Guess? Inc (GES) 2025 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Guess? second-quarter fiscal 2025 earnings conference call. I would now like to turn the call over to Farbrice Benarouche, Senior Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations and Chief Accounting Officer. Please go ahead.

大家好，歡迎來到猜猜？ 2025 財年第二季財報電話會議。我現在想將電話轉給財務和投資者關係高級副總裁兼首席會計官 Farbrice Benarouche。請繼續。

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 Dennis Secor, Interim Chief Financial Officer.

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；臨時財務長 Dennis Secor。

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 risks factors included in today's press release and the company's quarterly and annual reports filed with the SEC.

在今天的電話會議中，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有重大差異。

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. Now, I will turn it over to Carlos.

評論也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。現在，我將把它交給卡洛斯。

Thank you, Fabrice, and thank you all for joining us for our Q2 fiscal 2025 quarterly conference call.

謝謝 Fabrice，也謝謝大家參加我們的 2025 財年第二季電話會議。

Before I discuss our operating results, I wanted to briefly touch on our CFO transition. As you all know, Marcus Neubrand has stepped down from his CFO position with us to pursue another opportunity that will bring him closer to his family. We wish Marcus the best in his future endeavors.

在討論我們的經營業績之前，我想先簡單談談我們的財務長的過渡。眾所周知，馬庫斯·紐布蘭德 (Marcus Neubrand) 辭去了我們的財務長 (CFO) 職務，尋求另一個機會，讓他與家人更加親近。我們祝福馬庫斯在未來的努力中一切順利。

We have opened a search for a permanent CFO to be based in Lugano, Switzerland. While that search is ongoing, I am extremely pleased that Dennis Secor will step into the Interim Chief Financial Officer position. Dennis held this role before Marcus joined. He brings a wealth of experience to the role and work very well with our teams across the company. I have great confidence in Dennis and our entire finance team as we move forward.

我們已開始尋找常駐瑞士盧加諾的財務長。雖然搜尋工作仍在進行中，但我非常高興 Dennis Secor 將擔任臨時財務長一職。在馬庫斯加入之前，丹尼斯擔任此職位。他為這個職位帶來了豐富的經驗，並與我們整個公司的團隊合作得很好。我對丹尼斯和我們整個財務團隊的前進充滿信心。

So with that, let me review our operating results. In the quarter, overall, we performed in line with our expectations. Revenues grew 10% in US dollars and 13% in constant currency, reaching $733 million. During the period, all our segments, except for Asia, posted revenue growth. Our core Guess? business performed well in European wholesale as it has been consistently for several years now. We also drove growth in our Americas wholesale business, delivering strong top line increases in the US and Mexico.

那麼，讓我回顧一下我們的經營績效。整體而言，本季我們的表現符合我們的預期。以美元計算營收成長 10%，以固定匯率計算營收成長 13%，達到 7.33 億美元。在此期間，除亞洲以外，我們所有的業務部門均實現了收入成長。我們的核心猜想？歐洲批發業務多年來一直表現良好。我們也推動了美洲批發業務的成長，在美國和墨西哥實現了強勁的營收成長。

In our European retail business, while we still delivered a positive comp sales increase, we did experience lower traffic into our stores, but we were able to more than offset the traffic headwind with stronger conversion and higher AUR. In our Guess? Americas retail business, our performance did not meet our expectations. Traffic continues to be tough in that market and our comp sales declined. Similarly, sales in our Asia business declined and did not meet our expectations.

在我們的歐洲零售業務中，雖然我們的銷售額仍然實現了積極成長，但我們的商店客流量確實有所下降，但我們能夠透過更強的轉換率和更高的AUR 來抵消客流量的逆風。在我們的猜測中？美洲零售業務，我們的業績沒有達到我們的預期。該市場的客流量仍然很困難，我們的銷售量也有所下降。同樣，我們亞洲業務的銷售額也下降了，沒有達到我們的預期。

Turning to our product performance, we continue to see different levels of performance across regions. In Europe, our footwear and accessories were the leading categories contributing to the positive comps with strong momentum in sneakers and handbags. In apparel, knit tops for both genders and women's denim delivered positive comps, while dresses and outerwear saw some decline in sales.

談到我們的產品性能，我們繼續看到不同地區的性能水平不同。在歐洲，我們的鞋類和配件是領先的類別，為積極的競爭做出了貢獻，運動鞋和手袋的勢頭強勁。在服裝方面，男女針織上衣和女式牛仔布的銷量表現良好，而連身裙和外套的銷量則有所下降。

In the Americas, consistent with the first quarter, we saw declines in both our women's and men's businesses, while active wear was our best performing category across both genders. Similar to the first quarter as well, accessories outperformed apparel with positive momentum in both travel accessories and women's watches. And finally, our licensing business performed well, delivering a revenue increase of 4% to $29 million, mainly with footwear being the best-performing category for the period.

在美洲，與第一季一致，我們的女裝和男裝業務均出現下滑，而運動服是我們在男女中表現最好的類別。與第一季類似，配件表現優於服裝，旅行配件和女士手錶均呈現正面動能。最後，我們的授權業務表現良好，收入成長了 4%，達到 2,900 萬美元，其中鞋類是該期間表現最好的類別。

Turning to rag & bone, we are extremely pleased with how the business performed and how the assimilation of the business onto our platform is progressing. Overall, the business delivered a good quarter contributing solid growth for the company and in line with our expectations. These results were driven by a great performance of the wholesale business, which experienced strong demand of new product in key categories from multiple customers. It's highly rewarding to note that the sellout these customers are experiencing is above expectations contributing to higher ordering activity. The direct-to-consumer business performed slightly below expectations. It's been only four months since we completed the acquisition, but the transition is going smoothly and our teams are working very well together already.

談到 rag＆bone，我們對業務的表現以及業務同化到我們平台的進展感到非常滿意。總體而言，該業務取得了良好的季度業績，為公司帶來了穩健的成長，符合我們的預期。這些業績是由批發業務的出色表現推動的，批發業務經歷了多個客戶對關鍵類別新產品的強勁需求。值得注意的是，這些客戶所經歷的銷售情況超出了預期，從而促進了更高的訂購活動，這是非常值得的。直接面向消費者的業務表現略低於預期。距離我們完成收購僅四個月，但過渡進展順利，我們的團隊已經合作得很好。

Turning to Total Company SG&A, in the quarter, we invested significantly to support our objectives to drive long-term growth. While we increased our adjusted SG&A spending year over year, about 70% of that increase was directed towards our growth initiatives. That includes investing in rag & bone growth and more than doubling our marketing and advertising investments for the whole company to build stronger brand awareness across our entire portfolio.

談到全公司的SG&A，本季我們進行了大量投資，以支持我們推動長期成長的目標。雖然我們調整後的 SG&A 支出逐年增加，但其中約 70% 的成長用於我們的成長計畫。這包括投資於rag＆bone的成長，以及將整個公司的行銷和廣告投資增加一倍以上，以在我們的整個產品組合中建立更強的品牌知名度。

In the quarter, we delivered adjusted operating profit of $38 million and an adjusted operating margin of 5.2% just outside of the range of our expectations, and we delivered adjusted earnings per share of $0.42. We are clearly operating in a dynamic environment where the customer is very selective and more sensitive to price and promotions. Also, as we all know, during the last few years, operating costs across the board have increased as a result of inflationary factors. All considered, our teams have been doing a remarkable job to grow our business and control what is controllable, including costs, inventories, and margins to optimize our results, which brings me to our outlook that we have updated to reflect the softer consumer environment that we are seeing and expect will continue through the second half of the year.

本季度，我們的調整後營業利潤為 3,800 萬美元，調整後營業利潤率為 5.2%，略超出我們的預期範圍，調整後每股收益為 0.42 美元。顯然，我們處於一個動態的環境中，客戶非常挑剔，對價格和促銷更加敏感。此外，眾所周知，過去幾年，由於通貨膨脹因素，營運成本全面增加。綜合考慮，我們的團隊在發展業務和控制可控範圍方面做得非常出色，包括成本、庫存和利潤，以優化我們的業績，這讓我想到我們已經更新了展望，以反映疲軟的消費環境，我們看到並預計這種情況將持續到今年下半年。

We still expect to exceed $3 billion in revenues this year, although now we expect revenue growth between 9.5% and 11%, and we now have revised our adjusted earnings per share expectations for the year to between $2.42 and $2.70. Dennis will take you through our outlook in more detail in just a few minutes.

我們仍預期今年的營收將超過 30 億美元，儘管現在我們預期營收成長在 9.5% 至 11% 之間，並且我們現在已將今年調整後的每股盈餘預期修正至 2.42 美元至 2.70 美元之間。丹尼斯將在短短幾分鐘內向您詳細介紹我們的前景。

even as we have updated our guidance for the year, we continued to make progress against a number of important operational, strategic, and financial objectives. On our last call, I spoke about how we have built a company that is more than just one brand. It's a platform.

即使我們更新了今年的指導，我們仍然在一些重要的營運、策略和財務目標方面繼續取得進展。在我們上次的電話會議上，我談到了我們如何建立一家不僅僅是一個品牌的公司。這是一個平台。

In the four plus decades, since Paul and his brothers founded Guess?, we have expanded the business and created a wide global footprint, broad channel capabilities, extensive supply chains and our diverse category portfolio. All of that is a powerful arsenal, providing us with significant competitive advantages and affording us the opportunity to drive long-term sustainable growth and shareholder value creation.

自從 Paul 和他的兄弟創立 Guess? 以來的四十多年裡，我們不斷擴大業務，並創造了廣泛的全球足跡、廣泛的渠道能力、廣泛的供應鏈和多樣化的品類組合。所有這些都是強大的武器庫，為我們提供了顯著的競爭優勢，並為我們提供了推動長期永續成長和創造股東價值的機會。

We believe that we can do things that others simply cannot do to take regional brands and extend them globally and transform single category brands into lifestyle brands. We can grow things exponentially because we can do it across multiple dimensions. And we are well positioned to do it supported by a strong capital structure, significant cash flow generation, and ample access to capital. I am very excited about the opportunities that lie before us as are Paul and our entire team who are all fully committed to this vision. This year is the inflection point, a year of transition and investment as we begin to execute on our vision.

我們相信，我們可以做別人做不到的事情，將區域品牌擴展到全球，將單一品類品牌轉變為生活風格品牌。我們可以指數級成長事物，因為我們可以跨多個維度做到這一點。我們有能力做到這一點，並得到強大的資本結構、大量現金流的產生和充足的資本管道的支持。我對擺在我們面前的機會感到非常興奮，保羅和我們整個團隊也都完全致力於這個願景。今年是轉捩點，是我們開始執行願景的轉型和投資的一年。

So let me share how our key initiatives are working together to put the company on the path to accelerated growth. I will touch specifically on the progress that we are making at rag & bone, the Guess Jeans launch, our new marketing strategy, our organizational development plan, our logistics network, and our capital structure. I will review our accomplishments from the second quarter and how our quarter's activities support our overall long-term strategic objectives.

