Signet Jewelers Ltd (SIG) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Signet Jewelers third-quarter fiscal 2025 earnings call. (Operator Instructions) Please note this event is being recorded.

早安，歡迎參加 Signet Jewelers 2025 財年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意此事件正在被記錄。

Joining us on the call today are Clayton Ward, Senior Director of Investor Relations and Capital Markets; J.K. Symancyk, Chief Executive Officer; Joan Hilson, Chief Financial and Operations Officer; and Rob Ballew, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations.

今天加入我們電話會議的還有投資人關係與資本市場資深總監 Clayton Ward； J.K.賽曼西克，執行長；瓊‧希爾森 (Joan Hilson)，財務與營運長；羅布‧巴盧 (Rob Ballew)，投資者關係資深副總裁。

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Clayton. Please go ahead.

這次，我想把會議交給克萊頓。請繼續。

Good morning. Welcome to Signet Jewelers third-quarter fiscal '25 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.

早安.歡迎參加 Signet Jewelers '25 財年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。

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 up forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events.

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前瞻性陳述的義務。

During the call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures or for a discussion of these 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.

在電話會議期間，我們將討論某些非 GAAP 財務指標，或者要討論這些非 GAAP 財務指標以及非 GAAP 財務指標與最直接可比較的 GAAP 指標的調整表，投資者應查看我們發布的新聞稿。在我們的網站ir.signetjewelers.com 上。

With that, I'll turn it over to J.K.

有了這個，我會把它交給 J.K.

Clayton, and good morning, everyone. It's my pleasure to be with you all today, and I'd like to first thank all my Signet colleagues for their incredibly warm welcome. There are many aspects that attracted me to Signet that I'll share in a moment, but let me start by saying that the team is genuinely motivated by our purpose, committed to serving the needs of our customers and invested in the future of Signet.

克萊頓，大家早安。我很高興今天能和大家在一起，首先我要感謝所有 Signet 同事的熱情歡迎。 Signet 有很多吸引我的方面，稍後我將分享，但首先我要說的是，團隊真誠地為我們的目標所激勵，致力於滿足客戶的需求，並投資於 Signet 的未來。

I've immersed myself in our business and culture, spending more time in our stores and offices, meeting with our team members and leadership. In my time at Signet, I've already seen firsthand how our team members recognize and celebrate the emotional connection we have with our customers when they are making a jewelry purchase.

我沉浸在我們的業務和文化中，花更多時間在我們的商店和辦公室，與我們的團隊成員和領導層會面。在 Signet 工作期間，我親眼目睹了我們的團隊成員在客戶購買珠寶時如何認識並慶祝我們與客戶之間的情感聯繫。

I've seen it in cities across our footprint how passionate everyone here is about providing customers with the highest level of jewelry expertise to offer guidance to create lasting memories at milestone and everyday moments in their lives.

我在我們足跡遍布的城市中看到，這裡的每個人都熱衷於為客戶提供最高水平的珠寶專業知識，以指導他們在生命中的里程碑和日常生活時刻創造持久的記憶。

As a career-long merchant I share this passion for serving customers. And I'd like to take this moment to recognize our Signet team for their dedication and hard work in the midst of our most important selling season. I'm also encouraged by our vendors and their commitment to strategic partnerships to create on-trend merchandise.

身為一名職業商人，我也同樣熱衷於為客戶服務。我想藉此機會表彰我們的 Signet 團隊在我們最重要的銷售季節中的奉獻和辛勤工作。我也對我們的供應商及其對策略夥伴關係創造流行商品的承諾感到鼓舞。

After a month at Signet, I'm energized by our opportunity to accelerate growth. Our strong brands, deep consumer focus and talented team provide a powerful foundation to strategically evolve and transform our business. In partnership with the management team, we are actively identifying new opportunities for the future.

在 Signet 工作一個月後，我對我們加速發展的機會感到充滿活力。我們強大的品牌、深入的消費者關注和才華橫溢的團隊為我們的業務策略發展和轉型提供了強大的基礎。我們與管理團隊合作，積極尋找未來的新機會。

I recognize we have some challenges. Engagement incidents are somewhat less predictable on a short-term basis and as you know, lab-created diamonds have disrupted the industry but also create opportunities in the Fashion category as well as increase the breadth of assortment within Bridal.

我認識到我們面臨一些挑戰。訂婚事件在短期內不太可預測，如您所知，實驗室製造的鑽石擾亂了該行業，但也為時尚類別創造了機會，並增加了新娘的品種範圍。

I'm excited by the opportunities in front of us and I believe Signet's strengths will overcome its challenges to yield growth ahead of us. Over the next few months, myself and our team are first and foremost, focused on continuing to execute a successful holiday season.

我對我們面前的機會感到興奮，我相信 Signet 的優勢將克服挑戰，實現我們面前的產量成長。在接下來的幾個月裡，我和我們的團隊首先致力於繼續打造一個成功的假期。

We will look to evolve our strategy to fuel customer and shareholder value and look forward to sharing details on this work and our plans in the coming months.

我們將尋求發展我們的策略，以提高客戶和股東的價值，並期待在未來幾個月分享這項工作和我們計劃的細節。

I'll now turn the call over to Joan.

