NextBoat Q2 2026 Earnings Call - Record Revenue and Strategic Pivot to High-Margin F&I

Operator: Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to NextBoat’s second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. With us today are Brian John, NextBoat’s Chief Executive Officer, Blake Phillips, the company’s Chief Operating Officer, and Chad Corbin, the company’s Chief Financial Officer. Jason Ruegg, founder and President, will join us for Q&A. Blake will begin the call with an overview of the business, followed by Brian, who will discuss our performance and strategic initiatives. Chad will then review the financial results, after which we will open the line for questions. If you have dialed in and would like to ask a question, please press star 1 to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star 1 again. I’d like to start by reminding you that certain comments on this call are forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of today.

These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ materially from expectations. These risks include, but are not limited to, the impact of seasonality and weather, global economic conditions, and the level of consumer spending, the company’s ability to capitalize on opportunities or grow its market share, and numerous other factors identified in our Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which can be found in the investor relations section of the company’s website. Also on today’s call, management will make comments referring to non-GAAP financial measures. Management believes that the inclusion of these financial measures helps investors gain a meaningful understanding of the changes in the company’s core operating results. These measures can also help investors who wish to make comparisons between NextBoat and other companies on both a GAAP and a non-GAAP basis.

The reconciliation to non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures is available in today’s earnings release. The company disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update forward-looking statements to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date the forward-looking statements are made, except as required by law. Please also note that all comparisons of our second quarter 2026 results are made against the second quarter 2025 results, unless otherwise noted. I’d also like to remind everyone that today’s call is being recorded, and an archived version of the call will be available on the company’s website sometime after the call. With that, I’d like to turn the call over to COO Blake Phillips. Blake?

Blake Phillips, Chief Operating Officer, NextBoat: Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, everyone. We appreciate you joining us today. I want to start out with our team, our brokers on the docks and out on the water, our buyers behind their desks working on our next acquisitions, and our closings, service, and support teams making it all happen. Because what they delivered this quarter is the story of this call. Transaction volume up approximately 138% year-over-year. Our transaction closing team tripled to keep pace, while we continue to model our AI to work alongside them. The organization grew about 42% year-over-year to build the machine that makes all of this possible. That’s not incremental progress. That’s a company hitting its stride. I’m proud of what this team has built and grateful to everyone who helped to get us here. I’ll walk you through four pillars, where we’ve been and where we’re going.

One, in the past year, we’ve built the infrastructure to become the leading platform to buy, sell, service, and maintain pre-owned boats in the U.S., and we took that company public. Two, we are now scaling that company and that platform, and this quarter is proof that it scales. Three, our NextBoat AI platform is the multiplier, the engine that takes us from over $100 million in revenue in 2025 toward what we believe can be a billion-dollar revenue company. Four, we are focused on turning that scale into profitability, making every part of our business accretive on its own, and driving down corporate-level costs, including the cost of being a public company, so that profitability shows up at the bottom line. Here’s the backdrop for all of it. NextBoat has been profitable every single year since our founding, more than 13 years running.

We didn’t take this company public because we needed to prove we could make money. We took it public because we saw a fragmented, multi-billion dollar market ready to be rebuilt around a better platform, and we needed the capital infrastructure to go build it. That’s exactly what the last year has been, and the opportunity is enormous. Roughly three out of every four boat transactions in the U.S. involve a pre-owned vessel. That’s the majority of this entire market, and it still runs largely on fragmented listings, opaque pricing, and paperwork that hasn’t changed in a decade. We are building the platform that fixes that, the speed, the transparency, and the liquidity this market has never had. But there’s something underneath the platform that we think is even more powerful. We sit at the intersection of two massive data sets.

On one side, we know exactly what buyers and brokers are looking for, the demand. On the other, we have a constant inflow of boats coming to us for valuation, the supply. That puts us in a unique position to connect those dots off-market, matching real buyer and broker demand against real available inventory before either side has to search for another. We’re bringing that capability to market as its own offering, Match, powered by NextBoat. It’s the connective tissue of this entire platform, and we believe it’s one of the most valuable and most exciting pieces of what we’ve built. We’re not just another dealership competing for the same customers. We are the market maker for pre-owned boats, the company on both sides of the trade with the technology, the capital, and the infrastructure to let thousands of people buy and sell from anywhere.

