Express Inc (EXPR) 2023 Q3 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 Express Inc conference call. Our third quarter 2023 earnings (Operator Instructions) Thank you.

早安.我叫克里斯塔，今天我將擔任你們的會議接線生。此時此刻，我歡迎大家參加 Express Inc 電話會議。我們的 2023 年第三季財報（操作員說明）謝謝。

I would now like to hand it over to Greg Johnson, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我現在想將其交給投資者關係副總裁 Greg Johnson。請繼續。

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to our third quarter 2023 earnings conference call. Our third quarter 2023 earnings release can be found at our Investor Relations website, and this call will be available for replay.

謝謝。早上好，歡迎參加我們的 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。我們的 2023 年第三季收益發布可以在我們的投資者關係網站上找到，並且可以重播此電話會議。

I'd like to open by reminding you of the company's Safe Harbor provisions. Today's call may contain forward-looking statements. Any statements made during this conference call, except those containing historical facts may be deemed to constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

首先我想提醒您注意公司的安全港條款。今天的電話會議可能包含前瞻性陳述。本次電話會議期間所做的任何陳述（包含歷史事實的陳述除外）均可能被視為構成 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的前瞻性陳述。

Actual future results may differ materially from those suggested in forward-looking statements due to a number of risks and uncertainties for a description of the risks that could cause our results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, please refer to our 2022 Form 10-K and our other filings with the SEC, which are posted on our Investor Relations website.

由於存在許多風險和不確定性，未來的實際結果可能與前瞻性陳述中建議的結果有重大差異，對於可能導致我們的結果與前瞻性陳述中描述的結果有重大差異的風險描述，請參閱我們的2022 年10-K 表格和我們向 SEC 提交的其他文件，均發佈在我們的投資者關係網站上。

These risks and uncertainties are further detailed in the earnings release. These statements represent our current judgment and Express assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

這些風險和不確定性在收益報告中得到了進一步詳細說明。這些陳述代表我們目前的判斷，Express 不承擔更新任何前瞻性聲明的義務，無論是由於新資訊、未來事件或其他原因，除非法律要求。

In addition, we may refer to certain non-GAAP measures and you can locate a reconciliation of any non-GAAP measures discussed in our comments to amounts reported under GAAP. In our earnings release. We will also be providing financial comparisons to prior periods and our prepared remarks today refer to comparisons to the corresponding periods in 2022.

此外，我們可能會參考某些非 GAAP 衡量標準，您可以找到我們評論中討論的任何非 GAAP 衡量標準與根據 GAAP 報告的金額的調整表。在我們的財報發布中。我們也將提供與前期的財務比較，我們今天準備的評論是指與 2022 年同期的比較。

Unless otherwise noted, Please see the explanatory notes in the earnings release for additional details regarding the definition of certain terms. With me today are Stewart Glendinning, Chief Executive Officer, and Mark Still, Interim Chief Financial Officer. I will now turn the call over to Stewart.

除非另有說明，否則請參閱收益報告中的解釋性說明，以了解有關某些術語定義的更多詳細資訊。今天與我在一起的有執行長 Stewart Glendinning 和臨時財務長馬克史蒂爾 (Mark Still)。我現在將把電話轉給斯圖爾特。

Thanks, Greg. And good morning, everyone. Let me begin by thanking the Board and the entire Express organization for the opportunity to lead this company not been any consumer products industry for much of my career, managing and growing global brands as well as serving as the Chief Financial Officer of multinational companies.

謝謝，格雷格。大家早安。首先，我要感謝董事會和整個 Express 組織，讓我有機會在我職業生涯的大部分時間裡領導這家公司，管理和發展全球品牌，並擔任跨國公司的財務長。

My experience with consumers, operations and finance is well suited to the challenges facing Express. After joining the business a little under three months ago, my focus has been on the pathway to recovering the Company's full profit potential. This includes accelerating our cost reduction initiatives and launching new ones intended to improve our business performance and liquidity.

我在消費者、營運和財務方面的經驗非常適合 Express 面臨的挑戰。不到三個月前加入公司後，我的重點一直放在恢復公司全部利潤潛力的途徑。這包括加快我們的成本削減計劃，並推出旨在提高我們的業務績效和流動性的新計劃。

Today, I'm going to share with you the results from Q3 and then discuss my early thoughts on the path to recovery. Third quarter sales and diluted loss per share came in below the low end of our outlook ranges. The macroeconomic environment remains challenging and the consumer and competitive landscape were highly promotional.

今天，我將與大家分享第三季的結果，然後討論我對復甦之路的早期想法。第三季銷售量和攤薄後每股虧損低於我們預期範圍的下限。宏觀經濟環境仍充滿挑戰，消費者和競爭格局高度活躍。

Operating margin in the third quarter was a negative 6.3% versus a negative 6.8% the same quarter last year. This was driven by weakness in our top line, which was largely offset by strong cost savings performance in SG&A. In brand Express, the top line was down 7%, driven by weaker results in our retail and outlet stores, partially offset by a 10% increase in online sales.

第三季營業利益率為負 6.3%，而去年同期為負 6.8%。這是由於我們的營收疲軟造成的，而銷售管理、行政管理方面強勁的成本節約表現在很大程度上抵消了這一疲軟。在 Express 品牌中，由於零售店和直銷店業績疲軟，營收下降了 7%，但線上銷售額成長 10% 部分抵消了這一影響。

In the Express brand unit sales were consistent with our expectations. However, moving through this inventory required more extensive discounting and led to greater gross margin erosion. Keep in mind that our gross margin includes the royalty expense to WHP, which negatively impacted our gross margin by approximately 370 basis points as we did not have this expense in the same quarter in 2022.

