Signet Jewelers Ltd (SIG) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Signet Jewelers third-quarter fiscal 2024 earnings call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded. Joining us on the call today are Rob Ballew, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations; Gina Drosos, Chief Executive Officer; and Joan Hilson, Chief Financial, Strategy, and Services Officer. At this time, I would like to turn this conference over to Mr. Rob Ballew, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

早安，歡迎參加 Signet Jewelers 2024 財年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，正在記錄此事件。今天參加我們電話會議的還有投資者關係資深副總裁 Rob Ballew；吉娜·德羅索斯，執行長；財務、策略和服務長 Joan Hilson。現在，我想將這次會議交給投資者關係高級副總裁 Rob Ballew 先生。請繼續，先生。

Good morning. Welcome to Signet Jewelers third-quarter earnings conference call. During today's discussion, 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.

早安.歡迎參加 Signet Jewelers 第三季財報電話會議。在今天的討論中，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 10-K 表年度報告、10-Q 表季度報告和 8-K 表當前報告中的風險因素、警示性語言和其他揭露資訊。除法律要求外，我們不承擔根據新資訊或未來事件修改或公開更新前瞻性聲明的義務。

During the call we'll discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. For further discussion of the non-GAAP financial measures as well as reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures, investors should review the news release we posted on our website at ir.signetjewelers.com. With that, I'll turn the call over to Gina.

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 財務指標以及非 GAAP 財務指標與最直接可比較的 GAAP 指標的調節，投資者應查看我們在 ir.signetjewelers.com 網站上發布的新聞稿。這樣，我就把電話轉給吉娜。

Thank you, Rob, and thanks to all of you for joining us today. Our team delivered this quarter with non-GAAP operating income at the high end of our expectations. Recall, the jewelry category is experiencing its second COVID as engagements are down 25% due to the disruption of dating 3 to 3.5 years ago.

謝謝你，羅布，也謝謝你們所有人今天加入我們。我們的團隊本季的非公認會計準則營業收入達到了我們預期的上限。回想一下，珠寶類別正在經歷第二次新冠疫情，由於 3 至 3.5 年前約會的中斷，參與度下降了 25%。

Through this environment, our team has continued to be agile and innovative, resulting in Signet growing our bridal market share again this quarter. I'm confident we'll grow from this trough next year just like we rebounded strongly from the closures of the pandemic. Our team knows our customers, create unrivaled experiences to meet their needs, and delivers on our commitments. In this time of year, their expertise really shines. I'm honored to work alongside them.

在這種環境下，我們的團隊繼續保持敏捷性和創新性，導致 Signet 本季的婚紗市場份額再次成長。我相信，我們明年將擺脫這個低谷，就像我們從大流行關閉中強勁反彈一樣。我們的團隊了解我們的客戶，創造無與倫比的體驗來滿足他們的需求，並兌現我們的承諾。每年的這個時候，他們的專業知識確實大放異彩。我很榮幸能與他們一起工作。

I'd like to leave you with three key takeaways today. First, we delivered our financial commitments this quarter, and remain on track to deliver the year. Even as we delivered a profitable third quarter, we invested in marketing and merchandise strategies to deliver our fourth quarter commitment and to drive share gains. Jewelry continues to be an important gifting category particularly among Gen Z, with Black Friday weekend results in line with our expectations.

今天我想給大家留下三個要點。首先，我們在本季兌現了財務承諾，並將繼續按計劃實現今年的目標。儘管我們第三季度實現了盈利，但我們仍投資於行銷和商品策略，以兌現我們第四季度的承諾並推動份額成長。珠寶仍然是重要的禮物類別，尤其是對 Z 世代來說，黑色星期五週末的結果符合我們的預期。

Second, the multi-year engagement recovery has begun as we predicted with engagement ring units beginning to rebound in recent weeks. While we still expect a gradual recovery over the next three years of the 45 proprietary relationship milestones that we track, we have seen the expected progression to late-stage milestones over the past few months. This progression is highly correlated with engagement ring purchases, which we have also seen increase over the last several weeks. Importantly, engagement rings are the catalysts to lifetime value, which makes them a competitive advantage for establishing sustainable long-term growth.

其次，正如我們預測的那樣，多年訂婚復甦已經開始，訂婚戒指數量在最近幾週開始反彈。雖然我們仍然預計我們追蹤的 45 個自營關係里程碑將在未來三年內逐步恢復，但在過去幾個月中我們已經看到了預期進展到後期里程碑的情況。這項進展與訂婚戒指的購買量高度相關，過去幾週我們也看到訂婚戒指的購買量增加。重要的是，訂婚戒指是終身價值的催化劑，這使其成為建立可持續長期成長的競爭優勢。

Third, our company is strategically positioned to leverage our scale and competitive advantages to help weather the highs and lows of our category and general macro pressures. For example, we are the largest advertiser in our industry by far with three times the annual spend of our nearest competitor.

第三，我們公司的策略定位是利用我們的規模和競爭優勢來幫助應對我們類別的高低和整體宏觀壓力。例如，我們是迄今為止行業中最大的廣告商，年支出是最接近的競爭對手的三倍。

The scale and effectiveness of our marketing spend is reflected in the fact that our top three banners, Kay, Zales, and Jared have top-of-mind awareness among jewelry consumers that is twice that of nearly any other US retailer. Our consumer insights also give us foresight, which, for example, helped us predict the engagement slowdown and reduce our inventory double digits, even while investing in the newness for the holidays.

我們行銷支出的規模和有效性反映在以下事實中：我們的三大品牌 Kay、Zales 和 Jared 在珠寶消費者中的知名度幾乎是任何其他美國零售商的兩倍。我們的消費者洞察也為我們提供了先見之明，例如，這幫助我們預測參與度放緩並減少兩位數的庫存，甚至在投資假期新品的同時也是如此。

Let's look at each of these points beginning with the quarter. We delivered sales of roughly $1.4 billion this quarter and $24 million of non-GAAP operating income. Prior to the pandemic, the third quarter was consistently a loss quarter for Signet. It's the one quarter of the year without a major gift-giving occasion and is when we are investing in marketing and merchandise delivery for our largest gifting occasion, the winter holiday season. As a result of our transformation, we delivered four years in a row of positive Q3 earnings, all while continuing to invest in both our holiday strategy, and our long-term growth.

讓我們從本季開始逐一分析。本季我們的銷售額約為 14 億美元，非 GAAP 營業收入為 2,400 萬美元。在大流行之前，Signet 第三季一直是虧損季度。這是一年中沒有重大送禮場合的四分之一，也是我們為我們最大的送禮場合（冬季假期）進行行銷和商品配送投資的時候。由於轉型，我們在第三季連續四年實現正收益，同時繼續投資我們的假期策略和長期成長。

Adding to the obstacles our team navigated this quarter, over inventoried independent jewelers continue to drive heightened levels of promotion in our category. That said, our brand equities, services, targeted promotional cadence, and sourcing efforts allowed us to increase gross merchandise margin in the quarter, up 250 basis points to last year.