因此，讓我分享我們的關鍵舉措如何共同努力，使公司走上加速成長的道路。我將具體談一下我們在 rag＆bone 所取得的進展、Guess Jeans 的推出、我們的新行銷策略、我們的組織發展計劃、我們的物流網絡和我們的資本結構。我將回顧我們第二季的成就以及我們季度的活動如何支持我們的整體長期策略目標。

Let me begin with rag & bone. We completed this acquisition with WHP Global just a short four months ago, and the transition has been going smoothly, as I mentioned earlier. Our teams are working seamlessly together led by Andrew Rosen and Paul. We have already begun leveraging our platform's capabilities that will enable us to realize the full potential of this amazing brand.

讓我從碎布和骨頭開始。我們在短短四個月前完成了對 WHP Global 的收購，正如我之前提到的，過渡進展順利。我們的團隊在安德魯·羅森和保羅的領導下無縫協作。我們已經開始利用我們平台的功能，使我們能夠充分發揮這個令人驚嘆的品牌的潛力。

In the second quarter, we began expanding our rag & bone marketing investments in existing markets, mainly the US, but also in new markets like Europe where the brand is not yet fully recognized except in the UK. We have begun looking for locations to open new stores in multiple important cities in Europe and beyond. In fact, we already signed an agreement for a new store in a great location in Amsterdam that will be an incredible introduction of the brand to consumers and their market.

第二季度，我們開始擴大在現有市場（主要是美國）的 rag＆bone 行銷投資，但也在歐洲等新市場，在歐洲，除英國外，該品牌尚未得到充分認可。我們已開始在歐洲及其他地區的多個重要城市尋找開設新店的地點。事實上，我們已經簽署了一份在阿姆斯特丹優越位置開設新店的協議，這將是令人難以置信的品牌向消費者及其市場的介紹。

In addition to Europe, we are in discussions with potential partners to represent the rag & bone brand in other new markets, including Mexico, Latin America, Middle East, and Australia. Paul and our teams are also leveraging our relationships with product licensee partners to expand the brand's offering and bring more categories to the brand. We have reached an agreement with one of our partners that will enable us to increase and enhance rag & bone's handbag offering with more to come.

除了歐洲之外，我們正在與潛在合作夥伴討論在其他新市場（包括墨西哥、拉丁美洲、中東和澳洲）代表 rag & bond 品牌。 Paul 和我們的團隊也利用我們與產品授權合作夥伴的關係來擴大品牌的產品範圍並為品牌帶來更多類別。我們已與合作夥伴之一達成協議，這將使我們能夠增加和增強 rag＆bone 的手袋產品，並在未來推出更多產品。

We are also working with the WHP management team, led by Yehuda Shmidman to explore other licenses for products and territories. And Andrew and his team are now working closely with our product development and sourcing teams to leverage our vendor relationships, take advantage of our combined volumes, and drive efficiencies into the rag & bone business. So much done in such a short period of time with so much more opportunity in front of us.

我們也與 Yehuda Shmidman 領導的 WHP 管理團隊合作，探索產品和領域的其他授權。安德魯和他的團隊現在正在與我們的產品開發和採購團隊密切合作，以利用我們的供應商關係，利用我們的合併銷量，並提高碎布業務的效率。在如此短的時間內完成瞭如此多的工作，我們面前還有如此多的機會。

Next is Guess Jeans, which we see as another opportunity to drive growth and address a very important customer category. As you know, under Nicolai Marciano leadership, we brought Guess Jeans to market as a completely new lifestyle brand with its own identity and a multi-category assortment for women and men. The brand employs a new store concept, a beautiful design that targets the younger Gen Z customer, but it's welcoming to all customers. And with its casual offering and compelling price points, it fits well within our overall brand and pricing architecture to build an incremental business.

接下來是 Guess Jeans，我們認為這是推動成長和滿足非常重要的客戶類別的另一個機會。如您所知，在 Nicolai Marciano 的領導下，我們將 Guess Jeans 作為一個全新的生活品牌推向市場，擁有自己的特色和多類別的男女款式。該品牌採用了新的商店概念，其精美的設計針對的是年輕的 Z 世代顧客，但它歡迎所有顧客。憑藉其休閒產品和引人注目的價格點，它非常適合我們的整體品牌和定價架構，以建立增量業務。

Since launching this brand in the first quarter, we have presented the line to a select group of customers in Milan and to a much larger audience in Florence at PD [Walmart], where we showed the collection twice in January and again in June. Guess Jeans again hosted an extremely successful weekend event at Coachella, also led by Nicolai. The event garnered billions of impressions and millions of views.

自從第一季推出品牌以來，我們已向米蘭的精選客戶群以及佛羅倫薩的 PD [沃爾瑪] 展示了該系列產品，並於 1 月和 6 月兩次展示了該系列。 Guess Jeans 再次在科切拉音樂節舉辦了一場極其成功的週末活動，同樣由 Nicolai 領導。該活動獲得了數十億次展示和數百萬次觀看。

Our first Guess Jeans sales campaign delivered orders well ahead of our expectations, and the wholesale business is off to a strong start. And we have opened two new stores, one in Amsterdam, the other one in Berlin, both terrific locations that we believe will do a great job introducing this new brand to the European consumer.

我們的第一個 Guess Jeans 銷售活動交付的訂單遠遠超出了我們的預期，批發業務有了一個很好的開始。我們開了兩家新店，一家在阿姆斯特丹，另一家在柏林，我們相信這兩個地點都很棒，能夠很好地向歐洲消費者介紹這個新品牌。

Turning to marketing, consumers are becoming more selective in how to manage their disposable income and the world of social media and customer engagement has evolved tremendously in the last few years. As a result, we are challenging ourselves to enhance our marketing organizational capabilities to better support our existing brands as well as those to come.

轉向行銷，消費者在如何管理可支配收入方面變得更加挑剔，社群媒體和客戶參與的世界在過去幾年中發生了巨大變化。因此，我們正在挑戰自我，增強我們的行銷組織能力，以更好地支持我們現有的以及未來的品牌。

This year, we have engaged an external partner to conduct a brand review, and we have benchmarked our marketing investments against many other companies in our space. From that work, we believe that there are opportunities to make incremental investments in social media, collaborations, customer engagement, and CRM to connect more and differently with our customers to ensure that we are listening to our customers and putting them at the center of everything we do, all designed to drive improved customer traffic to our stores and to our website.

今年，我們聘請了外部合作夥伴進行品牌審查，並將我們的行銷投資與我們領域的許多其他公司進行了基準測試。從這項工作中，我們相信有機會在社群媒體、協作、客戶參與和CRM 方面進行增量投資，以更多方式、以不同方式與客戶建立聯繫，以確保我們傾聽客戶的意見並將他們置於一切的中心我們這樣做，所有這些都是為了提高我們商店和網站的客戶流量。

We have already begun this investment, as I shared earlier, we more than doubled our marketing investments in the second quarter and we plan to continue to invest at higher levels than last year in the second half of the year as well. You will see these investments in our operating margin near term as they don't necessarily deliver immediate returns. However, building these capabilities into our platform is critical to support and grow our core brands and a larger portfolio brand. We have made significant strides in reinventing our organizational structure, but we see opportunity for additional refinement to better support a more global business with a broader brand portfolio.

正如我之前分享的那樣，我們已經開始了這項投資，第二季度我們的行銷投資增加了一倍多，我們計劃在下半年繼續以比去年更高的水平進行投資。您將在短期內看到這些投資對我們的營業利潤率的影響，因為它們不一定會立即帶來回報。然而，將這些功能建構到我們的平台中對於支持和發展我們的核心品牌和更大的品牌組合至關重要。我們在重塑組織結構方面取得了重大進展，但我們看到了進一步完善的機會，以透過更廣泛的品牌組合來更好地支持更全球化的業務。

When I returned to the company in 2019, the company was being run with regional autonomy. That was fit for purpose at the time. But it limited our ability for our whole team to leverage the full capabilities of our entire company. At the time, Paul and I saw an opportunity to globalize multiple functions to add brand consistency and increase operating efficiency.

2019年我回到公司時，公司實施區域自治。這符合當時的目的。但這限制了我們整個團隊充分利用整個公司能力的能力。當時，保羅和我看到了一個將多個職能全球化的機會，以增加品牌一致性並提高營運效率。

As you know, based on this vision, we began the process of migrating to a more global structure, one that provides services to multiple regions, but maintains critical product and market decision making at the local level. We were pleased to launch one global line for all categories over the last few years and to be able to consolidate many related functions like design, product development, and sourcing under one roof in Switzerland.

如您所知，基於此願景，我們開始遷移到更全球化的結構，即向多個地區提供服務，但在本地層面保留關鍵的產品和市場決策。我們很高興在過去幾年中推出了一條涵蓋所有類別的全球產品線，並能夠將設計、產品開發和採購等許多相關功能整合到瑞士的一個屋簷下。

We also moved our intellectual property to Switzerland and are at various stages of completion in globalizing other functions like IT, legal, finance, inventory management, logistics, marketing, and licensing, just to name a few. As we continue this work and as we bring other brands onto our platform, it is an opportune time to enhance our organizational design to improve accountability and optimize decision-making.

我們還將知識產權轉移到了瑞士，並且在 IT、法律、財務、庫存管理、物流、行銷和許可等其他職能全球化方面處於不同的完成階段。隨著我們繼續這項工作以及將其他品牌引入我們的平台，現在正是加強我們的組織設計以提高問責制和優化決策的最佳時機。

As part of this, we will continue to strengthen our leadership to provide decision-making at the regional level and with global positions such as Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Digital Officer. We have searches out for these roles, in addition to our CFO search.

作為其中的一部分，我們將繼續加強我們的領導力，以提供區域層面的決策以及首席商務官和首席數位長等全球職位。除了財務長搜尋之外，我們還正在搜尋這些職位。

We are also focused on optimizing our operations to help ensure that we can access the best talent to execute our business. This has been the guiding principle that underpins our product licensee relationships, for example. We want to own those areas of our business where we feel that we are best and leverage outside relationships and expertise in other areas. And logistics, a vital part of our business, is a great example of that.

我們也致力於優化我們的運營，以幫助確保我們能夠獲得最優秀的人才來執行我們的業務。例如，這是支撐我們的產品被授權者關係的指導原則。我們希望擁有我們認為最擅長的業務領域，並利用其他領域的外部關係和專業知識。物流是我們業務的重要組成部分，就是一個很好的例子。

We conducted a review of our logistics function and network in the US, which we have traditionally managed internally and concluded that we were operating sub-optimally in this critical function. This year, we transitioned our US logistics function to GXO Logistics, the same third party who has managed our European function for years. In addition, we are extending our GXL contract in Europe to leverage our combined volumes to drive even better economics. And in the second quarter, we sold the US facility, freeing up important capital, which we expect to deploy more strategically.

我們對美國的物流職能和網路進行了審查，我們傳統上一直在內部管理這些職能和網絡，並得出結論認為，我們在這一關鍵職能方面的營運狀況不佳。今年，我們將美國物流職能轉移給了 GXO Logistics，該第三方多年來一直管理我們的歐洲職能。此外，我們正在延長歐洲的 GXL 合同，以利用我們的合併銷售來推動更好的經濟效益。在第二季度，我們出售了美國工廠，釋放了重要的資本，我們希望能夠更具策略性地部署這些資本。

As we look to the future, we will be prudent as we execute our plans, always disciplined in our stewardship of our shareholders' capital. We also recognize that investment opportunities, including potential acquisitions, may emerge at any time, and we want to have the flexibility to take advantage of the right opportunities when they present themselves. To support that and help ensure that we are operating with ample access to capital, during the last few years, we have refinanced our convertible bonds, extending maturities for over $360 million until 2028, and we did this under very favorable terms.