Express品牌的單位銷售量與我們的預期一致。然而，清理這些庫存需要更廣泛的折扣，並導致更大的毛利率侵蝕。請記住，我們的毛利率包括 WHP 的特許權使用費，這對我們的毛利率產生了約 370 個基點的負面影響，因為我們在 2022 年同一季度沒有這項費用。

While there's more work to be done to improve year-over-year sales results, there were several positive indicators in the quarter. Our sales performance improved sequentially from Q2. We realized $30 million of cost savings, which drove a 4% reduction in SG&A, and we saw real improvement in women's sales driven by the shift in our merchandising strategy.

儘管要改善同比銷售業績還有更多工作要做，但本季出現了一些正面的指標。我們的銷售業績比第二季連續改善。我們節省了 3000 萬美元的成本，從而使銷售管理費用 (SG&A) 減少了 4%，並且我們看到，由於我們的銷售策略的轉​​變，女裝銷售額得到了真正的改善。

And while traffic was weaker than expected, our conversion rates were higher than last year. We're now driving improvements in our women's business with a low single digit positive comp anchored by strong e-commerce sales.

雖然流量低於預期，但我們的轉換率高於去年。我們現在正在推動女性業務的改善，以強勁的電子商務銷售為基礎，實現低個位數的正值競爭。

Our men's comp was down mid double digits, consistent with Q2 results as we continued to lap the record 2022 performance, particularly in suits to offset this decline. We're actively adjusting our assortment architecture through a better balance in wearing occasion price points and a focus on more casual tops and bottoms. That said, we retain a strong market position with a high share of men's specialty retail up West grew sales by 15% versus the same quarter last year and Bonobos exceeded our expectations for the third quarter.

我們的男裝比賽下降了兩位數左右，與第二季度的結果一致，我們繼續創造 2022 年創紀錄的表現，特別是在西裝方面抵消了這一下降。我們正在積極調整我們的品類架構，在穿著場合的價格點上取得更好的平衡，並專注於更休閒的上衣和下裝。也就是說，我們保持了強大的市場地位，在男士專賣零售領域佔據了很高的份額，West 銷售額與去年同期相比增長了 15%，Bonobos 第三季度的業績超出了我們的預期。

The addition of Bonobos has allowed us to leverage our back office and is creating increased purchase leverage with suppliers, while Express has broad market reach and penetration of us with annual revenues in excess of $200 million has a tremendous opportunity for increased awareness and household penetration to build on its existing scale.

Bonobos 的加入使我們能夠充分利用我們的後台，並增加了與供應商的購買槓桿，而Express 擁有廣泛的市場覆蓋範圍和滲透率，我們的年收入超過2 億美元，這為提高我們的認知度和家庭滲透率提供了巨大的機會在現有規模的基礎上再接再厲。

The combination of in-store fitting and online fulfillment has created strong customer retention and repeat purchase, and we expect to continue to grow the top line. Having said that, we need to reinvigorate our brand Express performance and build a stronger foundation on which to realize the company's full potential.

店內試穿和線上履行的結合創造了強大的客戶保留和重複購買，我們預計收入將繼續增長。話雖如此，我們需要重振我們的 Express 品牌業績，並為實現公司的全部潛力奠定更堅實的基礎。

Beginning last year, we faced a number of challenges, including declines in our customer file conversion and store traffic, driven by missteps in our merchandise strategy, most notably in women, where we were out of balance across categories, price points and wearing occasions. This misalignment between our assortment architectures and customer demand significantly impacted our historic sales and margins. We believe strongly.

從去年開始，我們面臨許多挑戰，包括客戶檔案轉換率和商店客流量下降，這是由於我們的商品策略失誤造成的，尤其是在女性方面，我們在類別、價格點和穿著場合方面失去了平衡。我們的分類架構與客戶需求之間的這種不一致嚴重影響了我們的歷史銷售和利潤率。我們堅信。

There's a path to total company improvement. Four key focus areas are expected to drive the recovery and are already underway, customer engagement, operating excellence, cost reduction and inventory management.

有一條通往公司整體改善的道路。預計四個關鍵重點領域將推動復甦，並且已經在進行中：客戶參與、卓越營運、降低成本和庫存管理。

Let me explain a little bit more about each new understanding consumer motivation that is providing them with the products they want and delivering a great purchase experience are all part of ensuring customer engagement. We expect our merchandise assortment to continue to drive increased customer appeal.

讓我更多地解釋一下每一種新的理解消費者動機，即為他們提供他們想要的產品並提供良好的購買體驗都是確保客戶參與的一部分。我們預計我們的商品種類將繼續增加客戶吸引力。

Our marketing efforts will reinforce our product style and quality, and our associates will ensure a positive shopping experience, both online and in our stores across the board we have opportunities to improve our operating execution.

我們的行銷工作將加強我們的產品風格和質量，我們的員工將確保積極的購物體驗，無論是在網上還是在我們的商店中，我們都有機會提高我們的營運執行力。

This includes cycle times in store execution, sourcing and logistics, all parts of our business, which allows us to serve customers lower our cost base and beat the competition. As part of this effort, we expect some rationalization of our store count as we close high effort unprofitable stores on cost reduction. We're making good progress and expect to meet the commitments we made in 2023, we identified and implemented a $120 million in annualized expense savings.

這包括商店執行、採購和物流以及我們業務的所有部分的周期時間，這使我們能夠為客戶提供服務，降低成本基礎並擊敗競爭對手。作為這項努力的一部分，我們預計我們的商店數量會合理化，因為我們關閉了努力降低成本的無利可圖商店。我們正在取得良好進展，並期望履行我們在 2023 年所做的承諾，我們確定並實施了 1.2 億美元的年度費用節省。

We realized $30 million in Q3, and we'll realize a total of $80 million for the full year 2023. The remaining $40 million will be realized in the first half of 2024. We are committed to over $200 million in savings by 2025, which is inclusive of the $120 million in annualized savings in 2024.

