Sally Beauty Holdings Inc (SBH) 2025 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Sally Beauty Holdings conference call to discuss the company's fourth-quarter and full-year fiscal 2025 Results.

(Operator Instructions)

Now, I would like to turn the call over to Jeff Harkins, Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasurer for Sally Beauty Holdings.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us.

With me on the call today are Denise Paulonis, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Marlo Cormier, Chief Financial Officer.

Before we begin, I'd like 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. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including those discussed in the Risk Factors section of our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and other filings with the SEC.

Any forward-looking statements made on this call represent our views only as of today. We undertake no obligations to update them.

The company has provided a detailed explanation and reconciliations of its adjusting items and non-GAAP financial measures in its earnings press release and on its website.

Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Denise to begin the formal remarks.

Thank you, Jeff. Good morning, everyone.

Fiscal 2025 was a meaningful year for the company, highlighted by strong operating and financial performance in the context of a rapidly changing and uncertain macro environment. We're pleased to report both Q4 and full-year results that exceeded our expectations.

For our fourth quarter, we delivered comparable sales growth of 1.3%, 100 basis points of gross margin expansion to 52.2%, adjusted operating margin of 9.4%, and a 10% increase in adjusted diluted earnings per share to $0.55.

On a full-year basis, we delivered $3.7 billion in revenue; positive comparable sales; gross margin north of 51%; and adjusted operating margin of 8.9%, which is up 40 basis points to the prior year and above the high end of our guidance range. Adjusted diluted earnings per share came in at $1.90, representing 12% growth compared to last year.

Our core strategic pillars drove customer engagement and sales, contributing approximately 260 basis points of comp sales growth for the full year.

The business also generated a strong cash flow from operations of $275 million, which we deployed towards investing for growth; further strengthening our balance sheet, with $119 million of debt paydown; and returning value to shareholders through more than $50 million of share repurchases.

These results are a testament to the executional excellence across our organization and demonstrate the underlying strength of our business model. We have resilient customers, defensible categories, and strategic initiatives built to drive growth and increase profitability.

Touching on some of the strategic highlights of the year, we advanced the business through several important initiatives.

We maintained our leadership position in color, delivering growth of 7% in fiscal Q4 and 4% for full year 2025. We delivered on our promise of customer centricity, driving strong growth in our Licensed Colorist OnDemand consultation service by delivering standout education and advice.

We extended our reach and fueled digital growth with the expansion of our marketplace strategy, adding Uber Eats to our already strong roster of partners, which includes DoorDash, Instacart, Amazon, and Walmart.

We delivered a continuous pipeline of product innovation, adding new powerhouse brands, like K18 at BSG; and expanding our partnership with Sauce Beauty; as well as adding newness in color from Wella and Iroiro at Sally.

We launched a comprehensive Sally brand refresh, which we are now calling Sally Ignited, designed to transform the business from a trusted beauty supplier to a modern, dynamic beauty powerhouse.

We generated an incremental $46 million of benefits through our Fuel for Growth program in fiscal 2025, building our cumulative run rate benefits to $74 million. Of that cumulative total, approximately $42 million flowed to the bottom line, with the remaining $32 million being reinvested in the business.

Lastly, we are responsible stewards of capital, focused on building long-term value for all of our stakeholders.

Entering fiscal 2026, we have proven our ability to navigate a complex and dynamic external backdrop. We will continue to execute, leveraging the power of our competitive and structural advantages, our global scale, our compelling value proposition, and the strong fundamentals for our business to drive top-line and bottom-line growth.

Throughout the year, our teams will focus on actioning four key growth drivers: understanding and activating the customer, unlocking and harvesting digital value, differentiating with product assortment and innovation, and accelerating new growth pathways. I'll discuss each of these.

Our customer activation strategy is focused on acquisition, retention, and share of wallet. Much of our success is rooted in our customer-centric capabilities. We've always been intensely focused on delivering unmatched levels of education, service, and advice.

Today, we are deepening our understanding of customers beyond the transactional view. By leveraging our rich customer data; advanced analytics, such as our enhanced media mix model; and robust customer research, we can better target high-potential segments. This will enable us to improve customer engagement across touch points that include performance marketing and personalization at both Sally and BSG, as well as refreshed brand marketing and our Licensed Colorist OnDemand offering at Sally.

On the performance marketing front, we are refining our paid search, social media, PR, and influencer strategies, informed by our enhanced media mix model to acquire new customers and drive sales growth.

When it comes to personalization, we are focused on expanding our personalization experiences across all customer touch points, deepening our customer insights to drive the richness of the personalization decisioning and targeting; and strengthening our omnichannel communication and customer connections.

