Big Lots Inc (BIG) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning.

早安.

This is Alvin Concepcion, Vice President of Investor Relations at Big Lots.

我是 Alvin Concepcion，Big Lot 投資者關係副總裁。

Welcome to the Big Lots fourth quarter conference call.

歡迎參加 Big Lot 第四季電話會議。

(Event Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

（活動說明）溫馨提示，本次會議正在錄製中。

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.

今天與我通話的是總裁兼執行長 Bruce Thorn；喬納森·拉姆斯登（Jonathan Ramsden），執行副總裁、首席財務和行政官。

For 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.

在今天的電話會議開始前，我們想提醒您，電話會議中所做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，實際結果可能會受到影響。與前瞻性陳述中描述的內容有重大差異。

I would also like to point out, the commentary today is focused on adjusted non-GAAP results.

我還想指出，今天的評論重點是調整後的非公認會計準則績效。

Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP adjusted results are available in today's press release.

今天的新聞稿中提供了 GAAP 與非 GAAP 調整後結果的調整表。

The fourth quarter earnings release presentation and financial information is available at biglots.com/corporate/investors. The question and answer session will follow the prepared remarks.

第四季收益發布演示和財務資訊可在 biglots.com/corporate/investors 上取得。問答環節將在準備好的發言之後進行。

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.

大家早安，感謝您加入我們。

I'm pleased to report another quarter of sequential improvement in comps and gross margin rate while continuing to take out costs for the third quarter in a row, we did what we said we would do.

我很高興地報告，公司業績和毛利率又連續一個季度有所改善，同時繼續連續第三季削減成本，我們做到了我們所說的。

And despite a challenging macroeconomic environment and well-documented weather challenges in January, we finished the year in a much better place than where we started.

儘管一月宏觀經濟環境充滿挑戰，天氣挑戰也有據可查，但我們今年的表現比年初好得多。

That said, there's a lot of work to do in 2024, and we are moving aggressively to accelerate our transformation return to positive comparable sales and continue to improve our gross margin rate over the course of the year.

也就是說，2024 年還有很多工作要做，我們正在積極採取行動，加速實現可比較銷售額正向轉型，並在這一年中繼續提高毛利率。

Now onto the fourth quarter results and outlook.

現在談談第四季的業績和展望。

Overall, we made significant progress on the five key actions that underlie our strategy, which drove our improved operating results.

整體而言，我們在策略基礎的五項關鍵行動上取得了重大進展，推動了我們經營績效的改善。

We are confident that continued progress in the five key actions will pave the way for our much improved gross margin in 2024.

我們相信，五項關鍵行動的持續進展將為我們在 2024 年大幅提高毛利率鋪平道路。

As a reminder, these five actions our two owned bargains to communicate unmistakable value to increase store relevance to win customers for life with our omnichannel efforts and to drive productivity.

提醒一下，這五項行動是我們兩家公司所擁有的，旨在傳達明確的價值，提高商店的相關性，透過我們的全通路努力贏得終身客戶並提高生產力。

There are three key messages I want to convey this morning.

今天早上我想傳達三個關鍵訊息。

First, progress on our five key actions enabled us to deliver adjusted operating profit growth in Q4, marking the first quarter of adjusted operating profit in two years.

首先，五項關鍵行動的進展使我們能夠在第四季度實現調整後營業利潤成長，這是兩年來第一季調整後營業利潤。

We also delivered on our key guidance metrics.

我們也提供了關鍵指導指標。

Comp sales improved sequentially versus Q3 and within the quarter with January better than November and December.

與第三季相比，同季銷售量較上季有所改善，其中 1 月的銷售量優於 11 月和 12 月。

Despite the weather challenges in the month, we also had significant year-over-year improvement in the gross margin rate, along with adjusted SG&A well below last year, particularly after taking into account the extra week in the quarter.

儘管本月面臨天氣挑戰，但我們的毛利率年比也有顯著改善，調整後的銷售及管理費用遠低於去年，特別是在考慮到本季額外一周的情況下。

These results were driven by a combination of higher penetration of bargains, more newness in our assortment, freight reductions, ongoing cost reduction and productivity efforts, more effective promotions and a more normalized level of markdowns.

這些結果是由更高的討價還價滲透率、更多的新品種、運費的減少、持續的成本降低和生產力的努力、更有效的促銷和更規範的降價水平共同推動的。

Second, we expect quarterly year-over-year gross margin improvements to continue in 2024 and see a path to positive comparable sales as the year progresses.

其次，我們預計 2024 年季度毛利率將繼續改善，並預計隨著時間的推移，可比銷售額將實現正值。

These improvements will be driven by our five key actions, which will continue to gain momentum and will enter their next phase.

這些改進將由我們的五項關鍵行動推動，這些行動將繼續獲得動力並進入下一階段。

This includes realizing most of the $200 million-plus of bottom line opportunities through Project Springboard.

這包括透過 Project Springboard 實現 2 億多美元利潤機會中的大部分。

We also expect to significantly grow our bargains penetration to 75% of our sales, and within that have an expanded assortment of extreme bargains.

我們也預期我們的特價商品滲透率將顯著提高到銷售額的 75%，並且其中的特價商品種類會有所增加。

These extreme bargains create a more exciting treasure hunt experience, which will keep our customers coming back to our stores and help drive comparable sales growth to grow our assortment of IQstream bargains.

這些超值特價商品創造了更令人興奮的尋寶體驗，這將使我們的顧客再次光臨我們的商店，並有助於推動可比銷售增長，從而擴大我們的 IQstream 特價商品種類。

We have been resourcing the business with the right talent and infrastructure needed to accelerate our extreme value sourcing efforts.

我們一直在為業務提供合適的人才和基礎設施，以加速我們的極價值採購工作。

We're starting to gain customer traction through our IQstream bargain offers and have already amassed a steady build of deal flow in our new extreme value pipeline by leaning in further on our heritage of providing unmistakable value to customers, we will solidify our position as America's discount homestore.

我們開始透過 IQstream 討價還價吸引客戶，並且透過進一步發揚我們為客戶提供明確價值的傳統，我們已經在新的極端價值管道中積累了穩定的交易流，我們將鞏固我們作為美國折扣家居店。

Third, our efforts to aggressively manage costs, inventory, and capital expenditures as well as monetize owned assets, have enabled us to maintain liquidity through a challenging period.

第三，我們積極管理成本、庫存和資本支出以及將自有資產貨幣化的努力，使我們能夠在充滿挑戰的時期保持流動性。

We took out over $140 million of SG&A during the year, cut CapEx by almost 60% year over year, reduced inventory by nearly $200 million, and monetized assets worth over $300 million.

年內，我們支出了超過 1.4 億美元的銷售管理費用，比去年同期削減了近 60% 的資本支出，減少了近 2 億美元的庫存，並將價值超過 3 億美元的資產貨幣化。

Our net liquidity at the end of the fourth quarter was $254 million and we generated significant free cash flow in the fourth quarter, enabling us to reduce our ABL balance.

第四季末我們的淨流動性為 2.54 億美元，第四季產生了大量自由現金流，使我們能夠減少 ABL 餘額。

As we look into 2024, we continue to evaluate additional financing options as a normal part of prudently managing our business.

展望 2024 年，我們將繼續評估額外的融資方案，作為審慎管理業務的正常組成部分。

While near term conditions may remain challenging, we look forward to returning the company to health and prosperity and believe we are taking the right actions to do that.

