Earnings Labs

Red Rock Resorts, Inc. (RRR)

Q1 2008 Earnings Call· Wed, Apr 30, 2008

$51.86

-7.24%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the RSC Holdings first quarter conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. We will be facilitating a question-and-answer session towards the end of this conference. The slides of the accompany, the earnings call, are located at www.rscrental.com. My name is Carmen. I will be your coordinator today. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. The webcast and the first quarter earnings slide presentation including any non-GAAP reconciliation tables that are warranted, can be accessed on the RSC Holdings website at www.rscrental.com, under the About Us tab. A replay also will be available shortly after the conclusion of the call and posted on the RSC website. Before the presentation begins, RSC would like to alert you that some of the comments such as company's outlook and responses to your questions may include forward-looking statements. That are based on certain assumptions and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, and actual future results may vary materially. In addition, the factors underlying the company's outlook are dynamic and subject to change, and therefore, this outlook and all other information mentioned today speaks only as of today, and RSC does not intend to update this information to reflect future events or circumstances. RSC encourages you to read this risks and uncertainties discussed in the company's annual report on form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007. Speaking today for the company are Erik Olsson, President and Chief Executive Officer, and David Mathieson, Chief Financial Officer. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Erik Olsson. Please go ahead.

Erik Olsson

President

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, and welcome, everyone to RSC's first quarter 2008 earnings call. I will go over some highlights of the quarter, and David will then talk in more detail about our financials. I will also talk about our outlook for 2008, and we will end with Q&A. We have put together a number of slides to accompany our comments, which you can find on our website. We delivered another quarter of profitable revenue growth by leveraging our business model and executing on our strategy, in spite of slower market growth. Our rental revenues are up a strong 7% on essentially flat pricing, and we are seeing a very strong underlying free cash flow generation for the year. Our commitment to providing customers reliable access to one of the youngest and most diverse fleets in the industry, superior customer service, and our extensive national footprint, are supporting our ability to increase rental revenues, which now make up 88% of our total revenues. The first quarter is typically the toughest quarter of our calendar year. That notwithstanding, if you turn to slide number three, you can see that rental revenues grew 7% year-over-year, despite difficult comps versus a year ago, and our same store growth was 4.6%. Our growth was achieved despite the fact that the environment was less than hospitable. We don't particularly like to talk about the weather, but there is no doubt that the long and hard winter this year delayed projects and lowered overall activity levels, primarily in the Central, Midwest and Northeast areas. We also continued with our warm start expansion strategy and opened five new branches in the first quarter, bringing the total to 478 branches. We grew our adjusted EBITDA to $183 million, or 43.3% of total revenues, and return on operating…

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, Erik, and good afternoon, everyone. I would like to spend the next few minutes going over some additional detail on our first quarter financial statements beginning with slide nine. As Erik just said, rental revenues are up a solid 7% for the quarter, despite a very tough winter. Merchandise revenues were down 10.9%, and we believe we are now running at a sales level we can maintain. Used equipment sales are down, as planned, as we want to preserve fleet in order to minimize capital expenditures going forward. This has the effect of aging our fleet, and at the end of the quarter it was 28 months. Margins on rentals are down due to the lower utilization we elected for this quarter, higher depreciation on rental equipment and higher fuel costs, the latter being up year-over-year by $5 million. We are maintaining historically good margins on both merchandise and on used equipment sales. Continuing to slide ten, SG&A is up at 9.4%. This reflects sales force expansion and the additional costs associated with being a public company. We would normally expect the first quarter to have the highest rate, as this quarter is most impacted by the seasonal slow down. The company expects the margin impact from these costs to lessen as the year progresses and utilization increases seasonally. Depreciation on non-rental tends to track the fleet spend, as we buy trucks and automobiles for our sales force in line with the expanding fleet. Interest expense is down, as we have lower debt and better rates than this time last year. Diluted earnings per share, is $0.22, the same as last year. Net income is up, but our share count is also up as last year's financials did not reflect the IPO. In slide 11, our free cash…

