JJill Inc (JILL) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. My name is Pam, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the J.Jill Inc. Q4 2024 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions)

感謝您的支持。我叫帕姆，今天我將擔任您的會議主持人。現在，我歡迎大家參加 J.Jill Inc. 2024 年第四季財報電話會議。（操作員指令）

Before we begin, I need to remind you that certain comments made during these remarks may constitute forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to and within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as amended.

在我們開始之前，我需要提醒您，這些評論中發表的某些評論可能構成前瞻性陳述，並且是根據經修訂的 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法》的安全港條款的含義做出的。

Such forward-looking statements are subject to both known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. Those risks and uncertainties are described in the press release and J.Jill's SEC filings. The forward-looking statements made on this recording are as of March 19, 2025, and J.Jill does not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

此類前瞻性陳述受已知和未知風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與此類陳述有重大差異。這些風險和不確定性在新聞稿和 J.Jill 的 SEC 文件中進行了描述。本記錄中所做的前瞻性陳述截至 2025 年 3 月 19 日，J.Jill 不承擔任何這些前瞻性陳述的義務。

Finally, J.Jill may refer to certain adjusted or non-GAAP financial measures during these remarks. A reconciliation schedule showing the GAAP versus non-GAAP financial measures is available in the press release issued March 19, 2025. If you do not have a copy of today's press release, you may obtain one by visiting the Investor Relations page of the website at jjill.com.

最後，J.Jill 可能會在這些評論中提到某些調整後或非 GAAP 財務指標。2025 年 3 月 19 日發布的新聞稿中提供了顯示 GAAP 與非 GAAP 財務指標的對帳表。如果您沒有今天的新聞稿，您可以造訪網站 jjill.com 的投資者關係頁面取得。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Claire Spofford, CEO and President. You may begin.

現在，我想將會議交給執行長兼總裁克萊爾·斯波福德 (Claire Spofford)。你可以開始了。

Good morning. Thank you, everyone, for joining us. As many of you know, this will be my final earnings call as CEO before my retirement. And before I dive into our results and progress over the past year, I just want to express my gratitude for the support from our team and all of our stakeholders during my tenure with J.Jill. It has been a privilege to lead this remarkable organization. And with the strengthened foundation and disciplined operating principles in place, I am confident that the team is well positioned to begin to lean into its next chapter of growth under Mary Ellen Coyne's leadership.

早安.感謝大家加入我們。你們很多人都知道，這將是我退休前擔任執行長的最後一次財報電話會議。在深入探討過去一年的業績和進步之前，我只想對我在 J.Jill 任職期間我們團隊和所有利害關係人的支持表示感謝。能夠領導這個卓越的組織是我的榮幸。隨著基礎的加強和嚴謹的營運原則的實施，我相信，在瑪麗·埃倫·科因的領導下，團隊已經做好準備，開啟下一個成長篇章。

Mary Ellen will be joining the company on May 1 and brings significant experience in women's apparel retail, most recently serving as CEO of J. McLaughlin. Under her leadership, the company grew its store count, expanded its assortment to include new product categories and enhanced e-commerce capabilities. I believe Mary Ellen will be a great complement to J.Jill's strong leadership team. She shares the same admiration we all have for the brand, the incredible loyal customer base we serve and the balanced omnichannel model we operate.

瑪麗艾倫 (Mary Ellen) 將於 5 月 1 日加入該公司，並帶來了豐富的女裝零售經驗，最近擔任 J. McLaughlin 的首席執行官。在她的領導下，公司增加了門市數量，擴大了產品種類，包括新的產品類別，並增強了電子商務能力。我相信 Mary Ellen 將對 J.Jill 強大的領導團隊起到很好的補充作用。她與我們一樣欽佩這個品牌、我們服務的忠實客戶群以及我們經營的均衡的全通路模式。

In addition, I know that she shares our team's strong belief in the opportunities that lie ahead to further scale the business through new store growth, expanding brand awareness and leveraging the systems and capabilities we have invested in over the past three years.

此外，我知道她和我們的團隊一樣堅信未來有機會透過新店成長、擴大品牌知名度以及利用我們在過去三年中投資的系統和能力來進一步擴大業務規模。

While we navigate through today's uncertain environment, my conviction in the team remains unwavering. I look forward to watching with pride as they continue to innovate and achieve new heights of success in the coming years. The foundation we've built together is solid, and I have every confidence in J.Jill's future trajectory.

儘管我們在當今不確定的環境中前行，但我對團隊的信心仍然堅定不移。我滿懷自豪地期待他們在未來幾年繼續創新並取得新的成功。我們共同建立的基礎非常牢固，我對 J.Jill 的未來發展充滿信心。

Now let me walk you through highlights from the fourth quarter and full year, which once again reflect the execution of our disciplined operating principles, ongoing focus on optimizing margin performance and driving cash generation. Our fourth quarter sales performance was in line with our expectations, and we delivered slightly better-than-expected adjusted EBITDA for the period, largely as a result of our ongoing discipline around expense management.

現在，讓我向您介紹第四季度和全年的亮點，這再次反映了我們嚴謹的營運原則的執行，以及對優化利潤率表現和推動現金產生的持續關注。我們第四季的銷售業績符合我們的預期，且本季調整後的 EBITDA 略優於預期，這主要歸功於我們持續嚴謹的費用管理。

As you know, one attribute of our model is that it is relatively balanced across the year from a top line perspective, but the fourth quarter has historically been our smallest quarter from a profitability standpoint, given the holiday promotional landscape and the end-of-year clearance mindset.

如您所知，我們模型的一個特點是，從營收角度來看，它在全年相對平衡，但考慮到假日促銷形勢和年底清倉心態，從盈利角度來看，第四季度歷來是我們盈利能力最小的季度。

With that said, given this and a customer who continues to be more discerning with her spend, our teams made a concerted effort to adjust product flows and promotional activity to optimize margin performance as best we could during the period, especially in light of the shortened holiday calendar this year. As part of these efforts, we moved up the timing of a winter floor set in December to hit ahead of the holiday week, and we're pleased with the customer reception it drove.

話雖如此，考慮到這一點，以及客戶在消費方面繼續更加謹慎，我們的團隊齊心協力調整產品流程和促銷活動，以盡可能優化利潤表現，特別是考慮到今年假期縮短的情況。作為這些努力的一部分，我們將原定於 12 月推出的冬季地板的上市時間提前到假期週之前，我們對此後的顧客反應感到滿意。

From a category perspective, we saw strength in bottoms, outerwear, knit tops and sleepwear, which were supported by our More Love iconic campaign. And we continue to see solid engagement with Elliot's One Minute. No Limits series on social media, highlighting the versatility of the assortment. In addition, the quarter was supported by ongoing strength from our best customer cohort, which has driven consistent growth this year.

從類別角度來看，我們看到下裝、外套、針織上衣和睡衣方面表現強勁，這得益於我們標誌性的“More Love”活動的支持。我們持續看到《艾略特的一分鐘》節目獲得廣泛關注。社群媒體上的「無限制」系列，凸顯了該系列的多功能性。此外，本季得益於我們最優質客戶群的持續強勁成長，推動了今年的持續成長。

This overall performance in the quarter capped off another solid year for J.Jill. While not without challenges, we delivered our fourth consecutive year of strong adjusted EBITDA margin and significant free cash flow generation, enabling us to invest in growth initiatives. This included investments in new stores and systems, paying down debt and returning value to shareholders through the initiation of a quarterly dividend and a share buyback program. We are proud to end the year with a healthy cash position supporting our recently announced dividend increase.

本季的整體表現為 J.Jill 又一個豐收的一年畫上了圓滿的句號。儘管並非沒有挑戰，但我們連續第四年實現了強勁的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率和顯著的自由現金流，這使我們能夠投資於成長計畫。其中包括對新店和系統的投資、償還債務以及透過啟動季度股利和股票回購計畫向股東返還價值。我們很自豪能夠以健康的現金狀況結束這一年，從而支持我們最近宣布的股息增加。

In addition, we continue to leverage the core strength of the brand, including our loyal customer base and versatile product assortment. For the year, despite traffic headwinds, we were pleased to see strong conversion trends and healthy spend per customer. We are continuing to leverage a diversified mix of marketing channels to drive customer engagement.

