Earnings Labs

H&R Block, Inc. (HRB)

Q2 2013 Earnings Call· Thu, Dec 6, 2012

$30.89

-1.81%

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Transcript

Derek Drysdale

Management

Good morning, everyone. On behalf of the entire H&R Block management team, it's my pleasure to welcome all of you here today, as well as all those listening in on the webcast to our 2012 investor conference. Before we get started, we do have a few housekeeping items to get out of the way. First, earlier this morning, we released our fiscal second quarter results for 2013. Some of the figures in that release were presented on a non-GAAP basis. We've reconciled the comparable GAAP and non-GAAP figures in the schedules attached to the press release. You can find both the release and the schedules on the Investor Relations website at hrblock.com. I'd also like to remind everyone that today's presentation and various comments made in connection with it will include forward-looking statements as defined under the securities laws. Such forward-looking statements involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict and are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and our actual outcomes and results could differ materially. You can learn more about these risks in our Form 10-K for fiscal 2012 and our other SEC filings. H&R Block undertakes no obligation to publicly update these risk factors or forward-looking statements. Now shortly after this morning's presentations conclude, we'll post the slides to our IR website. And as a reminder, our webcast will be available on our website around 1:30 Eastern today. To give you a sense of today's agenda, our opening presentations will run until about 9:30, give or take a few minutes, and then we'll take about a 15-minute break. We expect Q&A to begin around 11 Eastern, and following Q&A, we'll head to lunch in the Rits Salon [ph], which is right out the door to your right. We hope you'll be able to join us for lunch, as there, you'll have an opportunity to meet with various members of our senior management team. And one last note, if you haven't found them already, which I'm sure most of you already have, the restrooms are also out the door, just to your right, past the registration table. So again, welcome, everyone. It's our pleasure to have you here today. We hope you enjoy the presentations. And with that, let's get started. [Presentation]

William C. Cobb

Management

Good morning, everybody. Thanks for attending our 2012 investor conference here in New York City. Our goal today is to ensure you leave here with a thorough understanding of how we see the industry, where we see opportunities going forward, how we plan to capitalize on those opportunities and ultimately, why we believe HRB is a good investment. Now I've spent a lot of time thinking about the company, obviously, and the way I look at it is we are trying to restore H&R Block as a great company. It's been a great company for many years. It did lose its way for a while, and my goal and my management team's goal is to restore it to be a great company. In order to do that, we need to understand where we've been, where we are today and importantly, where we're heading. And we have a great starting point, and that is the guidance I get on a regular basis from our co-founder, Henry Bloch, 90 years young, who every time he sees me, he says, "Bill, the client always comes first. Focus on quality service, prepare error-free returns and clients will return again and again." His simple formula is the basis for everything you will see today. Now if we think about our journey that we're undertaking, and I've tried to capture this in a really simple way. Phase 1 was when Mr. Bloch and his brother, Richard, ran the company in the early days and for many years thereafter. It was a family-run business, had a deep knowledge of the tax business, and everything was centered on the client. The company then moved into a phase in the 90s and early 2000s where outside management came in, where diversification was the watch word. H&R Block had a…

Jason Houseworth

President

Good morning. I'm Jason Houseworth, and it's my job to drive continued growth in our tax services by creating best-in-class tax products and a great client experience for all current and future H&R Block U.S. tax clients, assisted and do-it-yourself. These products and services are delivered both through our digital channel, which we call DIY tax services, as well as our 11,000 retail locations, which are led by my colleague, Amy McAnarney. This morning, I plan to provide you with an overview of the entire tax industry, along with Block's leading position within it, and then we'll look ahead to 2013 and beyond. I hope that when I'm done, you'll understand our position in the tax industry as the only business that can serve the entire population of all 145 million tax filers anywhere, anyway and anytime they choose, a business that has a strong fundamentals and innovation mindset and just as important, momentum as we move into the upcoming tax season. A business that is maniacally focused on creating a great and consistent client experience, a technology-enabled client experience, personalized to meet the unique needs and varying complexity of our clients, and how this focus on our client experience and delivering consistent service quality within it can drive real and sustainable growth to the bottom line and set up our tax plus offerings, which you'll hear more about from Susan Ehrlich after the break, assuming the whole building doesn't come down. I'll start by taking you through our view of the tax preparation industry and where it's headed. U.S. tax filings chartered here since 1951 demonstrate a remarkably straight line of 1% to 2% annual growth, one so straight you could nearly take a ruler to draw over time, even though this charter have experienced a recession and great economic prosperity. This is an industry that has consistently demonstrated predictable growth.

William C. Cobb

Management

Hey, Jason.

Jason Houseworth

President

Yes?

William C. Cobb

Management

Let me give you an update. We're going to power through, all right? So bear with us with the slides. This is not the Palace, it's another building next door. We have all of the Palace working to get -- but they don't control this building. This is a total screw up by the hotel. Their head of security is over there. They at times work with them and move to the other side of the building. This is not the hotel. It's -- this is New York City. So we might take up our collection and make some payments in through New York style but anyway, I don't know what else to do except to just say we're just going to power through. And I really apologize, this is very unfortunate.

