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Text: Mr. Brett McGill, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Mr. Mike McLamb, Chief Financial Officer of the company.
These risks include, but are not limited to, the impact of seasonality and weather, general economic conditions and the level of consumer spending, the company's ability to capitalize on opportunities or grow its market share and numerous other factors identified in our Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
On the call, I will share highlights from our second quarter as well as provide an update on the continuing enthusiasm for boating.
I will also touch on our positioning into the important June quarter and discuss the meaningful opportunities for MarineMax to create growth and long-term shareholder value in 2021 and beyond.
First, I want to share how proud I am of our team's ability to successfully navigate through this pandemic and produce consistent record results quarter after quarter.
From the onset of the pandemic, we effectively pivoted to capitalize on the ongoing changes in consumer behavior resulting in sustained record results.
It's important to note that we achieved these results while prioritizing the health and well-being of our team, their families and our customers as well as the welfare of our local economy.
We anticipated more than a year ago that boating would be one of the beneficiaries of a changed world.
We continue to see that development play out as evidenced by the 45% same-store sales growth and earnings per share increasing more than sevenfold in the March quarter.
Boating continues to be a great way to escape the stresses of everyday life and strengthen the bonds between family and friends.
The recent demand for boating has created a foundational layer of new customers.
This is driving replacement and upgrade cycle that is supported by new technology and product upgrades, providing us with confidence that growth is going to be sustained well into the future.
These new customers are embracing the boating lifestyle and existing and new customers continue to upgrade to larger and newer boats while also taking advantage of our multiple product and service offerings.
I'm honored to be able to lead such an outstanding, passionate and devoted team, and I'm excited about the long-term growth opportunities ahead of us.
Let me underscore a few highlights from our March quarter.
The record sales and earnings growth we delivered were driven by robust 45% same-store sales growth, which is on top of 1% same-store sales growth a year ago.
It's important to note that our new unit growth was the primary driver, which provides the foundation for future sales.
Our consolidated margins hit a March quarter record of 30% driven by increasing unit margins and the expansion of our higher-margin businesses, which I'll touch on shortly.
Our significant geographic and product diversification and the effective utilization of our digital platform have enabled and driven our growth over the past several years.
Additionally, the marine industry continues to experience a significant acceleration in new customers.
Given our scale and global position, we continue to benefit from this resurgence and expect these new voters to support future growth in the coming years.
To this point, based on available industry data, we believe we gained market share.
Part of our success is due to the strength of our relationships with our manufacturers and the great job they are doing to continue delivering product to us during these high demand period.
From a six-month perspective, same-store sales growth was up 33% on top of 12% a year ago.
We had meaningful improvement across all brands, categories and geographic regions and continue to leverage our investments in technology, which is driving leads that are being converted into sales and enhanced profitability.
Profitability-wise, the gross margin strength we produced last quarter continued into the March quarter, increasing 450 basis points to 30%.
We realized gains in new and used product margins as well as incremental gains in our higher-margin businesses.
Additionally, our last three acquisitions are all contributing to the margin expansion.
Fraser Northop & Johnson, our global superyacht services company, contributed to the growth of our brokerage revenue; while SkipperBud's, with its greater mix of service and storage revenue, helped to drive the overall margin expansion.
Additional incremental improvements in finance and insurance as well as service and parts also contributed.
Regarding SkipperBud's, we remain very excited about the significant synergies associated with the acquisition, including the sharing of best practices, brands and resources to drive even greater growth in the years to come.
In the quarter, the margin expansion and generally good expense control led to operating leverage of 21% and the record earnings and earnings per share of $1.69.
Our mission remains being laser-focused on creating an exceptional experience for our customers.
We continue to invest in technology, using our flexible model to service our customers in any way they prefer digitally or in our stores.
Our model has created a seamless experience for our customers, which continues to drive market share gains.
Now, let me touch on our positioning and share the attributes of the business model we believe will drive ongoing growth in and beyond the important June quarter.
We have kicked off this important boating season with strong visibility and are well positioned and prepared to serve our customers.
The sheer size of our backlog provides us with added confidence that we should outperform for the second half of 2021 and into fiscal 2022.
While this can be impacted from a timing perspective and by our ability to deliver product, we do see demand remaining very strong across the industry.
There is also no question that our scale is a competitive advantage as we leverage our deep manufacturing relationships and nationwide shared inventory to support the growing demand.
Our strategy to create long-term shareholder value remains focused on driving top line growth, operating leverage, disciplined capital management and building on our strong culture.
We continue to effectively execute on our multifaceted growth strategy, supported by our global market presence, premium brands, strategic location, exceptional customer service and ongoing investments in technology.
We remain committed to driving operating leverage in our model and generating significant cash flow growth.
We believe the combination of our approach, business model and strong visibility into the balance of the year and into fiscal 2022 will support sustained growth as we move ahead.
And with that update, I'll ask Mike to provide more detailed comments on the quarter.
For the quarter, revenue grew 70% to over $523 million due largely to same-store sales growth of 45%.
This exceptional growth was driven by strong comparable new unit growth of 40% and a mix to larger boats.
Additionally, our recent acquisitions of Northrop & Johnson and SkipperBud's also performed well in the quarter.