我現在將電話轉給瓊。

Thanks, JK, and good morning, everyone. I'd first like to thank our Signet team. Your agility and commitment continue to be an inspiration, and I appreciate the drive to results in the third quarter and the preparations for the holiday season.

謝謝，JK，大家早安。我首先要感謝我們的 Signet 團隊。你們的敏捷性和奉獻精神仍然是一種鼓舞，我很欣賞第三季度取得成果的動力以及為假期做好的準備。

I have three takeaways today. First, we continue to drive sales momentum with our sixth consecutive quarter of sequential same-store sales improvement as we meet a choppy consumer and industry environment this year.

我今天有三點外帶。首先，隨著今年消費者和產業環境的波動，我們的同店銷售連續第六個季度成長，持續推動銷售動能。

Second, we are well prepared this holiday season with a go-to-market strategy, which we believe will drive positive same-store sales in the fourth quarter. Lastly, we're updating guidance to reflect the short-term impacts from both digital banners, James Allen and Blue Nile, leadership transition costs and the permanent accretive impact from the early completion of the preferred shares redemption.

其次，我們為這個假期做好了充分的準備，並制定了進入市場的策略，我們相信這將推動第四季的同店銷售。最後，我們正在更新指導意見，以反映數位旗幟、James Allen 和 Blue Nile 的短期影響、領導過渡成本以及提前完成優先股贖回的永久增值影響。

Looking closer at the third quarter, same-store sales finished down 0.7%, a nearly 3-point sequential improvement to the second quarter. In fact, when excluding the impact of our digital banners and hurricanes, we delivered same-store sales growth of 1 point.

仔細觀察第三季度，同店銷售額下降了 0.7%，比第二季度環比提高了近 3 個百分點。事實上，在排除數位橫幅和颶風的影響時，我們的同店銷售額成長了 1 個百分點。

Fashion sales were positive as we continue to see strong sell-through of new merchandise. Partially offsetting the decline in engagement performance in our digital banners. Focusing more on newness, our strategy to drive higher penetration continues to resonate with customers.

由於我們繼續看到新商品的強勁銷售，時裝銷售呈現積極態勢。部分抵消了我們數位橫幅參與度表現的下降。我們更加重視穎性，推動更高滲透率的策略持續引起客戶的共鳴。

Up nearly 8 points to last year in our core banners. The higher penetration of new merchandise is key to Signet's strategy around average transaction value or ATV and merchandise margin. For example, North America, Fashion ATV was up mid-single digits in the third quarter, driven by a more than 30% growth in lab-created diamond fashion sales.

我們的核心橫幅比去年上升了近 8 個百分點。新商品的更高滲透率是 Signet 圍繞平均交易價值或 ATV 和商品利潤制定的策略的關鍵。例如，在北美，受實驗室製造的鑽石時尚銷售額成長超過 30% 的推動，時尚 ATV 在第三季度實現了中個位數成長。

Importantly, new products carried more than a 5 point margin in premium to our core average, which is a greater premium than last year. Turning to Bridal. We finished the quarter with total North America engagement units down 2% due to performance in our digital banners.

重要的是，新產品的溢價比我們的核心平均高出 5 個百分點以上，比去年更高。轉向新娘。由於數位橫幅的表現，本季結束時，北美總參與單位數下降了 2%。

Excluding the digital banners, units were up nearly 4 points in the third quarter, a 7-point sequential improvement to last quarter.

不包括數位橫幅，第三季單位數量增加了近 4 個百分點，比上季環比提高了 7 個百分點。

Turning to ATV. Overall North America Bridal ATV was down mid-single digits in the quarter due to competitive price pressure in loose stones. We continue to believe Engagement units will recover over the next few years. Services revenue was up nearly 2% in the quarter as it continues to outpace merchandise sales.

轉向亞視。由於裸石的競爭性價格壓力，本季度北美新娘 ATV 總體下降了個位數。我們仍然相信參與單位將在未來幾年內恢復。本季服務收入成長近 2%，持續超過商品銷售。

Extended service agreements, or ESAs, attachment rates grew 170 basis points to last year, driven by continued traction in post-repair ESA and fashion merchandise. As a reminder, services carries a 20-point margin premium to merchandise.

由於維修後 ESA 和時尚商品的持續成長，延長服務協議 (ESA) 的附著率比去年增加了 170 個基點。提醒一下，服務的利潤率比商品高 20 點。

Turning to my second takeaway, we believe we'll deliver a positive holiday performance this year driven by our comprehensive go-to-market strategy. We have positioned merchandise and marketing to lean into both Fashion and Bridal building on the momentum we've seen in the last few quarters.

談到我的第二個要點，我們相信，在我們全面的上市策略的推動下，今年我們將取得積極的假期業績。憑藉過去幾季的勢頭，我們將商品和行銷定位為時尚和婚紗。

We've increased inventory penetration of newness to over 30% in core banners, up more than 10 points to drive holiday selling. The consumer continues to be value-oriented and the increase in new fashion merchandise allows us to provide customers a greater value at an attractive margin and ATV through product engineering. This work extends to Bridal as well. December typically has twice the number of engagements as any other month, and we believe December Engagement units will be positive.