Jason Houseworth

President

So the IRS growth is highly correlated with non-farm employment and growth we believe will continue in the upcoming tax season with IRS returns expected to grow 1.5% to 2%. Within the tax industry, there are really 2 fundamentally different types of consumers or tax filers: assisted, which accounts for 60% of filers, and do-it-yourself or DIY, which accounts for 40%. This 60-40 split between assisted and DIY has not changed in the past decade and we don't anticipate material shifts in the next decade because this is a split between attitudes regarding how people want to consume tax-preparation. Having been in many client focus groups with both types of these clients, I can tell you these are very distinct needs. The 60%, or the assisted clients, see their tax return as inherently complex, regardless of whether they are a 1040EZ, the simplest form, a 1040, filing multiple schedules, one of the more complex situation, whether they're a 22-year-old first-time filer or a 65-year-old retiree. To assisted clients, taxes are scary. They don't understand why anyone would risk doing their own taxes and they value the time they get back, which on average is about 5 hours. Because of these reasons, assisted clients are relieved to delegate this task to a paid preparer. Now on the contrary, the 40% or DIY tax filers, they don't understand why anyone would want to have someone else do their taxes. They're confident doing it themselves, and they ultimately want control of the process. These DIY tax filers are subsegmented into digital filers, or those who use desktop software online and now mobile solutions, and also pen and paper filers, which have dramatically declined over the past 5 years as DIY users have shifted to digital methods. So let's talk about the 60% or…

Susan P. Ehrlich

Management

Good morning, everyone, and welcome back from the break. I'm Susan Ehrlich, and I'm delighted to be with -- to be here with you today to share with you the evolution we've made over the last 12 months in developing and executing on our strategy for financial services. My presentation to you this morning will focus on 4 key areas. I'll begin with an overview of our business model for financial services, then I'll spend some time on our observations regarding the marketplace and the competitive landscape. This will then lead into a review of our products and our program enhancements for this tax season. And then finally, I'll finish with a discussion of H&R Block Bank and its role with respect to the future delivery of our strategy. H&R Block possesses several unique assets for developing and delivering a successful consumer financial services program. There is tremendous leverage in our exclusive distribution channel. We possess an extensive footprint of over 11,000 offices and an army of bank agency-trained tax professionals who provide us with a near-0 cost of acquisition. Through this channel, we will introduce our clients to differentiated products of exceptional value and build on our clients' use of these products to grow year-round relationships with H&R Block. This is delivering tax plus. So in looking at the tax plus model, which Bill and Jason have introduced you to, how do we take this critical tax preparation experience and leverage it into creating tax plus relationships with tens of millions of our clients? Our competitive advantages are exclusive distribution and seamless integration. Our goal will not be to try and serve everybody but instead to focus on the over 22 million clients in the U.S. who know our brand and our tax professionals and whom we've come to…

Gregory J. Macfarlane

Management

Hi, everyone. I want to spend my time with you today actually summarizing a lot of what you've heard from Bill and Susan and Jason. I want to do that, though, from a financial perspective, of course. And also, because I've only been here in H&R Block for about 6 months, I want to provide you some -- maybe some new-guy perspective as well. Before I do that, though, I do want to talk about the second quarter. As you know, earlier today, we filed our quarterly SEC registration -- sorry, quarterly SEC filing, and I want to hit some of the highlights with you. From continuing operations, we reported revenues of $137 million last year, and we improved that by $8 million this year to $129 million. The main driver of this was H&R Block Australia. As Bill mentioned to you earlier, they had a great tax season. They were up high single digits for the number of returns, and that translated to double-digit revenue increases. We're quite proud of the work that the H&R Block Australia team delivered this year. From a pretax loss perspective, we reported a loss of $162 million, which is a big improvement from last year's loss of $204 million. Now, of course, we get some of the benefits from the revenue improvement from last year -- or excuse me, from H&R Block Australia. But mostly, what's driven this is actually expense favorability. There is really 3 things that drove the expense variability. There's roughly $2 million of sort of small positive cats and dogs and then roughly $34 million combined of 2 other main drivers. The first one was really about 50% of that, and that was really favorable legal progression within our overall business model. We had a number of legal issues…

Derek Drysdale

Management

Okay. As we get the stools up on stage, I want to just point out 2 things quickly. The slides again will be posted about 25 minutes, so about 11:30. And then secondly, we will have a transcript of this event, that will be posted on Monday. So you can pull that down from the Investor Relations website. Along with -- for the Q&A portion, along with Bill Cobb, Susan Ehrlich, Jason Houseworth, I'd also like to introduce Amy McAnarney, who is our President of U.S. Retail Client Services. So for Q&A, we have a couple of runners for mics, please raise your hand. We do ask that, for the transcript, to do state your name and the company you're with. So let's start here in the front with Mike.

