Valvoline - Q3 2023

Transcript

Moderator (participant)

Thank you all for joining. I would like to welcome you all to the Valvoline Q3 2023 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. My name is Brika. I will be your moderator for today's call. All lines are on mute for the presentation portion of the call today, with an opportunity for questions and answers at the end. If you would like to ask a question, please press Star, then one on your telephone keypad. I would now like to hand over to your host, Elizabeth Russell, to begin today's call. Elizabeth, please go ahead.

Elizabeth Russell (Senior Director of Investor Relations)

Thanks, Brika. Good morning, welcome to Valvoline's Q3 fiscal 2023 conference call and webcast. This morning, at approximately 7:00 A.M. Eastern Time, Valvoline released results for the Q3 ended June 30th, 2023. This presentation should be viewed in conjunction with that earnings release, a copy of which is available on our investor relations website at investors.valvoline.com. Please note that these results are preliminary until we file our Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission. On this morning's call is Sam Mitchell, CEO; Lori Flees, President of Retail Services; and Mary Meixelsperger, CFO. As shown on slide 2, any of our remarks today that are not statements of fact, statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements.

These forward-looking statements are based on current assumptions as of the date of this presentation and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. Valvoline assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements unless required by law. In this presentation and in our remarks, we will be discussing our results on an adjusted non-GAAP basis, unless otherwise noted. Non-GAAP results are adjusted for key items which are unusual, non-operational, or restructuring in nature. We believe this approach enhances the understanding of our ongoing business. A reconciliation of our adjusted non-GAAP results to amounts reported under GAAP and a discussion of management's use of non-GAAP and key business measures is included in the presentation appendix. The information provided is used by our management and may not be comparable to similar measures used by other companies.

As a reminder, the Retail Services business segment represents the company's continuing operations, and the former Global Products segment is classified as discontinued operations for the purposes of GAAP reporting. On slide three, you'll see the agenda for today's call. We'll begin by providing an update on the return of proceeds from the sale of Global Products. We will then talk about our Q3 and operational highlights and end with a review of our Q3 results. I'd like to turn the call over to Sam.

Sam Mitchell (CEO)

Thanks, Elizabeth. Thank you all for joining us today. As we announced earlier this quarter, we completed the Dutch auction tender offer by successfully repurchasing just over $1 billion of shares. Between the tender offer and open market repurchases, we have repurchased 37.9 million shares and returned approximately $1.4 billion to shareholders this year. This leaves $340 million on the current share repurchase authorization, and we expect that to be returned over the next 12 months, subject to market conditions. This would deliver on our commitment to return a substantial amount of the net proceeds from the sale of Global Products business, in line with the original timeline of 18 months post-close of the transaction. Turning to Slide 7, let's take a look at some key highlights from the quarter.

We continue to see strong top-line growth, with $720 million of system-wide store sales this quarter, which is almost an 18% increase compared to prior year. System-wide same-store sales growth continues to be strong and consistent across the network, with a 12.5% overall increase. From a profit perspective, we saw a 27.8% increase in adjusted EBITDA over prior year, which once again outpaced the revenue growth for the quarter. We added 23 locations this quarter, bringing our system-wide total to 1,804. Slide 8 shows our growth in key metrics over recent years. We continue to see the resiliency of the preventive maintenance business and our growth potential. Our performance in the Q3 gives us confidence in our full year outlook for fiscal year 2023.

As we wrap up this section, I'd like to address our leadership succession news from this morning. I have announced my plans to retire at the end of this fiscal year. Leading this company over the last 21 years has been the highlight of my career, and I will always be grateful for the experience of working with the talented and dedicated people at Valvoline. Lori Flees, our current President of Retail Services, has been named incoming CEO. I've had the privilege of working side by side with Lori for the past year. Throughout her career and in our time working together, she has proven to be a strategic thinker with a natural ability to unite teams and drive results, including the delivery of incredible customer and franchisee experiences.

The board and I have great confidence that she is the right leader for Valvoline as the company focuses on its future as a high growth, high margin, pure play Retail Services business. With that, I will turn it over to Lori.