雖然短期情況可能仍然充滿挑戰，但我們期待公司恢復健康和繁榮，並相信我們正在採取正確的行動來做到這一點。

I'd like now to circle back to highlight some of the recent progress we've made on the five key actions, which will continue to drive momentum in our business as it relates to our first key action owning bargains, our mix of bargains, which are close-out items, opportunistic buys and other source products where we believe we have a significant comparable price advantages was nearly 60% of sales in Q4, far exceeding our goal of over one-third by the end of the year.

我現在想回顧一下我們最近在五項關鍵行動上取得的一些進展，這些行動將繼續推動我們業務的發展勢頭，因為它與我們擁有便宜貨、我們的便宜貨組合的第一個關鍵行動有關，其中，我們認為具有顯著可比較價格優勢的清倉商品、機會性購買和其他來源產品佔第四季度銷售額的近60%，遠遠超出了我們到年底超過三分之一的目標。

We achieved this by procuring products from over-inventoried and distressed retailers and vendors and through new factory direct sourcing partners domestically and overseas.

我們透過從庫存過多和陷入困境的零售商和供應商以及透過國內外新的工廠直接採購合作夥伴採購產品來實現這一目標。

Our next phase is to grow bargains to 75% of our sales and within that have an expanded assortment of extreme bargains.

我們的下一階段是將特價商品增加到銷售額的 75%，並在其中擴大極端特價商品的種類。

We're early in our journey on offering more extreme bargains, but we've already had strong sell through on some of our food offerings such as coffee and cereal as well as in haircare, bedding, laundry and cookware.

我們在提供更優惠的產品方面還處於起步階段，但我們的一些食品產品（例如咖啡和麥片以及護髮用品、床上用品、洗衣和炊具）已經取得了強勁的銷售業績。

We are pushing hard on sourcing more extreme bargains across our categories.

我們正在大力推動在我們的品類中尋找更便宜的產品。

For example, we have recently procured a large branded consumables closeout, which hit our stores in late January, we have made buys from several branded furniture and home furnishings manufacturers as well, which will add more newness and excitement at exceptional prices.

例如，我們最近採購了一個大型品牌消耗品清倉貨，該產品於一月下旬登陸我們的商店，我們也從幾個品牌家具和家居用品製造商那裡採購，這將以優惠的價格增添更多的新鮮感和興奮感。

Our extreme value sourcing team is working in concert with the entire merchandising team, integrating new extreme value procurement channels, allowing us to source fresh deals more directly while minimizing our use of intermediaries.

我們的極值採購團隊正在與整個行銷團隊合作，整合新的極值採購管道，使我們能夠更直接地採購新的交易，同時最大限度地減少對中間商的使用。

In fact, we recently purchased a full inventory of Hearthsong toys valued at more than $22 million through a foreclosure sale without the use of an intermediary.

事實上，我們最近透過取消抵押品贖回權出售購買了價值超過 2,200 萬美元的全套 Hearthsong 玩具，而沒有使用中間商。

For the first time, our stores will carry heart songs collection of high-quality toys, which will offer at extreme bargain prices ranging from 50% to 70% less than original retail.

我們的店將首次推出心歌系列高品質玩具，價格比原零售價便宜 50% 至 70%。

This acquisition has been instrumental in accelerating the extreme value sourcing and cross organizational execution process for scale as we continue to build out our extreme value sourcing team, institutionalized new processes and flex our open-to-buy.

隨著我們繼續建立我們的極值採購團隊、制度化新流程並靈活地開放購買，此次收購有助於加速極值採購和跨組織執行流程的規模化。

We are quickly expanding our relationship with vendors, both new and existing and reclaiming our seat at the extreme value table.

我們正在迅速擴大與新舊供應商的關係，並重新奪回我們在超值領域的席次。

We're also seeing a steady build of deal flow in our new extreme value pipeline as it relates to our second key action communicating unmistakable value.

我們也看到我們新的極值管道中交易流的穩定成長，因為它與我們傳達明確價值的第二個關鍵行動有關。

Our recent marketing efforts continue to show promise.

我們最近的營銷努力繼續顯示出希望。

Customers are recognizing more each day the value of the Barnes we offer as a result of our emphasis on comparable value for bargains offers increased penetration of bargains in our end caps and drive aisle and successful campaigns such as Black Friday is every Friday, your deal your day, and our friends and family event, our net customer value perception score improved nearly 11% year over year in Q4 to accelerate our efforts.

客戶每天都更加認識到我們提供的Barnes 的價值，因為我們強調討價還價的可比價值，從而提高了我們的端蓋和車道中的討價還價滲透率，並且每個星期五都有成功的活動，例如黑色星期五，您的交易是您的日，以及我們的朋友和家人活動，我們的淨客戶價值感知得分在第四季度同比提高了近 11%，以加快我們的努力。

To drive traffic and improve our price perception, we launched a campaign in February called bargains to brag about which is designed to reclaim our bargain heritage and emphasizes our best values in furniture, décor, and pantry items through exciting new creative cross across Sam, we are leveraging new promotional tools and processes.

為了增加流量並改善我們的價格認知，我們在二月份發起了一項名為“討價還價”的活動，旨在通過Sam 令人興奮的新創意交叉來恢復我們的討價還價傳統，並強調我們在家具、裝飾和食品儲藏室物品方面的最佳價值。 ，我們正在利用新的促銷工具和流程。

We implemented last year to help us eliminate nonproductive promotions and target our promotional spend, where we will see the greatest return.

我們去年實施的措施是為了幫助我們消除非生產性促銷活動，並確定我們的促銷支出目標，這樣我們就能獲得最大的回報。

And we expect to continue to accelerate this progress into 2024 as it relates to our third key action, we continue to focus on increasing store relevance.

我們預計到 2024 年將繼續加快這一進程，因為這與我們的第三個關鍵行動有關，我們將繼續專注於提高商店相關性。

Our ongoing efforts to flex our assortment to capture customer demand are showing encouraging results as a reminder, we've been flexing our assortment by increasing inventory in top-performing categories in stores as well as taking inventory out of bottom performing categories and stores, creating whitespace opportunities such as in pet and optimizing our space with more productive SKUs, particularly in food and consumables.

我們不斷努力調整我們的品類以滿足客戶需求，結果令人鼓舞，我們一直在通過增加商店中表現最好的類別的庫存以及從表現最差的類別和商店中剔除庫存來調整我們的品類，從而創造了空白機會，例如寵物領域，以及透過更有效率的 SKU 來優化我們的空間，特別是在食品和消費品領域。

It also means introducing more bargains, newness and trend-right product in our assortment across all categories.

這也意味著在我們的所有類別產品中引入更多便宜、新穎和潮流的產品。

We've been focused on less depth and more breadth in our assortment.

我們一直專注於減少產品的深度和增加產品的廣度。

So our customers will have to act more quickly and shop more frequently to get these great value products, while they're out there.

因此，我們的客戶必須更快採取行動並更頻繁地購物才能獲得這些超值產品。

New products as a share of total SKUs were up pick up year over year in Q4.

第四季新產品佔總 SKU 的比例年減。

This is helping as newness had a great bargain, helped drive improvement in our furniture business.

這很有幫助，因為新品很划算，有助於推動我們家具業務的改善。

As we look forward, 70% of our lawn and garden assortment is new items.

展望未來，我們的草坪和花園品種中有 70% 是新產品。

We've been testing expanded decorative storage and bath accessories, and we've already locked in great deals for Christmas with 75% of those items being there.

