Big Lots Inc (BIG) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, this is Alvin Concepcion, Vice President of Investor Relations at Big Lots. Welcome to the Big Lots First Quarter Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

早上好，我是 Big Lots 投資者關係副總裁 Alvin Concepcion。歡迎來到 Big Lots 第一季度電話會議。 （操作員說明）提醒一下，正在錄製此會議。

On the call with me today are Bruce Thorn, President and Chief Executive Officer and Jonathan Ramsden, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer.

今天與我通電話的有總裁兼首席執行官 Bruce Thorn 和執行副總裁兼首席財務和行政官 Jonathan Ramsden。

Before starting today's call, we would like to remind you that any forward-looking statements made on the call involve risks and uncertainties that are subject to the company's safe harbor provisions as stated in the company's press release and SEC filings and that actual results can differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. We would also like to point out that commentary today is focused on adjusted non-GAAP results.

在開始今天的電話會議之前，我們想提醒您，在電話會議上做出的任何前瞻性陳述都涉及風險和不確定性，這些風險和不確定性受公司新聞稿和 SEC 文件中所述的公司安全港條款的約束，實際結果可能會有所不同實質上來自前瞻性陳述中描述的內容。我們還想指出，今天的評論主要集中在調整後的非 GAAP 結果上。

Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP adjusted results are available in today's press release. The first quarter earnings release, presentation and related financial information are available at biglots.com/corporate/investors. A question-and-answer session will follow the prepared remarks.

今天的新聞稿中提供了 GAAP 與非 GAAP 調整後結果的對賬。第一季度收益發布、演示和相關財務信息可在 biglots.com/corporate/investors 獲取。問答環節將遵循準備好的評論。

I will now turn the call over to Bruce.

我現在將把電話轉給布魯斯。

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I will talk more about our Q1 results and full year outlook in a moment. But I want to start by being very clear on how we see our current situation.

大家早上好，感謝您加入我們。稍後我將詳細討論我們的第一季度業績和全年展望。但我想首先明確我們如何看待我們目前的情況。

First, macroeconomic headwinds have created significant challenges for us, which are reflected in our results and outlook. But we are confident that these headwinds will abate, and that when they do, we will see a major boost to our business. Specifically, our lower-income consumer has been hurt by inflation and by lower tax refunds and higher interest rates. And their confidence has been shaken by banking failures.

首先，宏觀經濟逆風給我們帶來了重大挑戰，這反映在我們的業績和展望中。但我們相信，這些不利因素將會減弱，而當它們減弱時，我們的業務將得到重大推動。具體來說，我們的低收入消費者受到通貨膨脹、退稅減少和利率上升的傷害。他們的信心因銀行倒閉而動搖。

Further, we continue to cycle the pull forward of higher ticket purchases during the pandemic. We fully expect those effects to soften or reverse over time and that furniture and seasonal in particular, will return to being the strong growth drivers for our business that they have been in the past, especially as we continue to bring newness and incredible value to our assortment.

此外，在大流行期間，我們繼續循環推動更高的機票購買量。我們完全預計這些影響會隨著時間的推移而減弱或逆轉，尤其是家具和季節性家具，將像過去一樣重新成為我們業務的強勁增長動力，尤其是當我們繼續為我們的產品帶來新鮮和令人難以置信的價值時品種。

Second, while we navigate through this difficult environment, we are being very aggressive in how we are managing our business. We have internally identified over $100 million of structural SG&A savings that are now incorporated into our forecast for 2023.

其次，在我們度過這個艱難的環境時，我們在管理業務方面非常積極。我們已經在內部確定了超過 1 億美元的結構性 SG&A 節省，這些節省現在已納入我們對 2023 年的預測。

These include the impact of our decision to close all 4 of our forward distribution centers to reduce cost and remove excess capacity. Importantly, however, these savings do not include any benefit from work we have recently done with an external partner. That project has identified a clear path to over $200 million of additional bottom-line opportunities across gross margin and SG&A. We expect most of this to be realized in 2024. But there will be meaningful benefit in 2023.

其中包括我們決定關閉所有 4 個遠期配送中心以降低成本和消除過剩產能的影響。然而，重要的是，這些節省不包括我們最近與外部合作夥伴完成的工作帶來的任何收益。該項目已經確定了一條清晰的路徑，可以通過毛利率和 SG&A 獲得超過 2 億美元的額外底線機會。我們預計其中大部分將在 2024 年實現。但 2023 年將產生有意義的收益。

Specific areas of opportunity include both national and private brand sourcing, transportation, including accessorial charges, store and field operations, general administrative expense, pricing and promotions, inventory allocation and omnichannel optimization. All of the above opportunities are in addition to the significant reduction in inbound freight rates we are realizing. In addition, we are also managing inventory and CapEx much lower.

具體的機會領域包括國家和私人品牌採購、運輸，包括輔助費用、商店和現場運營、一般管理費用、定價和促銷、庫存分配和全渠道優化。除了我們正在實現的入境運費大幅下降之外，所有上述機會都是如此。此外，我們還在管理庫存和資本支出要低得多。

That brings me to the third point, which is that we are also highly focused on ensuring we have plenty of liquidity to get through this period of macroeconomic challenges. In addition to cost and inventory reduction efforts, these actions include an expected further asset monetization and the decision made by our Board of Directors this week to suspend our dividend.

這讓我想到第三點，即我們也高度關注確保我們有足夠的流動性來度過這段宏觀經濟挑戰。除了降低成本和庫存的努力外，這些行動還包括預期的進一步資產貨幣化以及我們的董事會本週做出的暫停派息的決定。

Fourth and most importantly, we are highly encouraged by green shoots we are seeing as we work to turn the business. Notably, these reflect progress in both merchandising and marketing as we seek to get customers back into our stores and have them rediscover a refreshed and exciting assortment, incredible value and great service.

第四，也是最重要的一點，我們在努力扭轉業務的過程中看到的萌芽讓我們深受鼓舞。值得注意的是，這些反映了商品銷售和營銷方面的進步，因為我們力求讓顧客回到我們的商店，並讓他們重新發現令人耳目一新、令人興奮的品種、令人難以置信的價值和優質的服務。

The key to all of the above is continued laser focus on the 5 key actions you've heard us describe over the past several quarters. As a reminder, the 5 key action center around accelerating the mix of bargains and treasures that our customers want and need, making them easier to find with clear signage and marketing, easier to take home with a leading omnichannel platform and bringing them to more customers who are currently underserved, particularly in rural and small town markets where we know we outperform.

以上所有內容的關鍵是持續關注您在過去幾個季度中聽到我們描述的 5 個關鍵行動。提醒一下，這 5 項關鍵行動的核心是加快客戶想要和需要的特價商品和珍品的組合，通過清晰的標牌和營銷使它們更容易找到，通過領先的全渠道平台更容易帶回家，並將它們帶給更多客戶目前服務不足的人，特別是在我們知道我們表現出色的農村和小鎮市場。

Combined with a focus on improving productivity, making disciplined investment decisions and seizing opportunities from distressed competitors, I am confident that as we pass through this challenging period, we will emerge a significantly stronger company.

再加上專注於提高生產力、制定有紀律的投資決策並抓住陷入困境的競爭對手的機會，我相信，在我們度過這個充滿挑戰的時期時，我們將成為一家更加強大的公司。

Turning back to some of the things we're excited about and that are driving our optimism. As it relates to assortment, we are finding significant opportunities to enhance the newness and value of our assortment by procuring from over-inventoried mass retailers, distressed retailers and vendors and through new sourcing partners overseas.

回到我們感到興奮的一些事情，這些事情正在推動我們的樂觀情緒。由於涉及分類，我們正在尋找重要機會，通過從庫存過多的大眾零售商、陷入困境的零售商和供應商處採購，以及通過新的海外採購合作夥伴採購，來提高我們分類的新穎性和價值。

For example, we are unlocking elevated quality and freshness at a great value from India, which should hit stores this fall. We also procured Broyhill merchandise at a significant discount out of the bankruptcy of our former vendor and we'll pass these savings on to our customers.

例如，我們正在以超值的價格從印度推出更高品質和新鮮度的產品，這些產品將於今年秋季上市。由於我們的前供應商破產，我們還以大幅折扣採購了 Broyhill 商品，我們將把這些節省的資金轉嫁給我們的客戶。

We have also been working with our vendors to lower prices through product engineering and cost reductions aided by lower freight costs. Our efforts to provide more bargains are starting to be recognized by our customers.

我們還一直與我們的供應商合作，通過產品工程和降低運費幫助降低成本來降低價格。我們提供更多優惠的努力開始得到客戶的認可。

The proportion of bargain items featured on our lead end caps being rated as excellent value, has doubled since the beginning of the year. Further, our customer net price perception score in April increased by a couple of hundred basis points from March and several hundred basis points from the start of the year.

自今年年初以來，我們的鉛封端蓋上的廉價商品被評為物超所值的比例翻了一番。此外，我們 4 月份的客戶淨價感知得分比 3 月份增加了數百個基點，比年初增加了數百個基點。

Seasonal items such as lawn and garden contributed to nearly 1/4 of our comp sales decline in the quarter, but we have taken aggressive actions to cycle through them by the end of Q2, including canceling orders.

草坪和花園等季節性項目造成了本季度近 1/4 的銷售額下降，但我們已採取積極措施在第二季度末循環通過它們，包括取消訂單。

We are also very encouraged that we have begun to see stabilization in our Furniture business. This month, we started phasing in new Broyhill collections from our new suppliers and have received positive customer feedback about the quality. In August, more new Broyhill products will be phased in, along with a robust marketing campaign. So we're thrilled about that.

我們也感到非常鼓舞，我們已經開始看到我們的家具業務趨於穩定。本月，我們開始從我們的新供應商處逐步引進新的 Broyhill 系列，並收到了客戶對質量的積極反饋。 8 月，更多新的 Broyhill 產品將陸續推出，同時還將推出強有力的營銷活動。所以我們對此感到很興奮。

Our test to flex assortment by increasing food and consumables inventory in stores where the demand is stronger in those categories has shown encouraging early results. We also continue to optimize pricing in food and consumables, which is delivering incremental margin benefits.

