Guess? Inc (GES) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Guess? Third 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 財年第三季財報電話會議。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. 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.

謝謝你，接線生。大家下午好，感謝您今天加入我們。今天與我一起通話的是執行長 Carlos Alberini；和財務長馬庫斯‧諾伊布蘭德 (Markus Neubrand)。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。

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.

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有重大差異。評論也將參考某些非公認會計原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. Our performance this quarter is once again the result of three key factors working harmoniously together. First, our strong global brand awareness and continued momentum; second, the power of our highly diversified business model across product categories, geographies and channels of distribution; and third, our highly entrepreneurial and unique culture that makes Guess? a great place to work and where our long-term focus drives all important decisions and people feel accountable and empowered.

謝謝你，法布里斯。大家下午好，感謝您今天加入我們。我們本季的業績再次是三個關鍵因素協調一致的結果。首先，我們強大的全球品牌意識和持續的動力；其次，我們跨產品類別、地理和分銷管道的高度多元化業務模式的力量；第三，我們高度創業獨特的文化造就了Guess？這是一個理想的工作場所，我們的長期關注推動所有重要決策，讓人們感到有責任感和被賦予權力。

And consistent with these three factors, we are very pleased to report our third quarter results with revenue growth in line with our expectations and adjusted operating profit performance beating the high end of our guidance range which was in line with last year's. We achieved an almost 9% adjusted operating margin for the quarter, exceeding our expectations and also consistent with last year's performance. All but one of our business segments delivered revenue increases in U.S. dollars with our Licensing, Europe and Americas Wholesale segments reporting higher revenue growth for the period at 19%, 6% and 4%, respectively.

與這三個因素一致，我們非常高興地報告第三季業績，收入成長符合我們的預期，調整後的營業利潤表現超出了與去年一致的指導範圍的上限。本季調整後營業利潤率達到近 9%，超出了我們的預期，也與去年的業績一致。除其中一個業務部門外，我們的所有業務部門均實現了以美元計算的收入成長，其中授權、歐洲和美洲批發部門的收入成長率較高，分別為 19%、6% 和 4%。

As expected, amidst a dynamic macroeconomic environment, our Americas Retail segment posted a decline in revenues. During the period, our teams continue to run the business well, delivering strong gross margin performance and effective cost management. Their ability to navigate and manage the factors that we can control has been exemplary. Paul and I are very pleased with our team's performance. I want to thank everyone for their unwavering commitment and invaluable contributions, especially during this time of global uncertainty.

正如預期的那樣，在充滿活力的宏觀經濟環境中，我們的美洲零售部門收入下降。在此期間，我們的團隊繼續良好地經營業務，提供強勁的毛利率表現和有效的成本管理。他們駕馭和管理我們可以控制的因素的能力堪稱典範。保羅和我對我們團隊的表現非常滿意。我要感謝大家的堅定承諾和寶貴貢獻，特別是在這個全球不確定的時期。

Net revenues for the third quarter grew 3% in U.S. dollars and adjusted earnings from operations reached $58 million, consistent with Q3 of last year. Briefly touching on segment results. Our business in Europe delivered a revenue increase of 6% with solid performance in our Wholesale business, but a softer-than-expected direct-to-consumer comp growth, which posted an increase of 8%, primarily driven by growth in average unit retail value, partially offset by a deceleration of customer traffic into our stores from the second quarter trends.

以美元計算，第三季淨收入成長 3%，調整後營運利潤達到 5,800 萬美元，與去年第三季持平。簡要談談分部結果。我們在歐洲的業務收入成長了 6%，批發業務表現穩健，但直接面向消費者的營收成長低於預期，成長了 8%，這主要是由平均單位零售量的成長推動的價值，部分被在第二季趨勢中進入我們商店的客戶流量減少所抵銷。

Our Europe segment reported a 2% decrease in operating earnings from last year. As expected, our Americas Retail business segment posted a 7% decline in revenues due to slow customer traffic. However, with our team's effective cost management and improved gross margin performance, we are pleased to have delivered better-than-expected operating earnings.

我們的歐洲部門的營業利潤比去年下降了 2%。正如預期的那樣，由於客戶流量緩慢，我們的美洲零售業務部門的收入下降了 7%。然而，憑藉我們團隊有效的成本管理和毛利率表現的提高，我們很高興實現了好於預期的營業利潤。

Our Americas Wholesale business had a good quarter reporting a better-than-planned revenue increase of 4% and an outstanding 29.1% operating margin. Operating earnings for this segment grew by 57% versus last year's Q3, well ahead of our expectations, powered by strong gross margin performance and cost leveraging.

我們的美洲批發業務季度表現良好，營收成長了 4%，優於計劃，營業利潤率高達 29.1%。在強勁的毛利率表現和成本槓桿的推動下，該部門的營業利潤較去年第三季成長了 57%，遠遠超出我們的預期。

Our Asia business reported a 2% increase in revenues and posted a profit in the period, better than expected and benefited from improved performance in China and Hong Kong.

我們的亞洲業務報告期內營收成長 2%，並公佈利潤，優於預期，並受益於中國和香港業績的改善。

And lastly, our Licensing business delivered an exceptional quarter with revenues increasing 19% in the period and operating profit growing by 24%, exceeding our expectations for both, partially impacted by a onetime adjustment.

最後，我們的授權業務在本季度表現出色，收入成長了 19%，營業利潤成長了 24%，超出了我們對這兩項業務的預期，部分原因是受到一次性調整的影響。

Best-performing product categories included fragrances, handbags, watches, eyewear and footwear.

表現最佳的產品類別包括香水、手袋、手錶、眼鏡和鞋類。

Turning to product performance. In line with trends observed during the previous 2 quarters, we continue to see regional variations in our results. In Europe, we observed growth in sales across women's and men's apparel, Marciano and accessories, with Marciano and accessories leading the way and expanding their contribution to our overall business.

轉向產品性能。根據前兩個季度觀察到的趨勢，我們繼續看到結果有地區差異。在歐洲，我們觀察到女裝和男裝、Marciano 和配件的銷售成長，其中 Marciano 和配件引領潮流，擴大了他們對我們整體業務的貢獻。

Notably, the best-performing product categories included knit tops, woven shirts, shorts, dresses and men's activewear. It's worth noting that weather conditions played a significant role with a warmer climate contributing to stronger sales of shorts and a dip in outerwear sales, despite promising initial sell-through rates for outerwear products in both genders.

值得注意的是，表現最好的產品類別包括針織上衣、梭織襯衫、短褲、洋裝和男士運動服。值得注意的是，儘管男女外套產品的初始銷售率都很高，但天氣條件發揮了重要作用，氣候變暖導致短褲銷量增加，外套銷量下降。

In the realm of accessories, women's handbags and men's bags, women's travel items and small leather goods, belts, footwear, watches and jewelry, all showed strong performances.

配件領域，女手袋、男包、女式旅行用品、小皮件、皮帶、鞋履、手錶、珠寶等均表現強勁。

In our Americas Retail business, we observed contractions in all major categories, including women's and men's apparel and accessories. This was primarily attributed to reduced customer traffic. However, we did see pockets of success with growth in shorts, sweaters, wovens and knit tops, activewear, men's pants and children's apparel.

在我們的美洲零售業務中，我們觀察到所有主要類別的收縮，包括男女服裝和配件。這主要是由於客戶流量減少。然而，我們確實看到了短褲、毛衣、梭織和針織上衣、運動服、男褲和童裝增長的一些成功。

Additionally, several denim products performed well, driven by new fashion styles such as straight leg jeans, cargo silhouette, jumpsuits and overall.

此外，在直筒牛仔褲、工人褲、連身褲和工裝褲等新時尚風格的推動下，多種牛仔產品表現良好。

Similar to Europe, the weather played a role in the product performance during the quarter. In accessories, handbags remained a driving force and delivered a solid quarter.

與歐洲類似，天氣對本季的產品表現產生了影響。在配件方面，手袋仍然是推動力，並實現了穩健的季度業績。

Across the Asian market, we continue to see strong performance in accessories followed by men's and women's apparel. In accessories, women's handbags, watches, small leather goods and men's belts, led the charge. Among apparel categories, women's and men's sweaters, skirts and shorts achieved strong performance. Our children's apparel segment also performed well during the period.

在整個亞洲市場，我們繼續看到配件表現強勁，其次是男裝和女裝。在配件方面，女士手袋、手錶、小皮具和男士皮帶引領潮流。服飾類別中，男女毛衣、裙子和短褲表現強勁。期內，我們的童裝業務亦表現良好。

During the third quarter, we benefited from Paul's efforts and our investments in advertising and marketing, including our recent campaign with Georgina Rodriguez as the face of Guess? and Marciano for Fall 2023. All the products modeled by Georgina had strong sell-through. Based on this success, Paul and the team are currently shooting next year's campaign and once again featuring Georgina.

在第三季度，我們受益於保羅的努力以及我們在廣告和行銷方面的投資，包括我們最近與喬治娜·羅德里格斯（Georgina Rodriguez）作為 Guess？以及 2023 年秋季的 Marciano。Georgina 模特兒的所有產品都有強勁的銷售。基於這項成功，保羅和團隊目前正在拍攝明年的廣告活動，並再次以喬治娜為主角。

In addition, we just announced that Italian singer and rising international star Matteo Bocelli, son of the world renowned sensation, Andrea Bocelli, is being featured in our 2023 holiday campaign. As we look towards the holiday season, we are confident in our plans and very pleased with our inventory position. We believe that consumers will be looking for value in the offers and have been sensitive to this with our product assortment plan and our promotional cadence and calendar.

此外，我們剛剛宣布，義大利歌手、國際新星馬泰奧·波切利 (Matteo Bocelli)（世界知名歌手安德里亞·波切利 (Andrea Bocelli) 的兒子）將出現在我們 2023 年假日宣傳活動中。當我們展望假期時，我們對我們的計劃充滿信心，並對我們的庫存狀況感到非常滿意。我們相信消費者會在優惠中尋找價值，並透過我們的產品分類計劃以及促銷節奏和日曆對此保持敏感。

We closed the third quarter period with inventories 2% lower than a year ago and in line with our plan. We are very pleased with the composition of our inventory and believe that we are well positioned to respond to customer demand during the holidays and into the new year. We still expect to close the year with inventories 10% below last year's levels.