庫存過多的獨立珠寶商繼續推動我們類別的促銷活動，這讓我們的團隊在本季度克服了更多障礙。也就是說，我們的品牌資產、服務、有針對性的促銷節奏和採購工作使我們在本季度提高了商品毛利率，比去年增長了 250 個基點。

Further, inventory was down 14% from a year ago, allowing us to bring in more newness, creating a competitive advantage. This includes value-engineered pieces that offer great looks and value at high price points, along with broad assortments of on-trend gold jewelry, such as sculpted gold earrings and necklaces, and strong presence in lab-created items that also provide excellent value. Compared to last year, sell-through of new SKUs increased by 30% in the third quarter.

此外，庫存比一年前下降了 14%，使我們能夠引入更多新品，創造競爭優勢。其中包括以高價位提供精美外觀和價值的價值設計產品，以及各種流行的黃金珠寶，例如雕刻金耳環和項鍊，以及在實驗室製造的產品中也具有卓越價值的強大存在。與去年相比，第三季新SKU的銷售量成長了30%。

The next point I want to underscore is that we are in the midst of the most popular time of year for engagement ring sales, October through February. As I highlighted above, we've crossed the trough and the engagement recovery has begun. For example, couples moving in together, a late-stage milestone was up 9 points from early 2022. And Google searches for engagement rings are now 10% higher than last year, the first time they've exceeded the prior year in nearly two years. The percentage of couples moving to the engagement phase has improved by five points, a statistically significant movement over the last 18 months.

我想強調的下一點是，我們正處於一年中訂婚戒指銷售最旺的時期，即十月到二月。正如我在上面強調的，我們已經跨越了低谷，參與度已經開始恢復。例如，情侶同居，後期里程碑較 2022 年初上升了 9 個百分點。谷歌搜尋訂婚戒指的搜尋量現在比去年高出 10%，這是近兩年來首次超過前一年。進入訂婚階段的夫妻比例提高了 5 個百分點，這是過去 18 個月中統計上顯著的變化。

Beyond the COVID-driven engagement recovery, we are also seeing more positive attitudes among younger, unmarried consumers toward getting engaged and married. In our most recent survey, nearly 80% of non-married Millennial and Gen Z adults say they want to eventually get engaged and married, which is a notable improvement to younger adults from a 2018 survey. That's encouraging, as are the multi-cultural changes we're seeing in engagements.

除了新冠疫情驅動的訂婚率恢復之外，我們還看到年輕的未婚消費者對訂婚和結婚持更積極的態度。在我們最近的調查中，近 80% 的未婚千禧世代和 Z 世代成年人表示他們希望最終訂婚並結婚，與 2018 年的調查相比，這對年輕人來說是一個顯著的進步。這是令人鼓舞的，我們在互動中看到的多元文化變化也是如此。

Moving forward, the majority of engagements in the US will be multicultural, led by growth in Hispanic Americans. This multicultural trend is steering our merchandise and marketing strategies as we lean into higher penetration of products like yellow gold and provide bilingual marketing and sales expertise that makes our multicultural customers feel respected and welcome. It's working.

展望未來，美國的大部分活動將是多元文化的，以拉美裔美國人的成長為主導。這種多元文化趨勢正在指導我們的商品和行銷策略，因為我們傾向於提高黃金等產品的滲透率，並提供雙語行銷和銷售專業知識，讓我們的多元文化客戶感到受到尊重和歡迎。它正在發揮作用。

In the third quarter, Zales performance at high Hispanic doors is better by 130 basis points compared to the balance of Zales fleet, driven by assortment, bilingual consultants and signage as well as increased Hispanic-targeted media. So our data is clear. Engagements are on their way back and we are positioning ourselves to win.

第三季度，在品種、雙語顧問和標誌以及針對西班牙裔媒體的增加的推動下，Zales 在西班牙裔門客中的表現比 Zales 機隊的其餘部分好 130 個基點。那我們的數據就很清楚了。交戰正在回歸，我們正在為勝利做好準備。

We continue to expect a gradual return to pre-pandemic levels of engagements that will play out over the coming three years. A three-year tailwind that we can leverage for business and market share growth, given our scale and our position as the engagement leader of the industry. The recovery of engagement rates is also our catalyst to lifetime value.

我們仍然預計未來三年內的參與度將逐步恢復到疫情前的水平。考慮到我們的規模和作為行業領先者的地位，我們可以利用這三年的順風車來實現業務和市場份額的成長。參與率的恢復也是我們終身價值的催化劑。

We provide services that cement customer relationships, including nearly 80% attachment rate to extended service agreements on bridal pieces. We are also increasingly using our customer data platform, loyalty program, and personalized marketing capabilities to meet our customers' ongoing needs for jewelry to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays for years to come.

我們提供鞏固客戶關係的服務，包括近 80% 的婚紗延伸服務協議附加率。我們也越來越多地利用我們的客戶數據平台、忠誠度計劃和個人化行銷能力來滿足客戶對珠寶的持續需求，以慶祝未來幾年的生日、週年紀念日和節日。

For example, we are now approaching 4 million loyalty members. And this quarter, their average transaction value or ATV was 40% higher than our non-loyalty members. It's a clear reflection of loyalty as a long-term growth driver and scaled competitive advantage.

例如，我們現在的忠誠會員數已接近 400 萬。本季度，他們的平均交易價值或 ATV 比我們的非忠誠會員高出 40%。這清楚地反映了忠誠度作為長期成長動力和規模競爭優勢的作用。

This brings me to my third and final point. Signet is well-positioned to grow reliably over time. Thanks to the moat of competitive advantages and scale we've built that are unique in our category. Signet is able to withstand and even gain share through cyclical dynamics of the jewelry industry in general macro pressures. Thanks to those advantages.

這引出了我的第三點也是最後一點。 Signet 處於有利地位，可以隨著時間的推移而可靠地發展。由於我們所建立的競爭優勢和規模護城河，這在我們的類別中是獨一無二的。 Signet 能夠在整體宏觀壓力下承受珠寶業的周期性動態，甚至獲得份額。得益於這些優勢。

A good example is how we are managing the price decline of larger loose diamonds this year. The elevated promotional activity of overstock independence is a key contributor to driving down diamond prices to pre-pandemic levels in recent months.

一個很好的例子是我們今年如何應對較大裸鑽的價格下跌。庫存過剩獨立性促銷活動的增加是近幾個月鑽石價格降至疫情前水準的關鍵因素。

In contrast to independent jewelers, our product innovation and assortment, promotional priorities, and scaled buying power have delivered stable ATVs all year, including in recent months, both for natural and lab-created diamonds. Within the industry, the natural diamond oversupply situation, which has been pressuring retail prices is beginning to abate. Independents have been buying less in recent months and their inventory levels have improved by more than 15 points since the first quarter.

