Signet Jewelers Ltd (SIG) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Signet Jewelers Q2 Earnings Conference Call. At this time all lines are in a listen only mode. (Operator Instructions) This call is being recorded on Thursday, August 31, 2023.

早上好，女士們、先生們，歡迎參加 Signet Jewelers 第二季度收益電話會議。此時所有線路都處於只聽模式。 （操作員說明）此通話錄音時間為 2023 年 8 月 31 日星期四。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Rob Ballew, SVP of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

現在我想將會議交給投資者關係高級副總裁 Rob Ballew。請繼續，先生。

Good morning. Welcome to Signet Jewelers Second Quarter Earnings Call. On the call today are Signet's CEO, Gina Drosos; and Chief Financial Strategy and Services Officer, Joan Hilson.

早上好。歡迎參加 Signet Jewelers 第二季度財報電話會議。今天參加電話會議的是 Signet 的首席執行官 Gina Drosos；首席財務戰略和服務官瓊·希爾森 (Joan Hilson)。

During today's presentation, we will make certain forward-looking statements. Any statements that are not historical facts are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially. We urge you to read the risk factors, cautionary language and other disclosures in our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to revise or publicly update forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events.

在今天的演講中，我們將做出某些前瞻性陳述。任何不屬於歷史事實的陳述都會受到許多風險和不確定性的影響。實際結果可能存在重大差異。我們強烈建議您閱讀我們的年度報告（表格 10-K）、季度報告（表格 10-Q）和當前報告（表格 8-K）中的風險因素、警示性語言和其他披露內容。除法律要求外，我們不承擔根據新信息或未來事件修改或公開更新前瞻性陳述的義務。

During the call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. For further discussion of the non-GAAP financial measures as well as a reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures most directly comparable to those GAAP measures, investors should review the news release we posted on our website at www.signetjewelers.com/investors.

在電話會議期間，我們將討論某些非公認會計準則財務指標。如需進一步討論非 GAAP 財務指標以及與 GAAP 指標最直接可比的非 GAAP 財務指標的調節表，投資者應查看我們在網站 www.signetjewelers.com/investors 上發布的新聞稿。

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

這樣，我就把電話轉給吉娜。

Thank you, Rob, and thanks to all of you for joining us today. Before getting into our prepared remarks, I want to thank our Signet team for their dedication, resilience and disciplined execution this quarter. In a challenging environment, we over delivered on our commitments. Signet's recognition as a great place to work is driven entirely by our team members' capability and commitment and the winning and inclusive culture we continue to build together.

謝謝你，羅布，也感謝你們所有人今天加入我們。在開始我們準備好的發言之前，我要感謝我們的 Signet 團隊本季度的奉獻精神、韌性和嚴格的執行力。在充滿挑戰的環境中，我們超額兌現了我們的承諾。 Signet 被認為是一個優秀的工作場所，這完全取決於我們團隊成員的能力和承諾以及我們繼續共同構建的獲勝和包容性文化。

There are 3 key messages I'd like to emphasize today. First, we are on track to deliver the year. In the second quarter, we exceeded our revenue and bottom line commitments, and we remain confident in our full year guidance. We delivered these results in a challenging macro environment, which impacts our mid-market customers disproportionately, and as we predicted, with significantly fewer engagements in the quarter resulting from COVID disruption of dating 3 years ago. Our performance against these headwinds reflects both the agility of our team and our flexible operating model.

今天我想強調三個關鍵信息。首先，我們有望實現這一年的目標。第二季度，我們超出了收入和利潤承諾，我們對全年指導仍然充滿信心。我們在充滿挑戰的宏觀環境中取得了這些成果，這對我們的中端市場客戶產生了不成比例的影響，正如我們預測的那樣，由於3 年前的新冠疫情對約會的干擾，導致本季度的互動量顯著減少。我們應對這些逆風的表現既反映了我們團隊的敏捷性，也反映了我們靈活的運營模式。

Second, trends are modestly improving. We've seen generally modest improvement in customer traffic and purchase behavior since early June, with lower price points rebounding, particularly in fashion. Average transaction value or ATV appears to have stabilized and is trending roughly in line with last year. Further, our data capabilities now allow us to track 45 signals of couples progressing toward engagement, and these are falling in line as we anticipated, pointing to a multiyear recovery beginning in our fourth quarter. These are all positive signs as we finalize our preparations for the holiday season.

其次，趨勢正在適度改善。自 6 月初以來，我們發現客戶流量和購買行為總體略有改善，較低的價格點出現反彈，尤其是在時尚領域。平均交易價值（ATV）似乎已經穩定，並且趨勢與去年大致一致。此外，我們的數據能力現在允許我們追踪 45 個情侶訂婚的信號，這些信號與我們的預期一致，表明我們將從第四季度開始實現多年的複蘇。當我們完成假期準備工作時，這些都是積極的跡象。

Third, we are widening our moat of competitive advantages, especially in our personalized marketing, digital experience, data analytics and services. We are generating meaningful cost savings on track to land between $225 million to $250 million this year and reinvesting to drive market share growth over time. We remain confident that we can deliver the midterm goals we outlined at our Investor Day earlier this year.

第三，我們正在擴大競爭優勢的護城河，特別是在個性化營銷、數字體驗、數據分析和服務方面。今年我們將節省大量成本，預計將達到 2.25 億至 2.5 億美元，並進行再投資以推動市場份額隨著時間的推移而增長。我們仍然有信心能夠實現今年早些時候投資者日概述的中期目標。

Let's take a closer look at each of these 3 messages beginning with our performance in the second quarter. We exceeded the high end of our guidance in Q2, delivering approximately $1.6 billion in sales and $103 million in non-GAAP operating income. We achieved this quarter's results despite the meaningful drags of both the challenging macro environment and the predicted decline in engagements. We believe we continue to grow bridal share during this trough and we are confident that engagements are on track to begin their multiyear recovery later this year.

讓我們從第二季度的表現開始，仔細研究這 3 條信息。我們在第二季度超出了指導上限，實現了約 16 億美元的銷售額和 1.03 億美元的非 GAAP 營業收入。儘管充滿挑戰的宏觀環境和預計的業務量下降帶來了重大拖累，但我們還是實現了本季度的業績。我們相信，在這個低谷期間，我們的新娘份額將繼續增長，並且我們有信心訂婚活動有望在今年晚些時候開始多年的複蘇。

Non-GAAP operating income reflects core merchandise margin expansion of more than 180 basis points compared to last year, driven by an increase in services mix, our scaled sourcing efforts and higher lab-created diamond mix, which remains a mid-teen percentage of our diamond business mix. Because of Signet's strategic efforts in branding, style offerings and specialty cuts, the items we are selling with LCDs carry both a higher margin and higher ATV than natural diamonds.

非公認會計準則營業收入反映了核心商品利潤率比去年增長了180 個基點以上，這得益於服務組合的增加、我們規模化的採購工作以及更高的實驗室製造的鑽石組合（該組合仍然占我們的中位數百分比）鑽石業務組合。由於 Signet 在品牌推廣、款式選擇和專業切工方面的戰略努力，我們銷售的 LCD 鑽石比天然鑽石具有更高的利潤和更高的 ATV。

Importantly, compared to this time pre-pandemic, non-GAAP operating margin is up 250 basis points on 18% higher sales despite 16% fewer stores, showcasing that our transformation and flexible operating model is working as intended.

重要的是，與大流行前相比，儘管門店數量減少了16%，但非GAAP 營業利潤率仍增長了250 個基點，銷售額增長了18%，這表明我們的轉型和靈活的運營模式正在按預期進行。

The second point I want to emphasize is the modest improvement we're seeing in the overall health of our customer. Fashion merchandise sales increased sequentially in the second quarter, up 4 points year-over-year compared to the first quarter results. This was led by stronger performances at Kay and Banter which saw improved same-store sales for much of the second half of the quarter. While overall fashion sales improved modestly, we saw a robust improvement through the quarter for fashion merchandise below $1,000. For example, Kay drove great performance in our refreshed basics assortment comprised of timeless core product like suits and diamonds and gold as well as classic styles in neck and bracelet pieces.

我想強調的第二點是我們看到客戶的整體健康狀況略有改善。第二季度時尚商品銷售額環比增長，較第一季度同比增長 4 個百分點。這是由 Kay 和 Banter 的強勁表現帶動的，該公司在本季度下半年的大部分時間裡同店銷售額都有所改善。雖然整體時裝銷售額略有改善，但我們看到 1,000 美元以下的時裝商品在本季度出現強勁增長。例如，Kay 在我們更新的基本產品系列中取得了出色的表現，該產品系列包括永恆的核心產品（如西裝、鑽石和黃金）以及經典款式的頸飾和手鐲。

We've seen the same trend at accessible price points in Banter pieces that provide customers with versatility and that they can wear every day. Kay, Zales and Jared also saw comparable sales growth at the highest price points in our fashion assortment as our core banners remained strong in romantic gifting. Our data on independent jewelers shows declines in this segment, reflecting our share gains in the quarter.