Michael Millman - Millman Research Associates

Management

Michael Millman, the Millman Research Associates. So this week Liberty Tax on its conference call said that you think that the opportunity for price increase is about 5% to 6% a year, that they thought that block held us back. You, today, said that you find it nonelastic, and yet you're guiding to around 1% over time. Can you tell us why you're not more aggressive on pricing?

Derek Drysdale

Management

Greg, you want to start?

Gregory J. Macfarlane

Management

Yes. So first of all, I think Liberty increased their prices by 5% or 6%, that would just be great, and so please pass it onto them. Our belief is that from a competitor perspective, it's a mistake to forecast what our price is going to be, we would really just say wait and see the season -- how the season goes and see how we do this in 2013. Beyond this, Mike, what we've talked about is a 1%. And frankly, as a CFO, I'm a conservative guy so to me, that sort of represents the floor. As you well know historically, H&R Block has been more aggressive on pricing, and we very much recognize that this low price elasticity in the marketplace.

Kartik Mehta - Northcoast Research

Management

Kartik Mehta, Northcoast Research. Susan, one of the things for Emerald Cards is, last year, you had a free refund transfer. Does that obviously drove a lot of Emerald Cards for you this year, you will not? How do you make up the gap to make sure that you have growth in Emerald Cards?

Susan P. Ehrlich

Management

Kartik, we are introducing a number of different programs this year, built around trying to incent acquisition and usage of the card. I think the rewards program is going to be a strong future for folks who may not have considered Emerald Card in the past to see the benefit that clients will receive from having their refund on the card and take advantage of year-round usage. We're also in the digital channel this year, which is new for us and represents a sizable portion of our tax clients. So that's all fertile territory for us this season, so...

William C. Cobb

Management

We've also driven some improvements with Amy's team in terms of the flow within the -- our software contract professionals are lead there. We're also driving some incentives to the tax [indiscernible] we'll also do that.

Kartik Mehta - Northcoast Research

Management

And then just one last one for you, Greg, remiss if I didn't ask this, but any thoughts on timing as to when you get to that EBITDA goal you've laid out looking at, you have the industry growth and block growth and cost-cutting?

Gregory J. Macfarlane

Management

I mean, job number one is to deliver the $85 million to $100 million of cost out, and as I shared with you, that will happen this season. The 27% to 32% is a very important concept for us. I'm not giving specific guidance, though, about when we'll be able get to there.

Derek Drysdale

Management

Right here, Scott. Scott A. Schneeberger - Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Research Division: Scott Schneeberger with Oppenheimer. Starting off with the tax season. Is there any concern with regard to likely a later start to the tax season as you've outlined with regard to preparation and perhaps loss on financial products, which are often geared towards earlier season filers, might there be a decrease in need, if the season gets later, increase? Just thoughts around that and preparation.

William C. Cobb

Management

Yes, I'll go first, and then if anyone wants to add anything. I think -- I don't think decreasing need is a particular concern. I think the need will be there. I think this is an industry issue, it's not a block issue. We've been equipped in the past. We've dealt with issues like this in the past. So it will cause some discontinuities, I think. But Amy's team and the rest are prepared for that. We have people ready to hear whatever the final resolution and some of the issues is. So as Greg pointed out in his presentation, in the end, we're fortunate with this industry, everybody has to file, and in the end, it's going to be more about the total tax season as opposed to some movement between January and February. Scott A. Schneeberger - Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Research Division: And Greg, 2 questions for you. One, you mentioned your most frequent inbound question is, why not lever up and return capital? I was just hoping you could address leverage credit rating and your thoughts on that? And I have one more. I'll let you get there first, please.

Gregory J. Macfarlane

Management

Yes, and I should tell you about, actually most popular question I got is, did you really move to Kansas City? Okay, and I did, so just to be clear. The second question was around capital allocation. So I mean, I'm not sure of this sort of new information to share, but I'll kind of hit what I think the key points are. We think about it a lot, no doubt. In the first 6 months that I've been here, I mean, I've only been here 6 months, we did the CLOC and we redid the notes, which frankly were time-focused. We had to take care of them, and that took a lot of our time. I was quite satisfied with both how we resolve the CLOC and by the bonds by the way for what it's worth. In terms of liquidity profile, I haven't been through a tax season yet. I want to see how that works. I think it's important, and then hopefully, we've all learned a lesson from a liquidity perspective. When you need liquidity, so does the rest of the world. And there is about 4 or 5 months in the year that if I don't have access to liquidity, I can jeopardize the overall value of this company very quickly. So it's something that I take very seriously and very deeply. Now having said that, there are many solutions to that problem. And I think by making progress in the CLOC in particular, we were able to solve a key part of that, so we continue to think about that. The investment-grade, we've used that historically. It's been a way we've accessed through commercial papers. We need that to support that. And not saying we're going to keep it; I'm not saying we're giving it up. It's something we're considering and thinking about deeply.