A great example of our refined marketing campaigns is our Plan for Holiday at Sally. We're bringing elevated marketing to our stores and digital channel that has contemporary, unified look and feel, designed to resonate with today's beauty consumer, while staying true to Sally's brand heritage.

Our holiday messaging platform, Save While You Skip the Salon, was created based on our latest customer data and insights and represents a tactical shift from the buying bulk promotions of recent quarters.

Additionally, at Sally, we are embedding Licensed Colorist OnDemand, or LCOD, into our brand marketing strategy to reinforce our key pillars of expertise and accessibility. Our leading indicators offer a compelling view of the lifetime value of our LCOD customer.

12-month spend is almost 2 times higher than non-LCOD customers, including about two additional transactions per year. New and reactivated customers comprise more than 50% of the LCOD customer base. The number of consultations at fiscal year end was averaging a record 5,000-plus per week.

Additionally, our licensed colorists are strengthening their knowledge of the care category and beginning to test care consultations, where we're seeing positive early response.

Moving now to our digital strategy, on the Sally side, there is a clear opportunity to build on the momentum of our marketplace success, which continues to be a key driver of e-commerce sales at Sally US and Canada. In fiscal Q4, Sally US and Canada's e-commerce sales increased 34% over the prior year and comprised 9% of total sales.

Our teams are focused on unlocking greater digital value through the marketplace expansion, leveraging our speed-to-market delivery capabilities and strengthening our digital foundation. This will include website and app enhancements that feature an elevated beauty persona, modern navigation, and a more seamless customer journey, designed to drive increased engagement and conversion.

On the BSG side, mobile app usage accounts for a significant portion of our digital traffic, with increasing reliance on our app for education and transacting. We are targeting the spring of 2026 for substantial update to the BSG app and e-commerce platform, designed to deliver improved user experience and enhanced personalization. We believe this will fuel long-term benefits, including higher conversion, increased retention and engagement, and enhanced brand loyalty.

We're also in the early stages of developing an exclusive digital ecosystem, designed to expand BSG's relationship with a stylist and increasingly integrate into their businesses. This will include a centralized hub for education, community, and services, one that will enable us to leverage data to continuously create incremental value for both our stylists and brand partners.

Turning to product assortment and innovation, for the Sally segment, we are focused on driving multi-category performance by continuing to bring in new brands and products, while expanding and nurturing categories beyond color.

The most obvious opportunities exist in the strategic categories of care and nails, where we already have a strong presence and authority. In addition, we added fragrances as a new category in our top 1,000 Sally US stores at the beginning of November.

We're also leveraging our higher-margin own-brand offerings and have a number of initiatives on deck for fiscal 2026.

First, we are refreshing and relaunching some of our key brands, including Texture ID, Inspired By Nature, and Ion Semi-Brights. We're bringing infrared innovation to the market, with a dynamic collection of Ion styling tools.

We believe that building momentum with our higher-margin own brands will enable us to drive increased customer retention and frequency at Sally, fueling long-term growth and profitability.

For the BSG segment, we are pleased to serve as a trusted and valued resource to our BSG stylists who are always seeking the latest and greatest in trends and innovation. With our ability to reach nearly every stylist in the US and Canada, we provide a valuable platform for brands to grow. We have found that one great brand begets another.

Of note, innovation drove upwards of 30% of BSG's total hair care sales in fiscal 2025. For perspective, that's up approximately 3 times from just a few years ago.

In fiscal 2026, we have another exciting line-up of innovation coming. Key trends include glossing, blonding, smoothing, molecular repair, and scalp care; and will be in stock with highly desired brands like Briogeo, Color Wow, Danger Jones, K18, Moroccanoil, Schwarzkopf, and UNITE.

In addition, we see incremental opportunities for BSG to build upon its strong track record of expanding its distribution rights. This can take shape by partnering with existing brands, pursuing opportunistic acquisitions, and adding new brands, all strategies we successfully actioned in recent years.

Lastly, looking at our strategy from new growth pathways, for our Sally business, we've viewed Sally Ignited as a true game-changer for our platform, going forward. Sally Ignited is a comprehensive initiative, encompassing both physical and digital refreshes; category and brand expansion; and immersive experiences, focused on discovery and community.

We see a tremendous opportunity to supercharge a fundamentally better store experience, especially as we double down on multi-category expansion, continue to deliver a relentless flow of innovation, and lean into momentum in areas like LCOD and marketplaces.

Our mission is to ensure that the Sally brand emotionally connects with our customers, while creating a discovery-focused omnichannel specialty beauty experience, all enabling us to more effectively compete in today's product-obsessed beauty marketplace.