Lori Flees (President, Retail Services)

Thank you, Sam. I'm excited and honored to be named the next CEO of Valvoline. We have an incredible business and team. Working together with our talented team of over 10,000 people and our strong franchise partners, we'll continue to deliver a quick, easy, trusted customer experience while investing strategically to deliver best-in-class value creation for our shareholders. I want to thank the board for their trust in me. I want to thank Sam for his mentorship and successful leadership of Valvoline through a critical time of change and growth. Now, let's turn to our Q3 performance on slide 10. As expected, we saw EBITDA margin improvement both sequentially and year-over-year. Leverage from increased volume related to the summer drive season is the primary contributor of the sequential margin improvement.

Compared to Q2, EBITDA margins improved 400 basis points, primarily due to improved efficiency in labor and store operations. We mentioned in Q2 that we were entering the summer drive season from a much better staffing position than recent years, and the benefit of that is being seen this quarter. The 200 basis point improvement over prior year is largely due to improved leverage. Compared to prior year, our gross margin rate was largely consistent because the headwinds from waste oil price declines were offset by base oil price declines, improved labor efficiency, and some minimal one-time items. SG&A leverage from the increased scale of our business drove the majority of the EBITDA margin improvement. Turning to slide 11, the demand for our quick, easy, and trusted service experience continues to grow, and our in-store talent and franchise teams are delivering on our customer promise.

In Q3, we saw increased traffic, driving approximately 40% of the 12.5% system-wide same-store sales growth. The increased transactions are coming from a balanced increase from new customers to Valvoline, returning customers, and miles driven. On the ticket side, we continue to see pricing, premiumization, and non-oil change revenue service penetration, all contributing to ticket increases. As we begin to lap the material pricing actions taken in 2022, we anticipate our growth will continue to be more balanced between transactions and tickets. Moving to slide 12, for an update on our new unit growth, an important part of our growth algorithm. This quarter, there were 23 total additional units. On the company side, we saw 22 store additions this quarter, with 12 ground-up openings, 8 acquisitions, and 2 franchise conversions.

We continue to focus our new unit pipeline on key markets to drive strong return on invested capital from our company-operated networks. For franchise new units, we saw three openings, which were offset by two conversions from the franchise to company. We typically do not plan for conversions but have had four this year. These are normally done for stores that are geographically proximate to company operations, where we can drive a high return for shareholders. Due to permitting and construction delays that our franchisees are experiencing, we had some of the expected franchise new units slip from the Q3 into both the Q4 and early fiscal year 2024. While our franchise new unit pipeline is very strong, we're trending towards the low end of guidance for the fiscal year 2023, given these pushouts.

We continue to be positive on our long-term target to accelerate franchise unit growth to 150 per year by fiscal year 2027. Consistent with prior years, we anticipate a strong Q4 for unit additions to close out the remainder of the year. I'll turn it over to Mary to discuss the financials in more detail.

Mary Meixelsperger (CFO)

Thanks, Lori. Our Q3 results are summarized on slide 14. Adjusted EBITDA improved 27.8% to just over $110 million for the quarter. Gross profit improvements continued in the Q3, largely driven by increased transactions during the quarter and continued higher average ticket from pricing actions, premiumization, and non-oil change revenue service penetration. SG&A investments, primarily related to investments in advertising and talent to support future growth, impacted adjusted EBITDA by $3.9 million. We are continuing to see improved SG&A leverage, driven by the increased sales volume. We also saw strong growth in adjusted EPS with $0.43 per share for the quarter. Turning to slide 15, let's take an updated look at the balance sheet and cash position.

As Sam mentioned, we are making progress on our commitment to return a substantial amount of the proceeds of the global product sale to shareholders. We have a strong cash position following the completion of the tender offer and anticipate the remaining use of the global product proceeds to be complete in the coming months. We are re-reiterating our target leverage ratio of 2.5x-3.5x EBITDA.

