Abercrombie & Fitch Co (ANF) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Abercrombie & Fitch's Fourth Quarter Year-End Fiscal Year 2022 Earnings Call. Today's conference is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mo Gupta. Please go ahead.

美好的一天，歡迎來到 Abercrombie & Fitch 的 2022 財年第四季度年終收益電話會議。今天的會議正在錄製中。 （操作員說明）此時，我想將會議轉交給 Mo Gupta。請繼續。

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to our fourth quarter 2022 earnings call. Joining me today on the call are Fran Horowitz, Chief Executive Officer; and Scott Lipesky, Chief Financial Officer. Earlier this morning, we issued our fourth quarter earnings release, which is available on our website at corporate.abercrombie.com under the Investors section. Also available on our website is an investor presentation. Please keep in mind that any forward-looking statements made on the call are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations and assumptions we mentioned today. A detailed discussion of these factors and uncertainties is contained in the company's reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, we will be referring to certain non-GAAP financial measures during the call. Additional details and reconciliations of GAAP to adjusted non-GAAP financial measures are included in the release and investor presentation issued earlier this morning. With that, I will turn the call over to Fran.

謝謝。早上好，歡迎來到我們的 2022 年第四季度財報電話會議。今天和我一起參加電話會議的有首席執行官 Fran Horowitz；和首席財務官 Scott Lipesky。今天上午早些時候，我們發布了第四季度收益報告，可在我們網站 corporate.abercrombie.com 的“投資者”部分獲取。我們的網站上還提供投資者介紹。請記住，在電話會議上作出的任何前瞻性陳述均受 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》安全港條款的約束。這些前瞻性陳述受風險和不確定因素的影響，可能導致實際結果出現重大差異來自我們今天提到的期望和假設。公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的報告和文件中包含對這些因素和不確定性的詳細討論。此外，我們將在電話會議期間提及某些非 GAAP 財務指標。 GAAP 與調整後的非 GAAP 財務指標的更多細節和對賬包含在今天上午早些時候發布的新聞稿和投資者介紹中。有了這個，我會把電話轉給弗蘭。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today, and a warm welcome to Mo on his return to A&F, leading our Investor Relations efforts. I'm excited to share our fourth quarter and full year results. We finished the quarter with sales surpassing the outlook range we provided in our early January business update for a strong close to the year. 2022 was another year of twists and turns, and I'd like to thank our global associates as well as our partners for once again stepping up to deliver solid financial results while making progress against our long-term strategic priorities. As geopolitical disruption and inflationary impacts accelerated early in the year, we laid out plans to pivot our investments to optimize sales growth, operating margin and inventory. Our teams rally to deliver on each of those dimensions, leveraging the agility we have gained from our transformation efforts these past few years. At the start of every year, my goal is to make this organization stronger, and we have done that once again in 2022, allowing us to start 2023 from a position of strength with so much opportunity in front of us. Today, I'll cover our fourth quarter and our full year 2022 results, reflecting our progress in the past year. Then I'll conclude with our objectives and priorities for 2023.

早上好，感謝您今天加入我們，熱烈歡迎莫回到 A&F，領導我們的投資者關係工作。我很高興分享我們的第四季度和全年業績。我們在本季度結束時的銷售額超過了我們在 1 月初的業務更新中提供的展望範圍，以強勁的收盤價結束了這一年。 2022 年又是曲折的一年，我要感謝我們的全球員工和合作夥伴再次挺身而出，取得穩健的財務業績，同時在我們的長期戰略重點方面取得進展。隨著今年年初地緣政治動盪和通脹影響加速，我們制定了將投資重點放在優化銷售增長、營業利潤率和庫存上的計劃。我們的團隊齊心協力，利用我們在過去幾年的轉型工作中獲得的敏捷性，在每個方面實現目標。每年年初，我的目標都是讓這個組織變得更強大，我們在 2022 年再次做到了這一點，讓我們能夠從一個充滿機遇的強大位置開始 2023 年。今天，我將介紹我們的第四季度和 2022 年全年業績，反映我們在過去一年中取得的進展。然後我將總結我們 2023 年的目標和優先事項。

For the fourth quarter, we grew sales 3% year-over-year on a reported basis and 5% on a constant currency basis. This growth was enabled by having inventory on hand to meet demand during the peak holiday period. We purposely built inventory in the second and third quarters with the target to be around flat to last year by year-end. We delivered on that goal with inventory finishing down 4% to year-end 2021. While sales trends improved sequentially across brands, performance was once again led by continued strength of the Abercrombie & Fitch brand. I'm incredibly proud to report that Abercrombie brands, which includes Abercrombie & Fitch and Abercrombie Kids grew 14% from Q4 2021 or 16% on a constant currency basis. All the work we have done to bring this brand back it was incredibly special to see the Abercrombie & Fitch women's business achieve its highest quarterly sales in brand history, an impressive follow-up to a similar record in the third quarter.

第四季度，我們的銷售額在報告基礎上同比增長 3%，在固定匯率基礎上增長 5%。這種增長是通過手頭庫存來滿足假期高峰期的需求而實現的。我們有意在第二和第三季度建立庫存，目標是到年底與去年持平。我們實現了這一目標，到 2021 年底庫存下降了 4%。雖然各品牌的銷售趨勢依次改善，但 Abercrombie & Fitch 品牌的持續實力再次引領業績。我非常自豪地報告，包括 Abercrombie & Fitch 和 Abercrombie Kids 在內的 Abercrombie 品牌比 2021 年第四季度增長了 14%，按固定匯率計算增長了 16%。我們為恢復這個品牌所做的一切工作看到 Abercrombie & Fitch 女裝業務實現了品牌歷史上最高的季度銷售額，這是對第三季度類似記錄的令人印象深刻的跟進，這非常特別。

I was also thrilled to see growth in (inaudible) business accelerate sequentially from Q3. At Hollister, we saw sequential trend improvement delivering sales down 4% to 2021 on a reported basis and down 2% on a constant currency basis. While we still have progress to make, we are beginning to see trend improvement on product and organizational actions taken in late summer something we will carry forward into 2023, which I'll talk more about in a moment. Taking a step back from the quarter and reflecting on the full year, one word comes to mind, complex. With the conflict in Ukraine, rising inflation and continued COVID-related measures impacting the consumer, a back to normal did not happen in retail. With all this uncertainty, our focus was simple, control what we could control. While that meant making short-term strategic decisions, we also kept an eye on the long term. In June, we held our first Investor Day since 2018 and presented our 2025 Always Forward Plan, transitioning our mindset from transformation to growth.

我也很高興看到（聽不清）業務的增長從第三季度開始連續加速。在 Hollister，我們看到環比趨勢有所改善，到 2021 年，報告銷售額下降 4%，按固定匯率計算銷售額下降 2%。雖然我們仍有進步空間，但我們開始看到夏末採取的產品和組織行動的趨勢改善，我們將延續到 2023 年，我稍後會詳細討論。回顧本季度並回顧全年，一個詞浮現在腦海中，複雜。由於烏克蘭衝突、通貨膨脹率上升以及與 COVID 相關的措施持續影響消費者，零售業並未恢復正常。面對所有這些不確定性，我們的重點很簡單，控制我們能控制的東西。雖然這意味著要做出短期戰略決策，但我們也著眼於長期。 6 月，我們舉辦了自 2018 年以來的第一個投資者日，並提出了我們的 2025 永遠前進計劃，將我們的思維方式從轉型轉變為增長。

The Always Forward Plan is underpinned by three key pillars: delivering focused brand growth, executing an enterprise-wide digital revolution and operating with financial discipline. Starting with the first pillar, focused brand growth. In June, we discussed the Abercrombie & Fitch brand as our #1 growth opportunity for the company. Having completed one of the most impressive brand turnarounds you will see in this industry, our team has continued to build momentum with this brand. Abercrombie brands finished 2022 at $1.7 billion in total sales at a growth rate of 11% year-over-year or 13% on a constant currency basis. For the Abercrombie Fitch brand, our assortment, marketing and values continue to align with our customer as we look to output them from their in-office workdays to their long weekend adventures. A few other highlights for the year in Abercrombie.

