Joann Inc (JOAN) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and welcome to the JOANN Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Jason Wood, Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Responsibility. Please go ahead.

下午好，歡迎參加 JOANN 2024 年第二季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，正在記錄此事件。我現在想將會議交給戰略和企業責任副總裁賈森·伍德 (Jason Wood)。請繼續。

Thank you, and good afternoon. I'd like to remind everyone that comments made today may include forward-looking statements, which are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from management's current expectations.

謝謝你，下午好。我想提醒大家，今天發表的評論可能包括前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受到重大風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致公司的實際業績與管理層當前的預期存在重大差異。

These statements speak as of today, and the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events, new information or future circumstances. Please review the cautionary statements and risk factors contained in the company's earnings press release and the recent filings with the SEC.

這些聲明截至今天，公司不承擔更新或修改任何前瞻性聲明以反映後續事件、新信息或未來情況的義務。請查看公司收益新聞稿和最近向 SEC 提交的文件中包含的警示性聲明和風險因素。

During the call today, management may refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures can be found in the company's earnings press release, which was filed today with the SEC and posted to the Investor Relations section of JOANN's website at investors.joann.com.

在今天的電話會議中，管理層可能會參考某些非公認會計準則財務指標。 GAAP 和非 GAAP 財務指標之間的調節可以在公司的收益新聞稿中找到，該新聞稿今天向 SEC 提交，並發佈在 JOANN 網站 Investors.joann.com 的投資者關係部分。

On the call today from JOANN are the co-leaders of the interim office of the CEO, Chris DiTullio, Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer; and Scott Sekella, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. During the question-and-answer portion of the call, we will also be joined by Rob Will, Executive Vice President and Chief Merchant for JOANN. I will now turn the call over to Chris for his prepared comments.

今天參加 JOANN 電話會議的是首席執行官臨時辦公室的聯合領導、執行副總裁兼首席客戶官 Chris DiTullio；執行副總裁兼首席財務官 Scott Sekella。在電話問答部分，JOANN 執行副總裁兼首席商務員 Rob Will 也將加入我們。我現在將把電話轉給克里斯，徵求他準備好的意見。

Thank you, Jason. To those of you joining us today, good afternoon, and welcome to JOANN's Second Quarter Fiscal 2024 Earnings Call. In what remains a dynamic consumer environment, we were pleased with our second quarter results, highlighted by continued progress and strong execution against our strategic priorities, which enabled us to deliver sequential top line improvement, gross margin improvement and registered solid operating performance.

謝謝你，傑森。今天加入我們的各位，下午好，歡迎參加 JOANN 的 2024 財年第二季度收益電話會議。在仍然充滿活力的消費環境中，我們對第二季度的業績感到滿意，突出表現在我們的戰略重點的持續進展和強有力的執行，這使我們能夠實現營收的連續改善、毛利率的改善並取得了穩健的經營業績。

Although we remain cautious due to continued uncertainty in the broader retail environment, the strategic shifts we implemented in the second quarter, combined with our ongoing cost reduction strategies, give us confidence we are on track to deliver on our full year outlook. These strategic shifts were focused on building a new foundation for how we operate to better deliver short-term wins, mitigate potential risks and set up JOANN for long-term growth.

儘管由於更廣泛的零售環境持續存在不確定性，我們仍然保持謹慎態度，但我們在第二季度實施的戰略轉變，加上我們持續的成本削減戰略，讓我們有信心能夠實現全年前景。這些戰略轉變的重點是為我們的運營方式奠定新的基礎，以更好地實現短期勝利、降低潛在風險並讓 JOANN 實現長期增長。

This foundational approach is anchored on a read and react system for the business to respond quickly and action opportunities or challenges as they evolve, using advanced data analytics to shape and support our decision-making process. This coincided with the return to operational retail fundamentals, our continued focus on winning in our core categories, while leveraging and capitalizing on the unique opportunities for JOANN in the consumer marketplace.

這種基本方法以讀取和反應系統為基礎，使業務能夠快速響應，並在機遇或挑戰發生變化時採取行動，使用先進的數據分析來塑造和支持我們的決策過程。這與零售運營基本面的回歸相吻合，我們繼續專注於在核心類別中獲勝，同時利用和利用 JOANN 在消費市場中的獨特機會。

In the second quarter, these opportunities translated into improved results through the deliberate pull forward of our Halloween seasonal product offering, the strategic execution of our Make Room campaign and continued investment in our assortment breadth and depth, particularly in our textiles-related categories. Through these strategic actions, we delivered innovative assortments and more targeted promotions that resonated with a broad range of consumers.

在第二季度，通過刻意推進萬聖節季節性產品供應、戰略執行“Make Room”活動以及對我們的品種廣度和深度（特別是紡織品相關類別）的持續投資，這些機會轉化為業績的改善。通過這些戰略行動，我們提供了創新的產品組合和更有針對性的促銷活動，引起了廣大消費者的共鳴。

These efforts, coupled with our focus on delivering a great experience for our customers whether they shop in our stores or online and identifying ways to operate our business as effectively and efficiently as possible sets the stage for continued progress ahead. We saw signs of this progress in the second quarter, with continued sequential improvement, not only on top line sales, but also in our gross margin.

這些努力，再加上我們專注於為客戶提供良好的體驗，無論他們是在我們的商店還是網上購物，並確定盡可能有效和高效地運營我們業務的方法，為未來的持續進步奠定了基礎。我們在第二季度看到了這種進展的跡象，不僅在營收方面，而且在毛利率方面都持續改善。

Importantly, our comparable sales performance during the quarter ended on a high note with July representing our strongest monthly comparable sales results in over 2 years. While we remain cautious and monitor the ever-evolving consumer environment, we believe this momentum and the ongoing implementation of our strategic actions leave us in a good position to seize on opportunities and adapt to challenges moving forward.