我們一直在測試擴展的裝飾性儲物和浴室配件，並且我們已經鎖定了聖誕節的超值優惠，其中 75% 的商品都在其中。

Improvement in store execution is also critical to increasing our relevance and there are still many opportunities to retain customers and drive more frequency through our five key actions through the leadership of Kristen Cox, our Chief Stores Officer, who joined in December.

商店執行力的改進對於提高我們的相關性也至關重要，在去年12 月加入的首席商店官克里斯汀·考克斯(Kristen Cox) 的領導下，我們仍有很多機會留住客戶並通過我們的五項關鍵行動提高頻率。

We've identified ways to continue to evolve our store base to better showcase our value in-store and online, make it easy for our customers, research and shop for products they want and inspire customers to browse and buy with better visual merchandising, such as building furniture vignettes to showcase the full room and creating flexibility in aisles and end caps for promotions and fresh product.

我們已經找到了繼續發展我們的商店基礎的方法，以更好地展示我們在店內和網上的價值，讓我們的客戶可以輕鬆地研究和購買他們想要的產品，並通過更好的視覺營銷激勵客戶瀏覽和購買，例如例如建造家具小插圖來展示整個房間，並為促銷和新鮮產品創造通道和端蓋的靈活性。

We're focused on establishing more consistency in the look and feel of stores, improving store productivity, attracting top talent and keeping the team inspired in order to make the store experience better for our customers.

我們致力於使商店的外觀和感覺更加一致，提高商店生產力，吸引頂尖人才並保持團隊的靈感，以便為我們的客戶提供更好的商店體驗。

As it relates to our fourth key action.

因為它涉及我們的第四個關鍵行動。

We've been improving customer experience to help us win customers for life with our omnichannel efforts.

我們一直在改善客戶體驗，以幫助我們透過全通路努力贏得終身客戶。

Our goal is to win customers for life by attracting them retaining them and growing the shopping frequency with us.

我們的目標是透過吸引客戶、留住客戶並提高與我們的購物頻率來贏得終身客戶。

Our omnichannel platform is a crucial enabler of this, and it differentiates us from our off-price peers.

我們的全通路平台是實現這一目標的關鍵推動者，它使我們有別於低價同行。

We are constantly looking at customer feedback and finding ways to address areas of improvement.

我們不斷關注客戶回饋並尋找改進方法。

In particular, we are focused on improving sales productivity and improving the profitability of the e-commerce channel.

我們特別注重提高銷售效率和提高電子商務管道的獲利能力。

We continue to enhance our platform with special attention to our big ticket furniture and seasonal products to influence her home shopping journey more positively.

我們繼續增強我們的平台，特別關注我們的大件家具和季節性產品，以更積極地影響她的家居購物之旅。

In the coming quarters, our customers will be able to browse more of our products online and our store associates will be armed with new tools to help customers place in-store orders for a more seamless Endless Aisle experience.

在接下來的幾個季度中，我們的客戶將能夠在線上瀏覽我們的更多產品，我們的店員將配備新工具來幫助客戶在店內下訂單，以獲得更無縫的 Endless Aisle 體驗。

In Q4, we were excited to launch our first mobile app for customers, allowing them to get their everyday products more quickly and easily.

在第四季度，我們很高興為客戶推出了第一個行動應用程序，使他們能夠更快、更輕鬆地獲得日常產品。

We extended our reach through the addition of UberEATS to our suite of marketplace partners during the holiday season.

在假期期間，我們透過將 UberEATS 添加到我們的一系列市場合作夥伴中來擴大我們的覆蓋範圍。

New capabilities and partnerships are helping us engage new and younger customers with our brands.

新的能力和合作夥伴關係正在幫助我們吸引新的和年輕的客戶使用我們的品牌。

These four actions will be important traffic drivers in the future.

這四項舉措將成為未來重要的交通驅動力。

The fifth key action is to drive productivity through structural cost reductions, inventory turns and CapEx efficiency.

第五個關鍵行動是透過結構性成本降低、庫存週轉和資本支出效率來提高生產力。

As I mentioned, we're well on track with these efforts, and Jonathan will speak more about what we are doing to drive productivity in a few minutes.

正如我所提到的，我們的這些努力進展順利，喬納森將在幾分鐘內詳細介紹我們為提高生產力所做的工作。

So to sum it up, our five key actions are gaining momentum and have enabled us to, again sequentially improve results in the fourth quarter.

總而言之，我們的五個關鍵行動正在蓄勢待發，並使我們能夠在第四季度再次連續改善業績。

We are excited to return to comp sales growth as 2024 progresses, driven by continued progress on these key actions and to significantly improve our gross margin in every quarter versus last year.

我們很高興隨著 2024 年的進展，在這些關鍵行動的持續進展的推動下，公司銷售恢復成長，並且每季的毛利率均較去年顯著提高。

I now will make a few comments on specific category performance in the quarter, seasonal comps modestly improved relative to Q3 on a year-over-year basis, aided by solid sales of Christmas items and extreme bargain features sequentially improved sell through rate aided by our efforts to flex assortment, combined with a material reduction in promotional activity versus last year and seasonal give a major boost to our overall gross margin rate.

現在，我將對本季度特定類別的表現發表一些評論，在聖誕商品的穩定銷售和極端便宜的功能的幫助下，季節性比較相對於第三季度同比略有改善，並在我們的幫助下連續提高了售出率。努力調整品種，加上與去年和季節性相比促銷活動大幅減少，大大提高了我們的整體毛利率。

Our furniture and soft Home categories improved sequentially relative to Q3 on a year-over-year basis and furniture, we saw significant improvement in Q4 comps, which is a good sign about our comeback in that category.

我們的家具和軟家居類別相對於第三季度同比有所改善，而家具，我們在第四季度的比較中看到了顯著改善，這是我們在該類別中捲土重來的一個好兆頭。

Pull-through performed well with low double digit comp sales growth, driven by better in-stocks and newness in Broyhill items as well as lapping the impact from the abrupt closure of what was previously our largest furniture supplier, which created significant headwinds for us beginning in Q4 last year, improvement in furniture provided a positive halo effect on soft home sales, along with value offerings and new assortments in areas such as accents to core and modern styles.

由於庫存增加和 Broyhill 商品的新穎性，以及我們之前最大的家具供應商突然關閉的影響，這給我們帶來了巨大的阻力，拉動表現良好，銷售額增長較低，達到兩位數。去年第四季度，家具的改進以及核心和現代風格等領域的價值產品和新品種對軟家居銷售產生了積極的光環效應。

Hard home had a modest deceleration relative to Q3 on a year-over-year basis due to gaps in our inventory assortment and too few bargain offerings we have since brought in a new lead for the Hard Home department with off-price experience to make us more competitive in this category by bringing in more bargains and improving our inventory.

與第三季度相比，硬質家居同比略有減速，原因是我們的庫存品種存在缺口，且特價商品太少。此後，我們為硬質家居部門引入了一位具有折扣經驗的新領導，使我們能夠透過引入更多便宜貨並改善我們的庫存，在這一類別中更具競爭力。

Therefore, we expect comp sales to improve in the category as 2024 progresses in food and consumables comped modestly improve sequentially relative to Q3 on a year-over-year basis, we are focused on accelerating the penetration of IQstream bargains, particularly in the food category, which should drive more significant improvements going forward.

因此，我們預計，隨著 2024 年食品和消費品銷售相對於第三季度同比略有改善，該類別的銷售將有所改善，我們專注於加速 IQstream 特價產品的滲透，特別是在食品類別中，這應該會推動未來更顯著的改進。

For the quarter, pet was again a standout performer with positive comp growth aided by the expansion of our assortment in the fall.