Always Forward Plan 由三個關鍵支柱支撐：提供有針對性的品牌增長、執行企業範圍的數字革命和遵守財務紀律。從第一個支柱開始，專注於品牌增長。 6 月，我們將 Abercrombie & Fitch 品牌作為公司的第一大增長機會進行了討論。在完成了這個行業中最令人印象深刻的品牌轉型之後，我們的團隊繼續為這個品牌打造動力。 Abercrombie 品牌在 2022 年的總銷售額達到 17 億美元，同比增長率為 11%，按固定匯率計算為 13%。對於 Abercrombie Fitch 品牌，我們的品類、營銷和價值觀繼續與我們的客戶保持一致，因為我們希望將他們從他們的辦公室工作日輸出到他們的長周末冒險。 Abercrombie 今年的其他一些亮點。

Our women's bottoms business had the highest full year sales in the history of the brand. The Best Dressed Guest franchise helped us deliver the best year ever for women's dresses and we launched our newest franchise, YPB, your personal best in Q1 to an amazing customer response. YPB leggings and Square Net tank were both named to the best leggings and best tops list in the Self magazine Activewear awards, along with multiple A&F brand items featured in Men's Health, Esquire, Refinery 29, People Magazine and more. As we set new records across key product categories, we continue to leverage our marketing efforts to drive customer engagement and conversion. Our authentic and innovative initiatives across the platform resulted in two amazing awards this year. We received the Performance Marketing Strategy of the Year award by LTK, the world's largest influencer and creator commerce platform, and the brand was named to the brands that matter list by SaaS company. With the brand firing on all cylinders, we opened 21 stores and rightsize another 4 across Abercrombie & Fitch and Abercrombie Kids brands.

我們的女褲業務全年銷售額創下品牌歷史最高記錄。 Best Dressed Guest 特許經營權幫助我們創造了有史以來最好的女性著裝年度，我們推出了最新的特許經營權 YPB，您在第一季度的個人最佳表現獲得了驚人的客戶反響。 YPB 緊身褲和 Square Net 背心都被評為 Self 雜誌運動服獎的最佳緊身褲和最佳上衣，還有多個 A&F 品牌產品在 Men's Health、Esquire、Refinery 29、People Magazine 等雜誌上亮相。隨著我們在關鍵產品類別中創下新紀錄，我們繼續利用我們的營銷努力來推動客戶參與和轉化。我們在整個平台上的真實和創新舉措在今年贏得了兩個驚人的獎項。我們獲得了全球最大的影響力和創作者商業平台 LTK 頒發的年度效果營銷策略獎，該品牌被 SaaS 公司評為最重要的品牌名單。隨著品牌全速前進，我們開設了 21 家門店，並調整了另外 4 家 Abercrombie & Fitch 和 Abercrombie Kids 品牌的門店規模。

We continue to focus on smaller, more productive stores, which is a key enabler of improved 4-wall operating margin. We believe store expansion and marketing execution nicely positions Abercrombie brands for growth -- for the growth expectations in the Always Forward Plan.

我們繼續專注於更小、更高效的商店，這是提高 4 牆營業利潤率的關鍵推動因素。我們相信門店擴張和營銷執行很好地定位了 Abercrombie 品牌的增長——實現永遠前進計劃中的增長預期。

Turning to [Hollister]. 2022 was certainly a challenge. Hollister, including Gilly Hicks and social tourists finished the year with $1.9 billion in sales, down 9% to 2021 or down 6% on a constant currency basis. The teen apparel space took a step back early this summer as global inflationary pressures mounted. While macro factors certainly impacted the business, we had opportunities with our own operations to realign product, voice and experience to better match the changing customer mindset. We quickly address these opportunities making multiple changes this summer, spanning people, process and inventory investments to get back on track and allow us to more quickly respond to changes in the marketplace. Our teams have made shifts across the assortment to provide better balance. As an example, we're leaning into more cargoes and dresses.

轉向[霍利斯特]。 2022 年無疑是一個挑戰。包括 Gilly Hicks 和社交遊客在內的 Hollister 全年銷售額為 19 億美元，到 2021 年下降了 9%，按固定匯率計算下降了 6%。隨著全球通脹壓力的加劇，青少年服裝領域在今年夏初退步了。雖然宏觀因素肯定會影響業務，但我們有機會通過自己的運營來重新調整產品、聲音和體驗，以更好地適應不斷變化的客戶心態。我們迅速抓住這些機會，在今年夏天做出多項改變，涵蓋人員、流程和庫存投資，以重回正軌，讓我們能夠更快地響應市場變化。我們的團隊已對整個品類進行調整，以提供更好的平衡。例如，我們傾向於更多的貨物和連衣裙。

On top of these product shifts, we are reviewing every aspect of the Hollister brand voice and customer journey. Our team customer continues to favor the in-store experience with more than 2/3 of Hollister sales happening in store in 2022. During the year, we opened 38 stores [finishing] 2022 with 529 stores globally. Towards the end of the year, we introduced our Evolve store design in a few locations, which continues to open up and brighten the shopping experience while offering improved product placement flexibility. You will continue to see the store play an integral role at Hollister as we move forward and combine the assortment evolution, our team will have all the pieces in place to stabilize the brand and return to growth later this year.

除了這些產品轉變之外，我們還在審查 Hollister 品牌形象和客戶旅程的各個方面。我們的團隊客戶繼續青睞店內體驗，2022 年超過 2/3 的 Hollister 銷售額發生在店內。在這一年中，我們在全球開設了 38 家門店 [finishing] 2022 年 529 家門店。臨近年底，我們在幾個地點推出了 Evolve 商店設計，繼續開放和點亮購物體驗，同時提供改進的產品放置靈活性。您將繼續看到商店在 Hollister 中扮演著不可或缺的角色，因為我們向前邁進並結合了品類的演變，我們的團隊將準備好所有的部分來穩定品牌並在今年晚些時候恢復增長。

For Gilly Hicks in 2022, we evolved the brand positioning and assortment, readying for the move into our freestanding stores, a majority of which opened in the fourth quarter. In 2023, we are focused on delivering our active lifestyle assortment to the customer across physical and digital touch points. The shift into activewear is a key part of the evolution for Gilly Hicks. Up until recently, Gilly has been [weighted] to intimate sleepwear as it started as a complement to the Hollister brand. We are now broadening categories to get to our target assortment mix between active, lounge and intimates, something we'll continue learning more about as we go through the year.

對於 2022 年的 Gilly Hicks，我們改進了品牌定位和分類，準備進入我們的獨立商店，其中大部分在第四季度開業。 2023 年，我們將專注於通過物理和數字接觸點向客戶提供我們積極的生活方式組合。轉向運動服是 Gilly Hicks 發展的關鍵部分。直到最近，Gilly 才開始專注於貼身睡衣，因為它最初是對 Hollister 品牌的補充。我們現在正在擴大類別，以達到我們的目標組合，包括運動服、休閒服和貼身內衣，我們將在今年繼續學習更多相關內容。

Lastly, a quick update on social tourists. We've continued to use the brand to push fashion content in Hollister and leverage learnings around social engagement across all brands. In summary, our ambition of focused brand growth will be apparent in 2023. For Abercrombie brands, we expect to distort resources to digital marketing and store expansion to capitalize on the momentum. For Hollister, the work is underway to optimize the product and brand voice positioning us for growth in the second half of the year. And for Gilly Hicks, we'll continue to read results from the evolve assortment mix with a trigger strategy in place to allocate additional resources to drive customer acquisition later in the year.

最後，快速更新社會遊客。我們繼續使用該品牌在 Hollister 中推廣時尚內容，並利用所有品牌在社交參與方面的經驗。總而言之，我們專注於品牌增長的雄心將在 2023 年顯現。對於 Abercrombie 品牌，我們希望將資源扭曲到數字營銷和門店擴張上，以利用這一勢頭。對於 Hollister，我們正在進行優化產品和品牌聲音的工作，以實現下半年的增長。對於吉莉·希克斯 (Gilly Hicks)，我們將繼續閱讀不斷發展的分類組合的結果，並製定觸發策略以分配額外資源以推動今年晚些時候的客戶獲取。

Moving on to our second pillar, executing an enterprise-wide digital revolution. For context, at $1.6 billion in sales, our digital business was approximately 44% of our total sales in 2022. Across brands, our customer journeys are different and ever evolving, necessitating a robust set of tools and technologies. Our team has been hard at work modernizing our technology foundation. A focus area in 2022 is evolving our data infrastructure to enable faster, more predictive insights, which will largely conclude in 2023. We also kicked off a multiyear upgrade of our retail merchandising ERP, touching several key systems to provide a platform with more flexibility.

