Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc (BBW) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings and welcome to the Build-A-Bear Workshop Third Quarter 2023 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If you would like to ask a question at that time, please press star one on your telephone keypad. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Gary Cheryl, Investor Relations. Thank you, please go ahead.

您好，歡迎參加 Build-A-Bear Workshop 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。此時，所有參與者都處於只聽模式。正式演講後將舉行簡短的問答環節。如果您當時想提問，請按電話鍵盤上的星號一。如果有人在會議期間需要接線員協助，請按下電話鍵盤上的星號零。提醒一下，本次會議正在錄製中。現在我很高興向您介紹主持人，投資者關係部門的加里·謝麗爾（Gary Cheryl）。謝謝，請繼續。

Good morning.

早安.

Thank you for joining us. With me today are Sharon Price John, CEO, and Voin Todorovic, CFO, for today's call. Sharon will begin with a discussion of our third quarter performance and update the progress we've made on our key priorities. After Voin will review the financials in more detail and provide our guidance. We will then open the call to take your questions. Members of the media who may be on our call today should contact us after this conference call with your questions. Please note, the call is being recorded and broadcast live via the Internet. The earnings release is available on the Investor Relations portion of our corporate website. A replay of both our call and webcast will be available later today on the IR site. I will remind everyone that forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors, including those set forth in the Risk Factors section in the Company's annual report on Form 10 K. We undertake no obligation to revise any forward-looking statements unless required by law.

感謝您加入我們。今天與我一起參加今天電話會議的是執行長 Sharon Price John 和財務長 Voin Todorovic。沙龍將首先討論我們第三季的業績，並更新我們在關鍵優先事項上的進展。 After Voin 將更詳細地檢視財務狀況並提供我們的指導。然後我們將打開電話回答您的問題。今天可能參加我們電話會議的媒體成員應在電話會議結束後與我們聯繫並提出您的問題。請注意，通話將會被錄音並透過網路進行直播。收益報告可在我們公司網站的投資者關係部分取得。我們的電話會議和網路廣播的重播將於今天晚些時候在 IR 網站上提供。我要提醒大家的是，前瞻性陳述本身就存在風險和不確定性。由於多種因素，包括公司 10 K 年度報告的風險因素部分中列出的因素，實際結果可能與當前預期有重大差異。除非法律要求，我們不承擔修改任何前瞻性陳述的義務。

Also during this call, we may discuss non-GAAP financial measures, which adjust our GAAP results to eliminate the impact of certain items, which management believes can be useful in evaluating the Company's performance. The presentation of non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation or as substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP and non-GAAP measures are presented, you'll find information regarding these non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation of these non-GAAP to GAAP measures in the Company's earnings release.

此外，在這次電話會議中，我們可能會討論非公認會計原則財務指標，這些指標調整我們的公認會計原則結果，以消除某些項目的影響，管理層認為這些項目有助於評估公司的業績。非 GAAP 財務指標的呈現不應被孤立地考慮，也不應替代根據 GAAP 準備的結果，並且呈現非 GAAP 指標，您將找到有關這些非 GAAP 財務指標的資訊以及這些非 GAAP 指標的調整表。 -公司收益發布中公認的會計原則（GAAP）衡量標準。

And now I would like to turn the call over to Sharon.

現在我想把電話轉給莎倫。

Thank you, Gary.

謝謝你，加里。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us for our Build-a-Bear Third Quarter 2023 earnings call. We are pleased to again report strong results as we continue to execute against our strategic initiatives to evolve our business model by leveraging the power of the Build-A-Bear brand.

早安，感謝您參加我們的 Build-a-Bear 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。我們很高興再次報告強勁的業績，我們繼續執行我們的策略舉措，利用 Build-A-Bear 品牌的力量發展我們的業務模式。

As noted in this morning's press release, while we have revised our guidance to reflect some unexpected softness in the business starting in the latter part of October and continuing into November. We intend to stay focused on delivering our fourth quarter plan during the remainder of the most critical holiday shopping period as we continue to expect to deliver our third consecutive record breaking year, our results represent the best ever third quarter and first nine months revenue and pretax income in Build-a-Bear history. Specifically for the third quarter, revenues increased nearly 3% to over $107 million and pretax income increased almost 5% to $10 million. For the first nine months of 2023, revenues increased 4% to almost $337 million, and pretax income increased 12% to $40 million. We attribute our meaningful expansion in profitable growth over the past few years to the successful execution of our strategy and business model evolution. Note that the $337 million in revenue we generated over the first nine months of fiscal 2023 approximates the $339 million in revenue recorded for the entire fiscal 2019, the last pre pandemic year. Additionally, this revenue is at a significantly improved level of profitability, generating $40 million in pretax income over the 2023 fiscal nine-month period as compared to less than $2 million in the 2019 fiscal year. As a reminder, the three key strategic initiatives we have focused on that have contributed to our results such as those noted above, are one the evolution and expansion of experience location footprint to the acceleration of our comprehensive digital transformation. And three, the investment to support initiatives that leverage our significant brand equity to drive incremental growth. Some of the recent progress we've made across each of these initiatives include first Build-A-Bear experience locations are a critical part of what makes our valuable point of difference in the marketplace. We cultivate memorable and shareable one-to-one experiences with guests through our exclusive bear building process. We do this while capturing first-party and loyalty club data, enabling us to directly communicate to guests to drive further engagement and repeat purchases. Substantially. All of our stores are profitable and deliver on average greater than 25% annual store level contribution margins. These top tier unit economics, along with independent research, showing an opportunity for additional Build-a-Bear Workshop that led us to our recent domestic and international strategic market expansion this door expansion utilizes a variety of business models, including corporately operated partner operated and franchised stores. Last year, we saw net new unit growth of 13 corporate and partner operated stores through the first nine months of fiscal 2023, we opened 21 new stores and expect to end the year with 30 new corporate and partner operated locations. Additionally, our existing international franchise partners have also started reinvesting in the brand's location expansion with the expectation of seven new franchise-operated locations by the end of this fiscal year.

正如今天早上的新聞稿中所指出的，我們已經修改了指導意見，以反映從 10 月下旬開始一直持續到 11 月的業務出現的一些意外疲軟情況。我們打算在最關鍵的假期購物期間的剩餘時間內繼續專注於實現我們的第四季度計劃，因為我們繼續期望連續第三個破紀錄的年份，我們的業績代表了有史以來最好的第三季度和前九個月的收入和稅前收入Build-a-Bear 歷史上的收入。特別是第三季度，營收成長近 3%，超過 1.07 億美元，稅前收入成長近 5%，達到 1,000 萬美元。 2023 年前 9 個月，營收成長 4%，達到近 3.37 億美元，稅前收入成長 12%，達到 4,000 萬美元。我們將過去幾年利潤成長的有意義的擴張歸功於我們策略和業務模式演變的成功執行。請注意，我們在 2023 財年的前 9 個月創造了 3.37 億美元的收入，接近疫情前最後一年 2019 財年整個財年記錄的 3.39 億美元的收入。此外，該收入的獲利水準顯著提高，在 2023 財年的 9 個月期間產生了 4,000 萬美元的稅前收入，而 2019 財年的稅前收入不到 200 萬美元。提醒一下，我們重點關注的三項關鍵策略舉措為我們的成果做出了貢獻，例如上述成果，其中一項是體驗地點足蹟的演變和擴展，以加速我們全面的數位轉型。第三，投資支持利用我們重要的品牌資產推動增量成長的措施。我們最近在每項舉措中取得的一些進展包括第一個 Build-A-Bear 體驗地點，這是我們在市場上脫穎而出的關鍵部分。我們透過獨特的小熊製作流程，與賓客打造難忘且可分享的一對一體驗。我們在這樣做的同時捕獲第一方和忠誠俱樂部數據，使我們能夠直接與客人溝通，以推動進一步的參與和重複購買。基本上。我們所有的門市均實現獲利，門市級年平均貢獻利潤率超過 25%。這些頂級單位經濟學以及獨立研究表明，我們有機會進行額外的“Build-a-Bear Workshop”，這促使我們最近進行了國內和國際戰略市場擴張，這種擴張利用了多種商業模式，包括公司營運、合作夥伴營運和專營店。去年，到2023 財年的前9 個月，我們看到了13 家企業和合作夥伴經營的商店的新單位淨增長，我們開設了21 家新商店，預計到年底將新增30 家企業和合作夥伴經營的門市。此外，我們現有的國際特許經營合作夥伴也已開始對該品牌的門市擴張進行再投資，預計到本財年末將開設七家新的特許經營門市。

On top of the 63 that were opened at the end of our first quarter, demonstrating both the business model evolution and global opportunity. And in the third quarter, we opened our first location in Italy. It is a store in a store utilizing our partner operating model. Recall our partner-operated stores require little to no direct investment, producing high returns on capital. The new location is in conjunction with the Milan opening of the famed toy store chain Hanley, a long-time successful partnership for Build-a-Bear in their London location. We believe the strong initial success of this store further supports the potential broad geographic appeal of the brand while expecting more stores in Italy, even as we are in discussions for additional continental European expansion.

