Xponential Fitness, Inc. Q2 FY2023 Earnings Call

Greetings, and welcome to the Xponential Fitness Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Avery Wanamaker, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon and thank you all for joining our conference call to discuss Xponential Fitness Second Quarter 2023 Financial Results. I am joined by Anthony Geisler, Chief Executive Officer; Sarah Luna, President; and John Meloun, Chief Financial Officer. A recording of this call will be posted on the Investors section of our website at investor.Xponential.com. We remind you that during this conference call, we will make certain forward-looking statements, including discussions of our business outlook and financial projections. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from such expectations. For a more detailed description of these risks and uncertainties, please refer to our recent and subsequent filings with the SEC. We assume no obligations to update the information provided on today's call. In addition, we will be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures in this conference call. We use non-GAAP measures because we believe they provide you information about our operating performance that should be considered by investors in conjunction with the GAAP measures that we provide. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to comparable GAAP measures is included in the earnings release that was issued earlier today prior to this call. Please also note that all numbers reported in today's prepared remarks refer to global figures, unless otherwise noted. I will now turn the call over to Anthony Geisler, Chief Executive Officer of Xponential Fitness.

Thanks, Avery, and good afternoon, everyone. We appreciate you joining our second quarter earnings conference call. I'm proud to share yet another consistent quarter of results that continues to highlight the strength of our business and the health of our franchisees. On the call today, we will address several key concepts aimed at providing additional clarity on the business. We will also be speaking about these items in more detail at our Analyst and Investor Day on September 6, when we will provide a full overview of the business and financial performance, layout company strategy and discuss longer-term growth metrics. Let's turn to our second quarter results. Xponential franchisees now operate nearly 2,900 studios globally with over 5,800 licenses sold across our 10 leading fitness brands. We have franchise, master franchise and international expansion agreements in 19 countries outside of North America. Total members across North America saw growth of 29% year-over-year to a total of 697,000 at the end of the second quarter. Over 90% of these customers are actively paying members. Along with growth in our membership base, North American studio visits for the second quarter increased by 32% year-over-year, reaching a total of 12.9 million. This drove record North American system-wide sales of $341 million, which represents a 37% increase over the second quarter of 2022. Q2 North American run rate average unit volumes of $561,000 were up 17% from $480,000 in Q2 of 2022, making it our 12th straight quarter of AUV growth. We continue to believe that AUV growth is the most direct measure of the health of our franchise systems. North America same-store sales growth remained strong at 15% in the second quarter, and we are particularly pleased with the performance of our more mature cohort, with studios over three years old increasing same-store sales by 16%. Now that we are further removed from COVID-impacted time periods, we believe this metric has begun to normalize. John will speak about these calculations in more detail shortly. Turning to revenue, for the quarter, net revenue totaled $77.3 million, an increase of 30% year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA totaled $25.3 million in Q2, or 33% of revenue, up 43% from $17.6 million, or 30% of revenue in the prior year period. Let's now turn to our four strategic growth areas. I'll discuss the first three and then turn the call over to Sarah to discuss the fourth. Beginning with the increase of our franchise studio base, we ended Q2 with 2,892 global open studios, opening 141 net new studios in the second quarter. We sold 234 licenses globally in Q2 2023, with about 30% of licenses bought by existing franchisees, bringing the total sold licenses to 5,872. We also continue to have an increasing pipeline with almost 2,000 licenses sold and contractually obligated to open on a global basis, excluding our master franchise agreement obligations. We are always pleased when an existing franchisee purchases additional licenses as it reinforces their satisfaction with our model and the success of their businesses. In fact, over 56% of our studios have owners who have purchased multiple Xponential licenses. Looking at this in a bit more detail, our average franchisee has bought 2.6 licenses with 1.3 studios currently open. Turning to our next growth driver, international expansion, we have over 1,000 studios obligated to open under master franchise agreements. Of note, just recently, we announced the signing of a master franchise agreement in France for our Club Pilates brand, which represents our 19th country outside of North America. The agreement gives the master franchisee the opportunity to license a minimum of 75 Club Pilates studios in France over the next 10 years and is indicative of Xponential's approach to international expansion, wherein we partner with world-class experienced operators who can rapidly scale our brands. As a reminder, our MFAs are structured to provide Xponential with high-margin flow-through. We typically receive a percentage of revenue share with very little corresponding SG&A. Xponential is currently targeting approximately 50 countries with our 10 existing brands or potentially 500 different MFA opportunities, providing significant whitespace for future growth. Our third key growth driver is to expand margins and drive free cash flow conversion. Adjusted EBITDA margins again increased to 32.6% during the second quarter, demonstrating continued operating leverage. As we continue to scale, holding company-owned transition studios will create headwinds when optimizing margins. Therefore, going forward, we will no longer take on company-owned transition studios. As of the date of this call, we are operating 38 company-owned transition studios and have nine corporate LA Fitness studios under our Club Pilates and StretchLab brands. We plan to continue operating these nine studios in order to prove out the LA Fitness nontraditional studio concept. The company-owned transition studios currently generate an immaterial amount of net operating loss. We plan to refranchise these studios down to zero, and we will no longer take on any company-owned transition studios going forward. We are confident this shift in strategy will drive additional leverage to SG&A expenses while also benefiting AUVs in the long run. Importantly, as John will speak to shortly, we are raising guidance on several of the guided metrics for the year. We remain on track to achieve adjusted EBITDA margins in the 35% to 39% range by year-end and adjusted EBITDA margins of 40% in 2024. We look forward to providing an overview of the business and financial performance, layout company strategy and discuss longer-term growth metrics at our Analyst and Investor Day on September 6 at the New York Stock Exchange. With that, I'll pass the call on to Sarah to discuss our fourth and final growth driver, increasing our same-store sales and AUVs.

