Guess? Inc (GES) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Guess? Second Quarter Fiscal 2024 Earnings Conference Call. I would like to turn the call over to Fabrice Benarouche, Senior Vice President of Finance, Investor Relations and Chief Accounting Officer.

大家好，歡迎來到猜猜？ 2024 財年第二季度收益電話會議。我想將電話轉給財務、投資者關係高級副總裁兼首席會計官法布里斯·貝納魯什 (Fabrice Benarouche)。

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. On the call today with me are Carlos Alberini, Chief Executive Officer; and Markus Neubrand, Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝你，接線員。大家下午好，感謝您今天加入我們。今天與我一起通話的是首席執行官卡洛斯·阿爾貝里尼 (Carlos Alberini)；和首席財務官馬庫斯·諾伊布蘭德 (Markus Neubrand)。

During today's call, the company will be making forward-looking statements including comments regarding future plans, strategic initiatives, capital allocation and short- and long-term outlooks. The company's actual results may differ materially from current expectations based on risk factors included in today's press release and the company's quarterly and annual reports filed with the SEC. Comments will also reference certain non-GAAP or adjusted measures. GAAP reconciliations and descriptions of these measures can be found in today's earnings release.

在今天的電話會議上，該公司將做出前瞻性聲明，包括有關未來計劃、戰略舉措、資本配置以及短期和長期前景的評論。根據今天的新聞稿以及公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的季度和年度報告中包含的風險因素，該公司的實際結果可能與當前預期存在重大差異。評論還將參考某些非公認會計準則或調整後的衡量標準。公認會計原則（GAAP）調節和這些措施的描述可以在今天的收益報告中找到。

Now I will turn it over to Carlos.

現在我將把它交給卡洛斯。

Thank you, Fabrice. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. We are extremely pleased to report our second quarter results with sales exceeding our growth expectations and the team delivering a significant beat in operating earnings and earnings per share. We achieved an almost 10% operating margin for the period ahead of both our guidance and last year's results. All of our segments performed at or beyond what we had expected with solid revenue performance, strong gross margin results and effective cost management.

謝謝你，法布里斯。大家下午好，感謝您今天加入我們。我們非常高興地報告第二季度業績，銷售額超出了我們的增長預期，並且團隊在營業利潤和每股收益方面取得了顯著的進步。我們在此期間實現了近 10% 的營業利潤率，高於我們的指導方針和去年的業績。我們所有部門的業績都達到或超出了我們的預期，具有穩健的收入表現、強勁的毛利率結果和有效的成本管理。

During the quarter, we saw strong momentum with our global brands and managed the business well as we continue to leverage the power of our highly diversified business model. Our teams across the world continue to control the controllable and adapt well to the changing consumer environment across geographies. Paul and I are very pleased with our performance. I want to thank our teams for their commitment and hard work. We greatly value your strong contributions.

在本季度，我們看到了我們的全球品牌的強勁勢頭，並且我們繼續利用高度多元化的業務模式的力量，很好地管理了業務。我們遍布世界各地的團隊不斷掌控可控因素，並很好地適應不同地區不斷變化的消費者環境。保羅和我對我們的表現非常滿意。我要感謝我們團隊的承諾和辛勤工作。我們非常重視您的大力貢獻。

Our company's revenues for the second quarter grew by 3% and adjusted earnings from operations reached $65 million, 17% ahead of last year. In Europe, we achieved a 9% increase in revenues higher than expected. This was partially driven by earlier than anticipated shipments to wholesale accounts that welcome our product to support good sales momentum in their businesses. Our direct-to-consumer business also performed very well with double-digit comp growth in our stores. Our Europe segment reported a 37% operating earnings increase, well ahead of our expectations. We are very happy with our momentum and have a robust outlook for the second half of the year in this region.

我們公司第二季度的收入增長了 3%，調整後的運營利潤達到 6500 萬美元，比去年同期增長 17%。在歐洲，我們實現了 9% 的收入增長，高於預期。這部分是由於批發客戶的發貨早於預期，這些客戶歡迎我們的產品來支持其業務的良好銷售勢頭。我們的直接面向消費者的業務也表現出色，商店的銷售額實現了兩位數的增長。我們的歐洲部門報告營業利潤增長 37%，遠遠超出我們的預期。我們對該地區的勢頭感到非常滿意，並對下半年該地區的前景充滿信心。

Our Americas retail business reported an 8% revenue decrease and solid gross margins both in line with our expectations. With our team's effective cost management, however, we were able to drive operating results that were stronger than we had anticipated. Our Americas wholesale business reported a better-than-expected 13% revenue decrease and also beat our operating earnings expectations with improved gross margins and good expense management.

我們的美洲零售業務收入下降 8%，毛利率穩定，符合我們的預期。然而，憑藉我們團隊有效的成本管理，我們能夠實現比我們預期更強勁的運營業績。我們的美洲批發業務收入下降了 13%，好於預期，並且由於毛利率提高和良好的費用管理，營業利潤也超出了我們的預期。

In Asia, we grew revenues by 19% and improved operating earnings in the period, both in line with our expectations. And our licensing business had a terrific quarter, increasing revenues by 13% and earnings from operations by 24%, both well ahead of plan. This business was driven by strong performance of fragrances, handbags, footwear and watches.

在亞洲，我們的收入增長了 19%，營業利潤也有所提高，均符合我們的預期。我們的授權業務季度表現出色，收入增長了 13%，運營利潤增長了 24%，均遠遠超出計劃。該業務是由香水、手袋、鞋類和手錶的強勁表現推動的。

Turning to our product performance, which again differed by region, consistent with what we saw in the first quarter. In Europe, women's, men's and accessories, all posted healthy sales growth. The best-performing products included outerwear, net tops, woven shirts, including denim, sweaters, dresses and shorts. Accessories were particularly strong in Europe, with the best performance recorded by handbags, travel products, small leather goods, jewelry, belts, watches and eyewear. Marciano, kids and footwear were also strong.

談到我們的產品表現，這再次因地區而異，與我們在第一季度看到的一致。在歐洲，女裝、男裝和配飾的銷售均實現健康增長。表現最好的產品包括外套、網狀上衣、梭織襯衫（包括牛仔布）、毛衣、連衣裙和短褲。配飾在歐洲表現尤為強勁，其中手袋、旅行產品、小皮具、珠寶、皮帶、手錶和眼鏡表現最佳。 Marciano、童裝和鞋履也表現強勁。

In Americas Retail, sales were down across women's, men's and accessories. While we experienced reduced customer traffic, we improved conversion on a sequential basis compared to the first quarter results. Our top-performing categories included sweaters, activewear, certain denim products like overalls and jumpsuits, playsuits, woven shirts for women and net tops for men. In accessories, handbags, travel products and watches outperformed the overall category. Marciano had a challenging quarter as we were up against very strong sales from a year ago and footwear and kids recorded better trends than the overall business.

在美洲零售業，女裝、男裝和配飾的銷售額均出現下降。雖然我們的客戶流量有所減少，但與第一季度的業績相比，我們的轉化率環比有所提高。我們表現​​最好的品類包括毛衣、運動服、某些牛仔產品，如工裝褲和連身褲、連身褲、女士梭織襯衫和男士網狀上衣。在配飾方面，手袋、旅行產品和手錶的表現優於整體類別。馬西亞諾度過了一個充滿挑戰的季度，因為我們面臨著一年前非常強勁的銷售，鞋類和童裝的趨勢比整體業務更好。

In Asia, we had success with women's and men's products and a very strong performance in accessories, driven by handbags, small leather goods, and watches. We also saw strength in sales of footwear and kids products. Right now, there is a lot weighing on the global consumer. Despite tighter labor markets and rising wages, higher interest rates and inflation are impacting consumer confidence, and we expect that this will continue for some time. Despite those challenges, we are confident in our business and our brand momentum, and we are very pleased with how our products are resonating with our customers.

在亞洲，我們在女士和男士產品方面取得了成功，在手袋、小皮具和手錶的推動下，我們在配飾方面也取得了非常強勁的表現。我們還看到鞋類和兒童產品的銷售強勁。目前，全球消費者面臨著很大的壓力。儘管勞動力市場趨緊和工資上漲，但利率和通脹上升正在影響消費者信心，我們預計這種情況將持續一段時間。儘管面臨這些挑戰，我們對我們的業務和品牌勢頭充滿信心，我們對我們的產品與客戶產生共鳴感到非常高興。

Our approach to our business remains consistent with the strategies that we shared with you in the past. Our teams continue to focus relentlessly on those areas that we can control, and we have initiatives in place to further improve on our planning and execution to optimize our results. We see the biggest opportunities in 4 key areas of our business to create value, brand innovation, inventory management, efficiencies and cost control and growth. Let me address each one.

我們的業務方針與我們過去與您分享的戰略保持一致。我們的團隊繼續不懈地關注我們可以控制的領域，並且我們採取了舉措來進一步改進我們的規劃和執行，以優化我們的結果。我們在創造價值、品牌創新、庫存管理、效率、成本控制和增長的 4 個關鍵業務領域看到了最大的機遇。讓我逐一介紹一下。

Starting with our ambitious brand elevation initiative. As I have discussed in the past, Paul has led our team to reinvent our brand and influence virtually every facet of our global business. The results have been extraordinary. Now with a global line of products, we represent our brand consistently across all of our global distribution and across all of our 25 product categories. This initiative has driven significant efficiencies in global design, product development and sourcing, and enabled us to massively consolidate our vendor base despite adding proximity vendors to enhance speed to market. Most importantly, Paul, in collaboration with our internal product teams and licensee partners, has led a major effort to improve product quality, taste and styling and to increase our focus on sustainability. Paul has also led our teams in driving strong alignment and coordination between the product launches and the marketing campaigns featuring those products.