Erik Olsson

President

Thank you, David. Before we go to Q&A, I want to give you our outlook for 2008. Please advance to slide number 15. Our full year guidance remains unchanged, with exception of free cash flow, that as we have noted. We now expect to increase to $130 million to $180 million thanks to the bonus depreciation included in the Economic Stimulus package. We are very pleased with this level of free cash flow generation, considering the fact that we are down shifting from a period of high expansion, and therefore are reducing our accounts payable, which have very favorable terms by $175 million this year. This means that the underlying run rate of free cash flow in 2008 is around $305 million to $355 million. The outlook for the overall economy, and specifically the construction end market, has progressively weakened for the second half of 2008 and 2009 and visibility is more limited. Research firms are projecting that RSC's major end-markets will increase at a low single-digit rate for the year. This is consistent with the assumptions we used for determining our guidance. Within this environment, we are adhering to our strategy of reducing both replacement and growth CapEx in order to maximize cash flow and profit margins. Our CapEx process is very flexible, and allows us to make very near term decisions on CapEx spending, and quickly respond to changes in the marketplace. For example, at this time basically the only fleet we have on order is for the month of May. This is not unusual or an indication of business demand, but a true reflection of how our model works. Also, as the year progresses, we may choose to be slightly more cautious with the timing on new store openings, pushing some further out, and we may as…

Mike Schneider

Management

Good afternoon, guys.

Erik Olsson

President

Good afternoon.

Mike Schneider

Management

Guys, could you maybe just address the CapEx budgeted? It sounds like you are being more cautious on the CapEx, but if I look back to the guidance; you have not reduced the actual range. It still ranges from $200 million to $250 million. Is it likely that that range heads lower, or had you just set the bar low enough in your guidance that it does not need to be adjusted at this point?

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

Yes, we feel that the range is good enough to keep -- we are sticking with all our guidance except improving our cash flow make.

Mike Schneider

Management

Okay, but it does sound like you did pull back on the sale of equipment during the quarter and held on to more than you maybe ordinarily would have, which would imply that CapEx for the year then to replace that should have come down. Is it just because you guys were going from the high end to the low end, or they're other dynamics at work?

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

I think, Mike, that pare back was part of our plan and part of the guidance that we gave. You know we were already well into the first quarter when that guidance was put together. So, we believe it is still very consistent with what we are seeing.

Mike Schneider

Management

Okay. Then on the sales force, given the lower projections that seem to be unfolding for commercial construction, what have you done in terms of growing the sales force, or indeed, even plans to shrink it as the cycle begins to fade?

Erik Olsson

President

In the first quarter, it is typically not the quarter where we have big expansion of the sales force. In fact, in the first quarter we had a slight reduction of 12 people -- 12 sales people from the beginning of the year. We will continue to add and adjust as is fit on the local market levels, and we still believe that the there is room for our sales force to expand in many areas, [at least] on the industrial side.

Mike Schneider

Management

And that sales force can track to 12 people even adjusting -- or even including the store expansions.

Erik Olsson

President

Right.

Mike Schneider

Management

Okay. And, a final question just on the growth rate, and I apologize if I missed it. Within the industrial sector, are you able to determine what your industrial account base grew in the quarter versus the non-res?

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

Yes, we can tell it grew faster than non-residential, but we do not have it to precision that we would like to get to. But, it is growing faster than non-residential construction, which also grew in the quarter too.

Mike Schneider

Management

Can you ballpark the range or is it too imprecise?

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

Yes, [it grew] as much as 50% more than non-res.

Mike Schneider

Management

Okay. Thank you again.

Operator

Operator

And the next question comes from the line of Brandt Sakakeeny. Please proceed.

Brandt Sakakeeny

Management

Thanks, Brandt Sakakeeny. Good evening. Question on the timing of the cash flow for this year, the $130 million to $150 million. Can you just give us a sense of how that is going to flow through the year, and the use of proceeds given the covenant restrictions? Thanks.

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

Yes, we expect the cash flows to be positive going forward. So the second, the third and fourth quarters, we should have positive free cash flow.

Brandt Sakakeeny

Management

And, how quickly do you plan on pulling that free cash flow into either debt pay down or share repurchase?

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

Well, we're continuing to look at that, Brandt. The first priority is on business development, and tuck-in acquisitions. We are looking at some things and if that happens, we will be doing that first.

Brandt Sakakeeny

Management

Okay. And, in light of the AVI numbers and your commentary, and I guess specifically to the acquisition outlook, do you think there is an opportunity to consolidate here in advance of some deterioration in the back half, or just give us your thinking around that aspect. Thanks.