在第一季末開設的 63 家門市之上，展示了商業模式的演變和全球機會。第三季度，我們在義大利開設了第一家門市。這是利用我們合作夥伴營運模式的店中店。回想一下，我們的合作夥伴經營的商店幾乎不需要直接投資，從而產生高資本回報。新店開幕之際，著名玩具連鎖店 Hanley 也在米蘭開業，該連鎖店是 Build-a-Bear 在倫敦店的長期成功合作夥伴。我們相信，這家商店最初的巨大成功進一步支持了該品牌潛在的廣泛地理吸引力，同時期待在義大利開設更多商店，即使我們正在討論歐洲大陸的進一步擴張。

Our second strategic initiative is a comprehensive digital transformation that touches nearly every aspect of our company and is designed to elevate our business efficiency, increase consumer engagement and build incremental opportunities like gifting and personalization program while extending the lifetime value of guests both in stores and online to ultimately increase overall sales and profitability. More recent examples include upgrades in our corporate wide business system, further integration of our website, CRM and loyalty program, as well as the current rollout of our new POS system and other integrated in-store technology.

我們的第二個策略舉措是全面的數位轉型，幾乎涉及我們公司的各個方面，旨在提高我們的業務效率，增加消費者參與度並創造增量機會，例如禮品和個性化計劃，同時延長商店和網路顧客的終身價值最終提高整體銷售額和獲利能力。最近的例子包括我們公司業務系統的升級，我們網站、CRM 和忠誠度計劃的進一步集成，以及我們目前推出的新 POS 系統和其他集成店內技術。

Our third key strategic initiative is our increased investment to support growth as we continue to generate favorable returns on capital, we are focused on driving our growth by leveraging the power of the Build-A-Bear brand. In addition to the capital associated with our footprint expansion and digital evolution. We have also been investing in content product and concept innovation given our broad multigenerational audience. Some of these initiatives take advantage of the increasingly publicized consulting trends. Examples in the third quarter include launching a productive and creative following collection appealing to kids and adults who often look for unique items in our age, gated barricade e-commerce sites.

我們的第三個關鍵策略舉措是增加投資以支持成長，因為我們繼續產生良好的資本回報，我們致力於利用 Build-A-Bear 品牌的力量來推動我們的成長。除了與我們的足跡擴張和數位化發展相關的資本之外。鑑於我們擁有廣泛的多代受眾，我們也一直在內容產品和概念創新方面進行投資。其中一些舉措利用了日益廣為人知的諮詢趨勢。第三季的例子包括推出一個富有成效和創意的追隨系列，吸引經常在我們這個時代的封閉式路障電子商務網站中尋找獨特商品的兒童和成人。

Additionally, at the New York Toy Fair, we celebrated build a Bear's first time nomination for plush toy of the year with one of our series of popular teen centric TikTok trend animal, the OXO model also as part of our ongoing entertainment and content strategy at the New York Toy Fair, we premiered our new documentary on stuffed a Build-A-Bear stores. This star-studded film is available on demand through major digital platforms and chronicles the amazing 25 plus year journey of the company's evolution from a mall-based retailer for kids to a global iconic, Brian. During the quarter, we also play marketed the early November release of our first ever animated theatrical film list and the Merry Mission, the movie based on the characters and story line of our multiyear top-selling holiday plus collection that has generated over 150 million in revenue since its launch features. Listen, the magical no dire that face Christmas voiced by multi Grammy nominated Leona Lewis and other top talent like Chevy Chase is Tampa. While the film was originally expected to be distributed directly to streaming platforms as a holiday marketing catalyst. We were delighted to strike a partnership with Cinemark for a limited theatrical release in overlapping geographies featuring a unique multifaceted consumer engagement program, including in theater stepping events and co-marketing with a free children's movie ticket with the purchase of a furry friend at select Build-A-Bear Workshop, the movie launch in approximately 250 theaters. And while we strategically scaled down screens through Thanksgiving due to the competitive landscape. We are returning to distribution across the country for this weekend. Just as we kick off our core December Christmas marketing effort that is also scheduled to be rolling out across a number of digital platforms in the U.S., Canada, the UK and Australia. Starting tomorrow of note, the collective marketing and PR initiatives associated with this effort have already generated over 4 billion media impressions, likely increasing our top-of-mind awareness as we move into the critical holiday season.

此外，在紐約玩具展上，我們慶祝了小熊首次獲得年度毛絨玩具提名，這是我們以青少年為中心的流行動物 OXO 模型系列之一，這也是我們持續的娛樂和內容策略的一部分在紐約玩具展上，我們首映了關於毛絨玩具商店的新紀錄片。這部眾星雲集的影片可透過主要數位平台點播，記錄了該公司從一家以商場為基礎的兒童零售商到全球標誌性品牌 Brian 的 25 多年發展歷程。在本季度，我們也對11 月初發行的第一部動畫院線電影和《歡樂使命》進行了行銷，這部電影是根據我們多年來最暢銷的假日系列的人物和故事情節改編的，該系列已在2019 年獲得了超過1.5 億的票房收入。自推出功能以來的收入。聽著，由多次格萊美提名的利昂娜·劉易斯和切維·蔡斯等其他頂尖人才配音的聖誕節神奇的“不可怕”是坦帕。而這部電影原本預計將直接分發到串流平台作為節日行銷催化劑。我們很高興與喜滿客建立合作夥伴關係，在重疊的地區進行有限影院上映，並推出獨特的多方面消費者參與計劃，包括影院踩踏活動以及在指定Build 購買毛茸茸的朋友時可免費獲得兒童電影票的聯合行銷-A-Bear Workshop，電影在約 250 家影院上映。儘管由於競爭格局，我們在感恩節期間策略性地縮小了螢幕規模。本週末我們將在全國範圍內恢復發行。就在我們開始 12 月聖誕節行銷活動的同時，該活動也計劃在美國、加拿大、英國和澳洲的多個數位平台上推出。值得注意的是，從明天開始，與這項努力相關的集體行銷和公關措施已經產生了超過 40 億次媒體印象，當我們進入關鍵的假期季節時，可能會提高我們的首要意識。

So while we are excited about our content is pure entertainment vehicle. Much of the strategic value is as a marketing tool designed to bring our entire consumer-facing communications to life. We believe our content will enhance and expand consumer engagement while supporting and even inspiring our product offering ultimately driving sales.

因此，雖然我們對我們的內容感到興奮，但我們的內容純粹是娛樂工具。大部分策略價值在於作為一種行銷工具，旨在將我們面向消費者的整個溝通變為現實。我們相信我們的內容將增強和擴大消費者參與度，同時支持甚至啟發我們的產品供應，最終推動銷售。

In the case of Merry Mission assets ranging from the art style to the tag line of the film. It's about believing our optimized across multiple consumer touch points, ranging from our Merry Mission, music, video and apps to a holiday activation in our roadblocks Build-a-Bear Tycoon day with over 12.5 million players transforming of our Build-A-Bear Workshop into temporary Santos workshop, inclusive of our beloved bear builders, dining of costumes. In fact, as a final example of our ongoing investment in new and innovative concepts we launched supported by a dedicated commercial, our first animal chronic interactive, make your own build to their call that their lead. They're inspired by the feature teddy bear in the Gleason and the mission movie. This unique Barely There comes to life with blinking eyes, wiggling aired and found during the stuffing process responding to the child's voice and touch as they explain. I barely over the next two, much months, which typically represents the vast majority of our fourth quarter. We are intensely focused on delivering yet another record breaking year for the Company. We believe the combination of our integrated holiday marketing program informed by listen in the Merry Mission, combined with a broad gifting message and a cadre of proven licenses from Centenario to stitch provides meaningful tools to drive sales throughout December. Separately, as a reminder, unlike many traditional retailers, redemptions of gift cards given is stocking stuffers drives ongoing traffic even the week after Christmas.