繼續我們的第二個支柱，執行企業範圍的數字革命。就背景而言，我們的數字業務銷售額為 16 億美元，約佔 2022 年總銷售額的 44%。在各個品牌中，我們的客戶旅程各不相同且不斷發展，因此需要一套強大的工具和技術。我們的團隊一直在努力使我們的技術基礎現代化。 2022 年的一個重點領域是發展我們的數據基礎設施，以實現更快、更具預測性的洞察力，這將在 2023 年基本結束。我們還啟動了零售商品 ERP 的多年升級，涉及幾個關鍵系統，以提供一個更靈活的平台。

These modernization efforts are integral to enabling future organic growth and incremental go-to-market opportunities like wholesale, franchise and/or partnerships. These projects will take time, but we've designed our deployment schedule to realize value as quickly as possible. On the customer experience side of our digital revolution, we are improving the experience across the web, mobile apps and stores. We've set up continuous feedback and deliver loops to ensure we are finding and focusing on the highest impact opportunities. One example we've talked about is Share2Pay, a feature that enables our customers to easily share their digital shopping bag with a family member or friend to complete the purchase. Share2Pay is an example of how our new digital teams are applying customer analytics and agile development to uncover and quickly deliver against customer opportunities. For 2023, we will continue modernizing our foundation to support our digital revolution. We expect to be largely complete with our foundational data infrastructure efforts and to continue progressing on our ERP transformation while maintaining a relentless pace of digital experience improvements to win and retain customers. And for our last pillar, operating with financial discipline. It was another year where we needed to flex this muscle with over $250 million of inflation hitting us in 2022 compared to 2021.

這些現代化努力對於實現未來的有機增長和增加進入市場的機會（如批發、特許經營和/或合作夥伴關係）是不可或缺的。這些項目需要時間，但我們設計了部署計劃以盡快實現價值。在數字革命的客戶體驗方面，我們正在改善網絡、移動應用程序和商店的體驗。我們已經建立了持續的反饋和循環，以確保我們正在尋找並專注於最具影響力的機會。我們談到的一個例子是 Share2Pay，該功能使我們的客戶能夠輕鬆地與家人或朋友共享他們的數字購物袋以完成購買。 Share2Pay 是我們新的數字團隊如何應用客戶分析和敏捷開發來發現并快速交付客戶機會的一個例子。到 2023 年，我們將繼續對我們的基礎進行現代化改造，以支持我們的數字革命。我們希望基本完成我們的基礎數據基礎設施工作，並繼續推進我們的 ERP 轉型，同時保持數字體驗改進的不懈步伐，以贏得和留住客戶。對於我們的最後一個支柱，以財務紀律運作。與 2021 年相比，2022 年的通貨膨脹對我們造成了超過 2.5 億美元的打擊，又是我們需要展示這種力量的一年。

We needed to balance playing offense and defense. On offense, we opened 59 new stores and accelerated key digital and technology investments. On defense, we managed expenses and inventory tightly. For inventory, our objective was to be approximately flat to 2021 at the end of 2022, and we achieved that goal with inventory down 4% at the year-end. We are optimistic we've gotten through the worst of freight costs and supply chain disrupts. Importantly, each of our brands entered 2023 in a position to chase inventory, and we will continue demonstrating agility in managing the cost side of the business (inaudible) the long-term investments that enable growth. As we wrap up, just one more thought on our industry-leading team and culture. While the past 3 years have been the most challenging I've seen in my 35 years in retail, the learnings and collaboration we've anticipated both our company and our associates stronger. I was so proud of our company to recognize yet again as a best workplace in retail by Great Place to Work and Fortune. Additionally, we received a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign's 2022 Corporate Quality Index for the 16th year in a row, with designation as one of the best places to work for LGBTQ Plus equality. As we say regularly, change is the only constant in retail, and our team will continue to balance being reactive to shifts in the market while staying focused on our long-term strategic priorities to drive sustainable, profitable growth in 2023 and beyond. We entered the year well prepared, focused and ready to execute across the three pillars of our always forward plan. With that, I'll hand it off to Scott to provide more color on our results and additional details for our 2023 outlook.

我們需要平衡進攻和防守。在進攻端，我們開設了 59 家新店，並加快了關鍵的數字和技術投資。在防禦方面，我們嚴格管理開支和庫存。對於庫存，我們的目標是到 2022 年底與 2021 年基本持平，我們實現了這一目標，年底庫存下降了 4%。我們樂觀地認為，我們已經度過了最糟糕的運費成本和供應鏈中斷。重要的是，進入 2023 年，我們的每個品牌都處於追逐庫存的位置，我們將繼續展示在管理業務成本方面的敏捷性（聽不清），即實現增長的長期投資。在我們結束時，再想一想我們行業領先的團隊和文化。雖然過去 3 年是我在零售業 35 年中所見過的最具挑戰性的一年，但我們預期公司和員工的學習和協作會更加強大。我為我們公司再次被 Great Place to Work 和 Fortune 評為零售業最佳工作場所而感到自豪。此外，我們連續第 16 年在人權運動的 2022 年企業質量指數中獲得滿分，被指定為 LGBTQ Plus 平等的最佳工作場所之一。正如我們經常說的那樣，變化是零售業唯一不變的，我們的團隊將繼續平衡對市場變化的反應，同時繼續專注於我們的長期戰略重點，以推動 2023 年及以後的可持續盈利增長。我們進入了這一年，準備充分、專注並準備好執行我們始終向前計劃的三大支柱。有了這個，我將把它交給斯科特，為我們的結果提供更多顏色，並為我們的 2023 年展望提供更多細節。

Thanks, Fran, and good morning. I'm also proud of how our teams wrapped up 2022, delivering improved results in both the third and fourth quarters. I'll start by covering Q4 results on both year-on-year and sequential comparisons, along with the rundown of our full year 2022 performance. I'll then provide some color on our 2023 outlook. For Q4, we delivered net sales of $1.2 billion, up 3% 2021 on a reported basis and up 5% on a constant currency basis. This was above the range we provided in early January due to a better-than-expected finish to the month. As Fran mentioned, we saw trends improve sequentially about Abercrombie and Hollister. Net sales at Abercrombie, which includes kids, rose 14% compared to 2021 on a reported basis and 16% on a constant currency basis. This compares to Abercrombie's Q3 reported and constant currency growth of 10% and 13%, respectively. Hollister, which includes Gilly Hicks and social tourist, declined 4% or 2% on a constant currency basis. This compares to Hollister's Q3 reported and constant currency declines of 12% and 9%, respectively.

謝謝，弗蘭，早上好。我也為我們的團隊如何結束 2022 年並在第三和第四季度取得更好的成績而感到自豪。我將首先介紹第四季度的同比和連續比較結果，以及我們 2022 年全年業績的概要。然後我將對我們的 2023 年展望提供一些顏色。第 4 季度，我們實現了 12 億美元的淨銷售額，按報告計算，2021 年增長 3%，按固定匯率計算增長 5%。由於本月結束時好於預期，這高於我們在 1 月初提供的範圍。正如 Fran 提到的，我們看到 Abercrombie 和 Hollister 的趨勢依次改善。與 2021 年相比，Abercrombie 的淨銷售額（包括童裝）增長 14%，按固定匯率計算增長 16%。相比之下，Abercrombie 的第三季度報告和固定貨幣增長率分別為 10% 和 13%。包括 Gilly Hicks 和社交遊客在內的 Hollister 按固定匯率計算下降了 4% 或 2%。相比之下，Hollister 的第三季度報告和持續匯率分別下降了 12% 和 9%。

By region, net sales increased 9% in the U.S. Internationally, we saw a decline of 13% or 6% on a constant currency basis. By region, EMEA was down 14% on a reported basis and 7% on a constant currency basis, and APAC was down 21% on a reported basis and 13% on a constant currency basis. In EMEA, our strongest markets continue to be the Middle East and the U.K., but the region largely remains soft. In APAC, while sales were down to last year in the fourth quarter, we are excited to see the region reopen with the lifting of the Zero COVID policy in China. Gross profit rate was 55.7% versus 58.3% last year. Key drivers of the year-over-year change were the adverse impact of exchange rates of 100 basis points and higher product costs of 160 basis points with higher cotton costs and inventory reserves more than offsetting lower freight costs. On a constant currency basis, AUR was up slightly with Abercrombie higher than last year, and Hollister lower than last year as we had a strong push to sell through Hollister clearance products. On inventory, we ended the quarter down 4% to last year, which was better than our expectation of around flat that we have discussed the past couple of quarters. Across brands, we are positioned to chase inventory this spring and beyond.

