Asbury Automotive Group Reports Second Quarter Results

Business Wire 2-Aug-2024 7:00 AM

• Record second quarter revenue of $4.2 billion

• Record for second quarter parts & service revenue of $581 million and gross profit of $340 million

• Repurchased approximately 193,000 shares for $43 million in the second quarter and approximately 592,000 shares for $130 million year-to-date through August 1, 2024

Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:ABG) (the "Company"), one of the largest automotive retail and service companies in the U.S., reported second quarter 2024 net income of $28 million ($1.39 per diluted share), a decrease of 86% from $196 million ($9.34 per diluted share) in second quarter 2023. Second quarter 2024 adjusted net income, a non-GAAP measure, decreased 31% year-over-year to $129 million ($6.40 per diluted share) compared to adjusted net income of $188 million ($8.95 per diluted share) in second quarter 2023.

"I am proud of our team members rising up to meet an unprecedented challenge for our business and our industry" said David Hult, Asbury's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Our results were impacted by the CDK cyber incident, both from lost business and one-time expenses related to the outage and recovery of the systems that service most of our stores. We partially mitigated the disruption by facilitating retail sales through Clicklane, where we sold 15,201 cars in the quarter, an all-time record and 33% over last year. As we move into the third quarter, I am grateful for the innovative thinking and collaborative spirit of our team members, and their relentless dedication to delivering the most guest-centric experience in automotive retailing."

The financial measures discussed below include both GAAP and adjusted (non-GAAP) financial measures. Please see "Non-GAAP Financial Disclosure and Reconciliation, Same Store Data and Other Data" and the reconciliations for non-GAAP metrics used herein.

Adjusted net income for second quarter 2024 excludes, net of tax, $101.3 million of non-cash asset impairments ($5.02 per diluted share), gain on divestitures of $2.7 million ($0.13 per diluted share), and losses related to hail damage of $2.3 million ($0.11 per diluted share).

Adjusted net income for second quarter 2023 excludes, net of tax, gain on divestiture of $10.2 million ($0.48 per diluted share), gain on legal settlement of $1.4 million ($0.07 per diluted share) and losses related to hail damage of $3.2 million ($0.15 per diluted share).

Second Quarter 2024 Operational Summary

Total Company vs. 2^nd Quarter 2023:

• Revenue of $4.2 billion, increase of 13%
• Gross profit of $731 million, increase of 2%
• Gross margin decreased 185 bps to 17.2%
• New vehicle unit volume increase of 12%; new vehicle revenue increase of 11%; new vehicle gross profit decrease of 16%
• Used vehicle retail unit volume increase of 22%; used vehicle retail revenue increase of 15%; used vehicle retail gross profit decrease of 14%
• Finance and insurance (F&I) per vehicle retailed (PVR) of $2,151, decrease of 9%
• Parts and service revenue increase of 10%; gross profit increase of 16%
• SG&A as a percentage of gross profit of 65.2%
• Adjusted SG&A as a percentage of gross profit of 64.8%
• Operating margin of 2.4%
• Adjusted operating margin of 5.6%

Same Store vs. 2^nd Quarter 2023:

• Revenue of $3.5 billion, decrease of 5%
• Gross profit of $620 million, decrease of 12%
• Gross margin decreased 144 bps to 17.6%
• New vehicle unit volume decrease of 6%; new vehicle revenue decrease of 6%; new vehicle gross profit decrease of 29%
• Used vehicle retail unit volume decrease of 2%; used vehicle retail revenue decrease of 7%; used vehicle retail gross profit decrease of 27%
• F&I PVR of $2,124, decrease of 11%
• Parts and service revenue decrease of 2%; gross profit increase of 4%
• SG&A as a percentage of gross profit of 64.9%
• Adjusted SG&A as a percentage of gross profit of 64.4%
• Operating margin of 1.9%
• Adjusted operating margin of 5.8%

CDK Global Outage Impact

During June, one of the Company's vendors (CDK Global) experienced a cyber incident impacting certain services provided to the Company and many other automotive retailers, including the Company's sales, service, inventory, customer relationship management, and accounting functions. Upon discovery of the incident, we took immediate precautionary steps to protect our systems. We currently estimate the earnings per share for the quarter were negatively impacted between $0.95 and $1.15 per diluted share, without taking into account any potential recoveries related to the incident. Estimated impacts included both internal projections of lost or deferred income and one-time expenses related to the outage and recovery.