就《快樂使命》而言，資產範圍從藝術風格到電影的口號。這是關於相信我們在多個消費者接觸點上進行了優化，從我們的Merry Mission、音樂、視頻和應用程序到我們的路障“Build-a-Bear Tycoon day”中的假日激活，超過1250 萬玩家正在改造我們的「Build-A-Bear Workshop」進入臨時的桑托斯工作室，包括我們敬愛的熊製作者，享用服裝。事實上，作為我們持續投資新的和創新的概念的最後一個例子，我們在專門的商業廣告的支持下推出了我們的第一個動物慢性互動，讓您自己構建他們的呼籲，即他們的領導。它們的靈感來自格里森電影和任務電影中的泰迪熊。這種獨特的「幾乎沒有」在填充過程中透過眨眼、扭動的眼睛和在他們解釋時對孩子的聲音和觸摸做出的反應而變得栩栩如生。我幾乎沒有度過接下來的兩個月，這通常代表了我們第四季的絕大多數時間。我們全神貫注於為公司創造另一個破紀錄的一年。我們相信，我們透過聆聽 Merry Mission 的綜合假日行銷計劃，結合廣泛的禮品資訊和 Centenario 的一系列經過驗證的縫合許可，為推動整個 12 月的銷售提供了有意義的工具。另外，需要提醒的是，與許多傳統零售商不同的是，即使在聖誕節後一周，兌換禮品卡也會帶來持續的客流量。

In closing, while our sales were negatively impacted simultaneously with the widely reported consumer spending softness during the last two weeks of our fiscal third quarter, which continued into early November. Our web business was further challenged due to a disruption caused by a new platform implementation during the period. However, we are encouraged to see that our overall trend has started to show some improvement as we head into December. And as we look beyond the current macro economic situation, we continue to expect to execute against our top priorities into the future, including the evolution of our experience, location footprint, the acceleration of our digital transformation and while still returning cash to shareholders, continued investment in our strategic growth initiatives that leverage the power of the Build-A-Bear brand. Our mission to add a little more heart to life is never more evident than during the holiday. And I would like to take this moment to thank our associates, partners and guests as we enter this magical season.

最後，儘管我們的銷售受到了廣泛報導的第三財季最後兩週消費者支出疲軟的負面影響，但這種情況一直持續到 11 月初。由於在此期間實施新平台造成的中斷，我們的網路業務進一步受到挑戰。然而，令人鼓舞的是，隨著進入 12 月，我們的整體趨勢已開始出現一些改善。當我們超越當前的宏觀經濟狀況時，我們繼續期望執行未來的首要任務，包括我們的經驗的演變、位置足跡、加速我們的數位轉型，同時仍然向股東返還現金，繼續投資於我們利用Build-A -Bear 品牌力量的策略成長計畫。我們為生活增添更多活力的使命在節日期間最為明顯。在我們進入這個神奇的季節之際，我想藉此機會感謝我們的同事、合作夥伴和來賓。

Now I would like to turn the call over to Boyd.

現在我想把電話轉給博伊德。

Thank you, Sharon, and good morning to everyone. It's good to speak with you again today and share our results for fiscal third quarter and nine months of 2023. Our performance was highlighted by growth across all segments, expansion in gross profit margin and an increase in pretax income versus last year. We attribute our ability to report ongoing positive results in a challenging retail environment to the increasing resonance and strength of the Build-A-Bear brand and the successful execution of our strategic initiatives that Sharon previously mentioned. Even with an increase in SG&A from higher wages due to inflation plus investments in marketing and talent for growth. We have continued to expand our margins, deliver record profits and return capital to shareholders. Specifically over the past eight quarters, we have paid two special dividends and repurchased more than 1 million shares, returning $86 million to shareholders. To put this in perspective, this return of capital to shareholders represents more than 20% of our current market capitalization.

謝謝莎倫，祝大家早安。很高興今天再次與您交談並分享我們 2023 年第三財季和九個月的業績。與去年相比，所有部門的成長、毛利率的擴大以及稅前收入的增加凸顯了我們的業績。我們能夠在充滿挑戰的零售環境中持續取得正面成果，歸功於 Build-A-Bear 品牌日益增強的共鳴和實力，以及 Sharon 先前提到的策略性舉措的成功執行。即使由於通貨膨脹導致薪資上漲，再加上對行銷和人才成長的投資，SG&A 有所增加。我們持續擴大利潤率，創造創紀錄的利潤並向股東返還資本。具體來說，在過去的八個季度中，我們支付了兩次特別股息並回購了超過100萬股股票，向股東返還了8,600萬美元。從這個角度來看，股東的資本回報占我們目前市值的 20% 以上。

Turning to a more detailed review of Q3, total revenues were $107.6 million, up 2.9% year over year. Net retail sales increased 1.2% year over year, with positive contributions from both stores and e-commerce. Store sales benefited from transaction growth, offset by a decline in dollars per transaction. E-commerce demand increased 7.1% for the period. Total North American sales increased while UK sales decreased. We opened a net nine corporate stores year over year including five stores in the quarter. Commercial revenue, which primarily represents wholesale sales to our partner operators and International franchise revenue, rose a combined 36.2% versus the prior year, our partners opened 20 stores over the trailing 12 months ending with 85 locations, and our franchisees opened a net four locations over the past 12 months, ending the with seventh. gross profit margin was 52.7%, an improvement of 70 basis points compared to last year, benefiting from merchandise margin expansion, reflective of expected lower freight costs and leverage of distribution costs. Gross profit also benefited from growth and margin expansion in our commercial and franchise segments. SG&A expenses were $46.6 million or 43.3% of total revenues compared to $44.4 million or 42.5$ of total revenues in the 2022 third quarter. The 80 basis point increase in SG&A was driven by higher wages at the store level from inflationary pressures as well as the addition of talent plus investments in marketing to support future growth as I reference, our SG&A rate is 700 basis points lower. Then in third quarter of 2019, higher gross profit dollars plus interest income more than offset the increase in SG&A and led to pretax income growth of 4.7%. EEPS aided by a lower share count and offset by an increase in tax rate was $0.53 per diluted share, the 3.9% increase.

更詳細回顧第三季度，總營收為 1.076 億美元，年增 2.9%。零售淨額年增1.2%，實體店和電商均有正面貢獻。商店銷售受益於交易成長，但被每筆交易金額的下降所抵消。期內電子商務需求成長 7.1%。北美總銷量增加，英國總銷量下降。我們在同比淨開設了 9 家企業商店，其中本季開設了 5 家商店。商業收入（主要代表對合作夥伴運營商的批發銷售和國際特許經營收入）與上一年相比總計增長了36.2%，我們的合作夥伴在過去12 個月內開設了20 家商店，最終開設了85 家門市，我們的特許經營商淨開設了4 家門市在過去的 12 個月中，以第七名結束。毛利率為 52.7%，比去年提高 70 個基點，受益於商品利潤率的擴大，反映出預期的貨運成本下降和分銷成本的槓桿作用。毛利也受益於我們商業和特許經營部門的成長和利潤率擴張。 SG&A 費用為 4,660 萬美元，佔總營收的 43.3%，而 2022 年第三季為 4,440 萬美元，佔總營收的 42.5%。 SG&A 增加 80 個基點是由於通膨壓力導致商店薪資上漲，以及為支持未來成長而增加人才和行銷投資，正如我所提到的，我們的 SG&A 率降低了 700 個基點。然後在 2019 年第三季度，更高的毛利加上利息收入抵消了 SG&A 的成長，並導致稅前收入成長 4.7%。由於股票數量減少和稅率增加所抵消，EEPS 為每股稀釋後每股 0.53 美元，增幅為 3.9%。

Turning to our results for the first nine months of our fiscal 2023, total revenues were $336.9 million, up 4.3% year over year. As Sharon noted, our first nine months revenue was just shy of our entire fiscal 2019 revenue. Our store traffic also outpaced the reported national traffic for the first nine months of the year. Our store traffic growth, while it has recently moderated, remains positive and continues to outpace reported national traffic through November. E-commerce demand is down approximately 2% for the first nine months. Although the third quarter was positive, it was below our expectations over the last nine months, we have seen volatility in that demand, largely due to new platform implementation as we remain focused on the evolution of our digital business. Additionally, the timing of new product launches as compared to last year contributed to the e-commerce demand fluctuations. For the first nine months, Commercial and International franchise revenue rose a combined 40.7% versus the prior year. Gross profit margin was 53.5%, a 210 basis point improvement compared to last year, driven by merchandise margin expansion, reflective of expected lower freight expense and leverage of distribution costs as well as from growth and margin expansion in our commercial and franchise segments.