按地區劃分，美國的淨銷售額增長了 9%。在國際上，我們看到按固定匯率計算下降了 13% 或 6%。按地區劃分，歐洲、中東和非洲地區按報告基礎下降 14%，按固定匯率計算下降 7%，亞太地區按報告基礎下降 21%，按固定匯率計算下降 13%。在歐洲、中東和非洲，我們最強勁的市場仍然是中東和英國，但該地區基本上仍然疲軟。在亞太地區，雖然第四季度的銷售額與去年同期持平，但我們很高興看到該地區隨著中國取消零 COVID 政策而重新開放。毛利率為55.7%，去年為58.3%。同比變化的主要驅動因素是匯率上漲 100 個基點和產品成本上漲 160 個基點的不利影響，棉花成本和庫存儲備的增加抵消了較低的運費成本。在固定匯率基礎上，AUR 略有上漲，Abercrombie 高於去年，而 Hollister 低於去年，因為我們大力推動通過 Hollister 清倉產品進行銷售。在庫存方面，我們在本季度結束時比去年下降了 4%，這好於我們在過去幾個季度討論過的持平預期。在所有品牌中，我們準備在今年春季及以後追逐庫存。

I'll now cover the rest of our Q4 results on an adjusted non-GAAP basis. We excluded $4.7 million and $1.9 million of pretax asset impairment charges for this year and last year, respectively. These charges adversely impacted results by $0.07 and $0.03 this year and last year, respectively. Q4 operating expense, excluding other operating income, was $575 million compared to $581 million last year, with lower marketing and incentive-based compensation, partially offset by operating cost inflation. Operating income was approximately $92 million compared to $100 million last year. Changes in foreign currency adversely impacted operating income by approximately $18 million. The tax rate for the quarter was 49.7% at the high end of our expectation primarily due to our inability to realize a benefit on certain tax losses incurred outside of the U.S. Net income diluted share was $0.81 compared to $1.14 last year. Changes in foreign currency adversely impacted earnings per share by approximately $0.23.

我現在將在調整後的非 GAAP 基礎上介紹我們第四季度的其餘結果。我們分別排除了今年和去年的 470 萬美元和 190 萬美元的稅前資產減值費用。這些費用分別對今年和去年的業績產生了 0.07 美元和 0.03 美元的不利影響。不包括其他營業收入的第四季度營業費用為 5.75 億美元，而去年同期為 5.81 億美元，營銷和基於激勵的薪酬較低，部分被營業成本通脹所抵消。營業收入約為 9200 萬美元，而去年為 1 億美元。外匯變動對營業收入產生了大約 1800 萬美元的不利影響。本季度的稅率為 49.7%，處於我們預期的高端，這主要是由於我們無法實現美國以外發生的某些稅收損失的收益。攤薄後淨收入為 0.81 美元，而去年為 1.14 美元。外幣變動對每股收益產生了約 0.23 美元的不利影響。

Turning to full year 2022 results, which I'll cover on an adjusted non-GAAP basis. Full year results excluded approximately $14 million of pretax asset impairment charges, which adversely impacted results by $0.20. In 2021, we excluded $12 million of pretax asset impairment charges, which adversely impacted results by $0.15. For the year, net sales were $3.7 billion, flat to 2021 and up 2% on a constant currency basis. For the year, digital sales penetration was 44%. By brand, Abercrombie delivered 11% growth on a reported basis and 13% growth on a constant currency basis. Hollister declined 9% or 6% on a constant currency basis. By region, the U.S. grew 4% for the year, while the international business was down 11% on a reported basis or 4% on a constant currency basis.

轉向 2022 年全年業績，我將在調整後的非 GAAP 基礎上進行介紹。全年業績不包括約 1400 萬美元的稅前資產減值費用，這對業績產生了 0.20 美元的不利影響。 2021 年，我們剔除了 1200 萬美元的稅前資產減值費用，這對業績產生了 0.15 美元的不利影響。全年淨銷售額為 37 億美元，與 2021 年持平，按固定匯率計算增長 2%。今年，數字銷售滲透率為 44%。按品牌劃分，Abercrombie 在報告基礎上實現了 11% 的增長，在固定匯率基礎上實現了 13% 的增長。按固定匯率計算，霍利斯特下降了 9% 或 6%。按地區劃分，美國全年增長 4%，而國際業務按報告基礎下降 11%，按固定匯率計算下降 4%。

Gross profit rate was 56.9% compared to 62.3% in 2021. For the full year, foreign currency adversely impacted gross profit rate by approximately 40 basis points. For product costs, we saw approximately $200 million or 520 basis points of higher input costs, including approximately $90 million for freight, and $110 million for cotton and other raw materials. While AUR improved over 2021 levels and remains well above 2019, the growth was not enough to offset the higher costs. Operating expense, excluding other operating income, was $2 billion or 54.1% of sales compared to 52.9% of sales in 2021. Compared to 2021, the increase was driven by inflation, digital investments and higher digital fulfillment expenses, partially offset by lower marketing and incentive-based compensation. Operating income was $107 million or 2.9% of sales compared to $355 million or 9.6% in 2021. The reduction was due primarily by the lower gross profit rate due to higher freight and raw material costs as well as operating expense deleverage. Foreign currency further reduced operating income by $30 million compared to 2021.

毛利率為 56.9%，而 2021 年為 62.3%。全年，外匯對毛利率產生了約 40 個基點的不利影響。對於產品成本，我們看到投入成本增加了大約 2 億美元或 520 個基點，其中包括大約 9000 萬美元的運費，以及 1.1 億美元的棉花和其他原材料。雖然 AUR 比 2021 年有所改善，並且仍遠高於 2019 年，但增長不足以抵消更高的成本。營業費用（不包括其他營業收入）為 20 億美元，佔銷售額的 54.1%，而 2021 年佔銷售額的 52.9%。與 2021 年相比，這一增長是由通貨膨脹、數字投資和更高的數字履行費用推動的，部分被較低的營銷和基於激勵的補償。營業收入為 1.07 億美元，佔銷售額的 2.9%，而 2021 年為 3.55 億美元，佔銷售額的 9.6%。營業收入減少的主要原因是運費和原材料成本上升以及運營費用去槓桿化導致毛利率下降。與 2021 年相比，外匯進一步減少了 3000 萬美元的營業收入。

The effective tax rate for the year was 74.6%. Net income per diluted share was $0.25 compared to $4.35 in 2021. We exited the year on a strong financial position with cash and cash equivalents of $518 million and total liquidity of approximately $866 million. Capital expenditures were $165 million for 2022 with about half spent primarily on stores and the other half on digital and technology. For the year, we repurchased a total of 4.8 million shares for approximately $126 million and $8 million of secured notes. On the store fleet for the year, we opened 59 stores and closed 26, ending the year with 762 stores. As we focus on brand growth, we expect to be in a net store opening position again in 2023, although we expect to open fewer new stores than in 2022. As mentioned in our June Investor Day, we expect to see only modest changes in gross square footage and occupancy dollars.

全年有效稅率為74.6%。每股攤薄收益為 0.25 美元，而 2021 年為 4.35 美元。我們以強勁的財務狀況結束了這一年，現金和現金等價物為 5.18 億美元，總流動資金約為 8.66 億美元。 2022 年的資本支出為 1.65 億美元，其中約一半主要用於商店，另一半用於數字和技術。這一年，我們以大約 1.26 億美元和 800 萬美元的有擔保票據回購了總計 480 萬股股票。在今年的門店數量方面，我們開設了 59 家門店，關閉了 26 家，年底門店總數為 762 家。由於我們專注於品牌增長，我們預計 2023 年將再次處於淨開店位置，儘管我們預計新開的門店數量將少於 2022 年。正如我們在 6 月的投資者日中提到的那樣，我們預計總銷售額只會出現適度變化平方英尺和入住美元。

I'll finish up with our thoughts on 2023. The full year, we expect net sales growth in the range of 1% to 3% from $3.7 billion in 2022 with Abercrombie brands leading the growth. We expect the growth will be tilted towards the back half of the year, driven primarily by the 53rd reporting week in the fourth quarter and net new stores. Geographically, we expect the U.S. to continue to outperform international. For the international business, our inventory is in good place, and we are ready to chase as necessary as we see trends improve. As a reminder, our largest countries outside North America are the U.K., followed by Germany, China and France. We expect the full year operating margin to be in the range of 4% to 5% compared to reported and adjusted operating margin of 2.5% and 2.9%, respectively, in 2022.

我將結束我們對 2023 年的想法。全年，我們預計淨銷售額將從 2022 年的 37 億美元增長 1% 至 3%，其中 Abercrombie 品牌引領增長。我們預計增長將向下半年傾斜，主要受第四季度第 53 個報告周和淨新店的推動。在地理上，我們預計美國將繼續跑贏國際。對於國際業務，我們的庫存處於有利位置，我們已準備好在看到趨勢改善時進行必要的追逐。提醒一下，我們在北美以外最大的國家是英國，其次是德國、中國和法國。我們預計全年營業利潤率將在 4% 至 5% 之間，而 2022 年報告和調整後的營業利潤率分別為 2.5% 和 2.9%。

In terms of drivers, we expect around 200 basis points from a net benefit in product costs with freight savings, partially offset by higher cotton raw material costs. For operating expense at the midpoint of our sales outlook, we expect to see modest deleverage driven by the combination of inflation and increased investment related to our always forward plan initiatives, including our retail merchandising ERP upgrade. For the tax rate, we are forecasting a rate in the mid-40s. On inventory, we will continue to manage tightly and work to keep all brands in a position to chase. We see continued opportunity to reduce inventory, especially in the first 3 quarters of the year compared to 2022 and where we front-loaded inventory due to ongoing supply chain uncertainty. Regarding capital allocation, we expect capital expenditures of approximately $160 million. Just over half the spend will cover digital and technology, and the remaining will primarily cover stores. For excess liquidity, we continue -- we expect to continue to focus on share and debt repurchases, pending cash flow, business conditions and market prices.

