Mark Kalvoda
Analyst · Baird. Please proceed
10:59 Thanks, Bryan. Turning to slide seven. Total revenue increased twenty five point eight percent to four fifty four million dollars for the third quarter of fiscal twenty twenty two. Our equipment business increased thirty six point nine percent versus prior year, which was driven by strength in our agriculture and international businesses. 11:25 Our parts and service business generated consistent growth increasing four point nine percent and four point three percent respectively compared to the prior year period. We didn't see much as much growth this quarter, due to a tougher comp from the prior year. We also saw less parts in service activity in our Western North Dakota and South Dakota ag stores as these locations were the hardest hit by drought conditions. 11:55 Rental and other revenue decreased seven point one percent versus prior year due to a decrease in inventory rentals, a smaller rental fleet in our current construction footprint and a reduced fleet due to the January twenty twenty one divestiture of our construction stores in Arizona. 12:16 Helping to offset these factors with a higher dollar utilization of our construction segment rental fleet, which improved nicely to thirty one point four percent for the current quarter compared to twenty five point seven percent in the same period last year. The improved utilization helped increase margins in this revenue category. 12:38 On Slide eight, our gross profit for the quarter increased twenty seven point five percent to ninety two million dollars. Our gross profit margin increased by thirty basis points, primarily due to stronger equipment margins, but also due to improved margins across all categories of revenue. 12:58 Equipment margins were supported by good end market conditions and healthy inventories. The higher margins were partially offset by a shift in sales mix toward equipment revenue this year versus higher margin parts and service revenue as compared to the third quarter of the prior period. 13:19 Operating expenses increased eight point eight million dollars versus the prior year to sixty two point nine million dollars for the third quarter of fiscal twenty twenty two. This increase was more than offset by revenue growth and led to one hundred and ten basis points of operating expense leverage compared to the prior year. 13:40 Reducing our operating expenses to thirteen point nine percent as a percent of revenue compared to fifteen percent in the prior year period. Although expenses are trending well as a percentage of revenue, we are realizing inflationary cost pressures in areas like fuel, wages, and employee benefits and expect those pressures to intensify in future quarters. 14:06 Floorplan and other interest expense decreased twenty one point six percent to one point three million dollars in the third quarter of fiscal twenty twenty two, compared to the same quarter last year due to lower floorplan borrowings. 14:21 In the third quarter of fiscal twenty twenty two, our adjusted net income increased eighty point eight percent to twenty one point seven million dollars, which accounts for two point six million dollars of impairment costs net of tax in the prior year period. 14:38 Our adjusted earnings per diluted share for the quarter was a record zero point nine six dollars and compares to last year's zero point five three dollars performance. And adjusted EBITDA increased forty two point one percent to thirty five point three million dollars compared to the third quarter of last year. 14:58 You can find a reconciliation of adjusted net income, adjusted income per diluted share and adjusted EBITDA to their most comparable GAAP amounts in the appendix to the slide presentation. 15:11 On Slide nine, you will see an overview of our segment results to the third quarter of fiscal year twenty twenty two. Agriculture segment sales increased twenty seven point six percent to two hundred eighty one point five million dollars helping to drive a significant increase in segment adjusted pre-tax income of forty two percent to nineteen point six million dollars. 15:37 This equates to a pre-tax income margin in the third quarter of seven percent and demonstrates the extensive improvements we've made to our operations over the course of this last cycle. 15:50 Turning to our Construction segment. Revenue increased zero point nine percent to seventy nine point seven million dollars compared to the prior year period. Despite the January divestiture of two stores in Arizona, on a same store basis, excluding those stores, revenues were up eleven point one percent for the quarter. 16:14 We are pleased with the continued improvement in this segment's adjusted pre-tax income, which improved nearly one hundred and fifty percent to three point six million dollars, compared to one point four million dollars in the prior year period. 16:30 Our International segment also benefited from the improved agriculture market conditions and generated revenue growth of fifty one point five percent to ninety two point seven million dollars. The combination of strong equipment sales and margins coupled with solid growth in our higher margin parts and service businesses yielded a five point nine million dollar improvement in adjusted pre-tax income to a positive six point one million dollars, which compares to two hundred thousand dollars in the prior year period. 17:07 Turning to slide ten, you see our first nine month results. Total revenue increased twenty three point six percent, compared to the same period last year. Year to date equipment sales increased thirty two point seven percent. Parts increased seven percent. Service revenue increased six point one percent, and rental and other revenue decreased sixteen point three percent. 17:33 The nine month dollar utilization of our dedicated rental fleet improved to twenty five point eight percent compared to twenty two point two percent in the same period last year. 17:46 Turning to slide eleven, our gross profit for the first nine months was two hundred and thirty eight point five million dollars, a twenty three point one percent increase, compared to the same period last year. 17:59 Our gross profit margin was relatively flat with a ten basis point decrease versus prior year at nineteen point eight percent for the first nine months of fiscal twenty twenty two. The impact that revenue mix is having on overall gross profit margins is largely being offset by higher equipment margins. 