Burlington Stores Inc (BURL) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Krista, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Burlington Stores Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. (Operator Instructions) Thank you.

早安.我叫克里斯塔，今天我將擔任您的會議主持人。現在，我歡迎大家參加伯靈頓商店 2023 年第四季財報電話會議和網路廣播。 （操作員指示）謝謝。

I would now like to turn the conference over to David Glick, Group Senior Vice President. David, you may begin your conference.

現在，我想將會議交給集團資深副總裁 David Glick。大衛，你可以開始你的會議了。

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate everyone's participation in today's conference call to discuss Burlington's fiscal 2023 fourth quarter operating results. Unless otherwise indicated, our discussion of results for the 2023 fourth quarter and full year were on a 13- or 52-week adjusted basis and exclude the impact of certain expenses associated with the acquisition of Bed Bath & Beyond leases. Our presenters today are Michael O'Sullivan, our Chief Executive Officer; and Kristin Wolfe, our EVP and Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝接線員，大家早安。我們感謝大家參加今天的電話會議，討論伯靈頓 2023 財年第四季的營運表現。除非另有說明，我們對 2023 年第四季和全年業績的討論均以 13 週或 52 週的調整為基礎，並且不包括收購 Bed Bath & Beyond 租約相關的某些費用的影響。今天的演講者是我們的執行長 Michael O’Sullivan；以及我們的執行副總裁兼財務長 Kristin Wolfe。

Before I turn the call over to Michael, I would like to inform listeners that this call may not be transcribed, recorded or broadcast without our expressed permission. A replay of the call will be available until March 14, 2024. We take no responsibility for inaccuracies that may appear in transcripts of this call by third parties. Our remarks and the Q&A that follows are copyrighted today by Burlington Stores.

在我將通話轉交給麥可之前，我想告知聽眾，未經我們明確許可，不得轉錄、錄製或廣播此通話。此通話的重播將保留至 2024 年 3 月 14 日。對於第三方記錄中可能出現的不準確之處，我們不承擔任何責任。我們的評論和以下問答的版權歸伯靈頓商店所有。

Remarks made on this call concerning future expectations, events, strategies, objectives, trends or projected financial results are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those that are projected in such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include those that are described in the company's 10-K for fiscal 2022 and in other filings with the SEC, all of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference. Please note that the financial results and expectations we discuss today are on a continuing operations basis. Reconciliations of the non-GAAP measures we discuss today through GAAP measures are included in today's press release.

本次電話會議中有關未來預期、事件、策略、目標、趨勢或預期財務結果的評論受到一定風險和不確定性的影響。實際結果可能與此類前瞻性陳述的預測有重大差異。這些風險和不確定性包括公司 2022 財年 10-K 報告和向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他文件中所述的風險和不確定性，所有這些文件均透過引用明確納入本文。請注意，我們今天討論的財務結果和預期是基於持續經營的基礎。我們今天討論的非 GAAP 指標透過 GAAP 指標進行的調整已包含在今天的新聞稿中。

Now here's Michael.

現在請聽麥可。

Thank you, David. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining. I would like to cover 4 topics this morning. Firstly, I will discuss our fourth quarter results. Secondly, I will comment on our full year 2023 results. Thirdly, I will talk about our guidance for the year ahead. And finally, I will offer some longer-term commentary. Then Kristin will provide some additional financial details.

謝謝你，大衛。大家早安，感謝大家的加入。今天早上我想講四個話題。首先，我將討論我們第四季的業績。其次，我將對我們的 2023 年全年業績進行評論。第三，我將談談我們對未來一年的指導。最後，我將提供一些長期評論。然後克里斯汀會提供一些額外的財務細節。

Okay. Let's talk about our Q4 results. Comp store sales for the fourth quarter increased 2% on a 13-week basis. This was above our guidance of minus 2% to flat. I would like to peel back the onion a little and describe some important aspects of this fourth quarter comp performance. Firstly, we continue to see strong selling at our opening price points. The lower income customer, the need a deal shopper is responding well to these values. This is a very important customer for us. A year ago, this shopper was really struggling with a higher cost of living and with the loss of pandemic-era benefits. This customer is still fragile. The cost of living is not declining, it is just going up less quickly. That said, this represents an improvement versus last year, and it may have helped to underpin our comp in Q4.

好的。讓我們來談談我們的第四季業績。第四季同店銷售額以 13 週計算成長了 2%。這高於我們預期的下降 2% 至持平。我想稍微剖析一下，並描述一下第四季業績表現的一些重要面向。首先，我們繼續看到開盤價位的強勁拋售。低收入顧客需要優惠購物者對這些價值觀做出良好的反應。對我們來說，這是一個非常重要的客戶。一年前，這位購物者正面臨著日益上漲的生活成本和疫情期間福利喪失的困境。這位顧客仍然很脆弱。生活成本並沒有下降，只是上漲速度變慢了。儘管如此，這比去年有所改善，並可能有助於支撐我們第四季度的業績。

Secondly, what really drove our incremental growth in Q4 was the success of our strategies and businesses targeting trade down or slightly higher income shoppers. These customers responded well to the higher mix of recognizable brands in our apparel and accessories businesses. These shoppers also grow very strong selling across our key holiday categories in gifting, accessories and home decor.

其次，真正推動我們在第四季度實現增量成長的是我們針對低收入或略高收入購物者的策略和業務的成功。這些客戶對於我們服裝和配件業務中知名品牌的更高組合反應良好。這些購物者在我們主要的節日禮品、配件和家居裝飾類別的銷售也增長強勁。

Frankly though, looking at the results of our peers, I am disappointed that we didn't drive stronger comp growth with these shoppers. There is clearly a bigger opportunity. The implication is that we have to offer stronger and even more compelling values on the brands and styles that these trade-down shoppers are looking for.

不過坦白說，看看我們同業的業績，我感到失望的是，我們未能透過這些購物者實現更強勁的業績成長。顯然存在著更大的機會。這意味著我們必須針對這些低端消費者所尋求的品牌和風格提供更強大、更引人注目的價值。

The final point I would like to make about our Q4 results is that we saw strong selling on regular price merchandise. In Q4, the merchandise in our stores turned faster. And we ended up with less clearance inventory. Our comp selling on clearance merchandise was down double digits. If I strip this out from our overall Q4 comp growth, in other words, if we just look at comp sales growth on regular price merchandise, it was up 4%. This is very healthy. Later on, Kristin will talk about the impact that this strong regular price selling had on our merchandise margin.

關於我們第四季業績，我最後想說的一點是，我們看到正常價格商品的銷售強勁。第四季度，我們門市的商品週轉速度更快。我們的清倉庫存最終減少了。我們的清倉商品銷售量下降了兩位數。換句話說，如果我從我們第四季的整體同店銷售成長中剔除這一因素，如果我們只看正常價格商品的同店銷售成長，那麼它成長了 4%。這非常健康。稍後，克里斯汀將談論這種強勁的正常價格銷售對我們的商品利潤的影響。

Wrapping up my comments on our Q4 comp performance, we are happy that we beat guidance, but more importantly, we see some clear opportunities to drive even stronger performance. I would like to move off from Q4 now. In fact, I would like to step back and provide a report card, if you will, for our full year 2023 performance. In 2023, our total sales grew by 10%. We believe that total sales is the best proxy indicator on what is happening with market share. This total sales growth was driven by a 4% comp growth plus 80 net new store openings. As I look back on these numbers, candidly, we would have liked to have done more.

總結我們對第四季度業績的評論，我們很高興我們的業績超出了預期，但更重要的是，我們看到了一些推動更強勁業績的明確機會。我現在想離開 Q4。事實上，如果可以的話，我想退一步並提供一份我們 2023 年全年業績的成績單。 2023年，我們的總銷售額成長了10%。我們認為，總銷售額是反映市佔率變化的最佳代理指標。總銷售額的成長是由 4% 的同店銷售額成長和 80 家新店淨開業推動的。當我回顧這些數字時，坦白說，我們本來希望做得更多。

Let's start with new stores. In 2023, we opened 80 net new stores. But our goal over the last couple of years has been to ramp up to 100 net new stores a year. We have rigorous standards for the quality of new store locations. And over the last couple of years, this has made it difficult to hit this 100-store run rate. That said, 2023 was a breakthrough year for our new store program. In the Bed Bath & Beyond bankruptcy process, we acquired a large number of very attractive new store locations. And we identified and are negotiating on many others with the landlords. These deals have significantly strengthened our new store pipeline. And as we will discuss later, we are confident that we will hit our goal of 100 net new stores in 2024.

讓我們從新店開始。 2023年，我們淨開設新店80家。但我們過去幾年的目標是每年新增 100 家門市。我們對新店選址的品質有嚴格的標準。過去幾年裡，這讓實現 100 家店的開店率變得十分困難。也就是說，2023 年是我們新店計畫突破的一年。在Bed Bath&Beyond破產過程中，我們收購了大量極具吸引力的新店位置。我們也確定了許多其他方案並正在與房東進行談判。這些交易大大增強了我們的新店通路。正如我們稍後將討論的那樣，我們有信心在 2024 年實現新增 100 家門市的目標。

Okay. Let me turn now to comp sales growth. For the full year 2023, we achieved comp growth of 4%. This was right in the middle of our original guidance range of 3% to 5%. Most frankly, coming into 2023, we had hoped for better. There were external and internal factors that slowed us down in the first half of the year. Externally, our core low-income shopper continue to struggle with lower government benefits and with the rising cost of living.