Thank you, Anthony. We drove strong in-studio performance in the second quarter and further built out our ecosystem of B2B partnerships, strengthened our omnichannel fitness offering, and continued refining our XPASS and XPLUS services. During the second quarter, North America visitation rates grew 32% year-over-year, and our North America actively paying membership base grew to over 628,000 members. With our product continuing to be very sticky and playing an integral role in our members' lifestyle, Xponential continues to retain its membership base. Xponential aims to ensure that members have access to a boutique fitness experience that matches their individual needs and interests. Let's now discuss how our omnichannel offerings help drive customer engagement, resulting in higher same-store sales and AUVs. Our XPASS offering is one way we enhance customer engagement by having frictionless access to all 10 of our brands on a single recurring monthly membership platform. Since inception, there have been over 60,000 bookings made on XPASS. XPASS is beneficial for both consumers and franchisees. It provides consumers with flexibility to sample across fitness modalities while driving new lead generation for in-studio memberships. This quarter, we will be introducing an advertising channel into the XPASS app to give Xponential studio customers access to third-party exclusive offers, launching in categories such as mental health, apparel, and healthy foods. This initiative will drive further benefit to our members while serving as another means for driving incremental lead flow to the studios. XPLUS is the second critical element of our omnichannel approach. XPLUS allows our customers to access digital classes at all 10 of our brands from the comfort of their own home and as a supplement to in-person classes at our studios. Many of our subscribers also hold in-studio memberships, including those who have subscriptions through their brick-and-mortar memberships. We are constantly developing new content for our XPLUS platform and we're excited to see this digital channel continue to translate into increased consumer stickiness and brand affinity. Also, during the quarter, we solidified an XPLUS licensing deal with our master franchisor for BFT, which enables us to offer on-demand classes to members across 250 international BFT locations. We are excited to introduce our omnichannel experience to global consumers and expect to pursue similar licensing deals with other MFAs. B2B partnerships like our relationship with Princess Cruises are the third key element of Xponential's omnichannel strategy. These partnerships provide a means of reaching new audiences, generating revenue, and creating lead flow with little or sometimes negative acquisition costs. As of the end of Q2, Pure Barre, YogaSix, and StretchLab have been launched across the entire fleet of Princess Cruise ships. In addition, in September, we will have our first one-of-a-kind sea-going retreat for Club Pilates, which is set to sail in Alaska. Club Pilates classes will be offered by top-notch instructors amidst Alaskan glaciers and mountains and in conjunction with Royal Princess' culinary entertainment and activity options. This experience is already selling itineraries and we intend to launch future retreats across our other brands. The renewal we announced with Lululemon in June is another great example of a B2B partnership that is helping to grow Xponential. Members of Lululemon studio can stream a diverse range of workouts featuring Pure Barre, Rumble, AKT, and YogaSix classes, as well as take advantage of discounted classes at the brick-and-mortar locations of these brands across North America. The cross-promotional offering is an efficient and effective way of introducing new customers to our brands and building an enduring interest in Xponential Fitness' modalities. In the second half of 2023, we will continue to explore additional B2B partnerships to enhance our XPLUS and XPASS offerings to further build out our omnichannel fitness capabilities. Through these offerings, we look forward to expanding the breadth and depth of tools available to our franchisees to bring people into the Xponential ecosystem, drive higher customer retention and create a world-class fitness experience. As a portfolio company, we have the ability to leverage our scale, our vendor relationships, our omnichannel offerings, and partnerships across all our brands to ultimately achieve the goal of driving more members into the franchisee studios. Importantly, our performance data validates this as studio-level KPIs continue to grow each quarter. Thank you again for your time. I'll now turn the call over to John to discuss our second quarter results and 2023 outlook.