Erik Olsson

President

I think there is always opportunity to consolidate or acquire companies. There is never a bad time, or never a really good time. It is always -- we think it always makes sense if the numbers play out. So, we are not trying to time anything ahead or behind the changes in the marketplace.

Brandt Sakakeeny

Management

Okay. Perfect. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

And the next question comes from the line of Scott Schneeberger. Please proceed.

Scott Schneeberger

Management

Hi, thanks. Hoping back to the industrial market, where do you guys anticipate taking that as a percentage of mix, or is that not the way to think about it? Just your thoughts on where you want to take that especially in this part of the cycle.

Erik Olsson

President

Over time, we would like to keep increasing it as we said. We want to grow it faster so that the mix grows. And, without putting a specific time line, I would like to see it be relatively balanced between non-res and the industrial or non-construction business. So, I would like to take it up to 50% plus.

Scott Schneeberger

Management

Great, thanks. Could you speak to also, within industrial how each end market is holding up? I think you mentioned petro manufacturing, a few others. Just if you could speak on those how the best ones are holding up, where you might see some deterioration, just a little bit more color one level deeper. Thanks.

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

Well, estimates for industrial in 2008, the market that we are in will continue to grow. Petrochem, mining markets are doing very well, oil and gas. We want to really diversify our business not to get stuck in any one particular market in industrial. But, really diversify the business we have.

Scott Schneeberger

Management

Sure, and are you increasingly more active in government projects, with state, local, federal?

Erik Olsson

President

To a very small extent. We are starting to build up in relative to those markets, but it is nothing major.

Scott Schneeberger

Management

Okay, thanks. Switching gears here a little bit, a little bit of negative pricing growth but you alluded to the seasonally soft quarter, pretty impressive EBITDA margin and still some nice volume growth. It sounds like you are opening up the door for a little bit more flexibility on the price volume balance. Could you just speak to that a little bit more?

Erik Olsson

President

I did not mean to imply that. Our ambition is still to keep pricing, try to move it back into positive territory if possible. But, if it remains at this level, right around a zero [mark], and we grow our business by 7% we think that is a great result in itself. But, we are certainly not shifting any gears or shifting any strategy here or trying to -- we're not going to lower rates to get volume.

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

We are doing everything we can to keep positive.

Scott Schneeberger

Management

Okay, thanks. And then, just one final one if I could sneak it in. Going back to the acquisitions question, I think you said in your comments or in the press release, specifically tuck-ins. But, would you do anything of great magnitude or would you do anything that introduces a new leg to your business. Thanks.

Erik Olsson

President

I don't think we are looking at new legs for our business. We think there is still a lot to do in our core business. So, at this time we are only looking at tuck-in acquisitions. That is all we can say, comment upon.

Scott Schneeberger

Management

Okay, thanks very much.

Operator

Operator

And the next question comes from the line of Christina Woo. Please proceed.

Christina Woo

Management

Thanks. Good afternoon. Last time you talked about an example of Florida, some of your weaker markets, giving us examples of how you were able to achieve company averaged EBITDA margins. I was hoping you could update us on some of those tougher markets like Florida and California. And, how they did during the quarter.

Erik Olsson

President

We obviously continue to deploy those strategies, as we talked about last quarter, and I think in Florida we are still maintaining those kinds of utilization levels that we talked about last time. California is also more or less on the same level as they were in the fourth quarter, so none of those markets show any sign of recovery at this point, nor do they show any further deterioration. I would say they're sort of look like flattening out at this very, very low levels.

Christina Woo

Management

Okay, because in the past you said that even in the worst of circumstances, because of all the safeguards you have in place and your processes, you couldn't run the models such that you could get lower than a 40% corporate EBITDA margin. Is that still true, and is that proving out within the different markets that you serve?

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

Yes, we wouldn't change that, then of course, in the individual quarter and in the seasonally toughest quarter those numbers can vary a little bit around that 40% mark, but we still stick to that, yes.

Christina Woo

Management

Okay. And then, switching a bit to the rates, with pricing being fourth in importance to customers, perhaps you could walk us through how it is that the rates have come down. Is it from customers coming to you and demanding that the rates are lower? Or, do you go out to different channel checks and see that the competitor environment has intensified so you proactively reduce the rates? How does that work?