Liquidity and Leverage

As of June 30, 2024, the Company had cash and floorplan offset accounts of $464 million (which excludes $15 million of cash at Total Care Auto, Powered by Landcar) and availability under the used vehicle floorplan line and revolver of $342 million for a total of $806 million in liquidity. The Company's adjusted net leverage ratio, which is calculated as set forth in our credit facility, was 2.7x at quarter end.

Share Repurchases

The Company repurchased approximately 193,000 shares for $43 million during the second quarter 2024. Year-to-date through August 1, 2024, the Company has repurchased approximately 592,000 shares for $130 million. On May 15, 2024, the Company announced its board of directors approved an increase in the authorization of the share repurchase plan for the Company, expanding the remaining availability to repurchase up to $400 million. As of August 1, 2024, the Company had approximately $329 million remaining on its share repurchase authorization.

The shares may be purchased from time to time in the open market, in privately negotiated transactions or in other manners as permitted by federal securities laws and other legal and contractual requirements. The extent to which the Company repurchases its shares, the number of shares and the timing of any repurchase will depend on such factors as Asbury's stock price, general economic and market conditions, the potential impact on its capital structure, the expected return on competing uses of capital such as strategic dealership acquisitions and capital investments and other considerations. The program does not require the Company to repurchase any specific number of shares, and may be modified, suspended or terminated at any time without further notice.

Earnings Call

Additional commentary regarding the second quarter results will be provided during the earnings conference call on Friday, August 2, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. ET.

The conference call will be simulcast live on the internet. The webcast, together with supplemental materials, and can be accessed by logging onto https://investors.asburyauto.com. A replay and the accompanying materials will be available on this site for at least 30 days.

In addition, live audio will be accessible to the public. Participants may enter the conference call five to ten minutes prior to the scheduled start of the call by dialing:

About Asbury Automotive Group, Inc.

Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:ABG), a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Duluth, GA, is one of the largest automotive retailers in the U.S. In late 2020, Asbury embarked on a multi-year plan to increase revenue and profitability strategically through organic operations, acquisitive growth and innovative technologies, with its guest-centric approach as Asbury's constant North Star. As of June 30, 2024, Asbury operated 155 new vehicle dealerships, consisting of 204 franchises, representing 31 domestic and foreign brands of vehicles. Asbury also operates Total Care Auto, Powered by Landcar, a leading provider of service contracts and other vehicle protection products, and 37 collision repair centers. Asbury offers an extensive range of automotive products and services, including new and used vehicles; parts and service, which includes vehicle repair and maintenance services, replacement parts and collision repair services; and finance and insurance products, including arranging vehicle financing through third parties and aftermarket products, such as extended service contracts, guaranteed asset protection debt cancellation, and prepaid maintenance. Asbury ranks 18th in the 2023 Forbes list of America's Best Mid-Sized Companies. Asbury is recognized as one of America's Greatest Workplaces 2023 by Newsweek as well as one of the Best Companies to Work For in the Retailers industry by U.S. News & World Report.