好的。現在我來談談同店銷售額成長情形。 2023 年全年，我們實現了 4% 的年成長。這正好處於我們最初 3% 至 5% 的指導範圍的中間。坦白說，進入 2023 年，我們原本希望情況會更好。上半年，外部和內部因素導致我們的發展放緩。從外部來看，我們的核心低收入購物者繼續苦苦掙扎於政府福利的減少和生活成本的上升。

We did see some growth in trade-down traffic from (inaudible) higher income customers. But in Q1 and Q2, this was not enough to offset weakness with our core low-income shoppers. Internally, we have planned for a stronger trend at the start of the year. This hurt us because when the trend turned out to be weaker, we struggle to reposition ourselves. In retrospect, it would have been better to have had a lower sales plan and more liquidity. The Q1 trend would still have been soft, but we could have better positioned ourselves for Q2. In any event, by the second half, we were able to get ourselves in shape and to build momentum, beating our sales plans for the fall season.

我們確實看到來自（聽不清楚）高收入客戶的降價流量有所增長。但在第一季和第二季度，這還不足以抵消我們核心低收入購物者的疲軟。在內部，我們計劃在年初實現更強勁的趨勢。這對我們造成了傷害，因為當趨勢變得更弱時，我們很難重新定位自己。回想起來，如果銷售計劃更低且流動性更強的話，效果會更好。第一季的趨勢仍然疲軟，但我們可以為第二季做好更好的準備。無論如何，到了下半年，我們已經能夠調整狀態並累積動力，超額完成了秋季的銷售計劃。

Okay. The final section of the 2023 report card is earnings. We were able to drive 130 basis points of operating margin expansion in 2023. This was ahead of our original guidance of 80 to 120 basis points. This helped to drive EPS growth of 46%, well ahead of guidance. In a few moments, Kristin will dissect these results, but the headline is, this was a high-quality earnings beat driven by stronger merchandise margin and faster-than-expected progress on our major expense initiatives in freight and supply chain.

好的。 2023 年成績單的最後一部分是收入。我們能夠在 2023 年實現 130 個基點的營業利潤率成長。這高於我們最初預期的 80 至 120 個基點。這有助於推動每股收益成長 46%，遠超預期。稍後，克里斯汀將分析這些結果，但標題是，這是一次高品質的獲利成長，得益於更高的商品利潤率以及我們在貨運和供應鏈方面的主要費用計劃取得比預期更快的進展。

So wrapping up on the 2023 report card, yes, we would have liked to have done more. But overall, we are happy with our double-digit total sales growth, 80 net new stores, 4% comp sales growth and 130 basis points of operating margin expansion. These results give us confidence in the long-range financial targets that we shared on our November call.

因此，總結 2023 年的成績單，是的，我們本來希望做得更多。但總體而言，我們對這兩位數的總銷售額成長、80 家淨新店、4% 的同店銷售額成長和 130 個基點的營業利潤率成長感到滿意。這些結果使我們對 11 月電話會議上分享的長期財務目標充滿信心。

Now let's move on to 2024 and talk about our guidance. Of course, we previewed this guidance in November. Back then, we described our forecast as being based on 2% comp growth and 50 basis points of margin expansion. Since then, we have built flexibility into the lower end of the range to give ourselves more room to chase. But to be clear, nothing has fundamentally changed in terms of our thinking on the 2024 outlook.

現在讓我們進入 2024 年並討論我們的指導。當然，我們在 11 月預覽了這項指南。當時，我們將我們的預測描述為基於 2% 的同比增長和 50 個基點的利潤率擴張。自那時起，我們在低端市場中建立了靈活性，以便給自己更多的追逐空間。但要先明確的是，我們對 2024 年前景的看法並沒有根本性的改變。

I would like to discuss each driver of this guidance, new stores, comp stores and operating margin expansion. In 2024, we expect to open approximately 140 gross new stores. Stripping out relocations and closures, this should result in 100 net new stores. We anticipate approximately 1/3 of these will open in the spring and 2/3 in the fall. As discussed previously, new stores average about $7 million in volume in their first full year. These new store openings, together with our comp sales growth should drive a total sales increase in the range of 9% to 11% this year.

我想討論該指引的每個驅動因素、新店、可比店和營業利潤率擴張。 2024年，我們預計將開設約140家新店。除去搬遷和關閉門市，將淨增 100 家新店。我們預計其中約 1/3 將在春季開放，2/3 將在秋季開放。如前所述，新店開業第一年的平均營業額約為 700 萬美元。這些新店開業，加上我們的同店銷售額成長，將推動今年的總銷售額成長 9% 至 11%。

Moving on to comp sales. For the full year and for Q1, we are guiding to 0% to 2% comp growth. As discussed in November, there is plenty of uncertainty in the outlook for 2024, so it makes sense to be cautious. As an off-price retailer, this allows us to manage our business and position ourselves to chase a stronger trend. As I described a moment ago, one of the lessons from the spring of 2023 is that we came into the year with too strong of a plan. When the trend turned out to be weaker in some of our businesses, we were not liquid enough to react. It would have been better if we had a lower plan and then chased.

繼續進行同類銷售。對於全年和第一季度，我們預計將年增 0% 至 2%。正如 11 月所討論的那樣，2024 年的前景存在著許多不確定性，因此謹慎是有意義的。作為一家折扣零售商，這使我們能夠管理我們的業務並定位自己以追逐更強勁的趨勢。正如我剛才所描述的，2023 年春季的一個教訓是，我們進入這一年時制定的計劃太過嚴格。當我們的某些業務趨勢變得更弱時，我們沒有足夠的流動性來應對。如果我們有一個較低的計劃，然後再追逐，那就更好了。

Moving on to margins. with our comp range of flat to 2%, we expect to be able to drive operating margin expansion of 10 basis points to 50 basis points. There are 3 drivers of this margin expansion. Higher merchant margin, lower freight expenses and lower supply chain expenses. Kristin will talk more about these, but we feel good about the underlying plans we have in each of these areas. Kristin will also explain that we expect this margin expansion to be slightly higher in Q1, 20 basis points to 60 basis points on a flat to 2% comp.

轉向邊緣。隨著我們的比較範圍持平至 2%，我們預計能夠推動營業利潤率擴大 10 個基點至 50 個基點。利潤率擴大有三個驅動因素。商家利潤更高，運費費用更低，供應鏈費用更低。克里斯汀將會更多地談論這些，但我們對每個領域的基本計劃感到滿意。克里斯汀還將解釋道，我們預計第一季的利潤率增幅將略高，在持平至 2% 的範圍內，為 20 個基點至 60 個基點。

Let me wrap up now with a few comments on our longer-term outlook. In our November call, we discussed our expectations for the growth of our business over the next 5 years. We believe we can grow total sales to approximately $16 billion and operating income to about $1.6 billion over this period. We see 3 drivers of this growth. I will comment on each of these.

最後，請容許我針對我們的長期展望談幾點評論。在 11 月的電話會議上，我們討論了對未來五年業務成長的預期。我們相信，在此期間，我們可以將總銷售額增至約 160 億美元，將營業收入增至約 16 億美元。我們認為這一成長有三個驅動因素。我將對每一個進行評論。

New store openings and relocations, we expect to open about 100 net new stores a year, thus, 2 to 3 dozen relocations of older, oversized, less productive stores. As I described a moment ago, we are well positioned for 2024. Looking further out, we anticipate some lumpiness in the number of openings year-to-year. But overall, we feel good about our longer-term pipeline and the lightly availability of attractive new store locations over the next few years.

新店開設和搬遷，我們預計每年淨開設約100家新店，從而搬遷20到30家舊的、規模過大、生產率較低的商店。正如我剛才所描述的，我們已經為 2024 年做好了準備。展望未來，我們預計每年的開業數量將會有所波動。但總體而言，我們對我們的長期規劃和未來幾年內有吸引力的新店位置的可用性感到滿意。

Secondly, comp sales growth. There are good reasons to be cautious in how we plan and manage our business in the short term, especially the year ahead. But over the next 5 years, we believe we can achieve average comp growth in the mid-single digits. We think the external environment over the next few years is likely to be favorable for off-price. And we are excited about the initiatives we have been pursuing to improve our own execution of the model.

其次，同店銷售額成長。我們有充分的理由謹慎地規劃和管理短期（尤其是未來一年）的業務。但在未來5年內，我們相信我們可以實現中等個位數的平均複合成長率。我們認為未來幾年的外部環境可能有利於折扣銷售。我們對於我們為改進我們自己的模型執行而採取的舉措感到非常興奮。

Thirdly, margins. We believe we can grow our operating margin to 10% in the next 5 years from a combination of leverage on higher sales and cost savings opportunities that are unrelated to sales. We made good progress in 2023, and we are confident in our plans for 2024.

第三，利潤。我們相信，透過結合更高的銷售額和與銷售無關的成本節約機會，我們可以在未來 5 年內將我們的營業利潤率提高到 10%。我們在 2023 年取得了良好的進展，我們對 2024 年的計畫充滿信心。

At this point, I would like to ask Kristin to share additional financial details on Q4 and on our first quarter 2024 and full year guidance.

現在，我想請克里斯汀分享有關第四季度以及我們 2024 年第一季和全年指引的更多財務細節。

Thank you, Michael, and good morning, everyone. I will start with some additional details on the fourth quarter. Please note that the following discussion of fourth quarter financial results will be on a 13-week non-GAAP basis, unless otherwise indicated.

謝謝你，邁克爾，大家早安。我將首先介紹第四季度的一些額外細節。請注意，除非另有說明，以下對第四季度財務業績的討論將以 13 週非 GAAP 為基礎。

Total sales growth in the quarter was 9%. This is higher than our guidance of 5% to 7%, driven by higher comp store sales. Our comp sales growth in Q4 was 2% which was above our guidance of minus 2% to flat. In addition, the 53rd week added $138 million in total sales to this result, bringing our Q4 total sales increase on a 14-week basis to approximately 14%.

