TREX
#Well, a couple things ---+ if you just looked at the volume, it would be up roughly 16%.
When you look at some of the changes we made, we did make a change in our pricing for our Transcend monochromatic, and the price difference between the monochromatic and the exotic actually narrowed.
So we have a very strong presence at the high end of our product offering.
And what we've been able to do is to successfully interest our customers in trading up to the next level.
In some cases it's from Select to Enhance.
In other cases it's up to the Transcend.
And we continue to focus on that as a strategy.
We think that's the best value for the consumer, and that's the best value for Trex.
Thanks, <UNK>.
Thank you.
What is behind that expectation is this: five years ago we introduced Trex Transcend, and Trex Transcend eliminated the primary dissatisfier among people in the composite customer base.
Those two dissatisfiers were staining and fading.
Subsequent to our introduction, the marketplace has essentially copied the technology, and thereby raising the overall quality for the entire composite segment.
And so the whole consumer base that we deal with has a higher level of confidence in composites than they did before, which is breaking down their resistance and their bias toward wood.
So what we see is that composite decking is taking share from wood decking, and Trex is taking share within the composite segment.
So we've got a number of forces at play.
The economic tailwind is beginning to blow; the share of composites as a percentage of total decking is rising; and Trex's share within that composite category is rising.
So we've got a perfect storm blowing favorable winds right now.
So that process continues.
And I stand by my original expectation.
Well, we now sell in, I'm told, 45 countries in total, up a couple from our last phone call.
It is the fastest-growing part of our business.
It is meaningful to us.
It is certainly beyond the point that we ---+ we would never walk away from it.
I'll let my CFO decide when SEC rules require that it be broken out separately.
But it won't be long at the rate that it's growing.
Let me just divide some precise clarification.
They will be installed in the first half.
They will start operating in the second half.
So the three extra product lines are now on-site, and installation is actively underway.
So the bottom line is nothing has changed from what I said before.
His effective retirement date is June 30.
And in some future date, we will talk more about it.
Well, the land purchase is to provide ---+ we are going to need it for the opportunities that we see on the horizon in our specialty products, but not limited exclusively to pellets, necessarily, or even at all necessarily for pellets.
We've got a lot in the pipeline, which I referred to earlier.
We are going to need that land.
The pellet business is going as advertised.
We are developing the market.
We have a selection of customers.
We are in production.
We are selling what we are making.
And I think that's about all the color I want to provide.
<UNK>, do you want to add any more color to that.
No, I think we have said before that this first line was going to be split between R&D and building the market.
We continue with that.
We are backing off the R&D at this point as we are moving to install those new lines.
And having those additional lines will enable us to actually cast a wider array of products at the market and be able to service those larger customers that need greater volume than what we can get off the one line.
It is our strategy to have people move toward the higher end.
We offer the good, better, best because that was part of our dealer conversion strategy.
You have to have an opening-price-point product.
But what we find is having an opening price point helps us add dealers.
But when the customer walks into the dealer and sees the wide array of product, they still have a bias.
And they will spend the extra money on our higher-end products.
So by raising the price of our monochromatic, really what happened is it drove people toward the exotics, as <UNK> mentioned earlier.
The strategy has worked out exactly as our marketing department said it would.
<UNK>, do you want to add to that.
I think when you look at what we've done, this is a win-win for everybody in the chain.
You make more money on the higher-margin items.
The dealers make more money.
The distributors make more money.
And the consumer gets better value by moving to the Transcend exotics.
So everyone in the chain that's touching this product is better off as they move to the exotic platform.
Well, thank you.
The past eight years have been very successful, and our business in 2015 is progressing just as we have planned.
Everyone at Trex is galvanized to continue our winning track record and engineering what's next in outdoor living.
I can tell you that I'm looking forward to my last earnings call next quarter.
I really enjoyed answering your questions.
And we will be back with you and <UNK> and I in August.
That's all for now.
Thanks very much.
Goodbye.
