Canada Goose Holdings Inc (GOOS) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Canada Goose Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Amy Schwalm.

美好的一天，謝謝你的支持。歡迎來到 Canada Goose 2023 年第四季度和全年收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。我現在想把會議交給今天的發言人 Amy Schwalm。

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. With me are Dani Reiss, Chairman and CEO; Jonathan Sinclair, EVP and CFO; and Carrie Baker, President.

謝謝接線員，大家早上好。和我一起的是董事長兼首席執行官 Dani Reiss；執行副總裁兼首席財務官 Jonathan Sinclair；和總裁 Carrie Baker。

Our call today, including the Q&A portion, includes forward-looking statements. Each forward-looking statement, including without limitation, discussion of our financial outlook is subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Certain material factors and assumptions were considered and applied in making these forward-looking statements. Additional information regarding these statements, factors and assumptions is available in our earnings press release issued this morning. Our updated strategic growth plan and 5-year financial outlook press release issued on February 7, 2023, as well as in the Risk Factors section of our most recent annual report filed with the securities regulators.

我們今天的電話會議，包括問答部分，包括前瞻性陳述。每份前瞻性陳述，包括但不限於對我們財務前景的討論，都受到風險和不確定性的影響，這些風險和不確定性可能導致實際結果與預期結果存在重大差異。在做出這些前瞻性陳述時，考慮並應用了某些重要因素和假設。有關這些陳述、因素和假設的更多信息，請參閱我們今天上午發布的收益新聞稿。我們於 2023 年 2 月 7 日發布的最新戰略增長計劃和 5 年財務展望新聞稿，以及我們向證券監管機構提交的最新年度報告的風險因素部分。

These documents are also available on the Investor Relations section of our website. The forward-looking statements made on this call speak only as of today, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any of these statements. Lastly, our commentary today will also include certain non-IFRS financial measures, which are reconciled at the end of our earnings press release.

這些文件也可在我們網站的投資者關係部分獲得。本次電話會議上的前瞻性陳述僅適用於今天，我們不承擔更新或修改任何此類陳述的義務。最後，我們今天的評論還將包括某些非 IFRS 財務措施，這些措施在我們的收益新聞稿末尾進行了核對。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Dani.

有了這個，我會把電話轉給 Dani。

Thank you, Amy, and good morning, everyone. We had a strong fourth quarter at Canada Goose. Our stores are busy ability and the familiar lineups have returned. Our stores in every market performed well with profit rebounding, especially in EMEA and APAC. Our business in China made a strong recovery from our third quarter in fiscal 2023 and has continued its momentum into fiscal year-to-date. We've seen the same momentum continue across all of our key geographies beyond the fourth quarter, which is a clear indication of the strength of our brand and the demand for our performance luxury products.

謝謝你，艾米，大家早上好。 Canada Goose 第四季度表現強勁。我們的商店很忙，熟悉的陣容又回來了。我們在每個市場的商店都表現良好，利潤反彈，尤其是在 EMEA 和 APAC。我們在中國的業務從 2023 財年第三季度開始強勁復甦，並在本財年迄今繼續保持增長勢頭。第四季度之後，我們在所有主要地區都看到了同樣的勢頭，這清楚地表明了我們品牌的實力和對我們高性能奢侈品產品的需求。

This is a great position for us to be in as we execute against our strategic growth levers, which are accelerating our consumer-focused growth, building our direct-to-consumer network and expanding categories. As I look back at our fiscal 2023, we closed the year having grown top line revenue to more than $1.2 billion. We have made important progress against our growth plan, including investments in CRM, digital, people and DTC expansion.

這對我們來說是一個很好的位置，因為我們正在執行我們的戰略增長槓桿，這些槓桿正在加速我們以消費者為中心的增長，建立我們直接面向消費者的網絡並擴大類別。當我回顧我們的 2023 財年時，我們結束了這一年，收入增長超過 12 億美元。我們的增長計劃取得了重要進展，包括對 CRM、數字、人員和 DTC 擴展的投資。

Store traffic continues to improve as consumers seek out our award-winning in-store experience. We've also seen a return to a more normalized operating environment, especially in China with the lifting of COVID restrictions late in our third quarter. We grew our store footprint, opening 10 permanent stores in fiscal 2023, increasing our global store fleet by almost 1 quarter. Consumer trends are beginning to normalize. This includes encouraging initial international travel data that we're seeing across many of our key markets. Wholesale ended the year well and remains an important channel for us as our DTC network expands. As we conclude fiscal 2023, we have a strong foundation in place to execute against our strategic growth levers going forward. And looking ahead, we are confident that the momentum we have built in our business will continue to build.

隨著消費者尋求我們屢獲殊榮的店內體驗，商店客流量不斷增加。我們還看到了回歸到更加正常化的運營環境，尤其是在中國，隨著我們第三季度末取消 COVID 限制。我們擴大了門店足跡，在 2023 財年開設了 10 家永久性門店，使我們的全球門店數量增加了近 1 個季度。消費趨勢開始正常化。這包括我們在許多主要市場看到的令人鼓舞的初始國際旅行數據。隨著我們的 DTC 網絡的擴展，批發在這一年結束時表現良好，並且仍然是我們的重要渠道。在我們結束 2023 財年時，我們擁有堅實的基礎來執行我們未來的戰略增長槓桿。展望未來，我們相信我們在業務中建立的勢頭將繼續增強。

At our Investor Day in February, we outlined our longer-term plan that we are committed to our strategy to accelerate our growth, targeting $3 billion in revenue with adjusted EBIT margin of 30%. In fiscal 2024, we plan to accelerate our revenue and profitability, leveraging the investments we've made over the past year. We plan to generate revenue growth of 15% to 23%. We're targeting our adjusted EBIT margins to be between 15% to 16%. Fiscal year 2024 will be another year of investment in our business, and we expect to realize margin benefits progressively as we drive towards our long-term target.

在 2 月份的投資者日上，我們概述了我們致力於實施加速增長戰略的長期計劃，目標是收入 30 億美元，調整後的息稅前利潤率為 30%。在 2024 財年，我們計劃利用過去一年的投資來加速我們的收入和盈利能力。我們計劃實現 15% 至 23% 的收入增長。我們的目標是將調整後的息稅前利潤率控制在 15% 至 16% 之間。 2024 財年將是我們業務投資的又一年，我們希望在實現長期目標的過程中逐步實現利潤率收益。

Later, you will hear more from Jonathan as he'll provide a deeper dive into our outlook for this fiscal year. The path is clear and driven by 3 strategic pillars. First, we are accelerating our consumer-focused growth. We have a tremendous opportunity to further build loyalty in our current and new customers. We've seen growth in our repeat customer cohort. We ended fiscal year 2023 with repeat customers making up almost 1/3 of our base. We plan to continue our focus on growing this metric through shifting marketing investments to drive greater ROI conversion and ultimately, lifetime value. And in fiscal year '24, we will begin to further unlock our CRM opportunities, leveraging our customer data platform to segment and personalize engagement with our clients through all touchpoints much more meaningfully.

稍後，您會從 Jonathan 那裡聽到更多信息，因為他將更深入地探討我們對本財年的展望。路徑清晰，由 3 個戰略支柱驅動。首先，我們正在加速以消費者為中心的增長。我們有巨大的機會進一步建立現有和新客戶的忠誠度。我們已經看到回頭客群體的增長。我們在 2023 財年結束時，回頭客幾乎占我們基數的 1/3。我們計劃繼續專注於通過轉移營銷投資來提高這一指標，以推動更高的投資回報率轉化率，並最終提高生命週期價值。在 24 財年，我們將開始進一步釋放我們的 CRM 機會，利用我們的客戶數據平台通過所有接觸點更有意義地細分和個性化與客戶的互動。

Lastly, this year, we plan to launch travel retail. We know travel is important to our customer and meeting them at a holding new stage of their journey as a part of our commitment to consumer-focused growth. This year, we plan to open 2 to 3 locations, and I look forward to updating you on our progress as it evolves. Second is building our DTC network. Over the next 5 years, we plan to more than double our retail footprint from our current base of 51 permanent stores. In the next year, we plan to open 16 permanent stores with new store locations in the United States, China, Japan and Australia. We expect the vast majority of the stores to be fully operational before our peak season starting in fall.