從我們雄心勃勃的品牌提升計劃開始。正如我過去所討論的，保羅帶領我們的團隊重塑了我們的品牌，並影響了我們全球業務的幾乎各個方面。結果非常出色。現在，我們擁有全球產品線，在我們所有的全球分銷網絡和所有 25 個產品類別中始終如一地代表我們的品牌。這一舉措顯著提高了全球設計、產品開發和採購的效率，並使我們能夠大規模鞏固我們的供應商基礎，儘管增加了鄰近供應商以加快上市速度。最重要的是，Paul 與我們的內部產品團隊和被許可方合作夥伴合作，做出了重大努力，以提高產品質量、口味和款式，並加強我們對可持續發展的關注。保羅還領導我們的團隊在產品發布和以這些產品為特色的營銷活動之間推動強有力的協調和協調。

A good example is our most recent campaign introducing Georgina Rodríguez as the face of Guess? and Marciano for Fall 2023. Georgina is a Spanish-Argentine model and influencer with more than 50 million Instagram followers. She's also the wife of Soccer Star Cristiano Ronaldo, who has 600 million followers, so she gets tremendous exposure through him as well. All of the products modeled by Georgina are available around the world in stores, on our website, in wholesale distribution, and featured in magazines, social media and catalogs and the initial sell-throughs for these products have been very strong.

一個很好的例子是我們最近的活動介紹喬治娜·羅德里格斯作為 Guess? 的代言人？ 2023 年秋季的 Marciano 和 Georgina 是一位西班牙裔阿根廷模特和影響者，在 Instagram 上擁有超過 5000 萬粉絲。她也是擁有 6 億粉絲的足球明星克里斯蒂亞諾·羅納爾多的妻子，因此她也通過他獲得了巨大的曝光度。喬治娜 (Georgina) 設計的所有產品均可在世界各地的商店、我們的網站、批發分銷中購買，並在雜誌、社交媒體和目錄中出現，這些產品的初始銷售量非常強勁。

Also related to our brand elevation strategy is our focus to price all our products based on the customers' perceived value. We are also buying products strictly based on expected customer demand, not more, not less. Our goal is to sell more at full price, minimize promotions and avoid creating excess inventory. Lastly, we have remodeled hundreds of stores in the last 3 years, and we opened many new stores as well. Over 80% of our store fleet has now been refreshed to improve brand representation and the customer experience.

與我們的品牌提升戰略相關的是，我們注重根據客戶的感知價值對所有產品進行定價。我們也是嚴格按照預期的客戶需求來購買產品，不多也不少。我們的目標是以全價銷售更多產品，盡量減少促銷活動並避免庫存過多。最後，在過去的三年裡，我們改造了數百家商店，也開設了許多新店。我們超過 80% 的商店現已更新，以改善品牌形象和客戶體驗。

Moving to inventory management. We have been executing well on our commitment to reduce our inventory investment and increase free cash flows. We have implemented several new systems applications to automate multiple functions for inventory planning and allocation and use data for better decision-making. These solutions are also helping us to improve assortment planning and execute better buys to maximize sales and enhance margins. And our results have been very strong. We have already taken out about 1 month of inventory from the product cycle without impacting sales negatively, and we closed the second quarter with only 4% more inventory than last year. Today, we are very confident in our goal to close the year with a 10% reduction in inventory compared to last year.

轉向庫存管理。我們一直很好地履行減少庫存投資和增加自由現金流的承諾。我們實施了多個新的系統應用程序，以實現庫存規劃和分配的多項功能自動化，並使用數據做出更好的決策。這些解決方案還幫助我們改進品種規劃並執行更好的採購，以最大限度地提高銷售額並提高利潤。我們的成果非常強勁。我們已經從產品週期中剔除了大約 1 個月的庫存，而沒有對銷售產生負面影響，並且我們在第二季度結束時的庫存僅比去年增加了 4%。今天，我們對年底庫存比去年減少 10% 的目標非常有信心。

In connection with cost controls and efficiencies, we are focusing on 3 key areas. First, we have integrated several functions at a global level to improve accountability and eliminate organizational redundancies, most recently completing the integration of our financial systems between North America and Europe. Second, we are looking at ways to streamline operations across the world where we can do more with less. As an example, we are currently in the process of closing our hub in Hong Kong, which serviced many Asian countries for years. These businesses will now be serviced by our teams in Singapore, and the retail stores in the market will be integrated into our China operation. And third, we continue to see opportunities to reduce variable expenses, including inbound freight and store payroll, which are large line items in our operations. We are pleased with our progress and today's results are a testament to our success.

在成本控制和效率方面，我們重點關註三個關鍵領域。首先，我們在全球範圍內整合了多項職能，以改善問責制並消除組織冗餘，最近完成了北美和歐洲之間金融系統的整合。其次，我們正在尋找簡化全球運營的方法，以便我們能夠用更少的資源做更多的事情。例如，我們目前正在關閉香港的樞紐，該樞紐多年來為許多亞洲國家提供服務。這些業務現在將由我們在新加坡的團隊提供服務，而市場上的零售店將整合到我們的中國業務中。第三，我們繼續看到減少可變費用的機會，包括入庫運費和商店工資，這些是我們運營中的大項。我們對我們的進步感到高興，今天的結果證明了我們的成功。

Lastly, as I mentioned in previous calls, we see significant opportunities for growth: first, driving greater sales productivity in our existing network; second, growing organically in existing and new markets; third, exploring further brand extensions, including new product categories; and fourth, considering opportunities that leverage our global infrastructure and our network of licensees and wholesale partners. As our leadership team builds out our long-term plan, we look forward to sharing more with you on all of these areas of growth at an Investor Day to be scheduled before year-end. I also want to call out the release of our fifth Guess? ESG report, which you can access at sustainability.guess.com. This comprehensive report highlights the outcomes of our first-ever double materiality assessment and our many initiatives, including our dedication to fair treatment and gender pay parity, which we have just achieved in our major markets. KPMG has examined the report's key metrics and disclosures and we have become one of the first in the fashion industry to obtain reasonable assurance.

最後，正如我在之前的電話會議中提到的，我們看到了巨大的增長機會：首先，提高我們現有網絡的銷售效率；其次，在現有市場和新市場中有機增長；第三，探索進一步的品牌延伸，包括新的產品類別；第四，考慮利用我們的全球基礎設施以及我們的被許可人和批發合作夥伴網絡的機會。隨著我們的領導團隊制定長期計劃，我們期待在年底前舉行的投資者日與您分享所有這些增長領域的更多信息。我還想提一下我們第五次猜測的發布？ ESG 報告，您可以在Sustainability.guess.com 上訪問該報告。這份綜合報告重點介紹了我們首次雙重重要性評估的結果以及我們的許多舉措，包括我們剛剛在主要市場實現的公平待遇和性別薪酬平等。畢馬威已經審查了該報告的關鍵指標和披露信息，我們已成為時尚行業中首批獲得合理保證的公司之一。

And now to our outlook. Our business has shown tremendous resilience so far. Our first half results give us confidence in our teams and our ability to execute well. I feel strongly about our plans for the fall and holiday seasons and our early sell-throughs of the new products are very encouraging. For those reasons, we are raising our adjusted operating margin expectations for the year to a range of 9% to 9.4% and our EPS outlook to a range of $2.88 to $3.08 per share.

現在談談我們的展望。到目前為止，我們的業務表現出了巨大的韌性。我們上半年的成績讓我們對我們的團隊和我們良好執行的能力充滿信心。我對我們秋季和假期的計劃深有感觸，而且新產品的早期銷售非常令人鼓舞。出於這些原因，我們將今年調整後的營業利潤率預期上調至 9% 至 9.4%，每股收益預期上調至 2.88 美元至 3.08 美元。

Accordingly, we now expect to deliver year-over-year EPS growth despite significant headwinds. Markus will share more about that in a moment. And speaking of Markus, I'm excited to welcome him to our company as our new Chief Financial Officer. Markus brings a strong background to this role and great relevant experience from his 17-year career with Hugo Boss, where he had multiple responsibilities in financial, operational and even commercial roles. I'm confident that he will make strong contributions to our company.

因此，儘管面臨巨大阻力，我們現在預計每股收益將實現同比增長。馬庫斯稍後將分享更多相關內容。說到馬庫斯，我很高興歡迎他加入我們公司，擔任我們新任首席財務官。 Markus 為這一職位帶來了深厚的背景以及他在 Hugo Boss 17 年職業生涯中的豐富相關經驗，他在 Hugo Boss 擔任過財務、運營甚至商業等多重職責。我相信他將為我們公司做出巨大貢獻。

Before I pass it over to Markus, I want to share with you why I'm so excited to be here at Guess? and so optimistic about our future. I'm sure you could all list companies with amazing brands or others with particularly strong business models and still others with reputations as great places to work. I could do the same, but I would have 3 separate lists. What I believe makes Guess? special, what makes us unique, is that this is a place where I believe all of those factors come together to create a powerful platform to drive long-term sustainable value for all of our stakeholders, and it hasn't been by accident. The unique position that we have staked out for ourselves came with 42 years of extraordinary vision and focused execution.

在將其交給 Markus 之前，我想與您分享為什麼我對來到 Guess 如此興奮？對我們的未來非常樂觀。我相信你們都可以列出擁有令人驚嘆的品牌的公司或其他具有特別強大的商業模式的公司，還有其他一些享有良好工作場所聲譽的公司。我也可以這樣做，但我會有 3 個單獨的列表。我相信什麼讓你猜？我們的獨特之處在於，我相信所有這些因素匯聚在一起，創造了一個強大的平台，為我們所有利益相關者帶來長期可持續的價值，這並非偶然。我們憑藉 42 年的非凡願景和專注的執行力為自己確立了獨特的地位。

First, there is the brand. The Guess? brand today is truly a lifestyle brand. Thanks to the most iconic and aspirational marketing campaigns that Paul created over the last 4 decades. That strong lifestyle image was developed early on and our founders had not only the ability, but the courage to pursue multiple categories quickly and effectively well beyond Denim. Product excellence has always been king at Guess?. And today, we offer amazing products across more than 25 categories for women, men and kids.