Thanks, Sarah. It's great to speak with everyone today. Before diving into our results for the quarter, I'd like to discuss our calculations for average unit volumes and same-store sales, both of which have been consistently defined and calculated throughout our history. I will also provide clarity on historical and go-forward treatment of studio closures under KPI reporting and how they would be categorized as well as provide an overview on how to think about brand-level economics. Starting with North American quarterly run rate average unit volumes, we define this as the average quarterly sales activity for all studios that are at least six months old at the beginning of the respective quarter multiplied by four to get an annualized number. Studios with zero sales in the period as well as our 19 LA Fitness locations are and have always been excluded from this calculation. With that said, inclusion of zero sales studios in nontraditional locations would not result in a material difference to AUVs. For Q2 2023, our calculation for run rate AUV of $561,000 included 99% of our entire North American studio base older than six months. When including 100% of studios, run rate AUV would have been just 1% lower. Similarly, when calculating our North American same-store sales, we have followed the industry standard practice of including only studios that have 13 months of continuous sales activity as disclosed in our SEC filings. Our Q2 2023 same-store sales of 15% included 97% of our North American studio base older than 13 months. For Q2 2022, same-store sales of 25% included 98% of these studios. Turning to the go-forward treatment of studio closures under KPI reporting, any studio that does not have sales for nine consecutive months will now be deemed closed for KPI reporting purposes. We have provided a full reconciliation of studio accounts under this new method in the 10-Q. It's important to note that applying this new method to historical figures results in minimal differences. Turning to brand-level data, Xponential has always taken a portfolio approach to its brands where there is a diversification of modality and varying levels of revenue performance depending on the maturity of the brand. We will be providing more detail on the unit-level economics that underpin our portfolio of brands, which we will discuss at our upcoming Analyst and Investor Day. It is important to point out that our well-established brands in North America at scale, meaning brands that have over 150 open studios in North America, which include Club Pilates, StretchLab, Pure Barre, CycleBar, and YogaSix represent more than 90% of our total studio base at quarter end and generate weighted average AUVs of approximately $578,000. These brands have existed for several years and have had time to develop a strong following among members, typically driving higher AUVs. Our five growth brands, which include Row House, Rumble, BFT, STRIDE, and AKT account for less than 10% of our studio base in North America at quarter end. These brands have had the benefit of Xponential's support system for shorter time periods yet continue to mature in brand awareness and membership base. Our established brands generated 16% Q2 2023 same-store sales and make up 94% of North American system-wide sales. As the brands mature, the studio AUVs and corresponding franchisee profitability will improve as the largely uniform operating expenses are leveraged, noting some slight variations driven by labor and other expense items. Our brands have roughly the same monthly operating expenses, and these expenses can vary across designated market areas. For example, rent and labor costs in New York City would typically be higher compared to Louisville, Kentucky. The exception to the operating expenses occurs more frequently in our StretchLab and Pure Barre brands. StretchLab has a higher labor cost given the mostly one-on-one model but also generates higher AUVs. Pure Barre has more of an owner-operator model that allows the owner to internalize some of the expenditures they would otherwise have for labor. In some instances, franchisees of lower AUV concepts have transitioned from semi-absentee to owner-operator in order to reduce labor costs and internalize more of their overall spend. Now turning to our results for the second quarter. North America system-wide sales of $341.3 million were up 37% year-over-year. The growth in North American systemwide sales was driven primarily by the 15% same-store sales in the existing base of open studios that continue to acquire new members, coupled with 115 new North American studios that opened in the second quarter. On a consolidated basis, revenue for the quarter was $77.3 million, up 30% year-over-year. Recurring revenue for the quarter was 74%, which we have consistently defined to include all revenue streams, except for franchise license sales and equipment revenues given these materially occur upfront before studios open. That being said, all five components that make up our revenue grew during the quarter. Franchise revenue was $35.1 million, up 27% year-over-year. This growth was primarily driven by an increase in royalty revenue as member visits and system-wide sales reached all-time highs. In addition, we saw increased instructor training revenues and higher monthly tech fees that will continue to increase as we open more studios domestically. Equipment revenue was $14.4 million, up 17% year-over-year. This increase in equipment revenue is the result of continued higher volumes of global equipment installations in addition to a higher mix of equipment-intensive brands like BFT and Rumble. Merchandise revenue was $8.4 million, up 24% year-over-year. The increase during the quarter was primarily driven by a higher number of operating studios and increased foot traffic compared to the prior year. Franchise marketing fund revenue of $6.6 million was up 34% year-over-year, primarily due to strong system-wide sales from a higher number of open studios in North America. Lastly, other service revenue, which includes rebates from processing studio system-wide sales, B2B partnerships, XPASS, and XPLUS amongst other items, was $12.8 million, up 62% from the prior year period. The increase in the period was primarily due to increased revenue from sales generated in our company-owned transition studios, increased rebates from the processing of studio-level system-wide sales and our higher revenues from our B2B partnerships. Turning to our operating expenses, cost of product revenue were $14.2 million, up 5% year-over-year. The increase was primarily driven by a higher volume of equipment installations for new studio openings and a higher mix of equipment-intensive brands in the period. Cost of franchise and service revenue were $3.7 million, down 18% year-over-year. The decrease was driven by fewer license terminations in Q2 of 2023. Selling, general and administrative expenses of $44.4 million were up 52% year-over-year. As a percentage of revenue, SG&A expenses were 57% of revenue in the second quarter, up from 49% in the prior year period. As Anthony spoke to earlier, we expect our shift in strategy regarding company-owned transition studios will begin to have a positive impact in the second half on this line item and drive leverage in SG&A. We are already executing on the plans to ramp down these studios and we'll share additional details on the positive impact this will have at the Analyst and Investor Day. Depreciation and amortization expense was $4.3 million, an increase of 20% from the prior year period. Marketing fund expenses were $5.5 million, up 34% year-over-year, driven by the increased spend afforded by higher franchise marketing fund revenue. Acquisition and transaction expenses were a credit of $31.3 million versus a credit of $31.6 million in the second quarter of 2022. As I noted on prior earnings calls, the contingent consideration is related to the Rumble acquisition earn-out and is driven by the share price at quarter-end; we mark-to-market the earn-out each quarter and accrue for the earn-out. We recorded net income of $27.5 million in the second quarter compared to a net income of $31.5 million in the prior year period. The slightly lower net income was the result of $5.3 million of higher overall profitability, offset by a $0.4 million increase in noncash contingent consideration primarily related to the Rumble acquisition, a $1.6 million increase in noncash equity-based compensation expense, and a $7.2 million increase in the write down of brand assets associated with taking on a number of Rumble founder company-owned transition studios in the period. We continue to believe that adjusted net income is a more useful way to measure the performance of our business. A reconciliation of net income to adjusted net income is provided in our earnings press release. Adjusted net income for the second quarter was $4.2 million, which excludes the $31.3 million gain in fair value of noncash contingent consideration, a $0.7 million liability increase related to the second quarter re-measurement of the company's tax receivable agreement, and the $7.2 million noncash write-down of brand assets. This results in adjusted net earnings of $0.05 per basic share on a share count of 33 million shares of Class A common stock after accounting for income attributable to noncontrolling interest and dividends on preferred shares. Adjusted EBITDA was $25.3 million in the second quarter, up 43% compared to $17.6 million in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA margin grew to 33% in the second quarter compared to 30% in the prior year period. As a reminder, our 2023 outlook anticipates adjusted EBITDA margins reaching the 35% to 39% range, and we expect this number to grow to 40% in 2024. Turning to the balance sheet, as of June 30, 2023, cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash were $40.2 million, up from $29.3 million as of June 30, 2022. Total long-term debt was $265.6 million as of June 30, 2023, compared to $131.7 million as of June 30, 2022. The increase in total long-term debt is primarily due to the repurchase of 85,340 shares of convertible preferred stock at a price of $22.07 per share announced in January. These shares prior to the repurchase would have been convertible into 5.9 million shares of Class A common stock. As mentioned on previous earnings calls, the company remains focused on optimizing our capital structure. If market conditions prove favorable, the company intends to pursue a whole business securitization of our repeating revenue streams, which will provide cheaper access to fixed-rate financing in place of our existing floating term loan debt. Now turning to our outlook. Based on current business conditions and higher levels of performance in the second quarter, we are increasing our full-year 2023 guidance for system-wide sales, revenue, and adjusted EBITDA, and we are reaffirming guidance for new studio openings as follows. We expect 2023 global new studio openings to remain unchanged in the range of 540 to 560. This range represents the highest number of studio openings in our company's history and an 8% increase at the midpoint over 2022. We now expect North America systemwide sales to range from $1.385 billion to $1.395 billion, up from the previous $1.37 billion to $1.38 billion or a 35% increase at the midpoint from the prior year. Total 2023 revenue is now expected to be between $295 million to $305 million, up from the previous $290 million to $300 million, a 22% year-over-year increase at the midpoint from the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA is now expected to range from $102.5 million to $106.5 million, up from $102 million to $106 million, a 41% year-over-year increase at the midpoint from the prior year. This range translates into a roughly 34.8% adjusted EBITDA margin at the midpoint. In terms of capital expenditures, we anticipate approximately $10 million to $12 million for the year or approximately 4% of revenue at the midpoint. Going forward, capital expenditures will be primarily focused on the BFT integration, XPASS and XPLUS new features, and maintenance on other technology investments to support our digital offerings. For the full year, our tax rate is expected to be mid-to-high single-digits, share count for purposes of earnings per share calculation to be 32.7 million and $1.9 million in quarterly dividends to be paid related to our convertible preferred stock. A full explanation of our share count calculation and associated pro forma EPS and adjusted EPS calculations can be found in the tables at the back of our earnings press release as well as our corporate structure and capitalization FAQ on our Investor website. Finally, before turning the call over for questions, I want to communicate that our Board of Directors on August 1 has authorized a new up to $50 million share repurchase. Our lender, MSD Capital has already amended our term loan financing agreement and is funding the capital to complete the repurchase. Pro forma, adjusting for this incremental $50 million in term loan debt, the company will have less than 3x net debt-to-adjusted EBITDA for the full-year 2023 based on the midpoint of our guided range. Thank you for your time today and for your support of Xponential. We will now open the call for questions.

Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. Our first question is from Randy Konik of Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Thank you for the detailed presentation; there was a lot of valuable information for us to analyze. One point that really stood out to me regarding the average unit volume was its impressive strength. You mentioned significant growth in visitation during the quarter. Could you provide some insights on the AUV strength both quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year? I would appreciate your thoughts on how much of that strength can be attributed to visitation growth, pricing changes, or a shift towards higher AUV concepts. I'd like to understand what factors are contributing to that overall figure.

Yes, I'll take that. So the system-wide sales growth that you saw from Q1 to Q2, again, as consistent with prior quarters, you're getting 95% of system-wide sales growth two different ways. One, from obviously opening up new studios. But two, it's volume; it's not price. So it's simply the 95%, 5% did that calculation, reaffirming Q2 is very similar, that is 95% volume. And in visitation, when you think about visitation in the summer months, you typically see more families take vacations. So visitation was flat roughly to Q1, but you still have the benefit of growing systemwide sales and members. So you'll see that kind of in the early part of Q3 as well. July is more of a summer travel month, while kids are out of school, parents tend to take more vacation. So visitation in the summer months is relatively flat. But when you look at historical patterns and seasonality, August and September, you see when kids come back to school, parents usually have more time and they kind of return back to their workout regimens. But visitation is still greater than Q1, but it is flat when you look at it from June to July.

Understood. And then on the additional country, I guess, France up to 19 countries now. Maybe give us some flavor on what's been developed so far? How that's been going? What maybe differences you're seeing from your MFAs in the different regions or countries? And then kind of how you're thinking about the pace of new country openings, let's say, over the next three to five years? That would be very helpful. Thank you.