最後，今年我們計劃推出旅遊零售。我們知道旅行對我們的客戶很重要，在他們旅程的新階段與他們會面是我們以消費者為中心的增長承諾的一部分。今年，我們計劃開設 2 到 3 個地點，我期待著向您介紹我們的進展情況。其次是建立我們的 DTC 網絡。在接下來的 5 年裡，我們計劃將我們目前的 51 家永久性商店基地的零售足跡擴大一倍以上。明年，我們計劃在美國、中國、日本和澳大利亞開設 16 家永久性門店，並開設新門店。我們預計絕大多數商店將在秋季旺季開始之前全面營業。

When it comes to our store network, we are laser-focused on enhancing store performance to our digital platforms and in-store experience. We see a significant opportunity in our digital road map to support our goals by driving more traffic to stores, helping our stores to really know and connect with their high-value clients and optimizing our inventory across our entire network. Having an omnichannel approach is critical to our success, and we are making the necessary investments both in our people and systems. We are also excited to fully roll out omnichannel capabilities across Europe in fiscal 2024. Just last month, we announced the hiring of Matt Blonder, our first ever Chief Digital Officer. I'm very excited for Matt to lead the growth of our digital presence globally.

在我們的商店網絡方面，我們專注於提高我們數字平台的商店性能和店內體驗。我們在我們的數字路線圖中看到了一個重要的機會，可以通過為商店帶來更多流量來支持我們的目標，幫助我們的商店真正了解他們的高價值客戶並與之建立聯繫，並優化我們在整個網絡中的庫存。採用全渠道方法對我們的成功至關重要，我們正在對我們的人員和系統進行必要的投資。我們也很高興能夠在 2024 財年在整個歐洲全面推出全渠道功能。就在上個月，我們宣布聘請 Matt Blonder，他是我們的首位首席數字官。我很高興 Matt 能夠領導我們全球數字業務的發展。

Our third pillar of expanding product categories. At the end of fiscal 2023, we made important progress against this pillar. We continue to expand our product mix and grow our non-heavy weight down offerings, including categories of apparel, footwear and fleece. Non-heavy weight down now makes up almost 43% of our product mix, up from 38.5% in fiscal 2022 and 19% in 2019. In this summer, we will launch our first performance sneaker collection, a huge opportunity for our company. The collection is style-forward, wearable year-round with the performance credential to suit any adventure. And early this fall, we plan to continue to expand our women's focused outerwear collections, following the successful expansion of a women's collection last fiscal year. The new styles were incredibly well received with several SKUs landing in our top 10 styles for the season. As you can hear, we are full speed ahead in executing our 3 pillars, and we are clearly on our path to achieving our long-term goals.

我們擴大產品類別的第三個支柱。到 2023 財年末，我們在這一支柱方面取得了重要進展。我們繼續擴大我們的產品組合併增加我們的非重磅羽絨服產品，包括服裝、鞋類和抓絨類產品。非重磅羽絨現在占我們產品組合的近 43%，高於 2022 財年的 38.5% 和 2019 財年的 19%。今年夏天，我們將推出我們的第一個高性能運動鞋系列，這對我們公司來說是一個巨大的機會。該系列風格前衛，全年可穿戴，性能可靠，適合任何探險。繼上一財年成功擴展女裝系列後，今年初秋，我們計劃繼續擴展以女裝為主的外套系列。新款式非常受歡迎，有幾個 SKU 進入了我們本季的前 10 款款式。正如您所聽到的，我們正在全速執行我們的三大支柱，而且我們顯然正在實現我們的長期目標。

In the fourth quarter, we kicked off our multiphase transformation program. This is an evolution of our business to support both the strategic pillars and to take our business to the next level. Our work will focus on increasing operational efficiencies by optimizing production and procurement, developing people and resources and focusing even more on our consumers to drive sustainable growth, profitability and long-term value. We've already begun this work and it will roll out over a number of years.

第四季度，我們啟動了多階段轉型計劃。這是我們業務的發展，以支持戰略支柱並將我們的業務提升到一個新的水平。我們的工作重點是通過優化生產和採購、開發人員和資源以及更加關注我們的消費者來提高運營效率，以推動可持續增長、盈利能力和長期價值。我們已經開始了這項工作，並將在數年內推出。

Now let's turn to our fourth quarter financial results. As I mentioned earlier, we saw strength across our business, both on the top line and in our profitability. Our revenue grew 31% with strength in Asia Pacific, up 65%, EMEA up 27% and Canada, up 41%. Our adjusted earnings per share were better than our expectations, up 250% versus the comparative quarter last year, growing from $0.04 to $0.14 per share.

現在讓我們來看看我們的第四季度財務業績。正如我之前提到的，我們在收入和盈利能力方面都看到了整個業務的實力。我們的收入增長了 31%，其中亞太地區增長了 65%，EMEA 增長了 27%，加拿大增長了 41%。我們調整後的每股收益好於我們的預期，比去年同期增長 250%，從每股 0.04 美元增長到 0.14 美元。

Now turning to regional updates across the globe. Last quarter, we discussed the disruption in Greater China following a wave of infections seen on the [heals] of a sudden lifting of COVID restrictions in our busiest season. Since then, we have seen a noticeable pickup in sales. Mainland China reported a record growth rate of approximately 40% versus last year, and APAC DTC comp growth was up 23.5% versus last year. Our apparel collections saw notable growth in APAC in the quarter, more than doubling compared to the same quarter last year, approaching $10 million in revenue.

現在轉向全球區域更新。上個季度，我們討論了在我們最繁忙的季節突然解除 COVID 限制[治愈]後出現的一波感染浪潮對大中華區造成的影響。從那以後，我們看到銷售額明顯回升。中國大陸報告稱，與去年相比，增長率達到創紀錄的約 40%，而亞太地區 DTC comp 增長率與去年相比增長了 23.5%。本季度，我們的服裝系列在亞太地區取得了顯著增長，與去年同期相比增長了一倍多，收入接近 1000 萬美元。

We also saw strength in our EMEA business. Over the last 2 years, we have seen EMEA gradually stabilize with a steady growth in tourism, still below the benchmarks we saw in 2019 with a lot of potential offset. As well, almost all of our European stores were opened during COVID and are now benefiting from a more normalized operating environment. Lightweight down was a standout performer across EMEA in the quarter, with category revenue growing more than 30% in the prior year quarter.

我們還看到了 EMEA 業務的實力。在過去的 2 年中，我們看到歐洲、中東和非洲地區隨著旅遊業的穩步增長而逐漸穩定下來，但仍低於我們在 2019 年看到的基準，有很大的潛在抵消。同樣，我們幾乎所有的歐洲商店都是在 COVID 期間開業的，現在正受益於更加規範的運營環境。輕量羽絨在本季度在歐洲、中東和非洲地區表現突出，類別收入比去年同期增長了 30% 以上。

Lastly, in North America, where we saw mixed results across the region. As we expected, we saw softer sales in the U.S. in our fourth quarter, with the overall growth we saw across our stores was offset by lower e-commerce results. We attribute this to the macro environment in the quarter where economic uncertainty affecting consumer behavior. The U.S. saw an acceleration at the end of the quarter through to the current quarter to date, which provides us confidence that the business is recovering. Canada performed well in the quarter, up 41%. I'm pleased to see one of our most mature markets driving such strong results.