展望未來，我們將謹慎執行計劃，並始終嚴格管理股東資本。我們也意識到，包括潛在收購在內的投資機會可能隨時出現，我們希望能夠靈活地利用適當的機會。為了支持這一目標並幫助確保我們在營運時擁有充足的資本，在過去幾年中，我們對可轉換債券進行了再融資，將超過3.6 億美元的期限延長至2028 年，而且我們是在非常優惠的條件下做到這一點的。

We also recently expanded our US credit facility by $50 million to accommodate the addition of the rag & bone business. And last month, we completed a $100 million expansion of our credit facility in Europe. Dennis will share more about this in a moment. But with these actions, we have additional access to capital to support our vision for the continued growth of the business.

最近，我們還將美國信貸額度擴大了 5,000 萬美元，以適應新增的碎肉業務。上個月，我們完成了歐洲信貸額度 1 億美元的擴張。丹尼斯稍後將分享更多相關內容。但透過這些行動，我們可以獲得額外的資金來支持我們實現業務持續成長的願景。

Before I pass the call to Dennis for his remarks, I want to leave you with a couple of thoughts regarding our culture at Guess? and how I see that as driving our ability to continue to grow and succeed for many years to come.

在我打電話給丹尼斯聽他的演講之前，我想向您留下一些關於我們 Guess? 文化的想法？我認為這將推動我們在未來許多年繼續發展和成功的能力。

As you know, my time with Guess? goes back to when I started as Chief Operating Officer and President in the year 2000. At that time, the company had annual sales of $600 million and it was primarily a US business. Since then, Guess? grew through international expansion that capitalize on a strong lifestyle brand positioning and today has sales of $5.5 billion of retail value.

如你所知，我和Guess相處的時間？回溯到 2000 年我開始擔任營運長兼總裁的時候。從那時起，你猜？透過利用強大的生活風格品牌定位的國際擴張來實現成長，如今的零售額已達 55 億美元。

The company has relentlessly adapted to market changes and succeeded when many others failed. I strongly believe that this capacity to adapt is at the core of our DNA as an organization. And while it started with our founders, it has permeated the whole company. As our team continues to adapt, we are on a mission together. We wake up every morning inspired to delight our customers with amazing products and an extraordinary experience.

該公司堅持不懈地適應市場變化，並在許多其他公司失敗時取得了成功。我堅信，這種適應能力是我們組織 DNA 的核心。雖然它是從我們的創始人開始的，但它已經滲透到整個公司。隨著我們的團隊不斷適應，我們共同肩負著一項使命。我們每天早上醒來都會受到啟發，以令人驚嘆的產品和非凡的體驗取悅我們的客戶。

We make decisions based on the long term. We don't have our eyes just on the next quarter. We are focused on the next generation. We want to grow our business and the profitability of our company and to reward all our shareholders with extraordinary returns. To me, that relentless focus on mission and our ability to adapt are central to what makes this culture so special and so unique. And you don't find that every day or in everyone. But when you do -- when you blend the right people with that culture, it can be so powerful and something people want to be a part of for years to come.

我們的決策是基於長遠考慮。我們不僅僅著眼於下個季度。我們專注於下一代。我們希望發展我們的業務和公司的獲利能力，並以非凡的回報回報所有股東。對我來說，對使命的不懈關注和我們的適應能力是使這種文化如此特殊和獨特的核心。而且你不會每天或每個人身上都發現這一點。但當你這樣做時——當你將合適的人與這種文化融合在一起時，它就會變得如此強大，並且人們希望在未來幾年成為其中的一部分。

I think that explains why we have such long-standing relationships in this company are not unique. We have tremendous tenure throughout our team, including Paul, our leaders, those who have been promoted through our organization time and time again and most of our licensees. And we couldn't be more thrilled to have welcomed Andrew and the entire rag & bone team who share the same focus and mission and ability to adapt.

我認為這解釋了為什麼我們在這家公司擁有如此長期的關係，這並不是獨一無二的。我們整個團隊的任期很長，包括保羅、我們的領導者、那些一次又一次通過我們組織晉升的人以及我們的大多數被許可人。我們非常高興地歡迎 Andrew 和整個 rag＆bone 團隊，他們有著相同的關注點、使命和適應能力。

Paul and I thank all our teams for a job well done in a challenging environment. Our thank you extends to all our associates worldwide, including all the members of the new rag & bone team. We greatly appreciate everyone's contributions.

保羅和我感謝我們所有的團隊在充滿挑戰的環境中出色地完成了工作。我們向全球所有員工表示感謝，包括新的 rag＆bone 團隊的所有成員。我們非常感謝大家的貢獻。

I couldn't be more proud of what we have accomplished together and more excited about how we are positioned and what lies in front of us.

我對我們共同取得的成就感到非常自豪，對我們的定位和我們面臨的挑戰感到更加興奮。

Thank you. And with that, I pass it to Dennis. Dennis, please go ahead.

謝謝。說完，我把它交給了丹尼斯。丹尼斯，請繼續。

Thank you, Carlos, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm pleased to step back into the Interim CFO role and help support the company in a smooth transition, both now and as we bring on a new CFO in the near future. My thanks to you, Carlos, and to the Board for your confidence.

謝謝你，卡洛斯，大家下午好。我很高興重新擔任臨時財務官，並幫助支持公司順利過渡，無論是現在還是在不久的將來我們將任命新的財務長。我感謝你，卡洛斯，感謝董事會的信任。

So now let's talk about our business, and just a reminder, we acquired rag & bone towards the end of the first quarter of this year. So our second-quarter results include a full quarter of rag & bone's operations, and those results have been integrated into our existing segments.

現在讓我們來談談我們的業務，提醒一下，我們在今年第一季末收購了 rag＆bone。因此，我們第二季的業績包括了 rag＆bone 整個季度的業務，而這些業績已整合到我們現有的部門中。

So now onto the second-quarter results. As Carlos mentioned, Q2 revenues increased 10% in US dollars, reaching $733 million. In constant dollars, our revenues grew 13%. Overall, our constant dollar revenue growth was driven primarily by the addition of rag & bone, where we achieved sales that aligned with our expectations for the quarter.

現在我們來看看第二季的業績。正如 Carlos 所提到的，第二季營收以美元計算成長了 10%，達到 7.33 億美元。以不變美元計算，我們的營收成長了 13%。總體而言，我們的美元收入持續成長主要是由 rag＆bone 的增加所推動的，我們在該季度實現的銷售額與我們的預期一致。

Constant dollar revenues for the core Guess? and Marciano business grew modestly with growth in the Americas wholesale and European businesses offsetting declines in both our Americas retail and Asia businesses. In Europe, we grew US dollar revenues by 5%, reaching $383 million. Revenues grew 8% in constant currency.

核心收入不變 猜猜？和馬西亞諾業務溫和成長，美洲批發和歐洲業務的成長抵消了美洲零售和亞洲業務的下降。在歐洲，我們的美元收入成長了 5%，達到 3.83 億美元。以固定匯率計算，營收成長 8%。

Retail comps including e-com, increased 1% in US dollars and 4% in constant currency. As in the past few quarters, Turkey's hyperinflation had a meaningful impact on those costs. Excluding Turkey, that constant dollar comp increase would have been 1%. In our stores, we delivered a constant currency comp increase of 3%. While we did experience softer traffic than a year ago, our performance benefited from higher conversion and AUR growth, driven by improved assortments and replenishment and a better customer experience.

包括電子商務在內的零售企業，以美元計算成長 1%，以固定匯率計算成長 4%。與過去幾季一樣，土耳其的惡性通貨膨脹對這些成本產生了重大影響。如果不包括土耳其，美元匯率的恆定成長率將為 1%。在我們的商店中，我們實現了 3% 的恆定金錢補償成長。雖然我們的流量確實比一年前有所下降，但我們的業績得益於更高的轉換率和 AUR 成長，而這得益於分類和補貨的改進以及更好的客戶體驗。

Our e-comm business improved sequentially with a 5% constant currency comp increase. Our European wholesale business continues to perform well, in fact, more strongly than we had expected for the quarter. We had assumed that some deliveries would slip into the third quarter given the current shipping challenges caused by the Red Sea crisis. However, while there are still some pockets of delays, our teams manage well and mitigated that risk.

我們的電子商務業務持續改善，匯率恆定成長率為 5%。我們的歐洲批發業務持續表現良好，事實上，比我們對本季的預期還要強勁。鑑於目前紅海危機造成的運輸挑戰，我們曾預期部分交付將延後至第三季。然而，儘管仍然存在一些延誤，但我們的團隊管理得很好並降低了風險。

Wholesale revenues increased in the mid-single digits in constant currency as our wholesale partners welcomed our product to support good sales momentum in their businesses. The operating margin in our European business was 9.8%, 310 basis points lower than a year ago, given higher operating expenses and further marketing investments. In the Americas retail, revenues grew 8%, reaching $181 million. In constant dollars, the growth was 9%. The addition of rag & bone drove the segment's growth for the quarter and more than offset the headwinds coming from our Guess? stores.

由於我們的批發合作夥伴歡迎我們的產品支持其業務的良好銷售勢頭，按固定匯率計算，批發收入實現了中個位數增長。由於營運費用增加和進一步的行銷投資，我們歐洲業務的營運利潤率為 9.8%，比去年同期下降 310 個基點。在美洲零售業，營收成長 8%，達到 1.81 億美元。以不變美元計算，成長率為 9%。 rag＆bone 的加入推動了該部門本季的成長，並且抵消了來自我們的猜測的不利因素？商店。

Our North America core business remained challenging as headwinds in traffic persisted. Both traffic headwinds, coupled with the decline in conversion, resulted in an overall 10% constant currency comp decline in our retail stores. Including our e-com business, that comp decline was also 10%.

由於交通逆風持續存在，我們的北美核心業務仍充滿挑戰。這兩種客流量逆風，加上轉換率下降，導致我們零售店的整體貨幣比較持續下降 10%。包括我們的電子商務業務在內，年減幅度也達到了 10%。

Americas retail posted a 1.5% operating margin, about an 8 point decrease from last year's Q2. While product margins improved in the quarter, the unfavorable impact of the comp decline on our core business expense base drove the operating margin decline.

美洲零售業營業利益率為 1.5%，較去年第二季下降約 8 個百分點。雖然本季產品利潤率有所改善，但公司核心業務費用基礎的下降對我們的核心業務產生不利影響，導致營業利潤率下降。

In Americas wholesale, revenues increased by 93% in US dollars to $84 million, driven by the addition of rag & bone, along with higher shipments in both the US and Mexico. The revenue increase in constant dollars was 94%. Operating margin reached 18.9%, about 6 points lower than last year's Q2, driven mainly by the addition of rag & bone.

