LKQ CORPORATION Forward-Looking Statements Statements and information in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q that are not historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of such Act. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our outlook, guidance, expectations, beliefs, hopes, intentions and strategies. Words such as "may," "will," "plan," "should," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "if," "estimate," "intend," "project" and similar words or expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors, including the unfavorable effects of COVID-19, that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to us at the time the statements are made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. You should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Actual events or results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. The risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that could cause actual results to differ from the results predicted or implied by our forward-looking statements include factors discussed in our filings with theSEC , including those disclosed under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in our 2020 Form 10-K and in our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q (including this Quarterly Report). Overview We are a global distributor of vehicle products, including replacement parts, components and systems used in the repair and maintenance of vehicles, and specialty products and accessories to improve the performance, functionality and appearance of vehicles. Buyers of vehicle replacement products have the option to purchase from primarily five sources: new products produced by OEMs; new products produced by companies other than the OEMs, which are referred to as aftermarket products; recycled products obtained from salvage and total loss vehicles; recycled products that have been refurbished; and recycled products that have been remanufactured. We distribute a variety of products to collision and mechanical repair shops, including aftermarket collision and mechanical products; recycled collision and mechanical products; refurbished collision products such as wheels, bumper covers and lights; and remanufactured engines and transmissions. Collectively, we refer to the four sources that are not new OEM products as alternative parts. We are a leading provider of alternative vehicle collision replacement products and alternative vehicle mechanical replacement products, with our sales, processing, and distribution facilities reaching most major markets inthe United States andCanada . We are also a leading provider of alternative vehicle replacement and maintenance products inGermany , theUnited Kingdom , the Benelux region (Belgium ,Netherlands , and Luxembourg),Italy ,Czech Republic ,Austria ,Slovakia ,Poland , and various other European countries. In addition to our wholesale operations, we operate self service retail facilities across theU.S. that sell recycled automotive products from end-of-life-vehicles. We are also a leading distributor of specialty vehicle aftermarket equipment and accessories reaching most major markets in theU.S. andCanada . We are organized into four operating segments: Wholesale -North America ;Europe ; Specialty and Self Service. We aggregate our Wholesale -North America and Self Service operating segments into one reportable segment,North America , resulting in three reportable segments:North America ,Europe and Specialty. Our operating results have fluctuated on a quarterly and annual basis in the past and can be expected to continue to fluctuate in the future as a result of a number of factors, some of which are beyond our control. Please refer to the factors referred to in Forward-Looking Statements above. Due to these factors and others, which may be unknown to us at this time, our operating results in future periods can be expected to fluctuate. Accordingly, our historical results of operations may not be indicative of future performance. Acquisitions and Investments Since our inception in 1998, we have pursued a growth strategy through both organic growth and acquisitions. Through 2018, our acquisition strategy was focused on consolidation to build scale in fragmented markets acrossNorth America andEurope . We targeted companies that were market leaders, expanded our geographic presence and enhanced our ability to provide a wide array of vehicle products through our distribution network. In the last few years, we have shifted our focus from larger transactions to tuck-in acquisitions that target high synergies and/or add critical capabilities. Additionally, we have made investments in various businesses to advance our strategic objectives. See "Investments in Unconsolidated 31
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Subsidiaries" in Note 3, "Financial Statement Information," to the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements in Part I, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for additional information related to our investments. Sources of Revenue We report our revenue in two categories: (i) parts and services and (ii) other. Our parts revenue is generated from the sale of vehicle products, including replacement parts, components and systems used in the repair and maintenance of vehicles, and specialty products and accessories to improve the performance, functionality and appearance of vehicles. Our service revenue is generated primarily from the sale of service-type warranties, fees for admission to our self service yards, and diagnostic and repair services. Revenue from other sources includes scrap and other metal (including precious metals - platinum, palladium and rhodium) sales, bulk sales to mechanical manufacturers (including cores) and sales of aluminum ingots and sows from our furnace operations. Other revenue will vary from period to period based on fluctuations in commodity prices and the volume of materials sold. See Note 4, "Revenue Recognition" to the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements in Part I, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for additional information related to our sources of revenue. Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates The discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based upon our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates, assumptions and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses, and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. Our 2020 Form 10-K includes a summary of the critical accounting policies and estimates we believe are the most important to aid in understanding our financial results. There have been no changes to those critical accounting policies and estimates that have had a material impact on our reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue or expenses during the nine months endedSeptember 30, 2021 . Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements See "Recent Accounting Pronouncements" in Note 3, "Financial Statement Information" to the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements in Part I, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for information related to new accounting standards. Financial Information by Geographic Area See Note 14, "Segment and Geographic Information" to the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements in Part I, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for information related to our revenue and long-lived assets by geographic region. 1 LKQ Europe Program We have undertaken the 1 LKQ Europe program to create structural centralization and standardization of key functions to facilitate the operation of theEurope segment as a single business. Under this multi-year program, we expect to recognize the following:
•Restructuring expenses - Non-recurring costs resulting directly from the implementation of the 1 LKQ Europe program from which the business will derive no ongoing benefit. See Note 5, "Restructuring and Acquisition Related Expenses" to the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements in Part I, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for further details. •Transformation expenses - Period costs incurred to execute the 1 LKQ Europe program that are expected to contribute to ongoing benefits to the business (e.g. non-capitalizable implementation costs related to a common ERP system). These expenses are recorded in Selling, general and administrative expenses. •Transformation capital expenditures - Capitalizable costs for long-lived assets, such as software and facilities, that directly relate to the execution of the 1 LKQ Europe program.