本季總銷售額成長 9%。這高於我們預期的 5% 至 7%，這得益於同店銷售額的提高。我們第四季的同店銷售額成長率為 2%，高於我們預期的-2% 至持平的水平。此外，第 53 週的總銷售額又增加了 1.38 億美元，使我們第四季的總銷售額在 14 週的基礎上成長了約 14%。

The gross margin rate for the fourth quarter was 42.6%, an increase of 190 basis points versus last year. This was driven by a 140-basis-point increase in merchandise margin, mostly driven by lower markdowns as well as a 50-basis-point decrease in freight expense. Product sourcing costs were 20 basis points lower than last year. This was driven by supply chain leverage of 40 basis points, as we've made progress on our distribution center productivity initiatives. This supply chain leverage was partially offset by higher incentive compensation.

第四季毛利率為42.6%，較去年同期增加190個基點。這是由於商品利潤率增加了 140 個基點，主要是因為降價幅度降低以及運費減少 50 個基點所致。產品採購成本比去年低20個基點。這是由 40 個基點的供應鏈槓桿率推動的，因為我們在配送中心生產力計劃方面取得了進展。這種供應鏈槓桿作用被更高的激勵薪酬部分抵消。

Adjusted SG&A costs in Q4 were 100 basis points higher than last year, which included 20 basis points of deleverage attributable to expenses related to the acquired Bed Bath & Beyond leasing. Excluding Bed Bath & Beyond leases, adjusted SG&A deleverage was 80 basis points, driven primarily by higher incentive comp accruals and investments in store payroll. Q4 adjusted EBIT margin was 11.1%, 110 basis points higher than last year compared with guidance of 0 to 40 basis points. Again, this excludes Bed Bath & Beyond cost worth 20 basis points.

第四季調整後的銷售、一般及行政費用比去年同期高出 100 個基點，其中包括與收購 Bed Bath & Beyond 租賃相關的費用導致的 20 個基點的去槓桿。不包括 Bed Bath & Beyond 租約，調整後的銷售、一般及行政開支去槓桿率為 80 個基點，主要由於更高的激勵性薪酬應計費用和對門店工資的投資。第四季調整後的息稅前利潤率為 11.1%，比去年高出 110 個基點，而預期為 0 至 40 個基點。再次，這不包括 Bed Bath & Beyond 價值 20 個基點的成本。

Our adjusted EPS in Q4 was $3.69. This was well above the high end of our range of $3.10 to $3.25. This result and the guidance range excludes approximately $6 million of pretax expenses associated with the Bed Bath & Beyond stores that were acquired last fall. On a 14-week basis, our adjusted EPS was $3.72, again, excluding $6 million of pretax expenses associated with the Bed Bath & Beyond stores.

我們第四季的調整後每股收益為 3.69 美元。這遠高於我們 3.10 美元至 3.25 美元範圍的最高限值。這項結果和指導範圍不包括去年秋季收購的 Bed Bath & Beyond 商店相關的約 600 萬美元的稅前支出。以 14 週計算，我們的調整後每股收益為 3.72 美元，同樣不包括與 Bed Bath & Beyond 商店相關的 600 萬美元稅前支出。

At the end of the quarter, our comparable store inventories were 5% below 2022. While our reserve inventory was 39% of our total inventory, versus 48% last year. We are very happy with the quality of the merchandise and the values that we have in reserve. We ended the quarter in a very strong liquidity position with approximately $1.6 billion in total liquidity, which consisted of $925 million in cash, and $709 million in availability in our ABL. We had no borrowings outstanding at the end of the quarter on our ABL.

截至本季末，我們的可比店鋪庫存比 2022 年低 5%。而我們的儲備庫存佔總庫存的 39%，而去年為 48%。我們對商品的品質和儲備的價值非常滿意。本季末，我們的流動性狀況非常強勁，總流動性約為 16 億美元，其中包括 9.25 億美元現金和 7.09 億美元的 ABL 可用資金。截至本季末，我們的資產負債表上沒有未償還的借款。

During the quarter, we repurchased $103 million in common stock, bringing our annual share repurchases to $232 million. At the end of the fourth quarter, we had $500 million remaining on our share repurchase authorization that expires in 2025.

本季度，我們回購了 1.03 億美元的普通股，使我們的年度股票回購金額達到 2.32 億美元。截至第四季末，我們的股票回購授權剩餘 5 億美元，將於 2025 年到期。

In Q4, we opened a net new stores, bringing our store count at the end of the quarter to 1,007 stores. This included 39 new store openings, for relocations and 5 closings. For the full year, we opened 104 new stores while relocating 13 stores and closing 11 stores, adding 80 net new stores to our fleet. I will now move on to discuss our full year 2023 results.

第四季度，我們淨開設了新店，使本季末的店數達到 1,007 家。其中包括開設 39 家新店、搬遷店鋪和關閉 5 家店。全年我們開設了 104 家新店，同時遷移 13 家店並關閉 11 家店，淨增 80 家新店。我現在將繼續討論我們的 2023 年全年業績。

Please note that the following discussion of fiscal '23 financial results will be on a 52-week non-GAAP basis unless otherwise indicated. In addition, the full year results I will share exclude the impact of approximately $18 million in expenses related to the acquired Bed Bath & Beyond leases. In fiscal 2023, total sales increased 10% and comp store sales increased 4%. Our operating margin for the full year expanded by 130 basis points. Merchandise margin increased by 110 basis points, while freight improved by 90 basis points, which more than offset 40 basis points of deleverage in SG&A and 20 basis points of deleverage in product sourcing costs.

請注意，除非另有說明，以下對 23 財年財務表現的討論將以 52 週非 GAAP 為基礎。此外，我將分享的全年業績不包括與收購 Bed Bath & Beyond 租約相關的約 1,800 萬美元費用的影響。 2023 財年，總銷售額成長 10%，同店銷售額成長 4%。我們全年營業利益率擴大了130個基點。商品利潤率增加了 110 個基點，而運費提高了 90 個基點，足以抵銷銷售、一般及行政費用 40 個基點的去槓桿和產品採購成本 20 個基點的去槓桿。

Let's now move to 2024 guidance. I will compare 2024 guidance to 2023 results on a 52-week basis. Also, this '24 guidance excludes an anticipated $9 million in expenses associated with the acquired Bed Bath & Beyond leases. $8 million of these expenses are expected in the first quarter and $1 million in the second quarter. For the 2024 fiscal year, we expect total sales growth in the range of 9% to 11%. We expect comp store sales to increase in the range of 0% to 2% for fiscal 2024, and our adjusted EBIT margin to increase 10- to 50-basis-point versus last year. We expect higher merchandise margin as well as freight and supply chain leverage to be the primary margin drivers in fiscal 2024. Keep in mind that we will be reporting comparable store sales in fiscal '24 on a shifted basis, lining up the comparable weeks in fiscal 2023.

現在讓我們轉向2024年指導。我將以 52 週為基礎，將 2024 年指引與 2023 年結果進行比較。此外，本 24 年指引不包括與收購 Bed Bath & Beyond 租約相關的預計 900 萬美元費用。預計第一季的這些支出為 800 萬美元，第二季的這些支出為 100 萬美元。對於 2024 財年，我們預期總銷售額成長率在 9% 至 11% 之間。我們預計 2024 財年的同店銷售額將成長 0% 至 2%，調整後的息稅前利潤率將比去年增加 10 至 50 個基點。我們預計更高的商品利潤率以及運費和供應鏈槓桿將成為 2024 財年的主要利潤驅動因素。請記住，我們將在轉移的基礎上報告 24 財年的可比店鋪銷售額，與 2023 財年的可比周保持一致。

Capital expenditures, net of landlord allowances, are expected to be approximately $750 million in fiscal 2024. This results in adjusted earnings per share guidance in the range of $7 to $7.60, an expected increase of 12% to 22%. For the first quarter of 2024, we expect total sales growth in the range of 9% to 11%. Comp store sales are assumed to increase between 0% and 2%. We are expecting adjusted EBIT margin to increase in the range of 20 to 60 basis points over the first quarter of 2023. We which result in an adjusted EPS outlook in the range of $0.95 to $1.10 in the first quarter. Again, we expect merchandise margin freight and supply chain leverage to be the primary drivers of this anticipated margin improvement.

扣除房東津貼後的資本支出預計在 2024 財年約為 7.5 億美元。這導致調整後的每股收益預期在 7 美元至 7.60 美元之間，預計將增長 12% 至 22%。對於 2024 年第一季度，我們預計總銷售額成長率在 9% 至 11% 之間。預計同店銷售額將成長 0% 至 2%。我們預計調整後的息稅前利潤率將在 2023 年第一季增加 20 至 60 個基點。這導致第一季調整後的每股收益預期在 0.95 美元至 1.10 美元之間。再次，我們預期商品利潤、運費和供應鏈槓桿將成為預期利潤率提高的主要驅動力。

I will now turn the call back to Michael.

我現在將電話轉回給邁克爾。

Thank you, Kristin. Let me summarize the key points that we have discussed. We are happy that we beat our comp guidance for the fourth quarter. But the more important takeaway from the quarter is that we have the opportunity to drive even stronger performance, especially by delivering stronger and more compelling value to trade-down shoppers. Stepping back and looking at 2023 as a whole, we would have liked to have done more. But overall, we are happy with our double-digit total sales growth, 80 net new stores, 4% comp growth and 130 basis points of margin expansion.