本季度，寵物用品再次表現出色，得益於秋季品種的擴大，公司業績實現正成長。

Before handing over to Jonathan, I'd like to take a moment to once again thank our associates for working hard to improve customer satisfaction this year, despite all the challenges.

在交給喬納森之前，我想花點時間再次感謝我們的員工，儘管面臨種種挑戰，今年仍為提高客戶滿意度而努力工作。

I'd also like to thank our vendors for their incredible partnership on our journey to bring more exciting products and great bargains for our customers, and we look forward to seeing them at our vendor summit in July 2024 won't be without its own challenges.

我還要感謝我們的供應商在我們為客戶帶來更多令人興奮的產品和超值優惠的過程中所提供的令人難以置信的合作夥伴關係，我們期待在2024 年7 月的供應商峰會上見到他們，也將帶來挑戰。

There will be uncertainties with an election year, fluctuations in interest rates and potential for supply chain disruptions, such as the Red Sea.

選舉年將存在不確定性、利率波動以及紅海等供應鏈中斷的可能性。

That said, we will focus on what we can control and continue to manage the business appropriately.

也就是說，我們將專注於我們可以控制的事情，並繼續適當地管理業務。

I'm confident that we have the right team in place to accelerate the turnaround in our business in 2024.

我相信我們擁有合適的團隊來加速 2024 年業務的轉變。

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.

我現在將其轉交給喬納森，稍後我將返回，在回答您的問題之前發表一些結束語。

Good morning, everyone.

大家，早安。

I we'd like to once again thank the entire team here at Big Lots for their efforts throughout 2023, which despite challenges was a year in which we made significant underlying progress for the fourth quarter.

我們要再次感謝 Big Lot 的整個團隊在 2023 年所做的努力，儘管面臨挑戰，但我們在第四季度取得了重大的基礎進展。

As Bruce noted, we were pleased to once again deliver what we said we would we are confident that the five key actions and the excellent progress we are making on Project Springboard will continue this forward momentum in 2024, we expect quarterly year-over-year improvements to continue through the year with the path to positive comps as the year progresses and significant gross margin rate improvement in every quarter versus last year.

正如Bruce 所指出的那樣，我們很高興再次兌現我們所說的承諾，我們相信，我們在Springboard 項目上所採取的五項關鍵行動和取得的出色進展將在2024 年繼續保持這一前進勢頭，我們預計每季同比增長隨著今年的進展，我們將繼續實現積極的業績成長，並且每季的毛利率都比去年顯著提高。

I will now provide some more detail on our Q4 results, which I will discuss on an add on an adjusted basis, excluding distribution center closure costs, impairment charges, gains on the sale of real estate and related expenses fees related to Project SpringBoard and an income tax benefit related to the valuation allowance recorded earlier in 2023.

我現在將提供有關我們第四季度業績的更多詳細信息，我將在調整後的基礎上進行補充討論，不包括配送中心關閉成本、減值費用、房地產銷售收益以及與SpringBoard 項目相關的相關費用和 2023 年早些時候記錄的估價津貼相關的所得稅優惠。

Fourth quarter summary can be found on page 9 of our quarterly results presentation.

第四季摘要可在我們季度業績簡報的第 9 頁上找到。

As expected, comp sales trends improved sequential sequentially relative to the third quarter, driven by more favorable comparisons and improvements in our Furniture and Soft Home businesses.

正如預期的那樣，在我們的家具和軟家居業務的更有利的比較和改進的推動下，比較銷售趨勢相對於第三季度環比有所改善。

Q4 net sales were $1.43 billion, a 7.2% decrease compared to $1.54 billion a year ago, driven by a comparable sales decrease of 8.6%, which was in line with our guidance range.

第四季淨銷售額為 14.3 億美元，與去年同期的 15.4 億美元相比下降 7.2%，這是由於可比銷售額下降 8.6%，這符合我們的指導範圍。

In spite of the weather challenges in January, we posted a sequential improvement in comp sales in January relative to November and December due in part to momentum in our furniture and soft home business as well as easier prior-year comparisons as we lap the adverse impact from product shortages due to the closure of United Furniture, which primarily affected January in the fourth quarter of last year.

儘管1 月份面臨天氣挑戰，但與11 月和12 月相比，我們1 月份的可比銷售額連續改善，部分原因是我們的家具和軟家居業務的勢頭以及我們在克服不利影響時更容易與上年進行比較聯合家具關閉導致產品短缺，主要影響去年第四季的1月份。

The impact of the 53rd week benefited our Q4 sales by approximately $67 million and contributed approximately 430 basis points to our sales growth.

第 53 週的影響使我們第四季的銷售額增加了約 6,700 萬美元，並為我們的銷售成長貢獻了約 430 個基點。

This was offset by a net reduction in store count, which had an unfavorable impact of approximately 290 basis points.

這被商店數量的淨減少所抵消，淨減少產生了約 290 個基點的不利影響。

Our fourth quarter adjusted net loss was $8.3 million, resulting in adjusted diluted loss per share for the quarter of $0.28. Gross margin rate for the quarter was 38.0%, up 170 basis points to last year and in line with our guidance with the improvement versus last year, driven primarily by a reduced level of markdowns, particularly in seasonal items and lower freight costs.

我們在第四季調整後淨虧損為 830 萬美元，導致該季度調整後稀釋每股虧損為 0.28 美元。本季毛利率為 38.0%，比去年增長 170 個基點，符合我們的指引，與去年相比有所改善，這主要是由於降價水準減少（特別是季節性商品）和貨運成本降低所致。

Turning to adjusted SG&A, total expenses for the quarter including depreciation were $543.4 million, down 3.5% versus $563.2 million last year, in line with our guidance of down low single digits.

就調整後的銷售、管理及行政費用而言，包括折舊在內的本季總支出為 5.434 億美元，比去年的 5.632 億美元下降 3.5%，符合我們下調低個位數的指引。

SG&A include rent of approximately $8 million resulting from our recent sale leaseback, which also had the effect of reducing depreciation expense by around $1 million.

SG&A 包括我們最近的售後回租產生的約 800 萬美元的租金，這也減少了約 100 萬美元的折舊費用。

SG&A also included additional expenses for the 53rd week Adjusting for these impacts, underlying SG&A was down high single digits.

SG&A 還包括第 53 週的額外費用，調整這些影響後，基本 SG&A 下降了高個位數。

Our strong performance on expenses was driven across multiple line items and included initial benefits from Project Springboard.

我們在支出方面的強勁表現是由多個項目推動的，其中包括來自 Project Springboard 的初步收益。

Adjusted operating margin for the quarter was slightly positive.

本季調整後的營業利潤率略有上升。

Interest expense for the quarter was $10.8 million, up from $7.4 million in the fourth quarter last year due to higher average amounts drawn on our credit facility and higher interest rates year over year.

本季的利息支出為 1,080 萬美元，高於去年第四季的 740 萬美元，原因是我們的信貸額度平均提取金額較高，且利率同比較高。

Adjusted income tax for the quarter was a benefit of $1.5 million.

該季度調整後的所得稅收益為 150 萬美元。

The tax benefit in the fourth quarter was primarily the result of the release of tax reserves due to expirations of statutes of limitation.

第四季的稅收優惠主要是由於訴訟時效到期而釋放稅收儲備的結果。

Recall that in the second quarter we recorded a valuation allowance against deferred tax assets resulting from the company being in a three-year cumulative loss position at the end of the quarter.