This is a scalable, decentralized marketplace built for how boats will actually be bought and sold going forward, not a bigger version of the old model. In this quarter, the model proved itself. Record transaction closings, record quarterly sales, transaction volume up roughly 120% year-over-year, and it worked across both sides of our business, brokerage and company-owned inventory alike, extending the growth trajectory we set last quarter. We also landed two partnerships that validate the platform at a category level. MarineMax, one of the largest names in the marine industry, is now our preferred wholesale partner for pre-owned boats and yachts. Newcoast is now our preferred finance and insurance partner. These are the kind of relationships that come looking for you once the platform starts working at a scale.

We also kept building our physical footprint this quarter, the places where our brokers, service teams, and customers actually meet the water. In South Florida, we grew through the acquisition of Apex Marine Group, giving us a flagship operating location in the most active boating market in the world. In the Mid-Atlantic, we acquired a property in Maryland capable of supporting nearly 200 boats from reconditioning to sales. In North Carolina, we expanded our operations to complement multiple parts of the business, from company-owned inventory to brokerage to service and support. Taken together, this is a footprint that’s growing deliberately, anchored by real operating hubs across three of the most important boating regions in the country. Today, for the first time, every piece is on the field at once: the platform, the brand, the partnerships, and the footprint. Which brings us to what’s next.

We told you on our first call that this would be a building year. It was, and now the building is done. The pieces are in place, so our focus shifts from proving the model to sharpening it, from adding scale to converting that scale into margin. Every part of this business needs to stand on its own and be net accretive to our bottom line. We’re going to hold ourselves to that while we keep investing in what makes this company stronger for the long run. With that, I’ll turn it over to Brian. Brian?

Brian John, Chief Executive Officer, NextBoat: Thank you, Blake, and good afternoon, everyone. We appreciate you joining us today. As Blake mentioned, in the second quarter of 2026, we continue to execute on the plan we laid out, delivering record revenue of $59 million for the quarter, representing year-over-year growth of 88.41%. We also achieved record unit volume, selling 255 boats during this quarter, an increase of more than 138% year-over-year. Our brokers business also continued to grow rapidly. During the second quarter, we added 26 new brokers to the team, further expanding our ability to generate transactions across the platform. We continue to focus on broker recruitment and are also very much looking forward to the upcoming boat show season. Our order group has also had a very strong start to the year.

In just eight months, the business has already surpassed the full year goal of $100 million in brokers transaction volumes, reaching $134 million already this year. We believe this demonstrates the significant opportunity we have to continue expanding our brokerage network and transaction volume. We are also excited to open an additional Autograph sales location in Miami’s famous Bayshore Landing Marina. As we discussed previously, our first quarter results were impacted by boat show expenses, costs associated with becoming a public company, and one-time expenses related to employee share issuances. After 13 years of profitability as a private company, we view our return to profitability in the second quarter on an adjusted EBITDA basis an important milestone as we continue to build NextBoat.

We went public at the end of last year and made the conscious decision to invest upfront in the infrastructure, systems, people, compliance, and technology required to operate as a scalable public company. Those investments increased our overhead in the short term, but they were intentional and necessary. Today, our focus is increasingly on leveraging that infrastructure to grow efficiently, improve margins, and generate more revenue from each transaction. A major part of that strategy is expanding into high margin level businesses, including finance, insurance, and warranty. These are newly developed areas of our business that provide opportunities to generate additional revenue beyond the initial boat transaction. Much like in the auto industry, these F&I initiatives carry very much higher margins and will be the focus on how we increase our overall margins within the company.