我們在 Banter 服裝中看到了同樣的趨勢，價格實惠，為顧客提供了多功能性，並且可以每天穿著。 Kay、Zales 和 Jared 在我們時尚品類的最高價位上也實現了可比的銷售增長，因為我們的核心旗幟在浪漫禮物方面仍然強勁。我們關於獨立珠寶商的數據顯示該細分市場出現下滑，反映了我們本季度的份額增長。

As we finalize our preparations for the upcoming holiday season, merchandising assortment plays a critical role in our strategy. For example, at Kay, we're leaning into innovation in yellow gold, which continues to trend well and is also multiculturally appealing. Kay is also focusing on gift box assortments under $500 as well as strong bridal innovation, including larger center stone pieces and new collections in Neil Lane and Monique Lhuillier. At Zales, we'll bring new styles into our premier bridal collection Vera Wang LOVE, while also introducing new fine jewelry essentials, including zip earrings and multiple metal options and sizes as well as diamond fashion at accessible price points for everyday wear and gifting.

當我們為即將到來的假日季節做好準備時，商品分類在我們的戰略中發揮著至關重要的作用。例如，在 Kay，我們傾向於黃金創新，這種趨勢持續良好，並且在多元文化中也具有吸引力。 Kay 還專注於 500 美元以下的禮品盒品種以及強大的新娘創新，包括較大的主石以及 Neil Lane 和 Monique Lhuillier 的新系列。在Zales，我們將為我們的頂級新娘系列Vera Wang LOVE 帶來新款式，同時還推出新的高級珠寶必需品，包括拉鍊耳環和多種金屬選項和尺寸，以及價格實惠的鑽石時裝，適合日常佩戴和送禮。

At Jared, we have lifted the penetration of yellow gold to 30% across bridal. Innovated around the collection of gender-inclusive bands and engagement rings and developed a beautiful new elevated entry price personalized term collection with New York City influencer designer Lisa Salazar with a collection from Lulu Frost. We believe this innovation is on trend culturally and at the right price points.

在 Jared，我們已將黃金在婚禮上的滲透率提高到 30%。圍繞性別包容的戒指和訂婚戒指系列進行創新，並與紐約市影響力設計師麗莎·薩拉查 (Lisa Salazar) 和 Lulu Frost 的系列一起開發了一個美麗的全新高入門價格個性化術語系列。我們相信，這種創新在文化上符合潮流，而且價格合適。

Similar to last year, we anticipate that customers will wait a bit later into the holiday season to begin their shopping. Economic pressure on discretionary dollars often leads customers to delay their shopping to Black Friday and the days leading into Christmas. We've built our marketing, labor planning and merchandising strategy for the back half to attract these customers with this in mind.

與去年類似，我們預計顧客將稍晚等到假期季節才開始購物。可自由支配資金面臨的經濟壓力常常導致顧客將購物推遲到黑色星期五和聖誕節前幾天。考慮到這一點，我們為後半部分制定了營銷、勞動力規劃和銷售策略，以吸引這些客戶。

In marketing, this means leveraging our customer data to drive smarter, more personalized messaging on the platforms that our customers are using most, making more effective and efficient use of our spend. Within our labor planning, we're using store-by-store hour-by-hour level data to match labor hours to customer demand. The key message here is that our data and scaled innovation positions us with meaningful advantages for the holidays.

在營銷方面，這意味著利用我們的客戶數據在客戶最常使用的平台上推動更智能、更個性化的消息傳遞，從而更有效和高效地利用我們的支出。在我們的勞動力規劃中，我們使用逐家商店的每小時級別數據來將勞動力時間與客戶需求相匹配。這裡的關鍵信息是，我們的數據和規模化創新使我們在假期中擁有有意義的優勢。

The third and most important point I want to make is our continued confidence that we can deliver our midterm goals over the next 3 to 5 years as we continue to invest to widen our competitive advantages. Two of the most common questions we received from investors are, first, how we've bridged our current year performance from prepandemic. And second, how we're bridging the current year to our midterm goals. We've posted a new investor deck this morning, which I believe addresses these 2 questions, and I'll devote the balance of my remarks to why we are confident in our midterm goals.

我想說的第三點也是最重要的一點是，我們仍然有信心，隨著我們繼續投資以擴大我們的競爭優勢，我們能夠在未來 3 到 5 年內實現我們的中期目標。我們從投資者那裡收到的兩個最常見的問題是，第一，我們如何將今年的業績與大流行前的影響聯繫起來。其次，我們如何在今年實現中期目標。今天早上我們發布了一個新的投資者平台，我相信它解決了這兩個問題，我將用我的發言來解釋為什麼我們對中期目標充滿信心。

We're focused on 4 growth drivers: winning the engagement recovery, expanding accessible luxury, growing services and developing unassailable competitive advantages in digital and data-driven marketing. Taken together, we believe these 4 drivers will lead to a $9 billion to $10 billion in revenue, 11% to 12% annual non-GAAP EBIT margin and diluted non-GAAP EPS of $14 to $16 per share over the next 3 to 5 years.

我們專注於 4 個增長驅動力：贏得參與度復甦、擴大觸手可及的奢侈品、發展服務以及在數字和數據驅動的營銷中發展無懈可擊的競爭優勢。綜合而言，我們認為這4 個驅動因素將在未來3 至5 年內帶來90 億至100 億美元的收入、11% 至12% 的年度非GAAP 息稅前利潤以及14 至16 美元的稀釋後非GAAP 每股每股收益。

Importantly, both the current year and our midterm goals assume no pandemic spending lift with a 1% to 2% compound annual growth rate for the jewelry category from calendar 2019 to calendar 2028. The first big opportunity is bridal. By design, bridal is a big business for us, and as engagements begin their recovery later this year, we're positioning ourselves to capture a multiyear tailwind. This is important because bridal is a highly strategic category. It's frequently the most important emotional and financial point of market entry into the jewelry category. That means that in addition to initial sales, it drives the beginning of lifetime relationships leading to future purchases for special events, anniversaries and holidays throughout our customers' lives.

重要的是，今年和我們的中期目標都假設大流行病支出不會增加，從 2019 年到 2028 年，珠寶類別的複合年增長率為 1% 到 2%。第一個重大機會是婚紗。從設計上來說，婚禮對我們來說是一項大業務，隨著今年晚些時候訂婚量開始復蘇，我們正在為自己做好定位，以抓住多年的順風車。這很重要，因為婚紗是一個高度戰略性的類別。它通常是進入珠寶類別市場最重要的情感和財務點。這意味著，除了初始銷售之外，它還推動了終生關係的開始，從而導致客戶在未來的一生中為特殊活動、週年紀念日和假期進行購買。

We see bridal as a $600 million revenue growth opportunity. Prior to the pandemic, we estimate the number of engagements was consistently close to 2.8 million per year. That began dropping last year, and we estimate it will bottom out this calendar year 2023 between 2.1 million and 2.2 million, or nearly 25% fewer engagements than normal. Based on our data, we believe engagements will begin recovering in Q4 and fully rebound over the next 3 years. Just holding our estimated 30% share of the bridal market and Engagement ATV Constant, the 650,000 increase in total engagements is worth more than $500 million in revenue from engagement rings alone. But we are positioning ourselves to grow bridal market share as we are doing in 2023 and create competitive advantage in the bridal ecosystem of jewelry gifting as well as extending our reach into customers' lifetime value. The remaining $100 million or more of opportunity reflects our investments in personalization, customization and the loyalty to accomplish this.

我們認為婚禮是一個 6 億美元的收入增長機會。在大流行之前，我們估計每年的參與人數一直接近 280 萬。這一數字從去年開始下降，我們預計到 2023 年，該數字將在 210 萬至 220 萬之間觸底，即比正常情況少近 25%。根據我們的數據，我們相信業務量將在第四季度開始恢復，並在未來 3 年內全面反彈。僅保持我們估計的新娘市場 30% 的份額和訂婚 ATV 不變，訂婚總數增加 650,000 份，僅訂婚戒指的收入就超過 5 億美元。但我們的定位是像 2023 年那樣擴大新娘市場份額，在新娘珠寶禮品生態系統中創造競爭優勢，並將我們的影響力擴展到客戶的終生價值。剩下的 1 億美元或更多的機會反映了我們在個性化、定制方面的投資以及實現這一目標的忠誠度。

So why are we confident that engagements will recover? Our confidence is based on 45 proprietary milestones we track to measure a couple's journey toward engagement. While every couple is unique, dating and relationships tend to follow patterns. Not every couple experiences all of the 45 milestones we track, but we know that once they reach 25 to 30 of these milestones, they become statistically significantly more likely to move on to engagement. This quarter, we saw the pool of couples approaching the 25 to 30 milestones, increased by 700 basis points. Additionally, we are seeing states like Texas and Florida, which we opened earlier in the pandemic, 10 points closer to pre-pandemic engagement levels compared to California and New York, which reopened later in the pandemic.

那麼，為什麼我們有信心業務量會恢復呢？我們的信心基於我們跟踪的 45 個專有里程碑，以衡量夫妻的訂婚之旅。雖然每對情侶都是獨一無二的，但約會和關係往往遵循一定的模式。並非每對夫婦都會經歷我們追踪的所有 45 個里程碑，但我們知道，一旦他們達到其中 25 到 30 個里程碑，從統計數據來看，他們變得更有可能繼續訂婚。本季度，我們看到結婚人數接近 25 至 30 個里程碑，增加了 700 個基點。此外，我們看到德克薩斯州和佛羅里達州等我們在大流行病爆發初期重新開放的州，與大流行病後期重新開放的加利福尼亞州和紐約州相比，接近大流行前的參與水平10個百分點。

One final data point here. When we look at early relationship triggers, we're also seeing improvement to last year. For example, one of the early relationship triggers we've mentioned before is going to a sporting event or a concert together, an indicator that is up 7% to early 2022. This is equally important because this recovery will be multiyear and gradual. Signet is well positioned to win in this environment. We have identified a proprietary audience of more than 14 million people who are in dating relationships and are targeting them with education and marketing that's right for them as their journey progresses.