回想一下，在第二季度，我們記錄了因公司在季度末處於三年累計虧損而產生的遞延所得稅資產的估值備抵。

As a result, going forward, we are now not able to record a tax benefit related to less loss carryforwards until we are in a three-year cumulative income position.

因此，展望未來，我們現在無法記錄與減少損失結轉相關的稅收優惠，直到我們達到三年累積收入狀況。

Total ending inventory at cost was down 17% last year and $953.3 million versus our down mid-teens guidance and driven by lower on-hand units and lower in-transit inventory.

去年以成本計算的期末庫存總額比我們的指導值下降了 17%，達到 9.533 億美元，這是由於現有數量減少和在途庫存減少所致。

During the fourth quarter, we opened three new stores and closed 39 stores.

第四季度，我們新開了 3 家門市，關閉了 39 家門市。

The openings were all projects we committed to some time back.

這些空缺職位都是我們之前承諾的項目。

We ended Q4 with 1,392 stores and total selling square footage of $32.3 million.

截至第四季度，我們擁有 1,392 家商店，總銷售面積為 3,230 萬美元。

CapEx for the quarter was $18 million compared to $32 million last year, resulting in approximately $63 million for the full year versus our guidance of $75 million and down almost 60% from last year.

本季的資本支出為 1,800 萬美元，而去年為 3,200 萬美元，全年資本支出約為 6,300 萬美元，而我們的指引為 7,500 萬美元，比去年下降了近 60%。

Depreciation expense in the quarter was $34.1 million, down from $43.4 million last year.

本季折舊費用為 3,410 萬美元，低於去年的 4,340 萬美元。

We ended the fourth quarter with $46.4 million of cash and cash equivalents similar to the third quarter.

在第四季結束時，我們的現金和現金等價物為 4,640 萬美元，與第三季類似。

At the end of the fourth quarter, we had $406.3 million of long long-term debt reduction from $533 million in the third quarter.

截至第四季末，我們的長期債務從第三季的 5.33 億美元減少了 4.063 億美元。

On a full year basis we had sales of [$4.7 billion, which was down 13.5%] on a comparable basis to 2022 with [140 basis points] of growth driven by the 53rd week, offset by a negative impact of [150 basis points] due to net store closures.

與 2022 年相比，全年銷售額為 [47 億美元，下降 13.5%]，第 53 週推動了 [140 個基點] 的增長，但被 [150 個基點] 的負面影響所抵消由於網店關閉。

Our full year adjusted operating loss of 7.3% was down 350 basis points to last year.

我們全年調整後營運虧損為 7.3%，比去年下降了 350 個基點。

Adjusted operating loss of $342.7 million compared to 2022 adjusted operating loss of $210 million.

調整後營運虧損為 3.427 億美元，而 2022 年調整後營運虧損為 2.1 億美元。

Although as noted, we achieved an adjusted operating profit and year-over-year improvement in Q4.

儘管如前所述，我們在第四季度實現了調整後的營業利潤和同比改善。

Turning to the outlook, we continue to expect sequential comp sales improvement in the first quarter into the negative mid-single digit range as our five key actions continue to gain traction and as we lap more favorable comparisons.

談到前景，隨著我們的五項關鍵行動繼續獲得關注，並且我們進行了更有利的比較，我們仍然預計第一季的環比銷售額將改善至負中個位數範圍。

With regard to gross margin, we expect our first quarter gross margin rate to improve year-over-year and to be up between 200 basis points to 250 basis points sequentially, well ahead of the 170 basis point year-over-year improvement in Q4, driven by reduced markdown activity, lower freight costs, and cost reduction and productivity initiatives.

毛利率方面，我們預計第一季毛利率將同比改善，環比提高 200 個基點至 250 個基點，遠超第四季度 170 個基點的同比改善，受到降價活動減少、貨運成本降低以及成本降低和生產力提高舉措的推動。

For Q1, we expect SG&A dollars to be down low single digits versus 2023.

對於第一季度，我們預計 SG&A 美元將比 2023 年下降低個位數。

This includes approximately $8 million of rent expense related to the sale leaseback, which will be partially offset by lower depreciation of around $1 million.

其中包括與售後回租相關的約 800 萬美元租金費用，該費用將被約 100 萬美元左右的較低折舊所部分抵消。

We expect interest expense to be approximately $13 million in Q1.

我們預計第一季的利息支出約為 1300 萬美元。

With regard to CapEx, we expect 2024 to be in line with or somewhat below 2023 with necessary IT investments offsetting lower store openings.

就資本支出而言，我們預計 2024 年將與 2023 年持平或略低於 2023 年，必要的 IT 投資將抵消門市開張率的下降。

We continue to expect for store openings in 2024, all of which will be in the third quarter.

我們繼續預計 2024 年將有新店開業，所有這些都將在第三季進行。

Some of these projects were originally slated for 2023 and one is due to a relocation of a store where we are losing our leads.

其中一些項目原定於 2023 年進行，其中一個項目是由於一家商店搬遷而導致我們失去了線索。

In general, only new store commitments remain on hold until our business situation improves.

一般來說，只有新店承諾會被擱置，直到我們的業務狀況改善為止。

We expect full year depreciation of around $136 million, including approximately $34 million in Q1.

我們預計全年折舊約為 1.36 億美元，其中第一季折舊約為 3,400 萬美元。

We expect a share count of approximately 29.4 million for Q1.

我們預計第一季的股票數量約為 2940 萬股。

We expect Q1 total inventory to be down low teens, representing a very favorable turn improvement as we continue our aggressive approach to managing inventory levels, about half of the inventory decline will be driven by lower average unit costs.

我們預計第一季總庫存將下降到兩位數以下，這代表著一個非常有利的轉折改善，因為我們繼續採取積極的方法來管理庫存水平，大約一半的庫存下降將由平均單位成本降低推動。

Again, all of our commentary on Q1 excludes the potential impact of impairment charges and other items, including distribution center closure costs, gains on the sale of real estate and related expenses, and consulting fees related to Project Springboard.

同樣，我們對第一季的所有評論都排除了減損費用和其他項目的潛在影響，包括配送中心關閉成本、房地產銷售收益和相關費用，以及與 Project Springboard 相關的諮詢費用。

I'd now like to spend a few moments to provide more details on our cost reduction and productivity efforts.

現在我想花一些時間提供有關我們降低成本和提高生產力工作的更多詳細資訊。

In 2023, we delivered over $140 million of SG&A savings, including initial benefits from Project Springboard coming in well above target.

2023 年，我們節省了超過 1.4 億美元的銷售管理費用，其中包括遠高於目標的 Springboard 專案的初步收益。

Overall, we are progressing in line with plan on Project Springboard and deliver $35 million in savings across gross margin and SG&A in the back half of 2023 above our initial estimate.

總體而言，我們正在按照 Springboard 專案的計劃取得進展，並在 2023 年下半年實現毛利率和銷售、一般管理費用 (SG&A) 節省 3,500 萬美元，高於我們的初步估計。

We are targeting an incremental benefit of around $140 million in 2024 and further benefits in 2025 that will take us to and hopefully beyond our overall goal of at least $200 million of cumulative benefits.

我們的目標是在 2024 年實現約 1.4 億美元的增量效益，並在 2025 年實現更多效益，這將使我們實現並有望超越至少 2 億美元累積效益的總體目標。

As a reminder, in total, we expect approximately 40% of Project Springboard benefits to come from COGS reduction, approximately 40% from other gross margin driving initiatives and approximately [20%] from SG&A.

需要提醒的是，總體而言，我們預期 Springboard 專案的約 40% 收益將來自 COGS 降低，約 40% 來自其他毛利率驅動舉措，約 [20%] 來自 SG&A。

Turning to liquidity.