One of the most important developments during the quarter was our five-year strategic partnership with MarineMax, the largest recreational boat and yacht retailer in the U.S. This agreement was signed June 25th, 2026. At its core, this relationship connects MarineMax’s significant retail trade-in pipeline with NextBoat’s AI-powered valuation, wholesale, and transaction platform. This partnership is strategically important. It creates an opportunity for NextBoat to participate in additional revenue streams associated with transactions generated through the MarineMax relationship. In particular, NextBoat can participate in financing and insurance revenue through revenue-sharing agreements with MarineMax’s affiliated finance and insurance businesses. This creates an opportunity for us to generate revenue beyond the boat transaction itself and increase the amount of revenue we can generate from each transaction. For transactions involving off-the-hook owned inventory, our Azure Finance operations will focus on financing opportunities.

Other qualifying transactions will be referred to Newcoast, MarineMax’s finance and insurance operation under the terms of our agreement. We also intend to launch a new warranty business this month. Warranty carries the biggest margins in our industry, and we will make warranty products available across eligible NextBoat transactions, creating another opportunity to not only increase revenue per transaction, but continue to focus on improving our margins. The addition of Apex and BellHart will also allow us opportunities to sell warranty and service customers. We are putting significant focus on these initiatives because we believe they can play an important role in increasing both revenue and margins over time. These acquisitions are strategically important because they add physical marine infrastructure to our technology platform. They provide established facilities, inventory storage and service capabilities, existing customers, skilled technicians, and additional opportunities to generate higher-margin service, parts, and repair revenue.

This is an important part of our strategy because technology can transform how boats are bought and sold, but there are certain parts of the marine industry that require physical infrastructure. Storage, service, shipping, and repair cannot be replaced by software. Our service locations give us the ability to store and service inventory in-house, which can reduce our reliance on rented facilities and outsourced services. It also gives us a hub from which we can position inventory and move boats efficiently through our network. More importantly, the service business gives us an opportunity to participate in the ownership cycle beyond the initial sale. Instead of generating revenue only from when a boat gets bought or sold, we can also participate in service, maintenance, parts, and repair opportunities over time.

By integrating Apex and BellHart into the broader NextBoat ecosystem, we believe we can create meaningful cross-selling opportunities and build a more diversified revenue base. Let me emphasize the importance of the NextBoat platform. While brokerage remains an important part of the business, we believe what differentiates NextBoat is the technology platform that empowers transactions across the network. The NextBoat platform is designed to enable buying and selling of boats at scale. It is already being used for boat valuations, deal structuring, offer generation, CRM workflows, and boat broker support. MarineMax’s decision to partner with us is an important indication of the value of this technology, and we are now working to employ the platform within the relationship as well. The platform continues to develop and improve as we add data, transactions, and automation.

Our goal is to increase the number of offers and transactions we can process without requiring senior management to be involved in every individual deal. AI and automation are increasingly being integrated into closings, finance, warranty, sales, logistics, deal flow management, and customer follow-up. Over time, we expect these capabilities to increase productivity, reduce administrative work, and provide greater operating leverage as we grow. Another important driver of our growth is our broker recruitment. We added 26 new brokers this quarter, and broker expansion remains key component of the Off The Hook growth strategy. One of the attractive aspects of our model is that brokers are primarily performance-based revenue generators. As productive brokers are added to the network, we can increase transaction volume without adding the same level of fixed corporate overhead associated with a traditional dealership model.

Our NextBoat AI system tracks the broker’s structure and associated incentives automatically, allowing us to manage the program efficiently as the network grows. Ultimately, we believe the combination of technology, broker growth, physical infrastructure, and additional revenue streams give NextBoat the opportunity to build a much more diversified marine platform. We are not simply focused on selling more boats. We are focused on increasing the number of transactions we can process, increasing the revenue we generate from each transaction, and increasing the portion of the revenue that comes from higher-margin businesses. That is the opportunity we see ahead. With that, I’ll turn the call over to our Chief Financial Officer, Chad Corbin, who will walk you through our financial results in more detail. Chad?

