Operator
Operator
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Group 1 Automotive's 2016 Second Quarter Financial Results Conference Call. Please be advised that this call is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference call over to Mr. Pete DeLongchamps, Group 1's Vice President of Manufacturer Relations, Financial Services and Public Affairs. Please go ahead, Mr. DeLongchamps. Peter C. DeLongchamps - Vice President-Manufacturer Relations, Financial Services & Public Affairs: Thank you, Jamie, and good morning, everyone. And welcome to today's call. The earnings release we issued this morning and a related slide presentation that include reconciliations related to the adjusted results we will refer to on this call for comparison purposes have been posted to Group 1 website. Before we begin, I'd like to make some brief remarks about forward-looking statements and the use of non-GAAP financial measures. Except for historical information mentioned during the call, statements made by management of Group 1 Automotive are forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve both known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the company's actual results in future periods to differ materially from forecasted results. Those risks include, but are not limited to, risks associated with pricing, volume and the conditions of markets. Those and other risks are described in the company's filings with the SEC over the last 12 months. Copies of these filings are available from both the SEC and the company. In addition, certain non-GAAP financial measures, as defined under SEC rules, may be discussed on this call. As required by applicable SEC rules, the company provides reconciliations of any such non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures on its website. Participating with me today are Earl Hesterberg, our President and Chief Executive Officer; John Rickel, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Lance Parker, our Vice President and Corporate Controller. Please note that all comparisons in the prepared remarks are to the same prior periods, unless otherwise stated. I'd now like to hand the call over to Earl. Earl J. Hesterberg - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thank you, Pete, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to report that Group 1 earned $47.4 million of adjusted net income for the second quarter. This equates to record second quarter adjusted EPS of $2.16 per diluted share, an increase of 9.1% over last year. For the quarter, total revenue increased approximately $56 million, or 2.1%, to a second quarter record of nearly $2.8 billion. On a constant currency basis, revenue grew nearly 4% for the quarter. Turning to our business segments, during the quarter we retailed over 43,000 new vehicles. Total consolidated new vehicle revenues were about flat as the average new vehicle selling price increase of $1,029 to $35,303 was offset by 2.5% fewer unit sales. The volume weakness was seen throughout much of the United States and Brazil and especially Texas and Oklahoma as I will cover in a minute. More than offsetting this volume decline however was a significant increase in new vehicle margins as we made a conscious decision to trade off margin for volume in some brands. Consolidated new vehicle gross profit increased 6.6% as gross profit per unit increased $158 to $1,859 with U.S. same-store margins up 15%. Our unit sales geographic mix was 76% U.S., 18% UK, and 6% Brazil. Our new vehicle brand mix was led by Toyota/Lexus sales, which accounted for 25% of our new vehicle unit sales. BMW/MINI, Ford, VW, Audi, Porsche and Honda/Acura each represented over 10% of our new vehicle unit sales and General Motors accounted for roughly 8% of unit sales. U.S. new vehicle inventory stood at 29,900 units, a 1,500 unit decrease from March 31. Despite this decrease, our day supply remained elevated at 83 days, due to the softening of new vehicle sales. We further adjusted orders in light of this new sales environment and expect to bring inventory down by the end of the third quarter. Total consolidated used vehicle retail sales grew roughly 5% as we retailed 4.8% more units and the average used vehicle selling price increased $20 to $21,722. Used vehicle retail gross profit also increased roughly 5% as gross profit per unit remained flat at $1,465. During the quarter, we retailed nearly 33,000 used retail units. U.S. used vehicle inventory stood at 14,100 units, which equates to a 34-day supply. Relative to stop sale inventory, we currently have approximately 500 new and 600 used vehicles in stock under an OEM stop sale order. This represents less than 2% of our U.S. new vehicle inventory and about 4% of our used inventory. Total consolidated parts and service revenue increased 6.2% while consolidated parts and service gross profit rose 4.9%. On a local currency