William C. Cobb

Management

And I think, Scott, also, the reason we can't what seems like a relatively straightforward question, we are now regulated by the Federal Reserve as a savings and loan holding company. And obviously, one of the reasons why we're seeking alternatives is that, as Greg put it, we'll be in a position where we can make autonomous decisions across a whole range of issues. Scott A. Schneeberger - Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Research Division: That's a great segue into my question. But before, nice job on the CLOC. Yes, I was just curious on the strategic alternatives on the bank, a better feel for timing on when that may occur. Also, to the extent you can share on partnering with others for some of the financial products.

Gregory J. Macfarlane

Management

Yes, I'll talk about timing and maybe Susan talk about the ideal partner sort of profile or whatever part of the question. What's important to us is get the right deal and not the fast deal. The other part that I mentioned within the strategic considerations is we want to minimize the amount of client impact. We, in terms of the tax season for all intents and purpose performance of the year, we can't do anything, right? So we end up having windows that open up, okay. And so you need to be -- I mean, I think most of you are aware of that. So in terms of actually getting a transaction completed, you have a window that opens up next spring and summer and then you basically have to go to the next year. We're going to figure that out. We don't know what the answer right now.

William C. Cobb

Management

I'd add one thing and then Susan, you should talk about the partner. Bear in mind that this isn't just the selection of a partner. It will be a regulatory approval process that is very hard to predict how long it will take. We hope to -- we work very well with regulators. We have good relationship with them. The Federal Reserve is very open. But we're at the mercy at the regulators also on that particular topic. Do you want to talk about ideal partner?

Susan P. Ehrlich

Management

Yes, I think from a structure standpoint and a partnership standpoint, I mean, there's -- I've worked with small banks and I've worked with large banks in these kinds of partnering arrangements for financial services in the past, and they bring different skills and benefits to them, right? A large bank is going to have a well-developed product set, that we should be able to accelerate in our channel. A small bank gives us the benefits of more of the program management control that Greg spoke to. So I think we can structure it either way. I think we're just looking forward to the continuing dialogue with potential partners, the structure -- the program that's going to be the best for us and right for our clients.

Derek Drysdale

Management

Thomas?

Thomas Allen - Morgan Stanley, Research Division

Management

Thomas Allen from Morgan Stanley. Two questions. First, on the refund transfer revenue. You said you expect to be flat to fiscal '11. What does that imply in terms of volumes and pricing? And then the second question, in your 27% to 32% EBITDA margin goal, does that include the impact of outsourcing the financial product? So assuming that would mean that you would get less revenue and a higher margin, is that built into that assumption or is that -- could that push your range higher?

William C. Cobb

Management

So let me take the first part, and Greg, why don't you take the second. I would stay with what Greg kind of have in the slide that he's giving you an indication that we expect revenues to approximate fiscal year '11. We're not going to go through volume and mix. You want to go to the second part?

Gregory J. Macfarlane

Management

Yes. So I was -- I think hopefully, I was or maybe I wasn't clear, but the 27% to 32% is what we think right now as things change, as mix changes, then we'll continue to reevaluate that. So the specific, Thomas, the answer to your question is, it does not include any of the unwinding of the bank and things like that.

Derek Drysdale

Management

Vishnu?

Vishnu Lekraj - Morningstar Inc., Research Division

Management

Vishnu Lekraj, MorningStar. The question here on -- sorry, the long-term pricing. You said 1% moving forward. Can you give us some thoughts behind that given the price points at DIY, assisted, along with some of your competitors price points? And how you're thinking about furthering that number?

Gregory J. Macfarlane

Management

So let me say something generally, we're not going to talk about pricing. We have -- as our pricing board is out, we price -- you go back to Jason's thesis, which is, everyone's situation is complex. We price according to each individual. Their needs can be moved around. We -- this is not a Happy Meal that we're going to drive around the price up 5% or 6% like others have talked about. So we have our pricing board, we spent a lot of time on the modeling of that. That's a situation that we have set up for this year, and we're not in a business of forecasting that. Greg was giving you an indication that in the long-term, if you want to look at an expected model, we gave you industry growth, we gave you an expected area for pricing. So I don't mean to be -- but it is a decision that we've taken as a company and certainly shared with the board. I don't know, Jason, do you have anything else you want to add?

Jason Houseworth

President

Well, I think the other thing is that the way we look at our clients and really the productivity that they drive to the bottom line is not just about price. I mean, we do look at their individual needs in order to determine the price, but we also look at the mix of clients, as well as the financial products that we can offer our clients to provide a more value. And overall, we look at how that revenue adds up and how we can build it, not only in assisted but also in DIY. Scott A. Schneeberger - Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Research Division: So looking at the other side of the equation, given your cost reduction programs, how do you look at staffing then in terms of trying to retain the most experienced folks to make sure that you're driving customer retention and then their comp along with that, if that's possible?

William C. Cobb

Management

So Amy, why don't you take that?

Amy McAnarney

Management

We have focused effort over the last couple of years to continue our -- retention of our most experienced tax professionals. And in fact, just about 75% of our client see our most experienced tax professionals, and that's grown from maybe about 400 basis points over the last couple of years. We have found that, again, it's a strong brand that we have, not only attracts the clients but our tax professionals continue to stay with us more year after year is that incremental investment that we're making in training and preparation so they can serve our clients. So we're very pleased with our retention rates, our best tax professionals.

