think there's this universal consensus that things have substantially improved or that the consumer sentiment is way better. But at the same time, there hasn't been any skies-falling moment. So our approach has been that we have to power through. We've got to be mindful of those dynamics, but we've got to set the company up for the long-term success and make investments where we need to make it.

我只是覺得──我們從未處於這樣一個環境中，能夠聽到這麼多關於正在發生的事情的不同觀點。我不認為人們普遍認同情況已經大幅改善，或是消費者信心已經顯著提升。但同時，也並沒有發生任何天塌下來的大事。所以我們採取的策略就是必須咬牙堅持下去。我們必須注意這些動態，但我們必須為公司的長期成功做好準備，並在需要的地方進行投資。

And we know that the consumer and the demand picture, it will all settle out. And I think you've seen some stress. Barry mentioned in his remarks, bad debt, there was an aftermarket chain of some sort that filed for bankruptcy that we had some exposure to. So you see a little bit of signs of stress like that, nothing meaningful or material to the business overall. But I think that's kind of emblematic of what's going on.

我們知道，消費者和需求狀況最終都會穩定下來。我想你已經感受到了一些壓力。巴里在演講中提到了壞賬，我們曾對一家汽車後市場連鎖店有過一些投資，這家連鎖店申請了破產。所以你會看到一些類似的壓力跡象，但對企業整體而言，這些跡象並沒有什麼實質的影響。但我認為這某種程度上象徵著正在發生的事情。

And then you've also seen an influx of competitors into this space. And this current environment makes it more challenging for them, especially those trying to get rooted and footed, and that's all the more reason why we need to keep the pedal to the metal and maintain and grow our positioning. So long answer to your question, but I think it's a mixed bag overall.

此外，你還會看到大量競爭對手湧入這個領域。而當前的環境對他們來說更具挑戰性，尤其是那些試圖紮根立足的人，因此我們更需要全力以赴，保持並提升我們的地位。所以，對於你的問題，我的回答有點長，但總的來說，我認為好壞參半。

Understood. And then on gross margin, it sounds like there's a little bit of a drag expected in Q4, just given some of that China inventory and then expect a record in Q1 and Q2 '26, level of the impact there across those 3 quarters would be helpful.

明白了。至於毛利率，考慮到中國的一些庫存，預計第四季度會有一些拖累，然後預計 2026 年第一季和第二季將創下紀錄，這三個季度受到的影響程度將很有幫助。

Well, we -- yes, the sort of drag from China with that higher-priced inventory and then sort of the tail off of some of that price increase, that will remain in Q4. However, on a comparative basis, Q4 of '24 was quite low in gross margin. So the expectation is that we should see some gross margin improvement from the prior year in Q4 on a percentage basis, even though we -- to your point, we'll be off of that sort of full potential until we get into the end of Q1 where we're recognizing all of the margin in China and we fully remediated the cost increases that we've seen.

是的，來自中國的高價庫存帶來的拖累，以及隨後部分價格上漲的回落，將在第四季持續存在。然而，從相對水準來看，2024 年第四季的毛利率相當低。因此，我們預計第四季度毛利率將比去年同期有所提高，儘管正如您所說，直到第一季末，我們才能完全發揮出全部潛力，屆時我們將確認中國市場的所有利潤，並徹底解決我們所看到的成本上漲問題。

And then any commentary on Q1 and Q2 '26, just the level of improvement expected there?

那麼，對於2026年第一季和第二季度，您有什麼評論？您預期這兩季的業績會有怎樣的提升？

I think I'm hesitant to quantify it any more than we have, only because we've got to turn the inventory and sell what we've got. But our position is that we will be seeing highest gross margins we've seen as we get into that time frame.

我不敢再做更詳細的量化，只因為我們必須週轉庫存，把現有的產品賣出去。但我們認為，到那時，我們將看到有史以來最高的毛利率。

And this does conclude today's question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the floor back to management for closing remarks.

今天的問答環節到此結束。現在我謹將發言權交還給管理階層，請他們作總結發言。

I want to thank everybody for joining us today and thank our team for doing an amazing job, and we've got a big contingent at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, a big annual event and we're on a great display. So thanks, everyone.

我要感謝今天在場的各位，感謝我們團隊的出色工作，我們在拉斯維加斯的 SEMA 改裝車展上派出了龐大的隊伍，這是一個盛大的年度盛會，我們的展位也很棒。謝謝大家。

Thank you. This does conclude today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and have a wonderful day. Thank you once again for your participation.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。現在您可以斷開線路了，祝您有美好的一天。再次感謝您的參與。