我們在第三季實現了 3,000 萬美元，2023 年全年將實現總計 8,000 萬美元。剩餘的 4,000 萬美元將在 2024 年上半年實現。我們致力於在 2025 年節省超過 2 億美元，這包括2024每年每年節省的1.2 億美元。

It also includes $50 million in gross margin expansion opportunities by leveraging efficiencies in sourcing production and the supply chain. This is a great start, and I believe we can do even more.

它還包括透過利用採購生產和供應鏈的效率來實現 5000 萬美元的毛利率擴張機會。這是一個很好的開始，我相信我們可以做得更多。

Lastly, we're driving changes to ensure lower inventories and higher turn rates. This will not only reduce our borrowings. It will also enhance our operating effectiveness as store backrooms and warehouses are not hampered by excess product. We expect a meaningful reduction in inventory during 2024.

最後，我們正在推動變革，以確保更低的庫存和更高的周轉率。這不僅會減少我們的借款。它還將提高我們的營運效率，因為商店後台和倉庫不會受到多餘產品的阻礙。我們預計 2024 年庫存將大幅減少。

Now these areas are just the beginning of our efforts to return Express to profitability in the longer term, we expect to advance our partnership with WHP global and the opportunity here is twofold. First, earlier this month, WHP announced the signing of long-term licensing deals to bring the Express brand to Indonesia and Paraguay, grow our presence in Mexico and expand our retail footprint in Central America with the opening of four new Express retail flagship stores through 2026.

現在，這些領域只是我們努力使 Express 在長期內恢復盈利的開始，我們希望推進與 WHP Global 的合作關係，這裡的機會是雙重的。首先，本月早些時候，WHP 宣布簽署長期授權協議，將 Express 品牌引入印尼和巴拉圭，擴大我們在墨西哥的業務，並透過開設四家新的 Express 零售旗艦店擴大我們在中美洲的零售足跡。 2026 年。

Royalties from these ventures as well as noncore domestic licensing will now flow into the partnership. And Express will receive its 40% share net of costs the second component of the strategic partnership is pursuing acquisitions. Our first acquisition was Bonobos, which we completed in the second quarter. And since then, the novice�s sales have exceeded our outlook and they're on track to deliver positive free cash flow for the full year. We expect to leverage this agreement for further acquisitions in the years to come.

這些企業的特許權使用費以及非核心國內許可現在將流入該合作關係。 Express 將獲得扣除成本後 40% 的股份，這是戰略合作夥伴關係的第二部分，即尋求收購。我們的第一筆收購是 Bonobos，我們在第二季完成了這項收購。從那時起，新手的銷售額就超出了我們的預期，他們預計將在全年實現正的自由現金流。我們預計未來幾年將利用該協議進行進一步收購。

Now let me introduce Mike Stil. Mark has been with the company for nearly 20 years and has just assumed the Interim CFO role. He will provide further detail on our Q3 results and outlook for the fourth quarter and the full year. Mark?

現在讓我介紹一下麥克·斯蒂爾。 Mark 在公司工作近 20 年，剛擔任臨時財務長。他將提供有關我們第三季業績以及第四季度和全年展望的更多詳細資訊。標記？

Thank you, Stewart, and good morning. I'll begin with our third quarter results. We expected consolidated net sales of $460 million to $490 million with approximately $50 million of sales from Bonobos. Consolidated net sales actualized at $454 million, including $52 million from Bonobos in the Express and UP West brands combined comparable sales declined 6%, which was a significant improvement over the 14% decline in the second quarter.

謝謝你，斯圖爾特，早安。我將從第三季的業績開始。我們預計合併淨銷售額為 4.6 億至 4.9 億美元，其中 Bonobos 的銷售額約為 5,000 萬美元。合併實際淨銷售額為 4.54 億美元，其中 Express 和 UP West 品牌的 Bonobos 銷售額為 5,200 萬美元，合併可比銷售額下降了 6%，與第二季 14% 的降幅相比有了顯著改善。

E-commerce comps increased 10%, driven by improvements in our women's business and strong conversion increases. Retail stores declined 16% and outlet stores were down 13%. Traffic declines and lapping record men's business contributed to the ongoing challenges in these channels, we expect the gross margin to decrease approximately 200 basis points.

由於女性業務的改善和轉換率的強勁增長，電子商務銷售額增長了 10%。零售店下降 16%，直銷店下降 13%。客流量下降和創紀錄的男裝業務導致這些管道持續面臨挑戰，我們預計毛利率將下降約200個基點。

We saw a decrease of 370 basis points as we increased promotions and had greater margin erosion than we originally anticipated. We expected approximately 275 basis points of leverage in our SG&A expenses, and we actualized that leverage of 300 basis points deleverage was driven by our cost savings initiatives, which delivered $30 million of savings in the third quarter, we expected a diluted loss per share of $5.50 to $7.50. Diluted loss per share was $9.83.

由於我們增加了促銷活動，我們的利潤率下降了 370 個基點，利潤率下降幅度超出了我們最初的預期。我們預計SG&A 費用的槓桿約為275 個基點，我們意識到300 個基點的去槓桿化是由我們的成本節約計劃推動的，該計劃在第三季度節省了3000 萬美元，我們預計每股攤薄虧損為5.50 美元至 7.50 美元。每股攤薄虧損為 9.83 美元。

Moving on to the balance sheet, at quarter close, we had $35 million of cash and cash equivalents on hand, total borrowings were $278 million, of which $213 million was drawn against our asset-based credit facility and the remaining $65 million was drawn on our term loan, $22 million remains available under the asset based credit facility. Inventory increased by 14% versus last year, consistent with our expectations and driven by the Novo's acquisition.