Costs related to the 1 LKQ Europe program incurred to date are reflected in
Selling, general and administrative expenses, Restructuring expenses and
Purchases of property, plant and equipment in our unaudited condensed
consolidated financial statements in Part I, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on
Form 10-Q. Beginning in the second half of
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2024. During the three and nine months endedSeptember 30, 2021 we incurred$6 million and$26 million , respectively, in costs across all three categories noted above. We expect that costs of the program, reflecting all three categories noted above, will range between$30 million and$40 million in 2021 with an additional$100 million to$130 million between 2022 and the projected program completion date in 2024. In the future, we may also identify additional initiatives and projects under the 1 LKQ Europe program that may result in additional expenditures, although we are currently unable to estimate the range of charges for such potential future initiatives and projects. We expect the transformation and restructuring expenses will be entirely funded by the improved trade working capital initiatives across ourEurope segment. COVID-19 Impact on Our Operations In lateFebruary 2020 , the Italian government began placing restrictions on activity as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. Sales volumes fell as fewer cars were on the road and less maintenance activity was performed. While our Italian operation is an important part of our European business, it represented approximately 10% of the segment's revenue in 2019, and thus the disruption did not have a material impact on the Company. By mid-March, the COVID-19 impact began spreading across the rest of the geographies where we operate at a very rapid pace. Governments adopted aggressive restrictions on the operation of non-essential businesses and personal movement, which reduced miles driven and collisions. While our businesses have been deemed essential in most jurisdictions in which we operate, the change in behavior driven by the COVID-19 restrictions negatively impacted our sales volume. Our organic parts and services revenue declined by 16.8%, 4.5% and 5.2% in the second, third, and fourth quarters of 2020, respectively, relative to the comparable prior year periods. We showed improvement in the third quarter of 2020 as governments gradually lifted restrictions for non-essential businesses and personal movement; however, in the fourth quarter of 2020 revenue declined as certain jurisdictions put restrictions back into place. As anticipated,April 2020 experienced the most negative revenue impact, with organic parts and services revenue (on a per day basis) down 30.3% compared to the prior year period. As movement restrictions lessened in May andJune 2020 , we experienced organic parts and services revenue declines (on a per day basis) of 13.2% and 7.3%, respectively, compared to the prior year periods. However, the pace of improvement flattened into the third quarter of 2020 as the increasing level of COVID-19 cases, especially inthe United States , slowed the recovery. During the third quarter of 2020, organic parts and services revenue declined by 4.5% compared to the prior year period, a small improvement from theJune 2020 decline of 7.3% (on a per day basis). During the fourth quarter of 2020, organic parts and services revenue declined by 6.1% (on a per day basis) and gradually worsened during the quarter with a decline of 7.2% (on a per day basis) in December. During the first quarter of 2021, organic parts and services revenue increased by 2.2% (on a per day basis) despite the continued COVID-19 impact on economic activity in theU.S. andEurope . During the second quarter of 2021, organic parts and services revenue increased by 21.1% (on a per day basis) reflecting the low prior year comparable figure owing to COVID-19 and the gradual recovery in mobility. During the third quarter of 2021, the recovery continued with organic parts and services revenue increasing by 4.0%. Since the start of the pandemic, our revenue has been impacted to varying degrees depending on the segment, withNorth America experiencing the most negative impact due to the decrease in miles driven and collision activity. After seeing year over year decreases early in the pandemic, Specialty revenue has grown due to favorable trends in recreational vehicle activity. We expect consolidated parts and services revenue to grow organically in future periods, but the level of the year over year increase in revenue will depend on, among other factors, the extent of reopening activities across the geographies in which we operate, the pace of recovery in miles driven and access to inventory, which has been constrained with supply chain issues. Our top priority is the health and safety of our employees, customers and the communities in which we operate. We are using all reasonable efforts to follow governmental instructions and safety guidelines with respect to the operations of our facilities. We implemented protocols across our business units designed to help ensure the health and safety of our employees, customers and communities including, but not limited to: restricting access to and enhancing cleaning and disinfecting protocols at our facilities; encouraging vaccination of our employees; use of personal protective equipment; adhering to social distancing guidelines; instituting remote work arrangements for many of our employees; and restricting travel. We are monitoring developments related to vaccination levels and governmental standards and have adjusted our practices where appropriate to comply with the latest guidance. Recognizing the demand changes in the first quarter of 2020, we took action in all of our business units to reduce our cost structure. These actions included, but were not limited to, employee furloughs and reductions in force, decreases in hours and overtime, lowering compensation for salaried employees, a hiring freeze, elimination of temporary labor, route consolidation, deferral of projects, and temporary branch closures. In the second quarter of 2020, these cost actions contributed to a reduction of approximately 18% in quarterly selling, general and administrative expenses compared to our first quarter 2020 run rate. We estimate that the cost actions generated a$10 million benefit in cost of goods sold compared to our second quarter of 2019. Some of the savings from the cost actions were delayed as we paid out vacation balances in April and covered medical benefits for employees inthe United States during their furlough period. From the third quarter of 2020 through the third quarter of 2021, we were able to sustain a portion of the cost benefits. If revenue continues to increase, we expect that some of the costs that were reduced as a result of COVID-19 will remain at a lower level; the management team has been implementing productivity initiatives to create lower cost structures going forward as seen in the third and fourth quarter of 2020 and year to date 2021 results. 33