在美洲批發業務中，由於rag＆bone的增加以及美國和墨西哥發貨量的增加，收入增長了93％（以美元計算），達到8400萬美元。以不變美元計算，收入成長了 94%。營業利潤率達到 18.9%，比去年第二季下降約 6 個百分點，這主要是由於 rag＆bone 的加入所致。

In Asia, revenues were $54 million, down 8% in US dollars and 4% in constant currency. Growth from our new business in India and rag & bone was more than offset by lower retail comps, especially in Korea and China and currency headwinds. Retail comps, including e-comm for the region, decreased 10% in constant currency.

在亞洲，營收為 5,400 萬美元，以美元計算下降 8%，以固定匯率計算下降 4%。我們在印度和rag＆bone的新業務的成長被較低的零售競爭（尤其是在韓國和中國）以及貨幣不利因素所抵消。以固定匯率計算，零售業（包括該地區的電子商務）下降了 10%。

Operating margin in Asia decreased 140 basis points to a negative 2.3%. And finally, our licensing segment performed well, with revenues increasing 4% in both US dollars and constant currency. Segment operating margin was 93.3%.

亞洲的營業利益率下降 140 個基點至負 2.3%。最後，我們的授權業務表現良好，以美元和固定匯率計算的收入均成長了 4%。分部營業利益率為 93.3%。

In Q2, total company gross margin reached 43.7%, 60 basis points below a year earlier, mainly driven by higher store occupancy expenses from rent increases and slightly higher markdowns, partially offset by improvements in our IMUs.

第二季度，該公司總毛利率達到 43.7%，比去年同期下降 60 個基點，主要是由於租金上漲和降價小幅上漲導致門市佔用費用增加，部分被 IMU 的改進所抵消。

Adjusted SG&A expenses for the quarter increased 23% to $281 million. To reiterate Carlos's point, 70% of this growth comes from adding rag & bone and stepping up our marketing investments, including increasing advertising exposure for Guess? and building brand awareness for Guess Jeans. Infrastructure expenses also increased primarily in Europe.

本季調整後的 SG&A 支出成長 23%，達到 2.81 億美元。重申一下 Carlos 的觀點，這種成長的 70% 來自於增加 rag＆bone 並加大我們的行銷投資，包括增加 Guess? 的廣告曝光？建立 Guess Jeans 的品牌知名度。基礎設施支出也主要在歐洲增加。

For the quarter, our adjusted SG&A rate increased 3.9 points to 38.4%. In the quarter, our adjusted operating margin declined 4.6 points to 5.2%, driven by our acquisition of rag & bone, investments in marketing, along with higher operating and store occupancy expenses. In the quarter, we recorded an adjusted effective tax rate of 26.3%.

本季度，我們調整後的 SG&A 率增加了 3.9 個百分點，達到 38.4%。本季度，由於我們收購 rag＆bone、行銷投資以及更高的營運和商店佔用費用，我們調整後的營業利潤率下降了 4.6 個百分點，至 5.2%。本季度，我們的調整後有效稅率為 26.3%。

Adjusted Q2 diluted earnings per share was $0.42 compared to $0.72 in last year's second quarter. Two other items of significance. In the quarter, within non-operating activity, we reported a net loss of $40 million related to a non-cash unrealized loss due to the remeasurements of derivatives associated with our convertible notes and related hedge. We also recorded, as an increase to operating income, a $14 million gain on the sale of our US distribution center property. We have excluded both of these amounts from the adjusted results I just reported, given both their size and atypical nature in order to facilitate a better understanding of our normal commercial operations.

調整後第二季攤薄每股收益為 0.42 美元，去年第二季為 0.72 美元。另外兩項也很重要。本季度，在非經營活動中，由於重新計量與我們的可轉換票據和相關對沖相關的衍生品，我們報告了與非現金未實現損失相關的淨虧損 4000 萬美元。我們也記錄了出售美國配送中心財產帶來的 1,400 萬美元收益，作為營業收入的成長。鑑於這兩項金額的規模和非典型性，我們已將這兩項金額從我剛剛報告的調整結果中排除，以便更好地了解我們的正常商業運營。

Moving now to the balance sheet, our inventories were $603 million at the end of the quarter, up 9% from a year ago, and they align well with our expectations for growth in the business. The additional inventory relates primarily to the acquisition of rag & bone. We continued to manage our inventory well and feel good about the composition of our inventory and our ability to service our business.

現在來看資產負債表，本季末我們的庫存為 6.03 億美元，比去年同期成長 9%，這與我們對業務成長的預期非常吻合。額外庫存主要與收購 rag＆bone 相關。我們繼續良好地管理我們的庫存，並對我們的庫存組成和我們為業務提供服務的能力感到滿意。

For the first six months of the year, CapEx was roughly $41 million, mainly driven by investments in store remodels and openings and technology. In the quarter, we also returned additional capital to our shareholders as we repurchased $50 million of our own shares. We ended the quarter with $219 million in cash compared to $303 million a year ago. Over the last four quarters, we've generated $216 million of free cash flow and realized $40 million from the sale of our USDC.

今年前六個月，資本支出約為 4,100 萬美元，主要是由商店改造、開業和技術方面的投資所推動的。本季度，我們也回購了 5,000 萬美元的自有股票，向股東返還了額外資本。本季結束時，我們的現金為 2.19 億美元，而去年同期為 3.03 億美元。在過去的四個季度中，我們產生了 2.16 億美元的自由現金流，並透過出售 USDC 實現了 4,000 萬美元的收益。

We also have paid $185 million in dividends, invested $57 million to acquire rag & bone, and repurchased $82 million of our shares. We ended the quarter with $389 million of borrowing capacity on our various global facilities, so more than $600 million of available liquidity. This liquidity includes the $100 million expansion of our European credit facility that we announced last month. We are very pleased to have secured that additional capacity, enhancing our access to long-term capital. The expansion reflects our lenders' confidence in our strategy and the importance of Europe to our company.

我們也支付了 1.85 億美元的股息，投資了 5,700 萬美元收購 rag＆bone，並回購了 8,200 萬美元的股票。本季結束時，我們各種全球設施的借款能力為 3.89 億美元，因此可用流動性超過 6 億美元。這些流動性包括我們上個月宣布的歐洲信貸額度擴大 1 億美元。我們很高興獲得了額外的產能，增強了我們獲得長期資本的機會。此次擴張反映了貸款機構對我們策略的信心以及歐洲對我們公司的重要性。

As I move to our outlook, I first want to summarize the key factors that we experienced in the second quarter and how those have affected our outlook for the remainder of this year. I'll start with sales trends. In many of our businesses, during the second quarter, we encountered some softness in what appears to be a consumer who is being more prudent in their discretionary spending habits. That manifested itself in greater traffic headwinds to our stores and lower-than-expected conversion, leading to lower comp sales than we had expected. We estimate the net impact of these factors resulted in a global shortfall between $20 million and $25 million in the second quarter. We have reduced our retail revenue expectations for both the third and fourth quarters in a similar magnitude.

在談到我們的展望時，我首先想總結我們在第二季度經歷的關鍵因素，以及這些因素如何影響我們對今年剩餘時間的展望。我將從銷售趨勢開始。在我們的許多業務中，第二季度我們遇到了一些疲軟的情況，消費者似乎對可自由支配的消費習慣更加謹慎。這表現為我們的商店面臨更大的客流量阻力和低於預期的轉換率，導致複合銷售額低於我們的預期。我們估計，這些因素的淨影響導致第二季全球資金缺口在 2,000 萬至 2,500 萬美元之間。我們以類似的幅度下調了第三季和第四季的零售收入預期。

Next related to European wholesale, our business appears to be outperforming the market. While our wholesale accounts certainly operate in the same consumer environment as our retail stores, we believe as we have for the last few years that we are gaining share among our wholesale accounts as those customers allocate more of their buys to their best brands, brands with stronger sell-throughs with better assortments and more reliable deliveries. We tick all of those boxes for them. We now have good visibility into our Spring Summer '25 order book, which is nearly complete. Based on what we have seen thus far, we expect that order book will grow by roughly 10% compared to Spring Summer '24 stronger than we had initially planned. That product is expected to begin shipping in the fourth quarter of this year, and we have reflected these higher expectations in our outlook.

接下來與歐洲批發相關，我們的業務似乎跑贏市場了。雖然我們的批發帳戶肯定與我們的零售店在相同的消費者環境中運營，但我們相信，正如過去幾年一樣，我們在批發帳戶中的份額正在增加，因為這些客戶將更多的購買分配給他們最好的品牌，透過更好的品種和更可靠的交付實現更強勁的銷售。我們為他們勾選所有這些方塊。現在，我們對 25 年春夏訂單有了很好的了解，該訂單已接近完成。根據我們迄今為止所看到的情況，我們預計訂單量將比 24 年春夏季節增長約 10%，強於我們最初的計劃。該產品預計將於今年第四季開始出貨，我們已在展望中反映了這些更高的預期。

Finally, currencies, since we last provided our outlook, the US dollar has weakened against some of our key operating currencies, most importantly, for us, the euro. This exchange rates remain roughly in line with where they are now. It should result in a modest increase in third and fourth quarter revenues versus our prior expectations and a tailwind in both those quarters compared to last year. Based on these factors that we've incorporated into our outlook for the remainder of the year, we now expect full-year revenue growth between 9.5% and 11% compared to 10.7% and 12.7% in our prior expectation.

最後，貨幣方面，自從我們上次提供展望以來，美元兌我們的一些主要操作貨幣（對我們來說最重要的是歐元）已經走軟。此匯率與現在的匯率大致保持一致。與我們之前的預期相比，這應該會導致第三季和第四季的收入略有增長，並且與去年相比，這兩個季度的收入都會增加。根據我們納入今年剩餘時間展望的這些因素，我們現在預計全年營收成長在 9.5% 至 11% 之間，而我們先前的預期為 10.7% 和 12.7%。

Turning to the third quarter, we expect to continue to benefit from the inclusion of rag & bone revenues compared to last year. However, while the fourth quarter has historically been the largest revenue quarter for our core guest business and still is, that is not the case for rag & bone. Given their larger mix of wholesale business, their revenues are highest in the third quarter to get deliveries into their partner channels for the holiday season. Also, as previously shared, we expect to fully benefit from the internalization of outerwear in our Americas wholesale business in the third quarter as this is the most important quarter in terms of product delivery for that product category.

談到第三季度，與去年相比，我們預計將繼續受益於包含碎布和骨頭的收入。然而，雖然第四季度歷來是我們核心賓客業務收入最大的季度，而且現在仍然如此，但 rag＆bone 的情況並非如此。鑑於其批發業務規模較大，他們的收入在第三季度達到最高，以便在假期季節將貨物運送到合作夥伴管道。此外，正如先前分享的那樣，我們預計第三季將充分受益於我們美洲批發業務的外套內部化，因為這是該產品類別的產品交付方面最重要的季度。

Finally, as I mentioned, earlier, we expect currencies to turn from a revenue headwind in the second quarter to a tailwind in the third quarter. Based on these factors, we expect our sequential revenue growth rate to accelerate from the second quarter into the third with-third quarter revenue to increase between 14.5% and 16.5%.

最後，正如我之前提到的，我們預計貨幣將從第二季的收入逆風轉變為第三季的順風。基於這些因素，我們預計我們的連續營收成長率將從第二季度加速到第三季度，第三季營收將成長 14.5% 至 16.5%。

Then moving from the third to the fourth quarter, we expect that growth rate to moderate somewhat, given last year's extra week and because of the rag & bone seasonality stepped down into the fourth quarter. Somewhat offsetting those Q4 factors should be the benefit from the stronger Spring Summer orders in Europe wholesale.

