Camping World Holdings, Inc. (CWH) FY 2023 MD&A

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read together with our Consolidated Financial Statements and related notes included in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K. This discussion contains forward-looking statements based upon current plans, expectations and beliefs involving risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including those set forth under “Risk Factors” included in Part I, Item 1A of this Form 10-K, the “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and in other parts of this Form 10-K. Except to the extent that differences among reportable segments are material to an understanding of our business taken as a whole, we present the discussion in Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations on a consolidated basis.

For purposes of this Form 10-K, we define an "Active Customer" as a customer who has transacted with us in any of the eight most recently completed fiscal quarters prior to the date of measurement. Unless otherwise indicated, the date of measurement is December 31, 2023, our most recently completed fiscal quarter.

In this Item 7, we discuss the results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 and comparisons of the year ended December 31, 2023 to the year ended December 31, 2022. Discussions of the results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2021 and comparisons of the year ended December 31, 2022 to the year ended December 31, 2021 can be found in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Part II, Item 7 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on February 23, 2023.

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Overview

Camping World Holdings, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries) is the world’s largest retailer of recreational RVs and related products and services. Our vision is to build a long-term legacy business that makes RVing fun and easy, and our Camping World and Good Sam brands have been serving RV consumers since 1966. We strive to build long-term value for our customers, employees, and stockholders by combining a unique and comprehensive assortment of RV products and services with a national network of RV dealerships, service centers and customer support centers along with the industry’s most extensive online presence and a highly-trained and knowledgeable team of associates serving our customers, the RV lifestyle, and the communities in which we operate. We also believe that our Good Sam organization and family of services and plans uniquely enables us to connect with our customers as stewards of the RV lifestyle. On December 31, 2023, we operated a total of 202 store locations, with all of them selling and/or servicing RVs. See Note 1 ─ Summary of Significant Accounting Policies ─ Description of the Business to our consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.

A summary of the changes in quantities and types of retail stores and changes in same stores from December 31, 2022 to December 31, 2023, are in the table below:

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Segments

We operate two reportable segments: (i) Good Sam Services and Plans, and (ii) RV and Outdoor Retail. We identify our reporting segments based on the organizational units used by management to monitor performance and make operating decisions. See Note 1 — Summary of Significant Accounting Policies — Description of the Business and Note 23 — Segment Information to our consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K for further information regarding our reportable segments.

The following table presents percentages of total revenue and total gross profit for our two reportable segments:

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COVID-19

Within a few months of the initial significant outbreaks of COVID-19 in the U.S. in 2020, we experienced elevated demand for RVs and many of our related products and services. We believe that consumers view RVs as a safer alternative to many other travel and recreational activities, in addition to an opportunity to enjoy the outdoors after many consumers spent much of their time at home during portions of the pandemic. We believe this led to an introduction of many new customers to the RV lifestyle and a greater appreciation of outdoor activities. For much of the COVID-19 pandemic, demand and interest in new and used vehicles outpaced vehicle supply. Beginning in September 2021, we were able to procure more new vehicles from our suppliers than were sold and new towables inventory levels, in particular, normalized in early 2022. As other modes of transportation and vacation options have mostly recovered from the impact of COVID-19, the increased demand for our products has dropped from the peak levels experienced in recent years.

Strategic Review

On January 17, 2024, we announced that we are reviewing potential strategic alternatives for our Good Sam business, which could include a potential sale, spin off or other disposition of the business. No decision has been made whether to proceed with any particular alternative. We have not set a deadline for the strategic alternatives review process, and there can be no assurance that this process will result in any particular outcome.

Key Performance Indicators

We evaluate the results of our overall business based on a variety of factors, including the number of Active Customers and Good Sam members, revenue and same store revenue, vehicle units, and same store vehicle units, gross profit and gross profit per vehicle sold, gross margin, finance and insurance per vehicle (“PV”), vehicle inventory turnover, and Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin.