For additional information, visit www.asburyauto.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are statements other than historical fact, and may include statements relating to goals, plans, objectives, projections regarding Asbury's financial position, liquidity, results of operations, cash flows, leverage, market position, the completion of the Company's investigation into the CDK incident, the ultimate results of CDK's and the Company's containment and remediation efforts, the timing of the restoration of full access to the affected systems and changes in customer sentiment due to the incident, the timing and amount of any stock repurchases, and dealership portfolio, revenue enhancement strategies, operational improvements, projections regarding the expected benefits of Clicklane, management's plans, projections and objectives for future operations, scale and performance, integration plans and expected synergies from acquisitions, capital allocation strategy, business strategy. These statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs and involve significant risks and uncertainties that may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in the statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, our inability to realize the benefits expected from recently completed transactions; our inability to promptly and effectively integrate completed transactions and the diversion of management's attention from ongoing business and regular business responsibilities; our inability to complete future acquisitions or divestitures and the risks resulting therefrom; any supply chain disruptions impacting our industry and business, market factors, Asbury's relationships with, and the financial and operational stability of, vehicle manufacturers and other suppliers, acts of God, acts of war or other incidents and the shortage of semiconductor chips and other components, which may adversely impact supply from vehicle manufacturers and/or present retail sales challenges; risks associated with Asbury's indebtedness and our ability to comply with applicable covenants in our various financing agreements, or to obtain waivers of these covenants as necessary; risks related to competition in the automotive retail and service industries, general economic conditions both nationally and locally, governmental regulations, legislation, including changes in automotive state franchise laws, adverse results in litigation and other proceedings, and Asbury's ability to execute its strategic and operational strategies and initiatives, including its five-year strategic plan, Asbury's ability to leverage gains from its dealership portfolio, Asbury's ability to capitalize on opportunities to repurchase its debt and equity securities or purchase properties that it currently leases, and Asbury's ability to stay within its targeted range for capital expenditures. There can be no guarantees that Asbury's plans for future operations will be successfully implemented or that they will prove to be commercially successful.

These and other risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements are and will be discussed in Asbury's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, including its most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequently filed quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. These forward-looking statements and such risks, uncertainties and other factors speak only as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Non-GAAP Financial Disclosure and Reconciliation, Same Store Data and Other Data

In addition to evaluating the financial condition and results of our operations in accordance with GAAP, from time to time management evaluates and analyzes results and any impact on the Company of strategic decisions and actions relating to, among other things, cost reduction, growth, and profitability improvement initiatives, and other events outside of normal, or "core," business and operations, by considering certain alternative financial measures not prepared in accordance with GAAP. These measures include "Adjusted income from operations," "Adjusted net income," "Adjusted operating margins," "Adjusted EBITDA," "Adjusted diluted earnings per share ("EPS")," "Adjusted SG&A, " "Adjusted operating cash flow" and "Pro forma adjusted leverage ratio." Further, management assesses the organic growth of our revenue and gross profit on a same store basis. We believe that our assessment on a same store basis represents an important indicator of comparative financial performance and provides relevant information to assess our performance at our existing locations. Non-GAAP measures do not have definitions under GAAP and may be defined differently by and not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies. As a result, any non-GAAP financial measures considered and evaluated by management are reviewed in conjunction with a review of the most directly comparable measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. Management cautions investors not to place undue reliance on such non-GAAP measures, but also to consider them with the most directly comparable GAAP measures. In their evaluation of results from time to time, management excludes items that do not arise directly from core operations or are otherwise of an unusual or non-recurring nature. Because these non-core, unusual or non-recurring charges and gains materially affect Asbury's financial condition or results in the specific period in which they are recognized, management also evaluates, and makes resource allocation and performance evaluation decisions based on, the related non-GAAP measures excluding such items. In addition to using such non-GAAP measures to evaluate results in a specific period, management believes that such measures may provide more complete and consistent comparisons of operational performance on a period-over-period historical basis and a better indication of expected future trends. Management discloses these non-GAAP measures, and the related reconciliations, because it believes investors use these metrics in evaluating longer-term period-over-period performance, and to allow investors to better understand and evaluate the information used by management to assess operating performance.

Same store amounts consist of information from dealerships for identical months in each comparative period, commencing with the first month we owned the dealership. Additionally, amounts related to divested dealerships are excluded from each comparative period.

Amounts presented herein have been calculated using non-rounded amounts for all periods presented and therefore certain amounts may not compute or tie to prior presentation due to rounding.