轉向資產負債表，截至季度末，我們手頭上有3500 萬美元的現金和現金等價物，總借款為2.78 億美元，其中2.13 億美元是從我們的基於資產的信貸額度中提取的，其餘6500 萬美元是從我們的資產負債表中提取的。我們的定期貸款 2,200 萬美元仍可在基於資產的信貸安排下使用。庫存較去年增加 14%，符合我們的預期，並受到 Novo 收購的推動。

Regarding the $52 million CARES Act receivable we have mentioned previously, we are now pursuing this refund in two different pieces as a means to accelerate the payment, the first pieces for $43 million, which is agreed upon. And the second piece is for $9 million, which is still under review.

關於我們之前提到的 5200 萬美元《CARES 法案》應收款，我們現在分兩部分尋求退款，作為加速付款的手段，第一部分為 4300 萬美元，這是商定的。第二件作品售價900萬美元，目前仍在審核中。

We expect to receive $48 million, which is comprised of $43 million in cash related to the CARES Act receivable and a $5 million reduction in our income taxes payable for 2022. It should be noted that we will continue to pursue the remainder of our claim with the IRS for amounts to be paid. And the path forward includes approval by the IRS and the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. We are actively engaged with the IRS to move this claim forward given the importance of this receivable to our liquidity. Before turning to our outlook for 2023.

我們預計將收到 4,800 萬美元，其中包括與 CARES 法案應收帳款相關的 4,300 萬美元現金以及 2022 年應付所得稅減少的 500 萬美元。應該指出的是，我們將繼續追索我們的剩餘索賠國稅局(IRS) 支付的金額。前進的道路包括美國國稅局和國會稅務聯合委員會的批准。鑑於這筆應收帳款對我們的流動性的重要性，我們正在積極與美國國稅局合作，以推動這項索賠。在轉向我們對 2023 年的展望之前。

I want to briefly comment on our early Q4 performance. Our October trends continued into the first half of November, while in the back half of November sales improved and were more in line with last year.

我想簡要地評論一下我們第四季初期的表現。我們 10 月的趨勢一直延續到 11 月上半月，而 11 月下半月的銷售額有所改善，與去年更加一致。

With that in mind, as we turn to our outlook for 2023, our fourth quarter and full year outlooks have been updated and take into consideration the continued uncertain consumer and macroeconomic environments balanced against our quarter-to-date performance.

考慮到這一點，當我們展望 2023 年時，我們更新了第四季度和全年展望，並考慮到持續不確定的消費者和宏觀經濟環境與我們本季迄今的業績相平衡。

The impact of the $80 million in expense reductions that we will realize as well as the expected performance of de novos. As a reminder, the full year of 2023 will include a 53rd week with the fourth quarter of 2023 consisting of 14 weeks.

我們將實現的 8000 萬美元費用削減的影響以及 de novos 的預期績效。提醒一下，2023 年全年將包括第 53 週，其中 2023 年第四季將包括 14 週。

The 53rd week is estimated to add approximately $25 million of net sales in the fourth quarter. Our outlook for Q4 compared to the fourth quarter of 2022 is as follows. Net sales of approximately $565 million to $590 million, including the 14th week and approximately $60 million in Venoco's net sales and operating margin of negative mid-single digits.

第 53 週預計將在第四季增加約 2,500 萬美元的淨銷售額。與 2022 年第四季相比，我們對第四季的展望如下。淨銷售額約為 5.65 億美元至 5.90 億美元，其中第 14 週的淨銷售額約為 6,000 萬美元，營業利潤率為負中個位數。

Our outlook for the full year compared to the full year of 2022 is as follows. Net sales of approximately $1.84 billion to $1.865 billion, including the 53rd week and approximately $150 million in Pinova net sales diluted loss per share of $46 to $50 and capital expenditures of approximately $25 million.

與 2022 年全年相比，我們對全年的展望如下。淨銷售額約18.4億美元至18.65億美元，其中Pinova第53週淨銷售額約1.5億美元，稀釋後每股虧損為46至50美元，資本支出約2,500萬美元。

And now let me turn the call back to Stewart.

現在讓我把電話轉回給史都華。

Thanks, Mark. And thanks for attending the call today. Our team here at Express believes in the full potential of our business recognizes the current challenges and is actively engaged in driving the changes that will restore liquidity and move the business back to profitability.

謝謝，馬克。感謝您參加今天的電話會議。 Express 團隊相信我們業務的全部潛力，認識到當前的挑戰，並積極參與推動變革，以恢復流動性並使業務恢復盈利。

I'll now turn the call over to the operator and we'll take your questions.

我現在將把電話轉給接線員，我們將回答您的問題。

Thank you. (Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Dana Telsey from Telsey Advisory Group. Please go ahead.

謝謝。 （操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自 Telsey Advisory Group 的 Dana Telsey。請繼續。

Good morning, everyone, and welcome, Stewart and Hello, Mark.

大家早上好，歡迎史都華和馬克。

Stuart, if you've been there now I just by as you've been there now just around two months and you mentioned the men's and the women's business. What do you see to that? Where are you in the steps to getting the women's business back on track. How are you thinking about the men's business? What's the process and what's the prognosis for the time line?

斯圖爾特，如果你現在已經去過那裡了，我就知道你已經在那裡呆了大約兩個月了，你提到了男裝和女裝業務。你對此有何看法？您在讓女性業務重回正軌方面處於什麼階段？您如何看待男士業務？流程是怎樣的，時間軸的預測是怎麼樣的？

And Mark, when you think about the store base, the store base, and the online channels of distribution. How do you think about the expense structures of each? What does a if a opportune store base look like to you. And as we go through this holiday season, how do you think of promotional promotions versus full price? And where are you on the merchandise margin journey? Thank you.