我們第三季末的庫存比去年同期減少了 2%，符合我們的計劃。我們對庫存的組成非常滿意，並相信我們有能力在假期和新年期間滿足客戶的需求。我們仍預計年底庫存量將比去年水準低 10%。

Regarding our outlook for the fourth quarter, we have taken a close look at our recent customer traffic and sales trends for our direct-to-consumer business in each region of the world. We have also updated our other business expectations and are assessing the state of the consumer across markets, including the impact current geopolitical factors are having on the consumers' mindset. Based on this, we have taken a more cautious view of our outlook and tempered our top and bottom line expectations for the fourth quarter and the fiscal year.

關於我們對第四季度的展望，我們仔細研究了全球每個地區的直接面向消費者業務的近期客戶流量和銷售趨勢。我們也更新了其他業務預期，並正在評估各市場的消費者狀況，包括當前地緣政治因素對消費者心態的影響。基於此，我們對前景採取了更謹慎的看法，並調整了對第四季和本財年的營收和利潤預期。

All said, we now expect revenue growth for the fiscal year between 1.8% and 2.4% in U.S. dollars and an adjusted operating margin for the year between 8.9% and 9.1%. Regarding earnings per share, which Markus will discuss further, mark-to-market adjustments resulting from foreign currency and bond and equity market exposures, mostly unrealized negatively impacted our EPS results.

總而言之，我們現在預計本財年以美元計算的營收成長在 1.8% 至 2.4% 之間，調整後的營業利潤率在 8.9% 至 9.1% 之間。關於每股收益，馬庫斯將進一步討論，外幣、債券和股票市場風險所造成的按市價調整，大部分未實現，對我們的每股收益結果產生了負面影響。

Inclusive of this charge, we now expect adjusted EPS for the fiscal year to reach between $2.67 and $2.74 per share. As we look ahead, we are invigorated by the multitude of opportunities that await our company. We have been diligently engaged in our strategic planning process, and we are executing against six critical objectives. These objectives relate to organizational talent, growth, brand relevancy, customer-centricity and digital expansion, product excellence, and last, optimization, efficiency, profitability and return on invested capital.

包含此項費用後，我們目前預計本財年調整後每股收益將達到每股 2.67 美元至 2.74 美元。展望未來，我們對公司面臨的眾多機會感到振奮。我們一直在努力製定策略規劃流程，並正在執行六個關鍵目標。這些目標涉及組織人才、成長、品牌相關性、以客戶為中心和數位擴張、產品卓越性以及最後、優化、效率、獲利能力和投資資本回報率。

These serve as the cornerstones of our strategic plan which I look forward to sharing in more detail at a later date. At a high level, starting with the organizational talent, our goal is to have a best-in-class team of highly engaged and strongly committed individuals capable to lead and take this company to the next level of growth and value creation.

這些是我們策略計畫的基石，我期待稍後更詳細地分享。在高層次上，從組織人才開始，我們的目標是擁有一支由高度敬業和堅定忠誠的個人組成的一流團隊，能夠領導並帶領公司進入新的成長和價值創造水平。

We are currently working with an international consulting company to conduct an assessment of our global organization to benchmark our talent and improve lines of reporting and accountability to ensure we are well positioned to grow. Regarding our culture and our work environment, we are very proud to share with you our first place ranking in the recent list of the top 25 companies in Los Angeles by the Business Report.

我們目前正在與國際顧問公司合作，對我們的全球組織進行評估，以衡量我們的人才並改善報告和問責制，以確保我們處於有利的發展位置。關於我們的文化和工作環境，我們非常自豪地與您分享我們在《商業報告》最近公佈的洛杉磯 25 強公司名單中排名第一的位置。

Next, I will focus on our growth objective. Our goal is to accelerate our revenue growth rate for the company and deliver a faster growth rate of our operating earnings, which will result in the consistent expansion of our operating margins. In our previous call, I mentioned the opportunity to internalize businesses that are being licensed such as the current license that we have with G-III for the design, development and distribution of dresses and outerwear in North America.

接下來，我將重點討論我們的成長目標。我們的目標是加快公司的收入成長率並實現更快的營業利潤成長率，這將導致我們的營業利潤率持續擴大。在我們之前的電話會議中，我提到了將正在獲得許可的業務內部化的機會，例如我們目前與 G-III 擁有的在北美設計、開發和分銷連衣裙和外套的許可。

These businesses represented $50 million per year at wholesale, and we are now in the process of transitioning them to our internal organization. Our teams have already developed the product for both categories and have presented the collections to our wholesale customers at market recently. While it is early in the cycle, customers reacted well to the assortment, and we are optimistic about the potential of this change to drive both top and bottom line growth.

這些業務每年的批發價值達 5000 萬美元，我們現在正在將它們轉移到我們的內部組織中。我們的團隊已經開發了這兩個類別的產品，並最近在市場上向我們的批發客戶展示了該系列。雖然現在還處於週期的早期，但客戶對產品組合反應良好，我們對這項變化推動營收和利潤成長的潛力持樂觀態度。

Building on our growth opportunities, I'm very excited to share with you today the expansion of our brand portfolio with the launch of our new Guess? Jeans brand. With Guess? Jeans, we will be addressing the casual business head on. And while the brand is targeting the younger Gen Z and millennial audience, the assortment is truly for everyone, multigenerational.

基於我們的成長機會，我很高興今天與您分享我們的品牌組合的擴展，推出了新的 Guess?牛仔褲品牌。與你猜？牛仔褲，我們將直接解決休閒商務問題。雖然該品牌針對的是年輕的 Z 世代和千禧世代受眾，但該產品系列真正適合所有人、多代人。

Nicolai Marciano is leading this expansion, and we are very excited with this opportunity. As you well know, during the last few years, we executed a significant elevation of our Guess? brand. As a result of this transformation, we created great separation between our current very sophisticated, more dressy assortment and the more casual product assortment that was part of our brand's DNA since the inception of Guess? in the worlds of denim.

Nicolai Marciano 正在領導這次擴張，我們對這個機會感到非常興奮。如您所知，在過去幾年中，我們的猜測得到了顯著提升？品牌。由於這一轉變，我們在當前非常精緻、更考究的產品系列和更休閒的產品系列之間實現了巨大的分離，自 Guess? 成立以來，這一直是我們品牌 DNA 的一部分。在牛仔布的世界裡。

We now see tremendous opportunity in this casual lifestyle space, and we plan to reclaim our denim legacy with the launch of the new brands in 2024, focused on product innovation, a present day mindset center around sustainable manufacturing and supported by a robust celebrity marketing strategy embodying the American West Coast Denim brand. The plan will also include a new visual identity and the unveiling of a new retail concept.

現在，我們在這個休閒生活方式領域看到了巨大的機遇，我們計劃在2024 年推出新品牌，重拾我們的牛仔傳統，專注於產品創新、圍繞可持續製造的當今思維中心，並得到強大的名人行銷策略的支持體現美國西岸牛仔品牌。該計劃還將包括新的視覺形象和新零售概念的推出。

We expect to capture a wide audience with the Guess? Jeans offering, primarily the men's customer. The new brand is poised to establish a new benchmark in denim practices and innovation, reaffirming our dominance and our roots in the denim category. The brand will be distributed globally in the wholesale market and through the company's direct-to-consumer channels in company's own stores and websites. Price points are very competitive and the product quality and design capitalized on our rich archives which contain over 40 years of amazing design, styling and creativity.

我們希望透過 Guess? 吸引廣大的受眾？提供牛仔褲，主要是男士顧客。新品牌準備在牛仔布實踐和創新方面建立新的基準，重申我們在牛仔布類別的主導地位和根基。該品牌將透過批發市場以及公司自有商店和網站的直接面向消費者的管道在全球範圍內分銷。價格極具競爭力，產品品質和設計充分利用了我們豐富的檔案，其中包含 40 多年令人驚嘆的設計、造型和創造力。

My last point on growth relates to a new project that we are working on in China. We have engaged the Chinese consulting company called [Yunchi] based in Shanghai. This firm has significant capabilities in design, merchandising and managing retail and e-commerce businesses. They also have strong relationships in the entertainment and celebrity networks.

我關於成長的最後一點與我們正在中國開展的一個新項目有關。我們聘請了一家位於上海的名為[Yunchi]的中國顧問公司。該公司在設計、銷售以及管理零售和電子商務業務方面擁有強大的能力。他們在娛樂和名人網絡中也擁有牢固的關係。

They have helped many brands succeed in the local marketplace and are developing a plan to help us achieve continued success. We are excited about the opportunities here and plan to begin execution of this plan in the new year. The Guess? brand is well known in China, and we believe we have a good chance to expand our business there and improve profitability.

他們幫助許多品牌在當地市場取得成功，並正在製定一項計劃來幫助我們持續的成功。我們對這裡的機會感到興奮，並計劃在新的一年開始執行該計劃。猜測？品牌在中國眾所周知，我們相信我們有很好的機會在那裡拓展業務並提高盈利能力。

The next objective that I'd like to address today is optimization efficiency, profitability and return on invested capital. We are really proud of our accomplishments to date on this front. During the last few years, we used our capital efficiency and rewarded shareholders handsomely with significant share repurchases and generous dividends. We almost doubled our operating margins and we achieved significant improvements in return on invested capital.

我今天要解決的下一個目標是優化效率、獲利能力和投資資本回報率。我們對迄今為止在這方面所取得的成就感到非常自豪。在過去的幾年裡，我們利用資本效率，透過大量股票回購和豐厚的股息來豐厚地回報股東。我們的營業利潤率幾乎翻了一番，投資資本報酬率也顯著提高。

Nevertheless, we see significant opportunities for further optimization and profitability growth. We strongly believe that the use of technology and innovation can unlock significant value creation across the businesses.

儘管如此，我們仍然看到了進一步優化和獲利成長的重大機會。我們堅信，技術和創新的使用可以在整個企業中釋放巨大的價值創造。

In the last few years, we have implemented several new applications to improve data analysis and decision making. The new applications focused on customer analytics, primarily the Salesforce solution called Customer 360, inventory planning, allocation and store transfers and we are now in the process of implementing a new PLM system called Centric 8 and a new market optimization solution, both of which should be completed by next year.