最後，在北美，我們看到整個地區的結果喜憂參半。正如我們預期的那樣，我們在第四季度看到美國的銷售疲軟，我們在商店中看到的整體增長被較低的電子商務業績所抵消。我們將此歸因於本季度經濟不確定性影響消費者行為的宏觀環境。美國從本季度末到本季度迄今出現了加速增長，這讓我們相信該業務正在復蘇。加拿大在本季度表現良好，增長了 41%。我很高興看到我們最成熟的市場之一取得如此強勁的業績。

Our apparel collection was the fastest-growing category in North America and Canada, growing more than 170% compared to the same quarter last year. As I look back at 2023, was a year of measured growth through uncertainty. We ended fiscal 2023 in a strong position, and I'd like to thank all of our teams who always put our customers first. And I'm looking forward to the years ahead. We have seen some early and encouraging signs and strong momentum across our markets. I'm also looking forward to the expertise that our new leaders will bring to our business, especially at such an exciting time of transformation and investment.

我們的服裝系列是北美和加拿大增長最快的類別，與去年同期相比增長了 170% 以上。回顧 2023 年，這是充滿不確定性的一年。我們以強勁的勢頭結束了 2023 財年，我要感謝始終將客戶放在首位的所有團隊。我期待著未來的歲月。我們已經在我們的市場上看到了一些令人鼓舞的早期跡象和強勁勢頭。我也期待著我們的新領導人將為我們的業務帶來專業知識，尤其是在轉型和投資如此激動人心的時刻。

And finally, I'm really looking forward to see [our presence] in Greater China in the year ahead. And with that, I'll turn it over to Jon.

最後，我真的很期待在來年看到 [我們] 在大中華區的存在。有了這個，我會把它交給喬恩。

Thank you, Dani, and good morning, everyone. Today, I shall be comparing the fourth quarter ended April 2, 2023, with the prior year quarter, which ended on April 3, 2022, unless I say otherwise.

謝謝你，丹妮，大家早上好。今天，除非另有說明，否則我將比較截至 2023 年 4 月 2 日的第四季度與截至 2022 年 4 月 3 日的上一年季度。

Overall, we were very happy with our results for the quarter. They were largely as expected and notably, we closed out the year with some excellent momentum in our Asia Pacific and EMEA regions. As anticipated and indicated with the Q3 results, the United States was somewhat softer with a tougher macroeconomic backdrop. Although still early days in a smaller quarter for us, we're encouraged by the momentum that we have seen across all regions in the first quarter to date.

總體而言，我們對本季度的業績感到非常滿意。他們在很大程度上符合預期，值得注意的是，我們在亞太地區和歐洲、中東和非洲地區以良好的勢頭結束了這一年。正如第三季度結果所預期和表明的那樣，美國在更嚴峻的宏觀經濟背景下略顯疲軟。儘管對我們來說仍處於較小的季度初期，但我們對第一季度迄今為止在所有地區看到的勢頭感到鼓舞。

I'll go into a bit more detail here shortly. But first, some more color on Q4. Total revenue grew 31.4% to $293.2 million in the fourth quarter. DTC revenue increased 22.6%, driven by new stores as well as solid performance overall from existing stores. We ended fiscal 2023 with 51 permanent stores compared to 41 permanent stores at the end of fiscal 2022. DTC comparable sales grew 6.9% and 3.3% excluding Mainland China. And that was driven by growth within the existing store network more than offsetting e-commerce business as consumers return to experiential shopping.

稍後我將詳細介紹。但首先，Q4 有更多顏色。第四季度總收入增長 31.4% 至 2.932 億美元。 DTC 收入增長 22.6%，受新店以及現有門店整體表現穩健的推動。與 2022 財年末的 41 家永久店相比，我們在 2023 財年末擁有 51 家永久店。DTC 可比銷售額增長 6.9% 和 3.3%（不包括中國大陸）。這是由現有商店網絡的增長推動的，而不是隨著消費者回歸體驗式購物而抵消電子商務業務。

As Dani mentioned, we have plans to execute on a number of initiatives, many of which are digitally enabled, and that should help position us well to further enhance store productivity and e-commerce performance in the not-so-distant future. Wholesale revenue grew 30.4% in the fourth quarter on timing of shipments delayed from Q3 as well as higher order book values compared to the prior year quarter. Revenue from the Other segment was $20.2 million compared to $2.6 million in the prior year quarter, primarily due to higher product availability to employees, friends and family.

正如 Dani 提到的，我們計劃執行多項舉措，其中許多是數字化的，這應該有助於我們在不遠的將來進一步提高商店生產力和電子商務績效。第四季度批發收入增長 30.4%，原因是發貨時間較第三季度有所延遲，而且訂單價值高於去年同期。其他部門的收入為 2020 萬美元，而去年同期為 260 萬美元，這主要是由於員工、朋友和家人的產品可用性更高。

Now performance by geography. In North America, revenue grew 41.2% in Canada, and that was partially offset by a small decline of 4.5% in the U.S. Asia Pacific revenue increased 65.4% without the disruptions from COVID-19 restrictions that existed in the comparative quarter. EMEA revenue grew 27.3% with strong growth across all channels.

現在按地域表現。在北美，加拿大的收入增長了 41.2%，但部分被美國 4.5% 的小幅下降所抵消。在沒有受到比較季度存在的 COVID-19 限制的干擾的情況下，亞太地區的收入增長了 65.4%。 EMEA 收入增長 27.3%，所有渠道均實現強勁增長。

Turning to our profit metrics. Gross profit increased to $36.2 million, primarily due to higher revenue, partially offset by our gross margin decline. Gross margin of 64.9% was impacted by an increase in the obsolete raw material provision as we evolve the materials to be used in production. Gross margin was also impacted by higher product costs, resulting from input cost inflation, albeit that, that was offset by pricing and the impact of the fair value adjustment for inventory acquired through the Japan joint venture. GCC and wholesale gross margins were 73.3% and 35.6%, respectively. Our full year DTC and wholesale gross margins landed at 76.3% and 49.7%, respectively, as we expected.

轉向我們的利潤指標。毛利潤增加到 3620 萬美元，這主要是由於收入增加，部分被我們的毛利率下降所抵消。 64.9% 的毛利率受到過時原材料供應增加的影響，因為我們改進了生產中使用的材料。毛利率還受到投入成本通脹導致產品成本上升的影響，儘管這被定價和通過日本合資企業收購的存貨的公允價值調整的影響所抵消。 GCC 和批發毛利率分別為 73.3% 和 35.6%。正如我們預期的那樣，我們的全年 DTC 和批發毛利率分別達到 76.3% 和 49.7%。

Operating income increased largely due to higher gross profit. That increase was partially offset by higher operating costs, and they related to increased headcount, our larger store network, higher consulting fees in support of our strategic initiatives, including the transformation program as well as costs associated with the Japan Joint Venture. Our adjusted EBIT increased to $27.6 million, primarily due to the higher gross profit and partially offset by higher operating costs, as I've just described in respect of the theme, the store network and the operation of the Japan Joint Venture.

營業收入增加主要是由於較高的毛利。這一增長被更高的運營成本部分抵消，它們與員工人數增加、我們更大的商店網絡、支持我們戰略計劃的更高諮詢費有關，包括轉型計劃以及與日本合資企業相關的成本。我們調整後的息稅前利潤增加到 2760 萬美元，這主要是由於毛利潤增加，部分被運營成本增加所抵消，正如我剛才在主題、商店網絡和日本合資企業的運營方面所描述的那樣。

Net loss was higher than the comparative quarter, primarily due to higher net interest, finance and other costs as well as the income tax expense, and that was partly offset by higher operating income. Adjusted net income increased from the prior year quarter due to the higher operating income offset by higher income tax expense.