Our cash flow from operations increased to $123 million over the prior year, to approximately $250 million. This increase is driven by higher cash earnings, as well as favorable changes in networking capital, due to the one-time benefit of the growth in trade payables as a result of the sale of Global Products. As a pure play retail business, we will continue to benefit from the working capital light nature of the business. This quarter, we saw favorable interest income from the investments of the net proceeds from the sale of Global Products, earning $24.9 million. Turning to slide 16, we are updating our guidance range for a couple of key metrics.

For adjusted EBITDA, we expect to see Q4 results similar to Q3, are narrowing the full range to $375 million-$385 million. For adjusted net income, we are increasing the guidance, largely driven by interest income earned on the proceeds from the sale of Global Products. Now, I'll turn it over to Sam to wrap up.

Sam Mitchell (CEO)

Thanks, Mary. We had a great quarter, and we're well positioned to deliver on our goals for the year. On a more personal note, it has been a tremendous honor and privilege to lead Valvoline over the past 21 years. We certainly have come a long ways. First, I would like to thank the analysts who cover Valvoline. I have always been impressed with the quality of your work and thoughtful questions. I will miss our exchanges, as they truly helped us become a more disciplined public company. To our investors, I am grateful for the trust you place in the company and this management team, as demonstrated by the capital you have invested in VVV. If you have been a long-term investor, you know that our first priority is building a strong and sustainable business, the most important driver of shareholder value.

Valvoline delivers, delivers a very strong return on invested capital. We will continue to invest in high return opportunities consistent with our strategies. Backed by strong governance and financial controls, we will always strive to be clear in our communications and pursue a meaningful dialogue with our investors. Finally, I am proud of our track record in delivering on what we say we're going to do. I am confident that this will not change. You already know that I'm bullish on Valvoline's future. While the separation of our businesses was especially challenging, we are already seeing the benefits of increased focus, from operations to board discussions. One important competitive advantage that is difficult to see from the outside is our talent and culture. We are committed to winning the right way and working closely together as a team. This includes our partnerships with our franchisees.

Combined with investment in our processes and technology, it is our team, our people who truly care about each other and our customers, that makes Valvoline a special company with tremendous opportunities ahead. With Lori and a strong leadership team in place, the company is in great hands as we make this transition. Elizabeth?

Elizabeth Russell (Senior Director of Investor Relations)

Thanks, Sam. Before we start the Q&A, I want to remind everyone to limit your question to one and a follow-up, so that we can get to everyone on the line. With that, Brika, please open the line.

Moderator (participant)

Thank you. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star then 1 on your telephone keypad. Our first question comes from Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.

Simeon Gutman (Managing Director)

Hi, everyone. Sam, congratulations. We'll miss you, and congratulations, Lori. My first question on the comp, which was great. The, I guess, deferred maintenance or the benefit that you saw in transactions, and then sounds like we'll, lap some ticket growth. I guess, where do we normalize? How soon does that happen? In terms of pricing or ticket growth, where, where should that normalize going forward? Thank you.

Mary Meixelsperger (CFO)

I think on the transaction, Simeon, we continue to see the strongest driver of transactions coming from a growth in the customer base. 40% of our, our same-store sales growth came from a growth in transactions, and a significant part of that was a growth in the customer base. That, that bodes very well, as we continue to grow share with our current network. On the price, we had made a number of material price increases as costs were rising in 2020. We still continue to optimize our pricing as we add stores, particularly acquisition stores, where the pricing may not be aligned with our pricing, and we do that over a period of time. We continue to adjust price in key markets. We, we're always analyzing our three-tiered pricing between conventional blend and synthetic, full synthetic.

I think we talked about at the end of last financial year, you know, our guidance for the long term is 3%-9% same-store sales growth. I think you'll start to see us moving in that direction, but we still expect Q4 numbers to be strong.

Simeon Gutman (Managing Director)

Okay. My 1 follow-up is on the franchise and company-owned mix. Curious if there is a debate or any thought around 1 side higher versus another? No, I know what the company's goals or responses have been, but curious if there is a continual debate on this mix?