重要的是，我們在本季度的可比銷售業績表現出色，7 月份是我們兩年多以來最強勁的月度可比銷售業績。儘管我們保持謹慎態度並關注不斷變化的消費環境，但我們相信這種勢頭和戰略行動的持續實施使我們能夠抓住機遇並適應未來的挑戰。

As an example of how we are already leveraging this approach, we utilized our data-driven read and react capabilities to deliberately pull forward our seasonal -- Halloween seasonal product assortment. This pull forward was enabled by our strategic approach to optimize our seasonal assortments through directing investment into the seasons where we win across a number of our product categories.

作為我們如何利用這種方法的一個例子，我們利用數據驅動的讀取和反應功能來有意推進我們的季節性——萬聖節季節性產品分類。這一推動是通過我們的戰略方法實現的，即通過將投資引導到我們在多個產品類別中獲勝的季節來優化我們的季節性品種。

Halloween is a season where few in retail can offer a more complete solution. From decorating the inside and outside of your home, crafts for kids and the materials needed to make custom costumes and seasonally themed textile projects, we appeal to customers of all ages and interests. As we plan for this year, we read the market trends on Halloween and strategically invested and pulled it forward in a way that was disruptive.

萬聖節是零售業很少有人能提供更完整解決方案的季節。從家居內外裝飾、兒童工藝品到製作定制服裝和季節性主題紡織項目所需的材料，我們吸引了所有年齡段和興趣的客戶。在我們今年的計劃中，我們了解了萬聖節的市場趨勢，並進行了戰略投資，並以一種顛覆性的方式推動了它的發展。

This meant pulling back on spring and summer seasonal buys, which allowed our inventory position to be cleaner and enabled us to free up the space and get more Halloween product, most of which comes from our own brands, in-stores and on selling floor up to 4 weeks earlier. Customers responded immediately to the shift and are making purchases with less promotional activity and at a variety of price points, including our 8-foot animated skeleton with the manufacturer's adjusted retail price at $499, resulting in higher margin sell-through for the entire category.

這意味著減少春季和夏季的季節性採購，這使我們的庫存狀況更加清潔，並使我們能夠騰出空間並獲得更多萬聖節產品，其中大部分來自我們自己的品牌、店內和銷售樓層至4週前。客戶立即對這一轉變做出了反應，並以較少的促銷活動和各種價格點進行購買，包括我們的8 英尺動畫骨架，製造商調整後的零售價為499 美元，從而導致整個類別的利潤率更高。

Additionally, as we look to leverage the unique opportunities that JOANN has, we distorted our inventory and merchandising presentation to capitalize on the changing consumer marketplace and launched our Make Room campaign. Make Room is our uniquely curated collection of many of the products students need to decorate their dorm room or apartment as they return to college.

此外，當我們希望利用 JOANN 擁有的獨特機會時，我們扭曲了我們的庫存和商品展示，以利用不斷變化的消費者市場，並啟動了我們的“騰出空間”活動。 Make Room 是我們精心策劃的一系列產品，其中包括學生返回大學後裝飾宿舍或公寓所需的許多產品。

Our Make Room campaign was a valuable strategic play for multiple reasons: first, it allowed us to market a broad assortment of our basic products, including textiles in a new way and without deep discounts, creating a low-risk, high-reward touch point that appealed to current and new customers alike. Additionally, Make Room leaned into social media trends, where students across the country found creative ways to design their own physical happy place as they head back to campus and then post and share their creativity with their followers.

我們的“騰出空間”活動是一項有價值的戰略舉措，原因有很多：首先，它使我們能夠以新的方式營銷包括紡織品在內的各種基本產品，而且沒有大幅折扣，從而創造了一個低風險、高回報的接觸點這對現有客戶和新客戶都有吸引力。此外，Make Room 還關注社交媒體趨勢，全國各地的學生在返回校園時找到了創造性的方式來設計自己的快樂場所，然後發布並與追隨者分享他們的創造力。

By leaning into these trends, we were able to establish JOANN as a destination for these important products, expose them to a broader assortment of our offerings and increase the relevance of JOANN to younger customers. We are excited by the success of this event as we saw unit lifts across multiple categories of basic products included in our Make Room set.

通過順應這些趨勢，我們能夠將 JOANN 打造為這些重要產品的目的地，讓他們接觸到我們更廣泛的產品種類，並提高 JOANN 與年輕客戶的相關性。我們對這次活動的成功感到興奮，因為我們看到我們的 Make Room 套裝中包含多個類別的基本產品的單位電梯。

Moving forward to our e-commerce business. We continue to see growth and an increase in profitability from our digital channels. In the quarter, e-commerce sales outpaced store walk-in sales and the company overall, growing at a rate of 3% compared to last year, accounting for 12.1% of revenue in the second quarter, a 60 basis point increase in penetration rate over the same period last year.

繼續推進我們的電子商務業務。我們繼續看到數字渠道的增長和盈利能力的提高。本季度，電商銷售額超過實體店銷售額，公司整體增速較去年增長3%，佔第二季度營收的12.1%，滲透率提升60個基點去年同期。

This growth is being fueled by multiple factors: first, we continue to refine and expand our online product offerings and are particularly encouraged by the growth in our textiles-related online businesses; second, through data analytics, we updated our paid media allocation strategy and increased our investment approach, which drove additional traffic to our digital channels with corresponding increased site conversion; lastly, we made technology improvements to our website and mobile shopping experience, which produced immediate benefits.