首先，有品牌。猜測？今天的品牌是真正的生活方式品牌。感謝 Paul 在過去 4 年裡創造的最具標誌性和令人嚮往的營銷活動。這種強烈的生活方式形像是很早就形成的，我們的創始人不僅有能力，而且有勇氣快速有效地追求牛仔布之外的多個類別。卓越的產品始終是 Guess? 的王道。如今，我們為女性、男性和兒童提供超過 25 個類別的優質產品。

Second is our powerful and diverse business model. Guess? leverages a strong licensing model. This business delivers $100 million in royalties a year and does so without deploying significant capital, so it delivers high returns, but it also aligns capabilities with mission to ensure the best execution. Our core products, mainly apparel, are all managed internally. We know this category is better than anyone. However, special products that require expertise for design, manufacturing and distribution such as watches, handbags and footwear have always been licensed out to the best partners that truly understand both the product and the brand. Similarly, we have a license or franchise model in certain markets to leverage experts in those regions, Middle East and Mexico are good examples of this.

其次是我們強大而多樣化的商業模式。猜測？利用強大的許可模式。該業務每年提供 1 億美元的特許權使用費，並且不需要部署大量資本，因此它提供了高回報，但它也將能力與使命結合起來，以確保最佳執行。我們的核心產品，主要是服裝，都是內部管理的。我們知道這個類別比任何人都好。然而，需要設計、製造和分銷專業知識的特殊產品，如手錶、手袋和鞋類，始終會授權給真正了解產品和品牌的最佳合作夥伴。同樣，我們在某些市場擁有許可或特許經營模式，以利用這些地區的專家，中東和墨西哥就是很好的例子。

Our business model also reflects a true world vision. Almost from its inception, Guess? pursued an international expansion strategy and today's presence in 100 countries and global brand awareness are a direct consequence of that strategy. The business also benefits from significant synergies resulting from a global network with omnichannel and multichannel capabilities, providing a highly diversified and balanced model.

我們的商業模式也反映了真正的世界願景。幾乎從一開始，你猜？奉行國際擴張戰略，如今其業務遍及 100 個國家，其全球品牌知名度是該戰略的直接結果。該業務還受益於具有全渠道和多渠道能力的全球網絡帶來的顯著協同效應，提供了高度多元化和平衡的模式。

And third, we have a culture here that makes Guess? a great place to work and build a professional life inside a family. From its inception, the Guess? culture has been highly entrepreneurial and adaptable, where our long-term focus drives all important decisions and where our teams work as a family and are supported and responsible to deliver results in their businesses. This culture of accountability and empowerment allow us to attract and retain top talent all over the world.

第三，我們這裡有一種文化，讓你猜猜？一個在家庭中工作和建立職業生活的好地方。從一開始，猜猜？我們的文化具有高度的創業精神和適應性，我們的長期關注推動了所有重要決策，我們的團隊像一個家庭一樣工作，並得到支持並負責在業務中取得成果。這種問責和賦權的文化使我們能夠吸引和留住世界各地的頂尖人才。

The convergence of all these attributes on to one powerful platform create a unique strength and potential of our company. Paul has been our chief visionary and architect and we couldn't be more grateful and excited to work with him every single day to make it bigger, better and more successful. We are well positioned to grow our business and deliver strong value creation for our shareholders for years to come. I look forward to reporting on our progress this year and in the future. And with that, let me pass the call to Markus. Welcome, Markus.

所有這些屬性融合到一個強大的平台上，創造了我們公司獨特的優勢和潛力。保羅是我們的首席遠見者和建築師，我們非常感激和興奮每天與他合作，使我們的公司變得更大、更好、更成功。我們處於有利位置，可以在未來幾年發展我們的業務並為股東創造強大的價值。我期待著報告我們今年和未來的進展。接下來，讓我把電話轉給馬庫斯。歡迎，馬庫斯。

Thank you, Carlos, and good afternoon, everyone. Before I take you through the numbers, I want to tell you how excited I am to be a part of the Guess? family, and help the team grow the business long term. I'd like to thank Paul and Carlos for their confidence in me and the opportunity to be a part of this incredible company. The Guess? and Marciano brands are renown globally, and we have a strong platform for sustainable and profitable growth. I'm looking forward to engaging with you all and continuing to support the company's goal to deliver outstanding value to our shareholders.

謝謝你，卡洛斯，大家下午好。在我向您介紹這些數字之前，我想告訴您我對成為 Guess 的一部分感到多麼興奮？家庭，並幫助團隊長期發展業務。我要感謝保羅和卡洛斯對我的信任以及成為這家令人難以置信的公司的一員的機會。猜測？和 Marciano 品牌享譽全球，我們擁有強大的可持續盈利增長平台。我期待著與大家合作，並繼續支持公司實現為股東創造卓越價值的目標。

With that, let's take a look at the quarter. We delivered better-than-expected revenues, operating profit and earnings per share. This quarter's performance demonstrates the strength of our diversified business model, with all our segments delivering results in line with or beyond our expectations. We expanded gross margin, maintained clean inventories and carefully manage costs, all of which enabled us to deliver an adjusted operating margin of 9.8%, an outstanding performance in a dynamic environment.

接下來，讓我們來看看本季度的情況。我們的收入、營業利潤和每股收益均好於預期。本季度的業績展示了我們多元化業務模式的實力，我們所有部門的業績均符合或超出我們的預期。我們擴大了毛利率，保持了庫存清潔並仔細管理了成本，所有這些使我們能夠實現 9.8% 的調整後營業利潤率，這在動態環境中表現出色。

Let me take you through our results in more detail. Total company revenues were $665 million in the quarter, a 3% increase from last year's second quarter and a 3% constant dollar increase. The better-than-expected performance reflects positive retail comp sales, improved licensing revenues and earlier-than-anticipated wholesale deliveries in Europe.

讓我更詳細地向您介紹我們的結果。該季度公司總收入為 6.65 億美元，比去年第二季度增長 3%，美元不變增長率為 3%。好於預期的業績反映了零售銷售的積極增長、許可收入的提高以及歐洲批發交貨的時間早於預期。

Turning to our regional performance for the quarter. Starting with Europe, where we posted an 8% constant currency revenue increase and a 9% increase in U.S. dollars. The revenue growth was mainly driven by strong retail store comps and higher wholesale ship. Our stores in the region posted a 13% constant currency comp increase in the quarter, driven by continued store traffic increases and strong AUR growth, more than offsetting a modest conversion decline. As in the past few quarters, Turkey's hyperinflation had an outsized impact on the comps and excluding Turkey, that comp increase would have been 10%. In European wholesale, we returned to normal shipping patterns in line with the previous year. Compared with our initial expectations, we experienced a roughly $10 million timing shift of Fall/Winter '23 wholesale shipments from Q3 into Q2. The Spring/Summer '24 collection campaign is almost completed. Orders are expected to increase low single digits compared to the prior year Spring/Summer campaign aligned with our initial expectations.

轉向我們本季度的區域業績。從歐洲開始，我們公佈的貨幣收入恆定增長 8%，美元收入增長 9%。收入增長主要是由強勁的零售店競爭和更高的批發船推動的。在商店客流量持續增加和 AUR 強勁增長的推動下，本季度我們在該地區的商店實現了 13% 的固定匯率增長率，足以抵消轉化率的小幅下降。與過去幾個季度一樣，土耳其的惡性通貨膨脹對綜合指數產生了巨大影響，排除土耳其後，綜合指數增幅將為 10%。在歐洲批發方面，我們恢復了與去年一致的正常運輸模式。與我們最初的預期相比，我們經歷了 23 年秋冬批發出貨量從第三季度到第二季度大約 1000 萬美元的時間轉變。 '24 春夏系列活動已接近尾聲。與去年春夏季活動相比，訂單預計將增長低個位數，符合我們的初步預期。

Operating margin in our European business increased by 260 basis points to 12.9%. The expansion was driven by higher IMU, strong comp sales and lower markdowns, partially offset by currency headwinds, negatively impacting our product margins. In Americas Retail, revenues decreased 8%, both in U.S. dollars and in constant currency. While traffic remains under pressure in our North American stores, conversion drove a sequential improvement in stock comp, which declined 7% in Q2 following a Q1 comp decline of 12%. AURs were stable compared to last year's Q2. Our North American e-com business performed better than stores and increased low single digits.

我們歐洲業務的營業利潤率增長了 260 個基點，達到 12.9%。擴張是由較高的 IMU、強勁的銷售和較低的降價推動的，但部分被貨幣逆風所抵消，對我們的產品利潤率產生了負面影響。在美洲零售業，收入下降了 8%（以美元和固定匯率計算）。雖然我們北美商店的客流量仍然面臨壓力，但轉換推動了庫存比較的連續改善，繼第一季度比較下降 12% 後，第二季度庫存比較下降了 7%。與去年第二季度相比，AUR 保持穩定。我們的北美電子商務業務表現好於商店，並以低個位數增長。

Americas Retail posted a 9.1% operating margin compared to 13.2% operating margin a year earlier. The 410 basis point decrease in operating margin was mainly driven by higher expenses, the deleveraging of expenses given the sales decline and a lower mix of full price selling partially offset by a higher IMU. Our product margins were flat with the higher initial markup offset by a lower mix of full price selling. As we move through the second half of this year, we expect the expense deleverage to begin to moderate, primarily in the fourth quarter, given our expectations for revenue.

美洲零售業的營業利潤率為 9.1%，而上年同期為 13.2%。營業利潤率下降 410 個基點，主要是由於費用增加、銷售額下降導致費用去槓桿化以及全價銷售組合減少，但 IMU 增加部分抵消了這一影響。我們的產品利潤率持平，較高的初始加價被較低的全價銷售組合所抵消。隨著今年下半年的到來，考慮到我們對收入的預期，我們預計費用去槓桿化將開始放緩，主要是在第四季度。

In Americas Wholesale, revenues declined by 13% in U.S. dollars and 16% in constant currency. The decrease was driven by lower shipments in Mexico and the U.S. Operating margin reached 25.3%, an improvement of 250 basis points from last year, driven by gross margin expansion, partially offset by higher expenses.

美洲批發業務的收入以美元計算下降了 13%，以固定匯率計算則下降了 16%。下降的原因是墨西哥和美國的出貨量下降。由於毛利率擴張，營業利潤率達到 25.3%，比去年提高了 250 個基點，但部分被較高的費用所抵消。

In Asia, revenue grew 19% in U.S. dollars and 22% in constant currency. The growth was driven primarily by the recently acquired stores in Korea. Stock comp sales for the region increased 3% in constant currency. Operating margin improved 580 basis points to negative 0.9%. This improvement was driven by the direct operation of those new Korean stores as well as leverage our expense structure.