看看我們 2023 財年前 9 個月的業績，總營收為 3.369 億美元，年增 4.3%。正如 Sharon 指出的，我們前 9 個月的收入僅略低於 2019 財年的全部收入。今年前九個月，我們的商店客流量也超過了報告的全國客流量。我們的商店客流量成長雖然最近有所放緩，但仍保持正成長，並繼續超過 11 月報告的全國客流量。前 9 個月電子商務需求下降約 2%。儘管第三季業績樂觀，但低於我們過去九個月的預期，但我們看到了需求的波動，這主要是由於我們仍然專注於數位業務的發展而實施了新平台。此外，與去年相比，新產品推出的時間也導致了電子商務需求的波動。前 9 個月，商業和國際特許經營收入比去年同期成長了 40.7%。毛利率為53.5%，比去年提高了210 個基點，這得益於商品利潤率的擴張，反映出預期的運費下降和分銷成本的槓桿作用，以及我們商業和特許經營部門的增長和利潤率擴張。

SG&A expenses were $140.5 million or 41.7% of total revenue compared to $130.3 million or 40.4% of total revenues in the 2022 third quarter. The 130 basis point increase in SG&A was driven by higher wages at the store level from inflationary pressures as well as the addition of talent plus investments in marketing to support future growth. Pretax income grew 12.5% to $40.2 million for the nine months. Higher gross profit dollars plus interest income more than offset the increase in SG&A and led to pretax margin expanding 80 basis points to 11.9% of total revenue. EPS was $2.10 per diluted share, an 18% increase, reflecting a lower share count offset by an increase and the tax rate.

SG&A 費用為 1.405 億美元，佔總營收的 41.7%，而 2022 年第三季為 1.303 億美元，佔總營收的 40.4%。 SG&A 成長 130 個基點的原因是，通膨壓力導致商店薪資上漲，以及為支持未來成長而增加人才和行銷投資。這 9 個月的稅前收入成長了 12.5%，達到 4,020 萬美元。更高的毛利加上利息收入遠遠抵消了銷售管理費用的增加，並導致稅前利潤率擴大了 80 個基點，達到總收入的 11.9%。稀釋後每股收益為 2.10 美元，成長 18%，反映出股票數量減少被成長和稅率所抵銷。

With respect to the balance sheet, at quarter end, we had cash and cash equivalents of $24.8 million, an increase of $5.8 million compared to the same period last year. This was after returning $37 million to shareholders through dividend payments and share repurchases over the last 12 months. Inventory at quarter-end was $64.5 million, declining $23.9 billion or 27% from the end of the third quarter last year. And in line with our expectations. Keep in mind last year's third quarter and inventory was intentionally elevated to avoid potential supply chain disruptions. We remain comfortable with our inventory level and composition as we begin the fourth quarter and continue to expect to finish the year below last year's $70.5 million level.

資產負債表方面，截至季末，我們的現金及現金等價物為2,480萬美元，比去年同期增加了580萬美元。這是在過去 12 個月透過股利支付和股票回購向股東返還 3,700 萬美元之後的結果。季末庫存為 6,450 萬美元，比去年第三季末減少 239 億美元，成長 27%。並且符合我們的預期。請記住，去年第三季庫存有意增加，以避免潛在的供應鏈中斷。從第四季度開始，我們對庫存水準和組成仍然感到滿意，並繼續預計今年年底的庫存水準將低於去年 7,050 萬美元的水準。

Turning to the outlook, given the most recent challenges in the retail environment, we are revising our fiscal 2023 guidance. The full details of our guidance are included in the press release, but I will highlight two key metrics. Total revenues to now increase in the range of 3% to 5% growth compared to the previous guidance of 5% to 7% and pretax income to now grow 5% to 10% as compared to previous guidance of 10% to 15%. Please keep in mind that December and January have historically accounted for a significant portion of our fourth-quarter revenue and our outlook assumes no further material changes in the macroeconomic and geopolitical environment all relevant foreign currency exchange rates.

談到前景，考慮到零售環境的最新挑戰，我們正在修訂 2023 財年指引。我們的指導的完整細節包含在新聞稿中，但我將強調兩個關鍵指標。與先前指導的 5% 至 7% 相比，目前總收入將增長 3% 至 5%，稅前收入將比先前指導的 10% 至 15% 增長 5% 至 10%。請記住，從歷史上看，12 月和 1 月占我們第四季度收入的很大一部分，我們的前景假設宏觀經濟和地緣政治環境以及所有相關外幣匯率不會進一步的重大變化。

In closing, I would like to thank all our store and warehouse associates as well as corporate team for contributing to our record results, which even with the revised guidance, has positioned us for our third consecutive record-breaking year in 2023.

最後，我要感謝我們所有的商店和倉庫員工以及企業團隊為我們創紀錄的業績做出的貢獻，即使在修訂後的指引下，我們仍能在 2023 年連續第三年打破紀錄。

This concludes our prepared remarks, and we will now turn the call back over to the operator for questions. Operator?

我們準備好的演講到此結束，現在我們將把電話轉回給接線員詢問問題。操作員？

Thank you. The floor is now open for questions. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. At this time. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two. If you would like to remove your question from the queue For participants using speaker equipment. It may be necessary to pick up the handset before pressing the star keys. We do ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. Once again, that is star one for any questions at this time. Today's first question is coming from Michael Baker at D.A. Davidson. Please go ahead.

謝謝。現在可以提問。如果您想提問，請按電話鍵盤上的星號一。此時。確認音將表示您的線路已在問題佇列中。您可以按星二號。如果您想從佇列中刪除您的問題 對於使用揚聲器裝置的參與者。按星號鍵之前可能需要拿起聽筒。我們確實要求您將自己限制在一個問題和一項後續行動上。再說一遍，這是目前任何問題的首要問題。今天的第一個問題來自 D.A. 的 Michael Baker。戴維森。請繼續。

Okay. Thanks, guys. So I just want to clarify the fourth quarter outlook. So you said December and January assumes no change in the macro environment and understanding those are big months. I guess what I'm trying to understand is, does the implied fourth quarter guidance assume any pickup from the weakness you saw in October and November?

好的。多謝你們。所以我只想澄清第四季的前景。所以你說 12 月和 1 月假設宏觀環境沒有變化，並且理解這些是重要的月份。我想我想了解的是，隱含的第四季度指導是否假設您在 10 月和 11 月看到的疲軟狀況有所回升？

I think you had said that you're already starting to see come back a little bit as we head into December, but does that full fourth quarter? Is it any kind of pickup of the next couple of months relative to what you saw in October and November?

我想你說過，當我們進入 12 月時，你已經開始看到一些回升，但整個第四季是這樣嗎？與您在 10 月和 11 月看到的情況相比，接下來的幾個月是否有所回升？

So thanks, Mike, for the question. You know, definitely as we talked about on our results and in our finish to Q3 was softer than what we expected. And you know, as we mentioned in our November results early in the month of continue at that pace. But like later in November. And as we said, like now, as we are entering into December, our rents have reversal like we are contemplating that as we are projecting for our Q4 and fiscal year results, EBIT in our guidance. When we think about some of those things, clearly, you know, there are multiple things to consider. You know, definitely there are some challenges that we called out from our web perspective, that's not performing in line with our expectations. We also talked about our US business has been stronger than our UK business. So there is a little bit more to that guidance than just necessarily extrapolating the current trends. But, you know, we believe based on what we are seeing in recent days and last couple of weeks that we are properly accounting for that stuff in our projection for the rest of the year.

謝謝邁克提出這個問題。你知道，正如我們談論的結果一樣，第三季的結果比我們預期的要軟。你知道，正如我們在 11 月業績中提到的那樣，我們將繼續保持這一速度。但就像十一月晚些時候一樣。正如我們所說，就像現在一樣，隨著我們進入12 月，我們的租金出現了逆轉，就像我們在預測第四季度和財年業績時所考慮的那樣，我們的指導中的息稅前利潤。當我們考慮其中一些事情時，顯然，您知道，有很多事情需要考慮。您知道，我們從網路角度肯定存在一些挑戰，這些挑戰的表現與我們的預期不符。我們也談到我們的美國業務比英國業務更強。因此，該指導意見不僅僅是推斷當前趨勢。但是，你知道，我們相信，根據最近幾天和過去幾週所看到的情況，我們在今年剩餘時間的預測中正確地考慮了這些內容。

Okay. Makes sense to follow up on that combined, I guess, because we're only source as one follow-up. But when you say the last few weeks have gotten better, I presume that means that the Black Friday weekend was okay for you guys. And then related the other thing you talked about is the web issue. Can you talk a little bit more about that? How much did that impact you or how should we think about that going forward. You have your arms around whatever the issue was?