馬克，當你考慮商店基礎、商店基礎和線上分銷管道時。您如何看待每個機構的費用結構？如果一個合適的商店基地對您來說是什麼樣子的？當我們度過這個假期時，您如何看待促銷活動與全價？您的商品利潤之旅處於什麼階段？謝謝。

Alright, Dana, thank you. That's some that's a good set of questions that let me pick up on the merchandising strategy because this is actually a place where I think we're in, we're in pretty good shape. And the reason for that is that we've got a new leader of this space, micro Rango, who is top-notch. He's already shifted the merchandise strategy and you saw it kick in in this quarter. I mean, women had a I had have historically the last couple of years had a pretty rough time. We saw positive comp in women this quarter, it was terrific. Our knit tops delivered better than 20% growth.

好的，達納，謝謝你。這是一系列很好的問題，讓我了解了銷售策略，因為這實際上是我認為我們所處的位置，我們的狀態非常好。原因是我們有了這個領域的新領導者，micro Rango，他是一流的。他已經改變了商品策略，你可以看到它在本季開始生效。我的意思是，從歷史上看，過去幾年女性經歷了一段相當艱難的時期。本季我們看到女性的積極薪酬，這太棒了。我們的針織上衣實現了超過 20% 的成長。

Sweaters and woven tops were up bottoms. What we're up I mean, our worst category in women's was tailoring and that came in at a minus one. So I mean, I think broadly, women are in good shape manner and a different place. They are a lot weaker and the primary reason is that last year was such a strong year in suits and it was a tough complement to go up against.

毛衣和梭織上衣都是上衣。我的意思是，我們的女裝類別中表現最差的是剪裁，並且得分為負一。所以我的意思是，我認為從廣義上講，女性的身材很好，而且有不同的地方。他們的實力要弱得多，主要原因是去年是西服強勢的一年，這是一個很難對抗的補充。

But even inside of men's, I mean we looked at sweaters, a MICROS team rolled out a new set of sweaters and sweater tops. That was a strongly performing category in the spaces where we've moved more to casual we're seeing a strong performance, and that's what you're going to see coming up in the quarters to come.

但即使在男裝領域，我的意思是我們也關注了毛衣，MICROS 團隊推出了一套新的毛衣和毛衣上衣。在我們已經更多地轉向休閒領域的領域，這是一個表現強勁的類別，我們看到了強勁的表現，這就是你在未來幾季將會看到的。

And Dana, coming from a sticking with the merchandise, as we think about the fourth quarter in our promotional stance versus full ticket, I would say we continue to be in a highly promotional environment, especially here in holiday.

達納（Dana），來自對商品的堅持，當我們考慮第四季度的促銷立場與全票時，我想說我們仍然處於高度促銷的環境中，尤其是在假期。

What I would say is that we are continuing to see great adoption of our go forward product, and we will continue to focus on that go-forward product. But in the midst of holiday coming out of Black Friday and moving into the Christmas period, we do expect to continue to see a very highly promotional environment.

我想說的是，我們繼續看到我們的前進產品被廣泛採用，我們將繼續關注該前進產品。但在黑色星期五假期結束並進入聖誕節期間，我們確實預計將繼續看到非常激烈的促銷環境。

But as we move into next year and as we've mentioned the go forward of cost savings that we are expecting to see as we move into 2024 and 2025, we will expect to see benefit over time and then getting to your second part of your second part of your question as it relates to stores versus e-comm, as we mentioned in the prepared remarks, we had a plus 10 comp from an e-commerce standpoint, saw great growth, great conversion growth, especially within e-comm.

但隨著我們進入明年，正如我們所提到的，我們預計在進入 2024 年和 2025 年時會看到成本節約的進展，我們預計隨著時間的推移會看到效益，然後進入您的第二部分你問題的第二部分涉及商店與電子商務，正如我們在準備好的評論中提到的，從電子商務的角度來看，我們有+ 10比較，看到了巨大的增長，巨大的轉化增長，特別是在電子商務領域。

And as we also mentioned in the remarks, we're going to continue to look at our store fleet. We will continue to evaluate it. And if we have high effort unprofitable stores, we will look at potentially closing those locations.

正如我們在評論中提到的，我們將繼續關注我們的商店隊伍。我們將繼續對其進行評估。如果我們有投入大量精力但未獲利的商店，我們將考慮關閉這些商店。

Got it. And then just Stewart, as you think about the competitive landscape of Express. And obviously, when you were looking at joining the company where you wanted to take the business, how do you envision what expression should look like over the next year, what you think the steps are to reinvigorate and express be a growth company? Thank you.

知道了。然後是斯圖爾特，當你想到 Express 的競爭格局。顯然，當您考慮加入您想要開展業務的公司時，您如何設想明年的表現應該是什麼樣子，您認為重振和表現成為成長型公司的步驟是什麼？謝謝。

Great question. And I'm going to reiterate some of the points that I made in the prepared remarks. But first of all, incoming of the company, we actually got really strong brand in it. Express has been around a long time it's got a loyal customer base. And I think the sort of missteps here as best I could read the story was that we had gotten a little bit away from where our consumer was some was buying and we were serving at the set of products that were not in line aligned with that with the customer set and what you've seen more recently are two changes.