然後從第三季度到第四季度，考慮到去年的額外一周以及由於破爛的季節性進入第四季度，我們預計成長率將有所放緩。歐洲批發市場春夏訂單的強勁增長應該會在一定程度上抵消第四季度的因素。

I'll move next to gross margin, where we now expect freight costs will be an incremental headwind for the second half of this year, given the continuing shipping challenges caused by the Red Sea crisis. Ocean freight rates accelerated again in Q2, and we now anticipate that we will incur additional ocean freight charges. Capacity challenges will also necessitate using more expensive airfreight to ensure product deliveries. Some very recent data suggests that rates have begun to ease, and we will continue to monitor that carefully.

接下來我將討論毛利率，鑑於紅海危機造成的持續運輸挑戰，我們現在預計貨運成本將成為今年下半年的增量阻力。第二季海運費再次上漲，我們現在預計將產生額外的海運費。容量挑戰還需要使用更昂貴的空運來確保產品交付。最近的一些數據顯示利率已經開始下降，我們將繼續仔細監控。

We estimate that the additional costs in the back half will total roughly $10 million affecting operating profit in both the third and fourth quarters, but more so the third. Lastly, to help mitigate the impact of the lower expectations for revenues for the year, our teams have gone back to their spending plans and identified areas where we can tighten our expenses. We have, however, protected the important investments that we intend to make in marketing and brand awareness.

我們估計下半年的額外成本總計約為 1,000 萬美元，影響第三季和第四季的營業利潤，但第三季影響更大。最後，為了幫助減輕今年收入預期較低的影響，我們的團隊重新制定了支出計劃，並確定了可以收緊支出的領域。然而，我們保護了我們打算在行銷和品牌知名度方面進行的重要投資。

Performance-based compensation should also be lower than our prior expectations, given the reduction of our earnings expectations. Overall, our efforts have reduced our spending plans by roughly $15 million. For the full year, we now expect adjusted operating margin between 7.3% and 7.8% and adjusted earnings per share in the range between $2.42 and $2.70.

鑑於我們獲利預期的降低，基於績效的薪酬也應低於我們先前的預期。總體而言，我們的努力使我們的支出計劃減少了大約 1500 萬美元。我們目前預計全年調整後營業利潤率將在 7.3% 至 7.8% 之間，調整後每股收益將在 2.42 美元至 2.70 美元之間。

For the third quarter, we expect adjusted operating margin in the range of 4.7% and 5.8% and adjusted earnings per share in the range between $0.33 and $0.45. Let me share some additional insight on the flow of earnings for the second half of this year. While we anticipate that the third quarter will be our strongest quarter for revenue growth this year, it will be the fourth quarter where we have the opportunity to drive bottom line growth. There are two significant drivers affecting our margins in the third quarter. First, we expect that the third quarter will absorb the greatest increase in marketing investments. And second, the additional freight charges I discussed earlier should affect the third quarter more so than the fourth.

我們預計第三季調整後營業利潤率將在 4.7% 至 5.8% 之間，調整後每股收益將在 0.33 美元至 0.45 美元之間。讓我分享一些關於今年下半年收入流的額外見解。雖然我們預計第三季將是我們今年營收成長最強勁的季度，但第四季我們將有機會推動利潤成長。有兩個重要驅動因素影響我們第三季的利潤率。首先，我們預期第三季將吸收最大的行銷投資增量。其次，我之前討論的額外運費對第三季的影響應該比第四季更大。

As to the fourth quarter, last year, in Europe, we operated with a greater level of markdowns as we cleared some of our older wholesale inventories. We're also operating with a much stronger IMU in our European businesses fourth quarter compared to last year, and currencies are expected to be more favorable this year than they were a year ago.

至於去年第四季度，在歐洲，由於清理了一些舊的批發庫存，我們進行了更大程度的降價經營。與去年相比，我們第四季歐洲業務的 IMU 也更加強勁，預計今年的貨幣將比一年前更有利。

In North America, similarly, we plan to operate this fourth quarter with fewer markdowns than last year given our expectations of traffic. So overall, then for the fourth quarter, based on our plans now, we expect to deliver meaningful gross margin expansion. In addition, we've also identified areas in our North America stores where we can operate with lower levels of operating expenses.

同樣，在北美，考慮到我們對流量的預期，我們計劃在第四季度以比去年更少的降價運作。因此，總的來說，根據我們現在的計劃，第四季度我們預計將實現有意義的毛利率擴張。此外，我們還在北美商店中確定了可以以較低水準營運費用運作的區域。

Turning to free cash flow, we now expect free cash flow for the year of about $100 million. This is lower than we had previously expected for three reasons. First, as shipping capacity began to become constrained, we acted quickly to protect our business and ensure our deliveries. That resulted in the additional freight costs that we will absorb this year. Beyond that, we've also accelerated some receipts resulting in an expected increase in inventory of roughly $35 million.

談到自由現金流，我們現在預計今年的自由現金流約為 1 億美元。這低於我們先前的預期，原因有三。首先，隨著運輸能力開始受到限制，我們迅速採取行動保護我們的業務並確保我們的交付。這導致我們今年將承擔額外的運費。除此之外，我們也加快了一些收貨速度，預計庫存將增加約 3,500 萬美元。

To be clear, we are not ordering more just earlier. One of the key learnings during the supply chain crisis that followed COVID was that our partners place an enormous value on reliable delivery. As I shared earlier, we believe our reliability has allowed us to gain share among our European wholesale partners. It's a short term, but important working capital investment to protect ours and our partners' businesses.

需要明確的是，我們並不是提前訂購更多。在新冠疫情之後的供應鏈危機中，我們學到的重要教訓之一是，我們的合作夥伴非常重視可靠的交付。正如我之前分享的，我們相信我們的可靠性使我們能夠在歐洲批發合作夥伴中獲得份額。這是一項短期但重要的營運資本投資，可以保護我們和合作夥伴的業務。

Lastly, the adjustments that we're making to our revenue outlook are driven primarily by our retail businesses, which are essentially cash businesses. So that will immediately impact on our cash flow.

最後，我們對收入前景的調整主要是由我們的零售業務推動的，這些業務本質上是現金業務。這將立即影響我們的現金流。

So with that, we'll end our prepared remarks and open the call up to your questions.

因此，我們將結束準備好的發言並開始回答你們的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Dana Telsey, Telsey Advisory Group.

（操作員指示）Dana Telsey，Telsey 諮詢小組。

Good afternoon, everyone. So a lot to unpack there.

大家下午好。那裡有很多東西需要解壓。

Carlos, if you think about the Guess? brand and the rag & bone brand, are the trends that you're seeing globally similar for each brand in terms of their performance, given a little bit of a different customer? And Dennis, you talked about freight and marketing. How much or what percentage is a difference this year versus last year and that cadence between Q3 and Q4 of how're unpacking it? Thank you.

卡洛斯，你有沒有想過這個猜測？品牌和 rag＆bone 品牌，考慮到客戶略有不同，您在全球範圍內看到的每個品牌的表現趨勢是否相似？丹尼斯，您談到了貨運和行銷。今年與去年相比有多少差異或百分比，以及第三季和第四季之間的節奏如何展開？謝謝。

Hi, Dana. How are you? Thank you for your question.

嗨，達納。你好嗎？謝謝你的提問。

So let me start with your first question about rag & bone, and yes, I mean, these are very, very different and complementary brands. And this is one of the big reasons why we were so excited about having the opportunity to acquire rag & bone with WHB Global.

那麼，讓我從你關於 rag＆bone 的第一個問題開始，是的，我的意思是，這些是非常非常不同且互補的品牌。這也是我們對有機會與 WHB Global 一起收購 rag＆bone 感到如此興奮的重要原因之一。

Obviously, rag & bone caters to a much more affluent consumer. And it has a very strong position in the marketplace with that consumer. That's not the customer that we have at Guess? And also the distribution, geographically is very, very different. And this is one of the reasons why we were very excited about the opportunities to grow the business rag & bone by expanding the distribution into many of the international markets where Guess? has a very strong positioning, but rag & bone has almost no distribution.

顯然，rag＆bone 迎合了更富裕的消費者。它在該消費者的市場中擁有非常強大的地位。那不是我們Guess 的顧客嗎？而且地理分佈也非常非常不同。這就是為什麼我們對透過將分銷擴展到許多國際市場來發展業務的機會感到非常興奮的原因之一，猜猜？定位非常強，但rag & bond幾乎沒有分銷。

And for that reason, we are so invested and focused on the distribution into Europe, for example. Paul has already been marketing a lot of the brands in multiple cities and markets. And we think that this can be an enormous opportunity for the brand to expand that distribution with that customer that is also very present in European markets as well.

基於這個原因，我們如此投入並專注於歐洲等地區的分銷。保羅已經在多個城市和市場行銷了許多品牌。我們認為，這對該品牌來說是一個巨大的機會，可以擴大與歐洲市場上也很常見的客戶的分銷。

I think that one of the big differences here too is the fact that this is a completely different need of positioning as a lifestyle which we think complements what we are doing at Guess? And we love the idea that is both women's and men's, the assortment is catering to those two customers. They have a very strong business in women's, but also a very, very strong business in men's as well. And we feel that there are significant product categories that are not yet fully represented in the brand. And this is another one of our catalysts for growth for the brand.

我認為這裡最大的區別之一是，這是一種完全不同的生活方式需求，我們認為它補充了我們在 Guess? 所做的事情？我們喜歡女裝和男裝的想法，該產品系列迎合了這兩種顧客的需求。他們的女裝業務非常強勁，男裝業務也非常非常強勁。我們認為，有一些重要的產品類別尚未在該品牌中充分體現。這是我們品牌成長的另一個催化劑。

So we are working very hardly on finding big opportunities to really add some of this product. The one that comes to mind very, very first and top on the list is the whole line of accessories. And I'm sure you heard in my prepared remarks, we talked a little bit about one of those licenses has already been secured for handbags and the teams are working together to increase and strengthen the assortment of handbags for the brand.

因此，我們正在努力尋找真正添加一些這種產品的大機會。我首先想到的也是清單中最重要的是整個配件系列。我相信您在我準備好的演講中聽到了，我們談到了其中一個手袋許可證已經獲得，並且團隊正在共同努力增加和加強該品牌的手袋品種。

So let me stop there. And Dennis, maybe you can jump on Dana's question.

那麼就讓我就此打住吧。丹尼斯，也許你可以直接回答達納的問題。

Yes, sure. Thanks, Dana.

是的，當然。謝謝，達納。

So you know, as Carlos said in his prepared remarks that we view this as an inflection point for the company, a year of transition where we're making some additional investments. He shared with you the brand study that we did and some of the benchmarking that we've done that suggests that there are opportunities for us to make those investments to build awareness for our new brands in new markets where those brands aren't well known yet and as well as to expand the awareness for the Guess? brand around the world.

