Penske Automotive Group Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
July 26, 2023

There are 9 speakers on the call.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Penske Automotive Group Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded and will be available for replay approximately 1 hour after completion through August 2, 2023, on the company's website under the Investors tab at www.penskeautomotive.com. I will now introduce Anthony Porton, the company's Executive Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Development. Sir, please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Leah. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. A press release detailing Penske Automotive Group's 2nd quarter 2023 financial results was issued this morning and is posted on our website along with the presentation designed to assist you in Understanding the company's results. As always, I'm available by e mail or phone for any follow-up questions you may have. Joining me for today's call are Roger Penske, our Chair and our CEO Shelly Hulgrave, EVP and Chief Financial Officer Rich Shearing, North American Operations Randall Seymour, International Operations and Tony Piccione, our Vice President and Controller.

Speaker 1

Our discussion today may include forward looking statements about our operations, earnings potential, outlook, future events, growth plans, liquidity and assessment of business conditions. We may also discuss certain non GAAP financial measures such as earnings before interest, Taxes, depreciation and amortization or EBITDA and our leverage ratio. We have prominently and investor presentation, which are available on our website for the most directly comparable GAAP measures. Our future results may vary from Our expectations because of risks and uncertainties outlined in today's press release under forward looking statements. I direct you to our SEC filings, including our Form 10 ks and our previously filed Form 10 Qs for additional discussion and factors that could cause future Results to differ materially from expectations.

Speaker 1

I will now turn the call over to Roger.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Tony. Good Afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. Before we discuss our Q2 results, I wanted to welcome Randall Seymour, and Rich Shearing to the call today. As you may recall, earlier this year, we added additional depth to our leadership team. Randall Seymour, formerly Executive Vice President, Global Operations for Commercial Trucks and Power Systems, will now support our international operations.

Speaker 2

Rich Shearing, formerly President of Premier Truck Group, supports our North American automotive and commercial truck operations. These roles We'll work in tandem with me our President, Rob Koenig and our executive leadership team, while building further depth to ensure we have the best leadership team in place. Let me now discuss PAG's financial results for the Q2. I'm really pleased to report strong second quarter performance from our diversified business model. As we will discuss, the quarter was highlighted by the performance of our automotive and commercial truck operations, which partially was offset with higher interest expense and lower equity earnings for our investment in Penske Truck Leasing.

Speaker 2

During the Q2, total units delivered increased To 123,879 units, which includes 8,900 units, which were agency in the UK, Revenue increased 8% to a quarterly record of $7,500,000,000 Our same store retail revenue increased 6%, including an 11% increase in service and parts. Same store variable gross profit per unit retailed increased $163 when compared To the Q1 of 2023, SG and A as a percentage gross profit was 67.4% and improved 10 basis points sequentially. Net income was $301,000,000 and earnings per share was $4.41 Year to date through June 30, we've repurchased 2,600,000 shares for $350,000,000 Let me now turn to our automotive operations. Our demand for new vehicles remains strong and new vehicle availability is improving. However, We expect supply to remain below historical averages during 2023 for most of the brands that we represent.

Speaker 2

We continue to take forward orders and continue to see strong vehicle demand. In the U. K, our forward order bank represents 29,000 units. Grocers on these forward orders is approximately $132,000,000 compared to $109,000,000 at the same time in 2022. In the U.

Speaker 2

S, our current pre sold activity is approximately 50%. Beginning in the Q1 of 2020 3, we transitioned certain brands in the U. K. To an agency model for new vehicle sales. Under agency, we receive a fee from the manufacturer for the sale and delivery of each new vehicle, which is recorded in gross profit.

Speaker 2

We do not record revenue for the price of these vehicles. Looking at our retail automotive operations on a same store basis For Q2 2023 versus Q2 2022, total units delivered increased 6%, new retail up 9%, Used retail down 8%. Retail automotive revenue, however, increased 6%, including an 11% increase And service and parts, service and parts is being driven by an increase of 10% in customer pay, 13% in our warranty business and 14% in collision repair. In fact, many of our operations experienced record months In service and parts during the quarter, variable gross profit remained strong and higher than historical levels. For example, variable profit per vehicle was $5,612 is more than $2,138 higher than it was in Q2 of 2019.