William C. Cobb

Management

The only thing I would add is we incent our more experienced tax pros at a higher rate than the first year. We have actually, this year, with the tax pro compensation system, if you will, accelerated that, so that we've made it more lucrative for more experienced tax pros. Because as you saw from the charts that Jason displayed and Greg displayed, it's a direct line. The better and more experienced tax pro, the higher our retention is, and obviously, we are really focused on that area.

Derek Drysdale

Management

Let's go to Mike Turner and then right here. Michael Turner - Compass Point Research & Trading, LLC, Research Division: Mike Turner, Compass Point. Just a couple of questions. On the do-it-yourself segment, and I apologize if I've missed it earlier, what percentage of those clients are on unbanked? Do you know that, or...

William C. Cobb

Management

I'm not sure we know that org.

Gregory J. Macfarlane

Management

We certainly haven't released it or discussed in the past. We have to get back to you on that.

William C. Cobb

Management

I think we've generally looked at -- I don't know. I can try to follow-up with you on that. Michael Turner - Compass Point Research & Trading, LLC, Research Division: Okay. And then also on the Emerald Advance, I think -- was it 2 years ago, you opened it to new clients, and then last year, I think you shut that down just to the existing clients, in your open and back up. Have you -- maybe you could talk about the underwriting or the things you've changed because I seem to remember you took a couple of losses when you open it to the new clients. I'm guessing you made some adjustments. Any color there will be helpful.

William C. Cobb

Management

I mean, we feel good about steps. Susan, why don't you go through it?

Susan P. Ehrlich

Management

Yes, it's a program that -- as I was joining H&R Block last year, it was right into the season, and so it gave me an opportunity coming off my experience in credit and credit card lending to take a look at how we were running the Emerald Advance program. And one of the things that affected the performance 2 years ago was the fact that we really did not have a robust collections focus outside of the 3 to 4 months that our offices were open, and that's really been the biggest enhancement that's been put in place. So we've really established what look like more traditional credit collections activities that really begin with even the friendly reminder that a payment on your loan program is due. And that continues for the life cycle of collection. And that was really not a strength of ours 2 years ago, and that has been completely overhauled and a better foundation has been set. In addition, we've done some work on the underwriting on the front and bringing in some folks that, in my experience, I've worked with over the years who do a phenomenal job, focused on middle-market segment, which is where we're collectively focused. And so we feel good that we've improved both on the front end and on the back end of the lending spectrum to get better results.

William C. Cobb

Management

And I'll add, just do a little plug for Susan. Susan has brought in some terrific professionals on her team who have done this, who understand this, who have given us the ability now to do, as you stated, open this up to all clients coming in. Michael Turner - Compass Point Research & Trading, LLC, Research Division: Okay. I know it's really early. Any early color on the acceptance or the usage of the Emerald Advance? I know it's really just been...

William C. Cobb

Management

Yes, we're -- we've -- it's an in-quarter issue, so we've been advised not to discuss it.

Gregory J. Macfarlane

Management

You're welcome to go apply for one of those. Michael Turner - Compass Point Research & Trading, LLC, Research Division: And then last, maybe Greg or whomever, on the capital or money that's presumably in Sand Canyon, call it, $450 million or so, at what point do you say that, okay, we have clarity now, maybe we could do something with that capital. I mean, is it the end of next year when the 6 years expires? Or sort of maybe what's the catalyst or what's -- how do you know you've passed that point?

Gregory J. Macfarlane

Management

Well, the answer is I don't know truthfully. Sand Canyon is very focused, obviously, and continue to support their obligations, and they handle that very professionally and they're very thorough, and I came -- part of my job at GE, I work in subprime mortgage, so there's -- people at Sand Canyon worry about this. I think time will tell on how this is resolved. But specific to your question, it would be, at some point, happy conversation hopefully, but I still don't know when it would happen, so...

Hale Holden

Management

I just have 2 quick ones, it's Hale Holden from Barclays. I just want to understand the sequence of events. So the possible bank resolution sometime in the spring or the summer because it can happen during the tax season even in open window. At that point, you made a capital decision of whether investment-grade ratings are core or not. And I think that's a critical point because you just sold $500 million in 10-year notes to the market with NIG rating. So those guys are going to want to know, whether you stay investment-grade or not. And then I have one follow-up.

William C. Cobb

Management

Is that a statement?

Hale Holden

Management

No, I mean, I think it's not a statement, but I'm just curious on whether the -- it's unclear to me whether the investment-grade rating is core or not?

William C. Cobb

Management

Okay, that's a question.

Gregory J. Macfarlane

Management

Is that your question? Okay.

Hale Holden

Management

That's the question.