這裡有最後一個數據點。當我們研究早期關係觸發因素時，我們也看到了與去年相比的改善。例如，我們之前提到的早期關係觸發因素之一是一起去看體育賽事或音樂會，這一指標到 2022 年初將上升 7%。這同樣重要，因為這種複蘇將是多年且漸進的。 Signet 完全有能力在這種環境下獲勝。我們已經確定了超過 1400 萬處於約會關係中的專有受眾，並隨著他們的旅程的進展，針對他們提供適合他們的教育和營銷。

Our next growth driver is accessible luxury, which we believe represents $1 billion in revenue growth potential driven by tiering up the Jared brand, expanding the Diamonds Direct fleet and growing our digital banners, James Allen and Blue Nile. We believe Jared represents a $500 million growth opportunity as we expand the assortment of more premium offerings. Compared to Q2 of fiscal year '20, this strategy has already led to growth of ATV and of more than 60% at Jared. Importantly, this reflects only a low single-digit impact from taking price as Jared's ATV improvement has been driven almost completely by assortment optimization and premium items.

我們的下一個增長動力是觸手可及的奢侈品，我們認為，通過提升Jared 品牌、擴大Diamonds Direct 車隊以及發展我們的數字橫幅、James Allen 和Blue Nile，這將帶來10 億美元的收入增長潛力。我們相信，隨著我們擴大更多優質產品的種類，Jared 代表著 5 億美元的增長機會。與 20 財年第二季度相比，這一策略已經帶動 ATV 和 Jared 增長超過 60%。重要的是，這僅反映了價格帶來的低個位數影響，因為 Jared 的 ATV 改進幾乎完全是由品種優化和優質商品推動的。

Our test pilot for preferred assortment continues to drive significantly higher comparable revenue than the remainder of the fleet. And based on early results, that alone would be worth more than $100 million in revenue applied to all Jared stores. We will be expanding the preferred assortment to 50 additional stores in the third quarter ahead of the upcoming holiday season with further expansion planned in coming quarters. We expect to grow Diamond's direct revenue by $350 million over the medium term as we open more than 20 new locations across the country, each of which we expect will build to over $15 million of average annual revenue.

我們的首選品種測試飛行員繼續推動比機隊其他產品顯著更高的可比收入。根據早期結果，僅此一項就將為所有 Jared 商店帶來超過 1 億美元的收入。在即將到來的假日季節之前，我們將在第三季度將首選品種擴大到另外 50 家商店，併計劃在未來幾個季度進一步擴張。我們預計，隨著我們在全國開設 20 多家新店，中期內 Diamond 的直接收入將增加 3.5 億美元，預計每個店的平均年收入將超過 1500 萬美元。

Notably, Diamond's Direct revenue is highly skewed to bridal with an ATV that is more than 4x the average of our other banners. Rounding out growth in accessible luxury are our digital banners, often the tip of the spear for digital enhancements and innovations, our midterm goals reflect a path to more than $1 billion in revenue between Blue Nile and James Allen. We are pleased that the digital replatform was completed on time at the end of July, and we are now fully focused on delivering the growth and synergies made possible by this acquisition.

值得注意的是，Diamond 的直接收入高度偏向於新娘，其 ATV 收入是我們其他橫幅平均收入的 4 倍以上。我們的數字化旗幟，通常是數字化增強和創新的矛尖，使觸手可及的奢侈品的增長更加圓滿，我們的中期目標反映了 Blue Nile 和 James Allen 之間實現超過 10 億美元收入的道路。我們很高興數字化平台重組已於 7 月底按時完成，我們現在完全專注於實現此次收購帶來的增長和協同效應。

Our third growth driver is Services, which we see growing by $500 million to $1.2 billion in revenue, services, which have a roughly 20-point margin premium over merchandise, we'll see about half of that growth from extended service agreements, or ESAs, as we focus on customer visibility and employee training to enhance our customer shopping experience by providing a path to worry-free wear, building trust and growing our lifetime customer base. We drove a 370 basis point increase to ESA attachment rate on in-store bridal purchases this quarter compared to prior year. Product education for our jewelry consultants or JCs, as well as pricing transparency for our customers has been key. We continue to introduce product enhancements like post-purchase attachment. This feature allows customers to purchase the ESA up to 30 days after the jewelry purchase, Allowing our JCs to follow up, for example, with the purchaser after the gifting occasion.

我們的第三個增長動力是服務，我們預計服務收入將增長5 億美元至12 億美元，服務的利潤率比商品高出大約20 個百分點，我們將看到大約一半的增長來自擴展服務協議( ESA) ，因為我們專注於客戶知名度和員工培訓，通過提供無憂穿著的途徑、建立信任和擴大我們的終身客戶群來增強我們的客戶購物體驗。本季度，與去年相比，我們將店內新娘購買的 ESA 附著率提高了 370 個基點。對我們的珠寶顧問或 JC 的產品教育以及對客戶的定價透明度至關重要。我們繼續推出產品增強功能，例如購買後附件。此功能允許客戶在購買珠寶後 30 天內購買 ESA，以便我們的 JC 能夠跟進，例如在送禮場合後與購買者進行跟進。

The progress we've made in ESA is one of the reasons Services outperformed merchandise again this quarter as we delivered more than 4% growth in Services revenue. Customization, repair and piercing will drive the rest of the growth in Services. Last month, we acquired SJR National repair primarily a full-service jewelry and watch repair services business. This acquisition complements the recent transition of Signet's Blue Nile Seattle fulfillment center to a new enterprise-wide repair facility. Signet's national service network now enables business-to-business repair services, watch repair and mailing capabilities among other offerings. We are also increasing the number of locations that provide piercings as well as soldering for permanent jewelry, which is a growing trend, particularly among Gen Z and social media platform users.

我們在 ESA 方面取得的進展是本季度服務業務再次跑贏商品的原因之一，因為我們的服務收入增長了 4% 以上。定制、維修和穿孔將推動服務業的其餘增長。上個月，我們收購了 SJR National Repair，主要提供全方位服務的珠寶和手錶維修服務業務。此次收購補充了 Signet 的 Blue Nile 西雅圖履行中心最近向新的企業級維修設施的轉變。 Signet 的全國服務網絡現已提供企業對企業維修服務、手錶維修和郵寄服務等服務。我們還增加了提供永久性珠寶穿孔和焊接服務的地點數量，這是一種不斷增長的趨勢，特別是在 Z 世代和社交媒體平台用戶中。

The final growth driver is our increasingly digital and data-driven approach to marketing, which enables highly personalized communication and experiences. We see a $450 million opportunity here. We're continuing to grow our newly implemented customer data platform or CDP. This platform is helping us drive both more effective marketing and customized digital shopping experiences. We increased our return on advertising spend by more than 20% this quarter when compared to this time last year by enhancing our targeting and optimizing our channel mix. Further, when a known customer visits our website, we personalize their experience with content based on the customers' known interests, intent and prior shopping behavior. This more personalized shopping experience often targets relevant life, for example, dating, anniversaries, graduations or potential engagements. We recently launched personalized product recommendations for our customers as our first activation and have plans for many other. This level of personalization at scale is a clear competitive advantage.

最後的增長動力是我們日益數字化和數據驅動的營銷方法，它可以實現高度個性化的溝通和體驗。我們在這裡看到了價值 4.5 億美元的機會。我們正在繼續發展新實施的客戶數據平台或 CDP。該平台正在幫助我們推動更有效的營銷和定制的數字購物體驗。通過增強定位和優化渠道組合，本季度的廣告支出回報率比去年同期增加了 20% 以上。此外，當已知客戶訪問我們的網站時，我們會根據客戶的已知興趣、意圖和之前的購物行為，通過內容個性化他們的體驗。這種更加個性化的購物體驗通常針對相關的生活，例如約會、週年紀念日、畢業典禮或潛在的訂婚。作為我們的首次激活，我們最近為客戶推出了個性化產品推薦，並製定了許多其他計劃。這種大規模的個性化水平是一個明顯的競爭優勢。

Rounding out my comments on personalization and customer data, I'd quickly point out that we continue to make great progress and participation and impact with our loyalty program. This quarter, we increased our total enrollment by more than 30%. The ATV of our loyalty members this quarter was 40% higher than nonloyalty members. We continue to test loyalty offerings that elevate the shopping experience in ways unique to jewelry and special occasions. What I hope you can see is that we have concrete achievable building blocks that get us to our midterm goals, and these strategic initiatives are in flight and showing the results we expect.