這種增長受到多種因素的推動：首先，我們不斷完善和擴大我們的在線產品供應，尤其受到紡織品相關在線業務增長的鼓舞；其次，通過數據分析，我們更新了付費媒體分配策略並增加了投資方式，這為我們的數字渠道帶來了更多流量，相應地提高了網站轉化率；最後，我們對網站和移動購物體驗進行了技術改進，這產生了立竿見影的效果。

As we go into the back half of the year, we will continue to emphasize a shop your way, seamless and engaging digital experience, focusing efforts on improving the customer journey and driving additional growth.

進入今年下半年，我們將繼續強調以您的方式購物、無縫且引人入勝的數字體驗，重點致力於改善客戶旅程並推動額外增長。

To conclude, we are encouraged by the top line sales results, gross margin improvement and progress on the ongoing implementation of our Focus, Simplify and Grow initiative which Scott will discuss in detail momentarily.

總而言之，我們對頂線銷售業績、毛利率改善以及持續實施“聚焦、簡化和增長”計劃所取得的進展感到鼓舞，斯科特將立即詳細討論該計劃。

Based on the dynamic consumer retail environment, we remain laser-focused on continuing to use the strategic foundation we are building to capitalize on growth opportunities and mitigate risk. This includes continuing to use our read and react capabilities to drive quick business decisions, leveraging advanced data analytics, getting back to running the business using sound fundamental practices and focusing on winning in our core business categories while capitalizing on the unique opportunities JOANN has in the broader competitive marketplace.

基於動態的消費者零售環境，我們仍然專注於繼續利用我們正在建立的戰略基礎來利用增長機會並降低風險。這包括繼續使用我們的讀取和反應能力來推動快速業務決策，利用先進的數據分析，使用健全的基本實踐重新開始運營業務，並專注於在我們的核心業務類別中獲勝，同時利用 JOANN 在更廣闊的競爭市場。

As I wrap up, I would like to take a moment to recognize our team members. The positive results we delivered in the second quarter, including the forward shift of Halloween, the development and implementation of our Make Room event and the ongoing execution of our strategic priorities would not have been possible without their hard work.

在結束時，我想花點時間來表彰我們的團隊成員。如果沒有他們的辛勤工作，我們在第二季度取得的積極成果，包括萬聖節前移、Make Room 活動的製定和實施以及我們戰略重點的持續執行，都是不可能實現的。

With these new initiatives and strategic priorities, we challenged our team members who work in our stores, distribution centers, omni fulfillment center and across our corporate offices to deliver new approaches to drive value and position the company for long-term growth. They responded with creativity, commitment and agility that our team members are known for, and I could not be prouder of the dedicated professionals who work across this company.

通過這些新舉措和戰略重點，我們向在商店、配送中心、全方位履行中心和整個公司辦公室工作的團隊成員提出了挑戰，要求他們提供新的方法來推動價值並使公司實現長期增長。他們以我們的團隊成員聞名的創造力、奉獻精神和敏捷性做出了回應，我為在整個公司工作的敬業的專業人員感到無比自豪。

As we look to build on the positive results and weather any challenges presented by the uncertain retail environment we face, we will need them to continue to step up, and have absolute confidence, they will.

當我們希望在積極成果的基礎上再接再厲，並應對我們所面臨的不確定零售環境帶來的任何挑戰時，我們需要他們繼續挺身而出，並且對他們有絕對的信心。

With that, I will turn it over to our Chief Financial Officer, Scott Sekella, to give a more detailed rundown of our second quarter financial results and our year-to-date performance before wrapping up with answering your questions.

接下來，我將把它交給我們的首席財務官 Scott Sekella，在結束回答大家的問題之前，他會更詳細地介紹我們第二季度的財務業績和今年迄今為止的業績。

Thank you, Chris. As Chris discussed in his remarks, during the second quarter, we proactively took action to drive both near-term and long-term success by enhancing our read and react capabilities through advanced data analytics. With a renewed focus on operational retail fundamentals, we were able to deliver improved performance in the second quarter, including building momentum in both top line sales and gross margin.

謝謝你，克里斯。正如克里斯在講話中所討論的那樣，在第二季度，我們積極採取行動，通過高級數據分析增強我們的讀取和反應能力，以推動近期和長期的成功。通過重新關注零售運營基本面，我們能夠在第二季度實現更好的業績，包括在營收和毛利率方面建立勢頭。

While we remain cautious about the back half of the year, we believe this momentum combined with leveraging our read and react approach and our focus on operational excellence leaves us well positioned to deliver on our full year outlook. With that, let me turn to the second quarter results.

雖然我們對今年下半年保持謹慎態度，但我們相信，這種勢頭加上我們的閱讀和反應方法以及我們對卓越運營的關注，使我們能夠很好地實現全年展望。接下來，讓我談談第二季度的業績。

In the second quarter, net sales totaled $453.8 million, a decline of 2.1% compared to last year, with total comparable sales decreasing by 2%.

第二季度淨銷售額總計4.538億美元，較去年下降2.1%，可比銷售額總額下降2%。

This represents our third consecutive quarter of sequential improvement in comparable sales and our best quarterly year-over-year performance since the first quarter of fiscal year 2022. Within the quarter, sales improved sequentially as well. While some softness from the first quarter persisted into the beginning of the second quarter, we saw a month-over-month improvement in June and July.

