Matthew Boss: Great. Thanks. Dave, so maybe higher level, could you just elaborate on the consumer and dealer sentiment today maybe relative to three months ago? Or just how – or what evolved exactly in the forecast. And then specifically with the higher interest rate backdrop, are there any changes you’ve seen so far in the promotional landscape? Or just what levers would you or could you pull to entice customers to convert, if needed?
Dave Foulkes: I think – I don’t think it’s really a change in the sentiment really. I think it’s just the part of the season that we’re in right now. Obviously, three months ago, we’re in the height of the selling season. People are spending their time doing a whole bunch of other stuff, selling as much as they possibly can, focusing on getting product out the door. Now they’re pivoting to much consideration of stocking levels to what is mainly the off season. So, I don’t think sentiment has really changed a lot. I think they’re just now going through normal seasonal changes in the way that the focusing. I think you can tell from our field inventory levels that we have been very careful to make sure that we align well with our dealers that everybody feels good about stocking levels going into 2024.
So, I would say they’re encouraged by that. I think the – so I don’t think that there is a huge change in sentiment. Also feedback I’m getting – I’m going to add to Fort Lauderdale later this afternoon. I’ll get some direct feedback. But broadly, OEM customers seem to be pretty positive. Obviously, that show is a premium show and that is the most resilient part of the marketplace. So I just – I don’t think that there is a marked change. I think there’s just general caution. Broadly, some earlier questions we’re talking about some of the more downside scenarios for next year. But broadly, things are generally stabilizing on a price basis on an interest rate basis, the environment is somewhat more stable. I think that there is caution some about what might happen next year.
But I wouldn’t say there’s a notable change in sentiment either from OEMs or end consumer. Sorry what was the second part of that question? Can you repeat that part of the question?
Matthew Boss: Any changes in the promotional landscape? Or are there levers that you would pull just given the higher interest rate environment to entice a customer to convert?
Dave Foulkes: Yes. Well, promotions through the kind of back end of the selling season were kind of up at kind of 2019 levels, I would say. To be honest, at the moment, from now through the end of the year, we’ll be less than 10% of the top-line, you’ll see much less than 10%. So the influence of promotions is diminishing, except in the southern markets where – and those are mostly fiberglass premium markets where we haven’t had such a promotional environment. So we might be kind of working to get the last few units that we can, but I would say the promotion at this time of the year is just not super effective and not super meaningful in the northern markets.
Matthew Boss: Helpful color. Best of luck.
Operator: Our next question is from Tristan Thomas-Martin with BMO Capital Markets. Please proceed.
Tristan Thomas-Martin: Hi good morning. Two quick ones. One, you mentioned Fort Lauderdale a couple of times. How were some of the other all kind of fall season boat shows. And then with Freedom Boat Club, what’s the state of the fleet there? And then what could a potential kind of refresh upgrade cycle look like? Thanks.
Dave Foulkes: Yes, good question. So really, Fort Lauderdale, Miami is the kind of start of season premium show in the U.S. and Fort Lauderdale is the more than end of season U.S. show, we’ve been really focusing quite a while on European shows recently. We had a really strong showing at cap. Our brands are extremely well received. We’re able to get some large Boston Wheelers and large Sea Rays over to Europe for a change because in the past three years, everything has been sold in the U.S. So it was very encouraging to get those bigger product files over to Europe and they sold very well. The ban was really well received, and I think represents a significant opportunity for us. And Mercury’s market share through all of those shows was – I can’t remember the exact numbers, but we were in the high 50s to 60% [ph] pretty much every show.
So all of the constructive factors that we continue to see we’re prevailing through the latest season European shows. And then obviously, we just have one day of Fort Lauderdale behind us, but hoping for the best for the balance of that show.
Operator: Thank you. This will conclude our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the call back over to Dave for some concluding remarks.
Dave Foulkes: Okay. Thank you all for joining us very much and for the great questions. As you saw despite the challenges, we again delivered a very solid quarter. For the rest of the year, our focus is on balancing continuing to deliver those solid earnings and free cash flow with the imperative of making sure that end of year – inventory pipelines are in the right place as we head into 2024. I think the fact that we’re able to do all this still deliver our second best ever year with EPS within 10% of 2022, 10% higher than 2021 is pretty remarkable, but still moving forward all of our strategic priorities. We didn’t really talk much about electrification, like Avatar and Flight, but those continue to be positive growth opportunities for us.
And just again, it is nice to see when there’s a lot of uncertainty around Mercury comes through again with 57% share of Waterdale and close to 70% on the water. So that is an incredible trend that just continues forward, and we’re very encouraged by it. All right. Thank you all very much for joining us.
Operator: Thank you. This will conclude today’s conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and thank you for your participation.