At the end of fiscal 2025, we have completed 30 store refreshes. The stores are modern, on trend, open, warm, and inviting, with a new layout that increases the ease of wayfinding.

We've continued to see customers spending more time in store and cross-shopping categories at an increased rate. Key indicators, including UPT and ATV, are trending above the rest of the fleet.

We are planning to bring Sally Ignited to an additional 50 locations throughout the remainder of fiscal 2026.

Because these refreshes are mostly occurring in stores that were previously slated for updates or relocation, the investment is not incremental to our planned capital spending for the year.

Looking further ahead, we continue to have conviction in the opportunity to refresh up to 1,500 stores or approximately two-thirds of the Sally fleet.

Sally's strong brand equity and 60 years of heritage certainly provide a powerful foundation from which to build. In fact, we are incredibly proud that just last month, Sally is ranked as the number 3 beauty retail brand in the prestigious AlixPartners' Consumer Sentiment Index for 2025.

Turning to our BSG business, we're looking at new category expansion. We're focused on expanding BSG's addressable market by entering adjacent product categories, either organically or through acquisition.

We recently began testing a couple of brands in the skin and spa space, while pursuing aestheticians. More to come on this in the coming quarters.

Now, moving to an update on our Happy Beauty initiative, which currently has 20 stores. We have leaned into Happy Beauty as an indie brand headquarters known for on-trend brands and key categories, such as skin care and fragrance.

Leading up to the holiday season, we recently completed key merchandising updates and implemented new marketing tactics, including increased influencer engagement and messaging that highlights indie brands, test before you buy, dupes, and value.

We're putting a lot of energy behind the holiday-selling season and believe that coming out of that period, we'll be better positioned to understand the trajectory of the concept and the optimal path forward.

Underpinning the top-line growth drivers I discussed is a core discipline focused on profitability unlocks. In fiscal 2025, we generated meaningful operating efficiencies through our Fuel for Growth program. This work is ongoing and encompasses merchandising, sourcing, supply chain, best cost location, and non-trade spend, where we have carried out deep dives and are continuing to extract value.

In the first two years of the program, we generated cumulative run rate gross margin and SG&A benefits of $74 million, above our original expectation for $70 million. We expect to capture cumulative run rate savings of $120 million by the end of our current fiscal year.

Key levers we're focused on include SKU optimization, further supply chain optimization, promotion, and pricing. The expected benefits will continue to be an important contributor to gross margin and bottom-line profitability in fiscal 2026.

Looking further ahead, we are committed to delivering significant value for our customers, associates, and shareholders. Our focused strategies and consistent execution position us to achieve compounding growth, while the strength and flexibility of our balance sheet will enable us to remain disciplined capital allocators.

As part of our long-range planning, we are introducing financial targets to reflect our three-year planning horizon, ending with fiscal 2028. On an annual basis, we expect to generate net sales growth in the range of 1% to 3%; adjusted operating earnings growth of 3% to 5%; adjusted diluted EPS growth of at least 10%, including approximately 50% of free cash flow going to share repurchases; capital expenditures in the range of $90 million to $120 million; and free cash flow of approximately $200 million.

Our foundation is strong and our focus is clear. Our fiscal 2025 performance underpins our confidence that we have the strategy, capabilities, and team in place to scale and win with significant runway for growth and value creation.

Now, I'll turn the call over to Marlo to discuss the financials.

Thank you, Denise. Good morning, everyone.

We concluded the year with strong business momentum, enabling us to deliver fourth-quarter and full-year results ahead of our expectations on the top and bottom line. Our performance reflects our disciplined execution and commitment to long-term value creation.

Turning to the details of the fourth quarter, consolidated net sales increased 1.3% to $947 million, which included 40 basis points of favorable impact from foreign currency translation, while operating 38 fewer stores compared to the prior year. Consolidated comparable sales increased 1.3%.

On the Sally side, we saw strong growth in our core category of color, our digital marketplaces, and from our Sally e-commerce site. At BSG, color also performed well and extended distribution. New brands drove another quarter of positive comp sales.

Global e-commerce sales increased 15% to $105 million and represented 11% of total net sales.

We maintained our strong margin profile in Q4, with gross margin expanding 100 basis points to 52.2%. The year-over-year improvement is primarily attributable to higher gross margin in both business segments, driven by the benefits of our Fuel for Growth program. We expect to maintain our healthy margin profile in fiscal 2026 and anticipate we can continue to offset potential cost of goods impacts related to tariff increases through cost with vendors, sourcing optimization, and modest price increases on select products.

Looking at expenses, Q4 adjusted SG&A totaled $405 million. That's up $14 million to last year, reflecting higher labor costs, bonus expense, rent expense, and IT costs, partially offset by $7 million in Fuel for Growth benefits.