我們通過增加商店中食品和消耗品庫存來靈活分類的測試表明，這些類別的需求更強勁，初步結果令人鼓舞。我們還繼續優化食品和消耗品的定價，這帶來了增量利潤。

Our recent marketing efforts are also beginning to bear fruit. Our campaign to draw and dislocated Bed Bath & Beyond customers by accepting the expired 20% off coupons, increased brand awareness with over 90 million TV and radio impressions. It also drove new loyalty membership sign-ups with around 20% of redemptions from the net new customers to Big Lots.

我們最近的營銷努力也開始見效。我們通過接受過期的 20% 優惠券來吸引和擾亂 Bed Bath & Beyond 客戶的活動，通過超過 9000 萬次電視和廣播印象提高了品牌知名度。它還推動了新的忠誠會員註冊，大約 20% 的贖回從淨新客戶到 Big Lots。

Our April marketing campaigns to existing customers have been more efficient with our best-performing campaigns featuring a closeout from a trendy over-inventoried retailer, which drove increased visits and a low single-digit lift in store sales to date as well as our budget booster event.

我們 4 月份針對現有客戶的營銷活動效率更高，我們表現最好的活動包括關閉一家時尚的庫存過多的零售商，這推動了訪問量的增加和迄今為止商店銷售額的低個位數增長以及我們的預算助推器事件。

We are also doing work to better refine our customer segmentation and messaging and by focusing on our best customers with our most attractive offering, we have found ways to improve the effectiveness of marketing with a lower cost to acquire a customer. And we have been improving the customer experience.

我們也在努力更好地完善我們的客戶細分和消息傳遞，並通過我們最具吸引力的產品專注於我們最好的客戶，我們找到了以更低的成本獲得客戶來提高營銷效率的方法。我們一直在改善客戶體驗。

Our associates continue to go above and beyond the call of duty for our customers, which has led to very positive customer feedback. We have achieved a Net Promoter Score in the mid-80s range in Q1, which is up from the prior year and top tier in the industry.

我們的員工繼續超越客戶的職責範圍，這導致了非常積極的客戶反饋。我們在第一季度取得了 80 年代中期的淨推薦值，高於上一年，在行業中名列前茅。

Our online Net Promoter Score has also improved significantly in April, up several hundred basis points from both March and the beginning of the year, as we continue to improve the customer journey through a more curated experience, better site navigation, and eliminating friction. As a result of our efforts to introduce more bargains and treasurers, market them better and serve our customers well, the reactivation of lapsed customers was strong in Q1, up 9%. While there's still a lot of work to do, we are encouraged about what we're seeing so far.

我們的在線淨推薦值在 4 月份也有顯著提高，比 3 月份和年初都提高了數百個基點，因為我們通過更精心策劃的體驗、更好的網站導航和消除摩擦繼續改善客戶旅程。由於我們努力引入更多便宜貨和財務人員，更好地營銷他們並為我們的客戶提供更好的服務，因此第一季度流失客戶的重新激活很強勁，增長了 9%。雖然還有很多工作要做，但我們對目前所看到的情況感到鼓舞。

I would now like to make a few comments about Q1, which was clearly a disappointing quarter. In addition to the macroeconomic factors, I referenced a moment ago, our furniture sales, especially Broyhill upholstery, continued to be adversely impacted by product shortages related to the abrupt closure of our largest vendor, United Furniture Industries in November. While Seasonal lawn and garden was affected by unfavorable weather. As a result, comp sales in Q1 were softer than we expected, particularly in March.

我現在想對第一季度發表一些評論，這顯然是一個令人失望的季度。除了宏觀經濟因素外，我剛才提到，我們的家具銷售，尤其是 Broyhill 室內裝潢，繼續受到與我們最大的供應商 United Furniture Industries 於 11 月突然關閉相關的產品短缺的不利影響。而季節性草坪和花園則受到不利天氣的影響。因此，第一季度的 comp 銷售比我們預期的要疲軟，尤其是在 3 月份。

Trends improved slightly in April, more in line with what we saw in February, but we had higher levels of late quarter promotions that targeted Seasonal and Furniture divisions than we would have liked. And mix was unfavorable. Therefore, gross margins also came in lower than we expected.

4 月份的趨勢略有改善，與我們在 2 月份看到的情況更加一致，但我們針對季節性和家具部門的季末促銷活動水平高於我們的預期。混合是不利的。因此，毛利率也低於我們的預期。

By addressing these sales challenges quickly and head on with increased markdown and promo activity, and also through canceling orders in light of the soft environment, we were able to end the quarter with inventory that was down and in line with sales decline this quarter.

通過快速應對這些銷售挑戰並繼續增加降價和促銷活動，並根據軟環境取消訂單，我們能夠在本季度結束時庫存下降並與本季度的銷售下降保持一致。

And while Q2 will remain challenging, we expect a more significant improvement in the back half of the year. This is one of our efforts to strengthen our business model or gain more momentum, which I'll go into more in a bit.

儘管第二季度仍將充滿挑戰，但我們預計下半年會有更顯著的改善。這是我們加強我們的商業模式或獲得更多動力的努力之一，我將在稍後詳細介紹。

Also, we should see more pronounced benefits to our cost structure as well as a more normalized level of markdowns. As I mentioned, with the help of an external partner, we have also identified significant bottom line opportunities both in gross margin and SG&A that we will be pursuing over the next 18 months. Jonathan will discuss this more in a moment.

此外，我們應該看到我們的成本結構有更明顯的好處，以及更正常的降價水平。正如我所提到的，在外部合作夥伴的幫助下，我們還確定了我們將在未來 18 個月內追求的毛利率和 SG&A 方面的重要底線機會。 Jonathan 稍後會詳細討論這個問題。

Another helpful factor for the back half is that we will fully mitigate the impact of the United Furniture supply disruption by the end of Q2. We are sourcing a more compelling assortment of Broyhill and Real Living products to our vendors which we are confident will improve the quality and value impression in the category, particularly online with the shopping journey for the furniture often begins.

另一個對下半年有利的因素是，我們將在第二季度末完全減輕聯合家具供應中斷的影響。我們正在向我們的供應商採購更引人注目的 Broyhill 和 Real Living 產品，我們相信這將提高該類別的質量和價值印象，尤其是在網上，因為家具的購物之旅經常開始。

Turning back to the first quarter. You heard me discuss the sales and margin challenges and how we acted quickly to clean up slow-moving inventory. We tightly managed costs with SG&A that came in better than our guidance. We remain focused on strengthening our balance sheet and liquidity position and reduced our CapEx outlook. Many thanks to our team for managing through a difficult period. Again, Jonathan will add more color in a moment.

回到第一季度。你聽到我討論了銷售和利潤挑戰以及我們如何迅速採取行動清理滯銷庫存。我們通過比我們的指導更好的 SG&A 嚴格管理成本。我們仍然專注於加強我們的資產負債表和流動性狀況，並降低我們的資本支出前景。非常感謝我們的團隊度過了困難時期。同樣，Jonathan 稍後會添加更多顏色。

Looking at specific category performance in the quarter. Seasonal comps declined 25% in Q1, due in part to unfavorable weather, which affected lawn and garden sales as well as customers generally pulling back on higher ticket outdoor furniture, which typically sells well this time of year due to concerns about the economy.

查看本季度特定類別的表現。第一季度的季節性收入下降了 25%，部分原因是天氣不利，這影響了草坪和花園的銷售，而且客戶普遍減少購買高價戶外家具，而由於對經濟的擔憂，這種家具通常在每年的這個時候賣得很好。

As a result, we have offered targeted coupons and promotions in the category and are selling through it, with inventory in the category better than last year. Given Seasonal is one of our highest-margin categories, the sales decline unfavorably impacted our mix and combined with the promotional activity, it unfavorably impacted our overall gross margin.

因此，我們在該類別中提供了有針對性的優惠券和促銷活動，並通過它進行銷售，該類別的庫存比去年更好。鑑於季節性是我們利潤率最高的類別之一，銷售下降對我們的產品組合產生了不利影響，再加上促銷活動，對我們的整體毛利率產生了不利影響。

In Q2, gazebos and our patio dining sets are off to a great start and we are just starting to hit peak season in our largest markets in the Midwest and Northeast. This illustrates the opportunity to own key categories or segments, particularly in the back half of the year as our fresh assortment begins to flow through our stores towards the end of summer.

在第二季度，涼亭和我們的露台餐廳有了一個良好的開端，我們在中西部和東北部最大的市場才剛剛開始迎來旺季。這說明了擁有關鍵類別或細分市場的機會，特別是在今年下半年，因為我們的新鮮品種開始在夏末流過我們的商店。

Our Furniture, Soft Home and Hard Home categories were down double digits. Consumers were hesitant to make higher ticket purchases in this economic environment, and this caution was exacerbated by soft tax refunds, which traditionally drive Q1 sales.

我們的家具、軟裝家居和硬裝家居類別下降了兩位數。在這種經濟環境下，消費者不願購買更高的機票，而軟退稅加劇了這種謹慎，而軟退稅通常會推動第一季度的銷售。

Also, the Furniture product shortages I mentioned earlier unfavorably impacted our comp sales and Furniture by about 1,200 basis points. It also indirectly affected demand and other home categories due to the halo impact that Furniture has on Soft Home textiles and houseware assortments. We are mitigating our sales and inventory exposure by sourcing through other vendors, which will fill the majority of the gap by the end of Q2. As we roll out more on-trend assortments at a great value throughout the summer, we expect our results in the back half to benefit.

此外，我之前提到的家具產品短缺對我們的銷售和家具產生了約 1,200 個基點的不利影響。由於家具對軟質家用紡織品和家庭用品分類的光環影響，它還間接影響了需求和其他家居類別。我們正在通過其他供應商採購來減輕我們的銷售和庫存風險，這將在第二季度末填補大部分缺口。隨著我們在整個夏季推出更多物超所值的流行款式，我們預計下半年的業績會受益。

Food and Consumables held up relatively well given the traffic challenges we experienced. I'd now like to recap the 5 key actions I mentioned earlier and that we have discussed over the past several quarters. We believe these actions will put us on the path to achieving the long runway of profitable growth that we see.