轉向流動性。

We ended the quarter with $254 million of net liquidity similar to Q3.

本季結束時，我們的淨流動性為 2.54 億美元，與第三季類似。

As Bruce mentioned, we continue to evaluate further actions to bolster our liquidity as we navigate through what remains a challenging environment.

正如布魯斯所提到的，當我們應對仍然充滿挑戰的環境時，我們將繼續評估進一步採取的行動，以增強我們的流動性。

We have the ability to monetize up to $200 million of remaining owned assets, either through using them as collateral for additional financing or through outright sales in the case of certain assets.

我們有能力將高達 2 億美元的剩餘自有資產貨幣化，可以透過將其用作額外融資的抵押品，也可以透過直接出售某些資產。

Turning back to our overall overall outlook, we believe we are in a strong position to return the Company to comp sales growth and significantly improved profitability over the course of the year as we continue to execute on our five key actions, we expect to continue to make progress in turning around our business, lowering our costs, managing capital and once again, finishing the year in a much better place than where we start.

回到我們的整體前景，我們相信，隨著我們繼續執行五項關鍵行動，我們有能力使公司在今年恢復銷售成長並顯著提高盈利能力，我們預計將繼續在扭轉我們的業務、降低成本、管理資本方面取得進展，並再次以比年初更好的成績結束這一年。

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.

謝謝你，喬納森。

If we cut through all the noise in the market right now, one thing is clear, our momentum continues to improve and we once again delivered despite a challenging consumer environment.

如果我們消除市場上的所有噪音，有一件事是明確的，我們的勢頭繼續改善，儘管消費者環境充滿挑戰，但我們再次實現了目標。

The key drivers of our improvement have been and will continue to be the five key actions which will enable us to return to growth and profitability.

我們改進的關鍵驅動力一直是並將繼續是使我們能夠恢復成長和獲利的五項關鍵行動。

And until then, we will continue to focus on strengthening our balance sheet to allow us to weather the current macroeconomic challenges.

在那之前，我們將繼續專注於加強我們的資產負債表，以使我們能夠應對當前的宏觀經濟挑戰。

And now I'll turn the call back over to the moderator so that we can begin to address your questions.

現在我將把電話轉回給主持人，以便我們可以開始解決您的問題。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) Brad Thomas, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

（操作員說明）Brad Thomas，KeyBanc 資本市場。

Morning.

早晨。

Thanks for taking my question.

感謝您提出我的問題。

I wanted to kick off with just a couple of questions on the outlook for sales bridge.

我想先問幾個有關銷售橋樑前景的問題。

Bruce, you touched on this a good deal in your prepared remarks.

布魯斯，你在準備好的發言中多次談到了這一點。

But as we think about the quarters ahead here, I was hoping you could talk a little bit more about the categories that you're the most optimistic about and helping to drive improvements in the results.

但當我們思考未來幾季時，我希望您能多談談您最樂觀的類別，並幫助推動結果的改進。

We expect quarterly year-over-year improvements to continue driven by our five points forward, which are again to own bargains to communicate unmistakable value increase our store relevance, winning with winning customers for life through omnichannel and driving our productivity.

我們預計季度同比改進將繼續由我們的五點展望推動，這五點再次是擁有便宜貨以傳達明確的價值，增加我們商店的相關性，透過全通路贏得終身客戶並提高我們的生產力。

I think the the first and foremost, because the season we're in right now, our lawn and garden seasonal.

我認為首先也是最重要的，因為我們現在所處的季節是我們的草坪和花園的季節性。

We've done a nice job bringing newness to that to that category. 70% of the product that we've got going in there right now is new.

我們做得很好，為該類別帶來了新鮮感。我們現在銷售的產品中有 70% 是新產品。

It's priced, right, great bargains.

價格還可以，很划算，很划算。

It's always done well.

總是做得很好。

We believe it's a good trade down opportunity.

我們相信這是一個很好的降價機會。

I think our lawn and garden patio sets are the best out there and great value.

我認為我們的草坪和花園露台套裝是最好的，而且物超所值。

I also think having our furniture back in stock with Broyhill and Real Living is a key key aspect of all of our growth going into 2024, how we're seeing it actually we're seeing a Broyhill sectional sofa priced at $1,400 is one of our key items that selling right now, one of our top items that selling right now, which are which is really exciting for us.

我還認為，讓我們的家具在Broyhill 和Real Living 恢復庫存是我們進入2024 年所有增長的關鍵方面，我們如何看待它實際上我們看到一款售價1,400 美元的Broyhill 組合沙發是我們的產品之一現在銷售的關鍵產品，我們現在銷售的熱門產品之一，這對我們來說真的很令人興奮。

And what's interesting about the growth of Broyhill and given that furniture back in line is that 16% of Broyhill customers are actually new to file and 49% of them return for a second purchase.

布羅伊希爾 (Broyhill) 的成長和家具回歸線的有趣之處在於，16% 的布羅伊希爾 (Broyhill) 客戶實際上是新客戶，其中 49% 會再次購買。

So we're excited about that.

所以我們對此感到興奮。

I'm also excited about the new products we have in Soft Home Hard Home.

我也對我們在 Soft Home Hard Home 中推出的新產品感到興奮。

Hard Home in Q4 was a little bit depressed from key three.

第四季的 Hard Home 從第三個關鍵點開始有點沮喪。

We've got a new leader in that area comes from the off-price world.

我們在該領域有了一位來自折扣行業的新領導者。

I'm excited about the new product.

我對新產品感到很興奮。

She's bringing in all the bargains extreme bargains coming into that area.

她把所有的特價商品都帶進了那個地區。

And soft home is already starting to perform better and gets a halo effect as furniture continues to build and then in terms of the everyday essentials, food and consumables, we're getting a nice penetration of bargains and extreme bargains in those areas, which is exactly what our customers need in this tough economic environment.

軟家居已經開始表現更好，並隨著家具的不斷發展而產生光環效應，然後在日常必需品、食品和消耗品方面，我們在這些領域的討價還價和極端討價還價中得到了很好的滲透，這是這正是我們的客戶在當前嚴峻的經濟環境下所需要的。

So as we go through Q1, 2, and 3, and 4, we'll grow that penetration, which is going to give our customers more reason to visit us more frequently.

因此，當我們經歷第一季、第二季、第三季和第四季時，我們將提高滲透率，這將使我們的客戶有更多理由更頻繁地拜訪我們。

So I'm excited about the work the merchandising team is doing.

因此，我對銷售團隊正在做的工作感到興奮。

I'm excited about our IQstream bargain extreme value team, growing their meeting with the merchants growing every day.

我對我們的 IQstream 討價還價極值團隊感到興奮，他們與商家的會面與日俱增。

Our pipeline of bargains.

我們的討價還價管道。

Extreme bargains is growing every day.

極端便宜的商品每天都在增加。

In fact, our pipeline for Q1 already has over $100 million of original retail value that we'll be bringing to our customers so I'm excited about what the team has in store and the way that we are communicating it with our brand on bargains and brag about as exciting to test results showed very well.

事實上，我們第一季的產品線已經擁有超過1 億美元的原始零售價值，我們將把這些價值帶給我們的客戶，所以我對團隊的庫存以及我們與我們的品牌進行特價溝通的方式感到興奮和吹噓一樣令人興奮，測試結果顯示得非常好。

I think that's just going to build that campaign is going to get it out to the customers.

