Solo Brands Inc (SBDS) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Solo Brands, Incorporated first-quarter fiscal-2024 financial results. My name is Emily, and I'll be coordinating your call today. (Operator Instructions)

大家好，歡迎閱讀 Solo Brands, Incorporated 2024 財年第一季財務業績。我叫艾米麗，今天我將協調您的電話。（操作員說明）

I will now hand the call over to our host, Bruce Williams. Please go ahead, Bruce.

現在我將把電話轉交給我們的主持人布魯斯威廉斯。請繼續，布魯斯。

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining the call to discuss Solo Brands first-quarter results, which we released this morning and can be found on the Investor Relations section of our website at investors.solobrands.com. Today's call will be hosted by Chief Executive Officer, Chris Metz; and Chief Financial Officer, Laura Coffey.

大家早安，感謝您參加討論 Solo Brands 第一季業績的電話會議，我們今天早上發布了該業績，您可以在我們網站 Investors.solobrands.com 的投資者關係部分找到該業績。今天的電話會議將由執行長 Chris Metz 主持；財務長勞拉‧科菲 (Laura Coffey)。

Before we get started, I want to remind everyone that management's remarks on this call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are based on current management expectations. These may include, without limitation, predictions, expectations, targets or estimates, including regarding our anticipated financial performance, business plans and objectives, future events and developments and actual results could differ materially from those mentioned.

在開始之前，我想提醒大家，管理層在本次電話會議上的言論可能包含 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的前瞻性陳述，這些陳述基於當前管理層的預期。這些可能包括但不限於預測、預期、目標或估計，包括我們預期的財務表現、業務計劃和目標、未來事件和發展以及實際結果可能與上述內容有重大差異。

These forward-looking statements also involve substantial risks and uncertainties, some of which may be outside of our control and that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. These risks and uncertainties, among others, are discussed in our filings with the SEC. We encourage you to review these filings for a discussion of these risks, including our soon to be filed quarterly report on Form 10-Q and will be available on the Investors portion of our website at investors.solobrands.com. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. These statements are made only as of today, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise them for any new information except as required by law.

這些前瞻性陳述也涉及重大風險和不確定性，其中一些可能超出我們的控制範圍，並可能導致實際結果與此類陳述明示或暗示的結果有重大差異。我們向 SEC 提交的文件中討論了這些風險和不確定性等。我們鼓勵您查看這些文件，以討論這些風險，包括我們即將提交的 10-Q 表格季度報告，該報告將在我們網站的投資者部分提供，網址為 Investors.solobrands.com。您不應過度依賴這些前瞻性陳述。這些聲明僅在今天發布，我們不承擔針對任何新資訊更新或修改這些聲明的義務，除非法律要求。

This call will also contain certain non-GAAP financial measures, including net income as adjusted, diluted earnings per share as adjusted, gross margin as adjusted, and adjusted EBITDA margin, which we believe are useful supplemental measures that assist in evaluating our ability to generate earnings, provide consistency and comparability with our past performance and facilitate period-to-period comparisons of our core operating results and the results of peer companies. Reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures and definitions of these indicators are included in our earnings release, which will be available to our investor portion of our website at investors.solobrands.com.

此次電話會議還將包含某些非公認會計準則財務指標，包括調整後的淨利潤、調整後的稀釋每股收益、調整後的毛利率和調整後的EBITDA 利潤率，我們認為這些是有用的補充指標，有助於評估我們的創收能力收益，提供與我們過去業績的一致性和可比性，並促進我們的核心經營績效與同業公司績效的定期比較。這些非 GAAP 衡量標準與最具可比性的 GAAP 衡量標準的對帳以及這些指標的定義均包含在我們的收益報告中，該報告將在我們網站 Investors.solobrands.com 的投資者部分提供。

Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Chris.

現在，我想把電話轉給克里斯。

Thank you, Bruce, and thank you all for joining us today. I will begin by discussing our first-quarter performance and provide an update on our strategic priorities outlined in our last quarterly call. I will then turn the call over to Laura to discuss our financial results in more detail and our outlook for fiscal 2024.