考慮到我們遇到的交通挑戰，食品和消耗品的表現相對較好。我現在想回顧一下我之前提到的以及我們在過去幾個季度討論過的 5 項關鍵行動。我們相信這些行動將使我們走上實現我們所看到的長期盈利增長的道路。

First, as it relates to bargains, which are close-out items, off-price brands, and limited-time deals, we continue to source great deals across the categories from bankrupt competitors as well as mass retailers and vendors with excess inventory. Recently, we made great purchases in the Consumables, Home and Furniture categories.

首先，由於它涉及到特價商品，即平倉商品、折扣品牌和限時交易，我們繼續從破產的競爭對手以及庫存過剩的大型零售商和供應商那裡尋找跨類別的超值交易。最近，我們在消耗品、家居和家具類別中進行了大量採購。

Our penetration rate of bargains is now nearly 20%. So we're making good progress towards our goal to grow our penetration to 1/3 of our assortment. This is the highest level I've seen since being CEO.

我們的特價商品滲透率現在接近20%。因此，我們在實現我們的目標方面取得了良好進展，將我們的滲透率提高到我們產品種類的 1/3。這是我擔任 CEO 以來見過的最高水平。

We are continuing to lower prices through working with our vendors on product engineering and realizing cost reductions aided by lower freight costs. With all the great bargains flowing into our stores, our second key action is to communicate unmistakable value with a clearer and more effective marketing strategy. We think there's a long-term opportunity to bring these better bargains and deals to more customers who are currently underserved.

我們通過與我們的供應商合作進行產品工程並通過降低運費來實現成本降低，從而繼續降低價格。隨著所有超值優惠湧入我們的商店，我們的第二個關鍵行動是通過更清晰、更有效的營銷策略傳達明確無誤的價值。我們認為有一個長期的機會，可以為更多目前服務不足的客戶帶來這些更好的討價還價和交易。

This leads to our third action, which is to increase store relevance by leveraging our strengths, particularly in rural and small town markets, where we know we outperform.

這導致了我們的第三項行動，即通過利用我們的優勢來提高商店的相關性，特別是在我們知道我們表現出色的農村和小鎮市場。

Next, we will win with omnichannel by providing a better customer experience in a more profitable way. Last but not least, our fifth key action is to drive productivity across cost of goods, SG&A, inventory and CapEx. We are making great strides in all of these areas. We remain highly confident that these 5 key actions will position us to emerge better and stronger than ever as we emerge from this challenging period.

接下來，我們將通過以更有利可圖的方式提供更好的客戶體驗，以全渠道取勝。最後但同樣重要的是，我們的第五個關鍵行動是提高商品成本、SG&A、庫存和資本支出的生產力。我們在所有這些領域都取得了長足的進步。我們仍然堅信，隨著我們走出這個充滿挑戰的時期，這 5 項關鍵行動將使我們變得比以往任何時候都更好、更強大。

As I mentioned earlier, given the difficult environment and our current financial performance, the Board this week made the decision to suspend our dividend. That was, of course, not a decision the Board took lightly, but in the near term, we believe protecting and enhancing liquidity should be our highest priority. On that note, tough times don't, last tough companies do, and Big Lots is damn tough.

正如我之前提到的，鑑於困難的環境和我們目前的財務表現，董事會本週決定暫停派息。當然，這不是董事會輕易做出的決定，但在短期內，我們認為保護和增強流動性應該是我們的首要任務。在這一點上，艱難時期不會，最後艱難的公司會，而 Big Lots 是非常艱難的。

I will now pass it over to Jonathan, and I will return in a few moments to make some closing comments before taking your questions.

我現在將其轉交給 Jonathan，稍後我會回來做一些結束語，然後再回答您的問題。

Thanks, Bruce, and good morning. A special thank you goes out to the broader Big Lots team for all of their hard work and for remaining focused in a tough environment. Like Bruce, I'm confident that those efforts are putting us on track to emerge a better, stronger and more dynamic company.

謝謝，布魯斯，早上好。特別感謝更廣泛的 Big Lots 團隊，感謝他們的辛勤工作，並在艱難的環境中保持專注。和 Bruce 一樣，我相信這些努力將使我們走上正軌，成為一家更好、更強大、更有活力的公司。

I will go through details on our Q1 results in a moment, but I want to start by addressing 2 points that Bruce referenced in his comments. First, as Bruce noted, we are aggressively going after cost savings and productivity gains across our business.

我稍後會詳細介紹我們的第一季度結果，但我想首先解決 Bruce 在他的評論中提到的兩點。首先，正如 Bruce 指出的那樣，我們正在積極尋求在整個企業中節約成本和提高生產力。

Our internal efforts have now identified over $100 million of structural OpEx savings, up from the $70 million we referenced on our last earnings call. The increase is driven in part by our decision to accelerate the closure of our 4 forward distribution centers, which ceased operations this month. This will reduce cost and remove excess capacity. We will also realize significant inbound freight savings in 2023, which benefits our gross margin.

我們的內部努力現在已經確定了超過 1 億美元的結構性運營支出節省，高於我們在上次財報電話會議上提到的 7000 萬美元。增加的部分原因是我們決定加速關閉本月停止運營的 4 個遠期配送中心。這將降低成本並消除過剩產能。我們還將在 2023 年實現顯著的入境運費節省，這有利於我們的毛利率。

In addition, we have now reduced 2023 CapEx to around $80 million or over $100 million previously. Beyond those efforts, we have identified an additional $200 million or more of bottom line opportunities across OpEx and gross margin, some of which we expect to realize in 2023 with most of the balance in 2024. These savings have been identified in partnership with an external firm we engaged during the past quarter and reflect opportunities across multiple areas, as Bruce referenced a moment ago.

此外，我們現在已將 2023 年的資本支出減少至約 8000 萬美元或之前的 1 億美元以上。除了這些努力之外，我們還在運營支出和毛利率方面發現了額外 2 億美元或更多的底線機會，我們預計其中一些將在 2023 年實現，大部分餘額將在 2024 年實現。這些節省是與外部合作夥伴確定的正如 Bruce 剛才提到的，我們在上個季度參與的公司反映了多個領域的機會。

Second, we are intently focused on managing our liquidity to ensure we are prepared and positioned to navigate through the current economic challenges. As well as benefiting from the cost reductions referenced above, our liquidity position will also be strengthened by aggressive inventory management. We are working towards a step change in how we manage inventory turns, targeting an improvement of at least 15% over the next year and at least double that over time.

其次，我們專注於管理我們的流動性，以確保我們做好準備並準備好應對當前的經濟挑戰。除了受益於上述成本降低外，我們的流動性狀況也將通過積極的庫存管理得到加強。我們正在努力逐步改變我們管理庫存周轉的方式，目標是在明年提高至少 15%，並且隨著時間的推移至少提高一倍。

In terms of overall liquidity, we have and expect to maintain excess availability under our asset-based lending facility. However, we are also pursuing other measures to further bolster our liquidity. These include being in the advanced stages of a further asset monetization opportunity and the suspension of our dividend, which Bruce just referenced.

就整體流動性而言，我們擁有並期望在我們的基於資產的貸款機制下保持過剩的可用性。但是，我們也在採取其他措施來進一步增強我們的流動性。其中包括處於進一步資產貨幣化機會的後期階段和布魯斯剛剛提到的我們的股息暫停。

Regarding asset monetization. This week, we entered into a letter intent -- letter of intent for a sale and leaseback of our Apple Valley, California Distribution Center, our corporate headquarters building in Columbus, Ohio, and most of our remaining owned stores.

關於資產貨幣化。本週，我們簽署了一份意向書——關於出售和回租我們位於加利福尼亞州蘋果谷的配送中心、我們位於俄亥俄州哥倫布市的公司總部大樓以及我們剩餘的大部分自有商店的意向書。

The value of the transaction is expected to be around $340 million, equating to $240 million in net proceeds after considering the $100 million balance remaining on the synthetic lease on our California DC. We plan to use the net proceeds to pay down debt under our asset-based lending facility. Due to available NOLs, we expect taxes on the gain on the sale of the assets to be minimal. We are targeting closing in late Q2 or early Q3. The transaction is subject to customary due diligence and execution of a definitive purchase and sale agreement with standard closing conditions.

該交易的價值預計約為 3.4 億美元，在考慮到我們加利福尼亞 DC 的綜合租賃剩餘的 1 億美元餘額後，相當於 2.4 億美元的淨收益。我們計劃將所得款項淨額用於償還我們基於資產的貸款機制下的債務。由於可用的 NOL，我們預計對出售資產的收益徵稅是最低的。我們的目標是在第二季度末或第三季度初關閉。該交易需要進行慣常的盡職調查，並執行具有標準成交條件的最終買賣協議。

With that, I would like to go into more detail on our Q1 results, which I will discuss on an adjusted basis, excluding synthetic lease exit costs, forward distributions under contract termination costs, store asset impairment charges and a gain on the sale of our own stores, and we'll then address our outlook.

有了這個，我想更詳細地介紹我們第一季度的業績，我將在調整後的基礎上進行討論，不包括綜合租賃退出成本、合同終止成本下的遠期分配、商店資產減值費用和出售我們的收益自己的商店，然後我們將解決我們的前景。

The first quarter summary can be found on Page 9 of our quarterly results presentation. Q1 net sales were $1.12 billion, an 18.3% decrease compared to $1.37 billion a year ago. The decline versus 2022 was driven by a comparable sales decrease of 18.2% and which was below our guidance range.

第一季度的總結可以在我們季度業績報告的第 9 頁找到。第一季度淨銷售額為 11.2 億美元，與一年前的 13.7 億美元相比下降了 18.3%。與 2022 年相比下降的原因是可比銷售額下降了 18.2%，低於我們的指導範圍。

Going into the quarter, as Bruce mentioned, we expected weakness in the sales environment due to high inflation, weak overall demand for high ticket items and lower tax refunds. We also knew that product shortages related to United Furniture Industries would impact sales, with an estimated adverse impact to our overall comps of approximately 300 basis points, excluding attachment impacts in Soft Home and other categories.