In total, we captured an incremental $13 million of pretax Fuel for Growth benefits to both gross margin and SG&A in Q4, enabling us to deliver an incremental $46 million in pretax benefits in full-year fiscal 2025. This translates to $74 million of cumulative run rate benefits since we initiated a program in fiscal 2024. Of that amount, gross margin benefits totaled $32 million, coming from the optimization of our supply chain, vendor partnerships, and promotional efficiencies.

SG&A benefits totaled $42 million, coming from transportation efficiencies, outsourcing, and reductions in non-trade spend. Approximately $32 million was reinvested in the business to support our strategic initiatives, with $42 million flowing to the bottom line as profit or to offset inflation.

We anticipate delivering an additional $45 million in run rate savings in fiscal 2026, with about two-thirds coming from gross margin and a third from SG&A. By the end of fiscal 2026, we expect that our cumulative run rate savings will be approximately $120 million.

Returning to the P&L, we're pleased to report that bottom-line results exceeded our expectations, driven by gross margin expansion and cost reduction.

Adjusted operating margin came in at 9.4%. Adjusted diluted earnings per share was $0.55, a 10% increase over the prior year. On a full-year basis, we delivered adjusted operating margin expansion of 40 basis points to 8.9%. Adjusted diluted earnings per share growth of 12% to $1.90.

Moving to segment results, Sally Beauty net sales increased 1.4% to $542 million, which included 80 basis points of favorable impact from foreign currency translation, while operating 33 fewer stores versus a year ago. Comparable sales increased 1.2%, with comparable transactions flat and average ticket up 1%.

For the global Sally Beauty segment, color increased 8%, while hair declined 7% compared to the prior year.

Sally e-commerce sales grew 23% to $47 million and represented 9% of segment net sales for the quarter. In addition, e-commerce sales for Sally US and Canada grew by 34%.

Gross margin in our Sally segment increased 90 basis points to 61.3%, driven primarily by higher product margins from the benefits of our Fuel for Growth program. Segment operating margin came in at 15.9%.

Looking at the BSG segment, net sales increased 1.1% to $406 million, which included 10 basis points of unfavorable impact from foreign currency translation, while operating five fewer stores versus a year ago.

Comparable sales increased 1.4% with comparable transactions up 6%, while average ticket was down 4%.

From a category perspective, color increased 5% and care was up 1%.

BSG e-commerce sales increased 8% to $58 million, representing 14% of segment net sales for the quarter.

Gross margin at BSG expanded 100 basis points to 40%, primarily reflecting higher product margins from the benefits of our Fuel for Growth program. The operating margin was strong, coming in at 12.6%, up 160 basis points to the prior year.

Turning to balance sheet and cash flow, we ended the year in strong financial condition, with $149 million of cash and cash equivalent and no outstanding borrowings under our asset-based revolving line of credit.

Inventory levels totaled $988 million, down 5% versus last year. Entering fiscal 2026, we remain focused on driving process improvements to enable faster inventory turns and improve working capital productivity.

Fourth-quarter cash flow from operations totaled $121 million, while free cash flow totaled $78 million. In Q4, we utilized excess cash to repay $21 million of term loan debt, bringing our net debt leverage ratio at year end down to 1.6 times.

We also deployed $20 million of cash to repurchase 1.7 million shares of stock, under our existing share repurchase program.

On a full-year basis, we generated $275 million of operating cash flow and $216 million of free cash flow, allowing us to repay nearly $120 million of term loan debt and repurchase more than $50 million of our shares.

Turning to our fiscal 2026 guidance, on a full-year basis, we expect the following.:

Consolidated net sales in the range of $3.71 billion to $3.77 billion, which includes approximately 50 basis points of favorable impact from foreign currency rates. Comparable sales flat to up 1%.

Adjusted operating earnings of $328 million to $342 million. Adjusted diluted earnings in the range of $2 to $2.10 per share, which assumes that 50% of free cash flow go towards share repurchase.

Capital expenditures are expected to be approximately $100 million. Free cash flow is expected to be approximately $200 million.

In addition, we expect our store count to be approximately flat, including about 40 new stores, 40 store closures, and 50 relocations.

For our first quarter of fiscal 2026, we expect the following:

Consolidated net sales in the range of $935 million to $945 million, which includes approximately 40 basis points of favorable impact from foreign currency rates. Comparable sales, to be approximately flat.

Adjusted operating earnings of $75 million to $80 million and adjusted diluted earnings in the range of $0.43 to $0.47 per share.

In summary, we are pleased to finish the year strong and look forward to making meaningful progress in fiscal 2026 towards the long-term financial targets Denise outlined.