淨虧損高於比較季度，主要是由於淨利息、財務和其他成本以及所得稅費用增加，部分被較高的營業收入所抵消。由於較高的營業收入被較高的所得稅費用所抵消，調整後的淨收入較上年同期有所增加。

Now turning to the balance sheet. Inventory of $472.6 million compared to $393.3 million in the prior year quarter. Japan represented around $19.2 million of the inventory balance at the quarter end, and therefore, represented around 1/4 of the growth. Higher inventory levels are attributable to lower-than-expected sales in the Asia Pacific region for most of fiscal 2023. As we said at Investor Day, we are focused on improving working capital and inventory turnover. However, we remain comfortable with finished goods inventory levels as the inventory composition continues to skew the high-margin evergreen finished goods. And raw material inventory levels were down 15% from the prior year.

現在轉向資產負債表。庫存為 4.726 億美元，而去年同期為 3.933 億美元。日本在本季度末的庫存餘額中約佔 1,920 萬美元，因此約佔增長的 1/4。較高的庫存水平是由於 2023 財年大部分時間亞太地區的銷售額低於預期。正如我們在投資者日所說，我們專注於改善營運資金和庫存周轉率。然而，我們仍然對製成品庫存水平感到滿意，因為庫存構成繼續偏向於高利潤常青製成品。原材料庫存水平比上一年下降了 15%。

We ended Q4 with cash returns of $286.5 million compared to $287.7 million at the end of the comparative quarter. Net debt, including capitalized leases, was $468.1 million compared to $333.8 million at the end of the prior year quarter. We're very comfortable with net debt leverage of 1.7x adjusted EBITDA at the end of the quarter. The increase in net debt was primarily due to increased lease liabilities on retail expansion as well as, of course, as the financing needs of the Japan joint venture. During the quarter, we repurchased a little over 407,000 subordinate voting shares for a total cash consideration of $10 million.

我們在第四季度末的現金回報為 2.865 億美元，而同期末為 2.877 億美元。包括資本化租賃在內的淨債務為 4.681 億美元，而去年同期末為 3.338 億美元。我們對本季度末調整後 EBITDA 為 1.7 倍的淨債務槓桿率感到非常滿意。淨債務的增加主要是由於零售擴張的租賃負債增加，當然還有日本合資企業的融資需求。本季度，我們回購了略多於 407,000 股有表決權的次級股份，總現金對價為 1000 萬美元。

Now turning to our outlook. We expect fiscal '24 revenue to be between $1.4 billion and $1.5 billion. This assumes that the macroeconomic environment does not worsen in any of our geographies. DTC revenue is anticipated to drive this growth and comprise mid- to high 70s as a percent of total revenue through the addition of new stores and stronger comparable sales growth. We're targeting 16 permanent retail stores and for them to be fully operational in the second half of the year. Approximately half are slated to open in Asia Pacific, with the vast majority of the remainder concentrated in the U.S. This assumes DTC comparable sales growth in the mid-single digits to mid-teens, excluding Mainland China, comparable sales growth is assumed in the negative low single to high single digits.

現在轉向我們的前景。我們預計 24 財年收入將在 14 億美元至 15 億美元之間。這是假設我們任何一個地區的宏觀經濟環境都沒有惡化。預計 DTC 收入將推動這一增長，並通過增加新店和更強勁的可比銷售增長，在總收入中佔 70 年代中高水平的百分比。我們的目標是開設 16 家永久性零售店，並讓它們在今年下半年全面投入運營。大約一半計劃在亞太地區開業，其餘大部分集中在美國。這假設 DTC 可比銷售額增長在中個位數到十幾歲之間，不包括中國大陸，可比銷售額增長為負低個位數到高個位數。

Including expected revenue from our new travel retail channel, we assume a 6% wholesale revenue decline as we focus on expanding our retail store network as well as our ongoing editing and upgrading of wholesale partners. We expect our wholesale door count to decline approximately 6%, leaving it at around 60% of the size of the network at the time of our IPO. The challenges wholesale faces are sector wide. And hence, we have, as always, manage the demand and continue to supply less than we are asked to keep the channel healthy and clean. This also gives us a space and opportunity to lean further into our DTC expansion where it creates further scope for margin expansion.

包括我們新的旅遊零售渠道的預期收入，我們假設批發收入下降 6%，因為我們專注於擴大我們的零售店網絡以及我們正在進行的批發合作夥伴的編輯和升級。我們預計我們的批發門數將下降約 6%，使其保持在 IPO 時網絡規模的 60% 左右。批發麵臨的挑戰是全行業的。因此，我們一如既往地管理需求並繼續供應少於我們要求保持渠道健康和清潔的供應量。這也為我們提供了一個空間和機會，可以進一步支持我們的 DTC 擴張，從而為利潤率擴張創造更多空間。

We expect the percentage of revenue generated across the quarters to follow a similar patent to fiscal 2023. In Q1, at 5%; Q2, at 20%; half the business in Q3 and the rest in Q4. This is anticipated to change in the next few years as we create new and expand existing categories for more all-season relevance. But I will say we are very familiar with and adjusted to the current shape of the revenue split. We assume consolidated gross margin will be in the high 60s as a percentage of total revenue, with DTC and wholesale gross margins remaining stable in the high 70s and mid- to high 40s, respectively.

我們預計各季度產生的收入百分比將遵循與 2023 財年類似的專利。第一季度為 5%； Q2，20%；一半業務在第三季度，其餘業務在第四季度。隨著我們創建新類別並擴展現有類別以獲得更多全季相關性，預計這將在未來幾年內發生變化。但我要說的是，我們非常熟悉並適應了當前的收入分配形式。我們假設綜合毛利率佔總收入的百分比將達到 60 多歲，DTC 和批發毛利率分別保持在 70 多歲和 40 多歲的中高水平。

Moving to profitability. We expect adjusted EBIT of $210 million to $240 million for a margin of 15% to 16%. In fiscal '24, we plan to invest in talent, technology and of course, in our store network as we accelerate the expansion of our retail footprint. Flowing through, we expect adjusted EPS per diluted share of $1.20 to $1.48. And that assumes an effective tax rate in the low 20s as a percentage of income before tax. We assume weighted average diluted shares of 106.3 million, and we do not consider any incremental share buyback activity.

轉向盈利。我們預計調整後的息稅前利潤為 2.1 億美元至 2.4 億美元，利潤率為 15% 至 16%。在 24 財年，我們計劃投資於人才、技術，當然還有我們的商店網絡，因為我們會加速擴大零售足跡。我們預計調整後每股攤薄每股收益為 1.20 美元至 1.48 美元。並且假設有效稅率在 20 多歲左右，佔稅前收入的百分比。我們假設加權平均稀釋後的股票為 1.063 億股，並且我們不考慮任何增量股票回購活動。

As you'll recall, we recently launched the transformation program as we first introduced it at our Investor Day in February. This is a multiphase, multiyear program intended on achieving meaningful change for the business. which is right at the beginning of its journey. It spans stores, sourcing, products, organization, marketing and technology and is thus far reaching in its scope. We expect it will contribute gradually and increasingly to our margin journey. Consistent with the $150 million goal we outlined in February. Now we are 2 months into our program. And therefore, at this stage, we're about setting ourselves up with the work on each stream. So it's a bit too soon to include any benefits in our fiscal '24 outlook. As we progress, we expect to incur a number of onetime costs associated with external support and other implementation costs.

您可能還記得，我們最近啟動了轉型計劃，正如我們在 2 月份的投資者日首次介紹的那樣。這是一個多階段、多年的計劃，旨在為企業實現有意義的變革。這是它旅程的開始。它涵蓋商店、採購、產品、組織、營銷和技術，因此其範圍非常廣泛。我們預計它將逐漸並越來越多地為我們的保證金之旅做出貢獻。與我們在 2 月份概述的 1.5 億美元目標一致。現在我們的計劃已經進行了 2 個月。因此，在這個階段，我們要為每個流的工作做好準備。因此，現在將任何收益納入我們的 24 財年展望還為時過早。隨著我們的進步，我們預計會產生一些與外部支持和其他實施成本相關的一次性成本。

Lastly, I will cover our outlook for the first quarter. We expect total revenue of $70 million to $80 million, adjusted EBIT loss of $115 million to $105 million, and that flows down to an adjusted net loss per basic share of $0.89 to $0.82. Now to give the top line some context, while wholesale is expected to be lower overall, we're working with our wholesale partners on product timing and expect some shift will occur from Q1 into Q2. However, the key point here is that DTC revenue growth is expected to be strong with comparable growth in the high teens to low 20s. I can underscore our confidence in this regard. Even this is a smaller quarter, we are pleased to see encouraging momentum in our DTC networks across all regions in quarter 1 as of Sunday night.