與獨立珠寶商相比，我們的產品創新和品種、促銷重點以及規模化的購買力全年提供了穩定的 ATV，包括最近幾個月，無論是天然鑽石還是實驗室製造的鑽石。在業界內，一直對零售價格構成壓力的天然鑽石供過於求的情況開始緩解。近幾個月來，獨立人士的購買量有所減少，但自第一季以來，他們的庫存水準已改善了 15 個百分點以上。

Mid-stream inventory appears to have peaked in June and major jewelry manufacturers have dramatically reduced their output. Large diamond miners have recently suspended mining activities and sales for two months or longer. Further, for the first time in more than a decade, De Beers is stimulating category demand with a branded natural diamond marketing campaign over the holiday season.

中游庫存似乎已在 6 月達到頂峰，主要珠寶製造商已大幅減少產量。大型鑽石礦商最近暫停了採礦活動和銷售兩個月或更長時間。此外，戴比爾斯十多年來首次在節慶期間透過品牌天然鑽石行銷活動刺激品類需求。

Combined with the upcoming engagement multi-year tailwind, we believe that natural diamond market should normalize through next year. But what's most important for us as the world's largest retailer of diamond jewelry is that we are strategic with our partners to drive better pricing, better assortment, and better value for our customers by leveraging our inventory discipline, and vertical integration. The other growth pillars of our midterm goals are also meaningfully progressing.

結合即將到來的多年期訂婚順風，我們認為天然鑽石市場應該會在明年正常化。但作為全球最大的鑽石珠寶零售商，對我們來說最重要的是，我們與合作夥伴制定策略，透過利用我們的庫存紀律和垂直整合，為我們的客戶提供更好的定價、更好的品種和更好的價值。我們中期目標的其他成長支柱也在取得有意義的進展。

Our services business up 5% in the quarter and year-to-date has contributed close to one point of our gross merchandise margin expansion. For example, we continue making great progress with ESA attachment up to last year again this quarter, improving by 310 basis points. In accessible luxury, we've opened five diamonds direct stores this year, including three since the quarter ended, bringing our total to 30 stores. These stores once reaching full maturity generate over $15 million a year in average revenue per store.

我們的服務業務在本季和年初至今成長了 5%，為我們的商品毛利率擴張貢獻了接近一個百分點。例如，本季我們在 ESA 附加方面繼續取得與去年相比的巨大進展，提高了 310 個基點。在觸手可及的奢侈品領域，我們今年開設了 5 家鑽石直營店，其中自本季度末以來開設了 3 家，使我們的門市總數達到 30 家。這些商店一旦完全成熟，每家商店每年的平均收入將超過 1500 萬美元。

Our Foundry custom jewelry at Jared has grown, including 40% unit growth in Q3 compared to a year ago. This is complemented by our premium assortment doors, which outperformed the balance of the Jared fleet by nearly 900 basis points this quarter. Our digital and marketing capabilities continue to drive efficiencies, led by our use of AI in North America in reflecting a roll-out improvement this quarter of 30% to last year in our core banners.

我們 Jared 的 Foundry 訂製珠寶不斷增長，第三季的單位數量與一年前相比增長了 40%。我們的優質門類產品對此進行了補充，該門類本季的表現比 Jared 機隊的其他門類高出近 900 個基點。我們的數位和行銷能力持續提高效率，這得益於我們在北美地區對人工智慧的使用，反映出本季我們的核心橫幅廣告的推出量比去年提高了 30%。

We are activating Signet's new CDP for this holiday season, more fully than ever before as we target the 35 million people we know have purchased jewelry in the US in recent years and 14 million people we know are in various stages of dating relationships. To summarize my comments today, the competitive advantages that we've built are working. We are positioned to deliver our commitments this fiscal year and are on track to meet our midterm goals. With that, I'd like to hand it over to Joan.

我們將在這個假期季節比以往更全面地啟動 Signet 的新 CDP，因為我們的目標是近年來在美國購買珠寶的 3500 萬人，以及處於約會關係不同階段的 1400 萬人。總結我今天的評論，我們建立的競爭優勢正在發揮作用。我們準備在本財年兌現我們的承諾，並有望實現我們的中期目標。說到這裡，我想把它交給瓊。

Thanks, Gina, and good morning, everyone. Our performance this quarter reflects our continued ability to deliver free cash flow improvement on lower comp sales. We generated nearly $1.4 billion in sales this quarter, down 12.1% compared to this time last year with same store sales down 11.8%. Our performance reflects 1% improvement in North America's total ATV compared to this time last year or flat on a same store sales basis, also a one-point improvement over first-half trends.

謝謝吉娜，大家早安。我們本季的業績反映了我們在較低的銷售中持續改善自由現金流的能力。本季我們的銷售額接近 14 億美元，與去年同期相比下降 12.1%，同店銷售額下降 11.8%。我們的業績反映了北美 ATV 總量與去年同期相比提高了 1%，或者同店銷售持平，也比上半年趨勢提高了 1 個百分點。

Traffic was down compared to last year in the mid-single digits. Trends from the second quarter were largely consistent throughout the third quarter, across both bridal and fashion as well as across most price points. As expected, the decline in engagements impacted sales in the quarter, especially in our digital banners, given there are more than 80% bridal penetration.

與去年相比，客流量下降了個位數。第二季的趨勢與整個第三季基本一致，無論是婚紗、時尚或大多數價位。正如預期的那樣，參與度的下降影響了本季的銷售，尤其是我們的數位橫幅，因為新娘滲透率超過 80%。

Consumer access to credit remains healthy. Overall payment plan penetration was 46% for the quarter similar to last year. Approval rates in store improved compared to last year, and the amount financed was in line with the prior year.

消費者獲得信貸的機會依然健康。該季度的總體付款計劃滲透率為 46%，與去年相似。與去年相比，店內核准率有所提高，融資金額與上年持平。

Credit has continued into the fourth quarter. We delivered $501 million of gross margin this quarter with non-GAAP margins increasing 80 basis points to 36% of sales. Within that improvement is a 250 basis point expansion of merchandise margin that reflects the continued strength of our merchandise strategy and the growing penetration of services. Partially offsetting these gains was the deleveraging of occupancy on lower sales.

信貸一直持續到第四季。本季我們實現了 5.01 億美元的毛利率，其中非 GAAP 利潤率增加了 80 個基點，達到銷售額的 36%。其中商品利潤率擴大了 250 個基點，反映出我們商品策略的持續優勢和服務滲透率的不斷提高。銷售額下降帶來的入住率去槓桿化部分抵銷了這些收益。

Turning to SG&A, our non-GAAP spend of $477 million or 34.2% of revenue was 280 basis points higher than last Q3. This year-over-year change reflects a 50 basis point improvement compared to the first half of this year, driven by our meaningful cost savings initiative in our seasonally lowest sales quarter. We achieved $65 million in cost savings this quarter in line with our expectations, bringing year-to-date savings to approximately $140 million.