We appreciate your time this morning. Now, I'll ask the operator to open the call for Q&A.

(Operator Instructions)

Oliver Chen, TD Securities.

Denise and Marlo, on the quarter you just had, would love to hear about what were some of the key factors that helped drive the upside at each division.

And then, as we think about the comp complexion this quarter, did ticket run similar to what you expected in terms of the negative ticket trends at BSG, relative to the positive ticket trends at Sally?

And then, would just love to hear your thoughts on your guidance. On your comp guidance, relative to occupancy leverage, what do you see happening in terms of your ability to leverage some of the fixed costs with the comp outlook?

We are very pleased with the performance in Q4. In terms of factors that drove the performance and drove the upside, I think what's really notable in the quarter is the strength of color in both of our businesses.

So in the quarter, color was up 7% overall -- 8% in Sally and 5% in BSG -- really speaking to the strength of the DIY pro product in our Sally segment; and then, the importance of the brands that we carry on the BSG side.

I think, underlying that, the other things that we saw great strength -- marketplaces continued to overperform on the Sally side of the business, which we are pleased to see. Innovation in BSG helped to drive care back into positive sales growth territory, which we were pleased to see as well. And then, finally, customer activation. The strength of the LCOD program, with 5,000 to 6,000 consultations a week and a nice conversion rate in there, was a real benefit, complemented by personalization.

So thrilled with the outcome. I think there's a lot of things there that are positive momentum that will continue with us into fiscal '26.

When we think about the ticket, particularly, I think you commented on the ticket in BSG, it was not surprising at all to us that ticket was down and transactions were up. The behavior that we're seeing from that stylist is they still have a fairly healthy book of business but they continue to buy what they need when they need it.

So they're more likely to come in more frequently and pick up those items, which then, in turn, makes it for a little bit lower basket. But, in total, delivering a little over 1% sales growth, 1.4% comp growth on the BSG side, the relationship with that customer is still extremely healthy.

And then, Marlo, maybe you'll talk a little bit about the occupancy leverage, SG&A, for the coming year?

Yeah. For the coming year, in Q1, the top line is a bit under pressure from some of the government shutdowns. So we'll see a little bit of deleverage there. But as we go through the year, we'll see that leverage improving.

On a full-year basis, we would expect leverage to be fairly similar to last year.

It'd be helpful to ask you a bit about the consumer environment because it's pretty bifurcated, as what we see with more pressure in the middle and low. As you called out, sentiment and government shutdowns on people's minds, as well.

How is that interplaying? What might drive comps better than your guidance? It feels somewhat conservative. But I know there's a cautious optimism, in terms of what you're seeing with the top line.

And then, second question, on the long-term outlook on your net sales growth of 1% to 3%, relative to operating earnings growth of 3% to 5%, where are the leverage points we should think about in that algorithm?

Thank you very much on the margins.

Absolutely. Let me start with on the consumer front. I think what we've seen today is that the Sally customer is resilient; continues to respond well to a lot of the key initiatives we have in play, like Licensed Colorist OnDemand, marketplaces, innovation.

We also see the stylist business being nice and stable. Certainly, we look forward to them having a very positive holiday season upcoming here.

Underneath all of this, I'd say, in particular, on the consumer side, we are seeing consumers remain choiceful. That's not new news. For us, choiceful means continuing to spend in the core color category. They're spending a little wider in styling tools and leaning into value a bit more.

We did see a bit of a slowdown, particularly on the low-income customer coming into our stores, as we've navigated through the 40-plus days of the government shutdown. At this point, we hope that that's transitory behavior. We're certainly watching and monitoring what is happening with that consumer base.

But I think if we step back, we just feel really good about the momentum in the business, with the strategic initiatives driving over 250 basis points of comp this past year and those continuing into the new year. So focused on innovation, performance marketing, personalization, Licensed Colorist OnDemand.

If we said what could help us a little bit more and drive a little bit outsized growth, we always have the potential on the BSG side for expanded distribution, tuck-in M&A that continues to expand our reach with brands existing or new brand partners that is out there.

We're also excited with the work that we're doing on Sally Ignited. We're starting to understand that while that's just in a few stores today, what things we're learning that we can lift and shift? For example, putting in 1,000 Sally stores our fragrance assortment coming into holiday.

So I think those are things that could trend positive. But we think with what we just witnessed with the government shutdown, it's prudent in the way that we're thinking about Q1 but feel great momentum for the full year.

And then, Marlo, do you want to comment a bit on the sales to profit equation, I think, Oliver asked about?