Gregory J. Macfarlane

Management

Well, I guess my perspective on this is that we have historically used the investment-grade rating as a way to access commercial paper, cheap and available to fund us through that 3, 4 months a year. That was important for the business from an operational perspective. We've made material steps forward this year in renegotiating our CLOC, as well as these notes that we're doing in the new year, and I feel pretty good where that's ended up. We're going to continue to look at doing an investment grade or not. We're certainly well aware of the fact that the people that are in the line of credit, as well as people who lent us money through the notes, went in a certain way, so that's not lost on us. But overall, our focus is doing the right thing for the company. We got to protect, obviously, liquidity needs, but at the same time, we're very focused on what's the right thing for our shareholders.

William C. Cobb

Management

I would also step back and say that since I've come in to the job, hopefully we've been very consistent and persistent tackling issues. So I hear you jumping out ahead. Right now, we are working through -- we report each quarter on Sand Canyon. We've announced strategic alternatives for the bank. We are working through those. When that partner is chosen, we'll then go through a regulatory process. Greg is giving you some guidelines, but that is not set in stone what the timing is. And as far as any comment or anything on liquidity, we're investment-grade today. We're we do have liquidity needs. We are not here to make a forward-looking statement on liquidity. So I hear you, but I think we're just trying to move along and knock things down as they come along.

Hale Holden

Management

Okay. And my second question is, the disclosure that's been in the 10-Qs and Ks on AIG litigation. Obviously, there's probably not a lot you can say and it AIG driven not by your driven, but is there a sense of when that could be resolved or move to the next step, or be eliminated?

Gregory J. Macfarlane

Management

Yes, I mean...

William C. Cobb

Management

Not only I am not allowed to say, there's actually nothing we can say about that, so stay tuned.

Derek Drysdale

Management

This right here. Efraim Levy - S&P Equity Research: Efraim Levy, S&P Capital IQ. When looking at that video you had before, the gentlemen beginning, he's getting a -- he's not getting a refund, he's actually consuming a lot of services, it looks like. Are you able to recoup that, that -- the cost for that, or is it sometimes you take a loss leader for future gains?

William C. Cobb

Management

That's a great question, and in fact, the audit services that we have year round for our clients are covered in many cases, and especially for those who take our Peace of Mind guarantee. However, in that case, we are using that as a client acquisition, where we offer audit in order to demonstrate our expertise, as well as to the Second Look product. This is exactly what we find when people come in and they’re shocked at the expertise of our enrolled agents that their tax pro could have done it wrong. And in many cases, for whatever reason, they've done it wrong, and it has a big financial impact for them. And what I really like about that video is the gentleman said, and I told everybody in my church about it, which is exactly how we grow our business.

Gregory J. Macfarlane

Management

You think about it from an economic perspective, so I mean, yes, there was a big investment time. He's a lifetime client, he has given us great PR. He -- I mean, specifically people, there probably damaged credit, so we have credit products available to them. That's a path to additional products when they have to do, and we believe that it's a good investment overall, because once you get something like that type of relationship, you got a tremendous lifetime value, too. Efraim Levy - S&P Equity Research: Sure. And that brought me to my second question regarding the Second Look. Can you disclose what the volume is and what the conversion rate for those who take advantage of that?

William C. Cobb

Management

Yes, we don't disclose those specific numbers. But suffice to say that the product, the service continues to grow, and we will be doing that again in tax season '13. Christopher J. Marangi - Gabelli & Company, Inc., Brokerage Arm: Chris Marangi from Gabelli. Two questions. First, can you give us some incremental information on this scale and the pace of the rollout of Money Express, and if there's any additional capital involve there? And then secondly, Greg, I think you mentioned you are happy with the store footprint. Does that extend to happy with the mix of franchise and owned stores at the moment?

Susan P. Ehrlich

Management

Chris, I'll start with the comments on Money Express. As I mentioned in the presentation, we're in 30 locations this tax season. We think the program's a great program, and that it is a, as you can see, a very functional, very easy-to-use kiosk that is providing an awful lot of services and giving money management to our clients at a very affordable price point. We have 11,000 potential points of distribution currently for the kiosk. We have that real estate year-round, so the ability to make Money Express accessible to clients 24/7, 365 days a year we think is a real opportunity for building revenue from our locations on a year-round basis. Right now, Money Express supports Emerald Card, but it's possible that it can support other prepaid programs as well, as well as be distributed to other locations outside of block. And so, all of those, I think, are in the potential development roadmap for Money Express as we look to what to do with it in the future as we get through the pilot phases. In terms of scaling of that, it's really going to be a function of us continuing to like the economics we see as we get through this season and into the year-round.

Gregory J. Macfarlane

Management

We have a lot to learn still about Money Express and the business model since it's behind that, because it isn't just simply about putting a machine there. But we want have 7/24, which means directly you may have to have a different footprint in the offices, we have to understand how that would drive traffic. We need to learn a lot more, so I think it's premature to talk about from a capital need because I'm not sure what the business case is yet. Inherent to the question is we're going to be disciplined, we're going to be consistent and we'll always be with a clear view of value we do make investments, okay. The second part of your question about the footprint, we're very happy with the mix between franchisee and company store, and don't expect any major change in that the near term.

