Timothy K. Jugmans
Thanks, Lachie. Slide 9 provides a detailed look at our consolidated financial results for the third fiscal quarter. We ended Q3 with record pawn loans outstanding of $293.2 million, up 12% year-over-year and 9% on a same-store basis. Growth was driven by sustained demand, improved operational execution and higher average loan size, supported by both organic expansion and new store contributions. Pawn service charges revenue increased 10%, generally in line with PLO growth and reflecting strong lending activity across our footprint. Merchandise sales rose 10% with 9% same-store growth as customer demand continues to support strong retail performance. Inventory increased 32% year-over-year, driven by higher PLO, elevated purchase activity and growth in our U.S. layaway program. Turnover declined to 2.4x from 2.7x last year, some of which is due to greater mix of jewelry, which naturally carries a longer sales cycle. Despite lower inventory turns, aged general merchandise declined 83 basis points to 2.3% or 2%, excluding luxury, reflecting disciplined pricing and markdown execution. Merchandise margin came in at 35.7%, while down 30 basis points year-over-year, it improved 166 basis points sequentially from Q2. As Lachie mentioned earlier, we continue to grow with discipline and deliver meaningful operating leverage. Adjusted EBITDA increased 42% to $45.2 million and EBITDA margin expanded 280 basis points to 14%. Moving to our U.S. Pawn segment on Slide 10. Revenue increased 11% year-over-year to $220 million, of which approximately half came from scrap sales. Earning assets increased 21% to $387.4 million, which includes an 11% increase in PLO to $221.1 million and a 36% increase in inventory to $166.4 million. The inventory increase is a function of higher PLO, greater purchasing activity and the customer layaways program introduced in July of last year. We remain focused on optimizing our merchandise mix and improving turnover. In the current quarter, we are increasing incentives for our team members, increasing marketing activities, including the use of reward points as well as targeted price reductions and category-specific promotions to drive further improvements. Slide 11 provides a geographic view of our U.S. operations, where we now have 545 stores across 19 states. As Lachie mentioned earlier, this quarter, we added 3 stores, including a luxury format location in Miami Beach. Our platform continues to be anchored in Texas, Florida and other major urban markets where we benefit from scale advantages, local pricing intelligence and strong brand equity. Lending dynamics remain healthy. U.S. average loan size rose 13% to $207, supported by increased values in both jewelry and general merchandise. Roughly 80% of that growth came from higher jewelry pricing, particularly gold. Jewelry now accounts for 67% of PLO and 65% of inventory, both up from prior year, given our emphasis on the category and current gold prices. Slide 12 provides a deeper look at our U.S. segment financial performance for the quarter. All loans outstanding rose 11% year-over-year, supported by higher loan values, improved store level execution and steady demand for short-term liquidity. On service charge revenue rose 8%, primarily driven by same-store PLO growth. While the growth in PSC trailed PLO, the overall performance reflects a strong lending environment across the store base. On the retail side, merchandise sales rose 4% year-over-year and 4% on a same-store basis. Merchandise margin expanded 80 basis points to 38.5%, supported by better pricing execution and improved product mix. Inventory increased 36%, driven by growth in PLO, purchases and layaways as well as a decline in turnover to 2.1x from 2.6x. Despite this, aged general merchandise improved 260 basis points to 2.5% or 1.8%, excluding luxury, a testament to active inventory management. Running a balanced business in the U.S. Pawn segment through a combination of growth in PSC, merchandise sales and scrap revenue with expense management led to an EBITDA increase of 31% to $50.3 million and margin expansion of 360 basis points to 23%. Turning to our Latin American segment on Slide 13. Revenue increased 21% to $99.9 million in Q3, reflecting continued strength across the region. Earning assets rose 18% with PLO up 16% or 4% on a same-store basis, driven by improved operational performance and increased loan demand. Inventory increased 21% and 13% on a same-store basis with aged general merchandise increasing modestly to 2.2% of total GMV inventory, which equates to a total of $800,000. The increase in PLO and inventory was also largely driven by our recent acquisition in Mexico. Importantly, we remain focused on embedding best practice from our U.S. operations to drive consistent execution and profitability growth across Latin America. As shown on Slide 14, we ended the quarter with 791 stores across 4 countries. During the period, we acquired 40 stores in Mexico and opened 10 de novo stores across Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador and consolidated 1 store in Mexico. Jewelry PLO increased 510 basis points year-over-year to 40%, supported by focused operational initiatives in Mexico and higher gold price. Jewelry inventory composition also increased 150 basis points to 35%. Turning to Slide 15 for more detail on our LatAm operations. Merchandise sales grew 23% with 90% same-store growth. Merchandise sales gross profit increased 17%, partially offset by a 170 basis point decline in margin due to more frequent counter-based price negotiation, a reflection of higher transaction volumes. PSC grew 13% year-over-year, supported by the growth in PLO. EBITDA rose 28% to $15.5 million, driven by higher gross profit and offset in part by a 12% increase in expenses with 7% same-store expense growth, primarily driven by labor expense. EBITDA margin expanded 90 basis points to 15% reflected continued operating leverage. From a balance sheet perspective, our robust position of $472.1 million and a low net leverage will enable us to continue funding organic growth on compelling acquisition opportunities and thoughtfully return capital to shareholders over time. This quarter's acquisition of 40 pawn stores in Mexico is a strong example of how we're deploying capital with a discipline to capitalize on the global scale opportunity. Looking ahead, we remain focused on growing PLO, improving inventory efficiency and scaling operational best practices across all geographies. Based on the current gold price remaining steady, we expect similar scrap sales gross profit in quarter 4 and then for scrap margins to decline sequentially during FY '26. We are very pleased with the expense management to date. However, we do expect a sequential increase in total expenses. Our M&A pipeline is very attractive in both the U.S. and Latin America, and we continue to approach each opportunity with rigorous financial discipline. We believe this focused execution will continue to drive long-term compounding value for our shareholders. Now I would like to turn it over to Lachie for a few closing remarks.