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Text: As required by applicable SEC rules, we provide reconciliations of any such non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures on our website.
It is now my pleasure to hand the call over to our CEO, David Hult.
Though our new car inventory levels continue to be challenged due to the chip shortage, our team delivered strong results and enabled us to deliver an impressive gross margin of 20%, an all-time record and an expansion of 180 basis points versus the third quarter last year.
These results demonstrate the resilient strength of the franchise model with its full suite of services through the car ownership journey from sales to service contributing to sustained profitability.
We've also stayed disciplined in managing expenses, resulting in adjusted SG&A as a percentage of gross profit of 55.3%, a 580 basis point improvement versus prior year.
Our total revenue for the quarter was up 30% year-over-year, and total gross profit was up 43%.
Due to this record performance and strong cash flow, our balance sheet remains strong.
Our net leverage ratio ended this quarter at 1.2 times.
A quick update on our five-year strategic plan.
Same store revenue growth, assuming 2020 annualized revenue for Park Place, is up 10% and is exceeding expectations.
Regarding Clicklane, our unit sales are pacing ahead of our projection for year one.
And we've made great strides this quarter on our acquisition pillar.
As announced, we expect to close on the transformative acquisition of the Larry H. Miller Dealerships and Total Care Auto in the fourth quarter.
With their strong name and brand mix in the right states and our aligned cultures, we look forward to jointly deploying our capabilities and growing together.
In addition, we closed two acquisitions recently.
Greeley Subaru in the Denver market and Kahlo Chrysler Jeep Dodge in Indianapolis and are on schedule to close Arapahoe Hyundai Genesis in the Denver market today.
With another acquisition still under contract and expected to close in the fourth quarter as well, in total, in 2021, we anticipate that we will close on $6.6 billion of annualized revenue from acquisitions.
With these results, we maintain full confidence in the execution of our growth strategy, and we will update our five-year plan during our Q1 earnings call in 2022.
He brings his vast knowledge of the auto retail business, along with his broad experience in finance.
We worked together at Group one for many years, and I'm excited to be working with him again.
And finally, I would like to address all of my teammates at Asbury.
Our ability to add quality stores, who like us care about serving our guests and being highly engaged in our communities could not have happened without you.
You all have given us the ability to thoughtfully grow our core business, because you align behind our vision and you are executing each and every day.
People make the difference in any organization and you are making us the best place to work, do business and grow your careers.
I will now hand the call over to Dan to discuss our operating performance.
My remarks will pertain to our same store performance compared to the third quarter of 2020, unless stated otherwise.
Looking at new vehicles.
Based on current market conditions, we continue to be focused on being opportunistic with our inventory and improving grosses to maximize profits.
Our new average gross profit per vehicle was $4,808 up $2,369 or 97% from the prior year period.
All segment margins were up significantly from the prior year period.
At the end of September, our total new vehicle inventory was $121.9 million, and our day supply was at 12 days, down 35 days from the prior year.
With still no clear understanding of when production will return to a normal level, we expect the day supply to remain low throughout the remainder of the year and into 2022.
Turning to used vehicles.
Our used retail volume increased 27%, while gross margin was 8.4%, representing an average gross profit per vehicle of $2,402.
As a result of our performance, our gross profit was up 45%.
Our used vehicle inventory ended the quarter at $236.4 million, which represents a 28-day supply, down seven days from the prior year.
Our used to new ratio for the quarter was 113%.
Our strong, consistent and sustainable growth in F&I delivered an increase of $155 to $1,955 per vehicle retail from the prior quarter.
In the third quarter, our front-end yield per vehicle increased $1,400 per vehicle to an all-time record of $5,487.
Turning to parts and service.
Our parts and service revenue increased 10% in the quarter.
Though warranty revenue dropped 18%, our customer paid revenue continues its healthy recovery, posting a 13% growth.
Overall, our total fixed gross profit increased 10%, while total fixed margin was 60.9%.
And now I would like to provide an update on our omnichannel initiatives.
Our digital marketing team continues to do an outstanding job generating traffic to our websites.
Our commitment years ago to Google organic search continues to drive efficiencies in times where inventory is shrinking, allowing us to increase traffic without spending media dollars.
In Q3, we had over 6.3 million unique visitors, a 12% increase versus Q3 2020.