在總結我對個性化和客戶數據的評論時，我很快指出，我們的忠誠度計劃在參與和影響方面繼續取得巨大進展。本季度，我們的總入學人數增加了 30% 以上。本季度我們忠誠會員的 ATV 比非忠誠會員高 40%。我們繼續測試忠誠度產品，以珠寶和特殊場合特有的方式提升購物體驗。我希望您能看到的是，我們擁有具體的可實現的構建模塊，可以幫助我們實現中期目標，並且這些戰略舉措正在實施並顯示出我們預期的結果。

Signet's business fundamentals are strong and the structural changes we've made over the past few years are working as we intended. As a result, we believe our confidence in our midterm goals is well placed. I'll now pass it over to Joan.

Signet 的業務基礎雄厚，過去幾年我們所做的結構性變革正在按我們的預期發揮作用。因此，我們相信我們對中期目標充滿信心。我現在將其交給瓊。

Thanks, Gina, and good morning, everyone. Our performance this quarter reflects the strength and importance of our flexible operating model as we delivered on our commitments amidst a challenging retail landscape. We drove over $1.6 billion in sales this quarter, down 8.1% to this time last year, with same-store sales down 12%. We have seen top line improvements since the May time frame with second quarter comp sales better than the first quarter, driven by a stronger June and July. Trial performed as we expected, and we saw an increase in conversion in the second quarter compared to the first quarter. We saw sequential improvement in price points below $1,000, particularly within the fashion assortment. Our average transaction value in North America grew more than 4%, with 5 points attributable from Blue Nile.

謝謝吉娜，大家早上好。我們本季度的業績反映了我們靈活的運營模式的實力和重要性，因為我們在充滿挑戰的零售環境中兌現了我們的承諾。本季度我們的銷售額超過 16 億美元，較去年同期下降 8.1%，同店銷售額下降 12%。自 5 月份以來，我們看到營收有所改善，在 6 月和 7 月強勁的推動下，第二季度的銷售情況好於第一季度。試驗的結果符合我們的預期，與第一季度相比，第二季度的轉化率有所增加。我們看到 1,000 美元以下的價格點連續改善，特別是在時尚品類中。我們在北美的平均交易額增長了 4% 以上，其中 Blue Nile 貢獻了 5 個百分點。

Comparable ATV was relatively flat, consistent with the last quarter. Compared to pre-pandemic, our core banners have grown low single digits driven by off-mall and e-commerce growth. Services represents nearly half of the growth in our core banners over the last 4 years with fashion driving the balance consistent with our strategic priorities. Consumer access to credit in the quarter was healthy and approval rates remain near historical norms with overall payment plan penetration at 44%, and the amount financed are both relatively consistent to last year. While we're not directly impacted by rising or declining delinquency rates, those rates among our finance partners have been stable in recent months. Within our agreements, we have guaranteed commitment levels.

可比 ATV 相對持平，與上季度一致。與大流行前相比，在商場外和電子商務增長的推動下，我們的核心橫幅增長了低個位數。過去 4 年，服務業占我們核心橫幅增長的近一半，時尚推動了與我們戰略重點一致的平衡。本季度消費者獲得信貸的狀況良好，批准率仍接近歷史正常水平，總體付款計劃滲透率為 44%，融資金額與去年相對穩定。雖然我們沒有直接受到拖欠率上升或下降的影響，但我們的金融合作夥伴的拖欠率近幾個月一直保持穩定。在我們的協議中，我們保證了承諾水平。

Turning now to gross margin. We delivered $611 million of gross margin or 38% of sales, roughly in line with last year. Overall merchandise margin expanded 80 basis points, largely due to higher services margin as well as a higher penetration of services. Additionally, while organized retail crime loss is up across retailers, generally, our mitigation efforts have resulted in a decrease and store losses compared to the same time last year, boosting gross margins by 15 basis points. Offsetting those gains is deleveraging of fixed costs such as occupancy on lower sales.

現在轉向毛利率。我們的毛利率為 6.11 億美元，佔銷售額的 38%，與去年大致持平。整體商品利潤率擴大了 80 個基點，主要是由於服務利潤率提高以及服務滲透率提高。此外，雖然零售商的有組織零售犯罪損失有所增加，但總體而言，我們的緩解措施導致商店損失與去年同期相比有所下降，毛利率提高了 15 個基點。抵消這些收益的是固定成本的去槓桿化，例如銷售額下降時的入住率。

Now turning to SG&A. Our non-GAAP spend of $507 million or 31% of revenue was 420 basis points higher than last year. Our total SG&A dollars increased due to the Blue Nile acquisition. As we said, we continue to make strategic investments to enhance our moat of competitive advantages which was approximately 120 basis points of the deleverage in SG&A during the quarter. The remaining balance is due to advertising shift into Q2 from Mother's Day timing and deleveraging of fixed cost on lower volume. As a result, we drove a non-GAAP operating margin of $103 million this quarter or 6.4% of sales, above our guidance range on the improved performance in June and July.

現在轉向SG&A。我們的非 GAAP 支出為 5.07 億美元，佔收入的 31%，比去年高出 420 個基點。由於收購 Blue Nile，我們的 SG&A 總額有所增加。正如我們所說，我們繼續進行戰略投資，以增強我們的競爭優勢，即本季度 SG&A 去槓桿化約 120 個基點。剩餘餘額是由於廣告從母親節時間轉移到第二季度以及減少固定成本以降低銷量。因此，本季度我們的非 GAAP 營業利潤率為 1.03 億美元，佔銷售額的 6.4%，高於我們對 6 月和 7 月業績改善的指導範圍。

We remain on track to deliver cost savings in the range of $225 million to $250 million, which is reflected in our guidance which is split fairly evenly between gross margin and SG&A. Key drivers of the savings include noncustomer impact initiatives such as product sourcing initiatives, through the loop, cloud integration, enhanced credit agreements and advertising efficiencies. Tracking as we expected through the first half of the year, we achieved approximately $75 million of savings. As we mentioned last quarter, we plan to close up to 150 stores as part of our fleet optimization efforts over the next 12 months.

我們仍有望實現 2.25 億至 2.5 億美元的成本節約，這反映在我們的指導中，該指導在毛利率和銷售管理費用之間相當均勻地分配。節省成本的主要驅動因素包括非客戶影響計劃，例如產品採購計劃、循環、雲集成、增強的信貸協議和廣告效率。按照我們的預期，今年上半年我們節省了大約 7500 萬美元。正如我們上季度提到的，作為未來 12 個月車隊優化工作的一部分，我們計劃關閉最多 150 家商店。

Approximately 90% of these expected store closures are in mall locations and/or are among the lower performing stores in the U.K. market. We also expect to open between 30 to 35 new stores, primarily Kay, Jared and Diamond Direct locations, which have bigger stores and higher ATVs than the closures. This means that while our store count will decline by roughly 4%, our total square footage will be similar to the prior year.

這些預計關閉的商店中，大約 90% 位於購物中心和/或英國市場表現較差的商店。我們還預計將開設 30 至 35 家新店，主要是 Kay、Jared 和 Diamond Direct 門店，這些門店比關閉的門店擁有更大的門店和更高的 ATV。這意味著，雖然我們的商店數量將減少約 4%，但我們的總面積將與去年相似。

We ended the quarter with $2.1 billion in inventory, which was down $97 million to last year. Inventory, excluding Blue Nile, was down $167 million or 8% compared to last year and when compared to pre-pandemic, it was down 20%, excluding acquisitions. Our inventory turns at 1.4x, consistent with the first quarter is 40% improved compared to pre-pandemic. We see opportunities to further improve our turns over time.

本季度結束時，我們的庫存為 21 億美元，比去年減少了 9700 萬美元。庫存（不包括 Blue Nile）比去年下降了 1.67 億美元，即 8%；與大流行前相比，下降了 20%（不包括收購）。我們的庫存周轉率為 1.4 倍，與第一季度一致，比大流行前提高了 40%。隨著時間的推移，我們看到了進一步提高營業額的機會。

The health of our inventory has improved significantly over the last 4 years, with clearance inventory reduced by approximately 50% compared to pre-pandemic, providing room for critical newness within our assortment.

過去 4 年來，我們的庫存狀況顯著改善，與大流行前相比，清倉庫存減少了約 50%，為我們的品類中的關鍵新品提供了空間。

Now turning to the balance sheet. We ended the quarter with over $690 million of cash and equivalents, down $162 million compared to a year ago. Recall that we paid out $200 million in legal settlements in the first quarter as well as acquired Blue Nile last Q3 for nearly $390 million. Excluding those onetime items, we would have increased our cash position by roughly $425 million compared to the prior year.

現在轉向資產負債表。本季度末，我們的現金及等價物超過 6.9 億美元，比去年同期減少 1.62 億美元。回想一下，我們在第一季度支付了 2 億美元的法律和解金，並在去年第三季度以近 3.9 億美元的價格收購了 Blue Nile。如果不包括那些一次性項目，我們的現金頭寸將比上一年增加約 4.25 億美元。

Our forward capital allocation priorities continue to be led by strategic investments to drive organic growth, including $75 million in expenses this year focused on our digital and consumer insight capabilities and up to $200 million in capital investments. Our other 3 capital allocation priorities include capital returns to shareholders, maintaining a strong balance sheet and small capability building tuck-in acquisitions like SJR repair. Capital returns to shareholders remain an important part of capital allocation. We repurchased $43.3 million of shares in the quarter or nearly 700,000 shares and have repurchased $82.4 million year-to-date. We had approximately $718 million in remaining repurchase authorization at the end of the quarter.