Speaker 2

Taking a look at CarShop, our unit sales were 18,206, down 10% as the continued availability of late model lower vehicles remains very challenging. Revenue increased 2% to $475,000,000 and variable gross profit per vehicle Per unit declined 1%. We continue to focus on vehicle sourcing and the cost improvement programs including digitization To improve efficiency, we operate 20 locations and remain committed to the CarShop brand. We have one Ready to open in the U. K.

Speaker 2

When the used vehicle availability improves. Let's turn to our retail commercial truck business now. Our premier truck dealership business represents 44 locations in North America and is an important part of our diversification. During the Q2, we expanded into Greater Winnipeg, Manitoba market area, acquiring 5 new locations At $180,000,000 in estimated annualized revenue, new commercial truck demand remains solid as being driven by replacement demand. In fact, You look at our entire allocation of Class 8 product for 2023 is sold out.

Speaker 2

To June 30, North American Class 8 retail truck sales were up 18% to 165,000 units. The current industry Class 8 backlog is 175,000 units representing approximately 6 months of sales. During the Q2, same store unit sales were up 25%. Same store revenue was up 19%, Including a 4% increase in service and parts, same store growth profit increased 7%. Looking at parts and service, it represented 65% of total gross profit and covered 128% of the fixed cost for the business in the Q2.

Speaker 2

Service and parts represented 65% of total gross profit and covered 128% as I said earlier Q2 EBT was $56,000,000 up $3,000,000 when compared to the Q2 last year. As a data point, June 2023 was the 2nd best month of EBT in the company's history. Let me now turn to Penske Transportation Solutions. PAG Group, as you know, owns 28.9 percent of PTS, which provides us With equity income, cash distributions and cash savings, PTS currently manages a fleet Over 431,000 trucks, tractors and trailers with a goal of increasing the fleet to 500,000 By 2025, in the 2nd quarter, operating revenue increased 6% to 2,700,000,000 Full service lease and contract revenue increased 14%, logistics revenue increased 6%, rental declined 6%. PTS generated $253,000,000 of income.

Speaker 2

Our share at PTS declined by 63,000,000 The decline in earnings was mainly impacted by 4 particular items. We have over 40,000 units on order with the factory, that's the OEM factory. As a result of supply constraints, we have 17,000 lease extensions so far this year and 36,000 extensions Over the last 18 months, the older units in operation obviously drove higher maintenance costs of $65,000,000 in Q2. Our commercial rental utilization declined 410 basis points to 77.8%, really that's still a strong number at 77% or 78%. Interest expense increased $47,000,000 due to a higher average outstanding debt from the growth of the fleet combined with $1,500,000,000 in refinancing of the overall high interest with overall high interest rates And a lower gain on sale of $55,000,000 when compared to the record performance in 2022.

Speaker 2

As we look forward, we believe the supply of new trucks is stabilizing, which will provide PTS an opportunity to replace From the lease extension and certainly will lower maintenance expense. At this point, I'll turn it over to Randall Seymour to discuss our Penske Australia business.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Roger. In Australia, New Zealand and parts of the Pacific, we're the exclusive importer and distributor of Western Star Heavy Duty Trucks, MAN Heavy and Medium Duty Trucks and Buses and Dennis Eagle, a refuse collection vehicle. We're also the leading Allison Transmission and Bergen Engines. Our business offers products across the on and off highway markets, including trucking, mining, power generation, defense, marine, rail and construction sectors and supports full parts and after sales service through a network of branches, field service locations and dealers across the region. The off highway sector remains very strong with nearly all heavy duty engine allocations sold out for the remainder of 2023, predominantly serving the data center and mining markets.

Speaker 3

Some of these projects provide service contracts for 5 and all the way up to 20 years. Pennzial Australia also offers these mining engines through OEM mine haul trucks, excavators, loaders and we also repower these equipment. In the Energy Solutions space, we recently delivered and commissioned the first 175 Megawatt Bergen Natural Gas Power Station in Australia. Our current order bank for Energy Solution deliveries is over 275,000,000 for the remainder of 2023 and through 2024. Approximately 80% of all of our gross profit in this region comes from So increasing units in operation is a key driver of our business.

Speaker 3

I'd now like to turn the call over to Shelly Holdrefe.