Erik Olsson

President

Well, we are not proactively reducing rates. I think what we are seeing is a combination of some customers saying that you can't keep raising your rates as you have in the past. But, mostly it is responding to competitive pressure where competition is attacking our customers and coming in with significantly lower rates. While we can certainly achieve a premium, that premium can't be -- too big so to speak.

Christina Woo

Management

Right. Was pricing down in the industrial market, as well as in non-residential?

Erik Olsson

President

We don't really separate those two. It is two different markets, but pricing was better on the industrial side.

Christina Woo

Management

Okay. And then finally, you have talked about tuck-in acquisitions opportunities. Has anything -- are you seeing with the slowing economy and weakening environment that there are more opportunities out there that you are vetting? Maybe you can give us an update on that.

Erik Olsson

President

I think we see lots of different opportunities, and I think it is still too soon to say that we we've seen any influx from any distressed companies or people that want to sell out. I think it is too early in the cycle. But, there are a lot of opportunities out there.

Christina Woo

Management

Okay. Thanks, great.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of [Chris McCray]. Please proceed.

Chris McCray

Management

Hi. I'm just trying to understand the move in accounts payable in '08, versus '07 and '06. It's a pretty dramatic drop. Can you give us some color on why that happened?

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

We have very good terms with the suppliers. So, effectively what we are doing in 2008 is paying approximately $175 million for CapEx we made in 2007.

Chris McCray

Management

So, I understand that you essentially made the CapEx then, but what other terms that come into play when it comes to the actual payment of it now?

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

Well, they are very favorable to us. I don't want to disclose the exact terms, but they are favorable to us. It is notable that it's a big number, and we want to call it out to show the underlying strength of our cash flow in 2008.

Chris McCray

Management

So am I to understand, because I just am not as close to the industry as you guys, but is it simply a matter of you get a better price in exchange for paying faster? Is that the simple way to look at it?

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

No, it is the other way around. We pay slower, or we have longer terms with our suppliers. So what we bought in the second half of 2007, we only have to pay for in the first half of 2008. And, if you look at our CapEx in 2007, and compare that to our CapEx in 2008, it is roughly half. We're going to spend half the CapEx this year as we did in 2007. So, that reduction in CapEx and those terms, you get this dramatic shift in accounts payable.

Chris McCray

Management

Okay, I got it. On the result, I'm just trying to resolve the minor disconnect between what the analysts were looking for in the quarter, and the maintenance of overall guidance within the range of sales and earnings which is encouraging. Is it safe to assume that you feel that analysts didn't build enough seasonality into their models, or what else might be going on there?

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

I think it is more the seasonality -- guidance.

Chris McCray

Management

From your perspective did you --

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

-- because we don't give quarterly guidance.

Chris McCray

Management

So form your perspective you are sort of in line with what you were expecting in the quarter, and folks just didn't match up there.

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

Yes, that is correct.

Chris McCray

Management

All right. I'll leave it to others. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

The next question comes from the line of Ana Recinos from UBS. Please proceed.

Ana Recinos

Management

Hi, good evening. First, I just had a quick question. The original equipment cost in your press release the [2694]. Is that an average number in the quarter, or is that a quarter-end number?

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

That is a quarter end number, I believe. Yes, it is quarter end.

Ana Recinos

Management

Okay, thank you. And, you also mentioned to an earlier question that you were seeing competition attacking rates. Is that coming from either national competitors, or is that more from regional or rental stores?

Erik Olsson

President

It differs on the local markets. We would certainly sometimes see national players; other times regional, sometimes local players. But, usually it's the regional and national players.

Ana Recinos

Management

Okay, and my last question, could you give us a little more color on what types of equipment you were still able to get positive pricing for?

Erik Olsson

President

On rental rates, you mean?

Ana Recinos

Management

On rental rates, right. Where are you seeing better utilization that you are still able to get positive pricing?

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

It is more on geography, but (inaudible) equipment.

Erik Olsson

President

It is -- exactly, it is more the local geographic competitive situation.

Ana Recinos

Management

What geographies are you able to get better pricing from?