謝謝你，布魯斯，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。我將首先討論我們第一季的業績，並提供上一季電話會議中概述的策略重點的最新情況。然後我會將電話轉給 Laura，更詳細地討論我們的財務表現以及 2024 財年的前景。

We are pleased with our first-quarter results, as sales and adjusted EBITDA came in ahead of our expectations. Revenues declined 3.3% for the quarter. By channel, direct to consumer declined 6.8% for the quarter, which was a significant sequential improvement from Q4, which declined 21%. Wholesale revenues increased 2.5% despite very difficult comparisons due to a timing shift that we experienced last year. Adjusted EBITDA was better than anticipated, though lower than our expected normalized run rate due to planned investments in people and capabilities in our smallest revenue quarter, which pressured margins.

我們對第一季的業績感到滿意，因為銷售額和調整後的 EBITDA 超出了我們的預期。該季度營收下降 3.3%。按通路劃分，本季直接面向消費者的業務下降了 6.8%，與第四季下降 21% 相比有顯著較上季改善。儘管由於去年我們經歷了時間轉變而很難進行比較，但批發收入仍增加了 2.5%。調整後的 EBITDA 優於預期，但低於我們預期的正常運作率，因為我們在收入最小的季度計劃對人員和能力進行投資，這對利潤率造成了壓力。

I will discuss in a moment in more detail, our two highest focused businesses, Solo Stove and Chubbies but first, let me share an update on our key enterprise-wide strategic priorities. I am pleased with the progress we are making on developing our company wide strategic plan. We hired a leading firm to help us with this exercise and are about 50% of the way through the work stream. Again, the strategic work will inform where we focus our investments, resources and ultimately, how we regain our footing as a high growth and high profitability company. I like what I see so far, and we'll update you in future calls.

我將在稍後更詳細地討論我們最關注的兩個業務，Solo Stove 和 Chubbies，但首先，讓我分享一下我們企業範圍內關鍵戰略優先事項的最新情況。我對我們在製定全公司策略計劃方面所取得的進展感到高興。我們聘請了一家領先的公司來幫助我們完成這項工作，並且工作流程已完成約 50%。同樣，策略工作將告訴我們將投資、資源集中在哪裡，以及最終我們如何重新獲得作為高成長和高獲利公司的立足點。我喜歡目前所看到的情況，我們會在以後的電話中向您通報最新情況。

On our last call, I talked about fixing our direct to consumer or D2C business and returning this channel to growth. Although still way too early, I very much like the progress we saw in Q1. As I mentioned earlier, we went from minus 21% in Q4 versus prior year to minus 6.8% in Q1 versus prior year. Certainly not a victory, but a marked improvement. And importantly, we gained momentum as Q1 progressed.

在我們上次的電話會議上，我談到了修復我們的直接面向消費者或 D2C 業務並使該管道恢復成長的問題。雖然還為時過早，但我非常喜歡我們在第一季看到的進展。正如我之前提到的，我們從第四季與去年同期相比的負 21% 降至第一季與去年同期相比的負 6.8%。當然不是勝利，而是顯著的進步。重要的是，隨著第一季的進展，我們獲得了動力。

On our last call, I also talked about developing a more balanced omnichannel strategy that would not be dilutive to our EBITDA margins. In Q1, we saw a sequential improvement in our D2C performance, and we continue to see growth in our retail channel, which I will discuss more when I talk about the brands in a moment.

在我們上次的電話會議上，我還談到了製定更平衡的全通路策略，該策略不會稀釋我們的 EBITDA 利潤率。在第一季度，我們看到 D2C 業績連續改善，我們的零售通路持續成長，我將在稍後談論品牌時詳細討論這一點。

Now, turning to Solo Stove. In our last call, I mentioned that our top-three priorities are revenue growth, product innovation and talent acquisition. On the revenue front, the changes we are making in our D2C channel are starting to show signs of stabilization with marked improvement in sales year over year in Q1 versus our performance in Q4. Led by our new talent, we made tactical changes to our marketing to create a more balanced approach to acquisition versus retention marketing, stabilizing our ROAS or return on ad spend, we also believe we were able to capitalize on the new customers we acquired through the Snoop campaign.

現在，轉向獨奏爐子。在上次電話會議中，我提到我們的三大優先事項是收入成長、產品創新和人才招募。在營收方面，我們在 D2C 管道中所做的改變開始顯示出穩定的跡象，與第四季度的業績相比，第一季的銷售額同比顯著改善。在新人才的帶領下，我們對行銷進行了戰術變革，以創造一種更加平衡的獲取行銷和保留行銷的方法，穩定我們的廣告支出回報率或廣告支出回報率，我們也相信我們能夠利用透過以下方式獲得的新客戶：窺探活動。

Importantly, we also continued to see solid momentum in our retail channel, supporting the strategic initiative of creating a balanced omnichannel business. With DICK'S, we saw our door count increase in Q1 from 350 stores to 700 stores. We were also able to capitalize on 100-store tests with Tractor Supply, which resulted in increasing our door count in Q1 from 100 doors to over 1,500 doors. Now, it will take time to see significant sales growth from the new doors, but I'm encouraged about the trajectory for our retail channel moving forward.