Speaker 4

Thank you, Randall. Good afternoon, everyone. I would now like to walk you through several key financial highlights and discuss the strength of our balance sheet. We maintain our drive and discipline to achieve operational efficiencies through cost reductions, automation and other improvements gained over the last several years to help us maintain lower levels of SG and A to gross profit than historical averages. SG and A to gross profit was 67.4% in the 2nd quarter and is 10.50 basis points below the 77.9 percent in 2019 prior to the pandemic.

Speaker 4

Most important, SG and A as a percentage of gross profit improved by 10 basis points sequentially when compared to Q1 of 2023. As a result of our efforts to control expenses in our U. S. Automotive operations, our compensation to gross profit ratio improved by 30 basis And our service and parts absorption improved 3.50 basis points over the Q2 of last year. Similarly, in the UK, our compensation to gross profit ratio improved 130 basis points and service and parts Looking at our cash flow, we generated over $600,000,000 in cash flow from operations in the 6 months ended June 30, 2023.

Speaker 4

During this period, we repurchased 2,600,000 shares for $350,000,000 and returned $87,000,000 in dividends to our shareholders. So far this year, we have increased the cash dividend by 26% from $0.57 to $0.72 per share. We continue to maintain a disciplined approach to capital allocation. Over the last 18 months, 60% of our cash flow from operations funded share repurchases, 23% to acquisitions, 12% to dividends and 5% to CapEx for growth and expansion. Our trailing 12 month EBITDA is nearly $1,900,000,000 At the end of the quarter, our long term debt was 1,700,000,000 Approximately $1,000,000,000 of the long term debt represents subordinated notes with 55% maturing in 2025, while the remaining 45% matures in 2029.

Speaker 4

The average interest rate on these notes is 3.6%. We also have $586,000,000 in mortgages and $116,000,000 in other borrowings at subsidiaries. Debt to total capitalization was 28% and leverage sits at 0.9x at the end of June and is consistent with March. At the end of the quarter, we had the ability to flex our leverage up to 4x compared to the 1.9x at lease adjusted ratio, leaving us plenty of opportunity for acquisitions and returning capital to shareholders. During the Q2, we amended our U.

Speaker 4

S. Credit agreement to increase the facility borrowing capacity by $400,000,000 The amended agreement provides for up to $1,200,000,000 in revolving loans for working capital, acquisitions, capital expenditures, investments and other corporate purposes. At June 30, we had $120,000,000 in cash, $630,000,000 in vehicle equity and over $1,600,000,000 in availability under our credit agreement. Total inventory was $3,900,000,000 representing an increase of $372,000,000 from December 31. Floorplan debt was $3,200,000,000 We had a 32 day supply of new vehicles, including 26 days in the U.

Speaker 4

S. And 36 days in the U. K. As a data point, our current day supply of new battery vehicles is 54 days in the U. S.

Speaker 4

And 52 days in the U. K. Day supply of new vehicles for premium was 35, Volume foreign was 15. Used vehicle inventory had a 45 day supply. At this time, I will turn the call back to Roger for some final remarks.

Speaker 2

Yes. Thank you, Shelly. As Shelly mentioned, our balance sheet is strong and I would say certainly safe and secure. With a capitalization ratio of 28%, we have the ability to flex our balance sheet to maximize Our future capital allocation. We're committed to offering convenience options to meet the shopping desires, of course, with all of our customers.

Speaker 2

This ranges from 100% online to our superior customer experience traditionally offered in store. These digital options include hybrid shopping solution, virtual test drives, remote signing for our customers, online scheduling and service, Photo and video, digital and approvals for upsell and service. One of our key efficiency initiatives is leveraging Artificial intelligence in both service and sales as we allow for automated interactions to answer basic service inquiries. Service and sales appointments using natural and conversational language even when our facilities are closed. Finally, I'm glad to say I'd like to announce that 44 of our U.

Speaker 2

S. Dealerships have received notification From Automotive News that they have been named to the best 100 dealerships to work for in 2023. I'd like to congratulate our team for the extraordinary efforts. In closing, I certainly remain confident in our business models. The results continue to demonstrate the benefit from our diversification across the retail automotive commercial truck industries, our cost control and a disciplined capital allocation strategy.

Speaker 2

Thanks for joining us today, and we'll turn it back to the operator. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. And our first question is from John Murphy. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Hey, John. Good afternoon, Roger and everybody. Reference to a first question on one of the standouts. I mean, there's a lot of good stuff in the quarter, but the parts and service same store sales, up almost 11%, Follows on a pretty good strength in parts and service. The comps get tougher.