我們的遠期資本配置優先事項繼續以戰略投資為主導，以推動有機增長，包括今年專注於我們的數字和消費者洞察能力的 7500 萬美元支出以及高達 2 億美元的資本投資。我們的其他 3 個資本配置優先事項包括股東資本回報、維持強勁的資產負債表以及 SJR 維修等小型能力建設收購。股東資本回報仍然是資本配置的重要組成部分。我們在本季度回購了 4,330 萬美元的股票，即近 70 萬股股票，今年迄今已回購了 8,240 萬美元的股票。截至本季度末，我們剩餘的回購授權約為 7.18 億美元。

This morning, we also declared a $0.23 dividend to common shareholders which, as a reminder, is 15% higher than a year ago, and we believe being a dividend growth company is an integral part of our capital allocation strategy. Within our debt structure, $148 million in bonds are now current, and we anticipate paying those off at maturity next June with cash on hand. The convertible preferred shares, which dilutes our share count by approximately 15% are resumable in November 2024 and we are weighing our options to address those at this time and look forward to sharing those plans when we are able.

今天早上，我們還宣布向普通股股東派發 0.23 美元的股息，提醒一下，這一股息比一年前高出 15%，我們相信成為一家股息增長公司是我們資本配置策略不可或缺的一部分。在我們的債務結構中，目前有 1.48 億美元的債券在流動，我們預計明年 6 月到期時會用手頭現金償還這些債券。可轉換優先股將稀釋我們約 15% 的股份，將於 2024 年 11 月恢復，我們目前正在權衡解決這些問題的選擇，並期待在有能力時分享這些計劃。

Turning to guidance. Consistent with my comments last quarter, we continue to anticipate a cautious consumer driven by macro pressure reflected in traffic decreases. We will continue to use strategic levels of promotion to encourage traffic and conversion. For the third quarter, we expect revenue in the range of $1.36 billion to $1.41 billion and non-GAAP operating income in the range of $10 million to $25 million. The top end of our range assumes comp trends similar to the first half. We continue to expect a deleverage of fixed costs to continue in the third quarter on lower sales. as well as the impact of strategic investments, which will be marginally higher as a percentage of sales in the third quarter due to seasonally slower revenue.

轉向指導。與我上季度的評論一致，我們繼續預計，在交通量下降所反映出的宏觀壓力的推動下，消費者會持謹慎態度。我們將繼續利用戰略層面的促銷來鼓勵流量和轉化。對於第三季度，我們預計收入在 13.6 億美元至 14.1 億美元之間，非 GAAP 營業收入在 1000 萬美元至 2500 萬美元之間。我們範圍的上限假設比較趨勢與上半年相似。我們仍然預計，由於銷售額下降，第三季度固定成本將繼續去槓桿化。以及戰略投資的影響，由於季節性收入放緩，戰略投資佔第三季度銷售額的百分比將略有上升。

We expect to achieve approximately $65 million of cost savings in the third quarter. Of note, Blue Nile becomes comparable beginning in the third quarter. For the full year, we are reaffirming revenue and non-GAAP operating income guidance. Recall that fiscal '24 revenue guidance is in the range of $7.1 billion to $7.3 billion, and non-GAAP operating income in the range of $635 million to $675 million. We are raising our non-GAAP earnings per share guidance to be in the range of $9.55 to $10.14, reflecting share repurchases in the second quarter.

我們預計第三季度將節省約 6500 萬美元的成本。值得注意的是，Blue Nile 從第三季度開始就變得可比。對於全年，我們重申收入和非公認會計準則營業收入指導。回想一下，24 財年的收入指導範圍為 71 億美元至 73 億美元，非 GAAP 營業收入範圍為 6.35 億美元至 6.75 億美元。我們將非 GAAP 每股收益指引上調至 9.55 美元至 10.14 美元，反映了第二季度的股票回購。

Recall in the fourth quarter, we believe we will begin a multiyear engagement recovery. We will cycle shutdowns in the U.K. in the fourth quarter, and our strategic investment impact is lower as a percent of sales due to the seasonally strong holiday revenue.

回想一下第四季度，我們相信我們將開始多年的參與度復甦。我們將在第四季度在英國進行週期性停工，由於季節性強勁的假期收入，我們的戰略投資影響佔銷售額的百分比較低。

Before we move on to Q&A, I want to thank our team for their focus on the consumer, which enabled us to exceed our revenue and bottom line commitments in the quarter and advance our strategic priorities. With that, we'll open the line for Q&A.

在我們進行問答之前，我要感謝我們的團隊對消費者的關注，這使我們能夠超越本季度的收入和利潤承諾，並推進我們的戰略重點。這樣，我們將開通問答熱線。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Ike Boruchow from Wells Fargo.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自富國銀行的 Ike Boruchow。

Okay. I guess 2 questions from me. Maybe, Joan, just a little bit more, just back to credit, given what's in the headlines of late. Can you just make sure we all understand, like is there a profit share that's embedded in your credit arrangements today? I know your credit business is very different than what it was 5 years ago. So I guess my first question there is, is there a profit share? And then how do you -- yes or no, how do you think about potential headwinds on your top line in a tightening credit environment? And then I have a follow-up to that.

好的。我想我有兩個問題。也許，瓊，再多一點，回到信用，考慮到最近的頭條新聞。您能否確保我們都理解，例如您今天的信貸安排中是否包含利潤分成？我知道你們的信貸業務與 5 年前有很大不同。所以我想我的第一個問題是，有利潤分成嗎？然後，您如何看待在信貸緊縮環境下您的收入可能面臨的潛在阻力？是或否？然後我有一個後續行動。

Great. Ike, thanks for the question. As you know, we -- our consumers have access to a broad range of credit through strong partnerships that provide a variety of financing options and it's on a cascading level. We've continued to achieve a financing penetration that's roughly flat year-to-date to last year. It's 44% just to dimension it and 39% of that is with our private label credit card program. We have guaranteed commitment levels with our financing partners in terms of credit approval. And as you know, we have no consumer credit balance sheet risk, and we have no revenue or loss sharing provisions within our agreement. So while we don't share in the credit risk with our credit partners, our partners have indicated that our portfolio delinquency rates are in line with last year. And we also have strong partnerships, including second looks for lower credit scores.

偉大的。艾克，謝謝你的提問。如您所知，我們的消費者可以通過強大的合作夥伴關係獲得廣泛的信貸，這些合作夥伴關係提供各種融資選擇，而且是級聯的。我們繼續實現融資滲透率，今年迄今與去年基本持平。 44% 只是為了確定尺寸，其中 39% 是通過我們的自有品牌信用卡計劃。我們與融資合作夥伴在信貸審批方面保證了承諾水平。如您所知，我們沒有消費者信貸資產負債表風險，並且我們的協議中沒有收入或損失分擔條款。因此，雖然我們不與信用合作夥伴分擔信用風險，但我們的合作夥伴表示，我們的投資組合拖欠率與去年一致。我們還擁有強大的合作夥伴關係，包括二次尋找較低的信用評分。

Got it. And then just one more follow-up. Just on margin, so can you just kind of -- looking at the back half and specifically to 4Q, can you kind of talk about the bridge of the margin that you've seen in the first half and the improvement or the stabilization you're kind of planning in the back half?

知道了。然後還有一個後續行動。就利潤率而言，你能不能——看看後半段，特別是第四季度，你能談談你在上半年看到的利潤率橋樑以及你的改進或穩定嗎？後半段有什麼計劃嗎？

Sure Ike, thanks for the question. In the first half of the year, we saw a point of impact from Blue Nile, roughly 1 point from strategic investments that of roughly [7x]-- $5 million that we anticipate for the year and 2 points essentially from the deleverage on fixed costs given the lower comp range of double digit. In the third quarter, the strategic investments will be slightly higher impact because of the seasonally lower sales. But for the overall back half, the Blue Nile impact will begin to abate, we'll have less deleverage on fixed costs with improved comp sales in 4Q from engagement recovery in U.K. cycling of the shutdowns and then more cost synergies, particularly in 4Q. This will allow operating margins to improve in the back half of the year.

當然，艾克，謝謝你的提問。今年上半年，我們看到了 Blue Nile 的一個影響點，大約 1 個點來自於我們預計今年大約 [7x] 的戰略投資——500 萬美元，2 個點主要來自於固定成本的去槓桿化給出兩位數的下限補償範圍。第三季度，由於銷售季節性下降，戰略投資的影響將略大。但就下半年整體而言，青尼羅河的影響將開始減弱，我們對固定成本的去槓桿化將會減少，第四季度的公司銷售將因英國停工週期的參與度恢復而有所改善，然後成本協同效應會更大，特別是在第四季度。這將使下半年的營業利潤率有所改善。

Your next question comes from the line of Lorraine Hutchinson from Bank of America.

您的下一個問題來自美國銀行的洛林·哈欽森 (Lorraine Hutchinson)。

Can you talk to the factors driving the improved fourth quarter sales? And maybe just give us some more clarity on how much benefit you've included from the expected recovery engagements, the lapping of the issues in the U.K. and any other considerations?