進入本季度，正如 Bruce 提到的那樣，我們預計由於高通脹、對高價商品的整體需求疲軟以及退稅減少，銷售環境將疲軟。我們還知道與 United Furniture Industries 相關的產品短缺會影響銷售，估計對我們的整體收入產生大約 300 個基點的不利影響，不包括 Soft Home 和其他類別的附件影響。

However, fears of a banking crisis increased the level of caution and unfavorable weather impacted Seasonal lawn and garden. As a result, comp sales in Q1 were softer than we anticipated. Importantly, we acted quickly to clear inventory, which was down in line with our sales decline. Our first quarter adjusted net loss was $98.7 million and the adjusted diluted loss per share for the quarter was $3.40. The gross margin rate for the first quarter was 34.9%, down 180 basis points from last year's rate which was softer due primarily to higher levels of late quarter promotions that targeted the Seasonal and Furniture categories.

然而，對銀行業危機的擔憂提高了謹慎程度，不利的天氣影響了季節性草坪和花園。因此，第一季度的 comp 銷售比我們預期的要疲軟。重要的是，我們迅速採取行動清理庫存，這與我們的銷售下滑一致。我們第一季度調整後的淨虧損為 9870 萬美元，本季度調整後的攤薄每股虧損為 3.40 美元。第一季度的毛利率為 34.9%，比去年同期下降 180 個基點，這主要是由於針對季節性和家具類別的後期促銷活動水平較高。

Turning to adjusted SG&A. Total expenses for the quarter including depreciation, were $510.5 million, better than the $518.1 million last year and better than our guidance of up slightly versus 2022. We saw favorability across multiple line items as we continue to manage expenses aggressively.

轉向調整後的 SG&A。本季度包括折舊在內的總費用為 5.105 億美元，好於去年的 5.181 億美元，也好於我們對 2022 年略有增長的指導。隨著我們繼續積極管理費用，我們看到了多個項目的受歡迎程度。

Adjusted operating margin for the quarter was negative 10.5%. Interest expense for the quarter was $9.1 million, up from $2.8 million in the first quarter of last year due to higher amounts drawn on our credit facility and higher interest rates year-over-year.

本季度調整後的營業利潤率為負 10.5%。本季度的利息支出為 910 萬美元，高於去年第一季度的 280 萬美元，原因是我們的信貸額度增加，利率同比上升。

The adjusted income tax rate in the quarter was 22.3%. Total ending inventory cost was down 18.8% to last year at $1.09 billion. During the first quarter, we opened 3 new stores and closed 1 store. We ended Q1 with 1,427 stores and total selling square footage of $33 million. Capital expenditures for the quarter were $16.9 million compared to $43.7 million last year. Adjusted depreciation expense in the quarter was $35.6 million, down $1.8 million to the same period last year.

本季度調整後的所得稅率為 22.3%。期末庫存總成本為 10.9 億美元，較去年下降 18.8%。第一季度，我們新開了 3 家門店，關閉了 1 家門店。我們在第一季度結束時擁有 1,427 家商店，總銷售額為 3300 萬美元。本季度的資本支出為 1690 萬美元，而去年同期為 4370 萬美元。本季度調整後的折舊費用為 3560 萬美元，比去年同期減少 180 萬美元。

We ended the first quarter with $51.3 million of cash and cash equivalents and $501.6 million of long-term debt. At the end of Q1 2022, we had $61.7 million of cash and cash equivalents and long-term debt of $270.8 million. We did not execute any share repurchases during Q1 but have $159 million remaining available under our December 2021 authorization.

我們在第一季度結束時擁有 5130 萬美元的現金和現金等價物以及 5.016 億美元的長期債務。到 2022 年第一季度末，我們擁有 6170 萬美元的現金和現金等價物以及 2.708 億美元的長期債務。我們在第一季度沒有執行任何股票回購，但根據我們 2021 年 12 月的授權，仍有 1.59 億美元可供使用。

Turning to the outlook. We are not providing formal full year guidance in light of significant uncertainties. Sales comps should improve sequentially in the back half of the year as our key merchandising and marketing actions gain traction. We lap easier comparisons, especially in Q4 and as we move past the effects of the United Furniture shutdown. Gross margin should also improve over the prior year, driven by less markdown activity and lower costs particularly in freight.

轉向前景。鑑於存在重大不確定性，我們不會提供正式的全年指導。隨著我們的主要銷售和營銷活動獲得牽引力，銷售業績應該會在今年下半年依次改善。我們進行了更容易的比較，尤其是在第四季度，並且當我們擺脫聯合家具關閉的影響時。受降價活動減少和成本降低（尤其是運費）的推動，毛利率也應比上年有所提高。

Turning to more specifics on Q2. We are continuing to see significant pressure in the market environment, particularly in higher ticket and more discretionary items. Further, we expect a continued adverse impact to our comps from product shortages in furniture of around 100 basis points. As a result, we expect comps in Q2 to be similar to Q1 and to be down in the high teens range.

關於第二季度的更多細節。我們繼續看到市場環境中的巨大壓力，特別是在更高票價和更多可自由支配的項目中。此外，我們預計家具產品短缺約 100 個基點將對我們的公司產生持續的不利影響。因此，我們預計第二季度的業績將與第一季度相似，並處於高位區間。

Net new stores will add about 30 basis points of growth versus 2022. With regard to gross margin, we expect the rate in the second quarter to slightly improve versus the prior year but remain in the low 30s due to significant markdowns on slow-moving seasonal inventory.

與 2022 年相比，淨新店將增加約 30 個基點的增長。關於毛利率，我們預計第二季度的毛利率將比上年略有改善，但由於緩慢的季節性大幅降價，仍將保持在 30 年代的低位存貨。

Despite buying down significantly for this spring, Seasonal sales have lagged our plan and caused us to be over inventoried again, as Bruce noted earlier.

正如 Bruce 之前指出的那樣，儘管今年春季的採購量大幅下降，但季節性銷售落後於我們的計劃，導致我們的庫存再次過剩。

In Q2, we expect SG&A dollars to be down slightly versus 2022 due to the cost-saving efforts I mentioned earlier. Primarily in our supply chain, including the closure of our forward distribution centers, payroll and headcount reductions. This will be offset largely by inflationary impacts across wages and other line items. With regard to CapEx, as I mentioned earlier, we now expect a lower level of around $80 million for the year and continue to look for opportunities to reduce this further.

在第二季度，由於我之前提到的成本節約措施，我們預計 SG&A 美元將比 2022 年略有下降。主要是在我們的供應鏈中，包括關閉我們的遠期配送中心、裁員和裁員。這將在很大程度上被工資和其他項目的通貨膨脹影響所抵消。關於資本支出，正如我之前提到的，我們現在預計今年的資本支出水平較低，約為 8000 萬美元，並將繼續尋找機會進一步降低這一水平。

We expect around 15 to 17 store openings in 2023 with closures expected to be above that number, but concentrated at the end of the year. Most of the CapEx for new stores has already been spent or incurred, as we paused all new commitments a while back. We do not plan to restart store openings until our business performance has stabilized. In the meantime, we are continuing to evaluate underperforming stores to determine if we can improve their performance or otherwise if we can affect an early closure.

我們預計 2023 年將開設約 15 至 17 家門店，預計關閉數量將高於該數量，但集中在年底。由於我們暫停了所有新承諾，新店的大部分資本支出已經支出或發生。在我們的業務表現穩定之前，我們不打算重新開店。與此同時，我們將繼續評估表現不佳的商店，以確定我們是否可以改善他們的業績，或者我們是否可以影響提前關閉。

We expect full year depreciation of around $147 million, including approximately $36 million in Q2. We expect a share count of approximately 29.3 million for Q2. We expect total Q2 inventory to be down in line with sales again and are being aggressive in managing inventory levels through the balance of the year. All of our commentary on Q2 excludes the potential impact of impairment charges on onetime expenses, including FTC exit costs and external partner fees related to our cost reduction work as well as gains on asset sales.

我們預計全年折舊約 1.47 億美元，其中第二季度折舊約 3600 萬美元。我們預計第二季度的股票數量約為 2930 萬股。我們預計第二季度總庫存將再次與銷售額保持一致，並在今年餘下時間積極管理庫存水平。我們對第二季度的所有評論都排除了減值費用對一次性費用的潛在影響，包括 FTC 退出成本和與我們的成本削減工作相關的外部合作夥伴費用以及資產銷售收益。

Overall, as Bruce referenced, driving improved productivity and efficiency across our operations is 1 of our 5 key areas of focus in 2023 and beyond. We remain focused on significantly improving inventory turns, reducing structural costs and finding ways to make our CapEx dollars go further. This is key to returning the company to growth and profitability.

總體而言，正如 Bruce 所提到的，提高我們整個運營的生產力和效率是我們 2023 年及以後的 5 個重點關注領域之一。我們仍然專注於顯著改善庫存周轉率、降低結構性成本並尋找使我們的資本支出走得更遠的方法。這是使公司恢復增長和盈利的關鍵。

I will now turn the call back over to Bruce.

我現在將把電話轉回布魯斯。

Thank you, Jonathan. So to sum it up, we are doing our best to manage well through a very difficult environment. And even though visibility is low as to when the environment will improve, we are confident it eventually will.

謝謝你，喬納森。所以總而言之，我們正在盡最大努力在非常困難的環境中做好管理。儘管環境何時會改善的能見度很低，但我們相信它最終會改善。

In the meantime, we're focused on tightly managing our expenses and improving liquidity and remain optimistic that our 5 key actions will improve our business in the back half of the year and beyond.

與此同時，我們專注於嚴格管理我們的開支和提高流動性，並對我們的 5 項關鍵行動將在下半年及以後改善我們的業務保持樂觀。

I'd like to end the call by again thanking our associates for all their efforts. I'll now turn the call back over to the moderator so that we can begin to address your questions. Thank you.

最後，我想再次感謝我們的同事所做的所有努力，以此結束通話。我現在將電話轉回給主持人，以便我們可以開始解決您的問題。謝謝。

We will now be conducting our question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Krisztina Katai with Deutsche Bank.

我們現在將進行問答環節。 （操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Krisztina Katai。

This is Jessica Taylor on for Krisztina. I was just wondering if you could give us any details on quarter-to-date trends and how you're seeing your business progress as the weather changes?