Speaker 5

You're targeting that this might slow down But over time, but I mean what's your view on the sustainability of the strength in parts and service? And is there stuff Your actions you can take on a micro basis, that might support even further growth over time.

Speaker 2

Well, I think at first, on a same store basis, John, our customer pay was up 10, ORE was up 13 and our PDI up 27. Body shops are now continuing to grow. As you know, During COVID, our body shop business really dropped. But I would say today because of customer mileage is being driven, it's certainly driving more service. And I think the use of AI that we're using from the standpoint of interaction across our network with the customers, Quite honestly, it's giving us the chance to schedule 24 hours a day, 2 o'clock in the morning, a customer can call up And he can schedule an appointment, which to me is really important because it gives us a cleaner look at our daily operating capability The number of stalls available and we do this certainly by AI, which has really been a new opportunity for us.

Speaker 2

I think with the car part 290,000,000 And certainly, today and miles driven are up, I think on the premiumluxury side, we continue to see The use of videos, we're using videos from the standpoint of our technicians actually videoing the car And coming back directly to the customers. So I think this is again high-tech, high touch when you look at our service for the customers. Certainly, in the UK, we see the same, just a pent up demand. One thing, it's a negative, however, because our used car business is down, We're certainly not seeing the opportunity and reconditioning we have if our used our inventory was up and we sold more used cars. I think overall, We have an opportunity going forward because the opportunity is cars are running longer because of the pent up demand.

Speaker 2

We're going to still see this experience Certainly in the automotive side. And on the truck side, there's no question that we're seeing it in the retail truck side at Premier Truck. So again, The car park is certainly strong. And I think at the end of the day, we've been able to increase our effective labor rate, Which obviously is what we charge to the customer, up 6% from the standpoint in the U. S.

Speaker 2

And approximately 7% overall. And at Premier Truck, we're up 4%. So again, we get also get the benefit as we increase the customer rate, we get that same increase not overnight, but Ultimately, from the OEMs, Frank, those are all things that are driving our parts and service.

Speaker 5

Okay. And one just second question real quick on the SG and A. I mean, it's great performance. I mean, I think there's some skeptics that say this and this is really a function of there's some grosses that may be inflated in the short run. But I mean, it is very good performance.

Speaker 5

I mean, how do you think about SG and A going forward and sustainability at these levels either Percent of gross in dollar value, I mean, how do you think about that going forward?

Speaker 2

John, there's 2 levers, obviously, maintaining gross or growing gross profit. I think we've been a customer of that for the last 18 months. That's going to be certainly under pressure as we go forward. But When you think about just cold hard SG and A over the last 12 months, a company doing $27,040,000,000 more in SG and A over 12 months. So to me, that really when you look at it for the quarter, sorry, When you look at it quarter to quarter, when you look at it, it's amazing because to me, I think that we're trying to balance our business, our Costs associated with the volume of our business, similar to what GM I think said about their inventory.

Speaker 2

With inventory down And the ability for us to get better yield out of our sales people, we've gone from roughly 12.5 units per salesperson to over 13. I think there's an opportunity there. We get better salespeople, better connection with the customer and using tools, we're able to take some of the sales costs out. And on a sequential basis, our SG and A actually went down. And I think and the real costs were summoned people about $8,000,000 We had some IT And some rent costs, but basically we're going to continue to drive that and through the simplification and optimization that we're looking at, I think it's really key as we go forward.

Speaker 2

I sat down with the management team the last couple of days and we've got a plan that are actually to take Significant money out of our cost system. We're rolling that out over the next few weeks. And I think when you look at the Overall, 67.4 percent really from SG and A on a same store basis really, The SG and A was really only up $25,000,000 So it's a matter of hitting all the buttons and certainly we're going to try to drive that because we know We'll have some pressure on grosses.

Speaker 5

Great. Thank you very much, Roger. Thanks, everybody.

Speaker 2

Thanks, John. Thanks, John.

Operator

Next, we go to Rajat Gupta. Please go ahead.

Speaker 2

Hey, Rajat. Hi.

Speaker 6

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking the question. Just wanted to ask on PTL firstly. 1st Quarter results were down like 30% year over year, in the second quarter down roughly 45%. You talked about Some of the maintenance headwinds, these extensions, gain on sale being impacted by selling fewer trucks.

