Lachlan Given: Thanks, John.
Operator: Thank you, John. We have our next question comes from Brian McNamara from Canaccord Genuity. Brian, your line is now open.
Brian McNamara: Hey. Good morning, guys. Congrats on the strong results. A few for me. So your aged inventory was up significantly in LatAm, albeit off a low base. I think you cited an impact from recent acquisitions. But you guys have a proprietary POS system that should help with potentially mispricing loans or goods. I guess my question is, do you expect over time for your merchandise margins to improve structurally closer to what your larger peer earns?
Lachlan Given: Tim, do you want to take that?
Tim Jugmans: Thanks. Yes. Thanks, Brian. So yes, the recent acquisition, especially in is really a lot about training and how to use the system. We did have a little bit of turnover in that acquisition. And so it’s taken a little bit longer than expected to get them fully embraced on how to use the system. So we feel confident about that number coming down over time. From a margin perspective, we do run a little bit different business to our competitor. We do focus a little bit more on the lending side and they focus a little bit more on the retail. But overall, we do expect that we will continue to try and maximize the return from the goods that come in, whether that is trying to get a little bit more out of the PSC or a little bit more out of the margin, it depends on the customer.
Brian McNamara: Got it. And then just on store expenses, you had kind of broadly spoke about inflationary pressure. Store expenses per unit were up pretty significantly in Q1. Should we model kind of similar growth rates for the balance of the year? Or how should we kind of think about that, if you could provide a little more color?
Tim Jugmans: Yes. Obviously, that we’re €“ comping against Q1 last year where there was no real effect on inflation yet. If you look back at Q4 last year on a sequential basis, you definitely could see some of that inflation coming through. And so on a sequential basis, we expect to continue to see some lift in expenses, but not €“ that’s a better way to look at it rather than on a comping basis. The major reasons are, we’ve hired a number of people. We were very short staffed a year ago. So definitely a lot more people in our stores supporting the extra transactions that are going on. And obviously, there’s been some wage inflation and some change in laws in Latin America are pushing wages up as well.
Brian McNamara: Got it. And just one last one for me on the rewards program. I think you have about 2,000 members per store now, which is an incredible number at year-end. How many of those members are actually “active?” I mean if you just look at your online payments per member, it’s down quite a bit, but I know that’s probably not the way to look at it, but like €“ I guess what I’m trying to get at is like what percent of your customers are regulars versus those to come in more episodically? And how should we think about maybe the longer-term opportunity about how high those memberships can go? Thanks.
Lachlan Given: Tim, do you have that number at hand?
Tim Jugmans: Those numbers are €“ those numbers €“ because of the program has only been in effect for a short period of time, we’re still working through on exactly what we’re going to be calling active versus inactive. Basically, those are all people that have done a transaction within the last year, which we would call €“ which we generally call an active customer.
Brian McNamara: Any commentary on like the upper bound of that? I mean I think it’s €“ the recruitment in and of itself has been tremendous. I’m just curious kind of what you think the upper bound of the long-term potential range could be?
Lachlan Given: Yes, that is obviously €“ we €“ this has definitely grown much quicker than we expected. So it’s definitely beating our expectations at the moment. So the upper bound, we really haven’t talked about that at this stage, but pretty excited about how it could drive additional revenue through the business.
Brian McNamara: Got it. Thanks very much. Best of luck.
Lachlan Given: Thanks, Brian.
Operator: Thank you, Brian. We have our next question comes from Alexander Villalobos from Jefferies. Alexander, your line is now open.
Alexander Villalobos: Hey, guys. Congrats on the strong quarter. Just wanted to see if you could recap real quick just for modeling purposes, just the guidance points maybe for next quarter and for the full-year? Just want to make sure we have those in the model and as accurate as possible. Thank you.
Tim Jugmans: Thanks. So what we €“ just to reiterate a couple of points there. We definitely €“ we likely to continue to see PLO on a sequential basis continue to hit record levels. We definitely see the sales margin remaining at the low end of our stated range of 35% to 38%. Expenses, we think that will continue to have pressure on expenses, and we’re likely to see sequential growth on the expense base.
Alexander Villalobos: Perfect. Thank you.
Operator: Thank you, Alexander. We currently have no further questions on the line. I will now hand the floor back to Lachie for closing remarks.
Lachlan Given: Thank you, operator. Thank you, everyone, for joining. And again, on behalf of our leadership team, thanking our entire EZCORP team for another outstanding quarter driving value for our shareholders. So thanks, everyone, for joining, and we’ll talk soon. Thanks.
Operator: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today’s call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.