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We pursued certain financial assistance and relief programs that were available to us from governments inEurope andCanada , primarily in the form of grants to offset personnel expenses. During the nine months endedSeptember 30, 2021 , we qualified for$16 million of assistance. We received$52 million of government assistance in 2020, with the largest portion coming in the second quarter. We currently do not anticipate qualifying for significant additional assistance in the remainder of 2021. The cost actions lagged the revenue impact in the first and second quarters of 2020, which meant there was a negative timing impact of COVID-19 on our profitability in those periods in addition to the negative effect from reduced revenue. By the third quarter, the cost actions were aligned with the revenue changes, and we generated higher Segment EBITDA dollars and margins than in the third quarter of 2019. In the fourth quarter of 2020 and first quarter of 2021, profitability remained higher than the prior year. In the second quarter of 2021, profitability continued to improve and was the highest in the company's history. In the third quarter of 2021, profitability remained higher than the prior year. We also emphasized the preservation of capital in 2020 with a deferral of growth driven capital projects, reductions in inventory orders, more active monitoring of customer receivables and terms, income and value added tax payment deferrals (the majority of which were paid during the third quarter of 2020), and suspension of our share buyback program (which was reinstated during the fourth quarter of 2020). This focus was successful as we improved our liquidity position atDecember 31, 2020 by approximately$1.0 billion relative toMarch 31, 2020 while managing through the disruption caused by the pandemic. Beginning in late 2020 and continuing in 2021, we returned to our stated capital allocation strategy with an emphasis on internal investments in capital expenditures and inventory, tuck-in acquisitions and share repurchases. In each quarter of 2020, we prepared forecasts of future revenues, profits and cash flows to use in multiple analyses, including the interim goodwill impairment test, other impairment tests of long-lived assets, assessments of the recoverability of inventory, determination of customer and supplier rebate balances, calculation of the annual effective tax rate and evaluations of the realizability of deferred tax assets. Actual results showed an improving trend, with profitability in the second, third and fourth quarters all exceeding our prior forecast prepared in the first quarter of 2020. We will continue to assess COVID-19 developments and the potential impacts on our business in 2021 and update the applicable analyses as necessary. As the economic impact of the pandemic is dependent on variables that are difficult to project and in many cases are outside of our control, it is possible that the estimates underlying our analyses may change materially in future periods. This is particularly the case because it appears that the prevalence of the virus outbreak fluctuates depending on various factors, including the level of economic and social activity and vaccination status in a region. See the Results of Operations and Liquidity sections for further detail on our year over year trends. Key Performance Indicators We believe that organic revenue growth, Segment EBITDA and free cash flow are key performance indicators for our business. Segment EBITDA is our key measure of segment profit or loss reviewed by our chief operating decision maker. Free cash flow is a financial measure that is not prepared in accordance withU.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("non-GAAP"). •Organic revenue growth - We define organic revenue growth as total revenue growth from continuing operations excluding the effects of acquisitions and divestitures (i.e., revenue generated from the date of acquisition to the first anniversary of that acquisition, net of reduced revenue due to the disposal of businesses) and foreign currency movements (i.e., impact of translating revenue at prior period exchange rates). Organic revenue growth includes incremental sales from both existing and new (i.e., opened within the last twelve months) locations and is derived from expanding business with existing customers, securing new customers and offering additional products and services. We believe that organic revenue growth is a key performance indicator as this statistic measures our ability to serve and grow our customer base successfully. •Segment EBITDA - Refer to Note 14, "Segment and Geographic Information," in Part I, Item 1 of this Form 10-Q for a description of the calculation of Segment EBITDA. We believe that Segment EBITDA provides useful information to evaluate our segment profitability by focusing on the indicators of ongoing operational results. •Free Cash Flow - We calculate free cash flow as net cash provided by operating activities, less purchases of property, plant and equipment. Free cash flow provides insight into our liquidity and provides useful information to management and investors concerning our cash flow available to meet future debt service obligations and working capital requirements, to make strategic acquisitions and to repurchase stock. These three key performance indicators are used as targets in determining incentive compensation at various levels of the organization, including senior management. By using these performance measures, we attempt to motivate a balanced 34
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approach to the business that rewards growth, profitability and cash flow generation in a manner that enhances our long-term prospects. Results of Operations-Consolidated The following table sets forth statements of income data as a percentage of total revenue for the periods indicated:
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