這代表我們的可比銷售額連續第三個季度連續改善，也是自 2022 財年第一季度以來我們最好的季度同比業績。本季度內，銷售額也連續改善。雖然第一季度的一些疲軟持續到第二季度初，但我們看到 6 月和 7 月環比有所改善。

As we reach the back half of the second quarter, we saw positive comp sales in 5 of the last 6 weeks. And July comp sales were positive, representing our best month of comp sales in 28 months. This improvement was due, as Chris mentioned, in large part to our utilization of advanced data analytics to drive a read and react approach, which fueled our ability to win in our core textile-related categories and capitalize on some marketplace opportunities that were unique to JOANN.

當我們進入第二季度後半段時，我們在過去 6 周中有 5 週看到了積極的銷售業績。 7 月份的贈品銷售呈正值，這是我們 28 個月來最佳的贈品銷售月份。正如克里斯所提到的，這種改進在很大程度上歸功於我們利用先進的數據分析來驅動讀取和反應方法，這增強了我們在核心紡織品相關類別中獲勝的能力，並利用了一些獨特的市場機會。喬安。

The positive impact from this approach was acutely apparent in the strategic pull forward of our Halloween assortment, which had a 90 basis point positive impact on comparable sales in the quarter. In addition to the top line sales momentum, we continue to see healthy consumer engagement in our core textiles-related selling and craft businesses.

這種方法的積極影響在我們萬聖節產品系列的戰略推進中表現得非常明顯，對本季度的可比銷售額產生了 90 個基點的積極影響。除了營收增長勢頭外，我們還繼續看到消費者對我們核心紡織品相關銷售和工藝品業務的健康參與。

This strength includes positive performance in our sewing technology category, which serves as a leading and underlying indicator for other core categories moving forward. This performance is a direct result of our data-driven approach to make sure we provide the right products and choices for our customers. And our core customers are continuing to reengage in this space in a meaningful way.

這一優勢包括我們縫紉技術類別的積極表現，該類別是其他核心類別向前發展的領先和基本指標。這種表現是我們數據驅動方法的直接結果，以確保我們為客戶提供正確的產品和選擇。我們的核心客戶正在繼續以有意義的方式重新參與這一領域。

As expected, our non-Halloween seasonal category was a significant 180 basis point headwind to comparable sales in the second quarter due to our strategic inventory reduction. Additionally, we continue to see craft technology as a headwind to comparable sales. While we have been strategically managing this risk and performance is down across the marketplace, craft technology continued to account for a decline in comp sales of 140 basis points in the second quarter of fiscal 2024.

正如預期的那樣，由於我們的戰略性庫存削減，我們的非萬聖節季節性類別與第二季度的可比銷售額相比出現了 180 個基點的顯著逆風。此外，我們仍然認為工藝技術是可比銷售的阻力。雖然我們一直在戰略性地管理這種風險，並且整個市場的業績都在下降，但工藝技術繼續導致 2024 財年第二季度的公司銷售額下降 140 個基點。

And we anticipate it will continue to serve as a dissipating headwind as we move deeper into the fiscal year.

我們預計，隨著本財年的深入，它將繼續成為消散的逆風。

On a GAAP basis, our gross profit in the second quarter was $232 million, an increase of 8% from the second quarter of last year. This year-over-year increase was driven largely by continuing improvement in import freight costs, which had a 580 basis point positive impact on our gross margin.

按美國通用會計準則計算，我們第二季度的毛利潤為2.32億美元，比去年第二季度增長8%。這一同比增長主要是由於進口貨運成本的持續改善，這對我們的毛利率產生了 580 個基點的積極影響。

We recognized $300,000 of excess import freight costs in the second quarter, a decrease of $26.8 million compared to the same period last year. These excess import freight costs have now fully cycled out of our inventory and will not continue going forward.

第二季度我們確認了30萬美元的超額進口運費，比去年同期減少了2680萬美元。這些超額進口運費現已完全從我們的庫存中循環出去，並且不會繼續下去。

On a cash basis, in the second quarter, we realized $28.9 million of cash benefit from lower ocean freight rates.

按現金計算，第二季度我們從較低的海運費中獲得了 2890 萬美元的現金收益。

Our gross margin on a GAAP basis was 51.1% in the second quarter, an increase of 470 basis points from the second quarter of last year. This represents the fourth consecutive quarter of sequential improvement in GAAP basis gross margin comparisons. The year-over-year 470 basis point improvement was driven by the previously described 580 basis point continuing improvement in ocean freight and a 50 basis point increase due to improved domestic carrier freight rates and associated surcharges, partially offset by the timing of cycling of capitalized domestic freight costs.

第二季度按照 GAAP 計算的毛利率為 51.1%，比去年第二季度增加了 470 個基點。這代表公認會計原則毛利率比較連續第四個季度連續改善。同比增長 470 個基點的推動因素是之前描述的海運費持續改善的 580 個基點，以及國內承運商運費率和相關附加費改善導致的 50 個基點的增長，部分被資本化週期的時間所抵消。國內運費。

This was all partially offset by a 95 basis point decline in our merchandising margin and a 65 basis point decline due to the timing of clearance activity.

這全部被我們的商品利潤率下降 95 個基點以及由於清倉活動時間導致的 65 個基點下降所部分抵消。

To provide additional color on our second quarter merchandising margin, the decline of 95 basis points compared to the same period last year can be attributed to the continued lapping of some of the inflationary cost increases we experienced during the prior year.

為了讓我們第二季度的商品利潤率更加生動，與去年同期相比下降了 95 個基點，這可以歸因於我們去年經歷的一些通脹成本增長的持續放緩。

Our average unit costs were up 2.6% to the second quarter of last year, which is an improvement from what we saw in the first quarter of this year. As we mentioned on our first quarter call, we anticipate our average unit cost comparisons to sequentially improve throughout the course of the year as we cycle these inflationary increases. Average unit retail increased 0.5 point relative to the same period last year.