很好的問題。我將重申我在準備好的發言中提出的一些觀點。但首先，公司成立後，我們實際上獲得了非常強大的品牌。 Express已經存在很久了，擁有忠實的客戶群。我認為，我能讀到的最好的報道中的失誤是，我們已經偏離了我們的消費者正在購買的地方，而且我們提供的產品與我們的產品不相符。客戶群和你最近看到的有兩個變化。

One us getting back to more of the Express basics, things that we've sold over time and to us moving a little bit more to where the consumer is broadly, that is to say more casual, I think coming out of coming out of COVID, that more casual dress has persistent and our and our assortment will reflect that. I think that that's part of the journey where I feel very confident because we've got a good strong team there in the rest of the business, as I looked at the business I saw a broad set of opportunity, and that has only been confirmed in the first couple of months here. There's an absolute opportunity here to engage more aggressively with customers through branding and through messaging to customers.

我們要回到更多Express 的基礎知識，我們隨著時間的推移而銷售的東西，對我們來說，我們會更多地轉向消費者廣泛的地方，也就是說，更加休閒，我認為這是從新冠疫情中走出來的，這種更休閒的服裝具有持久性，我們和我們的品種將反映出這一點。我認為這是我感到非常有信心的旅程的一部分，因為我們在其他業務領域擁有一支優秀而強大的團隊，當我審視業務時，我看到了廣泛的機會，而且這一點剛剛得到證實在這裡的頭幾個月。這裡絕對有機會透過品牌推廣和向客戶發送訊息來更積極地與客戶互動。

And in fact, in the way in which we serve them both online and in stores in their purchase experience coming from a deep operations background as well as I look across the business and consider the ability for us to shorten cycle times for us to get better at it at operating the business.

事實上，我們在網路上和商店為他們提供服務的方式中，他們的購買體驗來自深厚的營運背景，我縱觀整個業務，並考慮我們是否有能力縮短週期時間，讓我們變得更好在經營業務時。

Just in terms of fund moving product around getting in getting our stores in fighting shape. I look across the business, there are a ton of opportunities, and you will see those as we go through the next few quarters, we have spoken extensively to cost reduction, and I think the team is already doing a great job there. And the only thing I can do, frankly, is to trying to deepen that and accelerate it, but we will hit the $200 million. I'm confident of it.

就資金轉移產品而言，讓我們的商店處於戰鬥狀態。我縱觀整個業務，有大量的機會，在接下來的幾個季度中，您會看到這些機會，我們已經廣泛討論了降低成本的問題，我認為團隊已經在這方面做得很好。坦白說，我唯一能做的就是努力深化並加速它，但我們將達到 2 億美元。我對此充滿信心。

And finally, I think if you look at inventory and we're not turning enough in the business that inventory needs to move through more quickly. The benefit of that, frankly, is we'll have a lower interest bill and inside of our own operations you'll see less cluttered back backrooms and stores. You'll see warehouses that are jammed up. And frankly, that will leave us in a place where we're just a much healthier business.

最後，我認為，如果你看看庫存，你會發現我們的業務週轉不夠，庫存需要更快流通。坦白說，這樣做的好處是我們的利息費用會降低，而且在我們自己的業務內部，您會看到後面的後台和商店不再那麼混亂。你會看到擁擠的倉庫。坦白說，這將使我們的企業更加健康。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Your next question comes from the line of Eric Beder from SCC Research. Please go ahead.

您的下一個問題來自 SCC Research 的 Eric Beder。請繼續。

Good morning to hear more And Eric, I will talk a little bit more about inventories come. If you take out the Novo's, what was the inventory impact on the what was the inventory without Novo's time? When should we start expecting to see the inventory?

早上好，聽到更多信息 Eric，我將更多地談論庫存的情況。如果去掉 Novo 的時間，庫存對沒有 Novo 時間的庫存有何影響？我們什麼時候應該開始期待看到庫存？

I guess with or without that it will start to come down?

我想不管有沒有它都會開始下降？

Yeah, Eric, I can take the I'll start with the first part of that question if we exclude. But our inventory was flat compared to last year. So but no, both added roughly $58 million of inventory. That obviously was not in our inventory last year when it comes to the second part of your question as it relates to starting to see that come down, we are intensely focused on improving our working capital and improving our inventory position.

是的，埃里克，我可以接受，如果我們排除的話，我將從該問題的第一部分開始。但我們的庫存與去年持平。但事實並非如此，兩者都增加了約 5,800 萬美元的庫存。當談到你問題的第二部分時，這顯然不在我們去年的庫存中，因為它涉及到開始看到下降，我們非常專注於改善我們的營運資本和改善我們的庫存狀況。

So it is a focus of ours to make a meaningful reduction in our overall inventory levels as we move to the end of this year and through 2024. Yeah, I mean in short, Eric, you should start to see that in the first half of 24.

因此，從今年年底到 2024 年，我們的重點是大幅降低整體庫存水平。是的，我的意思是，簡而言之，埃里克，你應該開始在 2024 年上半年看到這一點。24 .

Okay question for you. I guess the second question is WHP and the agreements there on you mentioned some international expansion opportunities. How when do you think those will start to impact? I guess the other question is I know you had a great acquisition of de novo's or do you have the financial at least I believe you have the financial flexibility to do other acquisitions here in kind of the same structure?

好的問題給你。我想第二個問題是 WHP，那裡的協議提到了一些國際擴張機會。您認為這些何時會開始產生影響？我想另一個問題是我知道您對 de novo 進行了一次偉大的收購，或者您至少有足夠的財務靈活性，可以以相同的結構在這裡進行其他收購嗎？

Let me just let me start at the most important part first in our primary, our focus here is driving the XDR back to profitability. That's job one, job two, job three, the WHP. partnership is something that will benefit the benefit us absolutely over the longer term, both because of the royalty sharing data that we spoke of in our prepared remarks.