Speaker 6

Any way to think about the trajectory here into the second half, maybe relative to the prior year or relative to the first half? What kind of areas of the 2nd quarter should we expect to unwind? Any other trends that you can share in terms of And decapping the second half income levels for PPL. I

Speaker 2

think one of the things we were riding Over the last 18 months, was the higher gain on sale. Now we've sold already through 6 months approximately 5,000 more units. However, our margin is down about 14,000 per unit. So that certainly drove a big portion, Obviously, of the decline in gain on sale, which was $55,000,000 I think for the quarter, I think overall from the standpoint of the business, we will see a reduction in maintenance costs As we take out, as we've talked about earlier, we had 17,000 lease extensions so far this year and we had 36,000 over the last 18 months. Now These drive higher maintenance costs, there's no question.

Speaker 2

And we also have the issue of trying to bring that many units in at one point And taking units out because you have to prep these units going out and it takes time in our shops. So again, it's taking longer than we had expected because Of the huge surge of these units coming in, we think that's going to flow through. We'll be more in a steady state here as we get into Q3 and certainly Q4. Overall, from a rental perspective, we look at the commercial rental, remember that's down $31,000,000 really or 6%. I talked about utilization, but what we'll do, we'll flex that fleet.

Speaker 2

We'll take out about 4,000 tractors. And when we do that, that will reduce those and take the depreciation interest and costs out. And what will happen, we'll take 2,000 of those and they'll replace Some of these high mileage units, obviously, which were killing us from a maintenance standpoint. And then what we'll do, we'll also give 2,000 of those units to our sales team and they'll sell the newer units. It's somewhat like selling a loaner car in the auto side.

Speaker 2

We'll run it for 3 or 4 months and then we'll sell it into the market and our guys would obviously they would lease those. We've been very successful doing that on a shorter lease sometimes Between 2 4 years. Certainly, when we look at the consumer rental, let's rent the truck in New York, take it to Philadelphia, The only difference there is the length of the route and it's been shorter mileages in those one way moves which has impacted us. So We've got interest. We've got the used truck values, which obviously declined just like used car values have over the last Several months and we have obviously the higher maintenance are the key areas that we have to deal with.

Speaker 2

But the company has A terrific reputation in the market. If you look at it against our peers, we continue to outdistance them in all areas of the business. And certainly from the standpoint where we have an investment grade as we go into the market for our financing of our vehicles. And I think the when you look at our first half, if you can believe it, the first half profits Really equaled the entire amount of profits in 2019. So the business is certainly on a roll.

Speaker 6

Got it. Got it. That's helpful. Maybe just on the used car business, unit comps were down roughly 8% in the quarter, But the grocers are very healthy relative to pre pandemic even versus the Q1. How should we think about the trade off between units and GPUs here into the Q3 and Q4?

Speaker 6

Should we expect similar kind of unit decline and you're able to maintain the gross profit per unit? Or should we expect anything to change here in terms of strategy? That would be all. Thanks.

Speaker 2

Let's look at the real world here. We know everybody is trying to get 0 to 4 year used vehicles and that's still going to be tight because we have less trades on vehicles over new vehicle sales over the last Say 18 months, and we're all fishing in the 0 to 4 time. We had a number of lease returns that didn't come back During that period due to customers buying out or extending leases, so what I see is probably the cost of sales going down in the market. But on the other hand, I think we can maintain our grosses because we're going to stay in the 0 to 4 year timeframe. We've done that In the past and hopefully when we look at the opportunity here, we'll get some hopefully some cars coming off lease which were 4.

Speaker 2

Obviously, we're going to customers who are buying those. So we see that being an opportunity, plus you'll have some rental cars coming into the market. And when you look at the marketplace on leasing where we actually got a lot of our used cars on the premium side We were at 55% and those cars would always come back to the dealer. At this point, we've not had a lot of that because Cash has been really, I think Shelly mentioned it earlier today in a conversation that we still have 22% of our buyers are cash buyers today. So that's up From where we've been, would you have any comment on that, Shelly?

Speaker 4

No. Just that the consumer remains very healthy. They're obviously trying to Avert some of these higher finance costs, but yes, they're up 2% over where they were last year, which was a historic high to begin with.