basis, same-store parts and service gross profit grew 2.5% on 4.5% higher revenues. U.S. same-store gross profit increased roughly 2% on 3.6% higher revenues, as warranty and collision comps were difficult coming off of a 10% and 19% same-store growth from the prior year, respectively. There were also several high-margin labor intensive warranty campaigns in the prior year. We maintain our guidance of mid-single-digit same-store revenue growth throughout the remainder of the year. Finance and insurance gross profit increased 2.2% on a consolidated basis. This growth was primarily driven by an increase in F&I for retail unit of $23 to $1,404, as retail unit sales were about flat. We delivered yet another all-time quarterly F&I per unit record in the U.S. of $1,602, an increase of $67 over the second quarter of 2015. Regarding our geographic segment results, our U.S. same-store operations saw a total revenue decline of 3% driven by a 9% decline in new vehicle unit sales. Sales were once again heavily impacted in the Texas and Oklahoma markets due to weakness in the oil industry, with decreases in these markets of 9% and 11%, respectively. As mentioned previously, we were able to more than offset the volume decline with improved new vehicle gross profit per unit resulting in new vehicle gross profit growth of over 4%. So despite a 9% decline in new vehicle unit sales, we were able to increase total same-store gross profit in the quarter due to a focus on improving new vehicle margins, the further expansion of our parts and service operations, and record F&I per unit results. Our UK operations had another strong quarter with total same-store revenue growth on a local currency basis of 9.4%, driven by an 11.8% increase in new vehicle revenue, a 5.9% increase in used retail revenue, an 11.8% increase in parts and service revenues, and a 13.3% increase in F&I per retail unit. We also generated 220 basis points of adjusted same-store SG&A leverage during the quarter. Our new vehicle sales performance was negatively impacted in June due to uncertainty both before and after the Brexit vote. However, it is too early to predict the impact on auto retail sales going forward. Thus far, July sales do not appear to be severely affected. In Brazil, while the overall Q2 industry sales were down 22%, our same-store total revenues decreased only 4% on a local currency basis from the prior year; once again an amazing performance by our Brazilian team. Our strategy of aligning with growing brands is working and, in conjunction with the significant portfolio adjustments we have previously announced, we remain confident that we have positioned ourselves to be profitable for the remainder of 2016. I will now turn the call over to our CFO, John Rickel, to go over our second quarter financial results in more detail. John? John C. Rickel - Chief Financial Officer & Senior Vice President: Thank you, Earl, and good morning, everyone. For the second quarter of 2016, we reported adjusted net income of $47.4 million. On a fully diluted per share basis, adjusted earnings increased 9.1% to another all-time record of $2.16. These quarterly results for 2016 exclude $830,000 of net after tax adjustments primarily consisting of $1.7 million of losses due to hail and flood damage in the U.S. and approximately $600,000 of charges related to the write off of lease hold improvements on a dealership facility that is under contract to be purchased, partially offset by a $1.7 million net gain due to deferred tax adjustments in our Brazil segment. Starting with the summary of our quarterly consolidated results. For the quarter, we generated an all-time second quarter record of $2.8 billion in total revenues. This was an improvement of $56 million, or 2.1% over the same period a year ago, and reflects increases in each of our business lines. On a local currency basis, which ignores the change in foreign exchange rates, total revenues increased 3.8% for the quarter. Our gross profit increased $18.5 million, or 4.7%, from the second quarter a year ago to $410.1 million. For the quarter, adjusted SG&A as a percent of gross profit increased 80 basis points to 72.2%, partially due to the mix effect of increased UK business, which inherently has a higher cost structure. Floorplan interest expense increased by $1.6 million or 15.8% from prior year to $11.6 million. This increase is primarily attributed to higher U.S. and UK inventory levels. Other interest expense increased $2.5 million or 17.4% to $16.7 million reflecting the issuance of $300 million of 5.25% bonds in December 2015. Our adjusted consolidated effective tax rate for the quarter was 35.1%, which is lower than our historical tax rate, primarily due to the increased profitability from our UK region. Turning now to our geographic segment, starting with the U.S. market on a same-store basis. For the quarter, total U.S. same-store