Erik Olsson

President

In certain areas we can see that rates on all types of equipment are down. Whereas in other areas, it is still up. If we look across, we have ten regions. Three regions have negative year-over-year pricing. Seven regions have positive year-over-year pricing. So, it is a very mixed picture out there.

Ana Recinos

Management

Okay, thank you.

Operator

Operator

The next question comes from the line of [Rafe Lehman] from [E-Invance]. Please proceed.

Rafe Lehman

Management

Hi. More on rates, I guess. Are you seeing any mixed change leading to rate changes, or are we basically talking about billed rates?

Erik Olsson

President

This is billed rates.

Rafe Lehman

Management

Okay. And then, on used equipment pricing and demand, what are you seeing there in terms of your sale of used equipment?

Erik Olsson

President

It remains strong. We're very pleased.

Rafe Lehman

Management

Okay, great. And then, just a couple questions on industrial. Are you seeing any increase in competitive activity there from others also? We have heard from some competitors they're trying to get into that business. And, I guess maybe a follow-up on that is, how much of your business is under long-term contracts, and what your renewal rate might be for those contracts?

Erik Olsson

President

I think the industrial business is competitive as it always has been. We have been going up against these other guys for many years, so it is nothing new there. We don't feel any change in the competitive pressure. We have not disclosed how much of our business is under contractual rates, but we are renewing contracts at a very good rate without any real hiccups. And, for the most part, we are also seeing rate increases in those contract renewals.

Rafe Lehman

Management

I guess my sense is that there are greater barriers to entry in that business because you had a presence within companies' locations.

Erik Olsson

President

That is correct. We have -- not only do we have onsite locations with many of these -- with the majority of our revenues in the industrial business, but we also provide software solutions and other type of ancillary services that provides great value to the customers and where we are. We believe we are relatively unique with that combination of offering.

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

And those customers really value that service, availability and reliability.

Rafe Lehman

Management

Terrific. Thank you very much.

Operator

Operator

And the next question comes from the line of Emily Shanks of Lehman Brothers. Please proceed.

Emily Shanks

Management

Good evening. Thank you for taking the questions. Just on the follow up around the industrial customers. Do you have -- what is your largest customer within that sub-segment? What would they represent as a percent of sales?

Erik Olsson

President

Without calling up any names, the largest customer, I think, make up 1.4% of our total revenues.

Emily Shanks

Management

Okay, great.

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

We are tremendously diversified.

Emily Shanks

Management

Okay. Terrific. And then, I know you have gotten a lot of questions around pricing, but I'm just curious. I think you used the words competitors coming in using significantly lower rates. Are you seeing any competitors come in and actually offer up pieces of equipment for free?

Erik Olsson

President

Yes, that happens. I wouldn't say it happens very often, but we do hear about it from time to time.

Emily Shanks

Management

Okay. In any specific regions, or does it vary?

Erik Olsson

President

No, it varies.

Emily Shanks

Management

Okay, great. And then if I could, with just one last question. If we look at the additional ABL draw that happened on a quarter-over-quarter basis. Was that in line with what your expectations were?

Erik Olsson

President

Yes, it was, because we [resist] our payables by $114 million. We expect positive cash flows from now on.

Emily Shanks

Management

Great, thank you.

Operator

Operator

The next question comes from the line of Lionel Jolivot from Banc of America. Please proceed.

Lionel Jolivot

Management

Can you just elaborate a little bit more on the fuel cost, on the additional fuel cost? If I have the right number, I think you said an additional $5 million during the quarter. What is your present exposure to fuel cost? And I would have guessed that you would have some ability to pass it to customers in terms of the way you charge it. So how should we think about it, because fuel costs are probably going to stay up for quite a while from now on? So, would you have any ability to recover part of it?

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

Yes, we are addressing that, Lionel. Although, I would say approximately half of the fuel cost increase is actually due to volume. We have been moving our fleet around tremendously. Erik talked about all the moves, so I would say half of it is volume the other half is price. We are addressing that. We are trying to get more. We are increasing our pick up and delivery. We are trying to get more on (inaudible) revenue. So, really, watch this space. We're doing all we can to recover that.

Lionel Jolivot

Management

So when I look at gross margin in the second quarter and going forward, you would expect gross margin to become more comparable on a year-over-year basis, or should we still have a --?

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

Yes, we would.