我們已將核心橫幅中新品的庫存滲透率提高到 30% 以上，提高了 10 個百分點以上，以推動假日銷售。消費者繼續以價值為導向，新時尚商品的增加使我們能夠透過產品工程以有吸引力的利潤和 ATV 為客戶提供更大的價值。這項工作也延伸到了新娘。 12 月的互動量通常是其他月份的兩倍，我們相信 12 月的互動量將為正數。

We delivered high single-digit same-store sales over the Black Friday to Cyber Monday weekend. However, keep in mind that this includes a moderate lift resulting from the closer proximity to Christmas and is reflected within our fourth quarter guidance expectations. As a reminder, our holiday sales are weighted to the two weeks before Christmas.

我們在黑色星期五至網路星期一週末期間實現了高個位數的同店銷售額。然而，請記住，這包括由於聖誕節臨近而帶來的適度提升，並反映在我們第四季度的指導預期中。提醒一下，我們的假期銷售加權到聖誕節前兩週。

Before I hand the call over to Rob, I'd like to discuss the changes in our expectations for the full year. As part of my expanded responsibilities, my initial assessment of challenges at our digital banners, goes beyond the API integration issues we've previously shared.

在將電話轉交給 Rob 之前，我想討論一下我們對全年預期的變化。作為我擴大的職責的一部分，我對數位橫幅挑戰的初步評估超出了我們之前分享的 API 整合問題。

The delayed completion of replatforming work and aided search upgrades that began earlier in the year significantly impacted traffic and search placement upon the completion of that work in the back half of the quarter. While our fourth quarter expectations are lower for the digital banners than a few months ago due to these additional challenges, we've already seen some improvement in the fourth quarter compared to October's performance.

今年稍早開始的平台重組工作和輔助搜尋升級的延遲完成對本季後半段工作完成後的流量和搜尋排名產生了重大影響。雖然由於這些額外的挑戰，我們對第四季度數位橫幅的預期低於幾個月前，但與 10 月的表現相比，我們已經看到第四季度的表現有所改善。

And importantly, I am pleased to welcome our new digital banner President, [Karen Benson], who joined just a month ago. She has deep consumer and digital experience, including [Tiffany's] and most recently led Home Depot Online.

重要的是，我很高興歡迎一個月前加入的我們新任數位旗總裁 [Karen Benson]。她擁有豐富的消費者和數位經驗，包括 [Tiffany's] 以及最近領導的 Home Depot Online。

I believe our talented digital team will benefit from her leadership setting the stage to drive improvement and return to our long-term growth path over the coming quarters. Alongside the update to our expectations of digital banners, we will incur leadership transition costs of approximately $7 million that were not initially contemplated in our full year guidance. We are also reflecting the accretive impact from the early completion of preferred share redemption.

我相信我們才華橫溢的數位團隊將從她的領導中受益，為推動改善並在未來幾季回歸長期成長道路奠定基礎。除了更新我們對數位橫幅的期望之外，我們還將產生約 700 萬美元的領導層過渡成本，這在我們的全年指導中最初並未考慮到。我們也反映出提前完成優先股贖回所帶來的增值影響。

I'll now hand the call over to Rob to discuss the financial results in more detail.

我現在將把電話轉給 Rob，更詳細地討論財務表現。

Thanks, Joan, and good morning, everyone. Revenue for the quarter was $1.35 billion, down 3%. As Joan mentioned, same-store sales were down 0.7%. Same-store sales reflects the continued drag from our digital banners of approximately 120 basis points. Digital banners did improve sequentially by approximately 500 points that worsened in the second half of the quarter.

謝謝，瓊，大家早安。該季度營收為 13.5 億美元，下降 3%。正如 Joan 所提到的，同店銷售額下降了 0.7%。同店銷售額反映出我們的數位橫幅持續拖累約 120 個基點。數位橫幅確實連續改善了約 500 點，但在本季下半年惡化了。

We delivered adjusted gross margin of $486 million or 36% of sales this quarter, flat to last year. Merchandise margin was also flat in the third quarter as we cycled a 250 basis point growth in the prior year.

本季調整後毛利率為 4.86 億美元，佔銷售額的 36%，與去年持平。第三季商品利潤率也持平，去年我們季增了 250 個基點。

Turning to SG&A. Adjusted expense was down $8 million to $469 million for the quarter. SG&A deleveraged by 50 basis points to 35% of sales due primarily to somewhat higher marketing expense that we referenced last quarter to pull some marketing spend ahead of the election as well as approximately $2 million of leadership transition costs.

轉向SG&A。本季調整後費用減少 800 萬美元，至 4.69 億美元。 SG&A 去槓桿化了50 個基點，佔銷售額的35%，這主要是由於我們上季度提到的營銷費用有所增加，以在選舉前拉動一些營銷支出，以及大約200 萬美元的領導層過渡成本。

Adjusted operating income was $16.2 million for the quarter or 1.2% of sales. Adjusted EPS for the quarter was $0.24 and in line with last year. Turning to inventory, we ended the quarter at $2.1 billion, up 2% to last year as we bolstered the penetration of new product as we enter the holiday season.