我們的平均單位成本比去年第二季度增長了 2.6%，比今年第一季度有所改善。正如我們在第一季度電話會議中提到的那樣，隨著通脹增長的循環，我們預計平均單位成本比較將在全年中持續改善。平均單位零售量較去年同期增長0.5個百分點。

Turning to expenses. Our second quarter fiscal 2024 SG&A expenses increased by 4.4% from the second quarter of last year. The primary drivers of the year-over-year SG&A increases include: severance and other upfront costs to implement our cost reduction initiatives; the reinstitution of our incentive compensation programs; and general insurance and asset impairment expenses.

轉向開支。我們的 2024 財年第二季度 SG&A 費用比去年第二季度增長了 4.4%。 SG&A 同比增長的主要驅動因素包括： 實施成本削減計劃所需的遣散費和其他前期成本；恢復我們的激勵性薪酬計劃；一般保險和資產減值費用。

These increases were partially offset by: improved operating efficiencies, including the strategic management of labor hours in our stores, which more than offset inflationary pressures on labor, particularly at our store locations and other costs; the continued optimization of advertising spend; and lower store preopening and closing costs.

這些增長被以下因素部分抵消： 運營效率提高，包括對我們商店的工時進行戰略管理，這足以抵消勞動力的通貨膨脹壓力，特別是在我們的商店地點和其他成本；廣告支出的持續優化；並降低商店預開店和關店成本。

Our net loss in the second quarter was $73.3 million compared to a net loss of $56.9 million in the same period last year. Our loss in adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter was $21.9 million compared to a loss of $8.9 million in the second quarter of last year. Moving on to our balance sheet. Our cash and cash equivalents were $19.1 million at the end of the second quarter.

我們第二季度的淨虧損為 7330 萬美元，而去年同期的淨虧損為 5690 萬美元。第二季度調整後 EBITDA 損失為 2190 萬美元，而去年第二季度為損失 890 萬美元。繼續我們的資產負債表。截至第二季度末，我們的現金和現金等價物為 1910 萬美元。

As of July 29, 2023, we had $58.4 million of availability on our revolving credit facility, which is tied to a lower borrowing base due to our inventory optimization efforts, including cycling higher excess import freight costs and our actions to strategically lower inventory receipts. Our face value of debt net of cash at the end of the fourth quarter was $1.096 billion.

截至2023 年7 月29 日，我們的循環信貸額度有5840 萬美元，這與我們的庫存優化工作（包括循環較高的超額進口貨運成本以及戰略性降低庫存收入的行動）導致的較低借款基礎有關。第四季度末我們扣除現金的債務面值為 10.96 億美元。

This reflects an increase of $90 million from the same period last year and a leverage ratio of 5.0x as measured by net debt and finance lease obligations relative to the credit facility adjusted EBITDA on a trailing 12-month basis. Our inventory at the end of the second quarter was down 14.4% compared to the same period last year due to the optimization of inventory receipts and the reduction in excess import freight costs.

這反映了較去年同期增加了 9,000 萬美元，以及按過去 12 個月的信貸安排調整後 EBITDA 的淨債務和融資租賃義務衡量的槓桿率為 5.0 倍。由於庫存收貨的優化和超額進口運費的減少，我們二季度末的庫存比去年同期下降了14.4%。

We continue to maintain a low clearance inventory of less than 6% of total, leaving us well positioned to leverage our read and react capabilities to further drive growth. In conjunction with all of this work, we continue to drive our Focus, Simplify and Grow cost reduction initiative. On our last call, we shared that we had fully identified the targeted $200 million of cost savings across supply chain, product and SG&A expenses.

我們繼續保持低於總量 6% 的低清倉庫存，使我們能夠充分利用我們的讀取和反應能力來進一步推動增長。結合所有這些工作，我們將繼續推動我們的“聚焦、簡化和增長”成本削減計劃。在上次電話會議上，我們表示，我們已經完全確定了供應鏈、產品和 SG&A 費用節省 2 億美元成本的目標。

We are actively executing on these identified savings to drive meaningful cash flow improvement in fiscal year 2024 and beyond. With the success of this initiative, we have challenged ourselves to look deeper, and we can now share that we have line of sight to over deliver on the original $200 million target. As part of these annualized cost savings, we have now finalized new agreements with our ocean freight vendors that will put us in a strong position to over deliver on the targeted $100 million of supply chain cost reductions.

我們正在積極執行這些已確定的節省措施，以推動 2024 財年及以後的現金流得到有意義的改善。隨著這一舉措的成功，我們挑戰自己進行更深入的研究，現在我們可以告訴大家，我們有能力超額實現最初的 2 億美元目標。作為這些年度成本節約的一部分，我們現已與海運供應商敲定了新協議，這將使我們處於有利地位，超額實現 1 億美元供應鏈成本削減的目標。

Additionally, we initiated a broad-based initiative to reduce product costs across our business. This effort will yield significant product cost savings. A wide assortment of our domestic and import vendors have already agreed to price concessions, and we continue to expand this work into all of our product categories giving us confidence we can over deliver the targeted $60 million of product cost reduction.