重要的是，我們的零售通路也持續保持強勁勢頭，支持創造平衡的全通路業務的策略性舉措。憑藉 DICK'S，我們看到第一季的門市數量從 350 家增加到 700 家。我們還能夠利用 Tractor Supply 進行的 100 家商店測試，這使得我們第一季的門數從 100 門增加到 1,500 多門。現在，新門市的銷售量需要一段時間才能看到顯著成長，但我對我們零售通路的前進軌跡感到鼓舞。

During the last call, I discussed our plans to change marketing agencies. We efficiently entered a new relationship with a world-class marketing agency that has full-funnel performance and digital capabilities. I am highly confident this will pay dividends as we move through the balance of this year and beyond.

在上次通話中，我討論了我們更換行銷機構的計劃。我們有效率地與一家擁有全通路績效和數位能力的世界級行銷機構建立了新的合作關係。我非常有信心，隨著我們今年及以後的歲月的推移，這將帶來紅利。

On the talent front, we promoted Mike McGowan to take on the added responsibilities of President of Solo Stove in addition to his role as Chief Growth Officer. We also hired a new sales leader, John Junker, for our growing retail channel. John brings broad experience with our key customers that will enable us to develop deeper, more strategic partnerships with our key customers.

在人才方面，我們提拔 Mike McGowan 除了擔任首席成長長之外，還承擔了 Solo Stove 總裁的額外職責。我們還聘請了一位新的銷售主管約翰·容克（John Junker）來負責我們不斷增長的零售通路。約翰為我們的主要客戶帶來了豐富的經驗，這將使我們能夠與主要客戶建立更深入、更具策略性的合作關係。

Turning to Chubbies. After a record-breaking year in 2023, I am pleased to report that the momentum has continued in Q1. The first quarter marks the beginning of shorts and swim trunk season at retail, and we ran a very successful brand campaign called Trunks for all.

轉向丘比。在經歷了 2023 年破紀錄的一年之後，我很高興地報告第一季這一勢頭仍在繼續。第一季標誌著零售短褲和泳褲季節的開始，我們開展了一項非常成功的品牌活動，名為「Trunks for all」。

Starting in 2024, Chubbies offered swim trunks for all shapes and sizes from people who are newborn to 100 years old, size six months to XXX large. For this campaign, we shipped most of our biggest retail partners the initial floor sets at the end of Q4, so that we were in stores before the critical spring break selling season began. Importantly, for us and our retail partners, sell through exceeded expectations. This is important to see as we enter the height of shorts and trunk season in Q2.

從 2024 年開始，Chubbies 提供各種體型和尺寸的泳褲，從新生兒到 100 歲，尺寸為 6 個月到 XXX 大號。對於這次活動，我們在第四季度末向大多數最大的零售合作夥伴運送了最初的地板套裝，以便我們在關鍵的春假銷售季節開始之前就進入商店。重要的是，對於我們和我們的零售合作夥伴來說，銷售量超出了預期。當我們進入第二季度短褲和短褲季節的高峰時，看到這一點很重要。

As we look forward, we continue to take an omnichannel approach and expect continued growth in D2C retail and our owned retail locations. I'm encouraged by the green shoots we are seeing in the business. While we are very early in our turnaround, our brands are strong and continue to resonate with our customers. This gives us confidence that we have tremendous growth opportunities ahead of us.

展望未來，我們將繼續採取全通路策略，並預期 D2C 零售和我們自有零售店的持續成長。我們在業務中看到的萌芽讓我深受鼓舞。雖然我們還處於扭虧為盈的早期階段，但我們的品牌實力雄厚，並持續與客戶產生共鳴。這讓我們相信我們面前有巨大的成長機會。

Our portfolio is supported by a company that is in a strong financial position, generates strong free cash flow with little debt, which allows us to make the necessary investments to position us for long-term sustainable growth. I want to thank our team for working with the sense of urgency as we continue to execute against our turnaround.