我認為這只是為了建立該活動並將其傳達給客戶。

Hey, Brad, I would just add, and we referenced this in prior calls, that if you look at our furniture business, where we ended 2024, it's down roughly 25% to just 2019.

嘿，布拉德，我想補充一點，我們在之前的電話中提到過這一點，如果你看看我們的家具業務，截至2024 年，它下降了約25%，至2019 年僅下降了25 %。

And the units are actually down more because the AURs are up relative to 2019.

事實上，這些單位的下降幅度更大，因為 AUR 相對 2019 年有所上升。

So we don't know exactly when that's all going to turnaround, but we do think that's going to become a major tailwind for us over time as our furniture business picks back up, driven by interest rate coming down and more people moving and so on.

因此，我們不確切知道這一切何時會好轉，但我們確實認為，隨著時間的推移，隨著我們的家具業務在利率下降和更多人搬家等因素的推動下回升，這將成為我們的主要推動力。

We do think that's a big opportunity.

我們確實認為這是一個很大的機會。

And in 2019, we didn't even have Broyhill.

2019 年，我們甚至沒有布羅伊希爾。

That's all very helpful.

這一切都非常有幫助。

Thank you.

謝謝。

And as a follow-up to that, and Jonathan, you just touched on this.

作為後續行動，喬納森，你剛剛談到了這一點。

I was hoping we could talk about from ticket and traffic and what you've been seeing and how you expect that to evolve on a draw as drivers in 2024 from and then maybe as a visit specifically as it relates to that, how if at all, are you seeing some of the deflation starting to come up in some categories influence tickets?

我希望我們能夠從門票和交通方面進行討論，以及您所看到的情況以及您期望在 2024 年作為車手抽籤中如何演變，然後可能作為與此相關的具體訪問，如果有的話會如何發展，您是否看到某些類別的通貨緊縮開始出現影響門票？

Yeah, hey, Brad, you said, traffic was the primary driver of comp trend evolution during 2023 that the traffic counts and the overall comps were pretty strongly correlated.

是的，嘿，布拉德，你說過，流量是 2023 年競爭趨勢演變的主要驅動力，流量計數和整體競爭非常密切相關。

But we do anticipate continued sequential improvement in traffic trends along with our overall comp trends through 2024.

但我們確實預計到 2024 年，流量趨勢以及我們的整體競爭趨勢將持續改善。

And we expect that's going to be driven by extreme bargains and all the other initiatives that Bruce just enumerated, including the map, vocal marketing about unmistakable value.

我們預計，這將受到極端便宜和布魯斯剛才列舉的所有其他舉措的推動，包括地圖、關於明確價值的直言不諱的營銷。

So yes, we do foresee traffic continue to improve through 2024.

所以，是的，我們確實預計到 2024 年流量將繼續改善。

Great.

偉大的。

And is there anything notable from a inflation deflation happening within the mix right now and not maybe hit hard because you're changing out what you're selling hard to tell exactly what's happening like for like, but from what are you seeing from that perspective?

目前，在通貨膨脹和通貨緊縮的混合中，有什麼值得注意的事情，而且可能不會受到嚴重打擊，因為你正在改變你所銷售的產品，很難確切地告訴你到底發生了什麼，但從你從這個角度看到的是什麼？

Yeah, Brad, there's always a lot of mix impacts us make our overall AUR hubs to you to read.

是的，Brad，我們總是有很多混合影響，我們將整體 AUR 中心提供給您閱讀。

And what I think is happening.

我認為正在發生的事情。

Importantly, our businesses, we're getting AUCs down significantly, which gives us more flexibility on AURs.

重要的是，我們的業務 AUC 顯著下降，這使我們在 AUR 方面具有更大的靈活性。

So we're starting to see AUCs run significantly negative year over year in the first quarter.

因此，我們開始看到第一季 AUC 同比大幅下降。

And we expect that to continue through the year as we leverage the projects bring more benefits and in fact, in fact accelerate those benefits.

我們預計這種情況將持續到今年，因為我們利用這些項目帶來更多效益，事實上，加速了這些效益。

So that gives us more latitude right around a while, but there's a lot of mix effects and having more extreme environments and closures in there also creates some noise around how to interpret any pure year over year change in AUR.

因此，這在一段時間內給了我們更多的自由度，但有許多混合效應，並且有更極端的環境和封閉，也會在如何解釋 AUR 的任何純逐年變化方面產生一些噪音。

But I think the important point again is that we're getting a you see down on a year-over-year basis.

但我認為重要的一點是，我們的業績逐年下降。

I'd also add that the core home categories and furniture, we are able to restore the opening price points and maintain those augmenting it with extreme bargains and bargains.

我還想補充一點，核心家居類別和家具，我們能夠恢復開盤價，並透過極端的討價還價來維持這些價格點。

And the opening price points are getting good sell-through.

開盤價格點的銷售情況良好。

All very helpful.

一切都非常有幫助。

Thank you so much.

太感謝了。

(Operator Instructions) Joe Feldman, Telsey Advisory Group.

（操作員說明）Joe Feldman，特爾西諮詢小組。

Great.

偉大的。

Good morning, guys.

早上好傢伙。

Thanks for taking the questions on in June, we took a little bit more about the cadence of the year.

感謝您在六月提出問題，我們對今年的節奏有了更多了解。

It seems like you're entering this year and a little bit better as you described.

看起來你已經進入今年了，而且正如你所描述的那樣，情況有所改善。

And when you talk about getting kind of back to flat, should we think about that more or even positive, I should say positive comp?

當你談到恢復平穩時，我們是否應該更多地考慮這一點，甚至是積極的，我應該說積極的補償？

Is that fourth quarter?

這是第四季嗎？

Is it earlier in the year?

是今年早些時候嗎？

Like what would the slope of the year look like to and maybe you could share some puts and takes related to that?

就像今年的斜率會是什麼樣子，也許您可以分享一些與此相關的看跌期權和看跌期權？

Hey, Joe, I'll take the first pass at that and then Bruce may want to add some comments.

嘿，喬，我會首先考慮這一點，然後布魯斯可能想添加一些評論。

Yes, we expect continued sequential improvement in comps through the year.

是的，我們預計全年業績將持續改善。

And as we've said in our prepared remarks, we expect to turn positive during the year.

正如我們在準備好的演講中所說，我們預計今年將出現積極的變化。

We're not calling when that will be, but we're obviously shooting to get there as quickly as we can see year-over-year improvements, again, driven by all the things that Bruce just referenced, including on the extreme stream bargains being a driver Project Springboard helps us on the top line.

我們不會打電話通知具體時間，但我們顯然會盡快實現這一目標，因為我們可以看到同比的改進，再次受到布魯斯剛才提到的所有事情的推動，包括極端流交易作為一名司機，Springboard專案幫助我們實現了營收成長。

We've got the United Furniture benefit that we're getting in the early part of the year.

我們在今年年初就獲得了聯合家具福利。

And then all the other initiatives around the five points on what we see helping.

然後是圍繞我們認為有幫助的五點的所有其他舉措。

And then eventually, we expect to get some help from the macro.

最終，我們期望從宏觀中得到一些幫助。

But we're not counting on a significant change in the macro backdrop in 2024.

但我們預期 2024 年宏觀背景不會有重大變化。

I'd add that, you know, when you think about '23, we set a goal for bargains to be 33% of our assortment, we exceeded that came into the year with 60%.

我想補充一點，你知道，當你想到 23 年時，我們設定的目標是讓特價產品占我們產品種類的 33%，今年我們超出了這一目標，達到了 60%。

That's going to grow to over 75% in 2024.