您能談談推動第四季度銷售額改善的因素嗎？也許只是讓我們更清楚地了解一下您從預期的複蘇活動、英國問題的解決以及任何其他考慮因素中獲得了多少好處？

Sure. Lorraine, let me start on that and then Joan, feel free to jump in. We -- let me go through a little bit what's included in our guidance and what's not included in our guidance. So what is included is an assumption that the overall consumer environment stays the same or even worsens modestly. The cost savings that Joan talked about in her remarks of $225 million to $250 million, which is largely back-ended engagement decline. So we are expecting the -- that engagements will begin to improve. The trough in Q3 and will begin to come up in Q4, but it is a multiyear recovery. So we have assumptions and that engagements will still be below a year ago in the fourth quarter. And we are assuming that the U.K. cycles, the shutdowns that were in fourth quarter last year. So said a different way, what's not in is we're not assuming improvements in macro trends. We're not assuming weather improvements, and we're not assuming any change in the normal flow-through from sales.

當然。 Lorraine，讓我開始講這個，然後 Joan，請隨意插話。我們——讓我簡單介紹一下我們的指南中包含的內容以及我們的指南中未包含的內容。因此，其中包括一個假設，即整體消費環境保持不變，甚至略有惡化。 Joan 在她的講話中談到了 2.25 億至 2.5 億美元的成本節省，這主要是後端參與度下降造成的。因此，我們預計參與度將開始改善。第三季度的低谷將在第四季度開始出現，但這是一個多年的複蘇。因此，我們有假設，第四季度的業務量仍將低於一年前。我們假設英國處於週期狀態，即去年第四季度的停工。換句話說，我們沒有假設宏觀趨勢有所改善。我們不假設天氣會改善，也不假設正常銷售流量會發生任何變化。

And then...

進而...

I was just going to add on the low end of guidance. It allows for softening trends a softer macro economy or slower recovery engagements might occur and modest higher student loan repayment impact. So just a little bit of modest impact related to that in the low end of our guidance. Sorry, Lorraine, go ahead with your next question.

我只是想補充一下低端的指導。它允許出現疲軟的趨勢，即宏觀經濟疲軟或複蘇速度放緩，並適度提高學生貸款償還影響。因此，與我們指導的低端相關的影響很小。抱歉，洛林，請繼續你的下一個問題。

Joan, I was just hoping you could talk us through your priorities for cash flow as you enter the back half.

瓊，我只是希望你能在進入後半部分時向我們介紹一下你的現金流優先事項。

So as cash flow in the back half, we've talked about the strategic investments that we're making, and there's roughly $75 million of those throughout the year, but we're committed to advancing our strategic priorities. Our intention is to continue with returning capital to shareholders. We announced today our dividend, which is 15% higher than last year this time. And we'll continue to manage our inventories consistent with the advancements that we've made with digital with our analytics capabilities. And what's really important about the inventory management is in my remarks, we were 4% down to last year, 8% down, excluding acquisitions, our inventory is healthy, and it's a true strength for us. And so when we look at this [3 and 2] previous prepandemic levels, we're 20% down overall, but 50% down in clearance.

因此，就下半年的現金流而言，我們已經討論了我們正在進行的戰略投資，全年大約有 7500 萬美元，但我們致力於推進我們的戰略優先事項。我們的目的是繼續向股東返還資本。今天我們宣布了我們的股息，這次比去年高出15%。我們將繼續根據我們在數字化和分析能力方面取得的進步來管理我們的庫存。庫存管理真正重要的是，在我的講話中，我們比去年下降了 4%，下降了 8%，不包括收購，我們的庫存很健康，這對我們來說是真正的優勢。因此，當我們查看 [3 和 2] 之前的大流行前水平時，我們總體下降了 20%，但清除率下降了 50%。

Why that's important to our cash flow is that is enabling us to bring in newness that we're excited about, Gina mentioned a number of those ideas within her prepared remarks. So continuing to manage inventory, diligently leveraging analytics, inventory right place, right time and on continuing to manage churn effectively.

為什麼這對我們的現金流很重要，因為它使我們能夠帶來我們感到興奮的新鮮事物，吉娜在她準備好的講話中提到了其中的一些想法。因此，繼續管理庫存，努力利用分析，在正確的地點、正確的時間庫存，並繼續有效地管理客戶流失。

Your next question comes from the line of Paul Lejuez from Citi.

您的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的 Paul Lejuez。

It's Brandon Cheatham on for Paul. I just want to circle back on like the credit question. Are you seeing any difference in approval rates? I understand that you probably have an agreement that a certain FICO score has to get approved. But are you seeing differences in like the customers that are purchasing on credit? Is there any kind of difference in like the FICO score that they have. And then the amount of customers that are using credit to make purchases, can you give us any details where that is now compared to pre-pandemic, I think during the pandemic that came down, but are you seeing that starting to normalize?

布蘭登·奇塔姆 (Brandon Cheatham) 替補保羅。我只想回到信用問題。您發現支持率有什麼差異嗎？據我了解，您可能同意一定的 FICO 分數必須獲得批准。但您是否發現賒購客戶之間存在差異？他們的 FICO 分數有什麼區別嗎？然後，使用信用卡進行購物的客戶數量，您能否向我們提供與大流行前相比的任何詳細信息，我認為在大流行期間，但您是否看到這種情況開始正常化？

Thanks, Brandon. With respect to the private label credit card program, as I mentioned, our penetration rate is 39%, and it's really relatively consistent to the prior year, lower than pre-pandemic, we saw a shift in customer usage. Pre-pandemic, it was above 50%. And so we've seen that shift, but that's been relatively consistent over the last couple of years. What we are seeing is that approval rates are consistent in-store but down related to the ability to apply for credit online. So it's really just a shift in channel, but our core 80% of our business in store is relatively consistent with respect to approval rates.

謝謝，布蘭登。至於自有品牌信用卡計劃，正如我提到的，我們的滲透率為 39%，與前一年相比確實相對穩定，低於大流行前，我們看到客戶使用情況發生了變化。大流行前，這一比例超過50%。所以我們已經看到了這種轉變，但在過去幾年中這種轉變相對一致。我們看到的是，店內的批准率是一致的，但與在線申請信貸的能力有關。所以這實際上只是渠道的轉變，但我們 80% 的核心店內業務在批准率方面相對一致。

What we are also seeing is that the average amount financed has increased to last year, which really is in sync with our average transaction value, including our Blue Nile acquisition is up over the prior year. So amount financed is -- continues to be strong for us. So we're very pleased with the credit portfolio and the work that we're doing to continue to offer a wide variety of options for our customers.

我們還看到，平均融資金額較去年有所增加，這確實與我們的平均交易價值同步，包括我們對 Blue Nile 的收購比去年有所增加。因此，融資金額對我們來說仍然強勁。因此，我們對信貸組合以及我們為繼續為客戶提供多種選擇而所做的工作感到非常滿意。

Yes. The only thing I'd add is that we do have 2 financing alternatives that are not FICO dependent. That's progressive leasing and our installment loans kind of pay later split pay with the firm. And those are really catching hold. So I think the way that Jones team has built this cascade of financing alternatives is working in our favor.

是的。我唯一要補充的是，我們確實有兩種不依賴 FICO 的融資選擇。這就是累進租賃，我們的分期貸款是先與公司分攤付款。這些確實很有效。因此，我認為瓊斯團隊建立的一系列融資替代方案的方式對我們有利。

That's very helpful. And then I was wondering if you could talk about like how material costs are trending. I think I've seen diamond prices have started to come down. Does that end up helping your margins? And anything that you can talk about on that?

這非常有幫助。然後我想知道您是否可以談談材料成本的趨勢。我想我已經看到鑽石價格已經開始下降。這最終會提高你的利潤嗎？對此您有什麼可以談論的嗎？

There are a couple of things that are helping our margins. That was a good story in the quarter. One is the strategic sourcing efforts that we've put in place. So we work with our vendors, far in advance to make sure that we can get the best pricing on our product. And then that can be passed through to our customers in great value to drive top line as well as have a bottom line benefit. So that's an ongoing effort for us. We also have put increasingly more analytics against what we call strategic revenue management. So how we manage the combination of pricing, promotion, discounting and assortment levels at different price points, and that work is really helping the margin.

有幾件事有助於提高我們的利潤。這是本季度的一個好故事。一是我們已經實施的戰略採購工作。因此，我們提前與供應商合作，以確保我們的產品能夠獲得最優惠的價格。然後，這可以為我們的客戶帶來巨大的價值，從而推動營收並獲得利潤。所以這對我們來說是一個持續的努力。我們還針對所謂的戰略收入管理進行了越來越多的分析。因此，我們如何管理不同價格點的定價、促銷、折扣和分類水平的組合，這項工作確實有助於提高利潤。

And then finally, it's what Joan talked about, which we have very healthy inventory. And so we're taking marks earlier and not rolling as many things through to clearance, which is a great story. So that's really helped. So in terms of the material cost, we think we're well positioned to kind of continue on the path that we've been on and deliver the strong margins that we've committed to.

最後，這就是瓊所說的，我們有非常健康的庫存。因此，我們會更早地進行標記，而不是滾動那麼多的東西來通關，這是一個很棒的故事。所以這真的很有幫助。因此，就材料成本而言，我們認為我們處於有利位置，可以繼續走我們一直走的道路，並實現我們承諾的強勁利潤。

Your next question comes from the line of Mauricio Serna from UBS.