我們的投資組合得到了一家財務狀況強勁、產生強勁自由現金流且債務很少的公司的支持，這使我們能夠進行必要的投資，以實現長期可持續增長。我要感謝我們的團隊在我們繼續實現扭虧為盈的過程中以緊迫感開展工作。

I will now turn the call over to Laura. Laura?

我現在將把電話轉給勞拉。勞拉？

Thank you, Chris, and good morning, everyone. Today, I will walk you through our first-quarter results and provide our outlook for the remainder of fiscal 2024. We are pleased that our first-quarter sales came in ahead of our expectations, driven by strong performance in our wholesale channel. The robustness of our wholesale channel underscores the high demand for our products and the strengthening of the relationships we've built with our retail partners.

謝謝你，克里斯，大家早安。今天，我將向您介紹我們第一季的業績，並提供我們對 2024 財年剩餘時間的展望。我們很高興在批發通路強勁表現的推動下，第一季的銷售額超出了我們的預期。我們批發通路的穩健性凸顯了對我們產品的高需求以及我們與零售合作夥伴建立的關係的加強。

As expected, our EBITDA was impacted by an ineffective marketing spend due to a legacy marketing contract as well as higher distribution costs. As we continue to invest in the business, we also experienced fixed cost increases associated with professional fees and software expense.

正如預期的那樣，我們的 EBITDA 受到了由於遺留行銷合約和較高的分銷成本而造成的無效行銷支出的影響。隨著我們繼續投資業務，我們也經歷了與專業費用和軟體費用相關的固定成本增加。

For the quarter, sales were $85.3 million, a 3.3% decline compared to a year ago. The decline in sales was due to softness in our direct-to-consumer channel that was partially offset by the growth in wholesale. In the direct channel, revenue declined to $51 million in the first quarter compared to $54.8 million a year ago, primarily due to less effective marketing, which resulted in lower site traffic during the quarter. Wholesale revenues increased to $34.3 million compared to $33.5 million driven by continuing growth with our strategic retail partners.

該季度銷售額為 8,530 萬美元，比去年同期下降 3.3%。銷售額下降是由於我們直接面向消費者的管道疲軟，但批發成長部分抵消了這一疲軟。在直接管道中，第一季的營收從去年同期的 5,480 萬美元下降至 5,100 萬美元，這主要是由於行銷效果不佳，導致該季度網站流量下降。由於策略性零售合作夥伴的持續成長，批發收入從 3,350 萬美元增至 3,430 萬美元。

Turning to gross margins. Our gross margins decreased 250 basis points to 59.2% due to sales channel mix shift more to wholesale, which typically has lower gross margins than our direct-to-consumer business. Selling, general and administrative expenses for the quarter increased to $48.4 million compared to $44.6 million a year ago. As a percentage of sales, SG&A expense increased to 56.7% of sales compared to 50.6% a year ago, primarily due to ineffective marketing spend on a legacy marketing contract that we intend to exit later this year, coupled with higher distribution costs as well as higher professional fees and software expenses, all of which was partially offset by lower stock-based compensation expense.

轉向毛利率。由於銷售通路組合更轉向批發，我們的毛利率下降了 250 個基點至 59.2%，而批發業務的毛利率通常低於我們的直接面向消費者業務。該季度的銷售、一般和管理費用增加至 4,840 萬美元，而去年同期為 4,460 萬美元。SG&A 費用佔銷售額的百分比從一年前的 50.6% 上升至 56.7%，這主要是由於我們打算在今年晚些時候退出的遺留營銷合同上的營銷支出無效，加上更高的分銷成本以及較高的專業費用和軟體費用，所有這些都被較低的股票薪酬費用部分抵消。

First quarter net loss was $6.5 million. Adjusted net income was $1.7 million, and adjusted EBITDA was $4.3 million.

第一季淨虧損為 650 萬美元。調整後淨利為 170 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 430 萬美元。

Turning to our balance sheet at the end of the period, we had $15.4 million in cash and cash equivalents. As of March 31, we had $82 million in outstanding borrowings under our revolving credit facility and $90 million under the term loan agreement. The borrowing capacity on our revolving credit facility was $350 million as of March 31, leaving $267 million of availability. Inventory at the end of the quarter was $112.3 million, roughly in line with year end but down nearly $13 million compared to a year ago. We are pleased with the level and quality of inventory, and we will remain focused on disciplined inventory management as we move throughout the year.