此外，我們繼續利用品牌的核心優勢，包括我們忠實的客戶群和多樣化的產品組合。今年，儘管面臨流量阻力，我們仍然很高興看到強勁的轉換趨勢和健康的每位客戶支出。我們將繼續利用多樣化的行銷管道來推動客戶參與。

As we have discussed, our social channels are seeing nice traction as we lean into the authenticity of our brand, showcasing the versatility of our assortment on real customers and influencers. In addition to social, we've also seen growing engagement with e-mail and with SMS. As we discussed last quarter, we have started to test more geo-targeted marketing efforts. While early in this work, we are pleased with the results we are seeing, especially with new-to-brand customer acquisition. There is still work to be done in testing before we'll roll out these efforts more broadly, but we're already taking key learnings to evolve our approach as we move forward.

正如我們所討論的，隨著我們傾向於品牌的真實性，我們的社交管道正在獲得巨大的吸引力，向真實客戶和有影響力的人展示了我們產品系列的多樣性。除了社交之外，我們還看到電子郵件和簡訊的參與度日益提高。正如我們上個季度所討論的那樣，我們已經開始測試更多地理定位的行銷工作。雖然這項工作還處於早期階段，但我們對所看到的結果感到滿意，特別是在新品牌客戶的獲取方面。在我們更廣泛地進行這些工作之前，還有一些測試工作要做，但我們已經吸取了關鍵的經驗教訓，以便在前進的過程中改進我們的方法。

As we look for opportunities to efficiently drive brand awareness further, we are also going to continue to test different marketing channels that we believe could drive engagement and broader brand awareness in a much more targeted and efficient way.

當我們尋找機會進一步有效提升品牌知名度時，我們也將繼續測試不同的行銷管道，我們相信這些管道可以以更有針對性和更有效的方式推動參與度和更廣泛的品牌知名度。

Along with marketing, new store growth is an important strategy for building brand awareness. Over the past twi years, we've opened nine net new stores, including eight in fiscal 2024. Our teams are supporting new store openings with marketing, and we are very proud of the performance we're seeing across new stores, particularly in reentry markets.

除了行銷之外，新店擴張也是建立品牌知名度的重要策略。在過去的兩年裡，我們淨開了 9 家新店，其中 2024 財年新開設了 8 家。我們的團隊正在透過行銷支持新店開業，我們對新店的表現感到非常自豪，特別是在重返市場的店。

To better support our stores and overall omnichannel experience, we have also made considerable progress with systems upgrades. We rolled out a new POS system in fiscal 2023, which is removing friction in the store experience as well as creating efficiencies for our associates, and we are in the midst of implementing our new OMS system, which we expect to be fully up and running and with our teams trained in the next few months.

為了更好地支援我們的商店和整體全通路體驗，我們在系統升級方面也取得了長足的進展。我們在 2023 財年推出了一套新的 POS 系統，該系統不僅消除了商店體驗中的摩擦，還提高了員工的工作效率，而且我們正在實施新的 OMS 系統，我們預計該系統將在未來幾個月內全面啟動並運行，我們的團隊也將接受培訓。

As we have discussed, this is a significant project, and we are all hands on deck to ensure minimal disruption to the business during this implementation phase and have embedded a greater degree of conservatism in our outlook for the first half given the significance of this project, as Mark will discuss.

正如我們所討論的，這是一個重要的項目，我們全力以赴，確保在實施階段對業務的干擾最小，並且考慮到這個項目的重要性，我們對上半年的展望採取了更大程度的保守態度，正如馬克將會討論的那樣。

We believe the added benefits of capabilities like ship from store that we will begin to introduce in the latter half of the year, will not only create a more robust customer experience but will potentially deliver added margin benefits as well as additional sales opportunities longer term.

我們相信，我們將在今年下半年開始推出的從商店發貨等功能不僅將創造更強大的客戶體驗，而且有可能在長期內帶來額外的利潤收益和額外的銷售機會。

Before I turn the call over to Mark, as we have heard from others across the industry, fiscal 2025 has started off more slowly than expected, and our surveys echo the uncertainty we have seen in consumer behavior and sentiment. Given this backdrop, we are being prudent with our outlook for the first quarter and the remainder of the year.

在我將電話轉給馬克之前，正如我們從業內其他人那裡聽到的那樣，2025 財年的開局比預期要慢，我們的調查也反映了消費者行為和情緒的不確定性。有鑑於此背景，我們對第一季和今年剩餘時間的展望持謹慎態度。

With that said, our teams are approaching fiscal 2025 with the same discipline and focus that have continued to deliver healthy margin performance and significant cash generation that we are now deploying to return value to shareholders.

話雖如此，我們的團隊正以同樣的紀律和專注度迎接 2025 財年，繼續提供健康的利潤率表現和可觀的現金創造，我們現在正在部署這些來為股東帶來價值回報。

We know that the J.Jill brand is an incredible asset and one that has tremendous opportunity to grow. We've talked about how the brand is somewhat of a well-kept secret despite having an incredibly loyal customer base. As the teams continue to invest in brand awareness through new store growth and marketing investments, in addition to the opportunities to continue to enhance the product assortment, I have no doubt in the potential that continues to lie ahead.

我們知道 J.Jill 品牌是一項寶貴的資產，具有巨大的發展機會。我們討論過，儘管該品牌擁有非常忠誠的客戶群，但它在某種程度上仍然是一個嚴格保密的品牌。隨著團隊繼續透過新店成長和行銷投資來提高品牌知名度，加上繼續增強產品分類的機會，我對未來的潛力毫不懷疑。

Let me now turn the call over to Mark to discuss our results and outlook in more detail.

現在，我將電話轉給馬克，更詳細地討論我們的結果和展望。

Thank you, Claire, and good morning, everyone. Q4 and full year 2024 results again demonstrate the benefits and resilience of the J.Jill brand and business model. Our approach to operating the business with tight discipline; generating, investing and distributing meaningful amounts of cash; and beginning to plant the seeds for profitable growth were all evident in 2024.

謝謝你，克萊爾，大家早安。2024 年第四季和全年業績再次證明了 J.Jill 品牌和商業模式的優勢和韌性。我們以嚴格的紀律來經營業務；產生、投資和分配大量現金；並開始為盈利增長播下種子，這一切都在 2024 年顯現出來。

For the year, we delivered sales of approximately $611 million, full year comp sales growth of positive 1.5%, gross margin of 70.4%, adjusted EBITDA of $107 million, adjusted net income per diluted share of $3.47 and free cash flow of $47 million, all while opening eight net new stores, initiating the first ordinary dividend program and first share buyback program since the company's 2017 IPO, strengthening the balance sheet by paying down debt, and making significant progress updating foundational technology systems. As we look forward to 2025, our teams remain focused on executing our operating model.

全年，我們實現銷售額約 6.11 億美元，全年可比銷售額增長 1.5%，毛利率為 70.4%，調整後 EBITDA 為 1.07 億美元，調整後每股攤薄淨利潤為 3.47 美元，自由現金流為 4,700 萬美元，同時開設淨資產為 8 家資產負債表，並在更新基礎技術系統方面取得了重大進展。展望 2025 年，我們的團隊將繼續專注於執行我們的營運模式。

As seen in our press release this morning, our outlook for 2025 takes into account the continuing consumer and macro uncertainty Claire mentioned in her remarks as well as the near-term impact of adverse weather experienced in February and the implementation of the new order management system, which initiated last week and is making great progress.

正如我們今天早上的新聞稿中所述，我們對 2025 年的展望考慮到了克萊爾在演講中提到的持續的消費者和宏觀不確定性，以及 2 月份惡劣天氣的近期影響和新訂單管理系統的實施，該系統於上週啟動並取得了重大進展。

Given these considerations, we are prudently planning the business in 2025 and still expect to continue to generate strong cash flow, further supporting our capital priorities and commitment to total shareholder return strategies as evidenced by the increase in our quarterly dividend announced today.