revenues decreased 3% to $2.2 billion, driven by decreases of 5.4% in new, 2% in F&I, and 0.9% in total used. These decreases were partially offset by a 3.6% increase in parts and service. The 3.6% increase in same-store parts and service revenue consisted of increases of 4.5% in customer pay, 4.1% in wholesale parts and 3.7% in warranty. Our collision operations were about flat. Our 2% F&I revenue decrease was driven by a 5.1% decrease in total retail units, partially offset by per retail unit increase of $51 or 3.3% to $1,594 per unit. Total same-store gross profit improved 1.1% driven by increases of 4.4% in new vehicles, 1.9% in parts and service and approximately 1% in total used. As Earl previously mentioned, we displayed improved pricing discipline as our new vehicle gross profit per unit increased $240 per unit to $1,839. Our adjusted SG&A as a percent of gross profit increased 110 basis points to 70.5% and adjusted operating margin remained flat at 4.1%. Related to our UK segment on a same-store basis with percentage change metrics on a local currency basis. For the quarter, total revenue increased $7.5 million to $315.6 million, an increase of 9.4% on a local currency basis. Gross profit for the UK segment was up 15.9% from prior year. New vehicle gross profit grew 16.5% as a unit sales increase of 4.2% combined within 11.8% increase in gross profit per unit. Total used vehicle gross profit increased 24.6% as a 3.7% increase in unit sales combined with a 20.2% increase in gross profit per unit. Parts and service gross profit improved 11.9% and our F&I income increased 18.4%, which is attributable to both a 13.3% increase in gross profit per retail unit to $737 and a 4.5% increase in total retail units. For the quarter, our adjusted SG&A as a percent of gross profit improved 220 basis points to 75.8% and adjusted operating margins improved 30 basis points to 2.4%. These improvements represent the impact of leverage from our growing scale in the UK, as we continue to fully integrate acquisitions from prior years and capitalize on efficiencies in our processes. Related to our Brazil segment on a same-store basis, as Earl mentioned, the total industry new unit volume decreased roughly 22% from the second quarter of 2015. Despite this, our total revenues decreased only 4% on a local currency basis and we were close to breakeven for the quarter. Despite the continued local economic challenges that we expect will persist throughout 2016, we project our Brazil segment to be profitable over the remainder of the year. Turning to our consolidated liquidity and capital structure. As of June 30, we had $25 million of cash on hand and another $63 million that was invested in our floorplan offset accounts, bringing immediately available funds to a total of $88 million. As previously announced during the quarter, we completed a new $1.8 billion syndicated credit facility that will expire in June 2021. This facility further strengthens our balance sheet by securing ample, reasonably price capital for vehicle financing in an acquisition growth over the next five years. The facility can also be expanded to $2.1 billion in total availability if necessary. Year-to-date, we have repurchased approximately 2.3 million shares of our common stock at an average price of roughly $55.90 per share for a total of $127.6 million. These repurchases equate to an approximate 10% reduction from our year-end diluted common share count of 22.6 million shares. As of July 28, we have approximately 20.6 million diluted common shares outstanding and $22.4 million remaining on our board authorized share repurchase program. While we will continue to look for acquisitions, we still believe that our current share price offers a very attractive alternative for capital allocation. Therefore, any potential acquisitions would need to offer a very attractive return on investment opportunity for us. Also during the second quarter, we used $5 million to pay dividends of $0.23 per share, an increase of 15% per share over the second quarter a year ago and an annualized yield of approximately 1.5%. For additional detail regarding our financial condition, please refer to the schedules of additional information attached to the news release, as well as the investor presentation posted on our website. With that, I'll now turn it back over to Earl. Earl J. Hesterberg - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thanks, John. Related to our corporate development efforts, as previously announced, the company added four franchises in Brazil and disposed of our two remaining Peugeot franchises during the second quarter. We will continue to adjust our dealership portfolio to strengthen our company and prepare for the eventual recovery of the market. This concludes our prepared remarks and I'll now turn the call over to the operator to begin the question-and-answer session. Operator?