Yes, I can take that one. We've got a lot of development out there in terms of potential. We mentioned that there are 50 countries that we've identified, times 10 brands, so 500 total MFAs that we can go out and develop and pursue. In terms of the recent MFAs, we've got Switzerland, Ireland as well as France. Those are existing franchise partners of our domestic studios that have decided to open abroad, which is really exciting to see. And they're in the early stages of going out and looking for leases and developing out those studios. So we should know soon how they perform, but we feel very confident in the performance of our franchise partners, given that they're strong performers domestically.

To address your question about the future of international openings compared to domestic ones, we anticipate they will follow a similar trend. Currently, our mix is approximately 90% domestic and 10% international, but our actual sales and openings are closer to a 75:25 ratio. Looking ahead, if we maintain a long-term target of over 500 units annually, we can expect about 25% of those to originate from international markets in the coming years.

Super helpful. Again, thanks for all the data guys. Appreciate it.

Thank you. The next question is from Joe Altobello of Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Thanks guys. Good afternoon. First question, I want to dig a little deeper into studio economics. What percentage of your studios that are open more than a year or longer than a year are profitable on a four-wall basis?

Yes, when discussing studio economics, you'll generally find that in the first 12 months, studios reach approximately $380,000, which is above the breakeven point, and we have shared this information before. Most of our studios hit this milestone in their first year. After that, they usually see a growth rate in the mid- to high single-digits; we experienced an average of 8% prior to COVID. This model indicates that studios achieve around $380,000 in their first year, with an annual growth rate of about 8% thereafter.

Okay. Helpful. And then maybe a second question. You mentioned that you do expect to get transition studios down to zero at some point. What time frame are you thinking about?

Yes. Well, Joe, as we said, the studios or the actual unit count of the studios are down about half from what they were in Q1 and recently in Q2. So the remaining balance in the portfolio doesn't lose any material money. So we've never looked at the unit count of studios as an indication of franchisee health, the unit number itself. It's always what are the NOLs and what is the headwind to SG&A that we're concerned with. We're not concerned with the actual number. And so the stores that we have now, the 30-plus stores that are kind of our four-wall brick-and-mortar stores don't lose a lot of money for us. And so there's not a lot of pressure to offload those right away, but we will be doing that in balance and making sure that the winners and the losers that are left in that portfolio are giving us the least amount of headwind, and that's what we're focused on, right, is SG&A and the NOLs. So in other words, we don't want to sell the winners to be left with all the losers, and that's been the strategy from the beginning. And so if I had to throw a guess out there, we're targeting by the end of the year or kind of Q1 of next year. But we want to do good deals that are accretive to the company. Some of these stores, we've bought for a lot less than what they're actually worth. And so we'll be going out making sure that we do the best deals possible for the company. But given that there's not a lot of leakage, we're not trying to necessarily offload them real quickly. And then the nine LA Fitness's we're operating, eight of which are Club Pilates and one of which is a StretchLab. We'll continue to probably operate those a little bit longer as we're just proving out that concept because franchisees want to see that the concept works. We do have several franchisees that are operating LA Fitness's and doing very well with them, but we want to be operating them here locally in Southern California.

Okay, thanks guys.

Thank you. The next question is from Alex Perry of Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Hi, thanks for taking my questions here. I guess just first to follow-up on some of the earlier questions. Can you talk about sort of franchisee profitability and cash-on-cash returns sort of by concept versus pre-COVID? Is it fair to say sort of like the clubs that have the concepts with the most tenure like Club Pilates have better cash-on-cash returns and maybe like a Row House or some of the more nascent concepts? Just any more color you can give us on sort of the economics by concept would be really helpful. Thanks.

Yes, Alex. We will explore that in more detail during the Investor Day. We considered whether this was the appropriate setting to delve into the specifics. The amount of data is too extensive for a brief five-minute Q&A. We've mentioned before that certain levels of Average Unit Volumes (AUVs) yield cash-on-cash returns of 40%. Many of our brands are exceeding this from an AUV standpoint, and we're continually making progress. The established brands, as discussed in the call, are averaging over $575,000 in AUV, resulting in considerably higher cash-on-cash returns than our previously mentioned ad design model. Brands that are still growing, like BFT and Rumble, are already launching with AUVs exceeding $500,000 in their first year, which suggests even better cash returns there. We also have brands like STRIDE, Row House, and AKT that are in the early stage. They have different business models, and I explained during the call how those studios can maintain similar profit margins at lower AUVs by shifting to an owner-operator model instead of a semi-absentee one. We will share much more detail during the Investor Day to give you a clearer view at the brand level and how they are performing. So, stay tuned for that, as we are eager to discuss it in about a month.

Perfect. And then I guess, just my follow-up question is a two-parter. How much visibility is there in the unit growth outlook for this year? Is that sort of based on leases that have already been signed? So you have a high degree of confidence there? And then maybe one more for you, John. Just the $7.2 million add-back of write-down of brand assets, can you just give us a little more color what that is? That would be really helpful. Thanks.

Yes, I'll begin with the $7.2 million. In the second quarter, the original Rumble founder studios exited following our purchase agreement. We took ownership of those studios, particularly in major markets, and we plan to refranchise them over time. The $7.2 million reflects this situation. When we acquired the brand, the intangible assets were associated with the franchise agreements, which were still outstanding. Since we now own the studios, those franchise agreements are no longer outstanding, meaning they do not remain on our balance sheet from an accounting perspective. And could you please remind me what the first question was?