就驅動因素而言，我們預計產品成本淨收益和運費節省將帶來約 200 個基點的收益，部分被較高的棉花原材料成本所抵消。對於我們銷售前景中點的運營費用，我們預計會看到適度的去槓桿化，這是由通貨膨脹和與我們始終如一的前瞻性計劃舉措相關的投資增加相結合所推動的，包括我們的零售商品 ERP 升級。對於稅率，我們預測 40 年代中期的稅率。在庫存上，我們將繼續嚴密管理，努力讓所有品牌都處於可追逐的位置。我們看到了減少庫存的持續機會，特別是與 2022 年相比，今年前 3 季度，由於持續的供應鏈不確定性，我們提前加載了庫存。關於資本配置，我們預計資本支出約為 1.6 億美元。超過一半的支出將用於數字和技術，其餘支出將主要用於商店。對於流動性過剩，我們繼續——我們預計將繼續關注股票和債務回購、待定現金流、業務狀況和市場價格。

Entering 2023, we have approximately $232 million remaining on the $500 million share repurchase authorization established in November 2021. For the first quarter, we expect net sales to be approximately flat to the Q1 2022 level of $813 million. Our sales outlook assumes an adverse impact of approximately 140 basis points from foreign currency. Operating margin to be in the range of breakeven to 2% compared to reported and adjusted operating margin of approximately negative 1% in the first quarter of 2022. Similar to the full year outlook, we expect operating margin to benefit year-over-year from the net reduction in freight and raw material costs, partially offset by the impact of inflation as well as operating expense investments related to the 2025 Always Forward Plan. For the tax rate, we expect it to be volatile in Q1 on expected low levels of income. We expect to incur tax expense regardless of the level of taxable income or loss. As Fran mentioned, we remain cautiously optimistic on consumer demand in 2023. While broad inflation is yet to abate, we are pleased with the reductions we have seen in freight and cotton over the past 6 months. These benefit work through the income statement on a different cadence, with freight benefits weighted to the (inaudible) rating in the second half, we expect cotton to be a headwind in the first half and moderate in the second half, netting to a headwind for the full year. From there, we are funding necessary investments in the customer experience and in the modernization of our systems to improve agility and speed while focusing on generating the free cash flow necessary to maintain our strong financial position.

進入 2023 年，我們在 2021 年 11 月建立的 5 億美元股票回購授權中剩餘約 2.32 億美元。對於第一季度，我們預計淨銷售額將與 2022 年第一季度 8.13 億美元的水平大致持平。我們的銷售前景假設外幣帶來大約 140 個基點的不利影響。營業利潤率將在盈虧平衡至 2% 之間，而 2022 年第一季度報告和調整後的營業利潤率約為負 1%。與全年展望類似，我們預計營業利潤率將同比受益於運費和原材料成本的淨減少，部分被通貨膨脹的影響以及與 2025 Always Forward 計劃相關的運營費用投資所抵消。對於稅率，我們預計它在第一季度會因預期的低收入水平而波動。無論應稅收入或虧損的水平如何，我們都預計會產生稅收費用。正如 Fran 提到的，我們對 2023 年的消費者需求保持謹慎樂觀。雖然普遍的通脹尚未減弱，但我們對過去 6 個月運費和棉花的減少感到滿意。這些收益以不同的節奏在損益表中發揮作用，下半年運費收益加權到（聽不清）評級，我們預計棉花在上半年將是不利因素，而在下半年將是溫和的，淨抵消整年。從那裡，我們正在為客戶體驗和系統現代化提供必要的投資，以提高敏捷性和速度，同時專注於產生維持我們強大財務狀況所需的自由現金流。

And with that, operator, we are now ready for questions.

有了這個，接線員，我們現在準備好提問了。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question comes from Dana Telsey from Telsey Advisor Group.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Telsey Advisor Group 的 Dana Telsey。

As you think about the Hollister business and the improvements that you're seeing, how do you frame it for 2023, whether stores, whether digital and how you're thinking about it. And then also, Scott, can you talk to at all the breakdown of the margin opportunity for 2023 in terms of freight and how you're balancing that given your clean inventories with pricing in the environment.

當您考慮 Hollister 業務和您所看到的改進時，您如何為 2023 年構建它，無論是商店，還是數字化以及您是如何考慮的。然後，斯科特，你能否談談 2023 年在運費方面的利潤率機會的細分，以及你如何在清潔庫存和環境定價的情況下平衡這一點。

Dana. So let's talk about Hollister for a few minutes. We were very pleased to see the improvement with Hollister and the sequential improvement that we saw from the third to the fourth quarter. As you know, we were on a journey with Hollister last year. Around back-to-school, the whole teen market took a little bit of a step back at that time. And what we did was, we really dove to see how much of that was driven by macro and how much of that did we own. We assessed our situation, and we made some changes, as I mentioned earlier, people, product, we made sure our receipts are back in line for our trend in the back half, and we chased into product that was working like cargoes and dresses. So the inventories are clean as we now head into '23. We're pleased with the inventory levels are. And what's most exciting is that we have [Chase] back in our business, that is a very exciting work, particularly for that teen market. Because in '22, with all the constraints on the supply chain, it was much harder for us to chase and really be able to react to what's going on. So we are cautiously optimistic as we head into '23, as we've discussed and our expectation is to return to growth in the back half of the year.

達納。因此，讓我們花幾分鐘時間談談 Hollister。我們很高興看到 Hollister 的改進以及我們從第三季度到第四季度看到的連續改進。如您所知，去年我們與 Hollister 一起踏上了旅程。返校前後，整個青少年市場在那個時候退了一步。我們所做的是，我們真的很想看看其中有多少是由宏觀驅動的，以及我們擁有多少。我們評估了我們的情況，並做出了一些改變，正如我之前提到的，人員、產品，我們確保我們的收據與我們在後半部分的趨勢保持一致，我們追逐了像貨物和連衣裙一樣有效的產品。因此，當我們現在進入 23 年時，庫存是乾淨的。我們對庫存水平感到滿意。最令人興奮的是我們讓 [Chase] 重返我們的業務，這是一項非常令人興奮的工作，特別是對於那個青少年市場。因為在 22 世紀，由於供應鏈受到所有限制，我們更難追逐並真正能夠對正在發生的事情做出反應。因此，正如我們所討論的那樣，我們在進入 23 年時持謹慎樂觀態度，我們的預期是在今年下半年恢復增長。

All right. Let me pick up the margin piece. So as we look to 2023, our expectation is operating margin of 4% to 5%. That's up from 2.9% in 2022. Our path there is we do expect to see about 200 basis points from gross margin expansion, which would come from -- mainly from the net pickup in freight. We still see cotton as a headwind for next year, but do see a good amount of that freight coming back in 2023. From there, we do expect a little bit of deleverage on the expense base. Just due to inflation as well as some of the longer-term investments we're making in digital and technology. So for the year, again, 4% to 5% on the operating margin line. As we think about balancing that with inventory, Fran hit it for the Hollister brand, but in total, all of our brand positioned to chase right now. That gives us an opportunity on the AUR front as we go into 2023. We're not assuming anything big there. Obviously, the dynamics out there with [indiscernible] and inflation are in flux every day, but we have the opportunity with lower inventories across all of our brands to hopefully raise AUR this year.

好的。讓我拿起保證金片。因此，展望 2023 年，我們的預期是營業利潤率為 4% 至 5%。這比 2022 年的 2.9% 有所上升。我們的路徑是，我們確實預計毛利率將增長約 200 個基點，這主要來自——主要來自運費的淨回升。我們仍將棉花視為明年的逆風，但確實看到大量運費在 2023 年回歸。從那時起，我們確實預計費用基礎會出現一些去槓桿化。僅僅是由於通貨膨脹以及我們在數字和技術方面進行的一些長期投資。因此，今年的營業利潤率再次達到 4% 至 5%。當我們考慮平衡它與庫存時，Fran 選擇了 Hollister 品牌，但總的來說，我們所有的品牌現在都定位於追逐。當我們進入 2023 年時，這為我們提供了在 AUR 前沿的機會。我們沒有假設任何大的東西。顯然，[音頻不清晰] 和通貨膨脹的動態每天都在變化，但我們有機會在我們所有品牌的庫存較低的情況下有望在今年提高 AUR。

And our next question comes from Corey Tarlowe from Jefferies & Company.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies & Company 的 Corey Tarlowe。

Congrats on the continued strong results. So could you talk a little bit, Fran, about the success that you drove in the fourth quarter at Abercrombie & Fitch, I know that -- you've seen some really great momentum in women's and dresses as well. But maybe could you talk a little bit more about why you think that, that momentum is sustainable and should help to continue to drive results throughout the next year? And then Scott, just on stores. I know that yet again, I think you're going to be a net opener of stores, but it sounds like you're actually going to be opening fewer than you were last year. But all that said, it's only going to be, I think, a modest change you said in gross square footage and occupancy dollars. So could you talk a little bit about how you're going to be really thoughtful around opening stores and still keeping costs in control?