Speaker 2

So I see probably lower cost of sale. I see us maintaining our margins quite honestly and I see our pipeline For us from a premium perspective, having the opportunity to see more trades and when you think about our volume foreign business, that's Honda, Toyota And say Hyundai, right now, we're running anywhere between 10 15 days supply. So as that picks up with obviously the OEM picking up supply, We're going to get more trades from them, which will be really hot merchandise for

Speaker 1

us. So one additional thing to consider is how we are Sourcing vehicles too. We put a concerted effort into buying more vehicles directly from consumers. So on our franchise business in the U. S.

Speaker 1

There's only about 4% of what we bought in 2020. This in 2023 so far it's 12%. And when you look at CarShop, When you go back and look at where they were in 2020, it was 6% and today they're up to 27%. So we're really doing a good job of changing the way that we source, but with 6,000,000 fewer cars sold into the marketplace Over the past 3 plus years, the amount of cars that are available for us to buy is really challenging.

Speaker 2

Yes. And also, we're now compensating Our sales people in many cases in one way or the other to be sure we get the trade, so the customer doesn't go out and sell it personally. And that's what's happened. That's been kind of the run for the last, say, 2 or 3 quarters. So we're hoping that's going to slow down.

Speaker 2

But look, the market is going to be slow coming back because it's just not The right cars, and we're not going to go to the auction because they seem to be the cars that have been piled over, over the last period of time. We're not going to buy those. We're going to stay Our traditional way that we have and I think that's going to pay dividends on growth.

Speaker 6

Got it. That's very clear. Thanks for taking the question.

Speaker 4

Thanks

Operator

for Next, we'll go to the line of Daniel Imbro. Please go ahead.

Speaker 7

Yes. Hey, good afternoon, everybody. Thanks for taking the questions. Maybe I could follow-up actually on that topic you just touched on, Tony, around CarShop within this used business. Roger, you mentioned growth was hampered.

Speaker 7

Randall, I'd be curious If trends were any better or different internationally, is sourcing just as tight there? And then stepping back, I mean, how does this near to intermediate term Challenging youth car backdrop, maybe change your thinking about the viability of the standalone concept or kind of commitment to growth in the standalone youth concept?

Speaker 3

So I'll touch on the sourcing first in the U. K. So similar shift. If you go back 3 years ago, We were getting 22% of all of our used cars from the OEM via some program. That's down to 5%.

Speaker 3

But conversely, 13% of our cars 3 years ago, we got directly from the consumer, meaning not a trade, but we were out proactively buying. That's up to 29%. So from 13% to 29%. Then as Roger said, focus on our trade has gone from 32% 40% of all of our used inventory. So if we call it self sourced, you put it direct from consumer, trade, How we're focusing intra group, I bucket all those together, that's 82% of all of our trades year to date are coming from that versus 58% 3 years ago.

Speaker 2

Yes, looking at the commitment to the brand, there's no question we're committed to the brand. We have 20 units now. We've got A location in the U. K. We're planning to open up as soon as the supply opens up for us so we can be prudent from the standpoint of cost.

Speaker 2

In fact, to be honest with you, We had an operation in Phoenix that we opened up and because we didn't have a supply and quite honestly it was turning into a loss for us, we closed it And sold the building. So look, we're not afraid to take the action one way or the other. But I would say it's supply both in the U. S. And the U.

Speaker 2

K. We need 150 to 200 units more in the U. S. To get where we want to go and I think we're doing 5,000 units, am I right Randall, In the U. K.

Speaker 2

On a monthly basis. So it's a big business right now and we're going to try to look at digitization In the U. K. To take costs out, and we can do that by certain things that we haven't done in the past by giving certain functions of the sales process, either doing it technically Or giving it to one person rather than having multiple managers and sales and delivery people handling it. We think that's going to take some additional costs out over the next 3rd and 4th quarter.

Speaker 2

So to me, it's a great business. We got a great brand when you look at CarShop, Both here and also in the U. K. And we think it's an independent business. We run it that way.

Speaker 2

And quite honestly, overall, We're just looking for volume.

Speaker 7

Got it. That's all really helpful color. Thank you. And then maybe shifting to the commercial truck side. Rich, the Class 8 backlog is substantial.