這是克里斯蒂娜的傑西卡泰勒。我只是想知道您是否可以向我們提供有關季度至今趨勢的任何詳細信息，以及隨著天氣變化您如何看待您的業務進展？

Jessica, this is Bruce. Yes. Our guidance is in line with what we're seeing quarter-to-date. We're seeing the weather improved, and that's helping our Seasonal lawn and garden, patio furniture. So we still expect a tough Q2 as we'll continue to cycle through some of the heavy promotions we have from last year's heavy up on inventory and sell-through.

傑西卡，這是布魯斯。是的。我們的指引與我們本季度迄今所看到的一致。我們看到天氣好轉，這有助於我們的季節性草坪和花園、庭院家具。因此，我們仍然預計第二季度會很艱難，因為我們將繼續經歷去年大量庫存和銷售的一些重大促銷活動。

But we see that getting better and better through the quarter as we enter the back half, as we cycle through those heavy promotions, get back in our Broyhill assortment that's been disrupted by the UFI closure last year. So pretty much what we're seeing is in line with our guidance.

但是我們看到，隨著我們進入後半部分，隨著我們循環進行那些大規模的促銷活動，我們看到整個季度變得越來越好，回到我們去年因 UFI 關閉而中斷的 Broyhill 分類。所以我們所看到的幾乎符合我們的指導。

And just as a follow-up, just when you think about your inventory, you're doing a great job making sure that it is in line with your comp. But just wondering about like the composition, how you feel about the composition of the inventory? Do you feel like what you have are the things that you would want? And how would you kind of break that down?

作為後續行動，就在您考慮庫存時，您在確保它與您的產品一致方面做得很好。但是只是想知道像成分一樣，您對庫存的成分有何看法？你覺得你擁有的就是你想要的東西嗎？你會如何分解它？

Jessica, it's Jonathan. I'll jump in that one. I think where -- we're still on the heavier side is in Seasonal, which is why you're seeing that pretty significant on our gross margin in Q2 as we work through -- even though seasonal, we expect to pick up. We were well behind coming out of Q1, so we needed to be more promotional.

傑西卡，我是喬納森。我會跳進去的。我認為 - 我們仍然處於較重的一側是季節性的，這就是為什麼你看到我們在第二季度的毛利率非常顯著 - 即使是季節性的，我們預計會回升。我們遠遠落後於第一季度，所以我們需要更多的促銷活動。

And we expect that to continue through Q2, and we're committed to being clean on Seasonal inventory at the end of Q2, so that we're positioned to be much stronger from a gross margin perspective in the back half of the year .

我們預計這種情況將持續到第二季度，我們致力於在第二季度末清理季節性庫存，因此從今年下半年的毛利率角度來看，我們的定位要強得多。

Our next question comes from the line of Brad Thomas with KeyBanc Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自 KeyBanc Capital Markets 的 Brad Thomas。

I wanted to talk just a little bit about the performance amongst some of the different categories. We've broadly been hearing the consumer pulling back on discretionary spend. But Bruce, I was hoping you could talk a little bit more about some of the initiatives you have in Food and Consumables and some of the closeout goods. And we can see the numbers. We know that those categories are down. But can you talk about some of the bright spots and what maybe gives you hope for some improvement going forward here?

我想談談一些不同類別的表現。我們廣泛聽到消費者減少可自由支配的支出。但是布魯斯，我希望你能多談談你在食品和消耗品以及一些清倉商品方面的一些舉措。我們可以看到數字。我們知道這些類別已經下降。但是你能談談一些亮點嗎？是什麼讓你希望在這裡有所改進？

Yes. First off, yes, Q1 was a little tough. Obviously, the market conditions and headwinds continue. We believe that as they abate, we'll see a good boost in our margin-rich categories, that being Furniture, Seasonal, Home and Decor areas. But some of the things we're doing is, first and foremost, we're getting back into Broyhill. It's been our first quarter, a full quarter without Broyhill. That obviously impacts our online ability to sell Broyhill and quite frankly, almost all shopping journeys for Furniture start online.

是的。首先，是的，第一季度有點艱難。顯然，市場狀況和不利因素仍在繼續。我們相信，隨著它們的減少，我們將看到我們利潤豐厚的類別的良好增長，即家具、季節性、家居和裝飾領域。但我們正在做的一些事情是，首先也是最重要的，我們要回到布羅伊希爾。這是我們的第一個季度，一個沒有 Broyhill 的完整季度。這顯然影響了我們在線銷售 Broyhill 的能力，坦率地說，幾乎所有的家具購物之旅都是從網上開始的。

So as we cycle through this in the second quarter and the back half, we'll have Broyhill back in line. We're actually this Memorial Day week and while the first phase of Broyhill coming back in. So that's good news for us, and we're excited about it. We've got 7 new collections coming in Broyhill, modern collections, new fashion forward, trend right, priced right, really exciting things to see.

因此，當我們在第二節和後半段循環進行時，我們將讓 Broyhill 回歸。我們實際上是這個陣亡將士紀念日週，而 Broyhill 的第一階段又回來了。所以這對我們來說是個好消息，我們對此感到興奮。我們在 Broyhill 推出了 7 個新系列，現代系列，新時尚前沿，潮流正確，價格合理，非常令人興奮的東西。

Our team has been out. Margarita, John and Tony and the team has been out to India and Vietnam. We're sourcing new product and close out prices that are very fashion forward, exciting. We're getting new products that are real wood, marble, natural stone. All these things are coming in. And will be sourced with a price point that will trade FOMO, fear of missing out opportunities in the back half of the year. So we're excited about all that.

我們的隊伍已經出去了。瑪格麗塔、約翰和托尼以及團隊已經前往印度和越南。我們正在採購新產品，並以非常時尚、令人興奮的價格成交。我們正在獲得實木、大理石和天然石材的新產品。所有這些東西都進來了。並將以一個可以交易 FOMO 的價格點採購，擔心在今年下半年錯失機會。所以我們對這一切感到興奮。

We've also got upholstery coming in, in the third quarter. New upholstery, that is going to hit about 200-plus stores. We'll grow to 400-plus stores, just high-end style, new stuff, a lot of energy. I think, that's going to be brought to the assortment that we're excited about. In respect -- with respect to the Food and Consumables, we continue to flex our assortments to those marketplaces where our customers really want the Food and Consumables. And we're seeing good results. Where we flex the assortment up, we're seeing results of high single-digit improvement from prior -- for prior periods.

在第三季度，我們也有室內裝潢。新的室內裝潢，將在大約 200 多家商店上市。我們將發展到 400 多家商店，只有高端風格、新東西和大量活力。我認為，這將被帶到我們感到興奮的分類中。關於食品和消耗品，我們繼續將我們的產品組合擴展到我們的客戶真正需要食品和消耗品的那些市場。我們看到了很好的結果。在我們擴大產品組合的地方，我們看到了比之前高個位數改進的結果——對於之前的時期。

And we continue to flex our pricing assortment across the fleet where we learned in California last year that by honing our prices on SKUs we could see great results. We've extended that pricing and that flexing along with assortment flexing to other markets in the Northeast and Midwest. And we'll continue to do that in the Pac Northwest. So all of this coming together, we're learning a lot. We're dealing with the consumer pulling back on the larger ticket items right now. That will eventually abate. And when it does, our margin rich and categories that we're known for, will improve, and we'll be ready for our customers.

我們繼續調整整個機隊的定價組合，去年我們在加利福尼亞了解到，通過調整 SKU 的價格，我們可以看到很好的結果。我們已經將定價和彈性以及分類彈性擴展到東北和中西部的其他市場。我們將繼續在 Pac Northwest 這樣做。所以所有這些結合在一起，我們學到了很多東西。我們正在處理消費者現在撤回大件商品的問題。這最終會減弱。當它發生時，我們眾所周知的利潤豐厚和類別將會改善，我們將為我們的客戶做好準備。

Great. And just with respect to the new $200 million opportunity that you highlighted this morning. Can you maybe talk about line of sight to any of that hitting in 2023 here and maybe where those might be shown up?

偉大的。就您今天上午強調的 2 億美元的新機會而言。您能否在這裡談談 2023 年發生的任何事件的視線，以及這些事件可能出現的地方？

I'll jump in on that one. Yes, we do think there's some opportunity to realize some of that in 2023. As you heard earlier on, we've already upped our target for internally identified cost savings in '23 from $70 million to over $100 million.

我會加入那個。是的，我們確實認為有機會在 2023 年實現其中的一些。正如您之前聽到的那樣，我們已經將 23 年內部確定的成本節約目標從 7000 萬美元提高到超過 1 億美元。

We think with this new initiative, there's potentially $25 million plus that we could recognize in '23, maybe a little bit more. And then we expect to get most of that $200 million total benefit realized in 2024. And by the way, I would say that there is also a range there. We also believe there's upside to that $200 million number as we get deeper into the project. But that's broadly how we're seeing it today.

我們認為，通過這項新舉措，我們可能會在 23 年認識到 2500 萬美元，甚至更多。然後我們預計將在 2024 年實現這 2 億美元的總收益中的大部分。順便說一句，我想說那裡也有一個範圍。我們還相信，隨著我們對該項目的深入研究，2 億美元的數字還有上升空間。但這就是我們今天看到的大致情況。

Our next question comes from the line of Joe Feldman with Telsey Advisory Group.

我們的下一個問題來自 Joe Feldman 與 Telsey Advisory Group 的對話。

With regard to the inventory being down 18%, almost 19%, I guess, how clean is it or healthy? Is it like -- are there still pockets where you do have some excess that you'd like to clear? Or conversely, I mean, you made it pretty clear that Furniture is not where it should be. Are there other areas that you feel like should be -- you'd like to be a little better inventory that would sell?

關於庫存下降 18%，幾乎 19%，我想，它有多乾淨或健康？是不是 - 是否還有口袋，您確實有一些多餘的東西想要清理？或者相反，我的意思是，您已經明確表示家具不在應有的位置。還有其他你覺得應該的領域——你想成為一個更好的庫存嗎？

Joe, this is Bruce. I'll start and I know Jonathan will add a little bit. First and foremost, as Jonathan mentioned earlier, just the Q1, we didn't see the lawn and garden patio set sell as fast, weather was tough, and there was pull back.