Same store revenue.  Same store revenue measures the performance of a store location during the current reporting period against the performance of the same store location in the corresponding period of the previous year. Our same store revenue calculations for a given period include only those stores that were open both at the end of the corresponding period and at the beginning of the preceding fiscal year. As of December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021, we had a base of 166, 166, and 158 same stores, respectively. For the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, our aggregate same store revenue was $5.2 billion, $5.9 billion, and $5.8 billion, respectively. With same store revenue driven by the number of transactions and the average transaction price, changes in our mix of new vehicle sales has in the past negatively impacted, and in the future is likely to negatively impact, our new vehicle same store revenue. Over the past several years, we have seen a shift in our overall mix of new RV sales towards travel trailer vehicles, which tend to carry lower average selling prices than other classes of new RV vehicles. From 2015 to 2023, total new vehicle travel trailer units have increased from 62% to 75% of total new vehicle unit sales but from 2015 to 2023 our average selling price of a new vehicle unit increased from $39,853 to $43,866. Due to lower industry supply of travel trailers and motorhomes during much of 2020 and 2021, both average cost and average sales price increased. However, average sales price decreased in 2023 (see “Industry Trends” below), which impacted our same store revenue.

Gross Profit and Gross Margins.  Gross profit is our total revenue less our total costs applicable to revenue. Our total costs applicable to revenue primarily consists of the cost of goods and cost of sales, exclusive of depreciation and amortization. Gross margin is gross profit as a percentage of revenue.

Our gross profit is variable in nature and generally follows changes in our revenue. Sales of new vehicles generally result in a lower gross margin than other areas of our business, including used vehicles, repair service and installation work, RV equipment and accessories, outdoor equipment and accessories and finance and insurance products. While gross margins for our RV and Outdoor Retail segment are lower than gross margins for our Good Sam Services and Plans, this segment generates significant gross profit and is our primary means of acquiring new customers, to whom we then cross sell our higher margin products and services with recurring revenue. We believe the overall growth of our RV and Outdoor Retail segments will allow us to continue to drive growth in gross profit due to our ability to cross sell our Good Sam Services and

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Plans to our Active Customer base. Gross margin in our RV and Outdoor Retail segment was positively impacted in 2021 and, to a lesser extent, 2022 by increased demand for vehicles and reduced supply leading to higher average prices per unit. However, gross margins in 2023 and 2022 were negatively impacted by the higher cost of new vehicles that was driven largely from the reduced supply of new vehicles during much of 2021. Gross margins were also negatively impacted in 2023 by the decline in average prices per unit.

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin.  Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin are some of the primary metrics management uses to evaluate the financial performance of our business. Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin are also frequently used by analysts, investors, and other interested parties to evaluate companies in our industry. Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin are non-GAAP metrics. We use Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin to supplement GAAP measures of performance as follows:

For the definitions of Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin, a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net income, a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA Margin to net income margin, and a further discussion of how we utilize these non-GAAP financial measures and their limitations, see “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” below.

Industry Trends

According to the RV Industry Association’s survey of manufacturers, which almost entirely focuses on North America, wholesale shipments of new RVs for 2023 were 313,174 units, 36.5% less than in 2022. RV shipments for the last two months of 2023 showed an increase over the previous year, and their projections indicate that they expect to continue to see increased shipments and retail sales in 2024, particularly in the latter half of the year.

Thor Industries, our largest supplier of RVs, disclosed in its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended October 31, 2023 as filed with the SEC on December 6, 2023 that its North American RV order backlog had declined 54% compared to October 31, 2022, primarily as a result of a reduction in orders from independent dealers. Thor Industries also disclosed that it believes that as of July 31, 2023, the North American RV independent dealer inventory levels were generally at, or slightly higher than, the levels dealers are comfortable stocking for most of their towable products and generally aligned with desired levels for its motorized products.

The per unit cost of new vehicles has been significantly higher than we experienced prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the RV manufacturers’ supply constraints during the pandemic, strong demand for new vehicles during the pandemic, higher inflation, and higher interest rates. These higher costs had been partially mitigated by the higher average selling prices on new vehicles initially, but we experienced a decrease in new vehicle gross margins during the year ended December 31, 2022, which continued in 2023, as a result of these higher costs. We experienced a 4.3% decrease in the average sale price of new vehicles during 2023 compared to 2022, driven by more price sensitive customers in a higher interest rate environment. We will continue to evaluate supplier pricing and the mix of our vehicle offerings, such as lower-priced towables, among other criteria, as part of our vehicle procurement process.