談到 SG&A，我們的非 GAAP 支出為 4.77 億美元，佔營收的 34.2%，比上一季高出 280 個基點。這一同比變化反映了與今年上半年相比提高了 50 個基點，這得益於我們在季節性最低銷售季度採取的有意義的成本節約舉措。本季我們實現了 6,500 萬美元的成本節省，符合我們的預期，使年初至今的成本節省達到約 1.4 億美元。

Key drivers of the cost savings include non-customer impact initiatives, such as lower inventory costs related to material recovery, enhanced credit agreements, and overhead efficiencies. Deleverage in SG&A was primarily driven by investments in our digital banners and strategic initiatives in our seasonally lowest revenue quarter.

成本節約的主要驅動因素包括非客戶影響舉措，例如與材料回收相關的較低庫存成本、增強的信貸協議和間接費用效率。 SG&A 的去槓桿化主要是由我們在季節性最低收入季度對數位橫幅的投資和策略舉措所推動的。

For the third quarter, non-GAAP operating income was $24 million or 1.7% of sales. As Gina said, this represents our fourth year in a row of positive earnings in the third quarter. This reflects the flywheel nature of our operating model, as we leverage scale and performance to drive consistent cash generation that we then invest to extend our competitive advantages and return cash to shareholders.

第三季度，非 GAAP 營業收入為 2,400 萬美元，佔銷售額的 1.7%。正如吉娜所說，這是我們第三季連續第四年實現正收益。這反映了我們營運模式的飛輪性質，因為我們利用規模和績效來推動持續的現金生成，然後我們進行投資以擴大我們的競爭優勢並將現金回饋給股東。

Turning to services, customers continue to see the value of extended service agreements or ESAs outperforming merchandise by more than 15 points this quarter. Consumers continued to be attracted to the great value of our warranty plans driving overall attachment 310 basis points higher to a year ago with gains in both bridal and fashion categories.

談到服務，客戶繼續認為本季擴展服務協議或 ESA 的價值比商品高出 15 個百分點以上。消費者繼續被我們保固計畫的巨大價值所吸引，使得婚紗和時尚品類的整體附著力比一年前提高了 310 個基點。

Turning to repair, we've made progress, ramping up the capacity of our enterprise-wide service center in Seattle and now insource appraisal services through Kay in sales. The Tennessee repair facility continues to grow its B2B client base, while also bringing in-house all of Kay and Jared's watch repair needs, with Zales plan to be integrated next year.

在維修方面，我們取得了進展，提高了西雅圖整個企業服務中心的能力，現在透過銷售部門的 Kay 外包評估服務。田納西州的維修中心繼續擴大其 B2B 客戶群，同時也滿足 Kay 和 Jared 的所有手錶維修需求，Zales 計劃明年進行整合。

Turning to fleet optimization, subsequent to the quarter, we sold 15 stores, primarily luxury watch showrooms in the UK to the Watches of Switzerland Group. The accretive sale multiple generated proceeds of approximately $53 million. This sale represents a gain of approximately $12 million and will be treated as a one-time event. The divestiture of this non-strategic business allows Signet to accelerate key elements of our UK transformation plan.

談到車隊優化，本季結束後，我們將 15 家商店（主要是英國的豪華手錶陳列室）出售給了瑞士手錶集團 (Watches of Switzerland Group)。增值銷售倍數產生了約 5,300 萬美元的收益。此次出售帶來約 1200 萬美元的收益，將被視為一次性活動。剝離這項非策略性業務使 Signet 能夠加速我們英國轉型計畫的關鍵要素。

Now turning to the balance sheet, we ended the quarter with more than $640 million of cash and equivalents, up more than $315 million compared to a year ago. In terms of free cash flow, we outperformed last year by nearly $100 million in the quarter on lower sales, driven by sustainable working capital improvements.

現在轉向資產負債表，本季末我們的現金及等價物超過 6.4 億美元，比一年前增加了 3.15 億美元以上。就自由現金流而言，由於永續營運資本改善的推動，銷售額下降，本季我們的表現比去年高出近 1 億美元。

We repurchased $35 million or nearly 0.5 million shares in the quarter. Since the end of the quarter, we've repurchased an additional $11 million or 135,000 shares. This brings our year-to-date total to more than $128 million and we have approximately $672 million in remaining repurchase authorization as of today. This morning, we also declared $0.23 dividend to common shareholders.

我們在本季回購了 3,500 萬美元或近 50 萬股股票。自本季末以來，我們額外回購了 1,100 萬美元，即 135,000 股股票。這使得我們今年迄今的總額超過 1.28 億美元，截至今天，我們還有大約 6.72 億美元的剩餘回購授權。今天早上，我們也宣布向普通股股東發放 0.23 美元的股息。

Our return of capital is driven by our consistent free cash flow, led by our flexible operating model and a robust balance sheet, consistently converting over 70% of non-GAAP EBIT to free cash flow in recent years, driven by the structural changes we've implemented. We ended the quarter with $2.1 billion in inventory, which was down $333 million compared to last year or approximately 14% or 12.5% excluding the divestiture of inventory held for sale.

我們的資本回報是由我們靈活的營運模式和穩健的資產負債表主導的穩定的自由現金流驅動的，近年來，在我們的結構性變革的推動下，我們始終將超過70% 的非GAAP 息稅前利潤轉化為自由現金流。已經實施了。本季結束時，我們的庫存為 21 億美元，與去年相比減少了 3.33 億美元，若不包括待售庫存的剝離，下降幅度約為 14% 或 12.5%。

Our inventory turn of 1.4 times has improved considerably from a roughly one-time turn five years ago. We still see opportunity to improve our inventory turns over the mid-term as we leverage AI to drive perfect merchandise assortment by store, leverage, flexible fulfillment, and continue to optimize our product life cycles. Each 0.1 turn improvement translates to approximately $100 million of additional free cash flow.

我們的庫存週轉率為 1.4 倍，與五年前的約 1 倍相比有了很大改善。我們仍然看到中期改善庫存週轉率的機會，因為我們利用人工智慧來推動按商店、槓桿、靈活履行的完美商品分類，並繼續優化我們的產品生命週期。每 0.1 圈的改進就意味著大約 1 億美元的額外自由現金流。

Our leverage ratios remain below our target with our adjusted gross debt leverage ratio now measuring 2.3 times or 1.8 times on a net basis. Additionally, our net debt to EBITDA ratio is only 0.2 times compared to 2.1 times in FY20, which highlights the improvement to our balance sheet over the last four years.