在過去幾年中，我們實施了多個新應用程式來改善資料分析和決策。新應用程式專注於客戶分析，主要是稱為Customer 360 的Salesforce 解決方案、庫存規劃、分配和商店轉移，我們現在正在實施稱為Centric 8 的新PLM 系統和新的市場優化解決方案，這兩者都應該明年完成。

I am confident that our success in managing inventories well through the very challenging times that we face due to the pandemic and supply chain disruptions was driven by great teams that were enabled with these new tools.

我相信，我們在因疫情和供應鏈中斷而面臨的非常具有挑戰性的時期，能夠成功地管理庫存，這是由使用這些新工具的優秀團隊所推動的。

Last, to support our strategic planning process, we have been working together with a consulting firms to analyze, assess and make recommendations regarding every aspect of our business based on data analytics and peer industry benchmarking.

最後，為了支持我們的策略規劃流程，我們一直與顧問公司合作，根據數據分析和同行產業基準對我們業務的各個方面進行分析、評估和提出建議。

This work should be finalized by February of 2024 and will help inform our long-term plan development. As we have previously mentioned, we anticipate sharing our strategic plan at an Investor Day event, which we now plan to schedule in the upcoming year. As I close my remarks today, I want to share with you why I believe that Guess? is in a very special time of its history and at an inflection point of its development.

這項工作應於 2024 年 2 月完成，並將有助於為我們的長期計劃制定提供資訊。正如我們之前提到的，我們預計在投資者日活動中分享我們的策略計劃，我們現在計劃在未來一年安排該活動。在我今天結束演講時，我想與大家分享為什麼我相信這個猜猜？正處於歷史上非常特殊的時期，也正處於發展的轉折點。

Our Guess? brand and company are celebrating 42 years of business success and a history of global growth. Today, we see a unique list of accomplishments built over the years. We have built brand awareness all over the world. Our internal teams and licensee partners have developed amazing relevant products that represent an entire lifestyle our customers love and embrace. We have created a distribution network, which combines different channels that optimize distribution models by market with local organizations to support each business.

我們的猜測？品牌和公司正在慶祝 42 年的商業成功和全球成長的歷史。今天，我們看到了多年來所取得的獨特成就清單。我們在世界各地建立了品牌知名度。我們的內部團隊和被授權者合作夥伴開發了令人驚嘆的相關產品，代表了我們的客戶喜愛和擁抱的整個生活方式。我們創建了一個分銷網絡，該網絡將不同的渠道結合起來，根據市場優化分銷模式，並與當地組織一起支援每項業務。

We assembled an efficient infrastructure that services and supports each area of our business, including design, product development, sourcing and distribution, image production and marketing and many more functions. We have built a strong capital structure that has capacity to grow, deliver high returns on invested capital and create significant shareholder value.

我們組建了一個高效的基礎設施，為我們業務的各個領域提供服務和支持，包括設計、產品開發、採購和分銷、圖像製作和行銷以及許多其他功能。我們建立了強大的資本結構，具有成長能力、提供高投資資本回報並創造顯著的股東價值。

And lastly, we have a world-class global team of leaders and associates that have done a fantastic job getting the business here. And looking ahead, can meaningfully contribute to its further expansion on profitability growth.

最後，我們擁有一支由領導者和同事組成的世界一流的全球團隊，他們在推動業務發展方面做得非常出色。展望未來，可以為其進一步擴大獲利成長做出有意義的貢獻。

What we have at Guess? today is an incredible platform that up to now has only serviced one brand and model. The opportunity is clear. This platform can power a bigger business one that can better generate margin expansion, synergistic growth and significant value creation over time. Our recent initiatives, including the internalization of existing licenses, and the launch of Guess? Jeans to target the young consumer, are good examples of growth that leverage our infrastructure.

猜猜我們有什麼？今天是一個令人難以置信的平台，到目前為止只為一個品牌和型號提供服務。機會是顯而易見的。該平台可以為更大的業務提供動力，隨著時間的推移，可以更好地實現利潤擴張、協同成長和顯著的價值創造。我們最近的舉措，包括現有授權的內部化以及推出 Guess？針對年輕消費者的牛仔褲是利用我們的基礎設施來實現成長的好例子。

I want to take a moment to acknowledge that these exciting opportunities build upon the strong foundation that was established over 42 years ago when Guess? was created. It was then when the four Marciano brothers came to the U.S. from France to pursue their own American dream. That dream has been converted into a legacy, and Paul continues to carry the torch every day with its unwavering commitment, passion, vision and leadership.

我想花一點時間承認，這些令人興奮的機會建立在 42 多年前「猜猜？」時建立的堅實基礎之上。被創建。就在那時，馬西亞諾四兄弟從法國來到美國追求自己的美國夢。這個夢想已轉化為遺產，保羅每天繼續以其堅定不移的承諾、熱情、遠見和領導力傳遞火炬。

As previously announced, Maurice, after 42 years of amazing vision and hard work helping oversee Guess'? evolution from a small family business and denim pioneer into a global lifestyle brand has decided to retire and focus on his health and family. From our entire Guess? family, we thank Maurice for all his extraordinary contributions to this company and to this team and wish him the very best.

正如之前宣布的那樣，Maurice 在 42 年的驚人遠見和辛勤工作幫助監督 Guess？從一家小型家族企業和牛仔布先驅發展成為一個全球生活方式品牌，他決定退休並專注於自己的健康和家庭。從我們整個猜測？一家人，我們感謝莫里斯對公司和團隊的傑出貢獻，並祝他一切順利。

Looking ahead, our key strategic focus will be on growth, and I couldn't be more excited to leverage our amazing infrastructure built over the last 42 years to capture our extraordinary opportunity to develop multiple businesses.

展望未來，我們的關鍵策略重點將是成長，我非常高興能夠利用我們在過去 42 年裡建立的令人驚嘆的基礎設施來抓住我們發展多種業務的非凡機會。

With that, I would like to pass the call to Markus. Markus, please go ahead.

說到這裡，我想把電話轉給馬庫斯。馬庫斯，請繼續。

Thank you, Carlos, and good afternoon, everyone. We are pleased with our performance this quarter. Revenue growth was in line with our expectations, driven primarily by our strong Licensing business, which offset lower-than-expected revenues in our direct-to-consumer channels in Europe and Asia.

謝謝你，卡洛斯，大家下午好。我們對本季的表現感到滿意。營收成長符合我們的預期，這主要是由我們強勁的授權業務推動的，這抵消了我們在歐洲和亞洲的直接面向消費者管道的收入低於預期的影響。

Adjusted operating earnings exceeded our expectations for the quarter, driven by better-than-expected performance of our Licensing business and strong cost controls, enabling us to deliver an adjusted operating margin of 8.9%, exceeding our guidance.

受授權業務優於預期的業績和強有力的成本控制的推動，本季度調整後的營業利潤超出了我們的預期，使我們能夠實現 8.9% 的調整後營業利潤率，超出了我們的指導。

As Carlos alluded in his opening remarks, yet again, we demonstrated the power of our diversified business model to lean on areas of strength in our business to mitigate pockets of weakness and deliver our operating results in a dynamic environment.

正如卡洛斯在開場白中提到的那樣，我們再次展示了多元化業務模式的力量，可以依靠我們業務的優勢領域來彌補弱點，並在動態環境中實現我們的經營業績。

Our last 12-month free cash flow reached USD 154 million, and we are on track to achieve our fiscal year '24 target of USD 160 million. We are proud of our strong balance sheet that enables us to invest in the growth of our business and built on our commitment to returning capital to our shareholders. With this discipline, we entered the holiday season with clean and healthy inventories.

我們過去 12 個月的自由現金流達到 1.54 億美元，我們預計將實現 24 財年 1.6 億美元的目標。我們為我們強大的資產負債表感到自豪，它使我們能夠投資於我們的業務成長，並建立在我們向股東返還資本的承諾之上。憑藉這一紀律，我們以乾淨、健康的庫存進入了假期季節。

Let me take you through our third quarter results in more detail. Total company revenues in the third quarter were $651 million, an increase of 3% in U.S. dollars from last year's third quarter and 1% in constant currency, which reflects the strong growth performance from our Europe and Licensing segment.

讓我更詳細地向您介紹我們第三季的業績。第三季公司總營收為 6.51 億美元，以美元計算較去年第三季成長 3%，以固定匯率計算成長 1%，這反映了我們歐洲和授權業務部門的強勁成長表現。

Turning to our segment performance, starting with Europe. In the third quarter, strong retail comparable sales drove our continued European business growth with revenues increasing 6% in U.S. dollars and 5% in constant currency. Third quarter retail comps, including e-commerce, increased 7% in constant currency. However, we did observe a deceleration in traffic into our stores and our website. As a result, our omni comp growth decelerated from 11% in the second quarter to 7% in the third quarter.

談到我們的細分市場表現，首先是歐洲。第三季度，強勁的零售可比銷售額推動了我們歐洲業務的持續成長，以美元計算的收入成長了 6%，以固定匯率計算的收入成長了 5%。以固定匯率計算，第三季零售業（包括電子商務）成長了 7%。然而，我們確實觀察到我們商店和網站的流量有所下降。因此，我們的全方位綜合成長率從第二季的 11% 放緩至第三季的 7%。

Our stores delivered an 8% constant currency comp increase in Q3, driven by continued strong AUR growth, more than offsetting a modest conversion decline. As in the past few quarters, Turkey's hyperinflation had a meaningful impact on the comps, and excluding Turkey, that comp increase would have been 6%. In European Wholesale, our revenues increased 1% in constant currency. The operating margin in our European business decreased by 90 basis points to 10.3%. Currency headwinds and higher expenses were partially offset by higher initial markups and strong comp sales.