考慮到這些因素，我們正在審慎規劃 2025 年的業務，並仍預計將繼續產生強勁的現金流，進一步支持我們的資本優先事項和對總股東回報戰略的承諾，這從我們今天宣布的季度股息增加就可以看出。

Regarding the OMS project, last week was the earliest possible date we had identified for implementation, and we were very pleased that our teams were ready to do so. As part of the plan, we brought down the e-commerce site last week for just over 24 hours to allow closeout of all transactions in the old system before cutting over and bringing up the new system.

關於OMS項目，上周是我們確定的最早實施日期，我們非常高興我們的團隊已經做好了準備。作為計劃的一部分，我們上週關閉了電子商務網站超過 24 小時，以便在切換並啟動新系統之前完成舊系統中的所有交易。

This cutover strategy, which we believe to be best-in-class for managing the risk inherent in such projects will negatively impact Q1 sales by approximately $1.5 million. In addition, we are now able to shift focus to bringing up ship-from-store omni capabilities, which we expect to begin to deliver benefits in the back half of the year. These impacts are factored into the Q1 and full year guidance I will review in a moment.

我們認為，這種切換策略是管理此類專案固有風險的最佳策略，但將對第一季的銷售額造成約 150 萬美元的負面影響。此外，我們現在能夠將重點轉移到提高從商店發貨的全方位能力，我們預計該功能將在今年下半年開始帶來效益。這些影響已計入我稍後將審查的第一季和全年指引中。

Before I turn to Q4 and full year results, I want to recognize and thank the OMS project teams. While there is still much work to be done, the successes of the project to date are a direct reflection of their incredible effort over the past year, fueled by their excitement and enthusiasm for the benefits the new system will deliver.

在介紹第四季和全年業績之前，我想先表揚並感謝 OMS 專案團隊。雖然仍有許多工作要做，但該計畫迄今為止的成功直接反映了他們過去一年來的巨大努力，而這種努力源於他們對新系統將帶來的好處的興奮和熱情。

Now more details on results. As a reminder, all results reported today for the fourth quarter and full year 2024 with the exception of total comparable sales growth are compared to 2023 results that included a 53rd week impact. This extra week in the prior year represented approximately $8 million in sales and $2 million in adjusted EBITDA.

現在了解有關結果的更多詳細資訊。提醒一下，今天報告的 2024 年第四季和全年所有業績（總可比銷售額成長除外）均與包含第 53 週影響的 2023 年業績進行比較。去年同期的這額外一週代表著約 800 萬美元的銷售額和 200 萬美元的調整後 EBITDA。

From a quarterly perspective, the extra week also created timing shifts in the calendar, which impacted reported year-over-year results as we have reviewed throughout 2024. Going forward into 2025, those shifts are behind us and will not impact prior year comparisons.

從季度角度來看，額外一周也造成了日曆的時間變化，這影響了我們在 2024 年全年審查中報告的同比業績。展望 2025 年，這些轉變已經成為過去，不會影響前幾年的比較。

Regarding the fourth quarter, total company sales for the quarter were $143 million, down approximately 5% compared to the 14-week Q4 2023. Total company comparable sales for the fourth quarter which excludes the extra week and approximately $2 million in sales related to the calendar shift benefit in Q4 2023 increased 1.9%, driven by the retail channel where our store customer responded well to both full price and markdown offerings during the quarter.

第四季度，本季公司總銷售額為 1.43 億美元，與 2023 年第四季 14 週相比下降約 5%。第四季公司總可比銷售額（不包括額外一周和 2023 年第四季度與日曆輪班福利相關的約 200 萬美元銷售額）增長了 1.9%，這得益於零售渠道，本季度我們的商店客戶對全價和降價產品均反應良好。

Store sales for Q4 were down 3% versus Q4 2023, entirely due to the calendar impacts just mentioned. On a like-for-like basis in the quarter, strong conversion and AUR more than offset somewhat challenging traffic. And new stores, predominantly the four stores opened prior to Q4, contributed approximately $1.1 million in revenue. The five stores opened during Q4 opened strong but were weighted to the end of the quarter, so did not contribute meaningfully to Q4 sales.

與 2023 年第四季相比，第四季的門市銷售額下降了 3%，這完全是由於剛才提到的日曆影響。與本季相比，強勁的轉換率和 AUR 足以抵銷流量帶來的一定挑戰。新店（主要是第四季之前開設的四家店）貢獻了約 110 萬美元的收入。第四季新開的五家門市表現強勁，但由於業績拖至季末，因此對第四季的銷售額沒有做出有意義的貢獻。

Direct sales as a percentage of total sales were 50.5% in the quarter. Compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023, direct sales were down 6.8% due to the extra week last year as well as a shift into markdown selling in this channel during the quarter.

本季直銷佔總銷售額的百分比為 50.5%。與 2023 財年第四季相比，直接銷售額下降了 6.8%，原因是去年增加了一周，並且本季該通路轉向降價銷售。

Q4 total company gross profit was $94.8 million and Q4 gross margin was 66.3%, down 120 basis points versus Q4 2023, driven by the expected impact from higher freight costs we discussed on our last call as well as a higher mix of markdown sales in the quarter.

Q4 公司總毛利為 9,480 萬美元，Q4 毛利率為 66.3%，較 2023 年第四季下降 120 個基點，這主要是由於我們上次電話會議中討論的運費上漲預期的影響以及本季​​度降價銷售組合增加。

SG&A expenses for the quarter were $89.3 million compared to $90.8 million last year. The decrease was driven primarily by higher variable expenses last year due to the extra week. OMS project expenses were about flat to prior year and fourth quarter at approximately $600,000 and came in at approximately $2.2 million for full year. We expect OMS implementation-related expenses in 2025 to be approximately $2 million with the majority in first quarter and the remainder tapering down through Q3.

本季銷售、一般及行政開支為 8,930 萬美元，去年同期為 9,080 萬美元。下降的主要原因是去年因額外一周而導致的變動費用增加。OMS 專案費用與去年同期和第四季基本持平，約 60 萬美元，全年約 220 萬美元。我們預計 2025 年 OMS 實施相關費用約為 200 萬美元，其中大部分將在第一季支付，剩餘部分將在第三季逐漸減少。

Adjusted EBITDA was $14.5 million in the quarter compared to $17.8 million in Q4 2023. Interest expense was $2.7 million in Q4, down $4.2 million compared to last year, driven by our actions this year to pay down debt and strengthen the balance sheet. This supported a strong improvement in adjusted net income per diluted share in the period.

本季調整後 EBITDA 為 1,450 萬美元，而 2023 年第四季為 1,780 萬美元。第四季的利息支出為 270 萬美元，比去年同期下降了 420 萬美元，這得益於我們今年採取行動償還債務並加強資產負債表。這支持了本期間調整後每股攤薄淨利潤的強勁成長。

For Q4 2024, adjusted net income per diluted share was $0.32, up 14% compared to the prior year and reflected a diluted share count of $15.6 million taking into account a marginal impact from buyback activity in the period as we had a limited open window in Q4 given timing of the share repurchase authorization.

2024 年第四季，調整後每股攤薄淨利潤為 0.32 美元，較上年增長 14%，反映攤薄股份數量為 1,560 萬美元，考慮到該期間回購活動產生的邊際影響，因為考慮到股票回購授權的時間，我們在第四季度的開放窗口有限。

For the full year, we delivered total net sales of $611 million. Excluding the impact of the 53rd week, total net sales were up 1.8% year-over-year and total company comp sales were up 1.5%, driven by strong conversion and AUR.

全年我們的淨銷售額總計 6.11 億美元。除去第 53 週的影響，受強勁轉換率和 AUR 推動，總淨銷售額年增 1.8%，公司總銷售額成長 1.5%。

Adjusted EBITDA was $107.1 million compared to $112.9 million in fiscal full year 2023. Excluding the impact of the 53rd week as well as approximately $2 million in operating expense related to the OMS project, adjusted EBITDA declined approximately 2% compared to the prior year.