最後，我將介紹我們對第一季度的展望。我們預計總收入為 7,000 萬至 8,000 萬美元，調整後息稅前利潤虧損為 1.15 億美元至 1.05 億美元，而調整後的基本每股淨虧損為 0.89 至 0.82 美元。現在給頂線一些背景信息，雖然批發預計整體較低，但我們正在與我們的批發合作夥伴就產品時間安排進行合作，並預計從第一季度到第二季度會發生一些轉變。然而，這裡的關鍵點是 DTC 收入增長預計將強勁，從十幾歲到二十幾歲的年輕人都有可比的增長。我可以強調我們在這方面的信心。即使這是一個較小的季度，我們很高興看到截至週日晚上，我們所有地區的 DTC 網絡在第一季度都出現了令人鼓舞的勢頭。

Of particular note, Asia Pacific DTC comparable sales growth has just entered triple digits, granted that this is against easier comps, but we believe that there is no question that it signals brand strength and a good likelihood of sustained momentum as the region enjoys the full retail experience free from restrictions. Despite a tougher macroeconomic backdrop in the U.S., our new stores have still managed to approach or exceed our sales-sensitive targets. More stores to come here this year as we are significantly underpenetrated, and we have so much demand to cover.

特別值得一提的是，亞太地區 DTC 可比銷售額增長剛剛進入三位數，當然這與更容易的競爭相比，但我們相信，毫無疑問，這標誌著品牌實力和持續增長勢頭的良好可能性，因為該地區享有全面的發展勢頭。不受限制的零售體驗。儘管美國宏觀經濟形勢嚴峻，但我們的新店仍設法接近或超過我們的銷售敏感目標。今年會有更多商店來到這裡，因為我們的滲透率嚴重不足，而且我們有很多需求需要滿足。

We have seen EMEA retail progress meaningfully. We look forward to seeing these stores further establish their presence. You heard us talk about our confidence and ambition in February for this business. This year is step 1 of our plan, and we are so excited for the year ahead and beyond. There is no shortage of opportunities we plan to seize and we're ready. We're focused on executing on our strategic pillars, on our luxury brand positioning and on implementing our transformation program to generate profitable growth consistent with the goals we set.

我們已經看到 EMEA 零售取得了有意義的進展。我們期待看到這些商店進一步擴大影響力。您在 2 月份聽到我們談論了我們對這項業務的信心和雄心。今年是我們計劃的第 1 步，我們對來年及以後的一年感到非常興奮。我們計劃抓住的機會不乏其人，我們已做好準備。我們專注於執行我們的戰略支柱、我們的奢侈品牌定位以及實施我們的轉型計劃，以實現與我們設定的目標一致的盈利增長。

And with that, I'll pass it over to the operator to begin Q&A.

然後，我會將其傳遞給接線員以開始問答。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Oliver Chen with TD Cowen.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 TD Cowen 的 Oliver Chen。

Dani and Jonathan, you had really encouraging momentum in China. How does that proceed relative to your expectations? And what's assumed in terms of the guidance, it's -- looks like it's trending better, but I'm sure there's different factors around the volatility. And then previously on the U.S. you saw some conversion rate issues. It sounds like the U.S. is still cautious. Are you expecting a fair degree of volatility to continue in the U.S. And then lastly, just as we think about gross margins and the overall year ahead, what's embedded in terms of price increases and/or things we should know that may be recurring or nonrecurring in terms of key overall or specific drivers?

Dani 和 Jonathan，你們在中國的發展勢頭非常鼓舞人心。相對於您的期望，這是如何進行的？根據指導假設，它看起來趨勢更好，但我確信圍繞波動有不同的因素。然後之前在美國你看到了一些轉化率問題。聽起來美國還是很謹慎的。您是否預計美國會繼續出現相當程度的波動最後，正如我們考慮毛利率和未來一年的整體情況一樣，價格上漲和/或我們應該知道的可能是經常性或非經常性的事情在關鍵的總體或特定驅動因素方面？

This is Dani. China, we're really encouraged obviously, by our first quarter, as you know, Q3, when the lockdowns and Zero COVID was lifted, that really impacted us in a negative way because of the timing of that, and we really saw that rebound in a very strong way in Q4, and that underscores our belief in our brand and the -- our brands presence in the Chinese market. We've got a good number of retail locations in China at the moment. And we expect the operating environment there to continue to be better, and we're excited about the year ahead. I think that -- yes, I think that when looking at the United States market, it's rebounding nicely at the end of the fourth quarter and into Q1 of this year. And so we're very optimistic about that. Lots of opportunity in white space in the United States. And yes, Carrie, do you want to...

這是丹妮。中國，顯然我們真的很受鼓舞，到我們的第一季度，如你所知，第三季度，當封鎖和零 COVID 解除時，由於時間的關係，這確實對我們產生了負面影響，我們確實看到了反彈在第四季度以非常強勁的方式，這突顯了我們對我們品牌的信念以及我們品牌在中國市場的影響力。目前我們在中國有很多零售點。我們預計那裡的經營環境會繼續好轉，我們對來年感到興奮。我認為 - 是的，我認為在觀察美國市場時，它在第四季度末和今年第一季度反彈良好。所以我們對此非常樂觀。美國的白色空間有很多機會。是的，嘉莉，你想...

Yes. I think -- I mean there is tons of opportunity. Again, I said this before, we're still really early in our journey. We've got lots of stores planned. There's lots of upside, I think, on e-com. We are trading carefully; the macro environment still is what it is in the U.S. So we're being conservative, but there's plenty of upside and reason to be optimistic.

是的。我認為 - 我的意思是有很多機會。再一次，我之前說過，我們的旅程還處於早期階段。我們已經計劃了很多商店。我認為電子商務有很多好處。我們正在謹慎交易；宏觀環境仍然和美國一樣，所以我們保持保守，但仍有很多上行空間和樂觀的理由。

And I think when it comes to gross margin, we have a very established way of managing this. I always refer to it as our algorithm. We keep our channel margins more or less in balance certainly, over the course of the year, you get a bit of the noise quarter-to-quarter. But over the course of the year, we expect them to stay in balance. We typically see pricing mid-single digits over time, maybe it's mid- to high at the moment. We fully expect our gross margins to stay where they are in terms of the channel split of them, and we don't see any particular headwinds there. Obviously, there will be some impact of channel mix in the overall consolidated gross margin.

而且我認為在毛利率方面，我們有一個非常成熟的管理方式。我總是把它稱為我們的算法。我們肯定會或多或少地保持渠道利潤率的平衡，在這一年中，你會聽到一些季度到季度的噪音。但在這一年中，我們預計它們會保持平衡。隨著時間的推移，我們通常會看到定價中等個位數，目前可能處於中高水平。我們完全預計我們的毛利率將保持在渠道拆分方面的水平，並且我們沒有看到任何特別的逆風。顯然，渠道組合對整體綜合毛利率會有一定影響。

Our next question comes from Brooke Roach with Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的布魯克羅奇。

I was wondering if we could dive a little bit deeper into the assumptions that are embedded at the high end versus the low end of the revenue guidance range. Is the largest swing factor still driven by China as it was in FY '23? And as you think about the sequential stabilization that you've seen in North America in 1Q to date, is that -- are you forecasting organic growth in North America for the year?