我們的槓桿率仍低於目標，調整後的總負債槓桿比率目前為淨值 2.3 倍或 1.8 倍。此外，我們的淨負債與 EBITDA 比率僅為 0.2 倍，而 2020 財年為 2.1 倍，這凸顯了過去四年我們資產負債表的改善。

Now, let's look at guidance. We are reaffirming our FY24 outlook, excluding the 15-store asset sale in the UK. The updated outlook reflects the removal of approximately $25 million of revenue and $5 million of four-wall EBIT for the 15-store sale in the UK in the fourth quarter. For the full year, we anticipated these 15 locations to generate approximately $60 million of revenue and $8 million of four-wall EBIT this year.

現在，讓我們看看指導。我們重申 2024 財年的展望，不包括英國 15 家商店資產的出售。更新後的展望反映了第四季度在英國 15 家商店銷售中取消了約 2500 萬美元的收入和 500 萬美元的四牆息稅前利潤。我們預計這 15 個地點今年將在全年產生約 6,000 萬美元的收入和 800 萬美元的四牆息稅前利潤。

Our topline outlook for the fourth quarter reflects expectations of continued elevated promotional activity over the holiday season. We expect engagements to be down mid to high single digits compared to the previous year versus down mid-teens year-to-date. In the last three weeks, we've seen a more than 300 basis point improvement to engagement trends from our Q3 exit rate, and we anticipate further improvement as the quarter progresses. This outlook also reflects Black Friday weekend results in line with our previous guidance expectations for the quarter.

我們對第四季度營收的展望反映了對假期期間促銷活動持續增加的預期。我們預計，與前一年相比，參與度將下降中到高個位數，而今年迄今則下降到中十幾位。在過去三週內，我們發現參與度趨勢比第三季度的退出率提高了 300 個基點以上，並且我們預計隨著本季度的進展，這一情況將進一步改善。這一前景也反映了黑色星期五週末的業績符合我們先前對該季度的指導預期。

Additionally, we have a 53rd week in the fourth quarter, which is worth between $80 million to $100 million in revenue. We're also lapping UK strikes last year, which is worth a point in comp sales. We continue to expect cost savings in the range of $85 million to $110 million for the fourth quarter. And finally, we expect somewhat less deleveraging on fixed costs in occupancy and labor on higher revenue.

此外，我們第四季第 53 週的營收在 8,000 萬至 1 億美元之間。我們也記錄了去年英國的罷工，這在公司銷售上值得一提。我們仍然預計第四季度的成本節省將在 8,500 萬至 1.1 億美元之間。最後，我們預計，在收入增加的情況下，入住率和勞動力固定成本的去槓桿化程度會降低。

Before we move on to Q&A, I want to thank our team for their commitment to our customers as we head into the peak holiday selling season and wish them all a happy and safe holiday. With that, we'll open the lines for Q&A.

在我們進入問答環節之前，我要感謝我們的團隊在我們進入假日銷售旺季時對客戶的承諾，並祝他們度過一個快樂安全的假期。這樣，我們將打開問答線。

(Operator Instructions) Ike Boruchow, Wells Fargo.

（操作員指示）Ike Boruchow，富國銀行。

Hey, thanks for taking the question. Question for Gina and then I have a follow-up for Joan. Gina, just at a high level, I think you've done a good job over the past couple of quarters giving us your State of The Union on the consumer as you see it. You've gotten through Black Friday, probably a pretty high-volume period for you guys.

嘿，謝謝你提出問題。我向吉娜提出問題，然後我向瓊提出後續問題。吉娜（Gina），就高水準而言，我認為您在過去幾季做得很好，向我們介紹了您所看到的關於消費者的國情咨文。您已經度過了黑色星期五，這對你們來說可能是一個相當高的時期。

Just how are you feeling about the consumer today? The state of the consumer, is that much different than what you had seen or thought three months ago? Would love your perspective.

您對現今的消費者有何看法？消費者的狀態，與你三個月前看到或想到的有很大不同嗎？會喜歡你的觀點。

Yeah. Hi, Ike, good morning. Thanks for the question. I would say we haven't seen a lot of change in how the consumer is approaching the holiday season. We have for a while now expected it to be a late holiday. Consumers are very deal-conscious, really waiting to make sure they're getting the best deal they possibly can.

是的。嗨，艾克，早安。謝謝你的提問。我想說的是，我們還沒有看到消費者對待假期的方式有很大變化。我們有一段時間預計假期會很晚。消費者非常注重優惠，他們真的在等待確保他們能得到盡可能最好的優惠。

Our Black Friday weekend results were in line with our guidance range. That tends to be a lower-priced part of the jewelry category sales. That's not the area that we compete in as much, but we had strong results across all of our banners on price points under $1,000. Banter performed particularly well that plays more in that lower price fashion.

我們的黑色星期五週末結果符合我們的指導範圍。這往往是珠寶類別銷售中價格較低的部分。這不是我們競爭激烈的領域，但我們的所有產品在 1,000 美元以下的價格點上都取得了強勁的業績。戲謔的​​表現尤其出色，以較低的價格時尚發揮更多作用。

I think the good news is that, we're seeing the recovery in engagements the way we thought we would. The milestones are tracking. Google searches are above year ago for the first time in a couple of years. And we're definitely seeing engagement ring sales begin to increase now. We still have it planned down for the quarter. It's a gradual recovery over three years. But I think that is definitely a good sign for us.

我認為好消息是，我們看到業務量正在以我們預期的方式復甦。里程碑正在追蹤。谷歌搜尋量幾年來首次超過去年同期。我們確實看到訂婚戒指的銷量現在開始增加。我們仍然計劃在本季進行。這是三年來逐漸恢復的過程。但我認為這對我們來說絕對是一個好兆頭。

Got it. And then maybe Joan. So it looks like the implied comps for the quarter is somewhere like down mid to high. So a little bit better than 3Q. In the slide deck you guys have given -- you guys are forecasting engagement trends to be up double digits next year.

知道了。然後也許是瓊。因此，看起來本季的隱含業績在中等到高點之間。所以比3Q好一點。在你們提供的幻燈片中，你們預測明年的參與度趨勢將成長兩位數。

Just any help with the shape of next year? Just trying to understand because the comps have, obviously --they've been negative double digits in 3Q. Now, still negative. How do you see the cadence playing out? Anything at a high level might be helpful for us just as we think about how you guys might be planning the business next year.

對明年的形狀有什麼幫助嗎？只是想了解一下，因為顯然，第三季的業績對比已經出現了負兩位數。現在還是消極的。您如何看待節奏？正如我們思考你們明年如何規劃業務一樣，任何高層次的內容都可能對我們有幫助。

Sure, Ike. As we said in our prepared remarks, when we look at engagement for the fourth quarter, our expectation is to be down mid to high single digits with respect to engagements. Now, that's an improvement. To Gina's point, a gradual improvement coming off of year-to-date numbers, which were down mid-teen, now moving towards low double towards the end of the third quarter. So we can see the progression happening.