到 2024 年，這一比例將增長至 75% 以上。

We think as that grows through the year with a subset of that being extreme bargains, which are priced significantly below the price leaders out there.

我們認為，隨著這一年的成長，其中一部分是極端便宜的產品，其價格遠低於市場領導者的價格。

That's going to add to it.

這將添加到它。

And we just launched this bargains to brag about campaign, which helps us now that we've worked so hard in sourcing the product.

我們剛剛發起了這個討價還價的活動來吹噓，這對我們很有幫助，因為我們在採購產品方面付出了很大的努力。

We've got to get the word back out there that we're back in the in the bargain business, off-price business and owning the trips of furniture to décor and pantry that we're able to own.

我們必須讓大家知道，我們又回到了特價業務、折扣業務，並擁有我們能夠擁有的家具到裝飾和食品儲藏室的旅程。

So I think that's going to build over time.

所以我認為這會隨著時間的推移而建立。

The content was important to get right first now the marketing the messaging is key.

內容對於先獲得正確的資訊非常重要，現在行銷訊息是關鍵。

So that will build.

這樣就可以了。

Thank you, guys for that.

謝謝你們。

And actually, Bruce, on that front, that was the other part of the question I wanted to ask, can you define a little more like my understanding is the bargains is 20% to 25% less on everyday items and then your everyday prices and then extreme is 50% lesser or more than 50%?

事實上，布魯斯，在這方面，這是我想問的問題的另一部分，你能否定義得更像我的理解，即日常用品便宜 20% 到 25%，然後你的日常價格和那麼極端是少50%還是多50%呢？

And I guess if that's the case, I guess I kind of always thought you guys were always 20% to 25% less than most of your products.

我想如果是這樣的話，我想我一直認為你們的價格總是比你們的大多數產品低 20% 到 25%。

So maybe you can help us to rethink how you're defining bargains versus what previously was happening.

因此，也許您可以幫助我們重新思考您如何定義討價還價與之前發生的情況。

It's a good question, Joe. I think the best way to look at this is that a typical bargain is going to be priced significantly below most retailers.

這是個好問題，喬。我認為看待這個問題的最佳方式是，典型的討價還價的價格將大大低於大多數零售商。

And it depends really on the category where they're competing and what the customer sees as a bargain.

這實際上取決於他們競爭的類別以及客戶認為什麼是便宜的。

And in some cases, it can be 20%.

在某些情況下，可能是 20%。

In some cases, it could be 10% if you're in a if you're talking about food and consumables and tighter and tighter differentiations or comps and extreme bargain is going to be priced significantly below the price leaders everyday low price price leaders.

在某些情況下，如果您談論的是食品和消費品，並且差異化或競爭越來越激烈，並且極端討價還價的價格將大大低於價格領先者的日常低價價格領先者，則可能是10% 。

And once again, that can vary by category back into redos and priced at one of those price leaders, you get a 10% or 20% on that.

再說一次，這可能會因類別而異，重新進行重做並按價格領先者之一定價，您可以獲得 10% 或 20% 的折扣。

It's extreme bargain, whereas over in furniture, you the way we source direct or get it closed out from a factory overseas can be up to 50%.

這是非常便宜的，而在家具方面，我們直接購買或從海外工廠關閉的方式可以高達 50%。

So it's I understand the guidelines that you're using, but it's really comes through in the customer's eyes is what she sees as a bargain and extreme bargain.

因此，我理解您正在使用的指導方針，但在客戶眼中真正體現的是她所認為的討價還價和極端討價還價。

And obviously, we want to get as many IQstream bargains out there as possible.

顯然，我們希望獲得盡可能多的 IQstream 優惠。

But the bargain business is good business, too, because both of them are accretive and drive productivity and the rules we use to measure them to ensure that we can get the right value to the customer and make good profit off of it is key for us, but that's the best way to look at it in the past.

但討價還價業務也是好生意，因為它們都具有增值性並能提高生產力，而我們用來衡量它們的規則對我們來說至關重要，以確保我們能夠為客戶提供正確的價值並從中賺取豐厚的利潤。 ，但這是看待過去的最好方式。

If you recall in our prior to this leadership team that moved from close out, if you will, to everyday essentials and having a never out stock took a lot of the competition out of the Big Lots assortment.

如果你還記得，在我們之前，這個領導團隊從清倉（如果你願意的話）轉向日常必需品，並且永遠不會缺貨，從而在 Big Lot 品種中贏得了很多競爭。

And so we strive to get that back back in 2019, you know, the closeout or extreme bargain or bargain even was under 10% penetration of the box.

因此，我們努力在 2019 年恢復這一水平，你知道，清倉或極端討價還價或討價還價甚至低於 10% 的滲透率。

And now we're moving that in the right direction.

現在我們正朝著正確的方向前進。

So that's the best way I can explain it for you.

這是我能為你解釋的最好方式。

No, that's very helpful.

不，這非常有幫助。

Thank you guys very much and good luck with this first quarter.

非常感謝你們，祝第一季一切順利。

(Operator Instructions) Scott Stringer, Wolfe Research.

（操作員說明）Scott Stringer，Wolfe Research。

Hey, guys, thanks for the time.

嘿，夥計們，謝謝您的寶貴時間。

I was just had a quick question on if there's any gross margin difference between IQstream bar, Paragon product sales and the rest of the product sales.

我剛剛有人問我 IQstream 棒、Paragon 產品銷售和其他產品銷售之間是否有毛利率差異。

I know you've talked about they're more focused on the consumable side.

我知道你說過他們比較關註消耗品方面。

So maybe just higher mix there as a potential headwind to margins, but accretive to gross profit dollars?

那麼，也許只是更高的組合對利潤率構成潛在的阻力，但會增加毛利？

How should we just think about all that?

我們該如何思考這一切？

Thanks.

謝謝。

Yeah, hey, Scott, the overall, we expect Q3 volumes to be accretive on a gross margin rate basis.

是的，嘿，斯科特，總的來說，我們預計第三季的銷量將在毛利率的基礎上增加。

That's particularly the case in food and consumables for January across categories.

一月份各類別的食品和消費品尤其如此。

We expect that to be the case, we have plans, obviously by category for the year, which peak in sales margin and inventory turn assumptions.

我們預計情況會如此，我們顯然按今年的類別制定了計劃，其中銷售利潤率和庫存週轉假設達到高峰。

And then we have a bar that when we're bringing close as we want to be improving those metrics, particularly around GM role, which is a key metric which we're using to evaluate close-outs as they become a bigger part of the part of the mix.

然後我們有一個標準，當我們接近目標時，我們希望改進這些指標，特別是圍繞總經理角色，這是一個關鍵指標，我們用它來評估結清，因為它們成為了更重要的組成部分。混合的一部分。

That's super helpful.

這非常有幫助。

That's all I have now.

這就是我現在所擁有的一切。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

That does conclude today's teleconference and webcast.

今天的電話會議和網路廣播到此結束。

A replay of this call will become available.

將可重播此通話。

You can access the replay until March 21 by dialing toll-free 877-660-6853 and enter replay confirmation 13744496, followed by the pound sign.

您可以在 3 月 21 日前撥打免費電話 877-660-6853 並輸入重播確認碼 13744496，然後輸入井號來觀看重播。

The total number is 201-612-7415.

總數為 201-612-7415。

Replay confirmation number is 13744496, followed by the pound sign.

重播確認號碼為 13744496，後面接著井號。

You may now disconnect and have a great day.

您現在可以斷開連接並度過愉快的一天。

We thank you for your participation.

我們感謝您的參與。