Lori Flees (President, Retail Services)

Yeah, I think our main goal, Simeon, is to grow our network. We have a pretty aggressive growth aspiration to get to 3,500 units. The only way we're gonna do that effectively is by growing our franchise base. Continuing to grow our company size, but growing our franchise base at a faster level. Now, that does take time to generate. You can't add new units within a year. It's a multi-year effort, which is why we forecast we'll be at 150 new units on the franchise side by 2027. Our team is looking at ways that we can accelerate that and pull that in closer.

In terms of trying to state a goal of where we wanna get to, other than the driving the network to be, you know, to be fully, full coverage in all key markets, and we think that's, you know, 3,500, we don't have an express goal to get to a certain percentage of franchise. As we add company stores, we're trying to look at infill markets where we know the return on invested capital is the highest because the amount of marketing you spend when you're adding a store to a market that has demand, is higher than in a, in a brand-new market. We're being very smart with where we're growing on the company side, while we're really doubling down to invest on the franchise growth.

Sam Mitchell (CEO)

I think just to add to that, too-

Simeon Gutman (Managing Director)

Thank you.

Sam Mitchell (CEO)

You know, the first point that Lori has made, Simeon, is that investors should expect both company stores and franchise stores to grow. To accelerate the franchise growth, we have begun conversations with potential new partners. We're looking for well-capitalized partners who understand and wanna invest in this model. To do that, that could include the sale of certain company markets to bring them in and just give them, you know, a beachhead to grow from. So, you know, we would expect to see, you know, some change in our franchise mix, mainly with a handful of strong new partners to help us achieve that accelerated growth rate.

Simeon Gutman (Managing Director)

Thank you.

Moderator (participant)

Thank you. Your next question comes from Steve Zaccone with Citi.

Steve Zaccone (Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Hey, great. Thanks for taking my question. Sam and Lori, congrats on the announcements. I wanted to follow up on Simeon's question around same-store sales, just specific to the Q4. 'Cause it sounds like the Q4 is expected to be above that algo, but you didn't raise the overall outlook for the year on same-store sales. Could you just, just talk about that? Why not? Should we expect a similar mix between ticket and transaction? You know, just, just talk about that Q4. Maybe something you're seeing in, you know, in the near term would be helpful. Thank you.

Mary Meixelsperger (CFO)

Sure. Sure, this is Mary. In terms of Q4 same-store sales outlook, you know, if you do the math and you back in, you'll be able to tell that we're guiding to the very high end of the range of same-store sales that we originally provided at the beginning of the year. We've continued to see strong demand, as well as, we're continuing to see pricing increases, and I would expect to see a similar balance in Q4 between transactions and ticket that we saw in Q3. I would expect that we would be at toward the high end of the range in terms of overall same-store sales.

I, I think it's a, it's a good question, but I think you'll see us end the year toward the high end of the range.

Steve Zaccone (Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Okay, thanks for that clarification. I guess to follow up on margins. You know, how do we think about the mix of gross versus-- gross margin versus SG&A leverage in the Q4? I guess now, as we look forward, you know, how do we think about the puts and takes on gross margin rate, you know, over the near to medium term? Would you expect that line to see, you know, some modest expansion every year from here on out? Thank you.

Mary Meixelsperger (CFO)

Yeah. So, so we talked about Q4 being fairly similar to Q3. I think what you will see in Q4 is most of the leverage coming from SG&A leverage year-over-year versus gross margin. We might see some modest gross margin leverage. Lori mentioned in her comments that while we've saw some benefit from product cost reductions, price reductions due to lower base oil, we were seeing some offsets to that because we're obtaining lower benefit from the sale of waste oil to re-refiners. We expect that to continue in the Q4.

In terms of longer term outlook, we provided a, you know, a long-term EBITDA range in the 26%-29% range. We do expect to see gross profit leverage as well as SG&A leverage as we move forward in the next 3 to 5 years. I think you're gonna continue to see, as we take more market share, as we continue to build the business, and expand the footprint, that we're gonna benefit from, you know, really strong sales increases, and leverage in the fixed costs that we have in the business.