好的。我想，對這一點進行綜合跟進是有意義的，因為我們只是作為一個後續行動的來源。但當你說過去幾週有所好轉時，我想這意味著黑色星期五週末對你們來說還不錯。然後涉及到您談到的另一件事是網路問題。能多談談嗎？這對您有多大影響，或者我們應該如何考慮未來的發展。無論發生什麼問題，你都會全力以赴嗎？

Yes.

是的。

So Black Friday for us was good, not great. No, definitely, we have seen sequential improvement when you're comparing our business versus prior year versus earlier in November. So there were some positive things and again, some differences between different geographies. Definitely our US business was better than other geographies and we are seeing more of that positive improvement in that business compared to some of the other regions.

所以黑色星期五對我們來說是好的，但不是很好。不，當然，當您將我們的業務與去年和 11 月初進行比較時，我們已經看到了連續的改善。所以有一些正面的事情，但不同地區之間也有一些差異。毫無疑問，我們的美國業務比其他地區更好，而且與其他一些地區相比，我們看到該業務有更多的積極改善。

When we think about the web business, you know, we have been working on our digital evolution of digital transformation. And that's an ongoing process. And, you know, with some of the implementations, you know, we had some challenges that impacted our business. We believe you know like that we are working on some of those initiatives to fix some of those things in place and that's going to be over time resolve. But, you know, we also talked about some of the product launches and timing. And so definitely some of those things and how people are shopping, we are still seeing more traffic that's coming to our stores, even though our web traffic is up. But you know, like we are one of those retailers that you know, like people are coming and we are driving more visits in our stores, and that's definitely reflected in our year to date results. But, you know, definitely there is some room for improvement on the web because being down 2% on a year to date basis is definitely behind our expectations today.

當我們思考網路業務時，您知道，我們一直在致力於數位轉型的數位化演進。這是一個持續的過程。而且，您知道，在某些實施過程中，我們遇到了一些影響我們業務的挑戰。我們相信您知道，我們正在採取一些措施來解決其中一些問題，這將隨著時間的推移而解決。但是，您知道，我們也討論了一些產品的發布和時間表。因此，儘管我們的網路流量有所增加，但在這些事情以及人們的購物方式中，我們仍然看到更多的流量進入我們的商店。但你知道，就像我們是你所知道的零售商之一一樣，人們不斷湧入，我們正在推動更多的商店訪問量，這肯定反映在我們今年迄今為止的業績中。但是，您知道，網路肯定還有改進的空間，因為今年迄今下降 2% 絕對低於我們今天的預期。

And Mike, I'll just give you a little more color and and that when you obviously when you're implementing upgrades to technology on some of it is not always associated with what quote-unquote, what you're doing wrong or what you need to fix. There's just a moment where when you're setting up a new platform or changing some sort of process that there's going to be some volatility in the results as you're kind of mastering the new technology that also goes for the rollout of a new POS system, there's going to be times when you're down so you can put the new POS system as you're rolling across the entire enterprise. So that's why you when we look at things like this. If you're tracking the business that sometimes we'll talk about that kind of disruption usually is around that September-October time period because that's a low portion of our seasonality, and we're trying to cause the least amount of disruption. And that's and we have to stay focused on the continuous upgrade from a digital transformation perspective on there's so many new opportunities that are coming up for us to continue to optimize that business. And I would expect that there will be continued evolution for us to master and optimize that part of our business. And Voin did mention that we did see some of that to our web business tends to over index on some of these core licensed products and things that are focused more on adults, and we saw some volatility in that. Some of it was timing.

麥克，我會給你更多的色彩，當你顯然在某些方面實施技術升級時，它並不總是與引用-取消引用的內容、你做錯了什麼或你做的事情相關聯。需要修復。有時候，當您建立一個新平台或改變某種流程時，結果會出現一些波動，因為您正在掌握新技術，這也適用於推出新的 POS系統，有時您會遇到困難，因此您可以在整個企業滾動時安裝新的POS 系統。這就是為什麼當我們看到這樣的事情時你會這樣。如果您正在追蹤業務，有時我們會談論這種中斷通常發生在 9 月至 10 月期間，因為這是我們季節性的一小部分，我們正在努力造成最少的中斷。也就是說，我們必須從數位轉型的角度專注於持續升級，因為我們會遇到許多新的機會來繼續優化業務。我希望我們能夠不斷發展，以掌握和優化這部分業務。 Voin 確實提到，我們確實看到我們的網路業務傾向於過度索引某些核心授權產品和更關注成人的產品，並且我們看到了其中的一些波動。其中一些是時機。

Some of it was performance on some of these key licenses that have delivered for us pretty consistently on. But on the flip side, we're seeing strong results in our core holiday product, and that has been a big contributor to a little bit of that turnaround in the last couple of weeks here. So there's there's a lot of puts and takes, and we're trying to balance that as best as we can. And we're looking at on the guidance.

其中一些是一些關鍵許可證的性能，這些許可證一直為我們提供服務。但另一方面，我們看到我們的核心假日產品取得了強勁的業績，這對過去幾週的業績改善做出了重要貢獻。因此，有許多的調整和調整，我們正在盡力平衡它們。我們正在研究該指南。

Yes, makes sense.

是的，有道理。

Right. I appreciate the color. Thank you.

正確的。我很欣賞它的顏色。謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you. The next question is coming from Greg Gibas of Northland Securities. Please go ahead.

謝謝。下一個問題來自北國證券的格雷格·吉巴斯。請繼續。

Hey, good morning, Sharon and Voin. Thanks for taking the questions. I'm wondering if you could comment on any operating metric trends that you're seeing, specifically average revenue per customer versus maybe overall traffic and customer count trends?

嘿，早上好，莎倫和沃恩。感謝您提出問題。我想知道您是否可以評論您所看到的任何營運指標趨勢，特別是每個客戶的平均收入與整體流量和客戶數量趨勢的比較？

Yes. In general, generally, as we've noted, our traffic continues to outpace national traffic we had. And yes, people plan their visits to Build-a-Bear upwards of 80% of those visits are planned in advance. That speaks to the loyalty of the brands. And it also speaks to the wide variety of locations that we can have, whether we're taking advantage of and tourist locations where there's a natural traffic in tendency, but even in some of the malls, which, by the way, there have been some positive reports on mall traffic recently. But in some of the malls, we're still a planned visits. So that's what drives and combat consistency with traffic. But as you're implying and we mentioned on kind of the flip side of that was we did see a little bit of a down turn in our dollars per transaction, and that is possibly somewhat related to some of the softness in consumer spending, I would suppose, but it's also related to continued increases in which is a part of our strategy. Our Birthday Treat Bear, which is the offer for consumers to purchase a Birthday Treat Bear the month of their birthday for the age they are turning. And the reason that's a really good. We don't mind that metric is that it it's our number one acquisition tool. So when we talk about the integration of our POS system with our loyalty program with our CRM program, the capture data of that that allows us to pull that lifetime value through over the course of time. So those are a couple of the things that are impacting that. But yes, we've seen a little bit of softness in the dollars per transaction, and that is the offset of our strong traffic.

是的。總的來說，正如我們所指出的，我們的流量繼續超過我們的全國流量。是的，人們會計劃參觀 Build a-Bear，其中 80% 以上的參觀都是提前計劃好的。這說明了品牌的忠誠度。這也說明了我們可以擁有的各種各樣的地點，無論我們是否利用自然交通趨勢的旅遊地點，但即使在一些購物中心，順便說一句，也有最近有一些關於商場客流量的積極報道。但在一些商場，我們仍然有計劃地參觀。這就是推動和打擊流量一致性的原因。但正如你所暗示的，我們提到的另一面是，我們確實看到每筆交易的美元略有下降，這可能與消費者支出的疲軟有關，我會這樣認為，但這也與持續增長有關，這是我們戰略的一部分。我們的生日禮物小熊，為消費者提供在生日當月購買適合其年齡的生日禮物小熊的優惠。這是一個非常好的理由。我們不介意這個指標，因為它是我們的第一大獲取工具。因此，當我們談論 POS 系統與忠誠度計劃和 CRM 計劃的整合時，捕獲的數據使我們能夠隨著時間的推移實現終身價值。這些是影響這一點的一些因素。但是，是的，我們看到每筆交易的金額略有疲軟，這抵消了我們強勁的流量。

Great. That's helpful. And then just my follow-up. It really nice to see the e-commerce demand growth outpacing overall and then also the expectation for and the increased store count this year being at the high end of the previous range. And I guess the question is kind of a two-part of what are maybe the expectations for the e-commerce business heading into the holiday season and relative to maybe performance at your locations like you expect it to continue outperforming like we saw in Q3? And then along those lines, where are you seeing attractive maybe new brick and mortar locations? Like I said, it's coming in at a faster basically they are expecting to be 30 new stores this year. I'm curious if we would expect a similar range next year, maybe 20 to 30 or anything you can share there would be helpful.

