Operator
Operator
Good morning everyone. Welcome to the Boyd Group Services Inc. First Quarter 2023 Results Conference Call. Listeners are reminded that certain matters discussed in today’s conference call or answers that may be given to questions asked could constitute forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties related to Boyd’s future financial or business performance. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. The risk factors that may affect results are detailed in Boyd’s annual information form and other periodic filings and registration statements, and you can access these documents at SEDAR’s database sedar.com. I’d like to remind everyone this conference call is being recorded today, Wednesday, May 10, 2023. I would now like to introduce Mr. Tim O’Day, President and Chief Executive Officer of Boyd Group Services Inc. Please go ahead, Mr. Day. Tim O’Day: Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone and thank you for joining us for today’s call. On the call with me today is Jeff Murray, our Vice President of Finance and Interim Chief Financial Officer. We released our 2023 first quarter results before markets open today. You can access our news release as well as our complete financial statements and management discussion and analysis on our website at boydgroup.com. Our news release financial statements and MD&A have also been filed on SEDAR this morning. On today’s call, we will discuss the financial results for the 3-month period ended March 31, 2023, and provide a general business update. We will then open the call for questions. During the first quarter of 2023, we delivered record sales and adjusted EBITDA, although adjusted EBITDA margins remained below pre-pandemic levels. Demand continues to be strong with results once again constrained by the tight labor market and accompanying wage pressure. Supply chain disruption continues to normalize. However, sustained levels of high demand continue to result in elevated levels of work in process inventory. While the ability to service demand continues to be constrained by market conditions, new technician training and other initiatives are providing some improved capacity. However, the path to servicing the level of demand requires continuing increases in technician compensation to attract more labor into the industry and company, and this will require continued price increases from our customers. As we address this issue, we will be able to reduce cycle times and increase customer satisfaction levels. During the first quarter, we recorded record sales of $714.9 million, adjusted EBITDA of $84.7 million and net earnings of $20.8 million. Sales were $714.9 million, a 28.4% increase when compared to the same period of 2022. This reflects a $23.7 million contribution from 52 new locations. Our same-store sales, excluding foreign exchange, increased by 25.2% in the first quarter, recognizing the same number of selling and production days in the U.S. and Canada when compared to the same period of 2022. Same-store sales benefited from high levels of demand for services as well as some increase in production capacity related to technician hiring, growth in the technician development program as well as productivity improvement, although ongoing staffing constraints continue to impact sales and service levels that could be achieved. Sales also increased based on higher repair costs due to increasing vehicle complexity, higher park content and cost, increased scan in a calibration services as well as general market inflation. Gross margin was 45.7% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to 44.1% in achieved in the same period of 2022. Gross margin benefited from improvements in part margins, and parts are once again being sourced from primary suppliers and the mix of alternative parts continues to move toward historical levels. Increased scan and calibration services also positively impacted gross margin. Labor margins have improved to continue to be negatively impacted by the tight labor market, which has resulted in continued wage pressure to both retain and recruit staff. Operating expenses for the first quarter of 2023 were $242.4 million or 33.9% of sales compared to $191.6 million or 34.4% of sales in the same period of 2022. Operating expenses as a percentage of sales was positively impacted by improved sales levels, which provide an improved leveraging of certain operating costs, partially offset by wage and other inflationary increases as well as increased support costs related to recruitment and training, including the costs associated with the technician development program. Adjusted EBITDA or EBITDA adjusted for fair value adjustments to financial instruments and costs related to acquisitions and transactions was $84.7 million, an increase of 57.5% over the same period in 2022. The increase was primarily the result of improved sales levels and gross margin percentage, which also improved leveraging of certain operating costs. Net earnings for the first quarter of 2023 was $20.8 million compared to $1.6 million in the same period in 2022. Excluding fair value adjustments and the acquisition and transaction costs, adjusted net earnings for the first quarter of 2023 was $21.2 million or $0.99 per share compared to $2.1 million or $0.10 per share in the same period of the prior year. Adjusted net earnings for the period was positively impacted by increased sales and improvements in gross margin percentage as well as improved leverage of operating expenses. At the end of the period, we had total debt net of cash of $1.108 billion compared to $963 million at December 31, 2022. The debt, net of cash, increased when compared to prior periods, primarily as a result of increased lease liabilities resulting from location growth as well as lease renewal activity. During the first quarter of 2023, the company was able to reduce the level of long-term debt held under the revolving credit facility by approximately $8.2 million. During 2023, the company plans to make cash capital expenditures, excluding those related to the acquisition and development of new locations within the range of 1.6% and 1.8% of sales. In addition to these capital expenditures, the company plans to invest in network technology upgrades to further strengthen our technology and security infrastructure and to prepare for advanced technology needs in the future. The investment expected in 2023 is in the range of $5 million to $8 million with similar investments expected in 2024 and 2025. This investment is expected to begin in the second half of 2023. Looking ahead, we remain focused on the key challenges of building capacity through increased staffing and negotiating sufficient price increases to recover lost margin from continuing wage pressure. We continue to experience high volumes of work and elevated levels of working process. We continue to benefit from increased scanning and calibration revenue. Thus far in the second quarter, our sales run rate is modestly above that experienced in the first quarter of 2023, and same-store sales results have been slightly lower than the growth experienced recently. The balance of 2023, beginning in May and June has higher comparative periods for which same-store sales will be measured against. We remain committed to addressing the labor market challenges so that we can service additional demand. Price increases for labor continue to work their way through the system, market by market and client by client. Modest improvements in labor margins have been experienced. However, pricing increases have not been sufficient to attract requisite talent into the industry and to offset the wage increases experienced to date. As communicated previously, performance credit-based programs may cause margin to vary on a quarter-by-quarter basis. Our intake location strategy is intended to drive same-store sales growth at times when capacity is not constrained. In late 2022 and early 2023, we decided to close many intake locations based on the reality of our current capacity constraints. On the other hand, we’re pleased to have opened or acquired 30 collision repair locations thus far in 2023 and the pipeline to add new locations and to expand into new markets is robust. Operationally, we’re focused on optimizing performance of new locations as well as scanning and calibration services and consistent execution of the well operating way. Given the high level of location growth in 2021, and the strong same-store sales growth during 2022 and the combination of same-store sales growth and location growth thus far in 2023, we remain confident the company is on track to achieve its long-term growth goals, including doubling the size of the business on a constant currency basis from 2021 to 2025 against 2019 sales. With that, I would now like to open the call to questions. Operator?