Jeff Zekauskas (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Great. Thanks for all the-

Lori Flees (President, Retail Services)

Yeah, I'd just add, yeah, I'll add to Mary's point, just with a, another color on gross margin. You know, the leverage we get will be on the store expenses. Running the stores has a big fixed expense component, which will drive leverage. Obviously, the product costs, you know, there is, you know, that moves with base oil pricing up and down, and we've seen the waste oil piece. On the labor side, we do have plans to drive labor efficiency, but we also recognize that minimum wage rates, et cetera, will continue to go up. So our plans are to make sure that we have more than enough initiatives that drive efficiency to counter the increases on, on wage. That's, you know, that's the work to be done.

I think that's why Mary's talking about the leverage coming from the G&A side, even though there will be opportunities and, and, and leverage on the gross profit side.

Jeff Zekauskas (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Great. Thanks very much.

Moderator (participant)

Thank you. Your next question comes from Daniel Imbro of Stephens Inc.

Daniel Imbro (Managing Director)

Yep. Hey, good morning, everybody. Thanks for taking our questions. Lori, Sam, congratulations on the announcements.

Mary Meixelsperger (CFO)

Thank you.

Daniel Imbro (Managing Director)

I want to follow up on the last question, maybe starting on the top line. Mary, I think your words were, you know, you've seen continued strong demand kind of here into the Q4. I was curious, if we look through the summer months, did we see any notable demand shifts month to month, whether it was traffic or, or service attachment? Then as we think about service attachment, you know, how is that trending? I mean, non-oil change revenue has been a focus for a while. Just any update on, on how, how successful you guys have been driving that penetration higher?

Lori Flees (President, Retail Services)

I, I would say in the first 2 quarters, we had a lot of weather shifting demand around. As we came into the drive season, the demand and the volume has been pretty consistent. We haven't seen a lot of surprises month-over-month. As it relates to service attachment, obviously, the mix of service attachment changes in the summer, you know, less battery and, and more air conditioning, as an example. I do also think that as our service centers get busier and, and people get busier, sometimes you see a, a slight decrease in service attachment just because they would rather do it at another time that's not so busy.

Our, our improvement year-over-year and the things that we've been focused on, we're still, still seeing really strong improvement on attach rates. You'll see our non-oil change revenue year-over-year has gone up on a dollar basis, and that's what we're looking for. We don't see anything unique month-over-month that, that we would call out.

Daniel Imbro (Managing Director)

Great. Then my, my follow-up related to the top line is on the fleet business. I don't think I heard any update in the prepared remarks, but how did that initiative progress in the quarter? I guess, how much of the mix is that today? As you think about that segment growing and economic sensitivity in the macro, does the higher fleet mix make you more sensitive to maybe small business fluctuations? Does it make you less sensitive, given that that's a business that has to make those repairs? Just any general thoughts on, on how that evolving mix over time will, will change, you know, the business, business sensitivity? Thanks.

Lori Flees (President, Retail Services)

Yeah. Fleet is roughly about 10% of our top line, that is growing faster than our overall business, still a small portion, it continues to grow at a faster rate than our overall sales. The thing I would say about fleet managers is, you know, this is an asset that drives their P&L, so we don't see them changing their mix of maintenance because they're trying to maintain the assets for a longer, healthier period. So we haven't seen any instability in our base. In fact, we have a really strong base of fleet customers that is growing, and our focus is on to increase the penetration within those accounts that we have, as well as adding new accounts.

Daniel Imbro (Managing Director)

Great. I appreciate all the color, and best of luck going forward.

Lori Flees (President, Retail Services)

Thank you.

Mary Meixelsperger (CFO)

Brika, do we have another question on the line?

Moderator (participant)

We now have Jeff Zekauskas of J.P. Morgan. Your line is open.

Jeff Zekauskas (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Thanks very much. On the cash flow statement, there was an outflow of $298 million from discontinued operations. What was that? And are there any more outflows that will come after that one?

Mary Meixelsperger (CFO)

Yeah, that, that was primarily related to taxes paid on the transaction that are considered as part of the discontinued operations. The discontinued operations, the gain on the sale of Global Products, along with the taxes paid on the sale of Global Products, are all considered to be part of discontinued operations, Jeff.

Jeff Zekauskas (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Is there more to come after that, or are we done?