Chad Corbin, Chief Financial Officer, NextBoat: Thank you, Brian, and good afternoon, everyone. Starting with revenue for the second quarter ended June 30th, 2026, we generated record revenue of $59.1 million, representing an increase of 88.4% compared to the $31.3 million in the same period of 2025. The increase was primarily attributable to the contribution of the Apex Marine and BellHart businesses acquired during the quarter, an increase in our floor plan limit that supported higher inventory utilization throughout the period, and the continued expansion of our broker network at Off The Hook and our premier brokers yacht division, Autograph Yacht Group. All these factors contributed to an increase in the number of pre-owned boats sold and brokerage deals closed during the quarter. New boat sales increased by $7.1 million, or 189.3%, to $10.9 million for three months ended June 30th, compared to $3.8 million in the same period of 2025.

The increase is attributable to the new boat lines that were acquired through the Apex Marine and BellHart acquisitions. Pre-owned boat sales increased by $18.5 million or 69.5% to $45 million for the three months ended June 30th, 2026, compared to the $26.6 million in the same period, 2025. For the three months ended June 30th, 2026, we sold approximately 230 pre-owned units compared to approximately 112 pre-owned units for the same period, 2025. Average price per inventory pre-owned boat sale transaction was approximately $381,566 for the three months ended June 30th, 2026, compared to approximately $400,302 in the same period, 2025. We sell a wide range of brands and sizes of pre-owned boats under different types of sales arrangements, which causes periodic and seasonal fluctuations in the average sales price.

Revenue from arranging financing products, including financing, insurance, and extended warranty contracts to customers through various third-party financial institutions and insurance companies increased by $400,000, or 66.7%, to $1 million for the three months ended June 30th, 2026, compared to the $600,000 in the same period of 2025. The increase was attributable to the high volume of units delivered, a greater proportion of finance-dependent buyers in the customer mix, and increased emphasis on financing solutions for customers purchasing pre-owned inventory. Revenue from service, parts, and other sales increased by $1.8 million, or 465.6%, to $2.2 million for the three months ended June 30th, 2026, compared to $400,000 in the same period in 2025. The increase is attributable to the acquisitions of Apex Marine and Bellhaven. These acquisitions are expected to expand internal service capabilities for inventory and support growth in our retail service offerings.

Gross profit increased by $4.8 million, or 100.1%, to $9.5 million for the three months ended June 30th, 2026, compared to the $4.8 million in the same period in 2025. The increase was attributable to a high number of boats transacted across our platform. Additionally, growth in our higher-margin businesses, service, and financial products contributed to the increase in gross margin. Gross profit for pre-owned boat sales increased by $3.0 million, or 81.1%, to $6.7 million for the three months ended June 30th, 2026, compared to the $3.7 million for the same period in 2025. Pre-owned boat gross profit as a percentage of pre-owned boat revenue was 15% for the three months ended June 30th, 2026, compared to the 13.9% in the same period, 2025.

We sell a diverse mix of pre-owned boats across various price points, brands, and sales channels, including trade-ins, consignment, wholesale, and brokerage, which naturally contributes to fluctuations in gross profit margins due to varying transaction structures and sales dynamics. Moreover, the modest growth in gross profit as a percentage of pre-owned boat revenues can be attributed to our purchasing team’s skillful buying decisions regarding our used boat inventory. Selling, general, and administrative expenses consist primarily of lease expense, insurance, utilities, and other customary operating expenses. SG&A increased $1 million, or 250%, to $1.4 million for the three months ended June 30th, 2026, compared to the $400,000 in the same period, 2025. This increase was primarily attributable to operating cost base of the Apex Marine and Bellhaven business acquired during the quarter.

High indirect market expenses and higher insurance costs related to increased inventory levels under the floor plan financing arrangements, each in line with the company’s planned business expansion for 2026. Salary and wages expenses increased $3.6 million, or 127.8%, to $6.5 million for the three months ended June 30, 2026, compared to the $2.8 million in the same period in 2025. Leading into and following our initial public offering, salaries and wages increased as we aligned our compensation with public company market benchmarks, enhanced retention packages to ensure that we attract, motivate, and retain talent required to deliver long-term shareholder value. Further, company issued stock-based compensation to employees after the initial public offering, which was $1.7 million for the three months ended June 30, 2026. These equity awards have vesting conditions, including service-based and performance-based requirements, and vest between one and five years.