在亞洲，以美元計算的收入增長了 19%，以固定匯率計算的收入增長了 22%。這一增長主要是由最近收購的韓國門店推動的。按固定匯率計算，該地區的股票銷售增長了 3%。營業利潤率提高 580 個基點，至負 0.9%。這一改善是由這些新的韓國商店的直接運營以及我們的費用結構的影響推動的。

And finally, our licensing segment. Royalty revenues increased 13% in U.S. dollars and constant currency. Segment operating margin was 94.1% and operating profit increased by 24%. In the quarter, total company's gross margin was 44.3%, an improvement of 220 basis points. Improved IMUs, favorable segment mix and lower markdowns were partially offset by a negative currency impact on our product margin. Adjusted SG&A for the quarter increased 7% to $229 million. We experienced inflationary pressures on our cost structure, including higher selling expenses in our retail stores. And we made investments in our infrastructure, most notably in Europe.

最後是我們的許可部分。以美元和固定匯率計算的特許權使用費收入增長了 13%。分部營業利潤率為 94.1%，營業利潤增長 24%。本季度，公司總毛利率為44.3%，提高了220個基點。改進的 IMU、有利的細分市場組合和較低的降價被貨幣對我們產品利潤率的負面影響部分抵消。本季度調整後的 SG&A 增長 7%，達到 2.29 億美元。我們的成本結構面臨通脹壓力，包括零售店的銷售費用增加。我們對基礎設施進行了投資，尤其是在歐洲。

Our expenses were also impacted by the unfavorable impact from currency. For the quarter, our adjusted SG&A rate increased 110 basis points to 34.5%. Our second quarter adjusted operating profit increased to $65 million. This represented an increase of $9 million or 17% compared to last year. Adjusted operating margin was 9.8%, 110 basis points better than last year's Q2, driven primarily by a higher initial markup and favorable business mix, partially offset by the negative currency impact and higher expenses. Currencies negatively affected adjusted operating profit by $8 million and adjusted operating margin by 130 basis points. We recorded nonoperating net expense of $5 million versus a $9 million charge in last year's second quarter. The change was primarily due to lower net unrealized and realized losses from foreign currency exposures. And we recorded an adjusted effective tax rate of 26%. Adjusted Q2 diluted EPS was $0.72 compared to $0.39 of earnings per share in last year's second quarter, an 85% increase in adjusted earnings per share.

我們的開支也受到貨幣不利影響的影響。本季度，我們調整後的 SG&A 率增加了 110 個基點，達到 34.5%。我們第二季度調整後營業利潤增至 6500 萬美元。與去年相比，增加了 900 萬美元，即 17%。調整後營業利潤率為 9.8%，比去年第二季度高 110 個基點，這主要是由於較高的初始加價和有利的業務組合推動的，但部分被負面貨幣影響和較高的費用所抵消。匯率對調整後營業利潤產生了 800 萬美元的負面影響，對調整後營業利潤率產生了 130 個基點的負面影響。我們記錄的非運營淨費用為 500 萬美元，而去年第二季度的費用為 900 萬美元。這一變化主要是由於外幣敞口的未實現和已實現淨損失減少。我們的調整後有效稅率為 26%。調整後第二季度稀釋後每股收益為 0.72 美元，而去年第二季度每股收益為 0.39 美元，調整後每股收益增長了 85%。

Moving to the balance sheet. We ended the quarter with $303 million in cash compared to $174 million a year ago. The most significant drivers of that $129 million cash build over the last 4 quarters include $135 million of free cash flow and net draws on our credit facilities of $51 million, partially offset by $55 million in dividends and a $9 million payment to purchase our Russia joint venture partners' 30% minority interest. We ended the quarter with a total of $299 million of borrowing capacity on our various global facilities. So roughly $600 million of available liquidity.

轉向資產負債表。本季度結束時，我們的現金為 3.03 億美元，而去年同期為 1.74 億美元。過去4 個季度1.29 億美元現金增長的最重要驅動因素包括1.35 億美元的自由現金流和5100 萬美元的信貸額度淨提取，部分被5500 萬美元的股息和900 萬美元的購買俄羅斯合資公司的付款所抵消風險合夥人持有 30% 的少數股權。截至本季度末，我們全球各個機構的借款能力總計為 2.99 億美元。因此大約有 6 億美元的可用流動資金。

Inventories were $554 million, up 4% in U.S. dollars and flat in constant currency versus last year. Regionally, our inventory growth comes from our international markets with our North American inventory levels being down against last Q2. Our overall inventory levels are in line with our plan and as we return to a more traditional timing of receipts this year, our plan is to further reduce our inventory levels. Overall, we are pleased with our inventory composition and forward orders and feel we are very well positioned to support our business moving forward.

庫存為 5.54 億美元，按美元計算增長 4%，按固定匯率計算與去年持平。從地區來看，我們的庫存增長來自國際市場，北美庫存水平較上一季度有所下降。我們的總體庫存水平符合我們的計​​劃，隨著今年我們恢復到更傳統的收貨時間，我們的計劃是進一步降低庫存水平。總體而言，我們對庫存構成和遠期訂單感到滿意，並認為我們有能力支持我們的業務向前發展。

Our receivables were $318 million, a 6% increase versus last year's $302 million. On a constant currency basis, receivables increased about 1%. For the first half, capital expenditures were $35 million, mainly driven by investments in store remodels and technology. This compared to $51 million in the first half of the prior year. Free cash flow for the first half was positive $9 million, an improvement of $63 million compared with the cash consumption of $54 million for the prior year first half. The improved free cash flow resulted from favorable changes in working capital including a substantial reduction in inventories and lower capital expenditures, partially offset by lower net income.

我們的應收賬款為 3.18 億美元，比去年的 3.02 億美元增長了 6%。按固定匯率計算，應收賬款增長約1%。上半年，資本支出為 3500 萬美元，主要由商店改造和技術投資推動。相比之下，去年上半年的銷售額為 5100 萬美元。上半年自由現金流為正 900 萬美元，與去年上半年 5400 萬美元的現金消耗相比，增加了 6300 萬美元。自由現金流的改善得益於營運資本的有利變化，包括庫存大幅減少和資本支出減少，但被淨利潤下降部分抵消。

So now let's talk about our outlook for fiscal '24 and the third quarter. With the second quarter now behind us and as we consider our business for the second half of the year, we are raising our earnings outlook for the fiscal year with an expectation of stronger operating margins on a similar level of revenues compared to our prior guidance. Our improved outlook on earnings is primarily driven by our strong Q2 performance, some of which were presented to timing shift with the third quarter. We expect the strong momentum of our brand to continue in Europe, where revenues should reach nearly $1.5 billion this year. In North America, we continue to anticipate traffic headwinds and customers who are prudent in their spending. We are very pleased with our inventory levels and composition that is well aligned with our sales expectations. With normal fluctuations from other parts of our business, and the prevailing currency environment, we expect full year revenues to grow in the range of 2.5% to 4%, both in U.S. dollars and in local currency.

現在我們來談談對 24 財年和第三季度的展望。隨著第二季度的過去，當我們考慮下半年的業務時，我們正在提高本財年的盈利前景，預計與我們之前的指導相比，在相似的收入水平上營業利潤率會更高。我們盈利前景的改善主要是由於我們第二季度的強勁業績，其中一些業績與第三季度的時間發生了變化。我們預計我們品牌的強勁勢頭將在歐洲持續下去，今年的收入將達到近 15 億美元。在北美，我們繼續預計交通逆風和消費者將謹慎消費。我們對庫存水平和構成非常滿意，這與我們的銷售預期非常一致。由於我們業務其他部分的正常波動以及當前的貨幣環境，我們預計全年收入將以美元和當地貨幣計算的增長范圍為 2.5% 至 4%。

Moving down the P&L. Just as we saw in the second quarter for the balance of the year, we anticipate expanding gross margins on a year-over-year basis despite some lingering currency headwinds. That expansion should be fueled mainly by the cost improvements we're enjoying as the supply chain and shipping environment have returned to normal. On expenses, both inflation and currencies will negatively affect this year's expense structure and rates. Let me remind you that by the time we get to the fourth quarter, however, some of that rate pressure should abate or even turn favorable, given that the fourth quarter will include an extra selling week this year. With our strong results in the first half of this year, we are confident about our plans for the second half of the year.

損益表向下移動。正如我們在今年剩餘時間的第二季度所看到的那樣，儘管匯率逆風依然存在，但我們預計毛利率將同比擴大。隨著供應鍊和運輸環境恢復正常，我們所享受的成本改善應該會推動這種擴張。在支出方面，通貨膨脹和貨幣都將對今年的支出結構和費率產生負面影響。讓我提醒您，然而，當我們進入第四季度時，考慮到今年第四季度將包括一個額外的銷售週，部分利率壓力應該會減輕甚至變得有利。憑藉今年上半年的強勁業績，我們對下半年的計劃充滿信心。

Today, we are raising our adjusted operating margin outlook to a range of 9.0% and 9.4% for fiscal year '24. At the high end of our guidance, the adjusted operating profit is expected to be on the same level as in fiscal '23. For some additional perspective on that, if we were to adjust for the headwinds caused by currencies, last year's COVID relief benefit, a change in performance-based comp expense and factor out the extra selling week, our outlook would represent an underlying operating income growth rate in the low teens at the midpoint of our guidance.

今天，我們將 24 財年調整後營業利潤率預期上調至 9.0% 至 9.4%。在我們指導的上限，調整後的營業利潤預計將與 23 財年的水平相同。從一些額外的角度來看，如果我們要對貨幣造成的不利因素、去年的新冠疫情救濟福利、基於績效的補償費用的變化進行調整，並考慮到額外的銷售週，我們的前景將代表潛在的營業收入增長利率處於我們指導的中點的十幾歲以下。

We are also raising our adjusted diluted EPS outlook for the year to a range of $2.88 and $3.08 per share, which is net of the effect of the second quarter nonoperating charges.