Mary Meixelsperger (CFO)

Yeah, there, there's a little bit more taxes to be paid. We've paid the bulk of the federal taxes, there's still $50 million-$100 million of state level and local level taxes that still need to be paid in the Q4. We'll, lap most of that in the Q4. That is one of the uses of the, of the Global Products net proceeds that we've talked about in the past.

Jeff Zekauskas (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Sure. For my, for my follow-up, on a normal basis, exclusive of the benefits you get from building new stores, what do you see as your normal rate of volume growth? What do you see as the normal rate of volume growth of the lubricant industry in the United States?

Mary Meixelsperger (CFO)

Yeah, so we've been seeing really strong same-store sales growth in our mature stores. Our same-store sales growth in the mature stores probably track 100 basis points lower in terms of same-store sales growth on average than the new stores that we're adding that, you know, that are growing to maturity a little bit faster than the very mature fleet. I'll tell you that in terms of, you know, the product usage, we're continuing to see volumes track very closely to the sales increase, sales increases that we see. The second part of your question, in terms of the overall lubricant industry, I don't know if I can address-

Lori Flees (President, Retail Services)

Yeah. The data that I've seen published externally is that the quick lube business has between 100, probably around 100 basis points of growth, per year coming, you know, from just from a switch from do it for me.

Jeff Zekauskas (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Yeah.

Lori Flees (President, Retail Services)

Do it yourself versus do it for me, and then you've got, the, the miles driven and the drain interval pieces that add to that.

Mary Meixelsperger (CFO)

You know, I think overall, the, the consumer drive for convenience is bringing more people to our stores. Yeah, our quick, easy, trusted customer experience and the incredible, incredibly convenient experience that we offer to consumers, I think is gonna continue to drive market share growth for us relative to others, where we're taking share from, which we believe includes dealerships and other types of auto aftermarket service centers, just because of the convenient experience that we offer.

Jeff Zekauskas (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Great. Thank you so much.

Moderator (participant)

Thank you. We now have Mike Harrison of Seaport Research Partners.

Mike Harrison (Managing Director)

Hi, good morning.

Mary Meixelsperger (CFO)

Good morning, Mike.

Jeff Zekauskas (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Good morning, Mike.

Lori Flees (President, Retail Services)

Good morning, Mike.

Mike Harrison (Managing Director)

I just wanna add my congratulations to Sam Mitchell on an impressive career, transforming Valvoline. I've definitely enjoyed working with you. Congrats to Lori Flees as well on the new role and on the journey ahead. In terms of the price cost that's on your slide there, the $11.5 million that was in that year-on-year bridge, can you give us a little bit more color on what's going on there? You know, how much pure pricing was in the 12.5% same-store sales growth this quarter? What could that year-on-year price cost number look like as we get into Q4?

Mary Meixelsperger (CFO)

Yeah, it's a good question, Mike. When we, when we look at our overall same-store sales bridge from a pricing perspective, you know, I would say probably about a third of the overall comp is coming from pricing increases. If you think about that third, next quarter, we still had pricing changes last year in September, that we'll be lapping here in the Q4. We're, we're, we're still gonna see some nice year-over-year improvements in pricing that's helping to drive the comp in the Q4 as well.

You know, so if when you look at price cost, I think Lori mentioned that, you know, the benefits that we saw from product cost reductions because of lower base oils were largely offset by some of the giveback that we had in getting lower recoveries for our, our waste oil from re-refiners. I think you can think about that price cost being primarily driven by pricing in Q3 on the table. There was a little bit of cost benefit, but I think it's primarily from price. You'll see more detail in the Q when it comes out.

Mike Harrison (Managing Director)

All right. Perfect. Then I, I know it's maybe a little bit early to talk about fiscal 2024, but was hoping that maybe we could discuss just some, some modeling assumptions on what we might be thinking for same-store sales, new store additions, and puts and takes around EBITDA margin next year. I, I guess maybe the, the broader question is: How might fiscal 2024 look different from your longer-term expectation of 14%-16% sales CAGR and 16%-18% EBITDA CAGR?