祝賀持續強勁的結果。那麼，Fran，你能不能談談你在第四季度在 Abercrombie & Fitch 取得的成功，我知道——你在女裝和連衣裙方面也看到了一些非常好的勢頭。但也許你能多談談你為什麼認為這種勢頭是可持續的，應該有助於在明年繼續推動成果？然後斯科特，就在商店裡。我再次知道，我認為您將成為淨開店者，但聽起來您實際上開的店比去年少。但話雖如此，我認為這只會是你所說的總面積和入住美元的適度變化。那麼，您能否談談您將如何在開店和控製成本方面真正深思熟慮？

Corey, I'd love to talk about continuing our momentum at A&F. Coming off another strong year for the brand, which is super exciting, what we've been able to accomplish in this turnaround and there are so many exciting things happening and certainly to come. So a great example of that is women's bottoms. Our best year ever and women's bottoms and that goes way beyond just denim. So there's a whole trend happening in pants which women are now wearing back to work. They're going back to the office. They're able to use as a transitional outfits to wear them to go out because we know how social, our Abercrombie customer tends to be. We also launched a new franchise called YPB, which is our activewear. We launched that because our customers said to us, "We know you can do this well, we'd love to see some activewear from you", and they really responded nicely. So there's just lots of opportunity, our Best Dressed Guest franchise. We talked a lot about all the weddings in 2022. There's even more to come for 2023, and they're coming to us for all those special occasions. And to your point, men's is also a second quarter of positive comps for men, and we're excited to see that starting to roll as well. So there's just lots of opportunity in heading into the year with nice momentum.

科里，我很想談談我們在 A&F 的發展勢頭。品牌迎來了又一個強勁的一年，這非常令人興奮，我們在這次轉變中取得了成就，並且有很多激動人心的事情正在發生，而且肯定會發生。一個很好的例子就是女褲。我們有史以來最好的一年和女式下裝，而不僅僅是牛仔布。因此，女性現在穿著褲子上班時出現了一種整體趨勢。他們要回辦公室了。它們可以作為過渡裝束穿著外出，因為我們知道我們的 Abercrombie 客戶傾向於社交。我們還推出了一個名為 YPB 的新系列，這是我們的運動服。我們推出它是因為我們的客戶對我們說，“我們知道你可以做得很好，我們很樂意看到你的一些運動服”，他們的反應真的很好。所以有很多機會，我們的最佳著裝嘉賓特許經營權。我們就 2022 年的所有婚禮談了很多。2023 年還有更多婚禮，他們會來參加所有這些特殊場合。就你的觀點而言，男性也是男性積極表現的第二季度，我們很高興看到這一點也開始出現。因此，有很多機會以良好的勢頭進入這一年。

Okay. On the store side, yes, net opener in 2022 first time, I think, in over 10 years or around there. We opened 59, closed 26. We will slow down the 59 as we go into 2023. As we look at 2022, there were tons of great malls that we wanted to get back into. And we were able to find the right deals with our landlord partners and they were successful. Looking at those stores, the productivity on a square footage basis, the new stores versus the old almost double as we continue to have that opportunity to close some of these bigger legacy stores and open these smaller new format stores. So we like what it does for the brand and we like what it does financially. So we're going to keep that going here in 2023 and beyond (inaudible) we'll moderate a bit, but we still have great opportunities around the country and really around the world.

好的。在商店方面，是的，我認為 2022 年是 10 多年以來的第一次淨開戶。我們開了 59 家，關門了 26 家。進入 2023 年，我們將放慢 59 家的速度。展望 2022 年，有很多我們想重新進入的大型購物中心。我們能夠與房東合作夥伴找到合適的交易，他們取得了成功。看看這些商店，以平方英尺為基礎的生產力，新店與舊店相比幾乎翻了一番，因為我們繼續有機會關閉一些較大的傳統商店並開設這些較小的新格式商店。所以我們喜歡它為品牌所做的一切，我們也喜歡它在經濟上所做的一切。因此，我們將在 2023 年及以後（聽不清）繼續保持這種狀態，我們會有所緩和，但我們在全國乃至全世界仍然有很多機會。

And our next question comes from Paul Lejuez from Citi.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗的 Paul Lejuez。

Scott, this is Kelly on for Paul. Any change you can talk about brand performance, specifically in the U.S. And then how our trends performing core rate overall, but also by region, we've heard from others that maybe (inaudible) is starting to take a toll in Europe in 1Q. And then just bigger picture, how are you thinking about the Europe region. Is it possible you could maybe look to close some stores in Europe, just given the difficulties you've seen there over the last couple of years?

斯科特，這是凱利代替保羅。您可以談論品牌績效的任何變化，特別是在美國。然後我們的趨勢如何在整體上以及按地區表現核心率，我們從其他人那裡聽說，第一季度可能（聽不清）開始對歐洲造成影響。然後是更大的圖景，您如何看待歐洲地區。考慮到過去幾年你在歐洲看到的困難，你是否有可能考慮關閉歐洲的一些商店？

Okay. We're going to start a little bit backwards. So you heard at our Investor Day with us back in June, and we talked about the fact that we still believe that we have an opportunity -- a nice long-term opportunity in our international business. That's part of our Always Forward plan. Coming out of COVID, we've had a little bit of a starter -- starting back up in some of those countries. But we believe long term in both regions, EMEA and APAC, we're excited to see in APAC, particularly removing of the zero-COVID policy. We've got a team there in place ready to go and chase goods at this point. And in EMEA, we still have seen a strong business in the U.K. and the Middle East. We have work to do admittedly, but we still believe we have a long-term opportunity.

好的。我們要倒退一點。所以你在 6 月份的投資者日上聽到了我們的消息，我們談到了一個事實，即我們仍然相信我們有機會——在我們的國際業務中一個很好的長期機會。這是我們 Always Forward 計劃的一部分。從 COVID 中脫穎而出，我們有了一些開端——在其中一些國家重新開始。但我們相信，從長遠來看，在 EMEA 和亞太地區這兩個地區，我們很高興看到在亞太地區，特別是取消零 COVID 政策。此時我們已經有一個團隊準備好去追貨。在歐洲、中東和非洲地區，我們仍然看到英國和中東的強勁業務。誠然，我們有工作要做，但我們仍然相信我們有一個長期的機會。

On the U.S. piece of it, Abercrombie continues to do extremely well here in the U.S. The growth is strong double digits for the Abercrombie & Fitch brand, so really excited about that. And back to the previous question, hopefully, more momentum coming in the future. As we think about Hollister, also made a really good comeback. We had a second quarter low here in the U.S. where it stepped back as that inflation started to range, and we saw that teen space come in, in Q2. And that group has really built up in Q3 and into Q4, and a lot of that has been driven here in the U.S. So nice to see it come back in Hollister. As Fran mentioned, we have some work to do in the future, and we're very focused on that brand, but happy with the progress we've made to date.

在美國，Abercrombie 在美國的表現仍然非常出色。Abercrombie & Fitch 品牌的增長率為兩位數，對此我們感到非常興奮。回到上一個問題，希望未來有更多的動力。當我們想到霍利斯特時，他的複出也非常出色。我們在美國這裡經歷了第二季度的低點，隨著通脹開始波動，我們看到了青少年空間在第二季度出現。這個團隊在第三季度和第四季度真正建立起來了，其中很多都是在美國這裡推動的。很高興看到它在霍利斯特回歸。正如 Fran 提到的，我們在未來有一些工作要做，我們非常專注於該品牌，但對我們迄今為止取得的進展感到滿意。

Got it. And then just a follow-up on the A&F brand. You sound very excited about the opportunity in '23, but I'm just wondering if you could talk more specifically about what's driving the growth? Is it coming from AUR? Is it coming from more units? And then beyond YPB, which you've talked a lot about is just any other categories to call out for '23.