當然，艾克。正如我們在準備好的發言中所說，當我們考慮第四季度的參與度時，我們的預期是參與度將下降到中高個位數。現在，這是一個進步。吉娜認為，今年迄今的數字正在逐步改善，該數字下降了十幾歲，現在正在向第三季末的低點邁進。所以我們可以看到進展的發生。

So we would expect that progression to continue to improve as we move into next year. And do expect for the engagement overall for the industry to be towards those 2.4 million incidents of engagement next year. And we have roughly 28% to 30% share in the market. So we would expect that we could continue to hold on to that share as well as gain share with the many competitive advantages that we put in place, notably personalization, targeting customers at the right point in time in their journey, so we can be most helpful to them as they navigate the engagement journey next year.

因此，我們預計隨著明年的到來，這一進展將繼續改善。預計明年該產業的整體參與度將達到 240 萬起。我們的市佔率大約為 28% 到 30%。因此，我們希望我們能夠繼續保持這一份額，並透過我們所建立的許多競爭優勢來獲得份額，特別是個性化，在客戶旅程中的正確時間點瞄準客戶，這樣我們就可以成為最重要的。對他們明年的訂婚之旅有幫助。

Any chance you're comfortable saying when that would equate to the comp trend stabilizing or inflecting the positive?

您是否有機會輕鬆地說這何時相當於比較趨勢穩定或轉為正面？

Not at this time, Ike. But we appreciate the question. And as we move into the fourth-quarter conference call, we'll be really pleased to share that view.

不是現在，艾克。但我們很欣賞這個問題。當我們進入第四季度電話會議時，我們將非常高興分享這一觀點。

Okay. Thank you.

好的。謝謝。

Mauricio Serna, UBS.

毛里西奧·塞爾納，瑞銀。

Great. Good morning, and thanks for taking my question. I just wanted to ask on the operating margin. I think the implied guidance at the midpoint for the 4Q is roughly 150 basis points expansion year over year. And that's an improvement of what we've seen over the last couple of quarters.

偉大的。早安，感謝您提出我的問題。我只是想問一下營業利潤率。我認為第四季中點的隱含指引是年比擴張約 150 個基點。這比我們在過去幾個季度看到的情況有所改善。

Maybe if you could walk us through the puts and takes at the gross margin level and also in the SG&A just thinking about how each of these are going to move versus the previous quarters? Thank you.

也許您可以向我們介紹毛利率水準以及銷售及管理費用（SG&A）中的看跌期權和賣出期權，並思考一下這些指標與前幾季度相比將如何變化？謝謝。

Sure, Mauricio. Thanks for the question. We spoke about in our prepared remarks the third-quarter gross margin. And we expect that trend to continue into the fourth quarter. But what we're also expecting is the benefit of inventory-related costs continuing to improve in the fourth quarter as well as the sourcing opportunities, the assortment strategy that we put in place to optimize margin.

當然，毛里西奧。謝謝你的提問。我們在準備好的演講中談到了第三季的毛利率。我們預計這種趨勢將持續到第四季。但我們也期望第四季度庫存相關成本持續改善以及採購機會和我們為優化利潤率而實施的分類策略帶來的好處。

And as we see bridal recovery begin to occur, well, we'll see a little bit of dilution there. But what's really important, I think, in the fourth quarter to note is that the digital banners are expected to recover, as we said, from our synergies. We're expected to gain roughly 50 basis points related just to the digital banners alone. So sourcing, inventory-related costs, markdown management, services as well as the digital banner recovery is what we see in gross margin.

當我們看到新娘復甦開始發生時，我們會看到那裡有一點稀釋。但我認為，在第四季度真正需要注意的是，正如我們所說，數位橫幅預計將從我們的協同效應中恢復。僅與數位橫幅相關，我們預計就會獲得約 50 個基點。因此，我們在毛利率中看到的是採購、庫存相關成本、降價管理、服務以及數位橫幅恢復。

Cost savings, again, which do affect gross margin as well are related to the same things. Inventory-related costs, that'll be very disciplined inventory management that our teams widely provide as well as the clearance related to that. We take leaner marks on our clearance because of our strong position. And we're able to leverage it as strategic promotion.

同樣，成本節省也會影響毛利率，也與相同的事情有關。與庫存相關的成本，這將是我們團隊廣泛提供的非常嚴格的庫存管理以及與之相關的清關。由於我們的強勢地位，我們在清關上取得了更精簡的分數。我們能夠利用它作為策略推廣。

That provides us margin expansion as well. I would note there's some offset for fixed cost leverage but given the size of the quarter, it's less. So there's less deleverage for occupancy costs if you will.

這也為我們帶來了利潤率的擴大。我要指出的是，固定成本槓桿有一定的抵銷作用，但考慮到本季的規模，抵銷的幅度較小。因此，如果你願意的話，入住成本的去槓桿化會更少。

And then the cost savings are just continuing. We have marketing opportunities. We have indirect procurement costs and general overhead costs that are costs out for us. There are structural changes in our business that we have put in place and implemented over the last five years. We will have a close to $835 million of savings just over the course of our transformation. So we'll continue to drive on costs the customers don't care about.

而且成本節約還在繼續。我們有行銷機會。我們的間接採購成本和一般管理費用都是我們的成本。我們在過去五年中實施並實施了業務結構性變革。在轉型過程中，我們將節省近 8.35 億美元。因此，我們將繼續降低客戶不關心的成本。

Got it. And maybe if you could just elaborate a little bit more on what you're seeing on the lab-grown diamonds dynamics. I know there's been concerns about incremental capacity and maybe some pressure on the prices. Maybe just update us on that. And where does that penetration is in your overall jewelry business? Thank you.

知道了。也許您可以詳細說明您所看到的實驗室製造鑽石動態。我知道人們對產能增量以及價格可能面臨的壓力感到擔憂。也許只是更新我們的情況。這種滲透率在您的整個珠寶業務中處於什麼位置？謝謝。

Sure. Hi, Mauricio. So a couple of things on lab-grown diamonds. Number one, the cost has come down considerably this year. We think that growers are now pretty much at the bottom of the cost curve. The costs that we're seeing are really not much more than the cost of the ingredients, the power to make them and a small margin on that. So we don't see much movement in the future on cost.

當然。嗨，毛里西奧。關於實驗室製造鑽石的一些事。第一，今年成本大幅下降。我們認為種植者現在幾乎處於成本曲線的底部。我們看到的成本其實並不比原料的成本、製造它們的能力和微薄的利潤高多少。因此，我們認為未來成本不會有太大變化。

What we've been able to do really effectively is to keep our ATVs up. We've done that both on natural diamonds and on lab-created in part. That's because of the average price of a typical diamond sale for us. We're able to trade customers up into a lab created at a higher ATV and we've branded lab created. We've brought innovation. Our team has done a really nice job strategically managing that so that it become a margin help but not a revenue headwind.