調整後 EBITDA 為 1.071 億美元，而 2023 財年全年為 1.129 億美元。不包括第 53 週的影響以及與 OMS 項目相關的約 200 萬美元的營運費用，調整後的 EBITDA 較上年下降約 2%。

Annual interest expense compared to last year declined $11.1 million to $15.7 million this year, driven by the paydown of $94 million of debt during the year. This interest expense reduction supported a 4% increase in adjusted net income per diluted share to $3.47, more than offsetting an increase in SG&A driven primarily by wage and shipping cost inflation and a higher share count due to the 1 million share primary offering in June.

今年的年度利息支出與去年相比下降了 1,110 萬美元，降至 1,570 萬美元，這主要是由於年內償還了 9,400 萬美元的債務。利息支出的減少支持調整後每股攤薄淨利潤增長 4% 至 3.47 美元，超過了主要受工資和運輸成本上漲以及 6 月份 100 萬股首次發行導致的股數增加所導致的銷售、一般和行政費用增加。

Please refer to today's press release for reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to their most comparable GAAP financial measures, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income and adjusted net income per diluted share to net income and free cash flow to cash from operations.

請參閱今天的新聞稿，以了解非 GAAP 財務指標與最可比較的 GAAP 財務指標、調整後 EBITDA、調整後淨收入和調整後每股攤薄淨收入與淨收入以及自由現金流與經營活動現金的對帳。

Turning to cash flow. For the quarter, we generated $8 million of cash from operations, resulting in ending cash of $35.4 million with 0 borrowings against the ABL. For fiscal 2024, we generated approximately $65 million of cash from operations and $47 million of free cash flow, defined as cash from operations less capital expenditures.

轉向現金流。本季度，我們從營運活動中產生了 800 萬美元的現金，導致期末現金為 3,540 萬美元，且 ABL 借款為 0 筆。2024 財年，我們產生了約 6,500 萬美元的營運現金流量和 4,700 萬美元的自由現金流，自由現金流定義為經營現金減去資本支出。

As a reminder, we reduced total outstanding term loan principal by approximately $94 million during fiscal 2024, utilizing $67 million of cash on hand and $27 million raised in the June primary offering. The first three regular quarterly cash dividends totaling $2.9 million and approximately $500,000 of share repurchases in the fourth quarter were funded with cash on hand. As of February 1, 2025, there is $24.5 million of availability remaining under the stock repurchase authorization.

提醒一下，我們在 2024 財年將未償還定期貸款本金總額減少了約 9,400 萬美元，利用了 6,700 萬美元的庫存現金和 6 月首次發行籌集的 2,700 萬美元。前三個季度的定期現金股利總計 290 萬美元，第四季的股票回購總額約為 50 萬美元，均由庫存現金提供。截至 2025 年 2 月 1 日，股票回購授權項下剩餘可用金額為 2,450 萬美元。

Looking at inventory. As a reminder, we have expected reported inventories to be elevated this year due to the calendar shift timing and the strategy to ship goods approximately one week early to offset delays related to the rerouting of shipping lanes away from the Red Sea.

查看庫存。提醒一下，由於日曆轉換時間以及提前約一周發貨的策略，我們預計今年報告的庫存將會升高，以抵消因改變紅海航線而造成的延誤。

As a result, at the end of fourth quarter, total reported inventories were up about 15% compared to end of fourth quarter last year. Excluding the impacts from the calendar shift and strategic actions, however, inventories were up about 3% on a normalized basis to end the quarter, which was driven by higher average unit costs primarily due to a higher mix of bottoms in the assortment.

因此，在第四季末，報告的總庫存比去年第四季末增加了約 15%。然而，排除日曆變化和策略行動的影響，截至本季末，庫存在正常基礎上上漲了約 3%，這是由於產品組合中底部組合較高導致的平均單位成本較高。

Looking forward into 2025, we expect reported inventories to remain elevated through first quarter before normalizing in second quarter at which point shipping times will become comparable on a year-over-year basis as we anniversary the first shipments we were able to affect last year in response to disruption in the Red Sea. While we cannot predict when shipping lanes will return to normal, once they do, we expect to see reductions in our in-transit and overall reported inventory balances.

展望 2025 年，我們預計報告的庫存將在第一季度保持高位，然後在第二季度恢復正常，屆時運輸時間將與去年同期相比具有可比性，因為我們將迎來去年為應對紅海危機而能夠進行的第一批運輸的周年紀念日。雖然我們無法預測航線何時會恢復正常，但一旦恢復正常，我們預計在途庫存和整體報告庫存餘額將會減少。

Capital expenditures for the quarter were $8 million. Total capital expenditures for full year 2024 were $17.8 million compared to $16.9 million last year. Full year 2024 capital spend was focused on new store openings and the OMS project.

本季的資本支出為 800 萬美元。2024 年全年總資本支出為 1,780 萬美元，去年為 1,690 萬美元。2024 年全年資本支出集中在新店開幕和 OMS 項目。

With respect to store count, we opened five stores in the fourth quarter with no closures. Prior guidance had contemplated up to five closures, of which three were successfully renegotiated and will remain open and two pushed into the first quarter of 2025. We ended the year with 252 stores, a net increase of eight for the year as nine new store openings were offset by the temporary closure of our Asheville, North Carolina store due to hurricane damage during Q3. We currently expect the Ashville store to reopen in 2025, though timing is uncertain and dependent on the scope, timing and extent of the recovery of the Biltmore Center in which it is located.

就門市數量而言，我們在第四季度開設了五家門店，並且沒有關閉門市。先前的指導方針曾考慮關閉最多五家工廠，其中三家已成功重新談判並將繼續關閉，兩家工廠的關閉將推遲到 2025 年第一季。截至年底，我們的門市總數為 252 家，全年淨增 8 家，因為新開的 9 家門市被第三季北卡羅來納州阿什維爾門市因颶風損壞而暫時關閉所抵消。我們目前預計阿什維爾店將於 2025 年重新開業，但具體時間尚不確定，並取決於其所在的 Biltmore Center 的恢復範圍、時間和程度。

Turning to our expectations for fiscal 2025. 2025 represents an important year as we continue to better position the brand for growth. The OMS project we are currently implementing is a significant foundational system upgrade following the upgrade of our point-of-sale system in 2023. These new systems provide a more current flexible core systemic architecture for the company and will unlock omnichannel capabilities we currently do not have.

談到我們對 2025 財年的預期。 2025 年是重要的一年，因為我們將繼續更好地定位品牌以實現成長。我們目前正在實施的OMS專案是繼2023年銷售點系統升級後的重大基礎系統升級。這些新系統為公司提供了更靈活的核心系統架構，並將釋放我們目前還沒有的全通路功能。

As previously mentioned, we are setting prudent objectives for the first half of the year, in part due to the implementation of the new OMS system. We expect by the second half of the year, we will have all core capabilities up to standard should begin to see benefits as we bring up ship from store, the first deployable omni capability post go-live. In addition, our guidance also takes into consideration the adverse weather impact in February and the broader macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty that has been discussed by many to date.

如前所述，我們為上半年設定了審慎的目標，部分原因是實施了新的OMS系統。我們預計，到今年下半年，我們將擁有達到標準的 所有核心功能，隨著我們推出從商店發貨的產品，我們將開始看到效益，這是上線後第一個可部署的全方位功能。此外，我們的指引還考慮了 2 月不利天氣的影響以及迄今為止許多人討論過的更廣泛的宏觀經濟和地緣政治不確定性。

Regarding tariffs. As a reminder, we source less than 5% of finished goods from China. Our guidance assumes an immaterial impact from tariffs currently in effect and does not include any other potential tariffs. Even with this cautious stance and included impacts, we believe our guidance reflects the strengths and benefits of our operating model.