偉大的。這很有幫助。然後就是我的後續行動。很高興看到電子商務需求的成長超過了整體，而且今年的預期和增加的商店數量也達到了先前範圍的高端。我想這個問題分為兩部分，一是對電子商務業務進入假日季節的預期，二是相對於您所在地點的表現，您希望它繼續表現出色，就像我們在第三季度看到的那樣？然後沿著這些思路，您在哪裡看到有吸引力的新實體店？就像我說的，它的進來速度更快，基本上他們預計今年將有 30 家新店。我很好奇明年我們是否會期望類似的範圍，也許 20 到 30 或您可以在那裡分享的任何內容都會有幫助。

In general terms, as we noted, the guidance still is inclusive of the best year young properties profitable year in our history. We're still looking at a record-breaking year for 2023 and that we, as we noted, both revenue and pretax were record breaking through the first nine months for the third quarter. So we wanted to be careful that we're not implying that the of the year is that the guidance shift is saying that we're going to be down for the year. We're expecting to grow for the year and that is inclusive of what we expect, of course, the web and our so our North American stores and our retail footprint to be up. And that's that has to be a part of the equation for us to do that. But on the store count evolution and growth. And we too are quite pleased with the expectation of the 30 stores by the end of the year. And we are, as we noted in the call, pipelining additional stores and we'd hope to be able to share some more store count information with you at the end of the next call when we're planning out providing guidance for 2024. And we also shared that we expect to see some growth in Continental Europe based on and the success that we saw in our Henry's relationship in Milan.

總的來說，正如我們所指出的，該指導仍然包括我們歷史上年輕房地產盈利最好的一年。我們仍在期待 2023 年將創紀錄，正如我們所指出的，第三季的前 9 個月收入和稅前收入均創紀錄。因此，我們要小心，我們並不是暗示今年的業績指引的轉變是說我們今年的業績將會下滑。我們預計今年將實現成長，當然，這包括我們期望的網路、北美商店和零售足跡的成長。這必須成為我們做到這一點的方程式的一部分。但在商店計數上的演變和增長。我們對年底開店30家的預期也非常滿意。正如我們在電話中指出的那樣，我們正在籌備更多商店，我們希望能夠在下次電話會議結束時與您分享更多商店數量信息，當時我們計劃提供 2024 年的指導。我們還表示，基於我們亨利在米蘭的關係所取得的成功，我們預期歐洲大陸會出現一些成長。

Okay, great. Appreciate the color.

好的，太好了。欣賞顏色。

Thank you.

謝謝。

The next question is coming from Steve Silver of Argus Research. Please go ahead.

下一個問題來自阿格斯研究中心的史蒂夫·西爾弗。請繼續。

Good morning and thanks for taking my questions. And also reiterating, it's great to see that the or the guidance for the new location adds trending to the higher end of the previous range. It's also great to see the positive impact that the expanding footprint having on company gross margins.

早安，感謝您提出我的問題。同時重申，很高興看到新地點的指導將趨勢增加到先前範圍的高端。很高興看到不斷擴大的足跡對公司毛利率的正面影響。

I'm just trying to get a sense without looking for any guidance for 2024. And just given the fact that it looks like your pipeline for new locations maybe have brought some of those opportunities forward to launching in the second half of 2023. I'm just trying to get a sense as to your timeframe for the potential for some of these newer location openings to contribute to 2024 results.

我只是想了解一下，而不是尋找 2024 年的任何指導。鑑於您的新地點管道看起來可能已經將其中一些機會提前到了 2023 年下半年推出。我'我只是想了解一下您的時間表，以了解其中一些較新的地點空缺對2024 年業績做出貢獻的潛力。

Or maybe a little bit slower of a build? And then also maybe if there's anything you could speak to just in terms of the broader macro trends that you might be seeing in some of these markets where some of these are some opportunities were chosen to be moved forward given all the retail challenges out there. Thanks

或者建置速度可能會慢一點？然後，也許您可以談談您可能在其中一些市場中看到的更廣泛的宏觀趨勢，考慮到零售業面臨的所有挑戰，其中一些機會被選擇向前推進。謝謝

And we'll as soon as we open the stores and start our marketing, we expect to see positive contribution from those from those stores. So you kind of look at the calendarization of those and there will be some we will be anniversarying across across the year as we opened them in the prior year. But there are usually a little bit at least that's our plan because they were not out of the gate and most of the time, you know, based on the fact that we're substantially 100% profitable, most of them do we mitigate them quickly to the best of our ability. But yes, where are we have a very strong store process, which gives us the confidence to tell you, you know, the rate ranges that we've been able to provide over the last few years as the combination of our corporately operated and partner operated stores and now some even increasing franchise store. So that that's a very I think strong and important part of our model. As I noted in my remarks, that Build-A-Bear Workshop experience is the key part of our difference in how we create these valuable relationships with our guests so on.

一旦我們開設商店並開始行銷，我們就會期望看到這些商店的積極貢獻。所以你看一下這些活動的日曆，我們會在一年中慶祝一些活動，就像我們在前一年開業一樣。但通常至少有一點是我們的計劃，因為它們還沒有排除在外，而且大多數時候，你知道，基於我們基本上 100% 盈利的事實，我們會迅速緩解其中的大多數問題盡我們所能。但是，是的，我們在哪裡擁有非常強大的商店流程，這使我們有信心告訴您，您知道，作為我們公司運營和合作夥伴的結合，我們在過去幾年中能夠提供的費率範圍自營店，現在有的甚至還在增加特許經營店。所以我認為這是我們模型中非常強大和重要的部分。正如我在演講中指出的，Build-A-Bear Workshop 體驗是我們與客人建立這些寶貴關係的差異化的關鍵部分。

And then the next piece of that is the integration of that with all of the digital technology that we'll talk about on the CRM and the loyalty strategy, which is why our strategy is what it is, the expansion of the store footprint, followed by the evolution of the digital transformation, which integrate everything that we do. So on the macroeconomic front, I mean, I think we've shared about as much as we know that there's some seem to have been some macro softness out there. When you look at some of the reports in a number of sectors starting in the late, what would be our fiscal third quarter and it continued a little bit into the early parts of November we've seen, as we noted is, I think going went into more detail in his script a little bit of a turn in the trend, and I noted it as well on going into the whole Black Friday, Cyber Monday timeframe. And as we're turning the page on to December, the next devices, as you know, in retail in a business like ours, the combination of retail today represent the vast majority of the quarter for us. We're happy to be going into it with a little more momentum.

然後下一部分是將其與我們將在 CRM 和忠誠度策略中討論的所有數位技術相集成，這就是為什麼我們的策略是這樣的，即擴大商店足跡，透過數位轉型的演變，整合了我們所做的一切。因此，在宏觀經濟方面，我的意思是，我認為我們已經分享了我們所知道的盡可能多的信息，其中似乎存在一些宏觀疲軟的情況。當您查看從後期開始的多個部門的一些報告時，我們的第三財季將持續到 11 月初，我們已經看到，正如我們所指出的那樣，我認為在他的腳本中詳細介紹了趨勢的一點點轉變，我在進入整個黑色星期五和網路星期一的時間框架時也注意到了這一點。當我們翻過這一頁到 12 月時，如您所知，在像我們這樣的企業的零售業中，下一個設備，今天的零售組合代表了我們本季度的絕大多數時間。我們很高興能以更大的動力進入這個領域。

Great. That's helpful. Thanks so much and best of luck with the movie launch in the holiday season.

偉大的。這很有幫助。非常感謝，祝電影在假期上映順利。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Once again, ladies and gentlemen, that is star one. If you have a question at this time, the next question is coming from Nancy Frohna of 1492 Capital Management. Please go ahead.

女士們先生們，再一次，這是明星一號。如果您此時有疑問，下一個問題將由 1492 Capital Management 的 Nancy Frohna 提出。請繼續。

Good morning. My question really is about the glycerin movie and the release of it early and then the public pulling back of it due to the competitive movie slate that coupled with the results that can you attribute to sales or the sales result that you can attribute specifically to that movie. Can you discuss that a little bit more?