我想知道我們是否可以更深入地研究收入指導範圍高端與低端的假設。最大的搖擺因素是否仍像 23 財年那樣由中國驅動？當您考慮迄今為止第一季度在北美看到的連續穩定時，您是否預測今年北美的有機增長？

Thanks, Brooke. I think the way to think about this is that the range is clearly all about DTC, with it being the vast majority of the business and the order book being set, inevitably that's true. The range I think a good part of it will be in China, but only because a good part of our DTC is in China. Equally, that range applies to other markets. And you see that in the way that we've articulated the guidance and the assumptions around it in terms of the DTC ranges. What I will say is that we are expecting some comparable growth in all of the regions. And therefore, that by definition, extends to the U.S. And I think that that's a fairly responsible approach to all of this. We don't see this as something that's got a very audacious assumptions behind us at all. We think this is appropriately pitched.

謝謝，布魯克。我認為思考這個問題的方式是，範圍顯然是關於 DTC 的，它是絕大多數業務和正在設置的訂單簿，不可避免地是這樣。我認為其中很大一部分將在中國，但這只是因為我們 DTC 的很大一部分在中國。同樣，該範圍適用於其他市場。你會看到我們在 DTC 範圍方面闡明了指導和圍繞它的假設的方式。我要說的是，我們預計所有地區都將出現可比的增長。因此，根據定義，這延伸到美國。我認為這是對所有這一切的一種相當負責任的方法。我們根本不認為這是我們背後有非常大膽的假設的事情。我們認為這是適當的。

Yes. And if maybe I'll add a little bit of context -- high-level context around the assumptions. We're assuming also in our guidance that international tourist levels remain more or less at the levels are right now. We're not forecasting or anticipating them to go back to pre-pandemic levels at this point. So that's -- in that regard, we've taken the cautious approach, and we believe the responsible approach to how we've guided and I think that's an important upside to note.

是的。如果我可能會添加一些背景信息——圍繞這些假設的高級背景信息。我們還在我們的指南中假設國際遊客水平或多或少保持在目前的水平。我們目前並沒有預測或預期它們會回到大流行前的水平。所以這就是——在這方面，我們採取了謹慎的態度，我們相信對我們的指導方式採取負責任的態度，我認為這是一個值得注意的重要好處。

What I can add to answer is also that we are seeing very healthy comps at the moment. And I shared the -- in my prepared remarks, some context around what we're seeing in Asia Pacific. But actually, we're encouraged by what we're seeing in all of our regions.

我可以補充的是，我們目前看到的是非常健康的組合。我在準備好的發言中分享了我們在亞太地區看到的一些背景。但實際上，我們對我們在所有地區看到的情況感到鼓舞。

Our next question comes from Ike Boruchow with Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Ike Boruchow。

This is Kate on for Ike. I guess I was hoping you could elaborate on the growth you're seeing in Asia Pac. You noted triple-digit comps quarter-to-date. I guess honing in on China, are you seeing productivity in the region approach or even exceeding pre-COVID levels? Just trying to get some context there. And while you are noting the expectations for growth -- comp growth in the region in FY '24, what are you thinking about in terms of productivity relative to pre-COVID levels? And then I have one follow-up.

這是凱特對艾克的看法。我想我希望你能詳細說明你在亞太地區看到的增長。你注意到三位數的補償季度至今。我想關注中國，您是否看到該地區的生產力接近甚至超過 COVID 之前的水平？只是想在那裡獲得一些背景信息。雖然您注意到增長預期 - 24 財年該地區的增長，但您在相對於 COVID 前水平的生產力方面有何想法？然後我有一個跟進。

I think -- so pre-pandemic, as you may recall, is a very difficult conversation for us because pre-pandemic, we had exactly 3 stores in Mainland China and in Shenyang, Beijing and Shanghai. So it's not very easy for us to describe that. But what I will say to try and give you some context, I mean, certainly, as I look down the list of the store performances. The one thing I will say is it's we've got a very healthy spread between double digits and triple digits in terms of every single store, that's growing. And I would also remind you that in the method by which we calculate all of this, we exclude from this year, sales on days where we were closed last year.

我認為 - 大流行前，正如你可能記得的那樣，對我們來說是一個非常困難的對話，因為大流行前，我們在中國大陸以及瀋陽、北京和上海只有 3 家商店。所以我們很難描述它。但是我要說的是嘗試給你一些背景，我的意思是，當然，當我查看商店表演列表時。我要說的一件事是，就每家商店而言，我們在兩位數和三位數之間有非常健康的差距，而且還在增長。我還要提醒您，在我們計算所有這些的方法中，我們從今年排除了去年我們關閉的日子的銷售額。

So therefore, we don't have -- we're not giving ourselves a super easy base, even if obviously the (inaudible) to smaller and traffic was heavily impaired. What -- I think as we look at the sales density, the productivity from the stores and the different regions, Asia is top of the tree. And that's really encouraging to us. We're seeing really strong performances there. The economics are robust and we're very encouraged by that. At the same time, we're also seeing good, strong overall performance in our sales density which keeps us at and above our guide, our pass mark if you like, for (inaudible) that I shared on Investor Day.

因此，我們沒有 - 我們沒有給自己一個超級簡單的基礎，即使顯然（聽不清）更小且流量嚴重受損。什麼——我認為當我們看銷售密度、商店和不同地區的生產力時，亞洲是最重要的。這對我們來說真的很鼓舞人心。我們在那裡看到了非常強勁的表現。經濟強勁，我們對此感到非常鼓舞。與此同時，我們在銷售密度方面也看到了良好、強勁的整體表現，這使我們保持在我們的指導方針之上，如果你願意的話，我們的及格分數，因為我在投資者日分享的（聽不清）。

Okay. That's really helpful. And then, Jonathan, just as we're thinking about the EBIT progress through the year, you gave some comments in the release about how we should think about revenue seasonality throughout the year. How should we think about EBIT seasonality through the year, especially just given you guys are anticipating some EBIT margin decline in Q1, that would be helpful just from a modeling perspective.

好的。這真的很有幫助。然後，喬納森，正如我們正在考慮全年的息稅前利潤進展一樣，您在新聞稿中發表了一些關於我們應該如何考慮全年收入季節性的評論。我們應該如何考慮全年的 EBIT 季節性，特別是考慮到你們預計第一季度的 EBIT 利潤率會有所下降，從建模的角度來看這將有所幫助。

Yes. I think realistically, Kate, you're going to see the EBIT margin being very heavily driven by the DTC performance. And that inevitably skews it into the second half. And that's the way to think about this. And you've seen it in Q4, albeit off small numbers, but you see the margin coming up from the trend that we were seeing before. And I think that the reality is that we -- with the majority of our DTC business, probably always going to be in the second half of the year, given the nature of what we are, then I think you're always going to skew as the productivity increases, you will skew margin growth in the second half of the year.

是的。我認為實際上，凱特，你會看到息稅前利潤率在很大程度上受到 DTC 性能的推動。這不可避免地會將其拖入下半場。這就是思考這個問題的方式。你已經在第四季度看到了它，儘管數量很少，但你會看到我們之前看到的趨勢帶來的利潤率。而且我認為現實是我們 - 我們的大部分 DTC 業務，可能總是會在下半年，考慮到我們的性質，那麼我認為你總是會歪曲隨著生產力的提高，您將在下半年扭曲利潤率增長。

Our next question comes from Jonathan Komp with Baird.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jonathan Komp 和 Baird。

Jonathan, I just wanted to follow up on your thinking around the EBIT margin guidance for the year. And I know in the past, you've talked about incremental flow-through rate in (inaudible) revenues driven by the DTC business. So could you maybe just give us more context this year, maybe why you would see more positive developments in the EBIT margin? And if you could maybe just quantify some of the investments you're making in the various growth initiatives you outlined?