Lionel Jolivot

Management

And then, going back to the payable, the reduction in payable and the free cash flow, you still have $60 million that you expect to reduce in terms of payables. When is it going to happen? Is it coming basically in the second quarter?

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

Yes, the second quarter.

Lionel Jolivot

Management

Okay, and the last thing, when you started the second quarter, I think your volumes were still in the low 80s. Have you done any buy back activity on the debt or on the stock side since the first quarter?

Erik Olsson

President

No, we haven't.

Lionel Jolivot

Management

Okay, great. Thank you very much.

Operator

Operator

The next question comes from the line of Philip Volpicelli from Goldman Sachs. Please proceed.

Philip Volpicelli

Management

Thank you very much. Could you talk a little bit about the trajectory of the business during the quarter? Was there better business in March than there was in January? And, anything along those lines maybe regionally or by product line, earth moving versus aerial.

Erik Olsson

President

We saw our model seasonal pick up during the course of the quarter. It was -- as we said we faced some very tough weather and so forth. But if we sort through all those things, we really saw the normal seasonal pick up coming. And just to give you some color, those trends continue here into April as well.

Philip Volpicelli

Management

So, by taking that each of the months you met your internal budgets?

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

Yes, we don't give quarterly or monthly guidance, but the results for the first quarter was in line with our expectations.

Philip Volpicelli

Management

Okay. That's great. In terms of the fleet age, it went from 26 at the end of the fourth quarter to 28. What level are you comfortable letting that age out to, and should we, as we go forward, continue to see roughly a two-month increase of average age as we go through the year?

Erik Olsson

President

We are comfortable to age this to the mid-30s, 35 or 36 months, we think is no issue as long as we have our focus on the maintenance and the condition of the fleet. And, we will see our fleet age gradually over the year. We will buy some more fleets here in the quarters ahead, and therefore our age -- it will not age as fast as it did in the first quarter.

Philip Volpicelli

Management

Great, okay that is helpful. And then, in terms of the new stores, you opened five. What are the targets for 2008, and what would be the things that would cause you to either postpone or cancel some of those openings?

Erik Olsson

President

We have said before that we are looking to open more than 20 stores in 2008. And, having said that, each individual store -- we take a look at each individual project when the time comes around to sign a lease contract for a building, or before we hire the people, etc. I think we just meant to say the obvious. We are not married to any one of our plans. We will take a close and hard look at it when the time comes around, and if it doesn't make sense, if the local market is softer than we thought when we made the original plans, we may postpone it, and if not, we are going to go ahead.

Philip Volpicelli

Management

And, in terms of the irrational pricing, is that one major competitor that we are seeing that from, or are you seeing that broad based from several different people?

Erik Olsson

President

You know, Philip, I don't think any one of our competitors have the strategy to be irrational in its pricing, so we don't see that from anyone. I think everybody is trying to manage price as best as they can. What we see more is on local levels that -- can be either one of them so to speak, on a local level that acts not as rational as we would like. But it is really no one specific.

Philip Volpicelli

Management

Got you. And last question, the dollar utilization number for the quarter. Could you give us that?

Erik Olsson

President

No, we don't. We have never given that, and we don't calculate it the same way as all the other guys do, so it creates confusion, I think, out there.

Philip Volpicelli

Management

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Phil Gresh of JPMorgan. Please proceed.

Phil Gresh

Management

Hey, guys. A similar question to the last one about the progression through the quarter, and more specifically on rates. Where I am going with this is, you kind of talked about our last update in mid-February that you thought pricing would be flat to slightly higher. But with the decline of 0.4% in the first quarter, it kind of seemed to imply that maybe March and April weakened more than that. So, maybe down 1% or more. I'm trying to understand is that true -- is that right to imply?

Erik Olsson

President

The sequential pricing improved as we progressed through the quarter. So as we said, our ambition is still to move this above the zero line, and we'll just have to see what the market gets.

Phil Gresh

Management

Okay. And then, on the used equipment sales, do you expect it to be kind of in this low $30 million type of range quarterly for the rest of the year? Is that what we should think of as a run rate or --?

Erik Olsson

President

Yes, I believe so, give or take. Again, we don't give specific quarterly guidance here, but --

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

--Yes.

Phil Gresh

Management

It's a pretty big step down from last year, so.