在 AUR 持續強勁成長的推動下，我們的商店在第三季實現了 8% 的固定匯率成長，足以抵銷轉換率的小幅下降。與過去幾季一樣，土耳其的惡性通貨膨脹對綜合指數產生了重大影響，如果不包括土耳其，綜合指數增幅將為 6%。在歐洲批發業務中，以固定匯率計算，我們的收入成長了 1%。我們歐洲業務的營業利益率下降 90 個基點至 10.3%。貨幣逆風和較高的費用被較高的初始加價和強勁的銷售收入部分抵消。

In Americas Retail, revenues decreased 7% in U.S. dollars and 8% in constant currency. North American Retail comps, including e-commerce, declined 5% in constant currency. As Carlos shared, traffic remains under pressure in our North American stores and our store comps decreased 6% in constant currency in the quarter. The decrease was driven by the U.S. stores, while our stores in Canada achieved a low single-digit stock comp increase in the quarter. We anticipate these underlying trends will continue throughout the fourth quarter. Our U.S. and Canada e-com business performance was flat compared to Q3 of last year, with a higher average order value offsetting lower traffic to our website.

在美洲零售業，以美元計算的收入下降了 7%，以固定匯率計算的收入下降了 8%。以固定匯率計算，包括電子商務在內的北美零售業指數下跌 5%。正如 Carlos 分享的那樣，我們北美商店的客流量仍然面臨壓力，以固定匯率計算，本季我們的商店業績下降了 6%。這一下降是由美國商店推動的，而我們在加拿大的商店在本季度實現了較低的個位數庫存成長率。我們預計這些基本趨勢將持續整個第四季。與去年第三季相比，我們的美國和加拿大電子商務業務表現持平，較高的平均訂單價值抵消了我們網站流量的下降。

Americas Retail posted a 5.3% operating margin compared to a 6.9% operating margin a year earlier. The 160 basis points decrease in operating margin was mainly driven by unfavorable impact from lower revenues and higher expenses partially offset by a higher IMU.

美洲零售業的營業利潤率為 5.3%，而去年同期為 6.9%。營業利潤率下降 160 個基點，主要是由於收入減少和費用增加的不利影響，但 IMU 增加部分抵消了這一影響。

In American Wholesale, revenues increased by 4% in U.S. dollars and decreased 1% in constant currency. Higher shipments in Mexico were offset by lower deliveries in the U.S. and Canada. Operating margin reached 29.1%, a meaningful improvement of 9.9 points from Q3 of last year, mainly driven by improved product margins. In Asia, revenue grew 2% in U.S. dollars and remained flat in constant currency.

美國批發公司的營收以美元計算成長了 4%，以固定匯率計算下降了 1%。墨西哥出貨量的增加被美國和加拿大出貨量的減少所抵銷。營業利益率達29.1%，較去年第三季大幅提升9.9個百分點，主要得益於產品利潤率的提高。在亞洲，以美元計算的收入成長了 2%，以固定匯率計算的收入保持不變。

Retail comps, including e-commerce, for the region decreased 9% in constant currency, mainly offset by growth in net new stores in Korea. Operating margin improved 100 basis points to 1%, driven by the performance of these new stores and partially offset by higher expenses. We are very pleased with the progress in the first 3 quarters of fiscal '24 as we improved the earnings from operations by $11 million from negative $7 million to positive $4 million, mainly driven by Korea and Greater China.

以固定匯率計算，該地區包括電子商務在內的零售業績下降了 9%，主要被韓國淨新店成長所抵銷。受這些新店業績的推動，營業利潤率提高了 100 個基點，達到 1%，但部分被較高的費用所抵消。我們對 24 財年前 3 季的進展感到非常滿意，我們的營運利潤提高了 1,100 萬美元，從負 700 萬美元增至正 400 萬美元，這主要是由韓國和大中華區推動的。

And finally, our Licensing segment had a strong quarter and exceeded our expectations with revenues increasing 19% in both U.S. dollars and constant currency. Fragrances, handbags, watches, eyewear and footwear had a very strong performance during the quarter. Excluding a positive onetime adjustment in the third quarter, our license business increased revenues in the low teens.

最後，我們的授權業務季度表現強勁，超出了我們的預期，以美元和固定匯率計算的收入均成長了 19%。香水、手袋、手錶、眼鏡和鞋類在本季表現強勁。排除第三季的一次性積極調整，我們的授權業務收入成長了十幾倍。

Segment operating margin was 93.1%, and operating profit increased by 24%. Total company gross margin was 44.7% in Q3, an improvement of 220 basis points from last year, improved IMUs, mainly from lower inbound freight and the favorable second mix, especially driven by our Licensing segment, were partially offset by a negative currency impact on our product margins.

分部營業利益率為93.1%，營業利益成長24%。第三季公司總毛利率為44.7%，比去年提高220 個基點，IMU 有所改善，主要是由於入境運費下降和有利的第二組合（尤其是由我們的許可部門推動），但部分被匯率的負面影響所抵銷。我們的產品利潤。

Adjusted SG&A for the quarter increased 10% to $233 million. Performance-based compensation in the third quarter increased $9 million versus last year as we are lapping a reversal adjustment. This represented roughly 40% of this year's SG&A expense increase.

本季調整後的 SG&A 成長 10%，達到 2.33 億美元。由於我們正在進行逆轉調整，第三季基於績效的薪酬比去年增加了 900 萬美元。這約佔今年 SG&A 費用成長的 40%。

Currency headwinds accounted for another 30% of the expense increase in the third quarter of fiscal '24. Further, 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.

24 財年第三季費用成長的 30% 又是由貨幣不利因素造成的。此外，我們的成本結構面臨通膨壓力，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。

For the quarter, our adjusted SG&A rate increased 240 basis points to 35.8%. Adjusted operating profit reached $58 million on par with last year. Our better-than-expected adjusted operating margin was 8.9%, 20 basis points below last year's Q3, driven primarily by a higher initial markup, favorable business mix, offset by the negative currency impact and higher expenses, including higher performance-based compensation.

本季度，我們調整後的 SG&A 率增加了 240 個基點，達到 35.8%。調整後營業利潤達 5,800 萬美元，與去年持平。我們的調整後營業利潤率優於預期，為8.9%，比去年第三季低20 個基點，這主要是由於初始加價較高、有利的業務組合所抵消，但被匯率負面影響和費用增加（包括績效為基礎的薪酬提高）所抵銷。

Currency headwinds negatively affected adjusted operating profit by $7 million and adjusted operating margin by 120 basis points. In the quarter, we recorded nonoperating net charges of $11 million. These charges, most of which are unrealized, relate to the revaluation of certain of our foreign subsidiaries, net assets and liabilities into U.S. dollars and the net charges to mark our deferred compensation plan and serve plan assets to market.

貨幣逆風對調整後營業利潤造成 700 萬美元的負面影響，調整後營業利益率下降 120 個基點。本季度，我們記錄的非營運淨費用為 1,100 萬美元。這些費用大部分未實現，涉及將我們的某些外國子公司、淨資產和負債重估為美元，以及標記我們的遞延薪酬計劃和將計劃資產推向市場的淨費用。

And we recorded an adjusted effective tax rate of 31%. The adjusted tax rate excludes a discrete tax benefit of USD 31 million, which is recorded in our GAAP results related primarily to our Swiss subsidiary.

我們的調整後有效稅率為 31%。調整後的稅率不包括 3,100 萬美元的離散稅收優惠，該福利記錄在主要與瑞士子公司相關的 GAAP 業績中。

Adjusted Q3 diluted earnings per share was $0.49 compared to $0.44 of earnings per share in last year's third quarter. Excluding the negative impact of the nonoperating net charges of USD 11 million, our earnings per share would be close to the high end of our Q3 EPS guidance.

調整後第三季攤薄每股收益為 0.49 美元，去年第三季每股收益為 0.44 美元。排除 1,100 萬美元非經營性淨費用的負面影響，我們的每股盈餘將接近第三季 EPS 指引的上限。

Moving to the balance sheet. We ended the quarter with $244 million in cash compared to $174 million a year ago. The most significant drivers of that $70 million cash build over the last 4 quarters include $154 million of free cash flow, offset by $59 million in dividends and $16 million lower borrowings on our credit facility. We ended the quarter with a total of $315 million of borrowing capacity on our various global facilities. So roughly USD 560 million of available liquidity.

轉向資產負債表。本季結束時，我們的現金為 2.44 億美元，而去年同期為 1.74 億美元。過去 4 個季度 7,000 萬美元現金成長的最重要驅動因素包括 1.54 億美元的自由現金流，被 5,900 萬美元的股息和我們信貸額度減少 1,600 萬美元的借款所抵銷。截至本季末，我們全球各機構的借款能力總計為 3.15 億美元。可用流動資金約 5.6 億美元。

We continued managing our inventories well. We ended the quarter with $562 million, down 2% in U.S. dollars and 4% in constant currency versus last year. Overall, we are very pleased with our inventory composition and forward orders and feel we are well positioned to support our business during the holiday season and beyond.

我們繼續妥善管理庫存。本季結束時，我們的營收為 5.62 億美元，以美元計算下降 2%，以固定匯率計算比去年下降 4%。總體而言，我們對庫存組成和遠期訂單非常滿意，並認為我們有能力在假期季節及以後支持我們的業務。

Our receivables were USD 341 million, a 7% increase versus last year's USD 319 million. On a constant currency basis, receivables increased by 3%. For the first 3 quarters, capital expenditures were $52 million, mainly driven by investments in store remodels and technology. This compared to USD 72 million in the same period last year.

我們的應收帳款為 3.41 億美元，比去年的 3.19 億美元成長 7%。以固定匯率計算，應收帳款增加了 3%。前三個季度的資本支出為 5,200 萬美元，主要由商店改造和技術投資推動。相比之下，去年同期為 7,200 萬美元。

In the first 3 quarters, we consumed $16 million of free cash flow an improvement of $82 million compared with the cash consumption of USD 98 million for the same period last year. The improved free cash flow resulted from favorable changes in working capital, including a substantial reduction in inventories and lower capital expenditures.

前三季度，我們消耗了1,600萬美元的自由現金流，比去年同期的9,800萬美元現金消耗增加了8,200萬美元。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降低。

Turning now to our outlook for the rest of the year. As we assess the fourth quarter, we do expect some of the softening consumer trends prevalent in the third quarter to continue into the fourth. Looking ahead, our outlook is based on our best assessment of the current geopolitical backdrop as well as the overall macroeconomic environment. This includes inflationary pressures and other consumer spending related headwinds and foreign currency volatility among others.