Yeah. I think you were asking to the longer term. And so I think the growth on the top line, on top of that, where we see additional leverage coming and additional growth opportunity to the bottom line, is certainly through the continuation of our Fuel for Growth program.

Most of the heavy lifting will be done through the end of fiscal '26. But it's the muscle memory that will remain within our organization and continue, as we go forward.

So we'll continue to optimize and leverage the capabilities of our Fuel for Growth program for incremental opportunities to drive savings for both reinvestment and flow through to the bottom line. And then, on top of that, our own-brand performance continues to drive those results.

Susan Anderson, Canaccord Genuity.

I was wondering if maybe you can give us an update on the Sally store remodel program. Where are you at with the store remodels? Have you completed any beyond the Orlando market? And then, maybe if you could just talk about where they're performing versus the core in the Orlando market? And then, also, if you've completed ones outside.

Sure. I'm happy to provide an update there.

As of this quarter, we've branded our Sally brand refresh as Sally Ignited. We think it's a great representation of how our customers are reacting when they're coming into our new stores.

Just as a reminder, what are we really doing? It's a physical and digital refresh. It really is about creating a more immersive experience that lets us get more discovery and community.

The store update, in particular, really has a new layout. Nail is displayed in a rotunda that's very dramatic as you come into the store.

There's a discovery bar to help you in hair color choices, with fixtures built for purpose to shop as a specialty retailer rather than a supply store.

There's a cash wrap in the center that really helps our associates deliver the high-quality service that customers have come to expect with us.

Where we are today, at the end of the fiscal year, we had about 30 stores open, which included the full Orlando market, as well as a handful of stores in other locations throughout the country. We're doing both of those models because Orlando will let us test a full marketing program tied with the new program. And then, when you think about the drop in markets, we'll have a great ability to read PT results against specific changes that we're making in the stores to understand what's working, what we might do differently.

We plan for 50 stores in fiscal '26 that will let us continue to extend that reach and test and try. The great news is that's within our capital program for the year because we would have been doing remodels or relocations in a number of stores. We're really doubling down on Sally Ignited.

Specifically, on what we're seeing, we love that we're seeing customers have higher dwell time and shop-cross category when they come into the store, which is a great part of the design that we were looking to do. So that hair color customer exploring the nail, that textured hair customer looking and thinking differently about styling tools is what we were trying to drive.

In turn, we are seeing UPT, as well as ATV -- so our units per transaction and our average transaction value -- higher than the rest of the fleet. That's very encouraging to us and what we hope we'll continue to see as the test progresses.

I'd be remiss not to say we are working to lift and shift things that we're finding that are working quite quickly into some of our core fleet. A great example of that is the expansion of fragrances into 1,000 stores in Sally here for the holiday.

Okay. Great. Interesting. And then, I wanted to maybe follow up just on the strong growth in color at Sally. I think you had said that you are seeing more, new low-income consumers coming in.

One, are you seeing more people do their hair themselves? Is that -- do you think being driven by just their wallets being stretched and wanting to save some money on that front? Are these new consumers, as well, to Sally or are they just coming back?

And then, while they're in the stores, are you seeing them pick up other products in the stores when they do come in to buy color?

Yeah. We love what's happening with color in Sally. I'd say the great thing is that we are seeing new, reactivated, and existing customer growth.

When we think about the new customer growth, we think there's an extra benefit from Licensed Colorist OnDemand, when that customer can get support from an expert to get confidence in, what is really a high-stakes category that you're going to go purchase and take on in your own DIY endeavor.

We're seeing that customer come in. That is fueling some of the growth in the model. There's no doubt about that.

Secondarily, when you think about the customer and then, trying to manage their budget, no matter what income level you are, doing your hair in a salon all the time is a very expensive proposition.

We recently did a survey. Out of the 61% of customers who told us they color their hair, it was quite fascinating that 25% of them do it just DIY, 25% of them split their time between DIY and salon. So think about that as they might get a big update at the salon and they might do touch-ups at home. It was only that remaining 11%, 12% that actually said, I only go to a salon.

So our ability to have them understand how we can help them get that better outcome with things like our in-store support and our LCOD, we think, is driving people into the store, complemented by a great line-up of product and really easy accessibility.

Simeon Gutman, Morgan Stanley.

This is Lauren, on for Simeon.

Our first one is on the longer-term outlook you provided this morning. Just curious, as your Fuel for Growth initiatives wind down this year, what gives you confidence for achieving that longer-term outlook for the EBIT dollar growth, 3% to 5% range?

Oh, yeah. Yeah, the longer-term algorithm that we've set forward -- certainly, you're seeing this fiscal '26 is on the path to that. Again, a big part of that is our growth drivers on the top line, which will help flow through to the bottom line.

