SelectQuote, Inc. (NYSE:SLQT) Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Page 2 of 2

However, in this period, where we’re onboarding such a large number of new customers that aren’t at maturity, there’s certainly costs associated with ramping. And so we’re building a lot of embedded value that you may not be seeing in the current quarter’s financial results but will be recognized in future quarters. Certainly, if the business wanted to pull back and slow the growth margin rates would improve. But again, this is a cash accretive business that generates revenue month in, month out. It’s highly synergistic with our existing senior distribution business. And right now, AEP and OEP are those peak seasons. So it’s investment worth making and we’re really pleased with the growth.

Bob Grant: Yes. And as far as to the future of that, our biggest investments will be in automation and improving our facilities and things like that. Well, we’re not guiding to ’25 to Ryan’s point, we are hyper focused on how we can better automate and better improve our system architecture, given how fast we’ve grown ultimately to get that cost to get the strips out the door down. So we think it can be simultaneous, while we’re still growing, we can really focus on the efficiency of that engine beyond just full boxes and things like that to really improve our overall variable margin, I would say. So we’re really bullish on that as well. So we’re really, really excited on what we can do with that business over time.

Pat McCann: And then my final question, I just wanted to touch on the balance sheet really quickly. You mentioned moving towards free cash flow generation and I just wanted to kind of check in on how you view your debt levels as you progress towards free cash flow generation and possibly paying some of that down in the next fiscal year and so forth. Just wanted to get your take on that.

Ryan Clement: Absolutely. It’s absolutely a priority. We recognize that we’ve got a meaningful debt balance. There is a maturity we shared that we’ve got a short-term extension. But we are actively working on the broader long-term solution and we’re making meaningful progress. We highlighted 2 quarters ago in our 10-K that we were exploring options, not limited to but including securitization. As time has lapsed, we’ve been exploring that further. It’s clear that securitization is an attractive financing structure for SelectQuote, for the industry more broadly. We are in active negotiations and still working to resolve certain deal points. But we have made tangible progress. We’re optimistic we’re approaching a workable deal.

And that structure once implemented, does allow us to delever over the long term. So we’re really pleased with the progress and the path forward. Obviously, with respect to more recent results, we did highlight that this past quarter on a trailing 12-month basis in the prior quarter for that matter, we have been operating cash flow positive. We do expect to be operating cash flow positive on — for full fiscal year 2024. We do have adequate liquidity to execute on our plans for calendar year 2024 and beyond. But we are very focused on the broader capital structure and setting ourselves up for long-run success and operating flexibility and we’re making good progress on that front.

Operator: That concludes the Q&A portion of today’s call. I will now hand back over to Tim Danker for closing remarks.

Tim Danker: Yes. Thank you. I’ll conclude by thanking all of you for joining us. We appreciate it. As I said earlier in my remarks but I’ll say it again, SelectQuote is thriving. We believe the value of our current businesses and our ability to leverage our unique information and connectivity advantages in health care provide us with a range of ways to drive repeatable profit and cash flow growth. as we’ve shown in our distribution business. And as we’re increasingly scaling in health care services, we see a lot of unrecognized shareholder value that we’re going to continue to work diligently to capture. So, thank you again. We look forward to speaking with you next quarter. Have a good day.

Operator: That concludes today’s SelectQuote fiscal second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. You may now disconnect your lines.

Follow Selectquote Inc. (NYSE:SLQT)

Page 2 of 2