Speaker 7

That will support sales at least through this year into next year. How do you think about it? Can you talk about the risk The next year maybe the freight backdrop remaining tough, how does that impact your freight customers' willingness to turn over Their fleets and how does that weigh with the emission changes and obviously service and parts of the natural hedge, if you could just talk through the moving pieces into 2024 As we think through how the industry works through its backlog.

Speaker 8

Yes. Thank you, Daniel. Just to comment then on current environment, as you mentioned, the backlog that's going to carry us through the balance of this year. And so any allocation that we've received this year, we're completely sold out. As you mentioned, the emissions, there's greenhouse gas regulations going to effect in 2 steps, 2024 And 2027.

Speaker 8

For 2024, you'd normally have in advance of an emissions year, A pre buy effect and of course the OEMs aren't able to produce the vehicles due to supply chain challenges to take advantage of that. So I think that's going to be a buffer Against what you would normally have as a hangover year, when new emissions vehicles are launched, Which would be next year. I think you combine that with the fact, similarly to the auto side, that the last 3 years, there's been a lower Supply of vehicles coming in the marketplace, certainly Roger talked about it on the maintenance cost side for PTS. A lot of our carriers from the retail truck side experienced the same thing. So their maintenance costs are up as well and they're going to be eager to Replace those vehicles.

Speaker 8

So over the last 2 years, the sales have been driven by the robust rate environment. I think this year certainly and going into next year, it's going to be driven by replacement demand to get older, higher cost units From an operating standpoint out of the marketplace. And so you see that with the Q2 sales up 13% for the industry. In the opening comments, you saw we're up 29% for the quarter on a retail sales basis. And so I think the fundamentals Right now for us, bode well for certainly this year and looking into next year.

Speaker 8

The last comment I would make on the freight rates, Certainly, the spot market has come down from its historical highs, and we feel it bottomed out. We think there Could be some more correction on the contract side through the end of the year, but the forecast is for freight rates to start trending back upward over the next 6 months. And so As the freight cycle recovers, I think that's going to act as a natural buffer to the retail sales on the commercial truck side.

Speaker 7

Thank you so much for all the color and best of luck everybody.

Speaker 2

All right. Thanks, Jamie. Yes, great.

Operator

And next we go to David Whiston. Please go ahead.

Speaker 6

Hey, David.

Speaker 1

Hey, everyone. I guess, first on PTS, Just curious on Slide 27, the if you could break out the difference for me between full service lease and maintenance versus commercial rental?

Speaker 2

You're talking to me the maintenance on the equipment you're saying?

Speaker 1

Your pie chart says full service lease and maintenance.

Speaker 2

And I

Speaker 1

mean, are you referring to truck leasing versus commercial rental truck? No, no. Same thing, it sounds the same. That's why I'm asking it.

Speaker 2

No. All our maintenance, when we talk about maintenance, it's not only on leasing, on our logistics trucks, our contract maintenance business And our consumer and our commercial rental fleet, that's our total maintenance number. So it includes tires and maintenance. So that's the total number that you saw. It was up $65,000,000 in the quarter.

Speaker 1

Okay. And on the M and A market, Do you expect to stay more skewed for the rest of the year if you do a deal on the truck side or do you have a pretty robust light vehicle pipeline too?

Speaker 2

Well, look, I would say we have a pipeline. Our goal is to be up 5 from a branding standpoint, at least 5 on acquisition. I think we're Tracking in that area, we have some things in the pipeline, which I think look promising, but we're going to be very, very selective, whether it's internationally or Domestically, to be sure it fits in areas where we have scale. Also, we wanted to fit in what we call the premiumluxury And volume 4 and brand mix, so that's going to be important as we go forward. And I think at the end of the day, we follow that.

Speaker 2

That's why you look at us. Even in the U. K, we're 95% premiumluxury. We made that acquisition of the North London Mercedes Businesses is now under agency and we had a 20.5% market share in the month of June. So that's starting to really pay off.

Speaker 2

So Strategically and brand will be critical when we look at this as we make acquisitions. Obviously, affordability from the standpoint Of a return will also be key, plus today what's the CapEx requirement.

Speaker 1

And finally, do you in your opinion outside of Tesla, do you think there are too many EVs on the market right now?

Speaker 2

Well, we're getting into electrification. I'm glad I'm not running the business on what I'm going to make on electric Vehicle is right leased for the rest of the year, but why isn't Randall talk a little bit about Tesla and what's going on in the EVs in the UK?