關於關稅。提醒一下，我們從中國採購的成品不到5％。我們的指導假設當前生效的關稅不會產生實質影響，並且不包括任何其他潛在關稅。即使採取這種謹慎的立場並產生影響，我們仍然相信我們的指引反映了我們營運模式的優勢和好處。

For the first quarter of fiscal 2025, we expect sales to be down between 1% and 4% compared to last year. Total company comp sales to be down between 2% and 5% and adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $25 million to $27 million compared to last year's strong Q1 performance. This outlook reflects that Q1 is our most difficult comparison to last year and includes the negative revenue impact related to the consumer and adverse weather in February, and the $1.5 million impact previously mentioned related to the OMS cutover.

對於 2025 財年第一季，我們預計銷售額將比去年下降 1% 至 4%。與去年第一季的強勁表現相比，該公司總銷售額將下降 2% 至 5%，調整後 EBITDA 將介於 2,500 萬美元至 2,700 萬美元之間。這項展望反映出，第一季與去年同期相比是最困難的，其中包括與 2 月消費者和惡劣天氣相關的負面收入影響，以及前面提到的與 OMS 切換相關的 150 萬美元的影響。

As we move through the year, year-over-year comparisons ease, especially in the second half of the year, and as mentioned, second half to begin to see early benefits from the OMS implementation and new capabilities.

隨著一年的過去，同比對比變得越來越容易，尤其是在下半年，正如前面提到的，下半年我們將開始看到 OMS 實施和新功能帶來的早期效益。

For full year fiscal 2025, we expect sales to be up between 1% and 3% compared to last year, total comparable comp sales to be in the range of flat to plus 2% and adjusted EBITDA of $101 million to $106 million. This guidance assumes full year gross margins relatively flat compared to 2024 as we expect headwinds related to markdown pressures and challenging prior period comparisons in the first half of the year, predominantly the first quarter to be offset by OMS benefits, tailwinds from improving ocean freight rates and easier prior year comparisons in the back half of the year.

對於 2025 財年全年，我們預計銷售額將比去年增長 1% 至 3%，可比銷售額總額將在持平至增長 2% 之間，調整後 EBITDA 將在 1.01 億美元至 1.06 億美元之間。該指引假設全年毛利率與 2024 年相比相對持平，因為我們預計上半年降價壓力和與上期比較的挑戰相關的阻力（主要是第一季度）將被 OMS 收益、海運費率提高帶來的順風和下半年與上年同期比較更容易帶來的順風所抵消。

Regarding inventory, we will continue to take a prudent approach to inventory investments given the relative uncertainty we have discussed and reported inventories should normalize versus last year comparisons as we cycle Red Sea mitigation strategies put in place last year that impacted reported balances from the second quarter on.

關於庫存，考慮到我們已經討論過的相對不確定性，我們將繼續對庫存投資採取審慎的態度，並且隨著我們循環去年實施的紅海緩解戰略，庫存應該與去年的比較相比正常化，這些戰略從第二季度開始影響報告的餘額。

Regarding store count, we expect to grow net store count by 5 to 10 stores by the end of fiscal 2025. We are pleased with the performance of new stores opened to date and remain confident in our stated objectives to open 20 to 25 net new stores by the end of 2026 and up to 50 net new stores by the end of 2029. These new 2025 stores will all be in the second half of the year and be weighted to the fourth quarter. And our store count targets include the net nine stores opened in 2023 and 2024.

關於門市數量，我們預計到 2025 財年末淨門市數量將增加 5 到 10 家。我們對迄今為止開設的新店的表現感到滿意，並對我們提出的目標充滿信心，即到 2026 年底開設 20 至 25 家淨新店，到 2029 年底開設多達 50 家淨新店。這 2025 家新店都將在下半年開業，並且主要集中在第四季度。我們的門市數量目標包括 2023 年和 2024 年開設的淨 9 家門市。

With respect to total capital expenditures, we expect to spend about $25 million in fiscal 2025 with investments focused on new stores, the completion of the OMS rollout and enabling ship-from-store capabilities. And finally, regarding free cash flow, we expect free cash flow for fiscal 2025 of about $40 million.

就總資本支出而言，我們預計在 2025 財年花費約 2500 萬美元，投資重點是新店、完成 OMS 的推出以及實現從店發貨功能。最後，關於自由現金流，我們預計 2025 財年的自由現金流約為 4,000 萬美元。

Our expectations for fiscal 2025, while reflecting a prudent view taking into account near-term challenges, are in line with the financial model we delivered the past two years, reflecting strong adjusted EBITDA margin and cash generation. This outlook, coupled with further opportunities to refinance our debt, will continue to support investments in our capital priorities, including delivering total shareholder returns through the ongoing execution of the share repurchase program, and the payment of the regular quarterly dividend, which we are proud to be in a position to increase today.

我們對 2025 財年的預期，雖然反映了考慮到近期挑戰的審慎觀點，但與我們過去兩年提供的財務模型一致，反映了強勁的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率和現金創造能力。這種前景，加上進一步的債務再融資機會，將繼續支持我們對資本優先事項的投資，包括透過持續執行股票回購計畫實現總股東回報，以及支付定期季度股息，我們很自豪今天能夠增加股息。

Before I close, I want to wish Claire all the best in retirement. It has been an honor to work alongside and partner with you over the past four years as we have strengthened and invested in the brand's foundation, positioning the company for the next chapter of growth. We are excited to have Mary Ellen joining us in May to significant experience and leadership to help further our goal of delivering profitable growth.

最後，我想祝福克萊爾退休後一切順利。過去四年來，我們一直非常榮幸能夠與您並肩合作，不斷加強和投資品牌基礎，為公司開啟新的成長篇章。我們很高興 Mary Ellen 將於五月加入我們，她將以豐富的經驗和領導力幫助我們進一步實現盈利增長的目標。

Thank you. I will now hand it back to the operator for questions.

謝謝。我現在將其交還給接線員以供提問。

(Operator Instructions) Janine Stichter, BTIG.

(操作員指示) Janine Stichter，BTIG。

Congrats on your retirement. I was hoping you could parse out some of the Q1 headwinds that you're seeing, whether it's weather, consumer sentiment, I think you broke out the OMS implementation. Just help us understand the moving pieces there and maybe where you're trending right now versus how you're thinking about the quarter? And then within that, I would love to hear more about what your survey work is showing around how your consumer is feeling right now.

恭喜您退休。我希望您能夠分析您所看到的一些第一季的不利因素，無論是天氣還是消費者情緒，我認為您已經突破了 OMS 的實施。只是幫助我們了解那裡的動態，也許您現在的趨勢與您對本季的看法如何？然後在此範圍內，我很想進一步了解你們的調查工作對消費者當前感受的揭示。

Sure. Thanks, Janine. I appreciate the question. Q1 headwinds, yes, as we sort of delineated in our -- in both of our comments, it was a slower start to the quarter. February was definitely impacted by weather in addition to what we're seeing in terms of consumer sentiment, our most recent survey showed a market level -- increased level of concern versus a year ago at the same time with regard to, I think, just what's going on with the market and the geopolitical situation in general.

當然。謝謝，珍妮。我很感謝你提出這個問題。是的，第一季的不利因素確實存在，正如我們在兩篇評論中所描述的那樣，本季的開局較為緩慢。除了我們看到的消費者信心指數外，二月肯定受到天氣的影響，我們最近的調查顯示，與一年前同期相比，市場對市場狀況和地緣政治局勢的擔憂程度有所增加。

So we did see that in speaking to our consumers. And then the third piece is really the OMS cutover, which Mark commented, we were able to take advantage of our first sort of viable window to cut over and the teams did just an incredible job on the project to date. We're still in the middle of the implementation, but it's going very well. So that has created a lot of noise in the first half of March as well. So those three elements definitely are all considered in our Q1 guide and are significant headwinds for the Q1 outlook.