But then, also adding to that is the further opportunity within our Fuel for Growth program, which we've got more runway on our supply chain optimization, further opportunities within our vendor negotiations, as well as the combination of own brand penetration continuing to increase.

Okay. Great. And then, just a shorter-term question. On the Sally side, it looks like transactions are still a little bit soft. Can you help us understand how you're thinking about maybe traffic versus ticket for '26, as it relates to the Sally segment; and maybe how your initiatives are positioned to reignite growth for both in '26?

Yeah. Transactions in the Sally segment in the fourth quarter were pretty much flat. Our 1.5% sales growth came from a contribution of AUR and ticket coming into the stores. That's actually an improvement from what we've seen of late, where traffic has been a bit more pressured, particularly on that lower-income consumer side of the business.

Looking ahead into 2026, we expect all the metrics will improve and continue to grow, right? Driving transactions will really be things around our performance marketing and attracting new customers into the fleet, the strength of our personalization and how we continue to enable and fuel that with customer insights to really drive customer, frequency.

And then, when we think about the basket itself, this focus on cross-category shopping is a primary effort that we have going on within our stores that I think is complemented nicely by new innovation coming in and the continued success in our digital strategy that we've had, as of late.

Sydney Wagner, Jefferies.

Can you just share a little bit more about your expectations for category growth that are underpinning the long-term net sales growth range? Curious what trends and innovation you maybe are expecting to drive the category?

And then, maybe just an update on the promotional environment, what you saw during the quarter, and maybe what you're expecting into 2026?

Yeah. When we think about the long-term growth of the business, we believe color is still going to be at the core of both our businesses. We would anticipate continued nice growth in that space.

When we look beyond that, we're looking to have in the Sally business hair and nails -- really, continue to gain traction. Nail and what we're working on the Sally Ignited stores is quite dramatic and quite exciting for us and what we're delivering.

On the BSG side, the innovation flywheel, particularly on the care side of the business, is quite strong.

But I think the part that's exciting in our long-range plan is how we're working on further category expansion. So when we think about that on the BSG side, we're starting to test into skin and spa, which not only can be bought by our existing beauty professionals that are coming into the store but can expand our base to talk more to aestheticians and what they need for their business.

On the Sally side, the opportunity to understand how cosmetics, fragrance, men's grooming can play a larger role in the box and online is going to be an important part of that category side of growth, as well.

So all good things that are underpinned by our ability to activate the customer; harvest digital value, overall.; and then, our new growth pathways that can help us advance that, as well.

And then, to your other question on promotional levels and what we saw in the fourth quarter, in general, I'd say levels for us were fairly similar year over year at both businesses. A little bit of nuance underneath that.

Sally running more promos but shorter days. So that idea of, if this is important to you, there's an expiration time on when you can come in and get a certain offer. It's been something we've been working on.

And then, BSG ran a little bit heavier in promo. But a part of that, as well, was the strength of what we've been able to do with a lot of our brand partners, in terms of preparing for the holiday selling season as we were approaching into the quarter. So we felt good about that.

I think one thing that's really interesting that we're doing in Q1 here and the holiday on the Sally side is trying to move the customer a little bit more in the emotional reason to shop with us. So we've historically done more buy-in-the-bulk promotions, buy-and-save promotions.

And then, the holiday message platform that we have out there now, which is Save While You Skip the Salon, is really the emotional appeal to say, how can you get the outcomes that you want when your budget might not be able to be perfect to be able to afford all of that?

We're really looking to see how that resonates with the customer and are excited about it.

(Operator Instructions)

Olivia Tong, Raymond James.

Great to hear your confidence in providing the long-term targets.

Can you talk about the underlying category growth assumptions embedded in those targets, your market share assumptions; and then, how you think about the contribution of existing doors versus some of the newer categories and doors that you're expanding into or entering?

And then, specific to Q1, the guide is a little bit lighter than we had expected and would be a deceleration versus Q4. But you also expect things to improve as the year progresses. So can you talk about the headwinds that you're seeing in Q1; and then, how you plan to build over the course of the year to give you the confidence despite the volatile backdrop?

Maybe I'll actually do this in reverse order.

I think, first and foremost, when we think about Q1, I want to re-emphasize, we feel great about the underlying momentum in the business. What we've seen in terms of Licensed Colorist OnDemand, innovation, performance marketing, personalization, we think are all very strong.

For the full year, when we think about what underpins that, we assume that the consumer behavior and spending would be very similar to what we saw in fiscal 2025, which is choiceful but resilient. We still think that that's the case.

We are realistic that we do expect that we will have seen some incremental pressure on lower-income consumers in Q1 from the government shutdown.

