AMERCO (UHAL) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

For the period ending September 30, 2022

November 10, 2022 10:00 a.m. ET

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good morning and welcome to the AMERCO Second Quarter Fiscal 2023 Investor Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, that this event is being recorded today.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Sebastien Reyes. Please go ahead.

Sebastien Reyes

Good morning. Thank you for joining us today. Welcome to the AMERCO second quarter fiscal 2023 investor call.

Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that certain statements during this call including, without limitation, statements regarding revenue, expenses, income and general growth of our business may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Safe Harbor provisions, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified. Certain factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. For a discussion of the risks and uncertainties that may affect AMERCO's business and future operating results, please refer to Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30 and 2022 which is on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

I'll now turn the call over to Joe Shoen, Chairman of AMERCO.

Joe Shoen

Thanks, Sebastien. Good morning, everybody. In the face of some mediocre results this quarter, I am very positive on our underlying businesses. U-Move will struggle with hard to win one-way transactions. We have been through this before. The tide is simply running against us for a while. U-Box is about flat to last year in this quarter. This is a first experience with this for the U-Box organization. The pattern seems to be mimicking one-way U-Haul truck rental transactions.

Self-storage remains strong. Of course, as I have been saying for the past 2 years, there will be a crunch in many storage markets eventually. I am endeavoring to invest in markets, we believe, still have unfilled demand. itches, moving supplies sort of fall you move but they are currently outperforming it. Our Moving Help business is up, customer support is substantial. As you saw in the financials, we're seeing a lot of cost pressures, just as you and your customers are. For us, it's vehicle repair expense, personnel expense, cost of acquiring new truck chassis, cost a bare land, cost of construction, utilities and property taxes.