謝謝你，克里斯汀。讓我總結一下我們討論的要點。我們很高興第四季度的業績超出了我們的預期。但本季更重要的收穫是，我們有機會實現更強勁的業績，尤其是透過向降級消費群體提供更強大、更具吸引力的價值。回顧過去並展望整個 2023 年，我們原本希望能夠做得更多。但總體而言，我們對兩位數的總銷售額成長、80 家淨新店、4% 的同店成長和 130 個基點的利潤率擴大感到滿意。

As we look ahead to 2024, there is plenty of uncertainty and we see good reasons to be cautious. We are guiding to 9% to 11% total sales growth, driven by 100 net new stores and 0% to 2% comp growth. With this sales growth, we anticipate margin expansion of 10 basis points to 50 basis points.

展望 2024 年，仍有許多不確定性，我們有充分的理由保持謹慎。我們預計總銷售額將成長 9% 至 11%，這得益於 100 家新店和 0% 至 2% 的同店銷售額成長。隨著銷售額的成長，我們預期利潤率將擴大 10 個基點至 50 個基點。

Lastly, we are very excited about the long-term prospects for our business. As we discussed in November, we think that over the next 5 years, we can grow sales to $16 billion and drive our operating earnings to approximately $1.6 billion.

最後，我們對業務的長期前景感到非常興奮。正如我們 11 月所討論的那樣，我們認為在未來 5 年內，我們可以將銷售額成長到 160 億美元，並將我們的營業收入提高到約 16 億美元。

With that, I would now like to turn the call over to your questions.

說完這些，我現在想把電話轉交給你們回答問題。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Matthew Boss from JPMorgan.

（操作員指示）您的第一個問題來自摩根大通的 Matthew Boss。

Great. Congrats on a really nice quarter. So Michael, maybe, to start off, could you elaborate on the rationale behind your 2024 comp sales guidance. And just how we should think about this guidance in relation to your long-term target, which calls for mid-single-digit comps on average over the next 5 years.

偉大的。恭喜您度過了一個非常愉快的季度。那麼邁克爾，首先，您能否詳細說明一下 2024 年同店銷售預期背後的理由。我們應該如何結合您的長期目標來考慮這一指導意見，即在未來 5 年內實現平均中等個位數的表現。

Thank you for the question. It's a good question. Let me start by putting 2024 into context with the last 3 years. If I go back to 2021, our trend was extraordinarily strong, stronger than peers, fueled by the impact of pandemic-era benefits on our core lower-income shoppers. Then in 2022, we came back down to earth with a bump as those shoppers were crushed by lower benefits and by big increases in their cost of living. As those issues continue to bleed into the first half of 2023, so here we are, what to expect in 2024? And bit of wisp of this, but we think it's possible that 2024 could be the first full normal year since I joined Burlington in 2019. And that's kind of how we approached guidance for 2020.

感謝您的提問。這是個好問題。首先，讓我將 2024 年與過去 3 年進行比較。如果我回顧 2021 年，我們的趨勢異常強勁，比同業更強勁，這得益於疫情時代的福利對我們核心低收入購物者的影響。然後到了 2022 年，我們又回到了現實，因為這些購物者被較低的福利和生活成本的大幅上漲所壓垮。隨著這些問題持續蔓延至 2023 年上半年，那麼，2024 年又會出現什麼情況呢？雖然這只是猜測，但我們認為 2024 年可能是我 2019 年加入伯靈頓以來第一個完全正常的年份。這就是我們對 2020 年的指導方針。

In normal times, before the pandemic, we would likely have planned low single-digit comp and then being ready to chase. Of course, we don't know if the trend in 2024 will be stronger or weaker. There is plenty of economic uncertainty, interest rates, inflation, gas prices as well as political and geopolitical risks even. But by planning 0% to 2% comp, we're positioning ourselves to react, I think, to an appropriate range of outcomes. If the trend is weaker than 2%, we can pull back and absorb it. If it's stronger than 2%, then we know we can chase it. I should add, in Q4, as we've just reported, we grew 2% comp versus last year. So that gives us some confidence that our 2024 guidance is reasonable.

在正常情況下，即疫情爆發之前，我們可能會計劃低個位數的薪酬，然後準備追趕。當然，我們不知道 2024 年的趨勢是會更強還是更弱。存在大量經濟不確定性、利率、通貨膨脹、油價甚至政治和地緣政治風險。但透過規劃 0% 到 2% 的薪酬，我認為，我們能夠對適當的結果範圍做出反應。如果趨勢弱於2%，我們可以回調並吸收。如果它強於2％，那麼我們就知道我們可以追逐它。我應該補充一下，正如我們剛剛報告的那樣，在第四季度，我們的銷售額與去年相比增長了 2%。因此，這讓我們有信心，我們的 2024 年指引是合理的。

The key part of your question was about our longer-term outlook. So let me try and reconcile our 2024 guidance to our longer-range target of mid-single-digit comp growth. In the years leading up to the pandemic, although we might have planned low single-digit comp, the intent was always to chase above that and measured over multiple years, our comp indeed averaged 3% to 4%. So we think that as the aftereffects of the pandemic continue to recede. That's the right baseline for our longer-term model. We believe all the underlying consumer competitive and structural factors that drove that growth still exist.

你的問題的關鍵部分是關於我們長期的展望。因此，讓我嘗試將我們的 2024 年指引與我們的中個位數複合成長的長期目標相協調。在疫情爆發之前的幾年裡，儘管我們可能計劃將薪酬保持在個位數的低水平，但我們的目的一直是追逐這一水平之上，並且從多年的數據來看，我們的薪酬平均確實在 3% 到 4% 之間。因此我們認為，隨著疫情的後遺症不斷消退。這是我們長期模型的正確基準。我們相信，推動這一成長的所有潛在消費者競爭和結構因素仍然存在。

But in addition, we know that we've taken significant actions to improve our own execution of the off-price model. And as those actions gain traction, we expect to outperform that 3% to 4% baseline. So if I pull all this together, for the 12 months ahead for 2024, our plan is based on low single-digit comp growth with the potential to chase. For future years, I should add, we'll likely take a similar approach, and I expect in some years, we'll trace and beat that number and in other years, we won't. But we believe over an extended period, a 5-year period, we will be able to achieve average annual comp growth in the mid-single digits.

但除此之外，我們知道我們已經採取了重大措施來改善我們自己對折扣模式的執行。隨著這些行動獲得支持，我們預計其表現將超過 3% 至 4% 的基線。因此，如果我將所有這些綜合起來，那麼對於 2024 年未來的 12 個月，我們的計劃是基於低個位數的複合成長率，並具有追趕的潛力。我應該補充一點，對於未來的幾年，我們可能會採取類似的方法，並且我預計在某些年份，我們將追蹤並超過這個數字，而在其他年份，我們不會。但我們相信，在一段較長的時間內，例如五年內，我們將能夠實現中等個位數的年均複合成長率。

That's great color, Michael. Kristin, maybe to follow up on the 2024 margin guide. Could you just walk us through some of the puts and takes in this year's guidance? And maybe more specifically, could you walk through the drivers of leverage on a flat to 2% comp for this year?

真是漂亮的顏色，麥可。克里斯汀，也許要跟進 2024 年的保證金指南。您能否向我們介紹今年指導意見中的一些優缺點？也許更具體地說，您能否介紹一下今年槓桿率從持平到 2% 的驅動因素？

Sure, margin drivers for '24, consistent with what we shared on the November call, that's higher merchandise margin and savings in freight and in supply chain. And these 3 margin drivers are not dependent on sales, which is why we believe we can increase our EBIT margin on a flat to 2% comp by 10 to 50 basis points. So let me go through each of these quickly. I'll start with merchandise margin. We continue to make good progress here as evidenced by the 110-basis-point increase in merchandise margin in fiscal '23. We continue to believe we can turn faster and drive lower markdowns. And as in '24, we're entering with clearance levels down meaningfully versus last year. And our inventory levels and assortments are well transitioned, they're fresh and with great values.

當然，24年的利潤驅動因素與我們在11月電話會議上分享的內容一致，即更高的商品利潤率以及運費和供應鏈中的節省。而這 3 個利潤驅動因素並不依賴銷售額，這就是為什麼我們相信我們可以將息稅前利潤率在 2% 的基礎上提高 10 到 50 個基點。讓我快速地介紹一下這些。我先從商品利潤開始。我們在這裡持續取得良好進展，23財年商品利潤率增加110個基點就是明證。我們仍然相信，我們可以更快地轉型並降低降價幅度。與24年一樣，我們進入的清關水準與去年相比大幅下降。我們的庫存水準和品種轉變得很好，它們很新鮮而且價值很高。

Secondly, on freight, freight continues to be a tailwind for us, particularly in the first half of 2024. We're benefiting from lower contracted domestic rates and remain largely covered with our contracts on ocean freight rates. And finally, we're making good progress on supply chain expenses as evidenced by the 40 basis points of leverage we drove in the fourth quarter. I would say these are the 3 line items that are the primary drivers of leverage in 2024.

其次，在貨運方面，貨運繼續成為我們的順風，尤其是在 2024 年上半年。我們受益於較低的國內合約運費，並且在很大程度上仍受海運合約的覆蓋。最後，我們在供應鏈費用方面取得了良好進展，第四季度我們推動的槓桿率上升了 40 個基點就證明了這一點。我想說，這 3 個項目是 2024 年槓桿率的主要驅動因素。

There are 2 offsets that we're planning for in '24 that I want to mention. One is SG&A. We do expect some modest deleverage in SG&A due to continued investment in store payroll which we really didn't step up until the back half of '23. In addition, we'd expect some deleverage on a 0% to 2% comp in SG&A, given that range. And the second offset is in depreciation. We're planning for some modest deleverage in depreciation given the step-up in CapEx we're planning for this year.