該季度調整後營業收入為 1,620 萬美元，佔銷售額的 1.2%。該季度調整後每股收益為 0.24 美元，與去年持平。談到庫存，我們本季末的庫存為 21 億美元，比去年增長 2%，因為我們在進入假期季節時加強了新產品的滲透。

We have completed the redemption of all remaining preferred shares this quarter for approximately $270 million and $810 million in aggregate this year. Common share repurchases year-to-date totaled $118 million or 1.3 million shares at an average share price of approximately $91.

我們已於本季完成了所有剩餘優先股的贖回，贖回總額約為 2.7 億美元，今年總額約為 8.1 億美元。年初至今，普通股回購總額為 1.18 億美元，即 130 萬股，平均股價約 91 美元。

These actions translate to an end-of-year share count reduction of more than 17% to fiscal '24 year-end to roughly 43.5 million diluted shares. We continue to see capital returns to shareholders as an important part of our capital allocation strategy moving forward.

這些行動意味著到 24 財年末的年底股票數量減少了 17% 以上，稀釋後股票數量約為 4,350 萬股。我們繼續將股東資本回報視為我們未來資本配置策略的重要組成部分。

Turning to liquidity. We ended the quarter with $158 million of cash and equivalents and $253 million temporarily drawn on the revolver. The draw on the revolver was the result of timing around the redemption of the preferred shares and holiday inventory purchases, and we have already repaid a significant portion so far in the fourth quarter.

轉向流動性。本季結束時，我們有 1.58 億美元的現金和等價物，以及臨時提取的 2.53 億美元的左輪手槍。左輪手槍的提取是由於優先股贖回和假日庫存購買的時間安排的結果，到目前為止，我們已經在第四季度償還了很大一部分。

With that, I'll hand the call back to Joan to discuss our guidance for the fourth quarter and the fiscal year.

接下來，我會將電話轉給瓊，討論我們對第四季和本財年的指導。

Thanks, Rob. For the fourth quarter, we expect same-store sales in the range of flat to up 3%. This includes an approximate 1 point drag from our digital banners. We expect Engagement units to be up low to mid-single digits and Fashion sales to be up modestly. We expect adjusted operating income between $397 million to $427 million and a higher operating margin rate to last year.

謝謝，羅布。對於第四季度，我們預計同店銷售額將持平至成長 3%。這包括我們的數位橫幅大約 1 點的拖曳。我們預計參與單位將成長到中個位數，而時尚銷售額將小幅成長。我們預計調整後的營業收入將在 3.97 億美元至 4.27 億美元之間，營業利潤率將高於去年。

Gross margin rate is expected to expand in the quarter with SG&A rate up slightly. We believe our guidance provides for flexibility in a competitive environment. This results in an update to our full year guidance range with same-store sales down in the range of 2% to 3%. We expect adjusted operating income between $540 million and $570 million and adjusted EPS between $9.62 and $10.08.

預計本季毛利率將擴大，SG&A 率小幅上升。我們相信我們的指導可以在競爭環境中提供靈活性。這導致我們更新全年指導範圍，同店銷售額下降 2% 至 3%。我們預計調整後營業收入將在 5.4 億美元至 5.7 億美元之間，調整後每股收益將在 9.62 美元至 10.08 美元之間。

So in closing, before we go to questions, I'd like to remind you of the three takeaways I'm leaving you with today. One, we delivered the quarter within our expectations, two, we're on track for positive holiday sales. And finally, our updated guidance reflects short-term impacts from both digital banners and leadership transition costs and the permanent accretive impact from the early completion of preferred shares redemption.

最後，在我們開始提問之前，我想提醒大家今天要帶給大家的三個重點。第一，我們本季的業績符合預期；第二，我們預計將實現積極的假期銷售。最後，我們更新的指導反映了數位橫幅和領導層過渡成本的短期影響以及提前完成優先股贖回的永久增值影響。

Operator, let's now go to questions.

接線員，我們現在開始提問。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Ike Boruchow, Wells Fargo Securities.

艾克·博魯喬（Ike Boruchow），富國銀行證券公司。

Hey, good morning, everyone. Good to talk to you, JK. I guess two questions for me on the new guide. Just making sure I understand. So the new comp guide flat to three, but there's 100 basis points of the digital. Did the core business, meaning ex digital, did your expectation on that business also come down.

嘿，大家早安。很高興與你交談，JK。我想我有兩個關於新指南的問題。只是確保我理解。因此，新的比較指南持平至 3，但數字有 100 個基點。核心業務，即數位業務，您對該業務的期望是否也下降了？

It looks like it did, but it also kind of sounds like you're more calling out the digital banners is the driver of it. So just trying to understand core versus the digital component. And then just a follow-up question on the guide. It looks like you're still guiding some nice margin expansion despite the lower comp.

看起來確實如此，但聽起來你更多的是呼籲數位橫幅是它的驅動力。所以只是想了解核心與數位組件。然後是關於指南的後續問題。儘管薪資較低，但看起來您仍在引導一些不錯的利潤擴張。

And I guess I'm trying to understand where that margin expansion has come from? Is that gross margin? Is that some expense initiatives you're flexing. So just kind of curious the puts and takes.

我想我想了解利潤率擴張從何而來？這是毛利率嗎？這是您正在採取的一些費用措施嗎？所以只是有點好奇看漲期權。

Great. Thanks for the question, Ike. So with respect to our core banner performance, we're pleased with the core banner performance in the third quarter. We were -- in collectively, we were up I would say from a guidance perspective, on the lower end, we're giving a little bit of a slight drop for core banners within that guide for the fourth quarter.