我們還將今年調整後稀釋後每股收益預期上調至每股 2.88 美元至 3.08 美元，這已扣除第二季度非營業費用的影響。

In the third quarter, we expect U.S. dollar revenues to increase in the range of 2.5% to 4.5% versus last year's third quarter based on current prevailing exchange rates. Currency impacts should represent a roughly 2-point tailwind for revenue growth. We expect third quarter adjusted operating margin between 7.5% and 8.3% and adjusted EPS in the range of $0.55 to $0.64 per share.

根據當前現行匯率，我們預計第三季度的美元收入將比去年第三季度增長 2.5% 至 4.5%。貨幣影響應該會為收入增長帶來大約 2 個百分點的推動力。我們預計第三季度調整後營業利潤率為 7.5% 至 8.3%，調整後每股收益為 0.55 美元至 0.64 美元。

Lastly, on capital allocation. We are on track with our plan to improve our inventory turns with supply chain now functioning more normally. Coupled with our outlook and this year's lower CapEx plans, we are well positioned to generate free cash flow of roughly USD 160 million. Our outlook is based on our best assessment of the current macroeconomic environment, including inflationary pressures and the consumers' willingness to spend. As always, we will manage the business prudently taking advantage of the power of our diversified business model, which allows us to leverage areas of strength to mitigate risks that may arise in other parts of our business.

最後，關於資本配置。我們正在按計劃實施改善庫存周轉率的計劃，供應鏈現在運行得更加正常。結合我們的前景和今年較低的資本支出計劃，我們完全有能力產生約 1.6 億美元的自由現金流。我們的前景基於我們對當前宏觀經濟環境的最佳評估，包括通脹壓力和消費者的消費意願。一如既往，我們將利用多元化業務模式的力量審慎管理業務，這使我們能夠利用優勢領域來降低業務其他部分可能出現的風險。

In closing, I want to reiterate that we are very pleased with the execution of our team, and we are confident to deliver the results I just outlined. Further, we have a strong balance sheet and are in an excellent financial position to invest in the growth of our business and continue to return capital to our shareholders. And with that, we can now open the call up for questions.

最後，我想重申，我們對團隊的執行力感到非常滿意，並且我們有信心實現我剛才概述的結果。此外，我們擁有強大的資產負債表，並處於良好的財務狀況，可以投資於我們的業務增長並繼續向股東返還資本。這樣，我們現在就可以開始提問了。

(Operator Instructions) It comes from Corey Tarlowe with Jefferies.

（操作員說明）它來自 Jefferies 的 Corey Tarlowe。

Carlos, it seems like you've had some really strong momentum in Europe. So I'm wondering if you could just maybe unpack that for us a little bit and maybe just talk a little bit more broadly about the momentum of the brand. It seems like you have some really great partnerships that are really helping to fuel that growth. So just curious there, it would be great to get some color.

卡洛斯，看來你在歐洲的勢頭非常強勁。所以我想知道您是否可以為我們稍微解釋一下，或者更廣泛地談談該品牌的勢頭。看來你們有一些非常好的合作夥伴關係，確實有助於推動這種增長。所以只是好奇，如果能得到一些顏色那就太好了。

Yes. Let me start, and then I'm sure Markus will chime in here. Yes, we are very, very pleased with our performance across the company. As we said, during our prepared remarks, just every business did as we expected or better. And Europe was leading the charge there. We had a great quarter, some of it was that shift of shipments into the second quarter from the third quarter. But frankly, that is a small part of the bid and the better performance that we experienced.

是的。讓我開始吧，然後我相信馬庫斯會插話。是的，我們對整個公司的表現非常非常滿意。正如我們所說，在我們準備好的發言中，每個企業的表現都符合我們的預期或更好。歐洲在這方面處於領先地位。我們度過了一個很棒的季度，其中一些原因是出貨量從第三季度轉移到了第二季度。但坦率地說，這只是投標和我們體驗到的更好性能的一小部分。

What we saw was very strong comps in Europe and these strong comps have been driven by a very healthy customer traffic into our stores. We are seeing just healthy metrics also inside the stores. Of course, we are benefiting from the price changes that we took over the last couple of years. And the margins have been very much under control and also benefiting from what we're seeing with inbound freight and everything that is impacting that part of the business. We are very pleased with how the customer is responding to our assortments and we feel that, that is also carrying through our demand for wholesale.

我們看到歐洲的競爭非常強勁，而這些強勁的競爭是由進入我們商店的非常健康的客流量推動的。我們在商店內也看到了健康的指標。當然，我們受益於過去幾年的價格變化。利潤率一直在很大程度上受到控制，並且也受益於我們所看到的入境貨運以及影響該部分業務的一切因素。我們對客戶對我們產品種類的反應感到非常滿意，我們認為這也滿足了我們的批發需求。

With respect to the -- what we see with wholesale is still a very healthy business in terms of how our current seasons continue to perform. And this is in spite of the big change that we have been able to deliver over the last 4 -- 3 years, pre-pandemic to now, we are talking about an increase in that wholesale business in Europe from about EUR 480 million to about EUR 630 million currently. That's over 30% growth for the entire business. That's very big. It was driven by new categories and some just very ongoing strong momentum with the accounts that we have. So very pleased. Maybe Markus, you want to talk about the operating margin in Europe.

就我們當前季節的持續表現而言，我們看到的批發業務仍然是一項非常健康的業務。儘管我們在過去 4 到 3 年裡，從疫情爆發前到現在，已經實現了巨大的變化，但我們正在談論歐洲批發業務從約 4.8 億歐元增加到約 4.8 億歐元。目前為 6.3 億歐元。整個業務增長超過 30%。那是非常大的。它是由新類別和我們擁有的賬戶的一些非常持續的強勁勢頭推動的。所以非常高興。也許馬庫斯，您想談談歐洲的營業利潤率。

Thank you, Carlos. We are very pleased with the operating margin development in our European business in the second quarter. We're up 260 basis points. I think I shared in the prepared remarks, the higher international markups, I think where we see the benefits from -- especially no inbound freight, driving our initial markups. And as Carlos mentioned, the strong comp sales helped us to drive more bottom line. What is also very positive to see is lower markdowns also contributed positively to our performance -- operating margin performance in the second quarter. And what we still continue to see is the currency headwind from transactions in our margins. I think I shared also previously. I think this was a headwind that we had in our margins. But overall, I think we are very pleased and, I think, are very happy with the performance and with the strength of our brand in the European segment.

謝謝你，卡洛斯。我們對第二季度歐洲業務的營業利潤率發展感到非常滿意。我們上漲了 260 個基點。我想我在準備好的發言中分享了更高的國際加價，我認為我們從中看到了好處——特別是沒有入境貨運，推動了我們最初的加價。正如卡洛斯提到的，強勁的銷售幫助我們提高了利潤。同樣非常積極的是，較低的降價也對我們的業績（第二季度的營業利潤率表現）做出了積極貢獻。我們仍然繼續看到我們的保證金交易帶來的貨幣阻力。我想我之前也分享過。我認為這是我們在利潤方面遇到的逆風。但總的來說，我認為我們非常滿意，並且對我們品牌在歐洲市場的表現和實力感到非常滿意。

Yes. And I think just you mentioned about the partnerships, and I think that is a big point. We have very strong country management teams. And obviously, that is driving a lot of the business in each of those markets. And they own the businesses and we have been very pleased with what they have been able to do in each and every one of those markets. And then just the accounts, the partnerships that we have at wholesale. We are talking about thousands of accounts, thousands of relationships, agent relationships. And all this, I think, is very unique and very powerful. And I think it has a lot to do with the success that we have been able to experience for now several years consecutively.

是的。我想你剛才提到了合作夥伴關係，我認為這是一個重要的點。我們擁有非常強大的國家管理團隊。顯然，這推動了每個市場的大量業務。他們擁有這些業務，我們對他們在每一個市場上所做的事情感到非常滿意。然後就是我們在批發方面的客戶和合作夥伴關係。我們談論的是數千個帳戶、數千個關係、代理關係。我認為這一切都是非常獨特且非常強大的。我認為這與我們連續幾年能夠取得的成功有很大關係。

That's great. And then just on inventory, it was up a little bit in the quarter, but it sounds like you're making progress to get it to a point where it's likely to be down by the end of the year. What does that look like on a regional basis? How do you think that you get there? And then ultimately, what do you think that means for the potential for driving even better margins over time as inventory levels become even more under control.

那太棒了。然後就庫存而言，本季度略有上升，但聽起來您正在取得進展，使其到年底可能會下降。從區域角度來看，情況如何？你認為你如何到達那裡？最後，您認為隨著庫存水平變得更加受控，這對於隨著時間的推移推動更高利潤率的潛力意味著什麼。

So let me start also. And again, I'm sure Markus will address the regional inventory levels. But overall, we came into the year knowing that last year, we made a very significant effort to really secure our business. So we were really ordering product to arrive to our distribution centers earlier. So then we could be there to service the business in spite of all the supply chain disruptions that we were experiencing together with the rest of the industry. And this year, as we saw that the supply chain was normalizing and that we could rely on a much tighter delivery time line, we made the plan to really reduce the inventory investment that we had in the business. I mean, obviously, it's one of the major sources of cash flow.

那麼讓我也開始吧。再說一遍，我確信馬庫斯將解決區域庫存水平問題。但總的來說，我們在進入這一年時就知道，去年我們為真正確保我們的業務做出了非常重大的努力。因此，我們確實訂購了產品，以便更早到達我們的配送中心。這樣，儘管我們與行業其他公司一起經歷了供應鏈中斷，但我們仍然可以為業務提供服務。今年，當我們看到供應鏈正在正常化並且我們可以依靠更嚴格的交貨時間線時，我們制定了計劃，以真正減少我們在業務中的庫存投資。我的意思是，顯然，它是現金流的主要來源之一。

So we put in place a plan to really extract from that inventory investment, a significant amount of inventories, and we have been able to take about 1 month out of the investments that we were running with last year. And we feel that by the end of this year, we should be with -- we closed with an inventory of about 10% less than what we closed the year last year with. And we are very confident about that because just we work with a very clear time line and ordering system that gives us a lot of visibility now to know that we will be able to make those numbers.