所以你知道，正如卡洛斯在他準備好的演講中所說，我們認為這是公司的轉捩點，是過渡的一年，我們正在進行一些額外的投資。他與您分享了我們所做的品牌研究以及我們所做的一些基準測試，這表明我們有機會進行這些投資，以在這些品牌不知名的新市場中提高我們的新品牌的知名度還可以擴大對「猜測」的認識嗎？品牌遍佈全球。

So what you see in the second quarter is really the way we're thinking about the rest of the year. We, as we said in the earlier, that we've more than doubled our marketing spend in the second quarter, and you should think about the full year in that general same perspective that we are getting behind those investments as we went through because of some of the challenges for the year. We looked at opportunities for some expense reductions, but we protected those investments because we really believe in them.

所以你在第二季看到的確實是我們對今年剩餘時間的思考方式。正如我們之前所說，我們在第二季度的營銷支出增加了一倍多，你應該從與我們經歷這些投資背後的總體相同的角度來考慮全年，因為我們經歷了這些投資今年面臨的一些挑戰。我們尋找了一些削減費用的機會，但我們保護了這些投資，因為我們真的相信它們。

The way they flow quarter to quarter, the third quarter, as we said earlier, should be the largest dollar increase. So you'll see the impact on the margins. We're still planning to invest more in the fourth quarter, not quite as much as in the third, but just simply because of the size of the revenue base in that fourth quarter, the impact on the margins will be less impactful than the third quarter. But we expect that additional investment will go on for the full year.

正如我們之前所說，從季度到季度的流動方式來看，第三季應該是美元增幅最大的季度。所以你會看到對利潤的影響。 We're still planning to invest more in the fourth quarter, not quite as much as in the third, but just simply because of the size of the revenue base in that fourth quarter, the impact on the margins will be less impactful than the third四分之一.但我們預計全年將繼續進行額外投資。

Corey Tarlowe, Jefferies.

科里·塔洛，杰弗里斯。

Great. Thanks. Carlos, I was wondering if you could break down trends for us by geography. And on the Americas business, when do you anticipate that we might see a turn in that geography? Thanks.

偉大的。謝謝。卡洛斯，我想知道你是否可以按地理位置為我們細分趨勢。至於美洲業務，您預計我們什麼時候會看到該地區的轉變？謝謝。

Hi, Corey. Thank you for your question. Well, so the trends have been different, you know, and this quarter a little bit of a continuation of the trends that we have been experiencing now for a few quarters. Starting with Americas Retail, we're not America business, this has been challenging. The challenges have started with a slower customer traffic in the US first, and now it has extended into Canada, and this continues to be challenging for us, and we have incorporated that kind of trend and thoughts into the remaining of the year. And this is one of the biggest reasons as to why we have lowered our expectations for retail business performance in the second half.

嗨，科里。謝謝你的提問。嗯，所以趨勢有所不同，你知道，本季是我們幾個季度以來所經歷的趨勢的延續。從美洲零售開始，我們不是美國企業，這一直具有挑戰性。這些挑戰首先是美國客戶流量放緩，現在已經擴展到加拿大，這對我們來說仍然是一個挑戰，我們將這種趨勢和想法融入今年剩餘的時間。這也是我們下調半年零售業務業績預期的最大原因之一。

The traffic has impacted our sales and we have not been able to offset some of that weakness with any of the other KPI metrics that you would expect like average unit retail or conversion. And we are working and focusing on all the things that we can control to really improve upon this. One of the big things that we are looking at is the product assortment, of course. Denim trends is an area that we are very focused on. We see some changes in silhouette that we are trying to capitalize on. We are looking at what's happening with the weather patterns. You know, we saw that the summer months and the summer weather has expanded -- or extended and we think that we have some opportunities there that we could capitalize on, looking at the transitional product, and that's what -- how we are trying to really improve our assortment or strengthen it.

流量影響了我們的銷售，我們無法透過您期望的任何其他 KPI 指標（例如平均零售量或轉換率）來抵消部分弱點。我們正在努力並專注於我們可以控制的所有事情，以真正改善這一點。當然，我們關注的最重要的事情之一是產品種類。牛仔趨勢是我們非常關注的領域。我們看到了一些我們正在嘗試利用的輪廓變化。我們正在研究天氣模式的變化。你知道，我們看到夏季月份和夏季天氣已經擴大——或者說延長了，我們認為我們有一些可以利用的機會，看看過渡產品，這就是我們正在努力的方式真正改善或加強我們的品種。

We have a tried different promotional tactics or initiatives. And frankly, what we see is that the customer is a lot more sensitive to price. We have been very, very careful with not going into heavy discounting. And we see that some of our competitors are doing this, but we have been very disciplined in the way we are buying inventories and trying to really keep this discipline in the way we are running the business. So the customer will continue to see this brand as a full-price brand as opposed to something that we are constantly promoting.

我們嘗試了不同的促銷策略或舉措。坦白說，我們看到客戶對價格更加敏感。我們一直非常非常小心，沒有進行大幅折扣。我們看到我們的一些競爭對手正在這樣做，但我們在購買庫存的方式上一直非常自律，並努力在我們經營業務的方式上真正保持這種自律。因此，客戶將繼續將品牌視為全價品牌，而不是我們不斷推廣的品牌。

One of the big things that Dennis spoke about and I had a few comments in our prepared remarks is about marketing and this brand study that we have been conducting with an external partner. And what we see is that there is a probably more that we can do to really increase the level of engagement with our customers. We are -- when we looked at the level of spending and investing in marketing that our company incurred and compared to many others in our industry, we see that we have an opportunity to make deeper investments in marketing and that's what we are looking at developing a strategy that will do that. So we are looking at incremental investments in social media, collaborations, creating a community of customers, increasing engagement, investing more in our CRM programs. So overall, we have a lot of ideas, and we are excited about what this can bring.

丹尼斯談到的最重要的事情之一，我在我們準備好的演講中發表了一些評論，是關於行銷和我們一直與外部合作夥伴進行的品牌研究。我們看到的是，我們可能還可以做更多的事情來真正提高與客戶的互動程度。我們——當我們查看我們公司在行銷方面的支出和投資水平，並與我們行業中的許多其他公司進行比較時，我們發現我們有機會在行銷方面進行更深入的投資，這就是我們正在考慮開發的能夠做到這一點的策略。因此，我們正在考慮對社交媒體、協作、創建客戶社群、提高參與度以及對 CRM 專案進行更多投資等方面進行增量投資。總的來說，我們有很多想法，我們對它能帶來什麼感到興奮。

You know, you ask me about the different geographies, the situation that I just described for America is very different in Europe. We have had positive same-store sales growth now for quite some time in several quarters and the numbers were big. We saw a little bit of a slowing in customer traffic as well. But we were able to offset -- more than offset that weakness with a significant increase in AUR and better conversion rates.

你知道，你問我關於不同地區的情況，我剛才描述的美國的情況與歐洲非常不同。我們在幾個季度的相當長一段時間裡都實現了同店銷售的積極增長，而且數字很大。我們也看到客戶流量略有放緩。但我們能夠透過 AUR 的顯著增加和更好的轉換率來抵消這一弱點。

And we think that this is more a function of what's happening in the marketplace. We think that there is a lot geopolitically that is happening in Europe in multiple points. And we think that that is definitely impacting how the customer is looking at the disposable income and how they are spending and their habits in that. We also know that people are spending more in activities and so forth. This is not something new, but we feel that because the product is very well positioned and the assortment has been very strong, we have been able to more than offset those trends and deliver not really strong comp store sales.

我們認為這更多的是市場上發生的事情的結果。我們認為，歐洲在多個方面正在發生許多地緣政治事件。我們認為這肯定會影響客戶如何看待可支配收入以及他們的消費方式和習慣。我們也知道人們在活動等方面花費更多。這不是什麼新鮮事，但我們認為，由於該產品定位非常好，而且品種非常豐富，我們已經能夠抵消這些趨勢，並實現不太強勁的比較商店銷售。

We see that also in our wholesale business, which is a very big part of the business in Europe. And I think Dennis mentioned that this are our wholesale customers. They want to invest in brands that are very reliable. They are plannable. Brands that can deliver product on time to be able to really service the business effectively. And we think that we have been doing a very good job. And as a result of that, we have been able to really increase our share with those customers.

我們在批發業務中也看到了這一點，這是歐洲業務的很大一部分。我想丹尼斯有提到這是我們的批發客戶。他們希望投資非常可靠的品牌。它們是有計劃的。能夠按時交付產品的品牌能夠真正有效地為業務提供服務。我們認為我們做得非常好。因此，我們能夠真正增加與這些客戶的份額。

And on top of that, I think that this company has done a lot in terms of newness and adding new businesses. You know, just our athleisure line, for example, is now representative of a very citable piece of the business. Three or four years ago, that business did not even exist. So all that is also driving growth for the business.

最重要的是，我認為這家公司在創新和增加新業務方面做了很多工作。例如，您知道，僅我們的運動休閒系列現在就代表了該業務中非常值得引用的部分。三、四年前，這項業務甚至還不存在。因此，所有這些也推動了業務的成長。

Another good example is now Guess Jeans. This is a category that did not exist, a brand that we didn't have, and that is adding to our wholesale business growth, the 10% that Dennis spoke about for Spring Summer 2025. So the consumer is definitely going through a more challenging period. They are more prudent, so they are more discerning, but we think that we are very well positioned to really take advantage of some others that are having some type of weakness or they're delivering product late.

另一個很好的例子是現在的 Guess Jeans。這是一個不存在的品類，一個我們沒有的品牌，它正在推動我們的批發業務成長，即 Dennis 所說的 2025 年春夏 10%。他們更加謹慎，所以他們更有洞察力，但我們認為我們處於非常有利的位置，可以真正利用其他一些存在某種弱點或交付產品較晚的人。

And as a result, we think that we can take a bigger slice of the market as opposed to having to rely on an overall growth of the consumer base. And with respect to the state of the consumer in Asia that has been challenging and we think that we are not alone in this, but we continue to work on improving our product.

因此，我們認為我們可以佔據更大的市場份額，而不是必須依賴消費者基礎的整體成長。亞洲消費者的狀況一直充滿挑戰，我們認為我們並不孤單，但我們將繼續努力改進我們的產品。

Just if you think about places like China, you know, we had some weakness in the second quarter. We are working with a third party there to help us. We are doing a lot to change the product assortment and be a lot more localized with the product direction and we are doing the same thing with marketing.

如果你想想像中國這樣的地方，你就會知道，我們在第二季有一些弱點。我們正在與那裡的第三方合作來幫助我們。我們正在做很多事情來改變產品種類，並使產品方向更加在地化，我們也在行銷方面做同樣的事情。

And then outside China, you notice we had some challenging times in Korea. We have a big business there. It's a very profitable business and a good business for us. We think that is only temporary and we expect to recover throughout the rest of the year in there.

然後在中國之外，你會注意到我們在韓國經歷了一些充滿挑戰的時期。我們在那裡有一筆大生意。這是一項非常有利可圖的業務，對我們來說也是一項好業務。我們認為這只是暫時的，我們預計在今年剩餘時間內將會恢復。

(Operator Instructions) Eric Beder, Small Cap Consumer Research.

