BRP Inc. (NASDAQ:DOOO) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Cameron Doerksen: Okay. No, that’s very helpful. Thanks very much.

José Boisjoli: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. Next question will be from Derek Dley at Canaccord. Please go ahead.

Derek Dley: On the cost side, obviously, you had some really strong cost control this quarter. Can you just give us the idea…

José Boisjoli: Derek, could you reask your question? We missed the beginning at least here.

Derek Dley: Yes. Sure. Sorry. Just wondering on the cost side, you guys obviously had some strong cost control this quarter. And historically, we used to think about R&D as a percentage of revenue in the 4% range, and it’s been tracking a bit below that over the last three quarters. Should we expect a change in that algorithm going forward?

Sébastien Martel: Well, obviously, we’ve had very strong growth in revenues this quarter. And so that’s why when you look at overall OpEx, they are just a little shy of 10% of revenues for the quarter. R&D trending at 3%, some of it is timing related. Some projects were pushed into Q4. But our expectation is that we’ll continue investing in R&D in the range of 4% going forward. That’s the expectation. So a lot of it this quarter is very much related to the strong growth in revenue that we’ve experienced. Look at in absolute dollars, the OpEx spend is increasing. It’s been increasing sequentially there over the last several quarters.

Derek Dley: Yes. Okay. Got it. And then you mentioned the new entrants, still 30% of product sales or revenue, but if we go back to like the COVID period when you had a big jump in new entrants, can you just comment on any of the buying activity from those? I know it’s still relatively early days, but have you seen those new entrants trade up by a second product? What kind of purchasing patterns are you seeing there?

José Boisjoli: Yes, we’re following five things about the new entrant phenomena. First, the numbers, like I said, in Q3 is above 30%. And typically, historically, it was 2020 and 2021 in fiscal year 2021, 2022, it was 30%, then we are above 2021, 2022. What is interesting is 55% of those saying that they are in the Powersports for a long time, which is a good number. Many have already repurchased another product. They are younger. The number of people who are 18 — between 18 and 44 years old have increased by 10 point, more women, seven point and more family six points, and the household income is higher than what it was pre-COVID. Then when you addition all this, it’s difficult to say one plus one plus one equals three, but all those things are positive. And the momentum or the statistics didn’t change since, I would say, is this far even if the macroeconomic environment is unstable.

Derek Dley: Okay, great. Thank you very much.

José Boisjoli: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. Next question will be from Gerrick Johnson at BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Gerrick Johnson: Good morning. Thank you. So on the Alumacraft and Manitou product that you’ve been shipping, I see it at certain dealers. What’s the consumer reaction been? You’ve given us metrics before on Switch and so forth and what’s been presold and sell-through. So can you talk about the end consumer reaction?

José Boisjoli: Excellent, Gerrick. I mean the people are very happy with the new Manitou, like you saw, we’re winning many price. Alumacraft, it’s a different market. We’ll see in the Midwest, the Minneapolis Board show. But we don’t have any preorder system for the boat. I can tell you we sold out for our production capacity until next summer. But we don’t have any preorder number to give to you. And again, I would like to highlight, we’ve done a tour, a North American tour with the boat. That’s where we get the feedback, but we don’t have any preorder system with the Marine business, yes.

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