我想提一下我們計劃在'24 年實現 2 個抵消。一是銷售、一般及行政費用。我們確實預期銷售、一般及行政開支將出現一定程度的去槓桿化，因為我們對門市薪資的持續投資直到23年下半年才真正加強。此外，考慮到這個範圍，我們預期銷售、一般及行政開支將在 0% 至 2% 之間出現一定程度的去槓桿。第二個抵銷因素是折舊。考慮到我們今年計劃增加資本支出，我們計劃適度減少折舊槓桿。

Your next question comes from the line of Ike Boruchow from Wells Fargo.

您的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Ike Boruchow。

Congrats on the quarter. Kristin, I guess, first for you. You guys ended up with really nice margins in the fourth quarter and in the full year. I guess, how much of the upside do you consider to be onetime in any way? In other words, how much of this upside would stick on the go-forward P&L? And then I have a follow-up for Michael.

恭喜本季取得佳績。我想，克莉絲汀，你首先是這樣。你們在第四季和全年都獲得了非常好的利潤率。我想，您認為一次性帶來的好處有多大？換句話說，其中有多少上漲空間會保留在未來的損益表中？然後我要跟進一下邁克爾的情況。

Ike, thanks for the question. It's a good question, and we didn't provide line-item guidance for the fourth quarter, so let me provide some color. The first thing I would say is there were not any what I would consider onetime benefit. In fact, we faced a margin headwind given the higher accrued incentive comp expense versus the fourth quarter of 2022. So when I look at our Q4 margin, I feel good about the quality of the upside. Starting with gross margin, that increased 190 basis points. Freight came in largely as we had expected at 50 basis points lower, but the 140-basis-point increase in merchandise margin was very healthy and better than we planned. As Michael highlighted in his prepared remarks, strong regular price selling did help drive lower markdowns and, in turn, a higher merchandise margin.

艾克，謝謝你的提問。這是個好問題，我們沒有提供第四季的具體指引，所以讓我提供一些細節。我首先要說的是，我認為不存在任何一次性的利益。事實上，由於與 2022 年第四季相比，應計激勵補償費用較高，我們面臨利潤率逆風。因此，當我看到我們第四季的利潤率時，我對上行品質感到滿意。從毛利率開始，增加了190個基點。運費基本上符合我們的預期，下降了 50 個基點，但商品利潤率增加了 140 個基點，增幅非常健康，優於我們的計劃。正如麥可在其準備好的發言中所強調的那樣，強勁的正常價格銷售確實有助於降低降價幅度，進而提高商品利潤率。

Within product sourcing costs, as I just mentioned, supply chain leveraged 40 basis points. That was ahead of our expectations and that was due to higher productivity and benefits we're starting to realize from our efficiency initiatives and supply chain. SG&A in the fourth quarter did delever by 80 basis points. Now that excludes the Bed Bath & Beyond expenses. But that was in line with what we had expected and was driven primarily by higher incentive comp as well as our store payroll investment during the quarter.

在產品採購成本方面，如我剛才所提到的，供應鏈槓桿率達到了 40 個基點。這超出了我們的預期，這是由於我們開始從效率措施和供應鏈中實現更高的生產力和效益。第四季的銷售、一般及行政開支確實去槓桿了 80 個基點。現在不包括 Bed Bath & Beyond 的費用。但這符合我們的預期，主要得益於本季更高的激勵補償以及我們商店的薪資投資。

So overall, for the fourth quarter, a 110-basis-point increase in EBIT margin, that was 70 basis points above the high end of our guidance. We felt like this was a strong outcome. It gives us confidence as we head into '24, continue to expand operating margin. And finally, the strength of Q4 did contribute to the 130-basis-point increase in EBIT margin for the full year fiscal 2023. And that enabled us to ultimately exceed the high end of that original EBIT margin guidance for a 120-basis-point increase in fiscal '23.

總體而言，第四季息稅前利潤率增加了 110 個基點，比我們預期的高點高出 70 個基點。我們覺得這是一個很好的結果。這給了我們信心，讓我們能夠邁入24年，並繼續擴大營業利潤率。最後，第四季的強勁表現確實推動了 2023 財年全年息稅前利潤率增加了 130 個基點。這最終使我們的息稅前利潤率超過了原始指引的高端，即在 23 財年增加了 120 個基點。

Got it. Super helpful. And then just a quick one for Michael. Just on real estate, you still sound very confident on 100 net new stores for '24. You mentioned some things like lumpiness and openings over the next couple of years. I could wonder if you could -- maybe just elaborate a little bit on that? And maybe just update us on the overall real estate environment and what your pipeline looks like.

知道了。超有幫助。接下來，我再簡單問一下麥可。僅就房地產而言，您對於 24 年新增 100 家門市仍然非常有信心。您提到了未來幾年的一些事情，例如不平衡和開放。我想知道您是否可以——也許只是稍微詳細說明一下？也許只是向我們介紹整體房地產環境以及您的管道狀況。

Sure. Well, Ike let me anchor my answer on the gross number of new store openings. We expect to open about 140 new stores on a gross basis this year. That includes relocating a couple of dozen of our older, oversized, less productive stores. As we've described previously, that program of relocations is pretty important. It's going to be important to us in the next few years as we reposition ourselves away from some of our less attractive legacy real estate. But anyway, if you take 140 gross new stores and remove those relocations and remove any closures, then we expect incremental number of new stores to net down to about 100 this year.

當然。好吧，艾克讓我根據新店開幕的總數來回答這個問題。我們預計今年將開設約 140 家新店。其中包括搬遷數十家較舊、規模過大、生產效率較低的商店。正如我們之前所描述的，搬遷計劃非常重要。在未來幾年裡，這對我們來說非常重要，因為我們要重新定位自己，擺脫一些不太吸引人的遺留房地產。但無論如何，如果總共新增 140 家店，除去那些搬遷和關閉的店，我們預計今年新增店數量將淨減少到 100 家左右。

So as I said in the prepared remarks, we have high standards and tight controls for the quality of the real estate where we open new stores. Each potential location is analyzed carefully based on the traffic, trade area demographics and co-tenants. And based upon those detailed characteristics, we feel pretty excited about the new stores that we're planning to open this year.

因此，正如我在準備好的發言中所說，我們對開設新店的房地產品質有高標準和嚴格控制。我們會根據交通狀況、貿易區人口統計和共同租戶狀況對每個潛在位置進行仔細的分析。基於這些詳細特徵，我們對今年計劃開設的新店感到非常興奮。

Now beyond this year, it's a little difficult to get specifics, but I'd offer up a couple of comments. We typically manage our new store pipeline 2 to 3 years out. So we still have plenty of work to do on our 2025 new store pipeline. But so far, I would say it's shaping up well. It includes a number of additional former Bed Bath & Beyond stores that we didn't pursue directly during the bankruptcy process. But instead have negotiated directly with the underlying landlords, and we're excited about those locations. Beyond 2025, the pipeline is going to depend on the availability of attractive real estate locations. Again, difficult to be specific. But given the weak outlook across bricks-and-mortar retail, there are reasons that, that availability could be fairly strong.

現在，已經過了今年，要獲得具體情況有點困難，但我還是想提出幾點評論。我們一般會提前2到3年管理新店的開店通路。因此，我們在 2025 年新店規劃方面還有很多工作要做。但到目前為止，我認為一切進展順利。其中包括一些我們在破產過程中沒有直接收購的前 Bed Bath & Beyond 商店。但我們直接與底層房東進行談判，我們對這些地點感到很興奮。 2025 年以後，管道將取決於是否有吸引人的房地產位置。再次，很難具體說明。但考慮到實體零售業的前景疲軟，有理由認為，這種供應可能相當強勁。

Your next question comes from the line of Lorraine Hutchinson from Bank of America.

您的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Lorraine Hutchinson。

Michael, can you give us more color on what you see as the opportunity with the trade down or that slightly higher income customer. I'm interested in how you're thinking about that opportunity and the actions you're taking to address it.

邁克爾，您能否進一步向我們介紹一下您認為的降價銷售或高收入客戶帶來的機會。我感興趣的是您如何看待這個機會，以及您為抓住這個機會所採取的行動。

Sure. Lorraine, thank you for the question. I would say that historically, in off-price, and certainly for us, the lower income shopper has been, a, or even the major driver of growth. But since early 2022 that has not been the case. In fact, I would say that for the last few years, it's been clear that right now, the growth in off-price is being driven by higher income shoppers. That's not a new revelation. We talked about that last year. In 2023, especially in the fall, we pursued a number of strategies to go after those shoppers are focused on, in particular, focused on delivering a higher mix of recognizable brands and on elevating our assortments in specific businesses those strategies worked. They worked really well.

當然。洛林，謝謝你的提問。我想說，從歷史上看，在折扣商品方面，當然對我們來說，低收入購物者一直是成長的一個甚至主要推動力。但自 2022 年初以來，情況並非如此。事實上，我想說，過去幾年來，折扣商品的成長顯然是由高收入購物者推動的。這並不是什麼新鮮事。我們去年討論過這個問題。 2023 年，尤其是秋季，我們實施了一系列策略來吸引那些關注的購物者，特別是專注於提供更高知名度的品牌組合，並提升我們在特定業務中的產品組合，這些策略是有效的。他們工作得非常好。

But looking back, we could see that we could, should maybe have been even more aggressive. Many of the areas that I'm talking about require that you make buying commitments well ahead of time. In other words, it's more difficult to chase in some of those businesses. And that means that you have to commit further out. And what that means you have to be prepared to take more risk. So although I'm happy with the success of the strategies we pursued, in retrospect, I think we should have leaned in more, we should have taken a little more risk. And we might have ended up actually with a slightly lower margin, but we could have driven more sales. So as we look at 2024, we see that as an opportunity. Again, the lead times are a little longer than any of those brands and those businesses. So I would say the opportunity is likely to be stronger in the second half versus the first.