此外，我們發起了一項基礎廣泛的舉措，以降低整個業務的產品成本。這項努力將顯著節省產品成本。我們的眾多國內和進口供應商已經同意價格優惠，我們將繼續將這項工作擴展到我們所有的產品類別，這讓我們有信心能夠超額實現 6000 萬美元產品成本降低的目標。

Also in the second quarter, we saw significant positive movement in the implementation of our SG&A reductions, including costs related to store labor and information technology. These savings are focused on finding new ways to work that represent a better, more efficient and more effective way to deploy our resources while staying true to our strategic priority of providing a high-quality in-store and online experience to our customers. To this end, during the second quarter, we rolled out a pilot program designed to align our in-store labor pattern to better support where and how our customers shopping with us.

同樣在第二季度，我們在銷售管理費用削減方面看到了顯著的積極進展，包括與商店勞動力和信息技術相關的成本。這些節省的資金主要用於尋找新的工作方式，以更好、更高效和更有效的方式來部署我們的資源，同時堅持我們的戰略重點，即為客戶提供高質量的店內和在線體驗。為此，我們在第二季度推出了一項試點計劃，旨在調整我們的店內勞動力模式，以更好地支持客戶在我們這裡購物的地點和方式。

Through our evaluation of the results, we saw that not only did the pilot reduce costs, it also enhanced the in-store selling experience by converting more labor hours to customer-facing sales activities and rightsizing these labor hours to more effectively staff stores during the busiest selling hours.

通過對結果的評估，我們發現該試點不僅降低了成本，還通過將更多的勞動時間轉化為面向客戶的銷售活動，並將這些勞動時間調整為更有效地為商店配備員工，從而增強了店內銷售體驗。最繁忙的銷售時間。

At the beginning of the third quarter, we expanded this pilot to the entire fleet and are already generating meaningful savings. In addition to these enhancements to our in-store labor pattern, we created new ways of working from an information technology standpoint in the second quarter. This included taking action to execute on savings to reduce organizational third-party labor expenses, eliminate redundant systems and processes and improved infrastructure performance.

在第三季度初，我們將該試點擴展到整個機隊，並且已經產生了有意義的節省。除了店內勞動力模式的這些改進之外，我們還在第二季度從信息技術的角度創建了新的工作方式。這包括採取行動節省成本，以減少組織的第三方勞動力支出、消除冗餘系統和流程以及提高基礎設施性能。

We believe these new ways of working will help us likely exceed our $40 million SG&A cost reduction target. Across the entirety of our Focus, Simplify and Grow initiative, we continue to leave no stone unturned as we look for additional potential savings. And as mentioned earlier, we now have line of sight to over delivering on the initial $200 million target.

我們相信這些新的工作方式將幫助我們超過 4000 萬美元的銷售管理費用削減目標。在我們的整個“聚焦、簡化和增長”計劃中，我們繼續不遺餘力地尋找額外的潛在節省。正如前面提到的，我們現在有望超額實現最初的 2 億美元目標。

Now let's turn to our fiscal 2024 full year outlook. While we were pleased with our second quarter performance, we are approaching the back half of fiscal 2024 cautiously because of the continued inflationary pressures and persistent uncertainty in the broader retail environment. We are using our read and react capabilities to control what we can control and capitalize on new opportunities as they arise.

現在讓我們轉向 2024 財年全年展望。雖然我們對第二季度的業績感到滿意，但由於持續的通脹壓力和更廣泛的零售環境持續存在不確定性，我們正在謹慎對待 2024 財年下半年。我們正在利用我們的讀取和反應能力來控制我們可以控制的內容，並在新機會出現時利用它們。

We believe that this approach, combined with our second quarter top line performance, and the ongoing implementation of our cost reduction initiatives leave us in a position to deliver on our full fiscal year 2024 outlook.

我們相信，這種方法與我們第二季度的營收業績以及持續實施的成本削減計劃相結合，使我們能夠實現 2024 年整個財年的前景。

In terms of our top line performance, based on our year-to-date performance and line of sight for the remainder of fiscal year 2024, we are updating our full year outlook to be more precise in anticipating that net sales relative to fiscal year 2023 will be down between 1% and 3% instead of down between 1% and 4% as we outlined in the first quarter.

就我們的營收業績而言，根據我們今年迄今的業績和對 2024 財年剩餘時間的展望，我們正在更新全年展望，以便更準確地預測相對於 2023 財年的淨銷售額將下降1%至3%，而不是我們在第一季度概述的下降1% 至4%。

This range is inclusive of a 53rd fiscal week in fiscal year 2024, which is worth approximately 2%. Driving meaningful cash improvement remains one of our key focuses for fiscal year 2024. Based in large part on the cash benefit of the implementation of our Focus, Simplify and Grow cost reduction initiative, in working capital and capital expenditure optimization actions, we believe we will deliver a significant year-over-year improvement in free cash flow and are reiterating our outlook that over the full fiscal year 2024, we will see a year-over-year improvement in free cash flow between $150 million and $170 million.

該範圍包括 2024 財年的第 53 財週，價值約為 2%。推動有意義的現金改善仍然是我們2024 財年的重點之一。在很大程度上，基於我們在營運資本和資本支出優化行動中實施“聚焦、簡化和增長”成本削減計劃所帶來的現金效益，我們相信我們將自由現金流量同比顯著改善，並重申我們的前景，即在 2024 年整個財年，我們將看到自由現金流量同比改善 1.5 億至 1.7 億美元。

To support this, we are lowering our full year outlook for capital expenditures, net of landlord contributions by $5 million to be between $35 million and $40 million.

為了支持這一點，我們將扣除房東捐款後的全年資本支出預期下調 500 萬美元，至 3500 萬美元至 4000 萬美元之間。

As described earlier, the cash benefit of our Focus, Simplify and Grow initiatives will be felt heavily in fiscal year 2024, and the mostly annualized P&L benefit will not be realized until fiscal year 2025 due to the time it takes for inventory and related costs to cycle through our balance sheet.