Mary Meixelsperger (CFO)

You know, we're not in a position, Mike, as you know, to give specific guidance for fiscal 2024. I'm afraid you're gonna have to wait for next quarter's earnings call to get the specific 2024 guidance. In terms of our long-term guide, we still feel really good about the long-term guide in terms of the revenue CAGR and the EBITDA CAGR that we had provided to the street. You know, I, I think, you know, fiscal 2024 will fit nicely into that longer-term approach when we provide guidance in the next quarter call.

Mike Harrison (Managing Director)

Understood. I had to try. Thanks very much.

Mary Meixelsperger (CFO)

Thanks, Mike.

Moderator (participant)

Thank you, Mike. We now have Bret Jordan of Jefferies. Please go ahead when you're ready.

Bret Jordan (Managing Director)

Hey, good morning, guys.

Mary Meixelsperger (CFO)

Morning.

Bret Jordan (Managing Director)

It, it sounded like obviously traffic was pretty positive, but do you have anything sort of more granular as far as oil change interval trends in the quarter? Was there any push out on miles between change, or was it pretty consistent?

Mary Meixelsperger (CFO)

We had a very, very modest impact of oil drain interval for the quarter, right around 1%, and that was more than offset by the increase in miles driven, which was just over 1%. You know, I think net-net, the oil drain interval and miles driven netted out to have very little impact on our same-store sales.

Bret Jordan (Managing Director)

Okay. Was there any regional dispersion?

Mary Meixelsperger (CFO)

Very little regional dispersion. One of the great, great benefits of this, some of the proprietary processes that we have with SuperPro and with our training, we have just amazing consistency across both company and franchise locations, and we see very, very little geographic dispersion unless we see a weather event in certain areas that typically happens in the fall or winter, where we might see some different dispersion. Generally, we see very, very consistent results between our regions. Lori or Sam, is there anything you'd add to that?

Lori Flees (President, Retail Services)

Yeah, I agree.

Bret Jordan (Managing Director)

Great. One quick question on the franchise. You know, that sort of zoning, some of the logistical processes pushed franchise opening out. Is that tied to a particular franchisee that was doing multiple units, or was it sort of just across the mix, you were seeing some delays in that, in that base?

Lori Flees (President, Retail Services)

Yeah, it was distributed across a number of franchisees. You know, these are things-- some of these things we saw on the company side and have been trying to get ahead of, both for the company store openings, but also for our franchisees. Things like supply constraints. There's been supply constraints for transformers and electrical boxes, as well as bay doors. For company, we can order, you know, we can order in advance on the bay doors because we know what our pipeline is going to look like. But for some of our franchisees who are not doing multiple units at the same time, they can't put those kind of orders out. Trying to figure out how we can work with them to help them not have the supply constraints slow their process down is, is one example.

The other one that I know many in the industry have, have been facing, and we've, you know, try to learn from others as well as within our, our network, is the local municipalities, the backlog of permitting and site inspections, and the understaffing we're seeing in some markets is hurting the timeline to move through the process. On the company side, we've, we've put in some national expediters where we can, but some of those firms don't cover all the geographies. Working to, to get help when, when it's necessary with certain local municipalities is something that we've been putting in place since last year, when we had some challenges on the company side. Then in, I think in certain markets, we continue to see subcontractor shortages, and in some regions, you know, you just have to work through that.

I think as a franchisee, again, if you're not building out multiple units, you're subject to the priorities of, you know, where the subcontractor is getting business. Whereas on the company side, given the consistent pipeline that we have, we're able to lock in subcontractors a bit more easily. These are just some of the things that our franchisees are experiencing, and we're trying to take the things that we've done on the company side and jump in and support where necessary. It's just certain markets that, that proves more challenging. And that definitely hit the numbers that we showed on the franchisee for Q3. The good news is this is not a reduction of the pipeline, these are just a pushout. These units are still. Many of these are ground ups that are still on track in construction and moving forward.

It's not a, a lack of confidence that they will come online. It's just, some challenges with timing of when we expected.

Bret Jordan (Managing Director)

Okay, great. Thank you.

Moderator (participant)

Thank you. I can confirm we have no further questions on the line. I'd like to conclude the call here. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.