18:21 Our operating expenses increased by sixteen point two million dollars or ten point one percent for the first nine months of fiscal twenty twenty two to one hundred and seventy six point five million dollars. This increase was more than offset by revenue growth and led to one hundred and seventy basis points of operating expense leverage, compared to the prior year, reducing our operating expenses as a percent of revenue to fourteen point seven percent. 18:53 Impairment expenses decreased from two point eight million dollars in the prior year to one point five million dollars in the current nine month period. Floorplan and other interest expense decreased twenty four point two percent to four point three million dollars in the first nine months, primarily due to overall lower floorplan borrowings. 19:16 Our adjusted diluted earnings per share doubled to one point nine eight dollars for the first nine months of fiscal twenty twenty two compared to zero point nine seven dollars in the prior year period. 19:31 Our nine month adjusted EBITDA increased fifty two point one percent to seventy eight point six million dollars, compared to fifty one point seven million dollars in the prior year. 19:44 On slide twelve, we provide our segment overview for the nine months period. Overall, our adjusted pre-tax income was fifty nine point three million dollars for the first nine months of fiscal twenty twenty two compared to thirty one point three million dollars in the same period last year. This eighty nine point eight percent increase was generated as a result of strong improvement in performance across all three segments of our business. 20:14 On slide thirteen, we provide an overview of our balance sheet highlights at the end of the third quarter of fiscal twenty twenty two. We had cash of ninety one million dollars as of October thirty one, twenty twenty one. 20:28 Our equipment inventory at the end of the third quarter was three hundred and twenty three million dollars, a decrease of fifteen million dollars from January thirty one, twenty twenty one, reflecting the net effect of a forty four million dollar decrease in used equipment, partially offset by a twenty nine million dollar increase in new equipment. 20:52 Strong sales and lower inventory levels continue to drive equipment inventory turns, which increased to three point one versus one point six in the prior year. I will provide a little more color on our inventory on the next slide. 21:09 Our rental fleet assets at the end of the third quarter increased slightly to eighty two million dollars, compared to seventy eight million dollars at the end of fiscal twenty twenty one. We still anticipate our fleet size to be around eighty million dollars by the end of fiscal twenty twenty two. 21:30 As of October thirty one, twenty twenty one, we had one hundred and seventy five million dollars of outstanding floorplan payables on seven hundred and fifty three million dollars of total floorplan lines of credit, which leaves us with considerable capacity in our credit lines to handle our equipment financing needs. 21:50 Our adjusted debt-to-tangible net worth ratio was zero point seven at the end of the third quarter, compared to one point zero at the end of the third quarter of fiscal twenty twenty one and is well below three point five, which is the leverage covenant requirement of our two largest floorplan facilities outside of our bank syndicate credit agreement. 22:16 Turning to Slide fourteen. The amount of new and used equipment inventories are reflected in the size of the blue and red bars on this slide respectively. As we've discussed during the past couple of quarters, our inventory turns have accelerated due to the combination of increased customer demand and a tighter industry supply of equipment. 22:40 At the end of the third quarter, we drove an inventory turn of three point one times and anticipate this to continue to move higher through the end of the fiscal twenty twenty two given current inventory levels and end market conditions. 22:57 We believe our equipment orders, delivery schedule, level of pre-sales, and equipment inventory have us positioned to meet our current revenue modeling assumptions for fiscal year twenty twenty two. The overall quality of our inventory remains very healthy. Our inventory under non-interest bearing terms, which can be seen by a grey bar on the slide ended the third quarter at forty five point five percent. 23:28 Slide fifteen shows our updated fiscal twenty twenty two annual modeling assumptions. Ongoing top line strength in our agriculture and international segments coupled with the anticipated addition of the Jaycox three-store acquisition in early December causes us to raise our revenue growth modeling assumptions for these two segments. 23:53 This revenue growth combined with stronger margin performance across all three segments also translated to a raised in expectation for our diluted earnings per share range. For the agriculture segment, we are increasing our revenue growth assumption to up twenty three percent to twenty eight percent from up eighteen percent to twenty three percent. 24:17 The fiscal twenty twenty two growth range includes the full-year revenue contribution from our HorizonWest acquisition that closed in May twenty twenty, as well as anticipated revenue from the Jaycox acquisition. 24:33 For the Construction segment, we are maintaining a revenue assumption of up two percent to seven percent. As a reminder, this assumption includes the divestment of our two construction equipment stores in Arizona at the end of fiscal twenty twenty one, which accounted for approximately twenty seven million dollars of combined revenue. 24:54 Excluding these revenues from the prior year base, our modeling assumption equates to a same store sales range of the approximately up ten percent to fifteen percent. For the International segment, we are increasing our revenue assumption to up thirty five percent to forty percent from up twenty seven percent to thirty two percent. 25:17 The strong year to date performance combined with the good crop conditions in our international footprint and a strong global ag commodity prices led to this significant increase in expectations. As Bryan indicated earlier, we sold our single store Serbian business during the third quarter. The small impact of this divestiture is also reflected in this revised revenue range. 25:45 From an earnings per share perspective, we are increasing our diluted earnings per share assumption by zero point four zero dollars at the midpoint to a new range of two point four zero dollars to two point six zero dollars for fiscal twenty twenty two. As a reminder, this range includes all ERP implementation expenses. 26:07 This concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, we are now ready for the question and answer session of our call.