偉大的。謝謝你的提問，艾克。因此，就我們的核心橫幅表現而言，我們對第三季的核心橫幅表現感到滿意。我們 - 總的來說，我們上升了，我想說，從指導的角度來看，在較低端，我們在第四季度的指導中對核心橫幅略有下降。

But overall, pleased with how the core banners are generally performing. The digital banners are really the impact that we're seeing in our business. As we noted in the third quarter, it was 120 basis points impact to the comp. We did have a little bit of a drop related to the hurricanes. But overall, as we look forward, we think some of that will mitigate, but we still expect that 1 point drop related to digital.

但總體而言，對核心橫幅的整體表現感到滿意。數位橫幅確實是我們在業務中看到的影響。正如我們在第三季指出的那樣，這對公司業績產生了 120 個基點的影響。與颶風有關的情況確實有所下降。但總體而言，展望未來，我們認為其中一些影響將會緩解，但我們仍然預期與數字相關的 1 個百分點下降。

Gross margin -- merchandise margin is really what's driving the gross margin expansion with some improvement related to the comp performance, Ike. But we're very pleased with our fashion is performing. I shared that there was a meaningful expansion in merch margin rate related to the new product.

毛利率－商品利潤率確實是推動毛利率擴張的因素，艾克，其與比較績效相關的一些改善。但我們對我們的時尚表現感到非常滿意。我分享說，與新產品相關的商品利潤率出現了有意義的成長。

And so that mix being driven up by our new product assortment is really what's driving the expansion in the fourth quarter related to gross margin.

因此，我們的新產品種類推動的混合確實是推動第四季毛利率擴張的因素。

Can you quantify what you expect gross margin to be for 4Q? And then just kind of comment on the promo environment, and then I'll pass it along.

您能否量化第四季的毛利率預期？然後只是對促銷環境進行一些評論，然後我會將其傳遞出去。

Yeah, not specifically, but we do expect it to expand based on the higher penetration of fashion newness. I would also add that in the third quarter, there was a slight impact related to promoting some of the clearance product to make way for newness as we head into the fourth quarter.

是的，不是特別明確，但我們確實預計它會隨著時尚新穎性的更高滲透率而擴大。我還要補充一點，在第三季度，當我們進入第四季度時，促銷一些清倉產品為新產品讓路帶來了輕微的影響。

We believe that we are competitively positioned from a pricing perspective and have really assessed our fourth quarter and believe we've provided for flexibility within our current gross margin.

我們相信，從定價角度來看，我們處於競爭地位，並且已經真正評估了我們的第四季度，並相信我們已經在當前的毛利率範圍內提供了靈活性。

Thank you so much.

太感謝了。

Lorraine Hutchinson, Bank of America.

洛琳‧哈欽森，美國銀行。

This is Melanie on for Lorraine. I just wanted to ask about the digital integration issues if you can just expand upon those a bit more. It seems like you identified a few more things going on in that side of the business. So if you can just explain why these are still going on, what else needs to be done? Thank you.

這是洛林的梅蘭妮。我只是想問一下數位整合問題，您是否可以進一步擴展這些問題。看來您還發現了業務方面發生的更多事情。那麼，如果你能解釋為什麼這些事情仍在發生，那你還需要做些什麼呢？謝謝。

Thanks for the question. With respect to the digital banners, we have been working through the API integration and believe that those opportunities or challenges are behind us. We saw that nicely over the Black Friday weekend for us. So as we assess what was happening in the latter part of the quarter, with the replatforming work going in later than anticipated, and aided search going in as well with closer proximity to the fourth quarter, it's really impacted the overall performance of the digital banners.

謝謝你的提問。對於數位橫幅，我們一直致力於 API 集成，並相信這些機會或挑戰已經過去。我們在黑色星期五週末很好地看到了這一點。因此，當我們評估本季後半段發生的情況時，平台重組工作的進行時間比預期晚，輔助搜尋也接近第四季度，這確實影響了數位橫幅的整體表現。

Now we're working through. And as I mentioned on my prepared remarks that we're seeing some improvement relative to the later third quarter performance, we're seeing improvement in the month of November, but we still do expect a 1 point impact related to the digital banners in the fourth quarter.

現在我們正在努力解決。正如我在準備好的發言中提到的那樣，我們看到相對於第三季末的業績有所改善，我們看到11 月份的情況有所改善，但我們仍然預計與數位橫幅相關的1 點影響第四季。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Paul Lejuez, Citigroup.

保羅‧勒胡埃斯，花旗集團。

Hey. A couple of questions. Can you talk about what you're seeing on the cost side for both natural and lab? And how are retail prices change relative to what you're seeing on the cost side? And then second, when we get through this year, what's the profitability going to look like from those digital banners? Are they even making any money this year? And what's the plan to improve the probability of those businesses for next year? Thanks.

嘿。有幾個問題。您能談談您對天然和實驗室成本的看法嗎？相對於您在成本方面看到的情況，零售價格有何變化？其次，當我們度過今年時，這些數位橫幅的獲利能力會是什麼樣子？今年他們賺到錢了嗎？明年有什麼計劃來提高這些業務的可能性？謝謝。

Thanks, Paul. So first question related to cost. We see costs within -- particularly within lab-grown diamonds coming down faster than the retail is coming down. So the way that we've bridged that in our strategy, as you know, is we are providing design branded product within Bridal and with the introduction of more Fashion with ATV.

