Mark W. Joslin
Analyst · Piper Jaffray and Company
Thank you, Manny. I'll stop -- I'll start by commenting on our SG&A cost which, as we've discussed in our second quarter call, were higher for the second and third quarters than what we expect on an ongoing basis. As noted in the release, our SG&A costs were up 14% for the quarter, 12% excluding acquisitions, with the biggest component of growth coming from incentive cost increases, as it did in the second quarter. As Manny just mentioned and as we've discussed on many previous occasions, compensation at POOLCORP is closely in line with performance. The result of this was that as the market contracted from 2007 to 2009, incentive comp at POOLCORP fell by about $15 million from peak levels. As our earnings have recovered, we've had to build back our incentive compensation expense to more normalized levels which was started in 2010 and which will complete and in fact surpass in 2011 given our exceptionally strong results this year. While we will certainly have some variability in incentive comp in the future based on our performance, any increases from our 2011 expense levels would be very modest. We mentioned in our release that in addition to incentives, the growth in our quarterly expenses was impacted by bad debts, freight and currency translation. As was the case in the second quarter, growth in our bad debt expense in 2011 reflects our normal modest amount of bad debt expense this year compared to an abnormally low level of bad debt expense in 2010 as we were able to reverse previously booked reserves as a result of better than expected collection results in 2010. The impact of freight, which was offset in freight billed to customers, and currency translation was also similar to what we reported in Q2. Excluding the impact of these items, our core base business expenses grew just 2% in the quarter and year-to-date, which given our revenue growth is a very good achievement and a reflection of the significant emphasis we put on expense management. This is also more in line with our expectations for expense growth in the coming quarters. Moving on to the balance sheet. We again have had an excellent results in our receivables management as both ends of our aging have shown significant improvements. Our total receivables classified as current at the end of September were 79.8% compared to 74.9% a year ago, while receivables 30 or more days past due were 7.2% of total compared to 12.9% a year ago. Our DSO, or days sales outstanding, was 30.3 at the end of the quarter, which is an improvement of 2 days from a year ago. Moving on to inventories. Our inventory balances increased $31 million or 10%, including $5 million or 2% in acquired inventories to $338 million at the end of Q3, which is roughly in line with the sales growth, although a bit higher than what we would like it to be. Excluding the impact from any of early buy purchases which will be done on extended payment terms, we expect to work this down a bit between now and year-end. Manny covered the main topics on cash flow, so let me update you on our share repurchase activity. For the quarter, we've repurchased 760,000 shares of stock at an average price of $25.15, bringing total shares repurchased on the open market this year to 2,397,000 for a total purchase cost of $59 million. This leaves us with $80.2 million available under our current board authorization. Finally, as noted in our release, we completed a new revolving credit facility, just yesterday in fact, that provides us with access to $430 million in credit to fund our business growth and the repayment of our $100 million note when it matures next February. This replaces our $240 million revolver facility which was set to expire next December. Although pricing is not quite as attractive as our expiring facility which was set at a very opportune time in December 2007, we could see a slight drop in our interest rates next year after our current swaps expire in the first quarter. I'd like to put a plug-in here for our bank group which has been a great group to work with. Our credit facility was co-led by Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan and included Bank of America, Regions Bank, Capital One, Comerica, Union Bank and BB&T. We certainly appreciate their support and investment in our business. That concludes my prepared remarks, so I'll turn the call back over to our operator to begin our question-and-answer period. Kevin?