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Certain of our RV manufacturers have indicated that they expect new towable vehicle average selling prices to decline by up to 10% for model year 2024 vehicles. The decrease in average selling prices for new towable vehicles has led to additional discounting on new vehicles from prior model years, beginning primarily in the fourth quarter of 2023, which has negatively impacted our near-term new vehicle gross margins as we sell through our stock of pre-2024 model year vehicles. Additionally, these new vehicle price pressures have resulted, and may continue to result, in a decline in residual values of used vehicles, which led us to discount used vehicle pricing in order to maintain our rate of sale and inventory turns, which has negatively impacted used vehicle gross margins. Certain finance and insurance and Good Sam services and plans revenues that are at least partially based on new and/or used vehicle pricing have been negatively impacted by new and used vehicle average selling price decreases.

Financial Institutions

The Company maintains the majority of its cash and cash equivalents in accounts with major U.S. and multi-national financial institutions, and our deposits at certain of these institutions exceed insured limits. Market conditions can impact the viability of these institutions. In the event of failure of any of the financial institutions where we maintain our cash and cash equivalents, there can be no assurance that we will be able to access uninsured funds in a timely manner or at all.

Inflation

During 2023 we experienced the impact of inflation on our operations, particularly with the increased cost of new vehicles. The price risk relating to new vehicles includes the cost from the manufacturer, as well as freight and logistics costs. Each of these costs have been impacted, to differing degrees, by factors such as high demand for product, supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and increased fuel costs, some of which were caused, in part, by the COVID-19 pandemic. These cost pressures began to recede during the third quarter of 2023 and we expect this trend to continue into 2024.

We have increased employee compensation rates as a response to the generally higher cost of living experienced in much of the United States in recent quarters. While we regularly review our compensation arrangements to ensure that our pay practices are competitive, we made meaningful adjustments to labor rates, largely in the fourth quarter of 2022, which were mostly offset by other cost reductions which included reduced headcount in the fourth quarter of 2022 and the elimination or reduction of underperforming assets, locations, and business lines. Additionally, during September and October of 2023, we implemented employee headcount reductions and adjustments to employee variable compensation plans that are expected to result in approximately $60.0 million of annual cost savings, primarily for selling, general and administrative expenses. These cost savings exclude any additional employee headcount from our expected expansion of store locations.

Inflationary factors, such as increases to our product and overhead costs, may adversely affect our operating results if the selling prices of our products and services do not increase proportionately with those increased costs or if demand for our products and services declines as a result of price increases to address inflationary costs. We finance substantially all of our new vehicle inventory and certain of our used vehicle inventory through revolving floor plan arrangements. Inflationary increases in the costs of new and/or used vehicles financed through the revolving floor plan arrangement result in an increase in the outstanding principal balance of the revolving floor plan arrangement. Additionally, our leases require us to pay taxes, maintenance, repairs, insurance and utilities, all of which are generally subject to inflationary increases. Further, the cost of remodeling acquired RV dealership locations and constructing new RV dealership locations is subject to inflationary increases in the costs of labor and material, which results in higher rent expense on new RV dealership locations. Finally, our credit agreements include interest rates that vary based on various benchmarks. Such rates have historically increased during periods of increasing inflation.

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Restructuring

In 2019, we made a strategic decision to refocus our business around our core RV competencies (the “2019 Strategic Shift”). On March 1, 2023, our management determined to implement plans (the “Active Sports Restructuring”) to exit and restructure operations of our indirect subsidiary, Active Sports, LLC, a specialty products retail business (“Active Sports”). As of December 31, 2023, the Company had substantially completed the activities under the 2019 Strategic Shift and Active Sports Restructuring except for the remaining potential ongoing charges related to lease termination costs and other associated costs relating to the leases of certain previously closed locations and facilities. The process of identifying subtenants and negotiating lease terminations had been delayed, which initially was in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The timing of these negotiations will vary as both subleases and terminations are contingent on landlord approvals. See Note 5 — Restructuring and Long-Lived Asset Impairment to our consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.