Our gross profit dollars increased over $78 million while our gross margin rose 450 basis points to 30%.
Our record gross margin was due to a handful of factors.
Among these are improving margins on new and used boat sales due to increased demand; impressive service and storage performance at SkipperBud's, which has a long track record of performance in these categories; Growth in our higher-margin finance, insurance and brokerage businesses, including our global superyacht services organizations of Northrop & Johnson and Fraser Yachts.
We would note that the superyacht charter business has remained adversely impacted by travel bans around the globe.
Hopefully, with the vaccine rollouts, we will see improvements in the near future.
Nonetheless, we are pleased with the current contributions from these businesses.
Regarding SG&A, the majority of the increase was once again due to rising sales and the related commissions combined with the two acquisitions we recently completed.
Interest expense improved in the quarter due to lower interest rates and a reduction in short-term borrowings given the cash we have generated.
Our operating leverage in the quarter was 21%, which drove very strong earnings growth, setting another quarterly record with pre-tax earnings of about $52 million.
Our record March quarter saw both net income and earnings per share rise more than seven-fold, generating $1.69 in earnings per share versus $0.23 a year ago.
For the first six months of the year, our revenue exceeds $934 million.
Gross margins are 30%.
Our operating leverage is around 20%.
Our earnings per share is at $2.73 and our EBITDA is over $92 million, an impressive start to the year.
Moving on to our balance sheet.
We continue to build cash with about $143 million at quarter end versus $64 million a year ago.
As discussed previously, given the attractive interest rate environment, we explored and did secure mortgages on a portion of our sizable real estate portfolio.
Besides some slight rate arbitrage, it further positions us to capitalize on opportunities as they develop.
Our inventory at quarter end was $303 million.
Excluding SkipperBud's, our inventory is near historic levels on a relative basis.
However, I believe it is important to reiterate again this quarter how well our team has pivoted to selling in a lean inventory environment as proven by the very strong unit-driven same-store sales growth this quarter despite historically low levels of inventory.
It also does speak to the success of our shared inventory strategy and the strength of our various manufacturing partners.
Looking at our liabilities, short-term borrowings decreased sharply due to lower inventory and related financing as well as an increase in cash generation.
Customer deposits, while not the best predictor of near-term sales because they can be lumpy due to the size of deposits and whether a trade is involved or not, rose over 200% due to the demand we are seeing and a contribution from Skipper's.
Our current ratio stands at 2.14, and our total liabilities to tangible net worth ratio is 1.05.
Both of these are very impressive balance sheet metrics.
Our tangible net worth was $381 million.
Our balance sheet has always been a formidable strategic advantage, and today more than ever, it can provide the capital for expansion as opportunities arise.
The March quarter exceeded expectations and industry trends remain strong.
Industry estimates for 2021 retail units are now expected to rise from the mid-single digits to the high single digits.
Since we usually outperform the industry and grow our AUP on an annual basis, We now expect our annual same-store sales growth to be in the high teens.
This is up from the high single digits we guided to in the December quarter and up from the mid- to high single digits we guided to earlier in the year.
Given the strength in earnings in March, our guidance also assumes operating leverage improvement above our previous guidance.
Accordingly, we are raising our earnings per share guidance to the range of $5.50 to $5.65 for 2021 from $4 to $4.20 that we guided to after the December quarter.
In summary, we are expecting our pre-tax earnings to rise in the second half of the year, which results in the earnings per share guidance range despite increases in both shares outstanding and our effective tax rate.
Our guidance excludes the impact from any potential acquisitions that we may complete.
As we progress through the year, we will provide updates as needed to our guidance.
Our guidance uses a share count of about 23 million shares versus a little over 22 million last year, and an effective tax rate of 25% versus 23.5% last year.
Looking at the remainder of 2021, the March quarter was our easiest comparison with our toughest comparisons in the more meaningful summer quarters of June and September.
Turning to current trends.
April will close with strong positive same-store sales growth and our backlog is at record levels, providing visibility into next fiscal year.
As we have said, industry trends remained strong, and we are generally outperforming these elevated levels.
We continue to feel good as we enter the important selling seasons with solid visibility.
As Brett discussed, the sheer size of our backlog provides us with added confidence that we should outperform for the back half of 2021 and into fiscal 2022.
Our team's performance for the first six months of fiscal 2021 continues to show excellent execution, even on top of very impressive same-store sales a year ago.
We remain focused on creating exceptional customer experiences through our teams, services, products and technology.
Our differentiated customer-centric approach continues to ensure MarineMax will meet the needs of the many new customers joining the boating lifestyle, and we will continue to see significant opportunity in our brand expansion and higher-margin businesses.
We are active with acquisition and investment opportunities that should strengthen our overall business while staying focused on our long-term strategy.
Looking ahead, we remain focused on building our strong team culture, focusing on executing our growth strategy and creating long-term shareholder value.

user
raises fy earnings per share view to $5.50 to $5.65.
revenue increased 70%, or over $214 million, to $523.1 million for quarter ended march 31, 2021 from $308.5 million in comparable period last year.
qtrly same-store sales grew over 45% on top of a 1% increase in comparable quarter last year.
qtrly earnings per share $1.69.

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