Just the visibility into the growth outlook for this year?

Yes, we have had a very strong performance. Lease signings are the best early indicator of how many studios we will have open. We have consistently signed lease agreements since the start of this year and knew the number going into Q3 and Q4. From our viewpoint, the visibility and expected openings are very robust. Generally, we have a solid six to nine months of forward-looking insight, allowing us to predict not only Q3 and Q4 but also having a good sense of Q1 next year. Our guidance on city openings remains unchanged since the beginning of the year. While we have adjusted our guidance on revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and systemwide sales upward due to our strong performance in Q1 and Q2, we have not altered our studio projections, as our visibility remains solid. The process is quite structured: once a franchise agreement is signed, the acquisition of a lease follows, leading to a six to eight-month build-out period for a new studio. Consequently, we are always looking ahead a couple of quarters. Once we sign a lease, we can anticipate when the studio will open in about two quarters. Thus, I feel very optimistic about the guidance we provided for new studio openings this year.

Perfect. That's really helpful. Best of luck going forward.

Thank you.

Thank you. The next question is from Brian Harbour of Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Yes, thanks. Good afternoon. John, could you just comment on SG&A expense given where you're running year-to-date and then any impact of the kind of the transition studio strategy?

Yes, that's a great question. SG&A in Q2 was higher compared to Q1 due to the number of transition studios we had. Looking ahead to Q3 and Q4, as we implement our new strategy, we anticipate a decrease in SG&A costs over time since we will not have the associated operating costs of rent and labor. You can expect SG&A to decline steadily. In the second half of the year, this will become evident. In Q2, we were close to the high 50% range for SG&A as a percentage of total revenue. As we reduce these studios, I expect SG&A to fall below 30%. The speed of this decline depends on how quickly we ramp down the studios. Our target, as Anthony mentioned, is to have them all completed by the end of the year, but you should see SG&A approaching the low 30% range as we refranchise these studios.

Okay. Yes, that makes sense. With that in mind, will you take a more active role in facilitating deals between franchisees going forward? Do you anticipate there may be occasional closures if a suitable buyer cannot be found? How might we see the impact of this?

Yes. As mentioned in the earnings script, we will be approaching studio management differently. If we believe a studio can be refranchised or turned around in a reasonable timeframe, we will allocate resources and time to achieve that. However, in cases where studios are no longer viable, such as those in poorly located grocery anchors or centers with low foot traffic, it may be in the franchisee's best interest to relocate to a more favorable location. In instances where a studio cannot be sustained, we will begin to consider closures as an option. In the short term, our focus will be on winding down the studios on our end, while we collaborate with franchisees to determine the best path forward for their operations. We will provide the necessary tools and resources from a sales perspective to ensure they adhere to the model and consider relocations if the issue pertains to the location, addressing each studio on a case-by-case basis.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you. The next question is from Jonathan Komp of Baird. Please go ahead.

Yes, hi, thank you. Good afternoon everyone. I want to just ask about the same-store sales trend that you're seeing. And in first quarter, you were at 20%, second quarter at 15%, strong numbers, but obviously, different ways you could interpret the trend and trajectory. So can you give any more insight in terms of the trend that you're seeing for same-store sales? And then any color what we should expect going into the back half?

Yes. In the first quarter, we saw a 20% increase, followed by a 15% increase in the second quarter. System-wide sales continue to grow, and I expect same-store sales to normalize over time. As I've mentioned in previous calls, I believe that in 2023, we will still see significant growth as studios mature and we continue to open new ones, resulting in elevated same-store sales in the upcoming quarters. My long-term expectation for studio performance remains in the mid- to high single digits. However, for 2023, I anticipate same-store sales to be in the mid-teens, around 15% to 16%, particularly in the second half of the year. Typically, Q3 is a strong quarter, showing solid growth. I expect both Q3 and Q4 to remain elevated, driven by seasonal factors like kids returning to school and parents resuming workouts after vacations. Additionally, our Black Friday holiday promotions in Q4 usually yield strong sales. For the full year, I foresee same-store sales in the 16% range. Looking ahead to 2024, as we continue to monitor and evaluate how studios are performing, we'll gain clearer insights. However, my long-term outlook remains at mid- to high single-digit growth as we look beyond 2023.

Got it, that's helpful information. I want to follow up on the Board's decision to start the buyback program while also taking on additional debt. Can you share any thoughts on the process and how the Board weighed the options between using internally generated cash and simplifying the capital structure? I know you have previously bought back some preferred shares or convertible debt, so any additional insights on the Board's reasoning would be appreciated.

We finished the quarter with $40 million in cash and announced a $50 million repurchase. Our long-term goal has always been to establish a more efficient capital structure through securitization. We have discussed repurchasing the preferred shares, whether they are Class A or Class B. The main objective is to minimize the number of shares outstanding to avoid dilution. We viewed the available debt as a beneficial option. We partnered with MSD, who was willing to provide the capital for the share repurchase. They recognize the stock is undervalued, which facilitated access to cash. Ideally, we would have preferred to repurchase the shares under a securitized model, but due to timing and share price considerations, we opted for short-term debt. We planned to refinance it anyway. This approach allows us to take advantage of current lower prices. Additionally, our leverage is low, just over 2x, so even with the $50 million borrowing, we're still under roughly 3x leverage, making this decision easier for us.

Got it, I appreciate the color. Thanks again.