如前所述，我們的“聚焦”、“簡化”和“增長”計劃的現金收益將在2024 財年感受到，而大部分年化損益收益要到2025 財年才能實現，因為庫存和相關成本需要時間。循環查看我們的資產負債表。

With that being said, we are reiterating our full year outlook for adjusted EBITDA between $85 million and $95 million. Note that the fiscal 2024 includes a headwind from reinstituting our incentive compensation program, which is partially offset by the benefit of the 53rd fiscal week.

話雖如此，我們重申全年調整後 EBITDA 的預期為 8500 萬至 9500 萬美元。請注意，2024 財年包括重新制定激勵薪酬計劃帶來的阻力，但第 53 財週的收益部分抵消了這一阻力。

In conclusion, we remain focused on delivering value for our shareholders. As we move through fiscal year 2024, we are focused on strengthening our top line in an uncertain consumer environment and delivering significant cash flow improvements by emphasizing the fundamentals that have historically driven our success. Based on the factors we have discussed today, including our enhanced data-driven read and react capabilities, the continuing focus of winning in our core categories and leveraging the market opportunities that we are uniquely positioned to address, the continued implementation of our Focus, Simplify and Grow cost reduction initiatives and the dedicated team members working in our stores, distribution centers and corporate offices, we believe we are well positioned to deliver value to our shareholders and hit our full fiscal year 2024 outlook. With that, we'd be happy to take your questions. Operator?

總之，我們仍然專注於為股東創造價值。在進入 2024 財年之際，我們的重點是在不確定的消費者環境中加強我們的營收，並通過強調歷史上推動我們成功的基本面來顯著改善現金流。基於我們今天討論的因素，包括我們增強的數據驅動讀取和反應能力、持續關注在我們的核心類別中獲勝並利用我們獨特的定位來應對的市場機會、持續實施我們的“聚焦、簡化”加強成本削減計劃以及在我們的商店、配送中心和公司辦公室工作的敬業團隊成員，我們相信我們有能力為股東創造價值並實現2024 年整個財年的前景。因此，我們很樂意回答您的問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions). Our first question is from David Lantz with Wells Fargo.

（操作員說明）。我們的第一個問題來自富國銀行的大衛·蘭茨。

So the fiscal '24 outlook embeds a pretty sharp improvement in adjusted EBITDA in the second half. So curious if you can talk about how you're thinking about the moving pieces in Q3 and Q4 as well as just at the gross margin and SG&A lines?

因此，24 財年展望表明下半年調整後 EBITDA 將會大幅改善。很好奇您是否可以談談您如何看待第三季度和第四季度的變動部分以及毛利率和銷售、一般行政管理費用線？

David, it's Scott. I can take that one. So yes, I mean, traditionally, keep in mind our profit is at its peak in the back half of Q3 and in Q4. So with the way we see the top line stabilizing in the back half as well as more importantly, our cost reduction initiatives really starting to take hold, that's what gives us confidence that we're going to be able to hit that EBITDA outlook given where we are year-to-date.

大衛，這是斯科特。我可以接受那個。所以，是的，我的意思是，傳統上，請記住我們的利潤在第三季度後半段和第四季度達到頂峰。因此，我們看到後半段的營收趨於穩定，更重要的是，我們的成本削減舉措真正開始發揮作用，這讓我們有信心，我們將能夠實現 EBITDA 前景，因為我們是年初至今。

Got it. That's helpful. And then just on the commentary around comps inflecting -- being positive in July, curious how things are trending quarter-to-date as I'm just trying to square that versus now that top line being down 3% to down 1% for the rest of the year.

知道了。這很有幫助。然後是關於比較變化的評論——7 月份是積極的，好奇季度迄今的情況如何，因為我只是想將這一點與現在下降 3% 到下降 1% 的收入進行比較今年剩下的時間。

David, it's Chris. Yes, as we entered the third quarter, I would say here in August, we're seeing the trends really comparable to the second quarter overall. We talked on -- in the script about Halloween kind of pulling forward and that did help July by, I think, 90 basis points.

大衛，是克里斯。是的，當我們進入第三季度時，我想說的是八月份，我們看到的趨勢確實與第二季度的總體趨勢相當。我們在劇本中談到了萬聖節的推進，我認為這確實幫助 7 月提升了 90 個基點。

So we know that we had some of that pull forward in July. But in the second quarter, we're seeing pretty -- in the third quarter, we're seeing consistent performance to the second.

所以我們知道我們在 7 月份取得了一些進展。但在第二季度，我們看到了相當好的表現——在第三季度，我們看到了與第二季度一致的表現。

The next question is from Laura Champine with Loop Capital.

下一個問題來自 Loop Capital 的 Laura Champine。

Can you just remind us on the balance sheet management. I heard you call out that there's $58 million in liquidity. But is there a cleanup provision that would impact you if you don't have the fourth quarter that you expect? And then it looks like you were careful to control accounts payable. Is that likely to be a source of cash as we move through the year along with inventories?

您能提醒我們一下資產負債表管理嗎？我聽到你說有 5800 萬美元的流動資金。但是，如果您沒有達到預期的第四季度，是否有一項清理條款會對您產生影響？看來你很小心地控制應付賬款。當我們全年與庫存一起移動時，這可能成為現金來源嗎？

Laura, it's Scott. I can tackle that. So keep in mind, as we move into our peak season now in -- I touched on how our availability is tied to the borrowing base, which is tied to inventory. We move into the peak season, we'll have the full amount of our ABL available to us. So that will increase through the balance of the year -- through the balance of the calendar year.