Comparison of Certain Trends to Pre-COVID-19 Pandemic Periods

During 2023, we experienced a decrease in gross margin for new and used vehicles compared to 2022. However, 2023 new vehicle gross margins were higher than the pre-COVID-19 pandemic periods of 2016 to 2019, which we believe are more typical demand environments than during the COVID-19 pandemic. During 2023, as the procurement prices of model year 2024 new vehicles declined compared to model years 2022 and 2023, we actively discounted certain used vehicles to reduce inventory levels of aged used vehicles. This discounting had a negative impact on used vehicle gross margins during 2023.

Additionally, the percentage of total unit sales relating to used vehicles was significantly higher in 2023 compared to the pre-COVID-19 pandemic periods of 2016 to 2019. We are continuing to execute on our used vehicle strategy, which differentiates us from the competition with proprietary tools, such as the RV Valuator, a focus on the development and retention of our service technician team, and investment in our service bay infrastructure.

The following table presents vehicle gross margin and unit sale mix for the year ended December 31, 2023 and pre-COVID-19 pandemic periods of the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016:

(1) These periods were prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Our Corporate Structure Impact on Income Taxes

Our corporate structure is commonly referred to as an “Up-C” structure and typically results in a different relationship between income before income taxes and income tax expense than would be experienced by most public companies with a more traditional corporate structure. More traditional structures are typically comprised predominately of Subchapter C corporations (“C-Corps”) and/or lacking significant non-controlling interests with holdings through limited liability companies or partnerships. Typically, most of our income tax expense is recorded at the CWH level, our public holding company, based on its allocation of taxable income from CWGS, LLC.

More specifically, CWH is organized as a C-Corp and, as of December 31, 2023, is a 52.9% owner of CWGS, LLC. CWGS, LLC is organized as a limited liability company and treated as a partnership for U.S. federal and most applicable state and local income tax purposes and, as such is generally not subject to any

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U.S. federal entity-level income taxes (“Pass-Through”), with the exception of Americas Road and Travel Club, Inc. and FreedomRoads RV, Inc., and their wholly-owned subsidiaries, which are C-Corps embedded within the CWGS, LLC structure. As discussed below, prior to 2023, Camping World, Inc. (“CW”) and its wholly-owned subsidiaries were also C-Corps embedded within the CWGS, LLC structure.

By January 2, 2023, the “LLC Conversion” (see Note 12 — Income Taxes to our consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K) was completed. We expect that, beginning with the year ended December 31, 2023, the LLC Conversion will allow certain losses that previously would have been confined within the C-Corp portion of CWGS, LLC to instead offset a portion of income generated by the Pass-Through portion of CWGS, LLC, which would reduce the amount of income tax expense recorded by CWH. The LLC Conversion is also expected to reduce the amount of tax distributions required to be paid by CWGS, LLC to CWH and the non-controlling interest holders under the CWGS LLC Agreement beginning with the year ended December 31, 2023.

CWH receives an allocation of its share of the net income of CWGS, LLC based on CWH’s weighted-average ownership of CWGS, LLC for the period. CWH recognizes income tax expense on its pre-tax income including its portion of this income allocation from CWGS, LLC primarily relating to Pass-Through entities. The income tax relating to the net income of CWGS, LLC allocated to CWH that relates to separately taxed C-Corp entities is recorded within the consolidated results of CWGS, LLC. No income tax expense is recognized by the Company for the portion of net income of CWGS, LLC allocated to non-controlling interest other than income tax expense recorded by CWGS, LLC. Rather, tax distributions are paid to the non-controlling interest holders, which are recorded as distributions to holders of LLC common units in the consolidated statements of cash flows. CWH is subject to U.S. federal, state and local income taxes with respect to its allocable share of any taxable income of CWGS, LLC and is taxed at the prevailing corporate tax rates. For the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, the Company used effective income tax rate assumptions between 25.0% and 25.5%, for income adjustments applicable to CWH when calculating the adjusted net income attributable to Camping World Holdings, Inc. — basic and diluted (see “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” in Part II, Item 7 of this Form 10-K). CWGS, LLC may be liable for various other state and local taxes.

The following table presents the allocation of CWGS, LLC’s C-Corp and Pass-Through net income to CWH, the allocation of CWGS, LLC’s net income to non-controlling interests, income tax benefit (expense) recognized by CWH, and other items:

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The following table presents further information on income tax benefit (expense):

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[table omitted - see filing]