喬，這是布魯斯。我會開始，我知道 Jonathan 會補充一點。首先也是最重要的，正如喬納森之前提到的，僅在第一季度，我們沒有看到草坪和花園庭院套裝銷售得那麼快，天氣惡劣，而且出現了回調。

Now we cut back on that seasonal bike, but still just the pullback from the consumer was a little bit more so. So we started promoting it, a targeted promotion in Q1, which brought down margins but started moving through that. And now with better weather, we're seeing good results, and we'll continue to get through that and cycle through that in Q2. What's more, some of that mitigation furniture we brought in late last year with the UFI closure, sudden abrupt closure that product, it's a little bit harder to market online because they are different pieces. They're not complete sets like Broyhill.

現在我們減少了那輛季節性自行車的數量，但仍然只是來自消費者的回落更是如此。所以我們開始推廣它，這是第一季度的有針對性的促銷活動，它降低了利潤率，但開始通過它。現在天氣好轉，我們看到了很好的結果，我們將繼續通過它並在第二季度循環通過它。更重要的是，我們在去年年底因 UFI 關閉而帶來的一些緩解家具，突然突然關閉該產品，在線銷售有點困難，因為它們是不同的部分。它們不像 Broyhill 那樣完整。

So they're selling, but not at the rate we wanted them to sell. So we reduced that a bit with promotions and we're continuing to target those promotions through Q2. So we make room for the new Broyhill sets coming in, which we're already seeing great results in. So those are the 2 areas. I think all other areas are performing decently. We're always focused on increasing our turns across all inventory. But I'd say those are the 2 spots that we're dealing with and feel like we're in good shape and have healthy inventory everywhere else.

所以他們在出售，但不是以我們希望他們出售的速度出售。所以我們通過促銷減少了一點，我們將繼續在第二季度針對這些促銷活動。所以我們為新的 Broyhill 套裝騰出空間，我們已經在其中看到了很好的結果。這就是 2 個領域。我認為所有其他領域都表現不錯。我們始終專注於提高所有庫存的周轉率。但我想說的是，這些是我們正在處理的兩個地方，感覺我們的狀態良好，其他地方的庫存也很健康。

And then I guess for my quick follow-up, maybe for Jonathan. I guess, as you talked about the gross margin being better in the second half -- if I recall correctly, last earnings call, it was maybe the upper 30% area. Is that off the table? Should we be thinking more mid-30%? Or maybe if you could share any color on what the gross margin might look like in the second half would be helpful.

然後我猜是為了我的快速跟進，也許是為了喬納森。我想，當你談到下半年毛利率更好時——如果我沒記錯的話，上次財報電話會議，可能是 30% 以上的區域。那不在桌子上了嗎？我們應該考慮更多的 30% 嗎？或者，如果您可以分享下半年毛利率的任何顏色，將會有所幫助。

Yes. Sure, Joe. Part of it goes back to Bruce's response on the prior question with Seasonal being the one category where we're significantly up in inventory year-over-year at the end of Q1. We'll be working through that aggressively during Q2 to get into the right place on Seasonal. And that will be the major driver by our -- gross margin rate in Q2 is as low as it's projected to be. Seasonal, traditionally a very high-margin category.

是的。當然，喬。部分原因可以追溯到 Bruce 對先前問題的回答，季節性是我們在第一季度末的庫存同比顯著增加的一個類別。我們將在第二季度積極解決這個問題，以便在季節性節目中佔據正確的位置。這將是我們的主要驅動力——第二季度的毛利率與預期一樣低。季節性，傳統上是利潤率非常高的類別。

But right now, we're operating well below what we traditionally accomplished in Seasonal. That's what's pulling our margin down in Q2. We've bought much more conservatively for Seasonal in the back half of the year, so we don't expect to have that drag. And we're also seeing an acceleration of freight benefits. We're getting a significant benefit in Q1 and Q2, but we expect that to be even greater in Q3, Q4 on a year-over-year basis.

但現在，我們的運營遠低於我們傳統上在 Seasonal 中取得的成就。這就是我們在第二季度的利潤率下降的原因。我們在今年下半年為季節性購買了更為保守的產品，因此我們預計不會受到這種拖累。我們還看到了貨運收益的加速增長。我們在第一季度和第二季度獲得了顯著的收益，但我們預計第三季度和第四季度的同比收益會更大。

So yes, with those impacts, we do expect to be able to get back into the high 30s. The work we're doing, this new project we've referenced working with an external partner has identified some further significant gross margin opportunities. So some of that we would hope to start getting in the latter part of this year, as I just referenced an earlier question.

所以是的，有了這些影響，我們確實希望能夠回到 30 年代的高點。我們正在做的工作，我們提到的這個與外部合作夥伴合作的新項目已經確定了一些更重要的毛利率機會。所以我們希望在今年下半年開始獲得其中的一些，正如我剛剛提到的一個較早的問題。

All of those things give us confidence that we will be getting back up into the high 30s in the latter part of this year, particularly in Q4.

所有這些都讓我們相信，我們將在今年下半年重新回到 30 多歲的高點，尤其是在第四季度。

I'll just add, Joe, that also keep in mind, Broyhill will be fully back in stock with new collections, as I mentioned earlier. That gives us our best foot forward. We've got closeout or bargain penetration at 20%. It's grown significantly and will continue to grow through the year. And we see accretive margin points, significant accretion from that -- from those sales as well.

喬，我還要補充一點，請記住，正如我之前提到的，Broyhill 將全面恢復新系列的庫存。這給了我們最大的進步。我們的平倉或討價還價滲透率為 20%。它增長顯著，並將在今年繼續增長。我們看到了利潤點的增加，從這些銷售額中也得到了顯著增加。

Our next question comes from the line of Jason Haas with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Jason Haas。

So Jonathan, I was curious if you could walk us through the math on how much is available on the revolver as of the end of 1Q? So I believe there's $900 million total availability. And then, I think I saw $500 million was drawn on it. But then I don't know if that $900 million gets reduced because of the borrowing base. I think you may have tripped a covenant, and I'm not sure if there's any letters of credit that count against it. So if you could just walk through the math, I think that would be helpful.

所以喬納森，我很好奇你是否可以通過數學計算一下截至 1 季度末左輪手槍有多少可用？所以我相信總共有 9 億美元的可用性。然後，我想我看到它被提取了 5 億美元。但我不知道那 9 億美元是否會因為藉款基數而減少。我想你可能違反了契約，我不確定是否有任何信用證對此不利。所以，如果你能簡單地完成數學運算，我認為那會很有幫助。

Yes, Jason, happy to do that. The net available liquidity we have at the end of Q1, we referenced in the -- is $328 million. So that takes into account covenant limitations, letters of credit and so on, that are to reduce the overall size of the facility that's available to us. The bottom base does come into play at times too.

是的，傑森，很高興這樣做。我們在第一季度末擁有的淨可用流動性，我們在中提到 - 為 3.28 億美元。因此，這考慮了契約限制、信用證等，以減少我們可用設施的總體規模。底層基地有時也會發揮作用。

But $328 million is the available liquidity at the end of Q1, taking into account also some cash on hand. As we referenced, we expect to boost that with $240 million of proceeds from this new sale leaseback transaction. The value of the overall transaction will be $340 million but there's about $100 million outstanding on the synthetic lease on the Apple Valley distribution center that will need to pay down.

但 3.28 億美元是第一季度末的可用流動資金，同時考慮到一些手頭現金。正如我們所提到的，我們希望通過這項新的售後回租交易獲得 2.4 億美元的收益來提高這一點。整個交易的價值將達到 3.4 億美元，但 Apple Valley 配送中心的綜合租賃約有 1 億美元需要償還。

So $328 million plus $240 million gets you into the high 500s. We've historically referenced our goal being to be at $500 million, $550 million of available liquidity. So we expect to be right back in that zone once we've completed the sale leaseback and asset monetization.

所以 3.28 億美元加上 2.4 億美元會讓你進入 500 強。從歷史上看，我們的目標是達到 5 億美元、5.5 億美元的可用流動資金。因此，我們希望在完成售後回租和資產貨幣化後立即回到該區域。

And then as a follow-up, do you have a sense yet what the incremental rent would look like on the proposed sale leaseback?

然後作為後續行動，您是否知道擬議的售後回租中的增量租金會是什麼樣子？

Yes. So overall, the cap rate we're looking at is somewhere in the sort of high 7s. But when you look at what we're currently borrowing at under the ABL is in the sort of mid-60s. The actual spread from an interest expense standpoint, will be relatively narrow between those 2 amounts. So there will be some incremental expense and then there's a little bit of geography around interest versus rent and so on. But overall, the net P&L impact will be relatively modest.

是的。所以總的來說，我們看到的上限率處於 7 的高位。但是當你看一下我們目前在 ABL 下借的東西是在 60 年代中期。從利息支出的角度來看，這兩個金額之間的實際利差將相對較小。所以會有一些增量費用，然後會有一些關於利息與租金等的地理因素。但總體而言，淨損益影響將相對溫和。

Our next question comes from the line of Karen Short with Credit Suisse.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞士信貸的 Karen Short。

Sorry, can you just clarify that? So with respect to the incremental rent expense at a 7x cap rate, I think, is what you said. How would that be P&L neutral?

抱歉，你能澄清一下嗎？因此，關於 7 倍上限利率的增量租金支出，我認為，這就是你所說的。那怎麼會是損益中性的呢？

So the cap rate on the sale leaseback will be in the high 7s. We are currently borrowing under the ABL in the mid-60s. So those proceeds will come in at the high 7 cap rate. We paid down the synthetic lease of $100 million, which actually has a higher interest rate. And then the rest of the proceeds will be used to pay down the ABL, which is at that mid-60s rate. So overall, you end up with a few million dollars of net P&L impact for the transaction as a whole.

因此，售後回租的上限利率將高達 7 倍。我們目前在 60 年代中期根據 ABL 借款。因此，這些收益將以 7 的高上限率進入。我們支付了 1 億美元的合成租約，這實際上有更高的利率。然後剩餘的收益將用於支付 ABL，這是 60 年代中期的利率。因此，總的來說，您最終會對整個交易產生數百萬美元的淨損益影響。

Okay. But not debt-to-EBITDA neutral. So what would your pro forma debt-to-EBITDA would be looking like?