我們在與消費者交談時確實看到了這一點。第三部分實際上是 OMS 切換，正如馬克評論的那樣，我們能夠利用我們的第一個可行的視窗進行切換，到目前為止，團隊在這個專案上做得非常出色。我們仍處於實施階段，但進展非常順利。所以這在三月上半月也引起了很大的轟動。因此，這三個因素肯定都在我們的第一季指南中考慮在內，並且是第一季前景的重大阻力。

Great. And then maybe just one more on the OMS benefits. As you think about the benefits from the omnichannel capabilities, help us parse out what those look like? How they phase beginning in the back half of the year? And if you have any sense of how you've quantified those in your guidance?

偉大的。然後也許還有關於 OMS 福利的問題。當您考慮全通路功能帶來的好處時，能否幫助我們分析一下這些好處是什麼樣的？下半年將如何開始？您是否知道如何在指導中量化這些內容？

Hi, Janine, it's Mark. The OMS project, as Claire just mentioned and I mentioned in my remarks, we're extremely pleased to be able to execute it this sort of early in the year, in this first window of opportunity. The benefits that a new system like this bring are some operating efficiencies for sure. But really, the kind of more interesting and what we're looking forward to in the back half of the year as we implement and bring up new omni capabilities, the first of which will be shipped from store that should start to yield benefits both on the sales line because it allows you to fulfill orders that were not fulfillable in the past to some extent. And then it also does help provide some margin benefit, given you're able to yield a little bit better what might have been destined for markdown at some point in its life cycle of better either full price margin or a better earlier markdown margin.

你好，Janine，我是馬克。OMS 項目，正如克萊爾剛才提到的，也是我在發言中提到的，我們非常高興能夠在今年這麼早的時候，在這個第一個機會窗口期執行這個項目。這樣的新系統帶來的好處肯定會提高一些營運效率。但實際上，更有趣的是，我們期待在今年下半年實施和推出新的全方位功能，其中第一個將從商店發貨，這應該會開始在銷售線上產生效益，因為它允許你在某種程度上完成過去無法完成的訂單。然後，它也確實有助於提供一些利潤收益，因為您能夠獲得更好的收益，即在其生命週期的某個階段可能注定要降價的更好的全價利潤或更好的早期降價利潤。

So those benefits, we're excited to bring up in the back half of the year. The systems are large and are far reaching. And a large swath of team members have worked on this for a year, and they've done such a great job. They're in the process of still bringing up capabilities and testing and making sure that all the interfaces and the data links are as we expect, and it's all going well. And once we're stabilized and trained on the new system, et cetera, we'll start to bring up those new capabilities in the back half of the year.

因此，我們很高興在今年下半年提出這些好處。系統規模龐大，影響深遠。大部分團隊成員為此工作了一年，並且取得了出色的成績。他們仍處於提升功能和進行測試的過程中，以確保所有介面和資料鏈路都符合我們的預期，一切進展順利。一旦我們穩定下來並熟悉了新系統等等，我們將在今年下半年開始推出這些新功能。

Ryan Meyers, Lake Street Capital Markets.

瑞安·邁耶斯（Ryan Meyers），Lake Street Capital Markets。

First one for me and Mark, I think you commented on this just a little bit in your prepared remarks, but kind of walk us through the cadence of gross margin for the year? How we should be thinking about that and what we should be calling out there?

首先是我和馬克，我想你們在準備好的發言中對此做了一點評論，但能否向我們介紹一下今年的毛利率變動節奏？我們應該如何思考這個問題以及我們應該呼籲什麼？

Good question. So the guidance -- really when we think about our guidance for the year, the last year, Q1 was by far our most difficult comparison. This year will be our most difficult comparison against last year. It was a very strong start to the year. That strength continued into Q2 before experiencing quite a slowdown late in Q2 at that sort of end of June, in the July period where we started to see the consumer soften and price sensitivity become a bigger issue. And that sort of trended forward and as Claire mentioned, trended into Q1 so far this year. And then exacerbated a little bit by weather, which was year-over-year more adverse in February and then obviously, the callout that we had on the OMS implementation.

好問題。因此，當我們思考今年的指導時，去年第一季是迄今為止最難比較的。今年與去年相比將是最困難的一年。這是今年的一個非常強勁的開端。這種強勁勢頭持續到了第二季度，然後在第二季度末，也就是 6 月底，經歷了相當程度的放緩，到了 7 月份，我們開始看到消費者消費疲軟，價格敏感性成為一個更大的問題。而且這種趨勢是向前發展的，正如克萊爾提到的那樣，今年到目前為止，這種趨勢已經延續到第一季。然後天氣因素稍微加劇了這種情況，2 月的天氣狀況比去年同期更加惡劣，顯然，我們對 OMS 實施提出了質疑。

The margin guide on the year assumes about flat, and we called out that the Q1 in particular in first half in general, will experience headwinds in part due to the difficult comparisons to last year and the fact that we're embedded in that is that we're cycling this consumer challenge against a very strong full price driven consumer last year, at least through that sort of middle part or end part of Q2 last year. And then at the back half of the year, when we start to cycle freight, which we experienced freight challenges this year in Q2 through the end of the year, the bigger impacts were in Q2 and Q4 as we reacted to the initial issues in the Red Sea and that impacted Q2.

預計今年的利潤率將基本持平，我們指出，特別是上半年的第一季度，將遭遇阻力，部分原因是與去年相比，今年的業績難以比較，而我們深陷其中的事實是，去年，我們正面臨著消費者挑戰，而去年，我們正面臨著非常強勁的全價驅動型消費者的衝擊，至少在去年第二季度的中期或末期是如此。然後在下半年，當我們開始循環貨運時，我們在今年第二季度到年底遇到了貨運挑戰，更大的影響出現在第二季度和第四季度，因為我們對紅海最初的問題做出了反應，這影響了第二季度。

And then in Q4, as we were enacting mitigation strategies for port strikes, there's a bit more freight in Qs 2 and 4, but really, the opportunity as we start to cycle, the expectation that the consumer sort of stays where it is through the end of the year, but we cycle it starting in late Q2 and then we get some of those benefits from freights because ocean freight rates have normalized, I always knock on wood because I say that, and then you never know if something can happen. But right now, we're seeing trends continue to improve. And then we have the OMS benefits that I just mentioned, starting to provide some benefit in the back half as well.

然後在第四季度，當我們制定港口罷工的緩解策略時，第二季度和第四季度的貨運量會有所增加，但實際上，隨著我們開始循環，預計消費者將保持現狀到年底，但我們從第二季度末開始循環，然後我們從貨運中獲得一些好處，因為海運費已經正常化，我總是敲木頭，因為我不知道這麼說，然後你永遠不會發生什麼。但現在，我們看到趨勢正在持續改善。然後我們有我剛才提到的 OMS 優勢，它也開始在後半部分提供一些優勢。

Okay. Got it. I think that makes sense. And then the other question for me is that it sounds like you guys are seeing some success kind of with marketing initiatives and digital customers. Just wondering if you can comment on the overall traffic trend and maybe how you can drive some of these digital customers into the stores or if you guys have begun to see any of that.

好的。知道了。我認為這是有道理的。然後對我來說另一個問題是，聽起來你們在行銷計劃和數位客戶方面取得了一些成功。只是想知道您是否可以評論一下整體流量趨勢，以及如何吸引一些數位客戶進入商店，或者您是否已經開始看到這些趨勢。

Yeah. I think, Ryan, we did point out that traffic was a little challenged Q4 and into Q1. I think that's reflector -- a reflection of the broader sort of macro environment in the consumer sentiment. That said, we're always testing and learning and identifying channels that are most effective for driving traffic. I did mention, I think, on the last call as well and I referred to it in my remarks that we've been testing some geo-targeted marketing efforts, specifically focused at driving traffic to stores.

是的。瑞安，我認為，我們確實指出，第四季和第一季的交通面臨一些挑戰。我認為，這是消費者情緒中更廣泛的宏觀環境的反映。也就是說，我們一直在測試、學習並確定最有效的流量管道。我想，我在上次電話會議上也提到過，我們一直在測試一些地理定位的行銷工作，特別著重於增加商店客流量。

And we saw some nice results from that in the back half of last year that we're going to continue to test into and plan on expanding in 2025. So it's a constant evolution, a constant testing and learning and monitoring what marketing channels are delivering what for us, both in terms of traffic, new customer acquisition and overall brand awareness. So we will work the full mix and continue to do so.

