Austin Ligon Quotes (9 Quotes)

In fiscal 2007, we anticipate gross capital expenditures of approximately 300 million. Planned expenditures primarily relate to new store construction and land purchases associated with future year store openings. Compared with the roughly 200 million of spending in fiscal 2006, the fiscal 2007 capital spending estimate primarily reflects a higher level of real estate purchases for store development in future years, as well as the timing of construction activities.

We have revolutionized the way consumers buy cars. This will be the first time northeastern area residents will have an opportunity to experience a no- hassle, no-haggle, fun and easy car shopping experience. As we continue to grow our store base by 15 to 20 percent each year, we are looking forward to introducing ourselves to more and more consumers in the Northeast.

With an estimated television viewing audience of approximately 185,000, Charlottesville, Va., represents our first entry into a small market. We will be adjusting our store footprint, inventory, and our staffing model in this store, as a result of the smaller overall sales opportunities provided by this market. This store's performance over the next few years will help us better understand our longer-term opportunities in small markets.

Margins on other sales and revenues grew as a result of the growth in extended service plan revenues, which have no associated cost of sales, and the growth in our service margin, reflecting improved overhead expense absorption.

New vehicle sales declined modestly, reflecting the performance of the broader new car marketplace following the end of the employee discount programs. Other sales and revenues benefited from increases in extended service plan revenues and service department sales.

Selling, general, and administrative expenses as a percent of net sales and operating revenues increased slightly to 11.4 in this year's third quarter from 11.3 in last year's quarter. As expected, the moderate rate of increase in unit comps was not sufficient to provide SGA leverage. Having a larger percentage of our store base comprised of stores not yet at basic maturity and last year's lower-than-normal corporate bonuses were also contributing factors. At the end of this year's third quarter, 49 of our stores were less than four years old, compared with 40 at the end of last year's third quarter.

Our third quarter used car sales growth reflected increased traffic compared with last year's third quarter, as well as continuing strong execution. We were able to sustain positive momentum even as the cross-shopping benefit from this summer's new car employee pricing programs waned. Subsequently, new car sales and traffic levels dropped significantly, reflecting the limited model year close-out vehicle availability that resulted from the success of the employee pricing programs.

We believe that this recognition is an acknowledgement of how we're revolutionizing our industry. We're giving customers what they want in a car-buying experience by creating a company culture that is focused on being ethical, trustworthy, and respectful of our customers.

After careful consideration, we have decided that for our next fiscal year, we'll issue guidance on comparable store used unit sales and on earnings per share only for the full fiscal year. We will no longer issue quarterly guidance. This decision reflects our continuing focus on longer-term store, sales, and earnings growth and on return on invested capital, and our recognition that the performance in shorter-term periods can be more volatile than over the longer term. As we report our quarterly results, we plan to comment on how our performance is tracking against our annual guidance.