但回顧過去，我們可以看到，我們可以、也許應該更積極主動。我談到的許多領域都要求您提前做出購買承諾。換句話說，追逐某些業務變得更加困難。這意味著你必須做出進一步的承諾。這意味著你必須做好承擔更多風險的準備。因此，儘管我對我們所推行的策略的成功感到高興，但回想起來，我認為我們應該更加努力，應該承擔更多的風險。我們最終的利潤率可能實際上會略低一些，但我們可以實現更多的銷售。因此，當我們展望 2024 年時，我們認為這是一個機會。再次，交貨時間比任何品牌和企業都要長一點。因此我想說，下半年的機會可能比上半年更大。

I guess the last thing I would say is that we have always had a lower mix of higher income shoppers than some of our peers. We know this. It's partly a reflection of where our stores are located. I think we've shared before that about 70% of our stores are in trade areas where the mean household income is less than $80,000. That footprint is not going to change in the short term. But what 2023 demonstrated is that we have enough higher income shoppers coming into our stores. So we can drive incremental sales if we offer great value on the recognizable brands, styles and items that they are looking for. So we're going to go after that business much more aggressively in 2024.

我想說的最後一件事是，與我們的一些同行相比，我們的高收入購物者的比例一直較低。我們知道這一點。這在一定程度上反映了我們的商店所在的位置。我記得我們之前曾分享過，大約 70% 的商店位於平均家庭收入低於 80,000 美元的貿易區。這種足跡在短期內不會改變。但 2023 年表明，我們有足夠的高收入購物者進入我們的商店。因此，如果我們為他們所尋求的知名品牌、風格和商品提供巨大的價值，我們就能推動增量銷售。因此，我們將在 2024 年更積極地開展該業務。

And then, Kristin, in November, you had mentioned that you expect CapEx to be elevated over the next few years. Can you walk us through the uses on capital spend in '24?

然後，克里斯汀，11 月，您曾提到，預計未來幾年資本支出將會增加。可以向我們介紹一下24年的資本支出用途嗎？

Sure, Lorraine. Thanks for the question. Our CapEx plan for '24 is $750 million, which is about 7% of sales, and most of that investment is in our stores and supply chain as we're stepping up investments to support accelerated new store growth, as well as the expansion of our distribution center network to support our larger store base. Let me provide a little bit more color on these two main drivers.

當然，洛林。謝謝你的提問。我們24年的資本支出計劃為7.5億美元，約佔銷售額的7%，其中大部分投資用於我們的商店和供應鏈，因為我們正在加大投資以支持加速新店增長，以及擴大我們的配送中心網絡以支持我們更大的商店基礎。讓我更詳細地介紹這兩個主要驅動因素。

So starting with stores, as Michael mentioned, we're planning to open 100 net new stores, close or relocate about 40 stores, so that's approximately 140 gross new stores. This is well above the level we've opened the last few years and actually the highest number of stores we've opened in our history in a year. Our store CapEx represents about 45% of the CapEx spend in 2024.

因此從商店開始，正如邁克爾所提到的，我們計劃開設 100 家新店，關閉或搬遷約 40 家商店，因此總共約有 140 家新店。這遠高於我們過去幾年開設的門市數量，實際上也是我們歷史上一年內開店數量最多的一年。我們商店的資本支出約佔 2024 年資本支出的 45%。

Secondly, on supply chain, supply chain CapEx is about 30% of our CapEx spend. The big driver of our CapEx spend and supply chain is the material handling equipment that will go into our state-of-the-art 2 million square foot DC opening in the Southeast in 2026. That's about twice the size of our next largest DC and will be designed and built for our off-price business to be highly automated and more productive than our -- than any DC in our current network. These incremental investments in new stores and supply chain capacity are really what's driving the step-up in CapEx this year and in the next few years.

其次，在供應鏈方面，供應鏈資本支出約占我們資本支出的 30%。我們資本支出和供應鏈的最大驅動力是物料搬運設備，這些設備將於 2026 年投入使用，用於我們在東南部開設的最先進的 200 萬平方英尺的配送中心。這大約是我們下一個最大配送中心的兩倍大，並將為我們的折扣業務進行設計和建造，使其高度自動化，比我們目前網路中的任何配送中心都更有效率。這些對新店和供應鏈能力的增量投資才是推動今年和未來幾年資本支出成長的真正動力。

(Operator Instructions) Your first (sic) [next] question comes from the line of John Kernan from TD Cowen.

（操作員指示）您的第一個（原文如此）[下一個]問題來自 TD Cowen 的 John Kernan。

Kristin, it's encouraging freight and supply chain are now sources of margin improvement. They've been a source of pressure in the past few years. Are you making faster progress here than you expected on those two line items. How do we think about the potential improvement on freight and supply chain in your 2024 guidance? And just what's the long-term magnitude of the margin on (inaudible)?

克莉絲汀，令人鼓舞的貨運和供應鏈現在是利潤率提高的來源。過去幾年裡，他們一直是壓力的來源。在這兩項上，你們所取得的進展是否比預期的還要快？我們如何看待您 2024 年指引中貨運和供應鏈的潛在改善？那麼（聽不清楚）的長期利潤率到底是多少？

Great. John, thanks for the question. I'll take you to these separately, starting with freight. In fiscal 2023, freight leveraged 90 basis points. These savings were driven by lower freight rates but also specific transportation initiatives we have to optimize our outbound and inbound processes. We still expect freight to be a contributor to our margin expansion in fiscal '24 and as we anniversary lower freight rates in the first part of the year, and we continue to drive efficiencies across transportation.

偉大的。約翰，謝謝你的提問。我將分別帶您了解這些情況，從貨運開始。 2023財年，貨運槓桿率為90個基點。這些節省不僅得益於較低的運費，也得益於我們為優化出站和入站流程而採取的特定運輸措施。我們仍然預計貨運將成為我們24財年利潤率擴大的一個貢獻因素，並且隨著我們在今年上半年降低貨運費率，我們將繼續提高整個運輸過程的效率。

There has been some limited pressure on ocean freight on certain routes. But we do not see significant risk to our ocean freight, and that's embedded in our merchandise margin. Domestic freight represents a significant majority of our freight expense, and we continue to see some opportunity to bring that expense lower as we planned.

某些航線的海運壓力仍然有限。但我們並未發現我們的海運有重大風險，而且這已包含在我們的商品利潤中。國內運費占我們運費費用的絕大部分，我們繼續看到一些機會可以按照計劃降低該費用。

On supply chain, in the fourth quarter, I think, I mentioned supply chain cost leveraged 40 basis points compared to last year. And the efficiency initiatives that drove that, that we previously discussed to reduce labor hours and processing reserve to more efficiently manage the flow of goods and minimize number of touches across distribution center. That's really what's driving this deleverage recapture.

關於供應鏈，我想在第四季提到，與去年相比，供應鏈成本上升了 40 個基點。我們之前討論過的推動這一目標的效率舉措是為了減少工時和加工儲備，以更有效地管理貨物流動，並最大限度地減少配送中心的接觸次數。這才是推動去槓桿的真正原因。

In 2024, we are assuming continued modest improvement on supply chain costs as a percentage of sales, driven by those initiatives I just mentioned, but also other specific productivity initiatives we're working on. We are planning supply chain leverage as a contributor to the 50 basis points of operating margin expansion at the high end of our margin guidance for 2024.

到 2024 年，我們預計供應鏈成本佔銷售額的百分比將繼續適度改善，這不僅得益於我剛才提到的舉措，也得益於我們正在進行的其他特定生產力舉措。我們計劃利用供應鏈槓桿，將 2024 年利潤率指導上限的營業利潤率提高 50 個基點。

So those are the shorter-term objectives, longer term while we haven't specifically built this into the 5-year model we've laid out, we are building out much larger, more automated, more productive new distribution centers to accommodate our growth. Over time, we'll move an increasing percentage of our merchandise through these more efficient DCs that are designed for off-price. And in the long term, this could drive even more leverage on supply chain expense.

這些是短期目標，從長期來看，雖然我們還沒有將其具體納入我們制定的 5 年模型中，但我們正在建立更大、更自動化、更有效率的新配送中心，以適應我們的成長。隨著時間的推移，我們將透過這些專為折扣銷售而設計的更有效率的配送中心來運輸越來越多的商品。從長遠來看，這可能會進一步提高供應鏈費用的槓桿作用。

Got it. And then maybe a follow-up for David. You increased the share buyback this quarter, $100 million since the business generated nearly $400 million in free cash flow in fiscal '23. How should we model the buyback on a quarterly basis and annual business going forward?

知道了。然後也許是對大衛的後續報道。由於該業務在 23 財年產生了近 4 億美元的自由現金流，因此本季您增加了 1 億美元的股票回購額。未來我們該如何建立季度回購和年度回購業務的模式？

Thanks for the question, John. Yes, we did, in fact, increase our buybacks to a little over $100 million last quarter, which was nearly double the previous quarter. So we were more opportunistic this past quarter as we will from time to time depending on valuation and liquidity. And we don't guide to buybacks. But I think you can see, looking at our balance sheet at the end of the quarter, we had over $900 million in cash and over $1.6 billion in liquidity. So a really very strong liquidity position. As we've said many times before, our first priority is to invest in our growth. And Kristin, just a few questions ago, walked through our larger CapEx investment in 2024.