我們能夠真正有效地做的是保持我們的全地形車的運作。我們對天然鑽石和部分實驗室製造的鑽石都做到了這一點。這是因為我們的典型鑽石銷售的平均價格。我們可以將客戶升級到在更高 ATV 上創建的實驗室，並且我們已經為該實驗室創建了品牌。我們帶來了創新。我們的團隊在策略管理方面做得非常好，使其成為利潤成長點，而不是收入阻力。

I think as we go forward, you asked a little bit about penetration. It's low teens as a percentage of our total diamond business. So still not high. But we have seen it level out a bit. It was growing much more quickly earlier in the year. And over the last couple of months, we've seen lab-created level out quite a bit.

我認為，當我們繼續前進時，您問了一些有關滲透的問題。它占我們鑽石業務總量的百分比只有十幾歲。所以還是不高。但我們已經看到它有點趨於平穩。今年早些時候，它的成長速度要快得多。在過去的幾個月裡，我們已經看到實驗室創建的水平有了很大的提高。

And in the prepared remarks, I talked about the work going on in the diamond industry on natural diamonds. They're special, right? It's finite supply, et cetera. And so we're really seeing a lot of good work going on that is causing, I think, some of the pressure on natural diamonds to abate. We would expect that to kind of level out to a more normalized place next year.

在準備好的演講中，我談到了鑽石產業在天然鑽石方面正在進行的工作。他們很特別，對吧？供應有限等等。因此，我們確實看到了許多出色的工作正在進行，我認為這些工作正在減輕天然鑽石面臨的一些壓力。我們預計明年這種情況會趨於平穩。

Got it. Thank you so much.

知道了。太感謝了。

Paul Lejuez, Citi.

保羅‧勒胡埃斯，花旗銀行。

Hey, thanks, guys. I just want to be clear on your fourth quarter guidance. Are you saying that you expect your engagement sales in fourth quarter to be down mid to high single digits? And then if that's right, how does that break down in units versus tickets? And also, curious if you could talk about your like-to-like changes in pricing of lab grown and natural.

嘿，謝謝，夥計們。我只想澄清一下你們第四季的指導。您是說您預計第四季的訂婚銷售額將下降到中高個位數嗎？如果這是正確的，那麼它的單位和門票如何細分？另外，我很好奇您是否可以談談您對實驗室種植和天然產品定價的喜好變化。

So, I'll take that, Paul. So, engagements, you're correct. We said that engagements, we expect to be down mid to high single digits in 4Q compared to mid to high teens for the year-to-date kind of performance. So, as we continue to, as I said earlier, move into the first half of next year, we would expect to continue to see that decline abate. And we would move towards those 2.4 million incidents of engagements next year.

所以，我會接受的，保羅。所以，訂婚，你是對的。我們表示，與今年迄今的表現相比，我們預計第四季的業務量將下降到中高個位數。因此，正如我之前所說，隨著我們繼續進入明年上半年，我們預計這種下降趨勢將繼續減弱。明年我們將朝著 240 萬起交戰事件的目標邁進。

From a pricing perspective, you can see through our results. And as you look at the 3Q, we have been able to manage our ATV relatively flat. It's up a point when you consider Blue Nile. And what the team has been able to do is really balance pricing very nicely through branding of LCD product, special shapes. We believe that LCD in fashion, as an example, is a nice way for us to expand our fashion business.

從定價的角度來看，你可以看到我們的結果。從第三季來看，我們已經能夠將 ATV 管理得相對穩定。當您考慮 Blue Nile 時，您就發現了這一點。團隊能夠做的是透過液晶產品的品牌和特殊形狀來真正很好地平衡價格。以時尚產業為例，我們相信 LCD 是我們拓展時尚事業的好方法。

So we are feeling that the teams have appropriately addressed the market position of pricing within diamonds, balancing natural and LCD. And we really haven't shared units versus dollars in terms of that performance. But we believe that we're on -- we're seeing the uptake we expected in bridal and encouraged by what we're seeing in fashion.

因此，我們認為團隊已經適當地解決了鑽石定價的市場地位，平衡了天然鑽石和液晶鑽石。就性能而言，我們確實沒有分享單位與美元的比較。但我們相信，我們正在繼續前進——我們看到了婚紗產業的預期成長，並受到時尚產業的鼓舞。

Got it. What kind of cost changes have you seen on lab-grown and natural if you look at it on a like-for-like basis?

知道了。如果您比較一下實驗室培育的和天然的成本，您會發現哪些成本變化？

So on lab-grown, what everyone's seen in the market is that lab-grown costs have come down. We believe that there it's likely at their lowest point given there's a cost of making the lab grown. There's labor; there's energy; there's those basic costs that go in. So we've seen those costs come down. Within lab and our pricing, we've been able to manage, as I said earlier, with the special cuts and the branding.

因此，在實驗室培育方面，市場上每個人都看到的是實驗室培育的成本已經下降。我們認為，考慮到擴大實驗室的成本，這可能處於最低點。有勞動；有能量；所以我們已經看到這些成本下降了。正如我之前所說，在實驗室和我們的定價中，我們已經能夠透過特殊剪裁和品牌進行管理。

Natural diamonds, we are able to balance the assortment. We, as you know, sell loose diamonds as well as finished products. And between the combination of that and our custom design business, we are able to manage what we're seeing happen in the market. And we, as you know, have a diamond marketplace, which gives us real-time pricing of diamonds across globe. And we are able to really have a keen sensitivity on pricing in a dynamic sense. So we're leveraging those tools to drive our competitive advantages.

天然鑽石，我們能夠平衡品種。如您所知，我們銷售裸鑽和成品。透過將其與我們的客製化設計業務相結合，我們能夠管理我們在市場上看到的情況。如您所知，我們有一個鑽石市場，它為我們提供全球鑽石的即時定價。我們能夠對動態定價真正具有敏銳的敏感度。因此，我們正在利用這些工具來提升我們的競爭優勢。

Thank you. Good luck.

謝謝。祝你好運。

Jim Sanderson, Northcoast Research.

吉姆桑德森，北海岸研究中心。

Hey, thanks for the question. I was wondering that could you provide us what you expect on North American and international same-store sales to get to the higher end of your fourth-quarter guidance?

嘿，謝謝你的提問。我想知道您能否向我們提供您對北美和國際同店銷售額達到第四季度指導上限的預期？

So on a total company basis is the way that I would express that for you, Jim. And it would be 7% to 8% for the high guide, negative. Negative 7% to 8% on the high end. Now, remember, in the fourth quarter, just to give you a little color on that, our revenue position, not in the comp, but we have that extra week, which we have stated is $80 million to $100 million.

因此，吉姆，我將在整個公司的基礎上向您表達這一點。高指導值是 7% 到 8%，負值。高端為負 7% 至 8%。現在，請記住，在第四季度，只是為了讓您了解我們的收入狀況，不是在比較中，而是我們有額外的一周，我們已經說過是 8000 萬到 1 億美元。

In the UK, as you mentioned, international, the UK is cycling the strikes from last year. So that's reflected as they have a better comp than North America relative to that as well as recall the UK sale of the locations for the watch showrooms. And so that is removed from the base as well.