首先讓我從初選中最重要的部分開始，我們的重點是推動 XDR 恢復獲利。這是工作一、工作二、工作三，WHP。從長遠來看，合作夥伴關係絕對會為我們帶來好處，這都是因為我們在準備好的發言中談到了特許權使用費共享資料。

That's in no way distracting to us. These are operations that are separate from our operations and they will be licensed and overseen by the WHP partnership. And we will we will collect the benefit as being an owner of that. So that is broadly just beneficial to us without extraordinary effort from us.

這絕不會讓我們分心。這些業務獨立於我們的業務，將由 WHP 合作夥伴授予許可並進行監督。我們將作為所有者收集利益。因此，這對我們來說基本上是有利的，不需要我們付出額外的努力。

On the second part, as it relates to acquisitions, and we're going to take that over time. But nobody was it was a great opportunity for us. We're super happy that that brand, which is a powerful brand with a long runway ahead of it is part of our organization. But right now, job one, two and three is focusing on getting the XDR back to help.

關於第二部分，因為它與收購有關，我們將隨著時間的推移進行處理。但沒人知道這對我們來說是一個很好的機會。我們非常高興這個品牌是我們組織的一部分，它是一個強大的品牌，還有很長的路要走。但現在，第一、第二和第三項工作的重點是讓 XDR 重新提供幫助。

What do you look at -- when you look at the potential, what do you think of the potential longer term for Express in terms of its ability? And what do you think the longer-term opportunities are in terms of marginal in terms of the ability of the size of the pieces for Express. I know you've only been there two months, so I might not expect. I mean, I think the above, what do you think about that?

你看什麼——當你審視潛力時，你如何看待 Express 的長期潛力？您認為，就快遞件的規模能力而言，長期機會是邊際的。我知道你只來了兩個月，所以我可能沒想到。我的意思是，我認為以上，你對此有何看法？

Eric, I think it's a great question, frankly, of course, coming when you make a big change like this, you think carefully about what the possibilities are for the business.

艾瑞克，我認為這是一個很好的問題，坦白說，當然，當你做出這樣的重大改變時，你會仔細考慮業務的可能性。

I'll just take you back to 2018. I mean, 2018 was a healthy year, wasn't it was an extraordinary year for the business. And if I were going to set a benchmark for Sienna for a place to go back to that, that's what I would look to and you can go back and look at those financials, but you sort of you were living with gross margins around 30% and as a positive net income.

我將帶您回到 2018 年。我的意思是，2018 年是健康的一年，對企業來說不是非凡的一年。如果我要為錫耶納設定一個基準，讓其能夠回到那個水平，那麼我就會關注這個基準，你可以回去看看這些財務數據，但你的毛利率大約在 30% 左右。並作為正的淨利。

I think that that to me is the starting point. But this is a business that has all the right building blocks. And I think if you give me the opportunity to sort of get through this next quarter are coming back in at the end of the year. We'll give you a good set of expectations for 2024 and give you a little bit more detail on what we think the glide path looks like to us to recovering the full potential in the business.

我認為這對我來說是起點。但這是一個擁有所有正確建置模組的業務。我認為，如果你給我機會度過下一個季度，我會在年底回來。我們將為您提供對 2024 年的一系列良好期望，並為您提供更多細節，說明我們認為恢復業務全部潛力的下滑路徑。

Okay. Good luck for the rest of the holiday season, and I appreciate that Thank you.

好的。祝假期剩下的時間一切順利，我很感激，謝謝。

And thanks, Eric.

謝謝，埃里克。

(Operator Instructions) Your next question comes from the line of Marni Shapiro from Retail Tracker. Please go ahead.

（操作員說明）您的下一個問題來自 Retail Tracker 的 Marni Shapiro。請繼續。

Hey, everybody can welcome, Stewart and Mark, nice to meet you. And I'd like to just dig in a little bit more to the merchandising changes it sounds a little bit like we're moving pendulum back a little bit to where expressed was Portofino shirt, key items. If you could just dig into that a little and is excuse me, is that visible in the stores or we weekend them there all the time I've seen some changes in the store. Is this what I'm seeing and how much more is to come.

嘿，大家歡迎，史都華和馬克，很高興認識你們。我想深入探討商品銷售的變化，聽起來有點像我們正在將鐘擺向後移動一點，回到關鍵物品波托菲諾襯衫所表達的位置。如果你能深入研究一下，對不起，這在商店裡是可見的，還是我們一直在那裡度過週末，我看到商店裡有一些變化。這就是我所看到的嗎？還有更多的事情即將發生。

And could you also just talk a little bit about what's going on in the outlets? It seems like that customer is definitely the more price sensitive, but other brands have talked about how the outlets have been a bright spot because the consumer is more price sensitive?

能否簡單談談商店裡發生的事？看來消費者肯定是對價格更敏感的，但其他品牌也談到，為什麼消費者對價格更敏感，奧特萊斯成為亮點？

Yes. Okay. Marni, let me let me take the second half first and then I'm going to give you the benefit of getting a little bit of explanation directly from our Chief Merchandising Officer because I think he is going to give you a little more granularity, but look on outlets, I would say that outlets weren't a particularly bright spot for us. They are a bright spot just in terms of being part of the profitability of our business.

是的。好的。 Marni，讓我先講下半部分，然後我將為你帶來好處，讓你直接從我們的首席營銷官那裡得到一些解釋，因為我認為他會給你更多的細節，但是看看奧特萊斯，我想說奧特萊斯對我們來說並不是一個特別的亮點。僅就成為我們業務盈利能力的一部分而言，它們就是一個亮點。

So if you look at the margin structure on those are a very good part of our business side. If you looked at this past quarter for us, the winner was e-com and we were up 10% in business in e-comm. The performance was strong there and that's where we that's where we have one women back sight. I would say that, Tom?