謝謝你的提問，約翰。是的，事實上，上個季度我們的回購額確實增加到略高於 1 億美元，幾乎是上一季的兩倍。因此，我們在過去的一個季度中更加重視機會，因為我們會不時地根據估值和流動性做出選擇。我們不指導回購。但我想您可以看到，查看本季末的資產負債表，我們擁有超過 9 億美元的現金和超過 16 億美元的流動資金。因此，流動性狀況確實非常強勁。正如我們之前多次說過的，我們的首要任務是投資我們的成長。就在幾個問題之前，克里斯汀介紹了我們 2024 年更大規模的資本支出投資。

Nevertheless, despite that step up, we still expect to generate sufficient cash flow and free cash flow to return excess cash through shareholders. We're going to continue to be active, but we're not going to guide to a level. I guess what I would say is, if you look at the buyback level in fiscal 2023 for the year as a whole, that's probably a reasonable proxy for what you might expect, again, depending on market conditions. I would also remind you that we had $500 million remaining at the end of Q4 on our buyback authorizations that run through August 2025. So we'll update you in May on our Q1 buyback opportunities.

儘管如此，儘管有所增加，我們仍然預計會產生足夠的現金流和自由現金流，以透過股東返還多餘的現金。我們將繼續保持正面態度，但不會引導到某個層次。我想說的是，如果你看一下 2023 財年全年的回購水平，這可能是你所預期的合理代表，但同樣，這取決於市場狀況。我還要提醒您，截至第四季末，我們的回購授權餘額為 5 億美元，有效期至 2025 年 8 月。因此，我們將在 5 月向您通報我們第一季的回購機會。

Your next question comes from the line of Brooke Roach from Goldman Sachs.

您的下一個問題來自高盛的布魯克羅奇。

Michael, as you evaluate the better-than-expected comp result in 4Q, can you share a bit more color on the impact that you may have seen in the fourth quarter from weather or other factors?

邁克爾，當您評估第四季度好於預期的業績時，您能否詳細介紹天氣或其他因素在第四季度可能造成的影響？

Sure. Brooke, I'm going to answer your question, but I want to preface my answer by saying, we're students of our business, so we always analyze weather, we always analyze everything, but we always analyze weather to help us explain the context for our trends. But internally, and I want to underscore this internally, we're very careful to focus on what we control. We don't want our merchants or operators to use weather as an excuse. But with that said, there were, I guess, two main weather call-outs in Q4. I think the one that's been most widely reported elsewhere is January, the weather in January was certainly disruptive with winter storms in many of our major markets. As we came into the month, we were running a stronger trend, but that disruptive weather dragged down our comp for the quarter. But look, it's -- our view is it's January, winter storms happen. And I assume that those storms also hurt other retailers in our markets.

當然。布魯克，我來回答你的問題，但我想先說一下，我們是我們這個行業的學生，所以我們總是分析天氣，我們總是分析一切，但我們總是分析天氣來幫助我們解釋趨勢的背景。但在內部，我想在內部強調這一點，我們非常小心地專注於我們所能控制的事情。我們不希望我們的商家或經營者以天氣為藉口。但話雖如此，我猜第四季有兩次主要的天氣事件。我認為其他地方報道最廣泛的是一月份，一月份的天氣確實很惡劣，我們的許多主要市場都遭遇了冬季風暴。進入本月，我們的表現趨於強勁，但惡劣的天氣拖累了本季的業績。但你看，我們的觀點是，現在是一月，冬季風暴就會發生。我認為這些風暴也損害了我們市場上的其他零售商。

There was another weather impact in Q4 that probably hurt us disproportionately versus other retailers. That was driven by milder temperatures for most of November and for December versus last year. Now those are obviously the prime selling months for outerwear, which for a company that many people still think of as Burlington Coat Factory is relatively very important. Our outerwear business is not just to drive out of sales in its own right, it also brings traffic to the store and therefore, lift sales across other departments. Now in Q4, our comp sales in outerwear was down in the negative mid-single digits. Leaving aside the broader impact on store traffic, that comp sales impact alone cost us a full point in overall comp sales for the quarter.

第四季也出現了另一場天氣影響，這可能對我們造成的損害比其他零售商更大。這是因為與去年相比，11 月大部分時間以及 12 月的氣溫較為溫和。現在顯然是外套的主要銷售月份，這對許多人仍然認為是伯靈頓大衣廠的公司來說相對非常重要。我們的外套業務不僅能自行推動銷售，還能為商店帶來客流量，進而提升其他部門的銷售。現在到了第四季度，我們的外套同店銷售額出現了負個位數的下降。撇開對商店客流量的更廣泛影響不談，單是同店銷售額的影響就讓我們本季的整體同店銷售額損失了整整一個百分點。

That's really helpful. As you look ahead, how are trends progressing quarter-to-date? Are there any specific items we should keep in mind as we think about the cadence of comp growth opportunity throughout the year?

這真的很有幫助。展望未來，本季迄今的趨勢進展如何？當我們思考全年公司成長機會的節奏時，有哪些具體事項我們應該牢記？

Sure. Yes. I mean, quarter-to-date, we've just wrapped up February. So we're 4 weeks into the quarter. And truthfully, I would describe the trend in February are softer than we had anticipated. Now I suspect you've probably heard that from some other retailers as well. We attribute that softness to maybe some unfavorable weather early in the month and then a slower pace of tax refunds versus last year. As we've discussed previously, our core customer is just extremely sensitive to the timing of tax refunds, especially the timing of earned income tax credit. Now we're expecting the tax refunds will catch up over the next few weeks. But candidly, this is a good example of why it makes sense to plan our comp conservatively and flexibly, which is what we've done.

當然。是的。我的意思是，從本季來看，我們剛結束二月。我們已經進入本季的第 4 週了。說實話，我認為二月的趨勢比我們預期的要溫和。現在我想您可能也從其他零售商那裡聽說過這個。我們認為這種疲軟可能是由於本月初的不利天氣以及退稅速度較去年同期放緩所致。正如我們之前討論過的，我們的核心客戶對退稅的時間極為敏感，尤其是勞動所得稅抵免的時間。現在我們預計退稅將在接下來的幾週內到位。但坦白說，這是一個很好的例子，說明為什麼保守而有彈性地規劃我們的薪酬是有意義的，而我們也確實是這麼做的。

Your next question comes from the line of Alex Straton from Morgan Stanley.

您的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的亞歷克斯·斯特拉頓 (Alex Straton)。

I have two for Kristin. The first being, can you just break down the drivers of comp growth in the fourth quarter? How does that look across traffic, conversion, basket size and AUR? And then I have a quick follow-up.

我有兩張給克里斯汀。首先，您能否分析一下第四季公司業績成長的驅動因素？從流量、轉換率、購物籃大小和 AUR 來看，這如何？然後我有一個快速的後續問題。

Great. Alex, thanks for the question. The single biggest driver of our comp growth in the fourth quarter was higher traffic. We see this as further evidence of the improving health of the off-price shopper. And in addition, conversion was slightly higher compared to last year. Higher units per transaction were actually more than offset by lower AUR, the lower AURs were driven by a mix of business and expanded opening price points versus a year ago.

偉大的。亞歷克斯，謝謝你的提問。我們第四季營收成長的最大推動力是流量的成長。我們認為這是折扣購物者健康狀況改善的進一步證據。此外，轉換率與去年相比略有上升。事實上，每筆交易單位數的增加被 AUR 的降低所抵消，而 AUR 的降低是受業務混合和與一年前相比開盤價點擴大所推動的。

Perfect. And then any color on how the different regions performed in the quarter as well?

完美的。那麼，您能具體了解本季不同地區的表現嗎？

Sure. So all regions were positive and comp performance was relatively broad-based geographically. In the fourth quarter, the Southwest and the Midwest regions, those were the strongest performing regions in fourth quarter '23.

當然。因此，所有地區都呈現正態勢，且公司業績在地理分佈上相對廣泛。第四季度，西南地區和中西部地區是23年第四季表現最強勁的地區。

Your next question comes from the line of Adrienne Yih from Barclays.

您的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Adrienne Yih。

Congratulations on a nice end to the year. Michael, I was wondering, can you provide some additional color on the point that you had made reg price selling versus clearance kind of two things to dig into there. What do you think is the biggest driver of that? Is it the seasoning of the merch team, is it the consumer at the margin, slightly less price sensitive? Or is it the sharper price points that Kristin just mentioned.

祝賀這一年圓滿結束。邁克爾，我想知道，你能否就你提出的常規價格銷售與清倉價銷售這兩件事提供一些額外的說明。您認為造成這現象的最大因素是什麼？是商品銷售團隊的經驗，還是邊際消費者對價格的敏感度略低？或者是克里斯汀剛才提到的更明確的價格點。

Sure. Adrienne, thanks for the question. Yes, one of the metrics that we always look at internally is our comp sales growth on regular price versus a markdown of merchandise. That's particularly important for us. As you know, one of the major elements of Burlington 2.0 is to turn our in-store inventory faster. That means pure markdowns, and that means less clearance inventory, that's very healthy from a margin perspective, but lower clearance balances are also a slight headwind to comp.