我們在去年下半年看到了一些不錯的結果，我們將繼續進行測試並計劃在 2025 年擴大。因此，這是一個不斷發展、不斷測試、學習和監控的過程，無論是在流量、新客戶獲取還是整體品牌知名度方面，行銷管道都能為我們帶來什麼。因此，我們將全力以赴，並繼續這樣做。

Jonna Kim, TD Cowen.

喬娜金（Jonna Kim），TD Cowen。

On the promotions, what you're embedding in the guide and what you've seen quarter-to-date on that front? And then obviously, you have a pretty strong group of core top customer of who are loyal to you. Have you seen any notable changes within that cohort or any characteristics that need to be highlighted as you continue to observe that core for your business? That will be helpful.

關於促銷，您在指南中嵌入了什麼內容以及您在本季度迄今為止看到了哪些方面的變化？顯然，您擁有一群非常強大的、對您忠誠的核心頂級客戶。當您繼續觀察業務核心時，您是否發現該群體中存在任何顯著變化，或存在任何需要強調的特徵？這將會很有幫助。

Sure. Thanks, Jonna. How far -- best customers tend to be just a hallmark of this business and this brand. We continue to see really strong performance from our best customer cohorts last year, both in terms of transactions and also just spend per customer for the year. So that continues to just be a really strong dynamic in this business and one that we very much appreciate. And then from a promotional, I'll turn it to Mark. But as always, we try to balance delivering our top line goals and our inventory position goal coming out of every period with strategic and surgical and promotional approaches we can.

當然。謝謝，喬娜。走多遠－最好的客戶往往只是這個企業和這個品牌的標誌。我們繼續看到去年我們的最佳客戶群表現非常強勁，無論是交易量還是全年每位客戶的支出。所以這繼續成為我們業務中一個非常強勁的動力，我們對此非常感激。然後，從促銷角度來說，我將把它交給馬克。但與往常一樣，我們試圖透過我們所能採取的策略性、精準性和促銷性方法來平衡實現我們的營業收入目標和每個時期的庫存狀況目標。

Yeah. And we'll continue with that, Jonna. But that said, the consumer and where they're at is we've mentioned is a bit more price sensitive, particularly in our direct channel. And so we will continue and have assumed that sort of the baseline continues, or trend line continues forward and with the need to be surgically promotional as we have been as well as decisive and taking action to mark down to keep the inventories where we want them to be going forward.

是的。我們會繼續這樣做，喬娜。但話雖如此，消費者以及他們所處的位置就像我們提到的那樣對價格更加敏感，特別是在我們的直銷管道。因此，我們將繼續並假設這種基線繼續存在，或者趨勢線繼續向前發展，並且需要像我們一直以來所做的那樣進行精準的促銷，同時果斷採取行動降價以將庫存保持在我們希望的水平。

Marni Shapiro, The Retail Tracker.

Marni Shapiro，零售追蹤者。

Claire, congratulations. We're going to miss you. I'm going to miss chatting about product with you. Could we talk about a couple of things. The first is I know price sensitivity, I think you said began in July of last year, which aligned from my notes with when a lot of retailers became more promotional. And I'm curious, as I watched the run of promotions through the mall and online this first quarter. How are you thinking -- you guys are a full-priced retailer. So I guess how are you thinking about the rest of the year promotionally? Is it harder to not participate in that? So how do you plan that, I guess, in this environment?

克萊爾，恭喜你。我們會想念你的。我會懷念與您討論產品的日子。我們可以討論一些事情嗎？首先，我知道價格敏感性，我記得您說過它始於去年 7 月，從我的記錄來看，這與許多零售商加大促銷力度的時候相一致。我很好奇，因為我關注了第一季商場和網路上的促銷活動。你怎麼想的——你們是一家全價零售商。那我猜你對於今年剩餘時間的促銷有什麼想法呢？不參加那項活動會更難嗎？那麼，我想問一下，在這種環境下您打算如何規劃呢？

Thanks, Marni. I'm sure you'll have fun talking about product with Mary Ellen as well, take that on. So yeah, price sensitivity, the promotional environment. We do -- we are very, very focused, as you know, and we talk about all the time on supporting our full-price business in yielding the best maintained margins that we can.

謝謝，瑪尼。我相信您也會很樂意與瑪麗艾倫談論產品，並接受這個事實。是的，價格敏感度、促銷環境。我們確實如此——正如你所知，我們非常非常專注，我們一直在談論支持我們的全價業務，以盡可能保持最佳的利潤率。

That said, the consumer has been volatile. For quite a period of time, we did see it come on more strongly in July and into August last year and continue somewhat through the back half of the year. We continue to take the same approach to promotions. We are -- we plan them in a balanced way to deliver our objectives.

儘管如此，消費者的消費習慣卻一直不穩定。在相當長的時間內，我們確實看到它在去年7月和8月表現得更強勁，並在下半年持續一段時間。我們繼續採取同樣的促銷方式。我們正在以平衡的方式進行規劃以實現我們的目標。

And to some extent, we sometimes have to respond to what's going on with our consumer, things that don't work as well as we anticipated they did, and we never have -- one never has an assortment that all works exactly right. But we take action in season to move through things before the end of the period, before the end of the season, and we'll continue to do that. Just monitoring, trying to be as tight as we can on it, but planning generally a flat and consistent approach to promotional cadence.

在某種程度上，我們有時必須對消費者遇到的情況做出反應，有些事情沒有像我們預期的那樣順利，而我們從來沒有——從來沒有一個產品組合能夠完全正確地運作。但我們會在賽季結束前、賽季結束前採取行動解決問題，我們會繼續這樣做。只要監控，盡量嚴格，但整體計畫採用平穩一致的促銷節奏方法。

And Marni, I would just add to that. It's a hallmark, we believe, of the operating model that the teams really do come with that very disciplined approach to managing the promo against the markdown and then the yield opportunity within it. I think in a year like 2024 where things became challenging. As you mentioned and we've mentioned, really starting in that July time period to deliver a 70.4% margin for the year despite playing in a very promotional environment.

還有 Marni，我只是想補充一下。我們認為，這種營運模式的標誌是，團隊確實採用非常嚴謹的方法來管理促銷、降價以及其中的收益機會。我認為在 2024 年這樣的一年裡事情會變得充滿挑戰。正如您所提到的和我們所提到的，從 7 月開始，儘管在促銷環境下運營，但全年利潤率仍然達到 70.4%。

And I think we think is demonstrative of the operating model, and that will continue as we go forward. Targeted category promos, where we can. We do play in the times of the year, sometimes reluctantly at the larger promo sort of beyond categories and offers like in Q4, but we'll continue with the discipline, and that's embedded in the guidance that we've provided.

我認為這體現了我們的營運模式，而這種模式將會隨著我們的前進而延續下去。我們可以進行有針對性的類別促銷。我們確實會在一年中的某些時候進行促銷，有時會不情願地參加更大規模的促銷活動，例如第四季度的超越類別和優惠的活動，但我們會繼續遵守紀律，這也包含在我們提供的指導中。

Dana Telsey, Telsey Group.

達娜‧特爾西 (Dana Telsey)，特爾西集團 (Telsey Group)。

I wanted to touch base on differences between stores and digital, what did you see from the customer there? Is it a different category performance also along with regional trends? And then Mark, I see that you extended the facility, anything about how we should think about the cadence of quarters with that? Or just in general, how you're thinking about the shaping of the year?

我想了解一下商店和數字之間的差異，您從那裡的客戶那裡看到了什麼？這是否也是不同類別表現和區域趨勢的結果？然後馬克，我看到你擴展了該設施，我們應該如何考慮季度節奏？或者整體來說，您如何看待這一年的塑造？

Thanks, Dana. Appreciate it. I will miss you as well. So first of all, for the quarter, the difference between stores and digital stores continued to be more full-price oriented than digital. The digital channel continues to be the place where our customer looks for more promotional business and shifted more into markdown than they did in the store channel over the course of the quarter. And that's emblematic of the way those channels typically perform, but under pressure when we see a shift to markdowns, that's more pronounced in the direct-to-consumer channel. And then regional trends really tracked with seasonality a little bit, but more with weather channel challenges as we went through the end of Q4 and into the beginning of Q1. But other than that, no material differences from a regional standpoint.