好的。但債務對 EBITDA 的比率並非中性。那麼，您的備考債務與 EBITDA 會是什麼樣子？

So yes, so the sale leaseback typically results in rent expense. We're still finalizing some aspects of that. But -- so there can be some P&L geography, as I was referencing in response to Jason's question a moment ago. We're still finalizing that. But the EBITDA impact would typically be the high 7s cap rate applied to the net proceeds. And then what the synthetic leases booked currently as rent expense, and then we're paying down ABL, which is booked as interest expense. And we'll lay out that. Go ahead, Karen.

所以是的，售後回租通常會產生租金費用。我們仍在敲定其中的某些方面。但是——所以可能會有一些損益地理，正如我剛才在回答傑森的問題時所提到的那樣。我們仍在最後確定。但 EBITDA 的影響通常是適用於淨收益的高 7s 上限率。然後合成租賃目前記為租金費用，然後我們支付 ABL，這被記為利息費用。我們將對此進行佈局。去吧，凱倫。

No, go ahead.

沒有，繼續。

Yes. So when we execute a PSA, we'll lay out all that in more detail in terms of all those moving parts, and expected gain on sale and so on.

是的。因此，當我們執行 PSA 時，我們將根據所有這些移動部件、預期銷售收益等更詳細地列出所有內容。

Okay. So as we look to outer years, I mean, let's call it' '24, as you said, by later '23, you should start capturing the $100 million potentially, and then '24, it sounds like it's more of the $200 million. But how generally to think about what actual free cash flow looks like in '24?

好的。因此，當我們展望未來幾年時，我的意思是，我們稱它為“24 歲”，正如你所說，到 23 歲以後，你應該開始獲得潛在的 1 億美元，然後是 24 歲，這聽起來像是 2 億美元中的更多.但是，一般如何考慮 24 世紀的實際自由現金流量是什麼樣的？

Yes. Well, obviously, that's going to be heavily influenced by where we are on sales and margin. And clearly, at this point, we're not giving guidance on that. But all other things being equal, the -- this transaction would have a modest depletion impact on EBITDA, but again be offset by a significant reduction in interest expense below the operating income line.

是的。嗯，很明顯，這將在很大程度上受到我們在銷售和利潤方面的影響。很明顯，在這一點上，我們沒有就此提供指導。但在所有其他條件相同的情況下，該交易將對 EBITDA 產生適度的消耗影響，但再次被利息支出顯著減少至營業收入線以下所抵消。

Okay. And there's no concern as it relates to like fixed charge coverage ratios covenant-wise?

好的。沒有人擔心，因為它涉及到像契約方面的固定費用覆蓋率？

Yes. So what we have today in terms of some springing fixed -- we have a springing fixed charge covenant ratio in our ABL, which we've already taken into account in the net liquidity position we're referencing, the assumption that covenant is strong. That's already baked into the $328 million of available liquidity we're referencing.

是的。因此，我們今天所擁有的一些快速固定的——我們的 ABL 中有一個快速固定費用契約比率，我們已經在我們參考的淨流動性頭寸中考慮了這一點，假設契約很強。這已經包含在我們所引用的 3.28 億美元的可用流動性中。

Okay. Thank you.

好的。謝謝。

And on all that does, just to be clear, it reduces the total gross availability of the ABL if we trigger that covenant, which again, we're assuming we have in the liquidity outlook we're providing.

需要明確的是，如果我們觸發該契約，它會減少 ABL 的總可用性，這再次假設我們在我們提供的流動性前景中。

Our next question comes from the line of Kate McShane with Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自 Kate McShane 與 Goldman Sachs 的對話。

I just wondered if you could maybe talk through a little bit more about what the environment or how the quarter was influenced and maybe Q2 will be influenced just from the bankruptcy of one of your competitors? And are you baking in any kind of lift in the back half from that specifically and in terms of any sales shift that you can gain from that?

我只是想知道你是否可以多談談環境或季度受到的影響，也許第二季度會受到你的一個競爭對手破產的影響？你是否在後半部分進行了任何形式的提升，特別是在你可以從中獲得的任何銷售轉變方面？

Hi Kate. First off, we think there's a big opportunity for us to bring in some of the dislocated customers from Bed Bath & Beyond bankruptcy. We've got a good store footprint overlap with their stores within 10 miles. Our recent campaign to honor their 20% discount was a great success in terms of attracting 90 million TV and radio impressions, and that resulted in good redemption rates that allowed us to sign up more loyalty customers from that.

嗨，凱特。首先，我們認為我們有很大的機會從 Bed Bath & Beyond 破產中引入一些混亂的客戶。我們在 10 英里範圍內與他們的商店有很好的重疊。我們最近兌現他們 20% 折扣的活動在吸引 9000 萬次電視和廣播印象方面取得了巨大成功，這帶來了良好的兌換率，使我們能夠從中籤下更多忠誠客戶。

We expect that to continue. Right now, they're in the process of liquidating their stores and their products. And as they finalize that, we expect to get an influx of more customers and we'll focus on it as well as other companies that unfortunately have gone out of business. All of those are areas that we've used conquest marketing to attract their dislocated customers, and we'll continue to do that.

我們希望這種情況繼續下去。現在，他們正在清理他們的商店和產品。當他們最終確定這一點時，我們預計會有更多客戶湧入，我們將關注它以及其他不幸倒閉的公司。所有這些都是我們使用征服營銷來吸引他們錯位客戶的領域，我們將繼續這樣做。

So as we work that marketing angle and also improve our assortment into more high-quality, good brands, fashion forward, price right, fear of missing out products, I think we're going to be well positioned to take on more customers and sell more at better margins.

因此，當我們從營銷角度入手，並改進我們的產品組合，打造更多優質、優質品牌、時尚前衛、價格合理、害怕錯過產品時，我認為我們將處於有利地位，可以吸引更多客戶並銷售利潤更高。

Now the environment right now, like we said in Q1 and Q2 is pretty tough. The consumer, especially the low household income consumer has been struggling. Their debt is up, their ability to make large purchases has been weakened. They've had tax returns that are lower than prior year. And they're using that to pay down some of the debt they have incurred. So we think those conditions are going to abate over time, and we'll be very well positioned and start seeing improvement in the back half of the year and into '24.

現在的環境，就像我們在第一季度和第二季度所說的那樣，非常艱難。消費者，尤其是低收入家庭消費者一直在苦苦掙扎。他們的債務增加了，他們進行大筆採購的能力被削弱了。他們的納稅申報表低於前一年。他們正在用它來償還他們所欠的一些債務。因此，我們認為這些情況會隨著時間的推移而減弱，我們將處於非常有利的位置，並在今年下半年和 24 年開始看到改善。

And then the second question, and I apologize I dialed into the call a little bit late. But I didn't -- I don't think I heard much in terms of store openings. And your thoughts around store openings as a result of this more difficult environment?

然後是第二個問題，抱歉我撥入電話有點晚了。但我沒有——我認為我沒有聽到太多關於開店的消息。由於這種更加困難的環境，您對開店有何看法？

Yes. Kate, I'll be happy to jump in on that one. So we previously referenced around 18 openings for the year. We've taken that down to 15 to 17. We have not made any new commitments now for a significant period of time. We essentially paused all new lease executions several months ago, probably even longer at this point.

是的。凱特，我很樂意參與其中。所以我們之前提到了今年大約有 18 個職位空缺。我們已將其減少到 15 到 17。我們在很長一段時間內都沒有做出任何新的承諾。幾個月前，我們基本上暫停了所有新租約的執行，此時可能更長時間。

So the stores that we're still -- we're expecting to open the ones that were already in the pipeline, where we already had signed leases, we have already under construction, some of which have already opened. But at this point, we're not planning to restart approving new leases, executing new leases until we see a stabilization in the business. We continue to believe there is a significant opportunity there over time, but there are many locations where we could open successful stores, particularly in the small town and rural markets we've talked about. But right now, we're pausing all of that activity until total business stabilizes and starts to improve.

因此，我們仍然擁有的商店——我們希望開設那些已經在籌備中的商店，我們已經簽署了租約，我們已經在建設中，其中一些已經開業。但在這一點上，我們不打算重新批准新租約，執行新租約，直到我們看到業務穩定下來。我們仍然相信，隨著時間的推移，那裡會有一個重要的機會，但我們可以在許多地方開設成功的商店，特別是在我們談到的小鎮和農村市場。但現在，我們正在暫停所有這些活動，直到整體業務穩定下來並開始改善。

And are you committed at this point in time for any in '24? Or is it all just through '23?

你在這個時間點承諾 24 年的任何時間嗎？或者這一切都只是通過 23 年？

We're not committed to anything in '24. There is a couple of stores that could potentially move out into '24. We're trying to hold on all CapEx commitments to the extent we can at this point. So there's a couple of stores that could move into '24, but we're not adding any other new stores in 2024.

我們不承諾 24 年的任何事情。有幾家商店可能會搬出進入 24 世紀。目前，我們正試圖在力所能及的範圍內堅持所有資本支出承諾。所以有幾家商店可以進入 24 年，但我們不會在 2024 年增加任何其他新商店。

Our next question comes from the line of Anthony Chukumba with Loop Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自 Loop Capital Markets 的 Anthony Chukumba。

I had a question. You talked about the merchandising changes in terms of adding more sort of bargain, sort of treasury-type merchandise. And I guess -- and you said it's now 20% of your assortment. Your goal is to get that to 1/3. What are you seeing in terms of actual sell-through on those items relative to your expectations?

我有一個問題。你談到了商品銷售方面的變化，增加了更多的討價還價，一種金庫類商品。我猜——你說它現在佔你分類的 20%。你的目標是讓它達到 1/3。相對於您的預期，您認為這些商品的實際銷售情況如何？

Anthony, Bruce here. We're very pleased with the sell-through. Obviously, the customers are looking for deals during these tough times right now, and the sell-through is coming with an accretive margin of at least 150 basis points.

安東尼，這裡是布魯斯。我們對銷售情況非常滿意。顯然，客戶現在正在這些艱難時期尋找交易，並且銷售率至少增加了 150 個基點。

So we feel good about the progress we're making with that bargain penetration. I said 20%. We're going to continue to grow that to at least 1/3 of our assortment. The product that Margarita and the team are bringing in is just outstanding product. Like I said, it's high quality, it's trend right, it's priced in an off-price fashion to really screen value. We're buying breadth, adding assortment, accessories, and not so much depth, so we can move in and out of the product.