現在轉向我們對今年剩餘時間的展望。在我們評估第四季時，我們確實預期第三季普遍存在的一些消費疲軟趨勢將持續到第四季。展望未來，我們的前景是基於我們對當前地緣政治背景以及整體宏觀經濟環境的最佳評估。這包括通膨壓力和其他與消費者支出相關的不利因素以及外匯波動等。

In Europe, while we do expect to continue to see productivity improvements in our stores in the fourth quarter. we are planning the business with lower traffic trends to both our stores and websites similar to Q3. Our European Wholesale order book for the Spring/Summer '24 collection is roughly flat in constant currencies.

在歐洲，我們確實預計第四季度我們商店的生產力將繼續提高。我們正在計劃與第三季類似的商店和網站流量趨勢較低的業務。以固定匯率計算，我們 24 年春夏系列的歐洲批發訂單大致相當。

In North America, also in our direct-to-consumer businesses, our traffic headwinds persist. We are taking a more cautious view on our sales expectations for the fourth quarter. Therefore, for the fourth quarter, we expect revenues will increase in the range of 4% to 6%, both in U.S. dollars and in constant currency. This includes the benefit of the fourth quarter's extra week, which we estimate to be about USD 30 million.

在北美，在我們的直接面向消費者的業務中，我們的流量逆風依然存在。我們對第四季的銷售預期持更謹慎的態度。因此，我們預計第四季度的營收將成長 4% 至 6%，無論是以美元還是按固定匯率計算。這包括第四季度額外一周的收益，我們估計約為 3000 萬美元。

For the fourth quarter, we expect adjusted operating margins to expand to a range between 14.1% and 14.4%, up from 13.1% last year as higher product margins fueled mainly by lower freight costs will be partially offset by higher expenses supporting our revenue growth.

對於第四季度，我們預計調整後的營業利潤率將從去年的13.1% 擴大至14.1% 至14.4% 之間，因為主要由貨運成本降低推動的產品利潤率上升將被支持我們收入成長的費用增加所部分抵消。

For the fourth quarter, we expect adjusted earnings per share in the range of $1.53 to $1.60. For the full year, we expect revenues will grow in the range between 1.8% and 2.4%, both in U.S. dollars and in constant currency. We expect adjusted operating margin between 8.9% and 9.1% with a higher expense rate, more than offsetting expanded gross margin. For the full year, we expect adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.67 and $2.74.

我們預計第四季度調整後每股收益將在 1.53 美元至 1.60 美元之間。我們預計全年營收將以美元和固定匯率計算的收入成長在 1.8% 至 2.4% 之間。我們預期調整後的營業利潤率在 8.9% 至 9.1% 之間，費用率較高，足以抵銷毛利率的成長。我們預計全年調整後每股收益將在 2.67 美元至 2.74 美元之間。

And with that, we can now open the call up for questions.

這樣，我們現在就可以開始提問了。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Eric Beder of Small Cap.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Small Cap 的 Eric Beder。

Okay. So when we look at growth in the ramp-up next year, how should we be thinking about the drivers here? You've talked about the wholesale. How should we be thinking about when the U.S. business on the retail side will start to once again generate positive comps again? I know you've done a tremendous job with the product. But how do you get the consumer, I guess, to come in more often and shop with it?

好的。因此，當我們考慮明年的成長時，我們應該如何考慮這裡的驅動因素？你剛才談到了批發。我們該如何思考美國零售業務何時將再次開始產生正面的業績？我知道您在該產品方面做得非常出色。但我想，如何讓消費者更頻繁地進來並使用它購物呢？

Yes, Eric, it's a very good question. We are not prepared to formally provide any guidance today for next year. But -- and maybe we can help you with some of the key levers here. Just as I mentioned during my prepared remarks, we are working on our strategic plan, and we are focusing on those six key strategic objectives. I don't think we need to repeat those, but one of those is growth.

是的，埃里克，這是一個非常好的問題。今天我們不准備正式提供明年的任何指導。但是—也許我們可以幫助您解決一些關鍵問題。正如我在準備好的演講中所提到的，我們正在製定策略計劃，重點關注這六個關鍵策略目標。我認為我們不需要重複這些，但其中之一就是成長。

And we are looking at this with a very keen focus on the many opportunities that we have to really bring growth into the organization. And of course, the two examples that I mentioned are going to impact next year. That's some of them, and I'm talking about the internalization of our license with G-III that we are doing now direct and the introduction, the launch of our new brand, Guess? Jeans. And we are very excited about Guess? Jeans. Obviously, this is going to take some time for us to really build the business, but we feel that this is a very natural space for us.

我們非常關注這個問題，我們必須抓住許多機會，才能真正為組織帶來成長。當然，我提到的兩個例子將在明年產生影響。這就是其中的一些，我正在談論我們現在正在直接進行的 G-III 許可的內部化以及我們新品牌的推出，猜猜？牛仔褲。我們對 Guess 感到非常興奮？牛仔褲。顯然，我們需要一些時間才能真正建立業務，但我們覺得這對我們來說是一個非常自然的空間。

We think that with the elevation of the brands, of the Guess? brands, we have created a pretty significant separation from that more dressy, more sophisticated look, more contemporary look, from that to what may get us as a very significant dominant player in denim and in the casual world. So we see a big opportunity here to really go after that.

我們認為，隨著品牌的提升，Guess？品牌，我們已經與更考究、更精緻的外觀、更現代的外觀形成了相當大的區別，從這些外觀到可能使我們成為牛仔布和休閒世界中非常重要的主導者的東西。因此，我們在這裡看到了一個真正追求這一目標的巨大機會。

When you think about the more specifics on when are we going to see comps in the different stores and so forth, that is very difficult question to answer. What we are doing is trying to really concentrate on improving conversion rates. We have seen that customer traffic has really slowed down, and we don't think that we are alone, especially in our space. We think that our product assortments are really compelling and strong. And we see that when the customer is inside the store, we are doing what we can to really enhance our marketing.

當你考慮更多細節，例如我們什麼時候會在不同的商店看到贈品等等，這是一個很難回答的問題。我們正在做的就是努力真正專注於提高轉換率。我們已經看到客戶流量確實放緩了，而且我們並不認為我們是孤獨的，尤其是在我們的領域。我們認為我們的產品種類確實非常引人注目且強大。我們看到，當顧客進入商店時，我們正在盡我們所能來真正加強我們的行銷。

I'm talking about more of the direct marketing. We are doing some new events to really enhance UPTs and really entice the customer to really buy more pieces or just go for look instead of just buying items.

我更多地談論的是直接行銷。我們正在舉辦一些新活動，以真正增強 UPT，並真正吸引顧客真正購買更多商品，或者只是看看，而不僅僅是購買商品。

And when you go outside the U.S., just we had a very healthy business in Canada during the third quarter, too. So just these were two very different performances and they were primarily related to customer traffic.

當你走出美國時​​，第三季我們在加拿大的業務也非常健康。因此，這是兩種截然不同的表現，它們主要與客戶流量有關。

When you go to Europe, we were having a very strong comeback from the pandemic days, and we have rebuilt that customer traffic very nicely. We saw a deceleration in the third quarter. And we are -- we think that a lot of this had to do with some of the geopolitical situations that we are facing there, combined with the fact that weather was kind of challenging, especially for our products.

當你去歐洲時，我們正從大流行時期強勁復甦，並且我們很好地重建了客戶流量。我們在第三季看到了減速。我們認為，這很大程度上與我們在那裡面臨的一些地緣政治局勢有關，再加上天氣有點具有挑戰性，尤其是對我們的產品而言。

So overall, I think that we have a good plan. We are looking at next year as an opportunity to see growth again. We're going to come back to you with some more specifics. We have some markets where we think that we can develop further. A good example is India. We're going to end this year with 25 stores in India. This is up from nothing a couple of years ago. We have great partners there, and every store is profitable. So that gives you an idea with the size of that market what the opportunity could be. We could be talking about over 100 stores in a few years.

總的來說，我認為我們有一個很好的計劃。我們將明年視為再次實現成長的機會。我們將向您提供更多具體資訊。我們認為我們有一些市場可以進一步發展。印度就是一個很好的例子。今年年底，我們將在印度開設 25 家商店。這在幾年前是從無到有的。我們在那裡有很好的合作夥伴，每家商店都盈利。這樣您就可以了解該市場的規模以及可能的機會。我們可能會在幾年內開設 100 多家商店。

And then just there are some specifics that I think you have to keep in mind when you think about next year, obviously, we are not going to anniversary the 53rd week that we have this year that represents some growth. And we think that there are just very good comparisons when it comes to margin and expenses.

然後，我認為當你考慮明年時，你必須牢記一些具體細節，顯然，我們不會慶祝今年第 53 週的周年紀念日，這代表著一些增長。我們認為，在利潤率和費用方面，有非常好的比較。

We think that we will be able to control the business well. We are not expecting to have, again, a significant increase in margins because we are now normalizing most of the costs, including inbound freight. But overall, we think that the margin structure of the business should be preserved and protected.

我們認為我們將能夠很好地控制業務。我們預計利潤率不會再次大幅增加，因為我們現在正在使大部分成本（包括入境運費）正常化。但總的來說，我們認為該業務的利潤結構應該被保留和保護。

One more. Marciano, you've done a great job with it. We've seen the expansion of Marciano into men's for Q4. Where does that play in terms of raising the overall impact and potentially driving profits going forward as a potential growth vehicle? Good luck with holidays.

多一個。馬西亞諾，你做得很好。我們已經看到 Marciano 在第四季度進軍男裝市場。作為潛在成長工具，這在提高整體影響力和潛在推動利潤方面發揮了什麼作用？祝假期好運。

Yes. Thank you, Eric. Well, so Marciano is a brand that we continue to invest in. We are expanding that business. Marciano had a very good quarter in Europe. And we think that there is a place in the marketplace. We think that the product looks beautiful, and we have invested in additional quality. We are doing a lot to really be sustainability friendly. And the -- what we have been doing is building some other product classifications with success. We think that there is opportunity for this brand, and we will continue to support it.