早安.我的問題實際上是關於《甘油》電影以及它的早期上映，然後由於電影的競爭性，再加上你可以歸因於銷售的結果或你可以專門歸因於它的銷售結果，公眾撤回了它電影。能多討論一下嗎？

Yes, I think that. Thank you, Nancy.

是的，我是這麼認為的。謝謝你，南希。

And I think that it's important to understand as we highlight in the script that on the creation of content and entertainment for us, we created in the construct of primarily to elevate and integrate, you know, our our characters and our storylines and our intellectual property and with our marketing and create more engagement with our consumers.

我認為重要的是要理解，因為我們在劇本中強調，在為我們創造內容和娛樂時，我們主要是為了提升和整合我們的角色、我們的故事情節和我們的智慧財產權。並透過我們的行銷與消費者建立更多的互動。

So on, as I noted, the original glycine and the mini mission movie was based on our best selling product line that we've had as a part of build there for many, many years, including goods and being the number one unit selling product for about holiday time period. And since we launched it. So that's over 150 million worth of products that we sold without any embellishment from a character evolution or character creation story. And so when we first envisioned this we wanted we envisioned it as a tool to create a marketing catalyst and that marketing catalyst was expected to be more in a streaming or digital environment. Which will be starting tomorrow, if exciting.

因此，正如我所指出的，最初的甘氨酸和迷你任務電影是基於我們最暢銷的產品線，我們多年來一直在那裡構建該產品線，包括商品並成為銷量第一的產品大約假期時間。自從我們推出它以來。因此，我們銷售的產品價值超過 1.5 億，沒有任何角色演變或角色創造故事的修飾。因此，當我們第一次設想這一點時，我們希望將其設想為創建行銷催化劑的工具，並且該行銷催化劑預計將更多地出現在串流媒體或數位環境中。如果令人興奮的話，這將從明天開始。

But Cinemark and Build-a-Bear created a very unique, very interesting relationship because Cinemark in Build-a-Bear, our Cold Lake located in numerous malls in numerous markets and it's a really natural interplay for kids to come to Build-A-Bear and then go to movies. And we did that a lot even with our licensed films. And so it was deleveraging of that moment in that sort of proven tool to create stuffing events in some of their theaters where Build-A-Bear is just right down the hallway and create excitement and early excitement in the holiday business. And so indeed, we have generated, as I noted, over 4 billion impressions leading into the key holiday shopping period. The sales of the products associated with the film are indeed very positive. But the key there is that the objective is to raise the water level and kept Build-a-Bear top of mind as again, we turn the page into the highest potential opportunity, which is the big selling period of December for us, when you imagine the families coming into malls visiting sand, a lot of planned Build-a-Bear purchases and it's a big arc of opportunity when you think about it so that the paring it down is there were multiple big budget films from major for steel film company that came out last week, the last, the in the middle two weeks of November. And so that was just a combination of working with our partner on how we wanted to manage that and we're excited to go that nationwide this coming weekend. But then we will transfer to the digital side and drive that's in home view.

但喜滿客和Build-a-Bear 建立了一種非常獨特、非常有趣的關係，因為喜滿客在Build-a-Bear 中，我們的Cold Lake 位於眾多市場的眾多購物中心中，對於孩子們來說，來到Build-A-Bear 是一種非常自然的互動。熊然後去看電影。即使對於我們的授權電影，我們也經常這樣做。因此，正是在這種經過驗證的工具中去槓桿化，在他們的一些劇院中舉辦充實的活動，而Build-A-Bear就在走廊的盡頭，並在假日業務中創造了興奮和早期的興奮。事實上，正如我所指出的，在關鍵的假期購物時期，我們已經產生了超過 40 億次展示。與電影相關的產品銷售確實非常可觀。但關鍵是，目標是提高水位並再次將“Build a-Bear”放在首位，我們將這一頁變成了最高的潛在機會，這對我們來說是 12 月的大拋售期，當您想像一下，家庭進入購物中心參觀沙子，大量計劃購買“建造熊”，當你考慮到這一點時，這是一個很大的機會，所以減少它是有來自鋼膜公司的多部大預算電影上週發售的，是十一月的最後兩週。因此，這只是與我們的合作夥伴合作確定我們希望如何管理這一點的結合，我們很高興能在下週末在全國範圍內開展這項活動。但隨後我們將轉移到數位方面並在家庭視圖中進行驅動。

Okay. Thank you.

好的。謝謝。

Thank you. The next question is coming from Zach Miller of Yost Capital. Please go ahead, guys.

謝謝。下一個問題來自 Yost Capital 的 Zach Miller。請繼續吧，夥計們。

Thanks for taking the question. So I wanted to go back to the guidance. I think the implied fourth quarter at the midpoint is something like little over 3% revenue growth. So can you just help us with what's embedded in that from when we look at new store contribution versus same store sales?

感謝您提出問題。所以我想回到指導。我認為第四季中點隱含的營收成長略高於 3%。那麼，當我們查看新店貢獻與同店銷售額時，您能否幫助我們了解其中的內容？

I mean. So first, thanks for that question, Zach. And you know, this is one of those things as well. We are providing the guidance. You are absolutely right, that midpoint of the new guidance range. It shows that like a mid threes, you know, from the total revenue growth perspective, we don't specifically talk about comps, but you know, definitely we have opened some stores and you know, there is a mix of these stores that we are opening. So definitely when we talk about partner-operated locations, then we sell to them on a wholesale basis, we are not getting the full retail revenue. So when you are looking at some of those sales, clearly they are not going to grow at the same pace as your retail sales. So that's one of the pieces. What we talked about also is that, you know, we are seeing some softness in our UK business, so different geographies are going to be performing at least that performed so far at a different pace. So we are contemplating some of that as well as our e-com business has been softer than what we had planned late in Q3 and you know, like so far in Q4.

我是說。首先，謝謝你提出這個問題，札克。你知道，這也是其中之一。我們正在提供指導。你是絕對正確的，新指導範圍的中點。它表明，就像三分之二一樣，你知道，從總收入增長的角度來看，我們並沒有專門談論比較，但你知道，我們肯定開設了一些商店，你知道，我們混合了這些商店正在開放。因此，當我們談論合作夥伴經營的地點時，我們以批發方式向他們銷售，我們並沒有獲得全部零售收入。因此，當您查看其中一些銷售額時，顯然它們不會以與零售額相同的速度增長。這就是其中之一。我們也討論了，你知道，我們在英國業務中看到了一些疲軟，因此不同地區的表現至少會以不同的速度表現，至少到目前為止。因此，我們正在考慮其中的一些問題，而且我們的電子商務業務比我們在第三季末計劃的要軟，你知道，就像第四季度到目前為止一樣。

Got it. I guess without giving a specific number, I mean, generally, are you guys expecting positive comps in the fourth quarter? Or does the guide contemplate negative comps there?

知道了。我想，在沒有給出具體數字的情況下，我的意思是，總的來說，你們是否期待第四季的正面業績？或者指南是否考慮了負面補償？

I mean, just like if you think about low versus high end, you know, like you can get to the different numbers. You know, we are considering, you know how some of the challenges from the macro environment, how prominent they were like especially late in October. And you know, it was a big shift. So we are just trying to be cautious and we still have some big weeks ahead of us. And we just want to make sure you know, that if these big weeks in the traffic and things normalizes, you know like and it's positive, you know, like it's one outcome versus if you know, you have the opposite. So we are trying to kind of like what the middle line and just based on the information that we have control, things that are within our control and execute and stay focused on profitability, staying focused on things that are directly within our control. And I think that's part of the reason we are able to grow even in the smaller numbers, you know, still our profit and expand our profit. But from the margin as though a pretax margin perspective.

我的意思是，就像你考慮低端與高端一樣，你知道，就像你可以得到不同的數字。你知道，我們正在考慮，你知道宏觀環境帶來的一些挑戰有多突出，尤其是在十月底。你知道，這是一個巨大的轉變。所以我們只是想保持謹慎，我們還有重要的幾週等著我們。我們只是想確保你知道，如果這幾週的交通和情況恢復正常，你知道，這是積極的，你知道，就像這是一個結果，如果你知道，你會得到相反的結果。因此，我們試圖遵循中線，僅基於我們所控制的信息，我們控制和執行的事情，並保持專注於盈利能力，保持專注於直接在我們控制範圍內的事情。我認為這就是我們即使在數量較少的情況下也能夠實現增長的部分原因，你知道，我們的利潤仍然存在並擴大了我們的利潤。但從利潤率來看彷彿是稅前利潤率。

I think that point point about that controlling what we control, I think that that is a great note here because that is what we have done to the best of our ability over the past few years that have resulted in continuous profitable growth for the Company and the there is a cautious, optimistic attitude, and that's embedded in this guidance. And I think that it given that there was a broad consumer pullback in the last two weeks of the quarter for us in the last two weeks of October. On that, we did our best to pause and respond, which is what we do quite well. And now we're seeing that momentum shift for us, but it really is just a matter of looking at the macro data and on being as transparent as we can with the community.

