WEX
#What I would say to you is, in the last know now that we overlapped two quarters of EFS and the [effeco] was $1.26 in Q3 and $1.23 in Q4, you should be expecting those numbers going forward.
Obviously considering that the fuel prices don't change dramatically.
Sure.
It's <UNK>.
So same-store sales, if you look at the fourth quarter, it was actually only down 2%.
So it's a little bit better than what we had seen in the rest of the year.
I think some of that is, if you look at the segment that we were getting hit the hardest on related to oil and gas, and that's becoming a smaller part of the business and so some of that is just a lapping effect.
But on the positive side, there was actually growth in the construction trades, which had dropped to a negative number over the first even couple of quarters.
And so I think that's a good sign if you look at the overall economy.
Many of the other SIC codes were negative, but you're starting to see a few of them go into the positive category.
And in terms of how we thought about it when we put together 2017, we look at that as being a slight headwind for us as we factored in guidance for 2017, similar to what we would've experienced in this last quarter.
Yes, so we actually did add an extended relationship with Exxon so that we're doing more services in Canada with them.
In addition to that, we have agreed to ramp up our investment in sales and marketing in the relationship with them because of what we see is a good opportunity in the marketplace based on the history of what we have.
So whenever we do that, you have a year that you have an investment associated with that, but we typically see a pretty quick return.
Yes.
So let me give you, according to 2016, we already had a positive operating income for the [west] portfolio.
And as I said during the call, for 2017, we're going to continue having improvements both from the back office consolidation and some pricing modernization, and we're going to have as well for 2017 this positive trend on the margin side.
What you also have to think is obviously, as we move ahead for the future, one of the things that's important is that this is a ---+ the margins should be like a private-label portfolio.
Yes, we feel great about our organic growth.
If you look at 2016, if you exclude the impact of FX and fuel prices, we grew 13% organically.
So, really strong year in 2016 that sets us up well going into 2017.
And we talked about the fact we're going to have some geography issues within the virtual business, which will have a little bit of a softening impact of that going into 2017.
But across the rest of the business, we've got really good trajectory and bringing in volume in every part of our business.
We are continuing to get benefits from the pricing changes that we have made, not just within Fleet domestically, but what we're doing internationally; and we have got some great contract signings that are ramping into the business.
So we feel good about the overall organic growth of the business.
So I'd say that we went through and effected our portfolios, the ones we directly control, and that's the portfolio that we have been monitoring.
We are also then engaging in conversations with some of our partners.
And I think ultimately we want to make sure that we are doing and making changes with our partners that are conducive to how they want their brand to be perceived in the marketplace as well.
So it's a balancing act and a conversation that we have with them.
But I think actually more importantly is we have set ourselves up more systematically to think about pricing.
We changed the underlying infrastructure to think about pricing in a much more strategic and systemized level so that we do anticipate we're going to have further benefit.
We do think that you've got this big pop of some of the changes that we have made, and will continue to get some tailwinds as that annualizes this year.
But if we do our longer-range planning, and as we have thought about the numbers we gave out for 2017, we do anticipate continued benefit from further pricing modernization over the next several years.
What I will add is for you is (inaudible) what <UNK> said, that we especially on the first half because of the tailwind of 2016, we should expect higher growth rates on the fees.
And then as we move to the second half, we will have these more tailor-made changes and be more systematic on how we do those new price increases.
Europe is interesting.
We talked a little more about Asia this time, because as we think about our international platform, we have had some really great success and winning business in the Asia marketplace.
Europe, I have said all along, it's a long play.
And it certainly has been rolling out that way this year, and so we still feel good about the market.
We still think of it as a long-term play for us, and we feel really good about the prospects that we have in that pipeline.
But I would say more broadly it's been just Europe that we have, also within Asia.
I think the really big ones are more known and just are taking time to, as you say, ripen.
If you look at within our US portfolio, we have a number of private-label contracts that aren't just major oils.
And so that part is less static, and as we're in the marketplace and developing the pipelines that we have.