知道了。然後只是對 A&F 品牌的跟進。你聽起來對 23 年的機會感到非常興奮，但我只是想知道你是否可以更具體地談談推動增長的因素？它來自 AUR 嗎？它來自更多單位嗎？然後在 YPB 之外，你已經談論了很多的只是任何其他類別，以呼喚 '23。

So, Kelly, just to reiterate a little bit what we talked about. So we've been focusing on franchises. So we focus on -- our curve love franchise for denim, which has been very successful, which has helped us reach our best ever year in denim for A&F women's, we launched this YPB franchise, Best Dressed Guest, lots of exciting things happening. Our Sloan pants is something that is now caught on incredibly well. We named the pants -- named and claimed it as we like to say in retail. And now everyone is referring to what is one of our best-selling items that we have out there for women. So growth is going to continue through product innovation, getting that product voice and experience on target as we've been doing. There is potential, we've grown the AUR extremely well since pre-pandemic, up over double digits. And there's a focus to continue to believe we have opportunity there as well.

所以，凱利，只是重申一下我們談到的內容。所以我們一直專注於特許經營。因此，我們專注於 - 我們的牛仔布曲線愛情特許經營權非常成功，這幫助我們在 A&F 女裝牛仔布領域達到了有史以來最好的一年，我們推出了這個 YPB 特許經營權，最佳著裝嘉賓，發生了許多令人興奮的事情。我們的 Sloan 褲子現在非常受歡迎。我們為這條褲子命名——就像我們在零售業中喜歡說的那樣命名和聲明。現在每個人都在談論我們最暢銷的女性產品之一。因此，增長將通過產品創新繼續進行，就像我們一直在做的那樣，讓產品的聲音和體驗成為目標。有潛力，自大流行前以來，我們已經將 AUR 增長得非常好，增長了兩位數以上。並且有一個重點是繼續相信我們在那裡也有機會。

And our next question comes from Marni Shapiro from Retail Tracker.

我們的下一個問題來自 Retail Tracker 的 Marni Shapiro。

Congratulations. The stores look beautiful. I'd love to just talk about two quick things, if I can. Can you -- on the real estate, are you finding that the market is a little tighter? And are you able to still get the deals you want to be in those models? And if not, are you are you holding back and willing to wait? And then could you just give us a quick update on your loyalty programs? I'm curious what the engagement looks like and are people signing up? And are they engaged in using the Perks?

恭喜。商店看起來很漂亮。如果可以的話，我想簡單地談談兩件事。你能——在房地產方面，你是否發現市場有點緊張？你還能在這些模型中獲得你想要的交易嗎？如果沒有，你是否在退縮並願意等待？然後你能給我們快速更新一下你的忠誠度計劃嗎？我很好奇訂婚是什麼樣子的，有人報名嗎？他們是否在使用 Perks？

Marni. I think you've heard me say many times, right? As far as the store matter, absolutely. Got (inaudible) in the right or right location and right economics. And as we've shown over the past several years, yes. We'll hold if we are not getting the deals that we need to make this economically viable for us. That said, we opened some really terrific stores in 2022. [Thrilled to be] back in some of the best malls. We walked away from and now we have all of our new product types in them and doing nicely. So it is a -- there's no finish line to real estate for us. We're always out there exploring and understanding what the opportunities are. But yes, just a quick answer is yes, we will hold unless we have the right deals.

瑪尼。我想你已經聽我說過很多次了，對吧？就商店而言，絕對是。得到（聽不清）在正確或正確的位置和正確的經濟學。正如我們在過去幾年中所展示的那樣，是的。如果我們沒有獲得使我們在經濟上可行所需的交易，我們將持有。也就是說，我們在 2022 年開了一些非常棒的商店。[很高興]回到一些最好的購物中心。我們離開了，現在我們擁有所有新產品類型並且做得很好。所以這是一個——對我們來說，房地產沒有終點線。我們總是在那裡探索和了解機會是什麼。但是，是的，一個快速的答案是肯定的，除非我們有合適的交易，否則我們將持有。

On the loyalty programs, we continue to drive these -- our identifiable customer rate has gone up dramatically over the past few years. So it's great to see customers signing up for this. We can share information back and forth and really leverage this group to kind of help us with product and also on the top line. So we are still signing people up. We refresh these programs each brand over the past 12 months, and excited about what that brings to us really from an identifiable customer perspective.

在忠誠度計劃中，我們繼續推動這些——在過去幾年中，我們的可識別客戶率急劇上升。所以很高興看到客戶註冊。我們可以來回共享信息，並真正利用這個小組來幫助我們開發產品和提高收入。所以我們還在招人。我們在過去 12 個月中更新了每個品牌的這些計劃，並從可識別的客戶角度真正為我們帶來了什麼而感到興奮。

And our next question comes from Janet Joseph Kloppenburg from JJK Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 JJK Research 的 Janet Joseph Kloppenburg。

Congratulations on the progress. I got on a little bit late, but are you able to talk about Hollister U.S. trends in the fourth quarter. Did you say if they were directionally positive or negative? I think they were better in the European trends in the third quarter, but still negative, maybe mid-single digits. And another question is, you're looking for the sales rates to decelerate from the fourth quarter to the first quarter of fiscal '23. And I'm just wondering, what's involved in that, or if you're seeing some resistance from the consumer or if you're not as optimistic about Hollister, maybe you could give us an indication of what led to that top line guidance? And just lastly, I think, Fran, you said that Hollister was really clean. But I wondered how the markdown levels were and if the seasonal product clearance was in good shape and had been cleared.

祝賀你的進步。我來晚了一點，但你能談談霍利斯特第四季度的美國趨勢嗎？你說它們是正向還是負向？我認為他們在第三季度的歐洲趨勢中表現更好，但仍然是負數，可能是中個位數。另一個問題是，您正在尋找從第四季度到 23 財年第一季度的銷售率下降。我只是想知道，這其中涉及什麼，或者如果您看到消費者的一些抵制，或者如果您對 Hollister 不那麼樂觀，也許您可以告訴我們是什麼導致了最高線指導？最後，我想，弗蘭，你說過霍利斯特真的很乾淨。但我想知道降價水平如何，季節性產品清倉情況是否良好，是否已經清倉。

Right, (inaudible) It's good to roll in. So on Hollister U.S. trends for Q4, the Hollister U.S. business was around flat for Q4, and that's a really nice improvement off of where we were kind of negative. Yes, versus where we were in Q2 and even in Q3. So really nice progress there. As we think about the Q1 outlook kind of the sales rates Q4 into Q1, as we're sitting here today, Q1 is our toughest comp on a 1-year basis and a multiyear basis. There's obviously a lot of inflation that's still happening out there, and we haven't really gone full circle on inflation whenever it really started to spike last year kind of in the early Q2 period. So we're really factoring all of that into our outlook. The volumes -- February is a low month, and the volume is really going to start to ramp up here with spring break and the Easter holidays. So getting kind of to that next question on inventory, we like where the inventory sits on a spring basis for each of the brands. So we're ready for that volume. And again, sitting here cautiously optimistic. And on the Hollister piece around how clean we are, we've made a lot of progress. It was a kind of a grind there in 2022, whenever that business fell off in Q2 through Q4, we were pressing the gas on getting through that clearance. A lot of that was from that back-to-school period in early fall. We've made great progress on that. You saw a little bit of that margin take there in Q4 to make that happen. But very happy to say that the Hollister brand is in a nice chase position now for spring and beyond just like Abercrombie & Fitch has been.

是的，（聽不清）很好。所以關於 Hollister 美國第四季度的趨勢，Hollister 美國業務在第四季度基本持平，這對我們的負面影響來說是一個非常好的改善。是的，與我們在第二季度甚至第三季度的情況相比。那裡取得了非常好的進展。當我們考慮第一季度的銷售率第四季度到第一季度的前景時，就像我們今天坐在這裡一樣，第一季度是我們一年和多年的最艱難的競爭。顯然，那裡仍在發生大量通貨膨脹，而且當通貨膨脹在去年第二季度初真正開始飆升時，我們並沒有真正全面了解通貨膨脹。所以我們真的把所有這些都考慮到了我們的前景中。成交量——二月是一個低月，隨著春假和復活節假期，這裡的成交量真的會開始增加。因此，對於下一個關於庫存的問題，我們喜歡每個品牌的春季庫存。所以我們準備好了。再一次，坐在這裡謹慎樂觀。在 Hollister 關於我們有多乾淨的文章中，我們取得了很大進展。在 2022 年，這是一種磨難，每當該業務在第二季度到第四季度出現下滑時，我們都會加緊油門以通過該許可。其中很多來自初秋的返校時期。我們在這方面取得了很大進展。你在第四季度看到了一點利潤來實現這一目標。但很高興地說，Hollister 品牌現在正處於春季及以後的追逐位置，就像 Abercrombie & Fitch 一樣。

Did you see any improvement in Europe (inaudible) Hollister in the fourth quarter? Or how did that shake out?

您是否看到第四季度歐洲（聽不清）霍利斯特有任何改善？或者那是怎麼發生的？

Yes, some. That business has been obviously lagging the U.S. That's been a multiyear trend for us coming out of COVID, something that we're very focused on as we're going through the spring season. And we do feel that all the changes that we're making that are going to help here in the U.S. will eventually help us in EMEA as well as APAC. So again, cautious optimism as we look to the global business for Hollister.