喬納森，我只是想跟進你對今年息稅前利潤率指導的看法。我知道在過去，你談到了 DTC 業務驅動的（聽不清）收入的增量流通率。那麼，您能否在今年給我們提供更多背景信息，也許為什麼您會看到 EBIT 利潤率有更積極的發展？如果你可以量化你在你概述的各種增長計劃中所做的一些投資？

I think the way to think about this is that we're making investments in different areas, whether it's in talent, whether it's in technology, obviously, in the stores themselves. We've got a heavy store opening program this year. And once the stores are open, they're very profitable, we've also got to think that, that comes with a bunch of preopening cost, which we've absorbed these days into our operating cost base. And we reached that conclusion last year that we needed to address that. I don't think any of this affects the underlying economics and earnings model that we're talking about.

我認為思考這個問題的方式是我們在不同的領域進行投資，無論是在人才方面，還是在技術方面，顯然，在商店本身。今年我們有一個大型的開店計劃。一旦商店開張，它們就會非常有利可圖，我們還必須考慮到，隨之而來的是一大堆開張前的成本，這些天我們已經將這些成本吸收到了我們的運營成本基礎中。我們去年得出的結論是，我們需要解決這個問題。我認為這不會影響我們正在談論的基本經濟和盈利模式。

So what do I mean by that? We talk about a 40% plus margin in our stores. That's where we end up. And that's certainly the way in which we gave them through in terms of new stock proposals. So the fact that we still make double the revenue and triple the profit in DTC versus in wholesale remains the case. And therefore, the margin, it's always going to be accretive. It's just that we have a disproportionate burden this year of opening 16 stores and 16 stores is 1/3 of our retail estate at the moment. So that's a fairly significant number.

那我的意思是什麼？我們談論我們商店的 40% 以上的利潤。這就是我們的結局。這當然是我們在新股票提案方面給予他們的方式。因此，與批發相比，我們仍然在 DTC 中賺取兩倍的收入和三倍的利潤這一事實仍然存在。因此，利潤率總是會增加。只是我們今年要開 16 家店，負擔不成比例，而 16 家店目前占我們零售業的 1/3。所以這是一個相當可觀的數字。

Yes, I'll add to that. And similar to my last point is we do have a lot of stores that are open, a lot of our stores that we opened -- we opened during COVID and the opportunity to see them operate in their full potential is a very exciting opportunity. And obviously, we had -- and we continue to have very high expectations for all of our stores once traffic returns back to normalized levels, which is yet to do, and that's -- those are numbers that are not built in (inaudible).

是的，我會補充一點。與我最後一點相似的是，我們確實有很多開張的商店，我們開了很多商店——我們在 COVID 期間開張，有機會看到它們充分發揮潛力是一個非常令人興奮的機會。顯然，一旦客流量恢復到正常水平，我們已經 - 並且我們繼續對我們所有的商店抱有很高的期望，這還沒有做到，那就是 - 這些數字不是內置的（聽不清）。

Our next question comes from Robert Ohmes with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Robert Ohmes。

This is Alex Perry on for Robbie Ohmes. Just first, can you talk about how we should expect product mix to impact gross margin this year? Especially with the sneaker launch and the accelerated growth of the non-down categories. Maybe just give us a little color on sort of margins by categories versus the heavyweight down products? And then I have a follow-up.

這是羅比歐姆斯的亞歷克斯佩里。首先，您能談談我們應該如何預期產品組合會影響今年的毛利率嗎？特別是隨著運動鞋的推出和非羽絨品類的加速增長。也許只是給我們一些按類別分類的利潤率與重量級羽絨產品的區別？然後我有一個後續行動。

Yes. Thanks for your question. Overall, I don't think -- our new product categories are not going to negatively impact our margins in any way. You mentioned sneakers and other which is -- we're very excited about watching those have been around up in the spring or summer. And these are small categories at this point. So their margins are not material to our overall margin. And by the time these categories become material, they will be in line with the rest of our margins, that's the way we build new categories. And we're very excited about all of our new categories, which are performing well. All of our apparel, in particular, including fleece and neckwear has been doing really, really well across all geographies, and that's very encouraging for us. Footwear is also -- from a nice base, small base, has grown quite nicely, and we're excited about the future for footwear as well.

是的。謝謝你的問題。總的來說，我不認為——我們的新產品類別不會以任何方式對我們的利潤率產生負面影響。你提到了運動鞋和其他——我們很高興看到它們在春季或夏季流行起來。在這一點上，這些都是小類別。因此，他們的利潤率對我們的整體利潤率並不重要。當這些類別變得重要時，它們將與我們其餘的利潤率保持一致，這就是我們建立新類別的方式。我們對所有表現良好的新類別感到非常興奮。我們所有的服裝，尤其是羊毛和領帶，在所有地區都表現得非常非常好，這對我們來說非常鼓舞人心。鞋類也是——從一個很好的基礎，一個小的基礎，發展得很好，我們也對鞋類的未來感到興奮。

I think one of the questions that we've been asked over the years, and it's a very important question is as we develop the business beyond just heavy weight down, can we sustain the gross margins? And I think the answer as far as I can see it, is absolutely because if you think about it today, we've always said mid-70s, mid- to high 40s is the right way to think about our gross margin split between DTC and wholesale. And that's where we are. And yet heavy-weight down is now less than 2/3 of our total business.

我認為多年來我們一直被問到的一個問題，這是一個非常重要的問題，就是當我們發展業務而不僅僅是重量級下降時，我們能否維持毛利率？我認為，據我所知，答案絕對是因為如果你今天想一想，我們總是說 70 年代中期，40 年代中期到 40 年代中期是考慮我們在 DTC 之間分配毛利率的正確方法和批發。這就是我們所在的位置。然而，重量級羽絨現在還不到我們總業務的 2/3。

So by definition, we're doing what we said we would, which is to balance the gross margins so that we keep them in the channel, and we reinvest the tailwinds that we create in the product development, both in new and existing categories to keep the earnings in balance. And so I think that you can take a lot of comfort from the fact that this isn't a sort of a single point in time statement, but this has been proven over a number of years now that we've held the margins in the same place, while we've been growing the business and diversifying the products also.

因此，根據定義，我們正在做我們說過的事情，即平衡毛利率，以便我們將它們保留在渠道中，我們將我們在產品開發中創造的順風再投資到新類別和現有類別中，以保持收益平衡。所以我認為你可以從這樣一個事實中得到很大的安慰，即這不是一種單一的時間點聲明，但多年來我們已經證明了這一點，因為我們已經掌握了利潤率同一個地方，同時我們也一直在發展業務並使產品多樣化。

Perfect. That's really helpful. And then just my follow-up is what do you think is driving the strong exit rate in the U.S. and -- at the end of the quarter and then quarter-to-date? And then what is sort of expected to drive the comp store growth in the U.S.? Is it the sort of momentum you're seeing in the new products? How are you thinking about comp store growth in the U.S. for the year? .

完美的。這真的很有幫助。然後我的後續行動是你認為是什麼推動了美國強勁的退出率 - 在本季度末和本季度至今？那麼什麼樣的預期會推動美國 comp 商店的增長？這是您在新產品中看到的那種勢頭嗎？您如何看待今年美國商店的增長情況？ .

I think we -- the way we think about it, and I'll start and Carrie, probably add something to this. But the key here is that, yes, we're on an improving trend in the U.S. We reported that the end of Q3 was difficult, the beginning of Q4 was difficult. And it's been gradually improving since. We're not being super ambitious for this year in the U.S. We're looking at the impact of oil pricing and probably for else because we think that for this year, the market is going to be a little bit more challenging in the U.S. because of the macroeconomics.