當然。阿德里安，謝謝你的提問。是的，我們內部始終關注的指標之一是正常價格與商品降價相比的銷售成長。這對我們來說尤其重要。如您所知，伯靈頓 2.0 的主要要素之一是更快地週轉我們的店內庫存。這意味著純粹的降價，也意味著更少的清倉庫存，從利潤率的角度來看這是非常健康的，但較低的清倉餘額對競爭對手來說也是一個輕微的阻力。

I called that out in the comments because it was quite significant in Q4. Our clearance sales were down by about -- versus last year. Our regular price comp was up about 4%. We regard that as a very healthy sign. In other words, the customer likes that we're putting in front of them. I would attribute it to all 3 of the things that you called out. I think our execution on the merchant side in the fall season was very good. And actually, one of the things I really liked about how we manage the business in the fall season. There were some merchandise areas that did not perform well. But early in the season, we saw that they were not performing well. And our merchants and plan has moved very quickly to take money out of those businesses and push that money into faster trending areas. That's exactly what you want in an off-price business, and that worked well for us.

我在評論中提到了這一點，因為它在第四季度非常重要。與去年相比，我們的清倉銷售額下降了約——。我們的正常價格上漲了約 4%。我們認為這是一個非常健康的跡象。換句話說，顧客喜歡我們提供給他們的產品。我認為這是因為你提到的所有三件事。我認為我們在秋季商家方面的執行非常好。事實上，我真正喜歡的是我們秋季的業務管理方式。某些商品領域表現不佳。但在賽季初期，我們發現他們的表現並不好。我們的商家和計畫已經迅速採取行動，從這些企業中抽出資金，投入發展更快的領域。這正是折扣業務所需要的，而且對我們來說效果很好。

It obviously saved margin dollars because had we not done that, we would have taken markdowns in those businesses, but it also helps drive the sales trend in businesses that we could chase. So I felt good about what it says about the seasoning of the buyers. And also, I feel good about what it says about our values, the customer ultimately, what's driving the customer to make a purchase is the value they're seeing in front of them. And if they're seeing great value at regular price, and we don't need to mark it down. So I take that as a very positive sign.

這顯然節省了利潤，因為如果我們不這樣做，我們就會在這些業務中降價，但這也有助於推動我們可以追逐的業務的銷售趨勢。因此，我對它所體現的買家經驗感到很滿意。此外，我對它所體現的我們的價值觀感到非常滿意，從根本上來說，促使客戶購買的是他們眼前看到的價值。如果他們認為正常價格很有價值，我們就不需要降價。所以我認為這是一個非常積極的信號。

The last thing I should say, I should add -- but we are planning faster inventory turns in 2024. So we anticipate that, that comp headwind from lower clearance will continue to have an impact, especially in the first half of the year. We've backed that into our guidance, but I think it's worth calling out.

最後我要補充的是，我們計劃在 2024 年加快庫存週轉速度。因此，我們預計，較低清倉價帶來的競爭阻力將持續產生影響，尤其是在今年上半年。我們已將其納入我們的指導方針，但我認為值得一提。

Your next question comes from the line of Mark Altschwager from Baird.

您的下一個問題來自貝爾德公司的馬克‧阿爾特施瓦格 (Mark Altschwager)。

Maybe first for Michael, what impact would you expect department store closures to have on your business?

首先對於邁克爾來說，您認為百貨公司關閉會對您的業務產生什麼影響？

Mark. I would say that in general, whenever our bricks-and-mortar competitors shut down stores. That tends to help us. We would expect to pick up some of the traffic. But of course, the size of the impact depends upon which particular retailer, which specific geographies and with specific stores. If a retailer closes, stores that it has in more urban, lower to moderate income areas where we have a strong presence, then we would expect the impact to be bigger. Stepping back, in terms of the overall outlook for bricks-and-mortar retail, we think it's likely that there are going to be a lot of store closures over the next 2 years. So like I say, in general, it's hard to be specific without looking at specific details. But in general, we would expect those closures to be a tailwind for us.

標記。一般來說，每當我們的實體競爭對手關閉商店時我都會這麼說。這對我們很有幫助。我們希望能夠緩解部分交通壓力。但當然，影響的大小取決於特定的零售商、特定的地理位置和特定的商店。如果一家零售商關閉在都市化、中低收入地區（我們業務較多）的門市，那麼我們預期影響會更大。回顧一下，就實體零售業的整體前景而言，我們認為未來兩年​​可能會有大量商店關閉。所以就像我說的，一般來說，如果不看具體細節就很難具體化。但總體而言，我們預計這些關閉將對我們來說是一個順風。

That's helpful. And a follow-up for Kristin. Can you remind us how many of the Bed Bath leases you acquired last year, how many opened in the fourth quarter? And how should we think about the cadence for the remaining openings this year.

這很有幫助。這是對克里斯汀的後續報導。您能否提醒我們，去年您獲得的 Bed Bath 租約中，有多少是在第四季度開業的？我們該如何考慮今年剩餘開幕的節奏？

Great. Mark, thanks for the question. So in total, we acquired 64 leases from Bed Bath & Beyond in the fall of last year. Of those 64 Bed Bath locations, we opened 32 in fiscal '23, with the majority opening during the fourth quarter. It's still early, but we feel very good about how these stores are performing so far pretty much as we had expected. So at the end of Q4, we had 32 remaining to open. We expect to open the majority of these locations in the first quarter with the balance to open in the second quarter of '24 and that will be all 64. In 2023, the cost associated with the Bed Bath dark rent, these are the costs that we incur before the store is opened, totaled $18 million last year. In Q1, we expect these costs to be approximately $8 million with about $1 million expected in Q2. And then at that point, those costs will be fully recognized.

偉大的。馬克，謝謝你的提問。因此，去年秋天我們總共從 Bed Bath & Beyond 獲得了 64 份租約。在這 64 家 Bed Bath 門市中，我們於 23 財年開設了 32 家，其中大多數是在第四季度開設的。現在還為時過早，但我們對這些商店迄今為止的表現感到非常滿意，幾乎與我們的預期一致。因此，在第四季末，我們還剩下 32 個尚未開業。我們預計在第一季開設大部分門市，其餘門市將於 2024 年第二季開業，屆時將有全部 64 家門市。 2023 年，與 Bed Bath 暗租相關的成本（即我們在開店前產生的成本）去年總計 1,800 萬美元。在第一季度，我們預計這些成本約為 800 萬美元，在第二季度預計約為 100 萬美元。到那時，這些成本就會得到充分認可。

We have time for one mor question and that question comes from Dana Telsey from Telsey Group.

我們還有時間再問一個問題，這個問題來自 Telsey Group 的 Dana Telsey。

As you think about the low-income consumer, can you expand on the health of the low-income consumer what you saw last year and how you're thinking about it for 2024?

當您考慮低收入消費者時，您能否詳細說明一下您去年看到的低收入消費者健康狀況以及您對 2024 年的看法？

Dana, thank you for the question. I think this is a very important question. You probably picked this up from the script. But I think I think how this customer performs this year is going to be very important to our business. This customer is critical for us. As I said in the prepared comments, we think that their situation has improved versus last year. Back then, they were experiencing double-digit increases in the cost of everyday essentials, food, rent, transportation, et cetera. So we think that, that pressure eased in the back half of last year, and that helped to underpin our trend. But I don't want to overstate that. Discretionary spending levels for this segment of shoppers have been seriously impacted over the last 2 years. You can see that in the results of most retailers who serve that lower-end customer.

達娜，謝謝你的提問。我認為這是一個非常重要的問題。您可能從腳本中了解到了這一點。但我認為這個客戶今年的表現對我們的業務非常重要。這位客戶對我們來說至關重要。正如我在準備好的評論中所說，我們認為他們的情況比去年有所改善。當時，他們經歷日常必需品、食物、房租、交通等成本的兩位數成長。因此我們認為，去年下半年壓力有所緩解，這有助於支撐我們的趨勢。但我不想誇大這一點。過去兩年來，這部分購物者的可自由支配支出水準受到了嚴重影響。您可以從大多數服務低階客戶的零售商的業績中看到這一點。

I should also add that although the situation may have eased, those customers are still highly sensitive to things like the timing of tax refunds, which obviously, we just spoke about. And although inflation has come down, I think it's going to take a bit of time, considerable time for that customer to really start to recover. So that sort of ties to something else that we talked about in the script and that we've responded to on some of the questions. So we really think the incremental growth for our business this year is going to have to come from increased penetration with trade-down customers. We think that's where the opportunity is. We think that's really what drove our comp in the second half of last year. And we think there's more opportunity for us there.

我還要補充一點，雖然情況可能有所緩解，但這些客戶仍然對退稅時間等問題高度敏感，顯然，我們剛才談到了這一點。儘管通貨膨脹率已經下降，但我認為客戶真正開始恢復還需要一段時間，相當長一段時間。因此，這與我們在劇本中討論的其他內容有聯繫，並且我們已經對一些問題做出了回答。因此，我們確實認為，今年我們業務的增量成長將來自於降低消費性客戶的滲透率的提高。我們認為機會就在這裡。我們認為這才是去年下半年我們公司業績成長的真正動力。我們認為那裡有更多的機會。

I will now turn the call back to Michael O'Sullivan, Chief Executive Officer, for closing remarks.

現在我將請執行長 Michael O'Sullivan 致最後總結。

Let me close by thanking everyone on this call for your interest in Burlington Stores. We look forward to talking to you again in May to discuss our first quarter 2024 fiscal results. Thank you for your time today.

最後，我要感謝電話會議中大家對伯靈頓商店的關注。我們期待 5 月再次與您交談，討論我們的 2024 年第一季財務業績。感謝您今天抽出時間。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation, and you may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與，您現在可以斷開連接。