謝謝，保羅。第一個問題與成本有關。我們看到內部成本——尤其是實驗室培育鑽石的成本下降速度快於零售價格的下降速度。因此，如您所知，我們在策略中彌補這一點的方式是，我們在 Bridal 中提供設計品牌產品，並透過 ATV 引入更多時尚產品。

We see that carrying 2 times higher ATV and product without lab grown diamonds in it. So we're managing the retails with the -- or the infusion of new product within our assortment, and we're very pleased with how that's performing. We're seeing our -- within our Bridal and Engagement, we see some decline in overall ATV as we mentioned on the call, but we're, again, balancing our assortment within our sweet spot of price points.

我們看到載有 2 倍高的 ATV 和不含實驗室培育鑽石的產品。因此，我們正在透過在我們的品種中註入新產品來管理零售，我們對其表現非常滿意。正如我們在電話會議中提到的，我們在婚禮和訂婚方面看到整體 ATV 有所下降，但我們再次在我們的最佳價格點內平衡我們的品種。

So feeling very good about how engagement recovery is continuing to happen, albeit slower and we are continuing to stay on our strategy of new product offering and continuing to bring branded product within Engagement. Now with respect to gold, we see little price resistance within our business on gold, the consumer understands value and how gold is priced in the market. So as we see prices, our cost in gold rise, we are able to adjust our pricing and or value engineer product to keep right within the consumer sweet spot.

因此，我們對參與度恢復的持續發生感到非常滿意，儘管速度較慢，我們將繼續堅持提供新產品的策略，並繼續在參與度中引入品牌產品。現在就黃金而言，我們在黃金業務中幾乎沒有看到價格阻力，消費者了解黃金的價值以及黃金在市場上的定價方式。因此，當我們看到價格和黃金成本上升時，我們能夠調整我們的定價和/或價值工程產品，以保持在消費者的最佳位置。

So feel that we've been able to navigate that. Now with respect to your digital banner question, we don't really comment per se on operating margins. But what I will say to you, Paul, is that the top line growth of the digital banners, the infusion of finished jewelry within Blue Nile and James Allen is very important to the merchandise margin expansion for those banners.

所以感覺我們已經能夠解決這個問題了。現在，關於您的數位橫幅問題，我們本身並不真正評論營業利潤率。但保羅，我要對你說的是，數位橫幅的營收成長、Blue Nile 和 James Allen 內成品珠寶的注入對於這些橫幅的商品利潤擴張非常重要。

And when we are seeing that come in for this fourth quarter and in some magnitude for the first time. So as we look forward, we clearly expect Blue Nile and James Allen to get back on track to our long-term growth plans and see assortment mix as well as expense management is part of profitability of those banners.

當我們看到第四季度出現這種情況並且第一次達到某種程度時。因此，展望未來，我們明確期望 Blue Nile 和 James Allen 能夠回到我們的長期成長計畫的正軌，並看到品種組合以及費用管理是這些品牌獲利能力的一部分。

Thanks so much.

非常感謝。

Mauricio Serna, UBS.

毛里西奧·塞爾納，瑞銀。

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Maybe could you talk about your quarter-to-date same-store sales, just given your commentary about Black Friday sales performance and then also, maybe could you give us a sense on the puts and takes that you're seeing into 2025 margin rising pricing, commodity cost like gold, any incentive comp rebuild. Just like getting a better sense of that? And then I have a quick follow-up on share count. Thank you.

嗨，早安。感謝您回答我的問題。也許您可以談談您的季度至今的同店銷售情況，僅考慮您對黑色星期五銷售業績的評論，然後您是否可以讓我們了解一下您看到的 2025 年利潤率上升的看跌期權和持倉情況定價、黃金等商品成本、任何激勵補償重建。就像更好地理解這一點一樣？然後我會快速跟進股票數量。謝謝。

Okay. So as I mentioned, Mauricio, we had a high single-digit same-store sales performance over the Black Friday weekend through Cyber Monday. Just as a reminder, there's a modest impact there for proximity to Christmas. The overall performance of the quarter to date is reflected within our Q4 guidance.

好的。正如我所提到的，毛里西奧，我們在黑色星期五週末到網絡星期一期間的同店銷售業績達到了個位數的高水平。提醒一下，聖誕節臨近的影響不大。本季迄今的整體業績反映在我們的第四季指引中。

So it's considered within our guidance range. So -- and I also mentioned for -- within my prepared remarks that the two weeks prior to Christmas are very important to our business and our -- obviously, our highest selling period.

所以它被認為在我們的指導範圍之內。因此，我在準備好的發言中也提到，聖誕節前的兩週對我們的業務和我們的銷售最高時期非常重要。

So we have a good portion of the quarter to go. And so all of that's reflected within our guidance. Then with respect to '25, we'll be back to you on the fourth quarter earnings call with our view of fiscal '26, I think you're asking about. But we'll be back to you on that. Clearly, we are evaluating our operating plan, working with JK as he's come on board and with the management team. And we have a lot of work ahead of us to as JK mentioned, we're actively identifying opportunities for our future, and we'll be happy to share those at that time.