因此，如果你看看利潤結構，這些都是我們業務方面非常好的一部分。如果你看看我們上個季度，贏家是電子商務，我們的電子商務業務成長了 10%。那裡的表現很強勁，這就是我們有一位女性後視鏡的地方。我會這麼說，湯姆？

Yes, that's how our third quarter played out. But the real realistically going forward, each one of the possible uses plays a role. Our outlets will continue to be an important part of the strategy as e-com will get bigger and stronger. I think certainly there's nothing that's going to slow that down, but every part is going to continue to play a role in the business.

是的，這就是我們第三季的表現。但實際情況是，每一種可能的用途都會發揮作用。隨著電子商務不斷做大做強，我們的網點將繼續成為該策略的重要組成部分。我認為當然沒有什麼會減緩這一速度，但每個部分都將繼續在業務中發揮作用。

Michael, you want to talk about the merch strategy?

邁克爾，你想談談商品策略嗎？

Yes, sure. Thanks, NeuroCom. Yes, Maria had I would say that it's all about balance ultimately on getting back into certain icons such as Portofino. Gramercy is certainly part of the success that we started to see within women, but that's only part of it.

是的，當然。謝謝，神經康姆。是的，瑪麗亞，我想說，最終回歸某些標誌性建築（例如波托菲諾）的平衡是關鍵。格拉梅西無疑是我們開始在女性身上看到的成功的一部分，但這只是其中的一部分。

And it's staying balanced across wearing occasions. So as Stewart had said in his prepared remarks, it's leaning a little bit more casual, but it's still being polished within that we're balancing price points, ensuring that we've got a good structure across good, better best.

而且它在不同的佩戴場合都能保持平衡。因此，正如斯圖爾特在他準備好的演講中所說的那樣，它傾向於更隨意一點，但它仍在不斷完善，我們正在平衡價格點，確保我們在良好、更好、最好的方面擁有良好的結構。

But then a good part of it is getting back some of the customers within our icons and franchises, things such as Portofino, Gramercy denim had a strong quarter, and that was reliant upon getting back into skinny relaunch in Flex-Tek. So I'd say it's all about a balanced then that is not to move back to the days of all the Portofino, all, but the Portofino has a strong customer and wanted to make sure that the entire that is also having a balance of relevant seasonal fashion.

但其中很大一部分是重新獲得我們的標誌性和特許經營權中的一些客戶，例如 Portofino、Gramercy denim 等品牌在本季度表現強勁，而這依賴於 Flex-Tek 的重新推出。所以我想說，這一切都與平衡有關，這並不是要回到所有柏濤菲諾的時代，所有，但柏濤菲諾有一個強大的客戶，並且希望確保整體也有相關的平衡。季節性時尚。

That makes sense. And then can you just talk a little bit about the marketing side? It's a lot of direct marketing, but how are you thinking about this the Express brand is there's a lot of love for the brand for the people who love the brand. What about getting the new customers into the brand?

這就說得通了。那麼您能談談行銷方面嗎？這是很多直接行銷，但你如何看待 Express 品牌，因為熱愛這個品牌的人對這個品牌有很多熱愛。如何讓新客戶加入該品牌？

Yes. I mean, I think the of the health of every of every brand ultimately is building renewals. And you're absolutely right. We have a very loyal set of customers that we look to retain during this past quarter, what was notable was that sequentially we improved our customer file and the customer file had been under some pressure.

是的。我的意思是，我認為每個品牌的健康最終都在不斷更新。你是完全正確的。我們擁有一群非常忠誠的客戶，我們希望在上個季度保留這些客戶，值得注意的是，我們隨後改進了我們的客戶檔案，而客戶檔案一直面臨著一些壓力。

And so I was pleased to see that we're headed in the right direction. I think there's a lot more work to be done there. And I think also, as you see start to see that shift in the merchandising strategy we're going to be pulling in a set of customers into our into our both into our stores and online differently than we were in the past because of because of the offering.

因此，我很高興看到我們正朝著正確的方向前進。我認為那裡還有很多工作要做。我還認為，正如你所看到的，我們將開始看到銷售策略的轉​​變，我們將把一群客戶吸引到我們的商店和網上，與過去不同，因為奉獻。

And finally, it's been a core focus of mine to take a close look at where we're spending marketing and to look at what results that spend is driving us to be spend the money in marketing. You've got to be certain that you understand what returns that's driving, what kind of customers that's bringing to you. So that there's work for us to do just in terms of broad brand building. And I think all those things combined will start to bring that new customer into our store.

最後，我的核心關注點是仔細研究我們在行銷上的支出，並了解支出的結果促使我們在行銷上花錢。您必須確保自己了解什麼會帶來回報，並會為您帶來什麼樣的客戶。因此，我們在廣泛的品牌建立方面還有很多工作要做。我認為所有這些因素結合起來將開始將新客戶帶入我們的商店。

Great. Best of luck for the holiday season and I appreciate that.

偉大的。祝假期好運，我很感激。

Thank you. Marni.

謝謝。瑪尼。

And we have no further questions in our queue at this time. I will now turn the call over to Stewart Glendinning, for closing remarks.

目前我們的隊列中沒有其他問題。現在我將把電話轉給斯圖爾特·格倫丁寧，讓其致閉幕詞。

Right. Thank you very much. And I want to thank all of you for attending our call today. We've got a company and a group of people who are working hard over the holiday season to make it very successful. And we all look forward to sharing our set of holiday results with you at our next call. Thank you very much.

正確的。非常感謝。我要感謝大家今天參加我們的電話會議。我們有一家公司和一群人在假期期間努力工作，以使其非常成功。我們都期待在下次電話會議上與您分享我們的假期結果。非常感謝。

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。