（操作員指令）Eric Beder，小型盤股消費者研究部。

Good afternoon. I want to step back a little bit. We've been talking a lot about the short term here. It's obvious this year you're doing a lot of things for the longer term. What should we be thinking about as potential goals here, either from wholesale retail or margin-wise, looking at this from your (technical difficulty) some of these investments start to pull through, there's a lot of moving parts. But if I look at it, it's really a function of that you're planning a lot for the future. Help us a little bit and understanding where the potential is here for the future in terms of returns?

午安.我想退後一點。我們在這裡談論了很多短期問題。很明顯，今年你做了很多長遠的事。我們應該考慮什麼作為這裡的潛在目標，無論是從批發零售還是從利潤角度來看，從你的（技術難度）來看，其中一些投資開始實現，有很多移動部件。但如果我看一下，這確實是你為未來做很多計劃的結果。請幫助我們了解未來在回報方面的潛力在哪裡？

Thank you.

謝謝。

Yeah, I think, Eric, I'll start. I'm sure, Dennis, we'll have things to add here. You know, just we tried to really focus on the big picture and more of the strategic points that we are looking at right now as a company. We consider this year as a year of transformation and a year of investment like you point out. And it's transformation because it's the first time that we are taking this platform and just expanded it to really receive and welcome a new brand into our portfolio. This is something we have never done. And it's the first time that we're doing this with rag & bone. And we are super excited about how things are going there and the opportunities that we see. We couldn't be more excited about the brand itself and the team, and working with Andrew Rosen and entire team, which is a top-notch, you know, best-in-class team.

是的，我想，艾瑞克，我要開始了。我確信，丹尼斯，我們會在這裡添加一些東西。你知道，我們只是試圖真正關注大局以及我們作為一家公司現在正在考慮的更多戰略點。正如您所指出的，我們認為今年是轉型的一年和投資的一年。這是一次轉變，因為這是我們第一次採用這個平台並將其擴展以真正接收並歡迎新品牌進入我們的產品組合。這是我們從來沒有做過的事。這是我們第一次用 rag＆bone 來做這件事。我們對那裡的進展以及我們看到的機會感到非常興奮。我們對品牌本身和團隊以及與安德魯羅森和整個團隊的合作感到非常興奮，這是一個一流的、一流的團隊。

So we are super excited about that. And we think that we have a lot of capabilities in the company and that platform that can be used to really optimize that business. And that's where we're going for. And we think that the brand has a lot of potential and it can be -- it can grow at a fast pace, but also to become a very large business. So (inaudible) it's different characteristics that we will be looking for to add a brand to our portfolio.

所以我們對此感到非常興奮。我們認為我們公司和平台擁有很多能力，可以用來真正優化業務。這就是我們的目標。我們認為這個品牌有很大的潛力，它可以快速成長，而且可以成為一個非常大的企業。因此（聽不清楚）我們將尋找不同的特徵來將品牌添加到我們的產品組合中。

Now in order to do that, just there's a lot that needs to happen, just one of those fixed interests brand awareness because not having distribution internationally or in Europe, primarily except for the UK I noticed you have to plant the seeds there. And so for the consumer to really realize what we are doing and what the brand stands for and what it is and experiences. And for that, we think that we have to invest in marketing, but also, we have to open stores. We have to make the line, the collection available for different players in their territory to see it and experience it. And those -- all those things are happening, but they are going to take some time for us to reach.

現在為了做到這一點，需要做很多事情，其中​​一個是固定利益品牌知名度，因為沒有在國際或歐洲分銷，主要是在英國之外，我注意到你必須在那裡種下種子。因此，讓消費者真正意識到我們正在做什麼、品牌代表什麼、它是什麼和體驗。為此，我們認為我們必須投資於行銷，而且我們還必須開設商店。我們必須讓該系列、該系列可供不同玩家在其領土上觀看和體驗。所有這些事情正在發生，但我們需要一些時間才能實現。

Then you look at even at the domestic business, why it is doing very well because we had a great wholesale business during the second quarter and also you noticed we -- the company has a nice chain of stores in full price stores. And even in the off-price division. We see a lot of opportunity to increase that penetration, you know that, presence even domestically. So we are looking for locations for that as well.

然後你甚至看看國內業務，為什麼它做得很好，因為我們在第二季度有很好的批發業務，而且你也注意到我們——該公司在全價商店中有一個很好的連鎖店。甚至在低價部門也是如此。我們看到了很多提高滲透率的機會，你知道，甚至在國內也是如此。所以我們也在找這樣的地點。

But again, that is going to take time. Growing our e-commerce business is going to take time. We are trying to protect what we're doing there. They have a very meaningful business, but it's going to take time. And then, you look at Guess Jeans, you know, moving onto -- this is a new brand. This is something that basically looks back to our key strengths and part of our DNA, especially with denim. But it's a new brand. And we are trying to cater to a younger consumer. This also requires significant visibility and more marketing investments and we are doing that, but we feel that it's going to take some time to be able to do that as well.

但同樣，這需要時間。發展我們的電子商務業務需要時間。我們正在努力保護我們在那裡所做的事情。他們的業務非常有意義，但這需要時間。然後，你看看 Guess Jeans，你知道，這是一個新品牌。這基本上可以追溯到我們的關鍵優勢和 DNA 的一部分，尤其是牛仔布。但這是一個新品牌。我們正在努力迎合年輕消費者。這還需要顯著的知名度和更多的行銷投資，我們正在這樣做，但我們認為這也需要一些時間才能做到這一點。

We opened two stores. One in Amsterdam, one in Berlin. That just happened. We have some other locations that we are going to open one here in LA, an incredible location, but it's going to take us some time to build the store. We are also going to open one location in Tokyo in Japan. We have several others that we are looking at. But just the customer has to see that and experience that and understand the product. We are happy with the initial reads that we are having in wholesale, especially in Europe with the introduction of the Guess Jeans brand there. And we have exceeded our initial expectations. And, you know, of course, it's early, but we feel that we are on the right path and we continue to improve the product assortment. This is something that is going to be an ongoing process.

我們開了兩家店。一間在阿姆斯特丹，一間在柏林。那件事剛剛發生。我們還有其他一些商店，我們將在洛杉磯開設一家，這是一個令人難以置信的地點，但我們需要一些時間來建立這家商店。我們也將在日本東京開設一家分店。我們還有其他幾個正在研究。但只有客戶必須看到、體驗並了解產品。我們對批發市場的初步了解感到滿意，尤其是在歐洲引入了 Guess Jeans 品牌。我們已經超越了我們最初的預期。當然，你知道，現在還為時過早，但我們認為我們走在正確的道路上，我們將繼續改進產品種類。這將是一個持續的過程。

Then you look at all the other things that I mentioned, you know, the marketing opportunities that we see as a company, I'm talking about. But again, this is more investment. We are looking at some other ways to really improve our decision making and lines of accountability. We think that this is going to take additional investment in terms of talent, and we are very actively involved with several searches today. I mentioned, Chief Commercial Officer, I mentioned Chief Digital Officer. We also have a unique position for Head of Human Resources in Lugano, Switzerland, that we are looking for. Now with Marcus living, we are looking for a permanent Chief Financial Officer. And we think that these are all big opportunities for us to bring a strong talent n.

然後你看看我提到的所有其他事情，你知道，我們作為一家公司看到的行銷機會，我正在談論。但同樣，這是更多的投資。我們正在尋找其他一些方法來真正改善我們的決策和問責制。我們認為這將需要在人才方面進行額外投資，並且我們今天非常積極地參與了幾項搜尋工作。我提到了首席商務官，我提到了首席數位長。我們也在瑞士盧加諾尋找一個獨特的人力資源主管職位。現在馬庫斯還活著，我們正在尋找永久的財務長。我們認為這些都是我們帶來強大人才的巨大機會。

So I'll stop there. Dennis, do you want to talk a little bit about capital?

所以我就到此為止。丹尼斯，你想談談資本嗎？

Yes, I think, I support everything that Carlos just said. And if I look at this through a financial lens, we have a very strong balance sheet. We have generated very strong cash flows. And important for us to support that longer-term vision is to make sure that the capital structure is ready and prepared for that. So the last couple years, we have essentially refinanced the vast majority of our 2024 converts. Those are now have been pushed into 2028. We expanded our US credit facility to accommodate the rag & bone. We just expanded on another EUR100 million in Europe to add additional capacity. So as you heard on the call earlier, we have $600 million of available liquidity. Opportunities don't always present themselves in a predictable way, but we want to make sure that we are ready to support the growth for this business.

是的，我想，我支持卡洛斯剛才所說的一切。如果我從財務角度來看，我們的資產負債表非常強勁。我們產生了非常強勁的現金流。對我們來說，支持長期願景的重要一點是確保資本結構為此做好準備。因此，在過去的幾年裡，我們基本上為絕大多數 2024 年皈依者提供了再融資。這些現在已被推遲到 2028 年。我們剛在歐洲再投資 1 億歐元以增加產能。正如您之前在電話會議上聽到的那樣，我們有 6 億美元的可用流動資金。機會並不總是以可預測的方式出現，但我們希望確保我們準備好支持該業務的成長。

Mauricio Serna, UBS.

毛里西奧·塞爾納，瑞銀。

Great. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. I guess I just wanted to get more details on rag & bone business. Could you give us some detail on like their gross margin profile versus Guess? and Marciano brands? Just curious to see like into the impact that you saw in operating margins was more related to gross margin or just like a higher SG&A cost structure. And then maybe, I would be curious to hear more details about what you're seeing across the consumer in Europe. I know you talked about it before, but just on some of your key regions would be good to hear. Even the wholesale business is performing very well, but CTC is slowing down. So I just want to understand also there what was the dynamic behind that? Thank you so much.

偉大的。午安.感謝您回答我的問題。我想我只是想了解有關rag＆bone業務的更多詳細資訊。您能否向我們提供一些詳細信息，例如他們的毛利率情況與 Guess 的比較？和馬西亞諾品牌？只是好奇地想看看您在營業利潤中看到的影響與毛利率更相關，或者就像更高的銷售、管理和行政費用結構一樣。也許，我很想聽聽有關歐洲消費者所看到的更多細節。我知道您之前談過這個問題，但如果只是談談您的一些關鍵區域，我們會很高興聽到。即使是批發業務也表現得很好，但 CTC 卻在放緩。所以我只是想了解背後的動力是什麼？太感謝了。

Yes, Mauricio. Thank you, It's Carlos.

是的，毛里西奧。謝謝你，我是卡洛斯。

With respect to rag & bone, we are not in a position to start giving different margin numbers or things like that. We are just giving you as much color as we can, so then you can appreciate the business seasonality and also you can model the business appropriately. But I can tell you that, of course, these are significantly higher prices than what we have in the Guess? portfolio. And the margins are very healthy and the company has been very disciplined in not promoting significantly here ever, which is something that we find that very appealing because this brand has been in business now for over 20 years and they have always been so careful with how the brand is presented to the customer and they have never been just in a position -- even if business was difficult over those years, they have never been in a position to really discount the brand significantly so we benefit from that today because I think as the customer sees the brand as a pristine offering.