看看期末的資產負債表，我們有 1540 萬美元的現金和現金等價物。截至 3 月 31 日，我們的循環信貸安排下的未償還借款為 8,200 萬美元，定期貸款協議下的未償還借款為 9,000 萬美元。截至 3 月 31 日，我們的循環信貸額度的借款能力為 3.5 億美元，剩餘可用金額為 2.67 億美元。本季末的庫存為 1.123 億美元，與年末大致持平，但與去年同期相比減少了近 1,300 萬美元。我們對庫存的水平和品質感到滿意，並且我們將在全年的行動中繼續專注於嚴格的庫存管理。

Moving to our outlook. For fiscal 2024, we continue to expect revenue to be in the range of $490 million to $510 million. We expect adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of 10% to 12% for the full year as we continue to make necessary investments to support our business for the long term. For color, we continue to expect the revenue cadence for the first half and the second half of the year to be similar to our historical patterns.

轉向我們的展望。對於 2024 財年，我們繼續預期營收在 4.9 億至 5.1 億美元之間。我們預計全年調整後的 EBITDA 將在 10% 至 12% 之間，因為我們將繼續進行必要的投資以支持我們的長期業務。對於顏色，我們繼續預計上半年和下半年的收入節奏將與我們的歷史模式相似。

In summary, I'm excited about how we've kicked off 2024. Our focus remains on developing a robust strategic blueprint for all of our brands. We are committed to assembling the right talent and refining our processes, setting the stage for sustainable long-term growth that enhances value for our shareholders.

總之，我對我們如何開啟 2024 年感到興奮。我們的重點仍然是為我們所有的品牌制定穩健的策略藍圖。我們致力於聚集合適的人才並完善我們的流程，為可持續的長期成長奠定基礎，從而提高股東的價值。

With that, I will now turn the call over to the operator to begin Q&A.

現在，我將把電話轉給接線員以開始問答。

(Operator Instructions) Ryan Sigdhal, Craig-Hallum Capital Group.

（操作員說明）Ryan Sigdhal，Craig-Hallum Capital Group。

Hey. Good morning. Curious what you can see on the promo environment and how you think about that going into the summer, maybe to buy a brand or across the portfolio?

嘿。早安.好奇您在促銷環境中看到了什麼，以及您如何看待進入夏季的情況，也許會購買一個品牌或整個產品組合？

Sure. This is Chris, and I'll take that question. The environment is certainly more promotional. We've seen consumers show a bit more discretion with regards to their purchases, knowing that they're more stretched than they have been. That being said, we've reacted, I think, in a very effective manner, which we're seeing in the results of our business so far in Q1 and it's continuing into Q2. And it's predominantly through bundling.

當然。我是克里斯，我來回答這個問題。環境當然更具促銷性。我們發現，消費者在購買商品時表現出了更多的謹慎態度，因為他們知道自己比以前更捉襟見肘。話雖這麼說，我認為我們已經以非常有效的方式做出了反應，我們在第一季迄今為止的業務業績中看到了這一點，並將持續到第二季​​。這主要是透過捆綁來實現的。

So we're doing a nice job. Our marketing team is creating bundles that create a win-win. It creates a better value for consumers, but it also creates higher AOVs for us, and it's not margin dilutive. We're also doing a better job with what I would call retention marketing, where we're mining our current customer base with more effective promotions and more timely promotions around key holidays like Mother's Day this weekend. And so, that's one of the contributions you're seeing from the talent we've brought in, where they're taking the same content that we have because it's still early days and using that content in a more effective, more compelling way. And so, that's across all of our brands, but predominantly, Solo Stove.

所以我們做得很好。我們的行銷團隊正在創造雙贏的捆綁銷售。它為消費者創造了更好的價值，但也為我們創造了更高的平均銷售價值，而且不會稀釋利潤。我們在我所說的保留行銷方面也做得更好，我們在本週末的母親節等重要節日周圍透過更有效的促銷和更及時的促銷來挖掘我們當前的客戶群。因此，這是我們引進的人才所做的貢獻之一，他們採用了與我們相同的內容，因為現在還處於早期階段，並以更有效、更引人注目的方式使用這些內容。因此，我們所有的品牌都是如此，但主要是 Solo Stove。

Now, on the Chubbies side, Chubbies has gone very quietly from on promotion every day of the year to really a half a dozen key promotions that they build their marketing plan around. And they started this last year. It was effective. We continued it into Q1, and it was very effective.