And again, that's also true as you get outside of Europe into some of the other markets that some of the mid-size oil companies too are also prospects for us.
<UNK>, good morning, this is <UNK>.
So I would say to you, there is a couple of things.
Number one, interest rates, because we have been seeing now in the last few months there is a lot of volatility on the interest rates.
We have factored, as I said, 40 to 65 basis points on our guidance, so depending on how the strength, higher or lower, there could be some impact there.
The second thing is how quick we can implement and ramp up the resources now with Chevron and ExxonMobil that they may give us some benefit earlier than we expect.
That's another area where we should be focused.
And finally, being cautious on the credit loss guidance, which is between the [13] and 15 basis points range.
We had a good starting of the first, call it six weeks, but it's an area also to watch for 2017.
The only other thing I would add to that is, when we go to into any year, because we're growing our business organically, we always have a bogey in there of how much we have to ramp for new business.
So that's something that can cause a swing in any particular year.
Typically, the majority of the revenue is booked but you still have this variability that enters into, based on what you have for open business.
And so some of that depends on timing of when it ramps, which sometimes you control and sometimes you don't 100% control it.
<UNK>, let me answer for you.
So both revenue ex-FX or with the currency was over 100%.
So we had a very good quarter.
We have been ramping up since, I would say, Q3, as revenue started growing significantly faster, and it has accelerated in Q4.
But it's both with considering FX rates and the [efacto] rates too.
What I will say to you is that we expect a high growth from Brazil; I would say probably a bit more than on the high teens.
That's directionally where we should expect.
From a quarter revenue point of view, we have around ---+ in a full year it's around $20 million.
<UNK> gave a few of those numbers, and I always hesitate to give you very specific numbers
But we have said in the West Health business, organically we're still saying that it's a high-teen growth rate business.
And in the Fleet business, we have seen growth, double-digit growth, and I would say that business, as it gets ultimately more mature, it's typically more of a single-digit grower.
But we have been able to show much more growth in that.
We feel pretty good about that trajectory we're on in Fleet.
And then on the corporate payment side of the business, 2017 will be a little bit of an unusual year for us, but if you look at the longer-term growth trajectory we are still seeing spend volume growth in the high teens if not higher in that business.
I feel great about 2016.
And I think part of why I feel so strongly about 2016 is that it was coming literally from every part of the business and all over the world.
And so the pipeline development was very strong.
I feel like people stayed really disciplined and focused.
Some of the wins, I think, we're never going to talk about because they are smaller in size that are just being generated deep in the organization.
But we also had some really big marquee names that we added on in 2016.
So feel really good about that.
And I would say going into 2017, I feel equally bullish that we have a number of really great prospects in that pipeline and we will continue to stay disciplined.
We have got a great sales force globally that have been just knocking it down, as well as the relationship management groups that we have that have been doing contract renewals.
Let me tell you that the expense that you are talking about pertains to a resolution and clarification of a past obligation and an extension of an agreement with a long-term technology partner.
I also said on the call that we should see savings from 2018 and beyond, so directionally you can get that 2017 between some internal and this partner we're going to be more or less on the same pace.
Yes, so we talked about a number of contract wins that we had specifically in the over-the-road marketplace.
I would say that the market conditions are similar; that it's a competitive marketplace.
So there are contract takeaways that we're winning in that space, and part of why we win is the underlying technology.
The part that made EFS particularly attractive, among many things, was the underlying technology, the flexibility of the systems that they have; and so their ability to meet market needs and appear to be highly customizable to the customer set has been attractive in the marketplace.
And so we feel like we have really good momentum there.
And then as you mentioned, the ability to combine that with our bank and lending capability that we have is really great when you get into some of the smaller accounts, which is where we historically had played.
So there has been really good momentum, and I think the combining of the EFS business along with our Fleet One historical brand has been a good momentum shift for us.
Just want to say thank you, guys, for joining us again this quarter, and we'll look forward to speaking with you next quarter.