是的。謝謝你，埃里克。嗯，Marciano 是我們繼續投資的一個品牌。我們正在擴大這項業務。馬西亞諾在歐洲的季度表現非常出色。我們認為在市場上有一席之地。我們認為該產品看起來很漂亮，並且我們在額外的品質上進行了投資。我們正在做很多事情來真正實現永續發展。我們一直在成功地建立一些其他產品分類。我們認為這個品牌有機會，我們將繼續支持它。

The marketing has been very strong. Georgina was featured with wearing and modeling Marciano products and some of those products were the ones that had the best sell-throughs. So we'll continue pushing. With respect to men's, just that is a very, very small part of the collection and a very small part of the business. Our focus is primarily on the women's side.

行銷力度非常大。喬治娜 (Georgina) 穿著馬西亞諾 (Marciano) 產品並為其造型，其中一些產品銷量最高。所以我們將繼續推動。就男裝而言，這只是產品系列中非常非常小的一部分，也是業務中非常小的一部分。我們的重點主要是女性方面。

Our next question comes from the line of Corey Tarlowe of Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自傑富瑞 (Jefferies) 的科里·塔洛 (Corey Tarlowe)。

Carlos, as you assess the health of your customer and the trajectory for the Americas business, what do you think is due to -- as you look -- pick apart the performance in the Americas, how do you parse out what's just some general weakness in the consumer versus just taking time for some of your initiatives to take hold and gain traction among the consumer? It would be great to just get some color on the behavior of your customer and how that is affecting the business overall in the Americas?

卡洛斯，當您評估客戶的健康狀況和美洲業務的發展軌跡時，您認為是由於什麼（正如您所看到的）來區分美洲的表現，您如何分析出一些普遍的弱點與花時間讓您的一些舉措在消費者中紮根並獲得吸引力？如果能夠了解客戶的行為以及這對美洲的整體業務有何影響，那就太好了？

Yes. Thank you, Corey. Just when we see the way the consumer is behaving once they are in our stores, we don't see significant differences from how the consumer was behaving in the past.

是的。謝謝你，科里。當我們看到消費者進入我們商店後的行為方式時，我們並沒有看到消費者的行為方式與過去有顯著差異。

Really, the number one variable here is with customer traffic. And we think that, that is something that is obviously may be reflective of what the consumer is going through. I mean we all read the same papers, inflation, high interest rates, fears of recession, high consumer debt, just credit card maximize and so forth. I mean, obviously, all those things are impacting the consumer, and our consumer is in the middle of that.

實際上，這裡的第一個變數是客戶流量。我們認為，這顯然可能反映了消費者正在經歷的事情。我的意思是我們都讀同樣的論文，通貨膨脹，高利率，對經濟衰退的擔憂，高額消費者債務，信用卡最大化等等。我的意思是，顯然，所有這些事情都在影響消費者，而我們的消費者就處於其中。

So for sure, there must be some type of impact. But what we believe is that having the right product, pricing it well, which is something that we have been spending a lot of time and effort on is key to be able to win in this market.

所以可以肯定的是，一定會產生某種類型的影響。但我們相信，擁有合適的產品，定價合理，這是我們花費大量時間和精力的事情，是能夠贏得這個市場的關鍵。

We said it during our prepared remarks, we think that the consumer is going to be looking for value. And that's because they are very sensitive to price. We are making a huge effort to, number one, put the right products into our assortments. We revisited some of the pricing structure that we have in all brands. And we were able to make changes to really make sure that we had the right just offering in front of the customer.

我們在準備好的發言中說過，我們認為消費者會尋找價值。那是因為他們對價格非常敏感。我們正在付出巨大的努力，第一，將正確的產品放入我們的產品組合中。我們重新審視了所有品牌的一些定價結構。我們能夠做出改變，以真正確保我們在客戶面前提供正確的產品。

But in addition to that, to having the right product at the right price, it's important that we are careful with how much we buy. And in order not to create excess inventory, I think that this is something that we pride ourselves on for now many years. I think we have done a good job in managing inventories. And the key was to not buy in excess.

但除此之外，為了以合適的價格提供合適的產品，我們謹慎購買的數量也很重要。為了不產生過多的庫存，我認為這是我們多年來引以為傲的事情。我認為我們在庫存管理方面做得很好。關鍵是不要購買過量。

And just also really monitoring how the competition is performing and how aggressive they are, we -- so far, we have been able to stay in our lane on this, and we have been able to really manage to our elevation of the brand strategy that we have, which has been very, very critical for our success in repositioning the brand in the minds of the consumer.

而且，我們還真正監控競爭對手的表現以及他們的攻擊性，到目前為止，我們已經能夠在這方面保持在我們的軌道上，並且我們已經能夠真正成功地提升我們的品牌策略，我們已經做到了，這對我們成功地在消費者心中重新定位品牌非常非常關鍵。

Just it's very difficult to really try to anticipate where the customer is going to be just a few months from now. I mean, there is a lot of uncertainty. And this is one of the main reasons why we have been more cautious in the way we looked at the -- our outlook for fourth quarter.

只是很難真正嘗試預測幾個月後客戶的狀況。我的意思是，存在著許多不確定性。這是我們對第四季前景更加謹慎的主要原因之一。

So just we will give more color when we are ready to provide guidance for next year. But just our plan has been, and our strategy has been to continue to really watch how the consumers are responding and navigating through the current times and then acting accordingly in terms of how we position our business plans.

因此，當我們準備好為明年提供指導時，我們將提供更多的色彩。但我們的計劃和策略一直是繼續真正觀察消費者如何反應並度過當前時代，然後根據我們如何定位我們的業務計劃採取相應行動。

Corey, this is Markus. Adding to what Carlos just explained for Americas Retail, what we've seen in the third quarter, as shared, Canada performed better than the U.S. I think we've been up with positive store comps, low single digits. I think I shared for U.S. traffic was the key thing, driver for the negative store comps. In addition, I think to share, I think what we've seen in our more tourist stores, we've seen a relatively better performance compared to our non-tourist ones.

科里，這是馬庫斯。除了卡洛斯剛剛為美洲零售業所做的解釋之外，我們在第三季度看到的情況是，加拿大的表現優於美國。我認為我們的商店業績一直處於積極的狀態，較低的個位數。我認為我分享的美國流量是關鍵，也是負面商店競爭的驅動因素。另外，我想分享一下，我認為我們在更多的旅遊商店中看到的，與非旅遊商店相比，我們看到了相對更好的表現。

And adding to what Carlos also just said, nothing if you see -- if you look at our inventories, we are down in U.S. dollars, 4% in constant currency. If you look at the regional breakdown, we have been down in the Americas and in Europe. I think then also just confirming thing then also in line with our plans, I think, as Carlos shared, and we are on track also to end the year with 10% lower inventories compared to last year.

補充一下卡洛斯剛才所說的，如果你看看我們的庫存，你會發現，以美元計算，我們的庫存下降了，按固定匯率計算，下降了 4%。如果你看一下地區細分，我們在美洲和歐洲的表現都下降了。我認為，然後也只是確認事情，然後也符合我們的計劃，我認為，正如卡洛斯所分享的那樣，我們也有望在年底實現庫存比去年減少 10% 的目標。

Lower.

降低。

Lower, yes, lower.

更低，是的，更低。

That's great. And then just shifting gears a little bit. The gross margin performance has been very, very strong. Is there a way to parse out for us within that gross margin line, what you believe is sustainable going forward? And maybe qualitatively, some of the puts and takes that are associated with the gross margin as we look ahead?

那太棒了。然後稍微換一下檔位。毛利率表現非常非常強勁。有沒有辦法在毛利率範圍內為我們解析出您認為未來永續發展的內容？也許從品質上來說，當我們展望未來時，一些與毛利率相關的看跌期權和看跌期權？

Corey, I'm just going to make a very general statement here. But just I think that we saw a lot of change in our margin structure during the last few years and some of it were things that we drove just the elevation of the brand being one of them just being very, very disciplined with the way we were buying inventory, another one, increases in prices.

科里，我只想在這裡做一個非常籠統的聲明。但我認為，在過去的幾年裡，我們的利潤結構發生了很多變化，其中一些是我們推動了品牌的提升，其中之一就是我們的方式非常非常自律。另一方面，購買庫存會導致價格上漲。

They were pretty significant when you compare our average unit retail today to what they were pre-pandemic. I mean you're talking about increases over 20%. And that is -- that has been kind of like a very big catalyst to -- for margin expansion in our business.

當您將我們今天的平均單位零售量與疫情前的平均單位零售量進行比較時，它們非常重要。我的意思是你說的是成長超過 20%。這有點像我們業務利潤率擴張的一個非常大的催化劑。

This past year or the current year, we benefited from inbound freight reductions in cost. I mean I think this has happened in the industry. So everybody is flowing the same boat, but we feel that now we are in a much more stable place. And we are not expecting that we will increase prices significantly.

去年或今年，我們受惠於入境貨運成本的降低。我的意思是，我認為這個行業已經發生了這種情況。所以每個人都在同一條船上，但我們覺得現在我們處於一個更穩定的地方。我們預計不會大幅提高價格。

We are not expecting that there are going to be significant cost increases, just we are working with our vendors across the board. And I think that we are seeing that there is a stability in cost. So overall, I don't think you should expect other than for mix that there will be a significant change in our gross margin structure of the business.

我們預計成本不會大幅增加，只是我們正在與供應商全面合作。我認為我們看到成本保持穩定。因此，總的來說，我認為除了混合之外，您不應該期望我們的業務毛利率結構會發生重大變化。

Adding to what Carlos just said, from a product margin point of view, we do not expect material headwinds or tailwinds. I think going into, I think, the new year, a lot of the improvements that we've had now in the initial markup mainly driven by the inbound freight, I think they've already been executed and are realized this year. And also in addition to it, at the prevailing exchange rates, we do not anticipate meaningful upside or downside from currencies on our product margin.

補充卡洛斯剛才所說的，從產品利潤的角度來看，我們預期不會出現實質的逆風或順風。我認為進入新的一年，我們在最初的加價中所做的許多改進主要是由入境貨運推動的，我認為它們已經在今年得到執行和實現。除此之外，按照現行匯率，我們預期我們的產品保證金不會出現貨幣大幅上漲或下跌的情況。

And I would add one more thing. Just I talked quite a bit about our platform, and the opportunities to really do a lot more with the infrastructure that we have. We have a phenomenal sourcing and production team and a set of vendors. We have contracted the vendor base tremendously during the last few years. And I'm talking about going from 535 vendors, I think we had 4 or 5 years ago to slightly over 120, 130 now.