對於rag＆bone，我們無法開始給出不同的保證金數字或類似的東西。我們只是為您提供盡可能多的色彩，這樣您就可以了解業務的季節性，並且可以適當地對業務進行建模。但我可以告訴你，當然，這些價格比我們猜的價格高很多？資料夾。利潤率非常健康，公司一直非常自律，不會在這裡進行大幅促銷，我們發現這一點非常有吸引力，因為這個品牌已經營業了 20 多年，而且他們一直非常小心品牌被呈現給客戶，他們從來都沒有處於有利的位置——即使這些年來生意很困難，他們也從來沒有能夠真正大幅折扣品牌，所以我們今天從中受益，因為我認為客戶將該品牌視為原始產品。

The one thing that is a very interesting here is that similar to Guess?, the brand has a great distribution that is multichannel. And we see that as also a big advantage because in many cases, not just what we learn of retail, we can use to really improve our wholesale business and vice versa. And in this case, the businesses are very synergistic and we think that those are very beneficial to optimizing both businesses.

這裡非常有趣的一件事是，與 Guess? 類似，該品牌擁有良好的多通路分銷。我們認為這也是一個很大的優勢，因為在很多情況下，不僅僅是我們學到的零售知識，我們可以用來真正改善我們的批發業務，反之亦然。在這種情況下，這些業務具有很強的協同性，我們認為這對於優化這兩項業務非常有利。

And then, just with respect to the European consumer, which was your second question, decided what I mention is that, yeah, we did see a little bit of a deceleration. We don't know exactly if this is more a function of what's happening with the weather patterns in Europe, just we saw that the summer got extended. Just that they work, you know, several weeks after the clearance period where you would expect that just the new product, the full product would start selling them. And that did not happen with the same level of intensity as in prior years because the weather was still so hard throughout Europe.

然後，就歐洲消費者而言，這是你的第二個問題，決定我提到的是，是的，我們確實看到了一點減速。我們不知道這是否更多是歐洲天氣模式的作用，只是我們看到夏天延長了。只是它們起作用了，你知道，在清倉期幾週後，你會期望只有新產品，完整的產品才會開始銷售它們。而且這種情況的強度並沒有像前幾年那麼嚴重，因為整個歐洲的天氣仍然很惡劣。

So this is difficult for us to really know exactly if those trends were more a function of weather or if they were a function of the consumer being not as intensely focused on shopping for our categories during that time. Just in case, we think that the weather patterns are changing. And for that reason, we are really looking at, especially as transitional seasons, like the June-July timeframe, January-February timeframe. We are looking at changing some of those transitional collections to really make those seasons more extended on -- in summer months and the winter months, and I'm playing with fabrications that will be more conducive to those weather patterns.

因此，我們很難真正確切地知道這些趨勢是否更多地是天氣的函數，或者是否是消費者在那段時間不那麼專注於購買我們的類別的函數。以防萬一，我們認為天氣模式正在改變。基於這個原因，我們確實在關注，特別是過渡季節，例如六月至七月的時間框架、一月至二月的時間框架。我們正在考慮改變其中一些過渡系列，以真正讓這些季節更長——夏季和冬季，我正在嘗試更適合這些天氣模式的面料。

With respect to the European region, of course, it's a very challenging thing because this is not one area that behaves in a very homogeneous way. There are multiple markets there that are behaving very differently. Now we continue to see very strong business trends in Turkey, for example. We have seen just different patterns in countries in the Southern region versus the north. And then it's very difficult to generalize here as to the European consumer. But we feel that, you know, just we have a big opportunity to continue to deliver same-store sales growth there.

當然，對於歐洲地區來說，這是一件非常具有挑戰性的事情，因為這不是一個表現方式非常同質的地區。那裡有多個市場的表現截然不同。例如，現在我們繼續在土耳其看到非常強勁的商業趨勢。我們看到南部地區國家與北部地區國家的模式不同。然後很難對歐洲消費者進行概括。但我們認為，我們有很大的機會繼續在那裡實現同店銷售成長。

One of the issues that impacted us, especially on conversion was that with the Red Sea crisis, we saw some slowness in the delivery of product. We saw that because of everything that is happening, there's come into Europe and we have a lot of products that is coming from China, just as those supply chains were disrupted similar to what we experienced back in the COVID days. And we have seen like a delay of about three weeks in general, depending on the time. But towards the end of the second quarter, that was exactly the case.

影響我們的問題之一，特別是在轉換方面，是由於紅海危機，我們發現產品交付速度有些緩慢。我們看到，由於正在發生的一切，歐洲有許多產品來自中國，就像這些供應鏈受到了破壞，就像我們在新冠疫情期間所經歷的那樣。我們發現，根據時間的不同，一般會延遲三週左右。但到了第二季末，情況確實如此。

And in many cases, we didn't get that product on time. And we think that impacted negatively our conversion rate. So we made a strategic decision to really invest in just airfreight in some cases, just to make sure that we protect the business for both our retail business, but also our wholesale business. And that's one of the reasons why you saw an increase in inbound freight for the remaining of the year. One of the reasons is that freight rates are higher, but another reason is that we are choosing alternative methods to bring the product faster, So then we can protect the business.

在很多情況下，我們沒有按時獲得該產品。我們認為這對我們的轉換率產生了負面影響。因此，我們做出了策略決策，在某些情況下真正投資於空運，只是為了確保我們保護我們的零售業務和批發業務。這就是今年剩餘時間內入境貨運量增加的原因之一。原因之一是運費較高，但另一個原因是我們正在選擇替代方法來更快地運送產品，這樣我們就可以保護業務。

Got it. Very helpful.

知道了。非常有幫助。

And just quick one quick follow-up. You also mentioned that you were looking for ways to reduce the operating expense in Americas retail. Could you talk about maybe some of the initiatives that you are looking into to just have like a better margin in that division? Thank you.

只需快速跟進即可。您也提到，您正在尋找降低美洲零售營運費用的方法。您能否談談您正在研究的一些舉措，以便在該部門獲得更好的利潤？謝謝。

Yes, I'll start, and Dennis, you can jump in. But the biggest issue here has been that when you have negative comps like we have experienced. it just -- and you're running stores, it's just very difficult to really follow just the contraction of the top line with a lot of the costs that are in nature fixed. So what we are doing is just looking at every area where we could contract cost to really protect the profitability of the business. And we look at that, you know, there is very little that you can do on occupancy, for example. There is very little that you can do in some of the margin numbers. There is a gross margin other than protecting pricing, which we are doing. But then there are some variable costs like a payroll in the stores, like other variable cost within supplies or anything that is variable, and we are trying to really be very, very careful with that.

是的，我會開始，丹尼斯，你可以插話。只是——當你經營商店時，要真正追蹤收入的收縮是非常困難的，而許多成本本質上是固定的。因此，我們正在做的只是尋找可以壓縮成本的每個領域，以真正保護業務的獲利能力。例如，我們會看到，在入住率方面，您幾乎無能為力。對於某些保證金數字，您無能為力。除了我們正在做的保護定價之外，還有毛利率。但還有一些可變成本，例如商店的工資，供應品中的其他可變成本或任何可變的成本，我們正在努力非常非常小心地對待這一點。

So if you looked at our performance in the second quarter, we were able to respond to the negative same-store sales with a lower cost at the store level. Of course, this is a double-edged sword here because what we don't want is to really impact negatively, our conversion opportunities. We want to provide a great customer experience to our customers. And in order to do that, you have to have very good coverage on the sales floor, and we are doing that. But just being more careful with how we devote those hours has been a good way to really control costs.

因此，如果你看看我們第二季的業績，你會發現我們能夠以較低的門市成本來應對同店銷售的負成長。當然，這是一把雙面刃，因為我們不希望真正對我們的轉換機會產生負面影響。我們希望為客戶提供良好的客戶體驗。為了做到這一點，你必須對銷售區域進行良好的覆蓋，而我們正在這樣做。但只要更加小心分配這些時間，就是真正控製成本的好方法。

And then we are looking at other areas that are not necessarily at the store level, but things that we think that we can be more careful with. Just looking at our organizational structures, I'm trying to see how we can be more efficient in certain areas. And then there is one big line item that also impacted our outlook here and it's a variable compensation. Because as we saw that the business and our results are not going to be in line with what we expected. That is going to drive a lower variable compensation pay, and that is a big number and that is included in our outlook.

然後我們正在研究其他領域，這些領域不一定是商店層面的，但我們認為我們可以更加小心的事情。就我們的組織結構而言，我試著了解如何在某些領域提高效率。還有一個大項目也影響了我們的前景，那就是可變薪酬。因為正如我們所看到的，業務和我們的結果不會符合我們的預期。這將導致可變薪酬下降，這是一個很大的數字，也包含在我們的展望中。

What we did not touch is -- and this has been completely intentional is our marketing budget because we think that like we said during our remarks, this is a big opportunity for this company and we are going to protect it and we are going to go because we are not running the company for the next quarter but we are thinking about the long term. We want to build like Eric was saying before, as you notice, we are doing things for the long term and we think that we have an incredible opportunity in front of us with what we have. You know, Guess? has big opportunities in multiple product categories and in multiple markets. We have a market like India is growing really in a very aggressive way. We have opportunities in the Middle East where we think that there is a big, big plants. We are working with a great partner (inaudible) organization there. new partner for us for the last three or four years. And we see a lot of opportunity to grow there.

我們沒有觸及的是——這完全是我們有意為之的營銷預算，因為我們認為就像我們在演講中所說的那樣，這對這家公司來說是一個巨大的機會，我們將保護它，我們將繼續前進因為我們不會在下個季度運營公司，但我們正在考慮長期目標。我們希望像埃里克之前所說的那樣，正如你所注意到的，我們正在做長期的事情，我們認為我們擁有一個難以置信的機會在我們面前。你猜，你知道嗎？在多個產品類別和多個市場中擁有巨大的機會。我們有一個像印度這樣的市場，正在以非常積極的方式成長。我們在中東有機會，我們認為那裡有一個非常大的工廠。我們正在與那裡的一個優秀的合作夥伴（聽不清楚）組織合作。過去三、四年來我們的新合作夥伴。我們在那裡看到了很多成長的機會。

And there are multiple markets like that. We don't want to really stay just on the sidelines when we have an opportunity to grow the business. And then rag & bone, I talked quite a bit about.

類似的市場有多個。當我們有機會發展業務時，我們不想真正袖手旁觀。然後是rag＆bone，我談了很多。

Thank you. This does conclude the Q&A session for today, and I would like to go ahead and turn the call back over to Carlos for closing remarks. You have the floor.

謝謝。今天的問答環節到此結束，我想繼續將電話轉回卡洛斯進行結束語。請發言。

Thank you. Thank you. Well, thank you all for your participation today.

謝謝。謝謝。好的，謝謝大家今天的參與。

I'm sorry if we were long in several answers, but we are excited. We are pleased with our progress in a year that we are calling of transformation and investment as I said, this -- we remain very, very excited about our future and we look forward to speaking with you at the Goldman conference that is coming up on September 4. So thank you again, and we'll see you soon. Have a great day.

如果我們的答案很長，我很抱歉，但我們很興奮。正如我所說，我們對這一年所取得的進展感到高興，我們呼籲進行轉型和投資，我們對未來仍然非常非常興奮，我們期待在即將舉行的高盛會議上與您交談。再次感謝您，我們很快再見。祝你有美好的一天。

Thank you all for joining today's conference call. You may disconnect.

感謝大家參加今天的電話會議。您可以斷開連線。