您的下一個問題來自瑞銀 (UBS) 的毛里西奧·塞爾納 (Mauricio Serna)。

Great. I guess I just wanted to ask first about the Q3 sales guidance. Does that like imply any type of divergence in performance if we think about the banners segmented according to price points, the low to mid-tier versus the higher end? And then maybe you could talk about thinking about the Q4 implied operating income guidance, I think it implies a modest operating margin expansion, roughly 30 basis points. I just want to understand if that's like coming both from gross margin improvement and also SG&A as a percentage of sales?

偉大的。我想我只是想先問一下第三季度的銷售指導。如果我們考慮根據價格點（低端到中端與高端）細分的橫幅，這是否意味著性能存在任何類型的差異？然後也許你可以談談考慮第四季度隱含的營業收入指導，我認為這意味著營業利潤率適度擴張，大約為 30 個基點。我只是想了解這是否既來自於毛利率的提高，也來自於銷售管理費用佔銷售額的百分比？

Mauricio, Let me start first with some of the consumer dynamics that we're seeing. And then, Joan, maybe you can get into the guidance aspect. But from a consumer dynamic, there are really 3 strategies that we have to address our holiday shoppers this year. There is always an early savvy shopper, typically, a woman typically buying at lower price points, typically comes into the category, September, October and is done with her shopping by Black Friday. We expect that shopper to shop a bit later this year, and we've really structured our marketing, our promotions, our assortment to draw her in early, but also cater to her natural cautious outlook on the economy right now and her desire to get the best deal.

Mauricio，首先讓我從我們看到的一些消費者動態開始。然後，瓊，也許你可以進入指導方面。但從消費者動態來看，今年我們必須針對假日購物者採取 3 種策略。總有一個精明的早期購物者，通常是女性，通常以較低的價格購買，通常會在九月、十月進入該類別，並在黑色星期五之前完成購物。我們預計該購物者會在今年晚些時候購物，我們確實構建了我們的營銷、促銷和產品分類，以便儘早吸引她，但也迎合了她對當前經濟的自然謹慎看法以及她對購買商品的渴望。最好的交易。

Then as we move into the fourth quarter, we see more romantic gifting happened, tends to be at higher price points. We see bridal beginning its 3-year recovery. And so I think those are some of the consumer trends that we consistently look at and manage our marketing inventory, store labor, all of those to meet the consumer where they are during shopping.

然後，當我們進入第四季度時，我們會看到更多浪漫的禮物發生，而且價格往往更高。我們看到新娘業開始了為期三年的複蘇。因此，我認為這些是我們持續關注和管理我們的營銷庫存、商店勞動力的一些消費者趨勢，所有這些都是為了滿足消費者在購物期間的需求。

And then with respect to the guidance in Q3, we were pleased with what we saw in June and July. We were pleased with the selling under $1,000. We saw that pick up, particularly in fashion. So we have translated that into our Q3, Q4 guidance as well, Mauricio. So that's a bit underneath the covers from a Folio perspective. And we're assuming consistent trends with the first half of the year in Q3. And then as I said, the cycling of U.K. shutdowns and the beginning of the bridal recovery in Q4 is what's driving some of that increase in the fourth quarter. And then when you think about the front half, back half with respect to the operating margin, as I said in the first half, we had 1 point of impact from Blue Nile, 1 point from strategic investments and 2 points from the deleverage of fixed costs.

然後，關於第三季度的指導，我們對六月和七月看到的情況感到滿意。我們對售價低於 1,000 美元感到滿意。我們看到了這種回升，尤其是在時尚界。因此，毛里西奧，我們也將其轉化為第三季度和第四季度的指導。因此，從 Folio 的角度來看，這有點不為人所知。我們假設第三季度的趨勢與上半年一致。正如我所說，英國的關閉循環和第四季度新娘復甦的開始是推動第四季度增長的部分原因。然後，當你考慮前半部分、後半部分的營業利潤率時，正如我在上半年所說，我們受到 Blue Nile 的 1 點影響，1 點來自戰略投資，2 點來自固定資產去槓桿化。成本。

So when you look into the back half of the year and particularly in the fourth quarter on stronger seasonal selling in the fourth quarter, the deleverage impact abates. We are also seeing the pressure coming from Blue Nile acquisition begin to abate in the back half. Gina mentioned in her prepared remarks that we've completed the replatforming for Blue Nile, James Allen, and that was a critical element of us driving the synergies from that acquisition and that went very well. The team worked very hard to bring that to be with, so we could start the back half off on the new platform and be able to really harvest those synergies. And then there is some deleverage from -- or some impact related to the strategic investments as well. So overall, that's the dynamic between front half, back half and the improvement that we're seeing in our bank [rate].

因此，當你回顧今年下半年，特別是第四季度的季節性銷售強勁時，去槓桿化的影響就會減弱。我們還看到來自 Blue Nile 收購的壓力在下半年開始減弱。吉娜在她準備好的發言中提到，我們已經完成了 Blue Nile James Allen 的平台重組，這是我們推動此次收購產生協同效應的關鍵因素，進展非常順利。團隊非常努力地實現這一目標，因此我們可以在新平台上開始後半部分，並能夠真正收穫這些協同效應。然後還有一些來自戰略投資的去槓桿化或一些與戰略投資相關的影響。總的來說，這就是前半部分、後半部分之間的動態以及我們在銀行[利率]中看到的改善。

Got it. Very helpful. And then just very quickly, just one clarification on the Q3. I think you mentioned that this quarter to Q3, Blue Nile is like already comfortable. But I think -- I thought like the -- you started like consolidating Blue Nile in September, so I thought we would still get like 1-month contribution. Just want to clarify that point.

知道了。很有幫助。然後很快就對 Q3 進行了一項澄清。我想您提到第三季度到第三季度，Blue Nile 已經很舒服了。但我認為——我想——你在 9 月份開始整合 Blue Nile，所以我認為我們仍然會得到 1 個月的捐款。只是想澄清這一點。

Yes. We acquired the Blue Nile on August 18. So there's a couple of weeks of noncomp.

是的。我們於 8 月 18 日收購了 Blue Nile。所以有幾週的非競爭期。

Your next question comes from the line of James Sanderson from Northcoast Research.

您的下一個問題來自 Northcoast Research 的 James Sanderson。

Just wanted to follow up on the credit concerns we've heard in the marketplace. I think you had mentioned that your percentage of sales on credit had maintained at 44% in the quarter. Is that correct?

只是想跟進我們在市場上聽到的信用問題。我想您曾提到，本季度您的賒銷銷售額比例保持在 44%。那是對的嗎？

That is correct.

那是對的。

Is that -- I think that's a little bit weaker than prior quarters. How should we look at that slight shift in sales mix?

我認為這比前幾個季度要弱一些。我們應該如何看待銷售組合的微小變化？

It's roughly the same, Jim, from quarter-to-quarter. So we've been very pleased with the penetration. And as I mentioned earlier, the amount finance has increased, we've been able to offer credit online to our customers. And while the approval rate online is not as high in store, we're very pleased with the response to that advancement.

吉姆，每個季度的情況都大致相同。所以我們對滲透率非常滿意。正如我之前提到的，融資金額增加了，我們已經能夠向客戶提供在線信貸。雖然在線支持率沒有實體店那麼高，但我們對這一進步的反應感到非常滿意。

All right. And I just had a question about the EBIT margin. I think at the IR day, you had guided to a midterm goal of about 11%. If we take out the incremental investments made this year in some technology, is that a good run rate for the type of EBIT margin we could achieve -- Signet could achieve next year?

好的。我只是有一個關於息稅前利潤率的問題。我認為在 IR 日，你們指導了大約 11% 的中期目標。如果我們扣除今年在某些技術上進行的增量投資，對於我們可以實現的息稅前利潤類型（Signet 明年可以實現）來說，這是否是一個良好的運行率？

So just thinking about the Investor Day, that was a midterm goal, which is really 3 to 5 years is the dynamics that we wrapped around our goal what we are doing to drive those increases really related to something Gina just mentioned was strategic revenue management is a key lever for us and really through analytics, understanding the elasticity of pricing and promotion and then also strategic sourcing initiatives that we talked about at the Investor Day where we engage in things with our vendors really driving joint business planning, so that we're driving inventories into our business or receive into our business just in time with cost transparency. So we're able to optimize our margins. That's a critical lever for us in that growth -- in that margin expansion as well as continuing less the analytics around our very healthy inventories and continuing to drive further productivity there.

因此，想想投資者日，這是一個中期目標，這實際上是3 到5 年的動力，是我們圍繞目標所做的事情，我們正在做的事情是推動這些增長，這與吉娜剛才提到的戰略收入管理有關對我們來說，這是一個關鍵槓桿，真正通過分析，了解定價和促銷的彈性，以及我們在投資者日討論的戰略採購計劃，我們與供應商一起真正推動聯合業務規劃，以便我們推動庫存進入我們的業務或及時接收進入我們的業務，並且成本透明。因此我們能夠優化我們的利潤。這是我們實現增長的關鍵槓桿——利潤率擴張以及繼續減少圍繞我們非常健康的庫存的分析，並繼續推動那裡的生產力進一步提高。

And then with respect to cost savings and expansion. We will continue to optimize our fleet and assess the right balance of e-commerce and on in-store and really bringing even more to life to connect the commerce experience for our customer. So we're excited about the opportunity to drive into these initiatives over the next several years.