Thank you. The next question is from Ryan Meyers of Lake Street Capital. Please go ahead.

Hey guys, thanks for taking my questions. First one for me. Just wondering if you can comment on if you've seen any changes in the willingness of potential franchisees to open up more studios?

I have some data regarding the number of licenses we sold. In Q2, about a third of the licenses sold came from existing franchisees. Additionally, when looking at the new studios opened in Q2, 50% were launched by existing franchisees. We're seeing new franchisees continue to open studios and purchase licenses. Most of our existing franchisees typically buy around three licenses and are actively opening them. As I mentioned, half of the studios opened in the quarter were from existing franchisees, and a third of the licenses sold this quarter were also from them. They are coming back to purchase more.

Got it. That's helpful color. And then can you maybe talk about how multiunit franchisees perform relative to single franchisees? Is there any differences there? Just kind of as a follow-up to my last question.

Yes. Typically, what you see is franchisees that own multiple locations benefit from economies of scale, right? So there's the ability from a marketing perspective to market across all three of those versus just one specifically. So there's actually benefits to the franchisee operating more even from a General Manager perspective; you could manage that across three. So you get the benefit of sharing labor resources, coverage in case an instructor is called out. So there's actually a lot of benefits for our operating multiple. Not to mention if you open one, you typically will open the second one better and the third one better than that because you get the benefit of learning from the first one to the second one to the third one. So you typically see franchisees open their second one, they actually perform better out of the gate because they have all these lessons that they've learned from actually operating the first one.

Got it, that makes sense. Thanks for taking my questions.

Thank you very much. The next question is from John Heinbockel of Guggenheim. Please go ahead.

Hey, this is Julio Marquez filling in for John Heinbockel. Could you discuss the improved costs in product and franchise revenue? How might the profitability of product and equipment enhance at scale? Are there any strategies we can implement? Also, I'd like to know your thoughts on the weekly KPIs and any indications of changes in member behavior. Thank you.

In terms of retail equipment margins, after COVID, we collaborated with our equipment manufacturers to ensure we had enough equipment packages available despite supply chain challenges. Instead of negotiating price increases, we made firmer volume commitments to manage those price adjustments. As a result, we have managed to stabilize prices across our equipment, maintaining approximately a 30% margin. For retail, we utilize a combination of branded and nonbranded vendors. Franchisees can order directly from branded vendors like Allo, and we receive rebates based on their purchase volumes, which helps facilitate that relationship. We have a warehouse in Tustin, California, where we stock both branded and unbranded items that franchisees can purchase at lower costs than if they sourced directly from some vendors, thanks to our pre-negotiated agreements. Consequently, franchisees can then sell this wholesale inventory at retail prices to earn a margin. We generally advise targeting retail margins closer to 40% to 50%, provided they follow our recommendations. Overall, our combined equipment and retail margin remains at 30%, and I believe it will stay stable moving forward. The margins are primarily aimed at managing the supply chain, which involves vendor negotiations, warehouse costs, staffing for packing and shipping, and inbound freight from our suppliers. Thus, I anticipate that margins will be consistent in the future.

Awesome. Thanks. And just very quickly on the weekly KPIs. Any changes that you're seeing?

Yes. Following up on that now. As I mentioned, visitation is, I would say, seasonally flat due to the summer months. We haven't seen any increases in cancellations. You typically see in the month of July more freezes on your memberships because people are out of town. So rather than getting charged their monthly membership, they could avoid paying it while they're on vacation. You typically see August and September, that ramps back up. Year-on-year, when you look at July of 2023 versus July of 2022, our freezers are actually less than they were in the prior year. So it does show that members are still staying somewhat engaged more so than they were last year in the same month of July, but it is more of a seasonal impact, but nothing indicates any sort of shift or change in our member behavior. It's just more seasonal. So August and September, we'll be able to have a better indication of how people have come back and returned to the studios. But classes, system-wide sales, and same-store sales continue to show really strong momentum into Q3.

Awesome, thank you.

Thank you. The next question is from Warren Cheng of Evercore. Please go ahead.

Hey, good evening, John and Anthony. I was wondering what kind of cost inflation franchisees are seeing in their cost to rebuild. So one of your publicly traded competitors talked about some pretty significant increases in the cost of rebuild. Obviously, you reiterated your studio opening numbers. But I'm just curious what level your franchisees are seeing as they build new stores compared to year?

Yes. In percentage terms, the situation is similar across the board. However, in actual dollar amounts, the impact for us is not substantial. This is mainly because our studios are 1,500 square feet, unlike some competitors that are much larger, like 15,000 or 25,000 or even 50,000 square feet or more. Their larger spaces require numerous showers, bathrooms, and more utilities in general, resulting in additional engineering and planning costs. While the percentage of costs may be consistent, our build-outs are relatively inexpensive due to our size and scale. Even for the most complex setups, you're typically working with just two or three walls, creating a box within a box. For example, in a StretchLab, which is one of our new openings this year, the only necessary electrical work is for a front computer and an iPad displaying our maps program. This translates to minimal wiring requirements and only one or two restrooms, depending on the studio size. Consequently, the overall dollar impact is lower.

That makes sense, thanks Anthony. My follow-up question was just on Randy's question earlier on the higher visitation. How are members, these new members finding your studios? You've developed a lot of new sources of generation recently. I'm just curious if there's sort of ones that are most fruitful for driving visitation, driving the numbers?