因此，我們制定了一項計劃，真正從庫存投資中提取大量庫存，我們已經能夠從去年的投資中提取大約 1 個月的時間。我們認為，到今年年底，我們的庫存量應該比去年減少約 10%。我們對此非常有信心，因為我們有一個非常明確的時間表和訂購系統，這讓我們現在有很大的可見性，知道我們將能夠實現這些數字。

Of course, we are buying very diligently on with a lot of discipline. We are not buying any more or less than what we think is going to be demanded by our customers in every one of our channels. And this formula has worked well for us. And we are very pleased. The increase in inventory, that 4% that you were referring to is primarily due to increase in average unit cost. So -- and this is all driven intentionally and strategically by our product strategies. I'm talking about higher quality business product mix and things that are completely in our control, and we are very pleased with it.

當然，我們非常勤奮地購買，並遵守很多紀律。我們購買的產品不會多於或少於我們認為每個渠道中客戶的需求量。這個公式對我們來說效果很好。我們非常高興。庫存的增加，即您所說的 4%，主要是由於平均單位成本的增加。所以——這一切都是由我們的產品戰略有意和戰略性驅動的。我說的是更高質量的業務產品組合以及完全在我們控制範圍內的事情，我們對此非常滿意。

Corey, adding to what Carlos just explained, our inventories stay up 4% in U.S. dollars, they're constant -- flat in constant currency. If we look at -- and I think we're very pleased with development over the last few quarters. If you look at the sequential improvement, if we can look back at the first quarter, we've been up 9% in U.S. dollars. Our inventory is 8% in constant dollars at the end of Q1. So we're very pleased, I think, to see this progress.

科里補充說，卡洛斯剛才解釋說，我們的庫存以美元計算保持了 4% 的增長，它們是恆定的——以恆定貨幣計算持平。如果我們看一下——我認為我們對過去幾個季度的發展感到非常滿意。如果你看看連續的改善，如果我們可以回顧第一季度，我們已經以美元計算增長了 9%。截至第一季度末，我們的庫存按不變美元計算為 8%。所以我認為我們非常高興看到這一進展。

Overall, I think to your question, I think, regarding also the regional mix, the inventory position at the end of the second quarter is in line with our sales expectations for the third quarter. We are pleased to see that the inventories are up in Europe and in Asia, also where we see growth of the business, and it's down in the Americas, very much aligned also with the sales expectations that we have, I think then also for the next upcoming quarters and we are very pleased. And just to reiterate also what Carlos just said, we feel very confident about our plan also to further reduce our inventories down roughly 10% at year-end.

總的來說，對於你的問題，我認為，就區域組合而言，第二季度末的庫存狀況與我們對第三季度的銷售預期相符。我們很高興看到歐洲和亞洲的庫存上升，我們也看到了業務的增長，而美洲的庫存下降了，這也與我們的銷售預期非常一致，我認為這對於下一個季度，我們非常高興。重申一下卡洛斯剛才所說的，我們對年底進一步減少庫存約 10% 的計劃非常有信心。

And if that happens, we are confident about the $160 million.

如果這種情況發生，我們對 1.6 億美元充滿信心。

Yes. You've seen, Corey, you may have seen that we raised the forecast of our expectations for free cash flow to EUR 160 million for the fiscal year '24.

是的。 Corey，您可能已經看到，我們將 24 財年的自由現金流預期提高至 1.6 億歐元。

Next question come from the line of Dana Telsey with Telsey Advisory Group.

下一個問題來自 Telsey Advisory Group 的 Dana Telsey。

Welcome Markus. As you're thinking about the back half of the year and what you delivered in the first half, as you think about the guidance for the operating margin, how do you think about unpacking the growth in the SG&A? Is the first half beat? And now as you're thinking about the third and fourth quarters, is it conservatism? Is there anything, whether it's shrink or marketing that we should be mindful of that wouldn't allow you to potentially come in better than last year's operating margin in the second half. And with that, how do you see the health of the consumer in the different regions?

歡迎馬庫斯。當您思考下半年的情況以及上半年的業績時，當您考慮營業利潤率的指導時，您如何看待銷售管理、一般行政費用（SG&A）的增長？上半場打完了嗎？現在，當您考慮第三季度和第四季度時，這是保守主義嗎？有什麼事情，無論是收縮還是營銷，我們應該注意，這不會讓你在下半年獲得比去年更好的營業利潤率。那麼，您如何看待不同地區消費者的健康狀況？

Dana, I'm going to start with the operating margin question. Just frankly, we have a very solid plan for the second half of the year. Of course, this is the most important half as everybody knows. Here, we make a lot of money in the second half of the year and here just as being successful means huge value creation. So we have a very specific plan for business. We feel that the product is right. We feel that we have everything that we need to really deliver excellent results, and that's what we are going for. The team is highly charged. Obviously, there are some things here that make the second half this year a little bit different like the extra week. But overall we feel that we have a very strong plan and a lot of opportunity to deliver very great profitability, especially in the fourth quarter.

達納，我將從營業利潤率問題開始。坦率地說，我們下半年有一個非常紮實的計劃。當然，眾所周知，這是最重要的一半。在這裡，我們下半年賺了很多錢，在這裡，成功意味著巨大的價值創造。所以我們有一個非常具體的業務計劃。我們覺得這個產品是對的。我們認為我們擁有真正交付出色成果所需的一切，這就是我們所追求的目標。該團隊充滿活力。顯然，有些事情讓今年下半年有點不同，比如多了一周。但總的來說，我們認為我們有一個非常強大的計劃和很多機會來實現非常高的盈利能力，特別是在第四季度。

With respect to the health of the consumer, I think we have to look at it by region or by market because we are still seeing a very different behavior in the different markets where we operate. And as you know, we are truly global. So starting with Europe, we continue to see a healthy customer coming into our stores. We see that there are still differences among the different markets there, obviously with war and some of the issues that have been impacted just in Russia and some other places where we see significant inflation like in Turkey, just the consumer is behaving differently, but we have had very significant success in those markets. We are seeing that the business continues to be very strong, and it's a reflection of that customer traffic flows that I was referring to.

關於消費者的健康，我認為我們必須按地區或市場來看待，因為我們仍然看到我們經營的不同市場的行為非常不同。如您所知，我們是真正的全球化企業。因此，從歐洲開始，我們繼續看到健康的顧客進入我們的商店。我們看到那裡的不同市場之間仍然存在差異，顯然是由於戰爭和一些問題而受到影響，這些問題僅在俄羅斯和其他一些我們看到嚴重通貨膨脹的地方（例如土耳其），只是消費者的行為不同，但我們在這些市場上取得了非常顯著的成功。我們看到業務仍然非常強勁，這反映了我所指的客戶流量。

So we continue to see that business very healthy in the second half -- going into the second half. And we feel that as we see the performance every single day in our stores is very reliable unless there are significant changes in behavior. But so far, I think the consumer is in a good place.

因此，我們繼續看到下半年的業務非常健康——進入下半年。我們認為，正如我們所看到的，我們商店每天的表現都是非常可靠的，除非行為發生重大變化。但到目前為止，我認為消費者處於有利地位。

And then looking at our wholesale business, every time that you see that we are able to ship early, I think it's a very strong indicator that people like the product, our retail customers, and our wholesale customers are very happy with getting the product earlier because the product is selling well. So that should be a very strong indicator.

然後看看我們的批發業務，每當你看到我們能夠提前發貨時，我認為這是一個非常有力的指標，表明人們喜歡該產品，我們的零售客戶和批發客戶都非常高興能夠更早地獲得產品因為產品賣得很好。所以這應該是一個非常有力的指標。

When you look at Americas now, this has been a challenged environment for us. We have been seeing contraction now for a few quarters. And frankly, we don't think that it is related to our product. In fact, we think that we have been making some very good strides on product. Just when you look at our denim trends are very healthy. When you look at our accessories business, it's very strong. We have been able to really go into a more casual assortment very quickly, which is something that we always like of our brand that it allows us to go from dresses to casual and vice versa very quickly, and we can adapt to where the consumer is going with relative ease.

現在看看美洲，這對我們來說是一個充滿挑戰的環境。我們已經看到幾個季度的收縮。坦率地說，我們認為這與我們的產品無關。事實上，我們認為我們在產品方面已經取得了一些非常好的進展。只要您看看我們的牛仔趨勢就非常健康。當你看看我們的配件業務時，你會發現它非常強大。我們已經能夠非常快地進入更休閒的品種，這是我們一直喜歡我們品牌的一點，它使我們能夠很快地從禮服轉向休閒，反之亦然，而且我們可以適應消費者的需求相對輕鬆地進行。

And we are seeing success. We're talking about success with sweaters, success with denim, success -- during the summer, we had strong success with shorts and tanks. So there are a lot of things that we think are working very well, but we continue to see that the consumer is a little bit more pressured and looking for a lot of value. We have been very careful not to promote. And we have been able to really do well with that in spite of the environment being very promotional in general.

我們正在看到成功。我們談論的是毛衣的成功，牛仔布的成功，成功——在夏天，我們在短褲和背心方面取得了巨大的成功。因此，我們認為有很多事情運作得很好，但我們繼續看到消費者面臨更大的壓力並尋求更多的價值。我們一直非常小心，不去推銷。儘管總體環境非常促銷，但我們確實能夠做得很好。

We think that we have a great plan, especially second half, we'll be looking at the sweater business and outerwear business. Those are 2 big businesses for us in both women and men and we think we have a great plan to go after those categories and create significant volume because some of these items, of course, drive a higher average unit retail. So we are excited about the second half.

我們認為我們有一個很棒的計劃，特別是下半年，我們將關注毛衣業務和外套業務。對於我們的女性和男性來說，這都是兩大業務，我們認為我們有一個偉大的計劃來追求這些類別並創造大量銷量，因為其中一些商品當然會推動更高的平均單位零售量。所以我們對下半場感到興奮。

And then when you look at Asia, in Asia, the common is similar than what I said about Europe, this is more a combination of different markets. And some of the dynamics in each of those markets could be different. So you have places like China who has been on its way to recover from pandemic and everything else, everybody knows, but they are -- they have their own issues.