William C. Cobb

Management

And let me just augment that a few years ago, the company had been on the path to re-franchise. That is not a philosophy of the company anymore. We are making the decisions on a trade area by trade area. We are buyers and sellers, so we're trying to optimize that footprint, and Amy and Greg work very closely with the real estate teams on those decisions. But the former, I just want to make sure that it's clear, the former philosophy of re-franchise of a certain amount of stores every year is not part of the company anymore.

Derek Drysdale

Management

So let's take this one in front, and then we'll go into the back. Steven J O'Brien - Jefferies & Company, Inc., Research Division: Steve O'Brien from Jefferies. You're clear on the price points or the pricing strategy. But looking specifically at the DIY filers, is there an opportunity to grow average revenue per filer? What would be the driver? Does it take rates on any file, or potentially this health care situation coming up? And then maybe looking back, how has revenue per DIY filer gone trending?

William C. Cobb

Management

Okay. Jason, do you want to take a shot of that?

Jason Houseworth

President

Well, within DIY, I think there are 3 primary methods. I think the first is better monetization within the DIY product, as we think about how we upsell from a free to basic or deluxe premium. I think the second is adding financial products, and we're obviously doing that by introducing Emerald Card within our online product. And then the third is a continued focus on mix and looking at more complex clients. And that's also where I said within our conversion funnel, I think that we're starting to go deeper and deeper as far as focusing on now the more complex aspects of our interview and really thinking about that. And this is a thing that, that I really like about technology is that we can see within the conversion funnel the exact points where we have clients drop out. And we can then work with our usability team and do AB testing in order to really find the right way to either simplify the screen or to position the value that we need to, to keep clients moving through the conversion funnel.

William C. Cobb

Management

Jason and his team, and Jason has done a terrific job as leader of this over the past 3 years, and his team just continues to get stronger. They are relentless on user experience, they are relentless on how do we improve as we move up the chain. And I think as we get -- we have now a product that is in line or in some areas Jason believes is superior to TurboTax. We are continuing that kind of relentless assault and how do we improve the user experience, especially as we move forward on more complex returns.

Adam Liebhoff

Management

It's Adam Liebhoff from Loomis, Sayles. Could you maybe give us a sense for how big the International segment can be over the next 3 to 5 years? And then somewhat related, maybe talk about the go-to-market model there?

William C. Cobb

Management

Yes, and then, Greg, if you want to add anything. I don't have a number for you. I do believe that as I think companies, great companies today have a footprint beyond the U.S. and beyond the English-speaking world. We are, as Greg mentioned, we'll probably look at a country or 2 to add over the next 12 to 24 months. These are 5- to 10-year plays for us. We're looking for countries that have scale. I think I said this last year, I'll say it again. We're not going to be Apple in 100 countries. We’re going to have large economies, with large middle-class, with governments that are cooperative and trying to collect revenue from their citizens. So I think the mix, the percentage, it's a single-digit part of our business. I think it will go to double-digit, but I don't have a good sense for you in terms of how to model this, if you will, because we are -- because we have chosen to make small disciplined investments. Now, as for the model, we are looking at a variety of ways as we head in the year, in the second year in both India and Brazil. There's a traditional -- what we grew up on in the United States, our retail models, but we're looking at a number of ways through employers, through distance or through digital initiatives. So we don't have a model yet. Right now, we're in the test-and-learn phase. But again, I think part of the responsibility you have leading a company is to start to make investments that are going to pay off in multiple years, and I think we're pleased with -- or I don't know if you have anything else to add.

Gregory J. Macfarlane

Management

Last year, international was $233 million for the revenues. Canada and Australia both growing at high single digits to low double digits. Brazil and India, as Bill has rightfully said, you should be thinking more 5 or 10 years out. We're happy to experiment for 2 or 3 seasons, maybe 4 seasons till we figure out the right model. I don't think it's appropriate to share that with you right now for competitive reasons, but I can tell you that the main work that we use in these markets is entrepreneurial. Okay, we want to be very flexible, but we don't want to be grounded in what makes us special, which is tax preparation and the things that go around that.

Derek Drysdale

Management

So let's go back to Scott real quick, and then Thomas. Scott A. Schneeberger - Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Research Division: Bill, last year, you approached Investor Day with some aggressive OpEx spend into your first year in a role, and you covered some of the primary spends were mobility, sounds like you're happy with the what you achieved and where you are going ahead. We have an update from you on your RT strategy this year and the pricing of that. I'm curious on Block Live and this new My HRB account. Is Block Live still a viable investment and a growth objective, or this is My HRB account kind of point of view?

William C. Cobb

Management

No, they are 2 different things. I'll let Jason comment on the second. But no, we are very committed to Block Live, and I think it's very consistent with the basic business model we have. But Jason, why don't you comment on that, since you're driving those initiatives?