現在，在 Chubbies 方面，Chubbies 已經非常悄悄地從一年中每天進行促銷活動發展到了六次關鍵促銷活動，並圍繞這些促銷活動制定了營銷計劃。他們從去年開始這樣做。這很有效。我們將其延續到第一季度，非常有效。

Their campaign in Q1 was called Trunks for all. So Rainer and his team at Chubbies got a head of the swimsuit season. So we were ahead of spring break and it worked remarkably well. So we had a big, big load-in in Q4 in our wholesale channel, and we had great POS. So importantly, we're in a good healthy position in that business from an inventory standpoint as we move into the warmer selling season.

他們在第一季的活動被稱為「Trunks for all」。因此，Rainer 和他在 Chubbies 的團隊獲得了泳裝季的領先地位。所以我們在春假前就開始了，而且效果非常好。因此，我們的批發管道在第四季度有很大的負荷，而且我們有很棒的 POS。重要的是，隨著我們進入溫暖的銷售季節，從庫存的角度來看，我們在該業務中處於良好的健康地位。

So I'm happy with the way we're approaching the promotional cadence. You'll see our gross margins are still very strong. I mean, obviously, our Q1 here is typically a stronger wholesale quarter for us versus D2C. And that results in a little bit of compression in our margin line but in keeping with our plan. So you'll see our gross margins, I anticipate continuing to be strong as we move through the next couple of quarters in spite of the promotional cadence that we expect.

所以我對我們的促銷節奏感到滿意。你會發現我們的毛利率仍然非常高。我的意思是，顯然，與 D2C 相比，我們的第一季通常是一個更強勁的批發季度。這會導致我們的利潤線有所壓縮，但符合我們的計劃。因此，您會看到我們的毛利率，儘管我們預計會有促銷節奏，但我預計在接下來的幾個季度中我們的毛利率將繼續保持強勁。

Very good. Chubbies, so really strong business performance, Eris a nice job, and good to see that. Opening a standalone store in the Mall of America that I think brings the total store base to seven. But as you think about that brand, how do you think about standalone stores? What kind of store level metrics have you seen on that and expect to see? And then, how do you think about balancing direct-to-consumer wholesale with your own stores?

非常好。Chubbies，業務表現非常強勁，Eris 做得很好，很高興看到這一點。在美國購物中心開設一家獨立商店，我認為這將使商店總數達到七家。但當您想到該品牌時，您如何看待獨立商店？您在這方面看到並期望看到什麼樣的商店等級指標？然後，您如何考慮平衡直接面向消費者的批發與您自己的商店？

So Chubbies, interestingly, we opened our first store about six to seven years ago. And as you say, we're just in the throes of opening our seventh store. So the team has spent a really good amount of time doing what I call proving out the concept. So we've changed our square footage, we've changed our locations and adjacencies. We've changed our merchandising set. We've changed our products that are in the store. We've made a lot of changes over the last six years, and we feel like we've dialed into a concept that we think will work.

有趣的是，Chubbies 大約六、七年前開設了第一家商店。正如你所說，我們正處於開設第七家商店的陣痛之中。所以團隊花了很多時間來做我所說的證明這個概念的事情。所以我們改變了我們的面積，我們改變了我們的位置和鄰近地區。我們改變了我們的銷售組合。我們已經更改了商店中的產品。在過去的六年裡，我們做出了許多改變，我們覺得我們已經引入了一個我們認為可行的概念。

So it gives us what I would call a third leg of the stool. We've got our direct-to-consumer, which has always been very robust. We got wholesale, which is growing very, very nicely. And we've got some key accounts that have really embraced the brand. And now, we're adding that third leg of the stool. And there is tremendous upside in our own store strategy.

因此，它為我們提供了我所說的“凳子的第三條腿”。我們的直接面向消費者的業務一直非常強勁。我們有批發業務，成長得非常非常好。我們有一些真正擁護該品牌的重要客戶。現在，我們要添加凳子的第三條腿。我們自己的商店策略有巨大的優勢。

But importantly, we want to put it in locations that are additive. Personally, I've got a lot of experience in opening retail stores. And whenever I've seen it done correctly, it just grows the pie. What it does is it increases your brand awareness and it brings people to places that they typically want to shop because the brand is front of mind. So I would anticipate that our retail wholesale customers are going to grow as a result of this as well.