在英國，正如您所提到的，在國際上，英國從去年開始就開始循環罷工。因此，這反映了他們的競爭比北美更好，並回想起英國銷售的手錶陳列室地點。所以它也從底座上被移除。

Understood. So a lot of moving parts there.

明白了。所以那裡有很多活動部件。

Yeah.

是的。

Yeah. Just a quick follow-up question, just following along on the recovery of the engagement cycle. How do you foresee the recovery of the engagement average transaction value and unit profitability as this recovery in engagements takes place? And that's given the changes in demographics that you've called out, maybe changes in consumer preferences that are different today than pre-COVID.

是的。只是一個快速的後續問題，只是跟進參與週期的恢復。隨著業務量的恢復，您如何預測業務量平均交易價值和單位獲利能力的恢復？考慮到您所指出的人口統計資料的變化，也許當今消費者偏好的變化與新冠疫情之前不同。

Hey, Jim. I think the big change will be in units. So we've seen couples progressing through the milestones that we've identified. We see a statistically significant growth in people getting to that last stage, which is when they choose to get engaged. So units is where we would expect to see an increase.

嘿，吉姆。我認為最大的變化將是單位。因此，我們已經看到夫妻們在我們確定的里程碑上取得了進展。我們看到，進入最後階段（即選擇訂婚的階段）的人們在統計上顯著增長。因此，單位是我們預計會增加的地方。

ATVs have been pretty stable for us across lab created and natural all year. We're bringing innovation that we think appeals to multicultural customers. Yellow gold is a great example of that. They tend to have a preference. Brand names is another example. We haven't seen anything that would indicate that a shift toward more multicultural engagements would cause a significant difference in ATV.

全年，全地形車在實驗室製造和自然環境中對我們來說都非常穩定。我們正在帶來我們認為對多元文化客戶有吸引力的創新。黃金就是一個很好的例子。他們往往有偏好。品牌名稱是另一個例子。我們還沒有看到任何跡象表明轉向更多的多元文化參與會導致 ATV 發生顯著差異。

We'd expect it to be very similar to what it is today. The one thing I would say is that we do know among Hispanic customers is that they tend to have a preference for natural diamonds over lab created. And so, that'll be an interesting trend for us to look at going forward.

我們預計它會與今天的情況非常相似。我要說的一件事是，我們確實在西班牙裔客戶中知道，他們往往更喜歡天然鑽石而不是實驗室製造的鑽石。因此，這將是我們未來值得關注的一個有趣趨勢。

All right. Thank you very much.

好的。非常感謝。

Lorraine Hutchinson, Bank of America.

洛琳‧哈欽森，美國銀行。

This is Melanie on for Lorraine. I just had a question about the promotional landscape, specifically for Black Friday. I know you said Black Friday came in in line with expectations. But how were promotions across the different banners? And anything else you can provide on traffic and price points for Black Friday, Cyber Monday? And then still on promotions, what are you embedding in 4Q for the holidays? Thanks.

這是洛林的梅蘭妮。我剛剛有一個關於促銷情況的問題，特別是黑色星期五的促銷情況。我知道你說過黑色星期五符合預期。但不同橫幅的促銷情況如何呢？您還可以提供有關黑色星期五和網路星期一的流量和價格點的其他資訊嗎？然後仍然是促銷活動，您在第四季度的假期中嵌入了什麼？謝謝。

Sure. So, it's been a different holiday season. Over the last couple of years, we've seen consumers shop early in part due to supply chain challenges. They came into the market to make sure they could get the holiday gifts they wanted before they sold out.

當然。所以，這是一個不同的假期。在過去的幾年裡，我們看到消費者提早購物，部分原因是供應鏈的挑戰。他們進入市場是為了確保在售完之前能買到他們想要的節日禮物。

This year has been quite different. We've been predicting for a while that holiday would come quite late. Usually, the earliest shoppers for jewelry, for holiday are women buying at lower price points for gifts and for themselves. We saw that as the primary customer during Black Friday weekend.

今年的情況大不相同。我們已經預測這個假期會很晚了。通常，最早購買節日珠寶的消費者是女性，她們會以較低的價格購買禮物或為自己購買。我們將其視為黑色星期五週末的主要客戶。

Promotionality was very high on those lower price point goods. We were competitive in that context, both through the way we're able to do targeted promotions, given our CDP and our personalization capabilities. But also, we offer a great value through our sourcing and our vendor relationships.

那些價格較低的商品的促銷力道非常大。考慮到我們的 CDP 和個人化能力，我們在這種情況下具有競爭力，無論是透過我們能夠進行有針對性的促銷的方式。而且，我們也透過我們的採購和供應商關係提供巨大的價值。

So as we move through December, we would expect to continue to see a high level of promotionality. I think that will come up into higher price points as independent jewelers are still trying to clear some of the inventory they had from last year. We have a very healthy inventory. So our level of newness is excellent.

因此，隨著 12 月的到來，我們預計將繼續看到高水準的促銷活動。我認為，由於獨立珠寶商仍在努力清理去年的部分庫存，因此價格將會上漲。我們有非常健康的庫存。所以我們的新鮮度非常好。

One of the encouraging things that we've seen is that year to date, our newness is selling 30% faster than it did a year ago. So, that's what consumers tend to look for in this kind of an environment. They look for a great value, which we can provide because of our sourcing capability, and they look for innovation. And we think that's an area where we will really stand out.

我們看到的令人鼓舞的事情之一是，今年迄今為止，我們的新品銷售速度比一年前快了 30%。所以，這就是消費者在這種環境中傾向於尋找的東西。他們尋求巨大的價值，而我們可以憑藉我們的採購能力提供這種價值，並且他們尋求創新。我們認為這是我們真正脫穎而出的領域。

So all of that to say it was very promotional in Black Friday at lower price points. We think it'll be promotional for the rest of the season. And we're ready for that.

所以所有這些都表明它在黑色星期五以較低的價格非常促銷。我們認為這將在本季剩餘時間進行促銷。我們已經準備好了。

Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I'd now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Drosos for final closing comments.

謝謝。目前沒有其他問題。現在我想將電話轉回給 Drosos 先生以徵求最後的總結意見。

Sure. Well, thank you everybody for being on the call with us today. In closing, as a company whose purpose is to inspire love, we are committed this holiday season to doing our part to enable people to express love to each other in these difficult times. I'm proud of and very appreciative of our team who brings our purpose to life every day. Thank you.

當然。好的，謝謝大家今天接受我們的電話訪問。最後，作為一家以激發愛為宗旨的公司，我們致力於在這個假期盡自己的一份力量，讓人們在困難時期彼此表達愛。我為我們的團隊感到自豪並非常感謝他們每天都將我們的目標變為現實。謝謝。

Thank you. 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.

謝謝。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。