然後是成本節約和擴張。我們將繼續優化我們的機隊，評估電子商務和店內的適當平衡，並真正為我們的客戶帶來更多的商務體驗。因此，我們很高興有機會在未來幾年推動這些舉措。

Okay. Okay. Understood. And just one last question on the store closures and new unit openings. I think you mentioned potentially with a 4% drag on same-store sales related to closures but offset by the incremental revenue from the new store openings for the next 12 months? Is that the right way to look at that balance between openings and closings?

好的。好的。明白了。最後一個問題是關於商店關閉和新店開業的。我想您提到過，與關閉相關的同店銷售可能會受到 4% 的拖累，但會被未來 12 個月新店開業帶來的增量收入所抵消？這是看待開盤和閉盤之間平衡的正確方法嗎？

Yes. What we said is that the openings, Jim, relate to larger stores and higher volume stores. So that's helping us with the top line. And then the larger stores is what keeps -- even though we're closing up to 150 and opening 30 to 35, they're larger stores. So therefore, our square footage remains similar to the prior year.

是的。吉姆，我們所說的是，這些空缺與規模更大、銷量更大的商店有關。這對我們的營收有幫助。然後規模較大的商店才能保留下來——即使我們關閉了 150 家並開設了 30 至 35 家，但它們都是規模較大的商店。因此，我們的面積與去年相似。

Your next question comes from the line of Dana Telsey from Telsey Group.

您的下一個問題來自 Telsey Group 的 Dana Telsey。

It was encouraging to see that the ATV increased 4% and Blue Nile obviously, being a contributor to that. If you ex-out Blue Nile, what did you see throughout the banners, and obviously, lower price point fashion is a big mention. What are you seeing there across the banners how is the margin profile on that, especially given the strength in the gross margin that we saw this quarter, the opportunity for that to continue?

令人鼓舞的是，ATV 增長了 4%，而 Blue Nile 顯然對此做出了貢獻。如果您退出 Blue Nile，您在整個橫幅中看到了什麼，顯然，較低價格點的時尚是一個重要的提及。您在橫幅上看到了什麼，其利潤率狀況如何，特別是考慮到我們本季度看到的毛利率強勁，這種情況有機會繼續下去嗎？

Thanks, Dana. So you (inaudible) Blue Nile, we saw relatively consistent ATV performance to the prior quarter down slightly -- relatively flat, down slightly as the way I picture that for you. And what contributed to that was we saw a consistent performance in some buckets, some price points, but what we were very pleased with was the improvement in the price points under 1,000 and specific bands over 1,000 were also strong. And we saw that happen more so in June and July. So as we think about that leading into the holiday season, we were very encouraged by that and the response to the fashion assortment that we have.

謝謝，達納。所以，（聽不清）Blue Nile，我們看到相對穩定的 ATV 表現與上一季度相比略有下降——相對持平，略有下降，正如我為您描繪的那樣。促成這一結果的原因是，我們在某些類別、某些價位上看到了一致的表現，但令我們非常滿意的是 1,000 以下價位的改善，以及 1,000 以上的特定頻段也很強勁。我們看到這種情況在六月和七月發生得更多。因此，當我們想到假期即將到來時，我們對此以及對我們時尚品種的反應感到非常鼓舞。

Bridal in and of itself was relatively consistent throughout the quarter as we -- in line with our expectations. And so as we -- and as you know, we are at 50%, roughly 50% penetration in bridal in our business. So as we lean into the recovery of bridal or engagements in the fourth quarter, we would expect to see ATV that have a positive impact on ATV.

婚禮本身在整個季度相對穩定，符合我們的預期。正如你們所知，我們的婚禮業務滲透率為 50%，大約 50%。因此，當我們傾向於第四季度婚禮或訂婚活動的複蘇時，我們預計 ATV 會對 ATV 產生積極影響。

Got it. And then any more color on the gross margin, Joan, that you would add for the balance of the year into next year, what's sticky, what's not?

知道了。然後，瓊，您將為今年的餘額添加到明年的毛利率上的任何其他顏色，什麼是粘性的，什麼不是？

Yes. So what we've said is within our cost savings, roughly half of those of the $225 million to $250 million is within gross margin. It really back ended for the year and a significant portion of that just proportionately in the fourth quarter. So that's something that will continue to be a positive for us as we progress through the year. I think inventory health is just another very strong management by our team across all banners. We have very strong inventory discipline in the analytics to tell us right assortment, right place, right timing is we're really leaning into that. And we'll use strategic promotion, as we always do, and we have -- I think Gina mentioned in her prepared remarks that we have items at a price that bring value to our customers, but they've been strategically positioned within our assortment to manage gross margin.

是的。因此，我們所說的是在我們的成本節約範圍內，2.25 億至 2.5 億美元的成本節約中大約有一半是在毛利率範圍內。今年確實已經結束，其中很大一部分是在第四季度按比例結束的。因此，隨著我們今年的進展，這將繼續對我們產生積極的影響。我認為庫存健康狀況只是我們團隊在所有領域的另一個非常強大的管理。我們在分析方面有非常強大的庫存紀律，可以告訴我們正確的品種、正確的地點、正確的時間，這是我們真正傾向於的。我們將像往常一樣使用戰略促銷，而且我們已經——我想吉娜在她準備好的發言中提到，我們的商品價格可以為我們的客戶帶來價值，但它們在我們的產品類別中進行了戰略定位來管理毛利率。

We've talked in the past a value engineering that we do with our vendors where we can use off weight diamonds to construct pieces that offer consumers a better value but also give us a higher margin. So we have a number of strong value-engineered items at a price in this year's holiday assortment.

我們過去曾與供應商討論過一項價值工程，我們可以使用減重鑽石來構建為消費者提供更好價值的產品，同時也為我們帶來更高的利潤。因此，我們在今年的節日產品系列中提供了許多物美價廉的超值商品。

We do have a follow-up question coming from Mauricio Serna from UBS.

我們確實有來自瑞銀 (UBS) 的毛里西奧·塞爾納 (Mauricio Serna) 提出的後續問題。

Great. Just wanted to follow up on -- if you have any additional commentary on lab-grown diamonds. There's still like concerns about the impact on price and profitability. I think you alluded to it has been a benefit to you so far, but maybe what you're seeing across the industry? Or do you have like any concerns going into the back half, a consumer that's still very constrained on their discretionary spending and whether an increasing shift to that particular lab-grown diamonds could affect you at some point.

偉大的。只是想跟進 - 如果您對實驗室種植鑽石有任何其他評論。人們仍然擔心這對價格和盈利能力的影響。我認為您提到到目前為止這對您來說是有好處的，但也許您在整個行業中看到了什麼？或者您是否對後半段有任何擔憂，消費者的可自由支配支出仍然非常有限，以及越來越多地轉向特定的實驗室製造鑽石是否會在某個時候影響您。

Thanks, Mauricio. So we are seeing consumers gravitate increasingly to lab-created diamonds they do offer a great value for customers, especially in the kind of macroeconomic environment that we found ourselves in. And so we're seeing that increase. They still represent a mid-teen percentage of our mix -- of our diamond mix. So not incredibly significant in that sense. But through our scaled sourcing efforts and the work that we've done on branding, style offerings, special cuts, our LCD items actually carry both a higher margin and a higher ATV than natural diamonds on average. So we believe that our efforts to strategically brand our assortments are working and that consumers who often come in with a budget in mind are actually trading up to higher size or higher-quality lab-created diamonds, which gives them an even more beautiful look and creates great lifetime relationship potential for us.

謝謝，毛里西奧。因此，我們看到消費者越來越傾向於實驗室製造的鑽石，它們確實為客戶提供了巨大的價值，特別是在我們所處的宏觀經濟環境中。所以我們看到了這種增長。它們仍然占我們的鑽石組合的中位數百分比。所以從這個意義上來說並不是非常重要。但通過我們規模化的採購工作以及我們在品牌推廣、款式選擇、特殊切工方面所做的工作，我們的 LCD 產品實際上比天然鑽石平均具有更高的利潤和更高的 ATV。因此，我們相信，我們對我們的產品系列進行戰略性品牌宣傳的努力正在發揮作用，並且經常考慮預算的消費者實際上會購買更大尺寸或更高質量的實驗室製造的鑽石，這使它們具有更美麗的外觀和為我們創造了巨大的終生關係潛力。

So our teams have done a terrific job making that a higher margin and higher ATV offering for us.

因此，我們的團隊做得非常出色，為我們提供了更高的利潤和更高的 ATV 產品。

There are no further questions at this time. I'd now like to turn the call back over to Ms. Gina Drosos, CEO, for any closing remarks.

目前沒有其他問題。現在我想將電話轉回給首席執行官吉娜·德羅索斯 (Gina Drosos) 女士，讓其作結束語。

Well, thank you again for joining us today. We continue to navigate this pressured environment and are confident in our capabilities. We're leaning in to widen our competitive advantages to drive market share growth. Thank you.

好的，再次感謝您今天加入我們。我們將繼續在這個充滿壓力的環境中前行，並對我們的能力充滿信心。我們正在努力擴大我們的競爭優勢，以推動市場份額的增長。謝謝。

Thank you, ma'am. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines. Have a lovely day. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference.

謝謝你，女士。女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。我們感謝您的參與，並請您斷開線路。祝你愉快。女士們、先生們，你們的會議到此結束。