我認為關於控制我們所控制的東西的這一點，我認為這是一個很好的說明，因為這是我們在過去幾年中盡最大努力所做的事情，導致了公司的持續盈利增長，並且本指南中蘊含著謹慎、樂觀的態度。我認為，考慮到 10 月最後兩週，本季最後兩週消費者出現了廣泛的回檔。對此，我們盡力暫停並做出回應，這也是我們做得很好的地方。現在我們看到了這種勢頭的轉變，但這實際上只是關注宏觀數據以及對社區盡可能透明的問題。

Perfect. Thank you, guys.

完美的。感謝你們。

Thank you. The next question is coming from Michael Baker of DA Davidson. Please go ahead.

謝謝。下一個問題來自 DA Davidson 的 Michael Baker。請繼續。

Okay, thanks.

好的謝謝。

I figured I'd just ask one more follow up on what you said about the dollars per transaction, you said it could be related to sort of consumer, but also could be related to the Birthday Treat situation. If I could push on that I assume you have data showing, you know, that kind of stuff. So maybe I can ask this way within the the non birthday sales, are you seeing anything in terms of lower dollars per transaction? And would that be a function of people trading down to lower cost pairs or maybe fewer attachments or any other way? Just to take out the impact of the birthing and figure out what you're seeing in terms of dollars per transaction as I think that's sort of an important metric to gauge consumer health? Thanks.

我想我只想再問一個關於您所說的每筆交易美元的後續問題，您說這可能與某種消費者有關，但也可能與生日招待情況有關。如果我能繼續下去，我假設你有數據顯示，你知道，這類東西。因此，也許我可以在非生日銷售中這樣問，您是否看到每筆交易的金額較低？這是否是人們以更低的成本對或更少的附件或任何其他方式進行交易的函數？只是為了消除出生的影響並找出每筆交易的美元金額，因為我認為這是衡量消費者健康的一個重要指標？謝謝。

Yes. So let me tried to add a little bit more color to that. Michael Birthday Treat Bear represents a big portion of our new customer acquisition and definitely dollar per transaction. That will be associated with that particular product. It's lower than our blended rate of everything else that people are buying. So if that grows at a faster pace, that's one thing. And as Sharon pointed out earlier, we like that because it's a and profitable marketing marketing for profit in this case as we continue to drive more guests and acquire them and still make some money and, you know, extend the lifetime value of these guests at the same time. That's just one of the components driving that dollar per transaction down. As I mentioned in my remarks, our transactions are up, but the dollar per transaction is down. I Count Your Candles program and but they are driving that down.

是的。因此，讓我嘗試為其添加更多色彩。邁克爾生日款待熊代表了我們新客戶獲取的很大一部分，並且每筆交易絕對是美元。這將與該特定產品相關聯。它低於人們購買的其他所有商品的綜合價格。因此，如果成長速度更快，那是一回事。正如莎倫之前指出的那樣，我們喜歡這一點，因為在這種情況下，這是一種有利可圖的營銷方式，因為我們會繼續吸引更多客人並吸引他們，並且仍然賺到一些錢，並延長這些客人的終生價值同一時間。這只是導致每筆交易金額下降的因素之一。正如我在演講中提到的，我們的交易量增加了，但每筆交易的美元金額卻下降了。 「我數你的蠟燭」計劃，但他們正在壓低這項計劃。

The other piece is, you know, the other transaction. And that's a little bit more challenging to figure out like, okay, it is and really what the consumer confidence is and like what choices they are making. But definitely when you are looking at some of those metrics, you know, they are down year over year and we are seeing some change. But, you know, this is an area that you know we continue to stay focused because, you know, driving more transactions, it's really helping drive the overall.

你知道，另一塊是另一筆交易。弄清楚消費者的信心到底是什麼以及他們所做的選擇有點更具挑戰性。但毫無疑問，當你查看其中一些指標時，你知道，它們逐年下降，我們看到了一些變化。但是，您知道，這是我們繼續關注的一個領域，因為，您知道，推動更多交易，確實有助於推動整體發展。

We want people to come to our stores. We are going to continue to drive that and again, providing great experiences. Always the goal is to upsell more. But at the end of the day, I'd rather have people coming to a store even if they're spending a lower amount versus not coming to a store at all.

我們希望人們來到我們的商店。我們將繼續推動這一目標，並提供出色的體驗。目標始終是增加銷售更多。但歸根結底，我寧願讓人們來商店，即使他們花的錢較少，也不願根本不來商店。

Yes, fair enough. One more real quick. I was going to ask if you think student loans led to that or repayment of two loans, I should say restarting those repayments led to the weakness in October, but I would presume maybe not as if it is coming back, you know, towards the end of November or maybe they may, I don't know. Does anyone of your customer maybe sort of step back a little bit as we're restarting student loans and now they sort of have incorporated that into the budget or do you think student loans had anything to do with what you said in October, what you saw in October?

是的，很公平。快點再來一張。我想問你是否認為學生貸款導致了這種情況，或者償還了兩筆貸款，我應該說重新啟動這些還款導致了 10 月份的疲軟，但我認為它可能不會回來，你知道，朝著十一月底，也許他們可能，我不知道。當我們重新啟動學生貸款時，您的客戶是否會退一步，現在他們已將其納入預算，或者您認為學生貸款與您在 10 月份所說的、您所做的有任何關係嗎？10月份看到的？

I believe that the shift in consumer macro consumer sentiment in the second two weeks of October, which has been widely reported at this point. Probably a large combination of things is that a piece of it could be and look, can I link that directly to us? I really have no data to do that, but is it in the May lieu of what consumers are considering when they do or don't shop how many things they're choosing when they go or what price point they're willing to pay on it. And all of those things in some way could impact consumer confidence, but that would be a difficult, tough, tough thing for me to link that directly to Build-a-Bear.

我相信消費者宏觀消費情緒的轉變將在十月的後兩週發生，這一點已被廣泛報導。也許一個很大的組合是它的一部分可以是並且看起來，我可以將其直接連結到我們嗎？我確實沒有數據可以做到這一點，但這是否可以代替消費者在購物或不購物時考慮的因素，他們在購物時會選擇多少東西，或者他們願意支付什麼價位它。所有這些事情在某種程度上都可能會影響消費者的信心，但對我來說，將其直接與「建造熊」聯繫起來將是一件非常困難的事情。

Fair enough. Appreciate all the time today, thank you.

很公平。今天一直感恩，謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you at this time, I'd like to turn the floor back over to Sharon John for closing comments.

謝謝你們，我想把發言權交還給莎朗約翰，讓她發表結束評論。

And thank you, operator, and thanks to everyone really for joining us today on our third quarter call. I did want to let you know that later today, Build-a-Bear is honored to be participating in the closing bell ceremony here at the New York Stock Exchange, where we're having this call today, we will be following that bell ringing with the 100th Anniversary Wall Street Christmas Tree lighting celebration.

感謝營運商，感謝大家今天加入我們的第三季電話會議。我確實想讓您知道，今天晚些時候，Build-a-Bear 很榮幸能夠參加紐約證券交易所的收盤鐘聲儀式，我們今天在這裡舉行電話會議，我們將跟隨鐘聲響起華爾街100 週年聖誕樹亮燈慶祝活動。

As we look forward to to kick off this amazing holiday season and the performance tonight, we'll be featuring our own listen and Merry Mission theme song. So as you kick off your holiday season as well, we would like to wish you and your families. A wonderful, wonderful holiday.

當我們期待著這個令人驚嘆的假期和今晚的表演開始時，我們將推出我們自己的聆聽和 Merry Mission 主題曲。因此，在您開始您的假期之際，我們衷心祝福您和您的家人。一個美好、美好的假期。

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation. This concludes today's event. You may disconnect your lines and walk off the webcast at this time and enjoy the rest of your day.

女士們、先生們，感謝您的參與。今天的活動到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路並退出網路廣播，享受剩下的一天。