Just the fear of the nature of when I'm getting that paycheck has an impact on lower-income consumers. And so we're hoping that we're going to be past that very soon. But it's reflected in the expectations for the quarter.

I think, importantly, the model has really proven resilient, with the hair color category at the core. It's really a stable category, rather than the discretionary category. So strength there. We'll remain nimble to respond to changes, as the customer starts moving into the selling season.

I think on the top line, what the other important part to note is that when we move into Q2, we actually are up against an easier compare to last year. So while it's our smallest quarter -- recall, last year, there were a lot of transitory events, whether that was the announcements around tariffs, the very high flu season that hit our stylists quite hard -- we expect Q2 to be a stronger category because of what we're lapping there; and then, the back half of the year to be on trend and on the base of the business.

So I think what we're just doing is we're watchful about how that consumer is spending through this government shutdown period, which is what you're seeing in our Q1 expectation.

Your bigger question, I think, was about long-term growth and what is supporting our long-term growth drivers and that 1% to 3% top-line growth.

Our guidance this year suggests that we'll be on the low end of that range, as we move through the year. I talked about on the call, the four key pillars that we're really focused on, which is understanding and activating the customer; unlocking and harvesting digital value; differentiating with product assortment; and innovation, which includes category expansion; and then, accelerating new growth pathways, which, importantly, is our Sally Ignited program, as well as Happy Beauty.

When I think about where we are in the cycle of these different initiatives, I think the thing to think about is, all of these are prudent track record in what we delivered in FY25, with about 250 basis points growth coming of those from comp.

In terms of pacing and how we see the progression of impact right, I think what's important to think about is, as we go into '27 and '28, what customer activation can do for us and the understanding of the customer, being able to respond to that, incorporating how artificial intelligence can help us on that curve, we think the impact in personalization, performance marketing, and our LCOD campaign, I can't overstate the opportunity that we see there and what we're working on and delivering.

And then, secondarily, I would say category expansion is the other big opportunity as you look to the later years within that long-term guidance range. We're already working on how to work, how to think about this.

So in BSG, we're sampling into skin and spa. We're excited about seeing how our customers react to that and that ability to attract a new aesthetician customer and how we might be able to grow that business meaningfully, as we look to future years.

And then, on the Sally side of the business, we think that there's a lot more runway in the nail portion of business. The way that our Sally Ignited stores bring nail to the forefront, in terms of what a new customer can experience coming in, we think there's a lot there.

And then, we expect that we will also start to more meaningfully play in categories like cosmetics and fragrance in Sally, as well as men's grooming.

So that's going to be some things that are going to go on our growth curve.

We expect that we will continue to have extremely strong performance in color. It is the core of what we do and the expertise that we have.

And then, with these other categories providing underlying growth, our confidence in that 1% to 3% top-line growth is quite solid.

I think there's a lot of things underpinning that just for the Sally business, as well. But when you think about the global hit, the global scale we have, as well as sticky customers and great, high NPS scores, we think we're really on the path here to giving those customers what they want and being rewarded in return.

Great. Just one follow-up on BSG. You had mentioned how stylists are buying closer to demand just in time. I imagine you're pretty adept in terms of providing to them. So can you talk about what you're doing to support that, given that you have that footprint and capability to do that?

Absolutely. I think the great thing and the strength here is with 1,300 stores across the country, our stylists can easily access us and then we can easily support them.

So in addition to being able to come directly into the stores, we do offer two-hour delivery. So if you're engaging digitally and need that product right away, we're there and offer that service for you, as well as buy online, pick up in store.

For our customers who buy in larger quantities, our full-service portion of our business is still there to actively serve our customers and pull through.

But I think what we're excited about is to make things even easier for our customers in the -- a little bit later into 2026, we're actually relaunching our app. Our stylists heavily engage in the app. If you ever sat behind -- got your haircut, they are on their phones all the time. It's how they place their orders, it's how they write down what they need, it's how they think about how they're going to serve their customers.

Our ability to have that app be more intuitive, faster for them to be able to build a basket so then whether they want to buy online, pick up in the store, whether they want to come shop in store, whether they want us to deliver that product to them, we can handle that in all the ways that we need to.

But that idea of supporting speed-to-market to that customer is very important to us.

That concludes today's question-and-answer session.

I'd like to turn the call back to Denise Paulonis for closing remarks.

Well, thank you for joining us all today. Thank you to our teams around the world for delivering a strong quarter and a strong year; but, most importantly, supporting our customers and helping them get the looks that they love and what they like to achieve in their own personal lives.

Thank you to everyone. An early happy holidays. We'll talk to you again next quarter.

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