謝謝，達娜。非常感謝。我也會想念你的。首先，就本季而言，實體店和數位商店之間的差異仍然更多是以全價為導向，而不是以數位為導向。數位管道仍然是我們的客戶尋求更多促銷業務的地方，並且在本季度，他們的降價銷售量比商店管道更高。這象徵著這些管道的典型運作方式，但在壓力之下，當我們看到轉向降價時，這種現像在直接面向消費者的管道中更為明顯。然後，區域趨勢確實與季節性有一點關係，但更多的是受到天氣通路挑戰的影響，因為我們經歷了第四季度末和第一季初。但除此之外，從地區角度來看並沒有實質差異。

And Dana, with respect to the repurchase authorization, we were pleased to get started in Q4, but really started late in the quarter with the authorization and just the open windows that we had. We'll continue to be opportunistic and prudent as we go forward. But it really did just get started at the end of Q4 and will continue. As of the end of the quarter, we still have $24.5 million or so remaining on the authorization.

達娜，關於回購授權，我們很高興能在第四季度開始實施，但實際上是在本季末才開始實施授權，而且我們只是開放了窗口期。我們將繼續把握機遇，謹慎前進。但它確實是在第四季末才開始的，並且還將繼續。截至本季末，我們仍有約 2,450 萬美元的授權餘額。

Corey Tarlowe, Jefferies.

傑富瑞 (Jefferies) 的科里‧塔洛 (Corey Tarlowe)。

Great. I guess, Claire, could you talk a little bit about product that worked in the quarter? And maybe as the weather improved, more specifically, where you saw some green shoots. So I'd just be interested to hear if you saw any improvement there?

偉大的。我想，克萊爾，您能談談本季表現良好的產品嗎？也許隨著天氣好轉，更具體地說，你會看到一些綠芽。所以我很想知道您是否發現那裡有任何改進？

And then, Mark, just on inventory, could you maybe walk us through how you're thinking about the shape of that curve throughout the rest of the year as we think about sort of where you finished Q4? And maybe how you're planning for the remainder of the year?

然後，馬克，僅就庫存而言，當我們考慮您在第四季度結束時的表現時，您能否向我們介紹一下您對今年剩餘時間內該曲線形狀的看法？或者您如何計劃今年剩餘的時間？

Sure. Thanks, Corey. So in Q4, we -- I think, as I mentioned in my script, a strength in bottoms, which is great because that is a category that we're leaning into as we move into '25 and see good potential there. It was supported by our iconic marketing campaign and just a really concerted effort on behalf of the team to really refresh and support our bottoms business.

當然。謝謝，科里。因此，在第四季度，我認為，正如我在腳本中提到的那樣，底部具有優勢，這很好，因為這是我們在進入'25年時傾向於的一個類別，並且看到了那裡的良好潛力。它得到了我們標誌性的行銷活動的支持，並且只是團隊的一致努力，以真正刷新和支持我們的底部業務。

Jackets were also strong in the quarter, and sleep was strong, although it's a relatively small business. We saw a really, really nice bump in sleep, which was kind of fun to see as well. We had challenges. We continue to see challenges in dresses over the course of the quarter, that was a year-long issue for us in 2024. Obviously, in Q4, dresses become a lot less important for us.

本季夾克衫業務表現強勁，睡眠產品業務表現也十分強勁，儘管睡眠產品業務規模相對較小。我們發現睡眠品質有了非常非常好的提高，這也是一種樂趣。我們面臨挑戰。我們在本季繼續看到服裝方面的挑戰，這對我們 2024 年來說是一個全年的問題。顯然，在第四季度，服裝對我們來說變得不那麼重要了。

We're not an occasion dress business, but that's something we're watching closely as we move into 2025 and adjusted our point of view on that as we move into spring summer season when dresses do become more important again as a category. And then sweaters were challenged, and we saw a shift into markdowns and sweaters over the course of Q4. We're seeing that continue into Q1. And as the customer kind of responds more to wear now product as opposed to moving early into true spring business.

我們並不是一家禮服企業，但隨著我們進入2025年，我們正在密切關注禮服行業，隨著我們進入春夏季節，禮服作為一個類別再次變得更加重要，我們也調整了對此的觀點。然後毛衣受到了挑戰，我們看到在第四季度期間毛衣的銷售轉向降價。我們看到這種情況持續到第一季。而且顧客對現穿產品的反應比提前進入真正的春季業務更為強烈。

As I said, February was challenged by a few factors in March. The first half has been a little bit clouded by just the OMS cutover and some of the dynamics associated with that, but we are certainly hopeful that the weather will break across the country, and we'll start to see some real energy in those more spring forward categories.

正如我所說，二月在三月面臨一些因素的挑戰。上半年受到 OMS 切換和與之相關的一些動態的影響，有點不明朗，但我們當然希望天氣會在全國範圍內好轉，並且我們將開始在春季更多類別中看到一些真正的活力。

And Corey, with respect to inventory. So the reported inventories at -- the single biggest driver of reported inventories from second quarter of 2024 on, where our actions taken to ship about a week early our goods to mitigate the essentially weak delay that occurred when shipping lanes through the Red Sea essentially where rerouted around Africa.

科里 (Corey)，關於庫存。因此，報告的庫存是 2024 年第二季度以來報告庫存的最大驅動因素，我們採取的行動是提前一周左右發貨，以緩解紅海航道繞過非洲時出現的基本上微弱的延誤。

So that's been the single biggest driver. And what we've tried to do is show what the sort of normalized inventory would be through our remarks. At the end of Q4, for example, that was up 3% at the end of the quarter versus the reported up 15%. And that 3% was driven in part by the strategy that Claire just mentioned around bottoms, a bit of a higher mix of bottoms in the assortment as we exited the year.

所以這是最大的驅動因素。我們試圖透過我們的評論來展示標準化庫存是什麼樣的。例如，在第四季末，該數字上漲了 3%，而報告的上漲幅度為 15%。這 3% 的成長在一定程度上受到了克萊爾剛才提到的下裝策略的推動，即在我們年底時，下裝的種類組合有所增加。

And then just given the overall trend that we've been talking about with respect to the consumer and the weather, et cetera, there's clearly actions that we're taking indicate that we have a bit too much inventory. But again, part of our hallmark is managing that with discipline on the buy and then managing it with discipline through the yield curve.

然後，考慮到我們一直在談論的有關消費者和天氣等方面的總體趨勢，我們採取的行動顯然表明我們的庫存有點太多了。但同樣，我們的標誌之一是透過嚴格的買入紀律來管理這一點，然後透過殖利率曲線嚴格管理這一點。

To go forward, if nothing else changes with respect to shipping lanes, then we will start to anniversary that one-week ownership at the end of Q2, and that's where things should start to normalize versus last year. And I start normalization at flat 2, maybe a little up given that we're adding new stores and ultimately pushing for sales growth in the year.

展望未來，如果航線方面沒有其他變化，我們將在第二季末開始紀念這一周的所有權，到那時，情況應該會與去年相比開始正常化。我從持平 2 開始進行正常化，考慮到我們正在增加新店並最終推動今年的銷售成長，可能會略有上升。

But overall, the discipline maintains and that reported inventory issue will still be at the end of Q1 to similar magnitudes we've seen from Q2 last year cycling through to Q1 of this year, and then it will become apples-to-apples Q2 onwards.

但總體而言，紀律仍然有效，報告的庫存問題在第一季末仍將維持在類似的水平，就像我們從去年第二季度看到的一樣，並將持續到今年第一季度，然後從第二季度開始就會出現類似的情況。

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的加入。您現在可以斷開連線。