Yes, great question. We're leveraging all of our B2B partners, of course, constantly improving SEO and digital marketing efforts, but really looking at the overall blended CAC and making sure that we've got grassroots initiatives that are coupled with digital marketing initiatives that are coupled with our B2B partnerships. So all of that is now starting to really tick and push leads into the studios. Of course, our XPASS and XPLUS also are net new leads bringing into that as well and then recycling those leads through those channels to kind of bring them back to life so that they're excited to come back into our studios again.

Thank you. Good luck.

Thank you. The next question is from Jeff Van Sinderen of B. Riley Securities. Please go ahead.

Hi, everyone. Just to clarify regarding the company-owned studio count decline from Q1 to Q2. All of those studios were sold, correct?

It remained unchanged from Q1 to Q2, with approximately 85 studios at the end of Q1 and the same number in Q2. The studios mentioned in the earnings release were the ones we have already sold. About half of those have been transferred to a new operator. We are actively working on our strategy to divest and refranchise the studios we own.

But to be more detailed, no they weren't closed, they were sold to existing franchisees.

Okay. Okay. I just want to clarify that. Thank you. And then I know this is maybe something you want to save till the Analyst Day, but just want to ask anyway regarding your individual brands. Can we say that all of your brands are comping positive with increasing AUV? And then I guess any insight you could share around retention, member add metrics around any of the individual brands that were maybe stand up favorably or not as favorably?

Yes. In Q2, BFT as a brand actually experienced a negative comparison, but that's due to the limited number of studios. One of the original studios we acquired in Santa Monica generates over $1 million in average unit volume. As we open more younger brands or studios that contribute to the comparison, the averages will stabilize. When you exclude that, eight out of the nine remaining brands reported positive same-store sales for the quarter, while one brand had a slight decline of about 2%. That brand is relatively small and has not yet scaled up significantly, so it's essentially just noise.

Okay. Well, that's helpful. Sounds pretty healthy to me. Thanks for taking the questions.

Thank you. The next question is from George Kelly of ROTH Capital Partners. Please go ahead.

Hello everyone. Thank you for taking my questions. First, John, in your prepared remarks, you mentioned that many of your studios are owner-operated. I'm curious if you have an estimate of the total number of studios and what percentage of them operate in that manner. Alternatively, if that's too detailed, which brands have the highest concentration of owner-operated studios?

Yes. To provide some insight, this is more relevant to the Pure Barre brand prior to the acquisition. As I noted, most of the sales in Xpo's involve franchisees with a ratio of three, which allows them to benefit from economies of scale by operating multiple locations. When we first acquired Pure Barre, most existing franchisees were operating one studio each. The approach seems to have been predominantly owner-operator. So, the franchise count that fits this description largely pertains to Pure Barre. However, since the Xpo acquisition, the average unit volumes (AUVs) for Pure Barre franchisees who opened after the acquisition are significantly higher and align more closely with the overall average at Xpo. This indicates a contrast between franchisees running their studios as personal businesses versus those aiming to create a mini-enterprise by managing two to three units for greater profit. Thus, there is a distinct difference in their benefit models and strategies.

Okay, excellent. My second question is about XPASS. I believe you mentioned that there are 60,000 cumulative bookings through XPASS. Can you confirm that? Also, what are your plans to accelerate that business going into 2024? Are you considering increasing marketing spending or other initiatives to support it? That's all I have. Thank you.

You did hear that correctly. So we've had 60,000 bookings to date, and we'll actually have more to talk about and delve into at the Analyst Day coming up in September. We've got some new initiatives there with XPASS.

Okay, understood. Thanks.

Thank you. Our next question is from Korinne Wolfmeyer of Piper Sandler. Please go ahead.

Hey, good afternoon team. Thanks for taking the question. Congrats on the quarter. So just quickly, just one for me. I wanted to touch a little bit on the CAC, and maybe this is more of an Investor Day question as well. But can you just talk about like is there a way to quantify the level of kind of like that negative CAC you are getting from your B2B partnerships? Obviously, that other category has been growing nicely, and I see some of that is baked into that. And then as you think about the longer-term trajectory of these B2B partnerships and that negative CAC you're generating, how are you thinking about the longer-term opportunity and how big that really can get over time? Thanks.

Yes, it's really going to depend on each of the partnerships and the type of lead flow that they are bringing in. We've already got partnerships like ClassPass, which brings in lead flow and then some of our other B2Bs that will have new leads coming into the system are kicking off. To put it into perspective, we did see that year-over-year. There was a decline in CAC and CPL. So from an annual standpoint, we're seeing things moving in the right direction, specifically given that our B2B partnership and our strategic business division really just launched about a year or so ago. So now those deals are done, they're launching, and we're starting to see the benefit of that across the system.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. And I would like to turn the floor back over to Anthony Geisler for closing comments.

Thanks again for joining today's earnings call and for your support. As we alluded to earlier, we'll be hosting an Analyst and Investor Day on Wednesday, September 6 at the New York Stock Exchange. At the event, we plan to give the investment community an in-depth look at our business and drill down further on the company's long-term strategic initiatives and growth opportunities. We hope to see many of you there and for those unable to attend in person, a live video webcast will be available on our Investor Relations website. In closing, we remain very bullish on the direction Xponential Fitness is heading and look forward to continuing to support our franchisees, partners, and customers every step of the journey. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of this conference, and you may now disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.