因此，本季還有很大一部分時間要完成。因此，所有這些都反映在我們的指導中。然後，關於 25 年，我們將在第四季度財報電話會議上向您回覆我們對 26 財年的看法，我想您正在詢問。但我們會就此回覆您。顯然，我們正在評估我們的營運計劃，並在 JK 加入後與他以及管理團隊合作。正如 JK 所提到的，我們還有很多工作要做，我們正在積極尋找未來的機會，屆時我們將很樂意分享這些機會。

Got it. And just I guess, just to make sure I understood, does that mean that your quarter-to-date is within flat to up 3%. And then the follow-up I had on the share count. Just trying to understand like how you're getting to the I think like the 46.2% share count for the entire year, just like doing the numbers on what you already did and not assuming any more buybacks, I'm getting to like a 45.5% just trying to understand like anything there to consider on the calculations for the diluted share count for the full year?

知道了。我想，只是為了確保我理解，這是否意味著你們的季度迄今成長率在持平至成長 3% 之間。然後我對股票數量進行了跟進。只是想了解你如何達到我認為全年 46.2％ 的股票數量，就像對你已經做過的事情做數字並且不假設任何更多的回購一樣，我開始喜歡 45.5 ％只是想了解全年攤薄股數的計算中需要考慮的任何事情？

Hey Mauricio. Thank you for the question. This is Rob. Yeah, in terms of, quarter days, Jen said we're not, providing exactly the number, but you know that there is the holiday shift a little bit closer to Christmas and we feel very confident in our ability to deliver a positive comp for the quarter, which is provided in our quarterly guidance and certainly reflected in a strong Black Friday weekend.

嘿毛里西奧。謝謝你的提問。這是羅布。是的，就季度天數而言，Jen 說我們沒有提供確切的數字，但你知道假期班次離聖誕節更近一些，我們對自己提供積極補償的能力非常有信心。一點，當然也反映在黑色星期五週末的強勁表現中。

In terms of the diluted share count is I think everyone knows it's a fairly complicated calculation with the preferred shares this year, but due to the fact that we had some of the year calculated before we repurchase the share some of the preferred shares in April and then amended the settlement agreement.

就稀釋後的股份數量而言，我想每個人都知道今年的優先股計算相當複雜，但由於我們在四月份回購部分優先股之前計算了今年的一些時間，隨後修改了和解協議。

And so the share count is was about 48 million in the first half of the year on a diluted basis on an adjusted EPS basis. And obviously, you can get to roughly 44 million in the back half of the year to get to the 46.2 million shares. And as we put in our earnings release, we do expect to exit the year at 43.5 million shares, which should provide some additional EPS accretion going forward.

因此，以調整後每股盈餘計算，今年上半年稀釋後的股票數量約為 4,800 萬股。顯然，你可以在今年下半年獲得約 4,400 萬股，從而獲得 4,620 萬股。正如我們在財報中發布的那樣，我們確實預計今年的發行股數為 4,350 萬股，這應該會為未來帶來一些額外的每股收益成長。

Got it. Thank you so much and good luck.

知道了。非常感謝你，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 wanted to go back to the commentary on the Bridal category. I think you reported that average transaction value is down. Can you put that into perspective for us, whether that's getting worse or better? And what the key drivers of that decline are?

嘿，謝謝你的提問。我想回到新娘類別的評論。我想你報告說平均交易價值下降了。您能否為我們解釋一下這一點，無論情況是變得更糟還是更好？導致這種下降的主要驅動因素是什麼？

Sure, I'll take that one, Jim. So engagement units are recovering and although slower than we expected, they were down overall 2% in the third quarter, but it did represent a 4-point sequential improvement. If you look at the business, excluding the digital banners in the third quarter, our North America engagement units were up nearly 4% in Q3.

當然，我會接受那個，吉姆。因此，參與單位正在復甦，儘管比我們預期的要慢，但第三季整體下降了 2%，但這確實代表了 4 個百分點的環比改善。如果你看看業務，不包括第三季的數位橫幅，我們的北美參與單位在第三季成長了近 4%。

So that is a 7-point sequential improvement in our North America banners. So also a positive signal towards the engagement recovery. And so as we look forward, as I mentioned, we expect that Bridal, our engagement units in the fourth quarter will continue to be positive, albeit with the digital banners impact we -- it will have some impact from that number, but we've reflected that as we mentioned earlier in our guidance.

因此，我們的北美橫幅連續提高了 7 個點。這也是參與度恢復的正面訊號。因此，正如我所提到的，當我們展望未來時，我們預計第四季度的 Bridal 參與單位將繼續保持積極的勢頭，儘管數字橫幅會影響我們 - 它將對該數字產生一些影響，但我們'正如我們之前在指南中提到的那樣，我們已經反映了這一點。

So overall engagement recovery underway. We believe that we'll continue to see that recovery, although it may be a bit extended from our earlier view on that.

因此，整體參與度正在恢復。我們相信，我們將繼續看到這種復甦，儘管它可能比我們之前的觀點延伸。

(multiple speakers) And transaction value -- my apologies. I just wanted to make sure I understood correctly.