我還要補充一件事。我剛才談了很多關於我們的平台，以及利用我們擁有的基礎設施做更多事情的機會。我們擁有一支出色的採購和生產團隊以及一組供應商。在過去的幾年裡，我們與供應商基地簽訂了龐大的合約。我說的是從 4 或 5 年前的 535 家供應商增加到現在略多於 120 家、130 家。

So big, big concentration of vendors, which means that each vendor gets a pretty sizable business with us. And as a result of that, we can really get a lot of efficiency here and optimization of costs.

供應商如此之大、如此集中，這意味著每個供應商都與我們獲得了相當大的業務。因此，我們確實可以提高效率並優化成本。

So when you think about an initiative like the Guess? Jeans initiative, where we want to be very competitive with pricing, and that's how the entire collection is priced just very competitively. But in spite of that, we have been able to really lock in a very attractive initial market as a result of the sourcing of this product. So just when you think about even the new ideas and the new initiatives, we think that we can continue to protect a great margin for our business.

那麼，當您考慮像「Guess」這樣的舉措時？牛仔褲倡議，我們希望在定價方面具有很強的競爭力，這就是整個系列的定價非常具有競爭力的方式。但儘管如此，由於該產品的採購，我們確實能夠鎖定一個非常有吸引力的初始市場。因此，當您想到新想法和新舉措時，我們認為我們可以繼續保護我們業務的巨大利潤。

And then when you think about some of the growth that we are experiencing, like Licensing, as you know, that Licensing business generates an operating margin in excess of 90%. So the more we grow that, the more margin expansion we can see for the overall company.

然後，當你想到我們正在經歷的一些成長時，例如授權業務，如你所知，授權業務產生的營業利潤率超過 90%。因此，我們成長得越多，整個公司的利潤率擴張就越大。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from the line of Mauricio Serna of UBS.

（操作員指示）我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團（UBS）的毛里西奧·塞爾納（Mauricio Serna）。

I guess just wanted to elaborate a little bit -- ask if you could elaborate a little bit more on what you were seeing in Europe. I guess, is it fair to assume that the kind of growth you saw in Q3 continues in Q4? Maybe we just add the benefit of the additional week on the retail business? And kind of curious overall, like in Europe and Americas, what are you hearing from the wholesale partners, especially just interested in hearing more about the sequential improvement in Americas?

我想只是想詳細說明一下——請問您是否可以詳細說明一下您在歐洲所看到的情況。我想，假設您在第三季度看到的成長在第四季度繼續下去是否公平？也許我們只是增加零售業務額外一週的好處？總體來說有點好奇，就像在歐洲和美洲一樣，您從批發合作夥伴那裡聽到了什麼，尤其是有興趣聽到更多有關美洲連續改善的信息？

And then lastly, on the Q4 margin guidance, I think it implies 100 basis points roughly -- 100 to 130 basis points margin expansion. Just wondering like if I look at what happened in Q3 and try to think about Q4, is it -- is that margin expansion more related to like stronger gross margin expansion or like moderation in the SG&A dollar growth? Just a bit of more help bridging that would be very helpful.

最後，關於第四季度的利潤率指導，我認為這意味著利潤率大約擴大 100 個基點——100 到 130 個基點。只是想知道，如果我看看第三季度發生的情況，並嘗試思考第四季度，利潤率擴張是否與毛利率擴張更強勁或SG&A美元成長放緩更相關？只要再提供一些幫助，就會非常有幫助。

Okay. So let me start, and then I'm going to ask Markus to jump in here. But just, you talked about Europe. Just we have a huge business in Europe, as you all know. And we have had a great record of good performance there. As I mentioned before, just that consumer and the customer traffic was pretty solid, and we were seeing a very nice positive comp traffic for many, many months, many quarters actually.

好的。那麼就讓我開始吧，然後我會請馬庫斯加入。但剛才，你談到了歐洲。眾所周知，我們在歐洲擁有龐大的業務。我們在那裡有著良好的表現記錄。正如我之前提到的，消費者和客戶流量非常穩定，實際上，我們在很多、很多個月、很多季度都看到了非常好的正面的補償流量。

And now what we saw in the third quarter is that things decelerated. We don't know exactly to which degree this is a more significant or permanent change. But what we are doing now is looking at the fourth quarter and reducing our expectations for customer traffic, which in turn reduces expectation for sales.

現在我們在第三季看到的是事情減速。我們並不確切知道這種變化在多大程度上是更重要或永久的。但我們現在正在做的是著眼於第四季度並降低對客戶流量的預期，這反過來又降低了對銷售的預期。

We see that AURs are still seeing a tailwind, and we saw that in the third quarter in a significant way. But we see that this tailwind is somewhat tempered from the first half of the year in terms of the trends that we're seeing.

我們看到 AUR 仍然處於順風狀態，我們在第三季度看到了這一點。但我們發現，就我們所看到的趨勢而言，這種順風相對於今年上半年有所緩和。

We think that Europe is still healthy for the brands. We don't know exactly what's happening with other brands. We see that our customers at wholesale continue to be very interested in the brands. And if anything, they are buying more, those customers that are investing in it. And we think that, that is a very healthy move. We have been shipping pretty much in line with the schedule. So we are not seeing that those customers are canceling any of the orders. Just the attitude has been very, very healthy and strong.

我們認為歐洲對品牌來說仍然是健康的。我們不知道其他品牌到底發生了什麼事。我們發現批發客戶仍然對這些品牌非常感興趣。如果有什麼不同的話，那就是他們正在購買更多的產品，也就是那些正在投資的客戶。我們認為，這是一個非常健康的舉動。我們幾乎按照時間表發貨。因此，我們沒有看到這些客戶取消任何訂單。只是態度非常非常健康和堅強。

With respect to the Americas, just with in wholesale, we had some strength coming from some of the other pieces that contribute to the Americas Wholesale business, and that is primarily Mexico. That is also being helped by currency trends. So the business there has been very strong for us. And across the board, I think that the brand is having a very strong momentum. And that is impacting how we do business, both direct-to-consumer, but also at wholesale. And we have some very strong partners there.

就美洲而言，僅在批發方面，我們的一些優勢來自於對美洲批發業務做出貢獻的其他一些部分，主要是墨西哥。貨幣趨勢也對此有所幫助。因此，那裡的業務對我們來說非常強勁。總的來說，我認為該品牌勢頭非常強勁。這正在影響我們開展業務的方式，無論是直接面向消費者還是批發業務。我們在那裡有一些非常強大的合作夥伴。

And with respect to what we see here in the U.S., the business has been pretty much in line with what we saw before consistent, department stores, especially our customers at wholesale have been very careful with the way we are -- they are ordering inventory and buying and receiving those products. And as a result, just we are trying to be very careful in the way we manage our side of that equation to make sure that we are not left with excess inventory.

就我們在美國看到的情況而言，業務與我們之前看到的一致，百貨公司，特別是我們的批發客戶對我們的方式非常謹慎 - 他們正在訂購庫存以及購買和接收這些產品。因此，我們正在努力非常小心地管理我們這一方的方式，以確保我們不會留下過多的庫存。

The good thing is that I think our supply chain has become more dynamic. So in some cases, even if we don't have concrete orders from those customers, we have the opportunity to really reposition inventory or orders to be able to respond to their demand if that demand has not been preplanned. And we have been doing good business using this type of business model.

好消息是我認為我們的供應鏈變得更有活力。因此，在某些情況下，即使我們沒有這些客戶的特定訂單，我們也有機會真正重新定位庫存或訂單，以便能夠回應他們的需求（如果需求尚未預先規劃）。我們一直在利用這種商業模式來開展良好的業務。

And then just our business in Canada is relatively small at wholesale, but we're doing our pay there. And we feel that just we can continue to deliver a very nice margin. You saw the operating margin of that business this quarter was really extraordinary. And we think that we have a margin structure that can allow us to continue to deliver that kind of returns. So we are very happy with that.

然後，我們在加拿大的批發業務規模相對較小，但我們在那裡支付工資。我們認為只有我們才能繼續提供非常好的利潤。您看到該業務本季的營業利潤率確實非常出色。我們認為我們的利潤結構可以讓我們繼續提供這種回報。所以我們對此感到非常高興。

So the question regarding the operating margin in the fourth quarter, we expect 14.1% to 14.4%, roughly up 100 basis points compared to last year. The main drivers for the improvement are the initial markup. I think as we expect to continue from lower inbound freights, I think, with your assumption, you were right.

那麼關於第四季營業利潤率的問題，我們預期為14.1%至14.4%，比去年同期約上升100個基點。改進的主要驅動力是初始加價。我認為，由於我們預計入境運費將繼續下降，我認為，根據您的假設，您是對的。

But clearly, the impact of the 53rd week, I think is another positive on the fourth quarter. Expense growth, I think, will moderate. I think that's also. And in addition, the currency will still be a negative impact on the fourth quarter operating margin.

但顯然，我認為第 53 週的影響是對第四季的另一個正面影響。我認為費用增長將會放緩。我想也是如此。此外，匯率仍將對第四季的營運利潤率產生負面影響。

Our next question comes from the line of Jeff Lick of B. Riley.

我們的下一個問題來自 B. Riley 的 Jeff Lick。

So if I just look at your Q4 guidance as relative to the implied Q4 guidance you went into this quarter with, it looks like sales are down -- you took sales down 2%, operating margin down 9%. I'm just curious if you might want to highlight you where -- is it the place where you are seeing that variance come from the most?

因此，如果我只看一下您的第四季度指導，相對於本季度隱含的第四季度指導，銷售額似乎有所下降——銷售額下降了 2%，營業利潤率下降了 9%。我只是好奇你是否想強調你在哪裡 - 這是你看到差異最大的地方嗎？

And then maybe this is for Markus. I'm just curious, given that you reversed bonus accruals, is there a level now where you could actually reverse it back, meaning that it would be difficult not to hit your Q4 operating guidance because there's almost like a shock absorbers with performance accruals?