Advertising and marketing expenses increased $400,000, or 700%, to $400,000 for three months ended June 30, 2026, compared to the $50,000 in the same period, 2025. The increase is due to expanding market share, enhancing corporate brand awareness. The cost increase were consistent with our established marketing strategy to support our company’s planned public offering and the associated expansion of our sales organization. The company’s floor plan interest expense increased $300,000, or 60%, to $800,000 for the three months ended June 30, 2026, compared to $500,000 in the same period, 2025. In 2026, the company incurred higher interest expense due to the increase in our floor plan credit limit and our utilization in the line of credit. We are maintaining our full year 2026 revenue guidance of $165 million-$170 million while we focus on our margin improvements and profitability in the second half of the year.

With that, I will turn the call back to Brian for closing remarks before we open the line for questions. Brian?

Brian John, Chief Executive Officer, NextBoat: Thank you, Chad. As we expand our brokers, locations, partnerships, and capacity to buy and sell boats, we are very proud of the progress our team made across the business in the second quarter. That has continued at a record pace into our third quarter that we are currently in. We delivered record revenue, record unit value, expanded our broker network, and locations that position us for the next phase of our growth. Our growth, financial performance, and new relationship with MarineMax further proves out our model works. We generally believe that used boat market is overdue for modernization. We now have the infrastructure, technology, capital relationships, and recruiting systems to scale in a way this industry has not historically been able to. We believe we are building something highly scalable that can fundamentally change how used boats are bought and sold globally.

On behalf of our entire leadership team, I want to thank our employees, partners, and investors for their continued support. With that, operator, please open the lines for questions.

Operator: Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question, and if you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Mark Smith from Lake Street. Please go ahead.

Mark Smith, Analyst, Lake Street: Hi, guys. I wanted to ask first a little bit about MarineMax and the acquisition there. Just as you think about it and look at it, do you view this as, is there any threat to the partnerships that you have? Does this potentially create some opportunities that you guys could capitalize on?

Blake Phillips, Chief Operating Officer, NextBoat: Yeah, I can take that. This is Blake Phillips. Thank you very much. I’ll first start by talking a little bit about the partnership. We’re super excited about it. MarineMax is obviously one of the biggest and most respected players in the industry, so having them choose NextBoat and our respective technology and team is great validation to what we’re building. With the Blackstone and Safe Harbor news this week, we certainly think that’s exciting as well. You’re seeing significant institutional capital coming into the marine industry, which I think ultimately speaks to the opportunity ahead. So, on both fronts, it’s still early, but we’re excited about the relationship, excited about the rollout, and really looking forward to seeing where it can go.

Mark Smith, Analyst, Lake Street: Perfect. I wanted to ask just about your own acquisitions you closed on through this quarter. Curious where you guys are on integration of Apex and BellHart. Where you are at in that, and then how active the M&A pipeline is for the remainder of the year.

Brian John, Chief Executive Officer, NextBoat: This is Brian. I will answer that second part, if that is okay. Mike, can you hear me? Hello?

Mark Smith, Analyst, Lake Street: Yep. Yeah, no, go ahead.

Brian John, Chief Executive Officer, NextBoat: I was intimately involved with the acquisition of Apex. The company was on track to lose over $1 million. They were trying to expand too quickly. The gentleman running the company was getting a lot older, and we were able to go in there and instead of losing it, March 15th, I think we showed a positive roughly $60,000 in the black so far. So completely turned around the business already, and it is heading in the right direction. We still have some more work to do implementing things with them and our accounting systems, things of that nature. But other than that, it is up and running and it is humming along, so we are very happy with where we are with that acquisition so far.

Mark Smith, Analyst, Lake Street: Got it. Perfect.