（多個發言者）和交易價值——我很抱歉。我只是想確保我理解正確。

Thank you. So the average transaction value was down in the third quarter. It was also had a significant impact related to the digital banners because there's such a high penetration of engagement within the digital banner. So go forward, we were pleased with the overall flat average transaction value, Jim, because our Fashion assortment is providing us the ability to manage our way through what may be a bit of a choppy environment related to Bridal ATV. So feel that it's stable and we're able to manage with the mix of our business.

謝謝。因此第三季的平均交易額有所下降。它也對數位橫幅產生了重大影響，因為數位橫幅的參與度非常高。所以，展望未來，吉姆，我們對整體平均交易價值持平感到滿意，因為我們的時尚品類使我們能夠在與新娘 ATV 相關的可能有點波動的環境中管理我們的方式。所以感覺它很穩定，我們能夠管理我們的業務組合。

All right. And just one last follow-up question. I think you reported numbers for Black Friday this year and Cyber Monday. Could you just what that trend was reported last year for comparison?

好的。還有最後一個後續問題。我想您報告了今年黑色星期五和網路星期一的數字。您能否將去年報告的趨勢進行比較？

We didn't provide that last year, Jim. But just to remind us here, we reported a high single -- we're sharing a high single-digit comp over that weekend, which is included in our guidance for positive comps in the fourth quarter.

吉姆，我們去年沒有提供這個。但在這裡提醒我們，我們報告了一個高單數 - 我們在那個週末分享了一個高個位數的補償，這包含在我們對第四季度積極補償的指導中。

Understood. Thank you.

明白了。謝謝。

Mauricio Serna, UBS.

毛里西奧·塞爾納，瑞銀。

Yeah, thank you. Just a quick follow-up. I wanted to understand the digital banners like the impact on the total price, like why is that because of Engagement? What is ever more promotions? And just on the promotional environment, are you thinking that in Q3 versus the previous quarters? And how are you thinking about that for Q4? Thank you.

是的，謝謝。只是快速跟進。我想了解數位橫幅對總價格的影響，例如為什麼是因為參與度？什麼是更多促銷活動？就促銷環境而言，您是否認為第三季與前幾季相比？您如何看待第四季度的情況？謝謝。

Okay. So the digital banners we said had a 120 basis points impact to comp in the third quarter. We saw with the timing of re-platforming being completed later in the third quarter as well as the AI -- or I'm sorry, the search -- aided search upgrades that we put into play, they negatively impacted performance.

好的。因此，我們所說的數位橫幅對第三季的比較產生了 120 個基點的影響。我們看到，重新平台的時間安排在第三季稍後完成，以及人工智慧（或對不起，搜尋）幫助我們實施的搜尋升級，它們對效能產生了負面影響。

And we're seeing that come around somewhat in the fourth quarter, and we expect it to be a 1 point negative impact to comp on the fourth quarter from James Allen and Blue Nile. They have a high penetration of vital or engagement within their business. Therefore, it's impacting our overall engagement performance but our North America banners are positive, as I mentioned, in engagements in the third quarter when you exclude the digital banner impact.

我們看到這種情況在第四季度有所改善，我們預計詹姆斯艾倫和 Blue Nile 對第四季度的影響將是 1 分的負面影響。他們在業務中具有很高的重要滲透率或參與度。因此，它影響了我們的整體互動表現，但正如我所提到的，當您排除數位橫幅影響時，我們的北美橫幅在第三季度的互動中是積極的。

With respect to pricing and promotion in the third quarter, the -- I did mention that there was some clearance that we took pricing on to move through inventory to importantly, make way for new product as we enter the fourth quarter, which has a much higher penetration than we did last year, I think 9points to 10 points. So important for us to do that and believe that we've positioned that nicely heading into the quarter.

關於第三季的定價和促銷，我確實提到，我們對定價進行了一些清理，以轉移庫存，重要的是，當我們進入第四季度時，為新產品讓路，第四季度有很多滲透率比去年高，我認為是9 到10 點。對我們來說，做到這一點非常重要，並相信我們已經在進入本季時就很好地定位了這一點。

Our guidance includes some, what we believe, is a nice flexibility within a promotional posture for the fourth quarter which will enable us to remain competitive within our guidance.

我們認為，我們的指導包括第四季度促銷態勢中的一些靈活性，這將使我們能夠在指導範圍內保持競爭力。

Thank you so much.

太感謝了。

Thank you. And that is all the time we have for questions. I would like to turn it back to our CEO, J.K. Symancyk for closing remarks.

謝謝。這就是我們提問的全部時間。我想把它轉回給我們的執行長 J.K. Symancyk 作結束語。

Thank you. In closing, I'd like to again thank our Signet team for their dedication to our purpose and for welcoming me to the team. I believe the opportunities ahead of us to evolve Signet will deliver further value to both shareholders and customers. I thank you for your time today. We look forward to speaking to you again in March. Goodbye.

謝謝。最後，我要再次感謝我們的 Signet 團隊對我們目標的奉獻並歡迎我加入團隊。我相信我們面前的 Signet 發展機會將為股東和客戶帶來更多價值。我感謝您今天抽出時間。我們期待在三月再次與您交談。再見。

Thank you, presenters. And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect.

謝謝各位主持人。女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。