我認為我們——我們思考它的方式，我會開始，Carrie，可能會添加一些東西。但這裡的關鍵是，是的，我們在美國處於改善趨勢。我們報告說第三季度末很困難，第四季度開始也很困難。從那以後，它一直在逐漸改善。我們今年在美國並沒有雄心勃勃。我們正在研究石油定價的影響，可能還有其他原因，因為我們認為今年，美國市場將更具挑戰性，因為的宏觀經濟學。

Yes. I'll just add that to product mix, we're seeing good healthy response to new categories, as Dani was talking about, apparel is growing really well. Footwear is growing well. Again, we're not counting on international tourism coming back, but there's -- we're seeing momentum both in store and online, which is great. We have every reason to be optimistic, but we're not counting on that as we grow. In terms of when you look at the store, what we're also excited about is just the number of stores. We talk about our Quest West a lot. That is -- you'll see that in action this year. We're opening new stores in new climates with new customers, attracting that, a different customer that's looking for maybe a different product. So we're excited to see how that is already starting to come to fruition.

是的。我只是將其添加到產品組合中，我們看到對新類別的良好健康反應，正如 Dani 所說，服裝增長非常好。鞋類增長良好。同樣，我們不指望國際旅遊業回歸，但我們在商店和網上都看到了勢頭，這很棒。我們有充分的理由保持樂觀，但隨著我們的成長，我們並不指望這一點。就您查看商店的時間而言，我們同樣感到興奮的只是商店的數量。我們經常談論我們的 Quest West。那就是——你會在今年看到這一點。我們在新的氣候條件下開設新店，吸引新客戶，吸引那些正在尋找不同產品的不同客戶。所以我們很高興看到這已經開始取得成果。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Mark Petrie with CIBC.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 CIBC 的 Mark Petrie。

Jonathan, first, just hoping you can clarify the comp assumptions and the outlook. I think in the Q&A, you said you were expecting positive comps in regions. But then I think in your script, I think I heard a comment about negative low single-digit comps ex China. So I'm just -- I'm sure I'm hearing something wrong, but if you could just clarify, that would be helpful. And then I have a follow-up.

喬納森，首先，只是希望你能澄清補償假設和前景。我想在問答中，你說你期待地區的積極補償。但後來我想在你的劇本中，我想我聽到了關於中國以外的負低個位數補償的評論。所以我只是 - 我確定我聽到的是錯誤的，但如果你能澄清一下，那會很有幫助。然後我有一個後續行動。

Yes. I think there is a -- so we're talking about robust assumptions on our comps for both in Q1 and for the full year. And what I've said is you should expect sort of mid-single digits, mid-teens for the full year. And if you back out China from that because, obviously, China is very much faster-growing geography and in China, then what you're looking at is a range of low negative to high single digit comps positive. And you may not have heard the positive in what I said for the range outside. And so -- and this is what I was describing in answer to an earlier question, which is we don't just see the range this year applying to China. But because of the macro, we think the range probably applies to other DTC geographies as well.

是的。我認為有一個 - 所以我們正在談論對第一季度和全年的補償的穩健假設。我所說的是你應該期待全年的中個位數，十幾歲左右。如果你退出中國，因為很明顯，中國是一個增長速度非常快的地區，而在中國，那麼你所看到的是一系列低負數到高個位數的正數。你可能沒有聽到我所說的關於範圍之外的積極內容。所以——這就是我在回答之前的一個問題時所描述的，我們不僅看到今年的範圍適用於中國。但由於宏觀因素，我們認為該範圍可能也適用於其他 DTC 地區。

Yes. That's helpful. And I guess it's probably a bit of a tough question to answer just given sort of the expected shifts in your business over the next few years through your outlook -- through your aspiration period. But at a high level, can you just talk about how your store productivity assumptions for fiscal '24 would compare to what you've embedded in your fiscal '28 targets?

是的。這很有幫助。而且我想這可能是一個很難回答的問題，只是考慮到未來幾年你的業務在你的前景中的預期變化 - 通過你的抱負期。但在較高的層面上，您能否談談您對 24 財年的商店生產力假設與您在 28 財年目標中嵌入的內容相比如何？

Well, by definition, they're a step on a journey. So I've talked today about the fact that we are above our benchmark of $4,000 a square foot. And I have talked about the fact that we're looking for comp growth being positive, but we do not see that as an end at the end of this year. That for us is something which we see as a repeating mechanism or a repeating way of growing the business year-over-year-over-year. So if you think about the rate at which we're growing this year and you flow it through, the chances are that, that's a sort of way to think about how we develop this business between now and, say, fiscal '28.

好吧，根據定義，它們是旅程中的一步。所以我今天談到了一個事實，即我們高於每平方英尺 4,000 美元的基準。我已經談到我們正在尋找正增長的事實，但我們認為這不會在今年年底結束。對我們來說，我們將其視為一種重複機製或一種逐年增長業務的重複方式。因此，如果你考慮一下我們今年的增長速度，並且將其進行到底，那麼很有可能，這是一種思考我們從現在到 28 財年期間如何發展這項業務的方式。

Yes. If I may just add on top, I think that we clearly, we expect that as we move forward towards fiscal '28 and even sooner than that, we expect to see our stores continue to perform better and better. And that's primarily due to -- well, one of the major factors is due to the return of international tourism back to its full -- back to the full state it was prepandemic. I think that -- I don't know if you recall, we were approaching 25% EBIT margin at the time. And once tourist activity returns to that level, again, there's no reason why we wouldn't be right back at that same margin percentage. And so we, at this point, are not predicting that's about to happen this year, but we definitely imagine that as the years go on, those numbers will come back in that kind of way.

是的。如果我可以補充一點，我認為我們很清楚，我們希望隨著我們邁向 28 財年甚至更早，我們希望看到我們的商店繼續表現得越來越好。這主要是由於——好吧，主要因素之一是國際旅遊業全面恢復——恢復到大流行前的完整狀態。我認為——我不知道你是否還記得，當時我們的息稅前利潤率接近 25%。一旦旅遊活動恢復到那個水平，我們就沒有理由不回到同樣的利潤率。因此，在這一點上，我們並沒有預測今年會發生這種情況，但我們可以肯定地想像，隨著歲月的流逝，這些數字將以這種方式回歸。

Our next question comes from Samuel Poser with Williams Trading.

我們的下一個問題來自 Williams Trading 的 Samuel Poser。

I just have 2. One, can you -- Jonathan, can you just give us the interest expense for the year and for the quarter? And secondly, you had mentioned when you took over the Japanese -- when the Japanese business changed that it wasn't doing quite as well as what you anticipated. I wonder if you could give us an update on Japan.

我只有 2 個。一個，你能 -- 喬納森，你能告訴我們當年和這個季度的利息支出嗎？其次，你曾提到當你接管日本時——當日本業務發生變化時，它的表現並不像你預期的那樣好。我想知道你是否可以向我們介紹一下日本的最新情況。

By all means. So the right way to think about our financing costs this year is sort of -- we're talking about -- round about the mid-30s. It gets a bit of noise in the because we -- there are various mechanisms we have to market for the Japanese business and some of that flows through there. So -- but if you like, on an underlying basis, that's the way we think about it. Japan, again, I'll go back to a few comments and we're very encouraged. It's -- it actually came in slightly above where we thought. I mean we reduced our expectations. And when we talked last time around, we came in, in the low 50s in terms of the size of the business last year. We've got great plans for this year. It's going great guns, more stores coming online. So we're very excited to see that business develop.

無論如何。因此，考慮我們今年的融資成本的正確方法是——我們正在談論——大約 30 年代中期。它會產生一些噪音，因為我們 - 我們必須為日本企業推銷各種機制，其中一些機制會流經那裡。所以 - 但如果你願意，在基礎上，這就是我們考慮它的方式。日本，我將再次回顧一些意見，我們感到非常鼓舞。它 - 它實際上略高於我們的想法。我的意思是我們降低了我們的期望。當我們上次談話時，就去年的業務規模而言，我們進入了 50 年代的低位。今年我們有很好的計劃。它的槍支很棒，更多的商店上線了。所以我們很高興看到業務發展。

It's a market in good growth, the economics point in the right direction, and we're very excited about achieving our goals there together with our joint venture partner.

這是一個增長良好的市場，經濟指向正確的方向，我們很高興能與我們的合資夥伴一起實現我們的目標。

Thank you. And this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。