因此，我們對我們在低價滲透方面取得的進展感到滿意。我說20%。我們將繼續將其增加到至少占我們產品種類的 1/3。 Margarita 和團隊帶來的產品非常出色。就像我說的，它質量上乘，符合潮流，它以低價時尚定價以真正體現價值。我們正在購買廣度，增加分類、配件，而不是那麼多深度，這樣我們就可以進出產品。

I think there's going to be a lot of excitement. The product is high quality, some of the stuff we're getting out of Vietnam and India as well as distressed retailer is just really good product. One of the big closeouts we got from the high-end mass retailer, has added low single-digit lifts to our stores.

我認為會有很多興奮。該產品質量上乘，我們從越南和印度以及陷入困境的零售商處獲得的一些產品確實是非常好的產品。我們從這家高端大眾零售商那裡獲得的一筆大清倉，為我們的商店增加了低個位數的提升。

So we're seeing really good traction with that, and we expect that to continue going forward. We've got some really nice stuff coming in, very good styles and -- it's going to be exciting once we get all this in place and get Broyhill back online literally and our customer to be able to shop us and have the ability to do that. So I feel like we're doing well. The sell-through is good and definitely resonating with the customer.

所以我們看到了很好的牽引力，我們希望它繼續向前發展。我們有一些非常好的東西，非常好的款式，而且 - 一旦我們把所有這些都準備好並讓 Broyhill 從字面上恢復在線並且我們的客戶能夠購買我們並有能力做，這將是令人興奮的那。所以我覺得我們做得很好。銷售情況很好，肯定會引起客戶的共鳴。

And then on Broyhill that segues nicely to my follow-up question. So I just wanted to get a better understanding. So you said that you're going to buy some Broyhill closeout merchandise from United Furniture. I just want to -- make me sure I better understood that.

然後在 Broyhill 上，這很好地回答了我的後續問題。所以我只是想獲得更好的理解。所以你說你要從 United Furniture 購買一些 Broyhill 清倉商品。我只是想——確保我更好地理解這一點。

Yes, Anthony, the -- when UFI at roughly closed back in November last year, they basically turned the trucks around immediately and all product was shut down and then the banks took over and they finally work things out to the point where we could access some of that Broyhill product that was made exclusively for Big Lots.

是的，安東尼，當去年 11 月 UFI 大致關閉時，他們基本上立即調轉卡車，關閉所有產品，然後銀行接手，他們最終解決了我們可以訪問的問題一些專為 Big Lots 製作的 Broyhill 產品。

And as a result of that, we're receiving some of that Broyhill inventory that was produced in finished goods level this quarter. And it's a pretty sizable amount at a closeout price. So that will be helpful, and we'll sell through that, I think, pretty quickly. And that will help us as we transition to the new Broyhill.

因此，我們收到了本季度以成品級別生產的一些 Broyhill 庫存。以收盤價計算，這是相當可觀的數量。所以這會很有幫助，我認為我們很快就會賣掉它。這將有助於我們過渡到新的 Broyhill。

We've got several vendors producing that very high quality, and great vendor base, very differentiated now. I'm very pleased with the quality. In fact, some of the responses we've seen from customers so far as they're loving the product. So that closeout is just the residual inventory that was held up after the closure of the banks have worked it out, and we got it at good prices, and we're just mixing that into our assortment as we speak.

我們有幾家供應商生產非常高質量和龐大的供應商基礎，現在非常差異化。我對質量非常滿意。事實上，我們從客戶那裡看到的一些反饋表明他們很喜歡這個產品。因此，清倉只是在銀行關閉後保留的剩餘庫存，我們以優惠的價格獲得了它，我們只是在說話時將其混合到我們的分類中。

Our next question comes from the line of Peter Keith with Piper Sandler.

我們的下一個問題來自 Peter Keith 和 Piper Sandler 的台詞。

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. I wanted to just dig a little bit deeper into the $200 million of additional savings that were identified by the external partner. You kind of highlighted some high-level buckets, but maybe could you be a bit more granular in some of the initiatives you might be taking to help us understand the opportunity?

謝謝。大家，早安。我只想更深入地了解外部合作夥伴確定的 2 億美元的額外節省。你有點強調了一些高層次的桶，但也許你可以更詳細地說明你可能採取的一些舉措來幫助我們了解這個機會？

Peter, I'll be happy to give a little more color on that. I guess, first of all, on the SG&A component, I think we've already come a long way. You're aware that we've already taken out a lot of costs prior to 2023 and then we've talked about another $100 million-plus that we've identified through our own efforts during 2023.

彼得，我很樂意為此添加更多色彩。我想，首先，在 SG&A 部分，我認為我們已經取得了長足的進步。你知道我們已經在 2023 年之前扣除了很多成本，然後我們討論了另外 1 億美元以上的成本，這是我們在 2023 年期間通過自己的努力確定的。

So I think we've done a good job on that over the past several years. So there is some more opportunity though in SG&A that we've identified that is across store and field ops, supply chain and general and administrative spend where we think there's a fairly decent number there. I would say the bigger piece though is in COGS, where we think there's significant opportunity both across national and private brands to drive some savings there. And then there are other areas in terms of inventory allocation, as Bruce referenced earlier, which we think could help meaningfully with gross margin, pricing and promo, omnichannel optimization.

所以我認為過去幾年我們在這方面做得很好。因此，儘管我們已經確定在 SG&A 中還有更多機會，但我們認為這些機會涉及商店和現場運營、供應鏈以及一般和行政支出，我們認為那裡的數量相當可觀。我會說更大的部分是在 COGS 中，我們認為國家和私人品牌都有很大的機會在那裡節省一些費用。然後在庫存分配方面還有其他領域，正如 Bruce 之前提到的，我們認為這可以對毛利率、定價和促銷、全渠道優化產生有意義的幫助。

So there's a whole series of work streams that we're going to be activating. Again, we think the overall size of the price is actually well above $200 million, but we think we can go after that $200 million in the next 18 months or so and realize most of that on a run rate basis by the end of 2024.

因此，我們將激活一系列的工作流程。同樣，我們認為價格的總體規模實際上遠高於 2 億美元，但我們認為我們可以在未來 18 個月左右的時間內達到 2 億美元，並在 2024 年底之前按運行率實現其中大部分。

Okay. And obviously, the Ocean freight costs would be running lower in the back half. Is there any way to quantify what you think that will lift gross margin by?

好的。顯然，海運成本在下半年會下降。有什麼方法可以量化您認為會提高毛利率的因素嗎？

Peter, I couldn't make out what you just said.

彼得，我聽不懂你剛才說的是什麼。

Ocean freights benefit in back half, could you quantify that for us?

海運在後半部分受益，您能為我們量化一下嗎？

Yes. So we've been getting a meaningful year-over-year benefit in the spring, but rates have continued to come down. And we're lapping pretty high rates in the back half of 2022. So we expect that rate impact to accelerate in the back half of the year relative to where we've been to date. We're really seeing and you've certainly seen the public data on how those ocean container rates have come down. And we're seeing numbers that largely correlate with that, and we expect to get a very meaningful benefit in the back half of the year, greater than we've been seeing in the front half.

是的。因此，我們在春季獲得了有意義的同比收益，但利率繼續下降。而且我們在 2022 年下半年的利率非常高。因此，我們預計利率影響將在今年下半年相對於迄今為止的情況加速。我們真的看到了，你肯定也看到了關於這些海運集裝箱費率如何下降的公開數據。我們看到的數字在很大程度上與此相關，我們預計在今年下半年將獲得非常有意義的收益，比我們在上半年看到的要多。

Yes. Is there any way to put a number to that, just so we can get a little more confidence on the trajectory of gross margin?

是的。有沒有辦法給它一個數字，這樣我們就可以對毛利率的軌跡更有信心？

Yes. I guess in terms of the overall freight rates, I mean we were looking at year-over-year, probably a 25% reduction in the spring, and then we're probably looking more like a 50% reduction year-over-year, fully loaded rates, including all the accessorial charges and so on. Hopefully, that helps a little bit.

是的。我想就整體運費而言，我的意思是我們正在考慮同比，春季可能下降 25%，然後我們可能看起來更像是同比下降 50%，滿載費率，包括所有附加費等。希望這能有所幫助。

Okay. And then lastly for me, just more on the account payables. So inventory is coming down nicely, down 19%, you got it down to a similar level for Q2 payables that were down 35%. And how should we think about that in conjunction with inventory, particularly as we look to Q2?

好的。最後對我來說，更多的是應付賬款。所以庫存下降得很好，下降了 19%，第二季度的應付賬款下降了 35%，降到了類似的水平。我們應該如何結合庫存來考慮這一點，尤其是在我們展望第二季度時？

Yes. I mean, as ever, there's a lot of moving parts in that calculation. We did work aggressively to get inventory down at the end of Q2, and that probably had more impact later in the quarter. So it probably had less impact on payables at the end of the quarter than on the inventory piece itself. We're looking to be, I would say, on a more sort of normalized payables to inventory rate over time. We're not doing anything fundamentally different there. So it's more just a timing impact, I think what you're seeing at the end of Q1.

是的。我的意思是，與以往一樣，該計算中有很多移動部分。我們確實在第二季度末積極努力降低庫存，這可能在本季度晚些時候產生更大的影響。因此，它對季度末應付賬款的影響可能小於對庫存本身的影響。我想說，隨著時間的推移，我們正在尋找一種更標準化的應付庫存率。我們在那裡沒有做任何根本不同的事情。所以這更只是時間上的影響，我想你在第一季度末看到的是什麼。

Thank you. That does conclude today's conference call and webcast. A replay of this call will become available. You can access the replay in to July 9th by dialing toll-free 877-660-6853 and enter replay confirmation 13738614#. The toll number is 201-612-7415, with replay confirmation 13738614#. You may now disconnect, and have a great day. Thank you for your participation.

謝謝。這確實結束了今天的電話會議和網絡廣播。此通話的重播將可用。您可以通過撥打免費電話 877-660-6853 並輸入重播確認 13738614# 來訪問 7 月 9 日之前的重播。收費號碼是 201-612-7415，重播確認 13738614#。你現在可以斷開連接，祝你有美好的一天。感謝您的參與。