Genuine Parts Company (NYSE:GPC) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Bret Jordan: Good morning, guys. On the NAPA private label program in Europe, you said, I think, what, €300 million you’re doing. Could you talk about sort of what inning you are in and penetrating there? I mean how many segments that you think you’re going to run private label versus how many you’re doing or what the potential market is?

Will Stengel: Yes, Bret, let me take a pass at that. We’re in the very early innings Obviously, the last 12 to 18 months has delivered really strong momentum. We’re excited about that. We fully expect to continue to do that. We’re in, call it, 10 to 15 categories. We’ve got opportunities to do more than that. Within the categories that we actually offer that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re in each one of our local markets. So even if we just stayed in our 10 to 15 primary categories, we’d have a great opportunity to continue to push that product. But we’re excited about this and believe that it can be close to 20% of the revenue over the next 2 to 3 years.

Paul Donahue: Bret, I know we got into this discussion last time we were together. And so I would tell you, I think we’re at about the bottom of the third, Bret, in terms of our process here in private label. It’s going extremely well. All the countries have jumped on board, and we haven’t even rolled it out yet to the new markets we entered last year, Spain and Portugal. So yes, we’re excited, and I know the team is excited. And the best part is, our customers and the consumers are buying the product, and they love the product.

Bret Jordan: Okay. Great. And then on the U.S. acquisition, you’re talking about folding in some store acquisitions. Could you talk about what you’re looking at there? Are these NAPA-independents? Are these other independents in other buying groups, and I guess, sort of which regions are these, more urban company-owned store markets you’re looking at? Sort of what’s the strategy on increasing this company-owned store base?

Will Stengel: It’s a great question. The short answer is, it’s always the above on the store base. So a lot of thought has gone into the markets in which we want to add relative density. And so depending on the best way to do that, we’ll consider either working with an independent owner or if it’s another competitive store group, we’ll consider that. But as you alluded to, it’s strategic markets, adding that density, making sure that we’ve got the ability to cover customers well with the right inventory mix, and it’s a very attractive ROIC lever for us as we bring a lot of value to those merged entities after we own.

Bret Jordan: Are there any particular regions you’re looking at? Or is this sort of national?

Will Stengel: It’s a national approach. We’re doing it. It’s the same M&A strategy, quite frankly, globally for our automotive business. We do the same work in Canada, and we did the same work in Europe as we do here in the U.S.

Bret Jordan: If you were to roll that forward, if you’re sort of thinking out three to five years, is it a meaningful change in company-owned store mix versus independent?

Will Stengel: It has the potential to be. It will take some time just given the law of numbers, but that is a lever that we have to change that mix, for sure.

Operator: And the next question is from Daniel Imbro from Stephens Inc. Please go ahead.

Joe Enderlin: This is Joe Enderlin on for Daniel. Looking at the industrial space, I think you noted reshoring as a tailwind in the prepared remarks and previous questions. Could you maybe provide some more thoughts on how you expect this to impact profitability or how you’re thinking about the effects of reshoring?