Jason Houseworth

President

Yes, with Block Live, I mean, we have to look at Block Live as part of the overall suite of products, so we have an order to serve all taxpayers, and Block Live fits in as part of that. It's the second year. We feel like we got a great consumer response and we're going to continue to use that in order to fit that piece of kind of virtual assistance. And then, if you look at the account, the account, as I talk about, that whole spectrum of solutions, the account is what binds it all together. It's at the center of it in order to make sure that regardless of what kind of person you are, even if you look now and you bring up the homepage today. In the upper right-hand corner, there's one log-in. We literally used to have kind of a Best of Both log-in, we have a Block Live log-in, the have-not. So we have one log-in. All clients, and what we have is we have that log-in for mobile, we have it for online, we have it for our office clients, and it accesses the same types of services for all those tax clients. And this is what we see as something that using that as a platform. It's going to give us the ability to give assisted and DIY clients a technology-enable experience.

William C. Cobb

Management

And we think it's also a great manifestation of what we're trying to drive, which is this year-round thinking. Let's not just think about this event during the year, whether it'd be digital or assisted, but that's where the development of My Account do that people can access this, they can -- there are tax events during the year, they're able to load it into My Account. So it's not a product. It's a service that will feed in to the various products and services that we have in our core business. Scott A. Schneeberger - Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Research Division: And then just shifting from that to this year, obviously, a very good and reiterated cost-reduction approach to the year. I'm curious, usually at these events, we see maybe a glimpse of TV advertisements for the year to come. I'm not sure, I think, these that we saw today were just for this. Curious what the go-to-market strategy is with marketing this year, the media means of how you go to market, what the message will be? Often you have a tagline. And then, advertising spend year-over-year and contemplation of that?

William C. Cobb

Management

Sure, which one of those I can answer. I'm not going to talk about marketing spend, I'm not going to tell you the message... Scott A. Schneeberger - Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Research Division: Are you going to be on the commercial?

William C. Cobb

Management

The research came back and -- No, I mean, Scott, obviously, it's a great question, and we're weeks away. Mr. Turtledove is not here today because he is very busy getting everything, but I think he'll be pleased with our message. It will be a broad range of -- we'll use traditional TV, radio, but we will be very active online, very active in social media, so -- and we're not going to talk about specific messages because some of our friends may be listening.

Derek Drysdale

Management

Because we were working on the borrowed time, Jack hammer is back. Let's go to Thomas in back up there.

Thomas Allen - Morgan Stanley, Research Division

Management

Following up on marketing question. One of your competitors talked about spending more early on to stay in front of their clients during the delays, during IRS delays. Do you expect to do the same thing? Is that something that could drive up costs?

William C. Cobb

Management

I think from the time, we're going to be -- we'll be active early in the season as we always are, as we were last year. Immediate plans are set. We can move money around. But I think people will see H&R Block, hear our message, so I don't know what that mean. I mean, last year, tax advertising started about 12:01 a.m. on December 26, so I'm not sure how much earlier we could -- any of us could go. So I think I feel good about where we're at.

Susan P. Ehrlich

Management

And I would just add on to that. There are other ways that we connect with our clients before tax season. We make -- we reach out to them personally through phone calls and obviously direct mail. But that personal touch that we do before tax season is really a key for us.

William C. Cobb

Management

And Amy has put a big emphasis on this. As a matter fact, she's taken over. There are changes, such as we have an expression we use a lot of words matter, she no longer calls, people who lead our offices, office managers, they are client service leaders. And again, it just shift, too, and that's why she's been pushing her teams very hard on the proactive outreach for reasons like you said, Thomas. Up here, Ryan [ph].

Charles Stedman Garland - Hamlin Capital Management, LLC

Management

Charlie Garland, Hamlin Capital Management. Can you describe the in-store technology systems? Maybe tell us the last time the tax professional facing systems were upgraded, and are they happy with those systems?

William C. Cobb

Management

That's why you want somebody who's been around 16 years or so to do this, because if I answer this question -- no, I mean, this is a lot what Amy and Jason spend time on, so I'll let the 2 of you.

Amy McAnarney

Management

Right now, we are currently going to be going through a refresh of our tax preparation software that we use in the offices. As we've seen on the digitals and the do-it-yourself side, refreshing that technology and the user experience is great for our business. And we need to keep track in front of that in our -- in office experience. So we are refreshing that technology and the software. It's going to be a multiyear rollout as with any major system that is client facing.

Jason Houseworth

President

Yes, and I think the -- this actually gets back to the idea that everything, whether we're talking about the assisted or the DIY side of the -- our tax business, it starts with a great client experience. And the existing tax preparation system that we have on our offices is 20-plus years old. And what we recognize is that if we really want to take it to the next level, we've got to first change out that platform and then evolve it. And I give Bill a lot of credit for coming in and really challenging us with taking the multiyear steps that we need to really make that type of change, that type of transformational change in our client experience.

Derek Drysdale

Management

Any other questions?

William C. Cobb

Management

There's one in the back.

Derek Drysdale

Management

All right, it doesn't look like there are any other questions. Again, thank you all for joining us today and those of you on the webcast. That does conclude our presentation today. Please, we do hope you join us for lunch. Susan, Greg, Bill, Amy, and Jason and others of the senior management team will be there, so we hope you can join us. Thank you.