然後當你看亞洲時，在亞洲，共同點與我所說的歐洲類似，這更多是不同市場的組合。每個市場的一些動態可能有所不同。因此，像中國這樣的國家已經從大流行和其他一切中恢復過來，每個人都知道，但他們有自己的問題。

And then you have a place like Korea that has been very strong for us, and we see that as a great opportunity to continue to really improve our operation in Asia as an overall region. So just -- it's a combination of multiple things. We feel that we have a great plan, and we think that the guidance that we shared with you today is very realistic based on what we have been able to see during the last few quarters and what we are seeing even now during this quarter. We have 1 month of the quarter in and everything that we have shared with you in terms of color is completely aligned with what we are seeing now. So you want to touch on, Markus?

然後像韓國這樣的地方對我們來說非常強大，我們認為這是一個很好的機會，可以繼續真正改善我們在整個亞洲地區的運營。所以，這是多種因素的結合。我們認為我們有一個偉大的計劃，並且我們認為，根據我們在過去幾個季度所看到的情況以及我們在本季度現在所看到的情況，我們今天與您分享的指導非常現實。我們已經進入本季度 1 個月了，我們與您分享的所有顏色方面的內容都與我們現在所看到的完全一致。那麼你想談談嗎，馬庫斯？

Dana, it's Markus. Let me first address the shrink question that you had. We don't see any major issues so far this year in terms of shrink. Obviously, this is an area we're closely monitoring, and we have a very good team and loss prevention team in place.

達納，我是馬庫斯。讓我首先解決您提出的收縮問題。今年到目前為止，我們在收縮方面沒有看到任何重大問題。顯然，這是我們正在密切監控的一個領域，我們擁有一支非常優秀的團隊和防損團隊。

Let me then go to the operating margins and also the key drivers. If we look, first of all, we are very confident that we can, I think, can deliver the guidance, I think we've just given and it's almost a realistic view on our business performance. If we look at the expected high end of our guidance, the expected adjusted operating profit is on the same level as last year.

接下來讓我談談營業利潤率以及關鍵驅動因素。首先，如果我們看一下，我們非常有信心，我認為我們能夠提供指導，我認為我們剛剛給出了這幾乎是對我們業務績效的現實看法。如果我們查看指導的預期上限，則預期調整後營業利潤與去年處於同一水平。

What are the key drivers? Let me start first with the negative ones with the headwinds. We have the unfavorable currency impact that is less than 100 basis points on our operating margin. We have, as you may recall, also from the prior year, reporting, we have lower COVID-relief subsidies where we've received last year and not comping this year. And we do have also a higher performance-based compensation.

關鍵驅動因素是什麼？讓我首先從不利因素開始。匯率對我們營業利潤率的不利影響不到 100 個基點。正如您可能還記得的那樣，我們也從上一年開始報告，我們去年收到的新冠救濟補貼較低，而今年則沒有。而且我們確實還有更高的基於績效的薪酬。

What are the positive drivers, I think, that we see. We have positive store comp sales, especially driven by Europe and by Asia. We have the favorable impact of the higher initial markups mainly driven by lower shipping costs. I think we have seen them, and we commented on in Q1 as well as in Q2, how they've been improving our operating margins, and we expect this margin driver [hoping] to continue and to help to expand our gross margin in the second half of this year. And of course, importantly, I think, as Carlos also mentioned, we will have -- in the fourth quarter, we will have the impact of the 53rd week. We've given you also before, this represents roughly 1% of the total company sales growth for the year -- fiscal year '24. And this will clearly also help to abate some of the rate pressure that you asked for in terms of the SG&A expense structure in the fourth quarter with the extra selling week that will benefit Q4.

我認為我們看到了哪些積極的驅動因素。我們的商店銷售業績良好，尤其是在歐洲和亞洲的推動下。我們受到較高初始加價的有利影響，這主要是由於運輸成本較低所致。我認為我們已經看到了它們，我們在第一季度和第二季度評論了它們如何提高我們的營業利潤率，我們預計這種利潤率驅動因素[希望]能夠繼續下去，並幫助擴大我們的毛利率今年下半年。當然，重要的是，我認為，正如卡洛斯也提到的，我們將在第四季度產生第 53 週的影響。我們之前也給過您，這大約占公司今年（24 財年）總銷售額增長的 1%。顯然，這也將有助於減輕您在第四季度 SG&A 費用結構方面所要求的一些利率壓力，額外的銷售週將有利於第四季度。

(Operator Instructions) And it comes from the line from of Mauricio Serna with UBS.

（操作員說明）它來自 Mauricio Serna 與 UBS 的線路。

Great. Congratulations on the pretty good results. I wanted to ask maybe if you could elaborate more on the trend that you have seen in Europe, maybe on a category perspective, like which have been, like the categories where you're seeing like strong growth and maybe across the most important markets, which among ones have you seen -- done the best or which ones might be lagging? And then maybe if I may ask also on the third quarter sales guidance, if I look at the main segments of the business, I think sequentially speaking, sales are roughly in line, maybe a little bit lower if you exclude the FX impact. What is driving -- or like what are you seeing like any significant changes in sales trends across the different segments?

偉大的。恭喜你取得了相當不錯的成績。我想問您是否可以更詳細地闡述您在歐洲看到的趨勢，也許從類別的角度來看，就像您看到的強勁增長的類別，也許是在最重要的市場中，您認為哪些是做得最好的，哪些可能是落後的？然後，也許我也可以問一下第三季度的銷售指導，如果我看看業務的主要部分，我認為按順序來說，銷售額大致相符，如果排除外匯影響，銷售額可能會低一些。是什麼在推動——或者您認為不同細分市場的銷售趨勢有什麼重大變化？

Mauricio, thank you for your questions. Well, so let me start with your first question about categories. Just in Europe, like I said, the wholesale business is very significant, and we have a big business in apparel for both women and men, and kids now. And we have a very big business in accessories, and that is primarily driven by handbags, but also many other categories that continue to evolve and develop. And then last, I would say, just we have the Marciano brand and we have footwear.

毛里西奧，謝謝你的提問。好吧，讓我從你關於類別的第一個問題開始。就像我說的，就在歐洲，批發業務非常重要，我們現在在男女服裝和兒童服裝方面都有很大的業務。我們在配飾方面擁有非常大的業務，這主要是由手袋推動的，但也有許多其他類別在不斷發展和發展。最後，我想說，我們有 Marciano 品牌，我們有鞋類。

And so among all those, just we see a lot of strength in multiple lines within the apparel categories, just with the whole global line introduction and what we have done, just Paul, with the product teams, just changing the way that the whole product assortment has put together and we have seen success with multiple areas there. We have had great success with everything that touches dresses as a main category. Our athleisure line, which is a completely new offering from the last maybe 2.5, 3 years now, that line went from being 0 to a pretty significant part of our entire line and that line continues to do very well at wholesale as well. Our Kids line also had several seasons of the strong growth, just as more stable now.

因此，在所有這些之中，我們看到了服裝類別內多個系列的強大實力，整個全球系列的介紹以及我們所做的事情，保羅和產品團隊正在改變整個產品的方式品種已匯集在一起​​，我們在多個領域都取得了成功。我們在所有涉及服裝作為主要類別的領域都取得了巨大成功。我們的運動休閒系列是過去大約 2.5、3 年推出的全新產品，該系列從 0 變成了我們整個系列的相當重要的一部分，並且該系列在批發方面也繼續表現出色。我們的兒童系列也經歷了幾個季度的強勁增長，現在也更加穩定。

And our footwear business, just as we migrated more from the dressing to a more casual collection, I think we have seen great success with that change as well. Our handbag business has been strong and continues to be strong. I think -- we always say that we believe that there is very limited competition for what we do. It's very difficult, and we are ahead of the pack there, and we feel very strongly about our new collections. We have a lot of business in different sizes of bags. We have just a lot of logo business and when you put it together, considering the quality that we offer aligned with the price that we require is a great combination, a great value proposition.

我們的鞋類業務，正如我們更多地從正裝轉向更休閒的系列一樣，我認為我們也看到了這一變化的巨大成功。我們的手袋業務一直強勁並將繼續強勁。我認為——我們總是說我們相信我們所做的事情的競爭非常有限。這是非常困難的，但我們在這方面處於領先地位，我們對我們的新系列感覺非常強烈。我們有很多不同尺寸袋子的業務。我們有很多標誌業務，當你把它們放在一起時，考慮到我們提供的質量與我們需要的價格相一致，這是一個很好的組合，一個很好的價值主張。

So overall, a very strong business across the board. We still see a lot of opportunities to continue to grow. We have a whole line of men's accessories products. And we think that line is -- could be a lot bigger. So we are trying to fuel that growth and invest in that category. We have a whole line of underwear and swimwear. And again, just we feel that the business is very small compared to what it could be. So we are trying to invest in these categories to fuel the growth.

總的來說，這是一項非常強勁的業務。我們仍然看到很多繼續增長的機會。我們擁有全系列的男士配飾產品。我們認為這條線可能會更大。因此，我們正在努力推動這一增長並投資於該類別。我們有全系列的內衣和泳衣。再說一次，我們覺得這個業務與它可能的規模相比非常小。因此，我們正在嘗試投資這些類別以推動增長。

And overall, I think that the big advantage here is that we have this big relationships with key accounts and in many cases, they buy multiple categories, just including Marciano in certain cases as well. So overall, very, very happy with that.

總的來說，我認為這裡的一大優勢是我們與關鍵客戶有很大的關係，在很多情況下，他們購買多個類別，在某些情況下也包括馬西亞諾。總的來說，對此非常非常滿意。

With respect to the sales guidance, maybe, Markus, you can start.

關於銷售指導，也許，馬庫斯，你可以開始了。

Yes. Let me quickly start, Mauricio. For the full year, I think we're guiding revenues up between now 2.5% and 4%. Before it was 2% to 4%. We've increased the bottom end while maintaining the top end compared to our prior expectations. What are the key drivers for the revenue growth that we continue to see driving the growth in second half? Positive comps in Europe and Asia. We have the 53rd week as we just talked about in the fourth quarter, and we have the driver also for the net new stores. For the third quarter, I think the same drivers are at play, but please also be reminded, I think then also the second quarter compared to our initial expectations that we had as we guided Q2 benefited from a wholesale delivery shift of $10 million into the second quarter. And now going into the third quarter, as you mentioned, I think we have -- and that's also what I stated in my -- shared in my prepared remarks, we will have a 2-point tailwind from currencies on the revenue growth.