Speaker 3

I think he's got good color on that. Yes. So in the U. K, there's been government subsidies for several years now and the total market is about just over 16% BEV, our business year to date is 20% BEV with our premiumluxury mix. What's interesting on that as well is Since they've been cementing it, the government for 4 years, we're that's the first market we're in where we're seeing a bonafide trade cycle of used BEVs.

Speaker 3

We've been hovering about a 50, 52, 53 day supply of BEVs, which is about 3.75 units. And that only represents about 6% of our total used inventory. So our exposure there is not massive. But interestingly, at the beginning of the year, late January, We had north of 600 units in stock. And when Tesla announced their price reduction, that had a ripple effect On the used side as well, even though we weren't exposed to Tesla as a brand on used, it certainly hit all BEVs.

Speaker 3

So We just need to be eyes wide open. We got to turn these things quicker. And then as a consumer, if you buy a 4 year old BEV, It's just interesting to say what's the range going to be like after that time from a degradation standpoint? And then if there's a warranty situation, What are the associated costs there? Excuse me, if it's an out of warranty situation, what are the associated costs?

Speaker 3

So Look, we're and then I just hit a couple of other markets. Germany is about 16% as well. And but Government subsidies, interestingly, you go to a country like Italy where there's not a lot of government subsidy and the market's only 4%, and we would even be less than that From a PAG standpoint, so interesting between the different markets.

Speaker 2

I think that also when you look at it, talk a little bit about In the international markets, the impact of the governmental support, I think about that from a tax perspective in the U. K.

Speaker 3

Well, it's a follow the money scenario. In the UK, a lot of people will have their vehicle as a company benefit and they provide Significant tax relief if you have a BEV, which is not quite 0, but maybe £50 for tax where if you got BMW 3 Series that may be $300 per month in tax. So there's a real benefit to have that BEV from a tax standpoint. Similar in Germany, like I said, I mean the government subsidies there, some of these other countries where it's not. So you could call a little bit artificially buoyed And where the government subsidies are?

Speaker 2

Yes. And I think when you look at the U. S, EQS for Mercedes, we got 190 day supply right Today as we sit here, overall on bev for MB, we had 113. So we're seeing affordability and pricing It'll be a critical period from the standpoint of our business. And I know there's been some questions in the past I've heard this week From the other our peers talking about what part of our business do we sell from a 100% are MSRP.

Speaker 2

We're running at about 54% year to date. If you take out both hybrid and bevs, we're at 70%. So you can see that the noise of the business, the PR From the OEMs and the supply is much greater than the marketplace. So I think it's something that we really have to look at As we go forward over the next several quarters. So we're watching the used car pricing.

Speaker 2

We're being careful. One of the things that's going to have to take place, we've already seen it in the UK, we're in our with Mercedes Benz on our commission or agency fee, They've already raised it 100 basis points on EVs. We're seeing discounts and also incentives here in the U. S. To order move this.

Speaker 2

You've seen what's Happened domestically here with Ford, so everything just lately here in the paper. So I think we're in that kind of environment. So we're going to watch it carefully. But the OEM captives, At least on the premium side, we're going to have to step up and put residual values on these things if we're going to move them. I just say that there's no other way to move these because right now, I think it's sticker shop for the customer.

Speaker 1

Yes. And real quick, MSRP ratio you just mentioned is interesting because Higher than what I've heard from some other dealers. Do you think that's sustainable for the

Speaker 3

next few quarters? Or is

Speaker 1

it going to crash hard soon as inventory grows? I want to

Speaker 2

start with a higher batting order. I want to get it up obviously, but for an MSRP, it'd be tough. But there's going to be pressure. Let me be honest with you. But remember, we don't have a domestic portfolio Today, we're 1%.

Speaker 2

So at this particular time, with the day supply we have in premiumluxury, what we have in volume 4, and I still think we've got A model right now at least a market that's providing us the opportunity to hold pricing.

Speaker 1

Okay. Appreciate all the information. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Yes, great.

Operator

Mr. Penske, I'll turn it back to you for closing.

Speaker 2

All right. Well, thanks everybody for joining us. We'll see you next quarter. Thanks for the support for our people that are on the line. Thanks.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude your conference for today. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

Powered by Quartr
Earnings Conference Call
Penske Automotive Group Q2 2023
00:00 / 00:00