Blake Phillips, Chief Operating Officer, NextBoat: Yeah, I can piggyback on that a little bit more, just to add some additional color. The Apex acquisition is highly complementary to our mission at being the world’s largest buyer and retailer of used boats. When that is the mission of the company, you’ve ultimately got to have land to utilize and allow for that to be a mission where the rubber meets the road, per se. Apex is our company in the most living, breathing form, where boats are acquired into, reconditioned, and retailed. For that matter, it’s really a hub for us that really wraps in everything that our company represents. There are other complementing elements to Apex, of course, with outside service. It is a bona fide shipyard. We’ve got new boat sales activity.

But at its core, it is highly complementary of what has brought us to this point, which is the largest buyer and reseller of pre-owned boats.

Mark Smith, Analyst, Lake Street: Perfect. Thank you.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Mike Albanese from Benchmark Company. Please go ahead.

Mike Albanese, Analyst, Benchmark Company: Yeah. Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my question. Can you all hear me okay?

Brian John, Chief Executive Officer, NextBoat: Yeah, I can hear you, Mike. This is Brian.

Mike Albanese, Analyst, Benchmark Company: Hey, Brian. All right. Inventory up here. Obviously, you pulled on the floor plan a bit. I guess, can you just help us understand where your current inventory turns are, and maybe where you see them going as the acquisitions are integrated here?

Brian John, Chief Executive Officer, NextBoat: Yeah, that’s a great question. We’re still in the 4-5 times a year range. Obviously, we’re growing very quick, so I expect it to stay in that range. But as volume increases, obviously those numbers may come down, and it’s not a bad thing. That’s why people use us. It’s because our accuracy when we’re buying boats from dealers and things of that nature. The fact that we can close so quickly on a boat and take a trade from a dealer is really our value to them. So I expect it to stay in that 4-5 times range for the foreseeable future.

Chad Corbin, Chief Financial Officer, NextBoat: Hey, Mike. Hey, this is Chad. I’ll add onto that a little bit as well.

Mike Albanese, Analyst, Benchmark Company: Sure.

Chad Corbin, Chief Financial Officer, NextBoat: One of the things that we’re going to be focusing on is our turns for our inventory. Actually, we were just talking prior to this call about it. It’s going to be a major focus of ours. And now having the two refurbishment centers to help manage that inventory and that workload, we’re going to be able to control it, and ultimately get the quicker turns. Because a lot of times it’s not necessarily finding the right buyer, a lot of times it’s just getting the boat in condition, ready to sell, to get it on the market.

Mike Albanese, Analyst, Benchmark Company: All right, great. If I can just, I guess just kind of take this a step further, but I guess I’m trying to get a sense of the level of working cap needs. You put the infrastructure in place here, you built the platform, it’s a jumping-off point where we can really start to grow this thing. So just think about kind of run rate your business as it stands today, or maybe as you integrate the most recent deals, working cap needs for this model.

Chad Corbin, Chief Financial Officer, NextBoat: Yeah, for sure.

Mike Albanese, Analyst, Benchmark Company: However you want to frame that, hopefully.

Chad Corbin, Chief Financial Officer, NextBoat: Yeah. No, it makes sense. Yeah, for sure. We obviously, as we utilize more of our floor plan, we need more capital to put money down on those boats. We are going to focus on the boats that are generating the most margin for us. We will buy some of the larger boats, which typically bring in the lower margins. But I think focusing the second half of the year, we’re going to put a higher emphasis on some of the boats in our sweet spot. We usually say that’s

Mike Albanese, Analyst, Benchmark Company: Yeah

Chad Corbin, Chief Financial Officer, NextBoat: between $200,000 and, say, $600,000 boats. So obviously, those need a little lower working capital for carrying costs, whether it be repairs or interest expense. So, I think in terms of the amount of working capital needed, I mean, obviously the quicker we turn, the quicker we can just roll that money

Mike Albanese, Analyst, Benchmark Company: Right

Chad Corbin, Chief Financial Officer, NextBoat: right back into the floor plan for our equity payments. For us, it’s just a matter of managing the size of the units and the turns, then make sure that we have enough working capital to support the floor plan.

Mike Albanese, Analyst, Benchmark Company: Got it. Okay. That’s it for me. Thanks, guys.

Operator: At this time, there are no further questions. This concludes today’s call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.