是的。讓我快速開始，毛里西奧。對於全年，我認為我們將指導收入增長 2.5% 至 4%。之前是2%到4%。與我們之前的預期相比，我們增加了底端，同時保持了頂端。我們認為下半年收入增長的主要驅動因素是什麼？歐洲和亞洲的業績比較積極。正如我們剛才在第四季度談到的那樣，我們有第 53 週，我們也有淨新店的驅動因素。對於第三季度，我認為同樣的驅動因素在發揮作用，但也請注意，我認為第二季度與我們指導第二季度的最初預期相比，也受益於 1000 萬美元的批發交付轉移。第二季度。現在進入第三季度，正如您提到的，我認為我們——這也是我在我準備好的發言中所分享的——我們將在收入增長方面從貨幣方面獲得 2 個百分點的推動力。

Question comes from the line of Eric Beder with Small Cap Consumer Research.

問題來自小盤消費者研究中心的埃里克·貝德 (Eric Beder)。

Congratulations on a great quarter and guidance. Let's talk a little bit about capital allocation. You have $160 million in free cash flow this year. But where do you look at it that you want to continue to expand in terms of open stores. And how should we be thinking about in terms of potential further share repurchases or increasing the dividend?

祝賀您取得了出色的季度業績和指導。我們來談談資本配置。今年您有 1.6 億美元的自由現金流。但你從哪裡看，要在開店方面繼續擴張。我們應該如何考慮潛在的進一步股票回購或增加股息？

Thank you, Eric. Well, so just as you know, we have just refinanced our convertible, just we were able to do that under very favorable terms, and we are very happy with the fact that we were able to also kind of like defer some of those maturities into the future. So today, we have a great capital structure, and we are in a very good position. Last year, the team also refinanced and redid a couple of our facilities -- credit facilities. So just our capacity is pretty significant. And we feel that we're in a very good place. That's why every time that we can squeeze and generate more free cash flow, we are very happy about that.

謝謝你，埃里克。嗯，正如你所知，我們剛剛為我們的可轉換債券進行了再融資，我們能夠以非常優惠的條件做到這一點，而且我們非常高興我們能夠將其中一些到期日推遲到未來。所以今天，我們擁有良好的資本結構，並且處於非常有利的地位。去年，該團隊還對我們的一些設施進行了再融資和重新設計——信貸設施。所以我們的能力就相當可觀了。我們覺得我們處於一個非常好的位置。這就是為什麼每當我們能夠擠壓並產生更多的自由現金流時，我們都會感到非常高興。

So -- and I think that as a company and as our Board has been tremendously pro shareholder returns, and they have done a lot to really increase those returns, increase the dividend very recently. We were very active with share repurchases during the last few years. We are talking about 40% of the shares outstanding that were repurchased since I've been back. So you can imagine, we feel that we are super active with that. We want to make sure that we keep our powder dry -- just, we want to first as a top priority to be able to service our business. And with investments, this year, our CapEx is going to be lower than last year, and we are being very prudent in the way we are spending our money, but we want to make sure that we have plenty of capacity just when we have opportunities to invest to grow the business and do more.

因此，我認為作為一家公司和我們的董事會一直非常支持股東回報，他們做了很多工作來真正增加這些回報，最近增加了股息。過去幾年我們非常積極地進行股票回購。我們談論的是自從我回來後回購的已發行股票的 40%。所以你可以想像，我們覺得我們對此非常積極。我們希望確保我們保持乾燥——只是，我們希望首先能夠為我們的業務提供服務。在投資方面，今年我們的資本支出將低於去年，我們花錢的方式非常謹慎，但我們希望確保在有機會的時候我們有足夠的產能投資以發展業務並做更多事情。

Of course, we are going to continue to look at opportunities to return value to our shareholders at all times. And I can promise you that. And when we consider that is a good opportunity for us to be more active, we will do so. But we feel that we have been managing and balancing all those priorities in a very effective way. And I take a lot of pride on that because I'm very proud of how the Board approaches this topic and how pro all shareholders the Board is.

當然，我們將繼續尋找機會為股東回報價值。我可以向你保證。當我們認為這是我們更加積極的好機會時，我們就會這樣做。但我們認為我們一直在以非常有效的方式管理和平衡所有這些優先事項。我對此感到非常自豪，因為我對董事會處理這個話題的方式以及董事會對所有股東的支持感到非常自豪。

I think what should we be thinking about in terms of opportunities to add more stores in other countries? Or how should we be thinking about that in terms of regions and where you would like to add those stores where it makes sense?

我認為我們應該考慮在其他國家開設更多商店的機會？或者我們應該如何從地區角度考慮這一點，以及您想在哪裡添加那些有意義的商店？

Yes. Well, so we always look at the potential of the different markets, whether we are there or not and the opportunities for the Guess? brand primarily to really develop those markets, any one of those markets. And we have -- in many cases, we work with partners. Just there are several examples of that where we have territories where our partners run the business, we have either a license or franchise type of business model with them. And we still see a lot of opportunity in all over the world, especially considering how large and expensive our categories are, I mean, just the -- it could be that we are strong in 1 category, in 1 particular market, but we see opportunities to bring and develop many of the other categories that we are in business with. So we have plenty of opportunity for growth here.

是的。嗯，所以我們總是關注不同市場的潛力，無論我們是否在那裡，以及猜測的機會？品牌主要是為了真正開發這些市場，這些市場中的任何一個。在很多情況下，我們與合作夥伴合作。有幾個例子表明，我們擁有合作夥伴經營業務的地區，我們與他們擁有許可或特許經營類型的商業模式。我們仍然在世界各地看到很多機會，特別是考慮到我們的類別有多大和昂貴，我的意思是，我們可能在某一特定市場的某一類別中表現強勁，但我們看到帶來和發展我們正在開展業務的許多其他類別的機會。因此，我們在這裡有很多發展機會。

If you look at the size of the Guess? brand today, it is about $5.5 billion. This is a fewer measuring based on what the ultimate consumer pays for our Guess? product, $5.5 billion. We think that this number could be a lot bigger than that. I'm talking about -- when you look at some of the global brands, some of them are in the $8 billion, $9 billion size, and this is with less product categories than we have with less of a lifestyle type of offering as we have. So a lot of opportunity.

如果你看一下猜猜的大小？如今，該品牌的價值約為 55 億美元。這是一個基於最終消費者為我們的猜測支付的費用的較少衡量標準？產品，55億美元。我們認為這個數字可能比這個大得多。我說的是——當你觀察一些全球品牌時，你會發現其中一些品牌的規模達到80 億美元、90 億美元，而且這些品牌的產品類別比我們的產品類別要少，而且提供的生活方式類型也較少。有。所以機會很多。

But going back to the countries, I mean, they are markets like India, where we see a tremendous opportunity, and the brand is doing well. We are working with a partner there that has been opening stores. The stores are very profitable across the board. They have been opening stores pretty aggressively, and we think that we will close this year with more than 20 stores there. And that is very exciting for us because it's a huge market. And the brand is -- we have the fortune that the brand is well known across the world, just I don't think that you can go to any market where Guess? is not well known as a brand. So that gives us a big opportunity.

但回到這些國家，我的意思是，它們是像印度這樣的市場，我們在那裡看到了巨大的機會，而且該品牌表現良好。我們正在與在那裡開設商店的合作夥伴合作。這些商店的利潤非常豐厚。他們一直在非常積極地開設商店，我們認為今年我們將關閉那裡的 20 多家商店。這對我們來說非常令人興奮，因為這是一個巨大的市場。這個品牌是——我們很幸運，這個品牌在世界各地都廣為人知，只是我不認為你可以去任何市場，你猜？作為一個品牌並不為人所知。這給了我們一個很大的機會。

Of course, we have been investing in China, that's a huge market. Unfortunately, this has been a very challenging goal for us, but we are not giving up. We are very committed to that market. We see a big opportunity there. And we are looking into just changing the business model and we think that we are into something that could be very, very productive, looking at that market in the future. And then within Europe, there are a lot of markets where we have a good presence and very profitable businesses, but where there is a lot more opportunity to grow and penetrate some other businesses. There are so many countries, so many cultures and again, we think that the Guess? brand is very relevant and something that people desire. So we want to put that -- make the brand and the product available to all those potential customers.

當然，我們一直在中國投資，那是一個巨大的市場。不幸的是，這對我們來說是一個非常具有挑戰性的目標，但我們不會放棄。我們非常致力於該市場。我們在那裡看到了巨大的機會。我們正在考慮改變商業模式，我們認為我們正在做一些非常非常富有成效的事情，著眼於未來的市場。然後在歐洲，我們在很多市場擁有良好的影響力和利潤豐厚的業務，但也有更多的機會發展和滲透其他業務。有這麼多的國家，這麼多的文化，我們又猜猜？品牌是非常相關的，也是人們渴望的東西。因此，我們希望將品牌和產品提供給所有潛在客戶。

And this ends the Q&A session. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. I will pass it back to Carlos Alberini for final comments.

問答環節到此結束。謝謝你們，女士們、先生們。我會將其傳回卡洛斯·阿爾貝里尼以徵求最終意見。

Yes. Thank you. Well, just -- we are very pleased with our performance this year, and we are very excited about our future. We have a clear strategy and a very good plan for the second half and our teams are executing very well. We're very proud of that. We are positioned well to grow our business and deliver strong value for our shareholders. Thank you to everyone that joined us today. We really appreciate that, and we look forward to speaking with you very soon. Thank you.

是的。謝謝。好吧，我們對今年的表現非常滿意，對未來也感到非常興奮。我們對下半年有明確的戰略和非常好的計劃，我們的團隊執行得很好。我們對此感到非常自豪。我們處於有利位置，可以發展我們的業務並為股東提供強大的價值。感謝今天加入我們的所有人。我們非常感謝，並期待很快與您交談。謝謝。

Thank you, everyone, for joining. You may now disconnect.

謝謝大家的加入。您現在可以斷開連接。