但重要的是，我們希望將其放置在可附加的位置。就我個人而言，我在開設零售店方面有很多經驗。每當我看到它做得正確時，它就會讓蛋糕變大。它的作用是提高您的品牌知名度，並將人們帶到他們通常想要購物的地方，因為品牌是最重要的。因此，我預期我們的零售批發客戶也會因此而成長。

So we're going to continue to strategically add stores to locations that we think create great brand awareness for us. And we're going to stretch into areas that are not just warm climates. You mentioned the Mall of America, great opportunity for us because we're seeing people where our Chubbies apparel all over the country regardless of location. And of course, the upper Midwest gets super hot in the summer as well, but we just see the affinity for our brand stretch beyond just the Sunbelt and West Coast states.

因此，我們將繼續策略性地在我們認為可以為我們創造良好品牌知名度的地點增加商店。我們將擴展到氣候溫暖的地區。您提到了美國購物中心，這對我們來說是一個很好的機會，因為我們看到人們在全國各地購買我們的 Chubbies 服裝，無論身在何處。當然，中西部北部的夏季也會變得非常炎熱，但我們只看到我們品牌的親和力不僅限於陽光地帶和西海岸各州。

Ryan Sigdahl

瑞安·西格達爾

One quick clarification. I'll turn it over to others. Accrued expenses and other liabilities jumped up this quarter sequentially as well as debt, I think, associated with that. But can you clarify what's going on there? And if any of that should reverse?

快速澄清一下。我會把它轉給其他人。我認為，本季應計費用和其他負債以及與之相關的債務均出現了大幅上升。但你能澄清一下那裡發生了什麼事嗎？如果其中任何一個應該逆轉？

Yeah. Great question. Thanks for asking. We did see an increase in those accounts, and we anticipate that we will be bringing that down over the summertime. As we've built up for our direct to consumer, our season upon us now, if you think about it. Our best season is Q2 and Q4, so we always start to build some of our inventory for those time periods. We're proud that our inventory is down from last year at the same time, sizably by about $13 million, but we anticipate that we're going to continue to work that inventory down to more manageable levels. But that's where you're seeing some of those increases along the way.

是的。很好的問題。謝謝你的詢問。我們確實看到這些帳戶有所增加，我們預計我們將在夏季將其減少。正如我們為直接面向消費者所做的準備一樣，如果你想一想，我們的季節即將來臨。我們最好的季節是第二季度和第四季度，因此我們總是開始為這些時間段建立一些庫存。我們感到自豪的是，我們的庫存比去年同時減少了約 1300 萬美元，但我們預計我們將繼續將庫存降低到更易於管理的水平。但這就是您一路上看到的一些增長的地方。

Thanks. Good luck, guys.

謝謝。祝大家好運。

Sure. Thank you.

當然。謝謝。

Thanks, Ryan.

謝謝，瑞安。

(Operator Instructions). At this time, we have no further questions registered. I'll turn the call back to the management team.

（操作員說明）。目前，我們沒有登記任何其他問題。我會將電話轉回管理團隊。

Thank you, operator. And we realize that it's going to take some time to digest the results. And as always, we're here willing and able to answer questions as we move forward. But I just want to reiterate that we're in the early innings of our turnaround. We know that it's going to take time for all that we are doing to fully take root. However, personally, I'm very happy with the progress we are making.

謝謝你，接線生。我們意識到需要一些時間來消化結果。一如既往，我們願意並且能夠在我們前進的過程中回答問題。但我只想重申，我們正處於扭虧為盈的早期階段。我們知道我們所做的一切需要時間才能完全紮根。然而，就我個人而言，我對我們所取得的進展感到非常高興。

We're attracting great people and investing in capabilities. You've seen us through the first quarter and it continues into the second quarter, we stabilized our D2C business, and we're leveraging our strong financial model with high gross margins and strong free cash flow. So we look forward to updating you on our results and our progress next quarter. Thank you.

我們正在吸引優秀人才並投資於能力。您已經看到我們度過了第一季度，並且一直持續到第二季​​度，我們穩定了 D2C 業務，並且我們正在利用我們強大的財務模型、高毛利率和強勁的自由現金流。因此，我們期待在下個季度向您通報我們的最新成果和進展。謝謝。

Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. This concludes our call, and you may now disconnect your lines.

謝謝大家今天加入我們。我們的通話到此結束，您現在可以斷開線路了。