也許這就是為馬庫斯準備的。我只是好奇，考慮到您逆轉了獎金應計，現在是否有一個水平可以實際將其逆轉，這意味著很難不達到您的第四季度運營指導，因為幾乎就像具有績效應計的減震器？

So Jeff, let me just start and then Markus can address your question on the bonus. But I want to say that what we have done for the fourth quarter is primarily just mirroring some of the trends that we saw in the third quarter that were not in line with what we had originally expected when we provided guidance for the third quarter and the year. So -- and it's primarily the impact that we saw in some of the business didn't perform as well, and is primarily Europe.

傑夫，讓我開始吧，然後馬庫斯可以回答你關於獎金的問題。但我想說的是，我們在第四季度所做的主要只是反映了我們在第三季度看到的一些趨勢，這些趨勢與我們在提供第三季度指導時的最初預期不符。年。所以——這主要是我們看到的一些業務表現不佳的影響，主要是歐洲。

And within Europe, just our wholesale business did pretty much -- had a performance that was pretty much consistent with what we had anticipated. But our direct-to-consumer business was the one that slowed down. And this has two parts, in our stores that were impacted by customer traffic deceleration and also our e-commerce business, which was also impacted by traffic. And as a result, we ended up with a lower number than what we had anticipated on top line, which drove bottom line just a reduction as well.

在歐洲，我們的批發業務做得相當不錯，其表現與我們的預期非常一致。但我們的直接面向消費者的業務放緩了。這分為兩部分，一是我們的商店受到客流量減速的影響，二是我們的電子商務業務也受到客流量的影響。結果，我們最終得到的收入數字低於我們的預期，這也導致了利潤的減少。

We -- that's all we have done. Just we took a look at that. We looked at how the month of November has been going, and we are seeing a similar type of behavior. And as a result of that, we brought that -- those new expectations into the guidance. And of course, in the fourth quarter, additional volume has a major impact on profitability. So when you take some volume away, it's very difficult to really protect the flow-through because all that additional volume normally is very profitable compared to the base.

我們——這就是我們所做的一切。我們只是看了一下。我們觀察了 11 月的情況，發現了類似的行為。因此，我們將這些新的期望納入了指導中。當然，第四季銷量的增加對獲利能力產生了重大影響。因此，當你減少一些交易量時，很難真正保護流通量，因為與基礎相比，所有額外的交易量通常都非常有利可圖。

So -- and that's why you see what may seem as a more significant drop in operating margin or an operating profit than the drop in sales.

因此，這就是為什麼您會看到營業利潤率或營業利潤的下降似乎比銷售額的下降更為顯著。

Regarding your question regarding the -- let me start a bit broader with the SG&A development for the third quarter. Overall, we've been up 10% or $22 million in the third quarter compared to last year. If you look at the two, I think, distinctive impact that I also called out in the prepared remarks, one is the performance-based compensation that is $9 million higher compared to last year as well as currency. I think if there is a tailwind on the revenues, but a headwind on the expenses. Those two effects account for 70% of the expense decrease in the third quarter.

關於您提出的問題—讓我從第三季的銷售、一般行政費用（SG&A）發展開始更廣泛。總體而言，與去年相比，第三季我們的營收成長了 10%，即 2,200 萬美元。如果你看一下我在準備好的發言中也提到的兩個獨特影響，一個是基於績效的薪酬，比去年和貨幣都高出 900 萬美元。我認為如果收入有順風，但支出有逆風。這兩種影響佔第三季費用下降的 70%。

If you look at the third quarter, and I was sharing this, we were lapping a reversal of the performance-based compensation adjustment from last year. As we were trending in the third quarter of last year, we are trending below, I think, then also the targets also for the full year. There was a reversal in those performance-based compensation adjustments that we are now lapping. So nothing that's now in comparison. I think with Q3 of this year compared to last year, that's $9 million as we.

如果你看看第三季度，我正在分享這一點，我們正在扭轉去年基於績效的薪酬調整。正如我們去年第三季的趨勢一樣，我認為我們的趨勢也低於全年的目標。我們現在正在實施的基於績效的薪酬調整發生了逆轉。所以現在沒有什麼可以比較的。我認為今年第三季與去年相比，我們的收入為 900 萬美元。

Yes, but so your question is, can you reverse that? The key issue here is that the company is performing in line with expectations and target plan. So as a result, we're doing for the accounting, what needs to be done, just assuming that we deliver on the numbers that we have shared with you that would mean that the company would meet its financial targets. And as a result, the bonus will be paid.

是的，但你的問題是，你能扭轉這個局面嗎？這裡的關鍵問題是公司的表現符合預期和目標計畫。因此，我們正在做會計工作，需要做的事情，只是假設我們交付了我們與您分享的數字，這意味著公司將實現其財務目標。結果，獎金將被支付。

Yes. The point of the question was that, for some reason, revenue was well below what you guided It would seem like it wouldn't -- operating income would not go down at least for the first tranche of that miss maybe as much...

是的。問題的關鍵在於，出於某種原因，收入遠低於您的指導，看起來似乎不會——至少在第一部分中，營業收入不會下降，也許會下降那麼多…

Yes, yes. I mean, all this works together. Just so to your point, if the company is less profitable, obviously, that will have an impact on variable compensation as well.

是的是的。我的意思是，所有這些都協同工作。就你的觀點而言，如果公司利潤較低，顯然也會對可變薪酬產生影響。

And then another question, just I'm just curious if you could maybe highlight or speak to any lessons or observations with the Georgina Rodriguez partnership, if there's anything that you've learned that you would apply maybe even with the Guess? Jeans U.S. doing social influencing there with someone in the U.S.? I think you did make reference to celebrity marketing.

還有一個問題，我只是好奇你是否可以強調或談論與喬治娜·羅德里格斯合作夥伴關係中的任何經驗教訓或觀察結果，是否有任何你學到的東西可以應用到猜測中？ Jeans U.S. 正在與美國境內的某人進行社會影響？我認為你確實提到了名人行銷。

I'm just kind of curious what you're learning there, given your heritage of successfully using collaborators and spokes models.

鑑於您成功使用協作者和輻條模型的傳統，我只是有點好奇您在那裡學到了什麼。

Yes. Well, let me start by saying we are thrilled with the performance of that collaboration and relationship. I mean, to the point that I think I mentioned in my prepared remarks that just we are just doing another campaign with Georgina. I mean, all the products that she modeled had a great sell-throughs, and we saw a lot of opportunity even for the future with the type of activities that we engage them with her. She has been a terrific ambassador of the brand.

是的。好吧，首先我要說的是，我們對這種合作和關係的表現感到非常興奮。我的意思是，我想我在準備好的演講中提到過，我們只是與喬治娜一起進行另一場活動。我的意思是，她模特兒的所有產品都有很好的銷量，而且我們看到了很多機會，甚至在未來，我們與她一起參與的活動類型也有很多機會。她一直是該品牌出色的大使。

Now what I mentioned is that when you look at Guess? Jeans, this is a brand that is targeting a much younger consumer, just that Gen Z consumer primarily, but also millennials. And we are building the plan, the strategy to launch this brand to the market with a very strong, robust marketing campaign that involves celebrities and a lot of just meaningful effective collaborations that, that consumer will be open to.

現在我提到的是，當你看《猜猜？牛仔褲，這是一個針對年輕消費者的品牌，主要是 Z 世代消費者，但也包括千禧世代。我們正在製定計劃和策略，透過非常強大、有力的行銷活動將這個品牌推向市場，其中包括名人和許多消費者願意接受的有意義、有效的合作。

So we are in the process of working on that. But definitely, we feel that this type of marketing can be very powerful for us. And you're right, Jeff, we do have a long legacy with this type of collaborations. And I think that we are going to take the opportunity to really invest on this again.

所以我們正在努力解決這個問題。但毫無疑問，我們認為這種類型的行銷對我們來說非常強大。你是對的，傑夫，我們確實在這種類型的合作方面有著悠久的傳統。我認為我們將藉此機會再次對此進行真正的投資。

Great. Well, congrats on the quarter and look forward to chatting with you soon.

偉大的。好吧，恭喜這個季度，並期待很快與您聊天。

All right. Thank you, Jeff.

好的。謝謝你，傑夫。

That does conclude our questions for today. I'd like to turn the call back over to Carlos for any closing remarks.

這確實結束了我們今天的問題。我想將電話轉回給卡洛斯，讓其結束語。

Yes. Thank you. Well, first of all, thank you all for participating today. We know that everybody is very busy. And there are multiple calls. So I'm sure that this takes a special effort. We are in front of the most significant period of the year, and we believe that we are well positioned, and we believe that we have a very good plan to win here.

是的。謝謝。嗯，首先感謝大家今天的參與。我們知道每個人都很忙。並且有多個電話。所以我確信這需要特別的努力。我們正處於一年中最重要的時期，我們相信我們處於有利位置，我們相信我們有一個非常好的計劃來贏得這裡。

I just wanted to just invite you guys, if you are interested, anybody listening here to, if you want to let us know if you would like to attend a Guess? Jeans event that is going to take place in Pitti Uomo, this is in Florence, and this is going to happen in January of 2024. This is a part of our launch. We are going to have some experiential presentation there. I think it will be very interesting for people to see. So if you are interested, let us know, this will be, I think it's a week of the 8th, 9th, 10th of January. So let us know.

我只是想邀請你們，如果你們有興趣，有人在這裡聽，如果你們想讓我們知道你們是否願意參加猜猜看？牛仔褲活動將於 2024 年 1 月在佛羅倫薩的 Pitti Uomo 舉行。這是我們發布活動的一部分。我們將在那裡進行一些體驗演示。我認為人們看到這會很有趣。所以，如果您有興趣，請告訴我們，這將是，我認為是 1 月 8 日、9 日、10 日的一周。請告訴我們。

So we want to wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving with your families, friends and so forth, and we look forward to updating you on our progress in the future. Thank you so much for your time.

因此，我們祝福大家與家人、朋友等度過一個愉快的感恩節，我們期待向您通報我們未來的進展。非常感謝您的參與。

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's conference. Thank you all participating. You may now disconnect. Have a great day.

女士們、先生們，今天的會議到此結束。謝謝大家的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。祝你有美好的一天。