勞拉，這是斯科特。我可以解決這個問題。因此，請記住，當我們現在進入旺季時，我談到了我們的可用性如何與借款基礎掛鉤，而藉款基礎又與庫存掛鉤。我們進入旺季，我們將獲得全額的 ABL。因此，這將通過今年的餘額——通過日曆年的餘額——來增加。

So that will continue to increase our availability as we go. And there's nothing really tied to if we hit this EBITDA level.

因此，這將繼續增加我們的可用性。如果我們達到這個 EBITDA 水平，並沒有什麼真正的聯繫。

In terms of the working capital, working capital has been a significant tailwind for us year-to-date. I anticipate that'll be a little bit worse in the back half, but we will still, for the full year, have a working capital tailwind, but it'll dissipate from this point on as we've got a lot -- as we start to lap our strategic inventory reductions that started to occur at the back half of last year, and we've already realized a lot of that in the beginning part of this year.

就營運資本而言，今年迄今為止，營運資本一直是我們的重要推動力。我預計下半年情況會更糟，但全年我們仍將擁有營運資金順風，但從現在開始這種情況就會消失，因為我們有很多——我們開始實行去年下半年開始的戰略庫存削減，今年年初我們已經意識到了很多。

(Operator Instructions). The next question is from Cristina Fernández with Telsey Advisory Group.

（操作員說明）。下一個問題來自特爾西諮詢小組的克里斯蒂娜·費爾南德斯。

I wanted to see if you can provide more color on the SG&A outlook for the back half. This quarter, at least based on my calculation without some of the onetime items, SG&A expenses were still up. So should we think about the back half improvement being primarily gross margin? Or will SG&A be up -- sort of be it -- sort of leverage as well as we move through the year?

我想看看您是否可以對後半部分的 SG&A 前景提供更多信息。本季度，至少根據我的計算，除去一些一次性項目，SG&A 費用仍然上漲。那麼我們是否應該考慮下半年的改善主要是毛利率？或者，SG&A 是否會隨著我們全年的發展而增加——某種程度上是這樣——某種槓桿？

Cristina, it's Scott. I can tackle that. SG&A, as we go, a lot of our cost reduction efforts, as I've mentioned, are being implemented now and will continue to get in -- executed through the balance of the year. So I do anticipate SG&A to start to improve. There are some items that we have called out like our incentive compensation program that will continue to be a headwind to the extent that we continue to deliver because there was no incentive compensation last year. And this year, it's pretty steady. So we will get the benefit of that. We'll still have the ongoing sort of headwind from the incentive compensation program now.

克里斯蒂娜，這是斯科特。我可以解決這個問題。正如我所提到的，SG&A，隨著我們的發展，我們的許多成本削減工作正在實施，並將繼續實施——在今年剩餘時間內執行。因此，我確實預計 SG&A 將開始改善。我們已經指出了一些項目，例如我們的激勵薪酬計劃，如果我們繼續提供，這些項目將繼續成為阻力，因為去年沒有激勵薪酬。而今年，則相當穩定。所以我們將從中受益。現在我們仍然會受到激勵薪酬計劃帶來的持續阻力。

And then I wanted to understand better the -- your approach to seasonal, it seems like you're taking some sort of targeted investments, as you mentioned, in Halloween. I guess how are you thinking about the back half the holiday assortment, in particular, you leaning into that this year? And where should we expect inventory to end the year?

然後我想更好地了解——您對季節性的處理方式，正如您提到的，您似乎在萬聖節進行了某種有針對性的投資。我想你對假期的後半部分有什麼看法，尤其是今年你傾向於這個？我們預計年底庫存會在哪裡？

It's Rob. Yes. So we talked on the last quarter call about spring and summer and the fact that we had pulled back and that opened up room for Halloween, which as Chris had mentioned, is a great differentiator for us. We also love Halloween because we drive incremental footsteps into the box. We will be pulling forward our holiday assets as well this year to, again, capitalize on that traffic.

是羅布。是的。因此，我們在上個季度的電話會議上討論了春季和夏季，以及我們已經退出並為萬聖節騰出空間的事實，正如克里斯所提到的，這對我們來說是一個很大的差異化因素。我們也喜歡萬聖節，因為我們將漸進的腳步帶入了盒子裡。今年我們也將提前推進我們的度假資產，以再次利用這一客流量。

We see the back half across our seasonal businesses. We expect to be slightly positive year-over-year as we get into the holiday season, again, focused more on decorating and creating craftable projects for the holiday season, which is a differentiator for us.

我們看到季節性業務的後半部分。當我們進入假日季節時，我們預計同比會略有積極，再次，更多地專注於為假日季節裝飾和創造可製作的項目，這對我們來說是一個差異化因素。

And Cristina, it's Scott, to follow up on your inventory piece. As I noted, we were down 14% in Q2. As we leverage our read and react capabilities, we do see some additional inventory purchases coming in the categories where we're winning. So I still expect inventory to be down year-over-year at year-end but to a lesser degree, probably in the mid-single-digit range.

克里斯蒂娜，我是斯科特，負責跟進你的庫存部分。正如我所指出的，我們第二季度下降了 14%。當我們利用我們的讀取和反應能力時，我們確實看到我們獲勝的類別中出現了一些額外的庫存購買。因此，我仍然預計年底庫存將同比下降，但幅度較小，可能在中個位數範圍內。

This concludes our question-and-answer session, and the conference has also now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

我們的問答環節到此結束，會議也結束了。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連接。