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

That is correct. We think that's right, yes.

Phil Gresh

Management

Okay, just one other question, you talked about the costs having a lessening impact on the margin as we progressed through the year. I just want to make sure I understand that right, that you do expect the cost to still increase, it is just that they are going to have less of an impact because sales volume will go up, or do you actually expect cost cuts?

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

That is correct, yes. We are going to get more sales. Just seasonally, the second and third quarters are our biggest quarters.

Phil Gresh

Management

Okay, but you don't expect to be cutting costs on the cost of equipment rental line.

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

No, we won't

Phil Gresh

Management

Okay. Thanks.

Operator

Operator

And the next question comes from the line of Art Weiss of Group G Capital. Please proceed.

Art Weiss

Management

Good afternoon. I just wanted to know how much equipment you acquire under capital lease during the quarter.

Erik Olsson

President

No rental equipment.

Art Weiss

Management

The equipment under capital lease, is it generally not rental equipment?

Erik Olsson

President

Yes, it is just delivery vehicles, and some sales vehicles.

Art Weiss

Management

I didn't quite understand. The equipment you have acquired in the past under capital lease is not rental equipment. Is that right?

Erik Olsson

President

That is correct.

Art Weiss

Management

Got it, okay. Thanks.

Operator

Operator

(Operator Instructions). And the next question comes from the line of Chris Doherty from Oppenheimer Company. Please proceed.

Erik Olsson

President

Hello.

Operator

Operator

(Operator Instructions).

Erik Olsson

President

Okay.

Operator

Operator

We have no questions at this time. I will turn the call back over to management. Please proceed.

Erik Olsson

President

I would like to thank you all for joining us today on our first quarter 2008 earnings call. We have put another strong quarter behind us with rental revenue growth of 7% for organic growth and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 43.3%. The business environment was challenging in the first quarter, but we have grown our company over and above the underlying market while producing solid results. Our underlying free cash flow generating capabilities are very strong, and will be realized progressively through the year. We believe that delivering industry leading results and continuing our strategy of growing profitably with superior costs and capital efficiency while focusing on cash flow generation are the best ways to shareholder value over the long-term. Finally, we are pleased to welcome Gerald Gould as our new Vice President of Investor Relations beginning May 1, 2008. Gerry brings tremendous experience with 15 years devoted to Investor Relations. We look forward to reporting back to you next quarter with our business results.

Operator

Operator

Pardon Erik Olsson. You have the final question comes from the line of Chris Doherty from Oppenheimer Company. Please proceed.

Chris Doherty

Management

Hi Erik and David, sorry about that. I was just wondering in terms of your mix. Did that have any effect on what the street would call dollar utilization? I know you calculate it differently, but I am just wondering if that might have affected it too.

Erik Olsson

President

I'm sorry -- on what?

Chris Doherty

Management

Just in terms of mix. I know in the past you said that you sort of reduced earth moving and stuff. I am just wondering if that has actually changed sort of your revenue in terms of mix.

Erik Olsson

President

No, not really. We haven't seen any exchange.

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

Earth moving went from one year, 12 months ago; from 19% of our mix to I think it's now 18%.

Erik Olsson

President

18%.

Chris Doherty

Management

Can you also talk about your target time utilization? I know you said in the quarter it was down seasonality, due to seasonality. But if I look at sort of '07 versus '06, your time utilization increased. Should we think maybe you are going back to '06 levels, or do you expect to maintain '07 levels?

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

Our ambition is to maintain '07 levels, so we should be about 70%.

Chris Doherty

Management

And just lastly, I noticed your SG&A quarter-over-quarter was down about $4 million. Can you talk about your variability there, and whether you have any cost cutting initiatives? I know you have talked a lot about the top line and growing the top line, but are there any big projects that you might be able save on the cost side?

David Mathieson

Chief Financial Officer

No, there's no big projects. The variability is we have salesmen. If they don't make their target, they don't get their commission, basically. Again, a self-correcting cost.

Chris Doherty

Management

Okay, thank you Erik and David. I appreciate you taking the call late.

Erik Olsson

President

Okay, operator, I think that would conclude the call. Thank you very much, everyone.

Operator

Operator

This concludes today's presentation -- RSC Holdings first quarter Earnings Call. You may now disconnect. Have a wonderful day.