Another initiative is to increase online service appointments.
We achieved over 143,000 online service appointments, an all-time record and a 12% increase versus Q3 2020.
This component positively impacts service retention and increases the dollars per repair order.
Now with two full quarters of Clicklane at all stores under our belt, we would like to share some performance metrics.
We sold 6,000 vehicles through Clicklane in Q3, of which 47% of them were new vehicles and 53% used.
93% of our transactions this quarter were with customers that were new to Asbury's dealership network.
Average transaction time continues to be consistent with previous quarter, eight minutes for cash deals and 14 minutes for finance deals.
Total front-end yield of $5,400.
Average credit score is higher than the average credit score at our stores.
Total front-end yield of $4,396 on trades taken through Clicklane.
We continue to expect annualized volume through Clicklane of approximately 30,000 vehicles by year-end.
As expected, Clicklane customers are converting at greater rates than traditional Internet leads.
We remain quite excited about the performance of Clicklane thus far as it is tracking ahead of its target.
All of you have built tremendous organizations that properly align with our North Star of being the most guest-centric automotive retailer.
Our future is bright, and I look forward to meeting all of you.
Your depth of knowledge in the automotive business is already making a significant impact on our company.
I am enjoying working with you and look forward to growing Asbury together.
I will now hand the call over to Michael to discuss our financial performance.
I'm excited to be part of the Asbury team and have the opportunity to work with David again.
I look forward to working with the team on our growth journey.
I would like to provide some financial highlights, which marked another record quarter for our company.
Overall, compared to the third quarter of last year, our actions to manage gross profit and control expenses resulted in a third quarter adjusted operating margin of 8.5%, an increase of 109 basis points above the same period last year and an all-time record.
Adjusted operating income increased 69% to $204.5 million, a third quarter record.
And adjusted net income increased 81% to $143.6 million, another third quarter record.
Net income for the third quarter 2021 was adjusted for acquisition expenses of $3.5 million or $0.13 per diluted share and a gain on dealership divestitures of $8 million or $0.31 per diluted share.
Net income for the third quarter of 2020 was adjusted for a gain on dealership divestiture of $24.7 million or $0.96 per diluted share, acquisition costs of $1.3 million or $0.05 per diluted share and $700,000 or $0.03 per diluted share for a real estate-related charge.
Our effective tax rate was 23.7% for the third quarter of 2021 compared to 24.8% in 2020.
Floor plan interest expense for the quarter decreased by $1.5 million over the prior year, driven by lower inventory levels.
With respect to capital deployed this quarter, we acquired a Subaru store in Colorado, utilizing approximately $16 million of our cash on the balance sheet.
In addition, we spent approximately $15 million on capital expenditures, and we repaid approximately $9 million of debt.
Also as part of our strategy to optimize our portfolio, we divested of our BMW store in Charlottesville, resulting in proceeds of $18 million, net of its mortgage payoff.
As a result of our operational performance, our balance sheet is quite healthy as we ended the quarter with approximately $780 million of liquidity comprised of cash, floor plan offset accounts and availability on both our used line and revolving credit facility.
Also, at the end of the quarter, our net leverage ratio stood at 1.2 times, well below our targeted net leverage of three.
With our announced acquisitions under contract, we are working toward financing the exciting growth at Asbury.
As announced in late September, we plan to raise the combined -- a combination of permanent debt and equity financing prior to the closing of Larry H. Miller acquisition.
We are working with our supportive lender group to upsize our credit facility and syndicate the real estate mortgage financing with plans to close both ahead of our acquisition of Larry H. Miller Dealerships later this year.
Although the transaction is initially expected to take our net leverage above our targeted range of three times, we believe that we can deleverage approximately three times during 2023, given the highly accretive nature of the deal combined with strong free cash flow generation.
As we look forward to the remainder of 2021, we anticipate similar conditions to what we have seen this quarter.
New vehicle inventory supplies will likely remain low and unpredictable into the next year.
I look forward to working with you and continue to build on the strong cultures that you are bringing to Asbury.

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asbury automotive group - reported total revenue for third quarter of $2.4 billion, up 30% from prior year period.
qtrly total revenue on a same-store basis was up 16% from the prior year period.
qtrly same-store used vehicle retail revenue increased 47%.

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