是的，一些。這項業務顯然落後於美國。這對我們走出 COVID 來說是一個多年的趨勢，這是我們在經歷春季時非常關注的事情。我們確實認為，我們所做的所有改變都將在美國有所幫助，最終將幫助我們在歐洲、中東和非洲以及亞太地區。因此，當我們展望 Hollister 的全球業務時，再次保持謹慎樂觀。

And I think Fran said that maybe she expects Hollister to inflect this year, maybe you said second half, I'm not -- I can't remember, Fran. But I was just wondering if you thought it may inflect in the U.S. in the first half.

我想 Fran 說過，也許她預計 Hollister 今年會出現變化，也許你說下半年，我不是——我不記得了，Fran。但我只是想知道你是否認為它可能會在上半年在美國發生變化。

Yes, we've seen some inflection here, obviously, in the fourth quarter. But I think what we're all waiting for is how we lap that Q2 period. Obviously, the whole team space fell off Q2 of last year as we kind of ramped in the back-to-school. There were a lot of things happening from a macro perspective in the economy with inflation ranging, et cetera. So I think all of us in the teen space are excited to lap that. And we're all especially are setting up our businesses to do that in a good way. But time will tell, and we'll see what happens as we get to that point.

是的，我們顯然在第四季度看到了一些變化。但我認為我們都在等待的是我們如何度過第二季度。顯然，整個團隊的空間在去年第二季度有所下降，因為我們在返校期間有所增加。從宏觀角度來看，經濟中發生了很多事情，包括通貨膨脹等。所以我認為我們青少年空間中的所有人都很高興能夠接受它。我們都特別在建立我們的企業以良好的方式做到這一點。但是時間會證明一切，我們會看到當我們到達那個點時會發生什麼。

And our next question comes from Alex Straton from Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Alex Straton。

Just a couple from me. I think I just wanted to zero in on your cautiously optimistic commentary on consumer demand. Can you just talk about kind of what data points are informing that? And then secondly, this ability to have Chase back in the business, that's great to hear. Is there any way you can kind of quantify where you're at now versus what's normal or what was going on in 2022, just so I had a reference point?

只是我的一對。我想我只是想歸零你對消費者需求的謹慎樂觀評論。你能談談什麼樣的數據點正在告知這一點嗎？其次，這種讓大通重返業務的能力，真是太好了。有沒有什麼方法可以量化你現在所處的位置與正常情況或 2022 年發生的情況，這樣我就有了一個參考點？

Absolutely. On the consumer demand side, we're always looking at employment levels as well as wage levels. Those both -- both of those things remain very strong, and that's very helpful for our customer on the discretionary side. When you think about some of this cautious optimism [that] we don't know what the Fed is going to do here in the U.S. and how that's going to kind of ripple through the economy as we go throughout the rest of the year. And as you watch TV or read the news every day, depending on how the winds blow, it's good or bad. So we'll see. But the real point gets to your number two, is the things we can control and the best thing we can do is remain in a [chase] position in inventory.

絕對地。在消費者需求方面，我們一直在關注就業水平和工資水平。這兩件事——這兩件事仍然非常強大，這對我們的客戶在全權委託方面非常有幫助。當你想到一些這種謹慎的樂觀情緒時，我們不知道美聯儲將在美國這裡做什麼，以及在我們今年餘下的時間裡，這將如何波及整個經濟。當你每天看電視或閱讀新聞時，風的好壞取決於風向。所以我們拭目以待。但真正的重點是你的第二個，是我們可以控制的事情，我們能做的最好的事情就是保持在庫存中的[追逐]位置。

We got caught up a little bit with Hollister there as the business fell off in Q2 of last year. We've been able to get through that, get all the brands in Chase and the environment out there for Chase, you've heard a lot of others talk about it already, is very good. The supply chain isn't back to where it was in 2019, but it's getting closer. And we're able to do things. We're able to test in stores like we haven't been able to in a couple of years, and we're able to chase inventory in a quicker way than we have been in 2022. So the amount that we're leaving open for Chase, and we're not going to give you a percentage, they're much higher than they were in '21 and '22, and that's great for our business.

由於去年第二季度業務下滑，我們在那裡遇到了一些 Hollister。我們已經能夠解決這個問題，獲得大通銀行的所有品牌和大通銀行的環境，你已經聽到很多其他人談論過它，非常好。供應鏈並沒有回到 2019 年的水平，但越來越接近了。我們有能力做事。我們能夠像幾年前那樣在商店中進行測試，並且我們能夠以比 2022 年更快的方式追逐庫存。所以我們留下的數量對於大通銀行，我們不會給你一個百分比，它們比 21 年和 22 年要高得多，這對我們的業務來說非常好。

(Operator Instructions) And our next question comes from Mauricio Serna Vega from UBS.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀的 Mauricio Serna Vega。

Just a couple from my end. Just -- I was wondering -- I don't know if you mentioned on your sales outlook and you -- where you talked about Abercrombie outperforming Hollister. Does that imply Hollister sales are flat, return to positive? Or just trying to understand like how much of an outperformance should we be thinking about? And then maybe if you could talk about AUR trends across each of the brands. And then lastly, on the tax rate, I know you guided for a high tax rate for this year. But any thoughts on where that could actually converge or converge (inaudible) in the long term? That would be very helpful.

我這邊只有一對。只是——我想知道——我不知道你是否提到過你的銷售前景——你在哪裡談到 Abercrombie 的表現優於 Hollister。這是否意味著 Hollister 的銷售額持平，回歸正值？或者只是想了解我們應該考慮多少出色的表現？然後也許你可以談談每個品牌的 AUR 趨勢。最後，關於稅率，我知道你指導了今年的高稅率。但從長遠來看，有沒有關於實際收斂或收斂（聽不清）的地方的想法？那將非常有幫助。

Okay, Mauricio. Good to chat. Let me grab a couple of these. So I'll start with the tax rate. So yes, the tax rate remains elevated to where it was kind of in that 2019 before COVID period. Something we're laser-focused on. We're not getting the ability as the European and APAC business that step back coming through COVID, not getting the ability to realize some of those tax losses that we're seeing there. So very focused on that and bringing back the international business, and that will obviously help the tax rate. On the sales outlook, I mean there's many paths as we all know, there's many scenarios as we go through 2023. We would just expect that Abercrombie would outperform Hollister and likely see the U.S. business outperform the international business. But Again, we've been talking about this for the last couple of years. Those are the trends we've been seeing, and we're just going to assume we're going to keep seeing them until we don't. And that's really how we're setting up 2023.

好的，毛里西奧。很高興聊天。讓我拿幾個。所以我將從稅率開始。所以是的，稅率仍然升高到 2019 年 COVID 時期之前的水平。我們專注於激光的東西。我們沒有能力像歐洲和亞太地區的企業那樣通過 COVID 退後一步，也沒有能力實現我們在那裡看到的一些稅收損失。所以非常專注於此並帶回國際業務，這顯然有助於降低稅率。關於銷售前景，我的意思是眾所周知，有很多途徑，到 2023 年我們會遇到很多情況。我們只希望 Abercrombie 的表現會超過 Hollister，並且很可能會看到美國業務的表現超過國際業務。但同樣，過去幾年我們一直在談論這個問題。這些是我們一直看到的趨勢，我們只是假設我們將繼續看到它們，直到我們看不到為止。這就是我們設定 2023 年的方式。

Yes. And regarding AUR trends, it's interesting. If you take a step back and you think about the last several years of disruption, one of the positive outcomes that has come out of that are AUR growth. If we look at pre-pandemic levels today, we actually have double-digit AUR growth in both brands. And our goal is to hold on to those AUR growth as well as hopefully maybe even grow a little bit into the future. The opportunity really comes in the AUC, like we've talked about a couple of times this morning and the reduction of the freight cost as well as the cotton in the back half.

是的。關於 AUR 趨勢，這很有趣。如果你退後一步，想想過去幾年的混亂，其中一個積極的結果就是 AUR 的增長。如果我們今天看看大流行前的水平，我們實際上在這兩個品牌中都有兩位數的 AUR 增長。我們的目標是保持 AUR 的增長，並希望在未來有一點增長。機會真的出現在 AUC 中，就像我們今天早上已經談過幾次，運費的降低以及後半部分的棉花。

And I am showing no further questions. I would now like to turn the call back over to Fran for closing remarks.

我不再提出更多問題。我現在想將電話轉回給 Fran 以作結束語。

Just want to say thank you all for joining us today, and we look forward to speaking to many of you soon.

只想說謝謝大家今天加入我們，我們期待很快與你們中的許多人交談。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。